♤♤♤

From the boss room, a girl with pure white hair emerged, waving a white flag.

It seemed she had no intention of attacking.

The white-haired girl looked terribly frightened by my magic knights, so I had the knights, who were in a battle stance, retreat for the time being.

“Um. Are you the boss protecting this room?”

She came out of the boss room, so that must be it. Although her speech was a little broken, she could speak the human language, so I assumed she was either a very high-ranking monster or a magical beast that had taken human form.

“Wrong. I am the… administrator herE.”

“…Eh?”

I thought she was the boss of the seventh floor, but she was the master of this entire dungeon ruin.

──＊＊＊──

My name is Hakuā. I’m a monster of the White Dragon species.

I’m super strong, you know. By the way, my dragon form is a bit clumsy inside the dungeon, so I usually take on a human form. And so, under the orders of Creator God-sama, the greatest god in this world, I manage this dungeon.

Originally, an old Red Dragon man was the administrator here—the dungeon master. But he was defeated by a hero who came here about a hundred years ago. It seems getting defeated by the hero was also part of the old Red Dragon man’s job. The whole point of this dungeon is to make the hero stronger, after all.

Of course, it’s not like he lost on purpose. He fought the hero with all his might and still lost. He said the hero was incredibly strong. By the way, even though the old man was defeated, Creator God-sama revived him, and now he serves Creator God-sama. Serving Creator God-sama directly is a huge honor for us of the dragon race.

And so, with the administrator gone from this dungeon, I was chosen by Creator God-sama as the next administrator and came here. Though there isn’t much work to do as an administrator. Things like placing the monsters that naturally spawn from the dungeon’s mana on each floor, or ordering my subordinate monsters to put items in treasure chests…

Oh, sometimes going outside the dungeon to abduct—I mean, scout—strong-looking monsters and magical beasts and placing them as bosses on each floor is also part of the job.

I’ve been preparing so that we’re ready whenever the next hero comes. But it seems normal adventurers and the like can’t enter this dungeon, so I’m super bored. Monsters are set up so they don’t increase beyond a certain number unless they’re defeated. But since there’s no one to defeat the monsters, no new monsters are being born either.

That means there’s absolutely no need to do the work of placing monsters. Of course, the contents of the treasure chests don’t decrease either, so they’ve been left as is for ages. Treasure chests have a magic spell on them that prevents the contents from deteriorating, so if you put a new item in, it’ll stay in brand-new condition until a hero gets it. Amazing, right?!

Well, it’s all thanks to Creator God-sama’s power, though.

By the way, the only things I’ve ever put in treasure chests are healing potions and items that raise stats; I’ve never put in any equipment. I was told to put in the equipment sent from Creator God-sama, but for some reason, no equipment has been sent to this day.

Since no hero is coming, there’s no need to place monsters, and no need to replenish treasure chests. In that way, I’ve been bored all this time. Until today—

Today, I felt the presence of a human entering this dungeon. I got excited. Because this is my first job. I wonder if they’ll make it to the final floor?

If they make it this far, my dream is to turn into my dragon form and say the line, “Guhahaha, well met, O hero. Now, try to defeat me and conquer this dungeon!”

To be honest, I’m quite a bit stronger than the old Red Dragon man. I was called a prodigy even among the dragon race. But when the old man was revived by Creator God-sama, his very being was elevated, and he became a dragon god. So I can’t beat him now. He’s a god, so there’s no way anyone could beat him, right?

Still, it’s impossible for me, who is significantly stronger than the old man was when he was the dungeon master, to lose to a human. The fact that they were able to enter this dungeon means that their power was recognized by the king of Bestier, at the very least. So I’ll give them some credit.

Now, let’s see what you’ve got.

──＊＊＊──

“…Eh?”

W-Wait. Wait, wait, wait!!

The Goblin Fighters who are the floor boss of the first floor were insta-killed by the heroes who came. Well, I wasn’t surprised by that much. The problem is that from the second to the fifth floors, they hardly strayed from the main path, went straight for the boss rooms, and insta-killed all the bosses!

