novelraw Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121. The Unexpected Appearance (2)
The underground dungeon of Lumen Fortis had successfully opened and was bustling with visitors day after day.
Powerful individuals from all over the world flocked to conquer the dungeon in their own ways,
competing for records.Among them, my two daughters, Adel and Iris, stood out prominently.
“Huhu. I’m so proud of my daughters.”
I watched the situation inside the dungeon through the magic crystal balls installed in my office and let out a satisfied laugh.
The current top record was Adel, who had broken through the 34th floor, but Iris was also fiercely chasing after her.
The intense ranking battle between my two daughters was also a good stimulus for the other adventurers.
Just then.
Noemi opened the office door and entered with a bright face.
In her hands were several pieces of parchment with complex magic circles drawn on them.
“Dad! I finally finished it!”
What she handed me were the blueprints and core logic for the transition magic circle system for movement within the dungeon.
After spending several days and nights cooped up in her research lab, she had finally completed this complex system.
“Amazing, Noemi! To think you’d complete this so quickly!”
I said with genuine admiration and patted her head.
But for some reason, despite the praise, Noemi showed no signs of joy and just stared out the window with a blank expression.
‘What’s with her?’
Her gaze was directed towards none other than the dungeon entrance.
Could it be that Noemi also wanted to enter the dungeon?
Unlike Adel and Iris, she had shown no particular interest in the dungeon until now.
She had said she had explored ancient ruins to her heart’s content on her own, and would rather read more magic books in the mansion’s library.
‘I see. With her older sisters performing so spectacularly, even Noemi must be feeling a sense of rivalry. I understand completely.’
That's how competition is.
No matter how close you are, if someone is doing too well on their own, you can't help but feel anxious that you're falling behind.
Noemi must be feeling the same way.
I was about to pat her shoulder and encourage her.
“If you want to challenge the dungeon, just say the word. Dad will specially……”
But before I could finish my sentence, Noemi suddenly threw a completely different question at me.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“What does it feel like when several people like one person at the same time?”
“Huh??”
What is this all of a sudden?
I looked at her, flustered.
‘Could it be?’
Could it be that she had taken a liking to that country bumpkin hero, Douglas Junior, whom she had been following and watching with Noctavira recently?
But my worries were unfounded.
Because Noemi smirked and added these words.
“Dad, you’re monopolizing the love of not only us three daughters, but also Saintess Isabel, Master Anonymous, and even Noctavira. Many women love you, right? So I just asked. What it feels like.”
I swallowed a bitter smile inwardly.
So that was it.
Well, from a third person's perspective, I might seem enviable.
But it was difficult to give an easy answer.
Others might be envious, but I myself felt like a shrimp caught between fighting whales every day.
It might be better not to know.
“I’ll tell you later.”
I smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.
“Anyway, thanks to you, the biggest challenge in operating the dungeon has been solved. I should start implementing this transition magic circle system in the dungeon in earnest.”
I looked over the blueprints Noemi had completed once more and formulated my future plans.
If the convenience of the adventurers was maximized, the dungeon would become even more active.
I immediately summoned Mammon.
I had made up my mind to discuss this matter with him.
***
Frank’s office.
Mammon looked at the incredibly complex magic circle blueprints spread before him with a troubled face, looking back and forth between Frank and Noemi.
Noemi was proudly explaining the great work she had completed, but none of it was registering in Mammon’s ears.
“So you’re saying I have to install this on every floor of the dungeon?”
Mammon asked again as if he couldn’t believe it.
Frank nodded as if it were a matter of course.
“That’s right. Install them at the main points and shelters of each floor so that adventurers can move directly to that location anytime they register. Noemi has built the basic system, so you just need to take on the role of implementing it in the actual dungeon based on this.”
Easier said than done!
Mammon screamed inwardly.
The magic circle Noemi showed him was far more elaborate and high-dimensional than any movement magic he knew.
Just understanding it and stably inscribing it according to the magic flow of each floor would be no ordinary task.
And he was being told to install it on all 100 floors.
Moreover, from Noemi’s explanation, the required functions, such as coordinate setting, user registration, and security systems, were not just one or two.
‘My precious golden time!’
Mammon wanted to cry.
How happy he had been at the thought of becoming the master of the 100th floor of the dungeon and having fun teasing the adventurers with all sorts of traps and powerful subordinates once the dungeon was complete.
But reality was different.
Frank had handed over the position of the 100th-floor boss to Anonymous, and now he had even passed on this ridiculous chore.
And just dealing with Anonymous' moods was already a headache.
But what could he do?
Mammon glanced at Frank and Noemi.
The two of them were staring at him with gazes so intense they were almost murderous.
Mammon didn’t have the courage to go against their wishes.
The two of them were incomparably stronger than him, and above all, he was bound to Frank by a powerful contract.
“Haa.”
In the end, Mammon let out a long sigh as if the ground would collapse and nodded in resignation.
He gripped the magic circle blueprints Frank handed him with a satisfying smile, but his heart was heavy.
‘How did my life come to this? To think that Mammon, the Lord of Greed, would be plagued by such trivial chores.’
He trudged out of the office.
As he walked down the corridor, his eyes caught the sight of adventurers laughing and chatting in the Lumen Fortis square outside the window.
In that moment, Mammon’s gaze turned cold.
