Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 398: The Dripping Night (7)

The archdukes were actually delighted to hear that Paimon would be joining me.

No matter how sincerely I apologized, the archdukes probably wouldn’t be able to feel that sincerity from me.

But it was a different story if Paimon was also involved. If someone as popular as Paimon were to bow her head, the archdukes could save face. This was just another form of politics.

I made all the preparations necessary.

Ivar was going to attend to Paimon while I was going to be attended by Daisy.

Ivar and Daisy looked like innocent young girls on the surface, but their combat powers were actually immense. On one hand, there was a puppeteer who could control fifty combat dolls at the same time. On the other hand, there was a hero who was equipped with Baal’s greatsword. You could call them the greatest weapons. There was no one more reliable than these two to protect my well-being.

“Sir Dantalian, I am still worried.”

However, it wasn’t enough to appease the concerns of my diligent Minister of State Affairs.

“As of late, the demon world does not have a favorable opinion of you.”

“What? Are you worried the archdukes might try to assassinate me?”

“You have already experienced an assassination attempt once.”

Lapis said as she adjusted my mantle.

“It is true that Miss Ivar and Miss Daisy are capable, but just in case—.”

“There will be no ‘in case’.”

I gently held Lapis’ hand.

It was only natural that she would be worried. It was none other than Lapis who got wounded in my stead when that assassination attempt for my head played out in the demon world. It was thanks to her covering for me that I came out unharmed. However, I was going to the demon world without Lapis this time…….

“Excluding that one occasion, every other assassination attempt that happened was planned out by me. Lapis, death may come for me one day, but now is not that time. The archdukes are not complete idiots, after all. They are decently smart and decently stupid.”

“Recently…….”

Lapis opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself.

It’s extremely rare for Lapis, who’s always precise and tidy, to cut herself off mid-sentence. I generously waited for Lapis to continue.

Lapis closed her eyes. She then appeared to resolve herself as she looked straight at me and spoke.

“My mother was a succubus who sold her body.”

“…….”

“I am the half-blood offspring of a succubus prostitute and some unknown human. After only half a month since being born, my mother abandoned me and ran off somewhere. I grew up hopping from stable to stable within a village.”

Lapis had never told me about her past before. I also never brought up my past. It was because we implicitly agreed that we didn’t need to do something like that.

This was……the first time ever Lapis was bringing up her past.

“The other demons treated me as a curse and an embarrassment. Succubi are already scorned as whores, but adding the lowly blood of humans on top of that made it worse. The term ‘untouchable’ was probably created for people like me. There was not a single day that I did not have food waste for my meals, and there was not a single day that I did not cover my body with tattered rags.”

I had a feeling this was the case.

I didn’t know her mother was a prostitute, but I knew Lapis most likely did not have a good childhood since the moment she told me she had human blood in her.

That was why I deliberately did not ask her about her past.

I decided that I would allow her to speak if she were to ever bring it up herself, but I would never be the one to ask first. We have a certain relationship between the two of us and something like my curiosity is entirely trivial within it.

“One day, I was struck in the head by a stone that was tossed by one of the villagers and passed out. When I opened my eyes, I could not tell how many days had passed. All I could tell was that my throat was extremely parched.”

Lapis undid her hair ties.

Her hair, once neatly tied into pigtails, now hung loose. Lapis turned her head slightly and revealed an area on the back of her head that had always been concealed with her hand. There was a distinct scar mark.

“My eyelids felt heavy and I felt something sticky clinging to the entire back of my neck. I barely managed to crawl to a nearby stream to drink some water. It was then that I saw my reflection in the water. My entire upper body was completely covered in blood.”

“…….”

“That was the first day I yearned for authority.”

Lapis stared at me with her usual impassive look.

“The Keuncuska Firm was the only group in the demon world that evaluated individuals solely based on their abilities, regardless of social status. Of course, unspoken biases exist even in the firm, but I did not care. My goal was to first attain a certain position with Keuncuska.”

Sir Dantalian, Lapis said my name.

“Sir Dantalian, it was not a coincidence that I was placed in charge of you. You were basically treated like a beggar in the Keuncuska Firm. Traders higher in rank than me refused, refused, and refused until the position finally came down to me at the bottom of the hierarchy.”

I smiled bitterly.

If you think about it, the very act of assigning a girl with mixed blood between a succubus and a human as a Demon Lord’s handler could be considered extreme slander. Normally, beastmen, who are considered of noble lineage in the demon world, are assigned to Demon Lords.

On one hand, there was the Rank 71 Demon Lord who was comparable to a beggar.

On the other hand, there was an untouchable of the demon world, a mixed blood between a succubus prostitute and a human.

You could say it was a match made in heaven.

“I immediately accepted the position. The reason was simple. If you were one day able to acquire authority, I would be able to ride on your coattails. It was a calculated approach and a choice I made to satisfy my desire for success.”

Similar to how Lapis was my only helper.

I was also Lapis’ only road to success.

We used each other and were fully aware of the fact. In other words, we weren’t a lord and vassal, but partners. This was the reason why I would only concede to Lapis.

