Chapter 3

A lot of time had passed since Aidy first came to visit.

“I am bored,” she said, sliding into my office unannounced.

There was a pause. “I am bored,” she repeated.

“Why not go hang out with Rokuko?”

“To put it simply, no matter how close we are, there is only so much time we can spend together before running out of topics to discuss. It also seems that Rei is avoiding me somewhat.”

Yeah, Rei mentioned that to me. She couldn’t relax since Aidy was staring at her like a predator all day at work. Must be nice to be so loved.

“Incidentally, this question may make me appear insane, but would you care to explain why there hasn’t been a single monster attack on the city in three entire weeks?”

“I mean... this isn’t the Demon Realm. The kind of safety here is actually something to be proud of.”

Don’t think of the empire as a constant battleground like the Demon Realm is.

“What about dueling with Niku, Redra, and Misha?”

“The pup is as of yet too weak to satisfy me. It would be unsightly of me to demand more duels with Redra when I cannot even defeat her myself. Misha simply runs at the sight of me, and as vexing as this is, I am no match for those legs of hers.”

Hm, I see. So then...

“Do something about this boredom, town chief.”

“I guess that is my job...”

Oh well. I did say I’d look after her, so...

“Sigh. Well, I finished all I need to do here as a figurehead, so how about we go outside of town?”

“A trip, hm? In that case, let us journey in search for those I can slaughter without restraint! I would truly like to cut someone down already, you understand.”

Whew. Violent as ever, I see.

“Listen, Aidy...”

“I know, I know. In the empire, it is not proper to cut down civilians without reason. I am learning, town chief. Which is why we shall not search for just any people... We shall search for villains to massacre in the name of justice!”

Okay, that sounds even worse, somehow.

“Do you have any ideas as to where evil might be gathering?”

“Er, well... I guess there’s the slums in Tsia?”

“Off we go, then. I know where Tsia is. Follow me.” Aidy began walking off.

“Uh. Hey, wait!”

“I will leave you behind if you do not follow. Ahaha, you are all mine for now.”

Jesus. This peace must be really eating her alive. The look on her face was deadly serious, and I mean “deadly” literally. She looks like an actual serial killer right now. Holy cow.

I passed Niku on the way and brought her with me as I chased after Aidy.

“Ahaha. The slum is by the south gate, correct?”

“L-Let me just say now... that... not everyone who looks like a thug actually is a thug, alright? Don’t just cut down every evil-looking person you see, alright...?” I said between pants.

Also, if we’re gonna be walking the whole way there, at least let me take some breaks. I may be using Golem Assistance, but I’m still tired... Why isn’t Niku tired? Is this the difference regular exercise makes?

“I can be patient if it is necessary for murder,” Aidy replied with quite a radiant smile.

“Master. Forgive me. If I were strong, I could satisfy Aidy on my own.”

“Don’t sweat it, Niku. It’s not your fault.”

There are some people in the world who just can’t stand peace, and by that I mean exclusively Demon Realm people. It was that simple. Or really, the Demon Realm probably had a different definition of “peace” than us. That, too, was culture.

We arrived at the south gate. To get inside we needed to go through an inspection, and after showing the guards our adventurer cards to prove our identities, they gave us crisp salutes. B-Rank adventurers just got that kind of treatment—we didn’t need to pay the entrance fee either. The whole process was a lot more organized than I remembered it being, which was a bit concerning, but we passed through the gate.

And there was... not the dirty slum I remembered. I mean, there were some shoddy shacks for sure, but they were built along the side of a proper road, and the merchant stands on the street were proudly displaying actual permits.

In short—there was peace and order. There weren’t downtrodden hobos sitting on the edge of the roads with dead looks in their eyes, nor were there thugs swaggering about looking for a fight. There were even guards chatting cheerfully with citizens while patrolling.

Aidy must have sensed the peace in the air too. She narrowed her eyes, displeased.

“Are there truly vandals I can cut down here?”

“Uhhhh. This is pretty different from the slums I know. The heck’s going on?”

I decided to ask a store owner for info.

“The slum thugs? Aaah, the archduke went and kicked all of them out. Seems like he hired a ridiculously skilled adventurer for help and wiped out the whooole Last Commune, the group of criminals that ruled the slums.”

Apparently it was so peaceful now that stores approved by the archduke could readily open stands. Even the guards the Last Commune had hired were recruited by Tsia itself, such that they were now patrolling as apprentice soldiers.

“Any chance that some of those soldiers are a little, uh, excessively cruel? Inhumanely violent? Any of them that the world would be better without?”

“Hahaha! Nope! There’s that adventurer I mentioned from before, y’know? The archduke’s threatening everyone saying if they pull any crap, he’ll have them turn themselves in just like the Last Commune members did! It’s hilarious!”

More than a few people had seen the Last Commune members turn themselves in, so that threat really held water. That’s ridiculous. He’s obviously just bluffing! You can trust me, because I’m that adventurer!

“M-Master...”

“.........”

I glanced at Aidy. Welp. That’s one beaming smile. I only wish it wasn’t beaming an urge to murder everyone in sight.

“This isn’t what we discussed, town chief. I said I wished to search for villains to cut down, no? Or, what, do you wish for me to murder that skilled adventurer?”

“Wait, Aidy. This is just a big mistake. Also, don’t blame the adventurer. It’s not his fault. He was just doing his job. Okay?”

“Very well... It would be foolish for me to hate an adventurer I do not even know,” Aidy said, sighing to vent out her wrath.

Seeing that, the merchant butted in to try to cheer her up. “Oh, y’know, I hear that adventurer is actually the town chief of Goren. He’s a real womanizer, so a pretty girl like you should have no problem at all meeting him if you want to.”

Why would you ever say that? What do you mean I’m a womanizer? Hm? Because there’s so many babes at my inn and church? Ngh! I can’t argue!

“Oh? Interesting.” Aidy smiled, with her eyes narrowed down to slits.

“Er. Aidy?”

“Oh, fear not. I won’t end you, town chief. Certainly not. You are merely a model citizen that eliminated the evil before me. Aaah, how frustrating. It’s a shame I cannot show your heroic feats to Rokuko. What should I do, town chief?”

Gaah! She’s playing it cool, but she’s super pissed!

“A-Alright. Let’s go to the central district of Tsia.”

“To what end?”

“Gathering information. I just spent a month in the Demon Realm and I haven’t left town since getting back. All my info is way out of date. We’ll find villains faster by calming down and collecting some info!” I declared, mainly just to get myself out of this mess.

“I see... That is certainly logical,” Aidy replied, some of her anger cooling down.

Alright, let’s go to the Adventurer’s Guild! Hey, no need for us to obsess over villains when we can just hunt wild monsters!

“My apologies, Lord Goren. At the moment there are no notable extermination quests in Tsia.”

“O-Oh, okay.”

We went to the Adventurer’s Guild and had them show us every extermination quest available to B-Ranks, but aside from the normal Goblin and rabbit quests that were always available there wasn’t anything but dungeon exploration stuff. Of course, Aidy wouldn’t invade the dungeon of an associate without reason, no matter how much she wanted to slaughter.

“Why are there so few extermination quests...?”

“Well, I believe that is largely due to your influence.”

According to the guild employee who was helping us, the adventurers who came during the Dragon business cleared out most of the major quests. The adventurers that stayed in Goren and Tsia afterwards handled most of the quests that came up later as well. Why did those adventurers stay? To help in case of another Dragon attack, because the saint-like town chief paid two entire gold coins for each individual who helped, the Beddhist church was amazing, exploring the nearby Cave of Greed was pretty profitable, and so on—all reasons connected to Goren.

“In other words...?”

“It is largely due to Goren’s influence, and thus your influence, I believe.”

Hmm, why do I feel death behind me?

“Town chief?”

“Hahaha. Well, it was right to gather information! Better this than wandering around Tsia aimlessly, am I right?”

“Yes. So? What should I do now? Hm? Answer me. You have an answer, don’t you? Don’t you, town chief? Hmm? Hmmmm?”

Pressure. I could feel the pressure. Honestly, palpable pressure was worse than just murderous intent. I was used to Haku wanting to murder me, so...

“Hey, it’s simple. Remember all the extermination quests we did in Mikan?”

“Yes. To Mikan, then?”

“No, the opposite. You already cleared out all the extermination quests in Mikan, so we should go to Pavella next.”

Maybe they’ll have a slum of their own. Not to mention Pavella is close to the Holy Kingdom; I’m sure the evil organization trying to assassinate me has a base there... I mean, they have to, right? Now that Tsia’s slums are all cleaned up, there’s not really any good place to hide out here. They have to be in Pavella! Actually, why aren’t any assassins coming after me right now?! Why?! I’m totally out of Misha’s sight! Why won’t you come when Aidy’s so passionately waiting for you...? Actually, that’s probably why. Aidy kicked the shit out of every adventurer in town, including Niku. I would definitely hold off on attacking until the ungodly strong Demon Realm visitor left.

And so, we briefly returned to Goren. We used a carriage this time, as it was fastest to use this route to reach Pavella.

“I would not like to waste my time again. How would you feel about repaying me by allowing me to slice off one of your arms the next time you take me to a dead end?”

“Aidy,” Niku said, “I think you’re taking it too far.”

“I am serious, pup. Weaklings like you have no place to talk.”

Niku faltered and fell silent. I mean, if Niku’s a weakling then everyone in Goren is a... well... Alright, you got me. We’re all weaklings. I’m the weakling town chief of Weakling Town.

“But don’t worry, Aidy. It won’t be a dead end this time. We’ve narrowed down all our options.”

“Sigh... I had high hopes, you know, when I saw that Goren had no meaningful walls to speak of. I thought it would have as many monster attacks as the Demon Realm, or at least half as many. And yet, what did I get? Nothing. Not even Goblin raids. Why is it so dreadfully peaceful here? There would be riots in the Demon Realm.”

Yeah, I mean, I guess you’re already kicking up a one-loli riot over here, so...

We got out of the carriage and went to leave straight for Pavella, but Rokuko saw us at the plaza and came running over.

“Aidy, Keima. Where’d you run off to with Niku? Geez, I was looking all over for you.”

“Er, sorry. I was just being a good host for Aidy.” I glanced her way and saw Aidy let out a small sigh while making no attempt to hide her dissatisfaction.

“Indeed. My apologies, Rokuko. I am out of patience and on the verge of snapping. I’ll be borrowing the town chief a bit longer, if you don’t mind. The details are a tad embarrassing and I would prefer you not ask,” she said.

Rokuko blinked in surprise, put a thoughtful hand on her chin, narrowed her eyes, then whispered to me carefully. “Just to be sure, this isn’t anything lewd, is it?”

Uh, no? Not sure if you can see her down there, but Niku’s with us.

As I placed an exasperated hand on my forehead, Aidy tilted her head in confusion.

“Erm, lewd things? What exactly are you referring to, I wonder?”

“Wha? Um, like, kissing...? Or since this is Keima we’re talking about, hiding in the shadows and smelling your feet?”

“Hm? Why ever would we do that?”

“B-Because he likes it? Oh, are things different in the Demon Realm?” Rokuko’s guard lowered due to Aidy looking so surprised.

And about that feet smelling... I mean, sure, I do have a foot fetish, so that’s completely in my ballpark, but why is Rokuko thinking up things like that? Where’d she learn about it?

“I see, this must be a difference in culture then. We may kiss and bite each other in Demon Realm, but never smell each other’s feet. At most, there are some races that smell each other’s rear ends, but that has nothing to do with me.”

“Okay. Good, then.”

“Incidentally, to what end were you looking for us? If there are monsters that need exterminating, or the [Flame Caverns] has requested a duel, then I will gladly accept.”

