Part 1

I found the entrance to the second basement.

“The first one was a miss, but hopefully this one will be a hit.”

The first underground dungeon I and five idiots entered, there were no treasures there that could be called treasures.

I visited this dungeon many times in that Otome game, but my memory has faded about it.

Where was something? The traps? The mechanisms?

Due to some misremembering and other factors, things were not as smooth as I had hoped.

Jilk plants a bomb on the door and comes to us, pulling the wire.

“Please hide everyone”

Hiding in the shadows, Jilk put magic into the hand that was holding the wire.

As soon as the wire glows faintly, an explosion can be heard coming from the door.

There was a slight tremor and a cloud of dust rising from the stairs leading to the basement.

Greg heads over to check it out, but shakes his head when he returns.

“Useless. They have the only sturdy door here.”

Contrary to Greg, who looked disappointed, Brad was smiling as he put his hand to his chin.

“That is proof that such an important treasure is lying in the ground. Want to bring more explosives?”

Our eyes were on Jilk, who had the most knowledge about the bombing.

However, he has a troubled face.

“I’ve used up what I had. We need to go back to the ship and replenish the explosives, among other things.”

Brad shrugs his shoulders.

“We don’t have much ammunition left. I think we should go back and try again tomorrow”

Looking outside, I saw that the sun’s rays had turned red.

Julius is also concerned about time.

“At night, the monsters in the old castle come alive. Undead monsters are more powerful at night.”

If it were a game, there was no need to worry about time.

Many of them would have been immobilized during the day while taking on the dungeon.

There were times when events took place at night, but this should have been the exception.

Luxion flashes his red lens once and advises me to withdraw.

Master, I propose to withdraw

“Hmm, that said, it looks like this is the last time we’ll be here.”

Even if I went all the way back and took on the challenge tomorrow, the exploration would likely be over in a few hours.

Then I’m tempted to just finish it quickly.

However, I don’t bother to cross a dangerous bridge.

“――We’re retreating. We’ll meet up with everyone and head back to the encampment.”

As I made my decision, Chris let out a small sigh.

“That’s good. We still have plenty of time on our schedule.”

As we prepare to withdraw, we are alerted to the sound of footsteps approaching from afar and pick up our weapons.

I try to raise my rifle too, but Luxion stops me.

“It’s Marie and her party”

Shortly after, it was Marie with Kyle and Kara who appeared around the corner.

Her long hair was somehow tangled with leaves and disheveled.

“Wait a minuteeee !!”

Seeing that we were preparing to withdraw, Marie approached us with a big step and pointed past us to the entrance to the basement.

“Let’s move forward!”

When Marie insists on continuing the exploration, Julius explains that it is best to withdraw.

“I understand your impatience, but it’s nighttime. If we try tomorrow morning, we can safely explore. Marie, let’s give up now.”

But Marie does not accept the withdraw.

“No. I’ll get it done today and get out of here and back to the Kingdom.”

The five idiots are bewildered by Marie’s reckless words.

I’m so tired of Marie’s selfishness that I try to force her to come back with us.

“I’m the rule here. Exploration can wait until tomorrow, but for now we’re withdrawing. You guys get ready to go back.”

I’m the one who makes the plans, brings out the airships, and is in charge.

If something goes wrong, it’s my responsibility.

I had no intention of going along with Marie’s selfishness.

When I try to force a withdraw, Kyle stops me.

“Duke, may I have a word?”

“What? I’m not going to change my opinion.”

“No, today’s goshujin-sama has been like this since morning.”

In order to obtain the treasure and become independent, she has been pushing herself since morning, apparently.

Looking at Marie’s face, she still looks impatient.

“A little more. Once we conquer this place, I won’t have to look so pathetic anymore.”

I know why Marie is impatient.

I know, but I am wondering if it is right to change the policy and continue to give priority to exploration.

Luxion, noticing my concern, decides whether the strategy is feasible in the current situation.

The risk increases, but the conquering itself is possible.

“Everything all right?”

I do not recommend it. As for undead monsters, we don’t have enough data because Master avoided fighting them. If I had more data, I could have made a more accurate judgment.

Sounds like he’s trying to say, “We have a problem because you avoid combat because you’re afraid of it.”

“I wasn’t avoiding them. I just had no reason to fight.”

You sure have become smooth-talking. It’s a shame, because I’m looking forward to seeing you grow in other ways as well.

