Chapter 12: Pave 10 Paths and Earn a Penny (2)

It took a while before I managed to calm down.

I sat on a flat boulder that was nearby and fixed my posture. I’ve already shown Lapis my worst side, so I didn’t have even the slightest right to make a display, but I wanted to be serious today. I had an important business proposal.

Lapis furrowed her brow slightly after hearing my request. It was so minute that I wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for my ability that allowed the other party’s emotions to transfer to me.

“You are interested in receiving a loan?”

“That’s correct.”

The Keuncuska Firm doubled as a bank. There are times when Demon Lords required emergency funds. In those cases, the firm would lend them the money.

There was one thing I realized after spending half a month extracting ores non-stop. It was the fact that, at this rate, it was only natural for an adventurer’s axe to fly at me and take my life.

2 gold a day? If I worked for a hundred days without rest, then I would only manage to make 200 gold.

With 200 gold, far from being able to hire a lowest-tier golem, I wouldn’t even be able to hire a goblin. I’d just barely be able to hire a goblin after grinding my bones to dust swinging a pickaxe. How was I supposed to protect my dungeon with a golem and 2 goblins?

‘I can’t.’

Adventurers seek dungeons. Riff’s party, who have become hostile towards me, were making me nervous.

It wouldn’t be strange for a party to invade my dungeon at any moment. I can’t sit back and leisurely wait for my money to pile up by mining.

I believed that receiving a large loan and slowly paying off the interest would be better. Honestly, I was confident that I would be able to pay back the loan itself and not just the interest.

However, Lapis voiced her refusal.

“Sir Dantalian, many Demon Lords have borrowed money from our firm. Among them, there are a fair amount of Demon Lords who only manage to pay off their interest. Not only is this due to the interest increasing each month, but the profit earned by their dungeons are inconsistent as well.”

Lapis shook her head. Her pink hair waved from side to side.

“The largest profit earned from dungeons are paradoxically the adventurers that come to invade them. The stronger the adventurers, the more profit that is earned. It is inevitable for strong adventurers to have good equipment and items, and Demon Lords can take those from them. In contrast, dungeons that only receive low-quality adventurers will barely profit at all.”

“…….”

“Most importantly, it is a question as to whether the firm will even loan you a lot of money. The Keuncuska Firm is a place that only pursues profit. It is an organization that causes other demons to become astonished by how cold-hearted they are.”

Lapis emphasized once more.

“If there is no guarantee for profit, then even if it is a Demon Lord that asks for a loan, it will still be firmly declined. Pardon my rudeness, Sir Dantalian, but the class of a Demon Lord is determined by the class of how trustworthy they are. It is a question as to how much the Keuncuska Firm will trust you, Sir Dantalian, when your rank is still F.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Not only does the firm possess a large military unit under its wing, but it has enough funding to hire more as well. The firm is merciless towards Demon Lords who do not pay back their interest. They have even threatened and used force against some in the past.”

She lowered the tone of her voice.

“Once, His Excellency, Rank 25 Demon Lord, Glasya-Labolas received a loan and did not pay back the interest for 70 years, the Keuncuska Firm mobilized no less than 36 demon armies and invaded His Excellency Glasya-Labolas’ dungeon. The Demon Lord’s monster units were wiped out and, in the end, His Excellency Glasya-Labolas had no other choice but to pay off the interest that had piled up for 70 years. As a result, his dungeon went bankrupt.”

Lapis let out a small sigh.

“This is the Keuncuska Firm’s strength. This is the reason why the firm was able to establish itself as the greatest firm on the demon continent for the past 3,000 years. Sir Dantalian, I am advising you not as an employee of the firm, but as another demon. Do not borrow money from the firm rashly.”

I could feel the other party’s sincerity.

This girl truly thought that my request was foolish. She wasn’t being cold-hearted. If anything, tricking me into receiving a loan would most likely help her personal business result.

Even though ensnaring a Demon Lord by loaning a small sum would be profitable for the company, Lapis disregarded her evaluation and the profit of the firm she worked for simply because she didn’t want to scam me.

