Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Clever Dungeon Conquest (2)
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“No.”
“No!”
Yumi and I both stopped Laura at the same time.
Right now, our interests were perfectly aligned—we had to hold her back.
Take the precious daughter of a duke family into a dungeon where who knows what dangers lurked?
It was no different from sticking our necks out and begging to be killed.
Even if nothing happened inside the dungeon, just bringing her to such a dangerous place would likely earn us the duke’s iron fist of fury.
If I died in the dungeon, fine—but I had no desire to see the duke’s wrath reach all the way to my territory.
That meant we had to crush Laura’s determination, no matter what it took.
Laura pouted regretfully and kept stealing glances at the pit.
I had no idea what was so appealing about that dark, foreboding dungeon that she wanted to dive in so badly.
Sure, I was curious about the inside too, but she apparently didn’t know that excessive curiosity only invites disaster.
“Baron, how about we call it a day and head back down the mountain?”
Yumi patted Laura while suggesting to me that we turn around.
She must have figured that sticking around the mountain any longer would only make it harder for Laura to let go of her obsession with the dungeon.
I regretted not reaching the summit, but right now, preventing Laura’s reckless impulses took priority.
I nodded, the withdrawal was decided, and Rainy’s face lit up.
“Let’s hurry back and grab some food!”
The fact that she, the dungeon expert among us, looked so cheerful was somewhat reassuring.
Rainy knew when to be serious, and her bright expression right now was proof that there was no need to tense up.
As I mentally sorted through who to bring along for a proper dungeon raid,
“Argh!”
Laura, who had been wearing a strange expression, suddenly threw herself into the pit.
“Huh...”
Yumi reflexively lunged to grab her, but
Laura had already chanted a spell and vanished into the pit.
“Shit.”
My mind went blank as I instinctively hurled myself after Laura into the pit.
Truth be told, I didn’t jump in with any grand plan.
It was pure instinct: sending the young lady into the dungeon alone would spell disaster.
Yumi seemed to think the same and jumped too, but I entered the pit a step ahead of her.
Yumi bounced off an invisible barrier and got ejected back outside the dungeon.
‘What the hell? Does this thing have a party limit?’
I’d gleaned some indirect knowledge about dungeons from documents, but a limit on the number of entrants was news to me.
Amid the endless fall, accompanied by a bad premonition, I spotted Laura’s body.
Her safety came first.
I flailed through the air, grabbed her, pulled her into my arms, and channeled mana into my legs.
And then.
Boom.
A massive thud echoed as we hit the ground.
“Ugh...”
I felt a sharp pain in my ankles but managed to steady myself.
“Hey, you okay?”
Laura looked up at me worriedly from my arms.
At least she seemed unharmed. What a relief.
My sacrifice hadn’t been for nothing—
“Wait, why’d you bother grabbing me? I could’ve survived with magic anyway?”
So much for that.
“Ugh, they say the dumb ones suffer the most. You think I’d just jump into this pit without a plan, idiot?”
“...”
I’d thrown myself in for her sake, and this was the thanks I got.
I’m human too—being treated like this stung.
As I wallowed in my misery, Laura glanced at me and approached cautiously.
Then she poked my chest.
“Still... it was kinda cool?”
‘Huh?’
I couldn’t believe those words had come out of Laura’s mouth.
For a second, I wondered if my ears were playing tricks on me.
“Hmm, a real man needs that kind of guts. Better than those wimpy types.”
No, I’d heard her right.
Incredibly, Laura was praising me.
Was this how women fell for bad boys?
After showing nothing but my worst sides, one glimpse of this had melted away her pent-up grudges—I could feel it.
Who knew I was this much of a pushover.
“You’re just a lowly baron, but I’ll give you points for loyalty. You’d make a fine Slave No. 2.”
“Who’s No. 1...?”
“Yumi.”
“...”
They’d been together a long time, apparently, yet Yumi was just Slave No. 1.
I felt a twinge of pity for her.
I’d have to treat her well when we got back.
“So, how’s your leg?”