“Oh, nothing that serious. It’s more that Redra and Igni won’t be able to play at all for a while.”

“Just awful.”

I didn’t know the exact circumstances, but at the very least their lives weren’t in danger. The problem, then, was one of Aidy’s few methods of venting stress here had just disappeared.

“I will need your assistance now more than ever, town chief.”

“What are you making Keima do?”

“I am having him prepare toys for me. There were none available to slaughter in Tsia,” Aidy said with a melancholic look, and that was enough for Rokuko to put the pieces together.

“And that’s why you were on the way to Pavella. In that case, shouldn’t you bring Ichika instead of Niku? She’s from Pavella, remember. I’m sure she’d be a better guide.”

“Good point. Sounds like a plan... Though she’ll have to wear the mask.”

“I am certainly fine with that,” Aidy said.

We waited a bit, then switched out Niku for Ichika. She was hesitant as always to visit Pavella, but some curry roll negotiating and the maid mask settled things quickly, and soon we were on our way.

Once we passed through the Tsia tunnel and arrived at Dragg, Ichika... or rather, the masked maid gave a suggestion.

“Y’know, Master. How about we ask Cid if he knows anything?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, nice idea.”

On second thought, if I had asked Maiodore before going to Tsia she probably could have told me about the slums being cleaned up and the total lack of extermination quests. Aidy was in such a rush I didn’t really think things through.

“Well, you heard her. Mind if we take a detour, Aidy?”

“Certainly not, if it means speeding things up.”

Aidy was a bit unsatisfied, but with her permission we headed to Dragg’s chief residence. It was an abrupt visit without any appointment, but we were led right to the same parlor as always to see Cid.

“Sorry for the sudden visit, Cid.”

“Think nothing of it, Keima. We’re allies, no? But in any case. Who is that with you?”

“Right. This is Aidy, the princess from the Demon Realm I mentioned before.”

Aidy glanced at Cid once, then sniffed. Did she think that was a decent greeting? Nah, she was probably just too annoyed to care. I decided not to say anything, since disturbing her at all ran the risk of getting cut down.

“Anyway, let me cut straight to the chase. The princess is not in a good mood, as you can see. Are there any villains on death row or monsters that need to be exterminated here? What about Pavella?”

Cid furrowed his brow. “That is... a fairly violent question.”

“Sorry. I could’ve picked my words better. Right now I’m in a bit of a Demon Realm mindset.”

“That is Demon Realm style...? What a fearsome place,” Cid replied, like most empire citizens would.

“Point being, if you need extra military power for something or another, just say the word. We want to help.”

“No need to dress your words. Aidy wants to go on a legally endorsed rampage, and so you want me to offer up victims, even criminals if necessary. Is that right?”

“Yep, though the stronger the victims are, the better. She kinda lost her patience with my town, you see... Don’t worry about the princess’s safety. Any opponent stronger than Kuro will do.”

“Excuse me? At the very least, there’s nobody in Dragg that can hold a candle to you or Lady Kuroinu... Well, that aside. I don’t know if the princess will like them, but I can introduce you to some dangerous fellows in Pavella.” Cid snapped his fingers, and a butler standing behind him stepped forward with a map. “This is a map of Pavella.”

“You’re well prepared. I mean, not that I’m complaining.”

“What can I say? You came at the right time. From my perspective, it even looks like you planned this all out yourself... But in any case, this is where public order is poorly maintained.” Cid tapped the east side of Pavella City. “We’re still in the middle of backing them into a corner, but an organization known as the Bloody Kraken is hiding out here, in the slums outside Pavella’s walls. They’re not tax-paying citizens and thus not anyone I care to protect. Feel free to slaughter them, though we do want at least a few left alive to serve as meat shields in case the Holy Kingdom invades.”

Aidy’s lips curved into a grin. “Aha, ahaha... There are toys for me to play with there?”

“Y-Yes. The organization deals with addictive drugs and questionably effective medicine, so we were just in the middle of planning how to get rid of them,” Cid explained, looking a bit weirded out by Aidy’s murderous grin. “Given the scale of their operations, we can guess they are working with one or more Pavella nobles.”

“I see. In short, I can kill them?”

“Preferably after getting information out of them, but yes. We want to know who’s funding them.”

“I see. In short, I can kill them?”

“.........Yes.”

“I see! In short, I can kill them!”

Aidy beamed a smile that covered her whole face. All I could say was, I felt bad for the members of the Blood Kraken.

“Come with me, town chief!”

“Whoa, hold on! Sorry, Cid.”

“Pay it no mind, Keima. Take this and read it on the road, for reference. And... please try to settle this peacefully.”

Aidy was already rushing out of the parlor, having memorized the location Cid had pointed to on the map. I took the memo and chased after her with Ichika.

I checked over the memo while riding the rocky carriage to Pavella.

“Sooo, Master. That something you got from Cid?”

“Yeah. Specifically, it’s a memo of what kind of crimes the members of the Bloody Kraken are committing.”

“For real? Lemme see.” Since there were no other riders in the carriage, Ichika slid her mask to the side and peered at the memo.

Apparently, they were selling addictive drugs, selling potions with poisonous effects, kidnapping women, children, and beastkin to sell as slaves, and more. The Last Commune in Tsia had been pretty tame, but these guys were basically trying to eat Pavella alive from within. It was possible all the baddies we’d failed to get in Tsia had just moved over to Pavella to cause chaos.

“I get it. Y’know, I’m pretty sure Cid was gonna ask for your help with this to begin with, Master.”

“Hm? Why’s that?”

“This is Pavella business but it went all the way to Cid, soooo, just think about it. Dragg’s right in the middle between Pavella and Goren, so anything sent your way would pass through him. Not to mention that you did a hella good job smashing the Last Commune.”

Yeaaah, and even now that’s being used to intimidate the slums into shape. I guess it is pretty likely they’d use my history there as a reason to hire me for this too. Not that I want to increase the number of Succuma-obsessed musclemen out there.

“Though judging by that last line, they might’ve changed their mind about getting your help, Master.”

“‘Reliable Information: Attempted Assassination of the Beddhist High Priestess,’ huh?”

Now that they’re targeting me, I can see why they’d be hesitant to hire me to destroy the organization attempting to assassinate me. Is the source of this “reliable information” Misha? Well, either way, these are the guys going after my Rei. Hm.

“Anyway, they want you to clean them up, but how’re you planning to do that?”

“My biggest priority here is relieving Aidy’s stress. I didn’t take this as an official quest, so I don’t care about letting some of them escape or whatever. We’ll do what we can with violence and leave it at that.”

“Uh-huh. If only they gave us a little more time, but they didn’t.”

If I tried taking a whole week this time, Aidy would fucking snap. And then she would snap me, as in, break my spine. Oh, and she’s going home after another week, now that I think about it. Guess I really should just let her run wild here. If we miss anyone, they can just spread the word of what happens when you mess with us.

“You heard the man, Aidy. Try and leave the higher-ups alive if you can, okay, girlfriend?”

“Hm? That sounds annoying. I wish to slaughter them all.”

“Wouldn’t it be totes boring if you just killed them all at once? I’m sure it’d be way more fun if you juiced some info out of them first. Or what, can you not handle that?”

“A fair point. Very well, I accept.”

Ichika had cleverly talked Aidy down. She was great at this kind of stuff, which I appreciated a lot.

“But I’m gonna guess Cid’s right about Pavella nobles being behind this, and if we keep going further it’s totes gonna be the Holy Kingdom stirring up this junk.”

“If we know that much, would it not be fine to kill them all? Or rather, shall we go to the Holy Kingdom to send an even stronger message...? Ahaha, I joke of course. Mwahaha, ahahahaha!”

Could anyone blame me for just smiling uncomfortably? Who knew whether she was serious or not.

We climbed out of the carriage once we could see the tops of buildings peeking over the city walls. This time we didn’t go inside; instead we hugged the wall on our way to the east side of the city. Though... in retrospect, I could have just used {Teleportation} to get here. What a waste of time and effort. At least I saved some mana.

I got the feeling telling Aidy that would make her lose her shit, so I just kept quiet for now. She hadn’t noticed either, so we were equally guilty here.

“Bleeeh. I’m totally not pumped to be home, but, well, not like I can refuse an order from Master and Rokuko.”

“Are there those you would truly dread seeing what lies beneath your mask, maid?”

“Yuppers. Way back in the day I stirred up a lotta trouble with some of the other kids. I’m gonna guess some of them are still in the slums, and that sucks big time.”

“You will perhaps know someone in the Bloody Kraken, then?”

“Probs, but don’t sweat it. They won’t recognize me in this outfit anyway,” Ichika said, sighing and waving a hand.

“Here we are, the slums,” I announced. They were just like how the slums in Tsia used to be, with shoddy tents held up with branches and such strewn about the misshapen roads.

We stepped inside and instantly drew attention. Aidy’s pretty red dress stood out a lot among all the people wrapped up in cruddy rags. Ichika and I did a bit too, since we were clean, but Aidy was an especially beautiful young girl, which made her stand out all the more. Though Ichika’s mask made her stick out a lot too.

But the look in their eyes was different from the one we’d seen in Tsia—they gleamed like we were their prey. I couldn’t tell if that was due to our fancy clothes or because these slums were just more serious than Tsia’s.

“Yup, the air here sure is nasty,” Ichika said while readjusting her mask. It was important to remember, though, that thanks to {Purification} the slums were incomparably clean compared to what the slums of Middle-Ages Europe would have looked like on Earth. In short, the air was nasty not in the literal sense, but rather in the sense that crimes were obviously being committed here. I understood what Ichika meant even with the auto-translator at work.

“What’s the plan, Aidy?”

“Oh my, is it not obvious? I shall start by cleaning up some of the trash,” Aidy said, rapidly unsheathing her Magic Blade. Many of the people watching us scattered upon seeing the ruby-red blade, but not everyone did. There were elderly folk with bad legs, drug-addled vegetables without any light in their eyes, and thugs who cared more about stealing Aidy’s sword than running from it.

“Aha!” A wide grin formed on Aidy’s face. Who could blame her? After so long, she had finally found the villains she could murder in the name of justice without complaint.

“May I begin?”

“Sure. I’ll just leave this to you.”

The evil-looking thugs approached as we talked. There were eight of them in total: a mix of humans and beastkin. They surrounded the three of us. If they thought they could beat us when we were clearly adventurers, they probably could have just settled down and done honest work at the guild... Oh well. Their lives were now Aidy’s.

“We need to get information from them too. Leave at least one alive.”

“Very well.”

Aidy shot me a beaming smile, then without even turning her head cut down the man who leaped at her from behind. There was a pause, then his body split in two from top to bottom.

“I appreciate your confession of love, but I am not fond of weaklings.”

“Wha? Guh... Gah!”

Eugh. Guro warning.

The thug wriggled on the ground, blood pouring from his body as he failed to breathe due to both of his lungs being crushed. The seven other thugs just froze in place, having no idea what had just happened.

“My, my. So full of openings.”

“Ah.”

“Uh.”

“Eep.”

“Oh!”

“Guh.”

Pausing at all was a fatal mistake around Aidy. Within seconds five of them had their heads removed from their bodies. One of the two survivors finally turned around to flee, while the other crumbled to the ground in fear and pissed himself.

“Aaah, hunting humans truly is fun. Don’t you agree, town chief?”

“Not really, since I’m a human. I could take it or leave it.”

“A shame.”

I would say that’s a pretty inhumane statement to make, but she is a Dungeon Core, after all. Humans are basically like rabbits to her.

