“You!! How dare you corrupt me!?”
What in the world is he talking about?
I was left completely dumbfounded by the flustered words of the sword.
Moreover, a voice that I hadn’t heard until now suddenly started ringing in my ears.
“Does holding the sword allow us to communicate?”
I wasn’t sure.
For now, let’s start with a simple greeting.
“Ah, hello?”
“I’m not fine at all! I was the noble soul of diligence! And yet… You entrusted me—not to anyone else—but to sloth!?”
“Uh…”
I had no idea what was going on.
The fact that the sword was talking in the first place was astonishing.
“I wanted to be reforged by an ordinary blacksmith, but because of you, the Demon King, I ended up like this! Shouldn’t you be apologizing to me? Apologize! Apologize to me!”
Wait a second, I feel like I’ve heard this line somewhere before.
I was at a loss for words and simply stared at the sword in my hand.
Then, Ara and Emily, who were next to me, looked at me with curiosity.
“Uncle! What is it saying?”
“What is it saying, Kyu-seong Kyu-seong? I want to hear it too!”
How should I explain this?
I scratched my head and replied.
“It’s telling me to apologize.”
“Oh! It said the same to me! It asked how a hero could do such a thing and whether I shouldn’t be the one apologizing instead.”
“If that’s the case, we should call it Apology-dori instead of Geomdori.”
It really does like apologies.
At that moment, Ara, unable to contain her curiosity, reached out and touched the sword.
“Ah! Ara, you have to be careful!”
I was worried, but surprisingly, Ara was completely fine.
“You! How dare you touch me without permission?! Apologize! Apologize to me!”
“Wow! It’s telling me to apologize! Its voice is adorable!”
“A-Adorable? Me?”
So simple-minded.
For some reason, it reminded me of my own companions.
“You said your name is Geomdori, right? Anyway, I’m sorry. I made a mistake. At the time, I thought that was the best choice. I acted without knowing any better.”
“Huh? Uh…”
The sword seemed flustered when I actually apologized.
I continued speaking.
“If I had known it was something that would upset you, I wouldn’t have done it. I truly apologize. Will you forgive me?”
“T-The Demon King apologizing…”
“Oh, and I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not the Demon King.”
“Lies! Don’t lie to me! My partner, Emily, told me everything! She said that the one who reforged me—Sloth—is under your command, along with Greed, Wrath, and Lust!”
“I’m here too! I am Gluttony, Ara!”
“W-What?! E-Even Gluttony!?”
Seeing the sword in utter confusion, I realized it had misunderstood everything.
It’s a misunderstanding. A complete misunderstanding.
“You’ve already subdued five of the Seven Deadly Sins… Just how powerful is the Demon King…?”
“I can hear you, Geomdori.”
“Gasp!”
What an airhead.
I was certain now. This one belonged with us.
Now that I realized it was actually pretty adorable, I felt much more at ease.
By the way, what does a sword even like? It probably doesn’t eat, right?
“So, will you accept the apology?”
“You didn’t apologize!”
“I’m sorry!”
“Hmph! Fine, I’ll accept it!”
Listening to this adorable conversation, I finally understood why Emily had been randomly laughing to herself lately.
With a silly and cute companion like this, how could she not?
“Anyway, I’m not the Demon King. I have no intention of becoming one either.”
“Hmm…”
“You even said it yourself earlier. If I were really the Demon King, would I have apologized so easily?”
“T-That makes sense.”
What exactly does a Demon King look like in Geomdori’s mind?
I was a bit curious, but for now, calming it down was the priority.
Since it was Emily’s partner, I shouldn’t get on its bad side.
“By the way, Geomdori, earlier you mentioned being the soul of diligence. Can you tell me exactly what that means?”
I had heard rumors from China that a new existence called the Seven Virtues might appear, and it seemed like Geomdori was related.
If I coax it a little, maybe it’ll spill the details?
“Our warrior of diligence, Lord Romeo, is an incredible figure! He is the god of all warriors!”
“Oh! That’s amazing!”
“Hmph! He’s far beyond comparison with those Seven Deadly Sins! Though he was defeated last time, after intense training, he has become even stronger!”
“He lost last time?”
“Ugh… Forget you heard that!”
A god of warriors, huh?
I thought he must be an unbelievable existence, but… he lost to the Seven Deadly Sins?
Now I’m even more curious.
Should I ask Ara about it?
“Ara, do you know what the Seven Virtues are?”
“Is it something you eat?”
She really had no clue.
Geomdori, on the other hand, exploded in anger.
“How could you forget about our Lord Romeo?!”
“Romeo? Is that something you eat?”
“H-How dare you…!”
Wow, the sword is shaking.
So it can move on its own.
“You must remember! You, Gluttony! You’ve fought against him before!”
“Romeo? Romeo-meo? Romeo-meo-meo…?”
Ara pondered deeply.
Emily and I watched her anxiously, hoping she’d remember something.
“Romeo-meo!!”
“You remember!?”
Geomdori sounded just as eager as we were.
“Hehe. Sorry about that.”
“How could you…!?”
Geomdori looked completely devastated.
It had completely forgotten about demanding an apology and was now entirely focused on a different matter.
“Will I get to meet this Romeo guy someday?”
“If the hero had properly grown, she would have learned swordsmanship from Lord Romeo. But now, it’s all ruined! And in this form, I can never return to Lord Romeo! Waaah!”
Ah, seeing it cry makes me feel guilty again.
Of course, I can’t actually see it, but I can hear the sobs.
“So, what happens now?”
“Now, the hero and I have both fallen into corruption. Since we are corrupted, we must follow the Demon King’s orders and conquer the world.”
“Hah… That’s really unfortunate.”
