The Experimental Log of the Crazy Lich

Chapter 617: Guide and Parting

But due to certain reasons, I went looking for trouble with her in the end…

Fine, she was the one who targeted me first, although it wasn’t intentional.

Since I had been marked by that mysterious marking, rather than wasting time with weaklings in the city, of course it would save me far more time to take down the boss first.

I had originally prepared myself for a battle against the Void Devourer, but I heard some news along the way that it had eloped together with Beifeng… I was quite relieved that I had been either in the hotel or outside in the wasteland over the past few days. Otherwise, it would have been so difficult to deal with things if I’d run into Beifeng.

It was even more so because Casio was at my side. No matter if they had a wonderful reunion on Brokeback Mountain, or if Casio tried to fight Beifeng to the death, either scene would be too wondrous to behold.

Additionally, when I learned that the Void Devourer was more than four hundred meters tall, and that its physical appearance was nothing more than a round, gigantic mouth… I became even more impressed with Beifeng’s techniques, and felt that his tastes were becoming ever more ridiculous.

Perhaps others would call this succubus “Didina the Fortunate” as she had successfully raised this Void Devourer from the size of a human-faced maggot. I became more and more interested in this incredibly humble succubus.

“Tsk, your official girlfriend is right by your side, yet you’re showing interest in another woman. How unseemly is that? Just as expected of someone who has such a subordinate like Beifeng. You’re a mega scumbag.”

“…You know that I’m not talking about that type of interest. Also, don’t mention me together in the same sentence as that person. I’m afraid of being dragged into his affairs and getting beaten to death.”

The silly cat and Margaret were busy searching the city ruler’s treasuries, while Adam and I were in charge of guarding this succubus. But, with how obedient she seemed, I was wondering if there was even any need to guard her.

However, some things still needed to be asked—what I was interested in.

“…Didina, how old are you?”

Little Red’s face was filled with astonishment as she had been eavesdropping. Furthermore, my silly cat’s comment arrived right on time as always. “I give you zero points for this attempt at flirting.”

“Shut up. You know that’s not what I meant.”

Typically speaking, the more powerful a species was, the slower an individual of that species would reach maturity. Dwarves and elves would both require a hundred years before they were considered adults. I didn’t know how long it would take a Void Devourer to reach maturity, but when considering the legends and how incredibly rare that Void Devourers were, it seemed quite possible that this succubus was even older than Harloys.

This would be quite understandable if she had been a different type of demon. However, succubi were a species of demons that lacked personal combat strength. Many demons would only spend some time in the succubus job class before moving on. It was truly quite rare to meet such an ancient succubus. Perhaps in other places, age wouldn’t always correlate to strength, but in the Chaos Abyss, surviving for so long was the best evidence of strength.

“Someone so ancient being a succubus. You’ve truly piqued my interest. Perhaps you could tell me how you survived in the Chaos Abyss before your Void Devourer reached maturity?”

“You truly enjoy your jokes. Is there any other method of survival for a succubus apart from staying by the side of the strong?”

Didina remained at a perfectly appropriate distance. She had a friendly but not sycophantic light smile. She was graceful and knew etiquette well. This ancient succubus really gave others a friendly impression. Perhaps her natural personality was like this, but it was more likely that she had already seen through what type I preferred. If this was also a power of seduction, it was likely that it had already surpassed Legend rank.

I smiled without prying further. There was no need to treat what such an ancient existence said as real. I wouldn’t have believed it anyways if a few simple sentences could answer my question.

“Well then, perhaps we could talk about a business deal. You can probably tell already that none of us are residents of the Chaos Abyss…”

I had long since been thinking about such a deal. Whenever a person vacationed in an unfamiliar place, having a local as the tour guide would save so much trouble. At the very least, you wouldn’t mysteriously fall into a pitfall or meet your end, especially when the vacation spot was the Chaos Abyss filled with death traps everywhere.

If I had to fight a boss every time that I wanted to use a teleportation portal, this would make me no different from a bandit or a robber.

We needed a Chaos Abyss local as our guide. The smarter and more experienced, the better. The older ones would always know many secrets. Perhaps several thousand years ago, information such as the personality or abilities of a certain Demon Lord would have been known by everyone. However, as time passed, such information would become top secrets that were difficult to purchase no matter how much money you had. Such information might come in useful at any moment.

As for how to make her obediently behave? There would be countless ways to do that. Additionally, since she was a succubus who was accustomed to following the strong, she would be much easier to talk to than other demon species.

“Then, have you heard of Aloyo? Please answer cautiously. While lies might be useful, if they lower your value, do you know who will be the unfortunate one?”

I was just spouting rubbish, but in demon society, those who were considered worthless would have no reason to be left alive. She should interpret what I said as a naked death threat. Didina still didn’t know my personality yet, so she probably wouldn’t risk her life and make things up.

Didina paused in surprise for a moment as she thought things over. She closed her eyes as if she was searching for this name in her memory.

“…Please wait.”

Right when I used my right hand to touch my sword hilt, she instantly came up with the memory.

“It’s better not to address such an ancient existence directly by name. If you must refer to him, please refer to that God as the ‘Eagle of Light.’”

I chuckled. It would seem that Didina was indeed an ancient artifact who could have an “age” competition with Harloys.

