I’m Telling You, I’m Not a Boss Monster!

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Cecilia’s trembling body bothered me, so I pushed it aside for now.

It should have just been that, but Cecilia looked up at me with her wide eyes.

“…Master?”

Her expression looked like she could burst into tears any moment, which made my heart soften unexpectedly.

However, the moment I recalled the time she had tried to kill me, a chill ran down my back.

“I-I’m Ria. It’s definitely Ria….”

Cecilia’s level was a pink color reminiscent of Charlotte.

She had an unparalleled kindness and affection just because I was her master.

On the flip side, I didn’t even know that she had a master.

If I had known that, I could have acted like the master I wasn’t to get through this crisis.

Moreover, if I could draw her to our side, our strength would greatly increase.

‘It’s too one-sided of a wish.’

The retinas looking at me were covered in illusions.

What if she later realizes that I’m not her master and that she’s been used by me?

Resistance would mean nothing—everyone would die that day, and the dungeon would crumble.

‘…What if I say I’m not her master? Would she turn on me?’

If she finds out the truth, she might try to kill me again like earlier.

But pretending to be her master felt like carrying a ticking time bomb.

Just one word confirming that I am her master would make her cling to me like she was now.

Right, it’s a gamble now.

The moment her level changed to red, I decided to unleash the Moonlight Blade.

Keeping my eyes on the Moonlight Blade, I opened my mouth.

“First, let me make one thing clear: I am not your master.”

“…What?”

I wanted Cecilia to leave here without any further conflict.

I hoped she would never return again.

Of course, with Cecilia having slaughtered the eradication team, she would have nowhere else to go.

But that wasn’t my concern.

My own safety was what truly mattered, and just having Cecilia beside me made me feel threatened.

“I am neither your master, nor do I know you.”

“….”

“I have no hostility towards you. So I would like to end this here and have you leave. That’s all.”

While watching the Moonlight Blade, I discreetly kept an eye on her level color.

So far, it remained a deep pink.

I felt like I was precariously walking on a tightrope.

“Return to where you came from. And do not come back here again. We are not your enemies.”

Honestly, just being in front of Cecilia was nerve-wracking.

She could easily kill me, and she almost did.

Without the Moonlight Blade, I wouldn’t stand a chance against her.

It was a challenge even with a group. Compromise was my only way out.

How could I keep such a terrifying opponent as my ‘master’ close by?

I’d be on edge every single day.

Even if I was a bit scared, I had no choice but to send her away.

Her tear-soaked eyes reflected my face.

Seeing such a beautiful woman cry was heart-wrenching, but the truth was she could easily kill me.

I steeled my heart and focused on her gaze.

Cecilia rubbed her eyes vigorously with the back of her hand.

“Then… why didn’t you attack me?”

“….”

“You are the boss of the Seven Lairs. You’ve killed Wilhelm, Balmunk… and even the Duke and the Great Sage. Why did you treat me like this?”

Because you moved faster than my eyes.

I held back what I wanted to say.

“And the Laura Ruby crystal, you shattered that too, Master. You knew everything, right?”

Speaking of the Laura Ruby crystal…

That notification pop-up when I tried to unleash the Moonlight Blade suddenly came back to me.

I remembered hearing about the Seven Jewels of Magical Realm during a past visit.

The Laura was a medium used to break a person’s mental strength for manipulation.

I was starting to piece things together.

It was clear that Cecilia had mistaken me for her master due to the lifting of her mental manipulation.

I didn’t know the exact details, but that was all I had to grasp.

Suddenly, Cecilia collapsed as if she had broken down.

Her trembling hands gripped my legs tightly.

“Me too, Master. I understand your heart. I can imagine how big the betrayal must have felt… You just kept worrying about me….”

“….”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I was going to kill you without realizing it was you. I don’t even know why I did that. I was brainwashed! Yes! It was because of brainwashing….”

Cecilia clung to my legs.

I could feel her grip tightening as if she wouldn’t let go.

Cecilia managed to swallow her tears.

“I’m Ria. I won’t do it again. I missed you too much, Master. Can’t you accept me back like before? Please…?”

It was a really awkward situation.

No matter how many times I said no, why did she keep doing this?

“I have nothing more to say. Leave.”

“Ah….”

I let go of her arms that were wrapped around my legs.

Her eyes, filled with emptiness, stared directly at me, but I didn’t let it bother me.

After helping her up, I pointed towards the stairs with my fingertips.

Cecilia stared at me blankly.

