It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

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Julian was a handsome man with golden hair similar to Serica’s and red eyes of a deeper shade.

If Serica’s were a wine color mixed with purple, his were more like blood red.

Seeing that both half-siblings were vampires, it seems their father, Marquis Baritra, was likely the vampire.

“Pleased to meet you, Dungeon Lady Libertas. I am Julian, the eldest son of Baritra.”

“Welcome, Julian.”

Twitch!

It seems he has a personality that doesn’t match his face value.

At least he’s not entirely ignorant of manners as he came to greet me first, but seeing his eyebrows shoot up as soon as he heard my first words, starting with informal speech, was amusing.

When I immediately turned my head to look at the practical staff standing next to the young nobleman, I caught a glimpse of his face crumpling slightly more in my peripheral vision.

“Is this the practical staff?”

“…Yes. Administrator? Introduce yourself.”

“I-It’s an honor to meet you! Lady! I am Melody Haig, Baroness and chief administrator of Baritra!”

“Nice to meet you, Melody.”

The Baritra Marquis family’s administrator whose face turned bright red as soon as our eyes met.

This woman with a shy impression wearing large glasses had an appearance that showed she liked indoor work at first glance.

Although she was much taller than me, it was impressive that she didn’t feel so tall, whether because of her shy impression or because she lowered her head in bashfulness.

I felt the smile on my lips naturally deepen at her cute appearance, and as if conscious of this, her face reddened even more as she lowered her eyes.

‘An assassin? Or a ranger? Either way, completely opposite to her appearance.’

On top of her head, horns, evidence of being a demon race, protruded very small towards the back of her head.

Considering the demon’s characteristic of showing the type and size of power in the shape of the horns, those small horns were an appearance characteristic, meaning she mainly uses tricky power.

Not very strong, but it should be said she has a meaningful ability.

“Then, please discuss practical matters with those three people behind. I’m counting on you.”

“Y-Yes…!”

When I spoke while pointing to Evangeline, Grim, and Sonia, Melody bowed several times and then scurried off towards them.

Erasing the smile that naturally rose at that quite cute sight, I looked back at Julian.

“I apologize for the rudeness. Talking to a subordinate in front of their superior. Someone held an unscheduled event, so I was distracted.”

“N-No… It seems I made a mistake first.”

Although it was pitiful to see him trying hard to be polite with a brow that clearly said ‘How dare a powerless little shit Dungeon Lord ignore me?’, I had no obligation to care for that.

After all, the disrespect started from his side.

“Then, shall we move to talk?”

“Yes. Servant? Escort the Lady…”

“That’s not necessary. I have my own legs. It’s fine to help Serica.”

“I… see…”

Although he seemed not to have forgotten the purpose of coming here and was trying to be polite somehow, with a first impression like that, he was only amplifying negative emotions.

Sometimes truly unnecessary consideration becomes rude.

“Here, have some.”

“Did you make this yourself? I look forward to it.”

“If it’s bitter, eat this candy.”

“Hm… Kup?!”

Julian, who was drinking the tea, spit the liquid back into the cup as if he had choked, and quickly put the candy in his mouth. It seems the tea I got from Leonis didn’t suit his taste at all.

In fact, since it’s this world’s espresso, it’s understandable that it’s bitter—even more bitter than Earth’s.

A Dungeon Lord’s body needs this much for caffeine to have an effect. I’d say it’s an obvious reason why Leonis, who just drinks this, lives with dark circles under his eyes.

“It doesn’t seem to suit your taste.”

“I… apologize for my rudeness.”

When I made no reaction and gestured towards the skeleton standing beside me, the one who usually served as my attendant and personal room guard added sugar and milk to Julian’s teacup.

It was amusing to see his face distort more and more with humiliation as additional ingredients were added.

“It should be fine now. It might not have suited your taste because I made it the way I usually drink it.”

When I had thus made a mishmash coffee that couldn’t be called a cafe latte in front of him, his face became frustrated. He was unable to refuse the kindness while displaying ‘I’m not a child’ on his face, probably because the bitter taste was coming up.

“Lady, you drink it… as is…?”

“Of course. It’s fine for me since I drink it normally.”

When I calmly nodded at Julian’s question as he alternately looked at his teacup and mine, his face worsened even more.

No matter how you look at it, he doesn’t seem like the eldest son or heir apparent of a high noble family.

My initial guess is becoming more confirmed: This man would belong somewhere between an ordinary ruffian and an idler.

“Well then, it’s time to verify if she really is of Marquis lineage.”

“Ah, yes. Bring it.”

