One Leaf Knows Autumn's guess had been correct. They really had missed out on quite a few good things.
But—
What did that have to do with the esteemed Lord Demon Lord? Leon hadn't missed out on a single good thing anyway.
Weren't life-class players always complaining about having no work?
Well then.
He'd found them some work!...
At the entrance to the first floor of the labyrinth.
In the web-covered hall, a group of pitch-black skeletons stood obediently in neat lines.
The reason these guys were so black was mainly because they had just come out of the coal mine. As for the ones that weren't quite so black, they had been mining iron.
Speaking of which, Leon had to complain about the quality of the bones buried in the mine.
Perhaps because the people buried here had been dead for too long, some players ended up having their bones fall apart while digging, leaving only half their bodies stuck in the ground.
For these unlucky little fellows who had died by accident, Leon really couldn't bear to deduct their Contribution Points. In the end, he specially allowed them to pay with Hell Money instead.
Why not simply waive it? Naturally, it was because combat-class players had protested, shouting things like, "That's unfair! Unless you waive mine too."
So they compromised.
Anyway, it was Hell Money whether he gave it or not. Leon didn't think it mattered much. As long as the players were happy.
"Is everyone here?"
Making his entrance like a boss, Leon counted the people present and discovered that there were unexpectedly quite a few players who had come to watch the fun.
It wasn't just players from the Mining Department. Even those from the Department of War had come running over.
He nodded with a satisfied expression. Without waiting for the players to drawl out a reply of "We're all here," he got straight to the point.
"Very good."
"In hell, dissection is an advanced discipline. The conditions and environment there are harsh, and many resources have to be obtained from the corpses of magical beasts..."
"And among them, the most important and fundamental resource... is the magic crystal."
From Magic Crystal Chalk used to draw Magic Arrays and the wicks inside Magic Crystal Lamps, to the core units on War Beasts and the core of the Demon Lord Territory... none of them could do without the miraculous substance known as magic crystals.
And most remarkably, this stuff only condensed after a magical beast died.
There were none while it was alive.
Leon reasonably suspected that this rule had also been established by some God from the First Era.
But that wasn't important.
What mattered was that he was going to teach these little players how to collect magic crystals from Cave Spider corpses! Leon set up a wooden board in the open area and began drawing and writing on it with a charcoal pencil.
"...Collecting magic crystals is a profound art. A skilled craftsman can remove a magic crystal in three cuts or fewer, while preserving the magical beast's corpse as much as possible and avoiding damage to other valuable materials."
Hardly anyone could understand those abstract scribbles.
Neither the obediently standing players nor You You, who was watching worriedly from the side.
In the end, the meddlesome You You couldn't hold back any longer and spoke softly.
"Um... esteemed, esteemed Lord Demon Lord, you could just demonstrate it once to the Recording Crystal. You You can help upload the instructional video. If you demonstrate it like this, even You You can't understand what you're doing..."
Leon, who had been explaining with great flourish, froze. He even forgot the line he had only gotten halfway through.
Yet the players couldn't see You You, so he was left standing there awkwardly by himself.
"...All right, all right, got it. Shut your mouth for now. This is roleplaying, I'm acting out a cutscene. What are you rushing for!"
Angrily pushing aside the wooden board, Leon took out a Crystal Ball from his robes and walked over to a Cave Spider corpse.
"...The theoretical lesson is over! Now I'll teach you the practical procedure."
As he spoke, he took out his Magic Wand and cast Air Vortex Spell, flipping the Cave Spider's corpse over.
Then, he used the vortex to float the Crystal Ball beside him and took out a small silver knife to cut open the spider's back of the head.
The dark green crystal was about the size of a thumbnail, hidden near the supraesophageal ganglion.
With a light flick of the knife, he picked out the magic crystal and displayed it to the players on the tip of the blade.
"Look, it's that simple."
Worried that the players might not see it clearly, he even used his Magic Wand to light a torch nearby.
