Chapter 2

The day after the feast, Aidy left with Rokuko to meet our neighbors. It was important to send word ahead of time before interfering in others’ territory.

“C’mon, Keima! At least say something if you’re back! Dolce dropped by and we had a purrfectly lovely night drinking, but that was the first time I heard anything about your town holding a party for your return! Grr! Meowzers!” Misha yelled angrily, barging into my office while I was checking over paperwork for the first time in a month. She was the guildmaster of the imperial capital’s Adventurer’s Guild on a business trip to Goren, and I certainly hadn’t told her I was back. Whoops. Also, what is “meowzers” supposed to mean?

“Sorry, Misha. I totally forgot.”

“It’s fine, meow. Dolce saved me some beer and food. I spent the whole time just rolling around in the grand suite eating hamburgers and fish, so yeah, no prob!”

Misha wrapped her arm around my shoulders. Haha, screw you.

“So, didja tap Rokuko?”

Hahahahaha ha, screw you. I can’t believe she just asked that outright. Are her eyes glowing red because she’s using a lie detecting skill? Geez.

“Nope.”

“Bwahaha, cowaaaard.”

“Would you say the same thing in front of Haku? Huh?”

“Forgive my rudeness. Oh, didja check out a human farm, though? Those places have tons of fun stuff to do.”

Human farms? Tons of fun stuff? They seemed like normal towns to me. Though I didn’t check out every corner of the place.

“Wait, have you been to the Demon Realm before, Misha?”

“Yuppers. The Adventurer’s Guild and the Hunter’s Guild work together sometimes, and I’ve popped over for a visit when I’ve needed to.”

“Misha... You... You actually do your job sometimes?”

“Keima? I am a top-class guildmaster serving the Ivory Goddess herself, y’know? I know I’m so purretty it’s easy to forget, but c’mon.”

She called herself top-class, but all I could remember was her getting punished over and over again. She must have read my mind or something, because she grabbed my head and started grinding a fist against it. In a way, we were acting exactly like two bros playing around. All I had to do was forget the two melons rubbing against me.

Misha probably does visit the Demon Realm often, now that I think about it. This up close and personal skinship is something I saw all the time there. I guess sporty people, or like, people who don’t sweat the small stuff, are all good fits for the Demon Realm?

“Anyway, good to see you made it back safe and sound. Oh, and I gave all the assassins that came to exploit your absence to Rei after beating the crap out of them, so yeah. Laters.”

“Cool. Thanks a t—Wait, what?”

Misha casually dropped a bombshell then tried to leave, but I called out to stop her.

“Hold it, hold it, hold it, seriously. Assassins? What?”

“Hm? I mean, you know about the Church of Light’s extremist faction, right? Seems like they wanna kill Rei. The Church of Light doesn’t recognize other religions, so they’re always trying to assassinate other high priestesses.”

I actually don’t know about the Church of Light’s extremist faction, no. Seriously...? Rei’s being targeted by assassins...?

“Well, thanks for your help. Seriously.”

“Dooon’t sweat it, they were small fry. I mean, protecting the town is the actual job Haku gave me, so no need to thank me.”

“Still, I owe you one. Thanks.”

“Alrighty then, Keima. You can pay me back by giving me that grand suite’s bed! My bed back at home is so shitty I won’t be able to sleep once I have to go back! So please, gimme it! Or sell it to me! Anything!”

“You drive a hard bargain, Misha. But who am I to turn down a friend? I’ll give it to you if you join the Beddhist Church. Oh, and to join you just have to say ‘I’ll join.’ That’s it.”

“Yes! Count me in! I’ll join, oyasuminasai!”

Uh. Is it really okay for one of the Ivory Goddess’s subordinates to just up and join Beddhism? I’d said that as a joke, but... Seriously, isn’t Misha one of the top dogs of the Ivory Church? Is it just not a problem if she doesn’t tell anyone?

“I’ll even make an official announcement back at the capital that the Ivory Church and the Beddhist Church are total bedfellows!”

Should you really be saying that? I mean, I guess Haku would stop her if there was any problem with it.

“Oh, I’ll even buy your most expensive holy symbol. Do you want the gold straight-up? Or do you want DP?”

“...Gold ones are the most expensive we sell normally, but I could make one of some other kind of metal for you if you want.”

“Orichalcum, then! They’re good for defense, even though they’ve got the holes in them.”

“Now that’ll be expensive. Actually, I’m not even sure how much I would sell an orichalcum holy symbol for.”

“Wait, you could actually make one...? I kinda just said that as a joke.”

“Yeah, I could make one no problem if you gave me the DP for it. Not sure how many millions of DP that would be, though.”

It would be like making a washer (one of those things you stick underneath screws) out of orichalcum, so, let’s see...

“That’s purrhaps a bit much... Let’s just play it safe and go with mythril.”

And so I sold her one of the mythril holy symbols I had lying around. She bought it for a pretty high price, so I profited off the exchange.

Alright, time to get some details on this whole “Rei is being targeted by assassins” business.

“Fur real, though, they aren’t anything special. You don’t even need my help to see them on your dungeon map the second they show up, and your defenses will work totally fine on them. They probably won’t attack her now that you’re back, too.”

“Really?”

“They picked up on the rumors that the Beddhist pope tamed a dragon, and they were just trying to assassinate Rei to weaken your base while you were gone. Now that you’re back, they’ll probably go after you directly.”

“Uh, I’m going to be targeted by assassins?”

Maybe I should go to the bottom of the dungeon before sleeping from now on.

“Well, as long as I’m here I’ll protect you all no matter what! You can count on me! Meowzers!”

Again: what is “meowzers” supposed to mean?

“Wait, are you not going to take turns guarding the town with Dolce?”

“Dolce is kinda a bad match for the Demon Realm’s princess if she goes nuts. Not that I’m a great match for her either, but y’know.”

It turned out that Wraith bodies were weak to fire, and Aidy was literally a fire Magic Blade. Though Dolce did have equipment to compensate for her weakness. Either way, Misha’s guard duty would be extended for as long as Aidy was here.

There were so many reports for Dolce today that we would be sending her back to the imperial capital tomorrow rather than today.

Later on, I went to the Beddhist church to talk to Rei about the assassins. The seats were all filled, with the church being as busy as ever. There were some people standing in front of the bookshelves and reading. Everyone I could see was in fact a Beddhist... Man, I’m one to talk, but I’m really surprised Beddhism caught on as much as it did.

“Ah, town chief. Oyasuminasai.”

“Ain’t you the pope? Didja come here to sleep? Sorry, the seats’re all filled.”

“Just gotta read and wait for my turn to nap. What a great day off...! Oh, the pope. Oyasuminasai!”

Seems like my faithful flock are having pretty fulfilling lives. But seeing how packed this church is, I might want to expand the place a bit. Can’t exactly tell everyone to go to Dragg’s church, so yeah.

But right, the assassins came first. I passed through the busy chapel and found Rei, sitting in a break room chair in her nun outfit. Her massages required appointments now, and she was in the middle of a break. Nobody was around. Better now than never.

“Rei, got some time? There’s something I want to talk about.”

“Ah, yes. What is it, Master?”

“I heard you were being targeted by assassins. Misha mentioned it.”

“Aaah... Yes. Misha effortlessly beat them on her own and nothing bad came of it, so I forgot about them entirely. But yes. It seems I’m being targeted.”

Geez, Misha’s something else... She took down the assassins so easily everyone just forgot they existed.

“Well, uh. Sorry about this. I never thought you’d be targeted like that.”

“Oh, think nothing of it. It’s not like me dying is a permanent thing anyway. I’m a Named monster and you could use the revival function on me, so... It would be a bit expensive DP-wise, I suppose.”

“Oh yeah... I kinda forgot about that whole thing.”

Rei’s view held a lot of weight considering she had been revived after Leona killed her before.

“So, what happened to the assassins?”

“Misha and Suilla tortured information out of them, then after taking care of some things gave them to me. I’m keeping them as DP pets in the underside of the dungeon. Their income is fairly high.”

By underside of the dungeon, she meant the hidden space beneath the town where we were stealthily imprisoning criminals. It seemed that Rei was keeping the assassins there with Elka and feeding them just enough that they didn’t die. It would probably be good for my mental health to not think about what she meant by “after taking care of some things.”

“As for what we learned, they’re part of the Church of Light’s dark underside.”

“I heard that from Misha, too. The Church of Light, huh...? Religions sure are scary.”

“Master? We’re the Beddhist Church, remember?”

Good point. And we’re newbies on the scene without much history or background. We have Haku’s Ivory Church backing us up, and if you want to be fair, you could say we have a dark underside we can’t tell people about either. I’m not in any position to talk about religions being scary.

“In any case, on a personal level, I’m very grateful for the assassins since they’re letting me better satisfy my vampiric instincts.”

“...Right. They’re officially dead as far as anyone knows, so you don’t need to worry about drinking too much and accidentally killing them.”

“Exactly. Beddhist teachings say that it is important to ‘rest in peace.’ I will drain them over a long, long time without hurting them much!”

What can I even say here? I don’t remember writing that. If I did, I forgot.

“Anyway, let’s go ahead and boost your combat potential. For now I’ll let you use my sword. It’s great at stopping enemies even if you don’t have attack power. While we’re at it, I’ll go ahead and give you {Sleep Resistance}.”

“Wait, you don’t mind?”

“I’ll be taking the sword back once we think up some other plan for you, but it’ll do for now.”

I handed Rei my beloved sword—Siesta, the Blade of Afternoon Naps.

As for my own combat potential, well, I’ll be fine with my magic. I can just buy a {Sleep} scroll later to use as a stand-in for Siesta. Shouldn’t be too expensive since it’s a low-rank Darkness spell. Though... I had Suilla the head nun cast {Sleep} on me experimentally before, but Siesta was the one who ended up having a good nap. They just have some natural sleepiness, I guess? That’s Siesta for you.

“...!”

“Hm? What’s up, Siesta?”

“...! ...!!!”

“Nah, you’ve gotta help me out here. I’m counting on you to protect Rei. Alright?”

“..., ...!”

“Yup. I’ll be just fine. I mean, my {Sleep} won’t even compare to yours, but I’ll survive. Gotta do at least this much to make sure my friends are safe.”

“.........”

“Uh-huh. Thanks for worrying about me.”

Siesta reluctantly agreed to do it.

“Um, Master? Were you talking to Siesta... the Magic Blade? Ah, was it telepathic communication?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Siesta was saying they didn’t want to leave me. Not with words, but you know.”

“...!”

“Hahaha. You sure are a tsundere, Siesta.”

“...Um, could you make it so I can hear Siesta as well?”

“Hm? Pretty sure this is a wide-range telepathic conversation. Right, Siesta?”

“.........”

“You heard ’em.”

“Sorry, but I didn’t. What is with your language functions, Master? I simply don’t get them at all.”

Well, Siesta is harder to read than Niku, at least. Yeah.

Incidentally, Siesta had said that they didn’t want to leave me since Misha had said that I would be targeted next, and that putting me to sleep was an important job for them. Hahaha, what a sweetheart. But, well, I have {Ultra Transformation}, and I’m pretty confident I won’t die so easily.

“Think I’ll go ahead and ask Rei to do mass for me as well. I’ll stay locked up in my room to guard against the assassins.”

“Ah. Okay. Ummm, l-looking forward to working with you, Siesta?”

“..................”

