Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord - Volume 1 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Hidden Boss Enters a Dungeon

Where is Patrick going so frequently? What is it that he’s so passionate about?

The first thing that came to mind was level grinding, but I shouldn’t automatically think he was the same as me. Though reluctantly, I was beginning to understand that I was maybe a bit strange.

I thought about what people his age threw their passion toward and had an epiphany while being forced to listen to Eleanora go on about her love for the prince.

I see. It’s romance. Come to think of it, we are in the world of an otome game.

It was probably normal for Patrick to have a significant other—he was good-looking and kind, not to mention smart and pretty strong.

Also, he’s...

I let out a deep sigh, unable to finish my thought due to an impending sense of emptiness. My one saving grace was that my friendship with Patrick continued.

I wonder what his girlfriend thinks of me. A significant other from outside of the Academy, who can only see her boyfriend for short periods of time... Insert woman who is overly friendly with her boyfriend at the Academy she can’t enter and...

I was totally the villain in this scenario, which only made me feel more depressed.

Wait, that doesn’t explain why he sometimes comes back injured. Are they having lovers’ quarrels? Just how strong is his girlfriend? 

The thought that he had bad taste in women floated in my mind for a second before I realized that if being too strong was a red flag, I was waving it too.

Finding out the truth was scary, but I had to know, which is why I ended up ambushing him one night, only to find out that my theory was completely incorrect. But it didn’t matter. I was slightly, actually, very happy about it.

Several days later, Patrick suddenly had a request for me.

“There’s someone I want you to meet and talk to.”

“Sure. Who do you want me to meet with?”

It was unusual for Patrick to want to introduce me to someone.

Is it someone I know? I feel amazing right now, so I’ll meet whoever and talk with them as much as they’d like.

Patrick looked uncomfortable at my question.

“I don’t think you would want to meet with him, and you might not believe it, but he’s actually sorry for what he did...” he rambled.

“What? Who is it?”

Patrick paused before finally answering. “It’s His Highness.”

My mood immediately crashed at the sudden mention of the prince. Of course, I would agree to meet him, but the bliss I had been experiencing the past few days had completely disappeared.

We were in the Academy drawing room, the same room I was in when I was called upon by the headmaster for the first time. Prince Edwin and I were sitting face-to-face in utter silence.

Recently, the prince pretty much stayed away from me. Alicia would still come bother me occasionally, but I felt that the prince was pretty calm. He also seemed like he wouldn’t start the conversation at all.

Weren’t you the one who called me here to talk about something? You even went through the trouble of using Patrick to get me here.

“Um, what did you want to talk about?” I asked, finding it unusual that he wasn’t snapping at me.

“I’m sorry,” the prince said with a determined look.

“What?”

“I apologize. I acted rudely toward you, Lady Yumiella. I had made incorrect assumptions, but I continued to be senselessly stubborn.”

My mind went blank at the highly unexpected words coming from Prince Edwin. He continued speaking, paying no attention to my confusion.

“My father had already told me that there wasn’t even a one in a million chance that you were the Demon Lord, and I had known that was likely the truth. However, I couldn’t admit that something I had already claimed was wrong. I only listened to what people said when it was convenient for me. My juvenile behavior imposed inconveniences on you, Lady Yumiella. I’m sure that I made you feel awful as well. I’m truly sorry for my actions.”

I guess he’s just a kid.

The prince wasn’t the only one who was childish; the entire student body was children. Blindly believing baseless rumors and ostracizing those who are in the minority or attracting bad attention... Anyone who was disliked by the leader of the class would be ignored by everyone else. This current situation I was in could have happened in a Japanese high school as well. What I was most curious about was the reason for Prince Edwin’s sudden change of heart.

“Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?”

“I heard what Patrick had to say.”

Patrick? Why is his name coming up here? Come to think of it, he’s also the one who said I should meet with the Prince.

“Patrick had me listen to stories about you,” he continued as if he predicted my next question. “He told me about how your strength was the result of an incomparable amount of effort you put in. He told me about how you usually acted, and I came to realize that you were just a regular person. I had believed that I put in the most effort out of anyone without any proof of that and harbored fear somewhere in my heart that you weren’t normal and something else. I guess all of this just sounds like an excuse. It’s selfish of me to ask, but could you forgive me?”

“I understand your situation, Your Highness. I’m aware that I’m an unconventional person as well. I accept your apology.”

Whether I forgave him or not, I had no intention of being friends with the prince, but I didn’t want revenge either. None of this would change anything about how I acted.

“I’d like to make amends somehow. Is there anything I could do for you? I’ll do whatever is in my power.”

“If you could let me join you in your battle with the Demon Lord, that will be enough.”

Every time the prince did something to me, it felt like my peaceful life moved further out of reach, so I didn’t want anything from him. If anything, I wanted him to stay away from me as much as possible.

“I see. It’s just like Patrick said,” he said, seeming satisfied.

What did Patrick tell him?

“Actually, there is one thing I’d like to ask of you, Your Highness. Could you perhaps tell me what Patrick said about me?”

This is fine, right? I’m dying to know.

“He said that you had no interest in influential power or wealth and that you’re generally an overly trusting good person. He also said that you were a strong person who didn’t let a bad reputation get to you. Patrick has occasionally been telling me things like that for about six months now.”

It was more praise than I thought it would be, but there was one thing that bothered me.

“What did he mean by ‘generally’?”

“He said your thoughts and actions were strange, but generally, you were a good person... Don’t forget that these are Patrick’s words.”