Aidy flung her Magic Blade with a smile while surrounded by headless corpses spewing blood. It pierced the back of the thug who fled, who fell over with a large hole in his chest once she made her blade disappear. Judging by the positioning and flood of blood, she had hit him directly in the heart. Rest in peace.

Maybe I should have worn a mask myself. One with eye covers, that is. God, there’s so much blood and gore. I need to use {Purification} on the air. {Purification}.

Anyway, that left the one survivor, Mr. Pisspants.

“E-Eeek! I’m sorry, don’t kill me! You can have my money, all of it! And my drugs! I’ll never break the law again!”

He pleaded for his life without a care for how pathetic he looked. Knowing that people like him would turn right back to crime once things calmed down, I got right to gathering information.

“Drugs, huh? Are they from the Bloody Kraken?”

“Y-Yup. L-Lemme guess, you guys came here for the drugs? Ahaha, yeah, they sure are addictive! Yup, alright, I’ll sell you as many as you wa—”

“Hm? You want us to kill you?”

“Eep! Sorry, sorry, sorry! Take it all!”

The man took out some rolled-up cloth with the drugs inside. Yeah, I don’t want this crap. I looked inside just to check and saw vials of some red liquid.

“Alright. How about you tell us where you got these drugs?”

“Er, well... I got it from that guy.” He pointed to the guy that was cut in half. Whoops.

“Okay, next question. We’re looking for the Bloody Kraken’s home base.”

“I-I can’t tell you! They’ll kill me!”

So you know, huh? Neat, I thought, and that was when Aidy butted into the interrogation.

“It sounds like he wants to die now. Can I kill him, town chief? Hm? Hmmmm?” She pressured me with a smile.

“Uh, sure. We can find someone else.”

“Yay!”

“I’ll tell you! Wait! Just give me a se—” the man started, holding up his hands as Aidy lifted her blade, but it was too late. Aidy’s Magic Blade cut him in half. Vertically.

Eugh. Guro warning. Too late for him.

“What should we do with the corpses?”

“I suggest we leave them. Surely the city will dispose of them as they please.”

“Ah. Dunno about that, Aidy. Think you could burn them without making any smoke?” Ichika asked, completely unfazed by the corpses. She had some guts. Even I faltered a bit with this many gory corpses around.

“That is possible. Why?”

“I mean, if we just leave these brutalized corpses everywhere, it’ll be harder to hunt our next prey, y’know?”

“Oh my. You are a wise one, masked maid.”

At Ichika’s recommendation Aidy touched a corpse and made it vanish.

“Whoa, momma. How’d you do that?” Ichika asked.

“I simply converted them to DP. Rokuko can do the same,” Aidy replied while making the other corpses disappear as well. All it took was a bit of {Purification} afterwards and there was no sign at all that eight people had been murdered.

“Oh no. They got away before we could learn anything from them. Where shall we go next?” Aidy said in a blatantly deadpan voice while running to the east of the slums.

“Heya, little girl. Ain’t it dangerous to be walkin’ out here all alone? Lemme guide you... to the slavers!”

Baddies were baited to Aidy. Aidy handled them. The baddies disappeared.

“Oh no. They got away before we could learn anything from them. Where shall we go next?” Aidy said in a blatantly deadpan voice while running to the north side of the slums.

“Ohoho, look at you, rich girl. Gimme all you got!”

Baddies were baited to Aidy. Aidy handled them. The baddies disappeared.

“Oh no. They got away before we could learn anything from them. Where shall we go next?” Aidy said in a blatantly deadpan voice while running to the west side of the slums.

“What’s an outsider like you doing in a place like this? Gimme yer money! And yer life!”

Baddies were baited to Aidy. Aidy handled them. The baddies disappeared.

So yeah. We went all over the place but didn’t actually get much information about the Bloody Kraken. At best, it helped dissipate Aidy’s stress a little.

“Not so, town chief. A slaughter this effortless only builds my stress further, especially after how long I’ve been made to wait. I need stronger foes... But I will not be greedy. Someone as strong as that pup of yours from months ago will suffice.”

“Pretty sure anyone that strong would just be doing normal adventurer work.”

“If we flip that around, can we not conclude someone as strong as the pup would be a leader of the organization?”

Good point. That seems logical.

“Hold up, girlfriend. This isn’t the Demon Realm, remember? Niku’s hella strong. Sure, she’s weak as heck compared to you, but think about everyone else you fought. I’m gonna say the leaders here are probably, like, Gozou level,” Ichika interjected.

“Yeah. Even before going to the Demon Realm, Niku was strong enough to literally swing a famous knight around like a club.”

“Ah... That is quite depressing.” Aidy let out a sigh of dissatisfaction at the revelation that her enemies would be even weaker than she expected somehow. Well, there wasn’t much we could do about that. Just today we had already sacrificed dozens of lives to her. Honestly, I felt kind of like a servant of the Demon King helping commit atrocities.

“In that case, the next time I encounter a strong foe, I will leave him alive on the verge of death and follow him back to his nest.”

The way Aidy put that really made it sound like she considered this hunting. The silver lining was that the only people dying here were those dumb and evil enough to attack a weak-looking girl with two bodyguards nearby.

Anyway, we offered up more sacrifices to the blood god and tricked a few of them into going to their nest... or, rather, their base, which seemed to be a drug-producing factory for the Bloody Kraken. There were drawers full of the blood-red vials from before.

“Aaah! Aaah! What a waste to just use the shells and toss the meat... Sigh, I can’t eat this. It’d taste good, but I’d probably die,” my masked maid moaned while seeing the pies of red sea urchins and their removed shells. A little bit of it would be fine, but apparently they were poisonous urchins that paralyzed you if you ate too much. The shells were filled with even more poison—addicting poison, at that. They were extracting just the addictive bits and making drugs out of it.

Though actually, there’s a ton of evidence just lying around here. Letters, ledgers, recipes for the poison, contracts... There’s traps to destroy all the evidence, but my masked maid had already disarmed them. What a skilled gal.

And from the documents we learned an incredibly unfortunate reality. The base we were in was in fact the home base of the Bloody Kraken. We had destroyed their home base without even realizing it.

“Town chief. Shall we split up to cover more ground?” Aidy asked, checking over the documents strewn about. They detailed the locations of several other bases in the slums, and although they probably weren’t that strong, there were ten bosses in the organization to match how squids had ten tentacles. Aidy wanted to massacre them all. Just to kill time.

“You know I’ll have to take responsibility for any problems you cause, right?”

“This base had their strongest fighters, did it not? Don’t worry. I imagine there is not a person in this entire slum that will pose any threat to me. What’s the harm? There is no longer any need for us to hide. I wish to murder to my heart’s content.”

“Fine, fine... But you’re responsible for yourself here. Swear you won’t make me take responsibility for anything you do. With contract magic, if possible.”

I was annoyed enough with the hunting that I just gave up trying to stay involved. All I cared about was finally being free of protecting the princess. I really didn’t think hard about it.

# Aidy’s Perspective

Using the notes given to her by Keima, Aidy demolished the Bloody Kraken’s bases one by one. There were ten bosses in the organization, to match a squid’s ten tentacles, with two of them being especially strong... However, one of those two had been the one that Aidy had left alive to run back to their home base, so that told you all you needed to know about how strong they really were. Judging from the other documents, she could guess that she had killed half of the others while running around the slums baiting thugs out.

“Goodness. To think a country could be so weak...”

It was a shocking disappointment to her. However, she had slaughtered enough small fry to at least hold herself over until the end of the trip.

“I shall have him reward me with chocolate cornets for my trouble later. That brings me some solace, at least.”

Aidy headed to the next location after converting the corpses into DP.

“Hm, well, I suppose I can simply burn the buildings down.”

She had been told not to wrap up innocent civilians in her rampage, so she caused a bit of chaos, didn’t chase after those who ran, and cut down all those who attacked her. She freed the women, children, and beastkin locked in cages, allowed them to run away, then set fire to the buildings for fun.

“Now then, next up is the last one.”

She had reached the fifth base, without having much hope for it at all. The memo said that it was a production facility, but...

“A dungeon...? I sense something strange...”

In the cellar of that base was a dungeon. But it was a dungeon that felt unlike any she had sensed before. The air around it was thick like a black mist. Aidy was struck with the feeling that she was looking at a moving corpse—a Zombie.

“Well, regardless. I shall finish cleaning up and then go treat myself.”

Aidy ignored the feeling, however, and went to hunt down the final survivors of the Bloody Kraken. Oceanic monsters capable of operating on land were there and attacked only Aidy, ignoring the survivors for some reason. She deflected the poison needles the red urchins shot at her and advanced down the one-hall dungeon with doors along the side.

It was such a simplistic dungeon that even with the strange feeling she almost wanted to conclude this was a normal cellar, but her instincts told her it really was a dungeon.

Peering into the rooms revealed hunched-together slaves in rags, piles of urchins, and black herbs growing. Aidy recalled that the memo described this place as a production facility.

“I suppose the Core here is exceedingly cooperative with them?”

Or perhaps the Dungeon Master was involved. In terms of Pavella dungeons one would first think of the [Flame Caverns], but this was clearly an oceanic dungeon. It was unlikely they were the same. It was possible for a Dungeon Master to ignore a Core’s distinctive traits when making a dungeon, but it was hard to imagine Redra making a dungeon like this. More likely it was the Master of an oceanic Core making this on the side. As far as Aidy remembered, she had seen a Kraken at the dungeon gatherings before. It was like a large squid that could walk on land. They were of the same lot, and... she forgot his number, but she remembered he had already been hunted.

“Hm.”

It was a plain, single-hallway dungeon. Aidy finally reached the final room while hunting down the last remnants. Inside was a black Dungeon Core. Thick, dark vines—Tentacles? Something?—were stabbing into it. Aidy grimaced with twitching eyebrows, unable to hide her disgust. One of the survivors was fiddling with a panel. Was he the Dungeon Master? If so, what was with the panel? It wasn’t a normal dungeon menu.

“Geh! I’m... I’m not gonna fall here! I’m the man who got Duston, the knight commander of a former count, serving under me! I’m gonna rule Pavella one day! AND YET?! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU, DUSTOOOON?! Gaaah! Work already, shit, fuck, FUUUCK!”

“You there. Are you this place’s Master?” Aidy asked just to be sure, despite her disgust.

“Huh?! What’s that even mean?! Die! Strong people gotta destroy dungeons! That’s just how it works! So why’re you here, FUUUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! EVERYONE BUT ME IS SHIIIIIT!”

“My goodness. I thought I would spare you if you were this place’s Master, but that seems to not be the case.”

The man slammed his fingers against the panel while looking at Aidy with bloodshot eyes. “Everybody’s shit, everybody! Brainwashing! I’m gonna brainwash you! This is a last resort I can only use once, but it’s worth it! I’m gonna make you into my slave! Even a freak like you is worth it since you’re so strong and good-lookin’! I’ll use you until you die!”

It happened in an instant. Small cracks popped all over the Core’s surface, and then a thick black mist sprayed out of those cracks.

“Poison? Darkness? Neither of those work against me.”

Aidy paid the mist no mind. That was a mistake.

“Ah... Ngh?”

Her body wavered, with her vision flashing. Something had definitely impacted her. Aidy determined that the mist was undoubtedly attacking her.

“Gyaaahahahahaha! How do you like them apples, huh?! Now you’re my slave! You gotta obey my every word! Now, takes off your clothes and kneel! You’re gonna lick my feet first! Cry tears of gratitude! This is your punishment for trying to kill me! Oh, yeah, and as a reward I’ll let you lick my asshole! Shit’s gonna be a good match for your face! Geheheheheh!”

