It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

“Did something happen?”

Seeing Melody sitting with her subordinates, I had to voice words of concern before discussing the main business.

“You look extremely tired. Your face looks terrible in just a short while.”

“Ha… well.”

Hearing my question, Melody let out a hollow laugh, then glanced briefly at Eve, Grim, and others.

Her face looked quite haggard compared to earlier. Enough to justify my words of concern.

“Your people…”

“My people?”

That’s quite a thought-provoking beginning.

I hope Evangeline didn’t commit any rudeness. Or perhaps set excessive conditions…

I’m not worried about the guild people, as they’re used to negotiations, but this is the first time I’ve entrusted her with a deal. I thought the favorable and capable people beside her would adjust things well.

“W-Well…”

Still, judging by her expression, she seems fed up rather than disliking or hating it…

My growing thoughts fortunately diminished instantly with her next words.

“…They work very hard. We ended up giving quite a lot.”

“They are like that. They’re my pride.”

“I thought so. Hoo… Here. This is the specification with the trade conditions. Please review it, and if you have any questions, I’ll answer them right away, Lady.”

Now that I look closely, the emotion felt from her face was just at the level of irritation, not disgust.

Probably Evangeline and the guild people really extracted the ‘maximum’ benefit they could get from the Baritra family. That would be a minus in terms of her achievements as an administrator, so she could be irritated.

I quickly reviewed the documents we needed to keep, then handed them back to Evangeline standing behind me.

“Um… You don’t need to look…?”

“I trust my people, Melody.”

People looking at me with somewhat worried and impressed eyes.

The former emotion was seen only in the gazes of the administrator and the two demon race members from the guild, while the latter included the gazes of the Baritra Marquis family’s retainers.

Worry about what would happen if I didn’t properly review the contract.

Impression of someone who gives trust and credit to their people.

These are natural emotions to have if they feel even a little goodwill towards me and have related knowledge.

They don’t know that I read the document with the speed reading ability I don’t know why is included in ‘Nobility’, and am certain there are no problems.

‘This much is excellent.’

What we have to do is, of course, keep the secret about the ‘Baritra’s illegitimate child’.

In return, what Baritra will give is support for various material demands arising from the dungeon.

In other words, the Baritra family will bear part of the cost of materials purchased from the Mammon Guild.

The method is to set a maximum cost per material, and if that material is too cheap, halve the ratio to set a limit.

This won’t have much effect later, but it’s a big gain now because nothing is very expensive among the materials in immediate demand.

‘I guess it feels like a beginner support package.’

Except the supporter is an in-game NPC, not the operator.

This much is satisfactory.

‘Other investments are for later.’

“I’m… a noble lady of the demon realm…? Do I actually have separate mom and dad…?”

“Yes, that’s right, Miss. From now on, we’ll be going to meet the family head.”

Turning my eyes from the administrator to glance sideways, that ‘investment item’ was receiving various answers from the Baritra family servant with an expression that seemed unable to imagine what was about to happen to her.

She might be able to imagine the near future, but she probably has no idea what will come in the more distant future. How troublesome a noble status can be.

It’s natural since it’s a field she’s never encountered before.

“Did you hear? I’m going to scold you later. I’ll properly get payback for this wrist!”

“Ah, Miss. The Dungeon Lady is still of higher status than you…”

“Then does that mean I haven’t risen but rather fallen? What’s that…”

It’s the same with her childlike reactions now.

Immediately, Administrator Melody’s face turned pale, and she denied her words while fidgeting.

She seems to be worried that I might get angry, and also seems to feel wronged about having to serve a new immature person.

“S-Still, you can have whatever you want to eat or wear. The family’s chefs and tailors are excellent.”

“I don’t know at all what’s good about that.”

If she had only lived as a Dungeon Lord on the ground, she might not understand the meaning even if she had met human nobles.

Knowledge and experience are different things.

It doesn’t seem necessary to watch any longer, so I decided to send them out for now.

I have a lot to do too.

