After that I slept some more, and when I woke it was morning.
I washed my face, made a light breakfast and ate it, had some tea, and then got ready.
I put the Wind King's Soul Jade into my pouch and left the house.
The place I was heading to was Ambrosius's collector's room, on a street in the slums.
The location was a back alley in the slums. Despite being a narrow passage, shops lined up one after another.
Like the drinking alley from my past life's memories.
The dim street was sparsely populated. In the center of the alley, on the right side of the buildings.
Directly below a two-story brick building, there was a staircase leading down underground, left wide open.
I descended the stairs, and after a slight turn, there was a red semicircular arched door.
This was the door to his collector's room.
I knocked on the door.
Knock knock. Knock knock.
"Who might it be?"
"Hello. It's Wof."
"Please, come in."
The door opened. After going a little further, my field of vision suddenly widened.
It was a space like a concert hall.
Even a casual glance revealed several dozen bookshelves lined up.
Not just the bookshelves — the furnishings were magnificent too. Like a high-quality library.
No matter how many times I came, I was always overwhelmed.
"Wof?"
"Shiro!"
Suddenly appearing from between the bookshelves was a white tea table and white chairs.
Sitting elegantly, drinking milk tea from a white teacup, was a white girl.
White hair. White eyes. White skin. A fluttery gothic lolita-style white dress.
A Class I delver known as the "Immortal White Rose Princess."
Her real name was ridiculously long, so I'd forgotten it.
"What a coincidence."
She gave a faint, gentle smile.
"It's been a while. Have you been well?"
"Very much so. You have business with Ambrosius?"
"And with you too, Shiro."
"Oh? With me as well?"
"Yes."
"Well, Wof. Glad you could make it."
Ambrosius appeared, a book in one hand.
He adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses with a tilt.
"I'm sorry for dropping in so suddenly."
"Is this about the dungeon?"
"No, actually... last night... I met with Lady Yomido."
In that instant, I felt the atmosphere between Shiro and Ambrosius shift ever so slightly.
Ambrosius smiled.
"Oh my, that sounds like a lovely dream."
"A lovely dream indeed."
The response was underwhelming.
Well, I'd expected as much.
"Lady Yomido — I was quite surprised. She looks just like Pakira."
"............Oh my, that's—"
"She's not Pakira?"
"No. She's not Pakira. She's the Light Death King."
In that instant, the atmosphere between the two shifted further. It grew cold and heavy.
But there was no hostility or killing intent. Only wariness deepened.
Ambrosius spoke without letting his smile waver.
"Whatever could you mean by that, saying it so suddenly?"
"I'm only repeating what I was told. Reincarnation of the Dark Death King."
When I said this so calmly, Ambrosius's eyes widened in surprise.
Shiro let out a small breath.
"...Well, you've got us there."
"So you knew."
The two of them seemed to have resigned themselves. They smiled wryly.
The atmosphere softened, and their wariness faded.
This wasn't a conversation to have while standing.
And so, at Shiro's invitation, I sat down at the tea table.
Ambrosius sat across from me.
Tea was served. Milk tea. I took a sip before speaking.
"First, I learned the truth about you two from Lady Yomido."
"That's right."
"So it would seem."
"And I accepted a commission from her."
"A commission?"
"Directly from Lady Yomido?"
"I was asked to find a successor to the Wind Death King."
"That sounds like quite the troublesome commission."
"It's been difficult."
"She asked me to cooperate with you two, which is why I came."
"I see."
"And then, I was given this."
I took the Wind King's Soul Jade out of my pouch and placed it on the table.
The two of them stared at the jade with serious expressions.
"I'm surprised. Lady Yomido entrusting this to someone."
"This is my first time seeing it this close."
"Is that so?"
"Normally, you would report that you'd found a successor, and then Lady Yomido would evaluate that successor herself before handing over the jade. And then the next Death King would be born."
I see. Evaluate... evaluate?
I had a significant question about that.
"You evaluated Biggs and the previous Wind Death King too? With that system?"
"...The previous Wind Death King, Hargan — he was chosen as successor by me, back before I reincarnated."
"You, Ambrosius, chose that little runt?"
He was far too small to be fit for a king. That guy.
Also, I'd been forgetting his name this whole time. Hargan.
"Well... yes, that's... about the gist of it."
Ambrosius nodded awkwardly.
Shiro laughed.
"That was partly unavoidable, wasn't it? Right, Ambrosius?"
"...Actually, in my past life, I was not only the Dark Death King but also a demon."
"A demon?"
Like the undead, within dungeons there are monsters that are demons.
However, they're different from the demons in my past life memories.
"And not a dungeon monster demon in this world's sense. A demon from another world."
"...Another world..."
"I was summoned to this world. Lady Yomido discovered me, and I became the Dark Death King."
Quite the complicated history.
Shiro lifted her lips from her teacup.
"A demon from another world — now that's a first."
"Is that so? After serving as the Dark Death King for some time, I was summoned."
"Re-summoned?"
"Yes. The one who summoned me then was Hargan. A contract through summoning. His wish was to become a Death King. For a demon, a wish — a contract is very important, you see. He paid the price, so I granted his wish."
A contract is important. Fulfilling the summoner's wish in exchange for a price.
Exactly like the demons in my past life memories.
"And that little runt became the Wind Death King."
"It happened that the position was vacant at the time. So it wasn't that Lady Yomido evaluated him — rather, it was due to my demonic nature."
"Yomido understood that, didn't she."
"I'm grateful. Even after reincarnation, she let me remain as the Dark Death King."
At that point, another question arose.
"This is a simple question, but Shiro — are you an undead?"
"That's right."
"A dungeon monster, right?"
"That used to be the case."
"Used to be? Are you not anymore?"
"I'm not. I'm still an undead, but I'm no longer a dungeon monster. The explanation around here is complicated. Part of it is that even I don't fully understand it myself."
"That's probably a Relic of Yomido's authority as the Dungeon Goddess."
"A Relic?"
Authority. A Relic held by a goddess. I see.
Shiro stirred her milk tea with a spoon as she sipped.
"That's right. I'm undead, but not undead. That's why I can also bear children."
"Wh—..."
"Shiro. She can bear children, you know."
"..."
For some reason, she looked at me and smiled bewitchingly.
That's... hard to comment on.
"Since he doesn't seem to know what to say. Shiro, shall we just leave it at that?"
"Fair enough."
Thank goodness. Thank you, Ambrosius.
Here I pressed on with another question.
"E-erm, listening to all this — it seems like you don't have to be an undead to become a Death King."
I'd vaguely realized this from the successor search.
Shiro smiled wryly.
"There's... a misconception there. We just never corrected it because there was no need to."
"If anything, undead are the minority."
"That's right. The Fire Death King is a Fawn, and the Water Death King is an elf."
A Fawn and an elf.
So the undead were just that little runt Hargan?
What about Biggs? Ambrosius nodded.
"I understand now. Wof, I'll fully cooperate with Lady Yomido's commission that you've accepted."
"Shiro will cooperate too."
"Thank you."
Good. I was able to gain their cooperation peacefully.
"By the way, Wof — what did you think when you heard we were Death Kings?"
"Yes, I'm very curious. What was your impression?"
What did I think? What was my impression? Let me see.
"At first I was surprised. But then I went 'ahh' and it made sense."
"It made sense?"
"Oh? How so?"
"Well, both of you — you're absolutely brimming with mystery."
When I said that, the two of them stared blankly for a moment, then for some reason burst out laughing.
No, really — you both ARE mysterious.
Did I say something weird?