Lars' [Castle]. Ground Floor - [The Great Hall]

[The Great Hall] in Lars' castle, was designed much like the the one's in the Harry Potter films. There were four extremely long tables perpendicular to each other, set with golden plates and chalices that glittered in the light of numerous orbs of white light that floated over the hall. At the very back of the hall, on an elevated platform, was a long table that was obviously reserved for those of the highest rank and importance. The Hall's walls were painted a glistening black, and it's floor was tiled with white marble. If one were to look up, one would get a view of what seemed to be outer space, as countless stars and oddly shaped galaxies would greet your eyes.

When it was all still a game, [The Great Hall] didn't really serve much of a function, aside from being one of the places where one of three keys to enter the [Dungeon Proper] were hidden. Lars just designed the place based off of the only medieval fantasy great hall he knew of.

Why did he even have to make a great hall, you ask?

'Well, since there's a castle, you can't not have a great hall, right? Where would the people who lived there eat otherwise?' He would answer.

Lars was quite thankful that he was an absolute freak of a perfectionist when it came to his Dungeon. Otherwise, he would have had nowhere to eat in when he was transported here.

[The Great Hall] was also the place where potential enemies would meet the Luxurian Battle Maids. A few invaders have actually made it to this place. However, they were horrified when they had to fight 100 Succubi in an enclosed area. The Succubi's [Pheromones] had already spread in the room, and the enemy units just started killing each other when they were activated. Lars would always laugh like a madman whenever he watched them fall into chaos from his simple tactic.

Lars was currently sitting in the middle seat of the elevated table at the very back of the hall. It was more ornate and luxurious that the other seats in the table, which was intentional, since in the settings he thought off, his Avatar would sit there.

'Who would have thought that I would actually get to sit here in person?' Lars mused. 'Also the food is fricking good. What is this? Everything I ate in the past is shit compared to this.'

The food that was served to him were apparently cooked by the Succubi. The ingredients were taken from the pantry, that owing to Lars' settings, fully restocked it's contents at the start of each day. Lars wasn't a foodie, nor was he a cook, so he wasn't very familiar with what a lot of food was called, but whatever he was eating right now made him want to eat it everyday.

Lars shoved a piece of pork-like meat covered in white sauce into his mouth, and moaned in pleasure from the taste. That's right, he moaned. Like a whore. It was that good. Lars wanted to just rip his clothes off like in one of those cooking Animes he used to watch.

"It seems you're really enjoying your meal, master." Lillian said. She was sitting on the seat to Lars' right. She was sitting elegantly, while gracefully putting small bites of food into her mouth from time to time.

"Mm. I've never tasted anything like this before. It's so good. The maids did a really good job." Lars happily replied. Good food was something to be enjoyed after all.

"I see, I'm sure that the maids will be quite pleased." Lillian said while smiling warmly. The maids shared the same race with her, so she felt second-hand pride hearing them get praised. She then casually explained, "This dish is called a Pork Blanquette, master. It's a dish that's supposedly from my one of the countries in the original world I came from. I naturally have no memory of such a thing, though."

"I see... a Pork Blanquette, huh? I'll remember that." Lars nodded, archiving the dish into his memory. As his first meal in this new world, it made quite an impression on him.

"By the way, master. You said that we would talk about what to invest our resources on, were you talking about the vast amount of super essence that you just got?" Zeyziel inquired. She was seated right next to Lars, to his left. She sat with immaculate posture. She ate in large bites and there was a noticeably bigger portion of food on her plate, when compared to everybody else.

'Huh. So she's a big eater. Who knew?' Lars felt great about discovering new aspects about his Heroes, but he snapped out of it when he realized the implications of what she had just said.

"Oh, you guys knew about that too, huh?" Lars despondently said. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if his heroes knew about all his exes. "Yes, we're going to talk about that. When it was still a game, I pretty much had to decide these kinds of things by myself, but now, I can hear about what you guys think. My decisions affect you just as much as it does me, so you naturally have a say in it."

"But, you're our master...? You don't really need to take us into consideration." Zeyziel said respectfully.

"That may be true, but that's not how I want to do things." Lars shook his head, as he put another sauce-covered piece of pork into his mouth. After he finished chewing and swallowing it, he said, "Well, as long as your opinion isn't downright self-harming or moronic, I will respect it."

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"Master..." Lillian placed her hand over her heart, apparently feeling quite moved. "You really treat us the best. I love you! ♥"

"Ahahaha..." Lars scratched his cheek as he laughed awkwardly.

"Umu." Zeyziel nodded sagely. "As expected of master. Your benevolence surpasses the Gods'."

"..." Azkal, who had been listening silently until now, squirmed in hesitation before pulling out the courage to say his mind. "The day when you won me in the [Gacha], is the luckiest day in my life, master."

"Azkal..." Lars felt touched. He didn't really understand, but he felt emotionally moved whenever he saw the socially anxious assassin try his best to say his mind.

"*Snort*" Nox, who was laying down on the floor behind Lars' seat, snorted pompously while gnawing on a thick, large bone. The bone was so thick, you'd think it came from a giant.

