It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

Leaving everyone behind and approaching that ‘two-tailed fox’ with only Xue and Eve accompanying me, she bowed her head and body fully, prostrating herself before me.

Even without having been to the Western Continent, I could tell at a glance.

That this was the highest form of respect shown to a supreme being.

“You said you waited for me.”

“Yes, my lady. Though it was not a long time, for this humble one it felt like a thousand years.”

“‘My lady’, you say.”

“Please allow me to use that title. If not, please know that this heart painfully constricts.”

“…Alright.”

Even while making a suppressed voice due to being so curled up, she doesn’t think of raising her head at all.

As if she absolutely won’t raise her head until given permission.

Though the title is only ‘my lady’, this was like addressing an emperor or king.

“Would you raise your head?”

“Just give the order. My lady’s request is too much for this humble one.”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

Even as she started to raise her head at my repeated words.

She paused once in front of my feet that had approached her. She paused and stiffened again in front of the hand I held out to her.

Finally, when she fully raised her head and saw my face, she completely froze.

“…Hic.”

Then, she started sobbing as if about to cry loudly.

It was like seeing someone when I first met them, but an even more intense reaction.

“Your clothes are disheveled.”

Looking at her like that, I first reached for the hem of her clothes.

Her Western-style clothing that looked like a mix of hanbok and kimono was completely disheveled, about to expose her breasts. It was evidence that she had bowed without paying any attention to her appearance.

I couldn’t help but pay attention. There were men among the nobles behind me too.

“You are still, truly kind…”

After arranging all her clothes and adhering them with magic power, when I looked into her eyes, she still had eyes that looked like she might cry, but she spoke with a much calmer demeanor.

Since praising even such a trivial thing wasn’t much different from the other two, I looked at those two again anew.

“Hmm…?”

-Clatter.

“It’s nothing.”

Evangeline still had her hand on the sword at her waist, and Xue hadn’t released the hardened claws she had made in her hand.

While it was minimal vigilance as those in a guarding position, it was clearly not a hostile attitude.

They’re judging that the woman in front of me isn’t dangerous. Even though with two tails, she would have power similar to mine at most.

‘Well. In this state, she definitely can’t be harmful.’

This imiko had completely released her power.

All the magic power she could freely use, into the surrounding air.

In this state, she can’t use magic power. Because she has literally ‘released’ all her remaining magic power.

In other words, voluntary disarmament.

If someone were to strike with a sword, she could die without being able to resist immediately.

It wasn’t an attitude anyone would show towards an enemy.

Unless it was towards a master.

Still…

“I heard you were restrained by humans, but it doesn’t look that way.”

“This humble one was indeed restrained by humans.”

“So?”

“Yes. That’s right. The only difference is that it was this humble one’s will, not theirs.”

“Your will, you say…?”

“That is correct.”

When I naturally questioned her dubious words, she nodded her head a couple of times demurely, then continued her answer with a smile.

While preciously holding the hem of her clothes that I had closed and adhered with magic power with one hand.

“Ugh.”

-Tack.

…Hmm. I feel some negative emotional presence from behind. Am I imagining it?

Moreover, my ‘sense’ is also saying.

That she is hiding her true nature.

It’s problematic that the concentration of warning isn’t severe, and it’s saying that even this current appearance is ‘sincere’. To have two appearances while not being a lie.

She really seems to be a ‘fox’.

“When I met humans in this place, it was right after I was born, so I didn’t have the power to resist humans.”

“So you voluntarily appealed your harmlessness.”

“As expected, you are wise.”

“You are clever too.”

“Your words are too much. If I were truly clever, I should have been able to find my lady and leave this place long ago, so please take them back.”

When I returned praise to the fox’s burdensome praise, she asked with her head deeply bowed.

However, no matter how you hear it, it wasn’t words that gave a positive impression.

“There’s no need for empty words. You must have coldly assessed your strength and acted, and if you hadn’t, you would have thought you’d be dead. You can’t call not doing such a thing cleverness, can you?”

“…This humble one is sorry for telling a lie.”

“It’s good that you admit it quickly.”

“I am sorry.”

I looked down at her bowing her head with complex feelings.

Originally, I was planning to decide her treatment, whether to take her in or kill her, after seeing her, but one option was erased as soon as we met.

Because her attitude was one that you could tell at a glance.

‘She knows me.’

She knows me, and was showing her will to completely rely on me.

‘How?’

The doubt I had felt before when looking at Eve and Xue came up again.

The doubt I felt then, as if they knew each other and me well.

I feel that now too.

