Dungeon Defense (WN)

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“……Impressive. I respect you as a fellow man.”

“Ehem. There is no need to go as far as to respect me.”

Beleth cleared his throat and turned his head slightly away. A blush appeared on his brown cheeks.

Dear God. He’s getting embarrassed after a single compliment. Beleth, who appeared as a peerless warrior in <Dungeon Attack>, was actually the biggest Romanticist of the century, no, of the millennium. Referentially, I interpreted the term Romanticist as someone who’s naïve and innocent.

“In any case, back to my question. Did you do it with Miss Barbatos?”

Beleth was looking at me impatiently. His eyes are rather bright and sparkly. If you edited out everything but his eyes, they’d probably look like the eyes of a Shih Tzu. The body of an ogre, the face of a boar, and the eyes of a Shih Tzu…… I had to keep holding back my urge to vomit.

“Of course not. Sir Beleth, you should be well aware of Her Excellency the Commander’s preference. She only gets involved with women.”

I shrugged.

“But did Miss Barbatos not refer to you as her lover? What is that supposed to mean?”

Beleth gave me a doubtful glare. His brain muscles are capable of doubting, huh? This is troubling. To think that I would gain the hostility of a high-ranking Demon Lord simply because of some unfunny word like ‘lover’. I want to refuse it as much as possible.

‘Acting skill activate.’

Several notice windows appeared in a line.

「Acting has been activated.」「A bonus effect will be granted to your skill according to your intelligence and charm stats.」「The die of luck has stopped just barely on the corner of the table! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ‘considerably’ lowered.」

I let out a sigh once I confirmed that the skill activated properly.

“In other words, I am a toy.”

“A toy?”

“Yes. I am not sure if you know this, but…….”

I took a step towards Beleth while moving in a way as if I were telling him some important piece of information. Once I did, Beleth naturally turned his ear towards me.

“Her Excellency the Commander is a massive sadist.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Of course. Have you ever seen Her Excellency the Commander play with women? It is truly amazing. Being whipped is a given and tight bondage is nothing more than an entrée. 3 consecutive hours of torture on a wooden horse is a basic and hot wax dripping is dessert.”

Beleth gulped. The sound of his gulp was way too loud. The scale of things done by boar crossbreeds is always huge. This guy must’ve been picturing the things I was saying as there was clear drool coming down the side of his mouth. Barbatos is probably naked and swinging a whip in this guy’s imagination right now. Damn pervert.

“I simply played out the role of a minor spectator. You could think of me as a type of seasoning for the various cuisines. I was tied to a wall while Her Excellency the Commander had a pleasant time with the other women.”

“Tied to a wall?”

Did he not understand? As expected of a person who has been a virgin for 1400 years. Strictly speaking, he isn’t a virgin, but everything has an expiration date. I’m not sure what the expiration date for the title of being sexually experienced is, but it is definitely below a thousand years. Beleth is a virgin according to the universal expiration date law.

“Consider how beautiful Her Excellency the Commander is.”

“Mm.”

“Furthermore, also consider how beautiful Her Excellency’s women are. These women were twisting around each other chaotically. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I couldn’t help but get excited as I witnessed this. Her Excellency the Commander treated me like a toy while I was in this excited state.”

“I see!”

Beleth sounded like Dharma the Buddhist as he arrived at a revelation and exclaimed.

“I did not know that the term lover contained such a meaning.”

“Naturally, simply being able to witness Her Excellency the Commander’s marble statue-like body was a fortune in itself.”

Her body was flat like a marble statue.

“However, even though this marble statue-like skin was right before my eyes, I was powerless and could not do anything. Even if I wanted to do it, I could not. It drove me insane.”

“That is quite…… a heaven-like hell.”

Beleth looked conflicted about whether he should envy me or feel sympathy for me. 

“It was humiliating, lethargic, and filled with despair. Sir Beleth, let me be honest with you. I am not confident that I can endure such a situation again.”

I wrapped my hands around Beleth’s right hand.

“I may be merely rank 71, but I am also a Demon Lord. I am being treated as a plaything. If it is a dignified warrior like Sir Beleth, then you must surely understand my travails!”

“Hm? Of course. I am a true warrior, after all.”

“There is only one way for me to escape from this pit of Hell. It is by Her Excellency the Commander finding her true companion. If Her Excellency the Commander ends up genuinely loving a man, she will no longer use me as a plaything!”

