The Aftermath

Editors: Sebas Tian, Speedphoenix

"You ignored me the whole time…" complained Enne. "Even though I was really worried too…"

"M-My bad. Come on Enne, cheer up. I said I'm sorry already."

My attempt to appease the black-haired girl's displeasure was met with silence. Though she was currently situated on my lap, she absolutely refused to meet my gaze. She turned her head away from me each and every single time I tried to look at her. The pout that decorated the girl who normally just remained expressionless was a treasure. It was so rare and adorable that I couldn't help but want to snap a picture just to keep it forever preserved.

"Okay, okay, how's about I spend the rest of the day with you to make up for it. I'll even do anything you want, within reason of course," I said. "The only catch is no more frowning, okay?"

Come on Enne, you're breaking daddy's heart here.

"Really?" She had yet to turn to face me, but hearing my desperate offer finally led the girl to stop avoiding my gaze.

Enne's anger was justified. She had been worried because I had collapsed immediately after defeating the mentally challenged lizard, and yet, I may or may not have ended up completely ignoring her after I woke up. In fact, I hadn't even acknowledged her because I was too busy flirting with Lefi to notice much of anything else at all. Yeah, no wonder she's mad. Who wouldn't be, in her shoes?

Although they weren't actually supposed to know that there even was a battle, let alone one against a dragon, it turned out that all the dungeon's residents had actually been quite worried about me. Making my way back to the true throne room with Lefi propping me up had caused every single one of the girls to react. The wraiths, whom I had evacuated to the true throne room, had joined Illuna in glomping me whilst crying. Shii, on the other hand, panicked as she tried to cast as much healing magic on me as she could as quickly as she could. The five of them combined had caused the scene of my return to degenerate into one of complete chaos.

I didn't really understand why at first, but turning to the only two individuals that had remained rational, the maids, provided me with an explanation of the status quo. Apparently, my battle with the Douchelord had caused those within the dungeon to experience a series of small earthquake-like tremors. In other words, the combination of all the shaking, the looks that Lefi and I had on our faces as we left, and the fact that I had come back on the verge of collapse had frightened our resident children.

Wait. The dungeon was shaking? I had always assumed that the dungeon was its own thing, that it was effectively cut off from the rest of the world with the exception of its entrance, but the fact that it shook suggested that my hypothesis was likely inaccurate. The dungeon shaking implied that it occupied a space somewhere nearby. However, there was simply no way for the floor that I had set up to truly fit within the mountain it was located within. I guess that means the dungeon is probably messing with the spacetime continuum in order to create a massive subspace that occupies a much smaller space in the real world or something like that.

…I guess that means fighting near the true throne room wasn't exactly the best idea, huh? The cave that led into the dungeon's depths had in fact caved in because the dragon had hit the vicinity with a relatively weak attack. Yeah uh… probably wouldn't have been pretty if that had been one of his more powerful attacks, huh? Yeah, I'mma just use hardening all around here to make sure nothing ever breaks. I don't exactly want everyone to end up getting buried alive.

The girls living inside the castle weren't the only ones that had sensed my duel to the death. Rir had as well and he had wanted to come running over, but I specifically instructed him to stay away because I knew that the battle against the Black Douchebag was one that I had to win on my own. Rir, however, seemed to interpret it as a matter of incompetence. The diligent wolf had visited the castle to check on me after the battle and left with a troubled, brooding look on his face. It was obvious that he was thinking of getting stronger so he could eliminate my enemies before I was stuck dealing with them. You know, as a dungeon master and whatnot, I'm happy to see him wanna strive for greater heights, but I hope he doesn't stress himself out over it. I should get Leila to cook him something special sooner or later. I'm sure he'd like that. His minions'll probably be over the moon about it too.

"Really. So what do you want me to do, Enne?" I peaked at her face from my cross-legged position on top of the throne.

"Hmmm…" She paused for a moment. "Then stay still."

"That's it?"

"Mhm. All I want is to be with you, Master."

Enne flashed a brief, barely noticeable smile before leaning into my chest.

"That's so not fair! I was really worried because you slept like a log and wouldn't get up after, Yuki!" Illuna, who noticed Enne's position, shouted a complaint. "I wanna sit on your lap too!"

