Evil Avalon
A grassland zone of gently rolling hills on the 25th floor of the dungeon. There, a massive screen the size of a movie theater had been set up, and rows of folding chairs were arranged in a semicircle. Seated on them were participants dressed in a wide variety of outfits.
A man in a suit, who had been repeatedly checking his wristwatch at the edge of the screen, finally looked up, gripped the microphone near his mouth, and raised his voice.
“Now then, starting at this very moment, with our deepest respect for the young lady… who has achieved such magnificent accomplishments… we hereby commence the celebration!”
“—Wooo!” “Young lady—!!”
“You’ve grown into such a fine person…”
Shouts of joy and thunderous applause erupted, and some people were even shedding manly tears. Wondering what was going on as I watched the scene, the maid sitting next to me shot me a sharp glare that seemed to say, Why aren’t you clapping? Startled, I hurriedly followed suit and began clapping as well.
As the applause continued, a full suit of armor reflecting sunlight in dazzling patterns burst out from a nearby tent and climbed onto the makeshift stage. At its feet, a large-headed, cat-like creature clung lazily to it—but we’ll set that aside for now.
The armored figure waved in our direction, then gave a bow, took the microphone handed to it, and greeted us cheerfully.
“Umm, everyone! Thanks for coming together for my sake! I’m so happy I was able to form a contract with this little one safely! I’ve prepared tons of food today, so don’t hold back—eat as much as you want!”
The full armor flashed countless V-signs to express its current mood. As applause erupted once more, about ten chefs emerged from a prefab hut in the back, pushing wagons piled high with food. The butlers—who had been wiping away tears with handkerchiefs just moments ago—stood up all at once and began setting up simple tables.
“It’s here, it’s here, it’s heeere! I’ve been waiting for the feast!”
An ill-mannered shout rose from the back, and when I turned to look, I saw Kano—still in her middle school uniform—standing up and thrusting her fist toward the sky. She then started singing some strange song like “Meat♪ Meat♪”, so I decided to pretend I didn’t know her.
Next to her stood a girl in an adventurer academy uniform—Kuga-san—carefully scrutinizing the dishes being brought over. Lately she’s often been with Tenma-san, and it seems she’s been thoroughly spoiled with food.
A steaming bowl of soup was placed on the table in front of me, and at the same time, footage began playing on the massive screen set up at the front. It appeared to be a documentary film depicting the life of a certain… young girl. Apparently, the idea was for us to eat while watching it.
So then—what exactly was this gathering? To explain that, I’ll need to rewind time back to last night.
・・・・・・・・・・
After finally making it home from the clan party, I took a shower and relaxed in the living room. Having burned far too many calories, unbearable waves of hunger assaulted me—but if I ate recklessly now, my body would immediately revert. A fully plump Pig-o would be born once again.
Determined not to repeat the same mistake yet again, I rummaged through the fridge for something low-calorie when the screen of the wrist terminal lying nearby lit up once more.
“Ugh… 106 emails? And there’s even a voicemail?”
The one flooding me with messages was undoubtedly Kuga-san. I was too exhausted to reply and had left them alone, but dealing with her at school later would be an unbelievable hassle, so maybe I should at least respond.
Looking through them, the earliest messages were light things like “Are you around?” But the newer ones escalated into extremely dangerous territory: “Are you ignoring me?” “If you don’t reply, I’ll kill you,” “I’m actually already near you.”
Calling was scary, so I decided to reply by email.
As expected, she responded saying she wanted to ask about the Kinrankai clan party. I turned on the TV to check what kind of situation things were in now.
Every channel was reporting on the chaos in Tokyo, with speculation about terrorist involvement. The name of the Holy Empire hadn’t surfaced yet, but it wasn’t something that could be hidden forever—eventually, it would inevitably become public.
On another channel, commentators were openly discussing the existence of the Gate now that it had been exposed to the public, debating what kind of impact it would have. They talked about how leveling up would become easier, intensifying power struggles between clans and nobles, and how confusion could spread through international society. A fairly reasonable prediction.
“Guess that’s about it… It hasn’t been that long since Mikhail was defeated.”