Tears streamed down her face like a lost child. Even when she tried to hold them back with her hands, the ground was drenched.

“Hugh, ugh….”

Her sobs were pitiful, and her shoulders shook continuously.

Cecilia reluctantly distanced herself from me.

A slight pang of sympathy hit me, but that was it.

Just as her figure faded away, I swallowed my sigh of relief.

‘Please don’t come back anymore.’

Honestly, it would have been better to kill her while I was this relaxed.

That way, there would be no aftershocks, and I’d feel at ease on every front.

But how could I do that?

Seeing her like that, even if I could, I couldn’t bring myself to kill her.

I realized once again that I was too soft-hearted.

Afterward, I instructed Charlotte to clean up the battlefield.

The night’s minions had retrieved Carleon, and I spotted Balmunk and Isabella, who had regained their senses.

Just as I was about to approach Isabella to check on her condition.

“…Boss.”

Charlotte suddenly called out to me.

She held the magic crystal ball proudly in her hand.

As soon as my gaze landed on it, an involuntary sigh escaped me.

There was Cecilia, seated on the ground with her face buried in her knees, crying.

She still hadn’t moved on and was stuck up in the lower levels.

Can’t she just leave already? Seriously.

“What do you intend to do?”

I couldn’t force Cecilia out.

Even if it were possible, it would entail serious damage.

I was at a loss.

In this chaotic situation, I didn’t want to worry about Cecilia any further.

“Let her be. She’ll leave once she tires herself out.”

***

Charlotte sighed as she looked at the magic crystal ball.

Two days had passed, yet Cecilia remained rooted like a stone.

The boss could ignore it, but Charlotte couldn’t.

Step by step, she made her way to the first level, where Cecilia was.

As her footsteps drew closer, Cecilia looked up from a distance.

Her eyes were pink and glistening with tears.

When her expectant gaze met Charlotte’s, it quickly faded.

As Charlotte approached her, Cecilia mumbled something.

“I’m thankful to you. You saved my master.”

Mumbling, Cecilia spoke in a garbled voice.

Charlotte looked down at her dispassionately.

It didn’t matter to her what feelings Cecilia held.

“I have something to ask.”

For the past two days, Charlotte had been holding back repeated questions.

She wanted to ask, but questioning the lord would be breaking etiquette.

“Are you saying you were a student of the lord when he was alive?”

“…Well, yes.”

Even if it was her unilaterally claimed truth, it was certain.

The one who struck down the Great Sage in one blow didn’t show even a hint of resistance against this woman.

He could have killed her in a single strike without even touching her.

No matter how she thought of it, she couldn’t help but believe that it was intentional.

“Please tell me what your master was like when he was alive.”

Cecilia narrowed her eyes sharply.

“You know nothing about my master….”

I remembered everything, yet it was unbearable to see a witch who knew nothing standing beside me.

“I don’t know about the lord’s life. I’m serving him based on his current self. But I was curious, so I asked.”

“His name was Hero Lucas.”

“Hero, indeed.”

If he was the star’s master, it made sense he would be a hero.

“He wasn’t just any hero. He dedicated his life to humanity and was executed.”

Executed? By the Empire?

Charlotte’s eyes widened in shock, prompting Cecilia to continue her story.

“He was a tragically misunderstood man. Despite giving everything to the Empire, he was put to death for merely protecting a witch. It’s such a pitiful charge….”

She paused, glancing at Charlotte.

Biting her lip, she held back tears before speaking again.

“It was your fault. It’s because of witches that my master died.”

“What gives you the right to say such things? Who tried to kill the boss?”

Cecilia bit her lip in silence.

Eventually, she lowered her head weakly.

“I’m sorry….”

“….”

As Charlotte watched her, her thoughts turned elsewhere.

A hero who protected witches in life.

Faint memories of the past echoed vaguely within her.

“When did that happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“The time he saved the witches.”

“…It was ten years ago. In the northern outskirts’ forest.”

Ten years ago, in that village in the northern outskirts.

Charlotte was sure she was discussing the slaughter that made her lose her homeland.

Was it because she was young back then?

Even though it was not that long ago, her memories from that time were faint.

What remained vivid was the pain stemming from the loss of her homeland and her hatred for humanity.

After that, Charlotte lived in seclusion, hiding from the Empire.

As a result, she remained unaware of Lucas’s execution and only now began to grasp what kind of person the lord was.

‘From then on, I….?’

It was unfortunate that she couldn’t remember that time ten years ago, but her master may have saved her.

No, he must have. Charlotte firmly believed so.