Seeing Lord Demon Lord's miraculous skill, many players began clapping in amazement.
"Oohhh..."
"So that's how it works!"
"As expected of Lord Demon Lord!"
Selectively ignoring the sounds of "skip" and "GKD," Leon's lips curled slightly with pride.
What a joke.
He had scored full marks in theory class, after all.
Especially recently, not only had his theory classes been improving, but his practical classes had visibly gotten better too.
"Very good, very good. Since you've learned it, get to work!"
"Remember what I said. Remove the magic crystals while causing as little damage to the magical beasts' corpses as possible!"
"Cave Spiders have plenty of valuable parts, from their glands and fangs to their silk and chitinous exoskeletons... Forget it, none of that is useful to you. You only need to know such things exist."
He waved his hand and freed the players' immobilized feet before they began trying to exploit a bug by walking on their hands instead of their legs.
In an instant, the players scattered like ducks let loose, rushing toward the nearest Cave Spider corpses and waving around daggers they had snatched from Rat Rat.
They could earn a reward equivalent to cutting off a rat tail just by taking the stones out of magical beasts' brains! Collect one hundred and there would be extra Contribution Points! This quest was way too profitable!
Watching the players bustle about, Leon standing nearby couldn't help revealing an expression that said, "This is great."
The low intelligence of summoned creatures had always been the greatest headache for mages specializing in summoning spells.
For example, Bond, whom he was currently using.
He could project his Spiritual Power over and manually control him, but that would interfere with spellcasting and, moreover, wasn't convenient at all.
Unlike his adorable little players.
More artificial intelligence than artificial intelligence.
That fellow countryman who called himself the God of Machines had really left him something useful.
"Lord Demon Lord... what are you collecting all these magic crystals for?" You You asked curiously, watching Leon smugly admire himself.
Leon smiled.
"They're very useful. Most directly, I can sell them for money."
The magic crystals on adult Cave Spiders were much larger than those dropped by Skeleton Soldiers, and far more valuable too.
According to the knowledge he had interrogated out of Chris, a Cave Spider magic crystal could sell for one hundred Copper Coins at the Adventurers' Guild. Better-quality ones could even fetch one hundred and twenty Copper Coins! It wasn't a huge sum, but it was enough to cover part of the Great Cemetery's deficit.
The next time his "exclusive merchant" came, he could use magic crystals to cover part of the payment.
Incidentally, the exchange rate between Os Empire Copper Coins and Os Silver Coin was around one hundred to one.
Apparently, two centuries ago, it had still been twenty-five to one.
And although it appeared to be inflation, the real reason for the change was still "indirect taxation."
The emperor mixed copper into silver coins, while the nobles mixed lead into copper coins. Eventually, it became what it was now.
He had heard that, unable to tolerate the Empire's exploitation, the northern Academic Federation had simply started using magic crystals internally in place of silver coins... After all, there were hardly any feudal lords there. It was mostly mages and Mage Towers.
In contrast, hell, which had only one currency—Keila—had none of these problems.
In hell, when one thing went up in price, everything went up in price. Rounded off, that meant nothing had gone up at all. There would never be a situation like in the Os Empire, where bread got more expensive but wine did not.
Although Leon had no idea what was funny about that, it was one of hell's human jokes anyway.
You You continued softly.
"...But you're the Demon Lord. Is having so much human money really useful?"
Leon answered as if it were obvious.
"Of course it's useful. I can't exactly use Keila to buy things in the human world, can I?"
Construction was expensive! Especially repairing Teleportation Arrays, building altars to summon other magical beasts, and the like. The costs were practically the same as building wonders! And spreading the faith was a money-burning endeavor too. Without money, he couldn't even support a few acolytes.
There were only skeletons in his territory right now, but it couldn't stay all skeletons forever.
He was a Demon Lord with dreams, after all.
Just as Leon was imagining the Great Cemetery's bright future, he suddenly noticed a skeleton standing still.
