◈ REAPER SCANS ◈
Translator: Regressed Translator
Editor: leef
Discord: https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
◈ Return of the Disaster-Class Young Lord ◈
Chapter 26 | Advancement (2)
───────────────
Low-level and high-level awakened.
1-star and 2-star. Then, the wall that separates those who are 3-star or above.
That wall might be paper-thin, yet it’s also impossibly distant.
No matter how many low-level awakeners gather—even in the dozens—dealing with just one high-level awakened is nearly impossible.
The most important part to Dion was this: a high-level awakened could singlehandedly wipe out a 1-star labyrinth, at least in principle.
After all, Silan had upended an entire labyrinth with a single spell, even if he had used soldiers as sacrifices in the process.
“Parsha, I’ve become a high-level awakened, so I’m off to the labyrinth to level up.”
“What kind of crazy talk is that...?”
“It’s true. Look, dark magic.”
Parsha stood there, remaining quiet.
“So, Parsha, I’ll need you to take over some of my security duties while I’m gone, okay?”
When Dion suddenly blurted that out ten days ago, Parsha’s sharp retort was only natural. Until the day before, his ability had been no more than that of a low-level awakened. Claiming he had suddenly become high-level was patently absurd.
However, the real problem was that Dion had actually pulled off that outrageous feat.
In itself, Dion becoming a high-level awakened wasn’t so bad. But the trouble was that he then declared he would roam the labyrinth freely, just as he had said he would.
And to make matters worse, he left Parsha behind in favor of taking only a mute Lupin slave girl.
Of course, now that Dion had become a high-level awakened, the odds of him facing mortal danger in a mere 1-star labyrinth were extremely low.
But a labyrinth is an inhuman realm. Even a high-level awakened can meet a sudden, meaningless death there if luck turns sour. Conventional wisdom says one should never set foot in a labyrinth unless forced.
Yet day after day, the young master clocked in at the labyrinth as if on a daily commute. Parsha was naturally anxious—as were Arsha and the other dark elves.
Dion, on the other hand, felt no anxiety whatsoever.
Because he knew exactly why labyrinths were more dangerous for those who reached a higher tier.
For him, the labyrinth was a hunting ground brimming with blood and profit.
He could gain experience for any number of classes.
He could harvest all sorts of valuable materials worth money.
And he could acquire an array of useful traits.
By hunting monsters, he could simply enjoy a threefold profit.
But all his 1-star classes were now at max level, which was why Dion was disappointed.
Yes, he had maxed out seven different 1-star classes during those ten days of hunting.
He had also acquired no fewer than thirteen new traits—both class traits and racial traits.
It was an absurdly great achievement for just ten days…
But as expected, I can’t get much further in a 1-star labyrinth. That said, I don’t have the time to move up to 2-star just yet.
The problem was that his growth had begun to stall.
The higher the class rank, the exponentially greater the experience needed to level up. Facing only low-tier monsters eventually hit a limit.
Even being able to bring seven of those 1-star classes to max level in just ten days was thanks to Bloodslayer’s bonus.
Absorbing mana stones outright would have been the best solution, since it directly converted mana into experience. However, that was only an option for nobles so rich they could burn money for fuel. Someone as poor and overburdened as Dion couldn’t afford that at all.
So the next best approach was to hunt tougher monsters in a higher ranked labyrinth.
Yet, unlike a 1-star labyrinth—where you could dive in and return the same day—a 2-star labyrinth took multiple days of travel. It also had complex gimmicks that couldn’t be solved by brute force alone.
No matter how strong Dion was, going in as he pleased without assembling a proper party was out of the question.
Maybe I should start focusing on something else now.
And so, on the evening of the tenth day…
After returning from the labyrinth, Dion let Parsha wash him. He accepted pieces of steak Arsha had deftly sliced into bite-sized portions, while Orr Kai devoured her own chunk of meat. He finished the meal with a cup of tea.
As he drank, he surveyed the Sleeping Dragon Manor.
He glanced toward the butchering station, where workers disassembled the large and small monsters he had brought back over the past ten days.
The kitchen, where meat soaked in purified healing water to remove contaminated mana before being smoked.
The forge, where the bark of tree monsters was crafted into spears and armor.
The garden, once full of flowers, now transformed into farmland.
A sewing room for patching clothes, an herb-drying room for medicine, and empty storage sheds and barns.
It was just a single mansion, yet it had all the facilities of an estate—and it bustled with life.
Dion found that quite satisfying.
But what pleased him most was the sight of those who ran these facilities so diligently.
Hmm. Looks like they can finally pull their own weight now.
In the forge, a dream demon hammered away at steel, her skin still scarred by old burns.
An elderly soldier practicing thrusts with his spear, pausing every so often to cough.
A ratman kitchen helper chopped and cleaned meat, barely letting its tail brush the floor.
A bullywug farmer, sweat beading on his amphibian head, tilled the soil with a plow.
