It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

My room, in a high place of the inner castle, and in a secluded corner according to my wishes.

Although it had only been a few days, that room where soft music always played was now quiet.

"Don't be too nervous."

All that could be heard were the rough breaths of two people.

Both were tainted with fear, but while one was trying to stifle her breath, the other seemed to be suppressing anger.

"What's your purpose? Who are you and where are you from?"

The ones holding swords to the neck of Priestess Grace were one of the baronial family's female knights and Evangeline.

Xue's gaze was directed at Amelia, who was glaring at me.

She must know that there's nothing she can do.

Nevertheless, she mustered her courage.

Courage needs to be rewarded. For example, with truth or teaching.

"That's not what you should be asking me, Amelia."

As I spoke while scratching her chin with my fingertip, Amelia retorted with venom in her eyes.

"Then what should I ask, mysterious witch?"

In this world too, 'witch' is closer to a derogatory term, not simply referring to a female magician.

It's a term that refers to women tainted by evil or female fanatics who believe in evil, not women who can use magic.

However, there's no reason for me, who is actually more than such a witch, to feel offended.

With a faint smile, I whispered in her ear.

"Whether I really intend to take your and your family's lives."

"...!"

Amelia's eyes momentarily clouded with fear and premonition of a dark future.

A moment later, they sparkle again. With wisdom and courage.

"If that were the case, there'd be no need to sneak in so troublesomely...!"

"You know, demons really like souls that die stained with betrayal and hatred."

Whether to devour souls, use them as slaves, or use them as generators for creating special rooms to extract emotions.

Demons like souls twisted by intense negative emotions. Of course, the more noble the soul was originally, the more they like it.

I still couldn't understand well, but such souls seem to often stimulate demons' aesthetic sense or appetite.

So my current deception of nobles could be seen as creating sacrifices for demons.

"Don't move, Grace."

"...!"

The priestess who was listening to my words flinched and stopped as she tried to put her hand in her bosom.

While holding the chin of the one who was originally supposed to inherit this fortress, I turned only my eyes to look at her.

I felt as if I could hear the blood draining from her face.

"You didn't think I wouldn't know about the existence of what you've hidden, even though I know about your existence?"

"T-This is..."

I knew what Amelia and Grace were plotting.

At least one thing. That they were trying to activate the emergency signal the priest had, in the worst case.

"I've already prepared for that. Not a single signal generated in this fortress can escape. Don't try to throw your life away in vain."

"Ugh...!"

Grace was trying to glare at me like Amelia, but her expression was not composed and remained pale.

While she may have some sense of duty as a priest, she seems to be quite a coward or very interested in self-preservation.

This was also evident in the scene where she weakly let go of her hand when Xue took that object from her.

"Here..."

"Thank you."

Xue, who retrieved the signaling device from Grace's bosom, approached me and handed it over.

Crack!

The object that showed a strange resonance even in Xue's hand exhibited even more violent current-like repulsive force when it came into my hand.

This was due to the holy power contained in it.

'It looks like an egg.'

It had a shape and texture that seemed like it would break immediately if thrown on the floor.

When I placed it on a handkerchief on the table, as it vibrated in my hand as if it would break at any moment, it soon stabilized.

I was curious.

'Holy magic, huh.'

Well, even without this, magic always stimulates my curiosity.

Each one is new and enjoyable.

"It looks like some kind of egg."

Grace's face had turned even whiter than before. Now she looked almost like a vampire's spawn or a zombie.

"..."

But even with such a face, at least a resolve that seemed prepared for death could be felt.

Although shallow, it seems there's a need to stimulate something else.

"Answer the question. Before I torture you instead of killing you."

"That's right, it's the egg of a divine beast...!"

Grace opens her mouth convulsively as soon as the female knight, at my signal, urges her by putting the sword to her thigh.

Does she know? That such a weak will is what will save her.

Anyway, I was drawn to the answer she spat out.

"I see. A sacred beast."

"Yes! It's an egg laid by a dove raised soaked in holy power. If it breaks, a chick that returns to its mother is born. While screaming loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear."

"I see. It's an interesting object, and a living being."

Crack!

When I placed my finger on the egg again, the repulsive force felt from it stimulated my fingertip moderately.

"...It wasn't a misconception..."

Seeing this, Grace pressed her lips into a thin line.

She had a rather fearful expression as she realized the true meaning of this scene where I was touching it so casually.

This repulsive force would have been enough to break a composed expression if it were a weak demon or follower.

"What would happen if I put my power into this?"

"Uh, since holy power greatly repels the power of your kind... Wouldn't it break? It's no different from me activating it in the end..."

"I see... Do you really believe that?"

"No matter how strong the power of your kind is, our faith won't lose...!"

"Hmm."

'It seems possible.'

So I picked up the emergency contact dove's egg that was said to grow fed with holy power, and summoned power in two branches.

One to hold and fix the outer and inner surfaces of the egg so it wouldn't be destroyed, and the other to seep inside.

While suppressing the shock that seemed about to burst from the repulsive force created by holy power and demon magic power, deeper and deeper.

I dig in.

"It's useless..."

