36-55

EP.55 Dragon and Dungeon – 1 

The dragon’s lair was on a completely different level than I’d imagined. 

What I pictured was a damp, gloomy cave with a huge dragon sleeping inside. 

But the reality before my eyes was nothing like that. 

There were countless spaces, from a gigantic library to a bathhouse, and the interior was so impressive I could hardly believe it was all inside a cave. 

“I think I get why dragons hole up in their lairs.” 

Except for the occasional time they come out to the human world out of boredom, they must live luxuriously in places like this. 

That’s good for me, too. 

At least I don’t have to be a slave in some dark, dingy place like Cinderella. 

And despite being called a slave, I wasn’t made to do any menial labor. 

In fact, I have nothing to do. 

At first, I was terrified I’d have to clean this huge place, but it turns out everything is automated by magic. 

The reason the dragon made me her slave, even though she didn’t need one, was ridiculous. 

She said she just wanted to own a hero once. 

What a quirky woman. 

Still, the good news was that as long as I didn’t leave the lair, I was free. 

I’d wake up, wash up, read erotic novels in the library, and sleep at night. 

Occasionally, if I got a summons, I’d go to wherever the dragon was. 

My original plan was to stay close to Leia and wait for an opportunity. 

But since she’d made me her slave out of simple curiosity, she basically left me alone. 

Plus, this place was so absurdly huge and complicated that it was hard to follow her around. 

Beep beep-! Beep beep-! 

A summoning sound rang in my ears. 

I looked to where the sound was coming from. 

There, a crystal ball the size of a human head was flashing and making noise. 

I reached out and touched the crystal ball. 

In that instant, a dazzling white light flashed and my surroundings changed. 

The place I teleported to with the crystal ball was somewhere I’d never been before. 

A huge magic circle was drawn on the floor, surrounded by countless herbs and bottles. 

It was obviously a place for conducting magical experiments. 

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to use me as a test subject now?” 

I looked at Leia anxiously. 

She sat in a chair, looking at me with a haughty attitude and eyes full of amusement, as if she’d found a fun new toy. 

“Usually, slaves who become such voluntarily are obedient, but you’re oddly arrogant.” 

Voluntarily, my ass. 

She forced me into it with power-this lizard has no conscience. 

“Isn’t that better than a boring slave?” 

“Heh heh... I suppose so. Fine, I’ll allow you to be a bit cheeky.” 

“So, why did you summon me?” 

“You said it was the Demon King who brought you here, right? I’m going to look for evidence of that.” 

Suddenly, I felt dizzy. 

I just blurted that out at the time-who knew it would come to this? 

“Wouldn’t they have erased all traces and gone into hiding by now?” 

“You still don’t know who your master is, do you?” 

Leia, looking supremely confident, gestured with her hand, and a red-tinged magic circle appeared in the air. 

“You think I’ve just been sitting around all this time?” 

Snap! 

With a snap of her fingers, countless people spilled out of the magic circle, falling to the floor. 

They all had dazed expressions. 

“Don’t tell me you captured all these people?” 

There were easily dozens. 

From burly men to delicate girls, all sorts of people lay on the floor. 

The only thing they had in common was that they all stared blankly into space, as if their souls had left them. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll send them back to their villages soon.” 

The sight of these zombie-like people sent chills down my spine. 

I could have ended up like that too. 

Whoever lured me to this cave never managed anything like this. 

“Thanks to this, I found out where the one who tricked you is. You can look forward to it.” 

Leia looked at me with delight. 

But I was sweating cold bullets. 

What if the culprit wasn’t the Demon King but just some crazy person? 

I might end up worse off than the people on the floor. 

“They tried to erase all traces, but they can’t fool me. As you said, it was definitely the Demon King’s doing.” 

Wait, it was really true? 

I just said it because nothing else came to mind! 

“You look quite surprised.” 

“N-no, it’s just... your abilities are amazing...” 

No need to mention it was a lucky guess. 

But to think it really was the Demon King’s scheme. 