Yes—these thirty slaves stood out even among the dark elves. Or more precisely, thirty-one, if you counted Orr Kai.
They were the ones Dion had purchased from Kettlik.
Dion broke into a smile.
『【Kitchen Hand】☆ Lv2』
『【Carpenter】☆ Lv2』
『【Soldier】☆ Lv3』
『【Farmer】☆ Lv2』
『【Blacksmith】☆ Lv2』
『【Bowman】☆ Lv3』
『【Librarian】☆ …』
Kettlik never realized that these slaves—so cheap because they were old, disabled, or otherwise deemed worthless—were all awakened.
He would have refused to sell them at any price if he had known, even if it meant risking a knife in the gut.
Thanks to that oversight, Dion had managed to acquire nearly thirty awakened slaves for practically nothing. And he was quite pleased with the outcome.
Even if they were only 1-star “half-baked” awakened individuals, they could still demonstrate genius-level ability in their respective fields.
Indeed, in just ten days—ten days spent working on tasks they’d never before tried—just a bit of guidance in the right position had allowed them to shine and keep the estate running.
It was no wonder polygamy was an esteemed norm among nobles. The more awakened one had, the more their territory prospered. Yet, the odds of an ordinary commoner awakening were maybe one in dozens, if they were lucky.
It wasn’t unusual for a poor mid-sized domain to have fewer than a dozen low-level awakened in total.
From that perspective, Sleeping Dragon Manor already had quite a few awakened on hand, which Dion found pleasing.
But it wasn’t enough to fully satisfy him.
Their levels are still way too low, though…
Even with Parsha training them and sending them into the labyrinth in turns to hunt and gain experience, they still hadn’t made it out of Novice range.
Dion clicked his tongue.
Of course, that was to be expected.
His meteoric leveling was unusual. For most awakeners, mastering their talents took anywhere from a few months to a few decades.
It’s the same as cooking. No matter your innate talent, you won’t become a true master overnight.
In fact, the only reason they had managed to level up at all in just ten days was Dion’s “trick” of letting them hunt inside the labyrinth under Parsha’s watch.
If I took them along myself to hunt monsters, they’d level up faster…
When awakened persons absorb a mana stone, they grow stronger by taking in its mana as experience. By the same logic, simply slaying monsters—living lumps of contaminated mana—also grants experience.
In fact, that approach might be more efficient. Even though they’d still grow far slower than Dion—who has Bloodslayer—he was confident he could get them all to max out their 1-star classes within a month or two.
But in the meantime, Dion’s own growth would stagnate.
After all, the reason he traveled only with Orr Kai—who hardly slowed him down—was to keep his hunting speed as high as possible.
In short, he had to decide whether to prioritize his own growth or the manor’s growth.
He could leave all the territory work behind and risk more dangerous labyrinths with just Parsha and Orr Kai. Or he could take the safer route, repeatedly clearing shallow labyrinths so the slaves could level up steadily.
Both plans had their advantages and drawbacks, and Dion was weighing them in his mind. If the voice had still been around, it surely would have advised him to balance the two methods, but that wasn't Dion’s style.
And so, while he was lost in thought, he suddenly tilted his head.
“Ah, come to think of it, the Devil's Tree Manor’s Tragedy happened around this time, didn’t it?”
Counting on his fingers as though calculating a date, Dion folded his arms.
The Devil's Tree Manor’s Tragedy, the event that befell the small-to-mid domain known as Devil's Tree Manor.
To Dion, who had witnessed and experienced many large-scale incidents during the second cycle, it was trivial enough to ignore. He only remembered it because the circumstances were somewhat peculiar.
Yet if he could intervene this time…
Hmm. If it all works out, I might solve all my problems at once.
Recalling the details, Dion set out early the next morning. To see if there was a way to use the Tragedy of Devil's Tree Manor to his advantage.
And with that, the Sleeping Dragon Manor grew quiet for the first time in a while…
But the peace didn’t last.
It was shattered soon enough by someone who arrived unannounced—a visitor impossible to call an unwelcome guest.
“Could you kindly inform the young lord?”
“...You mean you wish to speak to our lord?”
“Yes. If he has the time to spare, I would like to share a cup of tea.”
She had come as if casually dropping by while out on a stroll.
Instead of a fancy dress, she wore a simple white one. Yet the black eyepatch and the unsettling aura around her gave her the look of a tombstone statue—eerie beyond words.
She was the original owner of the Sleeping Dragon Manor, now the neighboring lord, and one of the Eight Renowned and Six Malevolents, titled the Master of Malice.
This was that fearsome witch—terrifying under any circumstances.
“If possible, I would also like to meet the one said to be Lord Dion’s new concubine.”
◈ REAPER SCANS ◈
Translator: Regressed Translator
Editor: leef
◈ Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics ◈
In the center of the mansion, which was formed by four buildings arranged in a square, lay a garden lined neatly with flowerbeds and farmland—the most distinctive feature of the Sleeping Dragon Manor.
