Chapter 8 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Dungeon Defense: Volume 1 – Chapter 4 (Part 2)

Chapter 4 – Romantic Deceptive Tactics (Part 2)

▯Mixed Blood, Lapis Lazuli

Empire Calendar: Year 1505, Month 4, Day 18

Niflheim, Hermes’ Plaza

Crash

The glass shattered.

For a moment, everyone’s gaze focused onto here.

There were over 200 people in this plaza, but no one had spoken a word. Due to the silence, the sound of a glass shattering echoed loudly…… It was a mere single glass, but it was so loud that it could reach the furthest corners of the plaza.

“Aaang?” (TL note: Not the last airbender)

Andromalius looked over here.

His slanted eyes resembled that of a fox and were detestable to look at. You could see his vulgar personality and foul temper just from his gaze.

“What are you supposed to be? You aren’t going to lower you eyes?”

Andromalius spoke towards his highness Dantalian.

His highness Dantalian was unresponsive. What was he thinking? I turned to carefully check on his highness’ complexion and— my spine became cold.

It was that face.

The expression he made when he had discovered prey and was waiting for it with ease.

It wasn’t the face of a deadbeat which he normally had. A faint smile was drifting around the edges of his highness’ lips. It was the face he made when an ominous scheme, a wicked plot had formed in his head.

It seemed that the other party did not recognize his highness Dantalian. It was not weird. Since his highness’ horn was buried under his hair so it was barely visible.

Andromalius spit on the floor.

“Wow, look at that. He’s not lowering his eyes at all.”

After kicking the old dwarf one more time, he made his way towards us. The way he swayed looked like he was some wild cat that had found a new toy to play with.

The demon races who were sitting nearby cautiously backed away as he passed. They probably didn’t want to get caught up in the trouble.

On the other hand, the Berbere witches silently stayed in their seats. They had been hired by his highness Dantalian. Their pride wouldn’t allow them to do something like leaving his highness behind and running away.

“To see some peasants with no ethics.”

It seemed that he was displeased that the witches had not greeted him despite having seen him. Andromalius narrowed his brows.

“If you meet a Demon Lord then you should at least greet them with a bow, but what is this? Why are you being conceited with your chins held up?”

Andromalius strongly grabbed one of the witch’s hair. The witch let out a pained moan.

“Uuh……”

The witch’s name was Beatrice. I had heard that it had been a long time since she had participated in an escort trip, as she had concealed herself for several decades. Witches had itchy feet so it was common for them to go wandering for more than a hundred years. To end up getting involved with Andromalius subsequently to taking a request after a long period of time. That witch had terrible luck.

“Oii, slaves. A Demon Lord is here. It’s one of the honorable Demon Lords that gave you life and feeds you. You should be greeting me politely, and yet you’re not even budging from your seat.”

“Uh, uuh……”

You could hear the sound of some hair ripping.

Despite that, the witch kept her mouth shut.

It was a problem of etiquette. If the witches were to greet Andromalius here, then they would be admitting that Andromalius was a higher class than that of his highness Dantalian. It was vital for these witches to maintain their respect to his highness.

“Hoh. look at this.”

Andromalius smiled sadistically.

“The entire group of slaves have become mute. If your tongues are retarded then you should at least move your heads. Wow, all your necks are so stiff. Should this great one straighten them for you? Don’t refuse and……”

“What a garbage like man.”

It was then that his highness Dantalian had opened his mouth.

Andromalius flinched.

“What?”

“I said you were a garbage like man. I had thought it was only your brain that was rotten, but it seems your ears had festered as well.”

You could sense the shock of the people in the plaza through the air.

Even I had thought for a second that I had misheard. Garbage? It was a word that was not allowed to be said to a Demon Lord in a public place. Andromalius’ face quickly distorted.

“How dare you say such thoughtless words to this great one……”

“This is why delinquents with overinflated egos are pathetic. If you don’t have the money to pay for your drink, then apologize and leave. To find some fault and then proceed to beat up an elderly. It wasn’t enough that you had shamelessly advertised about your denseness in a loud voice, but you even went and picked on witches as well.”

His highness Dantalian laughed.

“And yet you still go around loudly calling yourself ‘great one’. This is quite the masterpiece. Andromalius. You are not a Demon Lord. You are nothing more than a rookie that was somehow born with a horn on their head.”

“Y-You bastard……?”

