From the shadows cast by the chandelier, the Shadow Crawler rose from the ground and leaned casually on the table.
Shadow Crawler grinned as his tail wiggled back and forth. "Hey. Did you miss me?"
"I thought you were going to explore the city?" Valerie asked, confused since Commander Zaman had just left.
At her question, Shadow Crawler made a pouting face. "Well, I tried to! But everyone either ran away or tried to fight me the moment I showed my face. I couldn't even try the local food, even though I was willing to pay in gold coins. And before you ask—no, I didn't steal or hurt anyone. Mother said not to."
'He has gold?' Valerie thought.
Though several things about what he said were odd, she understood his plight. People would naturally be terrified by the sight of a monster roaming the city, and anyone who recognized him as the boss monster of the Necropolis dungeon would only panic more. She hadn't considered this problem when she initially made the deal with the dungeon.
For everyone's best interest, she knew she had to resolve this before it caused widespread panic over a supposed monster outbreak.
"I'm sorry for that. Soon, I will address the people about our cooperation with the dungeon, which should calm their fears. Could you and the other monsters wait until then?"
"Oh, that would be nice! But I'll probably be the only one allowed to walk around and explore, so don't worry too much about it." Shadow Crawler didn't mind staying put, as his time on the surface was limited anyway.
"How so?" Valerie asked, curious.
"Well…" Shadow Crawler tapped his chin. "Most of the normal floor monsters can't even talk, either they're not smart enough or they lack the organs to do so. As for us bosses, we can talk, but Gravedigger is a musclehead who can't help but pick fights, Handless Fiend is completely focused on mastering his law technique, and Bone Hydra… Well, have you seen how big he is? No, of course you haven't, since no one's reached the last floor. But he's big. Like, REALLY big. It'd be super inconvenient for him to come up. So, I'll be the one you deal with. Speaking of which, why did you call me here?"
Valerie's expression sobered. She clasped her hands in front of her and took a deep breath.
"I called you here because I need your help."
Shadow Crawler tilted his head. "Help? With what exactly?"
"It's about my brother." Valerie said quietly. "He… disappeared months ago while exploring a dungeon. They say he was killed in a monster house, but it never made sense to me. He was strong and had multiple life-saving items. Even if he encountered a monster house, he should have been able to escape."
Shadow Crawler narrowed his many eyes thoughtfully. "Your brother… Oh! You must be talking about Prince Nelson, right?"
Valerie's eyes widened. "You know his name?!"
The boss monster gave a slow nod. "Yeah, at least that's what they called the leader of a party that came to challenge me."
Valerie held her breath. Since Shadow Crawler was the last enemy before facing real A-Rankers, this could only mean one thing.
"Was it you… who killed him?"
Shadow Crawler blinked, then casually shook his head. "Nope. I defeated their party, sure, but I didn't kill him."
Valerie's eyes narrowed. "Defeated? What exactly do you mean by that?"
Leaning back with his arms crossed, Shadow Crawler's tail flicked lazily. "Well, things didn't exactly go how you'd think. I fought them, yeah. Was doing pretty well if I do say so myself, but I'm fighting against eight people so there is only so much I can do, you know? Eventually, they got the upper hand and I was injured. The fight was basically over. But then… something weird happened."
Valerie's grip on the table tightened. "What happened?"
"Three of the party members suddenly turned on their own." Shadow Crawler's tone was neutral. "While everyone focused on finishing me off, they struck without warning. It was too sudden for the others to react. They didn't stand a chance."
Valerie's eyes widened in shock. "They… betrayed him?"
Shadow Crawler nodded. "Yeah. Prince Nelson was lucky, though. A life-saving item activated when he was in danger—a barrier, I think. It protected him from the first strike. But after that, it was three against one. He couldn't hold out for long."
Valerie's chest tightened. All this time, she had believed it was an accident.
"Did they say why?"
"Oh, yeah." Shadow Crawler's tone turned dismissive. "The usual nonsense. Something about it being 'time for the monarchy to fall' or whatever. I wasn't really paying attention, just another reason for humans to kill each other. I was more focused on not dying."
Valerie's face darkened. 'The rebellious noble faction…'
Though they had finally been defeated recently, it had never occurred to her that they might have been involved in her brother's downfall. At the time of the incident, their schemes hadn't fully begun, allowing them to evade suspicion.
"I was foolish." she muttered to herself. "I should have seen it."
Shadow Crawler tilted his head, watching her carefully. "Yeah, well, while they were busy boasting about the 'rebirth of the kingdom' and all that, they made one big mistake."
Valerie looked up sharply. "And what was that?"
Shadow Crawler smirked, his fangs glinting. "They forgot about me."
His grin widened.
"I was barely clinging to life, but I wasn't dead. With precise control, I used their shadows to create swords and stabbed them from behind. They didn't even see it coming."
Valerie's breath caught. "You… killed them?"
"Oh yeah." Shadow Crawler said nonchalantly. "They dropped like stones. I even managed to stand up after that. I was going to finish off the prince too, but—"
"But what?" Valerie pressed.
Shadow Crawler's eyes narrowed in thought. "Before I could, he reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a teleportation gem. He used it to escape."
Valerie leaned back, exhaling slowly. A mixture of relief and regret washed over her.
"So… he survived?"
Shadow Crawler shrugged. "If that gem worked properly, yeah. But teleporting out of a boss room is tricky. If he was lucky, he ended up outside one of the two gates. If not, well, he could have ended up somewhere else."
Valerie stared at the table, piecing it all together. Her brother had been betrayed by his own party—traitors aligned with the rebellious nobles. He barely survived, only escaping thanks to a teleportation gem.
But where did he go?
And why hadn't he returned?
Shadow Crawler watched her in silence. "So, does that give you the closure you were looking for?"
Valerie's gaze hardened. "No. But I'm glad to know the truth."
She stood. "If my brother survived, I need to find him."
Shadow Crawler tilted his head. "Sounds like a lot of work."
"It is." Valerie replied firmly. "But he may need my help."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Shadow Crawler chuckled.
"Well, good luck with that. Say… since I helped you out, mind doing me a favor?"
Valerie raised an eyebrow, suspicious.
Shadow Crawler grinned. "Don't worry, Princess. Nothing bad. Since I can't buy things in the city, can you deliver some stuff to the dungeon?"
"That can be arranged. Do you have something in particular?"
"Oh, just a few things. Here." From a shadow, he pulled out a scroll and handed it over.
Unfurling the scroll, Valerie's eyes slowly widened as she read the ridiculously long list of items.
It started normally enough, food, some miscellaneous items, but then there were odder items…
"Why do you even need two grand pianos?!"