Aidy swung her sword and chopped the man beyond the darkness in half, interrupting his disgusting ranting.

“Geh... heh?”

His death throes were just as pathetic. What, did he think she couldn’t cut him down? It didn’t take someone like Aidy to identify where he was when he was shouting that much.

There was a thud—the sound of meat hitting the ground—and then it was quiet. The man had been so disgusting, Aidy elected to abandon his corpse rather than turn it into DP. She walked slowly, wavering as she did so. Her head was light as if she were drunk on alcohol, but the sense of disgust was worse than a hangover. Aidy eyed the strange, pitch-black Dungeon Core, which was no doubt at fault for this.

Though, was it really a Dungeon Core? It was truly abnormal, so disgusting to look at that words couldn’t quite describe it. Aidy shuddered, feeling as if a wretched tongue of malice were licking her all over.

“Now, what exactly should I do about this...?”

Aidy was quickly losing control of her body. She heard a voice in her head.

“———, ————. ———... ————.”

“Aaah... I see. I certainly didn’t prepare to defend against this.”

As a final act of defiance, Aidy lethargically swung her sword onto the cracked Dungeon Core. It shattered like glass, and the black fragments shot throughout the room.

Aidy sighed in exasperation at her own mistake. She shut her eyes, praying that Keima and Rokuko would do something about this. The darkness filling the room concentrated around Aidy’s chest, then formed an ebony brooch.

There was a pause. Aidy stood still in the room now clear of mist, then opened her eyes. They were pitch-black as if the Dungeon Core had moved directly into her eye sockets. Her cute lips slid open.

“I must go destroy dungeons,” she said. Her footsteps wavered no longer.

# Keima’s Perspective

The Bloody Kraken’s home base had a ton of documents covering all sorts of things. There were so many documents that even putting them all into {Storage} was a drag, not to mention all the kidnapped people providing further evidence. That pretty much sealed the Bloody Kraken’s fate, and Aidy was going around destroying the last few bases they had. I decided to have my masked maid call the guards and let them settle the rest.

“Yes, sir! Lord Cid told us you would be here.”

A dozen or so soldiers led by one of the archduke’s retainers came to the base. I had seen them before with Cid back in Dragg, so I could trust these weren’t fake soldiers here to destroy evidence. They even suggested I could deliver some of the evidence to Cid myself for safety’s sake. I refused since that sounded like a lot of extra work, though. The soldiers started saying stuff like “To think you would trust us with the fruits of such a heroic accomplishment,” “No, this means he doesn’t even consider something of this level to be significant at all,” “Either way... He is a titan of a man!” and such, but I ignored them.

We met up with Aidy. Perhaps due to having relieved her stress, she looked at ease.

“Town chief, I would like to return to Goren.”

“Hm? Yeah, sure. The soldiers have all the evidence now, so no reason to stick around.”

We would be returning in the middle of the night if we left by carriage now. I thought it would be better to spend the night in Pavella before leaving, but there was no helping it if she wanted to go back now. No reason to refuse, really.

Wait, hold on...

“Let’s just use {Teleportation}.”

“Certainly,” she said casually, which I could interpret as her forgiving me for forgetting about {Teleportation} up until now. Alright, perfect! Now I can go right home and get all the sleep I want. Good thing I waited to reveal this until after she blew off her stress and calmed down.

I put Ichika into {Storage}, then teleported to my room in the chief residence, where I found Rokuko rolling around on top of my bed, wrapped in my comforter.

“Rokuko?”

“Bwuh...? K-Keima?! Th-This isn’t what it looks like! I promise!” Rokuko shouted hurriedly.

“I don’t know what you think it looks like, but you’re obviously being a weirdo.”

“No, really, it’s all a big misunderstanding. I was just worried about when you would get home, so I—” Rokuko began, giving her excuses in a panic. That was when it happened. Aidy took out her Magic Blade and launched a sharp thrust at Rokuko. It pierced right through her... Or it would have, if it hadn’t been deflected by some invisible force. “Eep?!”

“Hm? My, my, why didn’t it go through? How strange.”

This time she swung her sword like a hammer, but it froze in mid-air right before hitting Rokuko in her quilt.

“S-Stop, Aidy! What are you doing?!” Rokuko cried.

“Strange. Aaah, so strange. At this rate I will be unable to destroy a dungeon.”

“H-Hey! What’s gotten into you?! Quit it, Aidy!”

“Town chief. Do not stop me. I must destroy dungeons.”

Aidy turned and looked me in the eyes. Her own eyes were pitch black and opened wide—she hardly looked sane. Black? I’m pretty sure her eyes were like, uh, red.

But now wasn’t the time for that kind of questioning. “Rokuko, run! Something’s weird here!” I yelled.

“R-Right!”

Rokuko didn’t protest and instantly disappeared with the quilt still wrapped around her. I could guess she had moved to the Master Room.

“Aah, she got away. What a shame.”

“What’s wrong with you? You’re acting strange.”

“Weird? No, Rokuko is the strange one here. My sword did not go through her.”

That was because the quilt Rokuko had on was actually the Divine Quilt, which had an invincibility defense. But putting that aside, why would Aidy attack Rokuko out of nowhere?

Brainwashing? Well, I know just the thing to do about that.

I took out the Divine Alarm Clock. If she had some status effect on her, this would cure her in a single—

“Oh?”

—Er, it would have cured her in a single second. Unfortunately, Aidy flicked her Magic Blade and launched the clock into the air before grabbing it. The clock was now in her hands.

“Uh.”

“I don’t know what you were about to do, but I’ll take this for now.”

What a careless mistake. Aidy threw the Divine Alarm Clock into her own {Storage}. Having no other way to fight her, I just broke out into a cold sweat as she faced me with a smile.

“It seems I must destroy you too,” Aidy said, and she swung her Magic Blade down at me... Only for me to be teleported to the Master Room in the next instant.

“Keima, are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah. Thanks, Rokuko.”

It seemed Rokuko had saved me in the nick of time. I let out a sigh of relief. We were safe, for now.

“As thanks, I won’t question what you were doing on my bed while wrapped up in that quilt.”

“Ngh. I was just sleeping, that’s all,” Rokuko said while hiding her face with her hands. Man, seriously though, what was she doing?

We looked through the monitor at Aidy, and somehow she turned to look directly at us.

“Rokuko. I will now be invading your dungeon. Sharpen your blade in wait for me, if you will. Ahahaha!” she said with a high-pitched laugh.

“Keima, what happened to Aidy? Something’s definitely off here.”

“Er, yeah. I have no idea. It feels like something’s brainwashing her, though.”

“Brainwashing? Aidy...? That’s hard to imagine, but I guess it couldn’t be anything else. Not even Aidy would just try to kill me out of nowhere... Okay, maybe she would, but not like that.”

We were lucky that the Divine Quilt had protected her, but one wrong move and Rokuko would have died then and there. Either way, we needed to do something about Aidy. Problem was, we couldn’t contact Misha for some reason. What a useless cat.

“Well, for now, we’ve gotta stop her.”

Aidy left the chief residence and headed to the dungeon. Luckily it was nighttime, and most adventurers had already left. It probably wouldn’t help too much, but I sent all the Goblins in the dungeon to go stall Aidy.

I sent my instructions to the fairy managing the dungeon—Rei’s subordinate.

“Elka. Are any adventurers left?”

“Yes, Master, but only those sleeping in the fourth floor’s Inn of Greed. They shouldn’t be a problem.”

I had thought there would be a few on the second and third floors, the labyrinth, but apparently anyone who stayed in the dungeon this late just went to the Inn of Greed to sleep. That was pretty efficient, and convenient, for us.

“Stall Aidy in the labyrinth area. Make her walk around to buy us some time.”

“Understood,” Elka said, splitting into multiple copies of herself and starting to work in multiple places at once.

“Rokuko, contact Niku and Rei’s group. Tell them it’s an emergency.”

“Sure, Keima.”

I took Ichika out of {Storage}.

“Yooo—Wait, why the Master Room?”

“Ichika, it’s an emergency.”

“Mm? An emergency, huh? What happened?” Ichika asked, straightening her back at once upon emerging in the Master Room instead of the inn or chief residence like she had expected. She also took off her mask and put it into {Storage}.

“Have a look.”

I made my monitor visible and showed Aidy slaughtering Goblins while cackling like a lunatic.

“Whoa, momma.”

“Yep. Aidy’s probably being controlled by someone or something. And right now, she’s in the middle of conquering the dungeon. Use some Golems to hold her back. Once Niku and Rei’s group gets here, lead them in the battle.”

“Whew, this is some serious junk, huh? You got it,” she replied, and seconds later the three monster girls arrived at the Master Room.

“Master, I have arrived at your summons!” Rei declared.

“Alright. Just follow Ichika’s instructions,” I said, leaving it up to her to get Rei and the others up to speed.

“Master... Nzz, good morning...” Niku said, arriving a second later and looking sleepy. She had probably been asleep... I felt worse about that than anyone, but it was an emergency. Niku needed to follow Ichika’s instructions and fight Aidy with Golems.

Alright. Next step.

“Rokuko, mail Haku and get her advice. She might be able to get Misha to come over too.”

“Wait, Keima. Wouldn’t that be like... telling Haku to kill Aidy?”

“Yeah, she might take it like that.”

Rokuko looked down. “I don’t want that.”

“I feel you, but if we don’t get her help, we might not be able to stop Aidy at all.”

“I’m not doing it! Aidy’s my friend! Are you telling me to kill my friend with my own dungeon?!” Rokuko shouted, her voice heavy with sadness. I averted my gaze. “We’re fixing this without Haku’s help. Okay, Keima?”

“I mean... Couldn’t you get Haku under control somehow?”

“This is my safety we’re talking about here, not my love life. Surely you know she’ll do absolutely anything to protect me.”

It was true. If Haku learned about this incident, she would view Aidy as an enemy and probably kill her. The Demon Realm and Demon King faction cores were her enemies to begin with, so I doubted Haku would hesitate much.

In other words, she would likely bust out all the stops to kill Aidy by any means possible. After all, Aidy had already swung her sword at Rokuko. She would be as good as dead in Haku’s eyes, and if we wanted to keep things the way they were we couldn’t tell her about this. We needed to settle this in secret without relying on outside help.

“Keima. Do you have any ideas?”

I thought things over at Rokuko’s prompting. Things would have been a lot easier with the Divine Alarm Clock, but in any case... I looked at the monitor and saw Aidy destroy the Golems controlled by Ichika’s squad with a smile, then start fighting the especially swift-looking Iron Golem controlled by Niku. That was buying some time, but if Aidy felt like it she could beeline to the bottom floor whenever she felt like it.

“Hm?”

I noticed some kind of black mist floating around Aidy’s body.

“Huh... I feel like I’ve seen that black mist before.”

I searched my memories. Right, right...

“Dungeon Eaters, Core 564’s left arm, and finally, the artificial dungeon.”

Three things. Each of those three things had been all black and misty just like what was surrounding Aidy. If we assumed this was another similar case, all we had to do was think about how we had solved those prior problems. And what had we done? Easy. We’d murdered the shit out of them. Er... Well, all except one.

“For Core 564, we had the help of Father—the Darkness God.”

Right. That too had been a rampage beyond our control, so in many ways it was the closest to Aidy’s current predicament.

I opened the menu and found the GP section, where I swiftly offered up 1 GP to give a request to Father. Your daughter has lost control; is there any way to save her without killing her? Without telling Haku about this. I could have sent a normal mail to him, but offering up some GP was a sign of my good faith. Which must have been a good idea, because I got a reply immediately.

