My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem - My Dungeon Life – Chapter 809-811
Chapter 809
After his initial moments of surprise, the Demon King’s expression darkened. “Where have you heard that name?”
I had thought that, hearing Earth, he might have grown excited. I also felt a surge of excitement when it occurred to me he was from Earth. If I was wrong, then he would have just given me a strange look like I was speaking garbage, and we would have moved on. However, his violent and sudden reaction meant that Earth meant something to him.
It was only then I remembered that he was the Dungeon Master of the Twilight Dungeon, and not the original Demon King. So, that led to the question on whether it was the Demon King who had heard Earth, or this approximation of the Demon King created by the dungeon. Either way, I didn’t expect him to suddenly grow angry. I suddenly worried that maybe being from Earth wasn’t such a good thing.
“I… my friend came from Earth.” I gave a weak excuse. “You just… suddenly reminded me of him?”
I really didn’t expect this to work at all, but then the Demon King nodded and sat back down calmly. “I see… it is the same with me. I also knew a woman who was from Earth. She’s gone now.”
I didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, but it seemed like he had calmed down and I was worried about upsetting him again.
“General, my people need a home. There was once a time when the country of Twilight believed that our world’s could unite. I still believe that this is possible. After all, your world has united with so many in the past.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“The esmere, the elves, the osteria, the giants, the animalkin, the merfolk, the dwarves, even the humans, you have all managed to integrate yourselves into this foreign world.”
“What?” This time I was surprised.
He sneered. “I know how you humans love to hide history, but surely you remember that it was once your species that emerged from the cursed dungeons and pushed back this world’s inhabitants. You then welcomed all of the otherworlders, including us. Only later did you suddenly decide we were evil, all thanks to that wretched church.”
My mind was moving a mile a minute. This broke everything I knew about this world. I had always thought that all of these species developed on this world, perhaps through some kind of natural selection. However, if you really thought about it, what kind of natural selection would have led to such a diverse range of completely unique species?
The answer was that these species all came to this world at various points in history. It seemed like humans were in the majority, but every other species had come at some point and settled here. Who were the original inhabitants? I didn’t even know!
My silence seemed to urge the Demon King on. “If the humans won’t give my people a place in this world, then we will take it! The country of Twilight is already ours. Demon’s control the valley, and by extension 70% of the defensible land. Admit defeat, and urge your soldiers to surrender. If you do this, I will spare your lives, and allow the remaining humans to live among us.”
“Your commander made me a similar promise, and he slaughtered my men.” I responded, acting how I thought the General would.
The Demon King looked up at the Commander who was still standing next to me. “Is this true?”
“My lord.” The commander grew flustered. “I felt it necessary to instill a sense of control and fear into the general, or he might think he can…”
The commander never finished his words. The Demon King went from his chair to standing on the other side of his room. There was the shing of a blade being pulled out ringing in the air. Compared to Aberis, who I had already thought was fast beyond comprehension, this guy was even faster. The commander was making a strange noise, but a second later, his body split in two. This was the power of the Demon King, and the real one was even stronger than that. I had a long way to go.
The Demon King turned back to me, his expression showing nothing after just cutting a man in two. Even if his expression had been angry or cold, it would have been something. However, it was the same blank friendly expression from when I had entered.
“Do we have an agreement?”
Chapter 810
I had no choice but to accept the Demon King’s offer. Any hope that I might have some leniency from him was lost, and I ended up tossed in a dungeon shortly after that. not talking about a cursed dungeon, but a castle dungeon. I could call it a jail, but that word didn’t do the dark, muggy underground prison justice. Well, that was the plan from the beginning, so one could say that everything was going according to plan.
He had made me promise to sit through the wedding of Carmine, or I suppose it was the princess. Then, I was to declare to the people that the demons were uniting with the humans and that we were to surrender. It sounded like a fair deal considering, but I knew how this story ended. The demons began an aggressive campaign, conquering the north. I didn’t know how big Twilight was, or how many countries the Demon King conquered, but the bloody war he started continues until this day.
I sat in my cell, and when I was sure I was going to be left alone, summoned a few creature comforts from my Inventory. I had feared that their dungeon would have some kind of anti-magic spell or something. Maybe, the real Demon Castle did, but dungeons were bound by certain rules, and one of those rules was that it couldn’t trap or stop your progress. Technically, tossing me in a jail cell would break the rules of a dungeon. They could trick you, get you lost, throw enemies at you, make environments impassable, but they couldn’t just lock you up and keep you there.
When the first dungeon I ever entered, Mina’s Dungeon, collapsed all those months ago, there must have been a means of returning to the surface. Since Mina’s Dungeon had a lot of Portal traps, one of them must have led up past the blockade. It was just anyone’s guess how. Thus, although I was shoved in this jail, there had to be some way out. I spent the better part of an hour looking, only to try the front door to find it unlocked. This dungeon was getting lazy if its big workaround was to just make the cell door lock break.
