Volume 1 Chapter 7 (1/2)

I gave Tenko the gun she wished for and immediately taught her how to use it.

It seemed like she was very pleased with the gun when she tried to test fire it. She went on about how she wanted to use it in live combat right away.

So Succubus transferred us once again. This time, to the 68th floor. The D rank monsters looked like they weren’t enough for us so we headed for the Maelstrom that produced C rank monsters.

“What the heck, just how many floors are there?”

“All in all, a hundred and one.”

“Wha-!?”

It was beyond what I imagined.

I didn’t expect it to go over a hundred floors.

“That’s because [Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias is one of the great old Demon Lords and has reigned for nearly 300 years. What’s more, she’s also a very hard-working person. She also has around 1500 monsters, by the way.”

“That’s way more than what I imagined. I shiver at the thought of us clashing.”

It’s obvious but the forces I command at the moment were nothing compared to hers.

Marcho would probably beat me senseless without even sweating.

“Oto-san, don’t worry! I’m here after all. I’ll protect you!”

Tenko clung to my arms and raised an energetic voice.

She was saying so but 1500 was just too much even for her.

“Fufufu, what a good energetic child. As expected of an S rank monster, even after being told of such things. But rest assured, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell-sama, she doesn’t have any ill will towards you. Your training is, after all, her final main task.”

“Final?”

I caught notice of those words.

“Oh, you haven’t heard of it?”

The Succubus looked at me with shock all over her face.

“Nope, I haven’t heard anything.”

“Is that so… then, I don’t know if I should be the one to tell you. Apologies but it’s a secret.”

The Succubus quickly bowed her head.

I showed her that I understood but Tenko looked like she was unsatisfied with it.

Tell us, tell us, Tenko pestered.

The Succubus was smiling bitterly but then, it looked like she finally gave in a little.

“Just a little, okay?”

When she said those words, the voice of a girl that shouldn’t have been there was heard.

“There’s no need for that.”

The space in front of me distorted and then, Marcho was there.

“Really now, it was a good thing I checked up on your group. Succubus, I can’t say I approve of talking as you wish about important and private matters.”

“I-I have no excuse, Marchosias-sama.”

“Well, it’s fine. It’s not like I forbade you talk about it. I’ll let it go in consideration of your general performance.”

The Succubus quietly lowered her head and Marcho smiled wryly.

“Can you also use transfer magic?”

“No, I can’t use high ranking magic like Succubus. I’m kind of a muscle-brained Demon Lord after all. It’s more of like using my authority as a Demon Lord. I can jump to any place I want as long as it’s within my Dungeon.”

That was a convenient ability.

I’ll take note of it for when I make my Dungeon in the future.

“But peeping is a distasteful hobby, you know.”

“I was worried so I checked. It was through Succubus, by the way. You better remember this but Demon Lords are able to share senses with up to a hundred monsters. I have done so with almost all the leaders of each floor.”

“Then, I have to be restrain myself from bad mouthing Marcho in front of Succubus.”

“Not just in front of her. You can never be sure where my eyes and ears are so be careful. Being in a Dungeon is like being inside the Demon Lord himself.”

Yeah, it’s most probably like that.

Sharing of senses…… It seemed like I better to try it out once with Tenko. Could we share all of our five senses? If we could, then……

“Oto-san, are you thinking of something weird?”

“Nope, nothing of the sort.”

Tenko was as sharp as ever but I somehow deceived her.

I then turned towards Marcho and she began talking to me.

“I’m telling you this since this is important information for you too. Succubus has already started talking about it but, you see, we Demon Lords have a life span.”

“Life span?”

“Yeah, a life span. Three hundred years to be exact. If that much time has passed after one has become a Demon Lord, then that Demon Lord will cease to exist. By the way, I am 199 years old.”

I was breathless.

She looked so healthy and yet she didn’t even have a full year left.

“Hey, don’t make that face. I’ve already done all the things I wanted to do; I have no regrets. And I have raising you as my final task. Training junior Demon Lords up is, you see, tasked requested to Demon Lords near the end of their life span. Once in ten years, all in the same day, ten Demon Lords are born which also means there are children other than you. Perhaps it’s kindness that this task is assigned to old Demon Lords because if a young one did it, then they will see the newly born Demon Lord as a rival and thus won’t be able to honestly teach them things.”

Her words about not regretting anything didn’t seem to be a lie.