It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

“Training?”

While I was reading a book obtained from adventurers to kill time, a skeleton suddenly approached and told me that I needed training in techniques to move my body.

I heard this after officially raising Axe to the warrior stage and confirming that all the tasks that needed to be done were roughly finished.

-Tack.

The one who said this to me was none other than Eve.

It seems she wasn’t very pleased that I had just sat still when Maria tried to attack me during our previous encounter.

She must have thought I hadn’t been able to react in time.

“Why are you so angry?”

-Tack!

Though she shakes her head at my question, her eye lights are still flickering ominously, as if she gets quite angry just remembering that time.

“Back then, I just trusted you. I thought there was no need to move.”

-…

Though she froze like that for a moment when I said this, she still didn’t withdraw her opinion that this training was necessary.

And honestly, I don’t have any reason to object, either.

I was originally a man, too, so it doesn’t suit my temperament to just entrust the protection of my body to others.

“Alright. Let’s do it. I’m curious if I have any talent too.”

-Tack!

But this girl is suspiciously happy.

She seems to really enjoy spending time with me.

Tap tap.

As I tap my chest area in front of the mirror in my room to activate magic, my dress that was in the form of pajamas, changes into workout clothes.

“…Huh?”

The form was a bit different from what I had imagined.

What I had in mind was the loose-fitting martial arts uniform commonly used in reality, but what actually came out was a ‘riding outfit.’

A stylish short coat with lace decorations around the neck, high-leg boots, and an overall design that clings tightly to the body.

It’s impressive how much the sleek impression is enhanced, given how good my current body proportions are.

…My heart is small, in a figurative sense.

No, that’s not it.

‘This characteristic is stubborn in strange ways.’

Guessing that this was probably the influence of ‘Nobility,’ I just checked if there was any problem moving my body and immediately followed Eve.

“Here?”

-Tack.

The place we arrived at was a small cabin near the dungeon.

This place, which was also used when taking care of Sonia before, was actually a trap facility belonging to the dungeon despite being outside it.

It’s a trap that kidnaps adventurers who discover this place while wandering the forest into the dungeon in the middle of the night.

Now it’s being used as a villa connected to the dungeon without activating the magic to reduce maintenance costs, but it has a record of successfully capturing about five people using this trap.

“A wooden sword… It’s the first time I’ve held a sword since your sword.”

-Clatter.

“You’re going to teach me how to hold it? Okay. Sure.”

Eve overlaps her hand on top of mine.

Evangeline is quite tall compared to ordinary women, so she’s more than a head taller than my current self.

Perhaps because of this, her posture of completely embracing me from behind felt stable.

Somehow, I felt comfortable too.

-Tack!

“You want me to block with all my strength?”

-Clack.

Eve’s suggestion after we faced each other.

She nods her head brightly, taps the wooden sword on the ground a couple of times, then relaxes her posture.

Just like how she usually insists on a knight-like appearance but always looks relaxed when entering battle.

『Name – ‘Noble’ Libertas』

『Rank – Normal』

『Attributes – Health 18 Technique 26 Durability 23 Magic Power 32 Resistance 24』

『Name – Evangeline』

『Title/Individual Name – Perfect Skeleton ‘Sword Expert’』

『Attributes – Health 27 Technique 32 Durability 23 Magic Power 26 Resistance 22』

After briefly examining my and her status windows, I decided to just go along with it.

I’ve fed her so much that Evangeline’s average attributes are even higher than mine now.

Unless I acquired the know-how to infuse magic power into weapons, the current me had almost no chance of beating Eve by moving my body.

‘Come to think of it, that was unexpected.’

My eyes are drawn to the ‘Sword Expert’ in the ‘Title’ section.

‘Expert’, the ‘proficient series’ was a class I had never seen in MilDun 1.

Because of this, I hadn’t acquired related information in advance, so it took a bit longer to pull it out from the ‘common sense of Dungeon Lords’.

It’s explained as a class where the prefix ‘Sword’ is attached if you’re good with swords, ‘Spear’ if you use spears, and even for magic types, there are ‘Fire’ or ‘Ice’ etc. depending on the main attribute used…

The difference between ordinary warriors and this expert class seems to be that all attributes possessed are superior, and they must have acquired a ‘specialization’ characteristic for that weapon or ability.

‘I thought she would definitely be a knight until now.’

Until I learned about this class, what I was certain she would obtain was the knight class that also existed in ‘MilDun 1’, but after learning the explanation, it made sense.

Evangeline had something that was too good to be confined to the small possibility of ‘knight’.

Above all, it seems a bit unsuitable for her to carry a shield…

『Characteristics – Advanced Specialization: Swordsmanship, Explosive Power, Genius Commander, Member of Necropolis』

As if to prove this, Evangeline’s current characteristic window was like this, all colored blue except for the common ‘Explosive Power.’

Excluding ‘Member of Necropolis’ which changed to rare grade as I went from ‘Apprentice’ to ‘Normal’, both are characteristics she acquired with her own power.

This was an extremely fast and good result for an individual who started as just a skeleton, no, even for individuals who started with other classes from the beginning.

A very special achievement.

‘I feel proud every time I look at it.’

-Clatter.

After briefly suppressing my satisfied smile from spreading, I soon nodded towards Evangeline.

Evangeline, who had been waiting until I finished my distracting thoughts, also nodded and then lowered her posture…

Whoosh!

And charged in just like that.

Thus, the sparring with Eve began in the yard of the cabin.

* * *

“You say someone from the Mammon Guild has come?”

“Yes, Master.”

