Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

65 – The Silver Prince and her Brother’s Morning

Someone famous walking down the streets would cause a stir. That’s why most of them normally wear a disguise or hide their appearance.

They put on hoods, cover their mouths, or wear sunglasses.

In the case of Adventurers, they have a way of creating their Avatars with slight differences when compared to their real bodies.

It’s illegal to make wild changes that make you completely unrecognizable as the same person but altering small things like your hairstyle, beauty mark, or having single or double eyelids is not a problem. You can’t give yourself muscles but you can adjust the level of fat you might have.

You can’t alter your constitution, but you can change your body shape within your range. You can’t attach muscles to your Avatar. Basically, you cannot add on stats that your main body didn’t actually train in.

In actuality, the reverse is possible. A buff macho man can have an Avatar that is sleek and slim.

Honestly, I don’t recommend going beyond just changing your outward appearance. It’s easy to move in a body that is the same as your regular body, but you lose that advantage when you have the awkward sensation of controlling two different bodies.

Well, let’s leave the Avatar’s ease of operation aside for now.

Anyhow, when all these things are changed, it becomes surprisingly difficult to recognize the real person.

In my case, my Avatar has short hair, in contrast to my real body’s long hair.

My Avatar has a modest breast size while my real body has big b-…h-huge…larger than normal-sized breasts.

My Avatar has a mole under my left eye while in actuality, I don’t.

Also, I wear glasses on my real body. Non-prescription ones, though.

「Yo Niko, let’s go Clear this Dungeon.」

I was eating my breakfast at the inn we’re staying in when my older brother appeared and slammed down a piece of paper on the tabletop.

He’s two years older than me, his name is Philip.

My hair was up in a ponytail, it was over my right shoulder and then it flowed and dropped behind me.

「…Not even a「Good morning」?」

「Good morrow to you, my darling sister.」

「…barf.」

That made me want to cough up my breakfast. Ignoring my glares, he sits directly opposite me and resumes the conversation.

「Look, it’s a Dungeon that’s in this town.」

「I’m trying to eat my breakfast here.」

「It’s an Elementary-Level, but ever since they started this new campaign, it’s become the talk of the town.」

I give a big sigh and put my meal on hold.

「I haven’t heard about it.」

「That’s cause you don’t drink. Bars are a treasure trove of information.」

In a town that has a Dungeon, there are bound to be restaurants and the like that segregate Adventurers and Monsters.

Bars where Adventurers gather can be found anywhere and I guess they love trading information there.

「You’re the one who told me not to go to bars. You said it didn’t fit the Prince character or something.」

As can be expected, even if you change your appearance a little, a place full of other Adventurers is bound to get me found out if I show my face there.

I’m not good at holding my liquor in the first place, so I’m fine with not going.

「Oh, that’s right. Well don’t worry, just leave the information gathering to me.」

「You just want to get your drink on.」

My brother chuckled at that and continued the conversation.

「So last night, right? These unknown newbies were having a grand meal way above their paygrade. I listened to their conversation and apparently, they paid for the meal with the Clear Reward they got from this Dungeon. If you search online, there are already a number of clear videos posted up. So far it’s just dumb newbies and low-ranked trash.」

「Can’t you do something about that foul mouth of yours? I mean, for a Prince’s brother, you’ve got some decency issues.」

「I’m not interested in putting on a persona in front of family.」

「I don’t know how you can just freely admit to having a bad personality like that.」

「Well, aren’t you getting cocky? Whatever happened to my sweet little sister who used to call out for her big brother?」

「You know I have a knife and fork in my hands, right? I’d go with the knife.」

「Hmm, well back to the conversation.」

In everyday conversations like this, I’m able to talk back to my brother, and he will pull back.

But when it comes to business, he won’t take no for an answer.

I pick up the piece of paper and give it a quick glance.

「Elementery Level – Beginner’s Dungeon? …Ooh, that forest-looking place.」

「That’s right. Pretty large sum, yeah? An old-fashioned Dungeon’s last-ditch effort campaign to save them from going out of business. Ripe for the pickings.」

「…Hold on, we’re a ninety-ninth rank party. Sure, it doesn’t say that there’s an entry restriction, but won’t this make us look bad? They’ll probably reject us when we try to make an appointment anyway.」

This must be just a typo.

There are many cases where they won’t accept you if you don’t match the Dungeon’s Recommended Clear Level, even if the gap is below two levels or more.

The Dungeon’s level is one, our level is four.

It’s only natural that they’d reject us.

Well, normally, it should be mentioned in the Dungeon Details but this is probably just a typo on their part.

Even then, we’ll definitely be rejected if we try to make an appointment.

It’ll be like an adult joining in the children’s pretend sword fight with a real sword, there’s no way that’s gonna be fun for the viewers.

Not that Elementary-Level Dungeons are child’s play. Just making a metaphor.

「You always think a little too much.」

「Yeah, whatever. So?」

My brother pouted in frustration, looks like this isn’t over yet.

「According to the information that Lord Fellow provided, it used to be stated that this Dungeon does not allow Level 3 or higher parties in.」

「Lord Fellow? …How does he know that?」

「He’s a Majin, I’m sure they have their own information network or something.」

Due to our line of work, we tend to keep our distance from Demi-Humans.

However, this is just to fit the image of an Adventurer, if taken too far, it becomes discrimination.

There are many people who deal with Demi-Humans in their occupation, there’s no hate.

Now that I think about it, Lord Fellow has a lot of Demi-Humans working under him.

