It’s Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

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Returning to the dungeon meant it had been five days since I had stuffed Elias into the dungeon, and two days since I made the contract with him.

“… Incredible.”

The first thing I checked was the changes to my dungeon that Succubus Scarlett, the manager from Mammon Trading Company, had been paying close attention to.

What had once been just a clean cave had transformed into a dungeon with the appearance of a mansion, and the change was so obvious that one couldn’t help but notice.

“Right? I’ve put in quite a bit of effort! Ah, of course, the gremlins did a lot of the hard work!”

Scarlett had every right to brag about her efforts.

As the requester, I had things to handle outside the dungeon, so I needed someone to constantly provide feedback to the technicians on the dungeon’s concept and check for any shortcomings. Scarlett helped me move with peace of mind without worrying about that part.

Plus, honestly, I thought I might have to touch up many areas again upon returning to the dungeon, but at least in terms of overall structure, there was nothing left to adjust.

“By the way, what’s with this statue?”

… Except for this one thing.

Since it wasn’t possible to completely block the dungeon from the outside, there were two statues in the lobby area at the entrance of the mansion created in the former cave entrance.

“Of course, it’s a statue to showcase the greatness of Lady Libertus!”

“Ah, I see…”

One was visible from the corridor and the other was visible from the front entrance.

Two statues of me had been made.

One had demon-like membranous wings; the other had six pairs of feathered angel wings firmly attached to its back.

Seriously.

“I think I understand how you see me on a daily basis.”

The exaggerated praises she often gave seemed to hold some truth, which frankly shocked me.

I’m not really that great of a person.

“I always revere Lady Libertus! I even want to serve her right by her side!”

“Could you really just take such a competent manager from Mammon Trading Company like that?”

“To have your acknowledgment means so much to me…! If you sign this contract, that competent manager will be employed at the dungeon right away…!”

She touched her cheeks and acted shy, really handing over the documents with all the details recorded.

Of course, it was a document that couldn’t be accepted, so I pushed it away and rebuked her.

“More new issues.”

“This time it’s only half-serious, but there’s still sincerity…”

Leaving behind a sighing Scarlett, I checked the lobby where my statue stood.

This was set to be the entrance for guests, so the stairs that had previously been a secret passage were now opened.

Those stairs led to the corridor where my private room was located.

The two statues stood in front and behind the stairs.

The demon side sat with a scythe-like necromancer’s staff resting on its knee, looking down at anyone entering the corridor nonchalantly, while the angel side held a royal scepter by its side, gracefully extending one hand toward the entrance.

Of course, both were sitting on thrones.

Really…

“They made it imposing to the extent of being burdensome.”

Because of that, I felt a natural aversion and eventually voiced an opinion.

“Let’s tear them down.”

– No (not possible)!

“Absolutely not!”

“Not gonna happen…”

“Ugh…”

That opinion hit fierce resistance.

I had expected as much, but the voices of the girls didn’t deviate even an inch from that expectation, letting out a subtle sigh.

“Why not? This is way too extravagant, and it doesn’t even fit the reality.”

I thought I understood the reason, but I decided to ask anyway.

“The actual dignity isn’t even captured half as well! Lady!”

– (The Lord’s dignity is soon), this (the status of the dungeon)!

“I’ll pray every time I pass by here…”

“That’s a good saying!”

Scarlett and Eve’s words were fine, but Xue’s made me feel really awkward.

Pray? What do they think I am?

Still, if they were opposing this fiercely, then it meant this statue had its merits after all…

“Then just switch the angel side for a demon. Isn’t that distortion too severe?”

Sure, let’s compromise.

“Ah, I thought that was too fantasy as well. Lady Libertus may be kind like an angel to her subordinates, but she’s certainly not an angel.”

“What…? I am an angel!”

“I said you seem like one. That’s why.”

“I am an angel.”

“Let’s just go with that…”

Still, this reaction was annoying.

Xue and Scarlett’s banter was giving me a headache, but the climax was Evangeline.

– Clang.

“Do you also dislike this?”

– No!

She approached the statue and protested with her whole body.

With that familiar sprawled-out action.

“Eve likes it so much, so let’s keep it, right?”

“Yeah… there’s no need to break something that was made with effort…?”

Ah, I see.

But no matter how I think about it, that angel statue is just not it.

At this moment, a very good method came to me to enforce my opinion.

“With her being right in front of us. Is an idol that good? Xue, Eve.”

“Ah… No! Let’s break it! Lady’s opinion is the most important… yes!”

Snap!

Both Xue and Eve acted incredibly fast.

Xue crouched as if to immediately fetch a hammer, while Eve instantly rose from her spot and stood squarely behind me as if nothing had happened.

Of course, if I let it pass here, the strength of the argument would weaken.

“Was it really that good? Were you planning to sneak a peek under my skirt from below? Speak up.”

– …!

“Uh, um…”

Seeing Eve’s cheeks grow red as she fidgeted in embarrassment, I shot her a piercing glare, making her startled in such a way that I could almost see her cold sweat despite her lack of skin.

Similarly, Xue next to her was also sweating cold and averting her gaze.

“L-let’s move to the next place! There are still plenty of places to see, Lady!”

It was Scarlett who rescued them.

“You too, speak up, Scarlett. I’ve heard you say you like me so much; did you want to keep this even though I hate it?”

It was only natural that she became my next target.

“Ahh! No! Of course not! I’ll change it to a demon!”

