WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈
Chapter 7: The World Is Out to Get Me
──────
I’d somehow managed to escape. But where was I supposed to go now?
A cave would be ideal if I wanted to avoid humans and sunlight, but then I might get mistaken for a dungeon boss again.
‘Should I actually try going to the Demon Realm?’
I dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred to me. Crossing the continent was easier said than done.
There were roughly five hours left until dawn.
Time was limited, and no suitable place came to mind.
‘First, I need to get farther away from them.’
The most frightening possibility right now was Charlotte coming after me.
The thought that she might come looking for me made me want to put as much distance between us as quickly as possible.
Should I try going to a nearby village?
Finding a nest would mean traveling far for a long time, and on foot, I had no idea where to begin. Unless I could get hold of a horse.
Luckily, my father had made me take riding lessons with him often because of his hobby.
At the time, I’d wondered how the hell this would help me get a job, but then I woke up in a medieval fantasy world.
‘Ah, Father. You were right.’
This was the foresight that came with knowing your destiny at fifty. Just how many moves ahead had you seen, Father?
Thinking of him suddenly made me miss my family.
Of course, drowning in tears and lamenting my situation wouldn’t change anything.
I swallowed back my tears and started walking.
‘A medieval village should have at least one stable, right?’
Plan one. Sneak into a village, steal a horse, and ride away.
They said getting started was half the battle. If I succeeded, only half would remain, so I could decide what to do after that when the time came.
Maybe the heavens hadn’t abandoned me yet.
Not long after coming down the mountain, I spotted a village in the distance.
Perhaps because it was a medieval village, there wasn’t a single light on at night.
If I hadn’t been a Death Knight with sharp night vision, it would’ve been dark enough for a human to walk right past without noticing it.
As I approached without drawing attention, a wooden palisade surrounding the village outskirts came into view.
A pair of watchmen stood guard at the entrance beside a torch, but...
“Zzz...”
They were both nodding off.
‘I’m itching to call the duty officer.’
As a sergeant who’d completed his service in the South Korean Army, I couldn’t exactly crack them over the head for dozing off.
Still, thanks to them falling asleep, I was able to get in safely.
Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone wandering around inside the village either.
There was a tavern with its lights on, and the noise inside showed no signs of dying down.
Unless someone came out to throw up, they’d probably stay planted in their seats all night.
One thing worried me. The stable was right next to the tavern.
I couldn’t give up now just because I was nervous.
When I quietly entered the stable, a black horse caught my eye.
A black knight riding a black horse? Oh, I couldn’t resist that.
“Eek.”
That was when I heard a brief gasp.
I turned toward the sound and locked eyes with a little kid inside.
I hadn’t expected anyone to be guarding the horses.
“Thief! Everyone, hurry and come out! A horse thief!!”
The kid’s shrill voice rang through the night.
I considered covering the kid’s mouth, then gave up and stepped into the stirrup to mount the black horse.
-Neigh!
The horse bucked wildly, and I was thrown straight off.
‘Ah. Right.’
Only then did I remember that undead couldn’t ride living mounts.
I take back what I said about having good night vision. Damn this shitty skeleton body.
“I-It’s a Death Knight! A Death Knight! The rumored Death Knight has appeared! Everyone!”
That little bastard?
Bang!
As doors flew open, people poured out in a flood.
I took off without looking back.
“A Death Knight? Where?”
“Over there! It’s running away right now!”
“Huh, it’s real? The rumor about a Death Knight appearing in the mountain behind the village was true?”
“Don’t worry! I’m here! Death Knight! Hm? There it is!”
“Hero! Where are you going?”
“You’re going after it?!”
What? A Hero?
I instinctively turned my gaze, only to see someone charging toward me at a terrifying speed.
More than that, my eyes were drawn to the level above the man’s head.
[Lv. 82]
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Looking again, the man’s face seemed strangely familiar.
He had a huge build, a shaved head, and a thick beard so lush it looked like his hair had grown backward.
His martial arts robes, the fist-sized wooden prayer beads around his neck, and his level all made his identity clear.
The memory of first meeting Charlotte overlapped with my current situation like déjà vu.
The Hero of Faith, Balm Monk.
The man was one of the Four Heroes of the Empire.
‘Why the hell is that guy here?!’
Heroes weren’t civil servants, so what, had he been assigned here or something?
He should’ve been holed up in the mountains meditating. What kind of glory was he after, coming out of a village tavern?
“Please be careful, Hero!”
“Don’t worry, my brothers! I shall surely slay this undead!”
There was no time to lament my situation, let alone think. All I could do was run like hell.
I had no balls, but I ran hard enough to learn what it felt like to run my balls off.
‘Ah. Why is my life like this?’
I’d been reincarnated as a Death Knight, only to be mistaken for a dungeon boss.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I ran into a crazy Witch who said I was the boss of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.
And to top it all off, not long after fleeing, I was being chased by a Hero.
I was getting battered from every direction. This was completely fucked.
