The day turned out to be, how can I put it, difficult.
That's putting it mildly, starting from a pleasant night with a necrophiliac, ending with the necessary mass extermination of residents within the city limits. With a smooth transition to hostage-taking to hand them over to reliable demonic hands. It's funny, a couple of days in the new world, and he's already made more mistakes than the secondary villains in all their screen time.
And as for me, after a hard day, a good solution is a friendly get-together in a bar with a neutral creature by nature. Not having the most evil worldview, and most importantly, not the kindest. It is interesting to hear a neutral opinion.
- Cocytus, imagine that there is a small schooner and a large ship in front of you. The first one can only hold a couple of creatures on board, and you care about them. The other one can hold a huge number of creatures, but you don't care about them, - the story continued after a sustained pause. - A natural disaster happens, and you can only save the boat or the ship. Which will you choose? - Taking a sip of a refreshing drink from our Sous-chef, I really wanted to know the answer.
During the long wait, my gaze shifted from the drink to the bar manager, who looked like a man, but instead of a head he had a mushroom covered in red drops. He runs a small but very cozy meeting place designed for eight customers. According to him, Cocytus had already dropped by a couple of times with Demiurge. Consider that he came to drink with a regular customer.
"Mr. Bondrewd, I recommend trying the signature drink, 'Rise of Babylon,'" the bartender suggested in a polite tone, quickly changing glasses while Cocytus was still deep in thought.
"As a true warrior, I am obliged to protect my master and those dear to him - the path of a true samurai, not a knight.
I understand, then, not a step away from the original path; the first pancake is not always a flop. I will start with setting priorities for Nazarick and the rest of the world. Creating clear boundaries, but allowing the most useful creatures to cross the fine line. Expanding the list of minions is important in any of the worlds, the main thing is to avoid annoying mistakes, so as not to add a fly in the ointment.
"A wonderful answer," while I nodded contentedly, the Sous-chef placed a drink consisting of five flowers on the bar counter.
Probably, the blue, scarlet, sand, green and snow-white shades did not mix due to the clever combination of fruits. The cocktail looks quite attractive, it has a pleasant smell, and it is able to inspire a feeling of nostalgia in visitors. In the past, Satoru and I often hung out at the bar, discussing the past weekend in Yggdrasil. However, in the establishments of the city under the dome, we were served synthetic drinks with artificial colors, which somewhat upsets my good memories.
- The hands of Umbra have recently created a pair of plants that secrete a highly toxic and intoxicating juice. By combining and mixing it with sugar, the Chef and I have managed to create five exquisite flowers of your greatness, - the bartender's flattery did not seem feigned, perhaps he sincerely enjoyed seeing calm customers.
"Thank you," the Parasite King said reservedly, feeling uncomfortable during his first informal conversation with his superiors. He was like that himself, but you quickly get used to it, and then you use all the random get-togethers to develop friendly relations. They are more reliable than "servant-master", and a friend in need is always a friend indeed.
And you can ask him for advice.
- Do you think I did the right thing with Shalltear? - A week of house arrest is a serious, and perhaps stupid, punishment for an unprepared psyche.
"Any decision of yours is the law," the King of Parasites expressed himself sharply and carefully shared his position. "But in my opinion, the punishment is too lenient for a sinner. Any servant who has dishonored the honor of his master is obliged to commit hara-kiri," Cocytus seriously shared his opinion, after which he consumed a frost-resistant drink that burned with a blue flame.
- You underestimate the importance of each of my allies; together and separately. We are united - that means we represent a real threat to the enemies. It is worth separating us or weakening us, as the enemies will immediately take advantage of it, - shrugging my shoulders and finishing my drink, it became clear to me that I had enough for today.
After chatting with Cocytus for a few more minutes, our friendly conversation came to an end. My soul did not feel any better, because there was no room for regrets.
- Sous-chef, your establishment is amazing. A wonderful place to unload the mind and soul before the next working day - after all, the job of the owner of the Legion of Terror is never easy. If you blink the moment, there will be no one to rule, and nothing to rule.
