WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈

Chapter 40: Heaven-Gifted Insight (Beginning Revised, No Impact on Development)

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“Your subordinates sure have a lot of personality.”

I subtly put some distance between myself and Balutak.

For even Rose Sha, who tossed out sexual jokes as naturally as breathing, to be appalled, that said it all.

Rose Sha met my gaze for a moment before glancing to one side.

Feeling that gaze, Babayaga flinched.

“Are you satisfied now?”

Was she still angry even after plucking out Babayaga’s eye?

I stared at her in silence, then turned toward Babayaga.

As I approached, Babayaga lowered her head, trembling.

“I apologize for my disrespect.”

“I don’t need an apology that is only words.”

Whoosh!

I snatched Babayaga’s staff away.

“I’ll take this as an apology.”

“Ahh…”

It made Rose Sha happy and benefited me too. Wasn’t that two birds with one stone?

It was only A-rank, so it was not a particularly great item, but successfully using Enhancement on it made a major difference.

In the game, an A-rank item enhanced once was nearly S-rank.

Since both Charlotte and Estigel were mages, I planned to give it to one of them.

Preferably Estigel.

Considering Charlotte’s potential to eventually reach level ninety, something S-rank or above would suit her better.

When I returned, Rose Sha smiled in satisfaction.

“You really are a Boss who cares for your subordinates.”

She had vaguely caught on to my intentions.

Then again, maybe it was an obvious conclusion since I was a Death Knight.

“I would like to spend more time with you too, but I should head to the Round Table soon. Everyone gets uncomfortable in all sorts of ways when I join them. It is also customary.”

“Let’s meet again at the Round Table.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

The moment she finished speaking, Rose Sha slipped into my arms.

Only after giving me a deep embrace all on her own did she let go.

“See you soon!”

Rose Sha waved lightly as she headed downstairs. Dravule and Carleon stayed close at either side of her.

I watched her retreating figure until she disappeared, then let out a quiet sigh.

Thanks to Rose Sha, the tangled situation had been resolved in an instant.

Babayaga’s faction, which had been so irritating before, could not even meet my eyes anymore.

Seeing them lower their gazes and keep their distance on their own was deeply satisfying.

“Ahem. Lords?”

The demon in a tailcoat, who had been watching from afar, deliberately cleared their throat.

“There was an unexpected incident, but preparations for the auction hall have been completed as scheduled. Please follow me to the second floor.”

We followed the demon up to the second floor.

Estigel was in a terrible state along the way.

Maybe her legs had gone weak, because she could not even climb a single step.

‘It makes sense.’

She had been at the center of a confrontation between the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth-ranked Lords.

It was fortunate that her legs had only gone limp. Even if she had suddenly fainted, it would have been understandable.

“Balutak. Help her.”

“Kirik. Got it.”

“Th-thank you…”

There were no assigned seats in the second-floor auction hall, only open seating.

No other Lord came anywhere near where the five of us sat.

Even the Lords of Rose Sha’s Red Moon Faction kept their distance, but I understood.

Rather than becoming friendly, the earlier confrontation had probably only made them more wary of me.

“I’m sorry.”

It was Charlotte’s voice, coming out of nowhere.

Why are you apologizing? As I looked at her that way, Charlotte hesitated before continuing.

“I wasn’t able to help at all this time either.”

So that was what this was about, what had happened on the first floor.

It seemed she had been keeping it bottled up, but from my perspective, why?

‘There’s nothing for her to apologize for, is there?’

Even if she was the adjutant of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, Babayaga was the eighth-ranked Lord.

There was not much Charlotte could do against her.

At least from what I saw, Charlotte had made the best choice at the time.

She had not cowered and retreated. She had responded appropriately.

“You did well enough. If you had gone any further, it would have only made things worse.”

“…Thank you for saying that.”

Honestly, I was the one who should have been sorry.

I was the Boss, yet I could not say a word until Rose Sha arrived. Strictly speaking, that disqualified me as a Boss.

“But I did not know you were waiting for the Queen. I was surprised when you kept silent… but you were only waiting for the right moment.”

“…”

“I always realize things far too late. I suppose that means I still have a long way to go. Still, this incident has greatly inspired me.”

