My Harem of Dangerous and Crazy Women as a Reincarnated Necromancer-Chapter 49: The Voice of Reason

’What if...’

Mark’s train of thought was cut short by Rose’s sudden words.

"Before you say whatever you’re about to say, I want you to know I’m against it."

Mark, who hadn’t said anything yet, blinked a couple of times and turned to look at the vampire with a raised eyebrow.

"But I haven’t said anything yet."

"You don’t need to say anything," Rose replied, crossing her arms with that self-satisfied expression that seemed to be her natural state. "It’s pretty obvious what you’re about to suggest... You want to keep pushing forward floor by floor, using that passive ability of yours to grind experience without the monsters detecting you. Am I wrong?"

Mark opened his mouth, then closed it again.

’What the hell?’

The feeling that came over him was strange — not unpleasant, but... unexpected.

Since arriving in this world, or rather, since he’d had subordinates, not one of them had ever questioned anything he did.

Ely obeyed with blind devotion, Yuki nodded in silence and carried out whatever he ordered, and Aria... well, Aria would probably have asked him to step on her if he’d suggested it.

The point was that none of the three had ever raised a single objection to his plans.

And now this vampire he’d known for less than a day was telling him, with complete calm, that his plan was stupid.

’This is... new.’

Rose seemed to notice the subtle shift in Mark’s expression almost immediately, which caused the corner of her lips to curve slightly upward.

"Do you have more subordinates like her?" Rose asked directly, gesturing casually toward Yuki with a tilt of her head.

Mark went blank for a moment at Rose’s sudden change of subject, but quickly recovered.

"Yes. Two more."

"Are they as strong as her?"

"Yes, they are — one is a holy knight and the other is a support/buffer."

Rose nodded slowly, as if each piece of information confirmed something she’d already suspected.

Then she let out a sigh that, coming from someone who technically didn’t need to breathe, was quite dramatic.

"Then I’m even more against pushing further into the dungeon."

Mark frowned.

"What’s that about? We just confirmed my passive works perfectly here. The monsters don’t detect me, we can—"

"You can die."

The sentence was direct, unadorned, and delivered without Rose’s usual sarcastic tone.

"Listen to me carefully, Master," the vampire continued, stepping toward him. "Your passive ability is impressive, I won’t deny it. But we’re in the Demon Lord’s dungeon... and not even I know what kind of enemies or traps we might run into if we start going deeper."

’Maybe I should have altered her memory more...’

The thought crossed Mark’s mind almost on instinct, like a defensive reflex against someone telling him something he didn’t want to hear.

But Rose wasn’t finished.

"If you have more subordinates, if you have a holy knight and a support, the smartest move is to bring them with you before going any further."

Rose raised a hand and began counting on her fingers in a deliberate gesture so they could both see.

"First, more people means more ability to respond to the unexpected. Second, a support buffing the frontline increases the party’s efficiency. Third, a holy knight on the frontline lets you hold your position in the rear where your passive is most useful. And fourth..." Rose lowered her hand and looked Mark directly in the eyes, "...if something goes wrong on the lower floors, two people are not enough to cover a retreat."

Mark’s instinct was to push back against Rose’s points, but no matter how hard he tried to find a flaw in her logic, he couldn’t.

’...I’m glad I only modified the minimum.’

Because Rose was absolutely right.

If Mark was honest with himself, the excitement of discovering his passive worked in the Demon Lord’s dungeon had blinded him.

He’d already been picturing himself leveling up floor by floor, stacking experience like in the old days of Eternal Conquest when he found a farming spot nobody else knew about and stayed there for hours until the server kicked him off for maintenance.

But this wasn’t a game.

There was no respawn button here.

"You’re right," Mark admitted, running a hand through his hair. "I got carried away... and I think the smart move is to bring the others before going any further."

Rose watched him for a moment, as if evaluating whether the admission was genuine or just an attempt to shut her up.

But apparently what she saw satisfied her, because her expression softened and a smile appeared on her face — not mocking, but rather... warm.

"Don’t worry about it, Master," she said in a tone that bordered on maternal, which was slightly unsettling coming from someone who looked to be in her mid-twenties.

"That’s what I’m here for. Someone has to be the voice of reason in this group."

Mark couldn’t help but smile back.

He nodded, genuinely grateful for the first time that Rose was exactly who she was.

No filter, no blind submission, none of that desperate need to please him that the others had because of Consciousness Modification.

’Maybe this is what I needed from the start... someone who’d tell me when I’m being an idiot.’

"Alright," said Mark, turning toward the corridor they’d come from. "Then let’s head back home and—"

"Master."

Yuki’s voice cut through the air like one of her daggers.

Mark and Rose turned toward the assassin at the same moment. She had remained in complete silence throughout the entire conversation between them.

Yuki was standing a few meters ahead in the corridor, and her posture had changed entirely.

Her knees were slightly bent, one hand already on the grip of her weapon, eyes narrowed and fixed on the darkness of the passage stretching before them.

"Something is coming," Yuki said without looking away. "And it’s moving fast."

At first Mark felt nothing — just the damp, oppressive silence of the dungeon.

But then he sensed it.

A subtle vibration at first, like the distant hum of an engine, growing in intensity with every passing second.

The ground began to tremble.

"How fast?" Rose asked, her voice stripped of any trace of its usual humor.

Yuki didn’t answer with words.

She simply drew both daggers, and that was answer enough for Rose.

’Damn it... I should have listened to Rose five minutes ago.’