“Whoa. Lucky you, Rei. Siesta doesn’t take a liking to everyone. I guess you are their senior here in the dungeon business.”

“Wh-What? Did they say something? Why am I lucky?”

“They said they’ll listen to what you say. Siesta, seems like you’ll have to make yourself more clear for Rei to understand you. Can you use mana to make yourself shake or something?”

“...!”

“Eep! Wow, it shook! I can’t believe you’re actually communicating with a sword, Master.”

“Whoa, were you doubting me? Of course I can talk to Siesta. They’re my sword, y’know?”

“I mean, I didn’t hear Siesta’s telepathy or see them move at all...”

And so, I lent Siesta to Rei the High Priestess to help her defend against assassins. Now it was time for me to think up some plans as fast as possible to get Siesta back on my hip.

＊ ＊ ＊

It occurred to me there was someplace else I needed to inform about Aidy’s visit—Dragg, the town next door. Given that I had just told Wozma yesterday that I’d take care of all this Aidy stuff, it was probably important for me to go there myself.

“Alright, Niku, Ichika. Got the Golem Beets to give them?”

“Wait, were those not our snacks...? Kidding, kidding. We got the stuff right here. Right, Niku?”

“Yes, we have them.”

“Alright. Let’s go, th—”

“Lady Kurooooo! Please let me come tooooo!” came a cry right before we left for the entrance to the tunnel through Tsia. I turned to see the daughter of the Tsia family, Maiodore, standing behind us breathlessly. Her maid gave an elegant bow.

Oh yeah... I needed to tell Tsia we were back too. I just remembered.

“...Lady Mai. Good to see you again.”

“Oh, yes. It’s been far too long, Keima. I waited in my family’s mansion at Tsia the entire day believing that you would come visit us, yet you never came. How cruel. Did you forget that I am Lady Kuro’s, or rather, Kuro’s fiancée? Well, regardless... I restrained myself from barging in yesterday since I was sure Kuro was tired from her journey. You were riding a carriage with the imperial seal, after all.”

Oh yeah, Maiodore’s engagement or whatever with Niku is still a thing. She’s standing next to Niku and holding her hand like it’s the most natural thing in a world. Her dissatisfied pout turned to a shy smile in half a second. The tiny wings on her back are flapping, too.

“Thus I came to visit first thing this morning. Do you not think I am quite the exemplary fiancée, Keima?”

“Well. I appreciate the consideration, for sure.”

“In conclusion, I would like to accompany you today. It seems that you are about to leave for Dragg, correct? Please do allow me to join you.”

“Sure. I had some stuff to tell you, so we can talk while we walk.”

My initial plan had been to be seen entering the tunnel as an alibi before using dungeon functions to move where I wanted to go, but it was a good idea to talk to Mai about both Aidy and the Divine Bedding. Want some souvenirs from the Demon Realm? Here, have a completely useless tapestry.

“What?! Y-You were given an audience with the emperor and rewarded for your deeds? What in the world did you mess up?”

All I did was say what happened, but this loli made it sound like I had made some huge mistake. Excuse me? I wouldn’t have been rewarded if I messed something up. Though I did end up as a slave for a bit...

“I just put together a report on what I learned there.”

“I wrote it,” Niku chimed in.

Yep, since I don’t know how to write. The auto-translator lets me read, at least.

“Lady Kuro, that’s incredible! To think you wrote a report so significant the emperor rewarded you directly!”

“I was useful to Master. I now have the strength to fight for an entire year,” Niku said proudly. Maiodore watched on with a loving look.

When you look at them like this, they sure do look like an engaged couple. Though they’re both lolis, and Niku is wearing a maid outfit.

“So yeah, now I have the right to borrow the empire’s Divine Bedding when I need them.”

“Ah, which means you wish for we of the Tsia House to prepare to lend you the Divine Pillow when necessary?”

“Yep. I’ll come to negotiate each time I need it. But, well, we can discuss the details when the time comes.”

“Very well. I will think of a proper price for it,” Maiodore replied. She was a noble, so despite being a child she was pretty quick on the uptake.

Anyway, we reached the exit to Dragg on Pavella’s side of the mountain while talking about what we’d brought back from the Demon Realm. Ichika and Niku hid their faces with masks.

“Erm, why are Ichika and Lady Kuro wearing such unusual masks?”

“Ichika actually comes from Pavella, and there’s a lot of people she might not want to meet here. As for Kuro...”

“It looks cool,” Niku said, surely giving a cool smirk beneath her mask (or, well, she was probably expressionless under the mask too, but you know. It’s the thought that counts).

“You heard her.”

“Oh my... How lovely! Shall I have my maids wear similar masks as well?”

“No? I don’t think there’s any point when they’re not hiding from anyone.”

Maiodore’s maid nodded quickly in agreement. To think that even a noble would get so blinded just because her fiancée liked something... Anyway, we were at Dragg.

“Ah, Keima! Good to see you, my father-in-law!”

Cid, the son of Pavella’s archduke and the town chief of Dragg, welcomed us at the chief residence. I replied while pondering why there were so many children gathered in a place like this.

“Heya. Also, I’m not your father-in-law, Cid. Didn’t your request get turned down?”

Cid had asked to marry Niku earlier, and since she conveniently was already engaged to Maiodore I had managed to deflect him to Bonodore... who had then refused him.

“Hahaha, no need to play it tough... Oh, Lady Mai’s with you. Nice seeing you.”

“Lord Cid? What is all this about a father-in-law?” Maiodore asked with a threatening smile.

“Ah. Did I not mention it? I asked Lady Kuroinu for her hand in mar—”

“I AM LADY KURO’S FIANCÉE! You wish for me to cancel the engagement and hand her over? To House Pavella, of all houses? I can already see the struggles Lady Kuro will go through! No! Never! I will not allow this to happen!”

“No, see, you and Lady Kuro can marry like normal, then I will be Kuro’s second wife. I’ve already obtained the potion I need,” Cid said with an exasperated shake of his head.

“Are you insane? Has House Pavella lost it? That potion is incredibly expensive.”

“Well, I expected to be turned down in any case. House Pavella is close to the Holy Kingdom, and as a result there is quite a significant amount of racism toward demihumans here.”

“Really?”

“Hm? You didn’t know, Keima? It’s sad but true. I consider it foolish myself, but culture is not so easily changed.”

It seemed that was why House Tsia wanted to reject Cid’s engagement in the first place. Avians in particular were on shaky ground as far as the Holy Kingdom’s Church of Light was concerned, since they resembled angels (apostles of the Light God) so much. There were ongoing debates about whether they were the descendants of angels or fallen corrupted angels.

“Sounds like a pain in the ass,” I said.

“Indeed. Quite a pain in the hindquarters,” Mai agreed.

“Yes. It’s a pain in the neck indeed. But in any case, Lady Mai, that is what I meant. I have an excess of sex-switching potions now, so just say the word if you need any. I owe Keima much and am willing to offer them for free. Or rather, I would love to offer them for free.”

“For free, hm...? Sigh. I understand your circumstances. I will consider it for your sake,” Maiodore said with a sigh.

Mm, these two sure don’t talk like kids, huh? You would think it’s two adults negotiating. Honestly, they would be a pretty good match for each other if not for their family circumstances. Niku on the other hand... is staring at a corner of the ceiling, bored despite supposedly being the center of all this. Is there a ghost-type monster there...?

“So, Keima. You had something to discuss as town chief?”

“Ah. Right. The truth is, a representative of the Demon Realm is visiting Goren to learn about our culture. Thought I’d send word about that ahead of time.”

“I see, a Demon Realm rep—What? From the Demon Realm? What in the world are you planning here, Keima? It’s hard to say whether House Pavella can be moved to participate in a full-scale rebellion. Is House Tsia agreeing to this?” Cid asked, standing up from his chair abruptly in shock. Where was all that about a full-scale rebellion coming from...?

“The Laverio Empire welcomed her here, to be clear. There’s nothing fishy going on.”

“Indeed. She is here on official government business. There is no mistaking it,” Maiodore added, which helped Cid calm down. He sat back in his chair.

“G-Good, then... I thought the only reason one would bring someone from the Demon Realm to this distant corner of the empire would be simply to strike back against the country.”

You think I would ever do something that would get me killed ten times over like that?

“You aren’t planning on launching a surprise rebellion after setting the stage through legal means, are you?”

“Just how little do you trust me, Cid?”

Did I do something to completely lose his trust like that? I would’ve thought that I had earned a lot of affection points from all my friendly behavior.

“Rather, I will be rushing to join your side in such a scenario. It only makes sense I would want to plan ahead, no?”

Oh. I earned too many affection points, I see.

“Don’t worry. I’m not planning to rebel against the empire. In what world would any rebellion succeed?”

“Very well. That said... I believe such a world would be the one where you lead the rebellion, Keima.”

Now that’s putting too much faith in me. Should I go out of my way to lower my affection points with him a bit...? Either way, I’ve told him about Aidy. Dragg shouldn’t be involved with what happens next either way.

Anyway, he held a sizable feast for lunch to welcome us, so the plan was to clean house and eat all of it. Wasting his food like that should lower his affection by a bit. My two masked maids would be a bit helpful here.

“Nom nom, nom nom...”

“Girl, this food is hella tasty too. Check it out.”

“Mm. Nom nom...”

“Lady Kuro, you are devouring the food with such vigor... Blush!”

“Indeed. Her vigor makes me glad I prepared this feast.”

...Well, Cid kinda grinned happily while watching Niku eat all the fish, but still. His affection points probably plummeted from all this. For sure. Maybe. Okay, no.

＊ ＊ ＊

As for where Aidy would be staying, we settled on her sleeping in Rokuko’s room for the first two nights. The grand suite was in the process of being occupied by Misha. That said, her staying in Rokuko’s room was not a long-term solution.

Not to mention, if I assumed that Haku’s subordinates would be coming at regular intervals to check up on us, then she would really want her own room. It was a bit suspect whether there was much point in running an inn anymore now that Goren town was providing DP on a wide scale and I had my own room in my chief residence, but the Dancing Doll Inn was where Goren had started. I wanted to give it the respect it deserved.

“Should I make another grand suite? Nah, I think a guest room would be better.”

All the rooms in the inn were absolutely packed. Adding space by digging underground was an option, but that was no place for a grand suite, and I didn’t want to force our valuable customers to stay in essentially the basement. Only Dolce would like to stay in a dark room like that. Thus, I decided to build and attach the chief residence to a new side building.

With that decided, after putting Dolce into {Storage} and sending her back to the imperial capital through the [Ivory Beach], I started clearing space for construction next to the chief residence.

“Oh my, town chief. What might you be doing?” Aidy asked while I was making a barrier out of rope. She was calling me “town chief” here rather than “Rokuko’s Master.”

“I was just thinking about where you’ll be staying. The current plan is to build something here.”

“Oh my, are you sure? I certainly wouldn’t mind staying in the same room as Rokuko. It’s quite pleasant there, and I must say I enjoy spending the nights with a friend.”

“Trust me when I say that’d be more than enough to piss Haku off.” She would probably grumble about how she wants to spend a full month sleeping with Rokuko too. “Anyway, I’ll hear your requests if you have any. What kind of room do you want? I can base most of it off Rokuko’s room, I guess. You can have the same furniture as her and stuff.”

“Oh my... In that case, I would like a bed that would not be cut or burned by my true form. The bedding Rokuko uses is quite nice, absolutely, but it is for humans. Do you have any bedding similar to that which would not be cut or burned if I slept in it outright?”

