Prologue

"If anyone were to ask me who I am right now, please don't, because I don't even know who I am anymore."

"Miss Asteria, is it true that you are a vampire who is over 1,000 years old?"

"What will happen to the modern world now that dungeons have appeared?"

"Are you single?!"

My face felt like it was being bathed in harsh sunlight, accompanied by the constant clicking sounds of the strange objects the people in front of me were holding. We were all gathered in some government building, and I was currently holding a "press conference" whatever that was.

I felt like I had been kidnapped and brought here. Right now, I felt like a rare animal on display for these people to gawk at. I was completely frozen in place.

From that moment on, I understood that my life was going to change forever, even though all I wanted to do was laze around.

“There is no way I can answer all of that, damn it.”

♦ ♦ ♦

I woke up as usual inside my castle, where I had lived in isolation for perhaps nearly a thousand years.

"Yawn... arghhh, I'm so bored."

"I’m so bored it could kill me… hahaha, that's a funny thing to say."

"What should I do today? Hah~"

I sighed as I lay down on my bed, my voice echoing inside the empty room.

Clack.

Clack.

Looking aside, I saw my little round rock servant.

"Oh, thanks, Golem."

Reaching for the glass filled with red liquid, I drank it and felt how delightfully cold it was.

"Bwah! Drinking blood while relaxing is truly delicious, no matter how often I do it."

"Hmm, I hope my animal blood stock is still holding up in the ice room."

Thinking about that ice room, maybe I should also add more ice magic inside it. Lying back down, I sighed, staring at the ceiling filled with ornaments.

"Hmm, it’s a little dusty. Unfortunately, the golems can’t reach that high. If only they could fly, hah~"

"Hmm?"

"Eek! What is happening?!"

Grumble...

Grumble...

Panicking, I flew up and clung to my crystal chandelier, hoping it wouldn't fall as the rest of the objects in the room swayed violently. Not long after, everything finally calmed down.

"Fuh~ what the heck was that? An earthquake? That was a really strong one for recent years."

Deciding to leave my room, I checked everything inside the castle.

"Looks fine."

"Hmm, what about outside? Should I check it? Hmm."

I was torn. I really didn't want to go outside, but if I didn't check, I couldn't be sure if everything was safe.

"Gnu gnu gnu... ugh~ whatever, I will just check it."

"Hah!"

"Ehh, why is there a stone wall here?"

Opening my front door, I could only see solid rock completely blocking the exit, making me wonder if this was because of the earthquake or something else.

"I hope my surroundings are still a forest without any people around."

Saying that out loud made me remember the dark age that caused me to lock myself away in the first place.

"Hmm, okay. Time to make a hole."

Holding my palm forward, I felt my mana swelling and flowing into my hand. The stone in front of me started turning into sand.

"Disintegrate."

Walking forward, I kept making a tunnel, wondering exactly how deep my castle had been buried.

"Hmm, this is deeper than I thought."

"Oh, sunlight."

Seeing sunlight filtering through the cracks, I knew this was the end of it. I squinted as the rocks crumbled away and the outside world revealed itself.

"Ugh, it's so blinding."

Blocking the light with my hand, I could still see the forest, and thankfully, there was no sign of people either.

"Good."

"Hmm? Wha… what? How did my castle become a hill?!"

When I turned around to look at my stone castle, what I saw instead was a massive, grassy hill perfectly covering my home.

"Is that the reason I never got any sunlight inside?"

Thinking about it, that was probably the cause, but it also raised another question.

"How did it become like this?"

.

..

…

"Hmm, is that a goat?"

Squinting my eyes, I could see a goat casually eating grass at the top of the hill or rather, the roof of my castle.

"Hah, whatever~ it works well as camouflage."

I just didn't want to think too much about it. Looking around, I saw something from afar that was definitely not a tree or a normal part of the forest.

"Hmm, smoke? Looking closely, I can see some strange, massive stone pillars over there."

"Hmm... maybe a little outing after such a long time wouldn't be that bad. I am already outside anyway."