Do you see the black brooch on Aidy’s chest? You can save her by destroying the pearl-thing inside of it. They haven’t fused together yet, so it’s not my place to interfere. I’ll take the GP as a fee for the information and my silence. P.S. Aidy’s holding the mist back somewhat through sheer force of will, so if you appeal to her desires a bit, it should be harder for the black mist to control her.

That was some good info, and it seemed it would be easier to settle all this than expected. However, given that he said they hadn’t fused together yet, they probably would once Aidy’s force of will wore down. The faster we acted, the better.

“Rokuko, I’ve found the solution. We need to appeal to Aidy’s mind on the inside and destroy the black brooch on her chest.”

“Got it! So that brooch is at fault, huh. Niku, Ichika, target it!”

“You got it, boss! C’mon, Niku! Time for some teamwork!”

“Understood, Ichika. I’ll match your movements.”

The Iron Golems on the other side of the monitor attacked Aidy with almost unbelievable speed. They ran along the walls, kicked off the ceiling, and attacked from multiple angles at once in ways no normal adventurer would be able to react to in time. When had they gotten so masterful at controlling monsters, seriously?

But unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to beat Aidy. All it took was a few forceful swings of her Magic Blade, and the golems ended up as piles of rubble behind her.

“Overwhelm her with numbers! Keima, recover the Golem fragments and rebuild them! Rei and Kinue, charge forward with the newly spawned Iron Golems! Neruneh, assist Niku and Ichika with the Golems that Keima rebuilds! Elka, keep on manipulating the labyrinth!” Rokuko shouted, launching out instructions.

Man, those were some precise instructions. As her Dungeon Master I couldn’t help but be surprised by just how much she had grown. I got right to work using {Create Golem} on rubble as instructed to rebuild the Golems.

Wait, geez, there’s so much!

Every time Aidy destroyed a Golem the resulting rubble was sent right here. I fixed them, sent them back, and then they returned as rubble. Fix, send, return. I felt like a living Golem Production Factory. Like, seriously.

“I could do better if only I could possess the monsters... I’m sorry,” Niku said sadly.

“Nah, nah, nah, miss me with that crap. I don’t wanna experience dying over and over,” Ichika said with a rapid shake of her head. Neither of them could use the possession function since they weren’t dungeon monsters. However, my Golems were homemade and thus could not be possessed. Controlling them manually was the most one could do.

“I will send some Stone Golems as well! Knock her off balance with tackles!” Rei instructed, sending forth Stone Golems and Clay Golems in a suicidal charge, but Aidy just easily sidestepped out of the way and cut them down as they ran past her. We hardly even bought time. The mountain of Golem rubble for me to fix was only getting larger.

At first there were five Golems’ worth, then ten, then twenty. It would only be a matter of time before I simply couldn’t keep up... Or so I thought, but eventually the flow of Golem rubble got bottlenecked.

“Ngh...! The passages are too small to send any more at once!” Rei said through gritted teeth. Okay, that made sense. The physical space available in the halls prevented the Golems from dying any faster than they already were. “Elka, can you do anything about this?!”

“No, if I send her someplace more Golems can attack at once, I won’t be able to make her wander the labyrinth any longer!”

At the moment, our most effective way of buying time was simply moving the walls in the labyrinth to make her walk in circles. Increasing the number of Golems we launched at her wouldn’t necessarily be enough to break the brooch, and given how effortlessly Aidy was handling them now, we needed to send a lot more than a few extra to make a difference.

“Hey, Rokuko. This is never going to be enough.”

Rokuko was busy too with registering the fixed Golems and placing them in the labyrinth, but we were making zero progress here. She had to understand that.

“I know! I know, but what else can we do?! We need to stop Aidy!”

We were dealing with a Dungeon Core that was an expert at Demon King style, which required the user to know no exhaustion. I watched her fight while using {Create Golem}, and she was simply dancing between the waves of Golems and cutting them all down. Their rubble came right to me. At the very least, she slowed down a bit while fighting, and the labyrinth was drawing her down the path we wanted her to walk. We were buying some time.

However, buying time was not a winning strategy here. The longer we took, the more likely it became that Aidy would fuse with the black mist too much for us to do anything about.

“Keima. Do you have any ideas?”

“Not much we can do but have Aidy fall for a trap. That said, she’s strong enough to match a Hero in power. A half-baked trap won’t do anything to her,” I replied, not pausing {Create Golem} for a second. Clay Golems were one thing, but only I could repair Iron Golems, our main fighting force here. Man, this isn’t giving me much time to think about things.

“She definitely is strong enough to duel on par with Wataru. So... I’ll think of a strategy to buy time that doesn’t involve using so many Golems, and then you can use that time to think of an actual winning strategy. Focus on the Golems until then, okay?”

“Can you manage that?”

“Who do you think I am, Keima? I’m your w-wi... I’m your wife!” she declared, her face bright red, but at the very least her confidence came across well.

“Though really, you buying me time to think doesn’t guarantee I’ll come up with any good ideas.”

“I believe in you, Keima.”

Sheesh. What choice do I have but to come up with a genius plot now? Uh... Sorry if I can’t.

# Aidy’s Perspective

Aidy slashed her way through the unnaturally massive Golem ambush. That said, since she knew how dungeons operated, it wasn’t unnatural to her at all. From certain perspectives, this was essentially a Dungeon Battle between her and the [Cave of Greed]. It only made sense for waves of troops to be launched in Dungeon Battles.

“Ahahaha! Aaah, there’s no end to them!”

She swung her sword. Her strength never diminished. Her Dungeon Core body didn’t get tired, but even then the black brooch on her chest was pouring a constant stream of power into her.

Still, she was getting fairly bored of fighting Golems.

“I do not need to read minds to know what you are aiming for,” she said, slashing aside the Iron Golems leaping at her. All of their attacks were aimed directly at her chest.

“In any case. Who are you, really? What do you intend to do with my body?”

“———, ———! ———!”

The black pearl screamed incessantly. Aaah, she was getting all flushed again. Dungeon, dungeon, deep, deeper! Bottom floor! Destroy the dungeon!

“Ahahaha! If you insist, lend me more of your powe— Oh?”

Just as she was about to entrust herself a bit more to the pendant, the wave of attacks suddenly ceased. That was a bit of a mood killer, but in their place a single Iron Golem stepped forward, wielding a stone sword like a staff and staring at Aidy.

“...?” Aidy tilted her head, at a loss.

They faced each other for a bit, then the Golem slowly turned around and walked off with its back facing Aidy. It simply held its sword without readying it whatsoever. Aidy would be capable of cutting it down in a single slash if she so wished.

“Now, what to do about this?” Aidy muttered to herself without moving. The Golem turned its head and gestured her over, as if asking if she was refusing to follow. It seemed she was being invited somewhere.

“———! ———...!”

“Oh yes, oh certainly, this is a trap. No doubt whatsoever. However, I cannot ignore an invitation by the sword, can I?” Aidy asked and subsequently ignored the voice’s desperate wailing. After all, this was unmistakably an invitation from the dungeon... From Rokuko.

She followed the Golem’s guidance down the passageways. Aidy had planned to cut it down if it was simply buying time by circling around, but it headed straight to one of the greed traps—the trial rooms for Magic Blades. Upon confirming that she was inside, the Golem slid the Magic Blade out of the stand. The entrance closed as per the gimmick.

“Surely there is more to this than that, no?” Aidy held her sword out at the iron needles and waited, planning to destroy them if there was nothing more to this than the trap. And then... she jumped to the side to dodge a sudden attack from the ceiling.

“Aha! I see this doll has a bit more style!”

Before her was the Golem that Keima had once made to be the dungeon’s boss but now generally just patrolled the storage area—the Iron Haniwa Golem, riding an iron Golem horse and wearing a full set of warrior Golem armor.

“Testing, testing. Can you hear me, Aidy?”

“Oh? This is Rokuko’s voice...”

“This is a recording, so we can’t have a conversation, but anyway... This Golem once beat the Holy Kingdom’s High Priestess. Have fun; he should pose at least a little threat to you. I’ll open the doors if you win.”

“Oh my! I truly love you, Rokuko! I will crush you to itty bitty bits once I’m done!” Aidy exclaimed, gleefully readying her Magic Blade. Her heart thumped with excitement as she rushed at the Iron Haniwa Golem to see just what techniques it would be showing her.

The Iron Haniwa Golem was a reasonably powerful foe. However, it was far beneath Aidy in strength.

“Stronger than the pup and weaker than Wataru, I suppose. That was fairly enjoyable. Had I been Sebas, it would have been a fairly good fight,” Aidy mused. The last trick it pulled had been especially surprising. No doubt Keima had come up with hiding a magic tool weapon inside the arm of a Golem. Luckily it was an attack made of water and sand, so Aidy was able to block it with her indestructible Magic Blade of fire. If all the Golems that had attacked her in the hallways had arms filled with those traps, Aidy might have been overwhelmed already, but it was likely not a weapon that could be mass produced.

“———!———!———! —!!!”

“Ngh... Goodness, you are selfish. Can I not have a little time to dwell in the aftertaste of battle...?”

The voice began wailing again; it hurt her head.

Upon confirming that Aidy had defeated the Iron Haniwa Golem, the Golem by the stand paused reluctantly for dramatic effect, then returned the sword to its stand. The door opened, and Aidy destroyed the Golem so it wouldn’t shut the door while she was walking out. Though on second thought, she didn’t have to do that, since Rokuko could shut it at will if she wanted to.

Aidy returned to the labyrinth.

“Aha! Now, deeper we go!”

“———!———!”

The black stone on her chest screeched out directions. It told her where to go, and Aidy obeyed without hesitation. It guided her safely out of the labyrinth, and she arrived at the familiar Inn of Greed. She remembered Keima guiding her there in the past. He hadn’t taken her any farther, but the voice screamed for her to go farther inside.

Aidy didn’t need rest, so she ignored both the Inn of Greed and the adventurers within it. Past it she found a large cave stretching downwards. It was cylindrical in shape overall, and a staircase hugged its walls downward. Keima and Rokuko had called this the spiral staircase area.

“Hm... It would hurt a bit to fall down this, I believe. Perhaps we should fall back and search for ano—”

“——!!! ——!!!! ——!!!”

“Ngggh...! So loud... Could you please not try to destroy my consciousness over a simple joke? I will proceed, just be quiet...”

Aidy advanced further. The voice quieted down.

The width of the steps was consistent along the staircase, meaning that if one were to fall down the hole in the center they would fall all the way to the bottom without hitting any stairs. If they had something long like Aidy’s Magic Blade, they could possibly latch onto the staircase with it, but otherwise they would be doomed to fall. Aidy was impressed by how devilish the design was.

She began climbing down the staircase step by step, only for her to suddenly feel herself floating in midair. Some of the steps had swung down toward the wall, creating a mobile pitfall.

“Oh my! Now this is interesting!”

It wasn’t as bad as falling down the center, but it was still a whole loop of the staircase. Landing wrong would result in a sprained ankle or a broken bone. Aidy, however, swung her sword and used the inertia to pull herself up before falling. If Keima had been there, he would have muttered “What, you have a double jump?” Normally, an adventurer would need to carefully descend the staircase while checking each step for traps one by one, but thanks to this technique, Aidy could advance without worry. It was somewhat unfair that she could save herself with ease even after putting a whole foot through empty air.

However, after advancing a bit forward, the entire wall launched outwards. A normal adventurer would be knocked off the staircase into the center.

“I see. So this is how he pushes people into the center, hm?”

And to complete the pain, if one hurried forward to dodge the wall they would find the steps past it collapsed inward to create a pitfall. What a splendid combination! Aidy hummed to herself with glee as she skipped down the staircase.