In other words, she wanted to sleep in her Magic Blade form.

“Something that I can sink into... that covers me completely... Something like that. Oh, and having fire resistance will only make it better.”

“That bedding definitely doesn’t have fire resistance... You didn’t burn it to ashes, did you?”

“I wouldn’t make such an amateurish mistake. If I caught fire from simply napping, would I have not burned Rokuko as well?”

How can one even be an amateur in this context? Well, whatever. Good to know Rokuko didn’t catch on fire.

“I would certainly like similar bedding with fire resistance. I imagine you could use alchemy to enchant the material with the resistance.”

“Enchant? You can enchant things with alchemy?”

“It is a fundamental part of alchemy, even.”

I had no idea. I thought you just made magic tools with it... Wait, maybe cloth that doesn’t catch fire is considered a magic tool all on its own?

“There is such a process where you make vague the boundaries of an object and move only its attributes... Is that not common in the Laverio Empire?”

“Interesting. The only thing I know about is drawing magic circles and letting loose.”

“It is difficult to tell whether your empire’s alchemy is further advanced or simply archaic. Perhaps this is due to your Hero Workshop or whatever it is monopolizing all the technology. I witnessed some of its products at the castle, and they were truly incredible,” Aidy said. If I remembered correctly, the Hero Workshop made magic tools that produced a single sheet of A4 paper when fed materials, a pen that never dried up, pots that didn’t need heaters, and so on. I saw them at the imperial capital.

Oh yeah, and Leona had that {Ultra Alchemy} skill or whatever. Wonder if these two things are related... Maybe the Hero Workshop is Leona’s Workshop? Okay, let’s stop this. No point thinking about it. Haku would probably tell me if I asked, but she’d tell me things I’d be better off not knowing, too. That’d be scary.

“Ah. What about your maid? She studied alchemy in the Demon Realm, so surely she knows how to enchant objects with sturdiness and fire resistance.”

“Hm? You mean Neruneh? Good point... I wonder where she is right now.”

I checked the map and saw that she was at our town’s smithy.

“The smithy, hm?”

“He’s the son of the smith we met at Corky. He does some alchemy too.”

“Fascinating. Would you care to guide me there?”

“Sure.”

I took Aidy with me to Kantara’s smithy. There we found them reading one of the books Neruneh had brought back with her from the Demon Realm.

“Heeey, Neruneh, Kantara.”

“Woooow, this is something eeeelse.”

“Ohoho, not bad... Heh.”

The two of them were focused on the book.

“It seems there’s even an experimeeent for making Magic Blaaaades.”

“Yes... This’ll be a huge boon fer my research. Look! A magic tool fer shootin’ fireballs! Those exist?! Seems like they’d be real mana inefficient.”

“Wouldn’t it be cool to have a sword that shoots out firebaaaalls?”

“Hell yeah! You know what’s up...!”

“Hellooo? Neruneh? Kantara? Can I get a nod or something? You’ve got visitors.”

The two of them were getting giddy over the book. They were surprisingly focused on it.

“Neruneh! Kantara! WAKE UP!”

“Oooh, Masteeer? And Aiiiidy?”

“Nm? Ah, Keima! And that girl next t’ ya... Oooh! The Demon Realm girl!”

The two of them finally noticed me once I raised my voice. Kantara looked at Aidy and grinned beneath his bushy dwarf beard. Aidy put on a polite smile for him.

“This is a noble from the Demon Realm here to study our culture.”

“My name is Aidy. Greetings, I am from the Demon Realm.”

“I-I be Kantara. Erm, well, yer from the Demon Realm, huh? Er... Sorry, me words be a bit crude.”

“Indeed. And do not worry about your speech. You may speak as you like.”

“Thank ye,” Kantara said, fidgeting uncomfortably.

“What’s up, Kantara? Gotta piss? It’s not strange at all to suddenly notice you’ve gotta piss after a long time of focusing.”

“Nah, y’see, the Demon Realm’s real advanced with Magic Tools and stuff, yeah? I was kinda wonderin’ if she’d be willin’ to teach me some stuff. I was just in th’ middle of Neruneh teachin’ me sommatha stuff she learned there. Eeer, so, whaddaya say, miss?”

“I see. I find it admirable to abandon one’s pride to dedicate oneself to personal growth. Very well, I shall give you whatever advice comes to mind. Let’s see... You, maid. Would you kindly demonstrate the process of enchanting material with sturdiness and fire resistance? You do know the process, yes?”

“Oooh? You don’t miiiind?”

“I said I do not, and thus I do not. Isn’t that right, town chief?”

Neruneh and Aidy looked my way. Well, why not?

“Alright then. How about trying to give this mattress the enchantment? It’s best to learn through action.”

“An excellent idea, town chief,” Aidy said with a smile upon seeing me take out the mattress.

“Uwoooh, fer real?! I owe ye everythin’! Keima, I’m gonna borrow the girl for a bit.”

“Yup. Feel free.”

There was no reason for me to refuse when Aidy herself was willing to help. Rather, I wanted this to happen so my town’s smithy would get even better at his job.

“In these parts, we’d be usin’ this magic circle here. Me alchemy teacher taught me it.”

“I see. You learn through oral tradition, then. In the Demon Realm, we learn through textbooks.”

“Textbooks? Sure would like to get me hands on one o’ them...”

“Town chief. Did you not buy one as a souvenir?” Aidy asked. Kantara glanced my way. Now that she mentioned it, I sure had. Though it had been a bit expensive.

“Just be sure to give it back to the church when you’re done.”

“UWOOOOH! I owe ye my life! Thank ye, thank yeeee!”

Kantara looked on the verge of breaking out into a happy dance.

“Masteeer? What about meee?”

“You went to the Demon Realm with me. I mean, weren’t you just teaching Kantara yourself?”

“Oooh, riiight.”

Man, Neruneh’s so ditzy it’s hard to tell when she’s joking or not.

“Good for you... Oh? I thought this furnace was simply an embarrassment, but if my eyes do not deceive me, it appears there are Phoenix eggshells inside.”

“Oh! Ye can tell, girl? It’s true, it’s got some Phoenix eggshells this here Keima got me! Best furnace I could ever ask for!”

“Oh, he did? I would like some too,” Aidy said with a glance my way. I still had tons of the stuff stashed away, so I wouldn’t even mind giving them away for free, but... If I just agreed to her every demand, I got the feeling the demands would never stop, so I went ahead and turned her down.

While Aidy was helping make the durable, flame-resistant mattress in the smithy, I finished making the side building.

The building fit the land I had sectioned off exactly, and I had built it in the Master Room with {Create Golem}. When putting it in place I had the Silkies set up a tent with no ceiling to ward off prying eyes. I then arrived as Narikin with my mask on and set it in place.

It was the perfect disguise. Behold, as I pull away the curtain and reveal an entirely new building!

Well, people passing by instantly freaked out after seeing a new building that hadn’t been there yesterday, but that was par for the course when it came to that ol’ Narikin building things. The fuss settled down with people saying things like, “The town chief again, huh?” “You never know what’s coming with the town chief.” “Yeah, I knew it was him. It’s always the town chief.” No problem.

“...To think that you actually did build it,” Aidy said, arriving at the building with a crimson mattress in her hands.

“Hey, Aidy. I see you finished your mattress, too.”

“Indeed... It has just enough durability and fire resistance to last. It would have been much better if only you had lent me the Phoenix eggshells,” she replied while blinking and giving the building another look. “I truly did not expect you to build an entire house so quickly. Did you use DP?”

What can I say? Finishing work early so you can sleep sooner just makes sense.

“Nah, one of Haku’s magician friends named Narikin built it for me.”

“The empire truly is formidable at times, I suppose...”

Aidy seemed to be reading a bit more deeply into this construction than I’d expected, but whatever. No point worrying about it.

“Anyway, now you have a place to sleep. Just stick that mattress into the bedroom. It’s completely ready, if you want to try it out.”

“Yes, I believe I’ll sleep here tonight to see how it is.”

“Alright, well, you’ll know which bedroom is yours by the metal plates I fixed everywhere to stop the place from catching on fire.”

“Very well.”

Aidy entered the building with her flame-resistant mattress.

Incidentally, she seemed to quite like both the mattress and her room. She would pay for the mattress when she got back home. Thank you for your patronage.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Rokuko, I would like to see your dungeon,” Aidy said at dinner after inviting Rokuko to her side building.

“Um.”

“Did you not hear me? I would like to enter your dungeon and see how it has been constructed. Consider it a form of observation.”

“Wh-Where’s all this coming from, geez! Aidy, you pervert!” Rokuko cried, swinging her hands around and blushing.

“Pervert? Is this perverted? What do you think, town chief?” Aidy asked while sticking her chocolate cornet into her beef stew and chewing it down. I thought of my response while being a little grossed out by that combination.

“I don’t really see how it’s perverted, I guess?”

“Keima, you dummy! I-It’s so embarrassing! The dungeon is my body, remember?!”

Oh, I guess she’s speaking from a Dungeon Core’s perspective... Wait, no. If that were the case, surely Aidy would feel the same way, as a fellow Dungeon Core.

“You don’t mind bathing with her, but you’re embarrassed to show her your dungeon?”

“I mean, we’re both girls. Those two things are completely different.”

Huuuh. I don’t get it.

“It’s quite fine, Rokuko. I will be satisfied just going as far as the adventurers do.”

“...You promise? I won’t show you the underside. And you have to come with Keima,” Rokuko said, blushing and fidgeting while looking my way.

“Guess we should bring Misha with us too.”

We’ll want someone there who can stop Aidy if she tries to force her way to the back.

“Nmm, and I’ll need to make Kinue clean up first,” Rokuko added.

“If Aidy wants to observe the dungeon, shouldn’t she see what it’s normally like? No polishing it up just for her?”

Cleaning up sounds like an enormous pain. Not that I’d be the one doing it.

“I-It’s just polite to clean it up a little bit. Like, embarrassment aside, I don’t want my friend to see me all dirty.”

“Aaah... Yeah, understandable. Makes sense.”

“Oh, but I wouldn’t mind seeing you dirty at all.”

“I would! I’m cleaning up! Let me just message Kinue!”

Yeah, if Rokuko considers the dungeon her body, then cleaning it up is basically like her taking a shower. Seems like Rokuko’s a bit of a clean-freak.

“Tell her to make sure no adventurers see her, alright?”

“I know, I know!”

And so it was decided a dungeon tour would be held by a Dungeon Core, for a Dungeon Core.

The next day. Aidy and Rokuko gathered in front of the [Cave of Greed], along with Misha and I. The tour would consist of just the four of us.

“Ahaha. At last I will be going inside of you, Rokuko.”

“Thank you ever so much for gracing me with an invitation, Rokuko!”

Aidy was giddy with anticipation and Misha seemed excited enough, but Rokuko was awkward and stiff.

“I’m kinda nervous...”

This probably felt like an embarrassing school trip to her, with her guardian stand-in (Misha) and an exchange student (Aidy) getting up close and personal in the showers. I could understand that.

With all of us gathered, we went straight into the dungeon. We first passed through the entrance gate manned by members of the Adventurer’s Guild. When the Guild had first come here it had been a simple wooden fence, but with more people and influence gathered in Goren, there was now an actual gate staffed by multiple Guild members.

