Dungeon Defense (WN) - Chapter 408: The Spider and Viper (5)

“It might have started as a simple prank from Teacher Jeremi.”

Daisy spoke.

“If it had ended there, if nothing had happened afterward, I probably could have covered it up and pretended as if it had never happened. But everything that happened from that point onward, was your doing.”

“I really……didn’t know…….”

“That’s a relief.”

Daisy continued to tighten the noose, making sure there was no escape.

“It’s good that you were blissfully ignorant. I’m glad that only I knew, that only I had to suffer, and that only I had to get scarred. It’d be great if you could live like that forever, completely oblivious. If you do, you could avoid responsibility by claiming ignorance.”

Silence hung in the air.

It took some time for the mental structure Luke had built to collapse. The beliefs he held and the pride he felt crumbled slowly to the depths of his heart. Time flowed by fleetingly.

“……What.”

Luke murmured, his voice in ruins.

“What, can I do……?”

“There’s nothing more for you to do. It won’t get better, nor will it get worse. It’ll just linger as a sin that will never fade away.”

Daisy spoke in a casual tone. Like a snake confident in sinking its lethal fangs into its prey’s throat, Daisy applied pressure on Luke as if she were deliberating on where to tear apart next.

“I won’t forgive you until the day I die.”

“…….”

“I hope that you repent eternally, Luke.”

Immediately after, the distance between Daisy and Luke closed before quickly falling apart. I was convinced Daisy had kissed Luke. I had no evidence, but if I were in Daisy’s shoes, that’s what I would’ve done—seal tonight’s conversation into Luke’s memory forever.

“Leave.”

Daisy dismissed Luke. Luke, like a ghost, left the room without a word.

“…….”

I couldn’t bring myself to crawl out from under the bed even after Luke had left. What could I possibly do in this situation? Daisy remained silent too. The two of us maintained a prolonged silence.

Daisy was the first to speak.

“You cannot run away anymore, Father.”

“……What do you mean?”

“Do you remember the wager you made with me in the beginning, Father?”

I naturally remembered.

To make Luke swear his sincere loyalty to me voluntarily. If that happens, I swore to not kill Luke, Daisy, their parents, and their fellow village people no matter what.

On the other hand, if Luke doesn’t swear his loyalty to me, I could kill them anywhere and at any time. In other words, they would be living on a time limit. This was the wager I had made with Daisy at the slash-and-burn village in Frankia.

“I always wondered why you never took Luke to the battlefield. Luke is as valuable as I am. No, he’s been trained as a warrior from the start, unlike me who was raised as an assassin. Luke would have been more effective in a full-scale battle. Yet, you just left him to his own devices on your land.”

“…….”

“You deliberately didn’t use Luke. You hardly ever met with him either. I could only conclude that you had almost no intention of having Luke swear loyalty to you.”

That’s right.

I left Luke alone almost to the point of neglect.

“My confusion only deepened. It did not fit your character to let a valuable piece like Luke go to waste. Fortunately, over time, my question naturally unraveled itself.”

I crawled out from under the bed. This conversation has to be held face-to-face. This was the feeling I had. I stood up and stretched my body which had stiffened after three hours of staying still.

Daisy was seated at the edge of the bed and smoking. I could tell from the fragrance alone that it was rather strong. Since her teacher, Jeremi, and her master, me, were both smokers down to the bone, it was only natural that she’d dabble in it as well.

However, Daisy would never smoke in front of me. It was probably because she didn’t want to show her weak side to me. Even now, once I crawled out from under the bed, Daisy immediately tried to drop her cigar and snuff it out, but I shook my head to stop her.

“It is fine. I will allow it.”

I brought a chair from the corner of the room and placed it directly across from Daisy before sitting down. Daisy stared at me with her eyes that were as black as wells.

“There were three clues that led me to the answer. Earl Bercy, Demon Lord Paimon, and Consul Elizabeth.”

“Oh?”

“First, Earl Bercy. During the Puppet War, you carried out extensive massacres. At the time, Earl Bercy confronted you about these massacres. I found that encounter to be very strange.”

I took out a tobacco leaf from my pocket and rolled it slowly. It had been quite a while since I stopped smoking, but it wasn’t like I had quit. It was simply a temporary pause.

“It was the fact that you immediately admitted your wrongdoing.”

As I mechanically handled the tobacco leaf, Daisy continued indifferently.

“Why? For what reason? I did not understand. You had no reason to confess your crime. It would have been much more beneficial to you if you had blamed it on another Demon Lord and claimed that you could not stop it. Despite this, you confessed to your crime without any hesitation.”

Daisy quietly exhaled smoke into the air.

“I realized. You were ‘testing’ Earl Bercy.”

“…….”

“I did not know for what purpose, but it was clear that you were measuring something about Earl Bercy. You deliberately told him the truth and waited to see how the earl would react.”

A faint smile played at the corner of Daisy’s lips.

“The second clue was Demon Lord Paimon. It was last winter. When Demon Lord Paimon called for the Republican Representative Meeting, you desperately tried to thwart it. To protect the Empire. To maintain the balance of power between the factions. You justified it like that, but…….”

The tip of Daisy’s cigarette glowed bright red.

“I have a slightly different view. You were not bustling around to protect the Empire. It was to protect Demon Lord Paimon. You cherished Demon Lord Paimon so dearly, to the point she was irreplaceable to you.”

