"Is it over?"
The first battle, which I thought wouldn't be easy, ended surprisingly quickly.
To induce carelessness, I lured in a group of goblins from outside, killed one to use as bait and controlled it as a corpse that wasn't quite a zombie, and adjusted the dungeon as long and meticulously as I could to create shadows for the skeleton to hide in.
I had prepared diligently, but I couldn't guarantee that it would work.
While various preparations were effective, it ended much easier, especially because my summon, the skeleton, was more capable than expected.
[Just one skeleton…]
The way my skeleton dealt with Jack was simple.
Undead attacks are usually reckless.
Based on this common knowledge, Jack raised his shield to counter the skeleton's sword attack, and my skeleton…
[Huh?]
At the perfect moment, it reached over the shield with its hand and pressed down on the joint.
Unable to imagine that a simple undead would use such an irregular move, Jack showed a huge opening. Enough that he couldn't do anything even as the sword passed through his abdomen.
In other words, it subdued Jack in just two moves.
It was an action that accepted the possibility of killing to quickly subdue Jack in a situation where Remia was a variable.
I had told it not to kill if possible, but this was the result of fully carrying out my instruction that achieving the goal was the top priority.
-Clack.
My soldier makes a sound while pointing its sword at the neck of the relatively unharmed woman, Remia.
An intention to report comes from it. If I were to put it into words, it might be something like 'Victory. Nothing else to report.'
"Good job."
-Clack!
When I pat its upper arm with a feeling of pride, I hear a more cheerful sound. It might not have been a very cool sight since I'm much shorter than it, but that shouldn't matter.
There's no one here who could point that out anyway.
"You've gotten quite messy."
The sight of the skeleton, its pure white bones dyed red with the blood of the warrior called Jack, was quite eerie and had an aspect that was difficult to touch.
But this appearance of it was something that came about to protect me.
Thinking that way, I didn't hesitate to touch it.
Of course, this would have been impossible for me back on Earth. …I should take time to examine the status window in detail.
"Are you… not hurt anywhere."
Aside from being soaked in blood, the white body was clean without a single wound.
This is clearly strange.
In a direct battle between a novice adventurer and a skeleton, normally, it should end with the adventurer's victory.
Although undead bodies have quite a bit of individual variation due to their past professions, there should be limits to that.
'So I was planning to attack the crossbowman while it drew attention. But it ended it all alone.'
Even in the game, there were plenty of undead that came with special titles, but there were hardly any individuals that could kill an adventurer one-on-one without an ambush while just being a skeleton.
Except for the one with the 'Perfect' title that I had summoned just once. Though that time, it was a zombie, not a skeleton.
Could this one be such an individual?
If so, it could only be described as luck that goes beyond simply being fortunate.
"You did really well. Smart and skilled."
-Clack!
Praise naturally flowed from my mouth, and the skeleton once again clicked its jaw bones with precision.
Perhaps because of its recent performance, there was no longer any eeriness in the emotions felt from that appearance.
Just reassurance.
Its patience in following instructions to subdue the most threatening individual on the opposite side first, ignoring the undead instinct despite the skeleton's hiding shadow being on the right and the mage on the left.
The sharpness of its sword strikes that didn't back down even an inch while fighting a human warrior.
Finally, the fact that it subdued all of them without killing a single person in all those fights, following my instruction to keep them alive as much as possible.
Seeing this, if I didn't feel reassured, I would be unqualified as a master.
It's unusually competent, but it's also strange to doubt someone who has been showing friendly emotions towards me all along.
'I wonder if it's really a 'perfect' individual. It's inconvenient that I can't see the summon's status window.'
I'm not sure if it's not yet unlocked or if it disappeared when it became reality, but there was no intuitive way to check the summon's status.
I did get the feeling that 'this one is strong,' but I can't base strategies on just that.
Putting aside such regrets, I patted the cold skeleton's arm once more and turned towards today's prey.
"Hello, you two. Though I suppose you're not doing too well."
One mage who can't engage in conversation because she's unconscious.
One warrior who's on the verge of death with his abdomen pierced, but not quite dead yet.
And finally, one who looks like a ranger or hunter.
All three were in excellent condition for the spoils of a first battle.
Since the undead move with hatred towards the living and always focus on tearing apart their enemies, I didn't expect to have this interrogation time.
Swallowing my admiration for my skeleton once again, I spoke once more.
"I'm sorry our first meeting turned out like this."
"Ugh… kuh…"
"How can a skeleton be this strong…?"
"I can't answer that. Isn't there something more important?"
Looking at Remia who was staring at me with dazed eyes, I pointed at the dying warrior.
"First, apply first aid. He'll die if you leave him like that."
"Why…?"
"Is the reason important? If you want to just survive while letting your friend die, that's fine too."
"… Kuk!"
My soldier has confiscated all weapons, and the mage is bound with all body parts that help cast spells, like eyes, ears, mouth, and hands, blocked.
There are no means to resist.
"Jack. Jack? Wake up, okay?"
"Re… mi…"
"Yes. I'm here. I'll heal you, okay?"
"H… elp…!"