We showed our adventurer cards to get in. They would stop any non-adventurers from going in, including those who lacked a high enough rank, but both Rokuko and I were B-Ranks, and Misha was an A-Rank. As for Aidy... Well, she was being treated as a valued guest, and really, even if she weren’t, anyone would be let through the gate with Misha, the imperial capital’s guildmaster, around.

“Actually. Aidy, are you an adventurer too?” Rokuko asked.

“My understanding is that one’s hunter rank in the Demon Realm is treated as the equivalent adventurer’s rank here, so... I suppose that would make me B-Rank?”

“Purrfect, then. You’re all the same rank. A B-Rank there is a B-Rank here.”

So this dungeon tour group is actually a top-tier party consisting of B-Ranks at the minimum. Man, what a waste on our humble beginner dungeon.

In any case, we passed through the gate without issue. Misha just casually introduced us and the guards let us in with a bow.

“Should we frame Misha’s signature and put it up on the inn? It’s kinda late for this, but it might be a good idea to emphasize that the Adventurer’s Guild is supporting our inn.”

“Ahaha! My signature’s expensive, bub. I’ll charge you a whole purin for each!”

That’s cheap. Hah, I’ll take care of it later.

But yeah, we entered the stone-paved entrance area.

“I see... So your dungeon truly is a cave-type. How cute. Consider me especially interested, given that mine is a mansion-type.”

“Eek... It’s embarrassing, don’t look at it so closely...”

Rokuko’s words sounded so lewd because this dungeon was Rokuko’s real body, and a fellow Dungeon Core was looking right at it. This was probably equivalent to Aidy and Misha both staring closely at her naked body or something... Which would indeed be humiliating.

“Ah, Rokuko! Mind if I lick your walls around here, meow?”

“Misha? I’m going to tell Haku.”

“Sorry! Just a joke!”

Okay, that was going too far... That was like saying “Mind if I lick your armpit?” or something.

“Ah, Aidy. There’s a pitfall there. Watch out.”

“Oh my... I didn’t notice. Hmm?”

“Aaah, these pitfalls... Talk about nostalgia, meow. My precious minotaurs...”

Now that she mentions it, they sure did fall for these pitfalls a lot during that first Dungeon Battle. They were just normal pitfalls with thin boards hidden among the stone floor. The goblins weren’t heavy enough to break the boards, which ended up making them extra deadly.

“So, Rokuko. Would you care to explain these pitfalls to me?” Aidy asked.

“Should I, Keima?”

“Visitor or not, I don’t think we should be explaining our dungeon tricks to anyone. We’ll explain stuff even adventurers would notice, but anything more than that you should figure out yourself.”

“You heard him. Sorry, Aidy, but that’s how it has to be.”

“Very well, I suppose. Just give me a moment... Hm. Some can be sensed while others are hidden, making it even more difficult to identify than normal. Some are false and others are... No, are all of them real, like light and the shadows they cast? Very informative. Though I don’t know how you made them.”

Aidy put on a serious face and dissected the tricks while patting the stone pitfalls. When she said “some can be sensed,” she meant the ones made by the dungeon function, while those she couldn’t sense were those I had made myself. Could it be that traps made with the dungeon function emit some kind of message or something?

As I pondered that, Rokuko shook Aidy’s shoulders with blushing cheeks. “Okay! That’s enough! Let’s move on, okay?! Don’t look so much, it’s embarraaassing!”

This would be like someone staring at the inside of your mouth, I guess. When we get deeper, maybe it’ll be like a camera observing the stomach?

“My my. Your place here is pleasant to the touch and ever so cute. Don’t you agree, Haku’s cat?”

“Yuppers! Rokuko’s stone is top-class just like I expected. I could just wrap myself up and sleep right on them...”

“Misha, do you think Haku will show you mercy?”

“Sorry! It was just a joke!”

After they observed Rokuko’s entrance (her literal entrance, don’t read too deeply into that), we advanced further down to the labyrinth area.

Incidentally, we walked right by the monsters. It made sense the Goblins would avoid attacking a party consisting of B-Ranks and above. They sensed us and watched from afar, but either way these two didn’t need much of an explanation for that. Even if the monsters did attack us, it would just be a waste of DP.

“This is the labyrinth area, but we prepared a special route straight to the exit just for you, so let’s go.”

“Oh my, what a shame. This would have been an excellent opportunity for some mapping.”

“N-No, no mapping! This isn’t a Dungeon Battle or a Dungeon Attack!”

That’s embarrassing to you? Eh, I guess I get it. I wouldn’t want my body mapped out either. Hmm. But they don’t mind adventurers exploring the dungeon traditionally. Hmmm. Yeah, never mind, I don’t get Dungeon Cores.

At most, I guess it would be similar to being embarrassed to wear a swimsuit when not at a pool or audition? With a Dungeon Battle being like a swimsuit exhibition... Hm. I think my opinion of Dungeon Battles is about to change dramatically.

“I would certainly have liked to see one of the so-called greed traps from which your dungeon got its name, Rokuko.”

“I wanna see that too, meow! It wasn’t there during the dungeon battle, and if I go home without seeing it Haku would kill me dead! Pleaaase!”

“No way, it’d be embarrassing. This shortcut is going to take us right to the next floor anyway.”

“I made the shortcut pass by one of the traps, since this is a guided tour.”

“You’re too good at this, Keima.”

It was safe to say the greed traps were the most unique thing about our dungeon. Not introducing these would be like visiting Egypt and not checking out the pyramids or something. Of course I would plan around this.

“Ngh... W-Well, I guess you can take a look?”

Rokuko blushed. She resembled a young girl embarrassed to be seen in a bikini. Okay, now this is getting cute.

“Ahaha. I will take a good look at all your most splendid places, Rokuko.”

“I need to give Haku a report on all your purretty spots!”

“Alright, let’s go. It’s right over here.”

I pushed past a revolving hidden door and entered the shortcut that was out of sight for normal adventurers. Now I was really feeling like a tour guide. Maybe I should have brought some flags, too.

“Right this way, everyone! If you look to your left, you can see the door to the greed traps!” I declared, taking them to one of the Magic Blade trial rooms. They were our dungeon’s most notable tourist attraction.

“So these are your greed traps, Rokuko... I see.”

“Pretty big room, meow. About medium-sized... Oh, there’s the Magic Blade pedestal.”

Misha promptly went up to the pedestal and slid out the Golem Blade we used as a trial Magic Blade. Instantly, thick needles slammed down at the entrance and sealed off the passageway. It was like an animal shutting its mouth.

“I see. So you could kill someone by tactically removing the sword, then.”

“Eugh, Aidy, you have some gross thoughts. But yes, people have used it for that before.”

“Mwahaha. When adventurers have arguments they love to trick each other into falling for deadly traps and just pretend they didn’t know what it did, meow. Happens aaalll the time,” Misha said, revealing deadly adventurer happenings while looking over the Magic Blade in her hand. “Let’s see here... It vibrates when you pour mana into it. Must make it a lot sharper, meow. I guess you like these, since you used them at the Dungeon Battle too? Are they just way cheaper than I think?”

Nice. I was a bit worried that an A-Rank adventurer like Misha would figure out they’re just Golems, but seems like she can’t. But the real test starts here.

“A vibrating Magic Blade... Haku’s cat, would you allow me to see that for a moment? I would like to see if it is a monster-type, or an item-type.”

There we go. After all, Aidy was a Magic Blade-type Core. Would a real-deal Magic Blade see through the Golem Blades I made...?

“A monster-type blade, I see. I sense its inanimate properties.”

“Awww, really? I thought for sure it was an item-type, meooow.”

It worked! Yes!

I struck a celebratory pose on the inside. Incidentally, when buying Magic Blades from the catalog it let you pick between item-type Magic Blades and so on. That was probably what she was talking about.

“Would that make you a monster-type Core yourself, Aidy?”

“Indeed, Rokuko. To be more detailed, monster-type blades are those with wills of their own and inanimate monster properties, whereas item-type blades are those that are normal blades with enchantments and magic circles carved into them. The Magic Blade this town’s smith is attempting to make is an item-type blade.”

So my trusty blade Siesta is a monster-type blade, huh? Given that they talk and everything.

“Hmm, I see.”

“Indeed. Golems are the same. The ones the town chief made in the Demon Realm are item-types, whereas those working in the dungeon and inn are monster-types.”

Wait, did she actually notice they were Golem Blades? I’m kinda starting to sweat now.

“Oh! By the way,” Rokuko said, “You can actually keep the Magic Blade if you manage to get it out. Right, Keima? That was in the rules?”

“Oh...?”

“Hmmmm...?”

Misha and Aidy both stared at me.

“Well... The idea of this room is to let adventurers try out the Magic Blade and encourage them to dig deeper into the dangerous lower floors through greed, but there does need to be a policy in place for if someone manages to get one out. Want to try?”

“I see. I believe I shall try, then.”

We returned to the Magic Blade to the pedestal to begin. Aidy pulled the Magic Blade out, and the needles blocked the exit. She put it back and then opened up. Out, close, in, open, out, close...

“This is certainly fun.”

“Could mew hurry it up? I’m waiting for my turn.”

“Oh my, excuse me.”

At Misha’s prompting, Aidy removed the Magic Blade. She then walked to the closed needles, pulled out her own red Magic Blade, readied it, and...

“{Crimson R—}”

“Stop, stop, stop, stop!”

I hurriedly interrupted Aidy. She stopped her skill midway for me.

“Yes, town chief?”

“What were you about to do?”

“I was merely about to use my attack skill, {Crimson Road}. Destroying the needles will allow me to leave with the blade, no? It is that simple.”

Please no. That’s the skill that evaporated both metal and water back at the triple-threat Dungeon Battle. It was so deadly that the intense steam from the water actually pushed back the ocean. It just blasts out in one direction. The iron needles might be strengthened due to the dungeon’s wall effects, but it would still melt them like nothing. The fire would pierce right through the labyrinth walls, too.

“I did intend to hold back, you know.”

“Look, just take it. You win. Please don’t destroy the dungeon.”

“Oh, truly? Ahaha. I did it, Rokuko.”

“...Congratulations?”

Aidy happily put the Golem Blade into {Storage}.

“So it’s my turn now, meow? Keima, one new Magic Blade, please!”

“Normally I’d let it sit for a bit before putting on a new one, but sure, alright. Thank me by giving me a signature later. I’ll pay you back with a purin.”

“Nyahaha, okaaay!”

I used a dungeon function to put a new Magic Blade on the pedestal.

“Okay, time to show you why I’m called Misha the Tactician!”

“I’m gonna say I doubt anyone has ever called you that before in your life.”

Misha placed her hand on the Golem Blade’s hilt without removing it.

“Nyaha. I don’t even need to break the door for something this simple,” she said before pulling it out, and... disappearing. A blast of wind blew by me. The dot signifying Misha appeared on the map on the other side of the needles.

“Nyahahahaha! The trap’s nothing if you just run by the needles before the close. Eaaaasy!”

Yeah, she just overpowered it with her AGI stat. Not much in the way of tactics here.

“Not bad, Misha,” Aidy said.

“A bit hard for a Demon Realm princess, hmmmmm?”

It was such an impressive feat that Aidy had subconsciously switched from calling her Haku’s cat to Misha. I replenished the Magic Blade and opened the door. There stood Misha with a smug grin and the Golem Blade in hand.

