Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society

“Oh?”

“... I, I’m back.”

The moment Ludia and I left my room, we ran into mother who was climbing the stairs with a vacuum cleaner. Her eyes became incredibly big the moment she saw us, and she frozen. Soon, with a calm expression, she put the vacuum cleaner down, cleaned her hand on her apron, and walked up to me. Putting her hand on my shoulder, she whispered.

“Is that my daughter-in-law?”

“She’s my friend.”

Thankfully, her question was within my expectations so I could give an instant reply. However, Ludia tilted her head and spoke.

“What did she say?”

“Ah.”

Now that I thought about it, Ludia was from Luka continent! She could talk to me since we were both dungeon explorers, but she couldn’t understand mother, who wasn’t a dungeon explorer! What happened next surprised me. With her hand not holding onto me, she reached into the air and took something out. That is, she had taken something out from her inventory. It was a black leather choker. She put it on and spoke.

“Hello.”

It was Korean!

“W-What? What did you just equip?”

“It’s a translator that the dungeon sells for 300,000 gold. It translates what I say or what others say to languages we can understand. Since people in my continent also speak different languages, I bought one.”

“Why didn’t Loretta and Lin tell me about such an item...!?”

I could have easily solved my poor English problem at Britain!

While I was feeling a slight rage at Fairy Garden’s guild master and vice-guild master, mother approached Ludia curiously.

“Is she a foreigner?”

“As you can see, yes. Ludia’s a foreigner.”

“Where is she from? With her Western appearance, is it America? Britain? France? She doesn’t look Italian...”

“I’m Ehuir Empire’s prin... ordinary citizen.”

If you’re going to throw away your status, can you talk with honorifics?[1. Kind of hard to convey in English, but you have to use honorifics when talking to older people in Korean, which she didn’t do.] I gazed at Ludia strongly, but she turned her head the other way with a snort. For the record, she put more strength into holding onto me. Hearing the word ‘Ehuir Empire,’ mother tilted her head.

“Ehuir...”

“Mom, she’s a friend I made in the dungeon. I want to let her stay here for a while, is that okay? I’ll tell father and Yua too.”

I changed the subject and asked mother. She immediately stopped thinking about where Ehuir Empire was, as she put her hands on Ludia’s shoulders.

“Of course! You can live here forever! God, I didn’t think my son would bring such a pretty girl home. So? How far have you gone?”

“Mom, she’s really just my friend, so don’t misunderstand...!”

“If you’re going to make excuses that she’s just a friend, at least stop linking your arms together.”

When Ludia heard what mother said, she suddenly became pale, pulling on my arm harder and throwing herself into my embrace. Feeling that something was wrong, mother’s expression became stiff. With a bitter smile, I asked.

“Mom, please?”

“... Alright. Since Shin brought a friend home, I’ll have to show off. I have to appease Yua too.”

“Appease Yua? Is she mad that I wasn’t home for a while?”

“You’ll know once you see her.”

With that, mother smiled. I tilted my head and looked at Ludia, but she still shaking lightly in my embrace.

In any case, Yua really seemed mad, just like mother sad.

“N...No! Y-You can’t live together... oppa! Especially with someone so pretty!’

“She’s just a friend, Yua. There’s a complicated circumstance, so I hope you can understand.”

I looked at mother and father as I tried to convince Yua, but they were both more concerned with Ludia. Mother asked Ludia what her hobbies were and father seemed interested by the fact that Ludia was an explorer. In any case, they were telling me to convince Yua on my own.

“Oppa, to be honest, I’m mad. It hasn’t been long since you came back from Britain, but you left home for four days. You even brought back someone so pretty!”

“Sorry, but there’s a circumstance I can’t tell you about. It’s hard to explain...”

“Why is it hard to explain!?”

As it had been a long time since I saw Yua be so unreasonable, I didn’t know what to do. Then, Ludia sighed and pulled on my sleeve. Holding onto chopsticks strangely, she asked.

“Shin, can you explain how I use this tool?”

“I told you to use a fork instead of chopsticks.”

“I don’t want to. No matter what country you go to, diplomacy starts from your table manners. So you teach me.”

“You didn’t come here as a diplomat...”

“I’m a person of this world now, so it has to be perfect. You have to teach me everything.”

“You...”

“Oppa!”

“Huk!”

While I was paying attention to Ludia, Yua got up from her seat, shaking.

“I’m really angry! Oppa can do whatever you want, I don’t know anymore!”

“Yua!?”

After putting her empty dish in the sink, she left. Y-Yua was finally going through puberty...!

“Shin, can you show me how to use this? I can’t figure out how.”

“I’m surprised you can ignore others so well.”

Even as I sighed, I spent a long time to teach Ludia how to use chopsticks. Since I didn’t know how or why I had to appease Yua, I could only sigh.

When I told Loretta what happened, even she got mad.

“You’re saying a customer named Palludia is staying in Shin-nim’s house? The one you gave the headband to!?”

“Yes.”

“I’m jeal... No, send her back to the Residential Area!”

“You’re saying this too, Loretta? I’m worried about Ludia. I want to watch over her for a while.”

“T-That’s... I know Shin-nim doesn’t have any ulterior motive, but...”

Loretta looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she simply sighed. Then, she spoke as if there was no other choice.

“Fine. I’ll allow it.”

“Thanks...?”