The world really is out to get me.
Since Balm Monk was a martial artist, Enhancement wouldn’t work on him either.
Heroes were supposed to use swords. Why was a martial artist even a Hero? Of all the countless Heroes out there, was it really a coincidence that the one martial artist was chasing me?
Relentless. So damn relentless. It was as if the world itself were asking me, “You still won’t die?”
“Stop right there, undead!”
Clop, clop!
He must’ve gotten on a horse already, because hoofbeats were closing in.
I couldn’t outrun a horse. Left with no choice, I hurled the Black Iron Greatsword in a spinning semicircle.
-Neigh!
It must’ve hit the horse, because I heard it collapse.
It would’ve been nice if he’d fallen with it, but Balm Monk landed lightly with superhuman reflexes.
‘That crazy monster bastard.’
A Death Knight was a monster? Bullshit.
That human looked far more like a monster to me.
I never thought I’d end up back in that deathtrap.
I had no choice. The lesser evil was better than the worst.
I immediately turned toward the dungeon.
My opponent wasn’t just some big shot. He was one of the Four Heroes of the Empire, the Empire’s greatest military force.
Charlotte and the Vampires were no match for him, but I had nowhere else to turn.
I knew there was a chance I’d drag them all down with me and get everyone killed.
‘Sorry, but I need to live too.’
I was human too, and everyone was selfish. Why should I think about others when my own life was on the line?
If there was even a one percent chance I could survive, I had to bet on it!
“Stop right there! Let us see which wins, your skull or my fist!”
I was already dead. I couldn’t die twice.
Charlotte, anyone, please save me.
* * *
Click, click.
The crisp sound of elegant heels echoed through the cavern.
Charlotte looked around and tilted her head.
‘Is this really a dungeon?’
It was too narrow, short, and small to be a dungeon.
Ordinary newborn dungeons might be like this, but this was a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.
She couldn’t shake her doubts over the reality that a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss was this small.
“Hmm. Perhaps I was mistaken.”
The history of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss was several times longer than the Empire’s.
The Seven Palaces of the Abyss had remained unchanged for a thousand years. In other words, the concept of a newborn member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss had never existed before.
This place marked the beginning of a newborn member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.
It was shabby and cramped for something with such a reputation, but if it was newly born, even a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss would look like this.
Charlotte privately thought that she might be the first to discover this.
No matter where she looked, the dungeon needed work.
In Charlotte’s eyes, it was bad enough that the entire place needed to be redone from the ground up.
‘This is even better.’
It was an opportunity. If the dungeon was this shabby, wouldn’t she be able to demonstrate just how capable she was as an adjutant?
“U-Um, Adjutant? There’s something I’m curious about. May I ask?”
Isabella cautiously watched her reaction from beside her.
Charlotte tipped her chin as if telling her to speak.
“I just started wondering. How are the rankings of the 72 Dungeons decided?”
“You must be a Vampire born on the Northern Continent.”
The Northern Continent was human territory. The Southern Continent was the Demon Realm.
Monsters born on the Northern Continent often lacked common knowledge among nonhuman peoples.
Charlotte let out a weary sigh.
“No one decides the rankings of the 72 Dungeons. They are imprinted.”
“Imprinted?”
“The moment dungeon bosses are born, a number is imprinted in their minds. It represents the dungeon’s position in the hierarchy.”
The history of dungeons stretched back more than a thousand years.
Naturally, the mysteries surrounding dungeons had long ceased to be mysteries.
“If the number is only imprinted in the boss’s mind, then the hierarchy is based solely on the boss’s strength?”
“No. The hierarchy is determined by comparing not only the boss but every force within the dungeon.”
Dungeon rankings could also change.
One dungeon could remain stagnant, while a lower-ranked dungeon focused on bolstering its forces and overtook it.
Dungeon bosses would suddenly sense such changes as if by primal instinct.
That was why dungeon hierarchies were clearly divided even without battles of strength.
It was also why they didn’t fight over who was stronger, and why the Seven Palaces of the Abyss had endured for a thousand years.
Though they eventually fell to humanity’s hands regardless.
“I have something I’m curious about as well, Isabella. Were there no existing monsters in this dungeon?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
In a newborn dungeon, the Dungeon Core formed first, followed by the boss and monsters.
Yet some dungeons formed with only a Dungeon Core and a boss. Those were called Single-Entity Dungeons.
“It’s astonishing that this is still a seventh-ranked dungeon. Even seeing it for myself, I can hardly believe a Single-Entity Dungeon became a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.”
The other Seven Palaces of the Abyss housed hundreds, even thousands of monsters, including their bosses.
Yet this dungeon alone had claimed the throne of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss with its boss alone.
The feat went beyond shocking and inspired reverence. Charlotte’s body trembled, and the shivers running down her spine wouldn’t fade.
“...I’m getting impatient. This won’t do. I must show my lord everything I have.”
