— [Demon] Ancient Dungeon, 41st Floor, Lake of the Water Spirit, Estina —

“Hey! Inferior species! What are you standing around for? Check if there are any traps, quickly!”

“…Understood. Undine, please.”

I took out a small leather pouch from my waist. I then asked the water spirit Undine inside it to check the corridor ahead for traps.

Undine heeded my request, spread herself thinly across the floor of the corridor, and she told me,

“There are no traps in this corridor.”

“You should be doing that before you’re even told. Honestly, elves have such high pride despite being an inferior species; they’re completely useless. Maybe I should ask Father to get rid of them.”

“Lady Hilde, I still envy you for having an elf slave who can use such powerful spirit magic. It’s very useful in battle. The difference from my black cat here is like night and day.”

“Hmph, being a marquis’s daughter, it’s only necessary to have this much prestige. When I become His Highness’s wife, I’ll gift you an elf slave as well. As the future empress, it would be embarrassing if those by my side didn’t have at least that much.”

“Thank you so much, Lady Hilde. I will follow you wherever you go.”

“Lady Hilde, I would love it if I could have an elf instead of this useless, filthy white rabbit.”

“Very well, but I’ll ask you to take down the earth dragons on this floor, alright?”

“Yes, please leave it to me. I’ve brought some highly skilled adventurers exclusively serving my earl’s family just for this purpose. Leave the next detection to these people.”

“I also asked my father to allow me to bring knights from our viscount’s family. They’ll be more than adequate as a vanguard!”

“Oh? I’m looking forward to it.”

Foolish humans…

Sneaking into the ancient dungeon where the Demon King resides, to gain favor of the Emperor’s grandson, who favors powerful women, without her marquis father’s knowledge.

The three ancient dungeons—Demon, Underworld, and Time. Of these three ancient dungeon, Demon requires the purest combat power.

It’s said that whoever conquers it gains a skill that could obtain everything in the world.

Though I don’t know what kind of skill that is.

What I do know is that this dungeon is of a super-high difficulty level, with no known conquerors outside of legends and myths.

This dungeon is different from others. It’s not just filled with powerful dragon-type monsters; the monsters here seem to be under someone’s control.

Some say the dungeon itself is alive and issues commands to the monsters, but no one knows the truth.

If you thought this was like the advanced demon-type dungeon we entered the other day, you’re gravely mistaken.

I wonder why I end up being bought by such a foolish noble daughter.

The previous noble was… not much better. All nobles tend to fawn over the strong and act arrogantly toward the weak.

Even common citizens refuse to admit fault and would never apologize, even if they’ve done wrong. That mindset of losing if you apologize… they lie so easily, often steal, and are quick-tempered.

Why hasn’t this race perished?

“It’s all because that vixen Carla went and defeated the Basilisk on the 30th floor… Why do I have to be here?”

“I hear she cried to her father and hired a whole bunch of S-rank adventurers. For an earl’s daughter to presume she can approach His Highness without knowing her place—it’s unforgivable.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“That family only rose to power by sheer luck after conquering an advanced dungeon. They’re all muscle-brained idiots. They’re incomparable to the illustrous lineage of Lady Hilde’s Coville family.”

“Such an eyesore. But it’s fine. If I can locate and hunt down an earth dragon here, His Highness will surely take an interest in me. Once I have his attention, I’ll win him over with my silky red hair and beautiful face”

Oh, look who’s talking, a woman who’s constantly inviting men into her bed.

More importantly, I’m hungry… Starving me just for a little defiance… I’d really love to kill her.

But with this cursed collar on me, I can’t. If I tried, it would cost me my life.

This girl may be foolish, but she’s exceptionally good at self-preservation.

She’s studied a lot about elves, knowing that we’d rather die than lose our pride.

Perhaps her father told her about a noble who was killed by an elf when he tried to force them to breed with beastkin.

So she always stops at last minutes. But that only irritates me more.

The bunny girl Sheena, enslaved by one of the noble woman, and the cat girl Liz look worn down.

They’re probably being starved too.

Their equipment is just for show—low-rank monster hide breastplates with beautiful.

Unlike me, they have no spirit contracts, so they’re always dressed like that and frequently injured.

Their wounds from a previous dungeon battle haven’t even healed… Poor things.

This is really bad…

Even with adventurers and knights, there are only 20 of us in total.

Typically, this ancient dungeon requires five parties of six S-rank adventurers or at least 50 knights to challenge it.

Here, we have just three S-rank fighters, eleven A-rank, and us three B-rank—me, Sheena, and Liz. It’s best not to count the foolish noble daughters.

This is the 41st floor.

The deepest reach of an adventurer raid led by SS-rank adventurers, is the 59th floor.

We took a teleportation circle with an adventurer who’s reached this floor before.

Entering a floor beyond your rank using a teleportation circle is forbidden…

The adventurer who brought us here looks pale.

Likely forced to do it by the power of noble.

The gate guards also turned a blind eye. They might have taken his family hostage.

