WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈
Chapter 67: Recruitment Suc...cess...?
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Cecilia went over her memories.
There was no way Master had pretended not to recognize me back then.
Though I tried to kill him, Master would never be the kind of person to cast me aside.
Master forgave and embraced everything, holding his disciples close.
There was no room for doubt. Master had lost his memories.
That was why he hadn't recognized me.
Cecilia was overcome with grief and cried her heart out for a long time. Even when no tears came and her throat tightened, she wailed in a metallic voice.
I had only just met Master again, yet I had ruined everything with my own hands.
While he was alive, I had left him behind and let him die. Then, after he became undead, I had tried to kill him with my own hands.
And the price was oblivion.
Master's smiling face still lingered in my mind, yet he had forgotten me completely.
I had no reason or desire to live.
What was I supposed to do now?
...Atonement was the only answer.
I would atone by dying. No, I would atone even after death.
I would become undead like Master and offer him my eternal life.
Having made her decision, Cecilia raised the Moonlight Sword.
What she expected to be her final memory brought back the sight from that day.
The sight of Master coldly pushing me away after sacrificing his life to save me.
"...Huh?"
A question suddenly surfaced, and it soon became hope.
Master had lost his memories of me.
That didn't mean he had forgotten everything.
He clearly knew that I had tried to kill him. That he had nearly died because of me.
Those memories must have simply become distorted into the belief that he had been killed by humans.
Even so, Master hadn't harmed me.
Instead, he had said he wanted me to leave this place soon and even admitted out loud that he held no hostility toward me.
He could have driven me out by force afterward, yet he had silently waited for me to leave for two days.
Why had he spared me despite forgetting that he was my teacher and becoming a full-fledged Abyssal Palace boss?
"Undead...."
Everyone knew the traits of the undead.
Even if an undead lost its memories, instincts born from those memories remained.
A knight who had devoted an entire life to swordsmanship would still swing a sword out of habit after dying and losing those memories.
The reason every Death Knight was so skilled with a sword was because instincts deeper than memories remained.
Cecilia believed Master was the same.
He had taken the Holy Sword because those instincts remained.
The instincts born from a Death Knight's memories weren't limited to swordsmanship.
A knight's protective instinct existed as well.
That was why Death Knights served spellcasters so devotedly.
Cecilia and Master had been teacher and disciple, with an attachment that went beyond that.
While alive, Master had cherished me enough to protect me instinctively.
He had always tried to protect me with his whole body, without even stopping to think.
Her hopeful assumption overlapped with what had happened then.
Had Master spared me and let me leave because of that protective instinct?
Even if he recognized me as an enemy, had instinct suppressed that intent?
"...Please let it be true."
Even after losing his memories, Master instinctively protected me.
If that was true, then those instincts proved that he was my Master.
It hurt, of course, that he had lost his memories.
Still, if traces of my Master remained within those instincts....
Cecilia thought that alone would be enough.
She gripped her sword and forced her unsteady body upright.
Asking herself questions wouldn't bring a satisfying answer, but there was a way to confirm it.
An undead's heart was frozen, and its emotions were dried up.
The only emotion undead possessed was killing intent toward humans.
In other words, this method should reveal Master's instincts.
Cecilia looked at her face reflected in the blade.
If Master truly killed me, I could become undead and remain by his side.
And if, by some chance, he still couldn't kill me then.
'There's hope.'
Cecilia refused to let go of that thread of hope.
* * *
I really thought I was going to die this time.
From what I heard, Charlotte had done something with the reverse relationship of Soul Binding or whatever. Honestly, I didn't understand the details.
Anyway, I was alive, so that was what mattered.
Apparently, she had become my absolute servant and revived me as a result.
Charlotte looked more satisfied than anything about becoming my servant.
Even though she'd die with me if I died.
No wonder she was a bone-eating Witch.
"I owe you one."
"You're too kind. It's nothing compared to the grace you've shown me, Boss."
-Pant! Pant!
Hellbok ran back and forth between my legs.
Charlotte watched for a moment, then scooped Hellbok, who was bigger than her, into her arms.
She had come into the Boss Room saying she had something to report, yet she was petting Hellbok.
"The report?"
"Ah, a letter arrived from the Old Castle. The Ninth Legion returned safely, and Carleon is fine as well."
Cecilia was still squatting in my dungeon, but she didn't seem hostile.
So I sent Carleon and the Ninth Legion back and passed along my thanks to Rose Sha as well.
"What happened to Cecilia?"
By this point, I really wished she'd stop digging in her heels and leave already.
Just having her hang around like a beggar made part of me uneasy.
If she suddenly changed her mind later and wrecked the whole dungeon, I'd be in serious trouble.
Knock. Knock.
Charlotte stopped speaking at the sound.
Then she looked between me and the door, and I nodded toward it.
Charlotte opened the door, revealing Isabella.
She stammered and fidgeted.
For some reason, Isabella kept watching my reaction as she stood before me.
Had she done something terribly wrong and was now panicking?
"Um, Boss?"
"Yeah."
"That Hero says she wants to meet you...?"
"...."
Why did she keep making my life difficult?
She had holed herself up on the upper floors for two days, so what business did she suddenly have with me?