“Shut up”

Now, as I was wondering what we were going to do, Ange and the others joined us.

Behind Ange, Noel was holding a bag of treasure, while Livia was carefully holding what appeared to be nothing but junk.

Creare, who was leading the three of them, comes over to my side.

Master, listen! We found the treasure! Master and your group may not have found it, but we did! Praise me, praise me!

Can’t you read the atmosphere, or don’t you intend to?

“You did a good job. Look, get out of the way.”

Cruel!

I pushed Creare away with my hand and turned to face Ange, who was walking up to me.

“Do you think you’ll win?”

Although Ange and her team have acquired the treasure, they don’t think they’ve won the game yet.

“No way I can be proud of a win like this. Apparently, this is the room where the most treasure lies.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the entrance to the basement, protected by a sturdy door.

Then they look to me for judgment.

I couldn’t stand the way everyone was looking at me, so I scratched my head.

“I got it. Let’s move on.”

Once the decision is made, Luxion confirms it.

Are you sure about this?

“Let’s finish this quickly and go home.”

Well then

As Luxion and Creare approached the sturdy-looking door, lasers were beamed from red and blue lenses to destroy the lock.

Jilk is watching the scene with a complicated look on his face.

“If you have a way to unlock the door, use it from the beginning. It was a waste of explosives”

Sorry, Jilk.

I’ve told Luxion and Creare that this time they are only going to help with the bare minimum.

I looked at Ange’s figure as she watched the door about to open, and she seemed to be enjoying herself a lot.

That’s far different from when we dated.

Then Luxion and Creare return.

Master, we’ve broken the door locks. Possible to enter inside.

I go ahead of everyone and then turn around.

“Let’s have a race to see who can get to the back of the room first, shall we?”

When I ask everyone, the color of everyone’s eyes changes.

Livia, Noel, and Kyle, who were not nobles of the kingdom, were perplexed by the strange atmosphere around them.

Ange removes the tools that are no longer needed and drops them on the floor.

“I like rules that are easy to understand. It makes it clear who the winner is.”

Seeing Ange discarding useless tools, the others imitate and remove them.

The tools fell one after another on the floor and became noisy.

Marie seems to intend to immediately run out and outsmart the others.

“The first is meeee!”

“You stupid”

I caught Marie as she was about to enter the underground dungeon.

Carrying her as she is, Marie is restrained as she wriggles around.

“Are you all ready? Then start.”

When I announced the start, Greg was the first to reach the door.

“First in!”

With that said, the heavy metal door is pushed open and Jilk enters the gap.

“Thanks for going out of your way to open the door, Greg-kun.”

“Jilk, you bastard!”

Thanks to Greg’s opening of the door, the rest of us are passing through one by one.

Ange stopped when she came up beside me.

“You don’t go first because you have leeway?”

“If I had the advantage, people would complain after I won, right? Then I’ll make sure I win in a way that no one will complain about.”

Even if I outwit everyone and find the treasure, they won’t admit it, saying it’s unfairness or something.

Perhaps she liked my excuse, Ange runs off.

“Keep saying that”

I looked over at Ange, who seemed to be having fun, and Marie, who was being carried by me, began to rampage.

“Hey! Put me down! Everyone’s leaving me behind!”

I let out a sigh and put Marie down, and I give her an earful of warning.

“If you want to show Erika how motherly you are, be fair. Winning by underhanded means is not something you can be proud of.”

Marie pushes me away and calls out to Kyle and Carla, who are still there.

“That’s what those who can win say. People like me have to rise by any means necessary to win! Let’s go, you two!”

Kyle and Kara walk past me.

“Please wait!”

“Marie-sama, please don’t leave me behind!”

Once everyone was gone, Luxion approached me.

If you don’t hurry, you’ll really lose.

“I wonder about that?”

――It would appear that it would be difficult to turn things around from here.

But.

“There are a lot of things I’ve forgotten, but I guess I remember quite a bit.”

Is it game knowledge?

“I may have forgotten the details of the old castle, but I do remember this passageway.”

In other words, you also remembered the location of the treasure.

“Correct”

――I was impressed by your attitude of playing fair and square, but as I thought, there was something behind it. Master really doesn’t fail to disappoint me in a bad way.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. I will continue to live up to the expectations of those around me.”

What a refreshing trash

I am fine as trash.

I’m the one who wins in the end!

.

Part 2

As I enter the last underground dungeon, my mind recalls the screens from when I was playing the game.

