Chapter 28: Pre-Boss Fight Dialogue Is a Sacred Exchange

As expected, the fraud was easily conquered. I was waiting for Mahdnus to access his Demonic Devices before surprising him with a finishing move. I made a deal with Emerald at the critical moment, and wound up a powerful windy uppercut using her magic.

Mahdnus, and most high-rank demons, suffer from a critical weakness. The very moment they tap into their Demonic Devices, they become weakened for just a moment. It’s a small window of a few seconds where they become drained of all their power. Smarter demons will be careful about this and strategically tap into their power in safe circumstances. Mahdnus was pampered his whole life, and with his incredible power, no demon could beat him anyway, so I made an educated guess based on the lore I already knew. Surely a stuck-up, delusional guy like him would be too confident of his own power to be defensive.

My hunch was correct, and now I have a new party member! The demons in this world have to follow a covenant called the Hellish Nine Rules, and one of them is quite convenient for me. Any demon who loses against someone else must serve that person until they are released by the victor. Of course, I’m going to take full advantage of that. Mahdnus was simply too confident in what he did to acknowledge that he could lose. What a truly wonderful world setting! This is the fastest I’ve wrapped up a story arc! Now I can spend a little more time indulging myself in the extra content Gimmimunee can provide.

The first matter of business is robbing the Weituriche Bank!

Mahdnus actually already took care of the hard work. With his magic, he’s restrained the humans inside and has silenced the area with magic. All we have to do now is grab the money and leave.

I was expecting some sort of magic bank guard to show up… but I guess Mahdnus was the resistance? Speaking of him, he’s kind of trailing behind me like a dejected puppy. Is he alright? I didn’t rattle his demon brain with that uppercut, right? Perhaps I should talk to him.

“Hmm, so Mr. Prince, your name is Mahdnus Amunskt Kayaus, right?”

“How did you even know that?”

“Hehe, it’s the power of a special NPC like myself. Of course, I won’t reveal more than that.”

“A mere creature like you, knowing more than the future ruler of the world, what insolence!”

“Well, it’s alright, because right now your position isn’t ‘future ruler of the world’, right? After losing to me, you’ve been promoted to ‘Village Girl A’s Party Member’, or something along those lines. Also, I’m not a creature, I’m just as human as anyone else y’know?”

“Then that makes my situation worse! I lost against an existence so weak! Any position under a human is a demotion! If it weren’t for The Hellish Nine Rules we demons must follow, I wouldn’t be in this situation. Those idiotic archaic rules we are forced to follow will be abolished once I wear the crown.”

“Hey, listen up Maddie, you complaining like that isn’t -”

“Maddie?”

“It’s your mandated nickname. Reuben is Reuby. Mast Tersheff is Sheffie. Mahdnus is Maddie. Simple and easy to remember, right? Your name is too much of a mouthful to say every time anyways. Plus, it’s spelled weird.”

“My name was honored in a demonic blood pact that was witnessed by ten legions, if not more, and it has been thrown away at the whims of a human. My dignity has been trampled upon in every way today…”

“You’re being dramatic. Getting a nickname from me is like a medal of honor! When I eventually complete my grand mission, you’ll really appreciate the nickname Maddie.”

“I highly doubt that will be the case.”

Having spoken with Maddie for a bit, I find the inflections in his voice really fun to listen to. He had a dignified, if somewhat panicked way of speaking during our fight, but now his voice is fluctuating into more reserved tones. Ahh, it’s so fun to hear the voices of characters from The Tears of Nephelai!

Reuby, whose voice is firm as always, steps into the conversation.

“Are you two going to keep bickering? I’d really rather not be here right now, so if we can just… do what we need to and leave, I would appreciate it.”

“Reuby has a point, the casino won’t be open forever, so let’s hurry up and clear this place out. Maddie, I’ll be counting on you!”

“Ugh…”

The robbing process goes quite smoothly from there. The safe is easily infiltrated thanks to Maddie’s power, and by giving him the bags filled with gold and treasure, Reuby and I don’t have to worry about anything. I was even able to feed some gold-coated rocks to my chickens! They should get a slight stat boost after this, which is always nice to have.

