Evil Avalon
In the grand hall of the “Demon Castle” towering atop the snowy mountain on the 38th floor of the Explorer dungeon, freezing air seeped in from somewhere, crawling across the stone floor.
In Explorer, this hall was a special place where fierce battles against demons were fought, but for now it was being used as Arthur’s bedroom and a temporary meeting place.
“S-s-so cold!”
“It seems even colder today. Here, take this.”
Chi-chan, her teeth clattering as she stood pigeon-toed from the cold, received a winter coat and hurriedly put it on, zipping it up at once. Satsuki apparently had plenty of spare cold-weather gear prepared for guests, and with practiced motions handed coats to Kuga-san and Tenma-san as well, both of whom were also freezing. Her preparations were impressively thorough.
Meanwhile, Arthur—having returned from his pure white Arachne form back into his demon form—was pulling blue logs from his magic bag and assembling them together. They were drops from the “Frozen Treant,” rare lumber that emitted ice-element mana when mana was passed through it. And yet, despite how valuable it was, he casually set it on fire just to keep warm. Well, it’s not like there were many other kinds of wood available around here, so maybe it couldn’t be helped… could it?
The flames, initially small, crackled and gradually grew larger, casting the dim hall in orange light. Those shivering from the cold quickly gathered around the fire, exhaling white breaths as they tried to warm their frozen bodies. Amidst this, Kano sat down beside someone she had been curious about and asked while staring intently.
“Tenma Onee-sama was… such a beautiful woman with such a nice body… Why were you wearing full-body armor?”
“I want to know too! What’s the deal with that?”
Naturally, everyone’s attention turned to Tenma-san. She was no longer clad in armor, instead wearing a fluffy down coat with her face exposed. Her pale golden bob-cut hair, emerald green eyes, and refined features were so mature that it was hard to believe she was still a high school student. Calling her an ethereal beauty worthy of being painted into a masterpiece would not be an exaggeration.
Kano bluntly bombarded her with questions, wondering if she had worn armor to hide herself all this time. Arthur and I, as fellow players, had thought the same thing. After all, in Explorer, Tenma-san had described herself during her cursed state as “old, ugly, and fat.”
Peeking out from the opening of Tenma-san’s coat was a cat-like beast with large ears—the Ugalm Queen—surveying its surroundings. Seeing it, the fairy Lily rushed over and scooped it up in her arms before carrying it away. Left with nothing to occupy her hands, Tenma-san let out a small white sigh and slowly began speaking.
“I became like this when I was in my first year of middle school. Suddenly I turned into this grown-up-looking person… and my chest got this big too. I didn’t know what to do…”
It happened shortly after she entered Adventurer Middle School. She had finally gained the ability to explore dungeons, and while happily adventuring alongside her retainers, they reached an area with a massive lake unlike anything she had ever seen before.
The water sparkled crystal clear, with countless white flowers blooming on floating aquatic plants. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight. But such a lake should not have existed in the shallow dungeon layers, making it highly likely that an extremely powerful spirit had interfered with the area.
Tenma-san, without suspecting anything strange, eagerly entered the water—or at least that was how she remembered it. But somehow she ended up drowning, and when she came to, she had transformed into this form. Not only that, but a mysterious magic-circle-like crest had been deeply engraved into her back, leaving her so shocked that she became bedridden afterward.
Unable to gather the courage to appear before others, she stopped attending school. Seeing this, her grandfather had custom-made a suit of armor that concealed her entire body. Later, an excellent maid stayed by her side and continuously encouraged her, helping her recover little by little. As she spoke, tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Certainly, anyone could understand how a girl who had only just entered middle school would be shaken by suddenly taking on such an adult appearance.
“But Tenma-senpai, even from the perspective of another woman, you are very beautiful.”
“Even from the perspective of a guy… y-you’re beautiful too!”
Tenma-san awkwardly laughed in embarrassment, clearly lacking confidence in her current appearance. Chi-chan seemed puzzled by that and honestly stated that she thought Tenma-san was beautiful. Arthur also nodded exaggeratedly with suspiciously flustered behavior. But this was probably an issue within Tenma-san herself, and perhaps no amount of reassurance from others could truly solve it—
—or so I thought, but Tenma-san looked genuinely surprised by their reactions and blinked blankly. Then, as if something had occurred to her, she turned toward me with slightly furrowed brows.
“Really? Then… Narumi-kun, do you think so too?”