“And the center ends on a mountain of spikes... Perhaps it would have been faster to just jump down the center after all,” Aidy mused after having enjoyed her fill of climbing down the staircase as intended. From there, she decided to take a brief re—

“———! ———!”

“Ahahaha! Indeed! We have no time to rest! Eugh, bleeeh... Ah, how disgusting... Hahahaha!”

Aidy, wavering a bit on her feet, obeyed the voice and advanced farther. According to its sense of smell, the Core was yet still deeper. She opened the door to find a passageway paved with stone.

“Mm.”

She advanced along, paying some mind to watch for any traps. She opened a door along the way just for fun and found swords decorating the walls.

“Oh my. These are the same Magic Blades as used in the greed traps.”

In which case, it was likely some trap awaited if she grabbed the sword. But she didn’t want it anyway. Rather than going inside the room, she just advanced farther in accordance with the voice’s directions. She looked inside the next room and the next one after that just to be sure, but they were all basically the same. The voice didn’t protest that level of exploration much. It probably helped that she had justified it by saying it was important to check for monsters, just in case they tried launching a surprise attack.

“These are fairly bland rooms, hm? I wonder if humans view these as meaningful treasure stores. They are Magic Blades, at least. Not that I need them.”

Aidy turned a corner, disinterested, and saw before her a chocolate cornet.

“Ah...!”

The chocolate cornet turned and ran away—Correction: there was a rat with a box on its back containing a chocolate cornet still in its plastic container, and it ran away. Aidy instinctively chased after it.

“———!!! ———!!!”

“Yes, yes, you can wait. The chocolate cornet comes first,” Aidy said, ignoring the voice completely to chase after the rat.

“My my, where are you trying to go?”

She chased the rat. Down halls, around corners, and finally she caught another glimpse of the cornet. It was as if the cornet was begging to be caught.

“My. My, my, my. It would surely be rude of me to refuse such a request.”

This was undoubtedly an invitation for Aidy, and just Aidy. No doubt Rokuko was behind this. How could she ever refuse such a blatant invitation?

“———!———!”

“Quit it. How will you repay me if I lose sight of it?” Aidy complained while chasing after the cornet. The voice smelled that progress was to the right, but she ignored it and went to the left. Why? Because the cornet was there.

“Oh my, oh my, do you truly think you can escape? Know your place, rat.”

“———! —!!!”

“Nguh... Do not interfere. I am chasing the cornet right now. Do you think soldiers can fight without food? I can, but it’s the thought that counts.”

Aidy continued chasing the cornet while ignoring the sick feeling washing over her. She ran and ran until finally the cornet fell off the rat’s back.

“At last, the chocolate cornet!” She opened the bag and took out the cornet. Nom nom nom.

“As expected, chocolate cornets remain the peak of culinary perfection. I do hope I can make them myself after returning to my home country.”

“———!———!———!” The voice thundered in her head.

“Ahahahaha! I know, I know. I will progress further. There is no time to waste!”

She had spent a bit too much time playing. Aidy stuffed the tip of the chocolate cornet into her mouth and once again aimed for the bottom of the dungeon.

# Rokuko’s Perspective

Aidy was walking through the storage area. She was heading in the direction of the puzzle area that had just been built recently, with the coliseum area being behind that. That led into the Boss Room, then the Core Room. She was fast approaching the bottom of the dungeon. The Core in the Core Room was a Dummy Core, but given her apparently supernatural sense of direction, she would likely find the hidden passage without any trouble at all.

“I was thinking of just sending her to Phenny’s Playground, but... that wouldn’t work.”

If she kept going that way and went into the Flame Caverns, she would leave our surveillance net. We didn’t want other Cores to know about this if we were going to keep it a secret from Haku, and since Redra and Igni were out of commission we couldn’t ask them for help either.

“Really though, Aidy’s acting weird in more ways than one. She acts like she’s talking to someone, then she bursts into laughter out of nowhere...”

Someone really was brainwashing her. Though it looked like she came back to her senses sometimes.

“Keima, I bought a lot of time. How are things on your end?” I asked while fleeing from Aidy with the cornet-carrying rat.

“Yeah. I came up with a pretty good idea. It’s a bit of a gamble on everything working right, though.”

That was my Keima for you. I mean, I’m the one who asked him to come up with something, but still. He actually managed it.

“I’ll ask just to be safe, but what’s the plan?”

“I want to keep it simple and bury her. In other words, I want to repeat the ‘Cask of Amontillado’ strategy.”

The plan’s codename was “Cask of Amontillado”—the same plan we once used on Suzuki the Hero, which involved burying someone alive by using the wall’s repair function. You couldn’t build walls when invaders were on the floor, but repairing walls was an exception. We just had to exploit that.

“If Aidy’s as dangerous as a Hero, then we just need to use a strategy that works on a Hero. Though I can say for sure that Aidy’s way more dangerous than Suzuki was.”

“Absolutely.”

As a Dungeon Core, Aidy didn’t need to breathe or eat. Burying her wouldn’t kill her.

“There’s just one problem,” Keima continued. “If we bury her whole, the mist might have taken her over completely by the time we can dig her out. We need to think of some solution for that.”

“I guess we just need to get her to stand in the exact place, huh?”

“Yep. And that’s where you come in, Rokuko.”

“Uh-huh. This is all happening because I wanted to keep it a secret, so I’ll do whatever I need to do. Want to hold onto the Divine Quilt?”

“Nah, save that. I want to cover your Core with it as an absolute last resort. That would probably cause some functions to shut down since conquering the dungeon would be impossible, but better that than dying. Anyway, it’ll take some time to dig out the wall. Try to buy a bit more time for me.”

“I’ll do what I can. Just use the time I give you well.”

“Alright, send me to the Boss Room. How much time do you think you can buy?”

“There’s the puzzle area, but I’m not s— Ah!”

Ideally the puzzle gates would have bought a bit of time, but in reality Aidy just smashed through them with her ultimate attack, {Crimson Road}. That said... She had done something similar in the past, so I hadn’t really hoped for it to stop her for long. The Golem-made gates were just a bad match with Aidy since all it took to beat them was overwhelming strength. Though on the other hand, since she could only use {Crimson Road} once a day, they had done a good job in forcing her to waste her trump card.

“I’ll have Rei and the others buy time. You can use Niku and Ichika to help you with the trap. Go as fast as you can.”

“Roger.”

I sent Keima, Niku, and Ichika to the boss room, then turned to those who remained.

“Rei, Kinue, Neruneh... It’s our time to shine.”

“Understood,” Rei replied as the leader of the group. “I shall even use my own self as a shield to buy time.”

“Just hold her off until Keima’s finished his preparations. Try not to die, if you can.”

“As you wish,” Rei replied, and I placed the three of them in the coliseum.

Two things were coming together here: Rei, and the coliseum. Aidy had lost to the “Vampire” that Rei and the others had pretended to be in this same coliseum earlier. No doubt their presence would stimulate Aidy big-time, and buy plenty of time... Probably. Hopefully.

“If this doesn’t buy Keima enough time, the only thing I’d have left to appeal to Aidy is... Myself, I guess?” I murmured, then readied the monitor so I could inform Keima the second that Rei and the others lost.

# Aidy’s Perspective

“Goodness, I am a genius. That deserves some praise, if I do say so myself.”

“——, ——.”

“Yes, yes. If only you would play nice and give me the praise I deserve, I would have nothing to complain about.”

Aidy was playing it very cool in front of the puzzle gate. She had read the puzzle, failed to understand it, concluded the gate was intended to be destroyed rather than solved, and then did exactly that. She certainly had not been lashing out with annoyance because the voice in her head mocked her for getting the answer wrong.

After all, there was no problem with this method. She burned the area down to a crisp and made it passable. She had to unleash her {Crimson Road} skill, which could only be used once a day, but there was no problem with that at all. The voice only told her to go farther into the dungeon; it never told her to tactically conserve her strength.

In any case, the puzzle gate was demolished and the path opened. Aidy advanced.

The hall opened up into a large cavern, and seeing what lay ahead made Aidy want to jump forward. It was a very familiar room, and naturally, one that would contain obstacles to her goal.

She passed through the gate; as expected, it was the same place that had presented her with such a challenging battle in the past. And to top things off, in front of her was the person she had wanted to see more than anyone else.

“Aaah, my Vampire friend! How I have longed to see you, ahaha!”

“Welcome, Aidy. I shall take care of you now,” Rei said, then shook her head. “Excuse me, let me word that better. You shall go no farther... I, Rei, will protect this dungeon!’”

“Ah...! ‘A Named Vampire, I see. This could be fun... Now, let us dance!’” Aidy exclaimed, instantly picking up Rei’s intentions. They both said the same lines they had said when they’d first met each other here. Aidy was happy that they both remembered the encounter so well.

Rei swung her right arm, and several orbs of fire appeared in the air. That was similarly a recreation of the previous duel. Although Aidy was in her human form, she played along while ignoring the voice wailing at her to charge farther into the dungeon. The fireballs behaved differently from last time, however; their arcs were more complex. Some launched straight at her, some curved, some spun, and of course, some were tracking missiles that would follow her every movement.

However, Aidy made no effort to dodge them. Why? Because she felt no killing intent within them. In other words, she thought they were an illusion—keyword being thought. Once they got close, she felt their heat, and swiped them away with her Magic Blade of fire.

“Oh? It will hardly be a recreation if you don’t avoid them.”

“Ahaha, those were real fire balls this time, no? Did you learn this from Rokuko’s master?”

“Indeed, as my Master is an excellent mage. Aaah, what a shame. Now you know that I have become truly strong.”

The attacks had lacked killing intent, but that was because she hadn’t expected fire to work on Aidy in the first place. On top of that, Aidy hadn’t heard any incantation. Had she learned that from Keima as well?

Good grief. Only three weeks had passed since they’d returned from Demon Realm, and she had already mastered incantation-less magic? What a superb pair of teacher and student they were.

“Ice was next, I believe?”

“Correct... Though I would like most for you to simply leave the dungeon now, Aidy.”

“That is not an option. I must destroy dungeons, you see.”

Rei floated up into the air, and Aidy swung her Magic Blade to point its tip up at her.

“I must protect my home, then.”

“Aaah, so lovely. Oh how I wish to kill you.”

“I must say I fail to understand how Demon Realm people think...!” Rei exclaimed, holding her hand out toward Aidy and launching chunks of ice at her. They flew straighter than the fireballs and were faster as well. And most importantly, these actually had killing intent. Aidy ducked to dodge the first of them, then used her momentum to leap forward and launch a thrust at Rei.

“Got you...! Or not.”

However, Aidy’s Magic Blade passed through Rei’s body without leaving a scratch. She disappeared, then reappeared some distance away.

“Ahaha. To think there exists a Vampire that could survive being hit by a flame Magic Blade. How lovely.”

“I thought I was dead for a moment, to be honest. Could you hold back a little?”

“Perish the thought. I lost to you last time, Rei, but this time I will win.”

“I’m afraid you’ll be losing again,” Rei replied, launching more ice chunks as she spoke. Aidy dodged and smacked some away with her hands. She threw her Magic Blade at Rei only for a portion of Rei’s body to turn to mist and let the sword pass through her before continuing to attack as if nothing had happened. Aidy’s Magic Blade vanished, then reappeared in her hands.

“Aaah, Rei, you are truly something else.”

“Incidentally, I just remembered, but our first fight wasn’t even a one-on-one duel.”

“Oh, was it not?”

“Remember the Gargoyles?”

“I didn’t even see them. Pay that no mind.”

To Aidy, or rather, to most Demon Realm residents, summoned monsters that could be killed in a single blow were no different from simple obstacles. What mattered was who they were fighting, not rubble in the arena.

