Chapter 19

19 – Demon of Love, Toying with the Hero Party

The day before yesterday. In other words, the day I started working as the Chief of Staff after deciding to do it.

Even after meeting with Marchosias, I proceeded to greet many more monsters.

Things didn’t proceed as favorably or as smoothly as my time with Marchosias. When asked if they would like to form a contract with me, some asked me to show them my power, while others said they would make a decision after they see my work ethics.

Nobody’s opinion of me differed, it was merely their way of thinking that did.

Incidentally, those who formed a contract with me include the Floor Boss of the first stratum, the Watchdog of Hell Naberius and his follower the Invisible Slaughterer Glasya-Labolas, the Floor Boss of the second stratum, the Spirit Commanding General Kimaris and his adjutant the Black Wound Hunter Leraje.

These four have roughly the same motive as Marchosias, that is to say, they wish to have a rematch with Fenix and party.

A Monster’s dungeon name is basically prefixed with a Title that expresses the race that they belong to. However, on the occasion that a Floor Boss’s strength proves worthy, the Dungeon will acknowledge their strength by giving them a unique inscription.

For example, if you wanted to express Milla as a Monster, you could simply say the Vampire or the Vampire Carmilla but in actuality, she can be called the Vampire Queen Carmilla and so on.

On the Adventurers’ side, a strong sounding enemy name gets them excited because defeating them will give them prestige so they welcome Monsters with Titles. They also liven up the commentary in the video feeds.

「The Vampire Queen Carmilla has been vanquished!」「The Werewolf Chief Marchosias was defeated in one fell swoop!」or so they might say.

I suppose heroes getting titles like Flame Hero or Frost Hero etc, are similar.

Anyway, these Titles stimulate their image. On that point, rare races have a hard time giving the impression that they are strong, so their Title indicates what kind of enemy they are.

Even I am to be given a title. The Demon King is currently in the midst of thinking of one to give me.

Now then, the monster that Fenix and co. are encountering has the title of The Demon of Love, dungeon name, Sitri.

Sitri is one of the Big Four that was the only one missing at the time that I was invited to the Demon King’s conference room for the first time.

She has pupils that look like that of a cat’s and pink hair. She has a small build as well as a small face and seems to be a girl in her early teens. She did her hair up in twintails which gives her a childish look.

By no means did Milla let me meet any other female monsters but when I met with Sitri, she did not intervene the conversation.

It seems that Sitri did not think too highly of me assuming the role of Chief of Staff. The position as one of the Big Four used to be the closest to the Demon King but now I have taken a position that is even closer than that and she is bitter about it.

In other words, Sitri adores The Demon King Luci.

「Not cute.」she said poutingly when she looked at me and went to join her subordinates.

Well, it would be odd for her to suddenly have confidence in me.

Overall, my reception has been too good.

As I expected, I have been put in charge of the tenth stratum.

But not as the floor boss, I have been given another job.

That is-whoops, I better pay attention to the screen.

I see a cafe filled with maids.

Sitri and her subordinates are aiming to defeat the adventurers with a never before seen method in Dungeon Capturing.

◇

From the moment that we entered the room, I had a strange feeling.

Moreover, this sweet smell. My thoughts are hazy, the aroma makes it hard to think clearly.

「Oh my, is that a magic sword? Amazing~, I’ve never seen anything like it. Can I touch it?」

A single maid approaches Alba.

Normally, Alba would never let the enemy get close so easily but for some reason, his guard is down.

「Wha?…Y, yeah. Sure, I don’t mind」

What is that idiot doi-No wait, is it Charm!?

If I look closely, all the maids have upward grown horns on the sides of their heads, batwings growing near their waist and tails that end in the shape of an arrowhead.

If you don’t have a strong awareness, you won’t notice them.

Charm is a spell that Succubi and Incubi, Dream Demons essentially, have.

It’s classification is complicated. It lowers the thinking ability of the afflicted so it could be considered Black Magic, but it can also uplift your mood, so it has the qualities of White Magic as well.

But this spell that lets the target lust after and feel like they are in love has long been debated as to whether it is a buff or a debuff. Due to it’s dual nature, it has been called Gray Magic by some.

During the times when humans fought demons, it was classified as Black Magic but in these modern times, Dream Demons almost never appear in dungeons in the first place.

They can be seen in dungeons that have extreme employment and organization that gather attention called Fantasy Dungeons, but you don’t find them normally.