With my way out secure, I settled down. Now, it was just time to wait. During the wedding, when everyone was distracted, we’d make our move. If Bernard acted like his Demon Prince counterpart, he should use the opportunity to attack his father. The army would move in. I’d free Carmine in the chaos and bring her into the safe room to recover. Once the Demon King finished off the prince, Xin, Carmine, Garnet, and I would work together to take him out. Well, I had a feeling it’d be mostly Xin. Comparatively, the rest of us weren’t as strong.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any news from the outside. I just had to wait and hope the girls were doing their job. I did occasionally communicate with the princess, but I gained little more than well-wishes and more complaining about how the life of a princess was hard. I found I preferred the solemn silence of a jail cell during those times.
Chapter 811
“It is time.” A group of ominous sounding men came and pulled me out of my cell.
I walked down the long hallway in chains with four men surrounding me. I was made to kneel down. A man started taking measurements, taking particular notice of my neck size. A third man came out with a bowl of scalding liquid. The first man pulled out a long blade. He then proceeded to cut my hair. The second man started sewing, while the third started to bathe me.
As it were, they wanted to prepare me for the wedding. I was the General representing the nation at the point of surrender. If I looked like I had been held in a dungeon and tortured, my words wouldn’t have nearly as much sway on the people. Of course, my statement would be recorded magically and then replayed in every village and town. For that, I had to look my finest.
Although I had some comforts from my Inventory, it had been weeks since I had a good bath. I was cleaned up, put in a nice suit, and then escorted upstairs. I was even provided two elite guards by my side, who would graciously protect me, and cut off my head if I made any attempt to flee. Well, the hospitality of a Demon King only went so far.
As I walked down the hallways, every so often I dropped something from my Inventory onto the ground. I usually picked areas where there was a carpet so nothing could be heard. I faked so many coughs I suspected they might think I was dying of the flu. I feared they’d be suspicious, but I guess they expected a man being held in the dungeon for several days would contract something and be weak.
I was seated in the back of the wedding. I had anticipated this. Even though I was disguising my face and wearing the karma of the general, I feared that Bernard still might be able to recognize me. The same could be said about Calypso. Thankfully, the pair of them were in the front of the wedding. Just as I moved to sit down, one of the elite guards grabbed me.
“You will be giving the bride away.” He said.
“Ah… what?”
“Demon King’s orders. You will walk her down the aisle.”
That… was not part of the plan. I gulped, but nodded and was led back to a room. I could hear the prattling on of a haughty woman. It took a moment to realize it was Carmine.
“And another thing! This dress looks a bit frumpy on the side, and…”
“My lady… it is time.” A man explained to the princess.
“My hero will come for me. He will!” She protested.
“Yes, you’ve been saying that.”
I sweated slightly, listening to this from the hallway. If she made a scene here, things might get a bit messy. Of course, she’d be able to recognize me through the bond. Although my face was different, the current dungeon infected Carmine cared more about karma than physical appearance.
It turned out. My worries weren’t warranted. The woman walked out without glancing at me. She grabbed my arm without looking my way. She seemed to be in a huff.
We started to move toward the wedding room with the entire entourage. This included a half dozen guards, the steward, and a few ladies who were holding up the back of her dress. I was sweating though. I would be right in front of all the major players in this dungeon, and if even one saw through my mimicry, I’d be screwed.
As I was thinking of such things, I realized Carmine had stopped. She was looking at me now.
“My lady, you must walk forward!” The steward urged her on.
She started walking again, but her eyes were locked on me. I distinctly didn’t turn to look at her. Rather, I was starting to sweat more and more. She saw through the mask! Just don’t say anything. We have to make it.
The music started as we reached the wedding hall. We started to walk forward. Everyone had their eyes on us. It was Carmine, and me right next to her. We were halfway down the hall. Bernard had his eyes on Carmine, and Calypso wasn’t even sparing us a glance. This could work!
Just then, Carmine ripped her arm from mine, grabbing her head and shaking it, a look of confusion marring her expression.
“What is… what’s going on?” She said.
Mumbling broke throughout the church, while I looked at her with my mouth opened, not sure what to say.
“You’re getting married, ma’am.” The steward hissed at her.
“M-marriage?” She said, squinting like she didn’t understand the word.
“You know… ‘will you marry me’?” I offered, trying to placate the situation quickly.
The second I spoke those, her gaze jumped to me, a crystal clear conviction in her eyes. I barely had time to realize things were going south when she broke into a wide smile.
“Yes!” She leaped at me, and we began to kiss in the middle of the wedding of the Demon Prince.
Bernard finally was looking at my face now that his bride-to-be was sucking on it.
“Deeeeeeekk!” He let out a scream.
Then, all hell broke loose.