Chapter 28 One Trouble After Another
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Kanata leaned against the lookout tower’s railing, staring at the sprawling landscape below, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. “One trouble gone, another pops up, huh?”
Elriese, perched nearby, smirked, her voice sharp with sarcasm. “Feels like we’re stuck cleaning up someone else’s mess, doesn’t it?”
The fortress they stood in wasn’t what it seemed. Built by General Angula as a forward base for invading human territories, not for dungeon conquest as they’d assumed, it was a rushed job—sturdy but incomplete, its defenses half-baked. Word was, the humans weren’t about to let it stand. They were already mustering to tear it down.
Kanata snorted, his tone gruff. “Who attacks a dungeon in the middle of all this? Seriously.”
Elriese shrugged, her words clipped and biting. “Probably thought they could beef up their forces.”
”Forces? Come on…” Kanata’s voice trailed off, skeptical. His dungeon housed a motley crew—Ogrekin, Ogres, Lizards, Harpies, Succubi, and Vampires. Only about 300 strong, but they were battle-hardened survivors of the last war, not pushovers. The humans shouldn’t know they were there, so how’d they find out?
”Don’t be dense,” Elriese snapped, reading his thoughts. “It’s not the troops. It’s the dungeon’s loot.” Dungeons hid treasures—high-quality ores, materials, and wealth—vital for any war effort.
Angula, overconfident, had thought the new dungeon would be an easy grab. Mine the ores, fund the war, no sweat. But his first scout team never returned. Then his recon squad vanished. Desperate to save face, he sent 3,000 troops—only for them to be crushed, a handful limping back, stripped of everything. Worse, before Angula could regroup, his fortress was hit. Of the 5,000 soldiers stationed there, most were off on the dungeon raid, leaving the rest in chaos. Angula used the stragglers as bait and fled to Milan, a town with 5,000 more troops waiting.
Kanata rubbed his temples. The fortress was a thorn in his side—too close to his dungeon to ignore. Leaving it risked it being used against him again. Taking it meant stretching his resources thin. He hadn’t chased Angula, but he wasn’t about to let him regroup either. His plan: fortify the area with a Castle Wall, a Magic Barrier, and a Maze Forest Barrier to keep Milan’s forces at bay. The catch? It’d drain nearly all his dungeon’s manpower, halting production.
”What’s Master brooding over now?” Sakura’s voice chimed, bright and teasing, as she approached with Rena trailing behind.
Elriese gave a wry smile. “Oh, he’s just whining about how capturing this place was a bad deal.”
Rena muttered under her breath, her tone sharp but soft. “Told you so.”
Kanata rounded on her, his voice booming. “Who expects humans to raid a dungeon mid-war? And if they’re fighting, why not say so upfront?” Rena and the others had opposed taking the fortress, but when pressed, they’d mumbled vague excuses. Kanata assumed they just didn’t want old allies seeing them as captives.
Rena’s cheeks flushed, her voice small but sly. “If I’d fudged the truth… you’d pay more attention to me, big brother…” Her words were half-joking, half-earnest, and Kanata couldn’t help but find her scheming adorable. As a commoner, Rena’s straightforwardness clicked with him, their banter easy and familiar. Calling him “big brother” was his idea—a sign of his fondness—that sparked a twinge of jealousy in Elriese and Sakura.
Still, Rena was officially Sakura’s maid, so wherever Rena went, Sakura followed, keeping the princess in high spirits. Meanwhile, Elriese had taken Sheila as her aide, thrilled by her efficiency and sensitivity when possessed. But Sheila’s habit of taking on every task piled work on Elriese, cutting into her time with Kanata—a growing annoyance she hadn’t yet pinned on Sheila’s overzealousness.
Annamira, once a knight captain, now led the dungeon’s new guard unit. It was a grand title for a skeleton crew: her deputy Millie, a few slimes, and some goblins. With no real battles to fight, her days were spent under Kanata’s harsh “training,” her spirit worn thin.
Sakura tilted her head, her voice light. “Can’t you use DP to build the Castle Wall?”
