“Hey — could you put in a word with the Demon Lord for me? Like, say that Pilukaya really wants to be useful and could she please give him something to do.”
“Oh… so that’s it.”
“It’s important. I mean — I worked that hard to make it all the way to Four Heavenly Kings, and then I go and blow it like that. I need to show my liege I’m still worth something.”
…Something about that sounds familiar, and I find myself unexpectedly sympathetic.
Right. I’d been doing the same thing — desperately demonstrating the Dungeon Master skill’s usefulness so Lady Fiona would keep me around as a convenient tool, and that anxiety hasn’t gone away.
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Oh? You’ve got something in mind?”
“Not really — it’s just that she used the resurrection elixir on you specifically. Lady Fiona must have had something she wanted to ask you, which is why you were revived first.”
“Are you serious?! Yes! She hasn’t given up on me! …Wait, though. You make the resurrection elixirs, right? Couldn’t she just bring back everyone in the army whenever she wants?”
“Well, it’s not quite that I make them…”
I gave Pilukaya a quick summary of the treasure chest situation.
He listened in silence, and gradually his eyes went wider, until finally he burst out.
“Pfft — no way, my liege! That’s why Primila gave you that talking-to!”
“I— I know! But it was necessary!”
“Ahahahaha! Well, if that’s the kind of elixir that brought me back, I’d better make it worth it.”
“Yes, I’m counting on you. First and foremost, I need your eyes — start preparing. I want you to find locations where a small dungeon entrance appearing wouldn’t look out of place and wouldn’t cause a stir.”
“Oh~ I see… yeah, that’s definitely a job for me. Let me get started scattering right away.”
At Lady Fiona’s instructions, Pilukaya began preparing immediately.
The ease between Demon Lord and Heavenly King — the communication really is effortless.
“Pilukaya is a fire spirit. He can split his consciousness and send it into flames to create separate instances of himself.”
“So he can gather information about anywhere in the world…”
Fire exists everywhere, after all.
Even in this dungeon, every corridor and room has torches to light them.
If all of those became Pilukaya, the intelligence advantage would be extraordinary.
“Important strongholds and national facilities are shielded by barrier magic, but what we want are safe locations for dungeon entrances — and we’d prefer to avoid those places anyway. It works out well.”
So not everything is accessible.
Still, it makes perfect sense why Lady Fiona chose to revive Pilukaya when she did.
He has exactly the capability we need right now.
“How many instances can he make?”
“If he commits to it, over a thousand. Though spreading his consciousness that thin weakens each individual instance. And the weaker the main body, the narrower the range — so for scouting purposes, it’s better not to create too many.”
Some limits, then.
Still, more than capable enough. And he understands the balance better than anyone.
Pilukaya seems to have already started — he hasn’t responded to anything in the last few minutes, apparently focused on gathering information through his instances.
Whether this place is safe enough that the main body can be left unguarded, or whether this level of concentration simply requires that much focus — either way, at some point it would probably be worth building a secure room specifically for when Pilukaya is doing intelligence work.
◇
After a stretch of time, Pilukaya’s attention returned to the room.
He started moving again suddenly enough to catch me off guard — but he seemed to have finished his sweep.
“Got a few candidates~”
“Impressive. You’re reliable.”
“Well, I am talented! Uh — do you have a map of the underground demon realm from before it was destroyed?”
“Here, Pilukaya-sama.”
“Oh — as expected of Primila. You’ve always been on top of things.”
As if she’d known that was coming, Primila was already holding the map out. Pilukaya took it and looked it over.
So this was the dungeon before it collapsed… even now I think of it as large, but before it was far larger — all sorts of rooms I can’t even picture.
While I was thinking that, Pilukaya tapped several points on the map.
“These spots look good. Small villages and towns, not much foot traffic — slow to be discovered.”
“That helps, but low foot traffic might be a problem in its own way. We want a certain number of intruders to build up the dungeon’s mana.”
“That’s fine. Once it’s found, word gets around — people come looking for it. Starts small, adventurers first. If they can’t handle it, bigger expeditions follow.”
So that’s how it works.
In that case, the locations Pilukaya picked make sense. A dungeon near a small town isn’t likely to bring national soldiers down on it right away.
“Lady Fiona — what would you like to do? My mana has recovered, so we could start building the dungeon right now.”
“Hold on just a second~”
I was about to ask Lady Fiona, but Pilukaya cut in.
“Building the dungeon is fine, but — I also found something interesting.”
“Something interesting?”
Apparently his report wasn’t finished.
I’d jumped in too early and nearly talked over him. Sorry about that.
“Looks like the Great Reincarnation has already started.”
“The Great Reincarnation… yes, Rei is a reincarnate, so it would be about that time.”
“Wait — you’re a reincarnate? Hm~ that’s unusual. A demon reincarnate.”
“The goddess just decided that on her own.”
“Ahahahaha. Goddesses are selfish like that. Rough luck, Rei.”
Tell me about it. Though I’m in a considerably better situation now with Lady Fiona’s protection.
“By the way — what exactly is the Great Reincarnation?”
I had a rough idea from context, but better to confirm.
“A period in which a large number of reincarnates appear in this world at once. That’s the Great Reincarnation. Rei was likely among the first of this wave.”
“Which means… people from my world are coming here. To defeat the Demon Lord…”
“That’s right.”
I’d been trying not to think about it.
Setting up monsters and traps to repel intruders — that isn’t just driving people away from the dungeon.
Wanting the dungeon’s mana to accumulate means wanting people to die in here.
I’m a demon, and the first people I met in this world tried to kill me on sight.
That’s just how it is for demons here, I was told — and I accepted it, stopped expecting any dialogue with anyone outside the demon side.
Maybe I’m just choosing to believe what’s convenient for me.
But I don’t want to die. And for the sake of that selfish wish, I’m going to end up with blood on my hands — probably a lot of it.
That was what I’d been telling myself.
But if they’re people from my world… maybe there’s at least a chance of talking first.
“Rei. Do you want to kill me?”
“N-no! I just want to stay by your side, Lady Fiona…”
Yes. That’s all.
For a demon like me, the safest place in the world is beside the most powerful final boss alive.
…Even I find that a cowardly choice. I hate that about myself.
“Then let me give you a warning. I’m sorry to say — even people from the same place as you will be difficult to reason with. The ones who charge in recklessly to kill me, especially. They won’t listen. …Please, at the very least, remember that.”
Lady Fiona’s expression as she said it looked, somehow, sad.