"Ah, it seems I'm the first to arrive."
Under everyone's watchful gaze, several figures slowly drew near.
A pleasant young girl's voice reached their ears, and soon a breathtakingly beautiful young maiden in an ornate, luxurious dress appeared before the three of them.
However, this stunning beauty was not human. Though she looked similar at first glance, a closer look revealed her deathly pale skin and blood-red eyes.
And with the sharp fangs faintly visible between her lips, there was no mistaking it.
A vampire.
Shalltear Bloodfallen.
A True Ancestor, one of the highest-ranking vampires, possessing overwhelming offensive power and terrifying endurance. She was also Nazarick's strongest publicly acknowledged Floor Guardian.
As the guardian of the 1st through 3rd Floors of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, she served as the very first line of defense against invasions by other players.
Because her creator was Peroroncino, the guild member who regarded adult games as humanity's greatest art, her personality could only be described as severely twisted.
She was a bundle of perverse fetishes, including necrophilia, tentacles, sadism, and other bizarre sexual preferences far beyond those.
The reason Shalltear was infatuated with Momonga was precisely because he matched one of those fetishes: bone worship.
"Now that it's not just Momonga here, but also me and Herohero… what choice will she make?"
Naohara wondered with interest.
Momonga satisfied her bone fetish.
Herohero suited her tentacle fetish.
As for himself… he didn't seem to have any strange preferences at all.
Would she charge at Momonga like in the original story?
Would she choose Herohero instead?
Or… would she pick me?
Naohara sat on the dragon throne with his arms crossed, fully prepared to enjoy the show.
But what happened next caught him off guard.
Shalltear didn't do anything strange at all.
She glanced at Momonga, then looked at Herohero and Naohara. After that, she properly bowed in greeting, stepped to the side, and stood quietly without a word.
"Looks like my presence and Herohero's made her hold back."
Naohara quickly figured out why.
Leaving himself aside, Herohero's pitch-black form carried an oppressive aura that was hard to ignore. She had probably been tempted, but in the end, she restrained herself.
Still, with both a "corpse" and "tentacles" standing right in front of her, the two things that perfectly matched Shalltear's special fetishes, she must have been struggling internally over which one to choose.
Since she hadn't made any move yet, it seemed Shalltear was seriously thinking about which Supreme Being to devote herself to.
"As a Dragonoid, I probably don't fit her tastes. If I did, things would get seriously troublesome."
Naohara felt a bit relieved.
Shalltear was undeniably beautiful. Naohara couldn't deny that. As an NPC created by Peroroncino, the embodiment of lust, her appearance was the kind that could easily become anyone's dream girl.
Well… as long as she didn't activate Blood Frenzy.
But now that he had finally transmigrated to another world, Naohara had no intention of making a move on anyone from the Great Tomb.
To him, they were all his friends' children.
If he actually fell in love with one of them… it would just feel wrong.
Besides, this other world wasn't lacking in beauties.
If he'd gone through all the trouble of transmigrating and didn't go out to have a little fun, meet a couple of girls, and slay a couple of demon lords, he'd be too embarrassed to call himself a transmigrator.
...
"Oh? So you're here, shorty."
Standing off to the side, Shalltear spoke to Aura beside her.
"I can't believe I wasn't the first one here. Honestly… I wanted to leave a good impression on my beloved Supreme Beings."
"And what's with those injuries? What, did you get punished by a Supreme Being because you messed up?"
Shalltear sneered as she looked Aura up and down, her eyes lingering on Aura's dirty, torn clothing.
Even though their creators were siblings, the relationship between the two of them was the complete opposite. On the surface, they didn't get along at all. In fact, it was downright terrible.
"Shut up, you fake boobs!"
Aura curled her lip and shot back without hesitation.
"Y-you…! Hmph! At least I'm better than you, shorty."
Shalltear froze for a moment before quickly forcing herself back into composure. Aura's words had clearly hit a nerve.
"I'm a Dark Elf. You're an undead. I still have room to grow."
"As for you… tsk tsk. You're hopeless."
This time, Shalltear couldn't hold it in any longer. Her aura began leaking out uncontrollably.
"Shorty!"
"Fake boobs!"
"Um… Sister, Shalltear, please stop fighting…"
Shalltear and Aura stood face to face, immediately erupting into a heated argument. Mare tried to step in and calm them down, but it didn't help at all.
...
"Is that an NPC created by Peroroncino?"
Herohero watched the two bickering and asked, sounding unsure.
"Yeah. If anyone could make Shalltear look that beautiful even while sticking close to her original concept, it'd be that guy."
Naohara explained, sounding genuinely impressed.
After all, the Vampire True Ancestor in the game was very different from the traditional image of one.
To be precise, the game's Vampire True Ancestor was closer to some kind of fish than a bat.
As for what it looked like…
It was the kind of thing that could instantly ruin someone's love life and give them nightmares for days.
"How nostalgic… Peroroncino and Bukubukuchagama used to fight like that too."
Momonga sighed as he spoke to Naohara and Herohero.
Watching the two of them argue brought him back to the days when his companions were still around. He remembered how Peroroncino and Bukubukuchagama used to bicker like this, even while being strangely affectionate with each other.
"Yeah… too bad we might never see them again."
Herohero spoke quietly.
As a Slime, Herohero had always gotten along well with Bukubukuchagama, who was also a Slime. So when he said those words, there was a clear heaviness in his voice.
"Peroroncino… I can still remember the way he looked when he was recommending those adult games to me."
"Of course, Bukubukuchagama found out in the end and beat the crap out of him."
Naohara laughed as he reminisced with them.
"And the funniest part was that the heroine in the game Peroroncino recommended to me… I think she was voiced by his sister, Bukubukuchagama herself."
"Oh, I remember that too."
Momonga chimed in, his tone turning mischievous.
"I think Peroroncino got punished in real life as well. He didn't log in for several days afterward."
As Peroroncino's friend, there was no way Momonga would let such a perfect chance to mock him slip by.
Back then, he had laughed at him mercilessly.
And that was exactly why, when Peroroncino later designed NPCs, he intentionally made them especially effective against Momonga.
There was definitely some personal resentment mixed in.
"By the way, Momonga, why didn't you call Pandora's Actor too?"
While chatting, Naohara suddenly shifted the topic and asked why Momonga hadn't summoned the NPC he created.
"Pandora's Actor…? If I remember right, that's the Level 100 guardian protecting the Treasury. Momonga, you made that one, didn't you?"
Herohero thought for a moment before speaking.
"Yeah. I mean, Herohero and I informed all the NPCs we created."
"But yours is the only one you didn't notify."
Naohara voiced the obvious inconsistency.
Of course, he already knew why.
With Pandora's personality, if Momonga actually called him over, he'd probably suffer a mental breakdown on the spot.
So Momonga had subconsciously gone with the "out of sight, out of mind" approach and conveniently ignored his existence.
But Naohara had deliberately pulled that curtain aside and forced the issue into the open.
"Ahem…"
Momonga coughed awkwardly.
"Pandora has to guard the Mausoleum, so… for safety reasons, I didn't notify him."
"Oh, looks like another Floor Guardian has arrived."
After giving that excuse, Momonga immediately shifted everyone's attention elsewhere.
At the same time, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness someone showed up. If the conversation had continued, it would've gotten troublesome.