I turned off the TV and crossed my arms.
From a quick look, information was all over the place, and it seemed everyone was waiting for an official government announcement. No channel was providing concrete details like the location of the Gate.
Still, how much the government would actually disclose remained an open question. By now, ministers and bureaucrats were probably huddled together, pulling all-nighters in emergency meetings.
Meanwhile, Kuga-san’s email asked, “Do you know anything about the Gate?” From that question, I could infer she didn’t know I’d gone to Tokyo. Her aim was probably to cross-check the information currently circulating with whatever knowledge I might have, refining it into something more accurate.
For my part, I do want to bring Kuga-san onto my side in the future, so I feel like teaching her various things—but the sad reality is that the bond we’ve built so far is as light as a feather, liable to be blown away at the slightest breeze. Even if I asked her to “keep it secret,” it was obvious the information would be passed with astonishing speed to her boss—meaning the United States. That would be very bad.
We’ll likely have more chances to act together from here on. Should I impose some kind of constraint or restriction…? As I was worrying over that, my phone rang.
Looks like I have no choice but to answer…
“…Why didn’t you reply right away?”
Her voice was steady. From that alone, I could tell she’d been pressed hard by her superior because she couldn’t get in touch with me, and that she was extremely irritated. I considered offering some excuse, but Kuga-san must have realized that blaming me wouldn’t accomplish anything, because she quickly moved the conversation along.
“If you know anything about the incident in Tokyo… or about the ‘Gate,’ tell me.”
At school she always looks lethargic and unmotivated, but she’s also a spy competent enough to be dispatched alone into enemy territory. I’ll need to stay sharp when dealing with her.
The dungeon transfer device known as the “Gate.” It’s a convenient tool that allows instant teleportation to any Gate you’ve registered with your mana. Once you go beyond the 30th floor, moving even a single floor becomes a major adventure that can take days—but with a Gate, it’s instantaneous. Still, that’s probably not what Kuga-san wants to know.
“I don’t really know anything in particular. The TV’s making a big deal about Gates too, but I’m sure the Japanese government will announce something eventually.”
“But earlier, that little runt called Arthur was using teleportation magic. He called that a ‘Gate’ too, so there must be a connection.”
I remember it clearly. She’s right—there’s also the 《Gate》 skill. If you’ve learned the skill, you can use it anywhere without going to a Gate room, and you can set the mana registration wherever you like. It’s essentially a complete superior version, with immeasurable convenience—but that’s not the issue here.
“Kuga-san. I may have said this before, but unless you swear you won’t leak classified information, I won’t tell you anything.”
“…I don’t plan to tell anyone. Or are you planning to carve a contract spell into me like you did with Tenma?”
Tenma Akira—a strange girl who always wears full plate armor, hiding her entire body. The other day, she formally asked to form a party and hunt together, so we held a player meeting with Lisa, Arthur, and Satsuki. The conclusion was that Tenma Akira was trustworthy as a companion and could become a powerful ally.
So we told her, “If you don’t tell anyone else, we’ll provide powerful dungeon knowledge free of charge.” But then, the very next day, she cheerfully showed us a “contract spell” carved into her shoulder, saying, “This is proof we’re companions.” Even Kurosaki-san, the maid accompanying her, completely lost her temper.
Personally, I thought a written “contract grimoire” would have been sufficient. If the contract were broken, the pages would burn, making it obvious. But body-engraved contract spells are dangerous—if violated, the engraved pattern ignites, causing severe burns at best, or death at worst. And since the magic circle is tattooed with mana-infused ink, it never disappears.
The maid nearly came to blows with me, furious that something so dangerous had been carved into her pre-marriage master’s skin, which she valued more than her own life. The situation was only barely defused thanks to Tenma-san’s persuasion.
She’s the type to naturally leap far beyond expectations, so we’ll need to stay alert for her unpredictable actions in the future. That aside—
“Either way, Kuga-san, I’ll only talk after you sign a written contract.”
“…Fine. Then we’ll do that tomorrow. Also, a message for you. About Tenma—she successfully made a ‘contract.’”