“You may go. The family must be busy preparing to welcome a new lady.”

“Indeed. It was an impressive meeting, Lady.”

Julian stops his primping, answers and bows his head in greeting.

He was the one who had been redecorating his face, which had been messed up earlier when he spilled tea. He received assistance from servants without paying attention to whatever was happening beside him.

“You’ve had a hard time, Melody.”

“Thank you…”

It is impressive—this foolishness.

“Serica. I’ll leave my contact with Melody, so contact me if anything happens.”

“Huh? Why me?”

“Well. I wonder why.”

“No, I told you not to touch me. Really…”

I patted the head of the vampire lady who didn’t understand, then pushed her back to send her to the Marquis family’s people.

Her resistance had decreased compared to before.

Although she says that, after all, it was I who saved her life from among humans, and having lived as a Dungeon Lord, she probably has experienced injuries before, so she has almost no resentment about her wrist.

It’s also something I had already explained the necessity of and proceeded with.

As evidence, the irritation and anger she had been showing before were closer to sulking than the real resentment Sonia or Maria had.

“See you next time, Serica.”

“Hmph. Let’s go. So you’re my older brother then?”

“You don’t have the right to call me that yet. We’ll see at the family home.”

“What’s that. Just looking at you, you’re obviously my brother.”

“Hmph. Talk after you acquire proper noble behavior.”

But will they really engage in power struggles? Looking at the two of them side by side again, I’m not so sure.

They already give off the feeling of silly siblings.

『The dungeon’s level has increased. Lv. 3 ▶ 4』

『Demon King Candidate ‘Libertas’s Dungeon Lv. 4』

‘That’s something to watch in the future.’

Now that’s their business.

I just need to do my own work.

“Bring those two.”

For example, dealing with the elite adventurers we captured this time.

* * *

Jin Kyung, Alexis, Linsia.

Three elite adventurers…

“Linsia… she really died…”

“Ah…”

To be precise, two adventurers and one corpse.

They must have seen Linsia’s head being cut off right beside them, but it seems the two were late in accepting it as reality.

‘They haven’t seen the corpse since then though.’

There was no particular trouble in the process of bringing the three here.

It didn’t matter for the dead Linsia as I could pull her through my shadow magic at that point, and for the remaining two, I dragged them into the dungeon by restraining them through a ‘preliminary contract’.

The conditions of the contract were simple.

‘During the movement to the dungeon’ while the preliminary contract is maintained, ‘Party B absolutely obeys Party A’s orders’, and ‘Party A absolutely guarantees the safety of Party B’s life as long as they do so’.

[You really accept this? This? Does this mean you’ll protect us even from other demons or Dungeon Lords?]

[Don’t worry. As long as you properly maintain the preliminary contract with me, I’ll make sure no one attacks you.]

It was a condition created under Alexis’s lead, and it was somewhat amusing to see him greatly relieved as soon as I confirmed the conditions.

Did he really think I would be deceived?

It’s natural to be wary when veteran adventurers who usually live as they please immediately surrender at their first defeat.

[Don’t do anything, just wait.]

So I had already given such an order with my first command…

Jin Kyung and Alexis didn’t disappoint my expectations.

“You two were quite busy doing something.”

“W-What do you mean…?”

The two had been continuously shooting some kind of ‘signal’ outside while moving by carriage.

I wouldn’t have noticed a covert magical signal at all if I hadn’t sensed something suspicious in advance and actively spread detection through three means: magic, sorcery, and spirits.

In the end, this means the preliminary contract was already broken right after departure, let alone reaching the dungeon.

If the surveillance hadn’t been thorough, they might have even attempted escape already.

‘How troublesome.’

This was also why the return to the dungeon took so long.

To lead the trackers elsewhere, we went around a couple more places in the city doing real trade, then got materials to put a barrier on the carriage through a deal with a black market merchant via Talhan and returned to the dungeon.

Of course, that black market merchant should be sleeping peacefully by now.

