“Rei. Rei.”
“Lady Fiona… what’s the matter?”
Ever since Primila caught on to the throne room mana situation, Lady Fiona had been in there replenishing it.
Which meant we’d barely seen her lately — Primila, Pilukaya, and I have been managing the auxiliary dungeon on our own.
But today, Lady Fiona came to us.
…It was a bit of a shock, honestly. Like watching someone who’d been shut in their room for ages finally step outside.
Which, to be fair, is exactly what this was.
“Are you thinking something rude?”
“Not at all, nothing of the sort. What brings you here?”
“I’m the Demon Lord. I came to see how the auxiliary dungeon Rei built is doing.”
Right — she’s my superior, the highest authority in the Demon Lord’s Army.
She came to check on her subordinates’ work in person.
The same as always — a Demon Lord who genuinely looks after her people.
“…My liege.”
“What is it, Primila?”
“Has the emergency mana reserve in the throne room been fully replenished?”
“…”
Silence. I glanced at Pilukaya — he was desperately trying not to laugh.
That told me everything. Lady Fiona got bored with the mana replenishment.
So she came down here, whether for a change of pace or just an excuse.
And Primila, who figured that out before anyone else, was already sliding into lecture mode.
“The throne room’s mana reserve serves a critical function in the underground demon realm.”
“Yes, I know. I know that, and I’ve been in there doing it alone this whole time.”
“Is it finished?”
“…I was a little tired, so I thought I’d take a break and do an inspection.”
Rei-sama’s dungeon is running smoothly. With Pilukaya-sama’s surveillance, everything is under control. There are no issues.
That was Primila’s message. The unspoken conclusion was clear: go back to the throne room.
It was sound logic, and even the Demon Lord couldn’t argue with it. Lady Fiona looked a little deflated, but seemed to have accepted she’d be heading back.
“Um… would you like to at least see what the dungeon looks like?”
“Yes!”
I know. I know, so please stop giving me that look.
I endured Primila’s flat stare — the one that said stop enabling her.
It’s just… she seemed a little pitiable. Lady Fiona is a Demon Lord, but she’s kind of a hopeless one. She was probably lonely in there by herself.
“Here’s the overall layout.”
I handed over a copy I’d sketched of the map visible through my skill.
Only I can see that screen directly.
Useful sometimes, but not being able to show the map to other demons is the one real inconvenience.
“Mm-hm… standard goblins at the start. Gradually stronger as you go deeper, and at the end a Goblin King leading a group.”
“Yes. Since the goal is to get people to come in, I was told not to put anything too strong near the entrance.”
“Treasure chests refilled regularly, and no mana channeled in.”
“I was told visitors would stop coming if there were only monsters.”
Well, with how often intruders clear them out, the contents will tend to be low-rank items anyway.
Even so, apparently it makes quite a difference whether chests are there or not.
The ones near the beginning are accessible to anyone with decent ability, so even the intruders don’t expect much from them.
But that’s supposed to make them think: if the early ones are already here, there must be untouched chests deeper in.
That’s what draws them forward.
Managing whether they get wiped out or driven back at that point — that’s our job.
So far nobody’s made it past the boss room, which means the chest in there has probably accumulated some decent contents by now.
“…Shall I take custody of the boss room’s chest? If it absorbs too much dungeon mana, the intruders might end up with powerful equipment or items.”
Come to think of it, she’s right.
I’d been so focused on managing the intruders themselves that I hadn’t thought through the chest contents.
“Good point. I hadn’t considered that. In that case, the chest is yours, Lady Fiona —”
“No.”
Primila stopped me.
“W-why not, Primila?”
“My liege — what exactly do you intend to do with a chest you take custody of?”
“…Since it would already have some mana channeled in, the amount I’d need to add would be less.”
Ah. So not custody exactly — she wants to use it for the usual treasure chest gacha.
Personally I don’t mind. Whatever the intruders don’t collect was always going to end up as Lady Fiona’s anyway.
“Do you know how much mana that chest has accumulated?”
“No, I couldn’t say…”
“Then you also don’t know how much more you’d need to add to get a result.”
“That part… I’d cover with luck.”
That’s not a plan, that’s the absence of one.
Not surprisingly, Primila wasn’t moved.
“Based on previous results, I believe your luck is poor, my liege. So no.”
“Wh-why?! You and Pilukaya came out just fine!”
“I’d rather not be used as a benchmark here…”
“A-and besides — it’s true that if I don’t collect it, powerful items could end up in intruders’ hands.”
“That’s being managed. And at the level of that dungeon, nothing will drop that poses a threat to any of us. Not even close.”
So she’s been tracking that too.
Primila is exceptional in a completely different way from Pilukaya.
Small wonder Lady Fiona is so determined to bring the Four Heavenly Kings back — each one of them is exactly what she needs.
“Hmm… the rooms and corridors don’t seem too complicated, at least.”
“Oh — back to the dungeon.”
“What?! If even you start being cold to me, Rei, I’ll have absolutely no one on my side!”
“I’m on your side~”
“I know you’ve been laughing this whole time!”
“Oh — you noticed?”
Something is wrong here. As Demon Lord, every demon should be on her side by definition — so why does she seem so isolated.
“I’m properly on your side, Lady Fiona, so please don’t worry.”
“W-well, good then!”
“You’re enabling her again…”
I didn’t hear that, Primila.
It’s easy to forget, but this is a Demon Lord who once declared she’d be unmotivated for ten thousand years because everyone else died. If pushing her away now sent her into a complete shutdown, that would be a problem for all of us.
“No traps installed?”
“They turned out to be more effective than I expected, so now I have Pilukaya assess the intruders’ strength first, and only install them when necessary.”
“Those things are brutal. If they were always set up, the intruders would just get wiped out immediately.”
So at most one or two at a time.
And ideally held for opponents who can actually handle the boss — that was the advice.
I’d underestimated the traps. Apparently they’re quite something.
“…”
“Lady Fiona?”
After going through her impressions, Lady Fiona went quiet.
“I can’t find anything to criticize…”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Which meant the auxiliary dungeon had succeeded to a standard the Demon Lord herself approved of.
“But I’m the Demon Lord…”
Maybe she’d wanted to have some advice to give.
Or maybe seeing us finish the dungeon without her left her feeling left out.
Either way, at this rate Lady Fiona would spiral again.
“Still — it means a lot to have you look it over and tell us there’s nothing wrong. It’s reassuring.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes. We’d appreciate your continued oversight going forward.”
“W-well, if Rei insists! I suppose I’ll keep checking on things from now on.”
Good. That wraps everything up neatly.
“You’re pretty good at handling the Demon Lord, you know.”
Stop, Pilukaya.
He said it quietly enough that only I could hear, which was fine — but if Lady Fiona had caught that, she’d be spiraling again.