S-Class Dungeon’s Mistress - Chapter 38

“I want to die.”

Caladium muttered with a face that looked like he was about to cry.

It is not that he had never felt more humiliation and shame than this in his 300 years of life. There was that time when he was caught by Boraca, who couldn’t even get a fist in, and the other was when he lost one of his horns.

But ‘this’ kind of shame, indeed, was the first. How could he act like that in front of humans? Pretending to be struggling! A sense of shame grew.

‘F*ck, I’m crazy. I got hoodwinked by a mere succubus…’

‘You’ll never see me do anything like that again!’ Caladium clenched his fists and vowed. At that moment, Adelaide, the one who drove him into this mess, approached.

“Caladi!”

With a face too beautiful to be called ‘mere’.

“You did so well! Thanks!”

She hugged him tightly. Confused by the sudden soft touch, Caladium looked down at her, his body stiffening.

The face that looked up at him with eyes wide open and the pink pupils twinkling was incredibly pretty.

Was he a demon like him weak against such an appearance? Caladium bit his lip and blamed himself, but his awe wasn’t just an appreciation for her looks. That unpretentious smile at the end, the gesture of jumping like a wild puppy, and the feeling he felt as their skins touched. Just, her very existence was very…

He picked his words for a moment. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a word to describe this tickling feeling. It was something he had never felt before, a word that he clearly had never used before.

So, he tried to express as much as he could with the words he knew.

“You’re so pretty that I feel like I’m going to die.”

Maybe it was because he was in a hurry, but somehow the sweetest words in the world came out.

Adelaide’s eyes widened.

“Huh?”

“Huh?!”

This surprised Caladium himself. He stopped thinking and spit out words without realizing it. Upon comprehending this, his face instantly burned.

“What did you just say…?”

“So!”

Caladium quickly made a loud noise and turned his gaze away.

“Do I still have to do this next time?”

It was quite the opposite of the warm words he had said a few seconds ago, but it was enough to get Adelaide’s attention. She stared at him with fresh eyes, as she was still in his arms, full of anticipation.

“Yes! Aside from that group, I’ll bring another group a few more times. You just have to endure it a little bit more!”

How many times was this going to happen? Caladium’s face turned pale. But he couldn’t undo what he had already said. Especially at a point in time when Lisianthus was looking at him with displeasure.

Caladium continued with a snort and spit out.

“…Ok, fine. Instead, hug me like this every time I do it.”

“Sure! I can even hug you twice!”

Adelaide hugged Caladium again, not noticing the cold gaze behind her. A small woman hugging a man twice as tall as her, in a way it was funny, but Caladium’s face showed absolute satisfaction.

***

Words about Greenville Dungeon started to spread little by little.

That it was an E-class dungeon with a good profitability. The demons that belonged to it weren’t that strong either, so it was worth invading them.

Starting with these rumors, the low level warriors rushed in. Adelaide’s passion and the efforts of her demons had finally paid off.

The rumors spread like they had wings. Their popularity was so great that a fight even broke out between adventurers in front of the portal, arguing who would enter first.

As more and more adventurers came day by day, they quickly collected Serpium and depleted their supply. The Serpium mining manager expressed dissatisfaction with this.

“The Serpiums here have already been scraped off. There’s barely any left.”

“My eyes hurt because I keep digging this shiny ore.” Caldium grumbled.

Surprisingly, he devoted himself to mining. Because mining the ore was much better than the shameful ‘acting’.

Fortunately, the acting ended after three or four more times. The memories from those times suddenly came to his mind and flustered him.

“Good job, Caladi. You don’t have to get more.”

Adelaide hugged Caladium tightly. She knew that this was the best way to keep his mouth shut. Caladium enjoyed her embrace like a purring cat.

“Why don’t we close the portal more often?”

Lisianthus suggested with a friendly face.

“Master, have some juice.” He added as he handed a glass to Adelaide. Adelaide, who saw the scarlet juice in a pretty glass, shoved Caladium’s body away and picked it up. Adelaide wasn’t the only one who discovered the most effective method.

Adelaide answered, biting the straw with an excited expression.

“That would be better. I kept it open but we got invaded so many times, it’s driving me crazy. Caladium and the Skeletons must be tired from all the fighting without getting proper rest.”

If Adelaide was in charge of operating outside, the Skeletons and Caladium were in charge of defending the dungeon and fighting. The invasions have been so frequent these days that they had to fight day and night.

However, Caladium was unable to use even one-tenth of his original ability so that they wouldn’t realize he was a devil. Thanks to that, the fighting power of the Skeletons increased day by day. It was enough to easily defeat some mid level demons.

“Let’s leave less Serpiums little by little.”

“Won’t that decrease our popularity?”

Caladium asked urgently. It seemed that he was afraid that he would have to play that humiliating performance again. And what about the Skeletons? He stomped his feet.

“This operation was like a one-off event anyway. Popularity is like bubbles. It’s natural that it will decrease.”

