Chapter 4 Dungeon Master…？？
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Um… where were we again?” El tilted her head, wings giving a tiny flick as she floated just above the glowing console.
”I think you were at the part about how humans live in the east and demons live in the west,” Kanata said, trying not to get distracted by how her silver hair shimmered every time she moved.
”Ah, right. So, just like humans built their kingdoms, demons did too…” she began, her tone soft yet laced with something distant, like a thread of old grief.
She told him about the Ancient Demon Kingdom—a nation once united under a powerful Demon Lord [T/N: 魔王, the strongest among demons who gather followers to form nations]. But when that ancient Demon Lord finally passed away after countless years, their closest retainers split over who should inherit the throne.
Arguments became fights, and fights became full-blown wars that spread through all demonkind. Each of the retainers proclaimed themselves Demon Lord and founded their own nations. Over the centuries, kingdoms merged and shattered again, until about three hundred years ago, the borders finally settled. Now, there were four major Demon Lord nations, several autonomous territories, and scattered villages of single-species communities.
”There used to be five, though,” El murmured, her eyes dimming. “One of them was ruled by the Succubus Queen… my mother.”
Kanata’s head jerked up. El gave a small, wistful smile as she went on, voice dropping to almost a whisper. The Succubus Queen had ruled the forests of the southeast—this very place—preaching harmony and coexistence between races. Many nearby tribes had adored her, pledging loyalty without hesitation. But when the human kingdoms to the east began crossing the border and taking lives, fear took hold. Those same allies turned on her, abandoning her one by one.
Her ideals crumbled like paper before fire. As human armies pressed from the east and rival Demon Lords attacked from the west, her nation fell. On the last day, the Queen poured every drop of her magic into her only child, sending her away. Drained, she was captured by mere foot soldiers—mocked, defiled, and killed. When word of her death spread, the last of her kingdom collapsed, dissolving into lawless wildlands.
”…And, well, I’m that princess,” El said lightly, though her voice wavered. “Even with all the magic Mother gave me, I’m not from a combat race. I can’t fight pure battle races head-on.”
Even so, her True Ancestor vampire blood gave her more strength than any normal succubus. “I managed to lose my pursuers using Charm and making a few into familiars… but then I ran out of mana and… well.” Her cheeks puffed faintly in embarrassment. “The Charm leaked everywhere, and I ended up attracting monsters too. I barely escaped. Found this newborn Dungeon… and then… that goblin. If you hadn’t shown up…”
She trailed off. Then, softly, “I’m sorry about… biting you. I was on the edge of disappearing. It was all instinct. But… thanks to that, I could bring you here, so… let’s call it even? Please?”
She looked up at him, ruby eyes shining wet. Kanata’s brain tried to protest—he wouldn’t have passed out if she hadn’t drained him, so how was this “even”—but… yeah, no. Cute was justice. He surrendered.
”…Fine. As long as you’re okay, El. But… do you need to drink more blood? You looked like, uh… HP and MP zero,” he said, slipping back into gamer-speak without thinking.
”Ah, um, actually… draining works better than blood. So… while you were asleep… I’m really sorry…” Her face flushed scarlet as she fidgeted, stealing tiny glances toward his lower body.
Kanata froze. “…Wait. Hold up.”
Right. When they met, she’d been normal human-sized. And she’d definitely been normal-sized when—okay nope, don’t think about that right now—but yeah. So why was she fairy-sized now?
Seeing his confusion, El hesitated. “…Um. You’re not from this world, right?”
He blinked. “Uh… yeah.”
”Then don’t freak out, okay?” she said, and launched into an explanation. According to her, Kanata hadn’t just randomly fallen into this world—he and everyone in his classroom had been summoned here by someone. The others had been scattered who-knows-where, but Kanata alone had been summoned into this Dungeon. And not as a regular adventurer.
”You’ve been summoned as a Dungeon Master [T/N: ダンジョンマスター, the core-bound ruler who creates and manages a Dungeon],” El said simply.
Kanata gawked. “…What. Why me?”
”Beats me.”
Fair enough.
”And… probably because we, um, did it before your existence fully anchored to this world… I got caught up in it. The moment I… received your essence… a flood of knowledge hit me. When I woke up, I was this size. And I just… knew. I’m supposed to be your navigator now.”