Flying towards the strange pillars, I saw the forest below was still the same as ever. But as I arrived at the pillars, I realized just how incredibly massive they were.

"Hmm, what is this, really? It’s massive… maybe a hundred rods tall?"

"And this…"

Tapping the outside, I noticed this pillar wasn't entirely made of stone; it also had many square pieces of glass that seemed to be of very high quality.

"Hmm, I wonder what's behind this…"

"Yep, that is definitely burning."

Looking below, I could see fire and smoke everywhere, and there were strange black boxes down there…

"Kyaaa!!"

"Hmm! Wha!"

Looking closer through the smoke, I saw people running for their lives. And then I saw something I recognized something that absolutely should not be here.

"Are those monsters?!"

"They are supposed to be extinct!"

As far as I remembered, the Hero should have already killed the Demon Lord and all the monsters.

"The Hero never lied, but…"

What I was seeing now completely contradicted what I remembered. I could clearly see goblins, orcs, and some oversized black insects that I recalled being called 'demon insects'.

"Why are the people running away? Are there no adventurers here?"

Looking around, I didn't see anyone who looked remotely like an adventurer.

"What about soldiers, knights, or a hero?"

Left and right, I saw absolutely no one fighting the monsters. Everyone was just running from them in a sheer panic.

"Ugh~ this is not my problem. Maybe they are just running late... for now, I should just go back to my castle."

Turning around toward my home, I started to fly away…

"Mama!"

.

..

…

Looking back at the crowd, I saw a little girl being hugged tightly by her parents as a demon insect walked menacingly toward them.

"Ugh..."

Holding my frowning face, I really couldn't bear to watch something like this.

"Please, isn't there anyone who will help them... someone, please help them."

Looking down, I didn't even notice I was clenching my fists so tightly that my pale skin was turning even paler. Closing my eyes, I could only pray that someone would arrive, because if not...

"Mama."

.

..

…

"Ughhhh…."

I clenched my fists even harder.

"Tch, I will just do it myself, dammit!"

Shouting in frustration, I covered myself in mana. From my feet, blood seemingly out of nowhere began dancing around me, warping and solidifying into silver armor that secured itself tightly around my body.

"Fuh, it's been a very long time."

Calming myself, I looked down and dove straight from the strange glass pillar.

"Blood Weapon."

Focusing the blood in my right hand, I formed a crimson lance and threw it precisely at the demon insect towering over those parents and their child.

"Alright, one done."

The lance pierced the insect's head, and it instantly turned into black ash, leaving only a glowing crystal behind.

"Hmph, now for the rest of you."

Stopping mid-air, I could see through the sea of fire that all the monsters were advancing toward the humans behind me.

I was the line they would never cross.

"Hmm, what should I use? First, this…"

Focusing my mana, I turned it into liquid blood from my hand. The blood flowed down, pooling onto the ground and rapidly spreading forward toward the monster horde.

"Blood Field."

It looked like a massive crimson puddle now. As the blood covered the ground where the monsters stood, I clenched my fist.

"Die! Blood Garden!"

The crimson pool at their feet instantly violently erupted, creeping up their bodies and engulfing them completely. As they struggled and shrieked in agony, the blood consumed them entirely, eating away every trace until they vanished.

"Urghh! Gruaghhh!!!"

"Eek eek!"

"Silence!"

Listening to their ugly shrieks, I watched as every last one of them died. Then, the violent blood settled, turning into a serene field of beautiful red flowers.

"Huf, I think that's enough."

My eyes glowed purple as I used my mystic eyes to search for any remaining monsters in the area, but it seemed that was all of them.

"This is a really strange place."

Only now taking a proper look around, I saw so many of those massive pillars to my right and left. The earth below was completely black with white stripes painted on it, and there were those strange, boxy black things everywhere…

"I wonder what those are."

It really made me curious. Because I was so bored inside my castle anyway, learning about things I didn't know seemed like rather fun entertainment. Descending to the ground, I approached one of the boxy things and tapped it with my fingers.

"Hmm, it has glass and wheels."

"Hmm, is this steel… is this an iron carriage?"

