It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

The woman referred to as the blue succubus in Libertas’s mind.

In fact, Mari Malis Mare, the illegitimate child of Mammon, one of the seven Archdukes of the demon realm, and at the same time a low-level employee of the Mammon Guild, thought while clutching her trembling chest.

“You’re different from the person who came before.”

‘She’s so pretty…!’

Even if all the beauties of the demon realm and the mortal world were brought together, it would be hard to find someone comparable to the beauty of the woman before her eyes right now.

“H-H-Hello… I’m… Mari. Mari Malis Mare… I’m a general employee…”

“Nice to meet you, Mari. Scarlet was a manager. Are you perhaps my new handler?”

“Oh, no… Senior Scarlet is still your handler… She had some business to attend to…”

“Is that so? That’s unexpected too. Anyway, I understand.”

Lady Libertas frowned for a moment while sitting, then stood up and slowly approached.

Mari admired her once again.

When sitting, she had a very strong impression of being languid or cold and delicate, but when standing, she was incredibly elegant.

With a gait that made almost no sound and a posture without any disturbance in the shoulders and waist, it seemed as if dignity and nobility were flowing like moisture on her skin.

Although her height was clearly relatively short, for some reason, it felt like she was the biggest thing in the world.

And what about that slight smile that appeared on her lips at that moment?

Her cold face suddenly bloomed as if in full bloom, making her cute and fresh impression stronger. Seeing that change in expression right before her eyes made Mari feel like she might be enchanted despite being a succubus herself.

‘No… The very fact that I’m thinking this means I’m already enchanted…!’

She felt like she understood why Scarlet had been constantly paying attention to this dungeon lately.

An overwhelming beauty that washed away even the slight jealousy she had harbored before coming here.

While she might be jealous of ordinary beauty, she could only feel awe for such an overwhelmingly exceptional appearance.

Anyone would have been enchanted seeing such beauty.

Even if it were a human who originally treated her, the Dungeon Lord, as an enemy, if they were a sucker for looks, they would have no choice but to pause their hostility for a moment.

Of course, she couldn’t be certain since she had no experience as a Dungeon Lord.

‘I’m glad I came to see for myself…!’

Mari thought she had done well not to suppress her curiosity.

Although she felt sorry for causing trouble with a client and then dumping the aftermath on her senior, if she hadn’t met her now, she would have continued to be jealous of someone who kept attracting Scarlet’s attention.

There was still some jealousy, but this was an overwhelming beauty enough to easily suppress that jealousy.

‘She’s too harmful. A fatally harmful substance…!’

‘Quite a likable child has come.’

Meanwhile, Rita liked this low-level employee whose speech was very drawn out and who looked like she would be useless no matter how you looked at her.

You could say she felt that she would have preferred if this one was her handler rather than Scarlet.

Of course, this wasn’t because of human-like affection, but because she seemed to have a personality that would be easier to use.

The more malleable the trading partner, the higher the probability of gaining profit.

If she had known that this woman was a troublemaker who constantly caused problems while sticking close to her senior due to her own affection or curiosity, that thought might have changed, but Rita didn’t know that now.

“Mari?”

“Y-Yes?!”

Mari, who had been imagining her future 10 years from now with Lady Libertas, fantasizing about dozens of happiness and conflicts that could occur after marriage between a same-sex couple in the demon realm, barely returned to her senses at her call.

If it had gone a little further, we might have seen the spectacle of her kneeling right in front of her and proposing at first meeting, which was truly regrettable.

“It seems you were about to lose your mind. Did you stay up all night or something?”

“Ah, no! I did stay up, but I’m fine!”

“…? I see. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

The momentum of that fantasy still remained, to the extent that even that casual comfort spoken merely out of courtesy sounded like a proposal.

Whether aware of Mari’s thoughts or not, Lady Libertas was simply moving for the sake of business.

* * *

The blue-haired succubus, who introduced herself as Mari Malis Mare, gave a somewhat gloomy impression, hunched over in a slightly bent posture.

One might wonder how she could enchant people with such an impression, but.

‘Amazing… The biggest I’ve seen since coming here…’

It was quite large.

Slightly drooping due to her hunched posture, but still covering more than half of her stomach in that state.

It was to the point where one might suspect that she was taking that posture because her shoulders hurt. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case since it would be perfect for getting a herniated disc.

…Though the question remains whether succubi can get herniated discs.

‘I wonder how they can grow so large.’

Her ample and worn suit (yet still revealing her stomach and the tattoo on it) and the large breasts that couldn’t possibly be concealed by the bagginess and shabbiness of that suit drew attention tremendously.

If it weren’t for ‘Nobility’, it might have been quite troublesome.

“H-Here it is…”

After presenting the souls of the adventurers and checking Mari’s calculator, I frowned upon confirming that the amount written there was small, as expected.

“It’s less than before.”

“Uh… Maybe it was meant as an initial investment…”

“You mean the investment is already over?”

“Um… I’ll check when I get back…”

“Then what are you going to do with the souls we just traded?”

“Uh, um…”

Mari was, as expected, a naive person as a trader.

I don’t know if it’s because that sharp and well-connected Scarlet failed to educate her junior, or if this woman simply lacks talent, but thinking of her as an immediate trading partner was a bit frustrating.

Yet, it was ironically satisfying at the same time.

After contacting someone and hearing something, she came back with this answer a little later.

“Th-Then… this much?”

What was written was an amount increased by many times more than the ratio Scarlet initially proposed.