Twice might be a coincidence, but not three times. If there’s a third time, there could be a fourth.

Such complex thoughts were further intensified when I saw her next action.

“…What are you doing?”

Because she offered me a sphere that was clearly a powerful lump of magic power, certainly the dungeon’s core, with her own hands.

“The yeouiju… this dungeon’s core.”

“So. I’m asking why you’re giving it to me.”

It was something that couldn’t happen in common sense.

If releasing her magic power was an appeal of complete surrender, this was no different from offering her life as a Dungeon Lord.

“Do as you wish. Even if you say you’ll use it to kill me, I will follow.”

Just as she’s saying now.

“…”

“But please, if possible. If there is not the slightest hesitation in your heart. Please take me in and use me as your vassal. I will bite your enemies to death and offer their livers and hearts.”

After saying such fierce words, the fox yokai returned to a demure bowing posture.

Her ears were completely laid back, and her tails that had been gently moving left and right also stiffened and stopped moving.

It was an expression of heart that could be understood at a glance.

‘Fear’. Probably of rejection.

‘What am I to you all.’

I feel complicated.

Eve, Xue, and this fox yokai all act as if I’m their entire world. Don’t they seem like they would abandon their life and existence if I were to disappear?

While this appearance of theirs becomes a driving force for me, it couldn’t be without burden either.

I can’t postpone talking anymore.

But before that.

“I didn’t hear your name.”

When I said that while receiving the core from her, the fox yokai who was looking up at me with a bright face also smiled widely at her lips.

“The person who gave this humble woman a name said the meaning of my name is ‘will’. They said that they thought this humble one’s circumstances were similar to their, so they gave a name with one of the meanings closest to their own name.”

“Will…”

Though she didn’t reveal it directly, it was unmistakable by this point.

I was convinced that the person who gave her name would be someone deeply connected to me. I guessed even beyond that, but since that wasn’t certain, I reserved judgment.

Well, ‘will’ was one of the elements of ‘freedom’ that I think of.

“Will should be as hard as steel… and at the same time beautiful. So that person took the ‘yu’ of diamond and the ‘ran’ of light to name this humble one ‘Yuran’.”

“Yuran. A name that suits your hair and beauty, and the sparkle in your eyes.”

“I don’t know where to put myself with my lady’s praise.”

I understood immediately. There was something I could guess right away.

Carbon, which becomes one of the hardest precious metals, diamond, when extremely compressed.

It was the material that comes to mind most easily when connecting the hardness derived from will and the beauty possessed by the woman before me.

The one who named her probably associated that with her faintly shining black hair.

“Is this room where the core was correct?”

“That is correct.”

“Your will to dedicate your life to me remains unchanged, right?”

“It hurts to ask twice.”

“Then.”

Beep-

I nodded and adjusted my magic power to emit the set summoning signal.

Then, light shone on the mountain gate erected at the entrance of this room, and the empty space below it was filled. With a black stone door with the figure of Mammon, the great demon of the demon realm, carved in relief.

As you can easily guess, it was a hell gate connecting to the demon realm.

The core room and the Mammon Guild were connected.

“Eastern Continent Central 2nd Department Manager, Scarlet Spira Spina! Arrived at the call of the Dungeon Lady!”

“Welcome, Scarlet.”

Of course, the one who came across from there was the pink-haired succubus I knew well.

Since I got to see her face, I should check something too.

“Is the construction of my dungeon going well?”

“Of course! I just heard from the gremlins that they’ve done almost everything they can within the current budget and structure! There are about three days left!”

“Thank you for your attention. I’m always grateful.”

“Ehehe… It’s nothing.”

Scarlet made a silly laughing sound with her hand on her head.

At first, she was a lady with some calculating and cool sides, but when did she become like this doting fool?

I felt doubtful about that, but it was true that I always had something to be grateful for to her, so there was no need to hold back my words.

“I have something I want to buy, so I had to call you here like this.”

“If there’s such a thing, you could have just communicated, but you called me directly like this! …Aha, there was another dungeon here! Anyway, I’m so happy!”

“You still enjoy talking nonsense.”

“I’m serious…”

She looked a bit glum for a moment, but then brightened her face again and approached me, unfolding her usual scroll.

The image of the trading item unfolded as a projection, and I placed my hand on that illusion and pushed it to one side, then pointed out and extracted the desired item when it appeared.

It was a single scroll.

“A dungeon contract! Don’t tell me you’ve already taken in a subordinate lord…!”

“That’s how it turned out.”

“As expected, you’re excellent, Lady! Truly someone who will become a Demon King!”