She continued in a clear voice.

“Be patient. It may be difficult now, but if you slowly gather money for a century or two, Sir Dantalian, I believe that you will definitely manage to obtain a splendid dungeon as well.”

Lapis Lazuli. A demon with a cold face and tone who also possessed a businesslike manner.

However, different from her outer appearance, she was pure. She was quietly shining with her pure creed.

I pushed my request further towards this Lapis.

“What if I possess a business proposal that will most definitely be successful?”

“…….”

She gave me a blank look.

“Of course, our firm does not hold back on investments. If by the rare chance Sir Dantalian possesses a sure business idea, that is.”

You most likely do not, though, was what she was saying in between the lines.

I smiled lightly.

“An epidemic.”

“……?”

Lapis knit her brows.

“What do you mean?”

Good. I have her attention.

This is where it all begins. I whispered in my head.

‘Acting skill, activate.’

A row of notifications appeared before me.

「Acting has been activated.」 「A bonus effect will be granted to your skill according to your intelligence and charm stats.」 「The die of luck has slipped from your hand! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ‘slightly’ lowered.」

I received the Acting skill for beating the tutorial. It was literally a skill that increased my acting ability.

There was a fixed chance to lower the other party’s suspicion ‘slightly, somewhat, fairly, or incredibly’; however, since my intelligence and politics stats were abysmal, at most, I could only lower it slightly.

It seems that the type of skill I was bestowed depended on the actions I took during the tutorial.

If I got through the tutorial by force, then I would have probably received a skill like Thousand Endurance or Adept Army Commander, and if I had gotten through the tutorial by strategizing and planning out my moves, then I would have most likely received a skill like Long Spear Efficiency or Octal Notation.

For instance, Thousand Endurance was a skill that raised their character’s strength by 140% for a long period of time. It was also the skill that my hero character had in Dungeon Attack.

On the other hand, not only was Octal Notation a skill that turned the entire party the character was in into a stealth squad, but it also raised your party members’ strength and defense by 25%. Either way, both of these skills were referred to as overpowered skills.

Damn it, in contrast, the Acting skill was trash.

For starters, it had no direct connection with combat. The most important factor in Dungeon Attack was, obviously, the combat. In that regard, the Acting skill already received a failing mark. Moreover, it isn’t capable of deceiving the other party completely! Be it ‘somewhat’ or ‘fairly’, these were all subjective and relative terms.

In the first place, why were skills important? It was because they were capable of always displaying a reliable effect. They always exhibited a predictable effect, thus it allowed people to plan things out because they could theorize what would happen if they used the skill at a certain point.

An unreliable skill that you don’t know when and how well it will work?

I couldn’t even laugh at it. It would have been better if I could raise my stats a little instead.

There was a time where someone asked on the Dungeon Attack fan site about the Acting skill and some others. They couldn’t figure out why these skills existed. It didn’t lower the enemy forces’ intellect and it wasn’t like Dungeon Attack possessed a separate political or diplomatical system…….

I suggested that they might have added those skills in name only just so that they could have exactly 255 skills.

Honestly, I didn’t know what exactly the Acting skill did as well. I even forgot that this skill existed in the game. A trash skill that even an advent fan of Dungeon Attack like myself was unfamiliar with. The Acting skill.

‘Well, it’ll probably be as helpful as the dirt under an ant’s claw.’

I simply used the skill because it seemed relevant to the situation. Nothing more and nothing less.

I continued in order to persuade Lapis.

“Within 2 months, an epidemic will spread across the human continent.”

It seems she didn’t understand what I was saying that well as Lapis remained quiet for a while. Her confusion was being transmitted to me.

“……An epidemic, is it?”

“A plague known as the Black Death. On the year 1505 of the Empire Calendar, in other words, on the summer of this year, an unprecedented casualty will occur.”

This wasn’t a lie. This was a setting in the world of Dungeon Attack.

The year the protagonist starts to go around as a hero, in other words, the year that the player starts the game is in the year 1515 of the Empire Calender. The Black Death swept across the entire continent exactly one decade before this.