“I didn’t expect that much… Thank you. Tell them I won’t forget this goodwill.”

“Ah, yes…”

“So, who did you contact?”

“Ah, that, I’m sorry… You don’t have the authority yet…”

“Is that so? I see. I understand.”

It must have been someone higher than Scarlet.

From what I heard, her direct superior is Scarlet, but she contacted someone higher than that… Is the Mammon Guild more complicated than I thought?

“Construction technicians… you say?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

The full-scale trading began after exchanging the souls of ordinary adventurers stored in the core for currency, and then purchasing several necessary pieces of equipment with that currency.

The first of these were skilled individuals with construction techniques.

“I’m planning to devise new traps for the dungeon, but it’s difficult to implement well with just my imagination. I’d like you to introduce someone well-versed in that area, and I need technicians who can be my hands.”

“A dungeon designer and… Elder Gremlins, you mean?”

“That’s right.”

The Gremlins of the demon realm and the Gremlins that are the initial summoning targets of the ‘Demon’ series in dungeons, are different.

While the Gremlins of the mortal world are beast-like creatures with enhanced belligerence that actively deceive and devour enemies, the Gremlins of the demon realm are a race that can handle knowledge and skills in engineering fields.

It seems that the Gremlins of the mortal world took the image of ‘mischievous monsters’ created in modern fantasy, while the Gremlins of the demon realm were created from the image of ‘machine-breaking fairies’ in folklore.

That’s why the dungeon ones are sometimes called ‘Lesser Gremlins’, and the demon realm ones ‘Elder Gremlins’.

“B-But… they like human precious metals…”

“I have enough gold, so don’t worry. Just bring the willing ones.”

“Ah, I understand…”

Perhaps because peace had lasted for a long time near my dungeon, there were many bandits who had nested in the mountains without fearing the dungeon, and slash-and-burn farmers who robbed passing adventurers.

All the human gold I have came from them. Spoils obtained in the process of plundering ‘everything’ they had.

The exchange rate was too high to convert it into demon realm currency for expanding the dungeon, so it was more profitable to use it in other ways like this.

“Then, next I need special materials for class-up and ‘Dungeon Affiliated Mercenary Contract’ for humans.”

“We have plenty of materials… You mean the mercenary contract?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

All those who have contracted with me in the human state so far are in a state of ‘preliminary contract.’

A contract document issued with the Demon King’s seal was essential for changing humans into demon realm races. Without it, you can’t make the dungeon core recognize that ‘this human belongs to the dungeon’.

Even if not necessarily so, it could be used as a Dungeon Lord’s contract, but that would require periodic renewal and more maintenance costs to keep the mercenary.

There’s a reason why preliminary contracts and real contracts are separated.

What can I do? I’ll have to spend some money.

“How many…?”

“Four sheets. It wouldn’t be bad to have some extras as well.”

“W-Wow… Already so many humans…! But you’re not selling them…?”

“They seemed too valuable. I have to keep and use them myself.”

“A-As expected of Lady… You’re excellent…”

“Don’t gild the lily. It’s not a big deal.”

There was enough currency left after selling the souls of adventurers and human bandits, so there was no problem buying the contracts. Originally, the contract itself doesn’t cost much either.

This becomes expensive only when the value of the mercenary written on it is high.

In that sense, the contract Mari showed next was very expensive.

“And next is…”

“Um, um…”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Actually, I have something to… propose.”

“A proposal?”

“Yes.”

In ‘MilDun 1’ too, there were often proposals from the guild like this.

Requests for mercenaries or mercenary groups who entered the guild through connections and needed achievements without skills, or to use some brand’s products in the demon realm and share actual usage videos.

These were essentially not much different from Earth’s promotions, so while unwelcome, they were also puzzling.

『Demon Lord Candidate ‘Libertas’ Dungeon Lv.3』

『Alias – None』

『Continent Fame – 5 (Made to be ‘Unknown’)』

『Demon Realm Fame – 28 (A newbie fresh yet surviving)』

Where in my current dungeon is there room for such promotions?

Such thoughts grew stronger as I saw the contract the blue-haired succubus showed afterward.

Reading the contract was no problem.

‘Nobility’ provided knowledge of languages, and ‘Alpha Tester’ even displayed a message window floating above the contract in characters I knew.

The status window was showing information about the other party that wasn’t written in the contract, so I was feeling quite good about the benefits I would gain in the future.

Yet it was difficult to understand that contract.

『Occupation and Rank – Werewolf Berserker』

『Title/Individual Name – ‘Violent’ ‘Blood Frenzy Wolf’』

『Attributes – Health 38 Technique 16 Durability 30 Magic Power 27 Resistance 32』

An excellent individual with high-rank abilities, reaching even the middle level among them.

…No matter how you look at it, this isn’t a resource to be simply distributed as a promotion to a novice dungeon, so why is she showing me this contract?

“Why are you saying you’re dispatching this mercenary to our dungeon?”

“Well…”

The words Mari spoke next, scratching her head as if troubled, were even more incomprehensible.

“That mercenary, they said they want to come here…?”

I tried hard to swallow the emotions I was about to show her. Both the irritation of ‘If you don’t know, who would?’ and the suspicion of ‘Are you trying to deceive me?’

Mari’s eyes were rolling around as if she didn’t understand the situation herself.

I looked again at the characters floating above the contract.

There was one more thing there that was even more incomprehensible than the current situation.

『Characteristics – … Member of Necropolis』

‘Why is this…?’

There was one characteristic there that I didn’t know why it was attached.