“…Huh? Of course.”
“Hey, Calamity! Don’t look at Akira-chan with those impure eyes!”
Since she asked if she was beautiful, I answered honestly. Tenma-san widened her eyes and fell into thought. I wondered if I should have phrased it more tactfully, but to truly save her, empty comforting words would not be enough. We had to bring Kurosaki-san back and successfully break the curse.
To do that, I ignored Arthur, who was glaring at me with upside-down triangle eyes, and focused on assessing our situation. There were simply too many things to think about. First, we needed to discuss the immediate cause of Tenma-san’s distress: the maid being taken away.
We had fought the organization that abducted the maid—Shiramizu and the two women accompanying him—in the form of a duel. The operation had been named: “Lure them onto the magic circle made from Arachne ultra-thin threads, ‘Silver Thread Prison Barrier,’ and beat the hell out of them.”
The result was total victory.
The threads were so thin they couldn’t even be seen, and since no mana flowed through them, nobody would notice them on first sight. On top of that, the magic circle had been set in an open grassland with excellent visibility. They never would have imagined such a deadly trap existed there.
They were fairly capable fighters, but once caught in the Arachne magic circle, they couldn’t move at all and were reduced to ingredients being cooked while someone hummed cheerfully. If they ever fought an Arachne again, they had surely learned to first check for the presence of magic circles.
That was why we had won and managed to learn the maid’s whereabouts from Shiramizu… and, as expected, she was with the main Ten Rakshashas force. Several executives and thousands of soldiers were there as well, making the idea of fighting through them to rescue her completely unrealistic.
And yet, seeing how depressed Tenma-san was, giving up wasn’t an option either. We still had no answer for how to overcome this impossible situation.
As everyone groaned and pondered possible ideas, Kano energetically raised her hand. Apparently, she had thought of something.
“The Ten Rakshashas are where Rokurogi-sama is, right? Onii, can’t you ask her to hear us out?”
“Isn’t that person not participating in the expedition?”
The samurai we fought alongside in Tokyo—Shigure Rokurogi. Kano was suggesting that, since she was also an executive of the Ten Rakshashas and owed us a favor, he might at least listen to us.
But after Tokyo, she had been running around as part of the Adventurer Guild administration to deal with the aftermath. There was no way she had the time to participate in this dungeon expedition.
Still, maybe it would be faster to go wherever Rokurogi was and beg directly… though I doubted that an ordinary high school student like me could secure a meeting with someone whose status rivaled that of a great noble.
While I was thinking about the risks of barging in without an appointment, another problem emerged from a different direction. Kuga-san, who had been silently listening with tired eyes, slowly raised her hand and finally spoke.
“…You’re talking about bringing that maid back, but I also confirmed she went with them of her own will. How exactly are you planning to persuade her?”
“Kotone-chan, Kurosaki left for my sake.”
According to Kuga-san, the maid returned to the Ten Rakshashas willingly. Meanwhile, Tenma-san explained that when it seemed Kurosaki-san was about to be taken away, she rampaged so violently that her trademark armor was nearly destroyed, and Kurosaki chose to leave of her own accord to prevent further harm from coming to Tenma-san.
Well, considering how much that maid cherished Tenma-san more than her own life, her actions weren’t hard to imagine. But what Kuga-san meant was this: even if we tried to bring Kurosaki-san back, would she obediently agree?
If returning to the Tenma household only led to the Ten Rakshashas targeting Tenma-san again, then it would defeat the whole purpose. We needed some way to reassure the maid that it was truly safe to come back.
At that point, Chi-chan seemed to have an idea. She raised her hand at a perfectly elegant angle, requesting permission to speak. Go ahead.
“It may not be a direct countermeasure, but how about turning ‘EEE’ into a clan?”
“EEE? …What’s that?”
“The righteous—future-illuminating, heaven-piercing—”
“It’s the name of our circle.”
Kuga-san had apparently been curious about the words “EEE was here” that Chi-chan had written in remarkably beautiful handwriting on Shiramizu’s battered face. When she asked about it, Chi-chan leapt to her feet eagerly to explain, only for Satsuki to instantly spoil the joke, causing Chi-chan to deflate and sit back down.
In short, the idea was to make EEE into a scapegoat that would draw the Ten Rakshashas’ attention away from the Tenma family. I had been considering the same thing. Since the organization had no real substance, it could easily be discarded whenever necessary, and it also served as a smokescreen to hide our true identities. There were many advantages.