”…Okay, that’s… a lot.”
”Mm. Anyway, first we need to fix this Dungeon.”
She guided him to the console, and Kanata sat down before the glowing panel. At her touch, the screen flickered, showing the Dungeon map, DP income, and all current stats.
”…What the hell is this.”
He pointed at the map. The entrance was a straight tunnel leading to a single small room. Hidden behind that room was a door leading here—the Control Room and the Dungeon Core. That was it.
”This isn’t a Dungeon. It’s a hallway.”
”That’s why you have to build it,” El said, typing in floating commands. The map shifted to an editor screen, displaying options for adding floors, deleting rooms, placing traps, summoning monsters… all greyed out.
”…They’re all locked.”
”Because you have no DP,” she explained gently. “Dungeon Points.”
”…How do I get those?”
”Ah, that’s—”
Grrrrrrr.
Her words stopped as his stomach growled. Right. He hadn’t eaten since coming here—over a whole day. No wonder he felt hollow.
”…Okay. Food first.”
El, fully recovered after draining him, floated around with ease. Kanata, not so much. He rubbed his stomach, then realized—what could he even eat here?
”I could go hunt something for you,” El offered, wings glimmering faintly.
Tempting, but… no. If he was going to survive here, he needed to know what he could do himself. Besides, having a tiny girl hunt for him would just make him feel like a total leech. A proud man should provide, not be provided for. …Right?
Kanata tied his Multipurpose Knife to a stick he found lying around. Crude, but it made a decent spear. The knife alone was too short to be useful, but with reach, it might actually work.
Spear in hand, he stepped out of the cave. According to El, horn rabbits around here would be a good target. Just… avoid the rare killer rabbits.
So he hunted.
And fought.
And, considering he’d been a pampered Japanese student until yesterday, he actually did pretty damn well.
…
…
…
”Okay,” El called from above, a faint giggle in her voice, “I think that’s enough.”
Kanata did as El told him and picked up the skewer of rabbit meat. It wasn’t anything fancy—just wrapped in a few sprigs of wild herbs, sprinkled lightly with salt—but right now, with hunger gnawing through his chest, it smelled like the best feast he’d ever seen.
”Haa…” he sighed without meaning to.
”What’s wrong?” El asked, her voice soft, almost curious.
”I was just… thinking how pathetic this is. I couldn’t do anything. You hunted it, you skinned it, you even knew what herbs to use. I didn’t even know what half of these plants were. And salt? I wouldn’t even know where to start. If this were by the sea maybe I could’ve boiled seawater or something, but…”
He trailed off, watching the meat hiss faintly as fat dripped into the fire.
El chewed on a tiny cube of rabbit, legs swinging idly as she perched on a warm rock. “I’m just doing what I can. You don’t know anything about this world yet—of course you’d need help. And you have things only you can do too, you know? Like putting it on sticks. I never thought of that. And honestly, in this size, I can’t cook at all right now. This is what you call ‘suitable roles,’ right?”
Kanata blinked. “…’Proper roles,’ yeah.”
Apparently, vampires and succubi didn’t not eat. They could live off regular food just fine—it just wasn’t efficient compared to blood or… well, essence. Because of that, food culture among their kind had never really advanced. Even if they knew cooking methods, they didn’t care enough to make food delicious. Why bother, when feeding off others gave so much more strength?
In this world, people usually just skinned their prey, pulled out the organs, and roasted the whole thing on a spit. They’d shave off the cooked outer layer as it browned—”done enough” was the only standard. Whatever was left over would be seared until the surface charred, then packed in salt and dried into jerky. They cut the body apart for butchering but never for cooking, which still felt weird to Kanata. Then again… this was another world. No point judging it by Earth’s logic.
El licked a speck of juice from her lips, then leaned closer, her wings catching the firelight. “…Besides, I can’t live without you.”
Kanata froze, the words slipping straight through his ribs like an arrow. …Right. More accurately, she couldn’t live without his blood and essence, yeah. But still. Hearing it like that—
And then she smiled, slow and bewitching, and whispered by his ear. “Don’t worry. There’s a way… even like this.”
A shiver ran down his spine.
He swallowed hard.
Yeah. A healthy teenage boy couldn’t possibly resist that.
Kanata’s throat bobbed as he tried—and failed—to keep his thoughts from going wild.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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