Kanata shook his head, his tone flat. “This area’s outside the dungeon’s range.” Inside his domain, he could snap walls into existence, but this fortress was too far. Keeping it was a drain, but abandoning it risked it becoming an enemy foothold again. A small adventuring party was fine—manageable—but a planned assault with thousands? That was trouble.
An idea sparked. “El, any dungeons nearby?” If they could seize a local dungeon, link it to their own, and expand their domain, they could fortify the area against demons and lure human adventurers with a new dungeon’s promise.
Beyond the demon forest lay the Aaren Plains, a fertile region with rich soil and water. Humans coveted it, dotting the area with towns and villages up to the border. Controlling a dungeon there could shift the balance, but it’d take cunning to pull off.
”Haah… one crisis passes and another shows up, huh.”
”Yeah… feels like we’re stuck cleaning up someone else’s mess this time.”
Kanata and El sighed, leaning over the lookout at the fortress below.
This wasn’t the dungeon front they had attacked the other day. No, this was a forward fortress for invading human territories, established recently by General Angula.
General Angula had been poking at them for some time—rumored to be one of the current Four Pillars of the Demon Realm, serving under Alzawler the Gale Shadow, ruler of the northeastern demonic territories, tasked with leading the eastern invasion. The fortress had been thrown up quickly as a base of operations, sturdy enough for short-term use, but unfinished—its incomplete construction made it vulnerable.
Unsurprisingly, the humans were not ignoring this new threat. A counterattack was imminent.
”I mean… who would actually invade a dungeon under these circumstances?” Kanata muttered, frowning.
”Maybe they’re after reinforcements?” El replied, clearly unimpressed.
”Reinforcements, huh…” Kanata considered. Within the dungeon’s living quarters resided the Ogrekin Tribe, Ogre Tribe, Lizard Tribe, Harpy Tribe, and even Succubus and Vampire Tribes. About 300 in total—a small but elite force, hardened from the previous great war. Surely, the humans wouldn’t know about such numbers, so how had they found out?
”You’re thinking too small,” El said. “It’s not about the troops—it’s the dungeon’s treasures.”
Kanata understood. The dungeon harbored high-quality ores and valuable resources, essential for future campaigns.
Angula had assumed the brand-new dungeon would fall easily, planning to harvest its ores at leisure. But the reconnaissance teams sent ahead never returned, nor did the vanguard, leaving the invasion force of 3,000 to be decisively repelled. Only a handful returned, stripped of armor and supplies. Before grasping the situation, the enemy had counterattacked the fortress.
There were over 5,000 soldiers stationed in the fortress, yet most had been sent out for dungeon operations and never came back. Faced with the remaining panicked troops, Angula left behind only sacrificial units and fled, hoping to regroup with the 5,000 waiting at the town of Milan.
From Kanata’s perspective, the fortress was nothing but a nuisance. Taking it or destroying it solved the problem. Angula fled, so Kanata didn’t pursue.
Still, to prevent future harassment, Kanata planned to erect a castle wall between the dungeon and Milan. A combination of a physical wall, a magical barrier, and a maze-forest barrier would make a repeat attack far more difficult.
The problem: constructing the wall required diverting most of the dungeon’s inhabitants and soldiers, which meant production and operations would slow to a crawl.
”What is Master doing?” Sakura asked, having come to find Kanata and seeing him crouched and holding his head.
”El’s just saying he regrets taking the fortress,” El replied with a faint smile.
”See, I told you!” muttered Rena from beside Princess Sakura.
”You don’t just attack a human fortress during wartime and expect me to do it casually! Be honest if we’re at war!” Kanata shouted.
Rena and the others had opposed taking the fortress, but when asked why, they mumbled, leaving Kanata guessing. Maybe they didn’t want old friends to see them as slaves.
”Because… if we hide it… Master will pay attention to me…” Rena admitted, cheeks flushing. Despite her cunning, Kanata found her adorable.
Rena was a commoner, her thinking aligned closely with Kanata’s. Being younger and calling him “Onii-chan” only highlighted Kanata’s fondness for her—a fact even El and Sakura noticed with a twinge of jealousy. Still, as Rena was officially under Princess Sakura’s care, Sakura remained nearby, keeping her in good spirits.
