WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈
Chapter 48: Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?
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Charlotte stock showed signs of rocketing.
Balutak stock was steadily rising.
Estigel stock was steadily rising.
Isabella stock, which I hadn't expected much from, had gone through the fucking roof.
It was like buying a little Bitucoin and watching it shoot up dozens of times over.
Not Charlotte or Balutak, but Isabella.
At first, I was so shocked I couldn't believe it was real.
Once my thoughts cooled and settled, though, it gradually began to make sense.
My existence had completely changed the future.
First, Isabella had evolved into a True-Blood Vampire, and Babayaga's death had come early.
When a Rank 8 Dungeon vanished, a Dungeon Core would naturally be reborn after some time.
A Dungeon Core either produced a new boss or transformed a nearby monster with great potential into one.
The latter had happened to Isabella.
Personally, I guessed the odds were even greater when the target belonged to a weak race with high potential.
Balutak was an example of that.
Alongside Vampires, Insects were one of the two most representative weak races.
Yet, led by Insect King Balutak, the Insects had rapidly risen into a powerful race capable of threatening the Empire.
In that sense, Isabella was the spitting image of Balutak.
She came from a weak race, yet possessed a True-Blood lineage brimming with potential.
“It's all thanks to you that I became the Rank 8 Lord, Boss.”
Isabella pulled at the corner of her mouth with her pinky.
Her sharp fangs, those of a True-Blood Vampire, caught my eye.
“Hehe, surprised? The mosquito that only sucked blood became the Lord directly beneath you! Of course, I'm still far behind the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, but haven't I grown a lot?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded calmly, though inwardly, I was stunned.
“Kirik? What does that mean? Isabella became one of the 72 Great Chieftains too?”
Smack!
Balutak's head snapped forward.
Charlotte, who had smacked the back of their head, politely clasped her hands together.
Then she bowed to Isabella.
“I greet the new Rank 8 Lord. Please forgive my discourtesy, born from my limited knowledge.”
“...Huh?”
Isabella froze for a moment.
Apparently, she had never expected the adjutant who always scolded her to suddenly treat her with respect.
“I-I greet you, my Lord.”
Estigel hesitated before awkwardly bowing as well.
Only Balutak remained oblivious, staring blankly.
Isabella herself looked more bewildered than anyone.
Charlotte's attitude had shocked her so much that she couldn't even move.
“Um... Adjutant? You don't have to treat me like that.”
“What treatment do you mean, my Lord?”
“Ugh. This is so embarrassing...”
Unable to hide her expression, Isabella rubbed her arms.
“I'm having a little cognitive dissonance here. Are you really Adjutant Charlotte? The demon adjutant who gets angry when I suck even a little blood... Gasp.”
The instant she cut herself off, she slapped her lips.
Isabella cautiously watched Charlotte's reaction.
Without changing her expression, Charlotte simply bowed again.
“I was terribly discourteous back then. I hope you will forgive me with your generous heart.”
“...Whoa.”
Excluding the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, Isabella was now the highest-ranked Lord at Rank 8, though she herself was flustered by being treated like a Lord.
“Um, Adjutant? Then... may I suck just a little blood?”
“Yes.”
Charlotte rolled up her sleeve without hesitation.
“Hmm. If possible, present your nape instead.”
“Yes.”
She had said she was embarrassed not long ago, yet she was already drunk on power.
What a crazy change in attitude.
When Charlotte gently swept back her hair, her slender, pale neck was exposed.
Seeing it, Isabella swallowed hard.
She opened her mouth wide and was about to sink her fangs into Charlotte's neck when her eyes fell on Estigel.
“Buh thuh person next tuh yuh is human too?”
“Huh? Ah, I'm, um, a half-human, half-demon person...”
“Half-human, half-demon person!”
Isabella suddenly cried out.
Unlike the confused Estigel, I knew exactly why.
Among the blood Vampires preferred, human blood was good, but the finest was a half-human, half-demon person's blood.
To Isabella, Estigel probably looked like the finest wine in the world right now.
“Just one bite! No, no! Present yourself at once!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Calm down, Isabella.”
“Yes.”
Charlotte was still holding her gathered hair.
After I lightly touched her, Charlotte finally let it go.
Isabella said she had come here to repay her debt.
As the Rank 8 Lord, she should have more than enough ability to repay everything she owed.
“Um, Boss.”
Isabella spoke carefully.
“Could we talk alone for a moment?”
* * *
After greeting the Vampires, I met Isabella alone in the Boss Room.
I'd only just learned that the other Vampires had also been chosen by the Dungeon Core.
“It's an Eight-Entity Dungeon. I'm the boss, and the rest are my followers.”
“I see.”
I had guessed it wouldn't be an ordinary dungeon.
Babayaga had been level 86, while Isabella was level 88.
Because theirs was an Eight-Entity Dungeon, Isabella and the other Vampires possessed strength comparable to the former Rank 8 Dungeon, the Marsh Valley of Many Diseases.
