The next day.
An opportunity for Ermes to work at the Trackia household came sooner than expected.
"Alright, El. Let me confirm once more—today's job is for you to conquer this 'dungeon' together with me."
After a brief carriage ride from the Trackia main residence, they arrived at a mountainous region marking the border between the Trackia domain and the neighboring territory.
Standing before what appeared to be a cave entrance tucked into one corner of the mountainside, Katia made her declaration.
The work of a noble fundamentally consists of governing their territory and protecting the people who live within it.
And among non-human threats to those people, the two greatest were "Monsters" and the "Dungeons" that served as their bases.
How monsters came into existence, what purpose they served, why they attacked humans—all of this remained unknown.
One theory held that some form of magic had gone out of control and produced them, but the truth was still beyond anyone's grasp.
Regardless, so long as monsters posed a threat to humanity, nobles who possessed great magical power bore the duty of subjugating them. Eliminating the monsters that endangered one's territory and conquering the dungeons where they proliferated could well be called the daily life of a noble.
Moreover, dungeon conquest came with its own rewards.
If you defeated the resident monsters skillfully, you could sometimes obtain useful materials that served as a source of income. And above all—whether due to the nature of dungeons or the habits of monsters, no one was certain—but rarely, behind a powerful monster or in a hidden room, one could acquire rare magical tools.
For all these reasons, Katia would be undertaking a dungeon conquest today that combined duty with practical benefit.
Given yesterday's incident, she had briefly considered whether it might be better to stay home, but apparently the dungeon needed to be cleared on short notice.
In any case, Ermes was accompanying them as one of the escorts for the dungeon expedition.
…Yes. As *one* of the escorts.
"My Lady Katia, I object!"
In addition to the two of them, roughly five knights from the Trackia household had tagged along.
They were probably the ones who had served as dungeon expedition guards before Ermes arrived. One of them eyed Ermes with open suspicion and spoke up.
A lean, muscular build with sharp, deeply carved features—the very image of a justice-minded knight.
"When I heard you were hiring a new personal guard, I wondered what to expect, and it turns out to be a single scrawny child who looks utterly helpless! Are you saying we alone aren't good enough?"
The others didn't openly voice their disagreement, but the looks they cast Ermes were all much the same.
"I hear this person is the Lady's childhood friend. Let me be clear—a dungeon expedition is a battlefield! The burden of dragging along dead weight—"
"…Well, I expected as much."
Katia accepted the knight's words with a sigh and replied calmly.
"Let me say this first: I have no complaints about your abilities as guards. That said—if he's with us, the efficiency of our dungeon conquest will improve by an order of magnitude. That's the only reason I hired him. It's not like I brought him on as a guard for personal reasons… it's not."
There was a subtle pause at the end that was hard to ignore.
"…Anyway, El, that's how it is. Today's expedition will be led primarily by you. Show them what you can do."
"I—understood."
With that confirmation complete, they were about to step into the depths of the dungeon when—
"Oh my! Could that be the infamous Flawed Lady herself?"
From the direction of the dungeon entrance came a shrill, piercingly high-pitched male voice.
Everyone present turned around. Standing there was a middle-aged man.
So pudgy it was a wonder he'd managed to squeeze through the narrow entrance, with a round face so plump that the boundary between neck and chin had all but vanished.
In a certain light, his face was so circular it could almost be called cute—but from the mocking expression he wore, such a generous interpretation seemed impossible.
"…Earl Eldritch."
Katia murmured the man's name under her breath.
"Eldritch?"
"He rules the territory next to Trackia's. This mountain happens to serve as the border. …What brings you here, my lord?"
"What do you mean, 'what brings me here'? Can you not see? My knights, right here."
In response to Katia's question, Earl Eldritch—accompanied by roughly ten knights of his own—answered with lordly arrogance.
"I am about to conquer this dungeon. Once you understand that, I suggest you withdraw at once."
"Wh— You must be joking. This dungeon falls under Trackia's jurisdiction. We hold priority rights over it."
"Hmph! Forget such musty old agreements!"
The earl scoffed at her objection, looking down on Katia with contempt.
"I hear there are powerful monsters rampant in this dungeon, and that a certain legendary Ancient Magical Tool lies sleeping within! A dungeon this dangerous cannot be left to a Flawed Lady! I am offering to lend a hand with the conquest out of the goodness of my heart—you should be weeping with gratitude, should you not? Hmm?"
He fixed them with a slimy grin.
The insincerity in his offer to "lend a hand" was plain as day. Without question, his real target was the rumored Ancient Magical Tool. He intended to find it first and steal the credit.
Magical tools were already valuable commodities, but Ancient Magical Artifacts—those that could not be reproduced by modern magic—were worth astronomically more. Simply discovering one was an accomplishment worthy of a reward from the Royal Palace.
Even if it was only a rumor, it was more than worth investigating.
"…Old or new, an agreement is an agreement. You won't mind if I report this as an overreach of authority."
"Do as you like! Though naturally, nobody is going to take your side seriously!"
