Reverse Dungeon

Louise was someone who had been discriminated against his entire life.

No one had ever judged him by his actions alone.

He was always the son of traitors, and at some point, he had begun thinking of himself that way as well.

After all, his parents—the former village chiefs—had decided to open the gate connecting the human realm to the demon realm, leading their entire clan into ruin.

Even though it had happened before Louise was born, he had been branded a sinner.

Because everyone said he was one, he had come to believe it too.

The first person to defend him was someone he had never imagined would stand up for him.

Louise might have been the son of traitors, but he had never betrayed anyone himself.

And yet, selling out Ian—a human, and a royal of the land Louise was supposed to serve—had unquestionably been an act of betrayal.

For the first time, he had been forgiven by the very person he had betrayed.

More than that, Ian had even said he would accept him as his subject.

Louise could not hold back his tears.

Ian was so merciful that he had not even held accountable the people who had forced Louise into serving as a guide. He had considered the circumstances that had left them with no other choice.

Had anyone in a position of power ever understood the circumstances of those forced to bow their heads?

Even the village chief had never cared about Louise’s situation.

For the first time in his life, Louise had witnessed such a thing.

A master so merciful he seemed impossible in this world had accepted him.

Louise decided to serve him with all his heart.

‘Loyalty is a foolish thing.’

The thought he used to have whenever he saw village children admiring royalty or knights vanished completely.

He would protect Ian.

He would carry out whatever orders Ian gave.

However, this particular order was somewhat difficult to understand.

‘What does he mean by borrowing from the Elf Village?’

Did Ian have connections with the Elf Village?

As expected of Lord Ian.

But for something like that, Ian seemed to be arming himself rather thoroughly, and the people around him were offering advice about “how to deal with the elves” and “what to do if things went wrong.”

It felt less like they were going to borrow something and more like they were heading out on a raid.

Of course, a kind and noble person like Ian would never actually attack the Elf Village.

He must have been joking with some deeper intention, but Louise could not quite grasp it.

What frustrated him was that the frail-looking mage following Ian seemed to understand the meaning behind Ian’s words.

Louise felt upset that he could not nod along the way the mage did.

The frail mage, Sema, approached Louise and held out his hand as if making a pledge.

“Lord Ian told us to get along without discrimination, so we’re comrades now. Let’s get along!”

‘......?’

“Let’s do that.”

“......?”

Louise lowered his head and checked his bowstring.

He had lived alone for a long time.

Even before his parents died, he had been an outcast in the village.

After their deaths, he had become truly alone, spending long hours by himself in his cabin.

To him, socializing was something that belonged to other people.

Who would want to be friends with the son of traitors?

He could not understand the intention behind Sema’s outstretched hand.

Sema, bewildered for a moment, soon realized something.

‘This man is a subordinate Lord Ian personally chose!’

Ian had shown Sema particular trust, which Sema confirmed every time Ian included him in his plans.

Sema firmly believed that was a privilege.

And yet, Ian had chosen to bring Louise along on this secret and important mission.

‘Is he trying to compare our abilities?’

Sema swallowed.

To show his opponent that he already had the lead in this competition, he said casually, “Lord Ian is rather... capricious! But once you serve him long enough, you get used to it.”

It was his way of saying, I know Ian better than you do.

Louise replied, “He must have a strong sense of purpose.”

‘......!’

That made it sound as though Sema had been badmouthing Ian.

Sema hurriedly defended himself.

“Of course he does! But, how should I put it... he gives orders that are hard to understand sometimes, you know?”

“Surely that does not mean his subordinates are foolish for failing to understand him.”

“......!”

Sema realized his opponent had no intention of losing this competition.

So he pulled out his trump card.

“Lord Ian is frail.”

“......!”

This time, Louise’s hand stopped.

Seeing his reaction, Sema revealed more of what he knew.

“He even coughed up blood.”

Louise finally looked up.

“Could it be that he is bearing too great a burden on those frail shoulders?”

‘Frail shoulders?’

