Chapter 179 - Monke, Human, And Child

Walking through the Master's Path with Domino snuggly sitting on my shoulders, I delved into my mind to pass the time.

'I have enough DP to jumpstart my Dungeon in terms of production, defense, and capacity. The only thing to decide is which one to do so…' I cupped my chin as my legs continued to guide me through the straight tunnel, the damp floor cold to the soles of my feet. Domino hummed as she kicked both of her feet in a playful manner, her head tilting from side-to-side as she picked up on a rhythm.

'Although this is a good time to strengthen myself as well, but then again, if it wasn't for Drake helping defend my Dungeon, I'm sure that the primates wouldn't be my only casualties.' I winced at the thought of having my Residents die. Some of them are expendable, sure, like the goblins or kobolds, but it would be better in the long run if none of them died and I experienced over-population. 'I have a whole dimension to myself, since that's what a Dungeon is. A dimension is limitless in space, so over-population isn't a problem.'

Arriving at the foot of the stairs, my legs scaled them with ease on auto-pilot, leaving my mind free to wander.

'Space isn't a problem right now, so adding more rooms to my Dungeon will be put on hold… Production is steady, so that can also be put on hold… That leaves defense… As if my defenses weren't enough… Then again, we have a crazy person who killed a Goddess gunning for every Dungeon Master in existence, so defenses are the only plausible solution…'

Tapping Domino's leg, she looked at me with curious eyes, her humming stopping as she focused her gaze on mine.

"Yes Papa…?" She tilted her head cutely, and I chuckled at her lackadaisical response.

"Tell the primates to step up their training." Domino looked at me confused, before following my order without any questions.

Once again descending into silence, I scaled the stairs and finally reached the top. A few more minutes of walking and I finally reached the end of the tunnel.

It wasn't until a few more minutes later that I arrived at the door leading to Drake's current home.

I knocked on the door and waited for it to open.

"Coming!" From behind the door, I heard Drake call out, shuffling footsteps entering my ears as the door opened. "Finally. One of your primates woke me up because you had something to tell me."

"Yep." I popped the 'p' as I affirmed his words. "Let's head inside, though. Wouldn't want to talk in plain sight."

He nodded and moved out of the path so I could enter the house. Inside, I saw that he had already set up a table with drinks and light snacks such as chips. Taking a seat on one of the couches, I grabbed Domino by her waist and placed her on my lap, the girl leaning on my chest as she stared emptily at Drake.

Taking a seat himself, Drake grabbed a cup and took a sip from it. I did the same and drank from the cup that was right in front of me.

"… Cola?" I asked, and Drake smiled. I smiled back and took another sip, also giving Domino the other cup provided, filled with cola. She took a glance at it and sipped the ice-cold beverage with her tiny lips, her eyes widening for a moment before she chugged down the whole drink with fervor. "You like it?"

"Yes…" Domino nodded her head so fast, she might as well have gotten whiplash by the end of it. Both I and Drake chuckled at the response and Drake refilled her cup with the pitcher full of ice-cold cola.

Without question, she gulped it down like a starved animal. Chuckling a bit at her antics, both Drake and I settled for serious faces as the tension in the air rose.

"So… I assume that you didn't wake me up for a house visit?" Drake asked and I nodded, Domino, who was content to keep drinking cola continued without stop, her arms shaking as she lifted the heavy pitcher to pour more cola into her cup.

"You make a good assumption." I sighed and gestured for him to hold out his arm. He did as I asked, and I grasped his right wrist with my left arm, a confused look etching itself on Drake's face. "Tell me, what do you know about Drakhan?"

"You mean the spirit stuck inside the gauntlets around my arm? Not much, except that he is incredibly helpful." Drake shrugged and took a mouthful of cola.

"What if I told you he's the one who gave me my System?" And just like that, I was assaulted by cola spitting on my face. Domino wasn't faring any better, her hair wet and her face matted with the stuff.

"S-sorry!" Drake quickly grabbed a towel from his satchel and moved to wipe the liquid off of our faces, only to get a bit from Domino, who hissed at Drake with a scowl.

"Ow!" Drake retracted his hand as he shook of the pain, while Domino snatched the towel from his hand as she wiped the stains off of her head. Once she was done, she then proceeded to wipe the soda from my face and fur.

"… Drake, please don't do that again…" I deadpanned at Drake, who was sheepish enough to look shameful.

"Loud and clear…" Drake nursed his boo-boo as he plopped back down on his seat. Due to his slip-up earlier, Domino still scowled at him and I patted the irritated little girl with my hands.

After a few minutes of cooling down, the three of us were finally back to speaking terms.

"Anyway, as I said before: Drakhan is the one who gave me my System. He also said that the leader of the Human Movement cult killed a Goddess, whose corpse now lay rotting in this realm, and is gunning for every Dungeon Master under the sun." Summarizing the entire chat I had with Drakhan in the void, Drake hummed as he adopted a thinking posture.

"… Did he say which Goddess…?" Drake looked at me with dead eyes, his expression slightly scaring me, but Domino glared back with dead eyes of her own.

"Yes… The Goddess of the Human Movement cult… Goddess Phoemis." I replied, and Drake smacked his head on the table.

"… Fuck… Fuck… FUCK!" Drake yelled out as he slammed his head on the table over and over again. I moved to stop Drake from continuing his self-destructive action (not that it was needed), but stopped when I saw Drake looking at the ceiling with dazed eyes.

Sighing, Drake looked back at me, his face looking like it had aged a decade or so.

"Sorry… Just some more bad memories… You know how it goes." I nodded in sympathy with the admittedly tired-looking Drake. "Leave me alone for awhile… I… I need some time alone…"

Looking at the man, I nodded once more and hefted Domino onto my shoulder.

"Hey, if you need someone to talk to, just know that I'm here for you." He gave me a glance and then a brief smile before I headed out. Outside of the house, I looked at Domino, who was once again humming like nothing heavy had happened earlier.

"Domino, want to play some games?" Domino quickly snapped her gaze at me with a tiny smile.

"Yes…" Chuckling at the obvious response, I formed another Master's Path and headed back to the Dungeon Core Room to play console games with my surrogate daughter.

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~ Third Person POV ~

"What do you mean Erika's life signal vanished!?"

"It is as I say, m'lord. Erika's life signal vanished, meaning she has perished."

A loud crashing sound echoed across the hall as an average looking man threw a bunch of trays stocked to the brim with food on the ground.

"Why!? Why did she die!? She was a candidate for one of my generals! How could she have died while chasing a single heretic!?" The average-looking man continued to throw a temper tantrum as various foodstuffs littered the floor. The man in front of him dressed in a butler's outfit watched it all happen without batting an eye.

As the tantrum continued to grow even more violent, the butler sighed and reached for the average-looking man.

"M'lord. Please calm down. You're going to make the maids cry with the work you're giving them." This knocked the average-looking man out of his tantrum as he stared at the devastation his tantrum brought.

"… Yikes… Sorry about this, Laum… Care to call the maids to fix this up? And give them a raise while you're at it."

"As you wish, m'lord." Laum, the butler, bowed and turned heel, his back straight as he exited the room. The average-looking man then sat back at the table, which was now messy thanks to his tantrum.

"Why the hell did you die, Erika…?" The man palmed his face as he thought back to the female knight, the only person who would've been brought to general status had she remained instead of chasing after a single heretic due to her principles.