Forever.

“In other words, you were wasting your efforts.”

“Ah, fuck. Couldn’t you have told us sooner…”

As soon as my words ended, Alexis’s expression, which had been maintaining submissiveness all along, changed completely. It turned fiercely vicious, to an extent that was amazing how it could change so instantly.

At the same time, a look of resignation appeared on Jin Kyung’s face beside him.

Outwardly, it looked like they had become desperate, given up on the situation, or submitted.

‘Quick again.’

However, I now seemed to understand Alexis’s behavior pattern.

To confirm my guess and judge their true intentions, I decided to test an application of magic I had recently considered.

The method is simple.

I just need to use a magic I’ve been familiar with.

“「Sacrifice Appraisal」.”

After moistening my eyes with drawn magic power, I first look at Jin Kyung, the West Continent mage.

『Name – Moon Yu Jin Kyung』

『Occupation and Rank – Elite Spirit Mage』

…

『An adventurer mage with appropriate abilities for her rank. Her body is of high quality, but her soul is weak.』

Then an information window appears from her, while on the other hand…

『Name – Alexis Julka』

In Alexis’s case, nothing was visible except his name.

This meant that the dungeon core doesn’t recognize this person as a ‘sacrifice’ unlike Jin Kyung. In other words, it meant he still hadn’t submitted.

Contrary to the light-hearted appearance on the outside, he’s still aiming for a reversal.

“Ah, damn it…”

He’s a persistent man.

Whether it’s the tenacity of a lower-class origin as his outward appearance suggests, or desire arising from regret for what he’s accumulated so far, I don’t know…

But it’s an admirable quality to not give up out of some emotion even in a hopeless situation.

In some ways, it makes me look forward to more.

『Name – Linsia Rayner』

『Occupation and Rank – Elite Archer』

Leaving them as they were for now, I turned my gaze to the last sacrifice.

Linsia’s corpse, which I had put into my space after her death and brought out again now, didn’t look much different from when she was alive.

Although time doesn’t completely stop in a necromancer’s shadow space, it had some preservative function attached.

『Characteristics – Special Grade Specialization: Longbow, Vital Point Detection, Owl’s Eye, Hummingbird’s Wing Beat, Hawk’s Talon』

The three characteristics named after birds are probably shooting skills of a specific school… What catches my eye is Vital Point Detection among the two glowing blue.

It was a characteristic that made me consider whether to use this elite archer to strengthen my second summon, Mire, or just convert her into a summon with the archer profession as is.

‘If it were a game, I wouldn’t have hesitated much.’

As a player of ‘MilDun 1’, I had a preference for cherishing and raising summons obtained in the early stages.

Maintaining the first battle group unconditionally with summons up to the tenth, and focusing growth elements on them.

No matter what good units came later, I would prioritize equipping them with special equipment or forcibly raise their specs through other enhancement magic systems.

With this 「Sacrifice Growth」 ability appearing before my eyes like this, it was natural for inner turmoil to sweep through me

I have two choices: geting an archer with higher specs right now, which is what reality has become, or raising the first archer more according to my principle.

“Mire. Come here.”

-Tack!

“「Sacrifice Enhancement」.”

The deliberation was long, but action was quick after decision.

I decided to follow my existing mode of action as is.

Whether that investment will continue to be profitable later, or become a foolish act…

『Moonlight Capture – Both the critical hit chance and critical damage of thrown or projectile weapons that hit the target increase.』

At least for now, it was certain that it had returned as a profit.

As a heroic-grade characteristic that can always be used pleasantly without considering time.

“Congratulations, Mire. You’ve regained strength.”

-Tack!

After looking proudly at Mire who answered brightly and straightened her back, I turned my gaze again to look at the remaining two elite adventurers.

Jin Kyung who had already become less responsive due to frustration, and Alexis who was now shaking his two eyes greatly.

“…”

“Damn it. What was that…! Did you absorb a person into a demon? Is what I saw real?”

It was time to decide their fate.