"A Dungeon," Compass Carburettor frowned, asking, "Is the Heroica Empire ignorant about this Dungeon?"
"Y-Yes," The Boss said, "Since the Grogar are a troublesome enemy, the Empire has never ventured deep into their territory. So, they haven't spotted the Dungeon yet. Had they discovered the Dungeon, they would have poured all their resources to eradicate the Grogar and occupy it. Even though it is only a Level 1 Dungeon, it hasn't ever been raided by humans. So, the amount of Darble Crystals it has accumulated over the countless years since its existence should be an enormous sum."
Having read enough documents about Darble during this time, Compass Carburettor was aware of how they formed. There didn't exist any mine in nature that produced Darble. As explained before, the only source of Darble was the Dungeon monsters.
And it seemed that when a Dungeon Monster died, its body decomposed just like every other natural organism. But, the Darble Crystal growing on its forehead didn't decompose, remaining behind.
As it was a hard material that couldn't be damaged even using energy blades, the Darble Crystal would remain as is. And, Darble had a mysterious property of gravity, an affinity towards other Darble Crystals. This attraction pulled every Darble Crystal in its vicinity towards itself.
Over time, all the Darble Crystals remaining on the ground—left after their respective Dungeon Monsters had died—would be attracted towards one another. And, as the years passed, they would eventually come into contact with one another as the attraction was incredibly weak.
And, at least a couple of centuries should pass before these Darble Crystal clusters would begin to merge into one piece. It was a slow process. But, for a Dungeon that was constantly raided by humans, this process would be interrupted.
After all, humans used the extracted Darble to create Armaments and Puppets. Most of the society depended on Darble for their livelihood. Even the most basic lighting was just a derivative of an Armament, used just to provide illumination.
So, Darble was an expendable resource and hence mined constantly. That's why any Dungeon that has been raided by humans once would no longer produce any massive Darble Crystals. Even though the humans knew of the cause, they had no other choice but to raid it constantly.
And hence, Dungeons that have never been raided were incredibly precious. After all, to the Dungeon Monsters, the Darble clusters were useless. So, they were left untouched, causing them to grow in size enormously over the years.
So, such Dungeons contained enormous wealth. Now that he knew of such a Dungeon, Compass Carburettor smiled, understanding just what he had to do. Such an untapped resource was the perfect base for his Secret Society.
It was unknown as to when he would kill the Slave Harem System. But for that to happen, he needed to have his personal force. This way, he would be able to have more than enough resources for all his needs.
After all, the support from Ephemella wasn't infinite. The reason she supported him was to save General Artica, the strongest General of her Kingdom. So, realistically speaking, the maximum support she would provide wouldn't exceed General Artica in value.
And, that wasn't enough for his plans—to go against a System. So, Compass Carburettor was indeed attracted to the notion of possessing his private Dungeon. Moreover, it seemed the Grogar were intelligent to a certain extent, considering they were able to establish a trade with Peckle City's underground.
Adding onto the two System Fragments he obtained recently, a plan formed in Compass Carburettor's mind.
The lady smiled, asking, "tell me more about this Grogar. As a species, how do they propagate?"
"Just like humans," The Boss replied, feeling his eyesight turn hazy as the blood loss had become severe. But, he dared not pause, for he knew his death was certain if he did so. So, he persisted, telling everything he knew about the Grogar.
"I see," The lady nodded, asking her final question, "What were you doing with the Darble Crystals?"
Hearing the question, the Boss inhaled a deep breath of air, asking in response, "If I say everything, will you let me live?"
"It depends on whether you are faster than the other guy or not," The lady pointed behind her, causing the Boss to see his underlying speaking nonstop in a flurry.
"Damn him!" He cursed and began to speak, "There was a talented engineer who worked under the Lord of Peckle City. After we caused the Lord to become addicted to Kepadora, we forced him to sell the engineer to us. Now, we hold his family hostage, so he has no other choice but to work relentlessly. We haven't harmed his family though but just kept them safe in a house. As the engineer also knows this, he never plotted against us."
"He has a small group of assistants to help him. They were all that worked under him while serving the Lord. Now, they work together to process the Darble we obtain and create Armaments. This engineer is a genius. No matter what we ask of him, he can create it." The Boss said, "And, since we recognised his talent, none of us harmed him or even threatened him once. We had kept him and his family safe all along, even protecting them at times."
"That is surprisingly smart of you." The Lady said, "And, where have you kept him?"
The Boss said everything about it, finally wheezing as he looked at his underling, "Please…I told you everything truthfully. Please set me free."
"Sure," The lady smiled, motioning for him to leave, "I keep my promises."
"Thank you…thank youuuu…thank…" The Boss gasped for breath as he got up slowly, intending to walk when he fell on the ground, realising that he had lost too much blood. Slowly, his consciousness faded as his eyes closed.
As for his underling, he wasn't that better off either, screaming as he plopped to the ground, "I…don't want to die! I…don't…want…to…di…!"
He too had died from blood loss. After all, Compass Carburettor had shot both their knee caps.
Finished with the task, Fealta informed him everything that the underling had said. Once they discussed, they understood the gist of things, eliminating the faint lies that the two individuals had mixed into everything.
As Compass Carburettor had been sensing the Mental Energy streams they emitted constantly, he knew when they lied and when they spoke the truth. With that, the interrogation was a success.
He then looked at Caithy, "There would be chaos outside now. And, to manage everything, we need some useful subordinates."
"Can you make a trip to the bandit stronghold and summon the Bandit Boss and some of his subordinates here?"
Author's Note: November Mass Release Quota
For every 10 GT (Golden Ticket): 1 Bonus Chapter would be released
[Major Gifts Extra Releases]
Gift (Castle): 2
Gift (Spacecraft): 5
