Demon Lord: Erotic Adventure in Another World - Chapter 731

Chapter 731: Dangerous undercurrent of the Bronze Blade
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, a group of dwarves met in a dark, candlelit underground bunker. The five men sat around a large rectangular table, made of prime oak wood with dwarven runes inscribed along the edges.

“Gentlemen, this cannot stand!”

A sallow-cheeked dwarf with a thick, grey beard grumbled in a low tone. He wore an elegant black tunic with a bronze dragon brooch. Although his thinning hair and pale face appeared weathered, the man himself held a noble demeanour.

“Ivar, the head has yet to speak!” Another dwarf, with faded ginger hair and a curled beard, he wore the same bronze brooch, with a pair of leather gloves on his hands, who lifted his gold-rimmed monocle to examine the documents on the oak table. He then turned to the mature dwarf with deep orange hair and sharp blue eyes.

“What’s the matter, Modus?” The dwarf sitting at the head asked.

“M-Master, I was just curious about today’s information regarding Miss Lun and the Patriarch.”

The Master in his mouth was the uncle of Lun Bronzeblade. Her father and his brother recently became bedridden, and the entire Bronze Blade Merchantry group became embroiled in a huge succession fight.

Grundig Bronzeblade flicked the tip of his beard while considering the worries of his servant and ally, Modus. “Don’t be blinded, our task is far too important to let this little issue destroy everything we’ve been planning.”

He then glanced at the other four males across the table. All of them joined him secretly, and over ten years, he’d placed each of them in a manager position from the far west to the deep south, all the way to the mainland of the Empire. All the most successful and wealthy branches were within his hand.

Through treachery, wit and sheer determination, Grundig gained control over 42% of the entire group from the moment his brother became severely ill.

“Modus, Ivar, Quinn, Lupin and Nevan.”

With each name called, the four dwarves shifted their gaze to Grundig and stood up, offering a calm salute.

“Our true lord!”

“To the master of Bronze Blade!”

“Sit.” Grundig enjoyed their praise and worship, but in reality, the core members and power remained with the cursed daughter who fled to the far east. “If only my dear niece Lun hadn’t rejected our offer and fled to the far east.”

Although his tone remained calm, Grundig’s hand grasping the glass tightened. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Crack!

Small cracks spread along the cup, extending like spider webbing.

“Master!?”

“My lord!”

The men stuttered and rushed to hold their handkerchiefs to the bloody palm of their boss, but the ginger dwarf merely flung them away with his hands. “Cease this foolishness, you are not servants but merchants!”

With a deep sigh, he pointed to the documents on the table.

“I want all the information on the people who met with her in the past two months. Tell me who, how or why she managed to survive the trap which cost us thousands of gold!”

His voice became deeper and deeper with each sentence and word. His aura carried a powerful wave of enthusiasm, might and command that slapped each man with a cold, frigid air as if he had just cast magic.

“We do not have time, gentlemen.” He paused. “Ten years, two million gold, fifteen years of sucking up to that filthy human emperor. Not again. Never again will we kneel to those who stole our land, our legacy and Empire!”

Modus and Ivar visibly shook, while Lupin, Quinn and Nevan all glanced at each other, their eyes shining, bodies tingling. It was this ability, this power that brought together the five brightest minds of the Bronze Blade guild.

“Stop,” Grundig muttered, and suddenly the entire room became silent, as each of the five dwarves stood with glazed eyes and dazed expressions.

‘These foolish insects.’

Grundig’s lips curled into a vile and greedy smirk. His mind at peace, knowing these little fish could never slip away from him. A faint purple mist flowed from his lips each time he spoke, while if you looked deep inside his pupils, a subtle glow appeared.

‘If not for that strange woman, could I have gained such power…’

Twenty years ago, back when Grundig was but a young, passionate dwarf fighting for the rights of his people. Jealous and angry with his brother, who capsized and opened the Bronze Blade merchant group with the aid of the Empire.

But what could a young, foolish dwarf do against the established government with an army of thousands?

No amount of protesting or tricks helped.

His small group of valiant dwarves slowly whittled down to a few dozen, then before Grundig realised he was the last one standing.

