Chapter 42

I know my favorite fiancé is probably more than a little upset with me considering not only did I wake up beneath another girl, but it was evident I was too drained to wake up that morning despite having gone to sleep at the same time as her, so either the fiend did something to me after she woke up or we were sharing that posture and it upset her I didn't ask her first.

Regardless I have a great deal to do and not a lot of time to do it in. so much, busy, busy, busy. I can barely wrap my head around all the things I wanted to do. But I'll try to get as much of it done by tonight as I can. The first thing I did after resigning myself to stay up all night to work on creating this new spell with my pet was to make myself a cup of coffee and set it on my desk beside her.

The second thing I did was to begin going through a lecture of transmutation magic for my pet so she'd know more about it and her race's natural affinity for collecting magic to use later would help her learn faster. As I spoke, I began collecting a few things I wanted to work on in the background.

My explanation might have suffered from my divided attention, but I answered her questions on points that needed clarification and continued on with the teaching. I must have lost focus because mid lecture my horns and wings seemed to let themselves out, but I didn't care.

Sitting before me on the desk right now is a cup of coffee, my transmutation grimoire, the bones of the other bandits who were cremated after my family killed them, the materials from when I helped my parents overcome the monsters after they relied too heavily on their self defence spells.

As my lecture wore on, I heated up the forge and began casting more rings of varying sizes in case I needed to give them anniversary presents in the future and forgot to buy something so I'd have them latter or just for the sheer fact that if I need money crafting the materials into jewelry will net me more profits then the raw materials would otherwise no one would make them.

Halfway though making rings I got bored of it, finished it off by making five Identical gold wedding bands and started making necklaces, bracelets, bracelets, anklets and the like. I also made a couple piercings. I think I stopped talking for a full minute while making earrings and then just forced them into my pet's ears. She seemed not to care and when I realized her gaze and my silence began to continue with the lecture.

At some point she stopped me and told me she'd already heard everything she needed to know and furthermore I was beginning to repeat myself. I began explaining my intentions for the spell I wanted to craft in mind magic which I'd only just now remembered was the domain we were going to be making the spell for.

I wanted to create a spell that made it impossible for my mind to be read and that if telepathic communication were to be established, I could guard my emotions or fake emotions by making use of this spell. Usually, a passive spell only does one or two things like heal yourself or hurt others. I wanted to make a passive spell that could actively let me choose what parts, and how much, of my mind I'll allow another to see. In short, I wanted to craft a passive spell that could be deactivated without being deactivated.

Suddenly a demonic passive spell flashed in my mind and I immediately cast it. It was a sort of spell that allowed me to control the flow of magic within my own body hence allowing me to activate and deactivate already cast passive spells at will without having to recast them.

That being said I still… as I thought I began drawing out what the magic circle could possibly look like on a sketch book by using the spell I just cast as a reference. Except instead of controlling the flow of magic it controlled the transfer of information.

Design a mind magic spell that lets you show others exactly what you'd have them see no more no less. So even if someone did have a spell that let them see your every desire or even a special ability that allowed them to read minds and intentions with this passive spell as long as I'm careful I can fool even the most cautious of mind readers.

My pet immediately began pointing out several flaws in my magic circle, namely it looked nothing like a mind magic circle except that the symbols were from the mind domain. When she designed it to look more like a mind magic circle, I realized the effects would be gone so we went back and forth on it until we found something in the middle that looked halfway decent.

From within the labyrinth, I conjured every conceivable component I could need for mind magic save the organic ones I couldn't even fathom the process and impossibly complex intricacies of. And set about waiting for my pet to ponder what the words could possibly be.

While I waited, I took a look at the box of bones with my ability to see souls and noticed the spirits of the dead bandits had long departed the bones. I cast the animate dead spell anyway and a wandering spirit from within the labyrinth was forcibly summoned to my side and became a wraith. I'd never summoned one before but there's a first time for everything.

This one however was more an amalgamation of all the bandit souls and was confused as to who they were and why they were here, so I gave them a purpose. "You are a wraith, summoned to keep my pet company and manage this dungeon once I set it down in the material plane. When more tasks are available, I'll be relying on you to fulfil them."

The wraith began looking between me and my pet in a half-dumbfounded way. I, standing shirtless with eight horns each of a different substance on my head, my wings and marks on full display as my now buff body shown strength emanating from my posture and presence. And my pet wearing naught but her cloak, pacing about, lost in thought. And after thinking for a bit the formless mass of spirits nodded in my direction and took on a more feminine appearance.

The apparition had no genitalia, but she did wear the black cloak. I felt as though if I gave her a scythe, she'd be the spitting image of death. Her face seemed far plainer than my pet and her skin far… far paler. She was almost white, I felt like I could lose her in a blizzard if I wasn't careful.

Her face being planer worked to her benefit though, as expressionless as she looked, she still looked better than my pet, but again I'm not a necrophile. Plus there's definitely a few dudes rolling around in that approximation of soul she has there. Her lips began to move but no sound could I hear from them. I leaned in closer and put a hand to my ear and she floated over and began whispering.

"I am your hand that does work unseen."

With that brief declaration she tried to thud her chest with her fist as if with resolve but her face didn't convey the emotions she was trying to display. I could tell she was being genuine though. My face cracked a smile. "Good to have you on board then."

