“There should be demand for paralysis antidotes now.”
“Adding monsters that counter the items you just sold them — that’s pretty mean~”
Keeping things fresh matters. I think I finally understand the mindset behind balance patches.
That said, push too hard and they might give up on clearing the dungeon entirely, so I’ll keep it moderate.
“The shop is doing better than expected. If we could use those profits to buy a resurrection elixir… or even just pour them into chest mana…”
Lady Fiona’s ambitions remain as ruinous as ever.
Please don’t — if paid features got added to the chest gacha, Primila would genuinely lose it.
“Is the resurrection elixir really not available on the open market?”
“Extremely rarely, at extremely high prices. For the most part, it’s held by governments.”
Makes sense.
It can revive a dead Heavenly King — any state would want to keep that in reserve for emergencies. No one would sell one.
“And even if it did appear on the market, we as demons would have no way to make the purchase.”
Primila’s addendum was equally fair.
If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t have needed to hire Serika as a shopkeeper in the first place.
“What about items that restore Lady Fiona’s mana…?”
“My liege’s mana pool is so far beyond what’s normal that no item exists which fully restores it. That’s what the throne room mana was for — though apparently…”
“W-what?! I’ve already finished replenishing it! And Rei, stop giving him things to bring up!”
So the throne room mana was functioning as a substitute for recovery items.
Which means Lady Fiona’s options for mana recovery are limited to either tapping the emergency reserves or natural regeneration.
…No wonder Primila gets frustrated.
“Well, once Rei gets stronger, he might be able to channel mana to my liege instead of the throne.”
“You’d need about a hundred of me just to match Pilukaya, let alone Lady Fiona…”
“Seriously…? Wow. That’s our Demon Lord.”
And the fact that Lady Fiona pouring mana into the chest for this long still hasn’t produced a resurrection elixir speaks to just how rare they are.
In a game you’d just buy one from a shop…
Maybe in the original it was a revival mechanic that kicked in after battle — back to 1 HP, outside of combat only.
“Not to Lady Fiona’s level obviously, but Rei’s gotten pretty strong by now, right?”
“More or less.”
Between the shop revenue and the traps and monsters grinding experience, things have been moving.
Izumi Rei — Mana: 36 / Strength: 16 / Technique: 24 / Fortitude: 23 / Agility: 17
Mana keeps climbing, which is what matters most.
The other stats feel like they’re growing more slowly now — but as long as mana keeps going up, that’s manageable.
Stats are progressing as expected, no issues there.
The dungeon menu is a different story.
Not that nothing new appeared — it did. But…
Create Inn: Mana Cost 15
What kind of dungeon is the Dungeon Master skill trying to get me to build?
A shop and an inn. Is the end goal just providing a comfortable experience for visitors?
Well. I’m going to build it anyway.
“Whoa!”
Pilukaya jumped at something.
Serika, who happened to be in his field of view at the time, also looked like she’d seen a ghost.
An inn materializing out of nowhere without warning — the surprise was fair.
“…Rei. What is that?”
“That’s an inn.”
After an exchange that could have come out of a language textbook, Lady Fiona buried her face in her hands.
“This isn’t like any dungeon I know…”
Same. It’s not like any dungeon I know either.
The inn is built, but as expected — no staff, same as the shop.
The facilities themselves are flawless. Any guest would be satisfied.
…Assuming there were someone at the front desk.
“If I may — how would one actually operate this? Serika already has her hands full with the shop. Splitting her attention between both would be difficult.”
“Yeah… what do we do.”
“You didn’t think this through?! …Rei. Wasting mana is not a good habit.”
“My liege. The same applies to you.”
“Oh no — collateral damage—!”
I understood Lady Fiona’s point, but from Primila’s perspective there clearly wasn’t much difference between us.
There is a difference though — I’m building toward a stronger dungeon. Necessary expenses.
“In my case, it’s for restoring the Demon Lord’s Army — all necessary expenses, really…”
Look at that. She saw me about to go down and immediately tried to save herself.
“You are both the same.”
Neither Lady Fiona nor I escaped the lecture.
Lady Fiona… I have to hand it to her for reviving Primila first.
Or maybe she just didn’t trust her own impulses enough and needed someone to keep her in check?
◇
“Um… some kind of inn just appeared out of the wall next to me…”
“Yes. It’s the workplace of your future colleague.”
“I… see… so there’s someone else who surrendered to the Demon Lord?”
“For now, it’s only a plan.”
“I see…”
We all went to look at the inn together.
The Demon Lord and two Heavenly Kings appearing at once — Serika had the expression of someone accepting her own death.
Lady Fiona is still in Demon Lord mode around Serika, but the facade is slipping bit by bit, and my fault for it — some of her less dignified moments have been leaking through, and Serika visibly doesn’t know how to react.
“Serika — do you know anyone who might work as inn staff?”
“Mm… beast-kin who run away from fighting — that’s basically just me. The merchants and shopkeepers around here could fight if they wanted to, and I was the only one considered a coward…”
She answered with a distant look and her usual unease.
“If I’d never used the Options skill from the start, I could have kept overestimating my own strength and gone on not realizing this world will kill you without hesitation…”
“What options were you even looking at?”
“My prospects… No matter what I chose — fight the Demon Lord, level up and then fight the Demon Lord — the outcome was death.”
So that’s how it was.
Before she used her skill, Serika was no different from those reincarnates I met early on.
Suddenly given power by a goddess, told to go kill the Demon Lord, setting out to do exactly that because it all seemed straightforward.
The goddess’s blessing, the assumption that a game-world boss is beatable — the overconfidence comes naturally.
They must all test their abilities right after arriving.
But Serika used her skill at that point, saw through the Options that this world wasn’t going to let her just walk through it — and that changed everything.
“Hmm… the Options skill. It really does seem useful.”
“Lady Fiona?”
She was thinking about something.
Had she come up with a good way to use Serika’s ability?
“There happens to be a chest here.”
“Why is there a chest here…”
What Lady Fiona showed Serika was the very familiar chest gacha.
“Please look at your Options for what happens if you open this.”
“Um — okay… if I open it I’d get some kind of incredible sword… and if I don’t open it, the contents improve further?”
“I see.”
Lady Fiona poured mana into the chest.
“Try again.”
“Yes. This time… a resurrection elixir?”
“Now! Rei!”
“R-right!”
Swept up in her momentum, I opened the chest as told.
Inside — an actual bottle of resurrection elixir.
“Well?! This is my achievement!”
“…Congratulations…”
Too late. Completely too late.
Forgetting Serika was even there, Lady Fiona had reverted entirely.
She’s genuinely happy though, and sometimes that deserves a reward.
A new resurrection elixir — meaning another Heavenly King can be revived.
The choice of who will be Lady Fiona’s to make, but I found myself wondering who would be joining us next.
◇
“Serika! Next one!”
“Yes! Not a resurrection elixir!”
“Hmph… next!”
“Not this one either!”
“…And this one?”
“No…”
The two of them are causing a commotion in the shop, surprisingly in sync.
“What’s going on over there?”
“Seems like she’s been pouring mana in while Serika checks whether each pull is the elixir. As you can see — not going well.”
“Rough.”
“Yeah~ Apparently it’s not just about how much mana you put in — there’s luck involved too. So even knowing the right moment to open it doesn’t guarantee anything.”
Not that simple.
Lady Fiona’s expression had been growing increasingly aggrieved, and she finally shouted in a voice of pure resignation:
“All they added was a pity animation!!”
The world really doesn’t go easy on you.