When Rokuko grinned, the deadlock trio turned up.
“What’s this here? What are you bothering with 695?”
“Yeah! Don’t you know what to say to your superiors?”
Rokuko turned towards them, but she was smirking at them.
“Oh my. For what reason are you all here? What rank did you get?”
“322nd, gekokoko. I passed 650.”
“Oi, 653 getting all cheeky? So, 695. You?”
… Fu. Rokuko laughed haughtily. Then, she spoke with a triumphant look.
“210th.”
“210th! Fufufu, I passed you! I passed all of you!”
“Look right there then! Take a goooood look, it says 210th, 695!”
Rokuko pointed at the table. It really did say 695 in 210th place.
“Whaaa!? S-seriously!?”
“I’m not at the bottom anymore! I’m 210th. Right, I’m higher ranked! Add [No.] to the 650!”
“Ah, that’s right, huh.”
Rokuko just remembered.
“But what the heck. How’d 695 pass us after so many years of us saving up DP? Father’s mistake?”
“Geko geko, yeah, cheated! She’s a cheater!”
Core 651 shouted out [Cheater! Cheater!] with its loud voice.
Because of that, the cores who were surpassed by that low ranked Rokuko got hooked on by his voice and started paying attention.
“But what kind of cheating could she have done?”
“Come to think of it, there was something said about her winning against No. 112 a bit ago… how did the lowest ranked core win? Does that mean that No. 112 is a co-conspirator…?”
Ah, what they’re talking about is actually close to the truth.
Huh? Did I do something wrong? It was illegal?
“Confess! Now, how did you cheat, 695!?”
“Uwaah, you’re obviously trembling. How suspicious… nyujururu.”
Not knowing how it turned into her doing something wrong, Rokuko looked around her in circles. Her eyes grew hot. She looked like she was about to cry.
“Stop talking, you unsightly worm.”
A cold voice projected out from somewhere. With those words, the area grew silent.
A fiery red-haired girl appeared.
“666…”
“Use [No.], 650. Is that not common courtesy? I am a higher rank than you, and you and I are not close with each other.”
Core 666. The first in the 600 Series to take on human form, she was an excellent core.
She was also the youngest in Core No. 6’s Demon King Faction.
“Guh—No. 666! Say something to 695 too!”
“Why!? This cheater passed you!”
“She did not pass me.”
When looking towards the spot Core 666 pointed towards, it said [180th, 666].
She pushed aside many people, making her way past the 200s.
“B-but! She cheated to raise her rank! Yeah, she definitely got some from 89!”
With the funds for the dungeon battle and the inn fees Rokuko received from Haku, as well as the DP she got as tips, he wasn’t necessarily wrong.
Rokuko was even more flustered now.
“Foolish… then shouldn’t you just raise your rank the same, through [Cheating]?”
“Haah!? W-what’re you saying!? Are you stupid!?”
Core 650 shouted, saying it was out of the question.
Meanwhile, Core 666 simply sighed.
“Not at all. If the placement was recognized by father, it isn’t cheating, right? Is it cheating to earn DP through means you can’t do yourself? Even if the pretext is extreme.”
“…”
With a flash, Core 666 pointed a magic sword clad in flames towards the middle of Core 650’s eyes. It happened in an instant, so Core 650 wasn’t able to react in the slightest.
“If you insult Jiji-sama… I will slaughter you like a pig!”
“Hiii!? W-what!? Kill!? Y-y-you wouldn’t actually—!”
Even while saying that, Core 650 (the snake) quickly retreated to Core 651 (the frog) and hid behind him. Core 666’s sword suddenly vanished and she spoke with a nonchalant look on her face.
“Eh? Ah, un, you could… say that?”
“Shaaa!! So cheeky, even though you’re just 695!”
“Eh, wait!? Why did it turn into me saying that!?”
Hmph. Core 666 snorted.
—By some chance, did she just help me?
“… Oh?”
Core 666 just noticed something after looking at Rokuko. As for what she was looking at, it was the red ruby and orichalcum ring on her left hand.
“… 695. That’s a beautiful ring.”
“Heeh, from your master huh… seems expensive. If I’m not wrong… that’s orichalcum, right?”
“Could I take a closer look?”
“Eh? Nnn, c-can you see it like this?”
Rokuko completely ignored the roars coming from Core 650, who was still hiding behind Core 651, and held her hand out to Core 666.
She took her hand and looked at the ring… it was an orichalcum ring that encased a pure ruby inside of it, one without any mars on it. Core 666 observed it carefully. 50,000,000 DP wouldn’t be enough, it was a treasure worth at least 100,000,000 DP.
“Why didn’t you turn that ring into DP?”
“But if you did, wouldn’t your ranking go up quite a lot?”
—Even more than mine.
As for Rokuko, she knew that Kehma had made it with a small amount of DP, so she didn’t think that it would turn into much DP. Well, she didn’t intend to do that since it was her imporant ring (present), though.
“No, don’t wanna.”
Hearing Rokuko’s answer, Core 666 let go of her hands.
“So wasteful, 695. Really, just a bit… just a tiny bit, I want to break you.”
“Please don’t!? It doesn’t sound like a joke coming from 666!?”
When Rokuko said [666]… even though it was like how humans would refer to someone by their first name, Core 666 didn’t particularly take it as anything bad. [1]
Then, she spoke.
“Therefore, 695. I request to have a duel with you.”
Footnotes: Remember that in Japan, it’s mostly presumptuous to call someone by their first name. It can be anything from rude to intimate. Dungeon cores’ names are structured with 第XXX番 for the number, where I am translating 第 as the [No.] portion of the name. In their—the dungeon cores’—culture, it is like an extra honorific (like san, kun, etc) that is used to make it more formal and not so similar to using someone’s first name. It might be a little confusing, so sorry about that. Return