It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

A beast with beautiful silver hair and red eyes.

Whoosh!

“…!”

“I missed you. My…”

One day, that child suddenly came into my world like that.

* * *

“This flower really resembles you. So small and pretty.”

Gin Tyler, a newly qualified axe warrior, gritted his teeth and thought. Maybe it’s time to leave this party.

“Oh my. You’re really good at saying such things.”

“Hey, you should respond too!”

“Um, uh… You’re handsome too?”

“A bit lacking, but good.”

…It’s sickening.

Even if they just became a couple recently, they’re really overflowing with sweetness. Overflowing.

“You guys. We’re inside a dungeon right now. Get yourselves together.”

“…”

Tap tap.

The party members fall silent at the words of Gin, the leader of this group.

As the cave suddenly becomes quiet, the sound of the torch burning seems unusually loud.

‘Damn. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.’

He inwardly regretted it a bit when he noticed that not only the warrior and mage who were the target, but even the other party members stopped chatting and started looking at him nervously.

But he didn’t loosen the strength in his eyes.

One should always be tense in dungeons. That was the secret to his survival so far, and he believed it to be the truth.

“Okay. I got it.”

“Anyway, this dungeon is just a baby dungeon, right? Then it’ll just be skeletons or goblins, no? Why be so tense?”

Though it seemed to be because of the leader’s words, while the mage Maribel who became a formal adventurer at the same time, immediately nodded her head, the blonde man who usually snarked didn’t stay quiet.

George Holzer.

He was someone Gin didn’t like much even normally, but recently he had become even more dislikeable.

Naturally, his words came out harshly.

“You little shit. Don’t you know it’s common sense to be tense in dungeons? Didn’t you learn from seniors that people die from traps because of that?”

Gin inwardly regretted again.

Thinking that he really wasn’t cut out to be a real leader if he couldn’t even control such emotions.

If a certain lady had heard this, she might have clapped and said, ‘That constant agonizing and providing direction is precisely the virtue of a leader’, but there was no way for him to know that.

“No, even if there are traps, what kinds are there in a novice dungeon that haven’t been identified…”

“Be. Tense. You. Fucking. Bastard.”

“Why are you getting angry for no reason…”

However, making that regret meaningless, he ended up barking at George who kept arguing back, grinding his teeth.

Seeing George’s appearance, shrinking a bit at the rather unpleasant voice but still saying everything he wanted to say, made him even more heated.

“Damn it.”

To be honest, his face was handsome. That’s probably why he was able to snag the mage that everyone in the party was secretly aiming for first.

Gin turned his head forward again after glancing at Maribel’s frowning face.

She already has an owner.

He didn’t want to pay any more attention.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t like that either.’

The reason they found out about this dungeon was because of information that George Holzer brought.

He said he overheard other adventurers talking about this dungeon while drinking and chatting with Maribel at a tavern.

The rumor is that although it’s a newly formed dungeon, if you succeed in entering, treasure is discovered, and moreover, that treasure seems to be added once in a while as time passes.

‘It better not be empty after all this.’

As a result of George chasing after him for days, saying, ‘Shouldn’t we make a big score?’ after hearing the testimony of a female adventurer who had cleared and survived that dungeon, they ended up coming to this dungeon.

However, after defeating the goblins at the entrance and starting the long corridor, it was full of things that stimulated people’s fears.

Wooooo…

Kick. Kikikik…

The sound of wind that seems like beasts howling from somewhere, the repetition of darkness and light from torches and curves, and the fact that no sound can be heard except for their own party.

On top of that, it was an unusually long corridor.

“Why is this corridor so long? Damn it.”

While listening to George’s voice getting irritated at the dungeon, Gin focused his gaze on the corridor’s walls.

Not only was the corridor long, but at some point, the undulations in the walls had become severe.

Something felt strange.

‘Damn it.’

Due to the torches on the walls, deep shadows were swirling in the deepened undulations, and it felt like unidentified monsters might jump out from within.

It felt as if they were crawling into the stomach of a monster.

His already unpleasant mood was tinged with fear, making him feel like his own stomach was being wrung out.

He was in a position responsible for the party. He couldn’t turn his eyes away from danger.

He couldn’t retreat here.