Though with the settlement of the dark elves, the farmland had expanded dramatically while the flowers had shrunk in number.
Arsha had done that to make the estate a little more self-sufficient. Because of it, the garden’s scenery had become rather plain.
…Truly troubling.
And so, in that small corner of the garden that still had a few flowers, they’d set up a table where the witch-like woman sat sipping tea. Arsha stood nearby, silent and uneasy.
Having lived a long life, she was well-versed in dealing with nobles.
But she faced a single, thorny dilemma.
She had never before received a noble guest as a concubine on behalf of her husband.
Especially not a guest who had once been the true lord of this very domain. A guest rumored to be a prospective concubine of Dion and who also held the infamous rank of Master of Malice among the Eight Renowned and Six Malevolents.
Arsha couldn’t simply slam the door in Pandora’s face when Dion was away, so she had hurriedly prepared to meet her, but the strain was almost unbearable.
She, who prided herself on her unshakable composure after so many years, could only sit, fiddling with her teacup.
Eventually, Pandora spoke.
“Did you perhaps arrange this garden yourself?”
Arsha’s grip on her teacup tightened slightly. “Please, speak plainly if you wish. I am only the Young Lord’s concubine, whereas you are Lord Urk’s foster daughter.”
“Pray do not bid me such rudeness. It would be improper for a guest to demand that of her host.”
“All the same, as a mere dark elf of low birth, I cannot so casually speak to a daughter of House Cortel.”
“In truth, I am no true daughter of House Cortel. Only an adopted child. My birth is by no means high.”
There was a pause.
Pandora’s eyepatch made her expression unreadable. Arsha’s face remained perfectly composed, revealing nothing.
The hush between the two polite and dignified women with no emotion stretched long.
In the end, Arsha, the one with lower status, broke the silence.
“I did not personally design this garden. It’s the result of everyone’s efforts to develop the manor, with my husband’s approval.”
“You refer to the young lord as ‘my husband’?”
“...Yes.”
“I see. It seems he cherishes you greatly.”
Arsha hesitated.
Strangely enough, that genuine remark of admiration felt more disconcerting than if Pandora had reacted with jealousy.
If she were to agree, it might sound like bragging, but if she disagreed, it might sound like mockery.
Thus, with her composure fraying, she merely stared into her teacup...
When, at last, her savior arrived.
“Sorry I’m late. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”
“Husband!”
“You have returned...?”
Dion appeared, his clothes and white half-mask covered in dust. Perhaps he had come the moment he heard Pandora had arrived.
Arsha rushed to him at once, gently wiping the dust from his mask and face, while Pandora remained seated, quietly observing them.
Once Arsha was done, Dion approached the table, and Pandora rose from her seat, bowing deeply.
“I apologize for appearing without notice.”
“There’s no need to apologize. Neighbors can drop by on a whim if they want.”
“Thank you for your generosity.”
They briefly exchanged greetings before taking their seats again. Pandora spoke in a measured tone.
“May I ask where you went today, my lord?”
“Oh, I was out looking for ways to expand my domain.”
“I see, that explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“How a once-empty estate now feels so vibrant and full of life under your hand.”
“It’s not really thanks to me. Our Arsha is the one with all the talent.”
“…You honor me too much.”
Dion merely shrugged, brushing off the compliment. He insisted he had done little—that the manor’s day-to-day prosperity was all due to Arsha’s efforts.
Arsha only responded politely, and Pandora nodded, quietly impressed.
It was then that Dion began tapping on his thigh.
Pandora tilted her head, puzzled by Dion patting his own leg the moment he sat down. Even more baffling was Arsha’s reaction. Her ears stood rigid, her eyes widened, and she stiffened in shock.
“What are you waiting for, Arsha?”
“B-But, my lord, our guest is right here…”
Her long ears trembled, her pupils quaked, and her voice faltered awkwardly. The composed, elegant Arsha had all but vanished.
As Pandora looked on, perplexed, Dion addressed Arsha again, still smiling gently.
“Arsha.”
His voice was neither forceful nor impatient. It was warm, patient.
Yet somehow, those crimson irises made refusal impossible.
Finally, Arsha lowered her head in resignation and then…
Srrk.
With a soft motion, a gentle weight pressed against his thighs. Her slender body nestled onto his lap, fitting against him naturally. Dusky skin brushed lightly against him, her warmth seeping through.
Satisfied now, Dion planted a casual kiss on the bandaged nape of her neck.
Chu.
“Hnn…!”
She just barely managed to stifle the moan that threatened to escape—whether out of pride or sheer embarrassment, it was hard to say.
From the base of her neck to the tips of her pointed ears, Arsha’s skin flushed a deep red.
Dion, still smiling, looked utterly delighted by his concubine’s reaction.
And seeing that, Pandora found herself murmuring the exact same words as before, though now for a very different reason.
“I see… That explains it.”
◈ Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/reapercomics ◈