That marquis girl would do it; I’ve seen her do it before.

And to be here for nearly two days without food… We won’t be able to fight properly at this rate.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

“Why!? Why isn’t there an earth dragon!? Or even a basilisk!?”

“My Lady, at this depth, it’s rare to encounter monsters. Here, you’d only run into creatures about three times a day. Each one is large and powerful, so the dungeon doesn’t produce many of them.”

Ah, there she goes, throwing a tantrum.

This fool… It’s only been an hour since we entered the dungeon. I can’t believe she reached even C+ rank. Well, other than brain, the only thing that was high was her magic power.

“I don’t have time for this! I was told they’d appear right away… I can’t stay long after sneaking this far from my father. You filthy rabbit, use this.”

“W-what!? That’s a Demon Bell! Using it here would be disastrous!”

“Shut up. You’re just an adventurer and shouldnt give me any advice. Just use it, you lowly rabbit. Pour your magic into it.”

What is she thinking!? Using that will attract a horde of monsters!

And making Sheena do it… She knows it’ll target whoever uses it.

She plans to use Sheena as bait.

“Eh? Eh? M-me? Oh no…”

“Enough! Follow Lady Hilde’s orders! I’ll send your sister to an institution if you don’t obey!”

“Anything but that… I’ll do it.”

“Sheena! Don’t—”

“Silence, elf! That’s an order!”

“No…. Aaghh!”

I… I can’t breathe… Speaking only tightens the collar… I’m sorry, Sheena…

“It’s okay, Miss Estina! Its okay! Don’t suffer for me. I’ll do it right away! …Here goes…”

Chime, chime, chime…

“It’s done!”

“Good. Now the earth dragon will come. We’ll kill it and leave immediately.”

It’s over… I’ll die here because of this foolish noblewoman.

I’m only 38 years old… I left my village to make a contract with a spirit just eight years ago… and now I’ll die without ever knowing love.

Ah, love was pointless.

Even if I survive this, I’d just be sent to a breeding institution and forced to have children everyday if I’m no longer useful in battle.

If only they had handsome elves there… but all elves look so similar with their overly refined features.

This is a wasted life. Why was I even born?

I’ll make sure at least these three noble girls survive so that my village won’t be razed.

As I was resigning myself to my fate, my eyes met with Liz, the cat girl. She gave me a shy smile and nodded.

She must be thinking the same thing.

Sheena… is just clutching the bell, panicking. That’s so like her.

I’d like to see Sheena survive too. She is a good girl who adores me, and it seems she has a cute little sister.

I envy her, not knowing any family of my own.

Oh? Liz is looking at Sheena too. She might be thinking the same thing.

“Something’s coming!!”

“What!? ‘Detection’… Nothing yet?”

“If the rabbit senses it, it’s probably true. Her ears are sharp, even if she’s an inferior races. Prepare for battle!”

““Yes, my lady!””

If Sheena sensed it, it’s coming.

Undine hasn’t detected it yet, but Liz’s tail is standing up. She must be sensing the danger with her intuition.

“They are coming! Several of them!”

“Several? You will stay with me. If i dont return safely, your whole family will be killed. Dont try to escape on your own.”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Come on everyone, the earth dragon is coming! Let’s defeat it quickly and go home.”

“Yes!!”

Several? You stupid girl, did you not hear that?

I have a really bad feeling about this, and it seems the adventurers feels the same way.

It seems the knights have resolved themselves to protect the Viscount’s daughter.

“They’re here! Five of them! This is impossible!”

“W-what!? ‘Detection’… This is bad… Three Earth Dragons and two Basilisks. My lady, we must retreat!”

“Wh-why are there so many!? This is way too much!”

You’re the one who called them here, you foolish woman!

“Ugh, fine! We’re retreating! Remember this! I’ll definitely hunt them down next time!”

Ah… It’s already too late. Undine sensed it too. Earth dragons are coming from the direction of the teleportation circle as well.

“Eeek! They suddenly appeared from behind!”

This is the kind of thing that happens in this ancient dungeon. Sometimes, creatures suddenly appear on your escape route, as if someone teleported them there at the perfect timing… It’s actually happening, just like the elder told me long ago.

“K-knights, hold back the monsters coming from the front! Buy me time to escape!”

The Viscount’s daughter shouts something outrageous.

“Adventurers, buy us time as well!”

The Count’s daughter is also ordering the adventurers around. If they went back home after letting the noble daughters die, the viscount would surely have them killed. This is what it means to be in the employ of nobles.

“What are you doing, you lower beings? This is an order! Follow me and protect me!”

“…Yes.”

“Black cat, come too! That’s an order!”

“Tch…”

“Filthy rabbit! Stop dawdling and come! This is an order!”

“Y-yes!”

Sheena, Liz, and I were ordered to follow the marquis’s daughter, her two noble companions, and the guide adventurer.

They intended to use us, unable to disobey their orders, as bait to distract the earth dragons on the retreat path.