In terms of new items that I’ve equipped myself with…

[Gilded Gold Ring Acquired!]

[Shiny Silver Ring Acquired!]

[Burning Bronze Ring Acquired!]

I’m really racking up the ring counts, huh? They’re the most simple accessories to equip, and this trio of rings actually work well together. Overall, I get a minor boost in all my stats while having a greater sense for treasure. I’m not sure what exactly a “sense for treasure” is, but if it gets me more money in the future, then I have no qualms. When I tried to put the rings on my hands, the slimy ring of necrotic nonsense rejected them, so I had to settle for placing them securely within my apron dress’ pockets. It seems I am forever wedded to Nekuroberu, and my jealous necrotic-spell-spouse rejects all other suitors. My hands must be crying in shame that they cannot decorate themselves in any other way.

Well, it’s not particularly a problem. Even when the rings are nestled in my pockets, the buffs are still active. It seems like as long as I equip accessories in a somewhat functional way, they’ll activate.

Oh, and I’m not feeling particularly guilty about doing this. The Weituriche Bank is located near the lake, and it’s clear that all sorts of wealthy individuals and nobles make use of it. If I steal a bit of their funds, they’ll still be able to live just fine. Plus, if anything, I’m just helping them sponsor the casino! I’ll be heading there real soon, hehe.

“So, three intruders and their pet chickens are boldly pilfering the family’s bank? How interesting. I almost can’t believe my eyes.”

A sudden voice?! And with dialogue I don’t recognize?

A fairly tall man stands a fair distance away from us, leaning against one of the walls of the building, flashing us a crooked smirk. Red hair and golden eyes… Ah, was he the heir to the Weituriche family or something? He was only mentioned in passing during The Tears of Nephelai, but I can’t ignore that hair and eye combo. Was something like this a hidden encounter I could only get by performing an event like this early?

By the time the Hero arrives in Gimmimunee, Maddie has already successfully robbed various establishments all across the city. This means that Maddie either fought and won here, or my involvement caused a change in the schedule.

Either way, looking at this guy’s smug face makes me happy. A secret boss encounter! I’m fairly confident I can handle it with my party. Let’s provoke him.

“You’re the son of the Weituriche family, right? I heard that your father has been engaging in some pretty nasty acts. Are you even dirtier than him, having to clean up trash like us?”

“Oh? The girl wants to provoke me? She thinks such a low-brow insult will make me lose my reason and run into a fight?”

“The girl does in fact think that. In fact, the girl knows that you’ll fall for it because you wanted to fight us from the start anyways.”

I hear unwelcome commentary by my side.

“Talon, why are you provoking another fight?! Why are you like this? Arghh!”

“So the human who beat me is named Talon! I shall remember that for the day of your reckoning…”

“Geez, Reuby, Maddie, don’t you know that the pre-boss fight dialogue is a sacred exchange? What the heck is with those unrelated lines? The tension is ruined now! Hey, Mr. Weituriche! Ignore these two. Just focus on what I said, alright? You wanted to fight from the beginning, right? You wouldn’t have so blatantly revealed yourself otherwise. That’s how your trope works.”

“Trope? Heh, well, no matter, I can’t deny it. The girl is right.”

He snaps his fingers, and immediately, some strange metal giant is summoned right in front of us. It looks like a giant living armor, with a strange gem in its chest, and with visible magic leaking from its joints. A metal boss?! This will be fun!

“You face Dadiz Weiturche, the first son of Aiyam Weituriche, and the heir to the Weituriche Bank! Prepare yourselves!”

“Hey Maddie, I think he does your shtick better than you.”

“Even now, you show insolence, I shall not forgive this Talon!”

“You two, focus on the giant golem in front of you and fight!!”

Oh, Reuby’s right! This thing is a golem! It must be a newly designed type. I wonder how this will go? With the surprise appearance of Dadiz, it seems this arc hasn’t ended quite yet. Hehe, I’m certainly not complaining.