“But why are we just messing around here? Hey, partner! Now that I think about it, why haven’t we started conquering the world yet?”
You’re only thinking about that now?
I couldn’t help but let out an awkward laugh at Geomdori’s airheaded remark.
Emily shrugged and spoke to Geomdori, even though she was no longer touching the sword.
“Why would we conquer the world?”
“What do you mean why!? We are now under the Demon King! Shouldn’t we, as the Demon King’s subordinates, be conquering the world?”
Why does Geomdori seem even more eager than anyone else?
Could it be that Geomdori actually wanted world domination all along?
“Geomdori, sorry to say, but there’s no such thing as world conquest.”
“What? What do you mean there’s no such thing?”
“There’s no Demon King here.”
I shamelessly declared.
Wait, no, why would that be shameless? It’s just a fact.
“No, that can’t be! There’s no way! Five of the Seven Deadly Sins are gathered here—there’s no way there isn’t a Demon King! Oh? Now that I think about it, didn’t you say you command all of the Seven Deadly Sins? That makes you the Demon King!”
“I’m not the Demon King. I’m a slime—no, a monster welfare officer. I just want all the monsters under me to live happily.”
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong is a very famous! Monster welfare officer!”
Ara, why did you put a question mark in there?
Where else in the world would you find someone like me? Hahaha.
“Uncle isn’t the Demon King. He’s saved too many people and monsters to be one.”
“But the Seven Deadly Sins…”
“They each had their own struggles. Uncle helped them, and naturally, they started following him.”
Emily had heard my grand tale as a monster welfare officer before.
Not just once, but quite a few times.
I even remembered Ara dozing off beside me during those “exciting” stories.
How could she sleep through such an interesting tale?
Geomdori fell silent for a moment.
I took the opportunity to ask something I’d been curious about.
“By the way, Geomdori, do you eat food?”
“I eat too! I’m alive, you know!”
“Ohh! Really? What do you eat?”
“Mostly metal.”
“Metal?”
“Yeah. The better the equipment, the tastier it is. Just raw ore doesn’t do it for me. I only eat ingots when I have no choice. I prefer beautiful, ornate, high-performance gear!”
“Ah… Aha.”
That’s a pretty demanding diet.
So it doesn’t just eat anything?
“And I hate plain minerals. The composition matters. I prefer high-purity materials. Scrap metal or impure stuff? Disgusting. I’d rather starve than eat that.”
“A picky eater!”
Ara pointed at Geomdori in accusation.
Geomdori immediately fired back.
“Then can you eat everything?”
“Yup!”
“Even iron?”
“Yup!”
Did it forget that Ara is Gluttony?
As I listened to their oddly well-matched conversation, I asked another question.
“Have you eaten anything recently?”
“No, not a single meal.”
“Huh? So you don’t eat that much?”
“What are you talking about!? I eat two meals a day, just like humans!”
“But you just said you haven’t eaten even one meal… Oh, you mean just for today?”
Emily awkwardly admitted.
“I never actually fed it anything. I never thought it could eat.”
“Then how many days has it been starving? Are you okay?”
“Uh… how long has it been? Now that I think about it, I do feel a little hungry…”
This guy is really an airhead.
I decided to pause the conversation and take care of Geomdori’s meal first.
Luckily, the forge was running at full capacity after recruiting the Nyang tribe, so we could head there immediately.
“I don’t eat cheap stuff!”
Ignoring Geomdori’s complaints, I handed it back to Emily, and we all made our way to Nyang Village.
“I feel bad now. I had no idea you could eat.”
Seeing Emily sincerely apologizing to Geomdori made me feel a little guilty too.
“Is there anything in particular you like?”
“Um, it said it likes rare, high-quality mineral-based equipment or artifacts.”
“Haha.”
What a picky eater.
Instead of specifying a favorite food, it just went with “anything delicious.”
‘But with Bell and the Nyang tribe’ skills, I’m sure they can satisfy Geomdori.’
The minerals from our mine weren’t bad either, so I was curious to see how Geomdori would react.
When we arrived at Nyang Village, it wasn’t just the Nyang tribe there.
Goblins, gnolls, breeding folk, slimes, and even the Kkumuris were all gathered.
“This place is bustling.”
“It’s hot! Hot!”
Emily shouted as she ran to the kids.
Ara, excited as well, followed right after her.
“Oh, it’s Headbutt! Been a while.”
Squish?!
Headbutt, who had been training hard in the mines, made an appearance for the first time in a while.
What brought him here?
Squish squish!
“Hmm? You came to ask them to make you training equipment?”
Kkumuri!
Now that I looked around, most of the people here had come to request something from the Nyang tribe.
The goblins wanted crafting tools.
The gnolls had gathered random junk for unknown purposes.
The slimes requested toys and farming equipment.
And the Kkumuris? They just seemed to be hanging out.
On top of that, everyone was here to help with the second large forge and village construction.
“They’re really living in harmony.”
The dungeon had naturally evolved into an interconnected society with multiple villages.
It made me feel oddly proud.
Apparently, Bell, Mammon, Ras, and Frey were all here too.
It seemed like they had also come to request something.
“Wow, you guys made all these?”
“Amazing!”
Emily and Ara were busy admiring the items displayed at the Nyang tribe’ stand.
Oh, right, I should check on Geomdori’s food.
“Emily, what’s Geomdori saying?”
“Uh… It went silent.”
“Huh?”
What’s wrong?
Did it not like what it saw?
I asked Emily for permission and touched Geomdori.
Still silent.
Why?
But after a moment…
“What is this feast!? I’m surrounded by delicious things on all sides!!”
It seemed more than satisfied.
Cliche Novel 