She would transform it into a dungeon worthy of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss’s reputation.
What Charlotte took from her pocket was a sheet of black goat hide.
A Merchant Summoning Ticket, given only to those who had established a favorable relationship with the Dungeon Association.
Not just anyone could possess a Dungeon Association Ticket.
Charlotte had once belonged to a dungeon, so she had a spare ticket.
The help of the Dungeon Association, which operated throughout the Demon Realm, was indispensable to building a dungeon.
Riiip!
As if responding to the tearing ticket, a pitch-black portal opened in the air, camouflaged within the darkness.
Soon, a red-skinned demon sprang out of the portal. After stepping onto the ground, the demon bowed neatly at the waist.
It was the Demon Merchant Charlotte had contracted with when she belonged to her former dungeon.
“It has been a long time, Lady Charlotte. Oh? It seems you have entered a new dungeon. Then you must desperately need the Merchant Association’s help.”
“That is why you should serve us to the best of your ability.”
The Demon Merchant’s brow twitched.
That was rather arrogant. Even though Charlotte was human, the merchant had put up with it several times because she was capable.
“That’s a little... unpleasant to hear.”
“This is a newly born dungeon of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss. I am its adjutant.”
“Pardon?”
The demon asked blankly.
As the merchant muttered the words to himself, the demon’s eyes, nose, and mouth widened unnaturally.
“You mean a real member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss? Ha! I thought it was about time one appeared, and finally! The return of the seventh-ranked Demon King...!”
The demonkin of the Demon Realm also called the bosses of the 72 Dungeons Demon Kings.
“When I heard that the previous Demon King had fallen to the Heroes, I was so upset! I wanted to capture those Heroes and beat them all to death. Ah, I’ve gone off track. An adjutant of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, though. As expected, Lady Charlotte is very capable.”
“Empty flattery is unnecessary. First, we need to begin expanding the dungeon. Wait. Are there any useful monsters here...”
Charlotte trailed off as she looked over the Vampires.
Isabella, who met her gaze, smiled brightly and repeatedly pointed at herself with her fingertips.
Whip!
Charlotte turned her head away.
“I’ve changed my mind. Let’s start by recruiting monsters.”
Isabella’s face immediately fell.
A newborn dungeon’s weakness was its poor defenses.
They couldn’t rule out the possibility of an Extermination Party taking advantage of that and attacking.
It was best to always prepare for unforeseen variables.
“Give me a list of the high-tier monsters the Merchant Association has in stock. I want ones with intelligence but no sense of self.”
“High-tier monsters that are easy to handle? I expected as much, so I brought the inventory list in advance.”
With that, the demon handed over a parchment scroll.
Charlotte slowly looked it over before folding it.
Then she estimated the dungeon’s vertical dimensions by eye.
‘I can use my magic to widen its horizontal span. Then there won’t be any danger of it caving in on us, and I can have the monsters I hire smash it apart as well.’
At its current size, it was too cramped for large monsters to stay in.
Still, with a few alterations, she judged that it would be large enough to house them.
“Prepare two well-trained Minotaurs and one Basilisk.”
The demon flinched.
Both Minotaurs and Basilisks were top-tier monsters.
Three monsters that cost ten million Cells each?
“I would like them prepared immediately.”
“R-Right now?”
“With a Demon Realm Portal, it can be done within five minutes, can it not?”
“That would incur a ten percent surcharge. More importantly, do you even have the money?”
“As a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, we can secure a loan of one hundred million Cells.”
What she meant was obvious.
They had no money, but if the Dungeon Association lent it to them, they would buy the monsters with that money.
The demon groaned and tried to discern her intentions.
‘She wouldn’t pretend to be a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss just to borrow money. No, that can’t be it.’
The Charlotte the demon knew was thorough, not reckless.
Besides, if she impersonated a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, the Dungeon Association would destroy the dungeon. There was no way Charlotte didn’t know that obvious fact.
‘If it really is a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, this is an opportunity we can’t afford to lose.’
What the Dungeon Association valued above money was not trust, but the Seven Palaces of the Abyss as a client.
Ten other dungeons together couldn’t compare to one member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss. They weren’t called the Seven Palaces of the Abyss for nothing.
Either way, securing a connection with a newly born member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss would obviously bring enormous profit to the Merchant Association.
“Where is the Boss Lord?”
“The Boss Lord has stepped out for a while.”
“As expected of a member of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, the Boss Lord is impossible to predict. Have you cleared this with them?”
“I will take responsibility for everything. Even if I act on my own, it will be enough if I satisfy my lord.”
“And if the Boss Lord is disappointed, well, I’m sure you know how to conduct yourself.”
The Demon Merchant’s lips curled upward.
If things went well, this might become a major achievement.
“I will deliver them immediately.”
The demon happily opened a portal.
About five minutes later, massive figures emerged from it one by one.
“With this much, we need not fear even if a Hero comes.”
Charlotte nodded in satisfaction.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