“Aaah, Rokuko’s Magic Blade! Now I’ve got a purrfect gift for Haku!”

Misha gleefully put the Golem Blade into {Storage}.

I think I’ll make the exit hallway bendy next time so running straight won’t work.

“Ah. I just realized this, but you don’t even need super speed for this. {Teleportation} will work on its own,” Rokuko muttered.

Yeah, not even a bendy hallway will stop that. Crap. We lose. Eeeh... Should I make it so the swords just break if they go outside the room? That’s pretty cheap, but...

“In truth, a human capable of removing the Magic Blade from this room would not need such a low level weapon. It is nothing for you to worry about, town chief.”

“Good point.”

At the very least, it’s nothing I need to hurry and fix anytime soon.

And so, both of them easily defeated our greatest attraction, the greed trap. They had pretty much cleared the dungeon—the only notable thing left was the Inn of Greed, plus the wreckage of the puzzle area. That ended the tour. Adventurers didn’t really venture much deeper, and there wasn’t any need to explain the specifics of the rest. I didn’t want them to see the unique Golems wandering the storage area at the bottom of the spiral staircase, after all.

Incidentally, several people were in the process of staying at the Inn of Greed. There were empty rooms, but... Or wait, what’s with these stands selling books and preserved food right by the inn? Man, those are convenient. Are some people just outright living here? I don’t mind, since that gets me DP, but wow.

“Down below is the storage area, and there’s Magic Blades just like the one in the greed traps. But normal adventurers stop right before the spiral staircase over here, so that ends the tour.”

“I see. I would have liked to see a bit more, though... Is the excellent coliseum I saw when I infiltrated here during the last Dungeon Battle further down?”

She’s talking about the triple-threat Dungeon Battle again, when I made a dungeon by the imperial capital.

“Yep, but I’m not taking you there.”

“I would love to duel that Vampire again...”

“Not happening.”

Rei would die from stress if that happened. She’s a pretty delicate girl, really.

“Aaah. This is where those puzzles were, huh?” Misha asked, giving the broken pseudo-[Gates of Wisdom] a meaningful look. “Guess you finished that construction, then! Whew, you should have seen the look on Haku’s face...”

“Er, yeah. I can imagine. My sympathies?”

“Nyahaha! But it’s thanks to that puzzle that everyone started calling me Misha the Tactician, meow!”

Rokuko nodded, remembering that, while Aidy just tilted her head in confusion.

“But the Inn of Greed, huh? I saw it in some Guild reports, but now that I’m seeing the real thing, it sure looks comfy. So tiny and perfect for a little cat nap. And you get items for it? Sounds like heaven! How’s it work?”

“That’s a secret. We’ll only explain what adventurers know, after all.”

Though there wasn’t actually much to explain since it was almost entirely manual labor being done in the background.

“Town chief, is there perhaps a system where escaping the Inn of Greed rewards one a Magic Blade?”

“No. Though the random item does give Magic Blades sometimes, if you’re lucky.”

Testing out the Inn of Greed would be a waste of time (for both of us, since neither Misha nor Aidy gave us any DP per day), so we ended the tour and left the dungeon. There were obviously no battles on the way out, and of course we left the dungeon safely.

＊ ＊ ＊

One day passed. Today we were visiting the Beddhist church.

“So this is the infamous home base of Beddhism, hm?”

Aidy sure was looking smug for someone who didn’t even know the first B of Beddhism before coming here. “Infamous” my ass. At any rate, she was here to learn more about Goren as well.

“So, whaddaya think? A perfect place for afternoon naps, eh?”

“More importantly, where is this church’s coliseum? I would like to go there now.”

“What?”

“What?”

Aidy tilted her head. Hey, I’m just as confused as you.

“A church is no place for napping, I believe.”

“Why would a church have a coliseum?”

“What?”

“What?”

Aidy tilted her head in the opposite direction, but by that point I had figured it out.

“Aah, I get it. This is a cultural thing.”

“By which you mean, in the empire churches are for sleeping?”

“Yup. Only Beddhist churches though, I think.”

Or really, just how much did Aidy know about Beddhism anyway? I’d guess that at most she’s probably just heard a little bit about it from Rokuko.

“Do churches in the Demon Realm have coliseums attached to them or something? I don’t remember seeing any like that.”

“Ah, yes, I suppose you wouldn’t know because you were at Number 50’s estate the entire time. It is normal for churches and coliseums to be built together so that wounds can be healed as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, that’s practical.”

Truly an innovation one would only find in a country of battle junkies like the Demon Realm.

“Might it be that the plaza where I dueled those small fry is this town’s coliseum? I suppose the inn does provide an excellent view of the battling.”

“I’ve never thought of it like that in my life.”

Incidentally, seven people in our main squad could use Restoration magic: me, Rokuko, Niku, Ichika, and the monster girl trio. I had just gone ahead and let them all learn it since Rokuko had rolled that many {Healing} scrolls in the gacha before.

Oh. Right, and the head nun slash Succubus leader Suilla can use Restoration magic too. And the other Succubi can use basic healing skills for scratches and minor injuries too, so...

“Now that I think about it, Beddhism really is a proper religion with proper churches.”

“Though in the Demon Realm, a church without a coliseum would be unthinkable.”

“I’m talking about from an imperial perspective here. As for coliseums... We have a game room at the inn to make up for that.”

Not that Aidy considers fighting to be a game, but yeah.

“A game room, you say?”

“Yep. There are these rat races you can gamble on, plus tables for dice and card games. Have you checked it out with Rokuko yet?”

“I haven’t gone there, no. If I wish to play dice or cards I can simply go to Rokuko’s room, after all... What are these rat races you speak of?”

“We have a bunch of rats, Gray Rats, line up next to each other and race across a track while people bet on who will reach the goal first.”

“I see, so it’s like a Slave Race but with rats.”

It turned out that the Demon Realm had their own version of the races, except they had human slaves run instead of rats.

“Putting that aside... Are those books strewn about haphazardly on the shelves?”

“Yep. They’re books.”

“I saw them covering the floor of Rokuko’s room as well. Books must be cheap in this town,” she said while picking up one and flipping through it. “Hmm. This is a bit confusing, but I imagine it is a bible?”

“Nah. We keep our bible locked up tight and only read from it at mass.”

“I see, that would explain why this book focuses entirely on agriculture,” she replied while picking up another book and flipping through it as well.

“Are you by chance a world-class speed reader?”

“Unfortunately, I am only recording the pages at the moment. I will give them a more thorough read-through later.”

Oh, right. Since she’s a Dungeon Core, she can record everything she sees and replay the footage later. Which means... This is like her taking photos at a bookstore without paying? Hey!

“If you want to read these books, at least join Beddhism first.”

“Unfortunately, I am a member of the Ebony Church.”

“The Ebony Church? That’s the first time I’m hearing about that.”

“I imagine it will be simpler if you envision it as the Demon Realm version of the Ivory Church. They are largely the same thing, though we worship the Demon God instead of the Ivory Goddess.”

...Ah, I get it. It’s a religion that worships the Great Demon King, Core 6. Okay, okay. Say no more. I understand everything.

“That said, Beddhism is a sub-religion you can join without changing your main religion. We’ve got tons of people here who primarily worship the Food Church, the Ivory Church, the smithing god, the dice god, and so on.”

“A sub-religion? That is not something I’ve heard of before. Will that not anger the gods?”

“Nope. After all, Beddhism doesn’t have a god.”

“Now that you mention it, I do recall Rokuko mentioning that before. I largely ignored it since it didn’t quite make sense to me, but... Is Rokuko not the goddess of Beddhism?”

Now that’s a strange idea. Why would Rokuko be the goddess of Beddhism?

“I was certain you were gathering GP through Beddhism, but perhaps I was mistaken.”

“...GP?”

“Do not tell me you made Beddhism without knowing about GP,” Aidy said, her eyes widening with surprise.

Er, what? GP? Is there some system I don’t know about here?

“GP are points you offer up to the gods—or rather, Father. According to Grandfather, he gives many rewards in return for the points.”

“Oh hoh?”

“You can use them to ask for things that the DP catalog alone cannot accomplish. Gambling territory with Dungeon Battles was one such system implemented with GP, for example. I have heard that it is also why he is permitting Haku to hunt other Dungeon Cores.”

Oh shit. Dad Points sure are something else. This must mean that GP stands for God Points. Yeaaah, I’m gonna want some of those too. I might want to save them up in case I really need him to bail me out of something. Do you get GP from gathering the faith of people or something?

As I pondered that, I heard a ding, and my menu opened on its own.

“.........”

“Oh my, did something happen?”

“Er, yeah, I just got a message... Gimme a second.”

It was a message from Father: Keima, I’ll make Haku recognize your relationship with Rokuko for 100 GP.

Uh, wait, he heard our conversation? He was eavesdropping? Lemme just write my reply here... “I don’t think eavesdropping is very polite. I expect 100 GP in apology deposited to my menu right away.”

He responded within a second: Ahaha, sorry, sorry. It was just a coincidence since you two are in a church. Anyway, as an apology I’ll unlock the GP counter in your menu. You’ll have to earn the GP on your own. No point if I just gave it to you myself!

Welp. I checked my menu and saw a GP counter beneath the DP counter.

“Er, well, I can see my GP now.”

“Oh my, how lovely. I still can’t see it myself... All we demon royalty work hard as apostles of the Ebony Church, but the counter doesn’t show until you have accumulated enough.”

Apostles, huh? That sure sounds like something. Guess I must have earned this 34 GP by working as the Beddhist pope, then.

“Regardless, as an apostle of the Ebony Church it would certainly be unacceptable for me to join any other religion, so I will stop reading now. Even if that religion is one without a god such as Beddhism.”

“Misha joined Beddhism the other day. Do you think that’ll cause problems?”

“What?! Haku’s direct subordinate...? I suppose the Ivory Church may approach these things differently.”

Er, maybe...? Yeah, sure. Let’s go with that. It’ll be fine. She’ll probably be punished a bit, but that’s not the end of the world.

“Anyway, I kinda want to check all the stuff I just unlocked. Mind if that ends the tour for today?”

“Not at all. Do tell me if you learn anything interesting.”

“No promises. If you want to learn more about Beddhism, just ask any nun.”

“Certainly. Now, I will take a look around and then leave at my leisure.”

Thus, I left Aidy at the church and returned to my chief residence. Once in my room I started checking GP right away.

Or I thought I would, but once I actually opened up the menu I saw a button for turning 1 GP into 100,000 DP, and two fields I could manually input strings into. One was [Offer Up GP: (Enter Number)], and the other was [Your Request: (Enter Text)].

The interesting thing was that the two fields were completely separate. In other words, after offering up GP, you just had to hope Father would feel like granting your request. You had to work your ass off to earn his favor, and only then ask for his help.

...I closed the menu, wondering if there wasn’t a bit too much freedom of choice here.

Ultimately I decided to just let the GP sit where it was. I had been ignoring it up until now anyway, so it would probably be fine to keep ignoring it... Might as well just ask Father to do his magic once I’ve saved up enough. Yeah. I guess you earn more GP by getting more devoted followers, but... I don’t have anyone to compare myself to, so I’m not even sure how much 34 DP is, nor how challenging it will be to get 100 GP.

Turning GP into DP was on an entirely different level from turning DP into gold coins. I could turn the gold right back into DP, but there didn’t seem to be any way to turn DP into GP—the process was irreversible. It was probably a function one would only use if they desperately needed DP and had no other choice.

