When Yuria kept bowing to him to show gratitude, Baduk and the baby dungeon meerkat also followed suit.
'Oh, Yuria really likes the ball!'
When Yong-ho blinked, suggesting he couldn't believe his eyes, Kaiwan gently nudged his elbow as if to confirm from him that she made the right choice. In fact, a good gift for Yuria was something that she could play with Baduk. In that respect, a ball was better than a doll.
[What about mine?!]
[You don't have one for me?]
Right after Yuria received her gift, Lucia looked at Yong-ho impatiently.
He soothed Lucia with a small voice, "Let me give you a gift later."
[Later?]
"Yes, later."
Yong-ho, who gave Rikum a nice lighter, looked at the two dungeon spirits remaining in the room. They were Salami, who was snorting with lots of expectation, and Bucephalas, who pretended to be calm while expecting to receive a gift deep down.
After giving Bucephalas a comb to trim mane, which should eventually be done by Skull, Yong-ho stood in front of Salami. He looked at Kaiwan and Catalina once then took out the gift after hesitating a bit.
"Okay, Salami. This gift is for you. It's salty, so don't eat too much at once."
Yong-ho gave Salami an Italian sausage salami, while Catalina and Kaiwan waited for Salami's reaction with mixed feelings of curiosity, joy, and nervousness.
Salami blinked once then ate a slice of salami, flapping his tail.
For some reason, Yong-ho felt a bit guilty and stroked Salami's head.
***
Just like a demon king who cared about the welfare of his subordinate spirits, Yong-ho had brought enough food to hand out to all the spirits of the Mammon family. The limelight of all the gifts he brought this time was ice cream, not chicken.
Enjoying Melon-flavored ice cream, which Lucia mentioned carelessly as the spirit sharing some memories with Yong-ho, he asked, "There has been no reply from the Queen of Fury yet?"
There were only four in the heart of the dungeon—Kaiwan, Catalina, Ophelia, and Eligos.
Ophelia, admiring the subtle taste of ice cream she tried for the first time in her life, responded belatedly, "Ah, uh, yeah. Sorry. Hmm, hmm. No, we haven't received any reply from the Queen of Fury yet. Actually, her reply was too fast last time. Anyway, it looks like she thought that if she sent her reply fast, she would reveal to us that she was "in a hurry" or "impatient." So, even if she has the means to send her reply quickly, it is common for her to drag on for several days when it comes to this kind of exchange."
'Is it like a girl reading a boy's text message and not replying right away?' Yong-ho thought to himself.
He nodded, recalling his experience of a rare blind date as a college boy. Obviously, it was important to push and pull in these kinds of exchanges.
Right at that moment, Lucia, who loved the white dress that Yong-ho bought and kept spinning in that dress, suddenly set herself up. As if she looked into the air a bit, she smiled cheerfully.
[It seems the Queen of Fury is pretty much impatient.]
[Our master has won in this push and pull game.]
[This is what the dungeon meerkats have just reported to me.]
Even without hearing it, Yong-ho seemed to know what it was about.
Ophelia said with a smile, "It looks like the Queen of Fury is very anxious to meet you"
Why was she making such haste?
After exchanging a glance with his subordinate spirits, he went out of the heart of the dungeon.
***
Gardimundi landed in front of the dungeon entrance just like she did on her first recent visit, and waited for a reply from Yong-ho. Perhaps, since she was concerned that the House of Mammon was attacked last time, she did not raise a large flag symbolizing the Queen of Fury. She was here in her capacity as the secret envoy sent by the queen.
The dungeon meerkats gathered at the entrance of the newly built nest and looked at Gardimundi. The entrance of the new dungeon built under Burgrim's command was twice as large and hard as the previous one.
It was again Eligos, the butler of the Mammon family, who came out to meet Gardimundi.
But this time, he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by his assistant butler Jun and the Goblin Rangers. They were dressed up, as if to greet the queens' envoy officially.
"Welcome. Please come in."
"What? Right now?"
Gardimundi asked, embarrassed by Eligos's hospitality. Even though it was true that the queen and the master of the House of Mammon were in a friendly atmosphere, she didn't expect they would welcome her into the dungeon so quickly without taking any defensive measures.
Eligos smiled gently and quenched her curiosity.
"While building the new entrance, we added some facilities. Our master is waiting for you in the reception room."