“When you devised Operation Minerva and declared that you would force both the human and demon armies into ruin, I agreed. Since it meant that if you are able to use the opening created by that chaos to obtain authority, I, too, would take another step to authority.”

“……Indeed.”

“When you decided to crush the human villages and cities, steeled yourself for one massacre after another, and even inflicted harm upon yourself, I always nodded in response. I understood that these were the shortcuts to authority.”

—Therefore.

“I am your accomplice.”

We are accomplices for the deeds we have carried out.

“I have never once stood idly by for you while someone died, and I will not do so in the future. I, Lapis Lazuli, who was born to a faceless mother and a nameless father, will face my life with my own face and name.”

Lapis spoke with absolute sincerity.

The tiniest bit of emotion I could feel from her conveyed to me that her words were pure and genuine.

“I know that you have been drinking until dawn ever since the day you whipped Miss Laura. It does not matter if you hide the bottles under your bed. I also know that you had a section of the floor removed on the southwestern side of your room and got a small alcohol storage built there. I demolished it last night.”

“Haha.”

I let out a refreshing laugh.

“It is splendid that you quit doing drugs. Now it is time for you to quit alcohol as well.”

“All right.”

I nodded.

“Do not try to take responsibility for everything on your own.”

“Yeah.”

“I will also do my utmost to endure, so—.”

“I absolutely won’t die.”

Lapis neatly brought her hands together and bowed.

“Please have a safe trip, Sir Dantalian.”

* * *

An elderly man opened his arms in welcome.

“It is a profound honor to have Your Highness grace my humble abode.”

Among the archdukes ruling over the demon world, this man was the ruler of Serpent Hell. He was also the archduke with a reasonably good relationship with me. I held my right hand out to the archduke who was bowing deeply.

“It has been a while, Archduke. How many years has it been since I last visited?”

“Haha. Time is like flowing water. Five years have gone by in a flash.”

The Serpent Archduke gratefully accepted my hand in both of his and shook it respectfully.

Previously, I had secretly filmed an SM video with Barbatos and used it to threaten the archdukes. There was a total of seven archdukes who had witnessed that memoria recording.

All seven of these individuals were excluded from the previous purge.

The demon world which originally had 26 archdukes lost 11 of them due to the purge. Now there were only 15 left. Among these survivors, seven of them shared a secret with me that they had to carry with them to their graves. The Serpent Archduke was naturally a part of those seven people.

“Ohh, Your Highness Paimon!”

The Serpent Archduke raised his upper body and greeted the person next to me in a much more exaggerated manner. He bowed so deeply to Paimon, whose arm was linked with mine, that it felt like he would kiss the floor.

“This humble one greets the glory of demonkind, the mouthpiece of the weak, and the master of all honor and promises.”

The Serpent Archduke gave an adept wink.

“Of course, if Your Highness allows me to add another title, I would also include that it is an honor to meet the ‘most beautiful individual among all the Demon Lords’.”

“Fufu, this lady appreciates your sincere welcome, Archduke.”

Paimon giggled. The way that Paimon would smile with her eyes in moments like this was truly beautiful.

“In the end, the continent is a foreign land. Even if it falls into ruin, the demon world will always be our homeland. While we Demon Lords are absent and advancing, the archdukes have always remained behind and protected our home so that we have a place to return to. I am personally grateful for the loyalty displayed by the archdukes.”

“I am honored to receive such praise.”

Paimon held out her hand. Once she did, the Archduke got down on one knee and kissed the back of Paimon’s hand.

There are several political gestures you could infer from this exchange.

First, the Serpent Archduke greeted me before Paimon. This showed that he publicly prioritized me more than Paimon.

Second, despite this, contrary to the short exchange with me, he spoke to Paimon much longer. By greeting me first and giving Paimon a bigger welcome, he was trying to establish a sort of balance.

Third, Paimon returned the Archduke’s big welcome with a similarly big response. Furthermore, she put her hand forward to make the Archduke kiss it.  I may have been greeted first, but Paimon was the one to be shown the utmost courtesy. In the end, any spectator who watched our exchange would believe that the Serpent Archduke had welcomed us equally.

“Your Highness Dantalian. Your Highness Paimon.”

In gatherings such as this, there were always far more exchanges, whispers, confirmations of opinions, and acknowledgment of skills happening behind the scenes than what was outwardly apparent.

Unlike the majority of Demon Lords who were inexperienced with politics, the archdukes were fundamentally seasoned in politics.

“Welcome to this one’s palace. I will guide you to where the other archdukes are gathered.”

This was the demon world.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. A very nice moment between Dant and Lala. We don’t have enough of those. I wonder if this is what the LN focused on the most for Lala’s character.

I hope everyone is having a good start to their 2024. Our company is apparently hiring another EN translator? I thought they would’ve stopped after the last guy in December, but it turns out we’re getting one more person next week. I hope there’s no foreboding reason behind this. It could be them trying to get rid of freelancers by replacing them with full-time workers. I guess we’ll see.

In any case, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.