Vol. 1 Chapter 16: The fun and joy of leveling up

「It’s time to enjoy and have fun levelling up! 」

「Nooooooooooooo. 」

Alicia Enlight-sama, thank you for flying with Ryuu Airlines today. This flight will take you to the dark dungeon in the Count Dolknes’ territory.

I enjoy playing make-believe as the cabin attendant in my mind as if he can feel my excitement, and he does somersaults.

Alicia seems very satisfied with the special service from Ryuu. It’s unbelievable how silent she is after making such a fuss about it.

Initially, I wished to leave the Demon King to Alicia since I’m trying not to stand out. I’m pretty much giving up on achieving that goal, but I wonder if it’s okay if I went wild to defeat the Demon King.

However, there’s a possibility of the game hidden condition where the Demon King can’t be defeated unless using her light magic. That’s why it’s urgent to raise Alicia’s level.

After the Principal gave me the green light to go ahead, I decided to take Alicia to the Dark Dungeon. It’s the dungeon that I used to visit.

The four major attributes like fire and water aren’t very popular since they’re weak against dark attribute. But for Alicia, who has light attributes, this dungeon is advantageous for her because the dark is weak against light attribute.

「Ryuu, please get down over there. Alicia-san, we are about to arrive… Eh? Alicia-san, are you alive? 」

When the destination was in sight, Ryuu did as I said and roar to show he understood. Alicia seemed to have fainted before I knew it.

Since we also have Alicia onboard, I thanked Ryuu, who landed more gently than usual.

「Thank you, Ryuu. You can play until I call you. Don’t go near human settlement, okay? 」

When I carried Alicia down, Ryuu still didn’t leave his spot. He ended up lying down surrounding my body.

「I’m sorry, you can’t follow us into the dungeon. I will play with you tomorrow, okay? 」

After some persuasion, Ryuu reluctantly moves his tail to open the way.

「What a good boy. 」

Ryuu is an independent child, but right now, he seemed to be feeling spoiled. I’ll take care of him tomorrow.

「Eh? Where is this place? 」

「Have you finally awakened? We are in the dungeon. 」

I was already in the dungeon and lowering Alicia to the ground. Efficiency is the best way to level up. There is no time to waste.

「Yumiela-san? Oh, I was kidnapped… 」

「Kidnapped is an ugly word, wasn’t the Principal already explained it to you? 」

Alicia was summoned by the Principal to talk about something and explained the matter.

She’s scared by herself, but it was fine if she’s with other capture targets, and then I forced her to come with me. They didn’t participate in a battle with me so I can’t listen to their demands.

「Let me go! Are you going to do something to me?! 」

Alicia’s scream echoes through the dungeon. Oh, she might be good at screaming in the dungeon.

「I won’t do anything, but the group coming over there might do something. 」

As I pointed behind her back, she seems to realize the situation she’s in. The monster gathered as a reaction to her voice.

「He-help me! 」

「It’s okay. I’ll save you before you die. My recovery magic skill is good enough, and I can grow an arm. 」

I tried to reassure her when she panicked since it won’t change anything.

But frantic Alicia begins to cast magic randomly at the empty space.

「Noooooooooooooo. 」

Oh, the bat-shaped monster that first approached was hit by a light magic ball. Hmm, there’s a lot of pointless moves but since the dungeon’s passage is narrow, the barrage tactic is working.

In the end, all the monsters gathered was defeated.

「D-did I survive? Can we go home now? 」

「Let’s go to the second level. 」

Since light attribute is advantageous in this dungeon, even someone with a low level will be able to go to the deeper levels. This is only the beginning, and there’s still a long way to go since this dungeon has fifty levels.

「No, please leave me alone! I can’t do this anymore. 」

「That’s because you didn’t raise your level, didn’t you wanted to defeat the Demon King? 」

「Yes, I have to do something with my light magic. 」

「……Why don’t we leave the argument whether I’m the Demon King or not, and you just practice defeating the Demon King by killing these monsters? 」

「Ed-kun and the other guys said they’d protect me… 」

Alicia’s words were gradually getting weaker. As usual, I can’t say that I understand her, but I seem to understand that she has a problem.

「I will probably be fine. Hey, let’s keep going. 」

「I don’t have any more magic power… 」

「No problem, I brought mana recovery potion. 」

I never drink anything when my mana is low, mana recovery potion tastes horrible. But if it was essential to raise the level, I would have gulped it.

「I… I don’t like it… 」

‘C’mon, I gave you a sword, and you can do something with your physical attack… 」

Alicia seems to give up. She drinks the potion with tears in her eyes.

As expected of the game’s main protagonist, she could fight. Her magic control was gradually getting better as well.

While defeating the monsters, she keeps muttering how she didn’t want to die. I remember the old days when it looks like a battle robot and become nostalgic. I think it’s wasteful to let an amazing talent like this passed away because of some good-looking guy superiority complex to protect you.

「Oh, you finished it. Let’s move to the fifth floor. 」

「I don’t want to die… Right, I will kill Yumiela. 」

Alicia suddenly turned after muttered disturbing things, casts light magic towards me.

I played the ball of light with my hand. It didn’t even hurt or itch. Even though light magic is my weakness, our high-level difference made me hard to feel it.

「Ahh… I’m sorry, please forgive me. 」

She keeps incoherently muttered apology; her emotion seems unstable. She should have thought it through and not overdo it.

That day we were able to go up to seven levels. Not bad for a first-timer though.

Alicia never made another complaint, and she’s following my instruction to move well. Before and after entering the dungeon, she becomes a different person, and I’m happy that she doesn’t seem to get injured.

「You okay? 」

「Fufufu, if I kill a monster, I will live. If I kill a monster, I can live. 」

Uwa—a… I knew it, Patrick will get angry again.

The capture targets will also make a fuss. Isn’t Alicia’s mentality too weak to go this far?

The next day.

「As I thought Yumiela-san is a bad person! Right now, you are playing tricks on me, I won’t be fooled! 」

Alicia back to her usual self in a night. Perhaps saying she has a weak mentality is a mistake.

「Please from now on don’t skip raising your level. After this, we will go down to the dungeon again. 」

「Uh. 」

She let out a short scream before running away. Yesterday seems traumatic for her.

From that day, Alicia seemed to have started raising her level like mad. She was the ultimate weapon in the battle against the Demon Lord, and I did a good thing… Or so I thought.

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t/n

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