Well, no point thinking any more about it than I already have. Time to forget about it and sleep. Zzz.

# Aidy’s Perspective

Aidy was still at the Beddhist church. As she wandered around, she suddenly noticed something—someone. Someone she never should have been allowed to meet.

“Oh my! Oh my, my, my, my, my, my.”

“Hm...? Eeek?!”

Aidy walked over to the other person with a broad smile and grabbed their hand gently, but firmly. That person’s name? Rei the High Priestess of Beddhism.

“Eeerm, um, Aidy? What brings you here?” Rei said, troubled but needing to be polite since Aidy was her Master’s visitor.

“You are... mm, I suppose I shouldn’t say your race here? You’re, ah, let’s see, the town chief’s... Goodness, picking words carefully is so tedious. Suffice to say, I have been searching for you. May I ask your name?”

“Rei...”

“Rei, I see. Rei! Consider it memorized. Because I have memorized it. Ahahaha.”

Rei had a very bad feeling about this, but Aidy paid that no mind, and even began stroking the back of her hand lovingly.

“Erm, um, have we met somewhere?”

“Oh my! Have you forgotten me? Even after we had such a passionate, heated date? My my, you certainly play hard to get...”

“D-Date?!”

Naturally, Rei had no memory of dating Aidy. But Aidy was from the Demon Realm, and Aidy and Rei had engaged in a one-on-one duel to the death in the dungeon’s coliseum at the end of the three way Dungeon Battle. In imperial terms, they were equivalent to lovers who had exchanged a passionate french kiss, and Aidy had exactly that much affection for Rei now (according to Keima’s research).

In contrast to Aidy’s joy, however, Rei was just befuddled. She hadn’t seen Aidy at the feast since she had dragged Neruneh away from questioning, and since Rei had genuinely forgotten Aidy, she had no idea why she was being approached.

“Oh how I’ve yearned to date you again. You, Rei. Shall we begin?”

“S-Sorry, but I’m in the middle of work...?”

“I can wait. For your sake, I could even wait forever. Or would you like me to help so we can begin as soon as possible?”

Aidy wasn’t letting up.

“Um, my work is something only I can do, so...”

“Waiting it is, then. How long will it take? We can meet at the plaza, and... No, that won’t do. How about the fateful coliseum where we first met, deep in the dungeon?” Aidy asked, a lovestruck look on her face, and finally Rei understood. Aidy had participated in the triple threat Dungeon Battle, and she was the one who invaded the coliseum at the end.

Honestly, she deserved some high praise for figuring that one out. After all, Aidy had been in her Magic Blade form during the Dungeon Battle, and the Living Armor had been wielding her. Rei had never even seen her face.

In any case, Rei thought things through based on what she knew, which meant she thought about it from an imperial perspective. And from that perspective, it made no sense why Aidy would be fawning over her so much. They had been enemies. Or, well, Rokuko and Aidy were close friends despite having fought each other, but that was different since they were both Dungeon Cores. The Dungeon Battle had probably been a fight between friends observed by their respective guardians.

A possible analogy would be Rei protecting her Master (Rokuko) from being bitten by her friend’s dog. Why would Aidy adore her so much for that? She wasn’t even this close to Rokuko, and yet here she was, pressing her body up against Rei and stroking her hand lovingly.

If Rei had read the report Keima had given to the empire, she would have figured things out, but unfortunately she hadn’t. Let me repeat: engaging a Demon Realm resident in a duel to the death was equivalent to two imperial lovers exchanging a heated french kiss! (According to Keima’s research.)

Rei paled, being unable to process this as anything but a psychopath targeting her.

“Please, just say yes...? I want to do it with you again...” Aidy begged cutely, her cheeks flushed red, but all Rei heard was, “I’m going to kill you this time.” (Incidentally, that wasn’t too far off the mark for a Demon Realm date.) (According to Keima’s research.)

“Um, Master told me not to fight you under any circumstances, so...!”

Rei threw out an excuse as best she could. It wasn’t technically a lie, either, if one interpreted him telling her to treat Aidy as a visitor very broadly.

Hearing that, Aidy pursed her lips with frustration. “I see... He must wish to hide the extent of your strength from me. Very well then, I will give up on this.”

“Ahaha. Thank you very much.”

“A shame. Truly a shame.”

Rei gave a polite smile as Aidy fell back despite her extreme dissatisfaction.

“Putting that aside for now, Rei. My interest in you is undying, and so I would like to observe your work. You are a nun, I believe?”

“Erm... Well, yes, technically?”

To be more precise she was a High Priestess, but in Beddhism even the High Priestess was considered a nun. There was no hard delineation between them. Not to mention that Rei was indeed wearing a standard nun outfit.

“The town chief said to ask any nun about Beddhism. In other words, I have the right to question you about Beddhism, and you have a responsibility to answer me. Am I mistaken?”

“N-Not at all.”

And so, Aidy locked her targets onto Rei, and from then on Aidy constantly visited the Beddhist church to spend as much time as physically possible with Rei—after all, they had exchanged a one-on-one duel to the death, that even ended in Aidy’s defeat. To describe Aidy’s position in imperial terms, she was like an innocent young girl who had the handsome man of her dreams push her onto bed and whisper sweet love into her heart. (According to Keima’s research.)

＊ ＊ ＊

“Keima, Keima! Look at this, look!”

One day, a week or so after Aidy had first visited us, Rokuko energetically burst into my room.

“What’s up? I sure hope this was worth my sleep getting interrupted.”

“It sure is! I talked to Aidy about some stuff. Check out what was added to the menu!”

Rokuko eagerly showed me her menu. I thought she was talking about DP, but what she actually showed me was a new [Strengthen] option.

“[Strengthen]! It’s [Strengthen]!”

“Oh yeah, Aidy did mention something like this before...”

As I recalled, after the Dungeon Battle with her she had mentioned that Magic Blade-type cores had a [Strengthen] option for using DP to strengthen themselves. Our menu didn’t have it, but I guess that was just because we hadn’t unlocked it yet.

Who knows what unlocked it for us here... The heck was she talking to Aidy about?

“It turns out... this [Strengthen] function will let me power up!”

“Makes sense.”

“For example, [Beastification]! Using these options will give me animalistic powers,” Rokuko said, selecting the [Strengthen] function, then going to [Beastification]. There were more precise categories there too, including [Dog], [Cat], [Monkey], and even [Lion]. The page was entirely mammals. The price changed depending on the animal, but even the [Rabbit] one was 150,000 DP. The [Lion] one was 500,000 DP. Aaand... the [Whale] one was 3,000,000 DP.

“There’s [Dragonification] too! Ahaha, I think it’d be pretty on point for me to transform into a Dragon and fight.”

She opened that page next, revealing [Wyvern] at 800,000 DP, [Green Dragon] at 30,000,000 DP, and... [Red Dragon] at a surprisingly cheap 10,000,000 DP. Maybe that was because we had a Red Dragon neighbor? Hmm. [Crocodile], [Iguana], [Snake], and [Lizardman] were all in this area too... Either the catalog was kinda messed up, or they were just put together for convenience. There was probably a [Reptilification] page somewhere too.

“[Weaponification] and [Itemification] are nice too. We could, like, fight together, with you wielding me.”

Those had [Sword], [Shield], [Armor], [Helmet], and... [Underwear].

Equipment, huh? Should this really be an option?

Incidentally, all of them were 300,000 DP flat. According to what Rokuko had heard from Aidy, each of those options equated to transforming into a low-quality version of the item. We would probably be getting [Magic Blade-ification] later, though Aidy probably didn’t need anything like that since she was already a Magic Blade-type core.

...Or maybe Aidy could transform into, like, a Magic Blade of another element? Maybe she could transform from a sword into a spear, or into armor, or something like that. Might be cool.

“And here’s [Humanification], too. I didn’t think I would need it, but these options are actually pretty interesting.”

[Human], [Beastkin], [Elf], [Dwarf]... Each 100,000 DP.

I wonder if these will dramatically change her appearance? Could be wise to buy one for camouflage purposes. Also... I feel like Core 219 mentioned something about human transformations, but I’m just going to not try to remember it.

“Beastkin Rokuko... I wonder if cat ears or dog ears would look better on you.”

“Oh, oh? Are you curious? We can buy it if so.”

“Nah, it’d be cheaper to get headbands with the ears on them.”

We investigated the catalog further and discovered a [Monsterification] category as well, and at the top were all the basic monsters we could summon in our dungeon as well.

Oh, the Dragons are here too. Yeah, this catalog is definitely just mixing related stuff together for convenience. That’s pretty ideal for a digital catalog, all things considered.

“But anyway, it’d be cheaper to just buy these with DP, so I don’t really see the need for you to transform into any of them.”

“True. Sad, but true.”

...Though there are some applications, like her transforming into a Slime that’s strong against physical attacks. She could also use its liquid form to slip past bars and such to run away from things. Emergency Slime.

“But, but, but! This is really exciting, isn’t it? It’s just like your {Ultra Transformation}!”

“Yeah, though these cost DP.”

“Speaking of which, you can transform into food, right? Like lollipops and stuff?”

Food wasn’t in the [Strengthen] catalog, but I could use my {Ultra Transformation} to transform into it. And...that was when I noticed Rokuko giving me a hungry look.

“Don’t eat me, alright? It’d still be me.”

“What’s the problem? You’ll revive. Don’t worry, I won’t bite down.”

“I’m pretty sure it would be terrible for me. Like, being literally licked to death while melting? No thanks.”

“True, true. And I’d be in danger if you revived inside of me.”

That genuinely was dangerous. No joke.

“Eheheh, what, did you want to be licked to death by me?”

I glanced at Rokuko’s mouth. Or rather, Rokuko was showing me her mouth. She had opened wide and was wiggling her tongue around as if rolling a lollipop on top of it. I grinned while looking at her wiggling tongue.

“Want me to lick you, then?”

“Rokuko. Let me give you a little tip: wiggling your tongue like that is lewder than a kiss.”

“Eep?!”

Rokuko blushed.

“L-Lewd?! This isn’t lewd! It’s not lewd at all!”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

She started hitting me with a nearby pillow. It actually hurt.

“...Keima, hug.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Haku had given her permission for us to hug, so we could do that as much as we wanted, technically. I went ahead and gave Rokuko a tight hug. She let out a dreamy sigh of satisfaction, then pulled back.

“Anyway, in conclusion, I can [Strengthen] myself now.”

“Yup. Though I didn’t actually see any normal power boosting options that weren’t transformations. You know, stuff like Aidy’s Indestructible trait.”

Though I can guess that was probably something only for non-living creatures.

“Those are probably all still locked. I’m not really sure what the requirements for them might be. Mm... Do you think I’ll be able to fight too once they pop up?”

“Nah, you should never fight, Rokuko. Cores need to be kept safe at all costs. The Demon Realm Cores are crazy for fighting out on the front lines like that.”

...Is it just me, or has Aidy started influencing Rokuko a bit lately? I’d rather her not be around bad influences like that, but oh well.

“Master! Rokuko! If I may, I would like to request that the dungeon be modified!” Rei announced, walking into my room as Rokuko and I laid around doing nothing.

“Whoa, where’s all this coming from?”

“Is this surprising? The dungeon hasn’t been modified at all lately, and although I’ve been trusted with managing the dungeon, I cannot make any changes without your or Rokuko’s permission.”

