Chapter 108: Hierarchy Advancement (3)

Inside the dark dwarf star of the demon world.

The commanders, seated at a truly enormous round table in a room that could be called the meeting room of the commanders, were having a discussion.

"I really didn't expect Agares to lose."

"Fuahaha! Weren't you too careless?! No matter what, dying to two heroes is a bit much, isn't it?"

The story being shared was precisely about Agares.

Someone was laughing pleasantly while looking at Agares, who was sitting with a face full of irritation.

Someone else couldn't hide their astonished expression while looking at Agares.

That's because, at least among the commanders gathered here, no one had thought that Agares would incarnate in the middle realm and lose.

Because of that, the meeting room, which had been noisy for a while,

"Now, let's stop here. It's time to start the meeting,"

became instantly quiet due to the mediation of Beor Darkheart, the Second Commander.

Upon that, Noxius, the Fifth Commander who had been teasing Agares just a moment ago, spoke with a face full of the distinctive dissatisfaction of a boy.

"Should we start the meeting even though the First Commander hasn't arrived yet?"

"The First Commander won't come."

"Why?"

"Because she is currently 'at the top',"

Beor, the Second Commander, answered.

Upon that, Noxius continued with a very dissatisfied expression.

"Isn't this too much favoritism? Even if you've got the position of the First Commander, shouldn't you participate in the meeting? It's not like we don't have time to be here, right?"

Noxius said.

"Honestly, I agree with that too."

"Me too."

As soon as he finished speaking, Beor, who was watching the commanders one by one start to voice their grievances that had apparently accumulated against the First Commander, sighed and then said,

"Then bring her here."

"......"

With just one sentence from Beor,

as soon as he finished, the other commanders, as if they had been waiting, shut their mouths. Even Noxius, who had expressed the strongest dissatisfaction, shut his mouth.

That's because the First Commander was not someone they could bring even if they decided to do so right away.

"If we can't bring her, let's start the meeting. After all, the First Commander has never participated in a meeting before, right?"

"...Never participates, just stays quiet at that top all the time."

"If you have complaints, then bring her here."

"...Tsk."

So, at that point, Noxius clicked his tongue as if dissatisfied and kept his mouth shut.

The place where the commanders were talking about, and the place that could be considered closest to the purple sky in this demon world.

At the top, there sat a woman.

She had the grayish-white skin characteristic of a demon, but unlike real demons, her long ears indicated her race was an elf before becoming a demon.

"......"

Behind her, numerous weapons were stuck and immobile in the bodies of tens to hundreds of demonic beasts that existed behind the summit.

It was a truly contradictory space.

The purple sky was mysterious and beautiful, but the place where she was, was infinitely provocative.

In that place, where immortal demonic beasts kept reviving and couldn't even scream due to the weapons embedded in them, just bleeding purple blood.

Sigh.

The First Commander of the Demons, looking up at the void with weary eyes,

"......"

He, once called the Hero King, looked up at the sky with weary eyes.

Before entering the Labyrinth, Kim Hyunwoo began to brief Elena about the Labyrinth, as he had done before.

"Using Shadra's Golem, you can quickly reach each tier, but you and the Apprentice Knights must handle the Boss."

"I know. Don't worry."

Kim Hyunwoo, watching Elena nod with firm resolve, explained to her not only how to defeat the Boss on the 5th tier but also the one on the 7th tier.

The reason was that it was not difficult to guess that Shadra's Golem could take Elena to the Boss Zone without any damage right away,

and the rest was because the strength difference between the bosses of the 5th and 6th tiers and those of the 4th and 5th tiers was not that great.

In other words, it was judged that if Elena could maintain her stamina well and knew the strategy, she could quickly kill them.

If the Apprentice Knights who go down into the Labyrinth with her also tackle the Boss on the 7th tier, they could definitely defeat it.

"The difference between apprentice soldiers and Apprentice Knights is significant, after all."

Since the apprentice soldier route is a late bloomer type, apprentice soldiers are overall weaker than any other soldier class they can change into from regular soldiers right away.

However, once they upgrade and move beyond the weakest period known as the apprentice soldier stage, they start to show their true value, albeit slightly.

"Of course, at this point, they are just a little stronger than other second-class transferred soldiers."

Based on Kim Hyunwoo's judgment that even that level would be enough to clear the Labyrinth without loss of life, he provided her with this information.

"Then, I will go."

