We had pleasantly completed our air travel.
Stolas"s dungeon was an orthodox dungeon, the kind where adventurers come and go. It would not do for us to arrive anywhere near her dungeon atop a Darkness Dragon so we chose a place a little bit away and landed there. Afterwards, I used a power of mine as a Demon Lord and put the Darkness Dragon into my [Storage].
It was just in case but other monsters, the ones made from imitation medals to be specific, were in my storage too. I was prepared for the worst case scenario.
Using her [Transform], Kuina had hidden her fox ears and tail.
Wight, on the other hand, wore a rather loose robe to hide the fact that he was a dragonewt.
Like so, we walked toward Stolas"s dungeon for a little while.
"As expected from Stolas, she has good taste."
The outside appeared to be a [Tower], a very large, snow-white, beautiful tower. It wasn"t gaudy at all. Rather, it was elegant.
"Oto-san"s city is more splendid."
"I agree. It is an impressive dungeon but it fails in comparison with Avalon."
"Kuina, Wight, no, a city and a conventional dungeon shouldn"t be compared. They"re just too different."
It seemed my monsters felt more compet.i.tive with Stolas than even I did.
Oh well, as long as they"re motivated.
"Now, I wonder how do we"re going to meet up with Stolas."
As I thought of ways on how we were going to let Stolas know that we had arrived, the voice of a woman called out to us.
She appeared to be a human who wore a robe that seemed to be for magicians but I knew otherwise.
I knew that she was a monster and that she had disguised herself to appear like a human so that she wouldn"t draw any unwanted attention while outside of the dungeon.
"We have been expecting you, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell-sama. I shall be your guide until we reach the Transfer array so please follow me this way."
I was so grateful that Stolas arranged this for us.
"Thank you. You"re a great help. I take it you can also use [Transfer]?"
"Yes but because my rank isn"t that high, I can only carry a maximum of three targets per Transfer."
She smiled as she replied so.
I too wanted to make a monster that could use [Transfer].
If the chance presented itself later on, I wanted to ask Stolas to tell me which medals she used for this monster and if possible, trade those or even the imitations medals of those to me as well.
Using the same medals wouldn"t guarantee that the monster born out of it would have [Transfer] but if my [Creation] medal was thrown in the mix—and provided that there was at least one other original medal—the chances of getting such a monster would increase tremendously.
At the moment, Avalon was completely dependent for our Transfer needs on the crow monster that I got from the [Time] Demon Lord.
Aside from not knowing when it would betray us, having only one such monster was very inconvenient. Especially so since Transfer was an immensely useful ability. So much so, in fact, that if possible, I would like to make an S rank monster that had [Transfer].
"Is there something wrong with my face?"
"Oh sorry, how rude of me to stare at a woman"s face. It"s just that I was curious about you."
"Fufu, you flatter me. Well then, this way please. I have prepared a Transfer array in a hidden room within the dungeon."
After our conversation ended with that, I walked a few steps behind her until we reached the hidden room she spoke of. When we were there, the monster who disguised herself as a human took off her robe.
Her hair which was green darkened while her ear grew longer.
She somehow felt like Aura and the other elves. Is she some kind of elf subspecies?
And then, she led me by the hand and did the Transfer.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a white-themed room. Much like the dungeon"s outside appearance, it was elegant looking and not gaudy at all.
I had no doubt that this was…
"Welcome Procell. It"s been a while."
Yeah, this was Stolas"s room.
She was in a dress as she smiled and greeted me so.
To her back was an angel-type female monster waiting on her. I recognized who this monster was: she was a Rathgrith, a monster that had a cheat skill that could improve the performance of everyone in the same force she was in. Other than that, she was also able to communicate via telepathy to her teammates. It goes without saying that I wanted someone like her.
"Yeah, it has been a while. Thank you for your warm welcome despite our sudden visit."
"Think nothing of it. We, well, we"re friends after all."
Stolas said so and then slightly turned her head away in an effort to hide her reddened face, seeming to suggest she felt a little shy to say out loud that we were friends. At that, I unconsciously smiled wryly.
"Your dungeon"s amazing. I was only able to see the early levels but from the outside up to the hidden room we used, your dungeon"s so elegant and teeming with humans."
"Just what I"d expect from you, Procell, you have a good eye. It"s amazing, right? [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth-sama had taught me a lot of things as I built this, you know. My dungeon"s adventurer return rate"s very high and yet it"s still very cost-effective DP-wise. I was in the red at first but in time, I was actually earning. Recently, I"m earning about a thousand DP per day. I have managed to make some Maelstroms as well and as I continue to increase them, the more DP I"ll earn!"
"That really is amazing."
Stolas gleefully told me so.
