Warning: Brief mention of suicide.
***
Adelaide picked up the papers with a happy face. And only then did she begin to properly read the documents.
<Greenville Dungeon: Grade F, Number of demons: 0>
<Location: Kronatan, Sarman>
Contrary to her expectations, the specs of the dungeon she inherited were terribly shabby. The location was not very good, and it doesn’t seem to be making money. Even the name was very outdated.
‘Greenville? What’s Greenville?’
Adelaide was very upset, but tried to curb her disappointment by thinking positively.
‘Yeah, at least I have a place to stay!’
Just having a dungeon in the cold and barren Demon Realm was a huge improvement.
Adelaide, who was born lazy, had no desire to develop the dungeon and turn it into a fortune. In the first place, F-class dungeons do not have a lot of potential for development.
However, Adelaide’s face, who has yet to lose all hope, gradually darkened as she read the documents. And when she read the last part, Adelaide ended up dropping the papers to the ground.
<The heir is responsible for paying 666 Almas on behalf of the deceased.>
The average monthly salary of a succubus, who was earning money like Penelope, was 100 Hellas, or 1 Alma. After paying for living expenses, only about 20 Hellas would be left.
In other words, 666 Almas was an amount that could be repaid after working for about 3,300 years as a succubus.
The demon world used to punish those who borrowed money and did not pay it back. They were roasted in hell for 100 years, fried in boiling oil for another 100 years, and for the last 100 years, the punishment was flogging.
“Lawyer! Come back, lawyer!”
“I don’t want to inherit this!” Adelaide freaked out.
She looked for the lawyer, but he had long since disappeared.
Instead, it was like she was hearing Penelope’s scolding from somewhere. ‘Yeah, I told you to read the documents carefully, you idiot!’
So that day, Adelaide reluctantly made a decision. She vowed she would make her dungeon an S-class dungeon.
However, Adelaide did not know at the time. There were illegal occupants living in the dungeon she just inherited.
There was also an extremely strong and handsome individual among them.
To pay off the debt, the dungeon needs to be improved. And if she has to develop the dungeon, she will have to go there first.
It was a very obvious fact. It was embarrassing to even mention it.
Unfortunately, Adelaide couldn’t even start this natural process. It had already been a day since the lawyer Jamie appeared and left, but she was still hiding in the same shadow.
The reason was very simple.
‘The Sarman region. It’s too far!’
The location of the dungeon was in the Sarman region of Kronatan, and among them, the Marpu Forest was in the southernmost part.
The Demon Realm was divided into four realms. Belial was in the center, and the big one in the West was Kronatan, Akarium in the North, and Dathanos in the East.
Belial was the busiest of the four regions. Among them, Central Belial where the Demon Castle was built, was particularly splendid, and East Belial, where the Morpheus Associated was located, wasn’t that bad either.
East Belial near Dathanos, and Kronatan, were far enough from each other to be called end-to-end. Since it was a distance that can never be walked, you have to ride a long-distance warp.
Adelaide had enough money to pay for a single warp ride, but the problem was that she couldn’t get to the warp stop.
It was because of the low-level demons roaming the streets.
Succubi were originally a mid-level class demon. However, as their industry was different, their fighting ability itself was not very good. Succubi were weak.
They can even be defeated by a low-level demon.
Knowing this, the low-level demons wandered in search of succubus who does not belong to an association. And as soon as they find one, they would eat them without even leaving a single finger. This was because of the myth that if you eat a race with a higher level than you, you will become stronger.
This meant that if Adelaide, the weakest among the already weak succubi, were to come out of the shadows, she would be eaten by lower-level demons. She’d be lucky if she could take 20 steps towards the warp stop.
She thought that the streets would be a bit quieter during the day, but she was wrong. Day and night, the gloomy streets were still filled with low-level demons.
“They don’t even have a house.”
Adelaide stopped whining a day ago.
She realized that she was in the same position, and shut up. It’s sad not to have a house therefore it was not right to make fun of them. She calmly reflected.
Even after waiting for a while to get the timing right, Adelaide could not escape from the shadows in the end. It was because she became too weak from not working for such a long time.
‘Is it better to die from being eaten or to die of starvation?’
Adelaide crouched down and pondered. She has already given up on finding a way to live.
“I hate being hungry…”
Maximilian, the head of the association, would sometimes ban Adelaide from entering restaurants. It meant that there’s no food for those who did not work.
As demons have power, they do not die from starvation for a few weeks. However, there was no way to avoid the pain of hunger. She didn’t absorb vitality for a long time, so the pain she felt was even more excruciating. The feeling of her stomach being ripped apart was terrifying. If Penelope had not secretly brought her food, she would have succumbed.
Recalling the agony from that time, she thought it would be better for her to get out to be eaten and die. It would be much better to go out all at once than to suffer slowly for a long time. There’s going to be a lot of blood, so it will be a bit messy.
Just as she was about to make that decision, a long shadow covered Adelaide’s body with her head bowed.
Someone was standing in front of her.
‘Mr. Maximilian?’
Adelaide’s head was filled with hope. She lifted her head up.