The epidemic, which starts at the northern end of the continent, spreads across the entire continent in an instant. Within a few years, 20% of the population, which consists of humans, elves, and other races, die out.

Should I say adding insult to injury……? Extremely lean years follow as well. Poor harvest for 10 whole years. There’s no way the harvest could be good when the people who should be farming get infected and the underground water reserves also become contaminated. Every race on the continent fell into anguish.

And they all turned the blame towards the Demon Lords.

They declared that the Demon Lords were the ones who brought about the epidemic and caused the famine.

Naturally, this wasn’t true; however, as the people in this world possess a medieval era-level of intellect, they sincerely believed that these accusations were true. They also had their suspicions because the demons suffered relatively less than they did. Demons naturally have strong immune systems because they were born on the demon continent which is infamous for its extremely rough environments. However, that was elaborately twined around the logic that the disease was harmless to demons because they were the ones to spread it.

The humans came to the conclusion that they had to expel every Demon Lord on the surface in order to prevent the extinction of mankind.

‘Conquer the dungeons!’

The age of adventuring. A new era unfolded where anyone that could swing a spear would gather around dungeons.

This was the back story of Dungeon Attack. In particular, the protagonist loses their parents during their childhood because a Demon Lord pillages their village, so they hate Demon Lords more than anyone else. Although this hatred dissipates as the story progresses and they find out the truth……. Mm, this isn’t relevant right now. The outlook of the world was rather dark despite being a game, but it was able to garner huge fans thanks to this.

Regardless, the important fact was this. A cure for the Black Death exists in this world.

The plant is known as black herbs, but you can think of it as an herb that’s a little rarer than the deodeoks you can find back in my original world. In other words, they aren’t that rare. (TL note: Deodeok)

However, as soon as people found out that black herbs were the cure during the early phases of the outbreak, people started gathering black herbs like mad. It was due to this that the seeds became rare.

Black herbs were later managed and cultivated on a national level, but it was too late. It was like trying to use a rake to push water uphill. The amount cultivated was astronomically abysmal in comparison to the number of patients. In the end, the population was sharply reduced by half within a century.

‘The greatest tragedy in history created by misunderstanding, ignorance, and urgency combined together.’

I would consider this cruel…… but once I realized that I was coincidentally dropped in the year 1505, I was ecstatic. I was so happy that I ran around with my one good leg.

Because I could take advantage of this situation.

‘An unprecedented epidemic will sweep across the continent soon. Black herbs are the cure for the disease. This was information which only I knew!’

Who could possibly imagine something like this in the world?

The black herbs that grow on the mountainside and are useless for normal illnesses and have such a tough texture that you couldn’t even use them as an ingredient. The absolutely pointless plant that you couldn’t even use as a spice was the one and only cure for the worst epidemic in history.

Black herbs were a weed that had no name until the Black Death started to spread. People started to refer to it as black herbs once they realized that it worked against the Black Death. Moreover, people discover the effect of black herbs several years after the plague had spread across the entire continent.

What does this mean?

‘If I stockpile on black herbs now, then I’ll be able to earn an unimaginable profit.’

This was definitely a cruel thing to do. Each black herb I collect would have normally saved someone’s life.

However, I may think, speak, and act the same like the people in my world, but I treasured myself more than the characters in a game and I cherished my golem and goblin as well. I wasn’t kind enough to let a chance to develop my dungeon slip by for some random people I don’t know.

“I know what the cure for this encroaching epidemic is. If I monopolize on the cure now, then I will be able to earn a massive profit later.”

We exchanged questions and answers for a while.

How was I certain that an epidemic was going to spread, how did I discover what the cure was going to be, it was these sort of questions. I simply fleshed out the information I had and lied appropriately.

Now then, Lapis Lazuli. How will you react?

“…….”

Her azure eyes gazed right at me. Eventually, her soft lips spread apart.

“I apologize, but I still cannot.”

There was no hesitation in Lapis’ eyes. I received a firm refusal.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Nothing really much to say, this is just an exposition chapter to introduce the plague. I’m still waiting for Handholding scans.

I’ll see you guys in the next release?