Adventurers’ movements always cost money, and even if the party members didn’t realize, he as the leader, could feel that the party had been gradually shrinking recently.

‘Be on guard.’

‘I am.’

For now, he gives hand signals to the two trackers and archers beside him to watch the walls and move forward.

When an entrance with lighting finally appears at the end, Gin tightens the string of tension even more.

And right after passing through the entrance.

Thud!

“Kyaaak-!!!”

Rip-!!

George’s proud face could no longer be seen.

As his shoulder was torn off completely by a powerful force, Maribel’s scream could be heard as she was covered in his blood and flesh.

Confusion spreads in an instant.

“Enemy…! It’s skeletons!!”

“They’re everywhere! Enemies on all sides!”

“Everyone gather! We’ll break through!!”

“Wait, Hans is…!”

It didn’t even take 1 minute for the chaos that started like that to be suppressed.

The dungeon falls silent again.

After devouring eight pitiful lives in total.

* * *

The dungeon is peaceful.

-Clack!

To be precise, only I was peaceful.

Even if I tried to move, my summons always…

[Clack!]

[You say you guys are enough?]

[Clatter!]

Like this, they only tell me to rest.

Since they’ve never actually failed, I can’t argue, so these days, all I do is check the spoils after battle victories, manage the summons, and expand or modify the dungeon according to Eve’s requests.

You say that’s a lot? Not really when you actually do it.

Above all, there’s too much free time. I’ve probably read more books now than in my entire life on Earth. And most of them are magic books, not even novels.

I even started playing chess, which I rarely did on Earth. Of course, my opponent was usually Eve.

It’s comfortable… definitely comfortable… but something, something is missing. I do have plans and visions for the future, but still, something feels lacking.

Anyway, so I was peaceful.

Of course.

“Ugh, uuh… sa… ve…”

The fact that we’re peaceful means it’s not the same for the people around the dungeon.

Today, again, a party of adventurers who were lured by rumors that stimulated curiosity or greed came to the ‘nameless novice dungeon’ and was annihilated.

With 8 members, it was quite large in scale and had an excellent party composition. Still, from the beginning, it was impossible to overcome an army of over 50 skeletons, and moreover, skeletons that felt special enough to be powerful.

If they were ordinary skeletons it might have been possible, but definitely not with my army.

Thud!

Ching!

As I watched Axe smash the head of the last adventurer, I soon realized that the magical communication device had lit up.

It was a cautious communication request from the other side.

“Good work.”

Crash!

-Master.

While sending words of encouragement to the skeletons and hearing their military salute in return, I activated the communication device and heard a woman’s voice.

It was ‘Talhan’.

The Cerebrum Skull that now uses the name I gave him had long since moved to ‘Ranhan,’ a city in another country further south than Solemio.

They say even beggars and thugs on the streets can be adventurers if they have a good body and pick up weapons, but if I kept making apprentice adventurers disappear in Solemio, it wouldn’t take long for the lord to notice.

-Are you satisfied with the tribute?

For a while longer, he will keep wandering around nearby cities and picking out novice adventurers with much greed or curiosity.

As for why he keeps changing into women’s bodies… I can’t be certain, but maybe it’s easier to lure people that way.

“It was good. There was someone with decent qualities.”

-I’m glad. …

I could feel an indirect inquiry of ‘Can I return now?’ in the blank after the words, but I just ended the communication while sending a signal that ‘It’s still too early.’

To begin with, Talhan still hadn’t completed the initial order. The task of finding the three adventurers including Velvet.

He… or she? Well, anyway.

He had to keep moving diligently for a while longer.

“「Sacrifice Appraisal」.”

After blinking a few times, feeling the mana moistening my eyes, I examined the adventurers and soon, a natural smile arose.

Because I had found something good.

“Axe. Come here.”

-Clack!

As the giant skeleton with a body befitting its enormous size approaches me, its body blocks the sunlight and creates shade.

It always makes me realize how small my height has become.

“Would you mind bowing? You’re blocking all the light.”

-Clunk!

Hearing my words, it bows its waist several times as if very apologetic, then instead of just bowing its body, it sits down right there and even lowers its head to minimize its size as much as possible.

Only then does its skull come down slightly below my eye level.

