Preparing for the Dungeon
In a private room at Soul Academy, the one seated at its very center was none other than Arthur Soladin—the Third Prince of the Soladin Kingdom and, by all accounts, one of the academy's undisputed top two students.
"I'm sure everyone already knows, but we've gathered here for one reason: to conquer the dungeon that Lucy Aln created."
Joy Partran, the young lady of the Ducal House of Partran, whose blood promised that she would one day become a great archmage in her own right. Frey Kent, eldest daughter of the House of Kent, a family famed for its swordsmanship, and until Lucy's arrival, the one hailed as possessing the finest talent of their entire generation. And Phoebe, the Saintess of the Church of the Main God, whose overwhelming mastery of divine magic had even priests and bishops bowing their heads in respect.
These were the four who could justly be called the best of the academy's first-years—once you set Lucy aside. Any ordinary dungeon would have been a stroll for them. And yet not a trace of carelessness could be found on any of their faces.
Because what stood before them was a dungeon made by Lucy Aln.
"The fact that she provoked us tells me Lucy Aln put considerable effort into crafting that dungeon. Anyone who goes in with a half-hearted attitude will never see its end. That's why, with thorough preparation, we will see it through to the very end."
"Yes, of course, Your Highness."
"Mm. I'll give it my all."
"We'll do everything we can."
Just as the four exchanged grave looks with one another, Jeff Partran—heir of the Ducal House, seated off at one side of the table—blinked a few times and spoke up in a careful voice.
"Er, forgive me, but I haven't heard a single word of explanation yet. Might I ask why the atmosphere is so dreadfully serious?"
Jeff had been buried under the mountain of assignments doled out by professors who assumed every student existed solely to take their classes, when Joy had dragged him along—leaving him thoroughly bewildered.
His precious little sister had asked him to come along for just a moment, so he'd tossed his coursework aside and followed her... only to find heavyweights like the Third Prince, a Saintess, and the daughter of House Kent arranged around the room.
He'd managed to keep his composure and take a seat despite the confusion, and then they started discussing things he hadn't heard the first word of, in the gravest of tones. Even Jeff, a man skilled in the art of navigating society, could only offer a wry smile at the situation.
"Joy. You brought him here without explaining anything?"
"...I was focused entirely on bringing him here as quickly as possible."
"Hah. Airhead Lady, keep living like that, and instead of shaking off that nickname, the whole world—Lucy Aln included—will be calling you an airhead to your face."
"I only made a mistake because my dear brother is so unfailingly kind. Please don't speak as though I commit this sort of discourtesy on a regular basis. You shy prince."
"Who are you calling shy?!"
"Well, there is a certain freshness to the way you blush and flee, so how could you not be?"
"And you're the airhead who didn't even notice her own hair was all curling in the same direction!"
"...You knew about that and never told me?!"
As the two of them shrieked at each other, prince and princess titles forgotten entirely, Jeff was wearing his wry smile when Phoebe, seated nearby, spoke up with a gentle smile of her own.
"I'm sorry for interrupting, Lord Jeff."
"Oh, no, please don't be. It's rather entertaining to watch."
"I'm glad to hear it. In any case, allow me to give you a general rundown of the situation while those two finish their... discussion."
As Phoebe explained the Dungeonology professor's proposal to Lucy, and how Lucy had accepted it and was now designing the dungeon herself, Jeff tilted his head.
"Doesn't that actually work out in our favor? However gifted the Lady Aln may be, no one produces a good dungeon on their very first attempt."
At Jeff's reasoning—surely having Lucy meddle partway through beat letting Professor Jesl, infamous for her sadistic dungeons, handle the design single-handedly—not only did Phoebe give a wry smile, but even Arthur and Joy stopped their bickering to shake their heads in exaggerated fashion.
"Jeff. When Professor Jesl laid eyes on the dungeon Lucy Aln created, she canceled her own classes and spent the better part of an entire day talking with her about it. Do you really believe a dungeon like that could be an easy one?"
"...I suppose it couldn't."
A dungeon so impressive that Professor Jesl—the woman who had driven countless students to despair across so many examinations—got fired up enough to talk about it for half a day straight.
Its polish would be beyond question, certainly. For the students who had to actually conquer it, though, it would be nothing short of hell.
"Still, for Your Highness's party, wouldn't harder actually be better? The higher the difficulty, the wider the gap you can open up."
"Under ordinary circumstances, yes. But what we're after right now is clearing the dungeon to the very end. Our grades are merely something that comes along with it."
"Why ever would that be?"
"Because there's a reason it has to be that way."
The reward for clearing the dungeon. A promise that Lucy Aln would grant whatever the conquerors wished of her.
The instant Arthur heard Lucy's declaration, the first thing that surfaced in his mind was a desire to hear the true meaning behind something she had once said to him.
But Arthur did not set that as his goal. How could he accept, in this manner, the answer to a question he'd always intended to ask only after defeating Lucy Aln with his own two hands?
Instead, the wish Arthur chose was this: to see Lucy Aln on her knees.
If that girl—who looked down on, dismissed, and sneered at everyone around her at every turn—were forced to admit in a trembling voice that the dungeon she had poured her soul into was pathetic...
Mm. Wouldn't that be absolutely exhilarating?
Just imagining those vivid, captivating eyes going wide and wet, with tears spilling down one after another, was almost enough on its own.
"Your Highness?"
Startled by Jeff's follow-up question, Arthur pressed his lips shut, then coughed into his hand.
"...Ahem. Don't ask for details. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."
"I see."
When Jeff tilted his head and glanced around, Joy and Phoebe both averted their eyes, while Frey kept up her usual blank expression.
All three of the others were likewise after the reward Lucy had offered—but what each of them wanted was different.
