A5P3: Location of Hero and his group

When I woke up I sit on corner of the bed. Lizzie was still sleeping with big, cute smile. The room was dimly light up with magic lamps I had in my Magic bag for who-knows-how-long.

„So you woke up?“

„Um… Yuki? You are here?“

Yuki came from shadow in corner of the room. She was wearing only her airy sleep-gown.

„I am...“

She came to me, taking my head in her hand she sit on my lap. I fell her warmness.

„I’m still not ready to do what Lizzie did… but…I am here becouse I want to. So don’t forget about me.“

„Yuki… How…how could I forget about you? You were the first one who accept me as demon lord. You were here with me all the time, always by my side, I will never forget about you.“

I kissed her and hold her closer to me then before.

Then I reached for my Magic bag and took out one of the rings from Kaen and hold it before her.

„Yuki, let me ask you, will you marry me?“

Tears started rolling from her eyes. „Yes!“ was her answer.

********************************************************************************

After breakfast I was attacked by strong smell comming from alchemy wing.

Me and Lizzie, still smiling, went to investigate.

„Thanks.“

„For what?“ I asked.

„For what you did for Yuki. I heard you, you know?“

„Oh, you did?“

„I didn’t want to crush the girls moment of happiness… but you could ask me that before as well.“

„Was there a reason for me to ask?“

„No but still…“

„See? That’s what I’m talking about Lizzie. Not like I’m complaining. I can’t complain about girl that loves me same way I love her.“

„… …Z-z-z-zaru! Y-y-y-you idiot!“ I got slapped at my back and the hit send me flying through the hallway. Landing in front of doors to the lab.

„What is this commotion?“

Istena walked out of the door and I had perfect spot to see her underwear.

„Black.“

„WAH! L-lord Zaru! What are you doing down there?“

I quickly stand up and after Lizzie came to us I continued.

„I smell something weird so we came to ask about it.“

„I-i-i-i-is that so? W-well follow me,“ Istena said still red blushing.

„Doesn’t it look like she have something for you, that dwarf-elf?“

„You mean Istena? I don’t think so, really. She is just in charge of leading alchemy lab.“

„Hey, you two! Came quickly!“ Istena turned to call us and I got a glimpse of her panties again and let out a little smile.

„Sure!“

„You are really…“

„Green stripes.“

„H-how do you know that!?“

„Demon lord’s secret,“ I smiled.

We followed Istena and I got to see a lot of third grade mana potions (about 60MP worth per vial, my mana potions were second grade = 100 MP).

„Did you made those?“

„Yeah. We thought that we will need those with larger projects and third grade is still the best thing we can use. Most of us don’t have more MP than 60 so it is stable for us.“

„There are at least 10,000 vials!“

„Yeah, we got really into it and before we know it we were done.“

„Are you workaholics?!“

„Not really, we just want to repay your kindness our lord,“ Istena said holding my hand.

„Okay! Make some space here!“ Lizzie jumped in.

„Oh, my~ are you jelous miss Lizzie?“

„Jelous? I got piece of Zaru inside me so I don’t need to~“

At that moment lightings started flying between the two.

„So what are the projects you are currently working on Istena.“

„Oh, my Lord~ You can call me Fia, if you want~ I work on potion that could heal demons. As you know potions are made with holy power and that’s why they are useless for demons.“

„That’s really impresive.“

„Hehe~ I have my co-workers separating mithril slag from our smithy to get more mithril to use, our mithril waste is currently 0,3% but I belive we can make it 0,2% in less then a month.“

„That would be good. Continue the good work. Now tell me what was that smell?“

„I belive it was this.“

Fia pointed at a vial in glass box. The liquid was completly black. The weird color made me use Identify.