But was there really any need to turn it into a clan? When I asked, Chi-chan revealed she had thought even further ahead.
“Did you know that once a clan is established and gains recognition, it receives various privileges and preferential treatment?”
“Privileges? There’s preferential treatment too!? Tell me!”
If EEE demonstrated strength as an organization, even the Ten Rakshashas would have trouble moving against it casually. Then Kurosaki-san could return without worry. But beyond that, by gaining recognition from third-party organizations, we could receive all sorts of benefits as well.
I personally had no intention of raising the profile of what was essentially just a scapegoat, but if there were advantages involved, it was hard not to be curious. Even profit-minded Kano’s eyes sparkled as she slapped the floor demanding, “Hurry up and explain!”
Chi-chan immediately pulled out a memo pad from her chest pocket and began writing down a detailed explanation.
“Clans are categorized as either official or unofficial, and both are ranked by third-party institutions. It looks something like this.”
The clan rankings went: AAA → AA → A → BBB → BB → B → CCC → CC → C. It felt very similar to corporate bond ratings.
To call oneself a large-scale conquest clan, at least an AA ranking was required. Clans of that level received lucrative requests, business opportunities, funding, and more from the Adventurer Guild and governments.
Furthermore, clans ranked A or higher were granted upper floors of the Adventurer Guild building free of charge. Since the guild building stood right beside the dungeon entrance, it was an extremely convenient location for a headquarters, and merely being allowed access there was considered a status symbol among adventurers.
These benefits applied to officially recognized clans, but even unofficial clans could still receive rankings and certain privileges if they demonstrated sufficient ability or achievements. Since we wanted to keep our identities hidden, if we aimed for anything, it would likely be as an unofficial clan.
After everyone silently organized their thoughts for a while, the fairy Lily returned from her walk carrying Ugalm. Sitting beside Chi-chan, she closed her eyes happily as Chi-chan patted her head. It seemed being next to her contractor was comforting.
As for Ugalm, perhaps being tied up with ropes by Shiramizu’s group had been deeply stressful, because it remained curled up asleep in Lily’s arms. Since its level had dropped to 1 after the contract was formed, its body had shrunk and its combat power was almost nonexistent. It was probably frustrated at being unable to protect its contractor, Tenma-san. We’d better feed it magic stones to level it quickly, or perhaps take it power-leveling.
As I watched all this, Tenma-san timidly raised her hand, apparently curious about something regarding clans.
“Um, Mamiya-san… was it? I don’t really know anything about unofficial clans. What kinds are there?”
“Yes. For example, there is the famous champion-of-justice group ‘Oboro,’ where peerless warriors gather.”
“…Huh? Champions of justice?”
As if she had been waiting for that question, Chi-chan puffed out her chest and answered proudly. According to her, Oboro was also ranked at the highest AAA level. Since they concealed their identities and kept their distance from both the Adventurer Guild and the government, they received no preferential treatment whatsoever.
However, to the general public, Oboro was viewed more like an urban legend or a dark underground organization—something occult and sinister. So Satsuki and Kano blinked in surprise when Chi-chan described them as “champions of justice.”
In any case, our objective was to create an environment where the Ten Rakshashas would never target us again, and then bring the maid back as quickly as possible. We didn’t have the luxury of waiting around to be ranked by some third-party institution. The perks of becoming a clan should only be considered a bonus.
Besides, even if we gained some fame as a clan, the Ten Rakshashas would never acknowledge us so easily. Unless we demonstrated achievements and strength on the level of the major conquest clans, they probably wouldn’t even bother taking us seriously.
Normally, we might have been able to settle things by offering tribute or submitting ourselves to them. But after thoroughly beating up Shiramizu—a Rakshasha—and turning him into the centerpiece of a graffiti festival, that option was probably no longer available.
From now on, we would likely have repeated contact with the Ten Rakshashas, and it could easily lead to combat. Considering the danger, it would be safest for only Arthur and me to handle things for the time being.
But the moment I said that, objections immediately came flying in.
“Souta, let me fight alongside you too!”
“Narumi-kun, I’m definitely joining too!”
Satsuki insisted that she was their comrade and fully prepared for the risks involved. She begged to be allowed to fight alongside us. After all, during the Tokyo incident, she had rushed in to support us without regard for her own life, so I knew her words were sincere. Tenma-san was equally desperate to do anything she could to bring the maid back.