What Joy dreamed of was wandering the streets with Lucy, dressing each other up.
A day spent laughing and chattering away while a close friend did her makeup and hair, and she did her friend's in return.
It was a wish Joy had carried since she was very small—and one she'd never been able to fulfill, because she'd never had anyone to share it with.
If the dungeon could be cleared, Joy fully intended to drag Lucy off to the capital over the break and make this dream come true, whatever it took.
The wish Frey harbored, sitting beside her, was simpler than Joy's.
She just wanted Lucy to praise her.
To tell her, sincerely, that she'd done well. To pat her on the head. To smile as she looked at her.
She wished that Lucy—a girl who almost never complimented anyone—would tell her, without a single barb hidden in the words, that she was amazing.
And Phoebe, cheeks flushed and head bowed, wanted Lucy to pray for her.
To lay that small, soft, warm hand atop her bowed head, and in that beautiful, clear voice, pray that happiness would fill all the days of her life to come—why, it would give her a reason to smile that never ran out.
She knew a prayer offered to the Main God should hold nothing personal, nothing selfish. And yet Phoebe wished for it all the same.
Jeff studied each of them—lips pressed firmly shut for reasons of their own—realized he wasn't getting a single answer out of anyone, shrugged, and moved on to business.
"So then. What exactly is it you'd like my help with?"
"Every kind of gimmick that could appear in a first-year gimmick-type dungeon. And every possible application of those gimmicks. I want you to teach us all of it."
Even if Lucy had handled the dungeon's overall concept, the problems could only be drawn from within the exam's scope in the end.
Which meant that if they memorized every possible gimmick and every way those gimmicks could be twisted, they could push through the dungeon far more comfortably.
"Joy tells me you went through quite an ordeal with Professor Jesl in the past, and did some research on the subject afterward. You still have those materials, I trust?"
"I do. Although... considering how much blood, sweat, and tears went into gathering them."
Having received the request, Jeff trailed off with a sly, knowing smile.
The information he'd nearly killed himself to obtain back then was of remarkably high quality. Was he really supposed to hand it over, free of charge, in front of all these heavyweights? At the very least, a few verbal promises were in order—
"Big brother."
The moment Jeff heard Joy's voice and turned his head, every thought in his mind evaporated.
"Big brother. Couldn't you help us, just this once?"
When his adorable little sister looked up at him with a voice full of honeyed aegyo, what choice did he have but to comply?
"Just give me a moment, will you? I'll go fetch everything I have."
Even as he declared himself a sucker of the highest order, Jeff was melting into a smile of pure bliss.
To this incurable siscon, his little sister's aegyo was worth more than a fortune in gold.
Several days had passed since the day I put my foot in my mouth.
During that time, Arthur, Joy, Frey, and Phoebe had thrown themselves into dungeon-clearing preparation like they were possessed.
Each of them drilling themselves relentlessly on their own, of course.
Gathering every evening to run the Academy Dungeon together and build up their teamwork.
They'd even scraped together every scrap of information on gimmick-type dungeons and prepped countermeasures against them.
Just what did they intend to make me do, that they were working this hard?
I'd trembled with anxiety as one ominous possibility after another flickered through my mind, but by now I'd more or less resigned myself to it.
Those four aren't perverted degenerates like that face-con fox. There's no way they'd ask for anything weird.
It'll be fine. Probably.
...And even if it's not fine, it's not like I can do anything about it.
If I tried to backpedal and claim it was all a joke now, I'd probably get beaten to a pulp.
So, deciding not to concern myself with whatever those four were up to, I turned my attention to a different, more pressing problem.
Specifically, the reward for clearing the dungeon.
The way I saw it, a dungeon's completion came down to its reward in the end. If the reward didn't match the effort poured into conquering the thing, the whole experience would leave a bitter taste.
Phoebe's question had opened my eyes to this truth, and I'd gone straight to the Dungeonology professor to discuss the reward portion of the design.
The professor agreed with my reasoning, but unfortunately, there were limits to what the academy could provide. My dungeon was, at the end of the day, an exam dungeon—it couldn't hand out the same rewards the Academy Dungeon did.
Unwilling to settle for that, I refused the academy's support outright and declared that I would provide the rewards myself.
After that, I'd left the professor's office and racked my brain over what an appropriate reward might be—but no matter how I turned it over, nothing suitable came to mind.
I just couldn't think of a single thing that would make every student's eyes go red with envy. So I gave up on muddling through alone and went to Karia for advice.
"I've got the gist of your conditions, employer."
Karia answered my question without so much as a moment's deliberation.
"If those are the conditions, then jewels are your best bet. Expensive. Eye-catching. And something anyone would kill to get their hands on."
That's what I thought too, though...
"Hey, auntie. You didn't forget that most of the academy's scrubs are pride-swollen idiot nobles, did you?"
It wasn't as though I hadn't considered jewels.
But as long as the academy's population was mostly made up of nobles, jewels could never be the answer.
Why on earth would anyone grind through a brutal dungeon for something they could just buy with their own money?
"I'm not talking about the ordinary gems you're picturing, employer. I mean something different."
Different how?
"Different how?"
"Jewels crafted and certified directly by the Art Sect. Treasures that even high-ranking nobles and money-rotting merchant princes can't buy, no matter how rich they are. If you offer that as the reward, there's no question—it'll cause an absolute riot."
The Art Sect, is it.
Don't tell me she means the place where that disgusting pervert serves as an Apostle.
"Actually, this works out nicely. Weren't you meeting with them tomorrow? Make the request then."
With that, Karia held out the bunny girl outfit that had just been tailored for me.
"Turn on the charm or something. That perv will cave on the spot and hand over everything he's got—whether he has it or not."