It’s Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

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– 1 –

[The dignity of a ruler must inherently be displayed from their chamber! So how about you quickly prepare a lovely room? I know some excellent furniture artisans…]

[Clack!]

It was absurd to see Scarlett suggest prioritizing my room over the basics of the dungeon, and Evangeline nodding along as if she agreed, but…

Right now, I felt like I made the right choice.

“Ugh…”

If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to stretch happily in the morning like this.

I no longer needed sleep, but still, even a few hours of rest felt good. And of course, it was much better if that sleep took place in a bed.

– Clink.

Chirp…

“Good morning, Eve.”

– Bang!

Eve, who had already come into the room before I woke up, opened the window, and a refreshing breeze along with birdsong flowed in.

I patted her head as she knelt beside me, grabbing the hand she offered and rising from my spot.

Initially, it felt incredibly awkward, but three days was all it took for this special treatment to become familiar.

“Thanks for today again.”

– Bang!

Even after sleeping, my hair was not messy, but with its length, it still required a decent bit of brushing and care.

When I sat at the vanity to talk, I felt Eve’s careful touch as excitement mixed with her gentle brushing flowed through my hair.

She was careful not to hurt my skin with her sharp fingertips, her delicate touches full of deep caution.

Although she knew very well that my skin was not in any danger, I felt no urge to stop her as it made me feel good.

Rustle…

“I saw you went tough on the kids yesterday.”

– Clack.

“No, no, I’m not scolding you. You did great.”

– Bang!

“Right.”

‘They were cute.’

With the pleasant sensation of her grooming, I turned my gaze to the mirror and saw the walls now adorned with furniture like a wardrobe and vanity, instead of the rock walls of before.

These were handmade furnishings that Eve had created with her unusually good craftsmanship, not from the artisan Scarlett mentioned.

The wood used and the finishing material purchased from Solemio’s carpenter guild radiated a delightful aroma, making me feel subtly good every morning when I woke up.

Through the magically created window, sunlight poured inside, and aside from the bare rock as there was no wallpaper, the room felt quite cozy.

‘Nice.’

The location of my room, which made me feel so good, was actually at the entrance of the dungeon.

To be precise, it was on the upper level, accessed through stairs hidden within a pillar in the dungeon’s center.

Even if adventurers breached the dungeon completely, if they couldn’t solve the ‘puzzle,’ they wouldn’t meet me.

Naturally, they wouldn’t be able to find the dungeon core either.

While many dungeon lords tend to place cores underground, my core room was positioned even higher than my room.

Tap.

By tapping on my chest and casting magic, my pajamas momentarily turned completely black from the magical influence.

When I glanced in the mirror a moment later, there it was: my flawless dress with not a single lace out of place.

Such transformations were only possible when fully undressing.

Reminded of the magical girl anime I had once fleetingly viewed on TV as a child, it felt a bit surreal, but convenient is good.

Clack.

“Ahh.”

As I woke up to a delightful morning, while sipping a cup of morning tea brought by Eve, someone with dark emotions that stained the usually friendly atmosphere stepped in.

“…”

“Good morning, my disciple.”

Sonia Medivh.

She was my student, the partner in a small scam we had unwittingly shared together.

– 2 –

“…”

Clack.

Mire led her into the room, where she sat facing me, her vacant eyes remaining so until I finished my tea.

The mana raging within her was the same. Currently, all but the bare minimum needed to maintain her body was sealed away.

It was a measure taken to constrain her, and hopefully, ‘properly handle’ her.

If that flow of mana had been left unchecked, she could have lost control before I made any move and would have died.

“Have you had breakfast?”

Shaking her head.

Thanks to that, after days of not seeing her, even though she hadn’t eaten properly, she looked healthier than before.

It was only natural, given her metabolism had improved significantly compared to before when she couldn’t absorb sustenance.

Even when eating properly, everything would decompose into energy to maintain her excessively strong mana, so it must have felt like ‘losing weight while eating.’

… However, it seemed her spirit still hadn’t come back to life compared to her body.

“So… have you sorted out your thoughts?”

“…”

Having successfully restrained her and her acquaintances a few days ago, I had presented her with a proposal.

I intended to hear her answer to that proposal today.

For the dungeon to grow properly, ultimately, it must create an environment for adventurers to come from the outside, and for that, a proper foundation needed to be laid.

