"My name is Derek Lawson! I am the [Thunder] who conquered the Northern dungeon of [Ganymede] a year ago!"
He raised his burly sword to the sky and showed the crowd the bluish-colored electricity flowing down the blade.
It was as if he was wearing a visible form of static electricity, Daniel thought.
The crowd cheered for the man, Derek.
The magic of the sword was no magic at all. It was classified as elementary magic. Even so, with his track record of conquering dungeons, it wasn't surprising that the crowd thought he had more power than that.
――[Thunder], right?
He didn't mean electricity or anything like that, Daniel scratched his head lightly.
"Huh? You're a fool, aren't you? There's no way this cute Sophia is a monster. You might want to get some glasses or something before you go into the dungeon. ――You'll get hurt, you know?"
"A-Are you insulting me!?"
"You insulted me first, didn't you? Gelatin."
Even though he knew the man's name was Derek, Daniel didn't feel like calling him correctly.
"I am Derek Lawson! I'm the [Thunder] who conquered [Ganymede]!"
――I knew I might run into it eventually, but I didn't expect it to be this soon...
"Oh, yeah? That's great. Congratulations. But that's not the same thing as you insulting Sophia. You can brag about it to your mother. Also, it's better not to say such things openly. Some people don't like it when people ask."
Daniel hooked a leg and pressed it against Derek's chest.
The move was similar to kogai-gari in judo. He didn't grab his arm, because he didn't want him to be passive.
Derek fell on his buttocks with a thud, collapsing in disgrace.
"Ugh!…"
"You see? You'll get hurt if your eyes are bad. You'd better go home. I don't want to hear a man moan."
There was a chuckle from the people around.
The man who, to the outside world, pretended to be a hero had been easily defeated by a boy dressed like any other.
Derek, realizing his defeat late, looked at the dirt on his palm and shivered, his face turning red with anger.
――It's humiliating.
The dark-haired woman who had been accompanying him came up and tried to help him up with a worried look on her face.
From the looks of it, the woman seemed to be in love with Derek.
But as if to disregard such kindness, Derek roughly brushed her away.
――Why do women fall in love with guys like this?
It's not that he looks strong, it's just that he bites without restraint.
It's a good-looking guy thing. Bastard.
Daniel grew even more frustrated.
"Hey, hey. Isn't it dangerous to go to the dungeon with that kind of gait? If you have a fever, you need to go home and be pampered by your mother."
"You did this to me…!"
Derek didn't really believe that anyone would be so rude to the longed-for and admired [Dungeon Adventurer].
He thought he was to be respected and only to be looked at with envy.
This time too, he thought Daniel would apologize and bow. However, the reality was the exact opposite of what he imagined.
From Daniel's point of view, Derek's background was irrelevant. He would have done the same even if the other party was a nobleman.
He knew that Derek was a child, more than a year younger than him if he included his previous life.
And he mocked Sophia, whom he doted on. No matter who it was, Daniel wouldn't let that go.
"Well, if you're going to pick a fight, choose your opponent. Your standards are none of my business. Don't mock Sophia."
"Remember! The inside of the dungeon is my garden! I'll make you rusty with this sword!"
"That's a complaint I've heard a lot, but you should maintain it properly. If you let your sword rust, you're not a good swordsman."
Daniel tried to make fun of him.
In fact, he was making fun of him.
"I-It's just a metaphor! You should know about it!"
"I know what I'm talking about. Why don't you just get to the registration desk? We're about to leave."
"Kugh!… I'm gonna make you regret this…!"
"Don't worry. I've already regretted getting tangled up in that messy business."
He smiled and waved at Derek's group as they left, glancing back at Daniel, who sighed quietly.
――I guess we still need to have some level of clamor...
It's a local environment with no internet, so this kind of thing is bound to pop up.
No matter how much I didn't want to stand out, I was a little naive in my thinking.
"Master is strong, isn't he…? That human is a dungeon conqueror, overwhelmingly strong, right?"
