Dungeon Defense Volume 02

Chapter 01

▯WeakestDemon Lord, Rank 71st, Dantalian
Empire Calendar: Year 1505, Month 9, Day 20
Niflheim, Hermes' Plaza

"I heard everything. You had a big fight with your succubus lover, right?"

"Rumors really do spread fast."

"I'm a girl who's a bit sensitive to trends."

Barbatos had come to visit me at my lodging.

For some reason this distinguished Demon Lord, who was ranked 8th, had become fairly fond of me. She probably had a good impression towards me because of the incident where I had knocked Paimon off her pedestal. Well, that wasn't the only reason.

"Go ahead and let it all out. Why did you two fight?"

"Do you not see me applying ice still? It has only been 20 minutes since I was slapped by Lapis. Honestly, I don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"Oh, this poor male."

Barbatos smiled slyly.

It was a bit annoying.

"Think carefully. Your lover is a half-breed succubus. She is an outcast who would normally get executed for merely touching a Demon Lord. If a child like that were to hit you, then she was doing so while literally putting her life on the line. What kind of misdeed could you have done to make her risk such a thing?"

"So are you saying that this is all my fault?"

"Yup. Throughout my entire life, whenever a problem occurs, males have always seemed to have a higher chance of being at fault than females."

"You must be quite pleased to have been born as a female."

Barbatos laughed.

Normally, we would not be in the position to be exchanging informal words so frankly.

Barbatos was the rank 8th Demon Lord. She had a standing army of 6,000 men and a countless number of followers under her command. She even led a huge political group known as the Plains Faction.

On the other hand, I was the rank 71st Demon Lord. Not only did I have no followers, but I was also not part of a proper faction either. I may have been overflowing with money, but that was all. Compared to Barbatos I was a mere fly.

Despite that, it felt like Barbatos vaguely wanted me to be her friend. What was I supposed to do when the other party wanted an easy-going style of speech from me first? I'll more than gladly humor her.

"Dantalian. We may not be friends yet, but I believe that we have reached something similar to being friends."

"That is quite the honor."

"I'm being serious."

Barbatos grinned.

That expression of hers was the reason why even if she told me that she was being serious, I felt no credibility from it.

"Most of the Demons Lords are a bunch of trash. None of them are promising. Yet, you're the first rookie in 60 years to appear to be talented. I just wanted to treat you nicely as your senior in this business industry."

A senior, huh.

Barbatos led the group known as the 'Plains Faction'. This faction gained its name due to the fact that most of the Demon Lords who were in this group had castles that were located on the plains. As a result of residing in an open area, encounters with humans were frequent.

Thus, Barbatos naturally became a Demon Lord hostile towards humans. If the Demon Lord armies were to ever invade the human world, then Barbatos would, with no doubt, be the one to lead them. She had spread an information network across the human world and was constantly on watch as she prepared for a massive war.