What the Baritra family servant brought was a ring placed on a red decorative stand.

It’s a solid gold ring with something like a seal engraved on the surface, which is probably exactly what I guessed it was for.

“Hmm…”

This verification should probably be done by the servant or Julian himself, but Julian just frowned as he alternately looked at the ring and Serica, and didn’t quickly show signs of moving or giving additional instructions.

It was an appearance that made his thoughts guessable.

“Hold out your hand…”

Although he seemed unable to ignore family matters and was about to move soon…

I decided just to intervene.

“Give me your hand, Serica.”

“…Okay.”

Thus, holding the Baritra family seal ring, I grasped her intact index finger and slowly pushed it in.

The ring, which seemed slightly loose at first, settled at the base of Serica’s finger and then shrank to fit her finger perfectly.

“Is that all?”

“No. We need to drop her blood on it.”

“I see.”

Holding the dagger that the skeleton quickly unfastened from its waist and handed over, I met her eyes.

Serica didn’t say anything, but she asked me with eyes that seemed to clearly understand that intention.

‘Why are you suddenly being so kind to me?’

Without any particular expression of intent, I lowered my gaze again, pricked her finger with the tip of the dagger to draw a little blood, and then dropped that blood on the ring.

Whoosh!

The blood formed a shape like a magic circle in the air above the ring, then was quickly sucked into the ring.

It was a sign of success obvious at a glance.

“It’s done.”

“Yes… That’s right. She really is a member of our family.”

Julian spoke as if he had to acknowledge an unpleasant fact, frowning. Seeing that, I thought that whether he’s a ruffian or an idler, he at least knows she could be a competitor.

At least he has the brain to calculate this situation against profit and loss.

Thanks to such a hasty thought, I almost burst into laughter when I heard what he said next.

“Father really had an illegitimate child… What on earth was he thinking? This is a dishonor to the family.”

It’s as if he’s saying the purity of the family is more important than him becoming the head of the family.

A subtle noble idealism, you could say.

The fact that my expressionless face didn’t crumble at his tone filled with such clumsy thinking must be thanks to my characteristics.

It was that hard to endure.

Is this bastard an only child?

“Julian. Do you have any other siblings?”

…As soon as I had that thought, my mouth opened.

The young nobleman’s eyes widened as soon as he heard my words. Is it really true?

“Didn’t you know? Vampires tend to have few children throughout generations.”

Ah, I see.

Well, while making vampires is just a matter of ‘infecting’, creating an heir would be a different matter.

At least I understand why his head is a flower garden. It seems he’s never experienced competition for family and power.

At least there must be no internal family strife.

Seeing how he says they ‘have few children’ and he himself is a foolish demon race, it seems there was almost no power struggle within the family in the previous generation or before.

This is a green light for Serica.

Of course.

“…Why?”

“Nothing.”

“I told you not to touch me…!”

All of this is only if she intends to engage in such a struggle.

This lady, who has become accustomed to my caressing hand without even pushing it away, and is looking at me with slightly coy eyes, doesn’t seem likely to recognize the need for power right now.

It’s questionable whether she even has such concepts now. Things like power or being the heir to a noble family.

Of course, this was good for me too.

It means I have more opportunities to get closer to her before she reaches a position where she can wield family power.

‘Why on earth did they send such a man here… Ah.’

Thinking about it, the reason soon came to mind.

They probably calculated that since I’m also a novice Dungeon Lord, I would naturally bow when contacted by a high noble family from the demon realm, and that could be packaged as this stupid guy’s achievement.

Isn’t it essential for nobles preparing a successor to create appropriate achievements for the eldest son?

‘The actual power was all in that administrator.’

Even if this man is stupid, it could be easily accomplished if they sent a reasonably competent administrator alongside him.

The miscalculation there is that I wouldn’t simply submit just because I’m a demon realm noble, and that this idiot committed the stupid act of ignoring and trampling on Dungeon Lords’ authority within the demon realm.

But it didn’t matter even so.

Anyway, there’s almost nothing wrong for me in establishing connections with demon realm nobles.

It’s not like I didn’t keep it in mind at all.

‘By the way, it’s interesting.’

Blood purity and having few children. Amazingly, these two can coexist.

They would have had to abandon one or the other if they were human. Most would abandon blood purity.

Is it because demon races have much longer lifespans than humans?

-Tack.

“What is it?”

“It seems the trade negotiations are finished. Let’s get up.”

The meeting between nobles ended like that.

More gently than I had thought, but leaving me with the homework of becoming closer to Serica.

“…? Why.”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

“How bland.”

Although it doesn’t seem like a very difficult homework.