"It's like a technique, it doesn't really matter how strong you are. And it can only be used once. That's why I can't use it on him anymore. Besides, I think he's pretty strong if he fights properly. He might even be able to call himself a breaker, though I doubt it."
"What? But you defeated him easily, didn't you?"
"The premise was that he didn't want to fight. He just wanted to make a fool of himself and get a mount. That's why he was so skittish. I don't think he had any idea that there were adventurers who would attack him. So in a way, it was inevitable it turned out that way."
Daniel had just caught Derek in a false sense of security.
The reason he couldn't use it a second time was because next time Derek would be wary of him as an enemy.
He couldn't do the same thing to a skilled opponent anymore.
He may have underestimated Derek Lawson himself, but he didn't underestimate his fighting skills.
From Daniel's point of view, Derek seemed to be the strongest person in the area. ――Except for one.
Sophia thought that Daniel, a boy who seemed cheerful and a bit good-natured, actually had a lot to hide.
She had had a number of questions ever since they first met.
The reason Sophia didn't say anything about it was because she owed him.
She didn't want to offend him. Besides, Sophia had her own secrets too.
"Well, let's just take it easy. I'm sure they're here to conquer, right? I don't think we'll run into each other, since we'll be making money on the lower levels. My purpose for attacking the dungeon is to get money to play with Sophia."
"There are many things I don't understand, but… thank you. You were angry for me, weren't you?"
"Yes, I was. I can't forgive them. I love Sophia more than you know. I love you. That's why I won't tolerate anyone who makes fun of you."
"Master is strange… But I'm glad. I never thought that liking humans would be a part of my life. I love you too, Daniel."
Sophia smiled and grabbed Daniel's arm, squeezing it between her large breasts.
Daniel's mouth loosened at the chubby, cool mass.
On the other hand, Sophia's mouth pouted slightly as she looked down.
"I'll protect you. I'm sure that's what my power is for."
"What is the master's power…? You can afford it, can't you? I can't believe you just did that."
"I don't want to brag too much like that guy, so I'll just show you what I can do. They say that a really good sword is always in its scabbard. ――Let's attack the dungeon. It's just a trial run for today, so we won't be able to conquer it."
"Yes! I'll accompany you wherever you go!"
Standing tall, Sophia kissed Daniel on the cheek.
――She was really glad that Daniel had bought her.
She never thought she would meet someone in her life who would be angry for her.
***********[Sometime later]*******
Sophia gazed at the obsidian-like mineral jutting from the wall, her eyes shining in fascination.
"This is the magic steel... more beautiful than what I see in the illustrations in the book. What can I say? Black butterfly wings wet with water, black butterfly feather colors..."
—Would she be happy if I gave her jewelry or something?
Daniel ran some quick budgeting in his head.
"The surface of gasoline spilled on the ground has that kind of color. You'd never know."
"Gasoline? Master, sometimes you say things I don't understand. Language is meaningless if it isn't understood, you know?"
"I'm not sure if that's the right word for me... Anyway, I got more than I thought I would, so let's take it back to my room for a spin."
With a borrowed pickaxe, the two of them kept digging into the wall.
What they were after was a black mineral called magic steel.
It could be used for casting spells, and was highly sought after for weapons and everyday tools. The largest piece they had found so far was about the size of Daniel's palm.
It could be mined outside of the dungeon, but the purity inside was far higher. If they sold what they collected, the return was excellent considering its size and weight.
They packed the stones into a bag, carried them back to a small inn carved into the cave wall, then returned to continue mining.
Most of the haul was sold to merchants who came to the dungeon themselves. Daniel planned to keep some of the better pieces to sell later to weapons dealers.
The lower levels of the dungeon resembled a vast cavern of bare earth.
It may have begun as a natural cave, but with so many people cutting away at the walls over the years, it had grown into wide, open chambers.
Daniel thought it wasn't much different from Earth: keep digging until every natural resource was stripped bare.