「So…what? The Dungeon prepares a lavish Clear Reward and at the same time, removes the old, previously stated Level restriction?」

「Exactly, and why do you think they did that?」

「Why? Hmm…I see. To lure in idiots like you and annihilate them?」

「I’m no idiot, but yeah, that’s the gist of it. And it looks like the Dungeon’s plan is working. I’ve been seeing the faces of Intermediate-level parties here and there, recently. They’re not here for the Tag Tournament, and from what I’ve heard, they can be split into two types.」

「Two types? The parties aiming to clear the Beginner’s Dungeon and…?」

「And parties that are silent. C’mon, you’re not a dumbass, but your thinking is too shallow. Think harder.」

…My grip tightens on the knife.

I imagine punching my dear brother in the face at least ten times and I begin to calm down. Now I can think harder.

I soon realized it.

「Ah…they’re too embarrassed to tell anyone that they were completely wiped out in a Elementary-level Dungeon despite being Intermediate-level parties.」

「Exactly. If you traveled all the way and managed to get the prize, you have to publicize it, but if you were annihilated, you don’t have to.」

That’s right, it is expressly written that you are obliged to post your video upon a successful Clear.

Are they letting the Intermediate and above level parties hide the truth of their failure?

Well, I suppose it would be pretty damning for such an experienced party to fail at clearing a Dungeon that only Elementary-level parties were able to enjoyably clear.

If they were forced to release the information, they would probably be able to attract parties that would try to clear it for bragging rights…

But I suppose that would decrease the flock of parties coming here in hopes of earning easy money.

Maybe the purpose of this campaign is not just to advertise, but to make a lot of money in a short period of time.

「…Hm, could this be an All Level Dungeon?」

「Yeah. The guy who came up with this plan is definitely a Dungeon freak. This is an interesting experiment that not many Adventurers know of.」

It can’t be confirmed in recent videos whether or not it’s an All Level Dungeon. Even if you could, there’s no way to indicate it is because the Adventurers themselves don’t know that it is one.

While more and more Clear videos are being posted every day, the only ones you can still watch are the famous ones from the past.

Some parties delete their videos when they retire or for other reasons, so valuable footage is often lost.

In Adventurer circles, there exist several legends.

Such as a raid on the Demon King Castle where several parties, including a young Storm Hero, were all wiped out in one stratum.

Or one time where a Hero who couldn’t form a contract with a Spirit became the world’s no.1.

Or even that the Demon King who defeated the Storm Hero and the others did not retire, but disappeared because he was fed up with the interference of the country that feared his mighty power.

The recent legend is about how despite the Flame Hero Fenix using Spirit Magic strong enough to melt the entire Field, the Demon King Army’s Chief of Staff defeated him in one-on-one combat. Moreover, the Chief of Staff said that the defense was a success but the match ended in a draw.

Some legends can be confirmed but some cannot.

「So if we challenge this Dungeon, an appropriately hard Monster will appear?」

An All Level Dungeon is another such legend.

A Dungeon where, no matter what Level you are, you will have a fight that pushes you to your limit.

Dungeon Clearing uses an appointment system. When an appointment is made, the party’s rank and composition are known.

It’s not impossible to make the appropriate adjustments until the appointed day.

Of course, this is entirely dependent on the staff on hand.

「At the very least, Monsters strong enough to annihilate the average Intermediate party and make them feel embarrassed enough to refrain from showing their video.」

「What’s with this timing…」

「I noticed that too, it’s possible that they hired someone to be the brain of this operation. According to Lord Fellow, it’s not probable that the Dungeon Master would be able to think up a plan like this.」

Why is it that this is making me remember the figure of Lem that I saw, no, that I sensed?

No, no, what am I thinking? There’s no way.

「If just a bunch of weaklings show up regardless of our level, we’ll stop at the second stratum. We’ll lose a bit of money but at least we don’t have to post a video since we didn’t traverse the whole Dungeon.」

「Yeah. Also, it’s not exciting enough for the viewers.」

「You mean it won’t net us any popularity.」

「…Yeah…that.」

「If the strength of the Monsters does change to match our level, then we’ve discovered a modern-day All Level Dungeon in the flesh, and we’ll Clear it.」

「…Yeah, but on the other hand, this is probably just a plan to prey upon Intermediate Level parties by luring them with the prize money. They won’t adapt to our High-Level party and simply reject our appointment.」

I’m not sure if we’re the right kind of prey for this plan.

「Don’t worry about it. I already made an appointment.」

Why am I not surprised? The public sees me as the center of the party, but the leader is actually my brother.

If I had the courage to, I would say I was surprised that they accepted our appointment.

「You know…you’re supposed to discuss this kinda thing with everyone before doing that…」

「If you say you’ll do it, the other three will follow suit.」

「I didn’t say anything about doing this and you still went ahead and made an appointment.」

「If I say we’ll do it, you’ll agree anyway.」

「…sigh」

This is the kind of person my brother is.

「Have I ever steered you wrong?」

「Well…no…」

Reality is cruel.

When I Clear a Dungeon dressed how I want and with my own strategies, no one bats an eye.

But when I formed a party with my brother, created the Prince character, and started using stylish tactics, our popularity exploded.

What’s important to an Adventurer isn’t strength or even victory.

It’s popularity. If you don’t have a character that can be loved, no one will find your worth.

「First the Hero Show, the Tag Tournament, and now the All Level Dungeon. Our luck’s turning around, Nico. We’re heading straight for the top!」

If I knew what was going to happen, I probably would have been glad to have challenged this Dungeon.

Because of that, that man and I…we…