Whether summoning the adventurer's corpse as a skeleton or using it as a sacrifice to strengthen existing soldiers, it doesn't consume everything of that adventurer completely.
Unimportant memories, talents not fully used in necromancy, etc.
Those remnants, the accumulation of dead existence, remain stored in the core until they become useful and are extracted or consumed in other ways.
So when you press the 'Adventurer Sacrifice' tab, information like this appears:
『Jack Miller = 2』
『Remia Olas = 3』
The name attached to the existence, and the amount of magic power that the core can extract and utilize from it.
Although it's an incomparably small amount compared to the original, perhaps due to entropy running wild, these remnants can be used as both power and currency.
Using human souls as currency or food is probably nothing new for races modeled after 'demons,' whether they're demon races or devils.
Therefore, hesitating to 'sell' these souls would certainly seem strange to the succubus in front of me.
So I had steeled my resolve beforehand.
The resolve to sell these souls and use them for my benefit whenever a merchant visits.
"Lady? What's the matter…"
Despite that resolve, I froze for a moment now. The succubus seemed to have noticed this and was looking at me curiously.
"It's nothing. Here, this is it."
Speaking nonchalantly, I extracted the human souls absorbed into the dungeon core from my fingertips, which hadn't shown any of my wavering or hesitation from the start.
『Total Magic Power – 136 ▶ 131』
『Sacrifice Magic Power – 52 ▶ 47』
I could see the magic power being extracted from the core and decreasing.
Whoosh…!
Thus, I saw human souls for the first time.
The overall shape was like a ball of smoke rising like flames.
On the surface, memories from their life seemed to flash by like videos, and both seemed to reflect some solid colors, but Jack's was somewhat murky while Remia's was relatively clean.
I could quickly understand what these similarities and differences meant.
"My, such high-quality souls…"
The succubus's eyes sparkled as if seeing a treasure.
The system's description of 'high-quality goods' seemed to be correct after all.
"One is talented, and one has a pure soul. Moreover, you've even excellently dyed both souls with hatred. My, my."
'Texture' is the talent of the body. 'Brightness' is the purity of the soul. Finally, the flames outside the sphere are probably the 'degree of processing'… that is, how much it was made to 'suit the taste of demonic beings' before death.
I guess that's roughly how to think about it.
It seems the hatred and anger they felt towards me when they died was quite deep.
A momentary bitterness filled my mouth, but I could quickly shake off that feeling.
"For a novice lady to secure such high-quality souls…"
"They were excellent children. It's a pity I couldn't fully secure them as my retainers."
"I can't deny that. Well then…"
Hoping she would give more resources, I stared at her blankly.
Suddenly, Scarlet put her hand between her unusually large breasts and pulled out something with a magic circle drawn on a rectangular box.
If it weren't for my characteristic, I would have screamed right there.
Why on earth did she activate the storage magic entrance in such a place? Well, it is befitting of a succubus, but still.
"For now… the value of these items would be about this much each."
The item she pulled out seemed to be a calculator for measuring the value of souls.
She held the calculator up to my souls and showed me the screen that appeared like a hologram above it.
『Apprentice Human Male Warrior Adventurer – 250V』
『Apprentice Half-Elf Female Archer Adventurer – 600V』
Roughly speaking, V stands for 'Vice' or 'Vul,' the currency of the demon realm. And 100V can buy one 'Dungeon Lord Awakening Agent' that can raise one of my stats.
In other words, Jack's soul is worth 2.5 stats, and Remia's is worth 6 stats.
Honestly, even for excellent novice adventurers, this value is more than overflowing.
"It's less than…"
"…?"
"I expected."
"Oh…"
However, words with the opposite meaning flowed from my mouth.
I was certain that the succubus in front of me had not yet put some value on the scale.
As if proving that thought, the succubus who had been looking surprised with slightly widened eyes and pursed lips soon raised one corner of her mouth in a sly smile.
"You're quick-witted, Lady Libertas."
"I thought you'd try to deceive me once more. You're quite honest."
"Please consider it compensation for the prank I pulled earlier."
Scarlet smiled sweetly, crinkling her eyes in a coquettish way.
On the other hand, my heart was filled with unpleasant feelings as I looked at her, but hiding that degree was easily possible even for my original self. My current self was even better at hiding it.
"Alright. I'll forget it. So calculate it properly."