Rei’s attacks varied between having killing intent and not. That was probably an indication that she was mixing magical attacks with her illusion skills, all on top of turning herself to mist as well. Ah, what a lovely Vampire who so bewitchingly entices me to murder her.

“Good grief; none of my attacks are hitting. Perhaps I should have made my first attack a serious one.”

“Indeed. The first attack was the only one I let my guard down for. That said, you have truly grown stronger, Rei.”

“I am still weaker than Niku, though...”

“Perhaps you are simply poorly matched for her... Still, how exactly has that pup ever beaten you?” Aidy asked with a tilt of her head. “Aaah... I seem to recall Empire culture having something about respecting those who joined an organization before you. Could you not beat her if you fought seriously, Rei?”

“Who can say?”

Aidy concluded that Rei would only lose to Niku under normal circumstances. That made sense, given that she couldn’t use those skills of hers in public.

“I suppose it’s about time I used that.”

“That?”

Rei snapped her fingers. A black ball appeared in the air, growing up to ten meters in diameter. It was pitch-black and allowed no light to pass through it, so much so it looked entirely like a flat circle floating in the air. It was the spell Rei had used to finish the last battle—and it was an illusion.

“Oh my! What was this called again? The stig, ah... The stig orb of darkness?”

“It is the {Stygian Sun}.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. I never forgot for a moment,” Aidy said with a giggle. The black orb wavered like the sun itself, and Aidy waited without even readying her sword. “‘If you think this is an illusion, well, let it hit you! My magic will rip apart your black armor and adorn it with blood!’ ...Although, you are not wearing armor right now!”

“Indeed I am not, but... ‘Will it now? Your threat is as empty as a child scarecrow’s.’”

“‘You will regret your arrogance in the afterlife... {Stygian Sun}!’”

Rei launched the black orb while re-enacting the scene from their memories. Aidy didn’t dodge it. She was certain the black sun was just an illusion. It had no killing intent, and most importantly, Aidy’s pride would not allow her to dodge it. No matter how loudly the voice screamed, she squashed it down.

“Aaah. And here it is...!” Aidy shut her eyes, honing her senses. “You did expect me to prepare for this, yes...?”

Indeed. Aidy had already formulated a counter to it. Or really, she had finished her preparations already by the time she invaded Core 564’s dungeon with Keima. To be specific, she obtained a way to see even when in pure darkness.

By honing her senses, she determined that indeed the ball was nothing more than a deceptive orb of darkness. However, she could not detect Rei, and so she tilted her head in confusion.

“Oh...? She... disappeared?” Aidy spun her head around, but Rei seemed to have left the coliseum entirely. “Aaah... I suppose she might have turned to mist.”

There was no other conclusion she could come to. In their last duel that move had concluded their duel, but the same would not be true this time. Aidy... simply saw right through the darkness. And so, she waited for Rei to reappear.

.........

...............

“...Nothing?” Aidy tilted her head. Despite leaving herself blatantly open to attack, Rei was not approaching her at all.

“Do not tell me she would simply... No, of course not.” Aidy sighed at Rei having disappeared just as things were getting good. The voice was pounding her head to go farther into the dungeon. It was honestly irritating. Oh well. She gave up and reluctantly advanced, at which point...

“Rokuko?”

The sight of her made the voice fall silent in an instant.

“You stood in place so long I thought you had just given up,” Rokuko said, standing at the exit to the coliseum. The voice screamed at Aidy to attack. It understood well that Rokuko was the Dungeon Core. Naturally, since that was why Aidy had attacked her back at the chief residence.

“Oh, and Aidy? I took Rei away and told her to stop,” she continued, and the heat drained from Aidy’s face.

“Why? Things were just getting oh so fun.”

“Why do you think?” Rokuko began. Aidy took out her Magic Blade—the moment she finished her sentence, she would obey the voice and kill her. “Because you’re my prey, Aidy. Now... shall we duel?”

Aidy used her left arm to hold back her right arm, which had launched an attack. She looked at Rokuko. Both her senses and the voice’s nose told her that this was the real Rokuko. She was no illusion.

“Oh? You? And I? A duel!”

“Yes, a duel, between you and I.”

Aidy’s disappointment flipped right into soaring excitement. A duel with her true friend! That was all Aidy had ever wanted. And to think that Rokuko would challenge her to one herself! How could Aidy ever deny such mutual love?

“That’s why I had Rei stand aside. You understand, right?”

“Ahaha, goodness, Rokuko. Were you jealous of me, your arch enemy, being killed by another? How lovely. I’ll forgive you. Aaah, how lovely.”

Aidy couldn’t help but revel in the bliss. She had lost to Rei before, after all. She wouldn’t have emerged unscathed if Rei had some other attack like the one which had settled the duel before. It only made sense Rokuko would be worried about her dueling partner being worn down. Everything fit into Demon Realm culture, and Aidy was delighted.

This was almost equivalent to the classic Demon Realm story where the protagonist would be saved by their friend, who would say “Don’t die before I kill you myself!” and then duel them to the death. Core 219 hadn’t been fond of it, but Rokuko remembered it. How romantic!

“Aaah, I am truly, truly happy. I will give this my all.”

“Just to be clear, I don’t intend to kill you or be killed myself. Would you mind holding back a little?”

“I would never dream of it,” Aidy replied. After all, she was here specifically to destroy the dungeon.

“Well, be gentle.” Rokuko looked a bit sad about that, but it was probably just Aidy’s imagination. “Incidentally, Aidy. Would you mind taking off that brooch? It’s kind of gross to look at.”

“Oh, this? It doesn’t come off. Very gross, I know.” Aidy giggled, to which Rokuko let out a sigh. Of course it wouldn’t be that simple. “Now then, step into the coliseum and we can—”

“You know, Aidy. I have an idea.”

“What is it, Rokuko?”

“The Boss Room is right past this point.”

“The Boss Room...”

“Right. Don’t you think it would be the perfect place for us dungeons to duel?”

Aidy felt her heart throb. Reason being, the Boss Room was the last line of defense for dungeons—no matter what happened or how hard they struggled, it was where the final battle took place, the climax of all climaxes. Coliseums were quite a dating hotspot, but that was for normal people in the Demon Realm. What about Dungeon Cores?

“The Boss Room is the best place for us to settle this, no?”

“I have never agreed more!” Aidy rejoiced and agreed with Rokuko’s suggestion.

The two of them headed to the Boss Room. Soon, they reached a large, thick door, ornately carved just like Boss Room doors should be.

“Now, I’ll be going in first, and I want you to wait one minute before following me.”

“Oh? But I am ready to duel at once.”

Rokuko cracked the boss door open and slid inside. Aidy tried to do the same, but was stopped by a palm.

“What are you talking about? This is the Dungeon Boss Room, remember. You want us to hold hands and walk in all buddy buddy? Talk about a total buzzkill.”

“Aaah! Precisely, Rokuko! Forgive me, I was a fool.” Aidy stomped down her impatience and the screaming voice to patiently, ever so patiently wait in front of the door as instructed.

“There we go. And don’t just burst through the door and charge me, okay? I want us to face each other down carefully before we duel. Keima says that’s the style in his world.”

“That sounds quite lovely!” Aidy vigorously nodded in approval. And thus, she let Rokuko close the door, then waited for a full minute. She swung her Magic Blade, calmed her heart with fantasies, double-checked her Demon King style posture, and then, after exactly sixty seconds had passed, faced the door. The voice had remained silent since she was preparing for the battle that awaited. She opened her menu to make sure that she wasn’t going in even a second early. Onwards, to the heart-throbbing duel!

.........

Behind the door was an incredibly small room, considering the size of the door. In dungeon terms, it was about the size of a Small Room (200 DP) with rocks jutting out of the floors and walls. Rokuko was standing on the other end of the room, guarding the exit.

“Rokuko...?”

“Yes, Aidy?”

Aidy faced Rokuko, then continued. “This room seems exceptionally cramped. Why is it so cramped, I wonder?”

“That will make it harder for you to swing your sword, no?”

That makes sense, Aidy thought. It certainly was traditional for a Boss Room to be designed to give the boss an advantage.

“Rokuko?”

“Yes, Aidy?”

Second question.

“What are those two lines beneath your feet?”

“We stand on these lines, then bow at each other. This is apparently how it works in Keima’s world.”

That makes sense, Aidy thought, watching Rokuko press her arms against her sides before bowing. She had seen in books that doing so was a traditional greeting in Keima’s world.

At last, they faced each other. Aidy bowed, and...

“Pardon me, Rokuko.”

“Yes, Aidy?”

“Why is my body embedded in a wall?”

“Hah, well, that’d be because you got caught in a dungeon trap. It’s that simple,” Rokuko said, grinning with a smile that looked just like her Master’s while taking out a metal hammer and chisel.

# Keima’s Perspective

I looked at Aidy, still transformed to look like Rokuko. Aidy had been buried in the wall the second she bowed; or, to be more accurate, her lower half was buried while her upper half stuck outside it.

“I planned to dig your chest out if it got stuck too, but hey, looks like everything worked out.”

Making minor adjustments to the wall’s positioning with Ichika’s help had paid off, with her arms and most everything beneath her chest getting stuck. She looked entirely like a deer hunting trophy. You know, where like, their necks sprout out of a wooden shield thing.

“Rokuko? No, wait, you are her Master, no?”

“Of course I am. What, you thought I’d ever risk sending Rokuko to the front lines?”

“Now that you mention it, there would be little reason to send a Core out before the Master.”

Obviously. If Rokuko died, I would die too. That was a lot of risk for no gain.

“Consider me surprised. You look exactly like her.”

“This is a Hero skill I’m using, so yeah.”

Although borrowed, Hero skills were powers directly from a god. It only made sense they would trick Cores too.

Aidy glared at me with narrowed eyes. “How cruel... I was so happy to hear that Rokuko wished to duel me.”

“Too bad. Anyway, you lost, so pipe down. I’m going to destroy that brooch.”

“Why do you think I have lost?”

“I mean, come on. You challenged a dungeon, and now you’re stuck. That means you lost the duel with our dungeon, right? And our dungeon is Rokuko. Thus, you lost a duel to her. Am I wrong?”

“Hrm...”

My sophistry left Aidy at a loss for words. She shut her eyes. She probably did feel like she had lost to Rokuko now, especially since I still looked like her.

“Was withdrawing Rei at that critical moment part of your plan?”

“Yeah, I figured you’d never be able to turn down Rokuko’s duel after getting blue-balled like that.” It was a bit coincidental that Rei had used her {Stygian Sun} right as I’d finished my preparations and she didn’t need to buy any more time, but, well, history was written by the winners.

“What would you have done if this didn’t work?”

“What’s the point in me telling you that now?”

“I suppose you’re right. It would be faster to just see for myself,” Aidy said. She opened her eyes, revealing that the whites of her eyes had turned completely black, with the crimson of her eyes gleaming menacingly among the darkness. “Did you think mere stone walls would be capable of containing me?”

Cracks formed in the wall. Oh shit. I hurriedly placed the chisel against the brooch on Aidy’s chest to break it, and...

“Hmph!”

Aidy knocked it aside by just swinging her chest. A moment later, the wall collapsed.

“Rokuko, hurry and fix the walls! Get me stuck if you have to!”

“Ahahaha! You’re too late!”

Rokuko repaired the walls that filled the room, but before she could finish, Aidy had leapt back into the hallway. Crap, she got away. I ended up stuck in the walls, but Rokuko withdrew me instantly.

“Seems like she got out. This is... pretty bad, right?” she asked.