A successful “contract”… She probably meant a contract with a monster. At Tenma-san’s request, I’d already given her information about the 【Tamer】 job, which allows you to tame monsters and fight alongside them as pets. I’d also received word that she’d successfully changed jobs. So it’s not surprising—but I should still ask.
“So, what did she contract with?”
“The ‘Ugalm Queen.’ After that, it shrank and turned into a weird cat.”
“A floor boss right off the bat… I told her that was a bad idea.”
The Ugalm Queen. A feline floor boss over five meters long, with large white ears and a thick tail. It had wiped out multiple raid clans while leveling up, becoming an uncontrollable problem entity.
After becoming a 【Tamer】, Tenma-san apparently attempted to force a contract using the 《Tame》 skill on that floor boss. If successful, the monster resets to level one and becomes a pet, and depending on the individual, it may shrink or rejuvenate.
However, 【Tamer】 is only an intermediate job. The success rate of 《Tame》 on powerful entities like floor bosses is extremely low, and failure builds aggro, leading to combat. Normally, the target is immobilized first before attempting a contract—but doing even that against something like the Ugalm Queen is difficult. I had warned her of the danger beforehand, but…
(She tamed a floor boss in one try?)
The Ugalm Queen isn’t an active monster that attacks on sight, but it’s also not the kind that warms up to humans easily. And yet, from the very first encounter, it had shown abnormal affection toward Tenma-san. I don’t recall anything like that in DunEx. Maybe individual monsters have personalities or compatibility factors.
While I was lost in thought, Kuga-san calmly continued.
“So—are you coming tomorrow?”
“Coming to what?”
When I asked that, she scolded me, saying I should actually read my emails. My inbox had been almost completely buried under messages from her, so I’d avoided opening it.
I hurriedly searched for Tenma-san’s email and opened it. It talked about holding a “celebration.” She’d taken on a new job and wanted to host a small, private… party, inviting me and Kano.
In this world, adventurers don’t change jobs frequently—they’re meant to master one. Because of that, job changes are kept to a minimum, and it’s customary to celebrate a new job with close friends or one’s clan. But since the host list included Arthur’s name, it seems he’d known about it in advance…
I’d planned to rest tomorrow, but I can’t refuse an invitation from someone who’ll be an important ally. And since I’d just gotten my hands on some good ingredients, celebrating while eating together doesn’t sound bad.
“Of course I’ll come. I’ll bring a gift.”
“Alright… and she said to come in uniform. That maid, I mean.”
There’s only one maid near Tenma-san—the head butler of the Black Butler corps, Kurosaki Yurika. Her cooperation is absolutely essential to lifting Tenma-san’s curse, but the problem is that she despises me like the plague for being a shameless man who’s corrupting her master.
I want to build trust with that maid as soon as possible, but she’s even tougher than Kuga-san. The road ahead looks difficult—
・・・・・・・・・・
And so, after that exchange the previous night, Kano and I eagerly attended the celebration together. But the supposedly small, private gathering meant only for Tenma-san’s close circle wasn’t limited to just us siblings and Kuga-san after all.
Dozens of black butlers dressed in dignified morning coats, just under ten cooks wearing tall chef hats, and roughly a hundred burly men in work clothes were present. Behind them stood several excavators, bulldozers, concrete mixer trucks, and crane trucks lined up in reserve.
I asked Kurosaki-san what they planned to do with all that heavy machinery, and she replied that they were going to build a house for that “cat” Tenma-san had contracted.
When a 【Tamer】 leaves the dungeon, the magical connection with their contracted monster disappears, and over time the monster’s loyalty decreases. Eventually, the contract is broken and the monster returns to the wild on its own. In DunEx, you could preserve loyalty by leaving the monster in a facility when logging out, but no such facility exists in this world.
So what was the solution? Apparently, Tenma-san’s plan was to create a comfortable living space for the “Ugalm Queen” to keep it happy even while she was outside the dungeon. And this was undoubtedly Arthur’s idea.
Even so, the mountain of construction materials and heavy machinery—perhaps Arthur had helped transport them using 《Gate》—was far too excessive for building a “cat’s” house. It looked more like they were planning to build a castle.