With that, the earl flung his arms wide and declared with utter condescension:
"Tell me, Flawed Lady—rejected by the hero prince, unable to even use magic properly—why do you continue playing at being a noble? If you'd just step aside quietly and leave things to a mage chosen by God, like myself—!"
"Erm… magic? I can't use—"
He froze.
Ermes had not, in fact, been told the details of Katia's situation.
The story about her engagement being annulled by the Second Prince had ultimately been cut short the previous night because Katia fell silent and refused to say more.
She probably didn't want to talk about it. If so, Ermes had no intention of pressing her.
…But that was a separate matter.
At the very least, the fact that this ugly, fat man was currently insulting Katia was beyond dispute.
"The disgraced daughter of a prestigious ducal house, abandoned even by the hero prince—what business do you have pretending to be a noble? Stay out of the way and leave it to a God-chosen mage like m—?!"
As Earl Eldritch rambled on, his mouth suddenly seized into a rictus.
Because—*whoosh*—
A fireball had screamed past his flabby cheek at tremendous speed.
The fireball blazed straight through the gap between the escort knights—
"GYAAH!"
—and struck a wolf monster that had been creeping up behind the earl's entourage, reducing it to cinders in an instant.
"Wh— a monster?!"
"Impossible! When did it get here?!"
"Th-that—did that boy just shoot that?!"
"That was quite powerful… more to the point, when did he chant…?"
The first half of those exclamations came from the earl's knights; the second half from Katia's.
As for Ermes himself, who had cast the spell and promptly dispatched the monster:
"Oh, I do apologize, Lord Eldritch. Seeing that you were in danger, I took the liberty of offering my assistance."
In an unnervingly polite tone, he flashed a sweet smile.
"But it seems I interrupted your speech. Please, do continue. —If you leave things to a self-proclaimed God-chosen mage who can't even notice an attack of *that* caliber, is this what happens?"
"E-El…?"
As an aside:
While living with his master Rose, Ermes had on several occasions found the limits of his patience with her sloppy lifestyle and spoken up about it.
Recalling those moments, Rose reportedly said:
"When a normally gentle guy snaps, the scariness factor isn't just real—it's beyond what you can imagine."
"Please, go on. You were about to share more of your wisdom, weren't you?"
Truly polite and insolent in equal measure.
Receiving Ermes's words—delivered with an aura of mysterious intimidation—
"W-wh—what do you think you are?!"
The earl's round face turned crimson with shame and rage, and he lambasted Ermes with spittle flying.
"A servant boy, daring to talk back to me! Who do you think I am?!"
"I'm afraid I don't know—I'm an uneducated sort. And I don't believe I talked back; rather, I saved you. Shouldn't you be the one weeping with gratitude, my lord?"
With deliberate intent, Ermes echoed the earl's earlier taunting words back to him, word for word.
The earl, unable to muster a retort, and with his round face only making it worse, turned as red as an apple before—
"Grrr—fine!! Mark my face well, boy. I'll make you understand what it means to insult me—count on it!"
He left behind a clichéd parting threat and marched into the dungeon depths with his knights in tow.
"You lot, what are you standing around for?! Your job is to protect me from attacks like that! I'll have your heads!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
The earl's angry shouts faded into the dungeon, and a brief silence settled over those who remained.
"…Ah—Lady Katia, I'm sorry. I let my temper get the better of me."
Having calmed down somewhat, Ermes reflected that he had perhaps gone too far and bowed his head to Katia.
"Oh—no, it's—it's fine, don't worry about it."
Receiving his apology, she hurriedly waved her hands in front of her chest.
Then she looked away with an embarrassed expression.
"…Actually, I'm glad you got angry. Th-that was—"
"I apologize, young man!! I had completely misjudged you!!"
Before she could finish, a booming voice of apology came from the side.
"That magnificent display of magic just now—and the courage to stand up to an earl on your lady's behalf, refusing to tolerate any insult to her! I am deeply ashamed of having dismissed you based on nothing but your small stature and appearance!!"
"E-ah, yes."
The one continuing to shower him with deafening praise was the very knight who had objected to Ermes's inclusion earlier.
It seemed he was the passionate, impulsive type—and considerably more hot-blooded than expected.
"Let me apologize once more for earlier, young mage!"
"N-no, you were only concerned for Lady Katia's safety. It's only natural to be suspicious. I'm not angry…"
"What a broad-minded youth! From here on, let us protect Lady Katia together!"
The knight thrust out his hand. Having realized the man wasn't bad at heart, Ermes accepted the handshake.
"…Shall we get going now?"
From beside this heartwarming—or perhaps questionable—scene, Katia interjected.
"If you've made friends, good. Let's move."
"Oh—yes. But Lady Katia, why are you so upset?"
"I'm not upset. You take point—come on!"
"Y-yes! …So you *are* upset."
And so, with the exception of Katia—who kept her lips pressed tightly together—the group set off into the dungeon in surprisingly good spirits.
The Dungeon Conquest arc begins. It will continue for roughly four chapters.