"M-my bad. Alright Illuna, come here," I said. "Enne, can you scoot over so there's a bit more space for her?"

"Okay."

A hand reached over from the side and placed itself on my cheek right as Illuna got on my lap. It was accompanied by a nice cool sensation, one not that different from gel.

"Are you really okay, Master? You're really not hurt?" asked the hand's owner.

"Oh come on Shii, I said I'm fine already, didn't I?" I moved my arms around a bit in order to prove my point. "See? I'm all healed up."

"Are you really sure…?" The slime continued to question me, her voice filled with worry. "Because I know you like to act like you're okay when you're not."

Her actions and questions served to demonstrate that, like Rir, she was able to roughly sense my condition and see through me in ways that the other little girls couldn't. And while they weren't currently present, the same more or less went for the wraiths. They continued to act like they were concerned for my well being even after I'd regained most of my strength. I had the sneaking suspicion that, like Rir, they were concerned over their abilities and wanted to do something about the whole situation because they too were monsters spawned by the dungeon.

"I'm kinda happy you're so worried about me Shii, but I'm really okay. I'm fit as a sailor pumped full of spinach."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Are you good as new?" asked the slime.

"Yup. I've been oiled up and all my parts have been swapped for new ones. So yeah, I might as well be good as new."

I spotted Lefi out of the corner of my eye as I tried my best to cope with the three little girls and their concerns.

"To think that this is my husband." Seeing me in my current state caused the dragon to heave a heavy sigh and shake her head in exasperation. "I've little choice but to label myself pathetic for falling for him."

"Oh shut up, Lefi." I rolled my eyes. "I know what you're thinking, but you don't need to say it. I'm self-conscious enough about it already."

Though I complained at her, I wasn't exactly much in the way of discontent. If anything, I was happy. Hearing her call me her husband had caused my heart to jump in a way I wasn't really used to.

A lot had changed since I took down my most recent foe. My character sheet was a far cry from what it had been before the battle. It now looked as follows.

***

General Information

Name: Yuki

Race: Demon Lord

Class: Dragon/Demon Lord of Judgement

Level: 136

HP: 19255/19255

MP: 25841/25841

Strength: 2842

Vitality: 3611

Agility: 2834

Magic: 4268

Dexterity: 4942

Luck: 85

Skill Points: 52

Unique Skills

Magic Eye

Translation

Flight

Tenacity

Sovereign Pressure

Skills

Item Box

Analyze X

Martial Arts Mastery VI

Primordial Magic VI

Stealth VI

Enemy Detection VI

Sword Mastery IV

Weapon Transmutation V

Enchant V

Trap Mastery IV

Greatsword Mastery VI

Disguise IV

Crisis Detection VI

Titles

Demon Lord from Another World

Supreme Dragon's Owner

One Who Judges

One Hostile To Humanity

Survivor of Death's Embrace

Demon Lord; King of the Dragons

Supreme Dragon's Spouse

DP

304356

***

Sooooo…. Yeaaaaahh… I'm uh… a lot stronger now. Yeah. That. Even just looking at my stats was enough to make my jaw drop. Both my HP and my vitality had spiked. Taking hits nonstop even while on the verge of death had caused both to grow disproportionately. My luck was well… my luck. Everything else had at least doubled, but my luck still seemed a good bit under 100. But hey, at least it's actually going up.

All the skills I used against the oversized lizard had levelled up significantly, and I had even gotten myself a brand new pair of unique skills: Tenacity and Sovereign Pressure. It wasn't actually my first time seeing the Tenacity skill, but I hadn't been able to analyze it back when I fought the orichalcum class adventurer, but now that I actually had a chance to look at it, I learned that its effect was to drastically diminish all incoming damage and boost all stats by a factor of 1.5 when at or under 20% HP. Y'know, that's actually OP as fuck. And now that I think about it, I probably got this thing mid-combat. I remember his attacks basically stopped doing damage near the end.

Like Tenacity, Sovereign Pressure also seemed fairly useful. Its effect was to generate an aura of intimidation capable of hampering all nearby enemies by making it more difficult for them to take action. The strength of its effect was influenced by the relative difference in stats between me and my foes. However, unlike Tenacity, I had no idea as to exactly why I had obtained the skill. I don't remember doing anything like freaking people out.