And what’s more, without even stepping a single foot into the boss rooms.

Wh-What is this?!

The boss of the fifth floor is the Warwolves, you know? Those guys are super fast, you know? A few dozen of them attack with perfect coordination, you know?

I fought them too when I brought the Warwolves to this dungeon as a boss, and I had a pretty tough time… But they, while in the middle of conquering this dungeon, wiped them all out with just a few magic spells.

That’s impossible. What is with that attack speed…

Feeling uneasy, I started operating the terminal in this dungeon’s master room. This terminal can check information on the monsters and humans inside the dungeon. This is something only the dungeon master can use. And the result of that check—

L-Level 250?! Eh. Tina, could she be…

I-It really is her, the half-elf who conquered this dungeon a hundred years ago!!

Why is she here again?!

I was surprised that the half-elf named Tina, who had once cleared this dungeon, had come again… But that wasn’t all.

Wh-What is going on? There are several people over level 100 besides Tina…

The Sage Apprentice human and the Dragonoid, and then that woman is—

A Nine-Tailed Fox?! Wh-Why is a calamity coming to this dungeon with humans?

I don’t get it at all.

And in the midst of that—

Huh? This Haruto person is level 1.

Among the humans, there was a level 1 man. I think it would be pretty tough to fight in this dungeon at level 1… I wonder if the people around him won’t let him join their party?

While I was thinking about that, they had reached the boss room of the sixth floor.

Ah, they’re attacking!

The level 1 Haruto was attacking the sixth floor’s bosses, monsters called Mahrnome and Kirenu, along with Tina and the others. But—

Ah, see. It’s no use after all.

It seems only Tina’s attack hit, and Haruto’s level didn’t go up.

With the magic attack power of a level 1, you can’t even damage a Mahrnome. So you’ll never get experience points. …Kinda pitiful.

I was scared because a group with abnormal strength was attacking, but Haruto’s presence put me at ease. Even though Haruto was level 1, he was desperately casting magic, trying not to lose to the level 250 Tina and the others. I was a little soothed by the sight of Haruto trying so hard.

At this rate, they’ll reach the final floor today, right? If that happens, I’ll have to fight Tina with all my might, but… I don’t want to involve Haruto if I can help it.

Just the aftershock of the battle could kill the level 1 Haruto. The fact that his level hasn’t gone up at all even though he’s come this far probably means he hasn’t been allowed to join a party. If that’s the case, there’s a possibility that even if he gets injured, his companions won’t heal him, right?

So before the battle starts, I think I’ll try to find a way to let Haruto escape. And when I do, I have to give him advice to properly defeat monsters of an appropriate level to raise his level. He shouldn’t misunderstand and think that he can get stronger just by following strong people! He has to work hard enough to be able to protect himself and get stronger—that’s what I’ll tell him!

I want to punch myself for thinking such stupid things.

Haruto—no. Haruto-sama was an incredibly strong person.

An outrageous person. To be honest, I think he’s more of a monster than Tina.

I mean, I think Tina=Eleanor and Haruto=Eleanor are married, right? There’s no way a mere level 1 human could marry a level 250 half-elf, right?

…Yeah. Haruto-sama wasn’t just a mere human. He was a bona fide monster.

After all, he created a hundred magic knights of a level that I’m not sure I could beat even if I fought with all my might. That’s impossible, right? Not just a hundred, I think I’d lose if there were even ten of them.

Those hundred knights ravaged the seventh floor. The monsters there were wiped out in a matter of minutes. And then those knights formed a line in front of the seventh floor’s boss room. As I was watching that on the master room terminal, I got a message from the floor boss, an Ogre.

“Help me,”—he said.

With Creator God-sama’s power, the bosses of each floor of this dungeon can be revived even if they’re defeated. But that’s only if they have a strong will to “still want to live.” If they’re defeated by a hero and are satisfied with their life up to that point, or despair about their life after, even a boss can’t be revived.

The Ogre said that if he were attacked by those hundred knights, he’d probably give up on life easily.

