Preparing Possession Monsters

And so we searched the DP Catalog for monsters that we could use to possess.

The Holy Kingdom was heavily human supremacist. Beastkin, like the ones Rokuko and the other Cores lumped together as [Humans] were also looked down upon. Even though we'd disguise ourselves using [Humanization], it would be less troublesome to choose monsters that are as close to humans as possible.

Moreover, the cost of [Humanization] varies. We don't plan on doing this, but the cost for a clearly non-human Phoenix would be 500,000 DP, while a nearly human Witch Apprentice like Nerune would be 10,000 DP.

"I think a bear-eared Kehma would be amazing. Like a Wererabbit… Cait Sith would also be good, I think. Cat-eared Kehma would probably be cute. Definitely cute actually."

"Yeah, so let's choose something close to human, okay? And we won't try to make them look like us, okay?"

"Really? I was thinking something like a Doppelganger might be good too."

It's not like we were going to assassinate anyone when our goal was infiltration and investigation, so taking on my appearance wouldn't make sense. Besides, a Doppelganger alone would cost 500,000 DP. That's over budget.

"What about a Shapeshifter? Something like Kehma's [Super Transformation] might be convenient, right?"

"… That's also over budget."

It was type of monster that could transform into anything, not just humans. If its price wasn't an issue, it would have been a good choice. It was essentially a higher-ranked Slime… Although a Slime would fit within the budget, wouldn't the cost exceed our budget if we included [Humanization]?

"How about a Living Armor? What if I what I possess wears the armor that you posses, Kehma? Wouldn't that be a good idea?"

"That's not a bad idea."

Since Rokuko and I probably wouldn't be acting separately, that option could be viable. If the contents are human, we can claim it's magical equipment. We can also simply teach [Humanization] and make it like Haku-san's subordinate Living Armor, similar to Sally-san.

By the way, this would also fulfill the [No Men Allowed] request from Haku-san a while ago. Living Armors technically didn't have a gender. Though they would gain one after [Humanization]… would they become male if it's armor for males?

"So, I'll do that… What will Rokuko do?"

"Well, if Kehma becomes armor, then I should go for something completely human-like, right? … Like Nerune, a Witch Apprentice? Or maybe a Vampire like Rei?"

"It's better not to choose a Vampire. It's expensive to cover all their weaknesses… Rei's got the no attack power thing covered already."

"Hmm, you're right."

We flipped through the catalog. For now, let's consider a Witch Apprentice as a candidate. Also, Silkies had a dependency on their home, so they weren't suitable for travel. Let's remove them from the candidates.

"… … What about a Goblin? Like reviving Gobsuke or a Hobgoblin… No, maybe a Goblina?"

"No, Goblins don't turn into humans. And I don't want to possess Gobsuke."

It seems that Rokuko, our infamous Goblin fetishist, didn't want that. There might have been a chance if I had been the one to become the Goblin… But no, the cost of [Humanization] for a Goblin would probably be quite high, so it seemed wasteful. Goblins were cheap and plentiful and that's their charm. It's wrong to invest a lot of money in just one Goblin. Rokuko was probably wanting to say that.

Hmph, I was short-sighted. Let's move on to the next one.

"Hey, what kind of monster is a Nurarihyon?"

"It's like an old man with a long head, it might be suitable for infiltration."

"I don't want to possess an old man… How about a Zashiki-warashi, Yuki-onna, or a Xian? Oh, isn't this Kuda-gitsune thing cute?"

"Kuda-gitsunes have nothing to do with this."

"What if we went with putting armor on Toy and hiding inside Kehma's armor as well…? Yeah, well, it's irrelevant. Let's move on to something else."

Rokuko continued to read through the catalog. Her fingers stopped flipping through the pages when she reached the Succubus and Incubus pages… Without saying anything, I gently moved her on to the next page.

After a while, Rokuko seemed to have found something interesting in the catalog.

"Hey, speaking of which, the Holy Kingdom follows the Church of Holy Light, right? Are angels an option?"

