Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

121 – The Mermaid Princess is a _______ Fanatic

This is the definition of a stratum in a Dungeon.

For example, the Demon King Castle has a total of eleven strata, but it doesn’t mean you can Clear the Dungeon by breaking through eleven chambers.

Maybe it’s easier to imagine it as a regular building.

One floor of the building doesn’t necessarily have only one room.

Adventurers open the doors of a lot of chambers until they finally find the chamber that connects to the next stratum and fight the Floor Boss in order to move on. By defeating the Floor Boss, that stratum is considered Cleared.

One floor is called a stratum, and the rooms within it can be of any number and type.

The Demon of Love Sitri’s fifth stratum, which was filled with maid Dream Demon, and also the battle with the Fenix party in the tenth stratum. These strata that had one chamber per stratum is an extremely rare configuration.

There are more if you include the strata that have a stage that is a vast expanse of wasteland, forest, or sky.

The sixth stratum sea stage is also close to this, but the number of chambers is two.

Until now, Milla and I were in the first one, now we’re in the second one.

「She’s not…here.」

The chamber is a square. The floor of one half of it is filled with white sand, while the other half is filled with water. It’s like a space that had a beach stuffed into it.

The weather was sunny. Although it seems like it’s possible to change the period of time to evening or night, and the weather to stormy or cloudy.

In the center of the sea section is a long pillar…no, it’s a tube. A hollowed-out column that towers over its surroundings.

It was made out of some transparent material, and it was filled with seawater.

In a Dungeon Clear, the Floor Boss would be there to greet the Adventurers and then proceed to battle.

Well, to begin with, people are rarely in the Boss room on a regular basis. It’s just a stage.

However, Vepar often secludes herself.

If she isn’t above water, then she’s probably under it.

「As I expected.」

Said Milla, then she pulled something out from her cleavage.

It was a thumb-sized plate that looked similar to the Registration Cards we all regularly carry around.

As a function, it is almost the same thing.

It’s called a Memory and functions exactly as the name implies.

It’s a small Recording Stone but it can record the Clear video of a Dungeon. More precisely, when you’re finished with a Dungeon Clear, you take the Memory that contains the video and hand it to the reception desk.

「Vepar. I’ve got the usual goods.」

Said Milla. The way she said it sounded like the start of a shady business transaction somehow.

But there was no response.

The water’s surface was still. Not a single wave.

「It’s the Dungeon Clear video from the former Elementary Level –  Beginner’s Dungeon, now All Level Dungeon. Of course, it’s the completely uncut, full version.」

…Huh?

I’m pretty sure that was when Thor and I fought the Phillip party…?

It’s the talked-about Clear video that has had its momentum slow down lately by the news of the Raid Battle, but conversely, only the parts where I appeared have picked up again.

「Also, I managed to get the video where Lord Lemegeton and Furcus had just begun their training sessions.」

It felt like the floor shook.

No, perhaps the whole stratum was shaking?

The sands were constantly shifting, the water surface became rough.

「Here, Lord Lemegeton.」

Milla held an umbrella over us.

I didn’t think she had one, but that’s just as well. It was an umbrella made of her blood.  

「To share an umbrella together…fufufu.」

Two people under one umbrella together. Considering what happened in the previous chamber, I nodded silently.

The next instant, something jumped out of the tube in the center of the sea with the speed of a meteor.

A large amount of water was splashed everywhere, and in its center, swimming through the air, was the Floor Boss of the sixth stratum, Vepar.

Fluttering, soft blond hair with a tinge of blue, her mermaid tail paddling in the sky. Her skin was freely exposed save for her chest which was covered by two seashells.

It was a fairytale-like spectacle.

She landed with a great splash.

「Caaaaarmilla!」

She swam towards us with tremendous speed. I could see her clearly thanks to the crystal clear waters.

The scattered droplets of water were repelled by the umbrella, and Milla opened her mouth.

「On my mark, run in opposite directions.」

Perhaps used to all this, she was calm.

「Now.」

I leap to the left and Milla leaps to the right.

Just as we did that, Vepar’s body whizzed past the spot where we just were like a bullet from the sea.

Vepar skids across the sand.

She’s different from her usual image.

But I was given an explanation earlier. She’s the type who gets really excited when there is something she likes in front of her.

「How cruel of you to not catch a flying beauty headed straight for you.」

For a moment, her whole body was full of sand. Vepar used Water Magic to wash it all off.

「You jumped slightly towards Lord Lemegeton, didn’t you?」

「That’s because halfway through my flight, I realized that you were the type to avoid me. I didn’t think mister Chief of Staff would be so cruel as well.」

「Ah-…」

「Do not listen to her Lord Lemegeton. If you tried to catch her, even if you were a Majin, you would have been blown away. You accelerated using Water Magic, didn’t you?」

「Heh…well, all is well.」

Ah, I misjudged it.

That just now was definitely faster than if you were to simply jump out.

There are many aquatic Monsters that use Water Magic to assist them in moving around in the sea. Using that, it’s possible to super accelerate yourself.

「Before we move on, hand over the goods.」

Water overflowed from under her and rose up. Twisting and turning, it formed a pillar of water. That pillar stretched towards Milla, and Vepar swam towards her inside it.

Just like in the meeting, she should be able to change to a two-legged form, but she doesn’t.

「Talk first.」

「I need to confirm it’s contents…is what I’d like to say, but I trust you.」

Vepar shrugs her shoulders.

From her words, I can infer that there have been enough transactions to build trust.

「It was smart of you to bring her, Lord Chief of Staff. If you had come by yourself, I probably wouldn’t have come out. Oh, it isn’t because I dislike you or anything, just so you know」

「When she’s focused, she doesn’t care about her surroundings. At such a time, she only reacts to a specific word. Rather convenient ears, she has.」

Said an exasperated Milla, the hair at the back of Vepar’s head turned upwards with a sizzling sound.

「Please, they are evolved ears.」

「Evolved…」

I mumbled involuntarily.

If you lure her with Clear videos or training videos as bait, she will bite, surprisingly.

Which means, she’s…

「Vepar is a Monster fanatic.」