She thought it was apple juice, but it was carrot juice. Adelaide stared at Lisianthus with a betrayed look. Lisianthus casually said that it was apple-juice.

She continued with a grim face.

“That should be enough to get our name out there. Now, the adventurers will come in even if we just give a slightly better reward than the other dungeons of the same class.”

“That makes sense. You are indeed the master.”

Adelaide smiled warmly at Lisianthus’ praise. Then she forced the juice into her mouth. She had been taught not to leave leftovers. Although, since it was made by Lisianthus, the taste was not bad even with the addition of carrots.

“Well, we will close the dungeon from time to time in the future. Fortunately, it seems that there have been no rumors about our technique yet.”

She was very worried that rumors about them would spread, which was why she went out quite often. Adelaide laughed proudly at her own foresight.

“I guess you weren’t an id*ot after all?”

Caladium, who had been staring at her, suddenly picked a fight.

“I just thought you were an id*ot. With that small head of yours, you came up with all of these things.”

“Did you just call me an id*ot?”

“Yes, you id*ot.”

Caladium chuckled.

A fire flared in Adelaide’s eyes. ‘No one but Pippa is allowed to call me an id*ot!’ As she was about to release her anger, he approached first and stretched out his hand. His rough thumbs gently rubbed the area near her lips.

“But now you look pretty smart. Except for running around with juice on your lips, Adela.”

Caladium’s long eyes twisted playfully. Hell, the sight of him licking the juice off his thumb looked so seductive.

Adelaide stared blankly at him. It was hard to tell if he was complimenting or insulting her. Anyway, she thought it was a compliment because he said that she was smart. Adelaide’s face brightened at Caladium’s compliment, which she had never heard before.

“Of course! I know a lot about adventurers!”

It was very much like her to not pay attention towards Caladium’s blatant seduction. Then Caladium laid down on the sofa while muttering “Of course you do”.

“Okay then, I’m off to business! Skeletons, I look forward to your cooperation. Please work hard.”

“Have a safe trip, Adelaide!”

The Skeletons waved their hands.

Adelaide, who was heading to the portal, turned around abruptly and spoke to Lisianthus.

“Oh yeah. From today on, I will go alone. It’s not very dangerous because there are only low level warriors… I’m embarrassed that Lisian is constantly watching.”

“… Alright. Could you please wait a moment then? I will bring you some special snacks.”

Lisian’s Special Snack! Adelaide nodded her head vigorously. No matter how busy she was, she couldn’t refuse this. Just imagining it made her drool.

After a while, Lisianthus returned. He was carrying a warm coat to block the cold wind and a steaming paper bag. Naturally, Adelaide’s gaze turned to the paper bag.

“It’s lemon madeleine. It’s hot, so leave it open as much as possible. Make sure to dress warmly.”

“It looks like the wind will be cold right now.” Lisianthus added, like a grandmother.

“Yes! Thanks as always, Lisian! I will be back!”

Adelaide, who wore the coat and received the snacks, greeted him with a bright smile. She headed towards the portal.

When Adelaide left, silence fell in the Greenville Dungeon. The Skeletons’ Captain, who was glancing at Lisianthus and Caladium, spoke carefully.

“Shall we go in and rest?”

“Good idea, Captain! We don’t know when the adventurers will come, so let’s stock up on stamina!”

“Of course, of course!”

The Skeletons quickly disappeared into their room. It was because the energies flowing between Caladium and Lisianthus were unusual.

Seeing that they had disappeared, Caladium laughed out loud. A completely different tone came out compared to when he was speaking with Adelaide.

“Why are you letting her go alone? What if she gets hurt while walking around?”

Lisianthus did not answer. He was completely ignoring Caladium as if he couldn’t hear anything.

Caladium smiled as if he had expected this.

“Aha, you mean it’s okay because there’s an artifact hidden in Adela’s robe?”

Only then did Lisianthus look at Caladium. There was a glimmer of annoyance on his expressionless face.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice that much?”

“I have no desire to have a cheap conversation with you.”

“You sly b*stard. You pretended to listen to Adela in front of her, but you’re doing everything behind her back, right?”

“Following and surveillance. Ugh. Creepy.” Caladium shook his body exaggeratedly. A sharp voice continued.

“But you know what. I’m curious about that. Why didn’t you give one to her until now?”

Caladium took one menacing step towards Lisianthus.

“You served her as if she was so precious. But before today, you let her wander around alone, not caring whether she could have died or not, right? Like back in Boraca Dungeon, and also when Adela went to Mediar alone at dawn.”

The distance between the two became very close. One more step and Caladium would have bumped into him. A corner of his mouth raised as he spoke.

“Before today, it was all a lie… Had she really become precious now?”

Then a gentle smile spread across Lisianthus’ face.

“So what?”

He finally opened his mouth.

“What does it matter to you?”

At the same time, a huge wave of energy erupted.