Author: Yume Neiji

“Think of it as a service. I’ll reopen the comments and audio for you. No video, though.”

For some reason, this useless excuse for a goddess had been reading my reactions the whole time—guessing what I was thinking from my expressions and movements, then either answering ahead of time or tossing me little “bonuses” like this.

I mean, she was a former god. Maybe everything going on in my head was completely transparent to her. Either way, the familiar floating display popped into view beside me. Just seeing it gave me the same strange sense of comfort as going back home. I let out a small breath.

…Wait.

That aside, are my viewers even still there?

It’s been, what, twenty… thirty minutes with nothing showing at all.

What if my live viewer count dropped to zero…?

…No—!

It’s still at 600,000!?

Yeah, it dipped a bit after being disconnected for so long, but there were still this many people waiting. Thank god!

I’m back! My beloved view—

“…”

No—seriously. Could it be… they were getting hyped up because of my little disgraceful moment earlier, and that’s what kept the viewer count stable?

Not exactly something I’m happy about.

“Ah—can you hear me? Everyone.”

And then—

The chat scroll surged forward with a momentum I’d never seen before. So fast, in fact, that I could only manage to properly read the first few comments.

Even from that limited glimpse, though, it was obvious there were still countless things people wanted to ask. But if I tried to answer every single one of them, we’d be here forever. I decided it’d be better to focus only on the things I genuinely couldn’t leave unanswered.

Still, I managed to catch fragments of what looked like viewers’ theories. And… annoyingly enough, most of them were basically right. I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh. Internet users really are sharp. Always have been. It’s honestly a little impressive.

“Sorry, everyone. I do remember most of what this… loli—uh, this dungeon master told me. I’ll summarize it all later, okay? That’s fine, right?”

I glanced at her.

“Dungeon Master-san?”

She gave a small shrug, as if it didn’t matter either way.

“As long as you’re just talking about it, I don’t care. Do whatever you want.”

“Thanks.”

I double-checked just in case—and got her approval.

Well, even if I explain everything, I have no idea if anyone will actually believe it. Honestly, even I’m only believing about half of it myself.

The comments, as usual, casually crossed lines that probably shouldn’t be crossed. I agreed with the sentiment—but there was no way I could let the “dame god loli” see this.

Then without even looking at the chat she spoke flatly,

“…Just so you know, if you say ‘loli BB’ out loud, you’ll explode on the spot. Understood, Daishi Ajiri?”

Her voice carried no emotion—but the pressure behind it was crushing.

Yeah. No doubt about it. She could read minds. And that word—loli BB—was clearly a landmine. Better avoid it.

“…Fine. I’ll take questions. There are probably a lot, but keep them brief—”

Then suddenly, her expression changed.

Until now, she’d been smirking like she was above it all. But in an instant, that smugness vanished, replaced by something like irritation or alarm.

Huh?

What’s with the sudden mood shift?

“…No way… after the Divine Domain-class… even the Abyssal Sea-class…? Who are these people…?”

She muttered under her breath like she was cursing something only she could see.

Divine Domain-class? Abyssal Sea-class?

I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Sorry, change of plans.”

“Eh?”

“I don’t have time to answer questions anymore.”

Hey, hold on.

What about all the stuff I was going to ask? Like the Nether King’s organs and everything? This is kind of a scam, isn’t it?

The viewers are going to riot over this.

Then she continued, businesslike and abrupt:

“To put it simply—within your world’s terms, a Nether Realm Knight has just cleared an Abyssal Sea-class stage. On top of that, I’ve received confirmation that a Hero Party is preparing for a re-attempt on the Nether Class dungeon. I can’t afford to waste time on idle conversation anymore.”

That was… extremely concise.

And also completely incomprehensible.

Was I supposed to be panicking right now or something?

“We’ll continue the explanation while we work,” she said. “For now—prepare yourself, Daishi Ajiri.”

“Prepare…?”

“Strip.”

“…Huh?! What?!”

“An awakening ritual will be performed for you. A final rite for one who has surpassed the final trial.”

“Awakening… ritual…?”

“Yes. I will grant you the highest-grade title and power necessary to conquer the Nether class—and to stand against those ‘Unknowns’.”

Her voice was calm.

Too calm. And somehow, that made it worse.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“There’s a mirror over there, isn’t there? Try using Clairvoyance on yourself with it.”

Where the girl pointed, there stood a massive mirror—large enough to reflect an entire grown adult without difficulty.

Wait… is that thing even there when I came in?

“Why would I need to use Clairvoyance on myse—”

“You can’t see your past life just by checking your own status normally, can you?”

…She really does know everything.

Dungeon Master, huh… terrifying.

The thought that I’d basically been watched this whole time left me with a faint sense of unease, but I did as I was told. Facing the mirror, I activated [Clairvoyance] and examined my own status from an outside perspective.

…I mean, I’d kind of expected something like this given how things were going—but actually seeing it laid out like that felt deeply wrong.

My past life… is me.

Even if it came from someone who could probably tamper with my stats however they pleased, seeing it with my own eyes made it impossible to deny.

Then… I really had died once. 

And yet, I’m still here. My memories are clear. I remember everything—even things from before five years ago, when I supposedly died.

“Do you understand now, Ajiri Daishi?”

The girl stood beside the mirror, gazing up at me with a smile—young, yet strangely bewitching.

…No. Honestly, I didn’t understand a thing.

“Were you the one who brought me back to life?”

It was the most natural question to ask.

