Sealed Widow Dungeon (1)

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[Dungeon Information]

A long time ago, the villagers of the Fukuhagi village sealed away a woman whose husband was killed by her jealous and abusive ex.

After the death of her husband, the widow turned insane from the grief.

Thus, she resorted to dark arts to try to revive her husband by sacrificing the souls of the villagers.

A high-ranking mage, who passed by, saw that and chose to help the adventurers.

Using a marble, which belonged to the collection of her husband, the combined forces of the mage and the villagers managed to seal her inside a parallel world inside the marble.

Difficulty: A-

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"There's a whole lore of this dungeon? How interesting..."

Closing the window, I took a look around my environment, scanning the dungeon I was in.

Judging from the looks of it, this dungeon didn't seem to differentiate all that much compared to the real world.

Logical, as it was also mentioned in the information window, that this was a parallel world.

However, there was one big difference inside this dungeon.

"The mana seems to be thick inside here..."

Raising a hand, I gathered some of the mana in my palm before using [Reading] to analyze it.

As I had expected, the mana, which seems to be mixed with an ominous kind of aura, was thicker than in the real world, which was a result of the existence of the 'Widow'.

Usually, dungeons were just a collection of mana, which was most often caused by the sealing of some kind of powerful boss in some limited space, which in turn resulted in the boss' mana affecting that specific area.

In this case, it seemed to be this parallel world. Although it was called a parallel world, its size of it probably barely covered the forest we were in, which meant that this too was a limited space.

"That is also probably the reason why the system recognizes it as a dungeon..."

Finishing my assessment of the situation, I turned my head to the boy, who was lying on the floor beside me, unconscious.

"What am I going to do with you?"

I kneeled next to the boy, pushing some of his blonde hair strands from his bloodied face to get a better look at his complexion.

He looked pale, and his breathing was rapid. In addition to that, his pulse also seemed to be weak, which made me feel a little guilty.

But just a little bit.

He kind of deserved that, to be honest.

Looking at his face now, he was quite a looker, especially when he didn't glare at you. Well, I guess he was still pretty handsome when he did glare at me, but it was just easier to ignore due to the situation.

With safety, I could say that this guy was going to be a major heartbreaker someday.

Well, if you ignore his shitty personality, that is.

Seriously, where did he get his anger issues from? If I ever meet his parents, I'll tell them to send him to therapy...

...did therapy even exist at this time?

"...How bothersome..."

Sighing, I sat down next to him, waiting for him to wake up.

At first, I considered just leaving him here on his own, but in the end, it was kind of my fault for breaking the marble and bringing us into his place, which just seemed to be heavy for my conscience.

Besides that, there was also the difficulty of this dungeon.

'A-'

I wasn't sure if I reached a level yet where I could beat such a dungeon alone, especially when I'm out of mana.

And seeing the strength of this boy, whose stats generally seemed to be a tad higher than mine, taking him with me surely wouldn't be a bad idea.

That is if he doesn't decide to suddenly attack me again.

But no sane person would choose to fight in such a situation, right?

...right?

To prepare some safety measures, I created ice shackles around his arms and legs before distancing myself a bit.

"Better safe than sorry."

Well, he was still injured, which seemed to reduce his level of danger by quite a bit. However, that was an advantage and a disadvantage to me at the same time.

While that meant that the chances of him endangering me would be lower, it also meant that his fighting prowess would sink, which would greatly increase our difficulty in clearing this dungeon.

Speaking of the devil, the boy began to twitch abruptly before jumping up while breathing rapidly.

Nonetheless, he was stopped by the ice shackles, which pinned him to the ground and restricted his movements.

"You..."

When he looked around his environment to see what was going on, his expression hardened when he saw me.

"Yes, me?"

In a provocative voice, I smiled at him, finding the situation to be amusing.

"What did you do to me?"

"Nothing much, really. Just put you on a leash, you know?"

My eyes narrowed as I lowered my head, my hair casting a shadow over them while the smile on my face widened.

"After all, a wild dog shouldn't turn its fangs on a human, should it?"

"Damn you..!"

God.

I think I'm changing my occupation from a prior female lead to a villainess.

Tormenting people was just way too much fun.

However, I shouldn't get carried away in such a situation. We were in a dungeon, after all.

"Jokes aside. I really didn't do anything harmful to you. More importantly, have you realized where we are?"

"Where we ar—?! You didn't break the marble, did you?"

Averting my gaze, I awkwardly scratched my cheek while releasing a nervous laugh.

"Well, about that...you know...it's actually your fault, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, it's my fault? You are the one who broke it!"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have broken it if you didn't attack me out of nowhere! So in hindsight, it's your fault."

"Tsk. Shut up, aristocrat."

Distorting his face, the boy spat out those words, as he shot me a glare before turning his face away.

"Say it once again."

Narrowing my eyes, the surrounding air gradually got chillier, as I released my mana into the atmosphere.

"I said—"

Crack—

Closing the distance, I stepped on his hand, crushing it beneath my foot, as I shot him a frosty glare.