Sure, I’m aware, but did he really have to include all that? 

“I just thought that I should answer your question honestly.” It was as if he had read my thoughts through my gaze.

That’s a weird thing to be serious about. Well, I guess I kind of knew that Patrick thought that.

After our conversation ended and Prince Edwin left, Headmaster Ronald entered the room.

“How was your conversation with His Highness?”

“I thought he was someone else. Are you sure that wasn’t a body double?”

The headmaster smiled wryly.

“It was actually his behavior this past year that was strange. His Highness has always been a flexible and understanding young man. I’m relieved to see that he’s back to being himself. It’s all thanks to Patrick. He wouldn’t listen to anything His Majesty or I had to say, but for some reason, he seemed to pay attention to Patrick’s words. I wonder if it’s because they’re the same age.”

“Well, now that I can help with level grinding, maybe we’ll be able to take care of the Demon Lord.”

Perhaps, now I would be able to lead a proper school life. My gratitude for Patrick was endless.

“About that, the other three seem to be the same as usual,” the headmaster observed.

The other three were probably Alicia and the other two love interests.

“Couldn’t His Highness just talk to them?”

“He did, but it didn’t work. Alicia is stubborn, and the other two say they believe her and won’t budge. Alicia’s the only one who hasn’t raised her level, so I’ve decided to forcibly intervene. It’s best for the kingdom if she defeats the Demon Lord as the saintess. Could I leave her to you? You can do whatever you’d like, as long as she doesn’t die.”

“I don’t want to be alone with her, so I’ll be bringing other people as well. Is that all right?”

“Of course. It would be great if you could bring His Highness along as well.”

Alicia is just the same as before, huh? I thought she would listen to what Prince Edwin had to say... I’m a little disappointed in her.

Regardless, things would be significantly easier now that the prince understood that I wasn’t the Demon Lord. As for leveling up Alicia, this was something that I had previously proposed to the headmaster, so I was happy to do it.

Maybe if Alicia learns the pleasures of happy, fun level-grinding time, she’ll become a little bit more normal.

◆◆◆

“It’s happy, fun level-grinding time!”

“Nooo!”

Lady Alicia Ehnleit, thank you for choosing to fly Ryuu Airlines. We will arrive at the Dolkness County dark-type dungeon shortly.

As I had my fun pretending to be a flight attendant in my head, Ryuu did a flip in midair as if he wanted to do something on the house for us because of how much fun I was having. Alicia seemed to enjoy the special treatment as well, so much so that she had stopped her complaints about wanting to be let off and was now silently enjoying the flight. Patrick and Prince Edwin had joined us on this flight as well but had been silent since we departed.

I better not do anything that ruins this incredible experience for them.

I had originally planned to leave defeating the Demon Lord to Alicia, given that my original objective was to avoid gathering any attention. However, at this point, I had almost completely given up on achieving that objective, so there was no reason to hold back anymore. I could go ahead and take down the Demon Lord myself. The thing was, there could potentially be some hidden mechanic in the game where Alicia’s light magic was necessary to defeat the Demon Lord. For now, it was imperative that Alicia level up.

Having gotten the headmaster’s approval to do whatever I wanted, I decided to take Alicia to a dark-type dungeon—the very same one that I had frequented in the past. It was a terribly unpopular place because of how disadvantageous the four main elements were against dark magic. But for Alicia, who used light magic, this was a highly effective dungeon for training because of the plethora of enemies she would have an advantage against.

“Ryuu, can you land over there?” I asked, pointing toward our destination that was now in view. Ryuu responded with an affirmative bark.

I turned toward my passengers. “Everyone, we’ll be landing soon,” I said. “Oh? Is everyone awake?” Alicia seemed to have passed out at some time, while the other two stayed silent with stiff expressions.

We finally landed, which Ryuu handled more gently than usual because we were flying with four people today.

“Thank you, Ryuu. You can go play until I call you. Just make sure to stay away from where people are, okay?” Even though everyone had gotten off, Ryuu showed no signs of leaving and lay on the ground, positioned in a way that surrounded me.

Ah, it’s not a school day, so he thought that we could play together.

“I’m sorry, you can’t come into the dungeon with us. We can play tomorrow, okay?” Ryuu reluctantly gave in, moving his tail out of the way to let me through. “Thank you. You’re such a good boy.” Ryuu was generally independent, but he seemed to want attention today.

I’ll have to spoil him plenty tomorrow.

“So, Alicia’s asleep. What should we do?” I asked.

The unconscious Alicia was currently being carried by Prince Edwin, who was looking unwell. Even Patrick looked like he was ill.

Are you guys okay? We’re just getting started.

“We have no choice but to wait for her to wake up,” said Prince Edwin while placing Alicia under a tree. “I’ll watch over her.”

“I’m sorry, I need a break,” Patrick blurted before immediately dropping down to sit on the ground. I was thinking of going into the dungeon with him while waiting for Alicia to wake up, but that was now off the table. He pulled out a handkerchief and placed it on the ground next to him. “You should take a break too. Sit here.”

“Okay,” I replied and sat on the handkerchief.

This isn’t a double date, you know.

I turned away from Patrick and pretended to stare into the distance, hoping he wouldn’t notice that my face was slightly flushed.

“H-Huh? Where are we?” Alicia asked groggily.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake. We’re in front of the dungeon,” informed Prince Edwin to the finally awake Alicia.

Patrick seemed to be feeling better as well, so it was time to dive into the dungeon.

I’ll wash the handkerchief and return it to him later.