That ID looked rather pitiful. Apparently, the player usually had quite an appetite and needed a big bowl to get full.
Looking at Xiao Wan Can't Get Enough, who was so anxious she was nearly crying, Leon sighed.
"You... go clear away those spiderwebs."
He was planning to turn the labyrinth entrance into another facility anyway.
If she really couldn't stand Cave Spider corpses, clearing spiderwebs should be fine, right? "Yes, Lord Demon Lord!"
Xiao Wan Can't Get Enough let out a relieved breath and happily ran off to clear the webs.
Was this PUA? It was the same thing she disliked doing, but because it was less unpleasant compared to something she disliked even more, she had become delighted instead.
Leon suddenly felt a little guilty.
Very good.
That meant he had done the right thing again.
Leon watched for a while. Seeing that the players were even more skilled than he had expected, he turned around, returned to the Demon Lord Territory, and shut himself in his workshop to brew potions.
Compared to magic crystals.
He felt that Beast Drug from hell ought to be worth more.
There were so many materials anyway. It would be a waste not to brew some.
He could also record some footage and let interested little players learn it too.
Just after Leon left the labyrinth, Arakdo from the Weave Shadow Nest quietly led a group of hunters into the hall at the labyrinth entrance.
This was Her Majesty the Queen's "frontier," as well as the place adventurers called the "North Peak Mine entrance."
That said, since its birth, it had never seen many adventurers enter through this entrance.
And the moment it stepped into this territory, it witnessed a sight it would never forget for the rest of its life.
Corpses covered the ground! Dried blood lay like dried-up streams!
But that wasn't even the most shocking part. A group of Skeleton Soldiers wielding small knives were actually dissecting the corpses of their own kind, just like the adventurers outside!
"These bastards..."
Some hunters flew into a rage, their mouthparts grinding together as they longed to rush forward and chew these Skeleton Soldiers into bone ash!
Yet other hunters had undisguised terror in their crimson eyes.
Skeleton Soldiers...
They were magical beasts even lower-ranked than ratmen. Aside from slimes, almost no one would bother with them.
Yet at this moment, these mindless piles of bones actually possessed intelligence no less than that of humans!
What frightened them was not only the skeletons themselves, but also the necromancer who had summoned them—
Just what kind of terrifying power did that fellow possess?!
"Retreat!"
The resourceful Arakdo paled in shock and gave the retreat order without hesitation. Before that necromancer could notice them, it decisively led the hunters away from this dangerous place.
They ran all the way.
Arakdo did not dare stop for even a moment, rushing straight into the depths of the Weave Shadow Nest, to Lord Arachinos's court!
Upon dense, tightly woven webs.
Her Majesty the enormous Queen was chewing with her mouthparts, savoring the taste of the male Cave Spiders from earlier.
She had just been fed.
In every sense of the word.
Risking being eaten by Her Majesty, Arakdo trembled as it bowed to the ground.
"Esteemed Your Majesty, following your orders, I have investigated the situation in the frontier!"
Moving her alluring, enormous body, Arachinos lazily looked down at her subject.
"Speak. What is the situation there?"
"It's a necromancer!"
In an instant, Arachinos straightened up, her face filled with panic.
"A necromancer?! How could there be a necromancer?!"
Humans would never cultivate such foul things, and such foul things would never come to a labyrinth for no reason! There was only one possibility—
He was professionally trained! And perhaps he even came from that place! "That necromancer is very strong! The skeletons he summoned not only possess intelligence, but have Extraordinary Power at bronze rank or even refined steel rank and above! Alat Lulu, the most cunning hunter under my command, died at their hands!"
Arakdo recounted its discoveries, a trace of wariness—even terror—flickering in its crimson eyes.
"There can be no mistake..."
"He is the successor appointed by hell... the new Demon Lord who came to replace Demon Lord Reggie Dragon!"
Before you continue