"I'll be back, Dad!"

After Elena bowed and Shadra greeted him energetically, they left the office.

Not long after, Kim Hyunwoo, having confirmed that they had taken the soldiers into the Labyrinth,

'Now, since we've finished all that needs to be done right away...'

hesitated no further and walked out of the Lord's castle, deciding to upgrade the Lord's castle over the past few months.

'After all, it's not something that can just be left undone until the end.'

Kim Hyunwoo looked at the Lord's castle.

Certainly, the scenery of Lartania's territory had changed dramatically, but the Lord's castle itself had hardly changed from before.

It was somewhat shabby compared to a Level 5 building, with cracks here and there.

"Upgrading the Lord's castle means I can't use the Lord's throne properly for a day, which is a bit inconvenient, but..."

On the contrary, he couldn't keep putting off upgrading the Lord's castle forever, so he started the upgrade of the Lord's castle without hesitation by lifting the upgrade pause.

Elena did not particularly like Shadra.

That was obvious.

After all, in their single encounter, Shadra had outright said something to make Elena feel bad.

However, despite hearing such words, Elena did not harbor any grudge against Shadra within this Labyrinth.

This was inside the Labyrinth, and she was very aware of how a moment of carelessness could lead to a terrible outcome.

Well, in fact, even if Elena did bear a grudge, it didn't seem like it would cause a big problem in conquering the labyrinth.

About two hours after entering the Labyrinth.

Kwaahhh!

Thanks to the Iron Golem rampaging in front of them, Elena and the Apprentice Knights were not taking any damage.

Of course, there were occasionally monsters that suddenly popped out from behind, but since it was much more comfortable than having to traverse the Labyrinth directly, Elena and the Apprentice Knights were able to conserve their energy and proceed.

During that time,

"Wow, you were really swift earlier, weren't you?"

Seeing Shadra suddenly speaking, Elena soon responded,

"Thank you for the compliment. Thanks to you, it's been comfortable."

"No problem. It's a request from Dad - so it's only natural."

Seeing Shadra smiling in a way that seemed quite insincere to her, Elena said,

"...But I've been wondering, isn't it a bit strange to call the Lord 'Dad'?"

"Why? He is Dad, isn't he?"

"I heard that you're not actually related by blood."

Hearing Elena's words, Shadra hummed, thought for a moment, then said,

"Well, it's true that we're not related by blood. But I still think of him as Dad."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes. After all, we'll become that kind of family soon enough."

"...What?"

Elena, unknowingly asking back, saw Shadra smiling and saying,

"We're going to be that kind of family soon."

"...What kind of relationship?"

"Family. I'm going to become family with Dad. It's difficult right now, but as soon as the term of the Tower Master ends, I'm planning to transfer to belong to Lartania."

"Ah..."

"I've always cherished the dream of becoming family with Dad."

Hearing Shadra speak and laugh about it, Elena nodded as if she finally understood and thought,

'Maybe they're not as different as I thought?'

Thinking about it, Shadra hadn't really clashed with Elena after that conversation, and even now, seemed to speak leisurely without any intention of antagonizing her.

Elena ended up with a somewhat awkward expression.

It turned out that while she had been conscious of it, the other party hadn't really been thinking about it at all, making Elena scratch her head in unnecessary thought and then spoke,

"...So becoming a daughter was your dream."

"What? A daughter?"

At Shadra's question, as if she didn't understand what was being said, Elena replied in surprise,

"What? No, didn't you just say you wanted to become family?"

"Right?"

"Since you always call the Lord 'Dad', I thought that was what you meant... Isn't it?"

Elena's question.

"Ah~ That?"

Upon that, Shadra, seeming to roughly understand the situation, smiled and then said,

"You can be family without necessarily becoming a daughter, right? Even closer than that."

"...That's not being a daughter, right? In that case, calling him 'Dad' doesn't fit at all."

"Ah, not really. You can still use the title 'Dad' even if it's not in that way. For example-"

As if pondering something, tilting her head slightly, and then, as if a good idea had come to her, she smiled broadly,

"Rena's Dad-"

"......"

"Something like this?"

She spoke with a rich laugh, gesturing as if holding a child.

"Ah, the name 'Rena' was one of the names Dad thought was pretty. So, it would be good as a first name."

"......"

Elena unwittingly gaped at Shadra's words, which seemed playful yet infinitely sincere.

...A sense of crisis blossomed in Elena's heart.