“Hm…”
As Celia read the report, she tilted her head.
“What should I do with this?”
It was good that the adventurers were dealt with.
For those guarding the dungeon, the goal is to stop the invading adventurers.
In that sense, everyone performed their mission excellently.
The Banshee controlling the Paladin to lure the opposing adventurers into the dungeon was a great method.
Thanks to that, seven adventurers, along with several sacrifices, are now under the Banshee’s control.
If things go well, they might even be able to form a force made up of adventurers.
Secondly, Celia was pleased with the response of Skoll, the Orc leading the ‘Red-Haired Tribe’ dungeon.
It’s said that he crushed all the opponent’s will with overwhelming momentum.
A warrior must have such spirit and conviction.
He fulfilled his role.
Lastly, the Slime’s method was also excellent.
According to the report, the Slimes lured the adventurers to the hot springs.
While the Banshee lured the opponents with a Paladin, the Slime stimulated primal desires.
There’s nothing more alluring to a tired body and mind than a place to rest.
It was a strategy only the Slime could pull off.
But there was a problem.
“If this is the case, there are hardly any adventurers left?”
Too many adventurers had already died.
They died far too much.
Of course, they weren’t completely wiped out.
Some adventurers were still wandering nearby, trying to escape.
However, this time the objective wasn’t simply to stop the adventurers.
It was to evaluate four dungeons under the mountain range.
Two of them had been evaluated, but two more remained.
But the remaining numbers were too few to evaluate the other dungeons.
“Should I ask them to send more adventurers?”
Celia pondered.
Actually, the reason these adventurers came to the mountain range was separate.
A noble from the Sail Kingdom had unilaterally hired them and given them the mission.
And it was done secretly, by disobeying the royal family’s orders.
Naturally, Princess Irena declared she would track down the involved parties, but Celia stopped her.
Since they were coming in on their own accord, she couldn’t miss this opportunity.
Celia intended to use them to find the shortcomings of herself and the other dungeons. But it was in vain.
“It seems the adventurers’ skills are too low.”
She tutted and pushed the documents aside.
Then she looked at the Goblin Lord next to her.
“I have reviewed your report, Goblin Lord. You mentioned needing adventurers to create a Royal Guard?”
Celia said gently, and the Goblin Lord nodded.
“Indeed, Kehek.”
The Goblin Lord nodded and took out something long.
It was a Mana Gun.
Celia was the one who first gave this Mana Gun to the Goblin Lord.
Celia herself had obtained this weapon as a gift from Azmo on Earth during their first meeting.
Mana Gun.
It’s a weapon used by hunters on Earth.
It has a similar principle to the crossbows used by adventurers and mercenaries, but the difference is that it can be easily fired as long as mana is replenished.
In other words, it’s a weapon that can be fired infinitely as long as there is enough mana.
And it was obvious that the higher the mana rank, the more powerful it would be.
“This is the gist of it.”
Celia picked up the Mana Gun.
She grasped the Mana Gun and immediately infused it with mana.
Celia’s mana ability is S-class.
They had already experimented and found that infusing Celia’s mana into the Mana Gun produced immense power.
After realizing that fact, Celia began directly charging the Goblin Lord’s Mana Gun.
This was because if the power was low, the weapon would lose its meaning.
However, this couldn’t be done every time.
So, another solution was devised.
A method to make the Mana Guns produce high power even when goblins charged them themselves.
“A Royal Guard composed of Half-Goblins.”
Celia said as she returned the fully charged Mana Gun.
Goblins are not a race excellent in mana.
Even the Goblin Lord himself was not excellent in mana, so he was in a position to borrow Celia’s power.
Of course, there were some goblins who utilized mana.
Goblin Shamans were prime examples.
They used mana to cast various spells, but they were still goblins.
They couldn’t maximize the power of the Mana Gun.
Ultimately, a breakthrough was needed to solve this.
The Goblin Lord proposed it for that purpose.
It was the mass production of Half-Goblins using adventurers.
The goal was to create a Royal Guard that used Mana Guns with them.
Half-Goblin.
Literally, a goblin mixed with other bloodlines, not pure-blooded.
In this case, it could be seen as mixed with human blood.
Celia did not see this negatively.
She was the one who gave the human girls to the goblins in the first place.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, that girl also possessed mana.
And if a little more time passed, the first child would be born.
Celia tapped the desk a few times with her fingers and opened her mouth.
“Capture all the surviving adventurers. Hopefully, there will be those with mana among them.”
The purpose of the Half-Goblins was to nurture goblins with powerful mana.
To increase the probability, the opposing humans must also possess mana.