I couldn’t keep spending time on her idly.

“If your thoughts aren’t sorted yet, we can talk while having a meal together.”

“… No.”

At last, Sonia opened her mouth.

However, her expression was now filled with intense emotion, sharply contrasting with her previously vacant state.

Disgust, hatred, anger, animosity.

It was such a fierce expression that it seemed the quantity of emotions she felt now exceeded all the emotions she had felt in her entire life.

“… Why did you do this to me?”

Amidst that, Sonia still asked, wanting a ‘reason.’

At this point, it was 120% certain we were already enemies, yet she had an attitude as if she was ready to understand depending on the reason.

I had indeed killed her friends or left them in states worse than death, but perhaps it was because I hadn’t taken everything from her. The presence of Maria and Leonis still alive might have contributed to this.

Of course, she could never understand.

However, ‘understanding’ is always at the opposite pole of ‘hatred.’ If one understands the other, it’s only natural that they cannot hate them.

Knowing that, her attitude seemed extremely beautiful to me.

So, I had no choice but to be honest in my answer.

“It’s because I was weak.”

“W-weak…?”

“Yeah.”

Sonia glared at me, unable to comprehend. From a human standpoint, it was an incomprehensible statement.

But, for me, it was a sentiment filled with sincerity.

Originally, I had merely wanted to delay time, but that strategy became meaningless when Maria took action.

What remained was to gain the maximum benefit according to the situation. Frankly speaking, Sonia just happened to be the most suitable offering for that gain.

In other words, she was a weakling caught between the strong.

To avoid becoming like her, I would need to keep making earnest efforts.

I had to grow stronger.

“A Dungeon Lord is an entity born from the core. Even a human should know at least this much.”

“… That’s common knowledge.”

“Right. Humans have records.”

It felt ridiculous to state that I wasn’t human, but no emotions escaped from me, whether in expression or words.

‘Nobility’ has always supported me.

Gently closing my eyes, I imagined what would have happened if I had never existed in this body of mine.

It was not a deception.

It was something I had conceptualized at least once while playing this game, and also was an actual ‘story.’

“When born into the world, the only thing visible is a bright, shining orb-like mineral substance, floating in the air, looking down at me.”

“…”

“And it says, ‘Devour it.’”

There were no beings with whom to converse, nor anyone to share the warmth of life.

Just by being born into the world as the successor to the Demon Lord, I was left with only knowledge that I didn’t know if it belonged to me or others, along with ‘antagonism towards humans’ ingrained in my mind.

And a baby waiting to devour the very existence that would slaughter them and take everything away from them.

That was a Dungeon Lord.

The ‘one who became a king’ was, under the former Demon Lord’s belief that they must be raised from the beginning, a baby from the Demon World entrusted to the dungeon core.

“Left alone, not even knowing what loneliness was, they find one truth: ‘I must summon something.’”

“Monsters…”

“Yes. You are the beings referred to as monsters. Green Skins, corrupted spirits. Anything.”

Thus, the Dungeon Lord becomes like the entity they first summoned.

Summon a Skeleton, and it becomes a Necromancer; summon a Zombie, and it becomes a Vampire; summon a Kobold, and it becomes a Were Dragon; summon a Goblin, and it becomes one of the Green Skins.

Before they can even properly recognize themselves, they observe another being and learn something from that other being to establish their own identity.

Of course, this is merely a generality; it doesn’t have to happen 100% of the time. If that were the case, there’d be no customization options in ‘Mill Don 1.’

“Thus, most learn about wildness first. If fortunate, they might even learn about wickedness or deception.”

“Fortunate…?”

“Of course! The side that realizes such things sooner is more likely to survive. You already know us, but we don’t know you, right? Because you’re a baby.”

“…”

Thus, the Dungeon Lord seeks to survive first. Following the instincts of life.

Ironically, this part was the same as me. Right now, my goal too is ‘for now’ to survive.

Beyond that would come the next step.

“Do you understand? You may have your standards of ‘cowardice’ and ‘fairness,’ but we only need to survive. From endlessly incoming adventurers. And occasionally from the older ones wanting to devour their juniors to grow even larger.”

“Older ones…?”

“Other Dungeon Lords. The mana of a young Dungeon Lord is a highly nutritious meal to them.”

