4-8. Demon Lord Season (2/2)
”The labyrinth is growing. It gives birth to monsters and sucks on the life of the adventurers who come seeking the magic core to grow. When the labyrinth vastly deepened, the monsters also become much stronger.”
”I see... a young labyrinth isn't good enough for the demon lord.”
Hmm? Wait...
”Hey, by any chance, are labyrinths tools for demon lord raid?”
”Well yes, there are some who think that.”
”Then, isn't it better to destroy the labyrinth?”
If we destroy the labyrinth (Spawn Point) then the demon lord will have fewer army forces and the hero's job will get way easier isn't it?
”That may be so, but there are 6 labyrinths in this continent beside the one here. Suppose the probability of demon lord appearing in each labyrinth is equal, in 400 years, it was recognized as calamity whether or not it appeared. Furthermore, since the labyrinth produces usable materials like magic cores, people treat it as if it's a mine.”
”I see, if we destroy it then people will hold grudges huh.”
”Yes, Kubooku kingom was the leader of the small countries in neighborhood during the time when its labyrinth was alive, but when they destroyed the Dungeon Core, they rapidly declined.”
”Could the destroyed Dungeon Core be revived?”
”Isn't that so? I wasn't around when they performed the ritual so I don't know the detail though.”
So the labyrinth is appealing enough for people to even perform such an abominable ritual...
The saying that human greed knows no bounds is really true~
◇
”Still, you sure know a lot, Arisa.”
”Now you're saying that after thoroughly questioning me?”
Arisa is amazed. I was sure that she would have said, ”You can revere me more~”, but if we have Arisa test, then she had failed.
”There were a lot of documents pertaining to the labyrinth in the storehouse of the royal family. The explanations earlier may contain deduction and hypothesis, so take heed okay?”
She's good at delivering flood of information. ...I'm nearly drowning from it though.
”I got the things about the demon lord and hero from books, documents, minstrels and storytellers' song tales. That's why the fiction and non-fiction may got mixed up. I did carefully examined it though~.”
It seems that those were popular as entertainments.
”As for the details about skills and levels, they're from my own experience and the result of observation.”
”Is that all you want to know?”, she cutely tilts her head. Her figure is such that it would have stirred me with a craving to protect her if I didn't know her true nature.
”That's right, I forgot to ask anyone this, how many days is a year?”
According to Arisa, 1 year is 10 months, 1 month is 30 days. There is no concept of week, a month is divided by 3 part consisting of upper moon, middle moon and lower moon.
By the way I thought that my clock is off by 4 hours but now I know that one day is 28 hours here.
Compared to yearly unit, this world system is shorter for about 4%.
◇
Since there are still two hours before sunset, I ask Arisa and the girls to buy necessities for our journey.
”Then I'm counting on you to shop for rock salt and preserved foods. Also buy two barrels for water.”
”Ye~s.”, ”Shopping~?”, ”Nano desu.”, I received lively replies.
”For how many days of shares should we buy?”
”Buy the shares for 10 days. Considering the season right now, normal foods should be fine for the first 3 days. The preserved foods shouldn't expire for 240 days, is it about right? Seems that we would need quite an amount.”
”I'll ask Martha-cchi if there is any wholesale shop around. And, since we probably wouldn't be able to carry it, I'll ask for delivery.”
”Yeah, please do.”
She's reliable at the time for shopping.
I'd be glad to accompany them, but I decide to go back to the room because there is something that I want to confirm.
◇
There's something that I didn't tell Arisa.
Dragons are natural enemies of demons.
Demons want to eliminate dragons.
Who summoned me to this world?
For what reason did I get summoned to this world?
Why do my power have discrepancies with those of the heroes?
Yes, I am,
”The one who summoned me might be the demon or the demon lord is it....”
Those words weren't questions...