After poking around, I learned that it came from one of my newly acquired titles, one whose description read as follows.

***

Demon Lord; King of the Dragons: This is a title granted to the demon lord who defeated the king of the dragons and thereby inherited his position as Dragonlord. It provides an extreme boost to charisma when engaged in conversation with a dragon, and grants a unique skill by the name of Sovereign Pressure.

***

Welp. Looks like I'm king of the dragons now. I mean, I don't really mind the title itself since it makes me look like a total badass, but like, Iunno if it's actually really okay for me to have it. Like, I kinda don't have any plans to rule the dragons or whatever. Governing their village sounds like a headache and a half. I'm so not down. Seriously, they can solve their own problems. What they do ain't my business. Actually, this title is probably why my class ended up changing.

One interesting thing about the Dragon/Demon Lord of Judgement class was that its details couldn't be viewed. Neither Analyze nor the dungeon's menu system could tell me much about its effects. But, that said, I did know for a fact that it did something. I felt as if my body was now much easier to control, and that my movements were more precise following my class change. Moreover, I had also confirmed that my magic was now much more powerful than it should have been otherwise. I had the feeling that there was more to it, but despite my curiosity, I was unable to determine the new class' precise effects.

As far as titles went, Demon Lord; King of the Dragons was only one of my three newly acquired entities. The second read as follows:

***

Survivor of Death's Embrace: This title is granted to one who has survived being pushed to the absolute brink of death. All of the title owner's stats are doubled if their HP drops below 10% of its maximum value.

***

Much like the first, it was a title whose origin I could understand. I managed to beat the dragon in combat for the sole reason that he was an idiot. But that said, his stupidity didn't change the fact that the fight had been a tough one. I had almost died; I may as well have had a foot in the grave the entire time. Dude, that double stats thing is a friggin' eye popper. I probably would have screamed incoherently about balance if it wasn't so hard to activate. Man, 10% health? That's rough.

Unlike the first two, my final title had nothing to do with combat.

***

Supreme Dragon's Spouse: This is a title granted to the man that has proven his valour by making a bride of the dragon that reigns supreme over the world. The man in question probably no longer needs to know fear.

***

Probably? The fuck? Telling me I probably don't need to fear anything doesn't actually give me any useful information at all! Like, what the fuck do you mean probably!? Shouldn't these things be dealt in absolutes!? And who the hell wrote this stupid ass description anyway? It looks more like a goddamn opinion than it does anything actually objective. Was it God? God, please, you really gotta step up your title game. Like, come on, what the hell!? In the end, I decided to set aside its shoddy description and its questionable origins and just think of it as something that I was a bit embarrassed to have.

My battle with Lizardbrain had consumed most of my DP. I had literally used so much of it that I ended up with a two digit number. However, killing him and chucking his corpse in the recycling bin had provided me with a hefty profit. I guess he really was a member of this world's most powerful race after all, even if the only thing he had in that thick skull of his was a rotten potato.

While I did enjoy my recent stat changes, I wasn't entirely sure how I was supposed to feel about them. Aside from bewildered, of course. The issue stemmed from the fact that my sudden explosive gains had translated themselves to real-life applications in a rather questionable manner. My newfound power was hard to control and therefore kept interfering with my regular day to day activities. I kept breaking cups, shattering plates, and once, I had even accidentally crushed the armrest of one of my chairs because I had accidentally gripped it just a bit too hard. Similar things happened so many times now that I didn't really have much of a choice but to awkwardly laugh it off whenever it happened. Hey… wait a second. Does this mean I'll actually be strong enough to carry out that genocide I've been planning? Oh, hell yes. Fuck manticores! I'm going to wipe every single last one of those assholes off the face of this planet and have their stupid ass species officially marked as extinct!

One of the reasons that my stats had grown so drastically was because my latest encounter had caused the dungeon to gain a pair of levels of its own. That said, I didn't actually evolve this time around. Wait. Shouldn't evolving be what causes stat spikes? I'm confused.