‘Begging my brother for help was the most embarrassing event in my life!’

“Damn it!” He grumbled, hitting the desk.

A shockwave of force spread through the room as he leaned back, placing both hands over his face. “Who the hell was it!?” He held a locket in his hand and popped it open, revealing the withered image of a beautiful woman with red hair.

Angered by the memories, his twisted lips formed a faint smile upon remembering the woman who turned his life around.

He’d built a dark force to help him conquer the small cities and towns, backstreets and underworlds, but in a single night, a month before everything ended. The woman he’d been chasing for two decades, the auction house and his expensive “merchandise” all lost in the space of a few hours in Francel.

“Why have you not shown yourself to me again, my muse?”

Mei Ling was the name she gave him, but to a strange woman who never aged, he knew it must have been some kind of pseudonym. Grundig didn’t care; to him, she was a goddess, granting him the ability to charm and control these weak-minded traitors.

Each of the men around Grundig was the descendant of the very people who had abandoned him twenty years earlier.

Now they would be his pawns, his scapegoats.

This time, he wouldn’t be the one to take the fall, nor would he let his brother make him feel like an insignificant worm again!

Snap!

The five men snapped out of their strange mood with the snap of his fingers.

“What happened!?”

“Sorry, Master, I seem to have lost myself.”

Grundig’s lips curled upward; this was something he enjoyed. Toying with those who ruined his life like this brought a small sense of superiority. He shook his head and pushed both hands down, signalling for the men to sit and calm down.

“Forget it, let us focus on the current tasks at hand, give me your status reports for the month and any rumours regarding my brother, niece and the people she met.”

The five men sat happily.

Oblivious to Grundig ruining their entire lives, they began to speak about their profit margins, items that seemed close to rising and then through the rumours and information gathered through their information branch.

.

.

.

Eventually, all the men left, the table filled with empty bottles of whiskey and bourbon, while the candles burned to the base. Grundig remained sitting in the dark room alone with a black cigar dangling at the edge of his lips.

“Pwooo!”

He exhaled a black puff of smoke before curling his lips and recalled Ivar bragging about his wife expecting his second child.

An obscene smirk came to his lips, and another of the men mentioned his daughter acting strange, and Grundig struggled to hide his laughter.

“Those fools don’t even realise their wives, daughters and families have long since served me.”

Grundig’s eyes glowed purple, with a faint mist lingering among the black cigar smoke; he’d spent decades learning and mastering this power.

However, he couldn’t control the world or people far stronger than himself. He could use a weak adventurer to help boost his power in the dungeon, sitting back as they struggled and sleeping with the females in the party.

“Well, what a beautiful woman…” His fingers stroked across a dull image showing a party of six sitting inside an inn back in Francel.

A dwarf, a human, two demons, a mermaid and a young desert warrior.

He focused on the mermaid, although another race, it was the humans who rejected non-humans and those with monster blood. Grundig didn’t think this; after all, he loved a bizarre woman who’d remained the same for over twenty years.

‘But what an interesting coincidence…’

He gleamed the information about the male demon at the party, how he appeared in the backstreets and attended the auction before Mei Ling vanished, and then earlier in the day, he was the one who visited his niece with the dwarf.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter who he is, this woman… I will take her. Since they’re staying in the far east, how interesting. Isn’t the auction in less than five days now?”

Grundig didn’t plan to attend the auction initially; his troops and men had already snuck into Hansberg and opened a hidden group. “But since my brother isn’t doing well, then I might as well drop in and greet my cute little niece.”

Jingle~

He suddenly rang a bell and waited a few moments in the silence.

A well-dressed female in a short black skirt, silky black tights and a petticoat stepped before him, bowing for a moment before she glanced up at Grundig with a pink glow in the depths of her eyes.

“Esteemed Master, how may I help you?”

His hand slipped up her smooth thigh, squeezing gently as she let out a soft hum, her eyes flicked away while blushing, but she accepted his touch.

Grundig enjoyed this girl, the illegitimate daughter of Lupin, Rosa.

“Order my warriors and knights to assemble, we’re heading to Hansberg!”