Among them, Isabella had gained power that overwhelmingly surpassed Babayaga's.
‘Level 88, eight entities, Rank 8.’
She seemed livelier than before, too. Did she have some connection to the number eight?
Contrary to my thoughts, I spoke seriously.
“You carry yourself very differently now. You've become more mature.”
“Hehe...”
Isabella shyly scratched the back of her head.
Her outward appearance hadn't changed much, but she carried a distinctive aura now.
If I exaggerated a little, it faintly reminded me of the pressure of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss. It was far too faint to call pressure, though.
“I can still call you Boss, right? It's become a habit.”
“Do as you like.”
She might be the Rank 8 Lord now, but to me, she was still the same airheaded Isabella.
Was this how parents felt when their children still looked like kids to them no matter how old they got? I could relate to that against my will.
“You said you came to repay me.”
I would have welcomed her even if she had only come to visit, but she wanted to repay me.
Our Isabella was unbelievably thoughtful.
She had returned in glory just as we were about to raid the Ancient Dungeon.
Simply helping with the raid would already be more than enough repayment.
“May I get straight to the point?”
I decided to hear Isabella out first.
When I nodded, she pulled something from inside her clothes.
Within the crystal ball-like object, an indescribable energy swirled.
‘A Dungeon Core.’
If the game's graphics had become real, it would probably look exactly like this.
She might not realize it, but she was giving off the unmistakable air of a rookie who had only just become a boss.
No matter how trustworthy someone was, showing them a Dungeon Core was the same as handing over your life.
The moment a Dungeon Core was destroyed, the boss and all their subordinates vanished, and eventually, the dungeon itself would collapse.
Bosses within the 72 Dungeons could even absorb one another's Dungeon Cores.
If I suddenly snatched hers away, Isabella's life would be over.
There was no way Isabella didn't know that obvious information.
Was she trying to show through her actions how much she trusted me?
‘But why is she showing me her Dungeon Core?’
Letting me absorb it under the guise of repayment would be too much. It would only make me feel guilty, and it wasn't even possible.
I couldn't tell whether she was showing it because she thought I might doubt she was the Rank 8 Lord, or whether she had another intention.
“You know about Dungeon Core Fusion too, right, Boss?”
Ah.
That was a thing.
I remembered seeing information about secondary Dungeon Core Fusion in a setting book covering the history of the 72 Dungeons.
When dungeons went to war, they could absorb the opposing Dungeon Core. There was also a method of subjugating the other dungeon through Dungeon Core Fusion.
By fusing a secondary Dungeon Core, the bosses could establish a superior-subordinate relationship.
It was more absolute than a lord appointing a knight or a slave contract.
Because it was a fusion, no replacement dungeon would arise.
Naturally, only the main dungeon would grow stronger, so the 72 Dungeons pressured and kept one another in check.
“I'm the Rank 8 Lord, after all. I might still look like a rookie to you, Boss, but I've completely changed.”
Ahem. Isabella thumped her chest.
For a moment, she reminded me of Estigel.
“I won't be a burden anymore. I'll serve you faithfully. Will you accept my Dungeon Core?”
If I accepted, Isabella would become part of a one-sided shared fate with me.
If I died, Isabella would die too. But if Isabella died first, it wouldn't affect me.
In other words, Isabella would be destined to protect me even for the sake of her own survival.
The problem was...
‘I don't have a Dungeon Core.’
Whether absorption or fusion, both sides needed Dungeon Cores.
There was no way someone like me, who was pretending to be one of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, would have one.
In my heart, I wanted to fuse Isabella's Dungeon Core with mine too.
But what could I do when I didn't have one?
“It's all right.”
Flustered over what to do, I rejected her for now.
I would have preferred it if she simply accepted that, but Isabella shook her head.
“You know, Boss. The truth is, this is something I want to ask for myself. Me and everyone else, we all missed you.”
“...”
“You can think of it as selfish. I won't feel at ease unless you accept. So... will you be my Boss again, like before?”
Isabella held out the Dungeon Core with both hands.
How was I supposed to smooth this over?
After thinking it over, I opened my mouth again.
“No. I can't accept it.”
“...W-Why not?”
Isabella's face crumpled as she stammered.
“Isabella. What do you think fusion between dungeons means?”
“Um... Isn't it a relationship where both sides can trust each other?”
“The opposite.”
“Huh?”
“Fusion itself is proof of distrust. If you can truly trust each other, a covenant alone is enough.”
I took the Dungeon Core from Isabella's hands and placed it back inside her clothes.
Then, instead of the Dungeon Core, I took her empty hand in mine.
“Isabella. I trust you.”
“...”
“So you should trust me too.”
Isabella stared at me with her mouth hanging open.
Her eyes moistened as though she might cry at any moment, and her lips kept working.
When her mouth finally opened with difficulty, a faint breath escaped.
“You're right. Boss... you've always been this kind of person.”
Always a con artist?
My guilty conscience made it sound that way for a moment.
Footnotes:
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