Another interesting thing of note was that my level and my stats had grown in a non-linear fashion. Each level seemed to provide a larger stat boost than the last. Huh. You know, my stats actually might end up as high as Lefi's by the time I catch up to her. Hell, they might even end up higher at this rate.

While I was happy with where my stats were at, I wasn't exactly content with my level. It hadn't changed as much as I was hoping despite the fact that I had defeated something way higher level than me. Oh god. Grinding levels is hard. Is it just me, or does it seem like matching Lefi's level is gonna take a few thousand years…?

The influx of experience that the dragon had brought me came with a side of skill points. And of course, I did the usual and immediately threw a bunch of them into Analyze. With plenty of newfound power invested in it, the skill finally hit its maximum level.

I still had a fair number of skill points remaining, but I decided to save them for later. Using them immediately felt like a waste. I would only be able to max out one or two of my skills at best given their current levels, and it was possible for skills to level through use, so I figured that there was no harm in letting them grow as nature intended. I might consider spending my points if something gets to level 8 or 9 and ends up being too much of a pain to grind, I guess.

Maxing Analyze had proven to be quite the choice. It now showed additionals and even enabled me to see more of Lefi's character sheet.

***

General Information

Name: Leficios

Race: Ancient Dragon

Class: Supreme Dragon

Level: 987

HP: ???3?1??/???3?1??

MP: ?9???????/?9???????

Strength: ????8?

Vitality: ?7????

Agility: ???1??

Magic: ??4????

Dexterity: ????0

Luck: ???

Titles

Supreme Dragon

Demon Lord's Spouse

***

Oh, who am I kidding? It's honestly not all that different. The most important bit of information my level 10 skill provided me was the number of digits Lefi had in each of her stats. Her mana pool lay somewhere in the hundreds of millions, while her health pool was one order of magnitude less. It was such a ridiculously high number that I felt she may as well have been immortal. I didn't really see any way anyone could put much of a dent in her.

Her other basic stats were equally as incredible. Her dexterity was in the tens of thousands and her magic in the millions, while almost everything else rested somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. Seriously? Holy shit, those are some inflated as fuck numbers.

I had no doubt that Lefi was in the realm of abominations and that standing by her meant entering it myself. Well, I guess I better work hard to make myself out to be some sort of freak of nature as soon as I possibly can. I mean, turning into a world-ending abomination does sound kinda like the sort of stuff a demon lord would be up to anyway, doesn't it?

While Lefi's stats had more or less turned out as expected, the same didn't quite go for her skills. I was anticipating well over a hundred, but it turned out she only had a few dozen. Oh, I get it. It must be because a specialized build where you use a few skills really well is much better than an allrounder build where you have so much shit you can't even use it all. Though, it might also just be that I can't see all of them quite yet. The text is still garbled, after all.

Likewise, all but two of Lefi's titles were unreadable, and of them, only one was new. It read as follows:

***

Demon Lord's Spouse: A title granted to a bride that has chosen a demon lord by the name of Yuki as her groom. Not a single one of this world's denizens would have ever imagined that the Supreme Dragon would actually manage to find herself a mate.

***

"…"

Anyway, moving on. I suspected that the only reason I could see the Supreme Dragon and Demon Lord's Spouse titles was that Lefi had intentionally made them visible. So I guess she wants people to know. Oh man, I'm blushing. I can totally feel it. You know what, I'mma just stop thinking about this and move on.

Lefi hadn't actually explained much about what had happened, whereas I had passed out after returning to the dungeon. As such, I only managed to update its residents after I woke up the next day. I told everyone about both the fight and the fact that Lefi and I had started a relationship.

Everyone was thrilled by the news. The maids reacted with girly cheers, while each and every single little girl immediately asked to be made into wives themselves. I had expected as such from Illuna, Shii, and the wraith girls, so I wasn't really all that surprised. Enne, on the other hand, had completely blindsided me by making the very same request, albeit in her usual shy way. Aight, now hold the phone and stop trying to call the FBI. Just sayin', I did, in fact, turn them down.

