It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

“It will probably be useless.”

“What?”

Maria’s eyes were filled with both question and anger as she looked at me, trying to dissuade her from searching for her relatives.

If she had been a little less patient, or if she hadn’t seen Sonia and me holding hands.

It was such an intense emotion that she might have rushed at me at any moment.

She was quite different from Remia, who had seemed calm throughout except for the last moment.

Like the moon and the sun.

“I searched with Sonia based on her story, but whether her memory was distorted or hidden, we couldn’t find the location of the dungeon.”

As I spoke calmly but firmly, expressing certainty as if to soothe her, she looked at me with eyes that had erased the anger but still held questions.

“I don’t want to dismiss it, but she’s just an apprentice adventurer…”

“She’s also a guild-affiliated mage who has learned detection magic. You must know that guild-affiliated mages use magic better than ordinary mages.”

“Ah.”

Maria, who let out a voice of realization, fell into thought for a moment.

In fact, it was because of the tricks I had placed while accompanying Sonia that she couldn’t discover the dungeon, but no one at this place could guess that causality.

So my and Sonia’s opinions could only gain strength.

“I agree with additional searches. There’s still a possibility they might be alive, even though we couldn’t find them. But you’ll need to bring additional trap detection personnel from the city. It seems you’ve mainly organized tracker personnel now.”

Maria’s party, judging by their appearance, all seemed to be specialized in finding traces of people looking like bounty hunters or assassins.

Finding dungeons and traps required the abilities of mages who had learned to search magic or had knowledge about barriers or rogues who could find treasures and dungeons well, so my claim was sufficiently rational and acceptable.

“But…”

However, despite my strong assertion, Maria seemed quite skeptical.

What had happened?

“I don’t know what happened, but the city was in turmoil, and Solemio’s guild was passive about finding my siblings. They didn’t tell me the reason.”

I see.

Whatever happened, it seems the Solemio adventurers’ guild was in a state where they couldn’t spare effort to find apprentice adventurers.

In this situation, it means there probably won’t be any other search parties besides her adventure group.

The dungeon’s safety level rose a bit more.

“Now that I’ve come in person, they’ll surely cooperate, but I’m not sure if they’ll properly mediate deals with mages.”

“Let’s ask for help from a trustworthy guild. Sonia’s guild… ‘Eyes Tracing Truth,’ was it?”

“Indeed… that guild might help. The benefactor’s, ah-.”

Maria stopped speaking, looking as if she had realized something.

I could tell what she was thinking from her words, spoken in a somewhat embarrassed tone while looking at me.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t even know the benefactor’s name until now. I’m sorry.”

“I understand. It’s a matter of life and death for someone you care about.”

“Thank you. I’m Maria Olas. I’m the older sister of Remia, Sonia’s friend. I originally belonged to the mercenary guild ‘Shadow Blade’ in the eastern part of the kingdom.”

“Daniel Smith. Same here.”

There are various types of guilds.

Adventurer, mercenary, mage, stonemason, or merchant as well.

Not just within cities but for any profession that might expand externally, forming and moving in associations called guilds was the basic culture of this world.

Of course, the most versatile among them is the adventurers’ guild.

Strictly speaking, mercenary guilds are different from adventurers’ guilds, but they are sometimes treated as adventurers’ guilds that mainly perform combat-related tasks, such as protecting caravans or being involved in national frontlines, rather than adventurers’ work.

Because of this, I know that those who consider themselves adventurers or mercenaries have a bit of rivalry between them.

Of course, there are more people who don’t care about such things.

“Nice to… well, I can’t say it’s nice to meet you, given the situation. I’m Angelita Maer. A wandering mage.”

“You don’t seem like an ordinary person.”

“I was staying nearby during my travels when I discovered Sonia’s presence and rescued her. Nothing more.”

“Hmm…”

She seemed quite suspicious of my identity, but she didn’t seem to think I was a hostile foreign entity at all.

It was natural, as Sonia was fine even though the other two had disappeared, and she appeared to trust and depend on me.

