Evil Avalon
“Was it Lord Arthur? To descend from the sky in a body created by magic… what a truly splendid surprise.”
“But seriously… it’s such a mysterious body, isn’t it? What does it feel like to have legs?”
The maid, who quickly dismantled the assembled sword she had been holding and tucked it beneath her long skirt, greeted them with a textbook-perfect bow. Beside her stood a girl in full metal armor, her curiosity obvious as she looked Arthur’s arachne body up and down. The troublesome yet outrageously flashy entrance that kicked up clouds of sand turned out to be unexpectedly well received.
I mean, Kurosaki-san. You glare at me like I’m some shameless scoundrel trying to seduce my mistress, so why on earth are you treating Arthur—who’s clearly full of ulterior motives—with such courtesy? I want to lodge a formal objection and tell you to take a good look at that face of his, all slack-jawed and lovestruck while Tenma-san is touching his legs.
Ignoring my complicated feelings entirely, Arthur began pulling out new gifts one after another from his magic bag. This time it seemed to be ingredients, and in impressive quantities. Fillets of a gigantic fish, transparent fruits that looked as though they were made of blue glass—and on top of that, slabs of meat the size of watermelons, which he casually piled up one after another.
“Arthur-kun! This meat… could it be?!”
“Ah, Kano-chan, this? When I was flying overhead earlier, there was a whole flock of ‘birds,’ so I hunted them all in one go.”
“So the meat that was in the soup was… all of this. Amazing—Arthur-kun, you’re so wonderful♪”
Kano had been furious about sand being kicked up in front of expensive cuisine, but dazzled by the piled-up ingredients, she spread her arms wide and hugged Arthur’s spider torso as if to say “well done.” The other straightforward girl, Kuga-san, even gave a small round of applause while staring at the meat, showering Arthur with praise.
Thinking that I shouldn’t miss out on this windfall, I was scheming when Arthur left the girls, who were absorbed in the mountains of supplies and ingredients, and came over to me. He pulled out a chair to sit down, then realized his lower body was a spider’s and reluctantly folded his legs beneath him on the spot.
“So then, shall we talk about the curse-breaking plan? Looks like you managed to form a proper contract too… right?”
“Wait. Before that, you said something ridiculous like a ‘world conquest plan.’ What exactly did you mean by that?”
The Ugalm Queen that Tenma-san had contracted crept closer to our feet, so Arthur handed it some newly produced chunks of meat and gently patted its head. Its body length, once nearly five meters, had shrunk after the contract, now no bigger than a medium-sized dog.
The way it ate so earnestly was cute, but the claws pinning down the meat and the fangs piercing it were sharp, and combined with the large, pure-white ears characteristic of the Ugalm royal species, it still exuded a dignified presence. I had questions about this creature too, but that could wait. World conquest? What nonsense was that? Was it some kind of metaphor, or was he plotting something insane? I needed answers.
“It means exactly what it sounds like—conquering the world. I figured that to fight against absurdity, you have to become something equally absurd, to stand in that position. Otherwise, all you can do is fail to protect anything and end up as another corpse, right?”
Arthur answered while brazenly picking up and popping into his mouth a bite-sized hors d’oeuvre that I had risked my life to protect from the sandstorm. Apparently, after being defeated by Mikhail and being unable to do anything afterward, he’d been wracked with frustration and self-loathing, and after much soul-searching, he’d arrived at the conclusion of world conquest.
As long as the future followed the game’s scenario, most situations could be dealt with. Even if an event was something only the game’s protagonist was supposed to handle, I was confident that with enough time, we could cooperate and somehow manage it. But clashing head-on with the Holy Empire led by Mikhail this early in the game was sheer madness. If even one thing had gone wrong, it wouldn’t have been strange for us all to be wiped out.
There was a very real chance we’d continue to be dragged into unreasonable, sudden events without even having time to level up—and if that happened, we’d really die next time. If only we were the ones affected, that would be one thing, but the girls behind us, discussing what to do with the ingredients, would be dragged in and die too. Would you still be fine with that? Arthur countered, chewing on a newly produced blue apple as he challenged me in return.
“And besides, there were several events where all of Japan went completely off the rails, weren’t there? If you want to stand up to things like that, don’t you need a powerful organization?”