There are many reasons for that, but in short, they aren’t intended for all ages.

The world is looking for excitement and thrills. Some people want the heat of battle and some people like terrifying monsters, but fundamentally fights have to be simple and cool.

Charm is easy to understand but not cool, Charm does not reach beyond the screen so the viewers are left behind scratching their heads, and the only thing that Charm changes and can be seen on screen is the party’s sexual urges which are unbearable to watch. Above all, it is far removed from what viewers typically expect when they imagine「a fight with monsters」.

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The girls don’t like hiding their faces. So with their beautiful looks exposed, it’s going to look like「the heroes are beating up beautiful women」regardless of any racial features the girls might have.

Due to all the reasons above, there is no demand for them, so even the dungeon side rarely hires Dream Demons.

However, when deployed practically, they can be troublesome.

The selling points of Warriors are their attack power and mobility but at the cost of their magic resistance.

So it’s no wonder that Alba was the first in the party to be affected by Charm.

…This is bad, we don’t have a White Sorcerer in the party.

The wide cafe interior is completely filled with beautiful women, all casting Charm.

The group of seemingly beautiful women approach while smiling, this was quite a predicament.

Bella and I are Heroes so we can resist this but we aren’t immune to everything. If you don’t have a strong enough will, you’ll forget about the fact that you’re capturing a dungeon right now and get sucked in.

This applies to Heroes, but to other jobs, they can’t fight against this.

Lark’s shield is down and just hanging there, Lily isn’t even readying her bow.

This fight isn’t about combat ability.

Furthermore, Dream Demons are especially effective beings in the modern-day dungeon defense.

Both capturing and defending are carried out using Avatars. Every single one of us.

Avatars are created using Magical Energy.

So Dream Demons are able to suck the vitality, spirit, and so on of those under their control. They can also suck Magical Energy.

If it was a normal human body, they would just slowly suck the Magical Energy within the body.

But if they were to cast Drain on a body that is made entirely of Magical Energy, like Avatars, that body would crumble.

「Ca, can you…use this…heh…on television?」

It looks like somehow Lark is still aware that he’s in a dungeon.

Certainly, the TV station people won’t be happy about this. They’ll probably complain to the Demon King Castle after all this. However, it was us who decided to attempt to clear a stratum that had no information revealed about it.

From the moment we entered, we have to aim for victory and forget about garnering the viewer’s favor for the moment.

I must say that the Demon King Castle is as impressive as expected, being able to cast Drain from long range.

It’s not as effective as using it with direct contact but unfortunately, there are a lot of them.

We can’t shield anyone from it’s effects, so I guess taking care of all the enemies as fast as possible is the most optimal course of action.

「…Ah, Fenix. Please, allow me. I was just hoping for the perfect opportunity to show what I can do.」

Bella, a Hero like me, stepped forward.

I nodded in approval, and in that moment…

「Eh?」「Kya!」「Wha-」went a great number of little shrieks.

Soon, all of our foes were encased in pillars of ice.

「…Great Expansion.」

All the maids that completely filled the wide cafe interior were frozen one by one, some were frozen together.

The other three are still feeling the lingering effects of Charm so they are just standing there, staring into space.

I wonder if they will go back to normal immediately once it wears off. While their bodies aren’t completely crumbling, they have probably become brittle.

From now on, it would be better for them to not get damaged.

「Freezing them one by one uses little Magical Energy. If you do that, the strength of the spell is lowered but can be rapidly expanded, so it can be used for large numbers.」

Being thirteen years old means that it has only been three years since she attained her Job.

Generally, it’s possible to graduate from the Adventurer Training Institution in three years, so she’s basically a fresh graduate.

Yet to be able to manipulate Magical Energy so easily, you can say she’s a Hero with a bright future ahead of her.

「I do not know how excellent the previous Black Sorcerer was, but I will easily show how useful I can be. Because that is required of me. I do not have the face of a beautiful woman, so I have to compensate it with my abilities.」

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The Black Sorcerer was kicked out of the party, and a Hero was recruited. Anyone can understand the reasoning.

To increase our battle potential and gain popularity.

The unexpected thing is that the decision to kick Lem out had nothing to do with reasons of incompetence.

With a glance, Bella understood what Fenix wanted to say and she let out a self-deprecating laugh.

And then she opened her mouth.