While Lars and his Heroes were sharing a moment with each other, they were being watched by the Battle maids who were on standby for orders on the side of the Hall. They couldn't help but smile when they heard Lars' words. They would have had no complaints even if Lars had used them however he wished, but knowing that the lord they served cared for them made their hearts feel joy.

'As the man who has Lady Lillian's affection, he really isn't an ordinary man...' The Succubi thought. Their thoughts then went in a different direction. 'It would be nice if I could share a bed with such a man.'

As women of the same race as Lillian, they naturally had the same tendencies. They naturally wanted to copulate with capable men. Lillian had other reasons why she was so affectionate towards Lars, however the Battle Maids did not know this. For them, just the fact that Lars had their queen's attention was enough for him to become the number 1 most desired partner in their hearts and minds.

Lars naturally didn't notice what was going on in the minds of dozens of maids, he just continued to enjoy the scrumptious meal he was served. Just as he was finished, and was about to call for some tea to be made, there was a sudden distortion in the space in front of the high table. After a moment, Gilliam walked out of the distortion, and knelt in front of Lars, who still had a bit of white sauce in his mouth.

"I have returned, milord." Gilliam respectfully said.

"Umu." Lars nodded sagely, as Lillian bent over and lovingly wiped his mouth with a napkin. He just let her do her thing. "Any problems?"

"None. The Homunculi are starting to make sea mines from our available materials. I have also had them start making some facilities in the northern coast, and relegated the Morphs to the construction of warships and other coastal weaponry we can use to defend against invaders." Gilliam reported solemnly.

"Great." Lars bobbed his head, satisfied. He hadn't really given Gilliam any specific instructions, and the man had done everything Lars wanted him to do. At this rate, perhaps his easy life in this world wasn't that far away.

"Master. I have also taken the liberty to make some of the Valkyries scout out the lands to the east of the wastelands. Was I overstepping my bounds...?" Zeyziel admitted hesitantly.

"Did they get found out?" Lars asked casually.

"I don't believe so. They still had various spells cast on them by the maids."

"Then there isn't a problem." Lars said matter-of-factly. This had also confirmed for him, that his Heroes could take action unprompted. He had to be sure to expressly inform them of any red flags in the future, just to be sure that the don't accidentally trip it. "So, what did they find?"

"There is what seems to be a civilization there. Composed primarily of humans. They had goblin slaves as well." Zeyziel reported.

"Oh. Any towers and stuff?"

"There were no towers, at least in the areas bordering the wastelands. That's why I had them fly deeper in, until they finally ran into some magic towers. They also saw a floating island, far into the distance."

"Wow, that's a lot of info. Good work, Zeyl." Lars praised enthusiastically, making Zeyziel blush slightly while sticking her chest out proudly. "That means that they're a lower-advanced tier civilization. Well, the deeper ones are. The areas bordering the wastelands is likely a frontier, where they're throwing away incompetent nobles to. Hmm... the civilization further to the east should also be too busy keeping the one in our north in check to invest any resources into clearing out the orcs in the wastelands."

"Yes, that's most likely the case." Lillian agreed with her master's assessment. "That means that we shouldn't have to worry for now, but we should prepare some things all the same. Perhaps send some of our agents into each of the civilizations so that we can spark a conflict if needed?"

"It is my opinion that we should increase our war potential by summoning [Mercenary] units." Gilliam respectfully suggested.

"Yes, yes. All wise opinions." Lars nodded. He then looked at Gilliam. "Gilliam don't just kneel there, come sit and have something to eat."

"Milord..." Gilliam hesitated for a moment before replying, "You may have forgotten, but I am undead. I do not eat."

"Oh." Lars froze. Gilliam's face looked so lifelike that he had forgotten such a simple thing. "Haha. That's true. But you should still sit. When I designed this place, I made sure to designate a chair for you, so you should use it from time to time."

"... that is true. Then, if you'll excuse me." Gilliam nodded, then walked towards the chair directly to Lars' left. He didn't even walk around the table, since all he had to do was walk through it, by way of phase shifting. He was a ghost-type undead after all. He sat down, and even though he couldn't drink it, a maid stepped forward to pour him a cup of tea. Gilliam thanked the maid amiably, "Thank you."

"Well, then. Now that we're all here, let's start talking about what to invest our resources into. I have already confirmed this with the others, but I want to make sure anyways... Gilliam, do you know that I have an obscenely large amount of super essence?"

"Yes, milord. I'm aware." Gilliam replied. He then looked a bit confused as he asked, "If we are to talk about Dungeon affairs, shouldn't we do it in the [Command Room]?"

"Ahh... You're right..." Lars embarrassingly admitted. He lightly hit his forehead as he exclaimed, "Alright. To the [Command Room]!!"

Lillian couldn't help but giggle a little at her master's silliness. They all used their [Dungeon Warp] to disappear, leaving only empty plates and unfinished cups of tea behind.

The maids dutifully cleaned everything up.