"Be quiet."

Beep...

A moment of concentration so deep that it causes ringing in the ears.

I mark coordinates on the spiritual world and the otherworld, and transfer those coordinates to the negative world.

Holy and evil become phase transitions, the coordinates of real and imaginary numbers are reversed, and the source of magic is inverted.

And as a result, after releasing the force that was holding the eggshell at the end, what was born was.

-Caw...!

"It turned into a crow."

Not a divine dove, but a crow. A crow with only one purple feather on top of its head.

If priests who believe that holy power is absolute and hostile to demonic power saw this phenomenon, they would have said this:

That 'good and evil have been reversed'.

What nonsense.

To judge good and evil merely by racial differences.

-Kak kak kak.

"You're cute, little bird."

The creature looked up at my face, and its small face and pitch-black eyes showed deep goodwill and affection.

Although crows are said to be intelligent originally, they're not beings born with such high intelligence right after birth.

However, this child had already recognized its master and was showing affection while perched on my shoulder.

It seems to have inherited the holy law that the Holy See applied to raise doves as a means of communication.

'To succeed on the first try, how lucky.'

It was the first time I had interfered with holy spells.

It was a feeling that I had an intuition that it was 'possible', and when I acted on it, it worked.

It would take more time to construct this into a theory.

"It's a female. Let's call her 'Mary'. Since she's a being of evil born from something holy, 'Trickster' would be a good individual name."

-Caw!

Mary is a name derived from the Celtic goddess Morrígan, which comes to mind when thinking of crows.

The 'mor' in Morrígan means fear or greatness, and has the same etymology as 'mare' in nightmare.

Also, crows are animals considered both sacred and ominous depending on the culture, and given the birth mixed with holiness and evil, the individual name 'Trickster' is also appropriate.

『Name - Mary』

『Title/Individual Name - Trickster』

『Race - Trickster : A general term for those who cause mischief without distinguishing between good and evil. A demon beast in the form of a crow created by Dungeon Lord 'Libertas'.』

As I named the crow and gave it an individual name, the summoned beast's information automatically appeared.

『Congratulations on achieving a great feat! You have reversed holiness and evil, changing a being that should have been born as a sacred existence into a demon beast from birth!!』

A welcome message, though not expected, also followed.

『As a reward for the achievement, your magic power and technique increase! The newly born evil being is affected by your characteristic, 'Necropolis'! The growth-type characteristic 「Requiem for Holiness」 has been added!』

And thus, what I obtained was the second... no, third achievement.

It was the message from the 「Alpha Tester」 system congratulating me on dropping a beast born by holy power to a demon beast, and its reward.

'The rewards were different for each achievement.'

『Alias - The One Who Dyes』

I placed my finger on top of 'Alias'.

The message window that only I could perceive and touch gently accepted my gesture.

'The One Who Dyes, huh...'

In that state, my gaze went down.

『Attributes - Health 43 Technique 57(◀ 55) Durability 46 Magic Power 66(◀ 64) Resistance 55』

『Requiem for Holiness - You have corrupted a sacred being into a being of evil.

Hostile holy power users feel fear towards you, and their magic power and technique decrease slightly. Evil power users feel respect towards you.

The more beings you drop into evil, the deeper evil you will become...』

This characteristic could be considered quite good for a demon who inevitably shows weakness to holy power.

Although its power is low because it's still high-grade, since it's 'growth-type', there's room for additional growth if I repeat similar actions.

This was also revealed in the next message.

『You have demonstrated to the world one of the things that the clergy on earth will consider most evil!

They will never tolerate your existence that can stimulate their existential fears and defile salvation, and will want to remove you before you grow even larger...』

Looking at that, I became curious about one thing.

I wondered if it would tell me that I had achieved the fourth achievement if I changed human territory into demon territory.

To solve that curiosity, I need to move faster.

There's nothing to hinder me now.

"...How...?"

"It can't be...!"

Grace and Amelia, who had watched my series of actions, couldn't hide their astonishment.

"H-How..."

It was natural for Amelia, who had the talent to be sensitive to what happened here, to be surprised, and it was brave of Grace, as a clergy, to not collapse on the spot.

It must have been a sight of the continent's common sense, which believed in absolute superiority over demonic power, crumbling and turning upside down.

Perhaps the psychological foundation of 'we will eventually win' was shaken from its roots.

"The distinction between what you call holy and demonic is never an absolute standard of good and evil."

-It's not!

"Be quiet."

The crow's first voice was quite pleasant to hear. I'd say it had a cuter tone than expected.

After watching the crow for a moment as it closed its mouth at one warning after imitating my words, I stroked its head once with my fingertip.

Since it's still a baby, I felt the need to show that while I give warnings, I don't hate it.

The way it tilted its head sideways and rubbed its head against my finger was quite friendly.

"Good girl."

-Kak kak.

A cute appearance that even lowered its voice after hearing just one warning.

Keeping Mary on my shoulder like that, I walked to one side.

Mary's birth was just luck, but.

There was someone here who could establish that luck as a theory.

"... Heeek...!"

The priestess who let out a shrill voice due to fear.

It was Grace.