The Developer Reborn As Archmage

Leaving Seris to come to terms with all the millions, Darya focused her efforts on finding the exit. She found not one, but three. One of them was a ventilation shaft that was suspiciously big enough to fit someone the size of Drakva on their knees. The second was a proper door behind a bookshelf that opened to a red corridor, and the third was another door on the wall facing the dungeon side they came from, likely a second way to go back the same way.

“We have all the exits,” Darya said.

“This is excellent ocular magics, princess. I wish I could see it more clearly!” Sarka was too eager to learn the power that could see through clothes.

Darya got rid of the depth overlay. It was wildly useful for someone phasing through walls, which could very well be the next part of the plan.

Nerima sat upright when she talked about exits. She strained her neck, looking at Darya nervously. Her fists were clenched tight as she got ready to speak. Darya already knew what it was going to be about.

“The Seer, we need a plan,” Darya said with a sigh. 

Seris turned around with her hands on her hips. 

“Any ideas?” Darya asked.

“Only one.” Seris also let out a sigh. She cleared her throat and waved her hand at Ikaro. “Magus Sarka, what do you think you can do with the big druid over there?”

“I—again?!” Sarka asked apprehensively. “Isn’t he dead with the siren venom in his veins?”

“He is still alive. He will be dead in hours. That mana venom is not powerful enough to kill someone with that resistance instantly. Especially not a druid.”

I see. This must be a racial nuance that wasn’t in the VRMMO.

Druids were supposed to be tough to kill, but no bloodline trait made them resistant to venoms. RLP had surely evolved through evolutionary biology.

“Will—will the venom kill me though? Is it going to hurt?” Sarka was anxious.

“I can pull the venom out of his blood. I already did it for that other girl.”

“Wait, you did?” Darya looked at the girl lying next to Ikaro. It was the first one that Nerima bit. It hadn’t even occurred to Darya to save her. Seris had probably done it while fixing Nerima.

“You’ll feel feverish, but that's the extent of it,” Seris said.

“Sarka, you don’t have to do this if you’re afraid,” Darya said. He had nearly died in the last attempt. It was only healthy to be scared of another one.

“I go to the dungeons, and I say the orc wants to kill the intruder now, and I bring him back here,” Sarka said slowly.

“Yes,” Darya agreed. “You can be Ikaro if you want. A druid body, you know. Although I’m not sure—since it’s a slave fighter, it feels wrong to kill him.”

“Mother Goddess no. I wouldn’t dream of being an old fat druid, in any case!” Sarka sounded mortified.

Darya clapped. “Ah, I see. Don’t worry. We’ll find you a twenty-year-old evil druid who totally deserves to die.”

Seris laughed. “Need a wanted poster for that. Looking for a handsome evil druid.”

I’m sure someone unironically wanted that at some point, for reasons.

Sarka agreed to use Ikaro if Seris pulled the venom out. The procedure didn’t take that long.

There was one minor hiccup where a guard banged on the door to report something to Drakva, startling everyone, but Seris managed to convince him not to come inside since Drakva was still being healed.

By the time Seris solved that hairy situation, Ikaro had the soulstone ring on his finger, and this time, the soul merge had all the minutes it needed to complete. Darya pulled the ring out once Ikaro got to his feet. Of course, she wasn’t going to wear it.

“Here… we… go… princess,” Sarka said through Ikaro’s mouth. This was the first time Darya had heard the man speak. It sounded uncannily slow and deep. The best she could describe it was that Sarka was a program running on a different processor now.

“Don’t do anything Ikaro wouldn’t do. He was mostly silent, so maybe use gestures and as few words as possible. The more you speak, the weirder it might look,” Darya said.

“Agreed…” Ikaro nodded.

Letting Sarka practice, Darya and Seris quickly prepared the next part of the plan. They couldn’t open the door with Drakva lying on a pool of blood. They hauled him back to bed and stripped the two unconscious girls.

A crime scene was staged, making sure to cover those girls with Drakva’s blood. Unfortunately, Nerima had to do the same thing. Darya made sure to tell the girl to lie face first such that no one could see her chest move.

Seris’s disguise was ruined by her pointed ears. She had to let her hair loose to hide them, and she was best left in a corner without drawing attention to herself.

She placed the treasure haul conveniently near the bookshelf exit. If things happened in a hurry, they could grab it and escape.

After confirming everyone’s roles and dimming the lights, Darya and Sarka gathered at the door. With nods to each other, Darya opened the door and let Ikaro walk out. The guards on the other side peeked in with curious looks.