"Angels? Do they have them?"

"It seems so. Look."

When I looked at the page Rokuko has opened, it appeared that the starting price was around 100,000 DP, depending on their base performance and customizations… It wasn't strange to have angels if there were demons as well.

"By the way, didn't you mention before that angels are considered an unpleasant existence?"

"Yes. They are considered to be the messengers of the Light God in the Church of Holy Light. As you know, Kehma, they advocate for destroying dungeons… In other words, they are hostile to Father, right? That's why I'm surprised to see angels among the dungeon monsters… Has this been here all along?"

Fumu fumu. This might be quite convenient. If the [Humanization] were to be exposed, being considered a messenger of the Church of Holy Light could actually be quite useful in various ways.

They were just a single page away from Dagons and Shoggoths, which was a bit ominous and gave me some anxiety, but I suppose it was excessive to worry about things on separate pages.

"Shall we go with this one?"

"I have a few concerns, but considering our purpose this time, it'd definitely be convenient. Let's go with that one. I don't know how much [Humanization] will cost for it, but there's no need to make it too strong… Oh, there's a [Humanization] option in the customization items."

"I see, it's an angel, so it's not strange for such an option to be available."

By the way, it seemed that the price of the [Humanization] option increased as the original strength of the creature increased. Yeah, a moderate strength should be fine. It would be scary if it became too strong and too far removed from being human. That's not going to be a problem, right?

"As for the Living Armor, we won't know how much [Humanization] will cost until we try… We should prepare a low-level one first and see if it can be [Enhanced]. Well, there's no doubt that [Humanization] is possible since we have Sally-san as an example."

"If we don't have enough, I'll share some of my DP with you."

"I appreciate that. In that case, I'll base it on the full plate mail type… Hm? Somehow, the iron armor seems conspicuously cheaper… Is it because of the dungeon's influence? In that case, let's go with the 100,000 DP iron one."

So, while Rokuko was still pondering how to allocate the 300,000 DP, I summoned an Iron Living Armor. Considering that I'd be [Possessing] it, I made it just the right size for me to wear. The height would be about the same, so there should be less discomfort when [Possessing] it.

I quickly named the summoned Living Armor [Narikin] (it couldn't be a target for [Enhancement] without being named) and selected the [Enhancement] option. The DP required for [Humanization] was… 150,000.

With a total of 250,000, I wouldn't need to ask Rokuko to share her DP and I could even have it learn [Storage] and [Create Golem] as a bonus. Execute [Enhancement]!

The moment I chose the menu option, a magic circle appeared beneath the kneeling Narikin. The magic circle rotated faster and faster, glowing and spinning before rising from Narikin's feet to the top of his head and disappearing. It seemed the [Enhancement] was complete.

When I had Narikin remove his helmet, I saw a plain-looking brown-haired man that would be a common find anywhere in the Empire.

… Yeah, I didn't especially go about altering it, but it had quite a good balance… I wonder if brown hair's also common in the Holy Kingdom? I thought about it, but it's definitely better than black hair.

"Hey, how's it going over there?"

"Oh, Kehma, you're done already? …[Narikin] is a name you use a lot, isn't it? So that's what you went with."

"It's a special occasion, after all. What are you going to name your angel, Rokuko?"

"Hmm, well… If we're going with the setting of being [Narikin]'s wife, something related would be nice, but maybe [Rokuko] would be fine for a body double?"

Setting the wife part aside, the idea of a body double was interesting. But if they're completely identical, that would be troublesome, so maybe Rokyuko… That name sounded like a Succubus was possessing her. So then…

"How about [Rokufa Eve]? Putting the [Fa] and [Eve] parts togther has the meaning of the number five, and Eve could be a surname or a middle name."

"695, huh? That's amazing, I love it. I'll go with Rokufa! Kehma, I love you."

Rokuko's smile made my heart skip a beat.

"Could you stop saying that out of the blue? It makes me feel flustered."

"… I love you!"

Declaring it so boldly isn't okay either!