* * *
"Ah..."
The sunset light filtering through the window gently tinged the room. Though there was no clock, Michaela guessed it was around evening.
At a time like this, she would usually be showing off her elegant figure in a splendid banquet hall or social party.
But now she was sprawled on the bed, clutching her stomach.
Grooowl...
"Ugh. How undignified... this sound..."
At first, she didn't even feel hunger because she had fainted and just woken up.
There wasn't even time to feel it.
But in fact, she had woken up after a week, and while she was unconscious, all she had eaten was some rice porridge swallowed down her throat thanks to Elena or Maria's consideration.
Even that was given only once a day, literally just enough to 'not die'.
Grooowl...
It was natural to quickly become hungry after realizing her situation while hearing this sound.
'At this rate, I might really die with my stomach and back touching...!'
"Save me..."
To think that the noble daughter of a marquis on the frontier would be reduced to such a commoner-like state.
Extreme hunger was slowly eating away at her noble pride.
Knock knock.
"Hello, Michaela."
-Hello!
"Thank you!"
This was the background for the words of gratitude that burst out of her mouth involuntarily as soon as the door opened.
Two women who looked like noble ladies, and a few maids.
The moment she saw food in the hand of one of the visitors, her mind to follow etiquette or manners was instantly depleted.
In the face of this hunger pain she was experiencing for the first time in her life, noble status and elegant manners had no meaning.
Just as everyone falls before unbearable torture.
"...You must have been very hungry. Let's hand over the meal first."
"Yes."
"Thank you so much! I'm truly grateful!"
Grooowl...
She vaguely noticed that there was pity in the gaze looking at her, but Michaela couldn't even pay attention to that now.
Her brain, which would normally have assessed the situation and the people who entered the room while considering pride and face, was now completely paralyzed.
As a result, only instinct remained.
'I lost. I should have realized earlier...!'
It was natural for Michaela to have such thoughts when she had filled her stomach to some extent and regained her mind to assess the situation again.
She judged that this hunger was a trick played by the woman before her eyes, who seemed to be this 'domestic competitor'.
'But it's okay. If I come to my senses from now on...'
And when she raised her head thinking like that.
'I lost again!'
Seeing one woman's appearance, Michaela couldn't help but despair.
'What kind of beauty is this...!'
She was small in stature, but that couldn't even come into view.
It was because of the overwhelmingly impressive atmosphere.
A posture without a single tremor, and undisguisable dignity and elegance.
That small woman possessed an appearance and grace that lightly overwhelmed her own, who had grown up eating all sorts of tonics and elixirs since childhood as the daughter of a marquis on the frontier.
Even the one who seemed to be her friend, though not as much as her, possessed the same extreme beauty.
"Are you alright? Michaela."
"Ah... Yes. Th-thank you for your consideration. So... Lady?"
"Libertas. Call me Lady Libertas."
"Yes..."
Michaela was disheartened.
Because her hope that she might be the lady of this mansion was crushed.
"Pfft. Rita is small for a noble lady."
"Don't talk about others. Serica."
"What?"
'Did she say lady...? Then it's completely over!'
Because she thought she was the owner of this mansion with this bizarre prison, or at least the owner's wife.
No matter how she thought about it, it didn't seem possible for her to surpass the lady in front of her and become the legal wife, and if she was the owner, there was no possibility at all.
However, despite this, she tried her best to straighten her back and maintain a noble posture.
'Anyway, he must have brought me here because he felt attracted to me, right?'
It was quick for her to think that there must be a reason why she became the target of this kidnap marriage, even though there was such a beautiful person here.
Because she still didn't realize that she was caught in a misunderstanding.
And Libertas didn't bother to leave her obvious misunderstanding as it was.
"Welcome to my dungeon, Michaela."
"Yes. It's a dungeon... Dungeon?"
Michaela's reaction was quite agile.
"「Fireball」 - 「Continuous Casting」!"
As if to show she hadn't learned nothing until now, Michaela immediately stood up and summoned flames all around.