It can’t be helped. Because I’d probably do the same.

That’s why I decided to surrender to Haruto-sama.

──＊＊＊──

“Oh. So dungeon bosses can be revived, huh?”

“Yes… BuT, Haruto-sama’s attacks are no gooD. They cannot revivE.”

We were listening to the reason for surrender from the white-haired girl who called herself Hakuā. She said she was the dungeon master here. Hakuā’s appearance was young, but the amount of magical power she contained was tremendous. It was probably true that she was a dragon. Also, she apparently had almost no opportunity to speak the human language, so her words had become a little awkward.

As for the reason for her surrender, it was because she and the Ogre, the boss of this floor, saw my magic knights annihilating the monsters of the seventh floor and became terrified.

As long as a dungeon boss doesn’t give up on life, they can be revived any number of times. However, the annihilation of the seventh floor’s monsters by my knights had instilled enough fear in Hakuā and the others to make them give up on life. By the way, it seems the bosses up to the sixth floor were able to be revived thanks to being defeated by my attack before they could feel fear, without even knowing what was done to them.

“Hakuā surrendered, but… is it okay to defeat the monsters? I want to raise my companions’ levels a little more.”

“As long as it’s not the boss of each flooR, it’s finE.”

The bosses are monsters that Hakuā brought from outside the dungeon, and she can communicate with them. So she asked me not to defeat them because it would be pitiful. In exchange, she said that since the other monsters spawn naturally, it’s fine to defeat them.

I was relieved when Hakuā told me that. Especially since I really wanted to hunt down all the monsters on the eighth floor and beyond for Luna and Ryuka’s leveling.

“Hakuā. I have a small favor to ask, is that okay?”

“Anything at alL.”

“Can you open the doors to the boss rooms on the eighth and ninth floors ahead? Also, I want you to make it possible for my knights to move between floors.”

“UnderstooD.”

Hakuā made a translucent board like a status board appear and began to operate something.

“It is donE. The bosses of the eighth and ninth floors have been evacuated from the boss roomS. The boss room doors are also opeN. If you touch the transfer stonE, you can now move between floors with magic toO.”

It seemed we could now bypass the boss rooms. With this, the knights could go to the tenth floor before we moved.

“Thanks. Well then… go!”

I issued a command to the ice and wind knights. Upon receiving the command, the knights started running. There was a transfer stone in the back of the seventh floor’s boss room. The knights swarmed it, and as each knight touched the transfer stone, their figures disappeared. They were probably moving to the eighth floor. I also considered the possibility that Hakuā was trying to trick me and reduce my forces, so I checked the knights’ positions just in case.

…Yeah, it seems to be okay. They’re properly moving from here to a lower place—what seems to be the eighth floor. Besides, when Hakuā appeared before us earlier, she looked genuinely frightened. I doubt someone like her would do anything foolish. And then, a few dozen seconds after the knights disappeared—

Just like on the seventh floor, Luna’s and Ryuka’s bodies began to glow bluish-white. Their levels were rising. As expected, the monsters on the eighth floor seemed to be of a higher level than on the seventh floor where we are now, and the interval at which Luna’s and Ryuka’s bodies glowed was short.

“The monsters on the eighth floor arE… being defeated at such a speeD…”

Hakuā muttered that while gazing at the translucent board. The one she was holding was apparently the dungeon management board, and she could check the number of monsters and information on the people challenging the dungeon.

It seemed she already knew our identities when she surrendered, and Hakuā knew my name. Apparently, she could also see levels, but Hakuā was kind enough not to mention that I was level 1. I hadn’t told Luke or Ryushin and the others that I was still level 1, so I was grateful.

A few minutes later. It seemed the annihilation of the monsters in this dungeon was complete. The flickering of Luna’s and Ryuka’s bodies had also stopped. As expected, the monsters from the eighth floor onward were strong, and it seemed several of the knights were defeated. Still, there were about eighty knights left who could still fight.

“What are both of your levels?”

“I-I’m 92 now.”

“I am level 97!”