If I hadn’t been the one caught, the knights or army might have invaded here. 

Given Leia’s personality, she would have wiped them out like trash. 

Should I be glad? 

“The Demon King is quite something.” 

“Then I’ll go cut off his head and bring it back...” 

Leia’s gaze sharpened. 

Her predator-like stare made me shut my mouth mid-sentence. 

No use trying to run. 

“This was clearly the Demon King’s plan to invade your lair, Dragon.” 

I started slandering and sowing discord against the Demon King, saying whatever came to mind. 

Now that the culprit was clear, it didn’t matter if I made speculative accusations. 

If the Demon King suffers as much as I did, I’ll be satisfied. 

“Will you just sit back and let the Dragon’s reputation be tarnished?” 

Leia, who had been quietly listening, stood up as if she’d made up her mind. 

My subtle prodding had worked, and I could sense a bit of anger in her aura. 

“I’ll accept your suggestion and go destroy their base right now. Follow me.” 

“Do you know where the Demon King is?” 

The Demon King’s existence was public knowledge, but no one knew their location. 

But Leia was the strongest being, capable of things humans couldn’t even dream of. 

Even the Demon King couldn’t gauge her power, which is why their tracks were discovered. 

And no one would have expected her to track people down so bluntly. 

“I don’t know that, but I do know where the one who lured you here is.” 

“Where?” 

“They’re hiding in an underground dungeon, protected by a powerful barrier. We’ll attack there now.” 

Before I could say anything, she cast a spell, and the familiar white light enveloped us both. 

“Keltron, sir! Intruders!” 

The lizardman monster, looking like a cross between a reptile and a human, was trembling with fear. 

But it wasn’t the intruders that scared him-it was the massive being before him. 

Wings reduced to bone, 

a huge body with rotting flesh, 

a presence that evoked death itself-a dragon. 

Not an ordinary dragon, but a monster-class zombie dragon. 

A zombie dragon made from the corpse of a dead dragon, evoking terror with its decaying appearance and complete lack of vitality. 

“You didn’t wake me just for a common intruder, did you?” 

Keltron’s cold, deep voice carried a hint of annoyance. 

The lizardman could only tremble under his pressure. 

The aura of a dragon was enough to instill fear in all living things. 

“Y-yes, sir! The first barrier at the entrance was broken instantly, and they’re entering the dungeon now!” 

“They broke that barrier?” 

Keltron was intrigued by the unexpected report. 

The dungeon’s barriers weren’t something mere humans could break. 

Even the easiest, the first barrier, would take days to undo. 

“They must be a tough opponent for you. What about the inner barrier?” 

“Fortunately, it seems they haven’t broken the inner barrier yet!” 

“Heh... It’s been a while since I’ve had some entertainment.” 

Breaking the first barrier was proof enough that the intruder was formidable. 

But if they couldn’t break the inner barrier, it didn’t matter. 

The inner barrier weakened anyone who wasn’t a soldier of the Demon King’s army. 

“So... what should we do?” 

The lizardman looked at Keltron with a pleading expression, knowing this intruder was beyond the lower monsters’ abilities. 

But the revived dragon’s voice was cold. 

“Show your loyalty to the Demon King.” 

To Keltron, the lizardmen were nothing more than ants-maybe slightly useful ants, but still ants. 

“B-but...” 

“The Demon King’s barrier is perfect. So you know why the intruder got this far, right?” 

The lizardman recalled an order from a few days ago: 

“Make a human attack a dragon. But make sure you don’t get caught.” 

Since Keltron couldn’t polymorph after death, monsters like the lizardmen had to use all their wits to carry out the order. 

Now he was being held responsible for its failure. 

Despite the death sentence, the lizardman could only leave with a look of fear. 

“What an interesting turn of events. I never thought I’d end up fighting my own kind after dying.” 

The human and dragon who were supposed to be pitted against each other. 

Of the two, only a dragon could break the barrier this quickly. 

Keltron felt his fighting spirit stir once more.