Of course, I was glad that the girls liked me as much as they did, but the way Lefi was smiling told me that she wouldn't forgive me humouring them. In the end, I tried to gloss the whole thing over by telling them to wait until they got older. Oh man, I'm pretty sure that's going to come back and bite me in the ass in a few years. I just know it. But like, what the hell else was I supposed to say? Ahahaha… hahaha… haha… Help.

The change in my relationship with Lefi was something that the dungeon itself picked up on immediately. It began considering her as a part of my family, which meant that the DP she generated had vanished into thin air. She gave a lot, so the change had dented my wallet a fair bit. Still, I wasn't exactly complaining given that it was a part of a comprehensive package that I very much desired. The realization that she no longer provided DP really made the fact that we had become family hit home. Oh, great. I'm blushing again. And smiling like an idiot too. Anyway, I might as well think of all the time I spent getting DP from Lefi as something along the lines of a bonus stage in a game. You know, the kind with lots of free loot. Besides, the dungeon's pretty big now, so we're still pretty well off, I'd say.

"Hey Master! Hey Master!" The more obnoxious of the dungeon's maids pulled on the hem of my shirt whilst wearing a shit-eating grin. She, Leila, and I were the only ones present still awake. Illuna and Enne had fallen asleep on my lap, whereas Shii had clocked out while leaning against the throne. Being as good at her job as she was, Leila had immediately noticed and put all three girls to bed.

"What, Lyuu?"

"I've been meanin' to ask you 'bout that thing you've got on your finger there, Master. Is it what I think it is?" She pointed towards the accessory I had on my left ring finger, one that would read as follows if analyzed:

***

Engagement Ring

MP: 1002

Quality: S+

Description: A ring that the Supreme Dragon, Leficios, carefully crafted over a long period of time.

***

The design was similar to that of the ring I had bought Lefi when we visited the old dude's city; it was a simple silver ring with a line running across the center and another perpendicular line that intersected with it to form a cross. There was a gem, a green emerald, embedded right where the two lines met. Unlike the ring that I had given her, it was made of dragon scale as opposed to silver, so it didn't quite feel anywhere near as metallic to the touch.

As Analyze had been completely maxed out, I was able to see the raw materials that had gone into the item. Specifically, they were Lefi's fangs, Lefi's scales, and a magic stone—a rock made of crystallized magical energy. I wasn't exactly sure where she got the last of the three ingredients, but I remember seeing her pick up a few of her own fangs and scales back when we were at her nest. Does that mean she was planning to make this for me all this time? Wow.

Lefi didn't have any skills that aided her in the crafting process, so she had instead constructed the ring by channelling her mana through the raw materials and forcing them to change their form. It was an act only made possible by the fact that, magic stone aside, they all used to be a part of her.

Lefi's fangs and scales were quite literally the best materials that this world had to offer, so the ring had ended up with an absurdly high S+ quality rating. It even had its own mana pool alongside a pair of slots in which I could carve magic circuits. The item was something on the grade of a national treasure. Even the ring that the prince wore had only a single slot on it.

Seeing the difference between the ring she gave me and the ring I'd gotten her, which I had quite literally purchased off of a random vendor, made me feel like I hadn't done her justice. I had offered to make her something new, something that actually had a special effect or two, but she had turned me down. The dragon had taken quite a liking to the one she already had. Oh well. I guess I can always just get her a nicer one as like a random present or something sometime later. It's not like there are any rules stating that you can't give a girl more than one ring, after all.

"Oh? That? Yeah, it's probably exactly what you think it is," I said. "I got it from Lefi."

"Wow Master, good job! And Lefi's really shown' her stuff too, huh?" Lyuu grinned as she poked me over and over with her elbow. "So Master, how does it feel to be a lady killer?"

I found her behavior irritating, so I grabbed her cheeks and started pulling them in all different directions.

"Aaahh! My face! That hurts, Master! I'm sorry! I'm real sorry, so leggo already!" The maid screamed a series of distorted words. "Y-You really gotta stop, Master! My cheeks are tearin' right off! You're gonna ruin my face!"

She started hitting my arms with a teary look in her eyes, so I finally forgave and released her.

"Ughh…" She groaned as she massaged her cheeks. "You're so mean, Master. How could ya go ahead 'n do somethin' like that? I think you've just about ruined my chances of makin' myself a bride."

