[Translator - Night]

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Chapter 343

The uninvited guest who had visited my dream was now pinned so tightly by Luna that she couldn’t even move a finger, her hair gripped in Luna’s hand.

“J-just… I was wrong! Please forgive me!”

Actually, seeing a dream demon up close like this felt strangely fascinating.

“Dream demon, huh….”

Unlike how she’d appeared in the dream, she wore a robe that covered her body, but the bat wings sprouting from her back made her identity unmistakable.

She didn’t exactly give off a dangerous vibe.

“I’m sorry. Truly sorry. I was too weak and I just—”

When Luna shook her by the collar, Melissa stopped her.

“First, tell us exactly what happened. We’ll decide punishment afterward.”

Melissa let out a short sigh, then scolded the servants and maids who had rushed in at the commotion.

They sat down around the woman as if centering on her, and began to ask questions.

“Name.”

“Ma… Marian Desibilt!”

Startled, she shouted; her face was full of nerves.

A dream demon can be so trivial?

Still, they’re a dream race.

“So, you’re a dream demon for now. Is that right?”

“Y-yes!”

She trembled in fear.

“Well… I haven’t eaten properly for days and my life-force is nearly depleted… I just wanted to take a little to replenish myself… but the smell was so delicious….”

Completely terrified, she seemed to fear we might kill her at any moment.

“Delicious smell? If you’re hungry, go to the dining hall, why are you in the bridal chamber of a groom about to be married?”

When Melissa asked incredulously, Luna shook her head.

“She means life-energy. The life-energy of men and women with few traces about them is like the finest tonic to succubi.”

When Luna glared at her with a fierce look, Marian flinched and dropped her head.

“P-please spare me. I didn’t mean harm. I was just going to leave them good dreams and take a little life-energy…”

“What happens if someone gives up their life-energy?”

“It depends on how much is absorbed, but if you take a lot, it’s not good for the person. They feel extreme fatigue.”

“O-oh no! I’ve never absorbed so much that I made someone fatigued….”

She hurriedly tried to correct herself, but no one believed her.

“Well then. She’s an intruder for now.”

“P-please spare me. I was drawn here without knowing….”

At that moment the door creaked open and Grivy appeared with a sleepy face.

The otter, Serqet, was draped over Grivy’s shoulder, asleep, and the chick, Sur, sat bravely atop his head, watching.

At the same time, Marian, who had been tightly bound, opened her eyes wide.

“Y-you…?!”

–Piiik!!

Like a lesser panda threatening, she raised both wings high and showed off her bravery.

“Do you know each other?”

–Peep!! Peeppeep! Piiik!

Sur flapped its wings and sang something; Grivy rubbed his eyes sleepily and said,

“She’s the dream demon we met before.”

“Oh. So this dream demon is that dream demon?”

“My goodness… the spirit who saved me….”

She looked at me cautiously.

“I… I really didn’t mean to harm anyone. I only wanted to give good dreams and take a little of the happiness people feel there… Could I do something to earn your forgiveness?”

She looked around nervously and offered timidly.

Sur flew with a rustle and perched chin-first on her head, puffing up and flapping its wings with a brave air.

“Well, if there was no bad intent, we can’t completely refuse forgiveness….”

“R-really?!”

Finding hope, she begged earnestly, but Melissa and I answered indifferently.

“Repay it with work.”

“You’ll repay it with work, right.”

We answered at the same time, and she gasped and clutched at her chest with both hands.

“I’m s-sorry! That request is….”

Dream demons’ reactions are oddly lukewarm for such things.

“What are you saying? Dream demons are supposed to be master craftsmen of artifacts.”

“W-well… that’s true… but I don’t know which artifact you mean….”

“Not specific—just make something ordinary but well-made.”

Even though we hadn’t mentioned it, Luna practically tossed her around like luggage.

Then we headed to the manor’s workshop.

“U-uh… uh….”

“The materials are here, will you try making something?”

“My goodness… this catalyst is very high quality. Um… will this forgive me?”

She marveled at the catalyst made by processing mana-laden crude oil.

Dream demons apparently know these things well.

“I’ll take a look and decide. It’s not a huge request, so just do your best.”

“I… I don’t have much time, but… please give me three hours.”

Three hours?

What could she be making in that time?

That thought was completely shattered about three hours later.

“What is this?”

The artifact bristling with defensive power looked impressive at a glance.

“W-well… it can block magic to some degree… but the materials and catalyst were so good….”

She offered a small brooch-like artifact to me as if presenting a tribute.

“P-please forgive me! Do you know—I have dozens of kin who are relying on me right now! If I don’t go, no one can save them and they’ll all die soon!”

She pressed her head desperately to the ground as she pleaded; I turned the artifact over in my hands.

I could blend the Heart of the Machine God with my magic and make something, but the reason I’d sought a dream demon was because I couldn’t make it myself.

“How does it look?”

“With skills like that she’d be an excellent technician.”

Melissa and I exchanged glances.

After that Luna and I moved a short distance away from Marian and quietly asked.

“Luna. What do you think of that?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Looks like royal blood of the queen maybe. Honestly, it’s exactly the kind of talent Leon was looking for.”

“Then hire her.”

“But that thing she said earlier bothers me. Dozens of kin depending on her. It won’t be easy to persuade them.”

“Let’s at least hear her story.”