“Master Drakva wants another prisoner from the dungeons. He told Ikaro who to bring,” Darya said as formally as possible.

“Right away, lady,” One of the guards said, looking up at Ikaro.

“Did the master finish dealing with the other prisoners? Should we drag the corpses out?” the second guard asked, squinting at the bodies on the floor.

“You can do it when he is asleep. His mood is soured right now, and the healing procedure is not complete.”

“Understood, lady,” the guard said with a nod. Darya closed the door in his face.

Wonder if the orc killed other women like this before. They’re too casual about it.

She remembered the skull wall in Drakva’s colosseum office. Some of them were definitely this.

The wait for Sarka to return dragged on for longer than Darya anticipated. They had no means of communication, and there was no telling what could delay him if he screwed up being Ikaro. Darya remained next to the door without barricading it now that they had proper disguises.

The longer she waited, the more she had to resist phasing through or knocking out the two guards. She could then wander the corridors looking for Ikaro and the Seer.

That turned out to be unnecessary when she heard heavy footsteps on the other side. It was more than Ikaro, however. She heard several people, new arrivals.

The knock on the door came shortly afterwards. “Wait a moment,” Darya said before rushing to Seris. 

She told her the magnitude of the upcoming problem. Ikaro had brought a crowd with him. They had to be ready for a fight when the disguises inevitably fell apart. Seris hurried to Nerima as Darya walked back to the door.

She waited for Seris to finish telling Nerima what to do. Seris went back to her previous position, emitting green mana from her hand over Drakva’s corpse.

Darya opened the door.

Just as she thought, she was looking at a crowd. She quickly counted at least six guards, one woman wearing a red dress, and Ikaro carrying the seer on his shoulder like a towel. Their eyes met briefly, and Sarka was desperately trying to tell her something.

She already knew what it was. At the front of the group was a man wearing a black hat. He already had his hand on the hilt of a sword.

A big shot here for points, or this one smelled a rat because of Sarka.

“I came to see master Drakva,” the man said in a shrewd voice. He tilted his head and leaned forward to look at Darya’s face in the dim light. “There is something I want to discuss with him. It is urgent.”

“Sure,” Darya said, moving to the side. She made sure to keep herself in shadow as guards came in with lanterns.

“Master, I brought the intruder that you wanted,” the man said as he walked up to the bed. Everyone was staring at the three corpses on the floor.

“The master might be asleep—” Darya said, pausing abruptly because she was unsure what to call this hat man.

The woman dressed in red leaned closer to Darya with a frown on her face. “Who are you, girl? I don’t think I’ve seen you in the master’s room before?”

“My name is Raya, Lady.”

“Raya?” the woman narrowed her eyes. She was a gray-skinned halfblood of some kind. Darya already knew the trouble that was brewing. Drakva’s little harem was too small for new names. Especially not ones that he would’ve trusted to heal him in case of grievous injury.

Unfortunate. I’m going to have to deal with everyone here.

The hat man turned around, looking curiously at Darya. “What was that, Lady Vonie? Is this girl new?”

Vonie grabbed Darya by the arm, pulling her into the light. “Can’t say I’ve seen her before. Did Master get new ones a day or two ago?”

“Y-yes, lady. We were sold to him as healers,” Darya said, still trying to salvage the situation. “We’re both practiced in healing, see?”

“Healers?” Vonie looked at Seris, who was still performing with mana. “What happened to the scrolls?”

“Finished that already, Lady. We can handle the rest without them.” The woman didn’t let go of Darya’s hand. She tapped a guard nearby and gestured at the corpses on the ground.

Two guards broke off from the group, walking over to them. Darya prepared herself for the next set of actions if their cover was blown. She looked at Ikaro while the woman wasn’t watching. Sarka nodded back at her, patting the Seer. Lowering his hand, he also patted something else tucked into his waist.

It was the box containing the ritual dagger that was confiscated by the guards.

“I thought it was weird master sent big dumb Ikaro of all people,” the hat man said, his hand tightening around the hilt. The two guards checking the corpses started flipping them around. “Looks like Master’s fallen asleep. How is he going to kill this merfolk idiot with the shiny dagger now?”

Darya didn’t even bother answering. Her eyes were on the guards checking the two girls and Nerima. She saw one guard suddenly drop the girl they were checking. Seris had seen it too, because she was already casting a spell.

Darya broke free from Voina, driving her knee straight into her crotch. The hat man unsheathed his sword as she leapt back.

What a shame. If it wasn’t for this nosey hat fucker trying to be clever, these people could’ve gone home alive today.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

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