Fortunately or unfortunately, despite its large body, its legs aren’t particularly long, so its sitting height was almost the same as my standing height.

“That’s too excessive. But thank you.”

-Clunk clunk!

Axe lowers its head again, emitting an apologetic emotion once more.

Maybe because its intelligence has developed a lot lately, it tends to react a bit exaggeratedly to each of my words, intertwining with its loyal heart.

There were a few more individuals like this.

As I mentioned, children who are rapidly gaining intelligence and individuality. Along with those who have awakened or acquired characteristics and become elite.

Not as cute as Evangeline, though.

It feels a bit unfamiliar that I’ve come to find such appearances cute, but what can I do if I actually feel that way.

“「Sacrifice Enhancement」.”

As the magic activates, the body of the larger of the two formal adventurers who came to the dungeon this time, dissolves into black mana.

Drawing out that mana and soaking the giant skeleton’s body with it, after a moment, a phrase is added to its status window.

『Specialization: Axe – Specialization in chopping melee weapons with blades. Gains bonuses for actions using axes.』

So far, I’ve found many characteristics specialized in hammers or maces among adventurers, but there were almost none who mainly used axes like this.

Because of that, Axe, who uses a large double-bladed axe as a weapon, had only two characteristics until now: ‘Battlefield Roar’ and ‘Member of Necropolis.’

This was somewhat troublesome for me because…

『Name – Axe』

『Title/Individual Name – ‘Giant’ Skeleton』

『Attributes – Health 35 Technique 12 Durability 21 Magic Power 4 Resistance 13』

Even though its attributes were already close to high rank, surpassing apprentice and formal ranks, it had remained a common skeleton unable to rise to a formal soldier class because it hadn’t met one of the two conditions until now.

Even while over a dozen other soldiers secured early on had each opened or absorbed one or two characteristics and were becoming formal ‘soldiers’ or ‘warriors.’

‘Member of Necropolis’ didn’t seem to help with the evolution conditions for skeletons, perhaps because it’s a characteristic obtained from me.

“You two there. Bring the class-up materials from the warehouse.”

-Tack!

-Clack!

When I give instructions to two of the skeletons who were watching after cleaning up the adventurers, the two who had been laughing while chattering about something immediately take a standing position, salute, and runoff.

Seeing that they pointed at Axe, they were probably talking about Axe among themselves.

Although I couldn’t be certain since their expression system is different, I thought it wouldn’t be strange if there were such an atmosphere since Axe alone was unusually late in evolving.

Whether Axe knew this or not, it just stared blankly at me.

I felt like apologizing instead for that loyal appearance.

I just wanted to carefully choose and give characteristics, but now that I think about it, I realize that these guys with rapidly generating intelligence would also have personal relationships.

“Weren’t they making fun of you?”

-Clunk clunk!

When I asked, it was startled and shook its head left and right, then bowed its head several times as if it was sorry instead.

Seeing that ‘sincerity’ could be felt, fortunately that seems to have been my misunderstanding.

“I can sense emotions, but I can’t fully understand your conversations, so it’s inconvenient.”

-Clunk!

“Yes. There isn’t anything like that in current necromancy, but how about trying it once?”

-Clunk?

Necromancy didn’t have magic to hear the will of summons that can’t communicate.

There probably were people who used their power for communication with summons, but at least there wasn’t anything standardized enough to be a rule.

It would be nice to have a necromancer teacher.

But intelligent beings familiar with necromancy would be either demon realm monsters or Dungeon Lords, so either way, they probably wouldn’t be decent people to have as teachers.

Maybe self-study would be better.

Whoosh!

There was a sense I had become accustomed to from constantly using necromancy during the past two months since coming to this world, so I was able to quickly draw out mana infused with roughly what I wanted.

-Clunk!

“Aren’t you overreacting? It’s not like I’m going to use it dangerously. It’ll be fine. I’m not even going to use it on you.”

As I drew out the mana like that, I saw the giant skeleton slightly shrink its body. It seemed startled, probably thinking I was going to use this power on it.

I was just planning to amplify my senses.

-Clunk clunk!

But after hearing my last words, it instead started exaggeratedly showing off its body by raising both arms like a bodybuilding pose.

