Leona

It was coming through the monitor, but a cold shiver ran down my spine.

This feeling is similar to when I first saw Haku-san — she's a dangerous person.

I can't really tell what she's thinking, yet she has the scent of some unreasonable [Something].

Right. Since she's entered the dungeon's domain now, I should be able to see her daily DP.

I quickly opened the menu to check. Let's see…

… 124,800 DP?

My eyes must be tired. I rubbed them before looking again.

This time it displayed 1,248 DP.

I see, 1,248 DP.

Good, that's just Hero-level.

It must have been my imagination — there's no way someone could be worth over 100,000 DP… let's go with that.

I didn't see anything. Please spare me.

"Nice to meet you. I'm called Leona."

"… Nice to meet you. I'm — right, you can call me Golem-san. Well, that's all for today then."

"Golem-san, is it? Fufufu, I'll be receiving your dungeon's hospitality for a while!"

To be honest, I didn't want to get involved with her to the point that I didn't even want to tell her my pseudonym, Uuma.

… Speaking of which, Leona — she's the grandmother of our part-time waitresses Setsuna and Nayuta, the owner of that ridiculously broken wolf slime Rin, and might also be Niku's grandmother… right?

Black hair and red eyes — that matches the information I heard from Setsuna. She looks like nothing more than a high school girl to me, but that's also consistent with what I'd heard.

Come to think of it, Setsuna mentioned that she was supposedly a Succubus or something, but that a Succubus looking at her could tell she was [Different].

… What I should be wary of isn't a Succubus, but rather [Something that isn't a Succubus that's mixed in among the Succubi]?

Umm, about that…

Seriously, please spare me.

"Ah, due to certain circumstances I'm being pursued, so I'd be grateful if you could hide me."

"Well, about that. I can't guarantee anything. It depends on who's chasing you."

"If possible, that would be nice. Well, it's not like I couldn't handle it myself if not…"

I know who's chasing you, you know? It's your grandchildren, right?

"Umm, right. Should I call you Leona-sama or something?"

"I don't mind if you drop the honorific. I've told everyone that, though."

Leona glanced at one of the Succubi. But the Succubus shook her head vigorously.

"To address Leona-sama, who has done so much for us, without an honorific…"

"And that's how it is."

"What exactly did you do?"

"I just improved the Succubus race's food situation. It wasn't a big deal."

The Succubi's food situation? I feel like I shouldn't ask exactly what she did or how. Let's leave it alone.

I decided to change the topic.

"… Umm, why is a human like you traveling with Succubi?"

"Because it seemed more fun that way."

"Just to confirm, umm, you're a human, not a Succubus, right?"

"I'm a seventeen-year-old human female."

The forever-seventeen type, huh. I see. I looked away.

But one of the Succubi boldly questioned Leona.

"Leona-sama, didn't you also say you were seventeen about three years ago?"

"There are some humans who don't age."

No there aren't!

"A famous example would be Haku Raverio, the empire's founder."

There is one, dammit! But Haku-san is a Dungeon Core!

So Leona is at least ageless… just as the prior information suggested.

"Well, fine. I won't be treating you as a human, so keep that in mind…"

"Ooh, so you mean I'll be made into a seedbed for Goblins and Orcs!?"

"Why do you look happy about that?—No, I mean I'll treat you the same as the Succubi — as a monster."

"Aww…"

… Why does she look disappointed? I have no idea what she's thinking…

If Rin was raised by someone like her, its behavior makes sense now.

I turned away from Leona and spoke to Suira.

"For now, wait in that shack. I'll call for you once I've prepared to receive you all. It should be within three days at the latest."

"Understood."

"See you then."

I collected the group of Golems led by Uuma back to the Master Room.

Whoops, I need to collect Niku too. With that, I looked toward Rokuko.

Rokuko had somehow collapsed onto the floor.

"H-hey, Rokuko!?"

"U-uu… K-Kehma?"

She responded when I shook her shoulders.

"… Uu, my head is pounding…"

Eh, what happened?

Come to think of it, I had noticed Rokuko being unusually quiet for a while now.

"It suddenly went whoosh and I started feeling sick… like my whole body was being violently shaken."

"Don't tell me Leona did something?"

"I don't know for sure, but I felt it the moment she entered the dungeon's domain."

Could it be related to how her daily DP appeared to be over 100,000 for a moment?

… No way, landing a Direct Attack on the Dungeon Core… who is she, seriously?

This is something I need to deal with sooner rather than later.

"I'm fine. I don't really understand why, but… I'm okay now. Actually, I feel pretty good physically."

"Don't push yourself, okay? Your body isn't just your own anymore, after all… ah, please collect Niku."

"Got it."

Rokuko waved her hand, and Niku teleported into the Master Room.

Upon teleporting, Niku collapsed onto the floor as if she'd hit her limit from exhaustion.

"Wha!? Now it's Niku — hey, are you okay!?"

When I touched her shoulder, her body was abnormally cold.

Looking closer, her complexion was bad and she was trembling.

"… G-Goshujin-sama…"

"Calm down. What happened?"

"… N-nothing, happened… but my body, won't stop shaking…"

I should warm her up for now.

"… Buy a hot water bottle with DP… then [Water] & [Fireball]!"

I created water directly inside the 5 DP hot water bottle with [Water] and heated it with a weakened [Fireball]. Once it reached a comfortable temperature, I had Niku hold it and covered her with a blanket I took out of [Storage].

"Th-… thank you very much…"

"Niku, are you alright? Here, you can have a melon roll."

"A hamburger would be nice…"

She seems to have recovered a little.

After I gave her a warm hamburger to eat, she finally calmed down.

"So you don't know the cause?"

"… Yes, I'm sorry. I should have been monitoring the shack from a distance, but at some point my body stopped moving."

"I even tried talking to you enough that I wouldn't be exposed, but there was no reaction at all."

So Niku shouldn't come into contact with Leona, huh.

Considering that our best combat strength was supposed to be our dog-eared Succubus, what should I do… employing the Succubi is already looking troublesome.

The only silver lining is that she's not hostile — at least on the surface, she's being friendly.

"Hey, Kehma. What are we going to do about this?"

"… Let me think for a bit."

It feels like this is a pretty bad situation, or maybe it's not.

This might be something better left unpoked…