She silently nodded and attempted to form a smile but all her efforts could do was raise one of her lips half a millimeter. "Master, I think I figured out the chant."

"Have you figured out the components we'll need if there's any we can't get from the labyrinth?"

She looked to the box of bones, "do you still need this?"

"Not anymore."

"Good cause we need skulls, preferably full ones."

"Ah I know just the person to ask."

Before I could even bother she appeared, she was going to jump onto my shoulders again but stopped herself when she felt one of my horns about to enter the bottom of her jaw. "Oh hey you popped your horns." She said trying to sound less surprised than she was. "Did you need something?"

"You didn't happen to collect any skulls while you were out did you?"

"What do you mean?"

Her hips began swaying as she shifted herself from a standing to a floating position. She seemed more like she was trying to probe my intentions than stop me. From the materials laid out she probably knows what we're doing already.

"Refresh my memory what were the conditions of our contract again?"

"I believe my exact words were, 'I will live by your side as your partner. I'll do anything within reason but if you ask me to do something outside of what I'd consider trivial you have to give me an equal compensation. In short, I won't let you die until you stop being my source of entertainment.' Why?"

"That within reason and consider trivial part. Do you consider collecting skulls to be a simple enough or trivial enough request to be within reason?"

"You're asking me to kill when you don't know the targets? How recklessly desperate you must be."

"As long as you don't kill anyone I care about I couldn't care less how you ge the skulls we need be it regicide, infanticide, or genocide, just make sure it's not familicide and not someone who's close to me proximity wise so I don't get suspected of it and you can… oh wait no the wraith's got it."

The naked little spirit expressionlessly presented me with a skull, but it was my pet's skull. "This isn't funny."

"Fine, fine we'll look elsewhere for the ingredients we need."

"I mean they don't have to be human do they?" the little fiend asked.

"Not necessarily… though I do hope for them to be at least sentients." My pet explained.

"I have just the thing"

In a moment the fiend disappeared from the labyrinth and returned with a head as big as she was tall. Thick horns protruding out from either side it's ugly twisted face marred by fear and rage. "I caught this old boi staring at my ass two millennia ago and have just been waiting for an excuse to take his head."

"Whatever works I guess, is this a demon head or a devil head?"

"Does it matter?"

"Only if it works."

She then explained to us the precise circumstances surrounding this particular fiend's former life and current demise. She'd known him since a while ago and he was a devil and though there's no rule explicitly denying devils the right to kill each other she needed a better excuse then "he was staring at my ass over two thousand years ago" for the other devils to not shun her for needlessly decreasing their war potential as the demons and the devils are usually at war with each other.

They would have only shunned her for a few hundred years or so and she was asleep for centuries anyways so I don't see how her petty revenge is my problem, but if she wants an excuse who am I to deny her.

As we prepared ourselves to cast the spell, I rid us of the magic circle so we could cast it and gain our marks. And as we attempted, we found that it had worked on the first try. I gained my mind magic marks and found it surprisingly less painful then the first time I gained opposing marks.

Before when my marks changed not much appeared in the actual combat scene being drawn in aside from the fact that the figures seemed to be moving and breathing while still frozen in place forbidden to engage in conflict. Now with the advent of my mind magic marks the once hastily thrown out battle positions of the monsters and the angels looked calculated.

They seemed more like seasoned veterans now and gave off an air as though they knew what they were doing. As opposed to just standing opposite each other and scowling they seemed to be prepared to jump into combat at any moment. The rise and fall of their chests and weapons made their movements seem even more realistic. After the spell was cast the skull of the demon faded into obscurity as if it was less a physical object and more a long-forgotten memory. So too did all the rest of the components used.

After gaining my 9th magic domain I asked the wraith to decorate the dungeon with the rest of the bones we had left over and commissioned my pet with adding this spell and its theory into the magic grimoire. The wraith was to leave the bones in public places like near the entrance/exit to make it appear as though people had already starved to death here.

As my pet began to work I appeared before the homeless man I left to guard the door and saw him sleeping. I didn't feel like waking him so by the door I began instilling rules into the dungeon, hidden and public.

Rules:

1. If the door is sealed with a code don't break it or you will die (summon monsters to kill rule breakers)

2. If you die your belongings belong to the dungeon master including your corpse and your soul.

3. You are forbidden to steal from the dungeon master's room.

4. If the dungeon master appears before you act curiously or you will be kicked out.

Hidden rules:

1. All monsters must retreat when an adventuring party is badly wounded if the party members die then we keep them.

2. All monsters must obey the dungeon master, (failure to do so will result in instant death.)

3. All monsters will refrain from breaking the dungeon master's things, (failure to do so will result in a long-drawn-out death)

4. Monsters are to respect and obey the dungeon master in all circumstances no exceptions.

After implementing these rules into the very fabric of how the dungeon operates, I decided to get my pet dressed and sent her as an intermediary to the town near the academy to get a permit for setting the dungeon down near the school as a sort of training grounds. For the young students who wished to be adventurers.

Normally city hall wouldn't be operating at this time of night but in a major city such as this one it was as they'd need to be prepared to wake the guards should any emergency situation arise. Though judging by the fact they can't tell a lich from a living breathing person is fairly concerning.