“…….”

“But why would you kill such a precious lover? Out of fear that the Empire would collapse? Because of the escalating factional disputes? No, those are all superficial reasons. There is a deeper motive.”

Daisy looked me straight in the eyes.

“Father, it was because Paimon could no longer kill you.”

“…….”

“The reason you exerted so much effort to protect that woman last winter was this: To you, Paimon was a prominent candidate who could potentially kill you.”

Daisy’s smirk grew more pronounced around her lips.

“If you had left the Republican Representative Meeting alone at that time, chances are Paimon would have been trampled by the Plains Faction and the Neutral Faction. You could not bear the thought of such a prominent candidate, who could potentially kill you, disappearing so easily. So, you protected Demon Lord Paimon, even at the risk of self-harm…….”

My hand, which had been rolling a cigarette, stopped.

We stared at each other intently. Our gazes almost felt palpable. Daisy’s eyes held mind, and mine held hers, stretching and pulling.

“It was then that I understood why you told Earl Bercy the truth. Unbeknownst to the world, Earl Bercy was also one of the ‘candidates’ whom you had selected. You were testing to see if the earl could kill you or not.”

“…….”

“I am certain that you also gifted Demon Lord Paimon an opportunity to kill you. However, Paimon had discarded that chance……. Instead of killing you, she chose to become subservient to you.”

In other words, Demon Lord Paimon was eliminated as a candidate from your list.

Daisy stated her words with conviction.

“The last clue is Consul Elizabeth of the Habsburg Republic.”

Daisy’s tone was not speculative but assertive, speaking as if stating a confirmed truth.

“Despite seeing through Consul Elizabeth’s intentions, you strangely aligned with her intent to wage war. You could have easily deceived and manipulated her. However, you instead synchronized your actions with her as if you had formed an alliance. Instead of outright ending the Consul’s life, you chose to spare it. Contrarily allowing that tenacious life to live on.”

“…….”

“With this in mind, I became certain. Consul Elizabeth also falls under your list of candidates. I do not know how many names are on that list, but you show the same amount of leniency to all of them.”

Did Daisy’s smirk spread to me?

The ends of my mouth unconsciously twisted upward.

“Then my initial question of why you have not been utilizing my brother is automatically answered. My brother must also be on your list of candidates, isn’t he, Father?”

“You are correct.”

“The reason you have not involved Luke in wars or other matters is clear. You are hoping for Luke to grow up as a genuinely pure, just, and righteous individual. In other words, you wish for him to become ‘purely righteous’ enough to execute a villain such as yourself.”

An evildoer killing another evildoer is simply murder.

On the other hand, when a righteous person eliminates an evildoer, it’s an entirely proper execution and punishment.

I finished rolling up my cigar and put it in my mouth. I then leaned my face forward. Daisy brought the tip of her cigar close to the end of mine. After a moment, the spark transferred to my cigar. I took in a deep breath of the smoke.

“I believe you probably planned for my brother to uncover the truth when the time was right. You would have guided him to become a skilled warrior, ensuring he would eventually kill you, all without him realizing.”

“…….”

“This was a rather clumsy move on your part, Father.”

Daisy continued.

“I may be a naive child, but showing me three complete clues was excessive. I would have noticed even if I did not want to. Earl Bercy, Consul Elizabeth, and Luke……. Do you genuinely think that they have the authority to end your life, Father?”

Daisy smiled.

“There is no way I would cede my right to the likes of the Earl, the Consul, or my brother. What do they truly know about you, Father? In the first place, do you think that they could kill you in the truest sense? I will say this now, but that is a grave misunderstanding.”

Perhaps it was the effect of the cigar, but my emotions settled into an almost infinite calm.

“My brother now considers himself a sinner and villain. He is no longer someone who can unhesitatingly eliminate a villain. Please remove my brother’s name from your list of candidates.”

“…….”

“I dare say that Earl Bercy is not a suitable candidate either. Since you have taken the life of Demon Lord Paimon yourself, now only Demon Lord Barbatos and Consul Elizabeth remain plausible options. However, they can never kill you, Father. Never.”

In the center of this room billowing with white smoke.

“I vow to protect you from them.”

Daisy stared right at me as she made her proclamation.

“I am the only person in the world who can kill you.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. There was a surprising amount of people who thought this would suddenly turn into incest. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering what happened in the last chapter.

On a more important note, I already mentioned it on my server, but it seems DD got a manhwa/webtoon? I’m really not sure what people call a Korean webtoon-style work that’s done by a Japanese publisher. I’m personally of the opinion that the Korean publisher for DD, Novelengine, might’ve sold the rights to DD to a Japanese company because of the dumb controversy that happened several years ago. That controversy most likely tainted the series too much in Korea. I probably won’t have any hand in scanlating it since it’s JP source, but I think Asura is doing a decent job. It seems like someone who read my translation is working on it since I’m noticing some of my styles in the prologue dialogue. I also heard that the webtoon/manhwa changes a fair bit from the original LN, so I’m not sure what kind of direction they’re going to follow after they catch up. I’m also hoping this illustrator is able to encapsulate the same amount of impact that certain scenes had in the novel. I simply pray it goes well, though I’m not hearing exactly raving reviews of it so far.

Welp, in any case, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter if I’m alive, cause I’m doing overtime this upcoming week! Woohoo!