The four of us walked through the dim dungeon, with Alicia latched onto the prince, looking around anxiously.

She’s overreacting. Not having both your hands free is so much scarier.

“So, what kind of monsters appear in this dungeon?” Patrick asked, walking alongside me with his sword in one hand.

“The lower levels just have bat-types and snakelike monsters, I think.” There were too many types of monsters. I couldn’t remember all the names.

I think the bat one was...a Swarm Bat?

“Oh, there’s one monster that we need to be extra careful of.”

There was one type of monster whose name even I remembered. It was an inconsequential monster in the game but troublesome in real life.

“There are strong ones too? I’ll be careful.”

“No, they’re not that strong, but—” I was about to explain the monster to Patrick, but then, I saw my shadow wriggling around unnaturally from the corner of my eye. “It’s here. A Shadow Assassin!”

The amorphous black monster that appeared from my shadow headed straight toward us. I kicked it away, which was enough to cause the monster to disappear like mist.

“Shadow Assassins appear all over the dungeon, so be careful,” I explained. “You can take care of them after they appear easily like I just did, but they’re a little annoying when they come out during battles with other monsters or while you’re taking a break.”

My three companions suspiciously stared at their own shadows. “I see why people don’t come to this dungeon.”

There’s no need to be that on guard. If we’re talking about pure battle power, someone of a single-digit level could easily handle one of those.

“Is there anything else we should be cautious of?” Prince Edwin asked hesitantly.

“Hmm... There’re trap holes, but I actually treasured those because they got you into the depths of the dungeon far more easily. But they appear randomly, and areas you’ve already explored can spawn them as well.”

“What kind of place did we walk into?”

“It’ll be all right if we stay together. That way, when we fall, it’ll be as a group,” I reassured them.

Though this dungeon wasn’t as friendly to explorers compared to other dungeons, its efficiency for level grinding was the best.

I wish they would just accept things a bit more easily.

However, there was one person in our group who didn’t want to tolerate anything.

“I don’t want to do this anymore!” Alicia shrieked. “Let’s go home, Ed. That person is trying to kill us!”

Alicia ran toward the dungeon’s exit.

“Hold on, Alicia!” Prince Edwin yelled after her.

I guess it was too much for her after all. We’ll probably have to leave the dungeon for now and wait for Prince Edwin to convince her to come back in.

I sighed and watched as she fled, only for her to suddenly disappear.

“Oh, a trap hole.”

“Alicia!” Prince Edwin called out in a panic, but the trap hole had already vanished. She was now alone in a deeper level of the dungeon.

“I wonder what level she fell to,” I pondered curiously.

“Huh? Didn’t she just fall to the second level?” Patrick asked.

It wasn’t Patrick’s fault that he didn’t know, but trap holes would drop you to a random level. It obviously wasn’t structurally possible, but that’s how they worked—it might have been more accurate to call them teleportation circles rather than trap holes, but there was definitely a sensation of falling when going through one.

“As long as she’s within the first twenty levels, she should be fine, but any further than that and things could be a bit dangerous.”

“A bit dangerous?” Patrick said, turning pale before my eyes.

“Hm? What’s wrong? It’s times like these where we need to be calm and—”

“Yumiella, how dangerous is it for Lady Alicia to fight a Shadow Assassin?” Patrick cut in.

“What? I don’t think it would be that dangerous.”

“How about a dragon? How dangerous would that be for her?”

“A dragon might be a bit dangerous, but it could change depending on the type of dragon.”

Why was Patrick asking all these questions?

“Your Highness!” Patrick suddenly yelled at the dazed prince. “Yumiella said it was ‘a bit dangerous’ to fight a dragon! Her ‘a bit dangerous’ means that Alicia’s chances of survival are hopeless!”

Hold on, a bit just means a bit, nothing more and nothing less. You’re exaggerating, Patrick.

The prince suddenly began running as if he were trying to reach the depths of the dungeon on his own. I grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Let me go!” he shouted. “I have to save Alicia! She’s the one who’s shown me the path!”

“Calm down. What are you going to do by just running off on your own?”

The path that he was talking about was probably something related to the game’s main story. If I’m recalling correctly, the story was something along the lines of the prince being unsure about what he should be doing as the second prince, and thanks to Alicia, he was able to discover the path he should take.

I guess even though she’s...how she is, Alicia must be properly playing the role of the main character.

For now, we had to find Alicia.

“Let’s split up the work. You two should search up to the twentieth level together. We wouldn’t want another one of you to get lost, so please make sure to stay together. I will search the deeper levels. Patrick, His Highness can be unpredictable, so take care of him, okay?”

“Got it. You be careful too, Yumiella.”

I ran toward the depths of the dungeon, now alone. This dungeon was like my backyard—the path to the deepest levels was etched into my memory.

“Wait, weren’t the stairs over here?” I mumbled to myself.

Well, it had been a while. My memory seemed to be a bit shaky.

After taking a few detours, I arrived at the twentieth level through what was basically the shortest path and began looking for Alicia.

I hope she ended up on a lower-level floor...

I especially didn’t care for the floors around the twentieth level because of the centipede-like monsters that appeared. The centipede monsters were large, so I had no choice but to use more advanced spells against them. Because of that, the ratio of mana used to experience points gained was terrible and inefficient. My dislike had nothing to do with how they looked, of course.

“Ed! Where are you? Can you hear me?” Alicia’s voice rang out from the twenty-third floor.

I ran in the direction of her voice, dealing with the monsters I encountered without stopping, just as I had been doing up until this point. When I finally found her and confirmed it was her from behind, I called out to her using the kindest voice I could muster.