She might think I have a background like a fallen noble. Because the gestures due to ‘Nobility’ couldn’t possibly be covered by acting.

Perhaps this characteristic considers hiding oneself through acting as not noble.

“I understand the benefactor’s words. But still…”

She’s more stubborn than I thought… No. That’s not it.

It’s her sister’s matter, so logic doesn’t apply.

I’ve been separated from my family for a long time, so I’m a bit distant from the usual psychology between family members.

So… if I apply it to me and Eve, I too would only want to confirm with my own eyes in this situation. As I’ve said before, matters concerning the life of someone you care about are uncontrollable.

I was about to just nod my head, thinking persuasion wouldn’t work when help came from an unexpected side.

“We don’t all need to go, Maria.”

“Daniel?”

“I and about two others will stay behind to search more and then return. Take the remaining two, along with the benefactor and that fledgling mage, Maria.”

“But…”

“That mage looks quite unwell. You don’t intend to make the benefactor recruit a priest, too, do you? It’ll cost a lot of money.”

There might be some anxiety left, but there’s no reason to object.

Although the man in front of me is also a high-ranking adventurer, the forces and traps gathered in the dungeon were enough to defeat one high-ranking adventurer. The difference between having both vanguard and mid-range versus just one mid-range is significant.

Although the other two were variables, they weren’t big variables.

Moreover…

‘Originally, even if they had magical tools, entering through that entrance is absolutely impossible by normal methods.’

I also trust the method I used to hide the dungeon.

As I remained silent, Maria finally agreed to Daniel’s proposal.

“…You’re right. Thank you, Daniel. Be careful. If it’s dangerous, you must leave immediately.”

“Don’t worry.”

Thus, the adventure party that had joined was divided into two again.

I, Sonia, and Maria heading northeast towards Solemio.

Daniel headed southwest toward the vicinity of my dungeon.

“…”

I made eye contact with Daniel, who was looking at me emotionlessly. When I slightly bowed my head in a silent greeting, the man flinched and turned his gaze away.

What filled his eyes was clearly suspicion.

But as I had already declared, there was no problem.

* * *

A dungeon is a monster that grows by devouring adventurers who come to it. And this is the same for the Dungeon Lord connected to the dungeon.

Therefore, no Dungeon Lord avoids adventurers who come.

The hostility and predator instinct engraved in their instincts make them unconditionally welcome enemies.

All the Dungeon Lords she knew, especially young Dungeon Lords, were like that.

‘But…’

Scarlet continued her thoughts while holding the quill pen in her mouth after scribbling something on the board.

What was visible in front of her was a paper full of scribbles that hadn’t become words. It was the result of her unconscious habit when she fell into thought.

‘I wonder if I’m mistaken because it’s been too long since I’ve seen a newbie.’

The newbie Dungeon Lord who became a new customer this time, the necromancer Lady Libertas, was different.

She acted as if she didn’t have such instincts at all from the beginning.

Seeing that she killed people and properly used their souls and bodies after seizing them, it seemed like she wasn’t completely without such instincts…

Not stopping there, despite not having been a Dungeon Lord for long, she was already showing movements, trying to deceive humans.

That’s why.

Even though funds were insufficient, she spent more of her own money to get everything she wanted.

‘She didn’t even flinch when I first saw her. Even though I’m clearly much stronger, and a Dungeon Lord would surely have felt that.’

Such Lords were rare.

Although she maintained the arrogance peculiar to Demon Lord candidates, for Scarlet, who had only seen those showing their young inexperience, Lady Libertas’s appearance was fresh and…

Beautiful.

‘Yes. Beautiful.’

An appearance that seemed to possess both coldness and fragility at the same time.

The expression that looked straight at her as if looking down, despite clearly being much shorter, while keeping her waist straight.

Eyes that didn’t waver at all despite surely having taken a hit, with mental strength strong enough not to be affected by charm skills.