Perhaps it had been arrogant of me to dismiss their feelings and try to keep them away simply because it was dangerous. I was about to lower my head and ask for their cooperation myself, but before I could, two girls boldly jumped into the conversation first.
“Satsuki-nee, welcome aboard!”
“We are grateful for Tenma-senpai’s cooperation as well.”
With benevolent smiles and arms spread wide, Kano and Chi-chan welcomed Satsuki and Tenma-san as though they were founding members of the group themselves. Naturally, I immediately rejected the idea and told the two of them they weren’t allowed to join.
At that, both of them protested in unison, “That’s not what we agreed on!” despite no such agreement ever existing. No matter what they said, forbidden meant forbidden.
“…I’m joining too. Tenma is my best friend, and she’s in trouble.”
“Uuu, thank you, Kotone-chan!”
While I was prying Kano and Chi-chan off my legs, where they had latched themselves on, Kuga-san declared that she would join EEE as well, saying it was “for her best friend.”
Tenma-san’s eyes welled up emotionally as she threw herself at her, but unfortunately for her, the dark-skinned girl was grinning slyly at me from the side.
Like Tenma-san, Kuga-san was one of the genuine Explorer heroines, and of course I wanted to support her. But unless we advanced her events and deepened our bond, she still wasn’t someone I could fully trust.
As I agonized over what to do, Arthur once again burst forward and continued the discussion on his own.
“Alright then, if we’re making a clan, the next question is where our base will be! My house works, but the dark mana is really strong there, so it’s probably not a place people should stay too long.”
“A place somewhere inside the dungeon would be best after all!”
If we were going to establish a clan, then naturally we needed a base where everyone could gather. Ideally, it should also be a safe place where we wouldn’t be attacked by adventurers or monsters.
In that sense, Arthur’s home met the conditions, but since it was literally a demon stronghold, the dark mana saturating the air was incredibly dense. Staying there constantly could place a heavy burden on one’s mind.
On the other hand, outside the dungeon we couldn’t use body enhancement or skills, making us extremely vulnerable if attacked. Kano added that we should narrow our candidate locations to somewhere inside the dungeon.
And on top of that, for Tenma-san’s sake, we wanted a fairly large base. Right now, we were borrowing her under the excuse of holding strategy meetings, but dragging a noble lady around repeatedly would undermine the authority of the black butlers serving her. If there were enough room for everyone to stay together permanently, it would ease the burden on both Tenma-san and the black butlers alike.
The problem, however, was that constructing such a large building was impossible for us right now, even with the construction skill Golem Castle, because we simply lacked the mana capacity. But using the conventional method of gathering materials and manpower would cost hundreds of millions of yen. And if we wanted defenses strong enough to ensure we were never attacked again, the construction time would also be significant.
How were we supposed to solve all these daunting problems? I wasn’t even sure there was a solution, but for the time being I decided to ask everyone for ideas on raising funds.
Immediately, the beautiful blonde bob-cut girl quietly raised her hand.
“Last month’s allowance ended up going to waste, but if I get next month’s in advance, it might work out somehow?”
“Umm… huh? Allowance?”
Not understanding what she meant, Satsuki and Kano also tilted their heads and echoed, “Allowance?”
When Chi-chan politely asked her to elaborate, Tenma-san revealed an astonishing truth.
Originally, the structure they had intended to build on the 25th floor of the dungeon—the one destroyed due to the conflict over the maid—had been meant to keep the contracted Ugalm happy. Large construction machinery and materials had been brought in, along with a huge workforce, so the project must have cost hundreds of millions.
Yet despite all of that being ruined, Tenma-san merely gave a bitter smile and didn’t seem especially devastated. Why?
Because, in her words, “It was just last month’s allowance that got wasted.”
Hearing the earth-shattering size of her allowance, my money-loving little sister was drawn toward Tenma-san like a magnet and clung to her legs.
“Tenma Onee-sama! I shall follow you for life!”
“Chi-chan… are nobles really this rich?”
“…No. Tenma-senpai’s family is just exceptional.”
I already knew Tenma-san was wealthy, but what exactly did she even spend that kind of money on?
Apparently, most of it went toward funding the black butlers, though the exact breakdown was unknown because the maid had managed everything. Well, maintaining a force of that size constantly would naturally require a huge amount of money. Still, the fact that it all came from her allowance was absurd.