It would be a pain if she ran away from me too.

“I’ve come to save you.”

“Ed?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just me.”

Alicia had turned around with a smile on her face, but it faded into a frozen look of fear upon seeing me.

Am I really that unreliable? You know, at this level, you’re better off with me than the prince.

“What did you do to me?! Why are we separated from everyone?”

“You see, you fell through a trap hole that—”

“You planted a trap hole?! Take me back! What are you planning to do to me?!” Alicia screamed, her voice reverberating through the dungeon.

Wow, using such a loud voice in a dungeon... Maybe she has a talent for level grinding, after all.

“Trap holes are part of the dungeon. I’m not going to do anything to you, but I’m sure that group headed this way will,” I said, pointing in the direction behind Alicia.

“A group?” she asked slowly before finally understanding the current situation.

Monsters all over the dungeon had reacted to her loud voice and were gathering near us. It was a miracle that she hadn’t encountered any of them until now.

Now that we were here, it was probably fine to use this opportunity to get Alicia to grind her way back to the surface, so I decided to leave the monsters that were swarming us to her.

She looked at me with a panicky expression. “H-Help me!”

“It’ll be all right. I’ll make sure to help before you die. My recovery magic can regenerate an entire arm,” I said comfortingly. It would have been a total waste if she were to panic now, but my efforts were futile, and Alicia became frantic and began rapid-firing magic into empty space.

“Nooo!”

Oh, a ball of light she shot out hit the bat-type monster that was closest to us. Hmm, she’s using a lot of magic unnecessarily, but the dungeon passageways are cramped, so a bullet-hell style of combat would probably be effective.

In the end, the monsters that had gathered had all jumped into Alicia’s barrage of bullets in some way or another and were extinguished. The despicable, large centipede was also unable to survive after getting hit by light magic, its weakness.

Once Alicia noticed that the monsters were gone, she collapsed on the spot.

“W-We survived? Can we go home now?”

“Well then, let’s regroup with His Highness and Patrick. There are just twenty-two more floors to the surface.”

Alicia paused. “What?”

“I’ll stay out of the battles as much as possible. I’ll be the guide and leave the monsters to you.”

Alicia stood there, face frozen in shock.

It’s okay. You can do it, Alicia.

I wasn’t sure if it was because she was the protagonist of the game, but Alicia was strong enough to be able to get through the middle levels. Truthfully, I wanted to go farther into the dungeon, but I restrained myself.

“I can’t!” Alicia exclaimed. “You can easily defeat monsters, can’t you?!”

“Oh, you’re being loud again... I think they’re coming from that direction this time. Please handle them just like you did earlier.”

Her words were that of contempt, but perhaps Alicia actually had fun level grinding. Why else would she have yelled again right after fighting all those monsters just moments ago?

There were a few dicey moments with monsters getting quite close to us, but Alicia was able to wipe out all of the monsters this time as well. Then, I began guiding us out.

We walked through the passageways of the dungeon without speaking and made it up two floors the same way. After our third enemy encounter on the current floor, Alicia suddenly stopped in place.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“I’m out of mana. I can’t do this anymore...”

“Oh, that’s not a problem. I came prepared with mana potions!”

Having never run out of mana before, I had never really used a mana potion. I knew they were absolutely disgusting, but if I had needed some while level grinding, I’m sure I would have downed them without hesitation.

“I don’t really like those...”

“All right. I’ll give you a sword then, so please take care of the monsters with physical attacks.”

Alicia finally gave up and drank the potion with tears in her eyes.

“Your mana is low because your level is low. Why don’t you take down any monsters during outdoor training?”

“Th-That’s because Ed and the others said they would protect me...” Alicia said, trailing off.

It seemed she was aware that things weren’t okay as is.

Alicia had gotten permission to enter the Royal Academy thanks to her prospective talent with light magic. On top of that, Prince Edwin revealed the resurrection of the Demon Lord to her, and she agreed to join the battle to defeat the Demon Lord. After all of that, there was no way that Alicia could neglect strengthening her light magic.

We continued to make our way through the dungeon. As I had expected, Alicia had a talent for battle. Though her magic was a violent barrage in the beginning, she was able to gradually correct her control. She had also been reacting frantically every time we encountered a monster in the beginning, but now, she would start attacking before she spoke. Even the potion that she was taking small sips of was now getting chugged.

Things are going pretty well. Both Alicia and the prince should be happy with results like these. Maybe the day that Alicia’s misunderstandings about me are cleared up isn’t too far away.

The way that she took down monsters while repeatedly muttering under her breath that she didn’t want to die was like that of a battle robot. It also reminded me of my past self and left me feeling nostalgic.

I can’t believe that she was letting her wonderful talents die all for the superiority she felt from being protected by a good-looking guy. It was truly a waste.

“Looks like this floor is all clear. Let’s head up to the next one.”

“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die... Oh, I should just kill Yumiella. She’s probably the Demon Lord anyways...”

After whispering some disturbing things, Alicia suddenly turned and cast her light magic in my direction. I deflected the ball of light with my hand, finding that it was absolutely painless. Even though light magic was the type I wasn’t good with, there was too big of a difference between our levels for it to do anything to me.

“O-Oh no. I-I...I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Alicia deliriously apologized.

She is way too unstable. I thought she’d be feeling calmer the closer we got to the surface.

During the latter half of our return trip, Alicia did exactly as I said with no complaints. She had become a completely different person to who she was before entering the dungeon, but we had achieved our goal, and she seemed harmless to me.