For a new Demon Lord that had a traditional dungeon, earning as much as 1,000 DP per day was incredibly hard.
Firstly, she needed to advertise her dungeon so that she could entice adventurers as visitors. After all, if no one knew her dungeon existed, no one would come.
It didn"t end there though. Once her dungeon was known, she also needed to prepare baits that would make adventurers want to come. These baits came in the form of her monsters and some treasures. And to further increase the number of her monsters, she had made some Maelstroms which could produce a monster each day at no cost except the initial investment for them.
It should be noted though that if the adventurers kill too much of her monsters and take too much of the treasure, it would have put her in financial trouble. Knowing the right balance to things took a certain kind of sense so earning as much as she had, Stolas was certainly a genius. I, myself, wasn"t confident I could have earned 1,000DP a day with a traditional dungeon in such a short amount of time.
"Well, I"ve been a little underhanded: I realized that if I used my [Omnipresence], it"s possible to lose less of my monsters."
"No, making use of one"s special abilities is part of a Demon Lord"s dungeon management. You did a good job."
"Thanks… for that."
Stolas said so with a smile.
"How much does your city earn, Procell?"
"As of late, I"d say I"m usually earning between 2,500 and 3,000 DP. Though at times, I can earn a little more than 3000 DP."
The population of Avalon was on the rise. Along with that growth, the DP I earned each day was also increasing.
Avalon"s strongest point was its citizens. The quality of the citizens" emotions was weaker when compared to a normal dungeon but since I could consume the humans" emotions non-stop for 24 hours, I could say that the humans made living much better and stimulating.
Actually, the humans made, on their own volition, casinos and brothels which then led to much stronger and better tasting emotions. I wonder which facility that could make their emotions even better would they next build if left alone?
The only others that I knew of were the theater and coliseum, and the construction for those were both under way.
"That much!? As ever, you"re absurd, aren"t you?"
The moment she heard I made more that 3000DP, her smile grew stiff.
"Why don"t you try running a city as well?"
"No, that"s alright. Building a city"s your shtick; I have my own ways of doing things and I"ll show you I can overtake you with that!"
I didn"t feel any jealousy or self-pity in her voice, only the desire to improve herself.
As expected of my friend.
"Stolas, your Demon Lord clothes today look different than usual, aren"t they? They suit you though."
She usually wore a cute, gothic lolita dress as her Demon Lord clothes but today, she wore a s.e.xy dress that accentuated her body line. It even had a slit that showed off her white leg.
"Th-thank you. But it"s not like I wore this because you were coming here."
"I understand. It"s because you"re going to the [Dragon] Demon Lord"s dungeon that you must dress up, right?"
Stolas made a rather complicated expression on her face.
I understood what she felt and that she must have dressed up to impress me. It was so obvious, it was harder not to notice but I"d rather avoid such things. I wished, instead, for us to remain both as rivals and friends.
"Yeah, that"s right and that"s why I have to dress properly, okay?"
Her mood was somewhat turning sour so I decided to leave it until later.
"I"d like to offer you some tea while you take a break but now seems hardly best time for it so let"s go right away, shall we?"
"Do you have a Transfer array that goes to the [Dragon] Demon Lord"s dungeon?"
"Of course, he"s my parent, after all."
I was relieved to hear that. With a Transfer array, we could be there immediately.
"Procell, I"m going to say this just in case but do be careful with your words, okay? Astaroth-sama is an awfully strict person, you see."
"Of course. He is regarded as one of the strongest Demon Lords, after all. I have no intention whatsoever to be discourteous to him."
Someone such as me wasn"t any match for him. Negotiating with him scared me but I looked forward to it nonetheless since I just might be able to gain a lot of things from it.
Also, after this meeting, I would be someone who, through some twist of fate, have been able to talk with all of the three strongest Demon Lords.
"I"m glad you understand… something feels a little bit different about you, Procell."
"Really?"
"You seem more reliable. If we can find the time, tell me about the things that have happened to you."
"Yeah, let"s do that. I"d like to leisurely talk with you too while we enjoy some tea."
When I agreed to her proposal, the monster that could use Transfer entered her room. The most she could Transfer was three people. With Stolas coming with us, we obviously exceeded that limit.
Stolas seemed to be going alone but I surmised that she had some of her followers in her [Storage].
I also decided to put Wight into my [Storage] since Kuina, as usual, didn"t like to be put there. She even pleaded with her eyes. Well, it worked out this time so I didn"t pursue it but in the future, she should get used to be put in the Storage.
And so, we Transferred. When I next opened my eyes, we were most probably in the [Dragon] Demon Lord"s dungeon.
I"m worried. I hope the [Dragon] Demon Lord will willingly help Marcho.