It seemed both of them had safely surpassed level 90.

“No way… I’ve been surpassed.”

Leafa made a slightly sad face.

It couldn’t be helped. Although Leafa had been able to level up efficiently in the dungeon owned by the royal family of Alfheim, she had leveled up mostly on her own.

But I wanted her not to worry. My goal was for the entire family to reach the Third Job Class—in other words, for everyone to surpass level 150. Of course, I intended to help Leafa level up as well.

“N-No waY. The monsters from the eighth floor onward… t-to think not a single one remains…”

Hakuā was stunned as she looked at the management board.

My bad. I gratefully accepted them as experience points for my companions.

For now, one of the purposes for coming to this dungeon, leveling up my companions, was complete. The other purpose, getting information about Tina’s memories, was next. There was probably some clue on the final floor.

“When you clear a dungeon, your name gets left on a stone monument on the final floor, right?”

“Yes, that is correcT.”

In every dungeon, there is a stone monument where the names of those who defeated the final boss are inscribed—so it was written in a book I read long ago. Tina has lost her memory of the name of the Guardian Hero she adventured with in the past, but the hero’s name should be inscribed on this dungeon’s stone monument. I needed to know that hero’s name. I don’t really know why myself. But I had a premonition that it would be a trigger to restoring Tina’s memories, so I came this far.

──＊＊＊──

We were advancing through a dungeon devoid of monsters.

“Hey, Haruto. The monster corpses that are sometimes lying around… it looks like all the parts that can be used as materials have been stripped off them, could it be—”

It seemed Luke had noticed.

“Yeah. My magic is stripping them.”

“…Seriously?”

Monsters over level 80 drop some pretty good materials, so I had my knights strip them of parts like fangs and claws, as well as their magic stones. My magic knights can even dismantle monsters. In addition, the knights are also collecting the contents of treasure chests and gathering them in the final floor’s boss room. There’s no need to strip materials from monsters or collect the contents of treasure chests. That’s why we’re just walking straight through the dungeon, heading for the final floor’s boss room.

“Master’s magic possesses unbelievable versatility, it does.”

“It’s almost too convenient, isn’t it? Just how does it work?”

It seemed Luna was curious about the mechanism. We’ve become family, so I’ll teach her how to make them eventually. According to Youko, my knights’ performance far surpasses that of the forbidden magic, Flame Knight. Since I don’t know the original, I just thought, ‘Is that so?’

We walked through the dungeon while talking about various things. It’s easy to forget since no monsters are appearing, but this is originally the ninth floor of a dungeon where monsters of level 80 and above roam. Of course, it’s not just monsters; there are also vicious traps set up, but—

“Th-The traps… they’ve all been disarmeD?!”

Hakuā, who was about to disarm the traps to lead us safely to the final floor, was surprised. It was because my knights had already disarmed all the traps. My knights, who can also disarm traps, are perfect as scouts for dangerous places where you don’t know what to expect. By the way, as for how to disarm the traps—

“N-N-WronG. They’re not disarmed, they’ve all been triggereD!!”

That’s right. Disarming a trap without activating it requires considerable skill and knowledge. Even my knights can’t go that far. Well, there are some individuals who could probably do it if I taught them.

Disarming traps is difficult, but activating them is easy. All you have to do is step on or touch the trap. The traps in this dungeon included ones where spears would fly out, pitfalls would open, or poison gas would be released when activated.

Physical traps like spears have no effect on the wind knights who have no physical bodies, and they weren’t powerful enough to pierce the ice knights’ armor. Pitfall traps have no effect on the wind knights who can fly. Also, since I have the wind knights and ice knights form pairs, even if an ice knight gets caught in a pitfall, a wind knight can help them. And there’s no way poison gas would have any effect on the knights, who are magic.

And so, my knights, while annihilating monsters, would proactively get caught in any traps they found, making it safe for us to proceed.

For my own magic, they are some seriously excellent guys. And yet, the only thing required to activate them is a large amount of magical power, making them cost-effective as well. Tina’s artificial monster, the Golem, is strong and versatile, but it can’t be made without using many valuable magic stones and magic tools. When I think about that, I think my knights are quite simple.