It’s probably fine. It should be fine...right?

“Are you okay?” I called over to Alicia.

“He he he, if I kill monsters, I get to live, if I kill monsters, I get to live...”

Wow, this feels like it might actually be pretty bad. Can I let her meet up with the prince like this? Patrick is probably going to be mad at me again.

We regrouped with the others on the fifth floor. They had been on their way back up after having gotten to the twentieth floor.

“Oh, there they are,” I said to Alicia before yelling out to the others. “I found Alicia! As you can see, there’s not a scratch on her.”

“Alicia! I’m glad to see that you’re safe,” Prince Edwin called back to us.

“What? Ed? Are you real?”

Prince Edwin ran over and hugged Alicia.

Could you please do that somewhere else?

Patrick came up to me and leaned in.

“Hey, Yumiella. Is she okay? Her eyes look kind of dead,” he whispered.

“She’s probably suffering from some trauma.”

Alicia was close to being out of commission, so we called it a day.

The next day, Alicia seemed to have returned to normal overnight.

“You were a bad person all along, Yumiella! It seems like you’ve tricked everyone around you, but I won’t fall for it!”

It appeared that her mind was stronger than I thought it was.

“Please don’t slack on level grinding from now on. If your grinding falls behind, we’ll just have to enter another dungeon together.”

“Eeek!” Alicia yelped and ran off.

It seemed that yesterday’s events may have traumatized her. The prince had been worried about Alicia disliking level grinding even more after having a terrifying experience, but turns out, there was no need for concern. From that day forward, Alicia began to level grind as if she were possessed. She was the final weapon in the battle against the Demon Lord, so I did something good here... At the very least, that’s what I told myself.

◆◆◆

I often walked around the Royal Capital on my days off from the Academy. I preferred wandering around the commoner district rather than the aristocratic quarter. I had a lot of fun finding stores that sold cheap but delicious treats, buying rare fruits that street vendors sold, and peeking into suspicious stores in the back alleys.

After Ryuu was born, I hadn’t really visited, so today, I decided to take a stroll around the Royal Capital for the first time in a while. I was dressed in my outfit for visiting the Royal Capital, which consisted of a simple dress and a hat to hide my hair.

I had planned on playing with Ryuu today, but he had gone off to play outside of the capital. If I called for him, he would return, but there was no reason to do that. And so, I walked around the capital aimlessly, eventually finding myself at the commoners’ residential area, where small houses were crammed together, outlined by complicated alleyways.

There were no stores or anything that could be a landmark, and I was on the verge of declaring myself lost. I could go back the way I came by retracing my steps, but that would be boring—it was much more fun to blindly keep walking and end up somewhere I never would have imagined myself.

I took turns on the narrow pathways using my intuition, eventually finding myself even more entangled when I heard the voices of children. It sounded like there was some bullying going on. A couple of them were speaking in abusive tones.

“Your hair is creepy.”

“I know the truth. He’s a demon’s kid. He doesn’t have a dad, right?”

“Ew, your mom likes demons?”

I could also hear the child being bullied speaking shakily, as if they were holding back tears. I had no intention of getting in between some children fighting, but their words were too cruel, so I changed my mind.

The voices came from an alley one house over, so I leaped over the house, landing silently. A boy who looked to be around seven years old with dark brown hair was surrounded by three boys.

“What are you doing?” I called out.

The three boys looked at me in surprise.

“Wh-What do you want? It’s none of your business.”

“It’s pretty uncool to gang up on someone and bully them.”

“His hair is black, so he’s the bad one. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

The boy with the dark brown hair had the darkest hair I had ever seen on someone else in this world—Patrick’s gray hair was closer to white, and that was still enough to make him self-conscious in the past, so it was understandable that people would discriminate against this kid.

“Not every person with black hair is bad, are they?”

“But it’s black. Don’t you think that he looks like a bad guy?”

They don’t have any reservations about discriminating against black hair. It’s probably partially because they’re children, but it’s possible that adults just hide their feelings and let their hatred simmer secretly.

Again, I was made aware of how deep the discrimination against black hair was in this kingdom. I had given up until now, thinking that I couldn’t help facing discrimination. Perhaps my senses had been numbed. But I wanted to do something for this boy.

“I don’t think his hair is black, though,” I said as the boys stared at me in confusion. “Wouldn’t real black hair look like this?” I took off my hat and my black hair tumbled down.

Upon seeing that my hair was as black as the darkness of the night, their eyes widened in disbelief, and they went into a frenzy.

“A real demon?”

“Maybe she’s the Demon Lord.”

“Hey!” one boy exclaimed. He seemed to be their leader. “Don’t freak out. She’s just a regular human,” he reassured his friends. He didn’t seem to realize that he was contradicting himself.

“Some people do call me the Demon Lord. So, don’t call his dark brown hair ‘black’ anymore. It’s unpleasant to be grouped together like that,” I said while floating black orbs of magic around me.

The boys’ faces froze in fear before they screamed and ran away.

“Heeelp!”

Nice. I was able to be scarier than usual. I’m sure they’ll develop some sense of unity after running away from a scary person together. Then, they’ll pick on the brown-haired boy less, and... Wait.

I moved my gaze from the boys who were running away to my side and saw that the boy with dark brown hair hadn’t run away.

“U-Um, thank you for saving me,” he said timidly.

Hey, kid with the dark brown hair, there’s no point in me being the bad guy if you don’t run away with them.

“You should go on ahead and run away too, since your hair isn’t black.”