“The Gods truly are cruel. They made garbage like you into a Demon Lord in this world. Even saintesses would resent the Gods if they were to see your dirty mug. As days go by, it couldn’t be helped if the amount of devote believers were to go down……”

Andromalius’s complexion turned alternately pale and red.

If you looked carefully, then you could see that his shoulders were shaking. It was obvious. He had probably never received such severe insults in his entire life as a Demon Lord.

Andromalius shouted at the people around us.

“What are you all doing!? Why aren’t you taking this shameless man away immediately!?”

His highness Dantalian, as if he sincerely thought it was funny, snorted.

“See, is he not a masterpiece? He can’t even recognize a person of the same race right in front of him. Not only his ears, but his eyes must be festered as well, to the point that it wouldn’t be enough to treat him like a corpse.”

“Same race……?”

His highness shrugged.

“I am Rank 71st, Demon Lord Dantalian. Referentially, the witches that you had mistreated are the escorts I have hired for the day.”

“Rank 71st……”

“Do apologize for having mistreated my precious bodyguards as you pleased.”

His highness lowered his beer glass. (TL note: I think he dropped someone else’s glass earlier)

“Do you understand? Sincerely apologize and leave. This may be difficult for the mentally challenged, but this is basic manners in society. Use this opportunity to learn.”

“Hah. And I was wondering what kind of incredible aristocrat you were supposed to be.”

Andromalius mocked triumphantly.

Despite the other person being his highness Dantalian, he was only higher by one rank. He was a small fry who didn’t have any remarkable talent and no reliable group behind his back. That was most likely what Andromalius was thinking.

That was foolish. There was nothing more idiotic than being careless while in front of his highness Dantalian.

His highness may normally be a severe deadbeat, but that was nothing more than a deceptive mask. His highness’ true self was actually a devilish fiend. He purposely lead the other party into being careless, and then consumed them in a single moment.

Andromalius most likely did not know any of this. There was still a mean smile on the edge of his lips. He was like a warthog charging straight towards the edge of a cliff.

“Is that so. Is it Dantalian. Iyaaah, I heard you were on a roll these days. There was a rumor spreading that some fool had made an outcast into his mistress. Yes. If you’re Dantalian…… then this must be that famous crossbreed.”

(TL note: Should I change outcast to untouchable?)

Andromalius now turned to look at me.

Did the target change from his highness to myself?

“The peasant that had fearlessly enticed a Demon Lord with their body! Sure enough. That hair of yours even resembles that vulgar bloodline of yours.”

Tap tap

Andromalius hit my cheek with his palm.

His hand stung fairly. He may had been tapping me playfully, but I could feel his real intentions.

“I really can’t understand your preference. Why would you want to score this kind of girl? Her appearance is decent, but the actually important bloodline is just foul.”

The act of changing his target to me was an okay decision.

Demon lords may have been sacred and inviolable, but they were not sacred to other Demon Lords. In other words, they were equal. If a Demon Lord were to hit another Demon Lord then troublesome common laws would intervene. On the other hand, it was okay to freely strike an outcast.

The reason why Andromalius had started to aim at me laid within here too. He had judged that it would be difficult to dominate with his rank alone, so he had quickly found another weak target.

“Or is it perhaps that? Your bottom mouth is just that impressive so you were able to captivate that Dantalian?”

Andromalius started snickering.

“I say. This great one is considering to give you my royal grace, but what do you think? For a person born as a peasant to be able to lay 2 Demon Lords. There’s isn’t an honor greater than this!”

“……”

“Kuha! On one side is the rank 71st imbecile. And on the other side is the bitch born by some broad being raped by a lowly human. Is this not the masterpiece? Huh?”

Abruptly.

Andromalius slapped my cheek.

There was no playfulness in it this time. It purely contained the intent to be violent. My head ended up turning because of the excessively strong hit.

—That hurt quite a lot.

However, it was trivial.

Since a young age, I had been exposed to violence so many times that I had become dulled to it. There was a time I had stones tossed at me by the village people on a daily basis. Compared to that, Andromalius’ hit was like that of a child.

People may not be able to get accustomed to pain, but people can get accustomed to bearing the pain. That is what people are. And I am one of those people.

“……”

I returned my gaze forward.

As soon as I did so, the laughter in Andromalius’ voice stopped.

“Aaang? The hell are you looking at?”

Andromalius slapped me once more. It felt like he had put all of his weight into his hand that time. Unfortunately, at this point, it was proven that Andromalius did not spend his time exercising. His hit wasn’t heavy at all.