“This place was impressive, wasn’t it.”

The floor is covered with square tiles and the walls are brick.

Luxion, floating near my right shoulder and illuminating my surroundings, shows interest in what I have to say.

Was there any memorable event?

“It was the middle of the night when I was playing. I was trying to conquer a dungeon that had undead monsters in it at that time, so I was scared.”

As I thought, you were scared.

“You’re wrong. I was scared because it was midnight.”

Proceeding down the passageway relying on my memory.

Someone must have encountered a monster, as the sounds of battle can be heard from time to time.

Thanks to everyone’s taking monsters down, I can walk through the dungeon with ease.

Then the dead-end wall approached.

A dead end――No, is it a secret passage, huh

“That’s how it is”

One thing that made it difficult to conquer the dungeon was the presence of hidden doors.

The ancient castle of Golden Hand has several underground dungeons, but the dungeons with treasures are more complicated than before.

I’ve been hanging around the same places many times when I played, too, but I got sick of it and went to a strategy website, and I found the worst facts about the place.

That is, there is a treasure behind a hidden door near the entrance.

Knowing the worst of the worst facts, I threw my gamepad on the bed at the time.

When the trap is moved, the dead-end wall slides down and a passageway appears.

Surely there is no need to rush if we know this fact.

“It seems Marie didn’t know about it. She probably didn’t know about this mechanism, did she?”

Marie had played the first of that Otome game, but threw it away halfway through.

There is a high possibility that she doesn’t know the secrets of this complicated dungeon, since she probably didn’t want to do the adventure part in the first place.

She may think she just forgot about it, but from the looks of it, she must not know.

Luxion remembers Marie’s line.

I feel sorry for Marie. No matter how hard she tried, Master was going to win.

“If only she had accepted my word there, I would have taken her to the treasure.”

A stupid little sister.

With this in mind, I entered the hidden passageway and heard the footsteps of several people approaching from behind.

I turned around and there they were, Julius and the others.

“I found you, Leon!”

The fact that all five idiots showed up together was a surprise even to me.

“Why are you guys here?!”

Chris adjusts the position of his glasses with his index finger, a smile on his mouth.

“I noticed something after a while when I went underground. I wondered why you seemed to have so much leeway?”

Greg was laughing as he carried the spear.

“You found this place in the first place. No surprise that you know something about it, right?”

Brad, with a dumbfounded look on his face, put his hand on his forehead and looked at me.

“You are truly an underhanded man, aren’t you? You showed yourself to play fair and square, all because you knew there was a hidden passageway, didn’t you?”

As I step back and Jilk walks up to me with a smile on his face.

“We were almost fooled at first, but I remembered on the way. Would Leon-kun have behaved like that? It’s suspicious no matter how you look at it”

These guys doubt me?!

I thought they were fools and would be easily fooled, but apparently not.

They started to doubt me because I was too deceitful.

“Chi!”

I quickly turn around and start running, and Julius and the others follow.

“Don’t let him get away!”

Luxion speaks to me in an amused electronic voice as I am being chased by the five idiots.

Is this guy enjoying this situation?

Julius and his group understood Master better than Angelica and her group.

“I didn’t mean to deceive Ange and the others!”

You could say that well under this circumstance. Also, the hidden passage was too much for me, so I let Creare know. Angelica and the others are on their way here too.

“What?!”

The fact that I heard this while running makes me break out in a cold sweat.

This situation is bad.

I have a message from Angelica through Creare. How dare you deceive me, she said. I am looking forward to what happens after we get the treasure.

“I’m not looking forward to it at all!”

While running to avoid being outrun by the five idiots, the monsters that exist in the hidden passageway appear.

I quickly switched from rifle to pistol and shot the monsters, turning them into smoke.

But when the unnecessary movement slowed me down, I was lined up with Julius.

“Catching you up, Leon!”

“You guys ambushed me, it’s so dirty!”

“Don’t you say that!”

I ran desperately but could not shake them off.

And what I saw was a nostalgic trap.

If you step on a tile, a trap is triggered and a spear protrudes from the wall.

In the game, you only lose hit points, but in reality, you die at worst.

It is Julius who steps into such a trap, his attention distracted by paying attention to me.

“Stupid!”

I saw him step into the tile, and in my haste, I grabbed Julius by the neck and we collapse into a heap.

A few spears popped out of the wall and passed right above us.