“No, it’s all right. It’s my hair’s fault anyway.”

The boy flashed a smile so faint that it felt like he could break at any moment.

I see. He’s given up already, just like I had in the past.

“My name’s Yumiella. What’s yours?”

“My name is Phil. I’m six years old.”

I’ve got to say, it’s rare for a child not to be scared of me. I’ve talked to lost children before and they usually just burst into tears.

He was six years old, not so far off from the age I regained the memories of my past life, given that I was five at that time. But I had my memories to keep me mentally stable and understood that there was no basis for the discrimination, but Phil didn’t have that—the emotional scars he carried must have been deep.

“Do you have any friends, Phil?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Is your family nice to you?”

“I don’t have a dad, but my mom is nice.”

A gentle expression appeared on his face when he spoke about his mother.

His family is kind to him. That’s probably his only hope...

“My parents apparently don’t want to see my face, so I’ve actually never met them,” I confessed.

“What? That’s...”

“But recently, I made a friend and a cute kid too.”

“You have a child?!”

Oh, that’s what caught your attention. Wait, wouldn’t it be nice if he became friends with Ryuu? Phil and Ryuu would both gain a friend, and I would be relieved that my child finally has a friend as well. I think it’s a wonderful idea where everyone benefits. It’s a win-win-win!

“I do, even though I didn’t give birth to him. He doesn’t have any friends either. Would you like to meet him?”

“Y-Yes, if that’s okay...”

“You don’t mind the color black, do you?”

“I don’t! I don’t care about hair color!”

I was referring to the color of his entire body, not hair, but this is probably fine.

I brought Phil with me to the outer walls of the Royal Capital.

Following a stranger all the way here... He’s not very careful, is he?

“How far are we going?”

“Okay, let’s wait a bit. He should be here in five minutes.”

I fired dark magic into the sky like fireworks to call Ryuu over.

“Whoa, I knew it was magic. You were using magic earlier. Are you an aristocrat?”

Phil was surprisingly sharp. Even the way he spoke was quite mature. I assumed boys his age were rowdier, but perhaps the environment he grew up in caused him to be different.

“Technically, I am, but don’t worry about it. My rank is low anyway.”

This wasn’t a lie. Counts were the lowest of the top level of the aristocratic rankings. As I stared at the sky, I saw Ryuu’s shadow appear in the distance.

“Oh, looks like he’s here.”

It had only been three minutes, so Ryuu must have been close by. Phil was looking around curiously, so I pointed at the sky.

“What?! A dragon? It’s the one that was recently in the capital!”

“Yeah, he’s the one I wanted to introduce you to. He’s a nice boy, so don’t be afraid.”

Ryuu flew downward, making a beeline for me, and landed with a thunderous sound.

“Ryuu, this is Phil. I’d like you to be friends with him.”

Ryuu roared as if to say it was nice to meet Phil, who was scared stiff and had fallen backward at the sight of the dragon. It seemed that he was so scared that he couldn’t say anything.

Hm, perhaps this was a mistake. If you look closely, you can see that Ryuu is adorable and cute, but it’s not often that people understand that.

Surprisingly, Phil, who was still stiff with fear, reached out to touch the tip of Ryuu’s nose. It probably felt ticklish to have his nose touched, but Ryuu stayed still.

“I-It’s nice to meet you, Ryuu.”

“Are you all right, Phil? Aren’t you scared?” I said, picking him up from behind.

“I’ve had some bad experiences because of how I look, so...” he mumbled. “Um, so, I don’t want to dislike anyone because of how they look. Ryuu looks scary, but he didn’t do anything when I touched him, so I thought maybe we could be friends...”

“You’re a strong boy, Phil.”

Patrick called me strong before, but I think the ones who are truly strong are people like Phil.

A short while later, we were flying through the sky on Ryuu’s back. Phil was scared at first, but now he was comfortable enough to enjoy the views.

“You have a friend, right, Yumiella?”

“I do. His name is Patrick. What did you want to ask about him?”

“Since I can’t make friends on my own, I was just thinking about how incredible you were.”

That’s not true. Patrick was the one who spoke to me first and made the effort to get to know me.

“I’m the same as you, Phil. He was the one who started talking to me first. At the time, I had kind of given up on being friends with people.”

Phil gasped upon hearing that I had given up. It was possible that he had given up on healthy interpersonal relationships as well.

I need to fix this issue so that there aren’t any more kids like Phil, but... How exactly do you get rid of discrimination?

◆◆◆

Following their meeting, Phil and Ryuu would go out and play often, just the two of them. Even today, Ryuu was energetically flying off.

I was slightly sad about it, but maybe it was better for children to play together.

Even when I was a child, I was... Never mind, I only have memories of level grinding.

I walked out to the Academy courtyard and looked up at the sky, only to have the harsh sunlight shine directly into my eyes—it was already summer. I heard a voice call out from behind and turned to find Patrick.

“Oh, did you need something?”

“Hey, Yumiella, it’s about our upcoming summer break. I’m going to leave the Academy, so—”

Patrick had spent the last summer break at the Academy like I did. I was really grateful that he would talk to me from time to time. He was probably worried about what I’d do during the break if I were all alone. He seemed to feel bad for leaving the Academy, but luckily for me, I had plans for the break as well. Now that I had Ryuu as a method of transportation, I could travel far away.

“It’s all right. I have somewhere I’d like to go this year. It’s summer, so I thought I should be out making wonderful memories.”

“I see. That’s good. I was worried about you being all alone at the Academy.”

Though his words were comforting, Patrick looked somewhat sad.