"Where would I go without you…!"
Remia takes out a red glass bottle from her bag, sprinkles it on Jack's wound, and pours some into his mouth.
My intervention came at that moment.
"That's enough."
"But the treatment isn't finished…!"
"He won't die now. Right?"
Swish.
The skeleton stepped forward as if affirming my words and put its sword to Remia's chin. She bit her lip and slowly backed away under that pressure, raising her chin.
She knows the sword could pierce Jack's body again at any moment.
"You're smart. Miss."
Jack's recovery speed wasn't particularly fast, probably due to the easing pain causing him to finally faint, but his wounds were visibly healing nonetheless.
However, at this rate, there seems to be a limit to the amount of recovery.
Just the level I want, you could say.
"Is this human potion?"
"…Yes."
This red medicine Remia used must be the potion commonly seen in games.
I confirmed there are a few more in the bag, so there will be occasions to use them later. As they're novice adventurers, the quality probably isn't very good, but it's better than nothing.
In the worst case, I might be able to use it myself.
"Now, will you answer my questions?"
I approached the hunter who still had my soldier's sword at her chin and asked for her cooperation.
She nodded. Still biting her lip.
That was a bit irritating.
"If you keep biting your lip like that, it'll get damaged. That's a good girl. There."
As I said this while tapping her lips, she gradually relaxed her teeth, biting her lip.
She's looking at me curiously as to why I'm doing this, but it was just something I did on a whim without any particular meaning, so there was nothing to say.
I just ask the next question.
"What's your name?"
"Why do you…"
"Name."
"…Remia."
She's still defiant, but the act of answering questions itself is lowering mental barriers.
The fact that I'm in the form of a young woman is probably playing a part in this too. Since ancient times, beauty has been a poison that can kill humans.
I smiled and asked with a still warm tone and attitude.
"Were you trying to challenge the dungeon on your own? Or did you come through the guild?"
"…Yeah. Through the guild…"
Swish.
"Y-Yes!"
There was an incident where the skeleton pressed its sword further when she answered casually, but anyway, it seems she's prepared to answer more questions.
I can tell because she's spilling information even though I haven't asked additional questions.
"I-It was a general request…"
"General? I'll ask your friends later too. I won't ask as gently then. Don't lie."
"It really was a general request…!"
"…I see. It seems to be true."
The woman visibly relaxes at my words.
It's pitiful to see her scared for her life and her friends' lives, but there's no room for me to sympathize.
Even when I was in the modern world, I had to be prepared to knock down competitors if necessary.
Some people know about sociopaths or such behaviors. Still, in their case, the degree of ruining and breaking the other person is just too extreme, because competition between ordinary people is like that.
If I hadn't knocked them down, I, who had separated from my family and was left alone, might have died.
Dying from stress due to lack of money on Earth, and dying in a cave unknown to any of my acquaintances here without gaining anything and losing what I had…
The two are essentially no different to me.
Of course, whether it's ruining the other person or interrogating them like this, it's still wrong.
"…I guess this is it."
The information obtained from interrogating the woman was as follows:
'Two hundred years… It's been a long time.'
First. The current era was far into the future compared to the background of 'MilDun' that I knew.
The era of MilDun 1, which was set when dungeons first appeared in this world, was Imperial Year 5 and Chaos Year 1 when the world peace agreement occurred, and now it's Chaos Year 214.
As expected, this must be the world inside the sequel, 'Million Dungeon Lord 2'.
Perhaps the appearance of powerful individuals like my soldier among skeletons is also due to this difference in eras.
'A general request. This is a term that didn't exist in the game I played.'
Second. There are two types of guild requests.
Formal requests or designated requests that the guild specifies towards threatening targets, and general requests that are always posted for frequently occurring tasks and left for adventurers to take on their own.
In addition, the third fact I learned here:
If the guild treats the generation of dungeons as a 'common occurrence', then dungeons must be popping up like mushrooms in this world.
The number of 'Dungeon Lords' in the real 'MilDun 2' might really achieve the 'Million' in the title.
If so, that's fortunate.
Even if these people fail their request, my existence won't be immediately known to others.
'As if I didn't have enough headaches already.'
And finally, I was able to learn about another danger that I hadn't been aware of.
Thanks to discovering the difference in time and background between the era I knew and now, and after hearing about the world situation from Remia:
"It seems this world has many troublesome seniors."
It was about the existence of six established Dungeon Lords called 'Demon Realm Archdukes.'
Lords of super-large dungeons who, after a long time since establishing themselves on the continent, finally raised their dungeons into a new existence called 'demon realms.'
Among all Dungeon Lords, these are probably the ones truly closest to being called Demon Lord candidates.
-Clack.
"You say we can do it? Thank you."
The shadow of beings so far beyond that they seemed difficult to overcome even with the strength gained from the encouragement of one reliable skeleton felt like it was pressing down on my shoulders.
One of the biggest enemies for a Dungeon Lord is competing Demon Lord candidates, which means that there are already some who are far ahead among those Demon Lord candidates.
It was the appearance of new powerful enemies that didn't exist in MilDun 1.