One look at Isabella's face made it obvious that she was afraid of Cecilia. Balutak and the others probably felt the same.
If I didn't go out and she caused some other mess, I couldn't bear to think what would happen.
Who knew? She might hurt the others.
'She won't kill me, right....'
If she really intended to, she would have killed everyone on her way here instead of requesting an audience.
"All right."
I headed there with the two of them at my sides.
I was worried she'd rush at me and try to kill me the moment I got there.
I'd check her level from a distance, and if it was red, I'd run immediately.
Cecilia stood alone on the tenth floor. I quietly felt relieved when I saw that her level was still hot pink.
Cecilia spotted me and hurried over.
"Master."
"I told you, I'm not your master."
"No. You are my master. You've lost your memories, Master."
No, I'm telling you, I'm not your master.
"I have a request."
Shing!
Cecilia suddenly held her sword out before her.
I flinched for a moment, but it looked like she was offering me the sword.
"Please kill me. I want to die by your hand, Master."
"...What did you say?"
"Kill me and bring me back as undead. Keep me by your side and use me for the rest of my life. I want to be with you, even if that's what it takes."
I understood what she meant.
She still believed I was her master, so she wanted to serve me.
It seemed she believed I doubted her loyalty, and that was why I kept pushing her away.
That was why she was trying to prove her loyalty by becoming undead.
I couldn't have been more flustered.
"If I die, I want it to be by your hand, Master. I mean it. I'll serve you for the rest of my life and atone for my sins."
...Honestly, it was a tempting offer.
If I killed her, the immediate threat would disappear, and the Moonlight Sword, a Holy Relic, would fall into my hands.
No matter how I looked at it, killing her was the practical choice.
Still, my heart was always too soft.
Her level was deep pink.
Even if it was all a misunderstanding, how could I kill someone who didn't hold any hostility toward me and was even attached to me?
It was true that she had tried to kill me.
But she had looked pitiful the entire time, and she still did now.
The image of Cecilia, worn down after two days, floated through my mind.
I had tried to ignore it, but Cecilia's existence kept stirring up my humanity.
I could eliminate Cecilia as a threat and take the Moonlight Sword.
Realistically, that was what I should do, but as a person, I shouldn't.
Killing this woman with my own hands was something I could only do if I abandoned my humanity.
"No. I can't kill you. Go."
If she tried to kill me again later, I might regret this decision.
For now, my humanity mattered more than that concern.
Cecilia looked up at me with trembling eyes. They quickly filled with tears.
"Even though I tried to kill you, Master?"
Hearing that made me hesitate for a second, but I nodded after looking at her level color.
As long as that level didn't change color, she wouldn't kill me.
"Yeah."
"...Why?"
"No particular reason. I just don't want to kill you."
In an instant, Cecilia seized the Moonlight Sword.
There was no killing intent directed at me. The sword's tip was aimed at Cecilia herself.
The moment I realized she meant to kill herself, I instinctively reached out.
I didn't want to watch her die in front of me.
After seeing her look so pitiful all this time, I'd be left with some serious trauma if she died like this.
The back of the blade stopped dead right before my hand.
Then it fell to the floor.
Clutch! Before I could react, Cecilia threw her arms around me.
I was so stunned that I couldn't speak. I tried to struggle, but I couldn't escape Cecilia's strength.
I could feel Cecilia trembling and sobbing against my entire body.
"Master, my master, it's you. You're my master...."
Why again?
Ignoring me, Cecilia buried her face against my body.
Her muffled voice came out in a mumble.
"Master, please accept me again. I, I can't live without you, Master. I mean it.... I want to stay by your side for the rest of my life."
"I'm not your master."
"Still, I don't care. Even if you can't remember me, Master... I'll remember you. Please accept me like you did back then. I won't ever leave again, and I'll stay by your side for the rest of my life...."
I had no idea why things had ended up like this.
So what she was saying was that whether I was her master or not, she'd just decide I was anyway?
'This is driving me insane.'
I pushed aside my frustration, and maybe this was actually better.
She said she'd serve me without me having to pretend to be her master.
Cecilia's level color was deep pink, like Charlotte's.
She had blind loyalty too. If I brought her in, my dungeon's strength would multiply several times over.
Of course, I wasn't her master.
This would only be a lord-and-vassal relationship born from her own misunderstanding.
I felt a little guilty, but even if I pushed her away, it didn't seem like I could shake her off.
"Do whatever you want."
"...Sniff."
I didn't know anymore whether I was just letting things happen or accepting her because my heart was soft.
Squeeze! The arms wrapped around me tightened even more.
I didn't need to breathe, but it felt like I was going to suffocate.
Pat. Pat.
I patted her back to tell her to let go.
Maybe she thought I was comforting her, because her grip only grew tighter.
"Could you let go for now?"
"...No. I won't let go."
Please let go. At this rate, you're going to kill me.
I looked around for help, but nobody moved.
Balutak and Isabella stood far away, clapping.
Even Charlotte only stood there and glared.
'Ah. She's going to kill me twice....'
Cecilia continued hugging me for a long time after that.
When it was finally over, one of my ribs had been crushed.
...I should give it to Hellbok.
Footnotes:
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