The mana of the dungeon core has a high mana return rate.

Far more than ordinary creatures or other special tools.

The mana originally used in various ways to control the entire dungeon instantly becomes refined and pure if it is absorbed by another core.

Moreover, the mana possessed by the core can also be converted into another ‘attribute’ of the Dungeon Lord.

That in itself is the ‘remaining attributes’ of the status window, and it is a valuable resource that can purely and powerfully enhance the Dungeon Lord.

“A lonely life. Many foes or prey. Living like that… a Dungeon Lord becomes one of two things. A very powerful beast. A very wicked demon. One or the other.”

“But… but you were wise from the start.”

“Right.”

Once I finished explaining about the Dungeon Lord, Sonia looked even more bewildered.

I glanced at the binding device Maria was using.

Only eight of these were purchased from the association after selling the souls of one unfortunate bandit group, but knowing Sonia, she wouldn’t feel pity for that.

That would be comparable to how wild Goblins or Orcs wouldn’t feel pity for realizing that they are ‘trainable beings.’

For this kind girl, a bandit was synonymous with a monster until she realized that part of reality is just refugees.

In fact, what bandits do is not much different from monsters.

“You are the most delicious and nutritious prey to me. Just as you look at other beasts.”

“…!”

It seems ‘understanding’ is indeed possible.

The gaze other races hold towards humans is not essentially different.

“Moreover, I realized that if I miss nutritious prey, I might end up calling prey that would make me sick. Sonia. I needed ‘digestive fluids’ more.”

“Digestive fluids…?”

“You. Everything you have. And… this.”

As I reached out, Sonia flinched slightly while closing her eyes. I extracted some of the suppressed mana from her.

This was possible because the binding device from Mammon Trading Company was made to be friendly towards Dungeon Lords.

Although I could not freely use it like the core’s mana, I could ‘borrow’ it in this manner.

“Ugh… Oof.”

“Do you know? Your mana is already stronger than Maria’s. It could become a powerful asset, or resource. And I chose you as a resource. Not as an asset.”

Sonia stared at the mana turning from blue to black under my influence with a shocked expression.

Perhaps it appeared to contain powerful energy at first glance. Or maybe it was because her death had unintentionally come near.

“You could have just killed me…”

“I told you. I needed you. And… that still holds true. I feel regret for killing your friends. I also feel sorry for you, Sonia.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Think however you like.”

I was sincere, yet Sonia glared at me as if I were disgusting.

Regardless, I didn’t plan to persuade her completely, so I decided to return to the main topic of our conversation.

“You haven’t forgotten.”

As I looked at her, I reminded her of the proposal I had previously made regarding that poor man who was destined to die here due to his feelings for her.

“If you want to save Leonis, you should contract with me. The conditions haven’t changed.”

The contract of a Dungeon Lord wasn’t limited to summons.

Humans can also form a contract with a Dungeon Lord and belong to the dungeon. Typically, this is done after completely corrupting their soul to make them cursed beings, but it wasn’t strictly necessary.

It was never my intention to do so.

I needed her ‘mana over-adaptation,’ and to properly inherit and use that trait, ‘contracting with an unaltered human’ was essential.

The fact that I didn’t intend to corrupt her could be called my ‘humanness.’ I don’t necessarily think I have to uphold it, but it still lingers.

“… What about Maria and the others?”

“Their well-being is not your concern. It’s my job to talk to them separately. But if you choose to contract, I’ll at least ensure you can look after them while they’re confined. What will you do?”

The deliberation didn’t take long.

In the end, Sonia nodded and glared at me with resentment.

Understanding that I was a newly born Dungeon Lord, she wedged a bit of understanding between the hatred, coupled with the ‘familiarity’ I had already instilled deeply within her.

And filled her diminished self-loathing with her gaze.

“… I hate that I considered you my sun.”

“Feel free to hate me. What I need is not your favor.”

“I might kill you one day.”

“The contract isn’t so easy to break. But if you can, give it a try.”

“… I will.”

“Great. Then, let’s first form a minor contract.”

This was how she came to address me as ‘Master.’

– 3 –

“It must be a lie.”

Sonia muttered faintly.

“Lie…”

Even she couldn’t believe the words that slipped from her own mouth.

It was a lie born from the shock of losing her sun forever.