I looked forward again.

“……Both master and servant are annoying!”

Andromalius bellowed out.

He swung his arm over and over again. And each time my head was moved by the force. But it was useless. Since it’d returned back to its original position.

“Gr, grrrr……!”

Seeing that, Andromalius’ face slowly started to collapse into rage. To not be able to contain his childish rage, how low. It was at the point where I couldn’t bear to watch him.

I wonder if his highness Dantalian had thought the same thing, he had been chuckling besides me.

“What a sight this is, Andromalius. To be an honorable Demon Lord and yet be unable to make a single outcast submit to you. This is unheard of. Are you sure it wasn’t a mistake by the Gods that you had become a Demon Lord? Originally, were you not supposed to be born as a peasant?”

Andromalius’ face became red hot.

“T-This great one…… this great one……!”

“It’s okay. You do not have to make excuses. Even Gods have times where they doze off while working.”

His highness Dantalian smiled.

“However, this shall be the last time that I warn you. Do not lay your hand on my beloved again. And sincerely apologize for beating my escorts and my lover.”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Smack

Andromalius, with his fist, hit me with all his strength. I fell back from my chair and rolled onto the floor. The witches let out a scream.

“……”

My mouth was tingling from the impact. With my tongue, I could taste something like iron in my mouth. I took out a napkin and wiped the corners of my mouth. The napkin became red with blood.

I raised my body slowly.

“The death penalty for you!”

Andromalius was waving his finger at me.

There was hatred in his eyes. Was it not surprising? How someone could despise another person so much after having only just met them. They were setting their emotions at an unimaginably low price.

Unfortunately, as a merchant, I could not respect the half-wit who was trying to sell their product for dirt cheap.

“The death penalty! You’ll receive capital punishment! Something like an outcast, we can give you a summary conviction without even having a trial……! Even if you were to die by this great one’s hands, you can’t resist! Do you know that!? Apologize for acting so impudently before this great one!”

Death sentence, death sentence. He was noisy.

To only be able to spout the same word over and over again. That showed the man’s level of intelligence. A 5-year-old goblin would probably display a more diverse vocabulary. I, with the same expressionless face, stared back at Andromalius.

“This bitch, till the very end!”

Andromalius made his way towards me.

“Fine! I’ll tear your mouth right now, bitch! Go to hell and repent on—iiii, guaaaaaak!?”

However, he was not able to even take 5 steps.

All the people in the plaza let out a scream at once. Andromalius had fallen to the floor. From his neck, dark red blood poured out.

“Uh, uuah? Aaaaack!?”

Andromalius instinctively moved his hands to block the wound.

The blood volume was serious. It wasn’t some cute scratch that you could just cover with the palm of your hand and stop it. Andromalius, looking at the amount of blood on his hand, let out a cry.

It was a single blow aimed at a vital point.

In order to give certain death in one strike.

Seeing that, I thought that it really—.

Really befitted his highness Dantalian’s hunting method.

“How regrettable.”

His highness Dantalian wiped the blood off of his dagger.

“To treat my warning as a trifling matter.”

His highness Dantalian’s carefreeness was boundless. Out of the hundreds of people in the entire plaza, his highness was the only one who was relaxed. As if he was far away from the buzzing atmosphere around us.

‘Did this person really just stab Andromalius?’

To the point that people would inadvertently doubt themselves and think that.

Regardless, his highness was holding a blade in his hand which was dripping with blood. The dripping blood adamantly rid people of any doubt.

I wonder if it was because the person who had caused the incident was so relaxed. The plaza that was buzzing with noise a second ago, had started to quiet down. A suffocating silence fell over the plaza. In that silent air, his highness Dantalian’s voice echoed lowly.

“Lapis Lazuli.”

“Yes, your highness.”

I immediately bowed my head.

“Recite the occasion a Demon Lord is allowed to attack another Demon Lord.”

“As this one is ordered to. For a Demon Lord to do harm to another Demon lord, one must first respectfully warn the other party twice. When the other party clearly ignores the warning, and proceeds to severely damage the honor of the first Demon Lord, then that Demon Lord may attack the other.

A common law.

Because Demon Lords were sacred, they were free from earthly laws. However, if conflict were to occur between Demon Lords, then they had to be confined to the common laws. The common law that I had just recited was known as the 「Coctyus Warning」.