──＊＊＊──

We arrived in front of the final floor’s boss room.

The door to the boss room was open, but just like on the seventh floor, the ice and wind knights were lined up in front of the door, waiting. The number of waiting knights had decreased slightly. Furthermore, there were several individuals with missing arms or legs. This meant there were that many monsters of a level that could defeat my knights or cause them to lose limbs. I have to commend them for annihilating them in such a short period of time.

“Good work, everyone.”

Many words were not needed. They were born from my magical power, so my feelings of gratitude should be well conveyed. The knights had no expression, nor did they show it in their actions. But I could tell that the internal magical power of the knights who heard my words was flowing violently, and they were rejoicing.

“Rest peacefully, inside me.”

The moment I said that, the knights returned to magical power. That magical power flew towards me. Roughly eighty clumps of magical power, each with around ten thousand MP—they flew into me.

I’m glad I expanded my Mana Conduit. I absorb the magical power that was the knights.

In the past, when I summoned a Flame Knight, I would just leave it. If it was defeated by an enemy, or if its role was over, the magical power that constituted that knight would dissipate into the air. At one point, I thought that was a waste. So I tried returning a Flame Knight that had finished its role to magical power and absorbing it into my body. Then, I found out something interesting. I was able to absorb not only the magical power but also what the absorbed knight had experienced into myself.

In this world, you’re supposed to get experience points when you defeat a monster with your own magic. But experience points are meaningless to me. No matter how many experience points I have, my level won’t rise because of the status-fixing curse placed on me by the Evil God. Instead, it seems I’ve become able to obtain the information experienced by my magic by having my magic defeat monsters and then absorbing that magic into myself.

I don’t get experience points, but I do get experience. This is a pretty amazing thing. If I summon a hundred knights, I can understand all the information about the monsters those hundred knights defeated—their appearance, attack methods, weaknesses, and everything else.

It’s the same as if I had split into a hundred clones. By the way, I’ve made it so that even if the magic knights are defeated by monsters or the like, their magical power doesn’t dissipate but returns to me. If the knights release magical power in an attack, that amount of magical power won’t return, but the only attack where the knights, which are clumps of ten thousand magical power, would use up all their magical power is a self-destruct attack, and in most cases, it returns to me.

When faced with an enemy that is so tough that they can’t even be stopped without a self-destruct attack, if there is only one knight on the scene, it won’t self-destruct with all its might, but will self-destruct leaving just a little magical power. By doing so, it tries to return even a little magical power to me. And if even a little magical power returns, I can absorb the experience of the knights that were the source of that magical power.

I can learn of the existence of monsters that the knights can’t beat and take countermeasures. Even if I can’t win with a Flame Knight, if it seems I can win with an Ice Knight, I’ll send an Ice Knight, and if necessary, I’ll send knights of other attributes. Also, if I can’t win with one, I’ll send multiple. With this method, I have defeated numerous powerful enemies so far.

And now, I have all the information on the monsters that were on the seventh to the final floor of this dungeon. Furthermore, I had gained the experience of defeating even monsters that I had not only never fought but had never even actually seen.

──＊＊＊──

I entered the final floor’s boss room.

Originally, Hakuā would be waiting here in her dragon form, so it was overwhelmingly spacious compared to the boss rooms up to the ninth floor. It was spacious enough for a dragon to fly around and fight dungeon challengers.

By the way, that final boss, Hakuā, is now walking a little ahead of me in the form of a lovely girl. It seems she has no intention of fighting us at all. In her dragon form, she could attack without any problem, but when I find out that the dragon is such a lovely girl, it’s hard to attack her, as expected.

I was worried that when we entered the boss room, Hakuā would turn into a dragon and say something like, “Fight me after all!”—but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

In the very back of the boss room, I saw what I was looking for.

A huge, black stone monument.

I could confirm that something was written in white characters. It probably contained the information I wanted to know—the name of the Guardian Hero who challenged and conquered this dungeon with Tina.