It was an action to buy time with continuous casting of basic magic, and then try to throw a big spell.
"What a useless act."
Both Serica and Libertas guessed her psychology.
Swish
Libertas's movement in response to Michaela's magic was extremely elegant.
Like a dance move, lightly tapping a finger towards the air.
Tok.
There was no incantation or magic circle.
It was just tapping a point in the air.
But that one gesture was enough to erase Michaela's numerous calculations and spells.
Though the action was small, the phenomenon that followed was not light.
Whoosh-!!
A black dot was born at the tip of that finger.
Kwaruruk!
It instantly began to devour the surrounding magic power and expand like a living organism.
Pop! Pop pop!
With that, dozens of fireballs floating around Michaela went out like candles.
The aura of the great magic being prepared in both her hands also lost its power and disappeared into the air.
All that remained in that place was the smell of burnt air.
"What is this...?"
Before Michaela's eyes filled with bewilderment, that black dot continued to grow.
It swelled to the size of a head, spewing purple lightning in all directions, looking as if it was about to explode...
Swish.
It quietly disappeared into Libertas's palm.
「Feeding the Twilight」.
Originally, it was a magic that absorbed magic power in an area and then exploded to devastate the surroundings.
But she cast it silently, and moreover, stopped it midway and erased it.
It was a technique several times more difficult than just leaving the cast spell alone or forcibly canceling it to make it explode.
"How could you without incantation or magic circle..."
The surrounding magic power that had disappeared as if it had become a vacuum slowly returned from her hand.
But Michaela, who had seen this scene, lost the thought of drawing magic power or trying anything else.
Libertas spoke lightly towards her.
"It seems you haven't delved deeply into one magic. For the binding force of magic used in such an urgent moment to be this weak."
"Weak...! I've been recognized as having superior specialization qualification by the association...!"
"Don't all elite-grade magicians have at least special grade?"
"...!"
At Libertas's innocent words as she tilted her head to the side, Michaela was at a loss for words.
Seeing the astonishment, fear, and shame spreading across her face, Libertas cleared her throat and hid her embarrassment.
"Ahem... I guess not. It seems to have been my misunderstanding."
"Hasn't your standard become too high, Rita?"
At Serica's question, Libertas couldn't meet her eyes.
For her, 'elite grade' was a being that must have at least one 'special grade specialization characteristic'.
In a way, it was natural.
Because she had raised all summons and mercenaries that way.
'To have such talent that couldn't even achieve one special grade despite receiving all support as a child of a marquis.'
It might sound unlucky, but in fact, it wasn't such a wrong thought.
Actually, Michaela was a slightly weaker magician than her peers.
"It seems you can't do anything more."
"You...! You're the monster...!"
"Think that way. It's true. But."
Libertas wasn't disappointed.
She had just tested it out of a faint hope.
It was just a situation where, as expected, no particular value was felt from this woman.
"You will now make a contract with that monster."
"Ah...?"
Purple light entwining in Libertas's pupils.
The moment she faced it, Michaela's reason became blurry.
Once she judged that this wasn't a subject worth investing effort in, this Dungeon Lord no longer wanted to drag out the time.
"You're lucky. You'll be able to live a bit longer."
What was prepared before Michaela was a contract with Libertas.
Fortunately for her, this Dungeon Lord happened to need someone who could act with the demeanor of a noble lady.
"Send word to Talhan. Tell him something good has been prepared."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"Yes. Let's see what bites."
Her use was as bait.
She was bait to become the culprit who killed Alexis and check if there was someone investigating his circumstances.
* * *
Some time after a week had passed since the war with the three barons ended.
During that time, I had completely restored the dungeon's state, and also completed the reorganization of summons according to the newly risen dungeon level.
Now it was time to check that and aim for the next goal.
"Have all the broken parts been confirmed?"
"Yes, my lord. Once we restore two more golems, the restoration of your personal battlefield will be complete."