Out of curiosity, I asked the other noble girl among us as well, but Chi-chan’s allowance wasn’t much different from Kano’s. Come to think of it, Chi-chan didn’t have a single retainer accompanying her. Maybe the Mamiya family was actually a poor noble household little different from commoners.
Putting that aside, Tenma-san explained that if she received next month’s allowance in advance, she could invest enough money to construct something on the same scale as the destroyed 25th-floor project.
However, there was one condition: we would need to accompany her and help persuade her “grandfather.”
Tenma-san’s grandfather—the founder of the Tenma Group—also appeared in Explorer, so I knew what kind of person he was. Unfortunately, he hated men approaching his granddaughter even more than Kurosaki-san did, which made the idea extremely intimidating.
Still, if it meant securing funds and manpower for building our base… we had no choice but to go.
“Well, I guess that solves one problem—wait, no, there’s still Akagi. What are we supposed to do about him? At this point, power-leveling him is probably the only option.”
“…Akagi? You mean that red-haired guy?”
When Arthur brought up Akagi-kun, Kuga-san looked suspicious at the sudden mention of our classmate.
Why did we need him?
Because Akagi-kun’s “affinity loved by spirits” was the key to breaking Tenma-san’s curse.
However, in his current state, he wasn’t nearly strong enough to survive the curse-breaking quest, and Kurosaki-san—the one who had planned to train him—had been taken away, leaving us stuck. Arthur’s suggestion was simple: just power-level him all at once.
But would spirits truly acknowledge someone strengthened by such a crude shortcut? And if his level rose too quickly, the school events that were supposed to occur might never happen. Without struggling and suffering through those experiences, his growth would stagnate, and he would fail to become the kind of person who attracted others naturally.
Those were the reasons I had always rejected relying on easy power-leveling… but part of me still believed that maybe Akagi-kun could handle it.
“So that person is necessary to break the curse… I’ll help too. I can’t teach as well as Kurosaki, though…”
“I’ll help too! If there’s anything we need to prepare, just let me know!”
Unlike Tenma-san, who offered her help somewhat timidly, Satsuki responded with her usual bright smile.
We still hadn’t decided what the power-leveling would actually involve, but for players with Explorer knowledge, handling low-level progression wasn’t particularly difficult. I should probably come up with a few plans.
In front of the blazing bonfire burning at the center of the grand hall, everyone chatted enthusiastically about creating a base and establishing the clan.
Even though Chi-chan and Kuga-san had only just met, they seemed to be getting along remarkably well. I had assumed both of them had difficult personalities, but perhaps they were surprisingly compatible.
Summer vacation would begin soon.
I had hoped to resolve both the maid rescue and Tenma-san’s curse-breaking event during that period… but maybe that would be too optimistic.
After all, this world had been created in the image of Explorer. Or perhaps Explorer itself had been modeled after this world. Either way, if the terrifying events from the game were destined to occur here as well, then we needed to prepare as quickly as possible.
Though—
(There’s a good chance things are already beyond our ability to handle.)
Explorer’s story wasn’t some gentle tale where you beat up the bad guys and ride happily into the sunset. It was a game about gathering heroes and heroines together to face the end of the world.
In other words, if Akagi-kun or Pink-chan fell out of the story, then they, we, and everyone living in this world would head straight toward a bad ending.
The bad endings in Explorer were utterly horrific. If they became reality, most of the people living in the dungeon cities would die, leaving behind nothing but scenes straight out of hell. Nations would have the very foundation of their economies destroyed, and it would likely take decades to recover.
I already suspected the probability of that future had become dangerously high.
Even now, while we sat here talking, the worst event that would bring about the bad ending was surely progressing slowly but steadily. Arthur, who was trying to cheer up the depressed Tenma-san with innocent smiles, had probably realized that too.
(How much time do we have left until the deadline?)
Butao, my family, and my childhood friends had all grown up in that town. I had become attached to it too and wanted to protect it. If possible, I wanted to protect the lives of the people living there as well.
But I wasn’t a god. There were limits to what I could do.
Arthur and I would discuss ways to minimize the damage, but perhaps we also needed to prepare ourselves to accept that tragic future little by little.
Once we rescued the maid from the Ten Rakshashas and successfully completed Tenma-san’s curse-breaking event, what would we do next?
Kaworu? Or Kuga-san?
Heroine events greatly boosted the heroines’ abilities, so if possible, I wanted to finish Chi-chan’s event too.
And after that…
Well then.
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