Sonia brought the news that Scarlet had visited right after Eve conveyed her intention that ‘this much is enough’ as our sparring reached its climax.

To be precise, Sonia had waited after seeing us in the final stages of our sparring.

By the way, I really got beaten up nicely.

Even though Evangeline lessened her strength when hitting me with the wooden sword, various parts of my body that were shot several times are throbbing. This demon’s body is tough so that bruises won’t remain, but it seems the pain will last for a while.

“What should we do?”

“For now, lead her to the reception room. It would be rude to go meet her like this, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. I understand.”

Though I hardly sweated and even dust didn’t stick due to my characteristics, I decided to use the wet towel and water Sonia gratefully handed me as I felt hot from moving my body, while giving her instructions.

“Shall I prepare tea?”

“Something sweet. Scarlet really can’t handle bitter things.”

“Yes. Then, I’ll go ahead.”

Come to think of it, she seems to have adapted almost completely too.

These days, she’s even strangely favorable in how she treats me.

As I kept staring at her like that, Sonia tilted her head and looked at me with questioning eyes.

“Is there something else you want me to do…?”

“No, Sonia. How’s your body these days?”

“It’s getting better little by little, Master.”

“I see. Start checking if you can exercise a bit now. You must build a healthy body.”

“…Yes. I understand.”

She darkened her expression, unable to hide her complex feelings, then bowed her head deeply and left.

The ‘hatred’ still hasn’t disappeared from those eyes. It probably never will for eternity.

‘I should keep an eye on her.’

After all, those who can hide their hearts and act favorably towards enemies are the most dangerous.

Though I never imagined Sonia could do that, if she became that dangerous, it would be worth considering ‘disposal’.

Moreover, I haven’t even made a ‘formal contract’ with Sonia yet. It would cost a bit more in maintenance, but I couldn’t be confident her body would withstand the shock of the contract.

If someone were to stab me in the back, she had the highest possibility.

Moreover, that wouldn’t even be ‘betrayal’ yet.

“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…”

It had been almost a month since I last met Scarlet face to face.

After our initial meeting, she had been contacting the dungeon’s contact number tremendously, and it had been about a week since that stopped.

She must have been quite busy during that time, as fatigue still hadn’t completely left her face even now.

“Your face looks quite bad. Did you overwork yourself?”

It was enough to make even me, who had no particular fondness for her, worry.

“I did stay up for about a week, but I’m fine! Because I got to meet Lady Libertas again like this!”

“More nonsense.”

“No, I’m serious…”

Hearing my words, Scarlet sighed deeply while drooping her shoulders as if very discouraged.

Somehow I felt like I heard the words ‘there’s a long way to go’.

Though her tension is strangely high, that’s probably because she dealt with work that had been troubling her all this time; surely it couldn’t be because she really met me.

She was an excellent salesperson who used even her tired appearance well for business.

“But who is that over there?”

Because she kept raising her tension all along, I was late in noticing and mentioning the appearance of another lady beside her.

“Ah, this lady is the mercenary that Mari, who came instead of me last time, mentioned!”

“I see.”

“Introduce yourself! Miss Xue!”

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

“Yes. Welcome, Miss Lin.”

As I thought, so this is that ‘Blood Frenzy Wolf’.

The name ‘Lin Xue’ was probably given because she’s from the Western Continent. As I mentioned before, the Western Continent here has culture from the East Asian side of our Earth.

Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Five countries that divide and rule the Western Continent have cultures that mix various aspects of several countries from the reality I lived in.

Among them, the largest countries are ‘Han’, which effectively controls the narrow gorge connecting to the Eastern Continent, and ‘Xin’, which rules over a large part of the West.

Among these, Han has more of a peninsula culture as its name suggests, while Xin has more continental culture… As you can guess from this, ‘Lin Xue’ is a name used by people from that Xin country.

There’s no need to ask how she could come all the way here from that far place.

It must have been through the demon realm.

“Miss Xue has some rude aspects, right? Probably because you’re not close yet…”

While listening to Scarlet’s additional explanation, trying to cover up her behavior, the wolf beastman I saw was very beautiful and, at first glance, seemed to have a cold impression on the outside.

Her silver hair was let down long, almost reaching below her thighs, her pupils were a vivid red color, and on top of her head were wolf ears standing upright with their wide surfaces facing this way, along with an appearance of staring intently as if not to miss even one part of my figure.

“I kept my manners.”

“Oh, geez…”

Though her voice sounded slightly weak, on the other hand it was very high-pitched and cute in itself, creating a profound first impression that contradicted her expressionless face.

Moreover, the clothes she wore were a white uniform that contrasted with that cute voice. Though I’m not sure, seeing how angular it is like a formal military uniform, she seems to even be from a military background.

Anyway, up to here, she looked like a really cold and sharp, cool warrior.

Thump thump thump thump thump thump!

Except for that luscious silver tail endlessly moving around in all directions and rubbing against the sofa. If this is because they’re not close yet, it seems quite remarkable.

Scarlet. You’ve never seen a dog, have you?

That’s clearly an extreme display of affection, no matter how you look at it.

“…”

Realizing this, it now seemed that her current tense body wasn’t due to the first meeting and contract but for another reason.

That, no matter how you look at it, is right before pouncing.

‘No way.’

Of course, I also thought there’s no way she’d do that at the first meeting, but…

Whoosh!

That ‘no way’ came true as soon as I thought it.

The next moment, my field of vision was filled with the white uniform she was wearing.

“I missed you. My…”

Her whisper, so quiet that no one else could hear, brushed past my ear.