I sniffed back a tear. This was quite heated acting. If people of the academy were to see me, then they would tear away at their regulations to bestow upon me the award for best leading actor. Deceiving a boar crossbreed was child’s play.

“Ehem, would that not be unlikely? There is no way that Miss Barbatos would do something like commit adultery.”

Is he joking?

I can’t imagine Barbatos getting married, but if she did, she would probably seduce around 30 men and have a sex party with her husband on their honeymoon. She’d probably turn her husband into a meat hole and make the other men take turns using him. I guarantee you that the Barbatos in Beleth’s mind is a Goddess and the Barbatos I know is a bitch who’s 250,000 light-years away from his fantasy.

“It is as I said. Sir Beleth, I realized this the moment I saw you, but you are the most appropriate match for Her Excellency the Commander!”

“W-What?”

“Sir Beleth is an individual who is practically second-in-charge of our Plains Faction. There is no one more appropriate than you to lead the Plains Faction together with Her Excellency the Commander. Additionally, have you not served under Her Excellency the Commander for the past 1,456 years? I have never heard of anyone else who managed to preserve their unrequited love for 1,456 years. What marvelous love! I am certain that even the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, would kneel before Sir Beleth and surrender.”

I elucidated loudly.

“Status and devotion. There are no candidates who could defeat Sir Beleth in these two fields. I guarantee that Sir Beleth must become Her Excellency the Commander’s partner. This must undoubtedly be something that had been determined by fate for thousands of years. From this day forth, I plan to secretly assist you, Sir Beleth.”

“Assist me…… with what?”

“What else could it be? Obviously, I will be assisting Sir Beleth with connecting your unrequited love. I may be nothing more than a plaything, but I am still Her Excellency the Commander’s lover. I will uncover what type of men Her Excellency likes, what sort of gifts she likes, and any other information like this before delivering these pieces of information to you.”

Beleth’s eyes opened wide.

“Are you serious? Will you seriously do that much for me?”

“I, Dantalian, despite my appearance, have never lied before in my life. You most likely cannot find someone as far apart from the act of lying as me.”

I’m the only one who exists in that world, after all.

“Please trust in me. If you cannot trust in my sincerity, then trust in my misfortune. Trust in my misfortune where I was bound to a wall and had to stare at Miss Barbatos’ bare skin for six hours straight without being able to do anything. Sir Beleth! Only your marriage with Her Excellency the Commander will release me from this Hell!”

“You……you, are truly…….”

Beleth shook.

“You are truly a good man!”

He then spread his arms out and pulled me into a hug. Crack, I could hear the sound of my bones creaking. I think a bone in my arm broke. A sharp pain spread throughout my arm. I let out a weak groan. Despite this, I didn’t forget to maintain the smile on my face.

“I am sorry. I have misunderstood you all this time!”

“Her Excellency the Commander is quite the mischievous person, after all……kuh. She most likely talked in a way that could easily be misunderstood intentionally in order to mess with many people.”

“Yes. You are right. Miss Barbatos does have a mischievous side to her!”

She doesn’t have a mischievous side, she’s the very embodiment of mischievousness.

“Dantalian, no, my brother! If you help me with my love business, then I will definitely pay you back. Even if the Goddess does not take our sincerity kindly and my devotion of 1,400 years is not acknowledged, I, Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth, will never forget my brother’s support.”

“I am truly grateful.”

I grinned happily. Although the corners of my mouth were trembling due to the ongoing pain I was feeling in my arms.

“I will also treat Sir Beleth as my brother from now on. Please accept this brotherly bond.”

“Ah, I will. Little brother! I will be in your care! Even though we cannot ask for our birth to have been at the same time, same day, and same night, I vow to die at the same time, same day, and same night as my brother!”

We hugged each other passionately. I felt my bones creaking again. My arms were way too delicate to endure the pressure coming from an ogre crossbreed. A sound effect rang in my ear as I was barely managing to stay composed.

「Demon Lord Beleth’s affection has risen by 20.」

「You have entered a special bond of being sworn brothers with Demon Lord Beleth! By forming a special bond with a great being, your reputation (infamy) has increased sharply.」

……Like this, we became sworn brothers.