- I will make sure that your words become the motto of the bar. Be sure to come again! For your next visit, the Chef and I will try to come up with something exquisite, - having bowed, the polite heteromorph began to wipe the glass goblets with a towel, and I put the helmet on my head.
- And yes, Cocytus, we have a meeting in the morning, so don't stay up too late, - I'm not sure if the Parasite King is capable of getting tired, but skipping a planning meeting is punishable by a reprimand. However, no matter how many warnings you give, they are useless in the new working conditions.
"I'll be there at the first call, Lord," the guard stood up from the bar, dropped to one knee, and while waiting for my teleportation, most likely returned to his drink.
Surprisingly, my intuition did not let me down. He is a good conversationalist during get-togethers, you can discuss all sorts of things with him. Probably, speech is difficult for him, so he is also a good listener.
- Sim-sim, open up.
The treasury is isolated from Nazarick, but in theory, some artifacts can help an intruder get here without using a guild ring. In practice, it was not possible to test this, and there was no particular need. Wasting time was still possible at the initial stages of the guild's development. And not at the very end of its decline, when two players had to work for the benefit of the entire Nazarick, designed for fifty creatures.
"What a waste of resources," I couldn't help but smile as I looked around the room. The path ahead was strewn with precious stones and gold. Mountains of treasures were already waiting for me at the entrance; the skins of raid bosses hung on the walls, and platinum statues of various creatures stood next to them.
The huge ceilings were also not left without attention. If you use eight stepladders, you can reach them to try to dig out the huge magic stones from there. The cost of each of them is comparable to the piles of coins surrounding me. However, the most valuable things are not lying around anywhere.
Some of the valuable artifacts are in cabinets and shelves, for example, inside them there are a couple of valuable items that exceed in importance the stones built into the ceiling used as lighting. It is ironic to use consumables equal in value to the castle instead of chandeliers, but I had a plan, and I stuck to it. Since the most unexpected items dropped from killed players, there were more than enough resources to implement stupidities.
"Shadow Path"
Having quickly approached the majestic door hidden behind the heaps of gold, I had to make some effort to clear the way to it. But the door was not at all ordinary, instead of doors the entrance was protected by bottomless impenetrable darkness.
"This thing ascends from the earth to the sky and descends to the earth again, receiving the power of both the higher and lower regions of the world. You will monopolize the glory of the world, and the darkness will part before you," the password of the Tabula for entering the next zones of the treasury is not without meaning.
Even up to this time, information about archaeological discoveries has been preserved.
The password is taken from an ancient tablet, which depicts a fractal world structure. At the end of 2100, information about the works of art was lost, especially this problem affected ancient times and nature, but a couple of things still remained. The main designer of the treasury was inspired by them, using everything to the maximum, gobbling up the code limit allocated for the design of Nazarick. It is not for me to judge him, he himself expanded the quota for real money because of the laboratory, and the higher the quota level, the higher the cost of the donation service.
The darkness on the door faded, allowing me to walk down a long hallway into a weapons room. There are even a couple of my own: a trident-shaped staff and a dark scythe of the Grim Reaper. They can be useful, but I find it easier not to use them due to the Nightblade and Master Assassin classes. The thing is, carrying weapons with these classes imposes a penalty to movement speed.
Let's say I'm moving like a turtle now, and I'll reach the hall of fame in a minute at this pace, but my speed limit is extremely high. When I encounter a group of enemies, I have the option of instantly moving between opponents using "teleport strike".
"Any tool should please the eye or be recycled into something else," I thought about it seriously and came up with a great idea. Since there is so much high-ranking weaponry here, it would be a sin not to use it.
Give it to the floor guards as a spare or arm the elite guard. Let's take the mausoleum as an example, where the golems are located, on which Momonga put the equipment of the past guild members: the armor of the players who left, but "promised to return."
Good idea, I'll pass this question on to Demiurge. The treasury is sprayed with highly toxic poison, but there are a couple of artifacts to block it - it's not a problem to organize a tour for the demon. Well, well, well, I've started relying on him too often. It's time to give him a good position, for example, "trusted deputy". And then Kurumi will be my heir, since we are connected in the creator-creation type.
More chapters on my P@treon: https://patreon.com/OOOTEN