Not just possess mana, but high-level mana.
The higher it is, the higher the mana rank of the Half-Goblins born from them will be.
By repeating this cycle, eventually, even among goblins, there would be those with powerful mana.
Then, not only would the overall strength of the goblins increase, but the Goblin Lord’s creation of a Royal Guard would also become easier.
This would ultimately strengthen the dungeon itself.
The stronger the dungeon, the sooner the Master’s plan could be realized.
Celia thought so and stood up from her seat.
Most of the adventurers were already dead.
There were some survivors, but their numbers were far too few to evaluate the strength of the other dungeons.
Celia decided to give up on the evaluation for now.
However, she had no intention of letting the surviving adventurers go freely.
Shouldn’t they pay the price for daring to intrude into the territory of a great being?
“Capture all the remaining ones.”
She planned to make good use of the remaining adventurers.
Not only for the Goblin Lord’s plan, but if there was an opportunity, she might even use the Banshee to operate an adventurer squad.
The Master was a great being who would rule over a much wider territory in the future.
For that, more strategic cards were needed.
“Tell everyone. Not a single scratch is allowed.”
At Celia’s command, the waiting shadows disappeared.
Now, her command would be delivered to everyone within the territory.
Celia, accompanied by the Goblin Lord, slowly stepped out of the dungeon.
* * *
“Haa… Haa…”
Nariel and Iselin ran through the forest.
Their breath was short, but they couldn’t stop here.
“As long as we get out of here, let’s push ourselves a little more!”
Iselin encouraged and pushed herself harder.
The reason they were running wasn’t special.
This place was hell.
There was no safe place anymore.
A little while ago, they were in the Slime Dungeon.
Perhaps being careless for a moment was the cause.
The adventurers who were resting in the hot springs inside the dungeon were annihilated.
The adventurers could relax because the slimes had treated them amicably at first.
In other words, they were careless, but it couldn’t be helped.
Seeing their comrades so devastated after the battle with the Orc had broken everyone’s will.
Moreover, calculating the time since they received the quest and departed, they hadn’t rested properly for days.
In such a situation, which adventurer would pass by a place to rest?
Besides, the slimes themselves had been friendly towards them, so everyone had let their guard down.
But they were by no means friendly.
‘To think they’d use such a cunning method.’
The slimes lured the adventurers to the hot springs and then annihilated them all at once.
The adventurers’ skin began to dissolve in the acid.
The expressions of joy from moments ago instantly turned into screams filled with despair and pain.
Their flesh dissolved instantly, leaving only bones.
Most adventurers met a futile death.
The remaining adventurers chose to scatter and flee.
This place was hell.
It was a place they should never have entered.
That’s why everyone thought.
Running away separately was more likely to survive than staying together.
‘I shouldn’t have accepted the quest!’
They now understood why the Sail Kingdom and the Adventurer’s Guild prohibited entry.
Something was strange about the mountain range now.
Iselin shook her head, thinking that far.
For now, getting out of this place was the priority.
Other thoughts could wait until after they escaped the mountain range.
Penalty?
She wasn’t even thinking about it anymore.
Surviving was the priority.
“Le-, let’s rest for a bit… Haa…”
Nariel, panting heavily, stopped.
She felt like she had pushed herself to her limit.
“Okay. Let’s do that.”
Iselin had also run too much.
She needed a little rest.
The two settled under a suitable tree nearby.
“Ah, I feel a bit better now.”
Iselin lay down on the ground.
And she quietly looked up.
Darkness had already fallen.
The forest was filled with silence.
Furthermore, due to the branches stretching out in all directions, even the moonlight did not shine through.
“…Will we be able to live?”
Nariel said weakly.
“I… I’m so glad I met you, Iselin. Only you saw me for who I truly am.”
“……”
Nariel continued to speak.
“So I was always grateful. Thank you for treating me without discrimination, even after knowing my true identity.”
Nariel took off her deeply pulled-down hat.
“I’m sorry for saying this only now. I was too embarrassed until now.”
As she took off her hat, her hair flowed down.
“From now on, I won’t hide it anymore. I’ll live boldly, just as you told me, Iselin.”
Above all, her ears caught her eye.
Her ears were not those of an ordinary human.
The tips of her ears were pointed and elegant.
Nariel shook her head once and spoke to Iselin.
“So, speaking of which. If we survive this time, I’d like to ask you to-”
Huh?
Nariel stopped speaking mid-sentence.
“……”
Something strange.
Iselin, who should have been beside her, was nowhere to be seen.
She had vanished without a trace.
“Iselin…?”
Nariel hastily looked around.
But there was only darkness all around.
