I considered carrying Satsuki-chan inside with me, but in my current state, I smelled so awful that I’d only end up causing trouble. So instead, I gently laid her down on the steps by the entrance.
It was unlikely that anything would come attacking at this point, but just to be safe, I’d explain the situation to that little girl if I ran into her again and make sure Satsuki-chan would be protected.
That much, at least, I should be able to manage.
“Alright… let’s head inside.”
It was pitch-black—so dark I couldn’t see a thing—but after coming this far, there was no way I was backing out now. Still… I’d rather not fall into some hidden pitfall. Carefully, I pressed each step forward, moving slowly—
Creeeak…
“Ah! The door—!”
It shut on its own.
At the same moment, faint lights began to emerge within the darkness that had swallowed everything moments before.
Fwoosh, fwoosh.
On either side of me, candles mounted along the walls flickered to life. One after another, at steady intervals, the flames stretched deeper into the passage ahead, as if beckoning me forward—like a silent guide illuminating the path, urging me to come further in.
“…So you’re telling me to come, huh.”
With cautious steps, I made my way deeper into the temple hall, now faintly illuminated by the growing glow of candlelight. Before long, a space came into view where countless candles were clustered together, their flames overlapping in a dense, shimmering mass.
I was almost there.
A quiet tension tightened in my chest.
The voice I’d heard definitely belonged to a young girl. But that didn’t necessarily mean her appearance matched it. Well… she is probably a woman, but for all I knew she could be some old—…no, better not go there.
By the time I get hold of my thoughts, I had already reached my destination.
“You’re late. I thought you’d make it here much sooner.”
In front of me stood a broad, three-tiered wooden staircase.
At the top of those steps, in the center of a wide, circular space—
There she is. Her back faced me, a small-framed woman standing amidst a sea of flickering light. Candles—far too many to count—burned all around, their glow bathing her figure in an almost surreal radiance.
From behind, she looked like a woman dressed in a simple, oversized white cloth—something closer to a loose robe than proper clothing.
“Are you… the Dungeon Master?”
I called out to her from the foot of the stairs.
She hadn’t turned around yet, so I still couldn’t see her face. From the back, she definitely looked like a little girl—but if she turned around and ended up being some kind of—no, best not go there.
“That’s what humans call me. Though, I suppose it’s not entirely wrong. In this world, a dungeon is about the only place where I can exert any real influence, so it’s a fitting enough title.”
As she spoke, the Dungeon Master finally turned to face me.
“!!”
“Oh my, are you captivated by my beauty? How adorable, Ajiri Daishi.”
…Annoyingly enough, she was right.
If there were such a thing as the ultimate young girl who perfectly embodied both cuteness and beauty beyond human limits, it would be her. Her face—crafted as though to strike every possible weakness of those with a certain inclination—was flawless.
Long, straight golden hair cascaded down her back, shimmering with an almost divine brilliance. Her large, round eyes were a soft shade of light brown. Her face was unbelievably small—her nose, her lips, every feature delicately shaped and impossibly refined.
I’m absolutely not into loli—but standing before her, I couldn’t deny the unsettling feeling that something in me might be awakening. She was, in every sense, the perfect embodiment of a supreme, fearless child idol.
“Oh, and just so you know, I’ve already taken the liberty of cutting off your streaming camera. I can’t exactly allow anyone other than you to see me like this you see.”
Now that she mentioned it, the camera had been auto-tracking me this whole time, but the comment section hadn’t worked at all. The recording function was probably shut down too.
To think that even that absurdly high-performance camera—one that had adapted to every environment so far—could be stopped so easily…
And despite how unbearably foul I must smell right now, she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
Yeah… “Dungeon Master” definitely felt like the right title for her.
“Satsuki-chan… is she—”
“She’s fine. She’s an irregular case, but I’ve secured her safely at the entrance.”
Relief washed over me.
Alright! In that case, time to jump straight into question time!
The first thing I wanted to confirm was—
“I already know what you want to ask. I’ll explain everything step by step, so don’t rush, Ajiri Daishi.”
She looked like the perfect little girl—flawless in appearance—but the way she spoke, with that older-sister tone and condescending edge, was oddly irritating.
Step by step, she said?
No, forget that—tell me the one thing I want to know first!
“Where did you even get those Nether King’s organs? Start with that!”
Before she could begin her explanation, I cut in with the question that had been bothering me the most. Seriously, I’d been dying to know.
How the hell did she extract something like that and place it inside this dungeon?
I’m sure the viewers were curious too. I couldn’t check right now, but once I got out of here, that’d be the first thing I’d tell them.
“You’re really starting with something that trivial? There are plenty of other things to ask…”
“It’s not trivial! I really want to know!”
“I figured you were a bit of an idiot, but maybe you’re more of a hopeless one than I thought.”
What a rude little brat.
Just because she’s cute she…
I swear, I’ll make her cry!
“Oh, that? I just stole it while that old man was drunk and passed out. He’s gotten sloppy with age—leaves himself wide open, you know.”
Wait, no—that’s not what I meant. I want to know how you moved it, how you extracted it in the first place. I mean, if you could pull something like that off, why not just defeat him outright? Why go through the trouble of making me eat it?
“Ahh, that look on your face—I can tell exactly what you’re trying to say. I’ll explain all of that too, but in order. So just listen properly, you little idiot Ajiri.”
Say that again and I’ll knock you into the afterlife.
“First, I need to go over a basic premise.”
“A premise?”
“Yes. I’ve been watching everything since the moment you entered this dungeon—right up until you arrived here.”
“…Wait, really?”
“Oh? You didn’t notice? Well, no matter. I’ll continue.”
“Okay…”
“During your exploration, that irregular—Amane Satsuki—mentioned something about a ‘price,’ didn’t she?”
Irregular, huh… that choice of words bothered me too, but she said she’d go in order, so I held my tongue.
Come to think of it, Satsuki-chan did say something like that. That there had to be some kind of heavy price behind the absurd power I’d gained. I’d completely forgotten about it until now, but hearing it again sent a chill crawling up my spine.
Yeah… there’s no way there isn’t a price. I’ve gotten way too strong for it to be free.
“It all began five years ago. We have to go back to the moment you died—right in front of the entrance to this West Tokyo Fourth Beginner Dungeon, choking on your own vomit.”
“Ahh, five years ago. Mm, that was back when I was still a corporate slave! I somehow ended up in front of this place drunk out of my mind. Man, I remember it being freezing cold—wait… what? What did you just say!? I didn’t quite catch that part—what was it again…?”
“The price. You’ve already paid the greatest price a human possibly can.”
She spoke flatly.
…I heard her. I just couldn’t accept it.
Because what this little girl was saying—
“Ajiri Daishi. You died once.”
Wha… wha…
Whaaaaaaaaat the hell are you talking abouuuuuuut!?
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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