The next morning…
I told Mom and Mother about something last night. I had been thinking about that matter for some time and ultimately decided to take a new step for at least the development of, maybe, my life.
I said that that matter would occur in the afternoon. So before that time arrived, there were some things that I wanted to check before anything else.
In our mansion’s dining area, me and my two mothers were having breakfast. Our long dining table was quite long, good for twelve people, and was served with luxurious meals that were enough for the consumption of the three of us.
For our table arrangement, Mother, the head (ostensibly) of the family, sat at the head of the table, while Mom took her seat on the right adjacent to Mother, and I took the other side.
If Sister and Sophia were still here, Sister used to sit on my current seat while I sat in between Mom and Sophia. But since they were currently not here, I could disregard the formalities and sit wherever I wanted.
“Hey, Mother. Can I ask something?”
“What is it, Raphael?”
“Excuse me.” I cleared my mouth with a table napkin before conveying my inquiry. “You said that you defeated the Nightmare that led an army of monsters, right?”
“Yeah. Why have you asked?”
“So what happened to that Nightmare after you killed her?”
“…”
Not only Mother, but Mom stopped eating and looked at me as well. I was asking for confidential information, so their reactions made sense.
“Can we discuss it later?”
“You do not have to worry, Mother.” I assured. “I knew it would be confidential, so I had deployed a one-way soundproofing barrier beforehand so no one would be able to hear us.”
“Hm.” Mother looked around and checked the surroundings. “It seems like no one is going to hear us from here.”
“Fufu. It seems that my boy is becoming more skilled with magic that I did not even notice you cast a spell.”
“Of course I am your son after all.” I said that and then looked back at Mother. “So what really happened to the demoness, Mother?”
“Do you really want to know?” 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩
“Correct, Mother. I am just curious.”
“Sigh. If you really want to know, I will tell you.”
Mother then bit off a chunk of what she was eating.
“After I killed the Nightmare, I really don’t know what to do with those countless monster corpses. So I only stored her body along with her weapon, since they were important, in my magic bag, then ran at full throttle from the forest toward your Mom at the Boulder Kingdom.”
“Ah, huh.”
“Luckily, I was able to meet your Mom along the way, and then I transferred the body from my bag to her Item Box to preserve its pristine condition. When the investigation went on, we told the authorities that the one responsible for the invasion was a Nightmare and had been killed, but—”
“But…”
“Since your Mom and I found the invasion somewhat strange, we decided to hide the fact that we preserved her body and told them that the Nightmare was charred by the attack and was turned to dust instead.”
Hm. I got what Mother meant. There were thirty thousand monsters in Boulder but only less than ten thousand in Astley. The unevenness of the division was strange to begin with.
Not only that, the strength of force that Astley deployed was less than ten thousand. If they wanted to eliminate the monsters quicker and more effectively, they should have deployed more troops then.
Those alone were enough to convince Mom and Mother that there were anomalies mixed in with the monster invasion. And since mothers did fabricate the real story…
“So that means…”
“Yes, my son. The body of the Nightmare has been kept in your Mom’s subspace for years, perfectly preserved and in pristine condition.”
“So Mom has been hiding a dead person with her since before Sister was born?”
“It is true, Raphael.” Mom then wiped her mouth. “Do you want to see?”
“Well, I am curious to see what a Nightmare looks like, so, of course, I want you to show me her body, Mom.”
“Very well, but let’s do it later. So finish your breakfast already.”
“Okay, Mom.”
After munching a few bites, I glanced at my two mothers and constantly kept my eyes on them. Then Mom noticed my behavior and asked.
“What’s the matter, Raphael? Is there a problem with our faces?”
“Absolutely no, mothers. For me, both of you are perfect.”
“Fufu.” Mom and Mother chuckled at my honest and factual praises.
“If you have anything to say,” Mom said, “do not hesitate to talk about it with us. We had seen every inch of each other, so you can open up with us, you know?”
“Thank you, Mom.” I was moved by the voice of Mom, which drove my heart. “There is actually a thing I want to tell you about; it relates to the thing I told you last night.”
“Oh?”
Last night, I told Mom and Mother about something, and that was the time to introduce my parents to my women. And for Mom and Mother to meet them, I had to disclose a certain secret about us first.
“This is a secret that me and Sister have been keeping behind you for more than a year.”
“…”
“Mom, Mother, actually, we discovered an unconquered dungeon in the forest…”
Upon hearing of an unconquered dungeon, Mom and Mother were now sternly looking at me with interest. They used to be adventurers, so their adventure senses had been tingling.
“Is that true, Raphael?” Mother asked for confirmation, to which I responded with a nod.
“Yes, Mother.”
“I am happy for both of you, Raphael!”
“I am happy too.”
Mother and Mom clasped their hands together as if congratulating our discovery. Discovering a dungeon was a stupendous matter for the adventurers and the guild, so mothers were happy that their children were gaining achievements.
Though mothers did not even think about our safety when challenging an unconquered dungeon. Unconquered dungeons were dangerous, so anyone must report to the guild if they discover one.
Anybody can conquer a dungeon and become its administrator, so they tend to capture it on their own and make themselves a dungeon master if they are lucky enough. One could even establish a town on it and make a killing of it.
That was why adventurers like my parents were eager to hear more about it.
“So, were you able to capture it?”
“Not yet, Mom. Sister and I promised each other that we would conquer the dungeon together. Besides, the dungeon is quite deep, and we have dove down to the 60th Floor so far.”
“60th Floor?” Mother astonished. “And there are even more floors below it?”
“Just theoretically, Mother. The Safe Areas are much wider than the Imperial one, so I can conclude that the dungeon would be deeper.”
Reportedly, according to Akashvani, the dungeon was measured to be a hundred floors deep. To my surprise, the rewards that one could get after defeating the Dungeon Guardian at the bottom floor were mythical-grade articles.
The weapons Mom and Mother were wielding had the grade of legendary. Mythical was obviously higher than legendary, and my ardent desire to capture the dungeon ignited even brighter.
“So that means you cannot challenge it until Louise returns, right?”
“Correct, Mother. A promise is a promise. Even though I had broke some promises, I cannot simply break this one promise with Sister.”
“What a faithful brother you are, my son.”
Mom smiled and sarcastically complimented me; she knew well how unfaithful I was to Sophia. I simply ignored her and returned to our topic before it got derailed.
“But there is more about the dungeon, mothers.”
“Ho?”
“And you will see it once you get there.”
◆◇◆
“Okay, I think this place would suffice.” Mom said this after I closed and locked the door.
“Yeah, it is enough, Mom. I had set barriers for protection and privacy, so you can place them here.”
An hour after our breakfast and the disclosure of the existence of the dungeon, together with my two mothers, we went to the basement of our mansion for Mom to conjure the corpse of Nightmare privately.
“Thank you, Raphael. But first of all, I will show the weapon first.”
A pitch-black disk appeared a few feet above Mom’s palm and something dropped from it. That must be the legendary weapon that the Nightmare wielded.
“Here is it, Raphael. Check it as much as you like.”
Mom handed over the weapon, and I accepted it. “Thank you, Mom.”
Upon closer inspection, the weapon was actually a whip. It was made of an unknown durable material and had an emerald green hue.
Whip.
Despite its legendary-grade material, the whip was surprisingly flexible and easy to use. And I was surprised when I began to use Analysis on it.