I feel as if my head is spinning… as if I had drunk too many bottles of cheap beer.Have I spent too much time fulfilling my duties as a baron? Or perhaps my body is finally taking its toll for living a life of excess, surrounded by more women than any man should endure?
"E-Eliza… I think I'm sick… go… go get Lyla… have her check me…" My voice came out in broken gasps.
Cough… cough…
When I looked at my hand, even with my blurred vision, I could make out the bright red staining my fingers.Blood? No… it can't be… have I reached the point of coughing blood? Then my condition is far worse than I imagined.
But if Lyla prepares a potion, maybe I can still...
"Ziom…" Elizabeth's voice interrupted my thoughts. Her tone was a cold, resigned whisper. "I don't think that's going to work…"
My eyes widened in disbelief. She didn't have to say it outright. I understood instantly. She had poisoned me.
My heart skipped a beat. I didn't understand… why? Elizabeth had always been by my side. She knew of my whims, of my sins, and yet she had stayed with me.
Was it because of my affairs with other women? Because of the rumors about the maids getting pregnant, even the ones who were married? No, she always knew about that… she even supported me. Then… what drove her to betray me?
"Wh-why…?" I managed to whisper, my voice growing weaker.
Elizabeth placed her trembling hand on my cheek. Her eyes were filled with tears, but also with restrained fury.
"Ziom… you know I've loved you since we were children. When you were adopted by the baron, I accepted your ambitions, even your desire for a harem. I didn't care that you took additional wives, nor that you slept with other women… I endured it all…" Her voice suddenly broke, and her nails dug into my skin.
A heart-wrenching scream escaped her throat. "But why did you have to sleep!!! WITH OUR OWN DAUGHTER?!!!"
Cough… coughhh.
The coughing shook me violently. I felt each breath tear my lungs apart. I wanted to explain, to tell her something, anything…
"Eliza… cof… she had… cof…" But I stopped.
There was no point in ruining what little was left. Even if she had poisoned me, I preferred to stay silent. I always knew my life would end at the hands of a woman I shared my bed with, or at the revenge of some wretch whose wife I had taken. And if I had to die like this, at least I enjoyed myself until the end.
I gathered the last of my strength, only to let a single word escape. "Sorry…"
Although I don't regret what I did, I do regret making her suffer. That makes me wonder if I'm a hypocrite… but there's no sense in questioning it too much if I'm going to die.
Elizabeth embraced me as she cried. Her voice broke, her body trembled."No… don't leave me, Ziom…" She seemed regretful, and I could feel her remorse was genuine.
But it no longer mattered. Darkness consumed everything around me.
When I opened my eyes, I felt no pain. I didn't even feel my body. Only a strange emptiness…
[The innate Skill Legacy (Unique) has begun to take effect]
Was the condition for it to activate… my death? I thought this skill only allowed me to retain memories in my previous reincarnation, but apparently not.
[Calculating achievements and feats…][5%][37%][69%][100%]
[Calculation complete. Due to your feats, you may choose five innate Skills from the following options]• Incompetent Warrior• Dungeon Master• Mana Reserve• Procreator• Merchant• Drug Resistance• Talented Offspring• Technomage• Insensitive
[The innate Skill Legacy (Unique) will disappear once the Skills are selected]
I was left breathless. Five? Five innate skills!Being born with even one is nearly impossible, but choosing five… that's insane.
I went through the list calmly. I have to be careful. Even though having an innate skill is rare, it's not always good. Some skills bring negative effects, like the innate skill "Bad Fortune" that made a boy live a miserable life before dying brutally, defiled by monsters.
"Incompetent Warrior." A mockery from the system, no doubt. Nothing new. I've always been terrible with every weapon except the bow.
"Dungeon Master." …Now that was interesting. Until now, only mindless monsters or those hostile to humanity had fused with dungeon cores.
Choosing it would make me the enemy of the entire world because dungeons expand over time and become more dangerous. The few who tried to take advantage of unexpanded dungeons to regularly clear monsters regretted it because it always ended with a city's destruction or a large area becoming too dangerous for even knights or the most experienced adventurers to enter.
So no matter how new or harmless a dungeon seemed, they always tried to destroy it before it expanded…
But despite the risk, it's completely worth it. It's been discovered that the relationship between a Dungeon Master and a dungeon is symbiotic. So if I play it right, I could become immortal, or at least live long enough to grow bored… or until some super OP hero comes to destroy the dungeon core.
I stopped rambling and looked at the skill "Inter-Species Procreator." As if I needed it. Well, I do need it. After all, my army isn't going to expand by itself… and even if it does, something that increases the speed won't hurt.
"Talented Offspring." A perfect combination with the previous one, though it's a shame I can't see what effects these innate skills have.
I looked at the other options and was surprised to see "Mana Reserve." I never had much magical talent, so I suppose the reason for this skill is that I used to drink a lot of mana recovery potions. I think I'll choose it, because children born from parents with high mana reserves tend to have a much larger reserve themselves, this will be very useful for having better children.
"Technomage." Now this interests me. With my programming from the other world, this skill would give me the opportunity to create impossible wonders here, allowing me to improve my individual strength as well as benefit the dungeon's overall growth.
I smiled. The decision was clear.All or nothing.
"Alright… I'm going for it."
[Selected Skills]• Dungeon Master• Mana Reserve• Procreator• Talented Offspring• Technomage
[Please wait. Due to selecting the innate skill Dungeon Master, the innate skill Legacy (Unique) can only activate if a very young descendant dies in a dungeon.]
[If none meet the condition and all your descendants perish, the effect will be considered a failure, resulting in death]
Descendant? That means my return depends on them.
I began to calculate. Before dying in my second life, I had at least thirty-seven acknowledged daughters and three sons, not counting the ones I don't know about. The birth ratio in this world favored women because one in three births was male, but even so, the proportion of daughters I had was inexplicable.
Now that I think about it… the system didn't specify gender? That means I could return as a woman.
I frowned.Unacceptable. If that happens, I'll take my life immediately.
[5 years][17 years][43 years][69 years][75 years][Condition fulfilled]
Darkness surrounded me, and suddenly I could see a glowing white sphere, pulsing like a heart.
I tried to approach it, drawn by its radiance… until a searing pain tore through my whole body. I barely realized I was lying on the ground.
I feel so exhausted and cold, it seems I'm going to die again.
No!Even though I've accepted death at the hands of one of my wives, I cannot accept dying again without having enjoyed my third life.
I crawled with the little strength left in my body and touched the dungeon core.
Before I knew it, a light enveloped my entire body. The pain and fatigue quickly disappeared, and before me appeared a screen similar to the one I saw when I died, and the ones used to check status in a temple or the status readers nobles usually keep.