Volume 8 Chapter 17 (1/2)

[Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth told me that he was going to entrust his dragons to me as well.

But why not just to Stolas and his faction? Why me too? Surely, he's going to tell me reason later, right?

I thought of that as I scanned the first floor of the casino to look for Marcho and Stolas. Thankfully, it didn't take long. I found them exchanging their chips for some gift prizes.

”Ah, Procell, you've finally gotten away from those old men, huh? Are you tired?”

”Marcho, you're from the same batch as those two…”

Those old men would most likely be devastated if they heard Marcho call them that.

As for Stolas, she was so absorbed on picking gift prizes, it seemed like she didn't even notice me arrive.

”Found something you like?”

”Kyaa!? …don't just out of nowhere call out to people like that. That surprised me”

”Ok, but isn't your surprise a bit too much?”

”Th-that's 'cause you…”

…why is she so conscious of me? Can it be because of that tactless joke I made a few days ago?

I had properly apologized to her afterward, but no matter what I do, once something had been said, it couldn't ever be unsaid.

That mustn't happen ever again. Or at the very least, not later when the explosive emotions brought by the dragon races come flowing into me.

For now, I cleared my throat and changed the subject.

”…ahem. Looks like you won a lot, what with you visiting this gift corner and all.”

”Yeah, I had great luck.”

If a player wins in Fafnir, on top of the chips that could be exchanged for money, players also gain a proportional amount of special chips that could be exchanged for gift prizes. These gift prizes couldn't be obtained anywhere else but Avalon.

The reason we were going to so much trouble was to safeguard against those that wish to obtain the prizes purely through the purchasing power of money. If someone could just buy those prizes without playing, there would be no point to having prizes. So, to get more people to play—thus giving me more emotions to feed on—I proposed this method.

Occasionally though, there would be players willing to sell their special chips to non-players. However, these players generally return again to the casino, so I don't especially mind.

Stolas carried a lot of these special chips. Judging by sight, I reckoned she had enough to get almost any of the prizes.

”I can't seem to choose… oh, these earrings are pretty.”

”You have exquisite taste. Those earrings are made by Rorono, you know.”

It was the kind of earring that could be clipped on without the need for ear piercing.

It had a beautiful blue gem that looked like a drop of water.

A majority of the prizes we offered consisted of the different kinds of potions made by Aura as well as the various things made by Rorono and the Dwarf Smiths.

We generally viewed these items as subpar, if not failures, so it was alright to let the humans have a chance of obtaining them.

”That girl made this? Then, this isn't some ordinary earring, is it?”

”You're right. This is a magical tool made with Rorono's [Materialization]. That skill allows her to make objects that hold one magic she could personally use. And as she had demonstrated when communicating with the golems, she is capable of using some form of telepathy. So, by wearing this, anyone can communicate with others via telepathy.”

The ability to communicate with others in real time within a dungeon was an extremely powerful ability to have. Just by improving the rate at which information was transferred, an army became much more powerful.

”Is it alright to offer such a powerful thing as a prize here?”

”It's not as powerful as I might have made it sound. It has some shortcomings. First is that it works only in the same dungeon room or at most 300 kilometers when used outside of a dungeon. Its greatest fault though is that an earring can only communicate with its pair. That being the case, we have other, more convenient tools at our disposal. For the humans though, it should be a miraculous thing, and that's why it's one of the prizes.”

If the range was going to be limited to one dungeon room anyway, the communication devices I made with [Creation] would be plenty enough. At least those things wouldn't be limited to one-to-one transmissions.

By the way, all of my humanoid monsters had been given these communication devices I made so that they could coordinate with one another better.

”I'll be taking these.”

Stolas said so as she exchanged her special chips for the pair of earrings. As soon as she got them, she immediately broke the seal it had.

”Are you sure you're fine with that?”

”Yeah. I fell in love with it at first sight. It's just so beautiful. Say, Procell, do you want to have the other one?”

While averting her gaze, she thrusted one of the earrings toward me.

”I think it's better to give it to one of your subordinates.”

”I don't really need a tool for communicating with my monsters. We have Rozelitte for that.”

Oh yeah, Rozelitte did have that absurdly powerful ability.

Regardless of the physical distance or distance in terms of number of dungeon rooms, she could communicate via telepathy with anyone belonging in the same army as her.

”Then, why choose the earrings?”

”We're in same faction, aren't we? If we get into trouble, it's better to have one more way of contacting one another, right? I mean, sure, the range is limited, but it can still prove useful. More than that, I just want a way to be connected with you, Procell.”

Stolas informed me so in a very thin voice.

She wants to be connected with me? What an incredibly adorable thing to say.

”I understand. I'll gratefully accept. Thank you.”

”No, no, thank you for accepting.”

She said so and then put one of the earrings on me. To return the favor, I wanted to put the other one on her. When she raised her face to make it easier for me, I was reminded of just how stunningly beautiful she was.

”Fufu, it's kinda bizarre for us to be wearing the same accessory, right? But I'm glad we are.”

”You know, if a stranger saw us, they might mistake us for lovers.”

After I said so, the two of us motionlessly stared at one another.

We both felt awkward and turned away our gazes. Finding it amusing that we both did that, we laughed at our silliness.

But then, I heard someone clearing their throat.

”Ahem… Procell, that's some balls you have, to be brazenly having an affair right in front of me.”

”A-an affair? Stolas and I are not like that”