"Even so, there are surprisingly few demons here, aren't there? The forest near my village had more potential than this place."
The hall bustled only with humans moving about in a hurry. Demons appeared rarely, and when they did, they were quickly taken down—making this place feel almost excessively safe.
"There are a lot of mercenaries and adventurers running in and out of these lower levels," Sophia said. "Back where I lived, demons were common. Elves live in the forest, after all. Alongside demons, there are animals, too. That's why elves tend to have some fighting ability. Long lives, calmer personalities than humans, but strength born from necessity."
"In my village, demons only showed up maybe two or three times a year. Usually during the change of seasons."
"That sounds like a cold..."
The demons they encountered here were mostly small animals, barely threatening. They drove them away rather than killing them.
The worst were the dungeon worms: thick as a human arm, crawling out when the walls were disturbed.
They weren't dangerous—just disgusting.
Daniel, with his modern values, didn't like killing living things unnecessarily. Even demons.
He compared it to why most people couldn't bring themselves to kill a dog or a cat. He only fought demons that were obviously dangerous, or insect-like monsters that couldn't be spared.
As they were working, the silver-haired man from earlier, Derek, swaggered over.
"Hah! You talk so big, but all you do is chip away at rocks?"
He was as arrogant as before.
Daniel still couldn't figure out how Derek could act so bold after making such a fool of himself earlier.
"Again with you, Pudding. What are you doing here? I thought you came to conquer. Why are you back in the lower levels?"
"Pudding? You mean that demon? That red, slimy thing? Don't you dare compare me to that!"
"I didn't even know there was a demon called that... I always thought it was just a slime. Been thinking that for years. It's so big and subtle—like pudding. You know, the dessert? The one with the jello friend?"
The pudding Derek spoke of was a red, gelatinous monster often found near rocks and grass.
It moved slowly, looking like some bizarre strawberry jelly crawling across the ground.
But despite appearances, it was a vicious, carnivorous creature, dissolving its prey inside its body. Touching it by mistake could melt flesh, and even seasoned adventurers fell victim to it.
"Y-you're talking nonsense again! Anyway, I'm asking if you're just playing with rocks while mocking me!"
"Well, yeah. We're just making some money on the lower levels today. You're the one who came to conquer the dungeon, right? You're the so-called 'Thunder' who took Ganymede?" Daniel said with mocking emphasis.
"Hmph! You'll see what I'm really capable of today! I'm a cautious man, that's all!"
"Oh? No—you're actually looking for sponsors, right? Trying to impress the nobles hanging around these lower levels so they'll fund your dive deeper into the dungeon. That's why you were showing off earlier, isn't it? Make them think you're worth investing in."
"T-that's ridiculous! I conquered Ganymede, for Christ's sake! I have money! I have experience!"
—What a liar....
Even Daniel, who had never spoken like a young master in his life, felt the urge to mutter like one. Derek's voice cracked, his eyes darted nervously—he was clearly bluffing.
The truth was obvious: the low-level exploration plans existed mostly to draw noble sponsors.
Nobles wanted to understand dungeons, to see their profit potential firsthand, without risking themselves.
They weren't interested in personally conquering anything. They wanted the treasures, but would never stake their own lives.
So they funded others instead. Adventurers took the risk, nobles took the returns—and the honor.
The better the materials adventurers retrieved, the more nobles invested.
That cycle had created the labyrinth city itself.
Even in a world with magic, greed was still the engine of everything.
The lower-level plans were cheap, but diving into the middle and lowest levels cost a fortune. Equivalent to hundreds of millions of dollars.
If you conquered it, the return could be staggering—but it was a gamble with your life.
The official reason for the sky-high fees was "city maintenance and management." But the real purpose was different: to make sure the city's economy stayed tied to the dungeon.
If a dungeon was fully conquered, the flow of wealth into the city would vanish.
—If I can avoid it, I'd rather not be dragged into their games.