It’s Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

---

– 1 –

Yulian was a handsome man with golden hair reminiscent of Serika, but with a deeper shade of crimson in his eyes.

If Serika’s were a wine-like purple, his could be called blood-red.

Seeing that both of them were vampires as half-siblings, it seemed their father, Baritra Marquis, was indeed a vampire.

“Nice to meet you, Dungeon Lady Libertus. I am Yulian, the firstborn of Baritra.”

“Welcome, Yulian.”

Wiggle!

He seemed to have a personality that didn’t match his looks.

However, it was amusing to see his eyebrows shoot up in surprise at my casual greeting, as he came to introduce himself politely First before switching to informal speech.

Afterwards, I turned my gaze toward the attendant standing next to the young lord, whose face slightly wrinkled out of my line of sight.

“Is the attendant this way?”

“… Yes. Administrative officer? Please introduce.”

“W-wonderful to meet you! Lady! I am Baron Melody Haig, the chief administrative officer of Baritra!”

“Nice to meet you, Melody.”

As soon as our eyes met, the administrative officer of Baritra Marquis turned bright red.

This shy-looking woman, wearing large glasses, certainly looked like someone who preferred working indoors.

Even though she was quite taller than me, her shy demeanor made her seem less imposing, perhaps because she had bowed her head in shyness.

Her cuteness naturally drew a smile to my face, which only seemed to make her face blush even more as she averted her gaze.

‘An assassin? Or maybe a ranger? Whichever it is, her appearance contradicts her class.’

On her head were small horns, evident evidence of her demon lineage.

Considering that the type and size of demon powers were reflected in the shape of their horns, those little horns indicated that she primarily employed tricky powers.

She wasn’t very strong, but she must have some meaningful abilities.

“Well then, discuss practical matters with the three in the back. I entrust you with this task.”

“Yes, four…!”

Pointing at Evangeline, Grim, and Sonia, Melody hurriedly dashed over after bowing her head several times.

Wiping away the smile brought forth by her cute appearance, I looked back at Yulian.

“Apologies. It’s rude to speak with my subordinate while in front of the lord. Someone’s distracted by unexpected events, aren’t they?”

“Ah… No. It seems I made the first mistake.”

It was pitiful to see him desperately trying to maintain his manners, his furrowed brow clearly stating, ‘How dare a weak Dungeon Lord ignore me?’ but it wasn’t my duty to cater to that.

After all, the disrespect had started on his end.

“Shall we move to another place to talk?”

“Yes. Attendant? To escort the lady…”

“That isn’t necessary. I have my own legs. Helping Serika is fine, however.”

“Y-yes…”

Even in the midst of it all, although she seemed determined to show politeness, her first impression only seemed to amplify my negative feelings.

Sometimes, unnecessary consideration can come across as rudeness.

“Alright, let’s sit.”

“Did you choose to ride yourself? How exciting.”

“If it’s bitter, just have some candy from here.”

“Uh… huh?!”

As Yulian was sipping the tea, it seemed he choked, spitting out the liquid back into the cup and quickly reaching for the candy. It seemed that the tea brought from Leonis didn’t quite suit his palate.

In fact, being that it was the world’s espresso, it was indeed bitter. Much more so than anything from Earth.

A Dungeon Lord’s body needed to withstand at least this much caffeine. This must be why Leonis, who casually drank it, had dark circles under his eyes.

“It seems it doesn’t suit your taste.”

“Uh… I apologize.”

As I made no response and gestured toward the skeleton standing next to me, my usual attendant and personal room guard swiftly added sugar and milk to Yulian’s tea.

Watching his face contort a bit more with every addition was quite amusing.

“Now it should be fine. Given my usual preferences, it might just not be to your liking.”

As I concocted a mixture that could hardly be called a café latte, I noticed his face, filled with defiance, could no longer refuse the offer.

“Do you intend to drink it as it is, my Lady…?”

“Of course. I’m quite used to it.”

When Yulian glanced between his cup and mine, I nodded, which only intensified the awkwardness on his face.

No matter how I looked at it, he didn’t seem like the heir of a high noble house, or at least not one destined to become the family head.

This only deepened my original speculation: This guy probably lies somewhere between an ordinary rake and a wastrel.

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

“Ah, yes. Bring it.”

What was brought by a Baritra servant was a single ring placed on a decorative platform that had a reddish hue.