It’s undoubtedly sad that someone who perished while protecting a witch.

Yet Charlotte hadn’t been the one to end his life.

Rather than harboring guilt, she vowed to live as a life saved and devoted herself to serving him for eternity.

Having done so until now, her resolve had become even firmer.

‘So we’ve been connected since then.’

A faint smile appeared on Charlotte’s lips.

Looking at Cecilia before her, she felt a strange sense of superiority.

While the boss had abandoned Cecilia, he had chosen her.

Even if she had been a sticky student in life, now she meant nothing to him.

In contrast, Charlotte had been saved by him and was destined to serve him for the rest of her life.

“You tried to kill the boss. You were very close to doing so.”

“….”

“But what right do you have to cling to past feelings? The boss also desires you to leave. Have mercy and vanish from this dungeon.”

“I won’t.”

Cecilia’s resolve was steadfast. She would bury herself here even if it cost her life.

Charlotte shot her a glare before turning abruptly.

“I have a question as well.”

Charlotte sighed and turned back again.

Thanks to her, she had learned about the lord’s life.

“What is it?”

“You are a necromancer. You must understand the undead well, right?”

“So, what do you want to ask?”

“Does my master really not remember me?”

Still hanging onto the past?

Charlotte clicked her tongue in frustration.

“That could be the case or it might not.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Literally. Most undead forget their memories and lose their identity.”

“Ah….”

The concept of the dead was intertwined with oblivion.

Cecilia sighed absentmindedly.

Then she suddenly shook her head.

“No. No way. If you forgot me, why didn’t you attack me? You saved me, Master.”

“You might remember. Higher-tier undead retain all their memories from life.”

Hope flickered in Cecilia’s eyes.

It was said that only higher-ranking undead remembered their past life.

And the lord was the head of the Seven Lairs.

“However, I can’t say for certain regarding the boss.”

“…Why?”

“The boss is a Death Knight. As an entity, he’s a mid-tier undead. It would be difficult for him to remember his past life.”

“But he’s the boss of the Seven Lairs.”

“That’s true. The boss isn’t an ordinary undead. Although he’s a Death Knight, his soul’s rank surpasses that of a Lich King.”

“So…?”

“There have been plenty of similar cases before. The boss’s way of remembering may be similar to theirs.”

There are many undead with a high soul rank aside from their resurrected bodies.

They all share one thing in common regarding their memories of life.

“At first, they retain fragments of their past memories. Only the significant memories, however. Yet as their souls wear down, they forget those memories too.”

“What’s this… ‘souls wear down’…?”

“That would be evident from what you did two days ago.”

“…Huh?”

“You inflicted a fatal wound on the boss’s soul, didn’t you? As a consequence, many memories may have been lost.”

In an instant, all of Cecilia’s movements ceased.

A fatal injury that had nearly killed me.

The horror of that moment kept piercing through my mind.

“You lose the most treasured memories first. The reason the boss doesn’t recognize you may be—”

After those words, Cecilia heard nothing else.

The more she thought about it, the more strange she felt.

Her master had allowed attacks without resistance and even released her from brainwashing.

It was surely like that, yet since awakening, he had not recognized her.

Even though the evidence pointed to him, it was incomprehensible that she denied it.

As if she’d forgotten everything in that brief moment.

“Ah….”

Her most precious memory.

For Cecilia, it was nothing but the memories of being with her master.

She had wished endlessly that he would feel the same about her.

But she didn’t want to realize it this way.

Her master had also lost all the memories that were most precious to him.

As her senses blurred, the world felt impossibly distant.

Even though she couldn’t hear a sound, an eerie ringing filled her ears.

I ruined everything with my own hands.

A swell of regret filled my chest, rising uncontrollably.

A shallow breath escaped between my lips.

My heart ached as if pierced by a needle. The pain deepened, as if a hole had been ripped in my chest and the cold wind was blowing through it.

My body bent forward, and my forehead sank to the ground. My heart throbbed excruciatingly, making my body jerk involuntarily.

A groan or scream erupted from my mouth, I couldn’t tell which it was.

How did I only learn everything once he forgot it all?

*

Charlotte closed her eyes and turned her back on Cecilia, who was wailing.

She felt a sense of relief at the sight of Cecilia.

‘That doesn’t concern me, even if you don’t know.’

If the speculation was true, the boss would only lose memories of his life.

In other words, once he became a Death Knight, those memories would remain intact.

Death Knight Barugore.

That was all Charlotte knew of the lord of the Seven Lairs.