The fallen Julius is glaring at me at first, but he’s in a cold sweat when he sees that the trap has been activated.

“I’m sorry. I was saved.”

“Just get up! They’ve gone on ahead!”

I pulled him up and made his face forward, and beyond that was Julius’ foster brother――Growing up together from an early age, growing up as brotherly vassals, the backs of those who should be trusted the most were seen.

“His Highness, if you’ll excuse me.”

Julius yells at his back.

“Jilk! Aren’t you my foster brother!”

“Even foster brothers are rivals in the face of treasure!”

“You have forsaken me who almost dying!”

“I believed that His Highness would overcome it.”

He makes an excuse and I chase after Jilk and others.

But when they ran ahead, they were inevitably blocked by the monsters, and it was easy to catch up with them as they slowed down.

So the six of us run, but arrows fly from behind us.

Luxion, who follows us with a red lens pointing backward, informs us of the enemy.

Those are skeletons with bows and arrows. It is dangerous to leave them behind. I recommend we take them down.

I don’t want to be targeted from behind, but then we would all have to stop and fight the monster.

But now we are in the middle of a competition.

I just couldn’t stop to think that someone might run away and find the treasure.

I grit my teeth.

“I’m sorry. Forgive me, Julius.”

“Eh?!”

When I let Julius fall, everyone, including me, kept running without stopping.

Julius got up, but it seems that he was attacked by the monsters and could not escape.

He shouts as he turns his back to us, with his shield at the ready.

“You guys are forgetting that I’m the prince, aren’t you?! You’re using me, the prince, as bait here?!”

I decided to cheer for Julius.

“You idiot! There is no prince or commoner in people’s lives!”

“It’s not a word you can say when you use me as bait!”

Julius was fighting against the skeletons, but he seemed to be able to defeat them without any problem.

“Julius, your sacrifice will not be in vain.”

We wiped our tears and ran.

But when we reach the crossroads, monsters appear from both sides.

If we run through it, we might make it through, but if we are chased, it will be a hassle.

One person should stay behind to deal with them, but no one wants to take on such a role.

All of them are really selfish people.

And that was the moment we went through the monsters.

Jilk deliberately dropped the handkerchief he was holding so that everyone could hear him loudly.

“Aah! I dropped the handkerchief that Marie-san just gave me! Even though Marie-san entrusted me with this amulet to pray for everyone’s safety!”

When Jilk spits out a shameless line, Greg and Chris ignore it as they see him deliberately drop his handkerchief.

However, Brad apparently did not have any idea what Jilk was doing.

“What are you doing, Jilk!”

Catching only the part about Marie being cared for them, Brad caught the falling handkerchief with a head sliding motion.

Then, when Brad sees the handkerchief.

“Isn’t this Jilk’s handkerchieeef!”

The handkerchief must have had Jilk’s name embroidered on it.

Brad realized he had been tricked, but by then the monsters had caught up with him.

From behind, a sound of magic explosions can be heard, and then Brad’s screams.

“I will never forgive you guys!”

Thus, when the two are removed from the group, Greg starts laughing.

“I’ll get the treasure for both of your sakes!”

Chris was also on fire to conquer the dungeon.

“I’m going to win!”

Two guys who are proud of their physical strength overtake me and Jilk.

In a simple physical contest, I and Jilk were at a disadvantage.

Then Jilk looks at me.

I look into his eyes and see what he is trying to say, and I give him a small nod.

“Greg and Chris are fast. At this rate, are they going to leave us behind?”

“You’re right. They are both dependable vanguards who protect Marie-san.”

Two of them, who could probably hear us, seemed to be listening.

They must be feeling better because we are praising them.

But from here!

“A dependable vanguard, huh? So, who’s stronger? Is it Chris after all? Because he’s a swordsman. He’s the most reliable guy, right?”

I flatter Chris, and Jilk flatters Greg in the opposite direction.

“What are you talking about? Greg-kun is the best. His spear-handling skills, honed in actual combat, have saved our lives many times.”

“No, it’s Chris, right?”

“It’s Greg-kun. It would be so much more obvious as soon as a monster comes out.”

We ran and talked, but both Chris and Greg remained silent.

I had to force myself to have a conversation, which made it hard to breathe.

Was that a little too obvious? And just as I am imagining failure, a group of monsters appears in front of us.

It’s possible to forcefully push forward.

“I am the strongest knight who protects Marieee!”

Chris slashes at the monsters.