It was a solid gold ring with some sort of seal engraved on the surface. Presumably, it was exactly as I suspected.

“Hmm…”

While it was likely that the servant or Yulian himself would conduct the verification, Yulian merely frowned at the ring and Serika and didn’t seem to make any moves or give further instructions.

I could guess what was on his mind.

“Extend your hand…”

Still unable to disregard family affairs, he finally seemed ready to take action, but…

I decided to cut in.

“I’ll handle it. What do I need to do?”

“First, you need to let some of her blood drop.”

“Sure.”

Gripping the dagger handed to me by the skeleton next to me, I locked eyes with her.

Serika, although silent, seemed to be asking me with an innocent gaze, ‘Why are you treating me so kindly all of a sudden?’

Without much expression, I then lowered my gaze, pricked her finger with the dagger’s tip to draw a bit of blood, and let it drop onto the ring.

Splash!

The blood drew the outline of a magic circle in the air above the ring before it was quickly sucked inside.

It was a clear sign of success.

“Give me your hand, Serika.”

“… okay.”

Clutching the Baritra family’s signet ring in my hand, I gently took her intact ring finger and slid it on slowly.

The slightly loose ring settled at the base of Serika’s finger, then shrank snugly to fit.

“It’s done.”

“Yes… It is indeed. She truly is one of our family.”

Yulian spoke while frowning, as if he were grudgingly admitting a fact he didn’t want to recognize. This made me wonder if he realized that this girl could potentially be his rival, whether a rogue or a wastrel.

At the very least, he seemed to have a brain capable of calculating the pros and cons of the situation.

Due to that premature thought, I almost burst out laughing at what he said next.

“Really, father has an illegitimate child… What on earth is he thinking? This is a disgrace to the family.”

His tone sounded as if the family’s purity was more important than him becoming the head of the family.

A hint of peculiar noble idealism, perhaps.

It was perhaps my characteristics that prevented my expression from breaking at such inept thinking.

It was quite hard to bear.

Could he be an only child?

“Yulian, do you have any siblings?”

As that thought crossed my mind, my mouth opened.

The young lord’s eyes widened at my inquiry. Could it be real?

“Did you not know? Vampires typically have fewer children.”

Ah, I see.

It’s true that creating more vampires is as simple as ‘infecting’ someone, but producing an heir is entirely different.

I can certainly understand why his mind is like a flower garden. It seems he has never had to deal with competition for family and authority.

At least, there wouldn’t be any internal conflicts within the family.

Given that he mentioned that ‘having fewer children’ and being a simplistic demon, it seems like there probably hasn’t been much power struggle within the family historically.

That was a green light for Serika.

Of course.

“… Why?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t touch me…!”

All this depended on whether she intended to engage in any of such struggles.

By now, she seemed accustomed to my stroking hand, not brushing it away, gazing at me with a slightly sulky expression. I doubted she would recognize the need for power at this moment.

Whether she even had such a concept in mind—such as power or being the heir of a noble family—was uncertain.

Still, it worked out well for me.

It meant I had a chance to get closer to her before she could wield her family’s influence.

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

Thinking it over, I quickly recalled the reason.

As I was just a rookie Dungeon Lord, if I made contact with high noble demons, they would naturally bow to me, and I could conveniently package it as this fool’s achievement.

Creating suitable public merit for the firstborn heir must be essential for a noble preparing their successor.

‘The real strength must have been that administrative officer all along.’

Even if this guy is a fool, cooperating with a suitably competent attendant could easily achieve that.

However, the miscalculation was that I, as a noble in the demon world, wouldn’t just bend to them and that this idiot clumsily disregarded the authority that a Dungeon Lord holds within the demon world.

Nevertheless, it didn’t matter.

After all, forging bonds with the demons of noble birth was unlikely to lead to any bad outcomes for me.

I wasn’t entirely holding that against them either.

‘That said, it is quite fascinating.’

Purity of bloodline and having fewer children simultaneously existing.

Had she been human, she would inevitably have to sacrifice one.

Most would likely abandon pureblood ideals instead.

Is it because demons have a much longer lifespan than humans?

– Tap.

“What’s the matter?”

“The trade has been concluded. Let’s rise.”

The meeting between nobles ended just like that.

More peacefully than I had expected, but leaving me with the task of getting closer to Serika.

“…? Why.”

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

“How bland.”

It didn’t seem like a particularly hard task, but…