Volume 7, Chapter 15: In the North, Part 4, Part 1
There is apparently a dungeon here, which might be the cause of the zombie incidents.
However, the contract between me and Corona is to: [Go to the Dwarven Country and deal with the Northern Hero who would destroy the country as part of resolving the issue], so, if I want to finish off this contract, I only need to find and terminate the hero.
But I won"t do that.
It"s not that I particularly want to get along with the hero. It"s just that I gave a promise to Yuuki-kun: expose the crimes of the traitor Heroes and to let him deal with them himself.
Yes… A [Promise].
For all that a Demonic [Contract] is absolute, there are in fact back roads to follow. For example, a Demon, which has no concept of a life expectancy, can just leave the request to be completed later if they don"t like it.
Even in the case of a contract with a deadline like this one, as long as the Dwarven Country remains in form, if not function, I can declare that the minimum contract needs have been completed.
Always be careful when a Demon comes by as a door to door salesman.
However, promises are different.
I don"t know about other Demons, but I always fulfill my promises… to my friends, at least.
Besides, if it"s too easy, isn"t that boring?
And so… when we came to this world, I made a decision.
I"ll do my best to complete this without looking like a Demon.
“In other words, Futa and Daichi will be working with my servants to capture the dungeon room by room.”
““What was that!?””
Mu~. Was that not enough explanation? Daichi and Futa both gave me a tsukkomi at the same time.
Well, maybe I need to explain better.”
“Nea, Tina, give those two their new equipment.”
“Understood.”
“Of course.”
At my direction, Nea gives the newly forged magical swords we bought to those two. Tina also has half plate which I bought properly.
The swords were quite pricey in all, even one costed as much as a small car. Due to the reinforcing magic circles on top of that, it"s the price of getting a new car for every family member. When I told them the price, they both went blue in the face.
“W-wait a minute, aren"t you putting me and Daichi on the chopping block too fast?”
Futa looks at Daichi before glancing back at me.
“It"s different since you"re with me. Since I"m here, I"ll heal you and provide support magic, since you weren"t accepted as a Hero to fight the Demon King, if you"re coddled here it wouldn"t be training, right?”
“Training through combat, huh?”
“Yeah, that.”
At the downtrodden words of Daichi, I give a light giggle.
The plan at the moment is to make this a life risking battle drill for Futa and Daichi. Ultimately, my goal is to make them strong enough that they won"t easily die against a Hero, but I won"t say that aloud.
Those four: made up of these two along with Mizuki and Touka, are slated to eventually become [Heroes].
After leaving the training of those two to Nea and Tina, I"ll move to the end of the dungeon.
If there"s a dungeon master there, I"d like to talk with them about some things. I intend to just hold back the Hero, although Tina and Nea both think that they won"t lose even if they battle the entire Heroes party alone.
According to my estimates, the [Hero"s Party] and an [ArchDemon] are about equal in power.
Since my little ones are higher than most of the greater demons in fighting power, while it would be dangerous if they fought all four heroes, I don"t think that a single Hero"s party would be a problem.
However, since it might spoil my status as a Demon, I want them to avoid battle as much as possible.
“Should we put the hero"s companions into “Snacks?”
“…In moderation”
For Tina, the soul of a Heroic party member was about the same as a banana, feeling-wise.
“Well then, shall we go?”
“Umm… Where is this dungeon? I know Coronsan said that it was underground, but we don"t know where the entrance is, right?”
Futa gave a neat summary of the situation.
According to the adventurer"s guild of Gamble, the dungeon should be nearby. Maybe one of the residents here would know?
“I bet the Dwarf Elder here knows where it is.”
“Well then, should we start from there?”
Daichi and Futa seem to be excited to feel like adventurers.
BuBuu~ Wrong answer
“We"ll knock it down”
““…Wha?””
At my statement, the two of them look towards me, and when they look back, Nea has pulled out the [Nyanko Sword].
“[Nya]”
*Dogoooon!*
The sound of crumbling earth overshadows the slashing sound that causes me to blush as usual, as the ground of the lesser traveled road is penetrated by Nea"s blow.
As expected, it easily split the less magical rocks.
A few earthquakes are still rumbling, and I can hear the screams of residents here and there, but this is just as calculated. Honest.
I don"t think there were any witnesses, so using the large dust clouds thrown in the air, we quickly jumped down into the dungeon before anyone could see.
We made a landmark. Come on over, Hero. Please follow along.
… Now that I think about it, it might have been bad if there wasn"t a dungeon below.