Clear the Dungeon, and Obtain a Pretty Girl

Gods began their descent upon Earth, and the world entered the Great Incarnation Era.

Forget ordinary people. Even an army armed with firearms could be pressed flat by a single Incarnation, if one could be bothered to try. That overwhelming gap in force gathered honor, authority, military might, and wealth into the hands of the Incarnations chosen by the Constellations.

So where does an Incarnation's overwhelming force actually come from? The answer, of course, is the Authority bestowed by a Constellation. The Authority is what is powerful. Being an Incarnation does not mean your body is anything special.

Then why did I, stuck with the body of a frail little girl, announce that I would face that crazy bitch alone, without even calling on Achil or Nachal?

It was a tangled mess of feelings and reasons, yes, but it still sorted neatly into two.

First: the creature calling herself Sugar talked as if she could fight back, but she was sealed in chains, plain and simple. Frail, single-digit body or not, was I really going to lose to someone bound so tightly she could not even move?

Not a chance.

And the decisive second reason. The Authority of Pride I received from the Demon God is an enhancement type.

"I'm done playing with you. Annoy me even a little more from here on, and you die."

"Eeeeeeek!!"

I took the sight of her shaking like a leaf and set it straight inside my eyes. A moment ago she had been puffed up as if she might actually strike back, and then fear swallowed her all at once. A brain heated by rage must have gone cold in an instant at the word death, and she finally understood the position she was in.

Of course, understanding it now changes nothing.

I drove my left leg forward and planted it hard in the ground, stretching the right one back into a stance that looked ready to break into a sprint. The gap between my feet widened, my torso dipped on its own, and from there I drew the elbow of my clenched right fist far behind me. A posture, completed: one breath from launching forward and throwing the punch. Finish something, and you have to use it. Some people complete a product and then fret because they have no one to use it on. I had a sandbag right in front of me, ready for the stance I had just finished, so I would have called myself lucky.

Retract the part about being lucky.

The situation was nothing more than this. The disassembled gun was put back together, the round was chambered, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠muzzle was on the target, and all that remained ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was to pull the trigger.

Then there is no reason to hesitate.

I put my weight into the left foot locked to the ground and ran. No. I all but flew forward. For a brief moment a clean wind skimmed my body, and then my right fist crashed into Sugar's soft stomach.

"Guhk!!"

Maybe because I had hit her dead center in the gut, whatever had been sitting in her stomach surged up through her mouth.

"Oh, shit. You crazy bitch, close your mouth. Want another one in the gut?"

Of course, by her own account she had been sealed for decades. There was nothing inside, so nothing much came out either.

Still puts me in a bad mood.

I drew back the fist that had struck her belly and stepped away, and she stared at the floor and started coughing as if her throat might split.

"Cough!! Cough!! Cough-cough-cough!!"

The world contains buttons that click once into on and click again into off. If Sugar's stomach were that kind of button, then hitting it one more time ought to put her back the way she was.

Honestly, a little tempting.

I was not entirely without the thought of letting her off the chains as things stood, but the weight of the decision tipped toward clicking the button once more.

"You ought to be grateful to the Demon God."

"Eh...?"

I cleared the dungeon I had been dragged into out of nowhere, and I obtained a pretty girl.

"E-excuse me... where is this?"

"Earth."

"E-Earth? I'm not very well versed in the names of the floors..."

"Want me to put it this way, then? The lowest floor of the Tower. A land abandoned by mana. That would be Earth."

"Ehh."

I looked at Sugar's face and thought it over in silence.

What is that reaction. Positive, or negative?

She had said with her own mouth that she was another species, so it might have been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rejection of a world without mana. Think about it another way, though, and she had broken a seal and escaped, so it might have been relief. A thoroughly Schrödinger's-cat sort of answer. But just as you open the box to see whether the cat is dead or alive, I had a cat right beside me that could settle the truth of it.

So I turned my head to open the box.

Sugar was gone. Thinking she had bolted in that brief span, I looked around and found her at the tail of a shadow along the path we had come, staring at me with a face on the verge of tears.

What is she doing.

Dumbfounded, I put a sneer on my mouth and walked toward her. She looked up at me with teary eyes the size of saucers.

"H-how could you just go and abandon me!! I kept calling, and you wouldn't even answer!!"

Damn. I had been busy with the Schrödinger nonsense and had not heard her calling.

"Mmm. Sorry. But I really am curious. What are you doing?"

"P-pardon me?! Doesn't Earth even have common sense about vampires? I'm avoiding the sunlight in the shade, that's what!"

"Mm. Sure, Sugar-Sugar. It's true a vampire has to avoid sunlight. Then do you know the sun doesn't exist on the Demon Continent, you idiot?"

"What?! That can't be! The sun is a concept governed by the Sun God, a high god even among deities! Cover the sun or erase it on a whim, and the Sun God's heavenly punishment will come down!"

"Sigh. Just look for yourself. And this place, the Demon Continent, is the Demon God's domain."

She was not the sort who listens because you talked her into it. I reached for her wrist, caught it, and yanked her out of the shade in one quick pull. Sugar came exactly as far as I dragged her, and she started tipping toward me.

Yes, I was stronger than Sugar, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and yes, the Authority of Pride was an enhancement type. That still was not a reason for me to catch her.

Frankly, even if I tried, the only ending I can picture is both of us going down.

So I shifted aside by a hair, and Sugar, failing to catch herself on me, fell alone to the ground.

"Kyaaaah!! My whole body's going up in fla——it's not?!"

A body that refused to burn, even while taking the light head-on. How long had she yearned for this. How much humiliation had she swallowed for the lack of it. Standing in the middle of that bright light with nothing wrong at all, Sugar felt something well up in her chest.

Wow. The kid's trying to have a moment, and the Demon God doesn't spare her.

Of course, I, who had been watching her ham it up right beside me through thoroughly rotten eyes, offered my deepest thanks for the Demon God's insight.

"Hey. Even the Demon God isn't curious what your sob story is, or why stepping out of the shade moves you. So just hurry up."

"Uuugh!! It's the first time in a vampire's whole life she's felt the sunlight! I'm allowed to be moved, aren't I!!"

"It's not sunlight, it's moonlight, and the one who let you see that moonlight is the Demon God. And they're not curious."

"Th-this isn't right..."

"Quiet, and follow me. From now on, you're on housework."

"P-pardon?"

I opened the front door and stepped inside. The bell hanging on it jingled, announcing to the whole house that I had come home. The moment the house knew I was back, Makina came pattering from her room to the entryway.

"Ragna! You're back? Huh? Who's this big sister?"

Makina, midway through welcoming me, tilted her head at Sugar coming in behind me.

There was exactly one reason I had bothered to undo Sugar's seal and drag her all the way home. This house had no working ants. Only grasshoppers, lazing about and eating whatever was set in front of them. Keep on like that, and the Demon God would obviously force a race change on me, grasshopper to ant. Before that horrific event could happen, I brought a grasshopper in myself.

"Housework. From here on, the chores and every odd job, this one's doing them."

"Wow! Really? Thank you, big sis!!"

A child's pure little evil, empty of any malice, is hard to scold and hard to refuse. Dumping every bit of housework onto the person in question is, by the same token, an obvious wrong. But refusing it outright, right in front of Makina smiling bright and clear with sparkling eyes, is rather difficult.

"Y-yeah. That's right."

"Ba-ba-ba-bam!! Acquired: 'Odd-Job Manager'!"