In DunEx, there are routes where Japan becomes politically unstable, and even grim routes where the land is more devastated than it was right after the war. In a game, an apocalyptic setting could be enjoyed as a way to heighten the drama—but if it became reality, it would be nothing short of hell. To protect the people important to us in such circumstances, simply leveling up wouldn’t be enough. What Arthur was saying was that we needed an organization to support us.
He went on to say something idiotic like how, if building an organization went smoothly and expanded rapidly, we might even have a shot at world conquest. After all, there was the real example of the Holy Empire, which had grown from a small group of adventurers into a vast nation.
It’s true that if we somehow leveled up to absurd heights and created a massive organization that even great nobles or armies couldn’t oppose, founding a nation like the Holy Empire wouldn’t be completely impossible.
But world conquest was out of the question, no matter how you looked at it. Rather than wasting time and energy on something like that, I’d rather dive into dungeons whenever I felt like it and live freely. More than money or power, what I want is freedom.
That said, I could understand Arthur’s point about the need for an organization. In our clan party, everyone acted as they pleased, but if a strong organization had been supporting us, our ability to respond would’ve been on a completely different level. Still, just wishing for such an organization wouldn’t make it fall from the sky.
“Even if you call it an organization, can we really do more than just gathering and cooperating like we always do? We may have dungeon experience and knowledge, but we don’t have any know-how for building an organization.”
To begin with, we don’t have the money to create such a grand organization. Even if we tried to sell the rare materials we worked so hard to obtain to raise funds, moving huge sums as minors with no standing would draw a lot of attention. And if that happened, it was obvious that troublesome nobles or clans would swarm us. At best, right now all we could do was ask my parents to quietly sell things for us and slowly increase our modest savings.
Even if we somehow solved the money problem, we still lacked the ability to run an organization and the talented people willing to cooperate with us. In the end, it seemed we had no choice but to keep managing on our own going forward—
—or so I argued to Arthur, but… what’s with that look, like he’s watching an idiot child? On top of that, he deliberately flipped his hand in an exaggerated “oh dear” gesture and even sighed. You wanna go, huh?
“Seriously, did you think I hadn’t already considered something that basic? So, money-making, was it? Then please, go ahead and explain.”
“Yes, certainly.”
He looked oddly confident, so I was on guard, wondering what kind of half-baked idea he was hiding, when someone cut into the conversation—the long-haired black-haired maid with a headband.
Just moments ago she’d been briskly giving instructions about the ingredients to the cooks and black-clad butlers, yet before I knew it she was seated, elegantly sipping tea. She carefully set the teacup down with a soft clink, fixed me with a sharp gaze, and then calmly opened her mouth.
“Then, first, let us speak about the young lady’s curse-breaking plan.”
Tenma-san’s curse-breaking plan? Of course, now that we’re comrades, I fully intend to see it through—but how does that tie into building an organization? As I was puzzling over that, she signaled to me with her eyes as if to say “You sit there too,” so I obediently pulled out a chair and sat down.
Apparently, for the curse-breaking plan, Tenma-san’s grandfather—the head of a financial conglomerate—had issued a decree: “Spare no expense in money, people, or materials,” and “Mobilize all our strength and ensure the curse is broken.” As a result, it had been decided that the entire Tenma Group would provide full backing.
Tenma-san’s parents had already passed away, and her grandfather, having also lost his wife, considered her his only remaining blood relative. Because of that, he doted on his granddaughter to the point where it wouldn’t hurt even if she were in his eyes—and at the same time, he was deeply pained by the fact that she was suffering from a curse. That much I knew through my game knowledge of DunEx. So hearing that her grandfather would offer full cooperation if there was a chance to lift her curse wasn’t surprising at all.
“That is not all. If the curse is successfully lifted—ah, of course, failure is not an option—we, the Black Butlers, and the Tenma family will promise permanent support.”
“…Support, you say.”
“That’s how it is, Disaster. With Akira-chan’s help, all those items we’ve been picking up can be sold off in no time at all!”
The Tenma family were upstart nobles who had received a baronial title after Tenma-san’s grandfather earned recognition for developing excellent weapons for adventurers. Though their history as an upper-class family was short, they were also among Japan’s wealthiest nobles, running a massive corporation. If the Tenma family provided their extensive sales networks and manpower, even rare items could be sold safely—and they might even buy them outright and use them for weapon development.
Arthur’s strange confidence was probably because he’d already coordinated things with Kurosaki-san beforehand. Still, it was hard to say anything definitive until we figured out just how much power the Tenma family actually had and how far they were willing to cooperate.