On the other hand, the emotion I felt from it was ‘Absolutely not!’ so I could guess what it wanted.

“You want me to use it on you? But my magic resistance is high. It would actually be safer.”

-Clunk clunk clunk clunk!

Hearing my additional words, Axe started shaking its head left and right violently as if having a seizure.

What I felt from my warrior was tremendous ‘worry’ and a bit of ‘fear’ mixed in.

The small ‘fear’ wasn’t directed at me but seemed closer to an emotion of possibly getting scolded by someone if I got hurt, so I could guess who that someone was.

It feels like I’d be the villain if I ignored it.

“Alright. I give up.”

-…

“You’ll tell me if it hurts?”

-Tack!

Only after I spoke as if I had lost did it show a big gesture of relief with a ‘phew’ posture.

Looking at it like that, I carefully rearranged the mana to match the spiritual coordinates and otherworldly coordinates, then carefully pushed it toward the giant.

Since it was a mana coordinate arrangement focused solely on ‘function,’ I had to be careful because I didn’t know if it matched necromancy theory.

And the first words I heard like that were quite amusing.

“Well… shall we try?”

-Ma… Madam?

As if truly a servant calling the lady of the house, it spoke in a gruff manner.

Since it was communication through magic, it was ambiguous whether the voice was that of an old man, a young man, or even a man or woman, but just that manner of speech was quite funny.

“Pfft. What’s with that title? Just Master is fine.”

It’s a manner of speech that seems to match its appearance well, but whether it was carelessness from the experiment succeeding, I had trouble holding back laughter for a moment.

Even that was very brief, though.

-Oh oh! Master! The magic succeeded! It really works! It works! Kyaa…

The giant skeleton that suddenly stood up and spilled various words while testing its expression.

After clattering for a while testing its new language system, it soon changed its eye lights gently, then knelt on both knees in front of me and stared at me intently.

I felt a ‘seriousness’ so intense it was disconcerting.

-Madam.

“What, what’s wrong?”

-I know you always think of us and worry about us. But we are always loyal to Master and ready to devote our bodies to your orders at any time, so if there’s anything you need, please be sure to call and use us rather than doing it yourself. That’s what I wanted to say.

“…I see. Thank you.”

What I felt from those words was loyalty and affection to a degree I thought was too much for me.

I suppressed the emotions welling up and answered like that.

-Ah. And.

It soon changed the mood with an emotion mixed with ‘laughter.’

-This is a secret from Senior Evangeline.

“What?”

When I asked back, not understanding, Axe scratched its skull with its pointed fingertips and said the next thing.

Something that sounded quite amusing to me.

-If she hears about this, I can clearly see her clattering tremendously out of jealousy. She’ll scold us enough to split our skulls for a while.

“She’ll be the first to receive it when the magic is perfected anyway.”

-She’ll do it even knowing that.

“Okay. I got it.”

-Please do so. I beg you. Madam.

-Tack!

-Clack!

While we were conversing like that, the two skeletons who had brought the class-up materials had already arrived and were looking at us both, emanating ‘envy’ all over their bodies.

In the end, I cast the magic on them once as well.

-Kyaa… Brother Axe! Finally! Congratulations on your promotion!

-Master! I swear loyalty from now on, too! I love you!

“Uh… okay.”

They really were happy.

Though I did think, ‘Were they really thieves when alive?’ seeing their appearances made me feel I should complete the magic quickly.

After all, it would be good for me too, if we could communicate.

* * *

『Name – Axe』

『Title/Individual Name – ‘Giant’ Skeleton ‘Warrior’』

The special event happened after promoting Axe to a formal warrior that day and while conducting a sparring match with Eve, according to her suggestion.

“Hello! Lady Libertas! Scarlet Spira Spina is here again!”

“Welcome, Scarlet. It’s been a while.”

“My, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to see you, Lady!”

“You’re saying unnecessary things.”

“But I’m serious…”

The person who came to see me was Scarlet Spira Spina, manager of the Mammon Guild.

“But who is that over there?”

“…I’m Lin Xue. Nice to meet you, Lady.”

She was accompanied by another woman, a beautiful silver-haired wolf beastman.

The guest I had been waiting for.