“If you keep using the word ‘ancient’, or if you keep comparing her to me, I’ll, I’ll…”

Harloys was quite sensitive, and objected to my words. However, she was unable to think of anything that would threaten me. Hahaha, I was already undefeatable!

“…I’ll send a clone to bring Beifeng over here!”

“I was wrong! Please don’t!”

Damn it, that was something which would truly give me a headache. Wasn’t she scared of her clone being unable to return?

“I’m not scared at all! All I have to do is change my clone into a human form. Now, even my clones are capable of taking human form!”

It would seem that Harloys’ cloning abilities had strengthened yet again now that she achieved Myth rank.

“This, this… doesn’t this mean that you can cosplay the Sexy Jutsu!?”

“Sexy Jutsu? Of course I could. At my current level, I can finish reading every single book in an entire library in only a single afternoon. I can also finish a large-scale experiment with only my clones and no other assistants. Are you envious?”

“Tsk, that’s not what I’m envious about…”

[You’re not envious about being able to cosplay the Sexy Jutsu; you’re probably envious about being able to cosplay an entire harem.]

Cough, cough, what rubbish was this? I was such a gentleman, so why make such assumptions about me? System, you actually thought such things about me? So dirty.

[Hmph, just keep pretending. Why else would you have been so excited just now if not for that?]

I pretended to hear nothing as I focused on other matters instead. When I had contacted Adam and the others to have them ambush the city ruler’s castle, the young adventurers had come along afterwards.

“Youngsters from the Silver Avengers. What do you intend to do next?”

This strange name was the name of the adventuring team that Casio was in. As for why they used this name, and what they wanted to avenge, that was destined to remain unknown. This was because the person who’d named their team was the tiefling warrior who was now dead.

We were going down to an even deeper level of the Chaos Abyss next. Nobody would be able to predict what type of enemies we might face there. It was unlikely that we would have the strength to protect them as well as take care of ourselves.

Although I could toss them into my bug-like world of Hell if things became dangerous, there would still be no saving them if they were instantly killed due to the enemy being too powerful for them.

“Can I follow you? I wish to follow you in search of the true path of salvation.”

Aivla was the first to speak. This was within expectations. When I awakened my Dawn holy sword, although it had harmed and shocked her, it had also subtly caused her foundational source of power to change. As she was a fallen angel and former Holy Knight who had lost her source of belief, following the light was probably now part of her very instinct.

I said nothing as I looked instead at the other adventurers.

“I must return to my Goddess to continue acting as her priest. However, my Goddess has informed me that I should serve you if you have any needs.”

The bearded dwarf priest had an expression as if he was willing to sacrifice himself and enter Hell itself if need be.

“I’m going to return.” Meanwhile, the elf mage Yurtla had a resolute expression. “I shall be together with my people, even if we must face… destruction.”

Yurtla put down his hood. His resolute expression made him seem even more willing to sacrifice himself than the dwarf priest.

“Yep, you two can go talk to that succubus. Ask her where you can find a nearby teleportation portal to the mortal plane. Our party indeed needs a healer, but you’re not high-level enough. Pass Beyana a message for me. If she or someone else has an appropriate candidate, send them over to me.”

I was just casually saying this as I was the only healer in my party currently. This was something displeasing. However, I would likely be dooming the dwarf priest to his death if I asked him to participate in our battles.

“Casio?”

“I’ll follow you,” Casio answered quite simply, expressing his attitude. I nodded in response. Since we knew each other already, there was no need to ask too much. It seemed that he didn’t want to return to the surface quite yet. …Oh, I had forgotten to tell him that Beifeng was now in the Chaos Abyss. Forget it, they probably wouldn’t meet each other anyways.

While my party was filled with powerful combat job classes, we indeed lacked job classes that were strong survivalists and information gatherers such as hunters, druids, and thieves. With Casio coming along, our wilderness tracking and anti-tracking capabilities would no longer be at a casual level.

“Okay, let’s do this, then. Casio, Aivla, I’m going to tell you two beforehand that if we meet any powerful opponents, I’m going to put you two in my world for safety’s sake. You must listen and obey. No exceptions.”

Both nodded in agreement.

“Now then, next is the most important matter of all…”

I intentionally raised my voice, attracting everyone’s attention.

“…I, Roland Mist, shall give our new adventuring party a grand name!”

“Please don’t!”

“No! I don’t want to be laughed at anymore! Have any of your names ever been normal?”

After hearing me say this, Adam instantly covered my mouth, while Little Red sat on my head. It was as if they were afraid to let me say anything else.

What did they mean, no normal names? The mercenary group that I’d named was now considered the #1 mercenary group in the world. They were sincere, trustworthy, and would always keep your secrets. Their gentlemanly mercenary spirits were well known throughout the entire mercenary society!

[Are you sure that the so-called gentlemanly spirit is the same as the ‘Gentleman’ in that mercenary group’s name?]

“Of course they’re the same! At the very least, they’re the same word!”

Hmph! Since they didn’t want me to come up with a name, I would definitely come up with a name! I would even secretly register us and put advertisements in the fairies’ magazines about us! Hmm, what would be a good name? Right, the fried Chaos Abyss octopus tentacles I had yesterday were quite delicious. How about I name our new party the Takoyaki Squad? What about the Tentacle Alliance? Eight-footed Family? Happy Group of Soft Creatures?