Of course, all of that hinged on one absolute condition: successfully lifting Tenma-san’s curse. Come what may, it had to succeed. That was why Kurosaki-san was pressing for details, determined to put together a foolproof plan. With that in mind, I tried to recall the curse-lifting event from DunEx and compare it to our current situation—but—
“To be honest, at this stage, it doesn’t look like we can do it right away.”
“What do you mean? Explain that as well.”
Tenma-san’s curse-breaking is an event that occurs in the mid-to-late portion of the game’s story. The recommended level is around 30, which is far too high for something meant to happen just a few months after enrollment. And yet now—or rather, for some reason—my level had already reached 30, and with Arthur’s cooperation added to our side, our combat strength was no longer an issue.
The real problem was that this event belonged not only to Tenma-san, but also to Akagi-kun. That meant we needed his cooperation—but…
“Akagi Yuma… that redhead we met before, right?”
“That handsome harem guy—how strong has he gotten by now?”
Kurosaki-san had once joined our class training session, and during that time she’d met Akagi-kun exactly once. Her impression was that he seemed promising enough, but she quietly shook her head, clearly doubting that he had the strength to accompany us. And rightly so—Akagi-kun’s level probably hadn’t even reached 10 yet.
“His level’s nowhere near enough. Wouldn’t it be better to power-level him and raise it quickly?”
“I considered that, but are you really okay with stealing his growth? And besides—”
If Akagi-kun were to join the curse-breaking quest, he’d need to be at least level 20—bare minimum, around 15. Otherwise, his mind wouldn’t be able to withstand the magical pressure emitted by the monsters along the way. If it were just about raising levels, we could always weaken monsters and let Akagi-kun land the finishing blows—a classic power-leveling method. If we worked at it seriously for a month, reaching the required level wouldn’t be difficult.
But the DunEx protagonist is someone who grows through countless trials. And that’s not just about levels. By defeating powerful enemies with their party, overcoming hardships, and earning the trust and cooperation of a wide variety of beings—adventurers, spirits, and even demons—they become a massive, unstoppable force.
When that happens, the protagonist’s party is practically invincible. Even if the Holy Empire brought multiple cardinals and tens of thousands of adventurers, or even if demons and monsters appeared that turned everything in sight into hell, they could crush it all head-on with sheer strength.
But of course they could. This entire world exists as a stage for the DunEx protagonist. Any logic, theory, or hardship becomes meaningless before those who have transcended it all.
So what would happen if we went ahead and raised the DunEx protagonist’s level ourselves…?
If they never experienced any trials or hardships, their noble spirit would remain immature, and those around them wouldn’t acknowledge them or offer cooperation. And if that happened… what would become of the events that only they could bring to completion? What would become of the world itself?
Arthur rested his cheek on the table, thinking for a while—then answered smugly, as if he’d come up with a brilliant idea.
“Then how about we just raise Akagi and leave Pink-chan as she is? With her around, we might still manage somehow.”
“Even if you raise only Akagi-kun’s level, if his spirit is immature, the ‘Great Spirit’ won’t acknowledge him. That means Tenma-san’s curse won’t be lifted.”
“…What are you talking about, boy?”
When I said that the curse wouldn’t be lifted like this, the maid’s eyes grew even sharper, clearly demanding, “Explain in detail.”
In DunEx, there are two protagonists. The male protagonist, Akagi Yuma, and the female protagonist, Pink-chan—Sanjo Sakurako. Arthur’s idea was to power-level Akagi-kun, while letting Pink-chan grow in proper order according to the game’s story, and have her serve as the main protagonist instead.
As far as the game’s storyline alone was concerned, that strategy might work. However, lifting Tenma-san’s curse required having Akagi-kun acknowledged by the Great Spirit. That was the very core of the curse-breaking event.
Originally, Akagi-kun had an innate affinity with spirits, making it easy for him to gain their favor and cooperation. In DunEx, spirits he encountered would flock to him one after another, urging him to form contracts. So if he’d progressed through events and grown both in level and in character, the Great Spirit would surely be willing to lend its power.
On the other hand, if he lacked the substance to match, the Great Spirit might not just refuse to acknowledge him—it could even judge him as “hostile.”
“A Great Spirit… such a being exists? Is it responsible for the young lady’s curse?”
“That’s right. And that’s why only that spirit can lift Akira-chan’s curse.”
About to refill his Belly Fuel for the next fight
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