We met each other’s eyes and, as if without having discussed it, approached her quietly.

“We’ll forgive you.”

“R-really?!”

“Yes. I keep my promises. But I’m curious about what you said.”

“My story…?”

“You said your kin are waiting for your help. What’s going on?”

Marian’s expression darkened at my question.

There was worry, but also wariness.

“It’s… it’s a matter within our race….”

“Is it serious? If we help, we can help.”

She shook her head.

“No. Even the finest human can’t fix it. It’s a seal placed long ago… by some evil Sealer. They’re trapped in a sealing array….”

I inwardly rejoiced at that explanation.

“Keep going. Tell me more.”

* * *

Marian Desibilt.

A pureblood dream demon, she said she had crossed from the Western Continent to the Central Continent searching for the sealer.

At present, the dream demon race is extremely scarce.

All told, there aren’t even a hundred of them.

It’s questionable whether the race can be preserved, but according to Marian, the ones she knows are pretty much all of them.

“A long time ago, our home was attacked by a sealer who wounded or killed many of our kind. The tiny number who survived were sealed in a way close to a curse and lost the ability to absorb life-energy; they’re slowly dying.”

It had been quite a while since the sealing.

To survive, the dream demons placed special dream magic on their bodies, and they entered a state of hibernation so their life-energy wouldn’t be consumed.

“I was lucky, I didn’t fall within the sealer’s attack range….”

In other words, Marian was the only one among the dream demons who could still absorb life-energy.

“Until now I’ve been gathering life-energy and bringing it to my kin, but I’ve reached the limit….”

Hearing her, I did the mental arithmetic.

Dream demon = artifact maker.

Personality?

She didn’t seem bad.

Contrary to public perception, they weren’t a race that harmed others at will.

No obvious character flaws.

Then….

“Melissa. Hire her.”

“Can that be resolved? You said it was a sealer.”

“It couldn’t before.”

“Couldn’t?”

“Now it can.”

I smiled brightly and approached the dream demon Marian.

“Welcome, slave.”

“S-slave?!”

“I’ll save all your kin. In return, you’ll take a job with the Cascadia ducal house. How about it?”

* * *

The dream demons’ refuge is in the Western Continent.

Originally their numbers were small, but once the whole race suffered from severe social ostracism.

There were many reasons for that, but dream demons also had grievances.

At present, there are only a few dozen dream demons.

Not even a hundred.

Dream demons don’t reproduce quickly either, so they’re practically on the brink of extinction.

“How in the world did the population drop so low….”

“A long time ago we were accused of being monsters who steal human souls and were driven out. Our ancestors decided fighting was meaningless; they took the survivors and retreated to underground hideouts.”

Still, succubi inevitably need to interact with other species.

They tried, but numbers naturally dwindled.

To make things worse:

“There was an epidemic. A plague that spread where dream demons gathered… By the time a cure was developed, the population had already plummeted. From what I know, that was the turning point when numbers dropped rapidly. A handful of survivors kept things barely going and slowly recovered, but….”

Then the sealer came and ruined everything.

One day, a sealer arrived at the hideout for reasons unknown and began attacking the dream demons.

They tried to calm him, but many were sacrificed and sealed.

At that time the succubus queen, the dream demon queen, used all her power to pull out her bloodline and then entered a hibernation, asking someone to find help for the dream demon people.

“For years I wandered in hiding. I absorbed life-energy where I could without being detected, and at night I’d reveal my wings in lonely, moonlit places.”

We arrived riding the Shadow Dragon Baril to a remote subterranean cave in the Western Continent where humans rarely set foot.

Inside the cave a vast underground city stretched out as if thousands could live there.

“At first it was a small village. They dug slowly and expanded space little by little. It’s the work of ancestors who toiled for their descendants.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Y-yes….”

There were settlements, but most were abandoned and dilapidated.

“Um… we’ve come this far, but… what are you going to do?”

At first she was wary when I offered help.

The dream demons were practically defenseless now.

“You took my offer anyway.”

“I thought the spirit’s master would be okay. I judged that the fate of the whole race rested on it. If things stayed like this, there’d be no answer….”

She walked weakly to the sealing wall.

“Since that sealing began, I’ve never been able to speak with my kin.”

Her voice trembled with a profound loneliness, as if wracked with guilt.

Her hand trembled.

“They’re all good people… what did we ever do wrong….”

“What happened to the sealer?”

“He disappeared after the sealing ritual. That was years ago, and he never reappeared.”

Tearing up, she seemed to be talking through grief.

Luna tapped my shoulder.

“Leon. Sealers usually aren’t sound-minded.”

“I know. They often suffer severe brain damage.”

Sealers often develop mental illnesses to varying degrees.

This had likely been one such case.

“He might go berserk that his sealing was undone and come chasing after you.”

Thinking about it, it would be a troublesome problem, we couldn’t ignore it.

“What do you want to do with that sealer?”

“I want to repay him in the same way.”

“If we help, will you settle in Cascadia? At least we won’t discriminate against you or threaten your safety. You’ll be cared for and won’t be forced to do anything against your nature.”

She looked up at me weakly at my offer.

“Why would you go that far?”

“For your skill. Or rather, your dream demon artifact-crafting. That’s enough.”

She fell silent, thinking.

Then she spoke.

“If you save our race… I will serve you.”

[Translator - Night]

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