第１７７掘：ウィードの最近とこれから (Part1)
### Dungeon 177: Weed’s Recent Past and Future
**Side: Yuki**
After we finished discussing the magic swords and our future policies, we spent some time relaxing for the first time in a while. We’d been kept busy lately with research and countermeasures against the Zilba Empire.
"Come to think of it, what happened with the demon realm? I haven't received any reports of major issues, but I haven't heard much about progress either."
I brought this up while sipping tea with my wives in the banquet hall. Eris, by the way, was resting in her room due to severe morning sickness.
"Ah, we intentionally kept that quiet. There’s no need to cause unnecessary anxiety for you and the New Continent exploration team, is there?"
"Hm? The way you say that, Seraria, makes it sound like there *was* a problem."
"No, nothing in particular. Because you took the initiative and went around dismantling the command structure of the retreating Rumel invasion force, the monsters scattered. The demons who were invading surrendered across the board once they heard the Demon King’s Castle had fallen. There was almost no fighting."
"‘Almost’—so there was some?"
"Well, of course. The ones who ousted Liliana knew they wouldn't get off lightly if they just surrendered, so they resisted desperately. Though, they were captured quite easily in the end."
"Well, I did include Dullahan and Liches in the mix, after all."
"They weren't your average Dullahan or Liches, though. Under normal circumstances, a single one of those would be a disaster-level threat."
"And yet, they’re still below Surakichi-san and Steve, aren't they?"
"Ah, come to think of it, Steve really is that kind of monster, isn't he? I have such a strong image of him as a servant that I often forget."
So that’s how Seraria views Steve. Hang in there, Steve.
"Achoo..."
"Are you catching a cold, Captain?"
"No, I just have a feeling the Boss or Lady Seraria is plotting something strange again."
"Please do your best."
And so, it seems the demon territory is currently beginning to settle down. Elju is assisting Liliana as a monitor, and the kings of various nations have agreed to this. The elite from each country who returned home have begun to spread the truth about the demons, and upon learning of this battle, they’ve shown a favorable response.
There are certainly those who hate demons, but since the race possesses individual combat strength far higher than average, the military of each nation is actively suggesting to their kings that they incorporate demons into their policies. It’s a bit mercenary of them—though that was exactly what I was aiming for—but it’s quite something to see it be this effective. I suppose I’ll just have to accept it, seeing as I was one of the reasons Liliana was ousted in the first place.
"Speaking of which, what happened with the Hero Taiki? I heard that Kiyu and Covil helped him oust the kings, but I haven't heard anything since then, right?" Riel asked, as if just remembering.
"I’ll handle that one. After all, he’s from my homeland. After Taiki-kun ousted the king, he’s been the one at the center of the government. Taiki-kun wants to make it like Weed, but the citizens are so grateful that he saved their country that they’re full of hope for him to rule it himself."
"Well, he is a Hero, and he’s done quite a bit, so isn't that only natural?"
"That’s true. After doing all that, it would be too irresponsible to just say, ‘Do whatever you want now,’ so he’s currently working on rebuilding the country as a regent. The Rankus royal family seems to have been high on pride but low on competence, so the territories were apparently quite devastated. There are many areas Taiki-kun hasn't touched yet, so providing full support for that is his current job."
"Haa... so doing things out in the open really is that much work, huh?"
Is Riel finally starting to understand why I prefer to work behind the scenes?
"Riel is right. When you move out in the open during a national crisis like Hero Taiki, you basically lose the ability to move freely in any other capacity. That’s why Yuki never tried to handle the problems we’ve faced so far by himself or through Weed alone. The very creation of Weed has the ultimate goal of leaving politics to the people, just like in Yuki’s homeland, which is why I, as the Queen of Weed, am not actually that busy. Even the invasion operation against the Demon King could have been handled by Weed’s forces alone, had we chosen to."
"So, you use what you can, and keep yourself light on your feet?"
"Well, that’s exactly it. If I don't maintain that stance in the New Continent, building a country will just become a nuisance. It would be best to force either the Zilba Empire or the demi-humans—or both—to sign a ceasefire so we can move freely."
"Ah, that way we don't have to deal with the trouble ourselves, right?"
"Today’s report on the magic swords has given me a clearer view of the actions we need to take. We’ll continue investigating the cause of the magic power depletion in parallel, but it wouldn't be a bad choice to look into what policies the previous Dungeon Master attempted to use to prevent it."
Luna’s management is a mess, but maintaining the world is more of a hobby for her anyway. If she turns her back on it, that’s the end of it. It’s out of place and out of scale for us to say anything about it. Even if it’s a matter of life and death for us, to Luna, it’s probably no more significant than looking at a withered flower on the side of the road and thinking, *I wish it were prettier.*
Normal people ignore withered flowers on the side of the road, and even if they did take action, it would be easier to plant the flower in better soil than to go out of their way to improve the ground itself. To a creature like Luna, who calls herself a Higher God, the environment of a planet and its people might be even less significant than a roadside flower. It’s a stroke of luck that we can even exchange information like this at all.
"I see. If someone was investigating the magic power depletion here before us, they must have looked into more things than we have. So we’re going to search for that? Yeah, that makes sense."
"Well, I don't think we’ll find the cause just like that, but I think our volume of information will increase significantly."
"That’s true. We can just judge for ourselves whether that information is correct or not, and they might have been investigating from a different perspective than ours."
As Seraria said, if they were investigating the depletion from a different angle, there’s a high probability they hold information we could never reach on our own. Luna’s initial information only told me they had died, so I hadn't prioritized it, but since it’s essentially a handover, the previous Dungeon Master’s information is extremely important.
Not that Luna knows much about it, though.
"I mean, it doesn't seem like Luna even knew the previous Dungeon Master was working on the magic power depletion, so it can't be helped, right?"