[Instant death potion: potion that can, with even a sigle drop, kill a dragon]

„Instant death potion… kills a dragon with single drop… how in the world did you make this thing?“

„What the?!“

„I-i just mixed some mandragora with that black dust you gave me sir Zaru…“

„The black dust… Hmm… wait you mean that death dragon powder?! Don’t tell me you added those other things as well? And where did you get mandragora?!“

„Just some blue petals and red sticks… Also that mandragora sprouted from Spring wheat when exposed to that black dust.“

„Infernal twigs and Blue lilly… that… you created something that should never be seen. And quite easily at that…“

„What do you mean?“

„Blue lilly and Infernal twigs are harvested from A-rank monsters Inferal treant and Freezing Moss Giant, not to mention death dragon scales are really rare.“

„And how did you got them Zaru-dear?“

„I was A-rank adventurer so I was sparing with Freezing moss giants a couple of times.“

„Just sparing?“

„If I killed them I couldn’t harvest the blue lilly six times a year no?“

„Why did I never heard of this?“

„Becouse you would go crazy like always when I went against slightly stronger monster…“

„Can you blame me? I didn’t want to become widow before even getting married.“

„Now, back to the Instant death potion… This thing… I will lock it somewhere safe, all experiments with Death dragon powder are to be reported and that mandragora… as an S-class ingredient, it’s creation is to be limited and the fact that we can make it must stay between us three, understood?“

Fia and Lizzie nodded.

„Good. I will go finish what I wanted to do in the begining, Lizzie you go with me. And Fia, what did you do with rest of the mandragora?“

„I made some petrification cure, which needs to be tested, and the rest I dried and made into fine powder.“

„I see… use these bird statues for testing, they were turned to stone by basilisk.“

I still have that statue in my magic bag… but this is not the time…

When we left the alchemy wing we headed right to the Throne room, where audiences were to be hold. I put some formal clothes on me and sit on the Golden throne. Lizzie (as the Prime minister) started the audience.

„First one to request audience is Gandar, of Craftman division under Kaen.“

„Yes!“

„What is your reason for coming here then?“

Uh, this acting is hard. Good thing I took etique classes in Royal academy in Mutasa kingdom, at least I can do simple politics.

„Yes, as requested, me and my boys remade the crown and we are now asking for permision to display our work.“

„Your Majesty?“

I nodded.

„Permission granted.“

„Thank you Your Majesty,“ Gandar bowed.

One of the Star elvish boys took out red cushion covered with red blanket. Between the two was hidden the crown.

When the boy came to us, Lizzie took the blanket off, silver crown adorn with differnetly colored stones was in front of our eyes.

„Magic stones.“

„Yes, there were some mined the other day so we requested them to be made into the crowns gems.“

„I see, good work. Lizzie, can I ask you to put the crown on my head?“

„Yes, Your Majesty.“

Lizzie took the crown and with ceremonial-like movement she put the crown on my head. No need to say that I got to see her chest up close like this.

„Oh… it… it’s perfect! Such amazing sight to see!“ Lizzie said with tears in corner of her eyes and the entire room was in silent agreement.

„Hm… It do looks good and I can see that those magic stones boost my elemental deffences... Anyway, your reward will be determinated later. Now next subject on our agenda is?“

„Yes, Your Majesty, our next topic is… about means of payment. To say, we need our own currency to step up into the word as independent nation.“

„I see… Gandar, will you do it?“

„I will show you my best results Your Majesty!“

„Good. I expect good results soon.“

„Yes!“

After Gandar and his men left, Kyoko and three ogres came before us.

„Your Majesty, I present you the oldest sons of Three dukes who joined our cause.“

I nodded silently.

„My name is Sentro Ganibell,“ introduced himself redhaired ogre with bluish black horns.

„I am Gaburo Herdbell,“ said blond ogre with black horns.

„And I’m Hagen Haaren, nice to meetcha!“ said whitehaired, red eyed ogre.

„T-these thee gentlemens came here as representatives of ogres who after the war stayed in former ork capital.“

„How many people it was?“

„About 1,000 soldiers plus their families. So about three-and-a-half thousand ogres.“

„I see, so where are they staying?“

„They are currently working with Gnobu, Gnozar and Gnoti in order to set up village near one of the animal-type fake dungeon.“

„Oh, you mean the one near High elvish Empire? That’s preaty far away from here, will it be okay for them to be here?“

„Yes, my lord. After all, building good relations with you is the best for us Ogres for the future.“

„Wasn’t that your job Kyoko?“

At those words Kyoko went little pale and I could see in her eyes that she was thinking hard of the outcome. In the end she went from pale to bright red.