I approached the stone monument with a quick pace.

With this, I would understand the reason why Tina’s memories were sealed. That’s what I thought, but—

“Y-You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I couldn’t read the characters on the stone monument. I got close enough to recognize the shape of the characters, but the characters inscribed there were ones I had never seen before. They were also different from the characters in the book Luna got in the otherworld transferer’s bonus room.

“It seems the names of those who have conquered the dungeon are inscribed therE. BuT, I cannot read it eitheR.”

Hakuā, who had gone ahead to the side of the stone monument alone, came over to me and said that. It seemed that even Hakuā, the administrator of the dungeon, couldn’t read these characters.

When a dungeon is conquered, some kind of characters are automatically inscribed on the stone monument of the final floor. It was said that those characters were the names of those who conquered the dungeon. Hakuā had only heard this from her own kind and didn’t actually know what was written on the stone monument.

She knew about Tina because she had become a rumor among the dragon race, and furthermore, an item called “Dungeon Conqueror” had appeared on the dungeon’s management board, so she knew that she was one of the people who had cleared this dungeon in the past.

“So you don’t know the name of the Guardian Hero either, Hakuā?”

“The person who conquered this place with Tina? SorrY, I do not knoW.”

Hakuā said she didn’t know the hero’s name either.

The name of the Guardian Hero, which was not written in any book—I came all this way convinced that it would be recorded here. But it ended in vain. The hero’s name was certainly inscribed. However, if I couldn’t read the characters, I couldn’t know the hero’s name.

“…So in the end, it was just a fake intuition, huh?”

The words slipped out of my mouth. I had trusted my intuition, which I had recently become able to use, and brought everyone here. The feeling that there was a clue to Tina’s memories here. And also, the feeling that it would be better to bring everyone with me. Even though the remaining time to stay in Bestier was running out, I had half-forcibly come to this dungeon.

“Haruto-sama. Are you alright? You look rather pale…”

Tina, who had arrived late, worried about me.

“No, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

I couldn’t tell Tina about the Guardian Hero’s name. There was a risk that Tina, realizing she couldn’t remember the hero’s name, would collapse again.

“I see. If there is anything at all, please do not hesitate to tell me. I am your exclusive maid, Haruto-sama, and also your wife.”

It seemed to me that Tina’s face looked a little, just a tiny bit, sad. She probably realized I was hiding something. But sorry, I’ll keep this to myself.

“Tina, thank you. I’m really fine.”

I said that and patted Tina’s head.

“Haruto-sama. You have conquered the dungeoN. Could you please touch the stelE?”

Hakuā, who had advanced to the immediate side of the stone monument, turned back to me and urged me to do so.

“Yeah, got it.”

I approached Hakuā and touched the stone monument.

“—?!”

Something entered my mind.

It was the memory of me touching this stone monument.

That’s impossible. Because I—

“Ah, Haruto-san’s name has been added.”

“Eh?!”

I doubted my ears at Luna’s words. When I touched it, some characters had appeared on the stone monument. But of course, just like the characters that were originally inscribed, I couldn’t read them either.

“Luna, don’t tell me… you can read the characters on this stele?”

“Yes, I can read them, but…”

A little flustered, I had pressed her for an answer. Luna’s face was a little red. I felt bad for startling her. But right now, I couldn’t worry about that.

“Th-Then. I need you to read everything written here. Please!”

“Understood. The characters at the top say ‘Dungeon Conquerors’. The second line is Haruto-san’s name that was just added, ‘Haruto=Eleanor’. And the third is ‘Tina=Haribell’—that’s Tina-sensei.”

Tina must have touched this stone monument when she conquered this dungeon a hundred years ago. At that time, her name was Tina=Haribell. And there is one more line of characters inscribed on the stone monument. That is probably the name of the hero who conquered the dungeon with Tina—

“The last line seems to be the name of the hero-sama who came from another world.”

“Wh-What does it say?!”

“Um, Saijou… Haruto? Ah. It’s the same name as you, Haruto-san!”