“Oh, yeah. It’ll heal in no time.”
“They say even pain heals fast for the dim-witted. Not wrong, huh.”
“...”
Just when I started seeing the positive side, Laura shattered my budding sentiment.
Looks like I’d have to prescribe her a vegetable bomb diet when we returned.
After about ten minutes passed like that, Laura pointed a finger ahead of her.
I tilted my head, not getting it, so she thumped her chest impatiently and said,
“Get in front. Time to be my meat shield.”
“Ah... sure.”
Calling it a meat shield outright.
It hurt, but the standard formation put warriors up front and mages in the rear, so I couldn’t argue and meekly took position ahead.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Two steps left.”
“Got it.”
“Trap ahead.”
“Oh...”
At first, following her directions like a puppet felt weird, but her commands turned out to be simple and efficient.
“Press that left button there.”
“This one?”
“Yeah, if I’m right, hold it for about three seconds.”
“Okay.”
As expected of a mage, she had a sharp mind and dismantled the dungeon traps with ease.
Of course, without ever touching them herself—remotely puppeteering me instead.
After disarming the third trap, curiosity got the better of me, and I asked,
“How do you know all this, milady?”
Laura puffed out her chest proudly and declared,
“I’m the top student in the magic department at the academy. Never once missed a perfect score in dungeon studies.”
I didn’t know much about the academy, but I’d heard it was where the continent’s prodigies gathered.
Top of her class there? Suddenly, she seemed different.
“Wow, milady, you’re really smart.”
“Ahem.”
A simple compliment, and she couldn’t hide her twitching lips.
Academy magic department head honcho and duke’s daughter to boot—yet no resistance to praise?
You’d think students and professors alike fawned over her there nonstop. Weird.
“So, milady, how’d you end up here?”
We should’ve been on high alert exploring an unknown dungeon, but thanks to Laura’s unexpected competence, things were going smoothly, and the tension eased.
With us finally alone for once, I figured I’d pry a bit into her background.
She seemed in a good mood, enjoying the dungeon sightseeing, so she’d probably answer.
“Hmm...”
Laura scooped some dungeon dirt onto her finger and pretended to taste it, then grimaced in disgust.
“There was this rude commoner at the academy. I tried fixing his manners a bit, and they disciplined me for it.”
“Pardon?”
Calling someone a commoner meant they were a pleb.
Even if the academy preached formal equality, they wouldn’t punish a duke’s daughter over bullying some nobody.
“She was a weird one. Pink hair, girl, plain-looking but suspiciously good at charming the powerful. In the end, the first prince she bewitched got me expelled.”
Pink-haired commoner girl.
Academy.
Suspiciously cozy with power players.
Hmm... Isn’t that a romance-fantasy heroine?
Remembering her soured my mood, so I quietly watched Laura irritably stomping the cave floor.
Highborn lady.
Always wearing a venomous scowl, steeped in elitist superiority.
Torments the commoner heroine, gets targeted by bigwigs, and exiled.
‘This is straight-up villainess territory.’
Breaking it down, Laura was the textbook villainess, straight out of central casting.
Well, compared to some villainesses who ended up hanged or burned at the stake, her situation wasn’t so bad.
“Why’re you staring like that?”
Her mage-sharp senses must’ve picked up on my scrutinizing gaze.
“Just thinking how unfair it must be for you, milady. Commoners shouldn’t even dream of crawling up to your level.”
My real thoughts were a bit different, but now that I had a read on her, I took her side.
Like one of those lackey ladies always trailing a villainess.
“Not bad for my slave. You get it.”
Laura’s mood lifted like magic.
Man, for a villainess, she sure was easy.
“She reeked of black magic, faintly. So I tried exposing her with some holy water on her head, and she freaked out.”
‘What?’
“Damn, missed opportunity. Should’ve driven a cross into her heart too.”
“Y-Yeah...”
I’d read novels where the romance heroine harbored a demon king’s soul or was the true mastermind.
Laura’s words hit differently because of that.
Not that knowing the truth let me do anything about it.