That made sense. I was letting Rei and her new subordinate, Elka, handle most of the dungeon administration. If she wanted to modify the dungeon, then she probably had a good reason for it.

“I request a direct path be made to the coliseum area! As it stands, I have no idea where Aidy might drag me off and try to kill me!”

Ah. Right.

“Uh-huh.” Rokuko nodded. “Aidy really did take a liking to you, Rei.”

“T-Take a liking to me, you say?”

“She super likes you. She even keeps asking me if I’ll let her have you. I turned her down, obviously. You’re my precious dungeon administrator.”

“R-Rokuko! Thank you, thank you so much!”

Aidy went that far...? I guess it probably just came up in casual conversation, but still.

“But wait, she likes me? I thought she just wanted to kill me.”

“Aaah... Alright, look. Remember how you fought Aidy at the dungeon battle? That’s all it took,” I said.

“Uh-huh. In Demon Realm culture, fighting like that is something best friends do.”

Indeed. And I could guess that from Aidy’s perspective, Rei had been winning the life-or-death duel, such that she would have won had I not interfered midway through. The fact she called Rei by her actual name just like she used Rokuko’s name when she still refused to use my name even when it would be convenient to do so just showed how much she really liked her.

“S-So in other words, I accidentally defeated an opponent so strong that not even Niku can hope to beat her... B-But that’s all a misunderstanding, isn’t it? Besides, it wasn’t a one-on-one duel. Kinue and Neruneh were there, plus your Gargoyles.”

“What matters here is how Aidy saw things, I think.”

“Right. Aidy’s a super straight shot once she’s convinced of something,” Rokuko agreed with a nod. Also, summoned monsters were seen as nothing more than obstacles in a duel.

“At the very least, I guess this means she won’t kill me, then?”

“Nah, she will. She’s from the Demon Realm, after all.”

“Uh-huh. She’s from the Demon Realm.”

“Eep?! I knew it, she doesn’t like me!”

Rei’s eyes welled with tears. Honestly, I knew how she felt.

“Duels to the death are a sign of love in the Demon Realm. There’s some duels to the death that aren’t romantic, but the more they love someone, the more they want to kill them.”

“What the heck?! How are they so messed up?!”

I feel the same way, but that’s just their culture. Different people believe different things.

“Well, anyway, since in your case she wants to kill you out of love, she’ll probably be fussy over the details. I can guess she’ll want it to happen in a duel at the coliseum.”

“Eep...! This is crazy... Not only am I not strong, I’m the weakest dungeon administrator in the group, and my attack power is zero... Oh, would Aidy fall out of love with me if I told her that?”

“Don’t look down on yourself—your true worth lies outside of battle. But, uh, your lack of attack power is kind of a dungeon secret, so it’s for the best you don’t correct her on that.”

“A-As you wish, Master...” Rei said, hanging her head sadly.

“Also, telling her that probably wouldn’t help anyway. She wouldn’t believe it until seeing it for herself, which would involve a duel to the death.”

“It feels like it’s already too late for everything.”

“Don’t worry!” Rokuko said. “She knows I’m weak now, but she still challenges me to duels sometimes.”

Rokuko, that’s not going to help. That just makes it worse.

“A-At the very least... Please fill the way to the coliseum with traps to slow her down, and then come rescue me if she starts dragging me there...”

“R-Right.”

Rei’s desperate plea was so emotional I decided to be kind and help her out, like a good Dungeon Master should.

“So yeah, I added a riddle room.”

I took Rokuko and Rei into the dungeon to show them the time wasters I added.

“If you give a wrong answer, it closes down and takes twenty-four hours before it lets you try again. It basically stops you from giving any more answers.”

I reused the timers I’d designed for the inn of greed to institute a cooldown, where a wrong answer would cause the puzzle to flip around and hide in the wall.

“Perfect for buying time, huh?”

“Thank you so much, Master!”

Rei gave a deep bow. Her being so happy made all the work worth it.

“But that won’t do much if she answers correctly right away,” Rokuko observed. “What’s the riddle?”

“Right. Check it out.”

At Rokuko’s prompting, I read the riddle aloud.

“There is a ferocious trap within a dungeon. You will die no matter what if you get caught in the trap. You have to get past it to reach a treasure chest. But a certain adventurer managed to get past the trap and obtain the treasure despite the trap activating. So, how did the adventurer get past the trap and obtain the treasure?”

Rokuko and Rei tilted their heads.

“Hm...? You die for sure if you get caught in the trap, right?”

“Yup. You do.”

“I know, Master! Did he exchange his life to get the treasure?” Rei asked, shooting her hand up excitedly.

“Bzrt. Enjoy waiting for a day.”

Rei’s hand drifted sadly back down to her side.

“That said, you’re not actually wrong, Rei.”

“Wha?”

Normally you’d think a riddle has only one answer, but in this case I’d used ambiguous wording to make two answers possible. The first answer would always be considered wrong, forcing the challenger to wait a full day before giving the second answer. It was essentially cheating, but thanks to making these traps with Golems it was totally fair to do so.

“Not bad, Keima. But why not just make a door that forces you to wait a day outright?”

“I mean... If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to make a trip to the boss room and back in a single day when acting like an adventurer.”

“Uh-huh...”

“I would expect nothing less, Master! No detail escapes your grasp!”

I’d made up that excuse on the spot, earning an eye-roll from Rokuko who saw through it, and genuine praise from Rei who hadn’t. I averted my gaze from them both.

“So, what’s the other answer?”

“Guess. Just this once, I’ll turn off the cooldown and give some reward to whoever figures it out.”

Rokuko’s eyes gleamed.

“Since Rei’s answer was wrong... We can tell the other answer doesn’t involve him dying.”

“More or less.”

Your only hint with the puzzle was that the door not opening meant you had answered wrong, since it would open if you got it right. There were some lateral thinking logic puzzles on Earth that involved this kind of thing.

“Oh! What about this: the adventurer used {Create Golem} to fall for the trap, then went for the chest afterwards.”

The door rumbled open. Seriously? One try?

“Amazing, Rokuko!” Rei exclaimed. “Now that I think about it, the riddle never did say he was the one who got caught in the trap!”

“Yep. Her answer’s so good I honestly want to ask if she’s cheating.”

“Eheheh, too bad for you. All I did was think about what kind of trick you would pull here, Keima. I simply know you too well.”

Hrm, so she read my mind that easily, huh? Rokuko’s getting good.

I opened up my menu to reward her with melon rolls, and...

“Hold on, Keima. I have something I want other than melon rolls.”

“Hm? What’s that? I’ll see what I can do.”

I stopped fiddling with the menu.

“Let me see Succuma.”

“.........”

“Let me see Succuma,” Rokuko repeated with a smile. “Actually, how about I get to use Succuma as my dakimakura for the whole night?”

Hell no, that’d be torture. You want to kill me? Or alternatively, do you want Haku to kill me?

“Sorry, Rokuko, but there are some things I just can’t do.”

“It doesn’t cost a single DP, and I’m pretty sure it’s well within your power to make this happen.”

You’re not wrong, it’s just, come on!

“Besides, I can buy as many melon rolls as I want on my own terms. It’s not much of a reward then, is it? Just let me enjoy my fill of Succuma.”

“Hey, don’t escalate things.”

“I’m going to keep escalating until you agree.”

“Fine... Later, then. Later,” I said. Rei was staring at me silently, clearly trying to convey she wanted to see Succuma too, but nope. Rokuko got the answer right, not her.

“Tonight. I’ll be waiting in my room... Ahaha, don’t worry. It’ll just be us. No one will see you but me. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Rokuko said with a grin, and there was nothing more I could say. I raised my hands in a sign of defeat.

Time flew by painfully fast. I put on the Succubus ring Kosaki and went over to Rokuko’s room. Nothing I could do but pump myself up and endure it.

When I entered Rokuko’s room, she greeted me with heavy breathing and sweat on her brow.

“There you are, Keima! I’ve been waiting! Now, hurry up and turn into Succuma!”

“Hold it, hold it. I’m ready, but let me just ask one thing first, Rokuko. Are you ready?”

“What do you mean? Do I need something for this?” Rokuko asked, tilting her head.

“The Lionheart Bracelet we got from Mikan’s dungeon battle. You should put it on.”

“Why?”

“The {Charm} effect my Succubus form has is deadly. You need anti-charm equipment.”

“But I want to be charmed by you, Keima. That’s the point,” she said, pulling back the blanket on her futon like she couldn’t wait any longer. Right. I have to be her dakimakura too...

“Did you forget how you lost your mind when Niku turned into a Succubus? You ended up seeing her as me, which means—in other words—you won’t be able to see me for myself once I turn into a Succubus. Is that what you want?”

“No. Okay, I’ll wear the bracelet.”

I sighed in relief. A legendary item forged by Father would surely block my Succubus charms without issue. If not for it, Rokuko would have attacked me in bed and gone so far that the “hug” excuse wouldn’t work anymore.

After confirming that Rokuko really did have the silver bracelet on her arm, I steeled my resolve and let the Kosaki possess me.

“Kosaki, you have my permission. Possess me.”

“Roger! Come forth, Succumaaaa!”

Kosaki was so hype she flashed lights and voiced the sound effects herself. She hadn’t done this kind of full-on magical girl transformation since the time we pulled this on Ittetsu. Maybe death would be better after all.

“Charming Girl Succuma! I’m here to steal your heart, teehee!”

My body moved on its own, striking the pose that silenced even Ittetsu. I winked at Rokuko while pointing my finger in a gun and playfully shooting a kiss.

“Ngh!”

Even with the god-tier anti-charm equipment, Rokuko was at a loss for words. She opened her eyes wide as if to burn my visage into her retinas.

“C-C’mon, say something. This is just making it worse for me.”

“Um, right! You’re super, super cute... And you smell nice...”

Her reaction made me seriously doubt whether the anti-charm equipment was working. Well, if it hadn’t been she would probably already be clinging to me and sucking my ear, so it probably was working.

“Wow. You really do look just like a girl now, don’t you?”

“Don’t take off the bracelet, alright? Keep it on. Always.”

“I know, I know. Can I touch you? Can I lick you? I need to know what you taste like,” Rokuko said, breathing hard through her nose with dilated pupils.

Uh, is this bracelet really working?

“You gotta be kidding me. I’m canceling the transformation.”

“Wait! Please, wait! It was just a joke! All a joke! Hahahaha!!!”

Eugh. I’m used to being Succuma by now, as much as it pains me, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being stared at like this. It’s just embarrassing for Rokuko to breathe so heavily, touch my skin, smell my neck, slide her arms underneath my clothes, and go for my... Hey, what the heck?! Rokuko, what are you doing?!

“The bracelet’s not working, is it?! Tell the truth!”

“Oh but it is, Keima. The bracelet’s working just fine, no doubt about it. But my love demands I enjoy every part of you right now! I’ll accept no complaints! You said you would let me do this, Keima, so take responsibility and let me have my fill.”

“Pretty sure you said you would just look...”

“At that point my demands had already escalated, and you agreed to it, Keima! Gosh, how do you smell so good? Where is this scent coming from? Your neck? Your chest? Your armpits...?”

Rokuko sniffed like a puppy. She looked just like Niku.

“I want to touch this smooth skin of yours forever... It’s all flushed and sticking to my hand, like, wow. Oh, and is this back-exposing sweater the only outfit you have?”