"Yeah, totally." I rolled my eyes. "Because having someone mess with your cheeks totally ruins you and makes you too impure for marriage."

"Uh huh, 'cause it's like turnin' me into damaged goods."

Again, I felt the urge to roll my eyes. You know, sometimes, I think this girl's acting all cheeky and shameless and shit, but then I always realize that she's actually just an idiot.

"Why're you lookin' at me like that Master? You seem all tensed up and serious."

"Nah, it's nothing important," I said. "I just happened to be thinking that you're an idiot."

"W-What the heck master!? You're just straight up bad mouthin' me now!" Lyuu's jaw dropped in astonishment.

"Nah, not really. It's more of an honest impression than it is an insult."

"That just makes it even worse!" she shouted indignantly. "Would ya listen to this, Leila!? Master's bullyin' the heck outta me!"

"I'm sorry Lyuu," said the demon girl, "but he does have a point."

"Wow! Even Leila's turned traitor!? I can't believe you guys!"

Lyuu threw her hands up in indignation.

"Why is it that you feel the urge to make all this noise?" Lefi rubbed her eyes as she got out of bed. It seemed that the noise created by all our laughter had awoken her. Like the trio of little girls that had passed out on or near me, Lefi had also taken an early afternoon nap. In fact, she was the first to go to bed.

"Come on, Lyuu, inside voice," I scolded the maid teasingly. "You're going to wake up everyone at this rate."

"Whaddya mean, Master!? How the heck was that my fault!? You guys were the ones makin' fun o' me!" Lyuu immediately started shouting again but I ignored her complaints as I turned to face the dragon girl.

"Morning Lefi," I said. "You know, now that I think about it, you sure spend a lot of time sleeping, huh? How the hell do you manage that?"

"You may attribute my lack of energy to the form that I have taken," said Lefi. "It expends little and thus promotes a desire for inactivity."

"Uh huh… You know, I might have actually believed you if you never told me about how you basically sleep around all day even in your dragon form."

"…"

"And I'm pretty sure not saying anything is basically the same as telling me I'm right."

My response was met with silence. Lefi averted her eyes and said nothing—a response that prompted me to offer a wry smile. It's okay Lefi, I understand. You're just totally depraved and so lazy that you've gone far beyond the point of salvation.

Seeing my reaction caused the silver-haired maiden to cough as if to clear her throat and immediately moved the conversation past the accusation it had stopped on.

"I suppose I shall be off for yet another short nap. Do try to keep quiet if you would not mind it," she said. "I believe that rest would be in your best interest as well, Yuki, as I know that you have yet to fully recover."

Yeah, I figured she of all people would know.

Shii's intuition, the part of her that told her I probably wasn't okay, had been right on the mark. Though I had put on a show of being perfectly fine, the truth was that I had been forcing myself to seem that way because I didn't want the girls to worry. I was still feeling awfully lethargic. My body was dull. I didn't have full control of it just yet. The sensation was similar to the kind you got when you happened to catch a really bad cold.

It made sense, of course. I had gone through a series of cycles where it took an incredible amount of punishment and then was restored, only to take yet another round of punishment. I would have been more surprised if I hadn't experienced any sort of side effect.

"Well, might as well then," I said. "Hey Leila, could you wake me up in about an hour?"

"Of course, My Lord."

"Thanks."

I headed towards a nearby resting spot as soon as the maid responded. Specifically, I made right for Lefi's favourite.

"Why is it that you are attempting to enter my bed?"

"Well, as I'm sure you can see, mine's occupied," I said with a shrug. "And I'd feel bad for the girls if I ended up waking them the moment I tried crawling in."

"Then I suppose it simply cannot be helped." Lefi sighed before patting the spot next to her. "Come. I shall allow you to rest by my side."

"Thanks Wifey," I said before turning back towards the saltier of the two maids. "And what, Lyuu? Why the blank stare?"

"No reason, Master, no reason at all…" she said, unamused.

And that was how everything had changed after I put down my good friend the Dysfunctionlord. Actually, on second thought, I don't really think much of anything's changed at all.

***

TL Note

I'm changing how item display thingies are formatted.