„You really… Zaru…“

„Well, allow me to welcome you in our dungeon, sons of our precious neighbours. Kyoko as your senior will show you around. Let’s hold a party in the evening.“

„„„Yes, Your Majesty!“““

„With that, our last person on the list is Albea, ambasador from Demon Spider Queendom.“

„Yes!“

Albea walked towards us in her ceremonial dress. As expected from succubus, it was only few strings all around her body.

„Your Majesty, I belive we should show her what the word ‚Dress‘ really means.“

„Ara~ are you jelous miss prime minister?“ Albea smiled.

„No, but I wonder how you would react if I teleported you into the snow outside?“

„Hmhmhmm…“ lightings started flying between the two.

„If you are done, could we continue?!“

„I’m sorry Your Majesty.“

„I’m sorry darling.“

„Now, you said you wanted to open negotiations about trade between our two nations.“

„Yes, From my walk around the dungeon I am sure that your mines and metalwork are far above our own. I belive that items created by your craftsmen would be popular. In exchange we would like to show you our high quality carpets and other types of fabrics, as well as dyes, which we are famous for.“

As Albea said that, three bug-like men walked to me and show their samples.

„Hm… this is really good quality fabric, even our crystal spiders can’t make this smooth fabric. And I know really well how good your dyes are. Yes, this is good deal let’s talk about details later.“

„Understood, Your Majesty,“ Albea said delighted, sending a wink at me, which I ignored.

After audiences were over, me and Lizzie stayed in throne room.

„So you want to summon a monster?“

„More like a flying golem.“

„Golem? And flying one at that?!“

„They are called [Dungeon’s eyes]“

„Eyes? So you want to monitor something?“

„The Heroes movement. I belive that they will go through Balgom merchant union to Petty kingdom of Gurrem and then they will enter our domain.“

„Oh, I see.“

„That being said, the eyes can’t leave dungeon area, can’t record sound but they can see status of target, and lastlythey are connected directly to Dungeon’s core.“

„So if they are destroyed you won’t take damage right?“

„Yes that’s it. Now ‚Summon Dungeon’s eye X50!‘“

In that moment fifty stone balls with mechanical wings appeared in front of us.

„Go south to our border with Petty kingdom and Council state to monitor movement of the hero and his group. Now leave!“

The eyes disappeared in split second. And for two day we didn’t hear about them. And the morning after that…

„So the hero entered the cage…“

„How’s his party looking?“ Lizzie asked.

„A swordwoman, probably silent type. A magician girl, looks like the pyromaniac type and priestess, that one is probably also a pervert… weirdly no angel…“

„Wait, they are all girls?“

„Yes… the hero is human, level 74 one of his skills gives him double the strenght of his level so his strenght is around level 148. The swordswoman is level 81, nothing interesting about her…“

„Except her boobs.“

„You said that Yuki. Next is the magician girl, she’s level 89, highest of the group… the priestess is dangerous on the other hand.“

„Huh? Why?“ Lizzie said.

„Her status is ‚Unreadable,‘ I never saw something like that, also why is she wearing a mask? I never heard about mask-wearing priests, after all they are called voice and face of gods… this is so weird.“

„Yeah… what are we going to do?“

„I would say we have about a week before they came here… we will give them royal reception, second to fifth floor will be locked. Tell Renzir to fill the first floor with her summons, whose loss will not hurt us. Lowest level is to be set at 50, highest is to be 120. Now let’s get ready.“

„Zaru, could I…“

„You want to be there with me right?“

„Yes.“

„I understand. Yuki, you go inform Renzir.“

„Yes, I…“

„You’re not fighting Yuki. Your level, may have risen since the start of the war, but you are still weaker then the heroes party.“

Yuki started sobbing.

„Plus I’m really looking forward to diner you make. Could I ask you to make something good?“ I patted her head.

„If you die there I will not forgive you.“

„I will be by his side all the time so you don’t have anything to worry about.“

„Thanks Lizzie.“

And with that a week has passed.