“I suppose you could say that. Half right, at least.”

She frowned slightly, as if troubled.

Half? What does that even mean?

“I handled the soul. The body, however, wasn’t my doing.”

…Yeah, there was no way I’d follow any of this if I kept interrupting.

Better to just listen.

“Heh. That look—you’ve finally decided to keep quiet and hear me out, haven’t you? Good. Obedience suits you, Ajiri-kun. Especially for an M.”

You’re getting dragged straight through the Hell Gate for that one.

“Now then, with the understanding that you’ve already died once, I’ll explain the important points in order. Just the essentials. If you think you won’t remember, feel free to take notes. I’ll take questions at the end. So… let’s begin with who I am.”

And with that, the girl began to unveil the truth.

◆◆◆

“…That about covers it. Do you more or less understand now?”

After speaking for about fifteen minutes straight, she paused and looked at me expectantly.

Understand?

Nah. Not even close. But even so, there were parts I couldn’t help but accept, as if they simply were that way. I remembered most of it, at least.

To organize my thoughts, I decided to mentally go over what she’d said one more time.

The little girl’s identity and the origin of dungeons

・ The girl is a fallen goddess. She was once one of the gods responsible for overseeing humanity, but after committing some grave offense, she incurred the wrath of the chief deity and was cast down into the human world. (She refused to say what exactly she had done.)

・In order to secure a place for herself in the human world, the fallen goddess created a dungeon. This West Tokyo Fourth Beginner Dungeon is that very place—the origin point of all dungeons.

・At first, she entertained herself by creating monsters within the dungeon, but eventually grew bored. Seeking something more interesting, she decided to pit the humans created by the gods against the monsters she had made, and thus unsealed the dungeon’s entrance.

・What began as a game gradually escalated. The fallen goddess started generating dungeons all over the world. As a result, humans known as “explorers” began to appear, guilds were formed, and dungeon exploration flourished into what it is today.

I took a breath and continued organizing everything she had told me, piece by piece, trying to force it into something resembling understanding.

The System of Monsters and Explorers

・Monsters don’t reproduce like humans. Nearly all of them are generated randomly through an automatic creation system devised by the fallen goddess, while their souls simply circulate.

・In a dungeon, when someone dies, the soul is sent to the [Selection Domain].

・The [Selection Domain] consists of seven layers. By overcoming more trials, a soul determines the strength and type of its next reincarnated body. Incidentally, Rakshasa was a “selector” from the fifth layer. These “selectors” are directly managed by the fallen goddess and can be regenerated almost instantly—meaning the Rakshasa will revive soon as well.

・Souls that surpass the trials from the fifth layer onward are granted individually customized bodies. Most boss-class monsters in high-difficulty dungeons fall into this category. Up to the fourth layer, they instead become unique-type entities within a dungeon.

・When an explorer dies inside a dungeon, they are absorbed into the fallen goddess’s system.

The Three Great Abysses of the World

・Bosses of the Divine Realm and Abyssal Sea classes are powerful beings who have surpassed the sixth layer of the Selection Domain. Only two such individuals have ever existed.

・The Nether King of the Nether Class is the only known entity to have transcended the seventh layer—a truly monstrous existence.

・Apparently, all of them were originally human explorers.

・These three dungeons operate independently. They’ve broken away from the fallen goddess’s control and now function under their own separate systems. She compared it to a subsidiary company tricking its parent company and going independent… though honestly, I didn’t fully get that analogy.

Unique Classes

・ [Unique Classes] are just labels humans assign within the status system, but to the fallen goddess, they are unknowns—entities beyond her understanding. In other words, they may exist under entirely different laws and causality than either the dungeon system or the human world. Because of that, she constantly keeps them under observation.

Ajiri Daishi (Me)

・Apparently, the place where I died five years ago was exactly at the boundary between the dungeon domain and the human world. As a result, my soul was sent to the Selection Domain, but my body remained human—making me an extremely irregular existence.

・As for why my body was resurrected… it was because I wasn’t originally destined to die there, or something about the Six Realms of Reincarnation, but I have absolutely no idea what that mean.

・Incidentally, although I have no memory of it, my soul apparently easily cleared the hidden eighth stage of the Selection Domain—making me an extraordinarily rare existence. 

・This West Tokyo Fourth Beginner Dungeon was essentially a training ground, designed from the moment I entered it to allow me to wield my soul’s power in the real world. After all, even with an exceptional soul, proper trials were necessary to manifest that strength in reality.

・The reason she trained me was to reclaim the Nether Class Dungeon. The Nether King poses a threat to the Dungeon Master’s position, so she intended to turn me—someone who cleared the eighth stage—into her assassin. 

・She originally wanted to start five years ago but claimed she couldn’t because my body was still bound by the causality of the human world. Again… I didn’t understand that part either.

・And apparently, me becoming an explorer was pure coincidence. I could have ended up just being an ordinary salaryman my whole life.

…Yeah. Laying it all out like this didn’t exactly make it easier to understand. But one thing was clear. Whether I liked it or not, I had been dragged into something completely insane.

“Have you managed to organize your thoughts a little?”

It seems the useless little goddess sensed that I was trying to sort things out and waited for me, but honestly, I’ve only managed to organize the general outlines. There’s just too much information, and I’m getting tired of thinking about it.

I think I’ll organize the remaining details by asking questions. 

Right. It would be so reassuring if the viewers were listening along with me at a time like this…

I wonder what everyone’s doing now…

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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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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