“Scarlet.”

“I’m serious… It’s 500 V, and you only need to pay 350 V of this, Lady!”

“Thank you for the guidance.”

I gave an eye greeting to Scarlet who kindly guided the amount excluding the portion to be paid by Marquis Baritra’s family, and scanned with my eyes the Demon King’s guarantee written on the extracted scroll to check if there were any errors.

If according to her wish, there was only one thing that needed to be added.

「Dungeon Lord ‘Yuran’ is subordinated to Dungeon Lord ‘Libertas’ as a ‘maid’, and this is maintained until one of them dies or they can no longer affect each other semi-permanently.」

The title of ‘servant’ or ‘maid’ is the basic title for a subordinate lord who becomes subject to another Dungeon Lord. It’s to announce that they no longer qualify to be a ‘king’.

So that title doesn’t really matter…

I glanced at Yuran looking at me with eyes full of expectation and considered rewriting the ‘maid’ part, but decided to leave it as is for now.

There are ways to change this much later too.

“My lady. I have a request.”

“Speak.”

However, the fox yokai still seemed to have some dissatisfaction with this contract.

Somehow, I could immediately guess what it was.

“This humble one, if possible, would like to serve by my lady’s side. To breathe in the same space, to sleep and wake together. Would that not be possible…?”

Hearing exactly the words I had expected to come out, I nodded once, then shook my head.

It contained both affirmation and negation.

To interpret her wish, she wanted to completely abandon her position as a Dungeon Lord and become a ‘regular summon’ by my side.

This also meant she was willing to give up her qualification to become stronger, and it was such a burdensome thing to say that she would give up such rank just to stay by my side.

“I intended to connect this base to my dungeon and use it as a branch. So you will have to be responsible for this place for at least some time.”

“…Though it saddens me that I cannot directly serve my lady by her side, I will follow your command.”

This was a request I couldn’t accept.

Firstly, it was regrettable to lower her rank.

Secondly, if I were to use this dungeon as one of my bases, it would be much more efficient to maintain rather than destroy the dungeon itself.

For that, a Dungeon Lord was needed, and having two was more convenient for controlling both dungeons than having one.

If she really wanted, I could create or hire another ‘management entity’ and dispatch them, but there was no need to bear the waste when there was already someone capable of doing that.

However, I didn’t intend to completely ignore her request either.

“If you wish, I’ll adjust the gate so you can come over anytime.”

“…! Thank you!”

As we each bit our fingers like that and signed the contract with the flowing blood.

One of the two copied contracts seeped into Yuran’s core.

Swish-!

Above the core, a blue pattern of a fox head with nine foxfires floating around it appeared, then turned purple and a black inverted cross and a single sickle intersecting were engraved on the fox’s forehead.

An appearance intuitively showing the master-servant relationship.

Seeing that, purple magic power swirled in Yuran’s pupils for a moment before returning to golden.

“With this, you are a being belonging to me. From now on, I’ll call you ‘Ran’.”

“Please…!”

Though it looks much simpler than making the contractor belong to the demon realm, its meaning is not light.

It’s a situation where one Dungeon Lord becomes subject to another lord, for example, becoming a cornerstone for triggering the ‘demonification’ of the surrounding continent area.

Even including cases I’ve seen and heard in ‘Mildun 1’, there weren’t many cases where a high-rank Dungeon Lord becomes the master.

“Before saying anything else, I’ll give my first order, so listen.”

“Yes! I will listen!”

First, I decided to correct one of her words and actions. Though I don’t know if it will work well, there’s meaning in saying it for now.

It will help in understanding her tendencies too.

“From now on, never again say nonsense like I’ll kill you.”

“…! Yes! My lady!”

What was on the fox’s face nodding her head was a brightness as if there wasn’t a single worry in the world.

That changed in an instant.

“Um, my lady… may I make one request?”

The next moment, she started to exude a seductive atmosphere while gently closing her eye corners, making a certain request.

“Speak.”

“Could you… please promise to grant this humble one, Ran’s request?”

“I don’t know what kind of request it is, but I’ll grant it if it’s not a great threat to life or honor.”

“Well…”

Despite my answer, Yuran hesitated for a long time. And proportional to that time, somehow the ‘unpleasantness’ felt from behind also intensified.

-…Tack!

That emotion, which made me wonder if she had some grievance against her, was being transmitted from Evangeline.

I didn’t understand why she was so displeased, but soon after hearing that request Yuran spoke of, I felt like I might understand.

“May I… give my lady a kiss of oath?”

-Crack!