My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

We were led through the woods a distance away. I could see the red all around me as we walked among enemies, but I saw us quickly approaching an area where there was no red. No, that wasn’t right. It was another map dead zone. King Roth was cautious and had set up a perimeter where I couldn’t map or portal to him. This would make it more difficult to launch an assassination attempt if I had even considered such an act.

I wish I knew how people did that. Bernice hadn’t known how the enchantment was placed on the palace. She wasn’t responsible for it, and she didn’t even know what I was talking about when I mentioned it. Unless someone used some kind of skill that required using mana to feel out the location, they’d never even know when such a thing was being done. For a former swordsman like her, it wasn’t even something she’d notice.

It wasn’t long until we walked out into a clearing though, and sitting in the middle of it on a throne seemingly constructed in the middle of the woods was King Roth. I recognized him from the recording in Matty’s dungeon. He was lying back in his chair casually, and there was one woman on one side who was rubbing his feet, while another gave him grapes. Yet a third woman was waving a leaf, giving him a pleasant breeze. It wasn’t even particularly hot, and no one was wearing a tropical outfit, but he could have fooled me. Despite we were in the middle of a war, he looked to me like he was vacationing.

When he noticed us walking up, still surrounded by a dozen lionesses, First and Second leading the way, he remained in his lax condition, not even sitting up to meet me. When we reached close enough to his chair, two women put spears in a cross in front of us, cutting us off from First and Second, who continued forward a few steps before falling to their knees.

“My lord, it’s that nuisance Deek. He’s come to speak with you.” First declared.

It irked me slightly that she didn’t even address me as a lord. Usually, I might have worried I was greeting a bit full of myself, but in this situation, I wanted respect, and I knew I wasn’t getting it. I was usually a calm guy which usually didn’t fret the bad stuff. I’ve been known to let bandits go, forgiven the church, kept a demon lord alive, and spared multiple dungeon bosses. It really took a lot to get under my skin, but King Roth was already on my list for what he did to Astria, and the list was only growing longer.

“Deek… deek…” He tapped the arm of his chair like he was trying to remember. “Oh, right! That’s the one that we’re fighting right now. I heard his name as that silly fairy screamed it as she begged for mercy.”

“What?” Celeste cried out.

“Yes… she kept saying things like Deek would come to save her, but he never did. Watching the light leave her eyes was quite fun.”

“You… bastard!” Celeste suddenly shrank and flew forward.

“Celeste, no!” I shouted.

However, it was too late. She flew past the guards, and moving at the speed only Celeste could, she charged King Roth. At first, it looked like she was about to strike him brutally. He hadn’t moved to defend himself at all. She grew back to full size in mid-motion. However, just as she reached him, she stopped. It took a moment to realize that he had one of his hands around her throat and the other one on her wrist. In her hand was the malacrum dagger. She had taken it without my knowledge, and she had been trying to stab him with it!