"Yes, yes. I'll do it right away!"
Scarlet, speaking in a polite tone, soon manipulated the machine, and the numbers on the hologram shown to me quickly began to change.
"Our investment in a promising newcomer we've seen after a long time. And accordingly, even more so, the soul of a good quality young human that's really hard to see these days! If we measure all that value…"
When she first saw me, she had already dropped a hint.
That I was a proper newbie she had seen after a really long time.
It was probably a mix of wanting to test how much I could understand and resignation that I wouldn't understand anyway and might die soon.
This also meant that the dungeons and lords sprouting like mushrooms on this continent were already dying easily at the generation stage.
And suppose the setting from 'MilDun 1' was inherited. In that case, the Dungeon Lord is the successor of the 'Demon King'… or more precisely, about the position of a candidate for a successor candidate.
As long as there are other promising successors on the ground, there's no need to cherish them too much, but it's a position that shouldn't be left to die helplessly if they can be helped.
After all, a 'small investment' would probably be just a speck of dust in the Mammon Guild's wealth.
Of course, this is all assuming that my human origin isn't discovered… but I think that possibility is almost non-existent.
"This would be the price."
『400V』
『1,200V』
Jack and Remia's souls are now worth at least twice as much. My heart was filled with both satisfaction and bitterness.
The amount is certainly enough to help me, but I already knew from the 'MilDun 1' setting what would happen to those souls.
If lucky, they might become prey or be reborn as demon races.
And if unlucky, they'd be toys to play with until the soul's lifespan runs out.
And usually, it's no mistake to say that even being dragged to hell is considered unlucky.
Either way, it's a much worse future than simply being stored in the core and sleeping, so in the end, this is something that shouldn't be done to people if they were the target.
I had no intention of turning a blind eye to that.
All I could say was this much.
"They were precious to me too, so find a good buyer."
"Of course. I'll find a partner worthy of the noble one's first prey. There are collectors who look for such novice souls, so I'm sure we can find a good person."
Click.
The succubus wrote something on a scroll that appeared in mid-air and then made it disappear, saying that as she stored the two souls in her chest again, and simultaneously, another piece of information was updated on my dungeon status window.
『Owned Resources – 1,600V』
If I shake off the unpleasant feeling and look, it's a sufficient amount of resources.
Now it's time to find what to do with this, but I've already decided.
"Now I can buy something, right? I'd like to see the swords."
"Swords… you say?"
Eyes widened with curiosity.
Her eyes turned slightly to the side and then fixed on me again. It meant she had caught on to what I meant by saying that.
To that, I didn't say anything more.
"Hurry."
"Ah, yes! But… Lady? I understand your attachment to your first summon, but there aren't many good weapons that can be given to a skeleton…"
"Don't make me repeat myself. What to buy is up to me."
"Yes…"
Finally, seeing the succubus give up with that expression, I turned my gaze to look beside me.
I could feel intense emotions from Eve, who had understood the situation unfolding beside her. Roughly, it was an emotion that was growing like a snowball rolling, mixed with a lot of excitement, affection, and loyalty.
Objectively, the sight of a skeleton clasping both hands together and twisting its body as if moved might be difficult to look at, but to me, who already had enough affection for this skeleton, it was quite a cute sight.
Perception is always swayed by emotion.
Just seeing how happy she is, it seems that the sword being well-maintained was just due to her duty as a warrior, and she doesn't particularly have an attachment to it.
That's good for me as the gift-giver too.
'Compose yourself. We're still in the middle of a transaction.'
-Clack!
Still, I couldn't leave it like this, so when I instructed inwardly, Eve recovered her proper posture with a 'snap'.
I had a feeling that Mire was subtly moving half a step away from the side… no, she really was doing that.
Anyway, that rolling, growing emotion was still there, but it was a perfect standing posture that no one but me, the summoner, could notice.
Somehow, I felt like laughing, but since there was a guest, I simply suppressed it.
"Here it is, Lady. They're all good quality ones. But once again, reconsidering is…"
"You keep trying to reverse my decision."
"Yes…"
I could feel Scarlet glaring at me with eyes full of the emotion. 'What should I do with this stubborn person?', but I ignored her and looked down at the bundle spread out in front of me.
『'Enduring' Bastard Sword』
It didn't take long to choose a weapon.