According to legends, if a person were to die then they had to cross over 5 rivers. Acheron, Coctyus, Phlegethon, Lethe, and Styx…… Coctyus was the second river. If a deceased were to cross over the Coctyus river, they would eventually reach Phlegethon, where instead of water it was a river of lava. Here people would fall into the river and have their souls lit aflame. That was why, when giving the Coctyus Warning, it meant that you were telling the other party to back off before they got burned.

Andromalius groaned.

“C-Coctyus Warning……? Keuhk! You bastard, do you even know what nonsense you’re saying!?”

That kind of response was natural.

Normally, Coctyus Warning was only used in the events of a war. If a Demon Lord wanted to attack another Demon Lord’s base, then they had to send a declaration of war twice. The warning was used in this kind of situation.

It’s original purpose was to prevent war. By declaring that sudden attacks without having sent a declaration of war beforehand was illegal, in conclusion, had the effect of restraining conflict. His highness Dantalian was cleverly abusing this common law.

Andromalius howled.

“Keuk, it’s the end for you bastard! Dantalian! The end…… The other Demon Lords won’t let this slide easily…… keub! It’s too late to cry and beg for forgiveness! This great one will never forgive you!”

“The one at their end is you.”

His highness Dantalian stepped on the back of Andromalius’ hand. The sound of bones breaking echoed. Andromalius cried out even more sorrowfully and flailed on the floor.

“Rank 72nd Demon Lord. The crimes you have committed are as followed. First, you had mocked and beat the escorts I had hired without any reason. Second, you had irrationally assaulted my lover.”

His highness Dantalian looked around and spoke in a loud voice.

“I had respectfully requested for Andromalius to stop, but he had ignored me. He had not only threatened my safety, but he had harmed my honor as well. Everyone here is a witness!”

The people in the plaza started to mumble amongst one another.

Andromalius was most likely no longer in his highness’ thought anymore. His highness Dantalian was aiming to drag these people here in as witnesses.

“Look here!”

Taking off his gloves and throwing them aside, he grabbed my left hand as well, followed by taking off the glove that was on that hand. And as if to show the world, his highness raised my left hand high.

The ring on my annular finger.

A blue diamond shone brightly and sparkled.

A similar ring was on his highness’ annular finger as well.

“I am a Demon Lord. This youngster is a peasant. Us two are not permitted to be wedded. However, swearing to the Goddess Aphrodite, I, Dantalian, the rank 71st Demon Lord declare my love for this girl! This ring is proof of that! Even if society were to forbid our marriage, our hearts are already connected!”

The people let out a gasp.

A Demon Lord had confessed his love for a peasant. In a public plaza and in front an audience of hundreds of people, at that.

From tomorrow on, the high societies were going to be flipped over. The gossip of the passionate love between a Demon Lord and an outcast will be talked about everywhere. It was a natural phenomenon. Regardless of the generation, people were bound to get excited by the topic of ‘forbidden love’.

That was where his highness’ deception laid.

In this grand love story, the character known as Andromalius fell into being a mere supporting role.

A crafty trick.

If his highness Dantalian were to simply murder Andromalius, what would have happened? Inevitably, it would become nothing more than a murder case.

But if he were to commit murder for ‘the peasant he loved’, then the story was different. The monotonous murder play would change into a forbidden love performance.

His highness and myself were Romeo and Juliet.

Andromalius was the supporting character, Tybalt, who gets murdered by Romeo.

The truth was easily distorted.

“T-To fall in love with an outcast. What madness. Insane…… A disgrace of a Demon Lord!”

Andromalius let out a pained groan.

That poor man had no idea. He was going to face his end without knowing what kind of scheme he was being swept up in. I felt a touch of sympathy for him.

“You bastard. You don’t deserve the right to be called the same race as this great one. Hierarchy is a sacred order. For you to dare go against the order of nature……!”

“I wonder. Order of nature is it?”

His highness lowered his gaze towards Andromalius.

A quiet, but horrifying whisper flowed from his highness’ lips.

“Let me tell you what the true order of nature is. Rookie. It’s the law of the jungle. If a cat were to go against a tiger, then the only result would be death. The truth of the world is quiet the simple and boring thing. Don’t you think?”

It was then that Andromalius’ complexion turned pale.

He had probably now barely realized that his highness Dantalian was truly going to kill him.

But it was too late.

“That is why I personally prefer lies over truth. Like how a bare face would require make-up, it is essential for life to have some spice.”

“S-Spare……”