While I cast a sidelong glance at the maid, wondering what exactly they were aiming for, I took a sip of the soup in front of me…
Whoa?!
This is insanely good!
I thought it was just a simple vegetable soup, but the clear broth delivered an almost violent wave of savory flavor straight to my tongue. Convinced there had to be a secret, I stirred with my spoon—and at the bottom were tiny granules of meat. That’s it. What is this meat?
As I scooped some up and stared at it intently, Kurosaki-san answered me with a look as if I were examining something bizarre.
“That is meat from the ‘Golden Bird’ you brought. Rather than eating it directly, it’s common practice to finely mince a small amount and use it as soup stock.”
Golden Bird? So that was the Giant Wing meat I’d hunted last night and brought as a gift. Apparently, opportunities to defeat it are rare, and even when you do, you only get a tiny amount—making it more valuable than gold. That’s why it’s usually minced and used sparingly as broth.
In games, taste never mattered—only item effects did—but if it’s this delicious, that changes things. I wonder if I could use my 《Aerial》 to take down ten of them at once.
At the table behind me, someone with terrible manners was pounding the table and shouting, “Is there more yet?!” The voice was far too familiar, so I chose to ignore it. But plenty of other middle-aged men in work clothes were shouting just as loudly, so it didn’t stand out.
That said—why was only I stuck at a separate table with a grumpy maid, while Kano was happily chatting and eating at the same table as Tenma-san and Kuga-san? And where did Arthur go? For someone who claimed to be Tenma-san’s biggest fan, how could he be late?
As I suspiciously asked a nearby cook for another serving of soup, the documentary playing on the massive screen ended to applause, and the program moved on.
Wondering what was next, I gazed forward absentmindedly when a black butler emerged from the prefab building carrying a large bouquet of flowers. Meanwhile, Tenma-san—who had been shoveling food through the opening in her helmet—finished chewing and headed toward the stage. Apparently, she was about to receive the bouquet. Once again, the butler acting as MC raised the microphone.
“Next, to commemorate the young lady’s brilliant achievements and future, we will now present the bouquet—”
“WAIT A SEEEECOND!!”
A loud voice echoed from above. What the—? Looking up, I saw something… falling. Several butlers, fearing a monster attack, hurriedly drew their weapons, and Kurosaki-san swiftly pulled out a sword from who-knows-where and moved to protect Tenma-san.
After a short free fall, whatever it was slammed into the ground. It didn’t form a crater, but the impact kicked up a massive cloud of dust. Refusing to let the unbelievably delicious food go to waste, I instinctively threw myself over my plate, desperately shielding it from the sand. At a table farther back, I saw someone doing the same.
My little sister.
Guess you really can’t escape your bloodline.
As the dust finally settled, an “Arachne” appeared—a girl’s upper body mounted on a pure-white spider.
A massive bundle was strapped to her back, which she dragged along nonchalantly despite the butlers’ heightened alertness. She stopped in front of a stunned Tenma-san, untied the knot with a flourish, and proudly displayed the contents.
“Today is our lovely princess’s big day! That means I had to prepare an extra-special, ultra-gorgeous gift!”
Inside were piles of magic stones, ores of various colors, timber, and strangely glowing crystals—rare materials harvested from the icy regions beyond the 30th floor. None of them circulate in this world, so their actual value is unknown, but any renowned raid clan would easily pay a fortune for them.
When she declared that all of it was a present for Tenma-san, she deftly moved her eight legs, turned toward me, and announced smugly—
“Well then, shall we get straight to it? Let’s discuss my ‘World Conquest Plan’!”
…World conquest plan? She was already a walking disaster, but did getting beaten senseless by Mikhail finally scramble her brain too? I quickly gave up worrying about my uncontrollable troublemaker of a friend and instead checked first to make sure the food beneath me was still safe.
Arthur is still a He
ReplyDeleteI knew a party was going to happen so he could get fat again damn it :[
ReplyDeleteAt the very least he should be alot more slimmer, he is only eating Soup at the party. Next time he goes to Class we should get an update on the weight journey.
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