“Yup. It’s pretty bad.”

Judging by those eyes, she might have gotten too corrupted for us to do anything about. Our only option was to offer up more GP and ask—Oh, a mail. “She’s still fine,” huh? Really, Father? I’m going to trust you here. I mean, I guess I have no choice, but yeah.

“Still, to think not even burying her in a wall would be enough to stop her. Aidy’s actually way stronger than Suzuki.”

“Want to use the Divine Quilt this time?”

“Nah, like I said, we want that for our last line of defense.” Even the Dungeon shutting down due to being unconquerable was better than outright dying.

“Rokuko, send me to the Boss Room.”

“Will you be okay...?”

“I’ll manage.”

To be honest, I had basically no plan, but what else could I do? I took off the Divine Pajamas—which I had changed to look like Rokuko’s clothes—and put on my normal Jersey. I simultaneously canceled my {Ultra Transformation}.

“Keima?”

“Hm? Nmm!”

Suddenly, soft lips were pressed against mine in a kiss. After a moment, Rokuko pulled away.

“I’m counting on you.”

“R-Right...”

Why now, of all times? Or well, I guess now is actually the best time for that, all things considered.

I looked away from Rokuko in embarrassment and had her send me to the Boss Room while I felt my face heat up. I was probably blushing as badly as she was.

I redid my {Ultra Transformation} into myself and found Aidy waiting in the Boss Room, black-eyed and Magic Blade in hand.

“Aha! There you are, Rokuko’s Master. Hm...? Your face is red.”

“There are some adult circumstances. Let’s just pretend you didn’t see anything. Actually, I’d appreciate you waiting a second for me to calm down.”

“Very well, I suppose.”

She waited for me to calm down out of the kindness of her heart. Though in the first place, she was apparently waiting here for us to do something anyway.

“That was a fairly unremarkable door, but I suppose this is the proper Boss Room?”

“Yeah. There’s a bit of rubble scattered around, but don’t sweat it. We just moved rock from that other room here to hide it.”

This Boss Room was pretty big to fit the Dragon Golem, and the door was only small since we swapped the door with the crappy little room’s door. Incidentally, the Dai-Frame Ichika had used to move the rubble was still just sitting in the corner.

“I just recalled your date invitation from a moment ago. This is the Boss Room, which makes this our final battle, no? Our ultimate duel?”

“It sure does.”

“In that case, this is a duel between Rokuko and I. You said so yourself a moment ago, no?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” I replied while climbing into the Dai-Frame. “Let’s do it. Time for the boss fight.”

“You are the boss of the dungeon, Rokuko’s Master?”

“Not normally, but, well... Today’s special. Though naturally...” Five Iron Golems, controlled by Niku and the others, dropped from holes in the ceiling and landed on the ground with a thump. The gimmick of this Boss Room was the endless flow of monsters coming from the spawn rooms up there. “I’ll be using some adds. You don’t mind, right?”

“Aha! Of course, this is a boss fight!”

And so the boss fight began.

# Aidy’s Perspective

Keima got into the Dai-Frame—one of the devices he had created himself while in the Demon Realm. However, this one looked different. There were many design and color differences. In particular, the material seemed to be fearsome orichalcum.

“Ahaha. Where did you get so much of that?”

“Cool, isn’t it? Come at me.” Keima gestured her over from within the Dai-Frame, and at the same time the Dai-Frame gestured as well. There was no time gap between the movements—it was clearly on an entirely different level from the ones he had made with the dwarves back in the Demon Realm.

That said, it was still just a frame with plenty of empty space inside. Even if it did provide some armor, it limited sweep attacks, not thrusts.

As Aidy analyzed the Dai-Frame’s weakness, Keima made his move. “If you aren’t coming, I will,” he said, then grabbed one of the nearby Iron Golems and threw it at Aidy.

“Ah!”

Aidy instantly kicked the ground and leapt to the side to dodge the rocket-like Golem projectile. The Golem reached out a hand to grab her, so she twisted in the air to dodge. It smashed into a wall and went limp in the middle of the hole it made.

“Not enough for you?” Keima swung his arms, which served as launching boards for more Iron Golems rushing her way. Aidy sliced open a path with her Magic Blade, only for more replacement Golems to rain down. They were working in organized unison, despite being spawned monsters. And despite being spawned monsters, whoever was controlling them was skilled.

“Here, there’s more where that came from.” Keima grabbed some rubble and threw it at Aidy like it was sand. Naturally, the Iron Golems leaped off his arms as he did so. The Iron Golems themselves were barely worthy of note, since she could cut through them with a single slash, but when thrown directly they posed a deadly threat.

“Only if they hit me, however...!”

“{Element Shot}.”

A beam of light shot directly at Aidy to cut through her. She guarded in an instant with mana, but it was a heavy enough blow to make even her arms numb. If she lowered her guard for even a second, it would bore a hole through her.

“Ahahaha! Excellent, Rokuko’s Master! This is fantastic!”

“Core 50 didn’t train me for nothing, hah. Get ready to lose an arm or leg or two.”

“I would be willing to lose five or six to you.”

“How many limbs do you have...? Oh, you mean those Magic Blades.”

Aidy’s true body was a Magic Blade, and the one she was wielding was just a representation of it, in a sense. It had the exact same powers as her true body, but it wasn’t the same thing. The sword breaking wouldn’t be any sweat off her back, aside from the mana loss... and the fact that the copy breaking meant the attack was strong enough to break her real self too. That would be some pretty intense psychic damage for a Magic Blade-type Dungeon Core.

“Absolutely, absolutely splendid. Your Dai-Frame is full of openings, yet remains impenetrable. It is the perfect equipment for you. Ah... And that is why you taught its secrets to Core 50?”

“Yep, exactly. This is a popular weapon in the Demon Realm, so there’s nothing unfair about me using it!”

“Nobody would complain even if only you used them, you know. If anyone complained, all you would need to do is crush them... Like this!” Aidy dodged the Golems’ blows and closed in on Keima once again. This time, she swung her sword.

“A slash? That’s not gonna get through orichalcum—” The Magic Blade passed right through the Dai-Frame’s arm.

Demon King style had a technique called Ghosting. She made her copy Magic Blade disappear mid-swing, then reappear once it passed through her opponent’s defenses.

“Got you... Wait!”

However, right before the blade hit Keima, it passed through empty air and simply hit the inside of the Dai-Frame.

“Whoa! That scared me, but it’s not gonna work either!”

“Ah! I see, yes, I see!”

Aidy dodged backwards to avoid the Dai-Frame’s fist and instantly understood what had happened. In short, Keima... Or rather, Rokuko had done the same thing Aidy just had. She certainly had shown Rokuko other techniques at a prior Dungeon Battle, so it made sense she would be prepared.

“Despite being the Dungeon Boss, you withdrew him into the Master Room and then placed him back all in the span of a second to dodge the attack? Aha! Ahahahahahaha! Aaah... AAAAAAAAAH! I LOVE YOU, ROKUKOOOOOOOO!”

What a splendid technique. Aidy let out a scream of pure joy after realizing she was fighting not just Keima, but Rokuko as well. Power flowed through her. More, more! Who cared that her arms had turned pitch black from her fingertips to her elbows?! She drew forth even more power from the black pearl.

If they were using Ghosting for defense, she would be unable to hurt Keima. She would be stuck on the defensive forever. Thus, she worked her head as much as possible while dodging the storm of Golems. Keima’s attacks were generally long-ranged. He either threw Golems or used magic. However, Aidy was skilled enough that once she grew used to his strategy, it wasn’t particularly difficult to dodge them all. Everything that missed simply destroyed the walls.

Did that mean neither of them could land the final blow? No. Aidy knew Ghosting’s weak point more than anyone else, as one who used it often. You could not reappear something where there was already an object. As a Dungeon Core, Aidy knew that was the same for the dungeon’s placing function.

In which case, if she left the sword stuck into the seat where Keima was, he couldn’t be placed back.

“It will not finish you off... but the boss leaving the Boss Room will be MY VICTOOOORY!” Aidy roared, then charged through the Golem projectiles to Keima again.

“Ngh, gah...!”

“It won’t, hit!”

Keima threw chunks of the wall along with the Golems. He was pushed back bit by bit, until eventually he hit a wall. Speed wouldn’t help him here. “Crap...!”

“It’s over!” Aidy leapt onto the Dai-Frame and stabbed the sword at Keima. He disappeared. “I wi—”

An instant later. Aidy was pushed into the now-empty cockpit, grabbed, and turned around. Then...

“Wh—”

Before she could even figure out what was going on, her lower half was stuck in a wall again.

“Ngah!”

And this time, the Dai-Frame was holding her down so she couldn’t escape.

“Aaah...”

“So, Aidy. How’s the water... Or rather, the wall?”

“...A bit chilly, but not bad in the least.”

Before her stood Keima, boasting a grin.

# Keima’s Perspective

“So, Aidy. How’s the water... Or rather, the wall?”

“...A bit chilly, but not bad in the least.” Aidy tried wiggling, but this time the stone wall wasn’t the only thing here. The Dai-Frame’s orichalcum-coated arms were holding her in place as well.

Whew. If this hadn’t worked out, I really would have had to give up.

“Can’t break it this time, huh?”

“Ngh... Ngh! It seems not.”

It was Operation Cask of Amontillado, part 2. Instead of reinforced concrete walls I used reinforced orichalcum walls... okay, that wasn’t exactly the right mental image. The arms were just coated with orichalcum, after all.

I went up and pressed the chisel against the black pearl on Aidy’s brooch before she could pull any tricks. Thanks to Rei manipulating the Dai-Frame from afar and making precise adjustments, we had gotten it so far more of Aidy was stuck in the wall this time—everything but her face and chest was buried in the wall. The Dai-Frame was buried as well and put her pretty high up in the air, but not enough to cause any problems.

“Could you finish me off quickly? The voice’s dying screams are truly unbearable,” Aidy said with a sigh.

“We’ll see. I’m not the best at this, so...”

I swung down the hammer, like carving a statue out of granite. Like setting up a tent. Like driving a white stake into a vampire’s heart.

“This was a pleasant defeat. I suppose all the Golem throwing was to achieve this end.”

“Yup. Clever of you to notice.”

The second part of the strategy was pretty simple. Throwing them destroyed the walls, which created openings for the Dai-Frame to enter after grabbing onto Aidy. Incidentally, Rei had been controlling the Dai-Frame for the second half of the fight, and the “me” inside it had also been the creation of Rei’s illusion skills. All I had to do was have Rokuko place me on top of the illusion and shoot out some {Element Shots} at Aidy to break the walls. Though with all the Golems being thrown through walls, that didn’t really change much.

Halfway through the battle Aidy had cut through the illusion and we’d failed to grab her in time, but luckily she’d misunderstood what had happened. That had told us the strategy she would try next, and we’d managed to guide her into getting trapped.

From there, all Rokuko had had to do was repair the wall to bury her. Naturally, a lot of credit went to Niku, Ichika, Kinue, Neruneh, and Elka’s many copies, all of whom had helped control the Iron Golems.

After slamming the hammer down several times, the pearl finally started to crack. One more hit should do it. This was a lot harder than I thought.

“Incidentally, I have one last question.”

“What’s up?” I asked, pausing with the hammer held high in the air.

Aidy smiled with her pitch-black eyes. “Was my acting convincing? Did it seem like I was being controlled?”

I wish I hadn’t asked. Now I have to consider the possibility Aidy attacked us all on her own.

“Don’t ask questions that are hard to answer.”

“Oof.”

I swung the hammer down, and with a smash the black pearl shattered into bits. The shards turned gray, having lost their power, then blew away into the air like dust.