You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

Chapter 87 Cooperation Begins

Deep underground.

Inside a private winery with a dark red velvet carpet and an exotic fragrance in the air, the crisp clinking of glasses drowned out the low background music.

A group of elegantly dressed young people were sitting around an ebony table; they were the heirs of the top nobles who had voted to oppose the testing mechanism.

Many of them own D-level dungeon territories.

"Cheers to our victory!"

A young nobleman downed the deep purple wine in his glass in one gulp, his voice filled with smugness:

"Those decent monsters in the LV10 to LV20 range are all on our contract scrolls now!"

"Even if Ron has great abilities, he can only hire those unwanted, deformed mutants."

"Heh heh, use them to build a top-tier D-rank dungeon? Dream on!"

Their gathering was to celebrate their jointly planned operation—

They pooled their resources to monopolize intermediate-level monster resources.

Once the Black Language Cave is promoted to D-level, it will inevitably squeeze out their ranking and interests.

These young masters and ladies naturally couldn't tolerate Ron causing chaos like he did in the low-level dungeons.

Of course, more importantly, they could not tolerate a lowly, impoverished designer rising so easily to the ranks of the nobility.

In order to support their offspring's actions, their fathers have completely broken off all pretense of civility this time.

Since they had already offended Duke Cedric, they might as well let the younger generation cause the duke some more trouble.

"what!"

Another noble young master, with a seductive succubus nestled in his arms, was laughing loudly as he declared:

"If that guy can actually make a name for himself with those lousy mutant monsters, I'll kneel down and kowtow to him right now to admit my mistake! I mean it!"

"Count me in!"

A chorus of agreement rose and fell at the dinner table.

While these noble heirs were basking in the joy of their success, Count Bacchus, who had orchestrated everything, was setting up a small meeting elsewhere.

In a corner of an artificial park in the underground world, Perkins sits on a bench.

His rough, stiff fingers gripped his knees tightly, and his face, covered in horrific scars, was hidden in the shadow of his hood, revealing only a pair of eyes that nervously scanned his surroundings.

His eyes held a complex mix of anticipation and fear.

Not far away, Count Bacchus appeared. He was not alone; he was holding a girl's hand affectionately.

The girl had long, flowing hair that reached her shoulders, and even in the dim underground environment, her stunning beauty and the refined elegance she possessed were still evident.

"Father!"

The girl, Vanessa, spoke with a hint of doubt in her clear voice:

"Why did you suddenly bring me here for a walk? That's strange."

Count Bacchus smiled kindly, but his gaze seemed to casually sweep in Perkins' direction:

"Nothing special, Vanessa. I just feel like it's been a long time since I've had a quiet walk with you."

He led his daughter by the hand and slowly walked toward the bench where Perkins was.

Just as Vanessa was about to pass the bench, a series of suppressed, intermittent sobs reached her ears.

She stopped and looked at the figure trembling slightly in the shadows, a hint of innocent sympathy flashing in her eyes.

She untied an exquisite silk handkerchief from her waist and bent down to hand it over.

"gentlemen."

She said gently:

"You might need this."

Perkins looked up abruptly, his face, covered in twisted scars and burn marks, exposed in the dim light.

Tears welled up uncontrollably in my eyes, a mixture of years of pain and the immense excitement of the moment.

He suppressed the urge to call out his daughter's name directly, slowly stood up, trembling as he took the handkerchief, his gaze greedily tracing the girl's face again and again.

At the age of twenty...

It overlapped with and then separated from the three-year-old's face when they parted.

Seventeen years!

However, when Vanessa saw the monstrous face up close, an instinctive fear instantly gripped her.

She instinctively took a small half-step back, almost immediately hiding behind Count Bacchus, her beautiful eyes filled with obvious panic.

"Vanessa."

Count Bacchus gently patted her arm, his tone gentle yet tinged with reproach:

“It’s impolite to treat a heartbroken stranger like that.”

Vanessa pursed her lips and nodded timidly.

Perkins felt as if his heart had been ripped out.

During those seventeen hellish years, this was the scene he feared most.

His face, his very existence, could only be a nightmare for his daughter.

"I'm so sorry, miss..."

Perkins' voice was as hoarse as sandpaper:

"It's my face that scared you."

He strained with all his might to make his voice sound relatively steady, and then asked:

"This handkerchief...can I...keep it?"

Vanessa looked at the old man in front of her, who was in tears and looked extremely distressed. Even though she was still afraid, her kindness overcame her fear.

She nodded slightly:

"It's alright, sir. You can keep it."

Perkins clutched the handkerchief, still warm and scented with his daughter's body heat, tightly in his hand as if it were a priceless treasure.

He turned away, his back hunched, his steps heavy and unsteady.

Only when he was completely out of Vanessa's sight did he finally give in, his knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees on the cold stone floor with a thud.

The pain, longing, and the complex emotions of losing and regaining something so close yet unable to recognize it, suppressed for seventeen years, erupted in a beast-like howl.

These tears were no longer just tears of despair, but also tears of indescribable excitement and joy.

Not long after, Count Bacchus, with a relaxed smile that indicated the transaction was complete, slowly walked up behind him.

Perkins wiped the tears from his face with his robe sleeve and carefully tucked the handkerchief away from his body.

"Go ahead."

Perkins didn't turn around, his voice filled with utter submission:

"What do you want me to do?"

Count Bacchus looked with satisfaction at the man he now completely controlled, and strode forward, a gentle and harmless smile on his face:

"No rush. I'll let you know when I need you to take action. Now, go back and rest in peace."

……

Lilith scoffed at the tricks of those noble young masters and ladies.

Looking at the "monster army" Ron brought back, she almost wanted to pop open a bottle of champagne to celebrate!

"awesome!"

Lilith's eyes lit up:

"Let these things guard a D-rank dungeon? Adventurers would think we're insulting their intelligence!"

She waved almost ecstatically to her father, Duke Cedric, and to Alyssa, who was trying to express her concern:

"That's settled then! No one can object!"

"correct."

Ron added in a timely manner:

"Miss Lilith, Princess Claudia will be making a guest appearance as a boss in our dungeon."

Lilith's gaze fell on Claudia, who was standing quietly to the side.

The young girl was bright and dignified, with an air of untouched nobility.

Lilith understood:

The cameo appearance of His Excellency Lagos's own daughter is quite a show of prestige.

This pampered princess has virtually no practical combat experience!

It's nothing more than a "noble sandbag" to bring warmth to adventurers.

Poor little princess, she's probably going to get a good "training" in her dungeon.

"No problem at all!"

Lilith nodded immediately, her eyes darting around as she keenly spotted an opportunity:

"Since Your Highness has graced us with your presence, this reward cannot be meager, would you agree?"

She quickly calculated in her mind:

Inviting the princess doesn't count as "actively inviting high-level combatants," so it doesn't violate the rules of the "playing dumb" rebate system. This money has to be spent!

"No need, I just want to try it out, free is fine."