Beleth and I, and later on, after even General Zepar joins us, we become known as the Three Brothers of the Plains Faction. This tale will later become twisted and twisted until it eventually turns into a tale of ‘a military spirit, a general, and a scholar taking an oath of brotherhood for a single cause.’ Although in reality, it’s simply 2 lolicons and 1 criminal.

Life sure is weird.

* * *

4 days have passed since we set up camp in front of the red fortress. During that time, the margraves had begun to gather their armies. We deliberately waited for them. There was an illicit agreement here between the Demon Lord army and the human army.

For starters, human flesh is the Demon Lord army’s source of provisions. Rather than carry out small-scale battles throughout a long period of time, it is more efficient to have a large-scale battle in a short period of time. This way they can procure provisions more easily.

The human army also prefers large-scale turnovers over small-scale guerrillas. If they resort to small-scale guerrillas, then the Demon Lord army will be forced to split their troops and spread them out. This will, in turn, cause the surrounding human villages to be burned down by the monsters. Even if the humans win the battle, the people will be gone from this region and it will become practically impossible to restore this territory.

To the lord of this territory, the villages aren’t simply sources to receive taxes from. Each village also acts as a front line against the monsters. There are monsters all over the continent even if they aren’t being led by Demon Lords. Goblins live in the mountains behind the villages. It’s the job of these villages to suppress these small groups of monsters.

The villages raise militias and subjugate the monsters within the vicinity on their own. If a large number of villages are destroyed within a short time frame, then the monsters will use that opportunity to grow their forces while the militias are absent. From the territory lord’s perspective, the villages aren’t just a source of income, but they’re also a unit of the military that regularly controls the monster population. They can’t be discarded so casually.

In this regard, the commoners of this world have a stronger voice than the ones in my original world. Nations are unable to thoughtlessly oppress the commoners unless they have a strong centralized authoritarian rule.

However, this sort of only works one way.

Regional lords can often take up an uncaring attitude and tell villages to solve their own problems if they ever have any. Their welfare policy is rather weak. The Black Death is a good example. When the Black Death first started to spread throughout the continent, the lords immediately took care of their families first. If they did provide the cure to the commoners, it was usually only to the villages directly below their castles. 

According to the rumors, there were even lords who used the Black Death as an opportunity. There were several lords who demanded villages to hand over a substantial part of their autonomy for black herbs. Despite the severity of the situation, it’d be ridiculous to expect a bond to form between nobles and commoners, cities and villages, and so forth. 

If you were to ask a random commoner where they’re from, an overwhelming number of them would answer what village they’re from rather than say they’re a citizen of the Habsburg Empire. The only time they come together is when a large-scale monster invasion occurs like the Crescent Alliance. Only the forces that defended the Black Mountains count as one of the extremely rare counterexamples.

In any case, both the Demon Lord army and the human army were hoping for a large-scale battle. We received news that the margraves had gathered all of their troops. Their manpower was roughly 35,000. They were an incredibly abnormal army with almost 1,500 cavalrymen. With this, the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance held a meeting.

“The stubborn livestock are gradually gathering in a single position.”

Barbatos spoke in a somewhat annoyed tone.

We were in a large tent. 18 Demon Lords were seated on both sides of the table while Barbatos was seated with her legs crossed at the seat of honor.

“Even so, it’s not like pigs will suddenly turn into orcs. It’s time to show them their place. But there is one piece of unpleasant news.”

The corner of her mouth went up in a sneer.

“Paimon, that whore from the 1st legion hasn’t moved yet. That loose cunt probably wants us and the humans to wipe each other out. As insidious as ever, that whore. Wiping out the human army is something that we want, but I want to avoid letting that bitch move however she wants.”

Barbatos looked around the table.

“I want to wipe out the humans while not going along with that bitch Paimon’s scheme. Does anyone have a good idea? Don’t hold back and offer whatever idea you can think of.”

A silence fell over the tent. It was only natural. Barbatos had practically just asked everyone for a way to wipe out the margraves without incurring any loss whatsoever. Something like that is impossible. Barbatos must have expected this response as she clicked her tongue. The other Demon Lords avoided her gaze awkwardly.

At that moment, there was a Demon Lord who raised his hand.

It was my right hand.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I unno how this chapter came out as fast as it did. I think these sorts of chapters are a lot easier to work with. My head has been feeling heavy lately. Probably nothing big. 

I’ll see you guys in the next release.

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