She thought. ‘Yeah, you love my face so much, you can’t throw me away so easily! For now, I’ll pretend to reflect on myself, get some food, and then I’ll tell you. I quit. I inherited a dungeon. You have a dungeon in your house, don’t you?’
In that brief moment as she raised her head, she had already come up with such a scenario. However, the hope in her pink eyes disappeared in an instant. It was because, instead of Maximilian’s beautiful and arrogant face, she could see the appearance of a low-level demon who was drooling with it’s mouth wide open.
A drop of saliva, dripping down, touched Adelaide’s knee. As if it was the signal, lower demons rushed in.
“Succubus!”
“Ahhh!”
Adelaide reflexively rolled to avoid the attack. Her evasion skills weren’t bad because she was often hit by Penelope.
“It’s a succubus! It’s a succubus!”
“I will eat it!”
Soon, low-level demons around her flocked in as if they were waiting. With a quick glance, she saw sharp teeth flashing.
Adelaide ran with all her might. However, her daily routine was to clean up and lie down on the bed. She lacked physical strength compared to the low-level demons who lived on the streets, and her running skills were also the same.
The distance between her and the demons was narrowing.
She felt defeated.
‘I’m just going to starve to death! Let me starve to death! Leave me be!’
‘If I starve to death, at least it won’t hurt as much!’ Adelaide regretted, shedding a tear. But even if she changed her mind now, it wouldn’t make a difference.
The footsteps of the low-level demons were getting louder and louder, and her heart raced even faster as if foreshadowing her end.
Wouldn’t the pain be less if I kill myself now and die? She thought briefly, but she did not have the determination nor courage to do so.
The moment she felt someone grab her waist, Adelaide closed her eyes resignedly.
“From the neck……”
‘Ask him to kill you right now!’
Adelaide stopped what she was about to say.
The faint scent that lingered on the tip of her nose was strangely familiar.
“Adela, it’s me.”
Adelaide opened her eyes when she heard the familiar voice. Her sparkly red hair fluttered in her wind, and her beautiful green eyes, that were revealed through them, glistened towards her.
It was Penelope.
The friend that Adelaide had been missing all day yesterday, leisurely reached out and grabbed the head of one of the low-level demons. Bang! The head exploded with a light sound. The low-level demons, who were running, only then realized the situation and stopped.
“Another succubus…!”
The lesser demon who spoke gritted his teeth. He looks very upset that he missed his prey right in front of his eyes.
Penelope smiled, raising her red-painted lips to one side. It was a clear mockery.
“Isn’t it peculiar for you weak demons to not know your place and ignore a succubus?”
As mentioned earlier, the succubi race was originally part of the middle class demons. Some succubus can be defeated by low-level demons, but that was only part of the story. Penelope was naturally attractive and strong, and was famous for doing well in the Morpheus Association. She was strong enough to not be pushed back even if she fought with other mid-level demons.
In this place where the line dividing the weak and strong was clear, strength was power in the demon realm. Seeing Penelope smash his head to death, the other low-level demons, who realized the superiority of her power, were busy crouching and looking around.
“Go away.”
And at Penelope’s words, they ran off.
“Pippa…! You’re so cool!”
Adelaide praised Penelope, burying her face in her bosom. Then she lifted her head and met Penelope’s gaze. At that moment, she had a bad feeling.
Adelaide knew that expression very well. Her dark eyebrows were bent, her green eyes that looked so sweet they were dazzling, and her red lips that seemed to form a straight line.
It was the expression she made when she scolded Adelaide.
“Adelaide.”
‘She didn’t even call me by my nickname, but by my full name.’ This made the situation clear.
Adelaide bit her lower lip.
“Are you that crazy that you really want to die?!”
“No, I don’t want to die…”
“I told you to work before you get kicked out!”
“You were right. I was wrong…”
The apology continued before Penelope could even finish her words properly.
Adelaide lowered her eyebrows, kept her gaze on the ground, and showed the most pitiful expression on her face. She didn’t forget to moisten her eyes as if she was about to cry. She called it ‘Poor Face Number 3’, a sullen and bleak expression that she does whenever Penelope gets very angry.
But Penelope, who was extremely angry, did not stop after seeing Poor Face Number 3. The woman’s nagging continued for more than two hours, and it only ended when she saw Adelaide shaking in hunger.
Merciful Penelope moved quickly and brought Adelaide food.
“I’m glad I finished work early. Poor Adela, whether being eaten or starving to death, you really almost died.”
Penelope looked at Adelaide and clicked her tongue in pity. She looked sad after finishing the food as if she were hiding her eyes. But her face was much brighter than before.
“Still, there seems to be a way to solve this. Dungeon inheritance is like something out of a fairy tale!”
“Although, it’s an F-class dungeon.”
“Adela, I told you not to talk before you eat everything in your mouth.”
Adelaide shrugged her shoulders at her friend’s sad blue eyes and shook her head up and down. She then chewed on the hard bread she filled her mouth with.
“Even if it’s an F-class, that’s good enough. At least you have a place to live without paying, right?”
The less worried Penelope added with a bashful smile.
Adelaide did not dare to answer, and continued eating the bread.
***