She was misunderstanding things on her own, so I kept quiet.

Either way, this incident had been a major wake-up call for me.

There was no denying that I had benefited greatly from Enhancement so far.

Without realizing it, I had started relying on Enhancement. That meant I was leaving every problem in front of me to luck.

The Holy Sword was simply an exceptional Bound case.

Originally, the Holy Sword had been an Eligibility item. Among item classifications, Bound was the superior version of Eligibility.

In other words, Bound was the enhanced version of Eligibility.

Eligibility items were like Thor’s Mjölnir. Even Blue Skull could use one as long as the conditions were met, leaving plenty of room for betrayal.

Bound was different.

Unless its bound recipient died, a Bound item would follow that person for life.

At first glance, an EX-rank Bound item seemed like the strongest item in the world, but that was not quite true.

There were Five Holy Relics in this world, also called Holy Relics.

The Holy Relics were the greatest items in the setting.

Only two had ever been revealed. The second-ranked Lord possessed one, while another was enshrined within the Empire’s Holy See.

Like the Old One, the remaining three existed only through extensive hints and foreshadowing.

One Holy Relic would be more than enough to make up for my weak personal combat ability.

For a moment, I wondered if a Holy Relic might appear at the auction like some hidden piece in a web novel, but even after scanning everything with Enhancement, I could only see items ranked A or lower.

I glanced at the Elder Wand in my hand.

…After thinking about Holy Relics, this thing looked ridiculously pathetic.

It was an item completely useless to me.

I did not want to keep holding it, so I passed it to the side.

“Estigel.”

“Y-yes?”

“Take it.”

Estigel turned her head and froze in surprise.

Thinking she would only stammer helplessly, I forced the wand into her hand.

“Why are you giving this to me…?”

“It is a staff that suits you perfectly. Make good use of it.”

She kept trying to say something, stumbling over her words, but I ignored her.

At the edge of my vision, Charlotte glanced over while pretending not to.

Did she want one too?

I had been keeping an eye out for something good at the auction to give Charlotte or Balutak.

There just had not been anything worthwhile.

“I’ll give you something better later.”

“…Pardon?”

“You kept looking this way.”

I implied that she wanted something too, and Charlotte quickly shook her head.

“That’s not it. Absolutely not.”

“Then why were you looking at me?”

“…”

Charlotte hesitated in a way unlike herself, then lowered her head.

Only then did I notice that her level had turned hot pink.

Hmm. She had only been looking at me because she liked me.

She seemed too embarrassed to lift her head.

* * *

“The Merchant Association auction concludes here! Thank you to every Lord who attended!”

The auction lasted around an hour, brief and to the point.

Since the purpose of the gathering was the banquet and Roundtable Meeting, the auction was only an additional event.

After the auction ended, a Merchant Association executive guiding everyone downstairs spoke.

“I should inform you in advance. Five Abyssal Palace Lords are currently seated at the Round Table.”

The moment I opened that door, the Seven Palaces of the Abyss would be waiting for me. There could not have been a more chilling announcement.

If five were already there, then aside from me, the other absent Lord was obvious.

“Is the Old One not coming?”

“The adjutant will attend in their place. They have not arrived yet.”

Just as expected.

For reference, I had never seen either the Old One or the adjutant in the game.

They might be even harder to deal with than the other Abyssal Palace Bosses.

As the adjutant of the first-ranked Lord, they would likely have influence comparable to the other Abyssal Palace Bosses. Since I knew nothing about them, I had no idea how they would act during the meeting.

“Ordinarily, the adjutant did not attend either. This will be their second appearance since the first gathering. Does that not show just how interested they are in the new Lord of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss?”

It could be the Old One who was interested, not the adjutant.

Either way, I did not welcome it.

The Old One was the strongest being in the setting, yet existed only through extensive hints and foreshadowing. It went beyond pressure. I was simply afraid.

“Seventh Seat of the Abyss, please wait a moment.”

Just before we headed underground, the demon executive standing at a distance stepped in front of me.

Then they whispered with the Beastfolk executive beside them.

In the end, the Beastfolk executive bowed and guided only the other Lords into the meeting hall.