"Argh!"

He winced in pain as I twisted my foot, driving it further into his hand.

Crunch—

"Don't talk to me like that again. Do you understand?"

I whispered in a low voice, threatening him.

"...y..yes..please take your foot off my hand."

"Tsk."

Clicking my tongue, I took a step back, while my eyes still lingered on him.

What did it have to do with me that he hated aristocrats? I didn't choose to be born as one.

I wasn't interested in his tragic backstory, but the way he acted toward me just pissed me off.

Show some respect to your elders, boy!

At least I thought that he was younger than me.

Who knows?

Maybe he was a 3000-year-old shota vampire or something of that sort.

Although, judging by his immature behavior, it was more probable that he truly was a kid.

"If that's so, then behave like a good boy and don't get on my nerves."

"...yes."

Now there's only the question left of how I should proceed. After the way I had treated him, there was no way that he didn't resent me, which made it a little difficult to feel safe in his presence.

I had to find a way to guarantee my safety while also letting him fight with full power.

"Oh...that could be it."

Whispering to myself, I then turned to the boy with an ominous smile on my face, kneeling right next to him.

"Hey, boy."

"..Y..yeah?"

He sounded hesitant, as he spoke, which was a given, as I was the person who practically tormented him since we met.

For good reason, of course.

...would that count as child abuse?

Nah, probably not. I was a child too.

Anyway, snapping back into reality, I created a mana contract with my left hand and gave it to him.

"Sign it."

"I can't. My arms are in shackles and I have no pen."

"What a bothersome, youngster."

Snap—!

Snapping with my fingers, I released one of his arms, dissolving the shackles into thin air before I grabbed his wrist, pulling it toward me.

"Here. Focus your mana on the tip of your thumb."

I said as I pressed his thumb onto the contract, gripping him tightly to not let him escape.

Surprisingly, he showed no resistance and seemed to obey my orders.

Such a good boy.

Wait, what the fuck am I thinking?

Shaking my head, I focused on the contract again.

"What are the contents of the contract?"

He asked in a hesitant voice, almost as if he was scared of me, which released a weird mix of emotions inside me.

"Just that you can't attack me and will follow my orders. It's only a temporary one though and only lasts while we're together in this dungeon."

"So you're saying that you could kill me if you just ordered me to die?"

"Exactly."

"Then why would I sign this contract then."

"That's because..." I tightened my grip on his wrist while glaring at him, as my voice gained an edge. "...you have no choice."

"I..I see..."

Widening his eyes in fear, he immediately listened to me and signed the contract.

Good.

Now one problem was solved.

Snap—!

With a satisfied grin, I stood up again, releasing him from all his shackles before letting the contract dissolve into nothingness.

The contract was already active, so there was no advantage in keeping it by my side any longer.

"You don't have a sword, do you, boy?"

"Hiek! Y..yes, ma'am!"

The boy, who was rubbing his wrists, shrieked, as I called out to him.

Well, I was the one who had full control over his life right now, so a certain degree of reluctance and fear was to be expected.

Still, seeing him act so fearfully made me feel kind of guilty, although I also enjoyed it to a certain extent.

Creating an ice sword, I gave it to him, trying to crack a soft smile to lessen his fear of me.

"Here, take this," I said in a gentle tone. "And don't worry. As long as you're one of my people, I won't let you get hurt. So just trust me and follow me, alright?"

Yes.

As long as you are one of my people, you won't get hurt, so be a good kid and obey my orders, you immature little brat.

Seeing my smile, his eyes widened in surprise, before he hurriedly turned his head away.

"T..thank you."

Well, it seemed like my attempt at making him fear me less didn't work, but at least he wasn't weaponless now.

Yay.

"Now then..."

Turning my head to the entrance of the cave, I narrowed my eyes again.

As far as I could remember, if one would move too much in a dungeon, the boss of the dungeon will notice your presence, so it is advised to clear dungeons quickly.

However, we had already wasted too much time establishing the contract, so I expected the boss to be aware of our presence any second now.

Well, it can't be changed anymore, so I shouldn't waste my time complaining about such things.

"You know how to clear a dungeon, don't you?"

"Ah." He nodded. "I am aware of that. It is also the reason why I tried to secure the marble in the first place, after all."

I see.

That certainly made sense.

"Alright then." I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the danger that I was about to face.

"Then, before we start, I still have a question."

Right, I almost forgot one of the most important questions.

"...What is it, ma'am?"

"Stop calling me ma'am. Just call me by my name."

I paused, rolling my eyes, before continuing again.

"What is your name? Calling you 'boy' the whole time would be annoying."

"Noir."

Noir?

For some reason, that name was familiar to me, but the only thing that I could remember when thinking about that name was a character from a popular kid's show in my past life.

What was his name again?

Kitty noir?

Well, if I forgot it, it can't be that important, can it?

Finishing all of our preparations, both of us set off into the dungeon. Soon, as we exited the cave, a system window popped up in my view.

[Boss 'Widow' has detected your presence!]