Oh, Patrick must’ve wanted to use Ryuu to get home. I see why he wanted to check in with me.

“I’m not here for Ryuu. It’s only natural to not want to leave your friend alone,” he added.

I guess he knows what I’m thinking. Now that I think about it, Patrick didn’t like flying.

“Oh, right. I forgot that you’re afraid of heights.”

Patrick surprised me with his fear of heights. He had said that it’s common for people to be afraid of heights, but Phil got used to it right away and enjoyed traveling through the sky.

“Hold on. Flying is on a whole different level, and... Never mind that. Where are you going? Did Lady Eleanora invite you somewhere?”

“She did invite me somewhere, but...”

Eleanora had invited me to a summer retreat, but I turned her down. We ended up agreeing to exchange gifts, but I wasn’t exactly going to a tourist destination, so I had no idea what I would get her.

“I’m thinking of going to Valius this summer.”

“Valius? Oh, for the dungeon.”

“Yes, I want a sword from that dungeon.”

Valius was a town with a famous dungeon, though perhaps it would be more accurate to say the town surrounded that dungeon. The contents of a treasure chest obtained from the dungeon in Valius were on another level. People from all around were drawn to those items, and eventually, a town grew around it.

“But there’s no need for you to have a dungeon sword, is there? It’s not like you’re going to fight very often in a melee position.”

I had been learning swordsmanship for over a year now at the Academy and had started to gain more technical skills instead of just forcing my way with my high level, leading me to want my own sword.

This was something I learned during the battle arts competition last year, but commercial swords had a fatal flaw.

“Well, commercial swords break when I swing them with my full strength.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

As usual, Patrick was completely put off by me.

Weapons obtained from dungeon treasure chests often had high functionality, as they were made from unknown metals or had additional effects added to them—this was exactly what I was looking for. For now, anything was fine as long as it was sturdy.

“I tried buying a dungeon sword, but that broke too. I thought it would be easier to go get one myself if I wanted something better.”

“So that’s why you chose Valius. The swords there would probably be the best quality. I’m sure you’ll be fine but be safe.”

In the game, the Dolkness dark-type dungeon was the best for level grinding, and the Valius dungeon was the best for gathering equipment. The properties of each item were random, so you had to grind until you got an item that had the element and additional effect you were looking for.

My dungeon-grinding summer was about to begin.

◆◆◆

On the first day of summer break, I flew on Ryuu to the town of Valius. I had Ryuu drop me off a little bit outside of the town to avoid a commotion, and I walked the rest of the way.

Valius was lively with groups of mercenaries, soldiers, and merchants from around the world all interacting. First, I obtained lodging at an inn before immediately heading to the dungeon. The population density of the area was intense. Various people who were about to enter the dungeon were hanging around outside. I walked up to the reception area at the entrance of the dungeon.

“Excuse me, I’d like to enter the dungeon.”

The lady working at the counter furrowed her brows at me. “You can’t enter here without permission. We’re busy, so please leave if you’re just here to stir things up.”

I had forgotten, but the dungeon in Valius required permission to enter due to its popularity.

“I apologize. I do have a permission form,” I said, pulling out my prepared form.

“Let’s see here... A signature from His Majesty?! Wait, Yumiella Dolkness... Are you the level 99, Lady Yumiella?”

I guess she knew who I was. I was still unsure how widespread my existence was.

I immediately got the approval to enter and promptly made my way into the dungeon. Monsters of all types except for light-type showed up in this dungeon. Because of that, the dungeon in-game was said to be bad for level grinding, but having reached max level, that wasn’t a concern for me.

My only objective was the treasure chest that appeared in the lair of the boss on the fiftieth level. In the game, that treasure chest would guarantee equipment of certain performance, so I was after that.

I saw some adventurers in the lower levels, but around the twentieth level, I stopped seeing other people. I saw some untouched treasure chests, but they were all filled with low-quality equipment.

That’s how it goes for chests outside the boss’s lair.

I didn’t have a useful video game inventory, so it was a shame, but I decided to leave them behind.

During my first round, I got lost around the fortieth floor but eventually made it to the boss’s lair on the fiftieth floor.

“Welcome.” The boss chuckled. “To think a human who could make it to the depths of my dungeon would appear...”

The boss was a demon with the head of a goat. The boss of the dark-type dungeon I frequented was a Dullahan that didn’t speak, so this was the first time in my life that I met a monster that could speak human language.

“Please give me a good weapon,” I prayed. “Black Hole.”

“Aaagh!”

The demon disappeared, leaving a large magic stone. A treasure chest appeared, containing a fire-type sword of moderate quality. It was about the same quality as the dungeon sword I had previously purchased and broken, so this was a fail.

Dungeons would allow you to teleport to the entrance after defeating the boss. I had no idea how it actually worked. Dungeons were full of mysteries, from the infinitely spawning monsters to the treasure chests that were replenished out of nowhere.

There was some commotion due to the fact that I had conquered the dungeon, but I ignored it and set off for my second round. The magic stone and sword sold for a good price.

On my second round, I had forgotten the path to the boss in some places and wasn’t able to shorten my time.

“Welcome. To think a human who could make it to the depths of my dungeon would appear...”

The goat-head demon said the same thing as the last round—it seemed that respawned demons didn’t retain their memories.

“Please give me a good weapon. Black Hole.”

“Aagh!”

The treasure chest contained a full-body suit of metal armor.

Ugh, I don’t want this...