Seeing that, Greg also attacked the monsters even though he could ignore them.

“Take it back! I’m the one that Marie relies on the most! Isn’t that right, boys!”

Greg, who slaughtered a monster with a spear in one thrust, asks for our opinion.

But by then we were moving forward.

I and Jilk wave to them.

“Do your best!”

“Both of you were easy to handle, thank you for your help.”

Surrounded by monsters and unable to move on, Chris and Greg finally realized they had been tricked here and screamed out.

“You tricked uUUS!”

“I’ll never forgive you!!”

Thus, there were two of us left: me and Jilk.

Jilk smiles at me.

“Leon-kun, it is pointless for us to continue to fight. Why don’t we work together to get the treasure? We’re tied for first place”

I decided to take Jilk’s suggestion.

“Because there’s no point in coming here and fighting about it. Oops, there’s a fork in the road ahead. Luxion, which way is the treasure?”

――Displaying immediately

I ask Luxion as we run, and a projected arrow appears in the air in front of us.

The arrow pointed to the left side of the Y-shaped passage.

Jilk, upon confirmation, increases his running speed and throws the tool he was holding.

When the tool burst, ice appeared as it blocked the passage on the left side.

I couldn’t go any further, blocked by a wall of crystal-clear ice.

“A freezing magic tool?”

The passageway was blocked, and Jilk, who was behind it, looked at us and waved.

“Thank you for having taken the trouble to let me know. I will secure the treasures first, and I will be with you all later. Later! Please come. I will be waiting.”

Saying that, he goes off towards the back with a loud laugh.

Luxion, who was looking at the figure, rotated the arrow on the display to point to the right.

Yes, in other words, it is a lie that there is a treasure on the left side.

It’s just a dead end.

“Well done, Luxion”

You didn’t have to ask me, Master remembered this dungeon, right. I decided that you wanted to lead him in the opposite direction. More importantly, did you suspect from the beginning that Jilk would betray you?

Suspect? That’s not true.

“No, you’re wrong. I believed in him. ――I believed he would betray me.”

It was because I believed that Zilk would betray me at an important moment that I went to the trouble of making a play with Luxion.

However, Luxion responded well, even though we didn’t have a discussion beforehand.

That’s a very unpleasant trust, isn’t it.

“Absolutely. I don’t want to be a human like that.”

It is the worst to betray people.

As I shrug my shoulders in disgust at Jilk’s behavior, Luxion stares at me with his one red eye.

――This applies to Master as well, though? You have betrayed them all this way, haven’t you?

“I’m a man who is easily misunderstood. Even though I’m so sincere.”

I start walking with a lighthearted conversation, and Luxion follows me.

Indeed, Master is only sincere about your own interests. Shouldn’t you be more honest with others as well?

“I’m sad that even you misunderstood me.”

It’s not very convincing when you say it with a laugh.

So we proceeded to the right side of the correct path and saw the room with the treasure.

However, the atmosphere is strange.

There is a feeling that something is behind the door.

I could hear what sounded like a low groan.

――Master, I have confirmed the reaction of a troublesome enemy monster. I was not told there was a boss guarding the treasure, did you forget it?

I shake my head slowly.

“No, it never existed. Every time, I just collected the treasure and that was the end of it.”

Master must have misremembered?

“It is not. It definitely wasn’t there. To begin with ―― No, wait a minute. What time is it now?”

It’s already past nineteen o’clock. The sun must be set and it must be getting dark outside.

I look at the door and check the remaining ammunition in the rifle and pistol I was carrying.

“Did I mention that the undead become more active at night?”

In the game, every time I conquered the castle during the day, I never got to know what the old castle of the Golden Hand was like at night.

Is it simply different from that Otome game, or does it only show up at night?

Either way, there will be a fight.

Luxion looks surprised at my behavior.

Are you going to fight? Wouldn’t it be safer to wait for Julius and the others to arrive and challenge it?

“It’s frustrating if they get caught me up at the end after I have kicked them off all the way, isn’t it?”

You are truly sincere in your feelings.

“I have decided not to lie to my heart.”

I guess I said some cool lines.

But Luxion is not convinced.

You used to say that adults are good at lying to their own hearts. So you said you are an adult. Oya? The opposite of last time.

“The problem with artificial intelligence is that it lacks flexibility. ―― Now, let’s get going.”

Having finished my preparations, I approached the door and pushed it open with my left hand to enter.