The only ones stopped were Charlotte, Balutak, and me.

My already shaky nerves felt like they were shrinking even further.

Why were they only doing this to me?

The demon executive seemed to notice my thoughts and spoke.

“You are scheduled to enter last, my Lord.”

“…Why?”

“There was a special request from Queen Rose Sha. The seventh-ranked Lord was to be set aside and admitted last.”

I could not believe what I was hearing.

I knew the stated reason for resuming the gathering, but were they really going this far?

What was this? Did the protagonist have to appear last?

If I went in alone, every eye in the room would be fixed on me.

At this point, it did not feel like a place prepared for me. It felt like they had all decided to ostracize me.

“Please wait a moment.”

“…”

Reluctantly, I stood there as though nailed in place.

Charlotte looked as frozen as I felt, though her expression remained blank.

Balutak was the only one who seemed fine, scratching the back of their head.

Rumble…

Beyond us, the stone doors opened with a grand roar.

Once the 72 Lords entered, the doors closed again with another rumble.

Even after that, permission still was not given.

They seemed to be accounting for the time it would take every Lord to get seated.

I did not like having all the attention focused on me, but at least it gave me more time to prepare myself.

Let’s face what lies ahead.

I would have to stand shoulder to shoulder with the second through sixth-ranked Abyssal Palace Lords.

The pressure was one thing, but the Abyssal Palace Lords’ powers of discernment were my greatest concern.

‘They could expose my true nature and every limitation I have.’

Regardless of their individual strength, each Lord of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss possessed a special Heaven-Gifted Insight.

A Heaven-Gifted Insight was an ability that allowed its bearer to see through a target’s inner nature.

Rose Sha could see the sexual desire of living beings, including humans. Kalandas could read the souls of living beings.

The fourth-ranked Lord could see their greed. The third-ranked Lord could discern truth and falsehood. The second-ranked Lord could see through the fear of living beings.

Among them, only the third-ranked Lord’s ability to discern truth and falsehood applied to me.

The others were limited to living beings. They would not work on me, an undead who had already died.

Kalandas’s Spirit Eye could also see the rank of a soul, but it did not apply to undead.

In this world, every undead soul was the same.

They were all dead souls.

The soul “rank” Kalandas could perceive applied only to living souls.

Put bluntly, the soul Kalandas saw in a Bone Dragon and the soul Kalandas saw in me would probably look the same.

Still, I had one concern.

My body was undead, but the soul that had possessed it might still be alive.

If that was the case, Kalandas might find me strange.

Huh? This bastard is dead, so why is the soul alive?

That would be all, though. There was no reason for Kalandas to feel anything else beyond that.

Maybe Kalandas would interpret it in some other way, but it was not something I needed to worry about too much.

‘The real problem is the lie detector.’

The third-ranked Lord’s Heaven-Gifted Insight.

It could discern truth and falsehood three times for a target.

What if they immediately became suspicious and asked, Are you really the seventh-ranked Abyssal Palace Lord?

What could I do?

What else? I would just keep my mouth shut.

The essential condition for determining a lie was a question and answer. As long as I did not respond, it could not activate.

Silence sometimes helped create an air of gravitas. This time, it would also lay the groundwork.

If they asked me questions after I had kept silent all this time, and I ignored them completely, they might not grow suspicious.

They might simply think, That’s just how they are.

Fortunately, Kalandas and Rose Sha already knew me as a quiet, serious seventh-ranked Abyssal Palace Lord.

I had steadily laid the groundwork. The rest depended on how I behaved.

“You have waited a long time. We will enter now.”

As my thoughts came to an end, the Demon Merchant gestured.

Following behind them, I calmed my confused mind.

Thanks to the time they had given me, I had finished organizing my thoughts and steeling myself.

Soon, our steps stopped before the stone doors.

The two executives on either side bowed, then pushed them open.

Rumble…

The ground trembled faintly with the sound.

Starting from the soles of my feet pressed against the floor, the vibration spread through my body.

What happened from here depended on me.

So I only had to handle myself well.

After reaffirming the resolve I had repeated hundreds of times, I stepped into the meeting hall.

Footnotes:

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