“Okay. You opposed so much that you hate it even after I compromised…?”

“Gah! I’m sorry!”

I found this surprisingly entertaining.

While being excessive might quickly exhaust the other side, I shouldn’t go overboard.

“Hehe. Right.”

As I smiled and nodded, all three showed visible relief and let out a big, secret sigh, but I chose to ignore that out of conscience and moved towards the corridor.

Elias was probably still wandering around the corridor inside, but of course, I was heading in the opposite direction to avoid running into him.

“By the way, how long are you planning to leave that man in there?”

“If he can’t get out, he’ll just die. That’s what dungeons are for, right?”

“That’s true.”

Her interest, of course, wasn’t really in his life or death. It was something else that was more beneficial to her.

“The quality of his soul seemed pretty good; are you thinking of selling it?”

“I’m considering it.”

“I see. Let me know when you do sell it!”

“And if he manages to come back…?”

“Then we’ll have to find a proper use for him. I think that guy would be quite useful with a sword.”

“He’s weak though…”

As the conversation about Elias unfolded, Xue slightly displayed some jealousness.

She was really quite jealous.

“Of course, in terms of actual swords, Xue’s much stronger and more useful.”

“Yeah… I have confidence…”

“Right. But his utility lies elsewhere. For example, in assassination or something.”

In other words, the usefulness of Elias was primarily as a hidden dagger kept next to the enemy’s heart. Xue’s abilities were much closer to a large sword or a katana.

So Xue being jealous of him was indeed a pointless affair, but…

“That I can do well too…”

Her jealous attitude was adorably useless.

“Poison assassination, right?”

“…”

Seeing Xue seal her lips, as if contemplating whether to truly learn poison, I interrupted her line of thought by fondling her ears.

“No need to think such strange thoughts. Everyone has their own usefulness. You’re always a dependable person for me, Xue.”

“Yeah… I’ll be more dependable.”

“Thank you.”

After praising her while smiling, I watched her blush shyly before resuming the exploration of the dungeon.

“Oh, over here, I made several temporary doors that can set up traps.”

Listening to Scarlett’s guidance.

Currently, almost all of my dungeon’s design follows the format of a luxurious mansion, aside from the very few parts that I’ve already mentioned.

As a result, it had become significantly harder to hide soldiers within the walls of this long corridor I was walking through, but I had increased space efficiency by allowing for additional rooms to be created.

I could even set traps along this corridor without issue.

Before long, we passed through the corridor and arrived at the first room.

There were several statues in there that I hadn’t seen before, and they appeared to serve a different purpose compared to those in the entrance lobby.

“Those statues… They are golems.”

They were golems formed in the shape of armor, either made of rock or iron.

Though there weren’t many, there were enough to be useful in an emergency.

“They are friends that can move immediately once we stick magic stones into them. The gremlins referred to them as a service for interesting creations.”

“I see. I should thank them.”

Furthermore, it seemed this room was intended as a ‘boss room.’

It was quite spacious, and with many pillars in the middle of the room, it was structured so that shadows were guaranteed to be created no matter where the light emitted from.

If I placed the golems in the middle of the room, the shadows would increase.

It was easy to tell that the design was made with my shadow magic in mind.

“Was this room the gremlins’ suggestion?”

“Indeed. They said it was inspired by the boss rooms of senior necromancers.”

“I probably won’t have much use for it anyway, but it’s impressive nonetheless.”

“Those words will make the gremlins happy.”

Now that I think about it, the only time I fought directly in the dungeon was when I lured Maria’s group into it.

My dungeon usually handled adventurers’ encounters on its own, which makes the importance of a boss room relatively low.

Even if powerful enemies show up in the future, I’m not the type to sit in the boss room.

Most of the battles I’ve had are either external expeditions or when I bring up the monsters from this forest.

Right now, I was worried that my combat sense might be rusting out due to not fighting enough.

‘By the way, I forgot to discuss bringing the monsters under my control.’

With the renovation of the dungeon and issues concerning Elias and Elenore, there were so many heavier matters that it had been pushed down the priority list.

Currently, my dungeon’s location was practically closed off from the outside, so the necessity had greatly diminished.

I had deliberately caused a part of the mountain to collapse, then placed the entrance in a deeper, rougher area.

While I still needed outside monsters to conceal the location of the dungeon, unlike during that absurd event with Leonis, getting caught now wouldn’t lead to someone foolishly finding it, and even if they did find it, they wouldn’t be able to locate the entrance, leading to confusion.

“Will the rest be done in a similar manner?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“Then I’ll need to check over there gradually. There are many other things I need to take care of first.”

After checking several corridors and rooms, I could confirm that they had mostly come together as I had ordered.

To a satisfactory level.

The remaining minor adjustments would now have to be discussed directly with the gremlins, so Scarlett wouldn’t really be involved anymore.

“Ah, understood. I’ll send the remaining details in a manual. Now, I’ll check to see if there are any unfinished parts and take my leave!”

“Okay. Thank you, Scarlett. I’ll settle the payment right away.”

“No need to mention it. So, this was Scarlett Spira Spina!”

Scarlett bowed and bid me farewell.

Once she left, I gave immediate orders to the two.

“Eve. Open the door to the underground prison. I’ll be going down soon. Xue, can you fetch Sonia?”

– No!

“Okay… I’ll be back soon.”

It was time to wrap things up concerning Sonia, Leonis, and Elenore.