Only then did Gardimundi figure out what was going on. The entrance of the dungeon didn't get bigger and harder without any reason. It was probably because the new reception room was located at the entrance of the dungeon, like other dungeons.
Stepping into the entrance of the new dungeon, Gardimundi was quite impressed. The fact that the entrance of this size was newly built in just a few days proved the power of the Mammon family. Moreover, it seemed that there were multiple facilities added this time.
Like a discerning scout, Gardimundi was busy checking here and there while she was standing there. When she took the twelfth step, she noticed something unusual.
'A special breed?'
One dungeon meerkat heading to her nest located right before the dungeon entrance was unusual. It looked like a baby, not fully grown, but it had small wings on its back.
She had never heard of a dungeon meerkat with wings. While taking the thirteenth step, she traced her memory, and when she took the fourteenth step, she realized that the dungeon meerkats outside the dungeon were somewhat different from typical ones.
What was it? Did they buy only dungeon meerkats of a special breed and raise them?
Before she could even deduce the answer, Eligos stopped walking. Shown into a well-decorated room, she immediately got the question out of her mind and showed due manners to the master in front of her.
"Gardimundi of the Garura clan, the messenger of Her Majesty the Queen of Fury, is honored to greet you."
She put together her hands in a typical show of manners of her clan.
Yong-ho responded with a warm smile, "It's nice to see you again. Please sit comfortably."
In the room, there were two sofas placed across each other. The place was too simple for the master to receive a special envoy of the Queen of Fury, but she preferred it because she was not the type of woman who liked empty formalities and vanity.
Seated across Yong-ho, Gardimundi put it bluntly without any diplomatic rhetoric.
"To get right down to the point, our Queen of Fury has accepted the conditions set forth by the master of the Mammon family. The meeting place is in the unclaimed area in the north. I want to leave it to you to choose the specific meeting place. As for the summit date, our Queen has set the date as you suggested."
Gardimundi paused for a moment then continued after clearing her throat.
"She proposed meeting you 20 days from now. Of course, you can decide whether to take it or not for the next couple of days. When you decide on the specific summit place, I hope you can fix the exact date."
It was obvious that the Queen of Fury made enough concessions.
Lucia whispered to Yong-ho.
[You seem to have completely won in this push and pull game, right?]
But her judgment proved too hasty.
As if she overheard Lucia's voice, Gardimundi added, "I heard that the unclaimed area in the north was not in a big chaos without law and order. So, the Queen of Fury wants to see you in the nestle of the House of Mammon."
Although she used some diplomatic rhetoric, she expressed the queen's wishes directly.
Yong-ho nodded, with a smile on his face.
"Of course. I would like to appreciate her consideration."
Gardimundi also kept up a bright expression. Then she handed him the letter in the queen's own handwriting that she kept in her pocket. Unlike she did last time, Gardimundi did not ask him to read it right away.
Yong-ho intuitively realized that he had nothing more to talk with her. So, he said, standing up first, "Ophelia, my subordinate spirit, will lead you into a guest room. Could you wait a moment while I prepare the reply?"
"Sure, that will do. Thanks for your consideration as the master of the Mammon family."
Ophelia, who was waiting behind his back, led Gardimundi to a guest room next to the reception room. Since he revealed Ophelia's identity, he wanted to show Gardimuni that he was treating her seriously.
As soon as Ophelia returned shortly afterward, Yong-ho convened a small meeting attended by the key members of the House of Mammon.
"Wow, she is quite straightforward, isn't it? What the queen means is we should show her our ability to overpower the north within 20 days, right?"
When Kaiwan spoke sharply, Catalina blankly blinked, not making head or tail of it.
She made an embarrassed expression, suggesting to ask Kaiwan, 'Is that what it means?'
Catalina quickly pretended not to have seen her. Fortunately, nobody paid any attention to Catalina.
"She is straightforward, as always. Of course, it's good that she is not beating around the bush with diplomatic rhetoric."
Ophelia laughed bitterly. Whether it was a secret talk or an open talk, they were supposed to negotiate with language, so it had been the basic of diplomacy that they use rhetorics to hide their intention. In particular, the negotiator was supposed to be responsible for his language, and the more detailed his language was, the greater his responsibility if something went wrong.
The unclaimed land in the north was not completely ruined like the west, but it was now like a lawless area like Gardimundi said. It was because Stravadi, the hegemon of the eastern area, devastated the northern area instead of occupying it in order to build up his power to challenge the House of Mammon.
"Can I take a look at the queen's letter first?"