The place Ran was talking about, where the war was fought, is the largest place in my dungeon.
That is, my 'boss room'.
This place was the best rather than choosing another location.
I could immediately use the golems placed there as fighting force, and there was less to break even if I used great magic in an emergency.
If my strength was lacking, it wouldn't have been bad to conduct guerrilla warfare roaming various parts of the dungeon, but that wasn't the case either.
Thanks to this, among the dungeon's facilities, only the pillars of this boss room or golems were broken.
"You've worked hard, Ran."
"Not at all, my lord."
Ran bowed modestly, covering her chest. At the same time, her sideburns flowed down softly, catching the sight of her exposed side breast.
It was an intentional gesture, but I didn't dislike it.
There was no intention to force my body or mind with that action.
When I tidied her hair as she straightened her back, a coquettish smile returned, but I turned my gaze away.
It was inevitable that I had already become used to it after she had done it countless times over the past time.
"How is the reorganization of the formation?"
"I've filled in the vacant positions, and made a cemetery for those who can no longer be resurrected..."
"I see. Let's go."
The place we headed to next was the highest place in the dungeon.
The space secured by construction in the dungeon is up to the 5th floor, and the 'public cemetery' is in a huge inner room near the mountain top created above that.
Whoosh!
When I closed my eyes for a moment at the darkness plunging onto the magic circle and opened them again, we were already standing there.
The 6th floor, where no entrance that can be walked through was placed on purpose for the 'rest' of those sleeping inside.
-Clack.
-Tak!
The 'gravekeepers' skeletons and monsters who came to visit their comrades who had become 'disappeared beings' bowed their waists.
The sound of the skeletons' bones colliding echoed in the quiet space.
When I gestured to them once, they all returned to their respective places.
-Aah...
-...
To me, who had gained a new sense, their cries could now be heard completely.
Because the summons of my dungeon often regained intelligence even when they reached only the superior position, they often gained 'emotions' as a side effect.
Comradeship, friendship, and even a sense of loss.
This cemetery is a space for such beings and those whose existence has ended.
It's a welfare facility that allows them to calmly send off their feelings of attachment in front of a grave, even if there's no corpse.
It might sound ridiculous to commemorate beings that were undead, but at least their attachment wasn't false.
"Here..."
"Thank you."
I received the white flower handed by Xue.
I didn't forget to place it on the graves of 'former' summons who had received 'complete annihilation' or 'impossible to resurrect' judgments, and to have a moment of silence in front of them.
"...It's quite full."
"Yeah..."
The previous battle might have been a crude level of combat to be called a 'war'.
Still, there couldn't be no sacrifices.
It wasn't just this recent war.
In past battles, and in the future too, there would continue to be 'former beings' who would experience such 'eternal rest'.
Of course, the power consumption of my dungeon is much less than that of other dungeons with living summons when they die.
Due to the characteristics of the undead, another undead can be created using their remains.
However, that summon wasn't exactly the same being as before. Many parts change, from memories at minimum to talent or essence at maximum.
No matter what anyone says, the end of one being was the end.
It was a fact that I only realized after coming to this world, which I didn't know when viewing it as a game.
'Like Remia...'
'Mire' has Remia's memories and reminiscences.
Of course, the more she finds her strength and memories, the more she converges to her.
But she can't be seen as exactly the same being.
To begin with, the current Mire is several times stronger than Remia when she was alive, and there are also distorted parts in those memories.
'Typically, things about me, for instance...'
I would return the parts that could be returned, but had to accept what couldn't be helped.
I will continue to kill or use 'enemies' in the future.
I had no intention of denying that having sympathy for beings who were enemies is the deception of one who has gained leisure.
What I'm doing is a deception towards those I've killed, and nothing more than self-satisfaction.
Including the possessiveness towards beings I've become attached to.
"Let's go."
After finishing the final greeting as their master to the dead beings, I turned around.
It's almost time for the meeting now.
It was time for the four queens to bring the results of their first mission.