On my third round, I was able to remember the path and get to the boss much easier. There were some instances throughout the floors where I wasn’t sure if I was taking the quickest route, so I planned to try different paths from here on out.

“Welcome. To think a human who could make it to the depths of my dungeon would appear...”

“Please give me a good weapon. Black Hole.”

“Agh!”

A wind-type spear. Another fail.

I decided to call it a day and sleep at the inn.

On my tenth round, I succeeded in identifying the shortest route—my grinding efficiency would surely increase now. However, I was having trouble getting a weapon I wanted.

Maybe I should try changing how I take down the boss.

“Welcome. To think a human who could make it to the depths of my dungeon would appear...”

“Please give me a good weapon. Shadow Lance.”

A water-type staff. Guess the spell doesn’t matter.

On my eleventh round, I concluded that my material desire must be the problem—I needed a heart that desired for nothing.

“Welcome. To think a human who could make it to the depths of my dungeon would appear...”

“I don’t need a good weapon. Black Hole.”

An earth-type hammer. Yeah, I saw that coming.

The magic stones from the boss initially sold for a high price due to their rarity, but their price started to crash because I was flooding the market with them. Unfortunately, the price of the boss’s magic stones would probably only continue to drop.

On my twentieth round, I’d had enough already.

“Welcome... Wait. Have I met you before? No, there’s no way a human could make it to this level so easily.”

“I’m sorry. Kick!” I exclaimed, kicking the boss.

“Aaagh!”

The goat-head demon started to faintly recall the events that had occurred up to this point.

I’m sorry, but I need you to die for my sword.

“Wow, this is...!”

A light-type sword came out of the treasure chest. Even the presence of the robust sword was different from everything that came before it. It might be an item that could handle my full strength.

Having the dual power of a light-type sword and dark-type magic also sounded pretty good. I ecstatically reached out to the sword.

“Ow!”

The moment I touched the sword, I felt a stinging pain in my finger. I tried again, and the results were no different.

It appeared that this sword had stronger dark-type resistance than light-type force and was reacting to my dark magic. It probably wouldn’t be harmful to most people because, typically, only monsters were dark types.

Even the sword is treating me like the Demon Lord. I’m sad.

I decided to explore the town of Valius for a change of scenery, but there wasn’t anything to see in particular—all this town had was a dungeon.

I mentioned that I would only be going into the dungeon during my summer break at the inn I had become a familiar face at, which apparently caused speculation about the boss’s magic stones. People planned to buy them right now while there was a big supply and their prices were low and planned to sell them once the supply was gone and their prices had increased. So, now, the prices of the magic stones were starting to rise again.

On my fiftieth round, I could feel my emotions fading away. Unlike level grinding, item grinding was rough because there was no clear end—I had no idea if I was closer or farther from my goal.

“Eek, please stop already... Wait, what did I just...?”

The goat-head demon never retained his memories, but it was as if there was something he remembered by instinct because he was now overcome with fear when he saw me.

Even though he was a demon, I started to feel bad for him. My break was also close to being over, so I decided to make this my last round.

“Thank you for everything up until now. Black Hole.”

Ever since the light-type sword I acquired a while ago, I hadn’t gotten anything that seemed like it could handle my strength. I thought I behaved relatively well in my day-to-day life, but my luck was absolutely terrible.

This is probably going to be a failure again.

I opened the treasure chest with low expectations, only to find a very familiar magical energy pouring out of it.

“This is...dark-type magical energy?”

Inside the treasure chest, there was a dark-type sword. It was shorter than a standard two-handed sword, but longer than a one-handed sword. It was likely a bastard sword known for its ability to be wielded both one- and two-handed. I could feel dark magical energy coming from the blade that didn’t reflect a single drop of light.

The previous light-type sword had a divine presence, but this sword had an ominously intimidating quality to it.

This equipment isn’t cursed...right?

Dark-type weapons were even rarer than their light-type counterparts. They hadn’t appeared in the game, so I was overjoyed to find they existed.

Was my bad luck until now preparation for this?

I was unsure of the truth, but I was certain that there was some unbreakable relationship between the dark element and myself.

I left the town of Valius, new equipment in tow.

◆◆◆

“Here, Patrick. This is a gift for you I got in Valius.”

“Is this a magic stone? It’s pretty big.”

As a result of aristocrats and investors buying up the boss’s magic stone in droves, the stones were now more valuable than when I sold my first one, to the point where it was a sign of high status to even own one.

“It’s a magic stone from the dungeon boss. I brought home the last one as a keepsake.”

“Oh, it’s one of the magic stones that everyone’s talking about right now? There’s no way I could accept something like this...”

Patrick was insistent on not accepting my gift, so I gave him the dagger I had brought back with me because it was easy to carry. He told me to save the magic stone for a rainy day, pointing out that money was important.

After selling forty-nine of these, money is not something I’m worried about.

Then, I realized I had forgotten about Eleanora.

Can I just give her a dagger like the one I gave Patrick?

The gift, which I had anticipated her refusing, was well received. Eleanora swung around the dagger while striking strange poses—she was extremely dangerous right now.

“Thank you, Yumiella! I’ve never had a dagger before! It’s my first time getting a gift like this!”

“Easy there,” I cautioned. “You’d probably prefer a jewel or something, right? I have a big magic stone. How about that? It’s sparkly and pretty.”

“I prefer this dagger! Imagine Sir Edwin and me fighting back-to-back incredible... Here, Yumiella. Come over here and pretend to be Sir Edwin!”

I was forced to play along in this strange skit.

Note to self: don’t let prima donnas get ahold of blades.