‘This is all their fault!’
A sudden irritation welled up.
It was because of those insignificant adventurers that he had to go through this hardship.
‘Just you wait. From now on, I’ll raise the dungeon difficulty by at least two times. I’ll make sure you can’t easily move to the next floor. I’ll take out my stress on you!’
Mammon walked on, hatching a sinister plan in his mind.
An ominous aura began to rise from behind him.
It seemed to foretell that the future of the adventurers who would challenge the dungeon would become even more perilous.
***
For the past week, Noctavira had been following and observing the every move of the country
But the result was unexpected.
No matter how thoroughly she looked, she couldn't detect anything particularly strange or suspicious.
On the contrary, how should I put it.
The person was so kind and pure that it was pitiful to watch from the side.
He couldn't just pass by people in trouble, he was always polite and sincere, and no malice could be found in his eyes.
Sometimes, she even felt the urge to help him, wondering how such a person had survived in this harsh world.
Of course, it wasn’t affection.
The only one Noctavira followed and devoted herself to deep in her heart was her master, Frank.
But it was certain that the young man had a strange charm that drew people's hearts.
‘How should I report this?’
Noctavira was at a loss.
There was nothing suspicious, but she couldn’t just report that he was a ‘kind and pure young man with a strange charm.’
She couldn’t figure out what to say, and her worries only deepened.
Then one evening.
She was sitting on a creaky bed in the shared lodging, organizing her report.
Suddenly, Douglas Junior approached her and spoke.
His face was flushed, and his voice was trembling with nervousness.
“Um, by any chance……”
“……?”
Noctavira looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
It was the first time he had spoken to her like this.
“Do, do you like me?”
“?!”
For a moment, Noctavira’s thoughts froze.
Does she like him?
What is this guy talking about right now?
She soon realized her mistake.
It must be because she had been following and observing him too openly for a week.
Noctavira’s expression hardened coldly, and she shot back.
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
But Douglas didn't back down.
He summoned his courage and continued.
“No, it’s just… you keep looking at me. Not just here in the lodging, but I felt your gaze wherever I went. I was wondering if I did something wrong.”
Noctavira was inwardly shocked.
She had thought that since they were in the same space in the lodging, it was understandable, but when she was tailing him in other places, she thought she had perfectly concealed her presence.
But he said he felt her gaze?
‘He noticed me tailing him? How?’
She didn’t know it, but for her, who was used to a life of reigning as the vampire queen, the talent of a ‘spy’ did not exist.
Her way was to crush her opponents with overwhelming pressure and charisma rather than stealth.
But in this unexpected situation, Noctavira instead found a new breakthrough.
‘He noticed my gaze. He wasn’t just an ordinary country bumpkin. Now I think I understand a little why my master told me to watch him.’
She decided it would be better to report this fact.
This young man was no ordinary person, contrary to his appearance.
Noctavira shot up from her seat.
Douglas flinched at her sudden action, but she paid him no mind and left the lodging.
‘I must inform my master of this fact as soon as possible.’
Her steps quickened towards Frank’s office.
Along with the question of Douglas Junior’s identity, her loyalty to Frank was deepening even further.
***
“Where on earth did she go?”
Douglas Junior sat on the empty bunk bed in the shared lodging and muttered to himself without realizing it.
The mysterious woman who had been watching him all along had hastily left the lodging a few days ago and had not returned.
As if she had never been there in the first place, without a trace.
He had no idea that she had been monitoring him, but Douglas strangely felt a void in a corner of his heart.
Although it was a short period of only a week, her gaze that watched him in this unfamiliar place, Lumen Fortis, had been a great comfort.
He had even mistaken her for having feelings for him, but now he even missed that.
‘What a shame. I should have at least asked for her name.’
But he quickly shook his head.
Now was not the time to be sentimental.
He had a job to do.
‘I should probably try entering the dungeon soon too.’
Douglas had saved up a lump sum of money by taking on all sorts of odd jobs in Lumen Fortis.
At first, it was difficult to even secure food and lodging, but work never ceased for the sincere and kind him.
With the money he had saved, he was finally able to have the minimum equipment as an adventurer.
An old but sturdy steel sword and shield, and even a leather armor that fit his body.
The preparations were now complete.
His gaze naturally turned towards the dungeon entrance that stood tall on the outskirts of the city.
‘I heard that the ones who have conquered the deepest floor so far are Sir Frank’s two daughters, Lady Adel and Lady Iris, right?’
Their stories were the talk of the town among adventurers every day.
Adel, in particular, had surprised everyone by breaking through the 40th floor alone.
When Douglas heard that news, his heart had also pounded.
‘Can I do as well as them?’
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
Rumors were rampant that even the continent’s best party, like the Eternal Phoenix, had been frustrated on the 7th floor.
But he couldn’t back down.
He had to prove his worth here, become a regular soldier that Frank was recruiting, and build his strength.
And someday, he had to take revenge on the undead who had destroyed his hometown and taken his parents from him.
Douglas Junior shot up from his seat.
His eyes, instead of their previous innocence, were burning with firm resolve and fiery determination.
“I can do it too.”
He clenched his fist firmly, making a promise to himself.
A new challenge for the young hero was about to begin.
Of course, that wasn’t Frank’s wish, but Douglas Junior was now becoming the variable that Frank feared the most.