“I can change it! Do you have any requests?” Kosaki asked.

“Hey! Kosaki, did I say you could do that?!”

“I remember Ichigo saying he wore an idol outfit for her. Start with that.”

“Roger dodger!”

“GAAAAH! What do you mean, ‘start with that’?! You’re planning to make me wear tons of stuff, aren’t you?!”

There was nothing I could do as my clothes flashed and turned into the idol outfit I wore at the rabbit dungeon.

“Perfect!”

“What’s perfect?!”

“Let’s see what’s going on under your skirt. One second.”

“Quit it!”

I chopped Rokuko’s head as she tried climbing underneath my skirt.

“I saw your underwear for a second, and it was black! I knew it, you love black underwear, don’t you?!”

“You’re messed up. Kosaki, change my clothes back.”

“Now, now, Master! Let’s be nice and satisfy Rokuko’s lust here, eh? It’ll be for your benefit too!”

Hm? I decided to hear Kosaki out.

“Anti-charm equipment ultimately just blocks the {Charm} effect itself.”

“Right.”

“It stops {Charms} from raising the wearer’s affection or controlling them. But it doesn’t make their hearts remain steady in general. Or really, judging by the item’s name, we can conclude it just strengthens the heart they already have.”

“Uh... Right?”

“Also, it doesn’t stop her from loving your smell or feeling good from touching you. And Rokuko has been touching you all over for some time now. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

In other words, she touched me as Succuma based on her own desires, which in turn made her want to touch me more. The Lionheart Bracelet strengthened those desires, and since she was overflowing with love for Succuma from the start, there was no need to {Charm} her in the first place...

“Wait, doesn’t that mean this is actually worse than {Charming} her?!”

“That’s why you need to satisfy her now, or risk being tied to bed later once you cancel the transformation, okay? I mean, I won’t stop you if that’s what you want, but...”

Guh... This is why I don’t like transforming into Succuma.

“Alright, I’ll cooperate. You can change my outfit...one more time. That’s it.”

“Hmm! This is tough... Mm, mmmm...”

Rokuko thought for a moment, then decided.

“Okay, I’ll be bold here and go with your normal jersey!”

“Roger!”

My clothes flashed with light and turned into the jersey I always wore. It was a bit too big, but eh. At least it was better than Succuma’s default outfit.

Though on second thought, there aren’t many outfits worse than that sweater to begin with.

“So floofy! You’re so cute and floofy!”

“You’re a major cutie, Master!”

“U-Uh... Is it really that cute? This is just my usual jersey,” I replied. From my perspective, Rokuko was way cuter given how she was jumping for joy.

“Eheh, do you want to see yourself wearing it? You look super omega cute. Not seeing it would basically be the biggest mistake you ever made, I think.”

“Seriously...? Alright, now I’m curious.”

“Want a mirror? Here.”

“Cool. Than—”

I took the mirror from from Rokuko and made eye contact with myself (i.e. Kosaki). There I saw a slender form, a cute nose, and naturally flushed cheeks. Shiny lips, long eyelashes, and last but not least, big red Succubus eyes that made me feel all sleepy...

It was morning.

Weird, I can’t remember anything. Why? I didn’t drink beer or anything.

At some point my Succubus transformation had ended, and now I was wrapped in the Divine Comforter and Divine Quilt with Rokuko clinging to me like a pillow.

Huh. What happened? I remember up until the point I made eye contact with the girl... Er, rather, the boy in the mirror, Succuma.

I tried asking Kosaki, but she just said nothing happened and if I didn’t remember anything, it was surely because nothing happened. Rokuko nodded in agreement.

“No, seriously. What happened? Be honest.”

“.........”

“Rokuko.”

“I-It’s a secret!”

That wasn’t exactly an answer, but Rokuko was blushing enough I got the feeling it was best not to press further. I decided to just do my best to forget any of this ever happened.

Also, Rei said, “Sounds like you two had fun last night, hm?”, so I flicked her forehead.

＊ ＊ ＊

Anyway, more days passed with Aidy staying in Goren. She seemed to be having a good time here; she was sparring daily with Niku and the others in the plaza behind the inn.

“Ahaha. Not bad at all, pup. Continue entertaining me.”

“Ngh... You’re good... Take this!”

“Almost, but not quite.”

I went to the plaza and found Niku and Aidy already engaged in a mock duel. Ichika was sitting on the ground nearby, covered in sweat from what I could guess was her own mock duel earlier. I sat next to her.

“Good work, Ichika.”

“Heya, Master. Gimme a sec before you sit so close. I stink like a pig with all this sweat... {P-Purification}. Okay. So, wazzup?”

“Hey, I don’t mind it. But anyway, I came here to check up my esteemed visitor, but... this is something else, huh?”

I tried watching Niku and Aidy fight, but they had already reached a level where it was kind of impossible for the human eye to keep up with. I mean, at this rate Niku’s gonna be giving up her humanity or whatever. This definitely isn’t just her Wearable Golem helping out—actually it seems kind of like she’s surpassed the Wearable Golem entirely... Well, Aidy’s the real crazy one here, since she’s easily keeping up with Niku. Surely she’s strong enough to duel a Hero now. Especially after all that practice with Wataru.

“Y’know, Master.”

“Hm? ’Sup, Ichika?”

“Niku got, like, hella stronger after coming back from the Demon Realm. I’m kinda not even in her league anymore. Who’s gonna be her training partner now?”

“I mean, I don’t know about all beastkin, but I think there’s definitely something weird about this.”

“A kid her age being this strong is definitely whack, dude...”

Would it not be whack if she were older, then? Beastkin are something else.

“Oops, my bad. It’d be whack no matter how old she is. It’s just nutty in general.”

“Really? Damn.”

“Isam’s an average beastkin, so, y’know. He’d get his ass beat by Niku, am I right?”

Oh yeah, that wolf beastkin who was Ichika’s former party member. Makes sense.

Niku was getting so strong that it didn’t seem like it would be long before she said something like “I am off to search for someone stronger than me” and disappear for decades. Just what was making Niku get so strong so fast? One option I had was to get Cid or Maiodore to search for a sparring partner for her. Nobles like them probably had connections that would make it a snap.

“By the way, Master. Lemme tell you something nice.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

Ichika gestured me over, so I leaned closer to her.

“Turns out she’s not even using Golem Assistance at all.”

“What?”

Seriously? She’s zipping around like that with her own power? She’s moving so fast I can almost see afterimages, and sometimes it feels like she just teleports away.

“The assistance helps boost her power for attacks, but when it comes to speed she says she’s faster on her own.”

“Well. Niku sure is something else, huh?”

“Yup. And I don’t know what, my dude.”

I wonder how much stronger she’ll get. At this rate she might actually be able to beat a Hero. If we exclude Hero skills, she could easily beat someone on Suzuki’s level.

The phrase a beast of potential described Niku perfectly, and honestly, I had to question how someone incredible like her had ended up as my slave.

Well...only one answer comes to mind. Rokuko’s insane luck drew her over. Yeah, okay. Mystery solved.

“Now, now, is that all you have? Try to survive this.”

“Ngh, hrmph!”

Aidy launched a flurry of sharp jabs at Niku. Niku dodged them by the skin of her teeth and swung her wooden knife in a counterattack, which Aidy blocked with her wooden sword. I couldn’t even see Aidy move. I thought I had gotten a bit stronger at Core 50’s place, but apparently I was wrong.

“You have certainly learned to hold your breath for a long time, pup.”

“Thanks to you...!”

“If only you graduate from humanity, you can become even stronger.”

Graduate from humanity and become what? A vampire? Spooky.

I watched for a bit until eventually the duel came to a close. Aidy looked this way and smiled at me.

“Welcome. Have you come to duel me as well, town chief? Excellent. I was hoping to exercise a bit more before my date with Redra.”

“Nah, I just came to check up on my guest.”

“A shame.”

Niku was wiping away her sweat with a towel, but there wasn’t a drop of sweat on Aidy. Either human transformations didn’t have sweat, or the fight was so trivial to her that she didn’t even need to break a sweat.

“Incidentally, I see you do not ever remove this pup’s collar, town chief,” Aidy said out of nowhere.

“Hm? Slave collars aren’t really something you’re supposed to take off.”

“You think so? In the Demon Realm, we remove them when they are unnecessary. Take Sebas, my Master, for example. Wouldn’t it be shameful for me to be incapable of controlling him without a collar?”

“Is that how you see it?”

Thinking back, I did remember times where Sebas hadn’t been wearing a collar.

“Indeed. Will her neck not burn from the collar?”

I took a look at Niku. She couldn’t wipe the inside of the collar with the towel, so she just used {Purification} from the neck.

“I feel like I remember being told she’d die if we removed the collar carelessly.”

“That is possible; the collar tightens if you try removing it. But it would simply be illogical for slaves to die if their collar is broken and removed. All that would do is create another weak point.”

Now that she mentioned it, my collar had been taken off all the time in the Demon Realm. Which meant...

“Niku has some kind of special slave contract...?”

“Pretty sure she’s just been ordered to not take it off, my dude. Slaves are under magic contracts to obey all orders, remember?”

“Oh, right.”

“I see.”

Both Aidy and I nodded in agreement at Ichika’s pretty obvious conclusion.

“We’re stuck with these collars till you say we can take them off, Master. I dunno about the Demon Realm, but that’s how it works over here in the empire.”

“I see. Well, if you pups are fine with that, I suppose it’s fine,” Aidy said while taking a chocolate cornet from {Storage} and biting into it. She then cast {Water} so quietly nobody would usually hear it.

“Speaking of which,” she continued, “It seems that incantation-less magic has not caught on here, and all the pathetically weak adventurers in this town are shocked whenever I use it. Just how far behind is the empire when it comes to warfare?”

“Now that you mention it, people over there were using Low-Rank spells so casually it was like they were Survival spells. There were a lot of magic scrolls in the market too.”

They actually did call several Low-Rank spells Survival magic there, literally.

“Oh my. Magic is necessary for humans to fight on equal terms with monsters, is it not? The Demon Realm is swarming with them.”

There were many monster citizens in the Demon Realm, even, and they could activate skills equivalent to magic without any incantations. The humans there had developed advanced warfare just to keep up with them. Not to mention that more humans using magic meant more trial and error learning. The empire on the other hand only had to deal with feral monsters and fight in groups against them, which meant we had just kept using incantations. I suggested that theory to Aidy.

“Fascinating. That would explain it.”

“It’s all just a theory, though. Just another cultural difference.”

“Culture, hm... I thought this would be nothing more than a leisurely trip, but I truly am learning much here. I never expected I would learn something about the Demon Realm itself while spending time here,” Aidy murmured. She looked like a little battle junkie on the inside, but she was actually pretty serious... or rather, pretty scholarly. She did know alchemy, after all.

“Speaking of which, you are from another world, as I recall. While I’m here, I would like to learn about your original world’s culture as well.”

“Hm? Uhhh... Well, I’ll prepare a book of polite etiquette for you or something. Have Rokuko read it to you.”

“Why, thank you.”

Translating the Japanese myself would be a huge pain. Best to just leave it to Rokuko.

By the way, I learned this later, but apparently she lost to Redra in their duel. Truly, Redra was fearsome. Aidy did have a more balanced duel against Igni, though. Apparently it was a lot of fun since they were both creatures of Fire.

Might be a good idea to borrow Igni for Niku’s sparring. I’ll pay them with golem beets.