Sema tried to match the word frail to Ian and found it difficult.

“He’s not frail, is he...? Maybe he is...? No, we were only following orders! But he did cough up blood... And going underground in the first place was probably too much for him. He might have some underlying illness.”

“What were you doing, failing to look after him properly?”

“We did look after him! But Lord Ian coughs up blood when the Demon Archduke so much as snorts!”

“Good heavens... To think he is that frail...”

Louise had never seen anyone so weak.

His village was a hunter village, where physical training was a basic part of life.

Louise shared his resolve with the frail mage.

He had already been determined, but hearing just how weak Ian was strengthened that resolve even further.

“I am prepared to die in his place during this journey.”

“I-I am too.”

Sema answered reflexively, startled by the seriousness of his opponent.

‘Am I?’

In truth, he was not entirely sure.

“You are quite something. Let’s get along,” the hunter boy said.

“Ah! Right!”

Sema shook hands with him.

He did not know why, but it felt as though he had been acknowledged.

Ding!

[People think you are frail!]

Ian could not understand why his reputation had dropped again.

Still, he handed all his liquor over to the priest and stepped outside.

‘Depression is worse than alcoholism.’

Since an alcoholic would never hand over his precious alcohol to others, at least alcoholism would not spread.

‘......’

Ian tried not to think of himself as trash.

This strange party—led by Ian and made up of two archers and a mage—pushed through the forest.

Ian headed toward the place Louise’s village called the Dark Forest, a dangerous region.

Despite Louise’s warnings, Ian knew the way and did not hesitate.

“But Lord Ian, the Dark Forest is dangerous because anyone who enters is cursed. Everyone who has come out of the Dark Forest in the past twenty years went mad, spewed black smoke, and died.”

“That’s demonic energy poisoning.”

“Yes, that’s right. Only high priests can cure it. But as you know... there is no way a high priest would ever come to our village.”

Louise lowered his head.

Ian realized they had entered an area where his HP would begin to drop.

He waved his hand as if brushing away the darkness and said, “It’s fine. We won’t be cursed.”

A breeze of purification swept past him, carrying soft, sacred light as it pushed back the creeping darkness.

Before Ian, the darkness recoiled.

This was the effect of his Level 5 skill.

Ding!

[The level of the skill has increased.]

[Purification LV.4 → LV.5]

His status window flashed before his eyes.

‘Leveling really does have its benefits.’

It was a level he had gained from defeating demons.

As his level rose, the required experience increased as well, so he had only managed to gain one level.

“......!”

As the holy wind followed Ian, Louise was moved.

‘As expected of him...’

He must have been blessed by the gods.

Otherwise, how could he show such kindness to the discriminated?

Louise should have realized it sooner.

Sema, startled, exclaimed, “Lord Ian, were you a priest?!”

“No.”

Ian answered in disbelief.

This guy had seen him fooling around in the royal palace. What nonsense was he spouting now?

Elf’s Forest

They entered the Elf’s Forest.

Ian knew this because translucent text reading appeared in the air.

The other two could not see it, which meant it was part of the game system.

Ian took it for granted.

In games, the location name usually appeared when entering a new area so players would not mistake the difficulty level.

Of course, it was not a problem if players struggled.

The real problem would be if they left negative reviews.

In any case, Ian confidently set their course using the system map.

The system map was blank except for the dungeon where Ian had been active and the nearby Traitor Village, but Ian could roughly remember what existed at each coordinate just from seeing the latitude and longitude.

Not because he was obsessed with maps.

He had simply seen them often.

Writing beginner guides required more than screenshots ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ of maps. You had to mark latitude and longitude as well, which took effort.

If you wanted to promote a game, you had to work hard.

After doing that several times, even an idiot would remember the major locations.

However, to those around him, Ian looked mysterious, as if he were finding his way by gazing at the sky.

Since he could not actually be looking at the sky, he must have been reading the stars.

Louise thought, ‘Lord Ian must be well versed in astronomy as well.’

Sema had no particular thoughts.