My mind thought maybe it was something like that, but I didn't see where the horses were supposed to sit, and…

"Uwohhh, that is great!!!"

"Eh!"

I looked back because someone was shouting, and suddenly I realized my surroundings. I froze completely.

“There are so many people here!”

“I completely forgot about them!”

Because it had been so long since I last fought, I was entirely too focused on the monsters and had completely forgotten that these people were watching me.

“What should I do now?!”

Thinking about it, I hadn't met other humans in centuries, and I didn't know the humans of this era at all.

"Hey, that lady defeated all those monsters!"

"W-We are saved! Yeah!!!"

As I stood there frozen, trying to figure out what to do, the crowd surged forward and completely surrounded me.

“W-what should I do? Someone, help me!”

“I didn’t know isolating myself could make me socially inept like this!”

The people around me started praising and thanking me enthusiastically. Some had faces completely covered in tears and snot.

"Uwoh, Miss, you are so cool! Who are you?!"

"Hey hey, didn't you see her fly earlier? Is she a superhero?!"

"Hey, what do you know about the monsters?!"

"Thank you, Miss!"

"You are very cool!!"

"Hey hey, we will treat you to a meal because you saved us!"

"Because of you, I don't need to run from those monsters anymore!"

These people were way too much for me. They were all speaking at the exact same time, making it impossible for me to understand what they were even talking about.

“What are those small squares they are holding up in their hands?”

I had no idea what was happening. I could have just shrugged them off and flown away, but I was afraid of accidentally hurting them in the dense crowd. In the end, I felt like I was being paraded down the street until I was suddenly intercepted by a group of people wearing black suits and black glasses.

I was ushered into one of their iron carriages and driven into the heart of this strange city. Then, I was asked to change my clothes, which made me genuinely wonder what was wrong with my original outfit in the first place.

"Miss, please wear this dress."

I decided to just keep nodding.

From that point on, everything felt like a high-speed grind, because these people worked incredibly fast.

"Ohoho, nice to meet you, hero of this nation. I am glad we could meet. Look over there and hold this while they take our picture."

I nodded.

This old man with a blindingly white smile, who was called the 'PM,' stood next to me. I forced my face to stay as flat and expressionless as possible while the crowd of people held up objects that flashed blinding lights at me, saying they were taking 'photographs' or something like that.

"For your stay, please use this hotel room and ask the staff if you need anything."

I nodded.

Then, the two people who had brought me here left the room, leaving me completely alone. I wondered what I was supposed to do next. But before I could figure it out, the very next day, something else happened...

"What, you want me to share my knowledge about monsters?"

I nodded.

Because I thought that was the best way they could solve their own problems, but…

"I will call the military and make sure to build a school to teach people about this."

"What?"

After that, the old PM man gave me the title "Special Advisor of the Ministry," with a massive grin on his face that I didn't understand at all.

"Eh?"

Since the old PM man kept asking me more and more about monsters, I thought maybe if I just gave them the tools to help themselves, they would finally leave me alone. But…

"What, you want to give this away for free? Wait right there…"

"This man is Tanaka. He will help you with your product."

"What?"

"Miss Asteria, would you like to have dinner with me while I explain this company to you?"

I nodded.

And so, I ate some incredibly delicious meat while this man named Tanaka eagerly explained things to me like 'synergy,' 'profits,' 'company,' and other bizarre concepts that made me want to break my deadpan facade, scream out loud, and furiously massage my temples.

"I will help you become a great CEO in this world filled with dungeons."

I nodded.

"First, this building is your office, and these people are your employees."

"W-wait…"

"This is Kuroi, she will be your assistant."

I nodded.

Then, a woman wearing black glasses and shoulder-length black hair named Kuroi walked in and introduced herself.

"Who?"

After that, everything moved so fast that I couldn't understand what was happening and couldn't keep up with any of it. Maybe it was just me, someone who saw years pass in the blink of an eye, but these people moved way too fast!

"Can I go home now?"

Alas, my question went completely unanswered, and we now return to the beginning...