Strange. Why did I get Loretta’s approval? What approval did I even get? My head was filled with questions. Meanwhile, Loretta continued.

“Then, I’ll first teach you how to appease your sister.”

“Tell me quickly!”

The questions immediately disappeared.

When I returned from the dungeon, it was midnight. As I only went to the dungeon after Ludia fell asleep and set me free, talking to Loretta for a bit didn’t pass the night.

“Yua, are you sleeping?”

[Yes, I’m sleeping!]

“Can I go in?”

[... Yes.]

After shouting angrily that she was sleeping, she easily crumbled at my request. I entered the door with a grin. Yua seemed to have been studying, as she was looking at her notebook and using the internet. She turned her rotating chair around and faced me. Her cheeks were puffed up.

“I thought you were with Palludia-ssi.”

“She went to sleep a while ago. Oppa just came back from the dungeon.”

“Uuuu, so she was clinging so closely to oppa before going to bed?”

“Yua, you also realized that something was wrong, right?”

When I asked her calmly, Yua made a difficult expression... then nodded her head.

“How did you meet her?”

“I met her in the dungeon, and we became friends. You see, I went to help Ludia this time.”

“She’s really just a friend? You guys aren’t dating?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why is she sticking to oppa so closely?”

“It’s hard to explain in detail, just that she went through some difficulties. She lost her place in her country too. I couldn’t leave her alone, so I brought her here.”

“The details are what I want to hear...”

Yua murmured weakly and drooped her shoulders. Then, she said something I never would have imagined.

“I want to help oppa too.”

“Eh...?”

“Oppa looks like you’re having a hard time lately. Plus, you’re always busy. The incident that made oppa’s friend like that... oppa must have been there too. So I’m worried about oppa.”

“Um.”

While I was panicking as Yua’s response was different than what Loretta said, Yua continued with her head down.

“When oppa first became a dungeon explorer, I was happy. You were always smiling, full of confidence, and even lost muscles and became handsome... Ah, oppa was always handsome, but oppa became even more handsome.”

“T-Thanks.”

“But after the second moon rose and monsters began to appear... Oppa began to change. I was happy that I could be proud of oppa, but lately, I’ve been restless. I’m worried that oppa might suddenly leave me and disappear.”

A day would come where people without abilities would have trouble being near the Hero. It was when I would have to leave my family. Because Yua’s words were so accurate, I couldn’t argue against her.

Then, Yua looked up, staring at my eyes.

“If I become a dungeon explorer... can I help oppa, too?”

“No.”

Although I was surprised from Yua’s words, I could answer her question immediately.

“Yua doesn’t have to fight. Fighting can be done by people like father and oppa, who only knows how to fight. Yua can help oppa by staying safe and being healthy.”

“I know how to fight too!”

“No, Yua. You’re more suited to things other than fighting.”

Yua didn’t have talent for physical activities like fighting. I was certain. Since I couldn’t tell her that outright, I tried to say it in a roundabout way, but it didn’t seem to work, as Yua’s eyes became sharp.

“I hate oppa.”

“Huk!”

“Oppa sucks! Leave!”

Yua talked to me without honorifics![2. Again, hard to portray in English.] When Yua pushed me with her hands, I became worried that my tough body would hurt her and quickly left her room. Immediately afterwards, the door closed with a boom. Left alone outside the room, I found a word to objectively describe this situation, and murmured as my heart crumbled.

“Sibling quarrel...!”

Loretta, this is all your fault! Even though I didn’t get to say what you taught me or use the present you gave me!

I found a target to lash out on. It was the Wendigo. However, the Wendigo had a critical weakness to serve as my stress reliever.

[Choose your reward.]

[1. Wendigo’s Fur Pants

2. Frozen Crystal]

“Damn, this guy is too weak!”

He’s so weak, I don’t even feel like fighting him! I kicked the snow on the ground in anger, and swallowed the Frozen Crystal.

[By consuming the Frozen Crystal, your resistance and affinity to freezing energy increases. Your magic increases by 1.]

[I love Shin! It became colder!]

“I think my affinity with Ruyue is already at its peak, but... Ruyue, I like Ruyue too.”

[Ehehe...]

Ruyue rubbed her head in my chest, and I patted her while thinking about what to do next. First, I had to appease Yua... No, that’s probably not possible right now. Since Yua rarely got mad, I didn’t even know when she would calm down. I had an idea why she got mad, but it wasn’t possible for me to do anything about it...

“I guess it’s the Wyvern’s Nest.”

America, Arizona State, Page’s Antelope Canyon. Its Field Dungeon, Wyvern’s Nest. If I went there, I could meet Ciara Kenex, the woman who addressed me as Hero. I would know once I met her. Why she called me Hero and who she was. If she refused to speak, I would have to squeeze the info out of her. I was more than capable now.

Alright, I decided. Once I finished grinding Wendigo and Ruyue’s ability grew, I would go to Wyvern’s Nest. Wash your neck and wait, Ciara Kenex!

Author’s note:

It’s the start of a new arc. I lightly portrayed Ludia assimilating to Earth’s culture. It’s now time for dungeon, dungeon, dungeon! Then, we’ll focus on Ciara Kenex, that suspicious woman!

For the record, if you don’t read this chapter carefully, you’ll regret it later. Why? That’s a secret ★

Translator’s note:

ICDS – romcom edition. Wait, what about when Ludia takes showers!?