Among the appearances of humanoid Dungeon Lords, she had exceptionally outstanding beauty and a voice that was somehow cruel yet gentle and soft, low as if showing the dignity of one who leads in the opposite direction.

In a word, it could be described as a beauty that changes people’s preferences.

“Moreover, although still clumsy, she knows how to come up with great schemes.”

Scarlet smiled as she took out the pen she had been holding in her mouth and started scribbling something on a new paper.

“I really look forward to her future.”

What she drew was one large door-shaped figure and something unidentifiable, massively covering the front of it.

“Really.”

Scarlet’s smile didn’t leave her lips as she recalled Rita’s appearance, thinking about looking forward to the future of a new promising talent.

Awesome newbies were always welcomed by old-timers.

It was in the midst of this.

“Senior…”

When a familiar voice was heard, Scarlet’s eyes, drawn to that direction, saw the figure of a succubus.

A blue-haired succubus.

She was a rare kind within the Mammon Guild, so it might be okay to speak a bit kindly, but Scarlet’s tone wasn’t like that.

“What is it? Parachute.”

‘Parachute’. That was the reason for that stiff tone.

Although she was a low-level employee without any special authority, the newcomer in front of her was openly known as the illegitimate child of the Mammon Guild’s representative, who had entered through a parachute without any interview or test.

It was a reason why she couldn’t look good to the manager, who had lost the opportunity to welcome a good newcomer because she happened to come in as her direct junior.

Ironically, Scarlet was treating her the most ‘kindly,’ though.

“Well… there’s a bit of a tricky request, so I wanted to ask for advice…”

“A tricky request?”

Whether knowing this or not, the junior revealed her business and handed her a document.

“The mercenary written there… wants to go to a dungeon no matter what, you see…”

“Hmm.”

Scarlet, who had heard a reasonable reason, unconsciously started to nod but then unnaturally raised her chin and looked down at the document with just her eyes.

It was an action taken because she didn’t like giving a positive response to the newcomer in front of her.

Then, she widened her eyes and buried her face in the document.

“Did they really want to go to this dungeon?”

“Yes… It’s a mercenary I was managing, but I don’t understand why they want to go to such a young dungeon so badly…”

“Hmm…”

She knew well about the mercenaries this junior was managing.

They were mercenaries that the representative of the guild had subtly stabbed in the back while declaring that he wouldn’t give any unreasonable benefits to his illegitimate child.

In the demon realm, ‘mercenary’ refers to two types of beings.

Fallen humans, or demons who move alone according to money or their own values without belonging to the ‘real’ seven Archdukes of the demon realm.

They were those who were often dispatched to dungeons on the ground or battlefields in the demon realm, performing combat services while raising their own value, aiming for individual wealth and honor rather than that of a group.

Among these, the mercenaries managed by the junior were all high-quality humans that the representative had personally tainted with corruption and affiliated.

As such, these mercenaries’ loyalty to this junior was bound to be high… and now one of those mercenaries suddenly caused an unusual activity.

It was an interesting story.

“No matter how promising they are, even if you say that about a Lord who might disappear at any time…”

“It’ll be fine, Junior.”

Scarlet smiled, not even realizing that she had properly called her junior without knowing it herself.

Although she couldn’t know how the mercenary had learned about that dungeon or why they suddenly caused unusual activity, anyway, this wasn’t a bad thing for Lady Libertas, whom she was interested in.

The junior’s mercenaries were, although she hated to admit it, excellent.

If she teamed up with such a mercenary, Lady Libertas’s survival probability would be excellently improved.

“What? But…”

“I guarantee it, so try sending them once. It could be a proper investment.”

“That means it could still fail in the end…”

“My, my. Since when did you object so much? Isn’t it always natural that investments are risky?”

“…That’s true.”

Finally confirming that the junior signed the document while grumbling, Scarlet smiled deeply.

She intended to take over the gift herself and bring it. She was looking forward to seeing how that noble young lady would think and react upon receiving this gift.

“Senior… hehe.”

Thanks to this, she didn’t notice the blue-haired succubus examining her with interest.