Meanwhile, El, assisted by Sheera, had discovered Sheera’s efficiency and sensitivity during possession—a useful combination. But with Sheera taking on more tasks, Kanata found his time with her shrinking, causing some frustration. The increase in work was simply because Sheera volunteered for everything, showing her usefulness to avoid being sidelined, while El observed the growing stack of tasks with curiosity.
As for Anna-Mira, the former knight captain now served as dungeon guard captain. Her team was sparse: Millie as vice-captain, a few slimes and goblins as subordinates. Anna-Mira’s opportunities for action were limited, her days filled with training under Kanata.
”Hey, can’t we use the DP to make the castle wall?” Sakura asked, noticing Kanata’s disheartened state.
”Nope, this area isn’t part of the dungeon’s jurisdiction,” Kanata explained. Dungeon-controlled zones allow object placement aboveground, meaning Sakura’s idea would have worked if the area were included. Here, it wasn’t, so adding defensive structures would only be extra work with no real benefit.
Yet leaving it alone risked it becoming another base for enemy operations. Invaders were fine, but establishing a base with a large troop movement would create complications. Kanata preferred small, periodic raid parties for dungeon incursions.
Then, an idea struck.
”El, is there a dungeon nearby?”
If they could capture and link a nearby dungeon to their main one, the surrounding area could be brought under their control. Strong barriers would protect demonic lands, and human adventurers could be lured by the promise of a new dungeon.
Beyond the human side of the Demon Forest lay the fertile Aaren Plains, with ample water and rich soil—lands humans would covet. The eastern stretch had several human towns and small villages dotting the border.
And while the easternmost towns were under human control, farther west lay areas governed by an unspoken truce between humans and demons.
In other words, these settlements existed in neutral zones—territories that, by agreement, neither side could openly claim or attack. Angula had used this fragile understanding as justification to step into human lands.
For the humans, ignoring the breach was impossible. Though it was a tacit understanding, the threat of invasion demanded a response. They sent out punitive forces, partly to push back the demons, partly in the hope of quietly annexing some of the fertile land for themselves.
Caught between these mutual ambitions, the demonic and human forces clashed intermittently across the Aaren Plains. Both sides built fortresses along the border, preparing for the inevitable full-scale invasion, while time dragged on without any decisive action.
”So, if we find and conquer a dungeon here, we could bring up to two-thirds of the Aaren Plains under our dungeon’s control,” Kanata explained to the gathered allies. “This area has fertile land, ample water, and even some human villages—so the benefits of controlling it are enormous.”
Dungeon crops were limited, given the lack of sunlight, so most cultivation had to occur aboveground. Until now, those areas had been dense forest, offering little room for farming.
”That’s true. We could coexist with the human villages if we manage negotiations carefully,” Sakura mused. “Or, well… we could also take control by force—but that’s less diplomatic.”
”Of course, we’ll aim for coexistence. Though… maybe getting a few adorable children offered regularly wouldn’t hurt?” Kanata teased, half-joking.
With that plan in mind, their immediate priority became clear: locate a dungeon and assert control.
Notes:
• Angula – The leader of the enemy squad that raided Kanata’s dungeon about a month after he met Alusia. His three-hundred-strong force sent a smaller unit that was defeated by Kanata’s traps and fifty elite warriors, after which Kanata mocked their leader’s name and sent a warning to him.
• Sheila – Adopted daughter of the Akart family, is captured by Kanata and knows her family won’t ransom her. Given the choices of ransom, slavery, or a 300-meter dungeon escape through ogres, she joins the attempt and sacrifices herself as bait. The escape fails, and in the end Sheila survives with Annamira and Rena by accepting slavery under Kanata.
• Millie – A desperate female knight, sheds pride for survival, her trembling pleas and fiery spirit captivating Kanata’s interest. Captured on Chapter 19, when squad raiding the dungeon.
• May – Blonde, soft-eyed shrine girl. ch14–15. Gentle and pleading (“Please… just let us go…”), timid but loyal, relies on Mina’s strength. Came with Mina to save Sara, but was disarmed and bound by Kanata as his captive maid.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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