Eribyōko sat patiently, waiting on his throne as the hum from the Heavenly Keys reverberated through the throne room; he repeatedly tapped the arm of his throne and after a few more seconds of waiting he sighed.
"After four hours only those four managed to reach me...," Eribyōko said with an annoyed tone. Eribyōko sighed again before bashing his head against the back of his throne and accidentally shattering it.
"Woops," Eribyōko muttered as he slightly embarrassedly slumped forwards before agitatedly groaning, not from feeling any pain but from the extremely dulling sense of boredom he felt. Eribyōko sighed before standing up and slapping his chair away with one of his dragon tails. The claw trinket on the end of his cloak glowed a lime green and after the trinket stopped glowing Eribyōko disappointedly sighed.
"I should have realised it sooner but the other heroes have left," Eribyōko remarked. Eribyōko mulled over what he should do now and wondered if normal adventurers will start showing up in the dungeon again. He pondered on it and figured it will probably be a few days before any adventurers begin to show up again.
As he continued to think about the situation the heroes caused for the dungeon, an idea entered his mind and an amused/smug expression grew on his face. Eribyōko glanced up at the Heavenly Keys before his metal foot trinket glowed lime green and a mirage appeared over the Heavenly Keys. The mirage fully manifested as a wall between the throne and the original wall that completely hid the Heavenly Keys formed.
"Now that they're hidden, why don't I take this rare period of free time to explore this dungeon the adventurers are so adamant belongs to me," Eribyōko remarked as he started to stroll over to the entrance of the throne room; however, he abruptly stopped when he got close to the door and looked down at the magic trap. Eribyōko joked he should probably remove that before he pointed at the floor and shot a small light mana beam from his fingertip, which instantly destroyed the trap.
Eribyōko opened the double door and strolled through the doors with his hands behind his back. As Eribyōko walked away from the throne room the doors automatically closed by themselves and the torches in the throne room went out, only leaving the faint hums of the Heavenly Keys remaining.
Eribyōko, accompanied by a small orb of brightly lit light mana, walked down the narrow corridors and commented that the dungeons designer should be fired for making a spiralling tunnel this long. Eribyōko stopped for a moment when he saw a small bit of light pierce through a small crack in the wall. He walked over to the crack and peered through it.
Eribyōko commented that since people think this is his dungeon then no one should be mad if he did some remodelling as he raised one of his feet. Eribyōko went to place his foot on the wall, in preparation to stop it, but the moment his foot touched the wall his foot went through the wall like it were sand before the wall exploded into dust. Eribyōko blinked a few times as his foot hung in the air while he assessed the situation.
"Was I really hitting them that hard?" Eribyōko muttered as he lowered his foot before remarking the heroes he thought must be tougher than he originally gave them credit for. Eribyōko paused for a second before realising that normal adventurers will probably be way weaker than the heroes; he decided he should probably hold back even more when facing them if any made it to his throne room.
"Good thing I realised that I wasn't holding back as much as I thought... I don't know the first thing about removing blood stains..." Eribyōko muttered as he walked through the hole he created and onto the large ledge that overlooked a deep ravine. Eribyōko chuckled as he looked down the ravine while commenting it sure is deep. Eribyōko noticed a large cave higher up on the wall on the opposite side of the ravine and saw that there was an orange light he assumed came from a campfire in it.
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"Perhaps it was left by a different group of heroes, but whatever the case I should get rid of it otherwise it could get out of control or even just burn through all the oxygen in the cave," Eribyōko commented before teleporting from the ledge to the opposing lit cave. Eribyōko landed on the ground and heard some rocks rattle on the ground. Eribyōko spotted the crudely constructed but surprisingly large campfire.
He looked up from the campfire and was greeted by a pair of large crimson ruby dragon-like eyes widely staring at him. A faint breeze rushed into the cave which fanned the flames in the direction of the eyes and illuminated the body of the creature revealing it to be a large female fire dragon with red scales, a pale pink belly, four large wings, and a really long and thin tail. The dragon cautiously stared down Eribyōko as Eribyōko slowly walked up to her.
"M-maou... sama...," the dragon said with as stoic a voice as she could muster without her voice giving out. Eribyōko peered around the cave the dragon was residing in and the dragon nervously waited for Eribyōko to say something.
"Other than this cave appearing to be a little cramped looking for you it does seem like a nice place," Eribyōko remarked. The dragon was caught a little off guard by Eribyōko's comment and wondered if Eribyōko wasn't after it after all. The dragon took a deep mental breath before psyching herself up.
"S-so what bring you here, Maou-sama?" the female dragon asked with a stutter. Eribyōko nonchalantly mentioned he was just taking a stroll around the dungeon since no adventurers would be showing up for a few days since the heroes had left the dungeon. The dragon was both surprised to hear that Eribyōko didn't have any real reason for leaving the throne room but was even more surprised to hear that no adventurers would be wandering inside the dungeon.
"Are you saying the dungeon is safe for me to roam and be able to relocate?" the dragon asked. Eribyōko tilted his head in confusion at the dragon's questions.
"But aren't you a dragon? The Heroes I get but shouldn't normal adventurers be no problem for you?" Eribyōko inquired while placing his hands on his hips. The female dragon seemed a bit hesitant to answer Eribyōko but seeing as all the times she heard Eribyōko speak she didn't sense a hint of malice in his voice, she reconsidered it. The dragon deeply sighed as she raised her two right wings and displayed the large white dragon egg.
"Even if the adventurers were rank threes, I don't want to risk the chance they snatch or harm my child while we are relocating," the dragon explained. Eribyōko listened to what the dragon said.
"So, you're waiting for your child to be born and teach them how to fly so it'll be easier and safer to relocate?" Eribyōko asked. The dragon confirmed Eribyōko's suspicions and he had an idea. Eribyōko asked if the dragon wasn't opposed to relocating while there won't be any adventurers perusing the dungeon, which she confirmed.
"Then how about taking residence in the throne room?" Eribyōko asked. The dragon didn't react to Eribyōko's offer until she fully processed it and flinched in response to Eribyōko's offer.
"B-but Maou-sama," the dragon stuttered. Eribyōko asked if she was opposed to the offer which the dragon denied. The dragon explained that even if she wanted to, the dungeon only allows the boss monster and their direct subordinates to enter the room designated as the boss room.
"Oh, I see..., wait... direct subordinates?" Eribyōko asked. The dragon nodded her head and explained she overheard a group of heroes talking about a different dungeon and how monsters with names are called direct subordinates. Eribyōko seemed puzzled by what the dragon said before asking if that meant she didn't have a name.
"Indeed, only boss monsters and, from what those heroes said, direct subordinates have names," the dragon explained. Eribyōko pondered again before coming to one conclusion.
"So... you're saying all I need to do is give you a name?" Eribyōko asked which caused the dragon to once again become speechless.