The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! - Chapter 68

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Magic Girl Hunter Decorates a Dungeon! Episode 68
[The entrance is over there. Behind that peony.]
“Yes!”
[The beings that make up this dungeon are mostly ‘humans’ who won’t attack visitors under normal circumstances, and it’s quite easy to clear. The dungeon itself is D-Rank.]
D-Rank? Lee Ji swallowed hard.
“That sounds pretty high. Will it be okay……?”
[The dungeon is unnecessarily vast, so the mana capacity reading is inflated. As long as you don’t get lost, you’ll be fine. I’ve been through this dungeon myself, so I guarantee it’s safe.]
“Really? Um…… did you perhaps come here before with a different Hunter?”
Grimoires were said to be beings who lived for an extremely long time.
If that was the case, Grimoire might have walked these paths with other Hunters before contracting with Lee Ji.
‘……That stings a little.’
It reminded her of first grade.
The day she’d realized that the teacher who’d been her very first homeroom instructor had actually taught countless first-grade classes before hers—the shock of that discovery came rushing back.
‘But I can’t let something like this bother me! I’m not a first-grader anymore!’
“Is that so?”
Grimoire’s gaze slipped away evasively.
[……Ahem. I won’t dwell on it.]
‘So it’s true.’
Grimoire had read Lee Ji’s disappointment.
Before entering the dungeon, Grimoire had spoken again.
[I’m sure you’ll do well enough, but in this dungeon, you mustn’t attack anyone.]
“Got it!”
The entrance was behind the peony—a gap narrow and blue as a mouse hole.
The moment her foot touched it, the sky began to spin.
A moment later, Lee Ji found herself standing on a neatly manicured lawn, atop a walking path dotted with pearly white pebbles.
Her eyes naturally followed the path—and
“…….”
she lost her words before the vista that unfolded.
If she combined every mansion from every Disney animation she’d ever seen, would it look like this?
Lee Ji stood on a walking path in a sprawling garden lawn.
The path divided into three before her, marked off by the borders of an exuberantly blooming Rose Garden Bed.
The left path led to a gleaming white Greenhouse and the marble gazebo connected to it.
‘Wow. Beautiful greenhouse! And it’s like a Western cottage!’
The right path opened onto a broad Lake, where a pure white wooden boat and plump ducklings bobbed gently before a small dock.
At the end of the center path rose the Manor itself.
A structure as large as the main building of Paramountbird Elementary, draped in ivy vines, stood in the distance watching over Lee Ji.
‘It’s all magnificent……!’
You have entered the Dungeon.
Clear Condition: At 3:30 PM, the Master of the Manor will begin his tea time.
“Transformation!”
Lee Ji deliberately cast her Transformation with her back to the gazebo.
The wind of the Transformation scattered petals, and the pink roses in the garden swayed gracefully.
‘I spun around two extra times more than usual!’
It was probably the most brilliant Transformation yet.
After landing and savoring the lingering echo of the Transformation for a moment,
Lee Ji tried to call her friends—but
[Stop!]
Grimoire appeared and refused to open the ‘Friends’ page.
[I wouldn’t recommend summoning your companions here. A talking animal would be far too conspicuous.]
“……Conspicuous to whose eyes?”
Only then did Lee Ji realize that Grimoire had been whispering from beneath her shadow the whole time.
As if afraid someone in the Manor might catch sight of her.
[The Master of this place is the Black Diamond Marquis. He has a hobby of collecting rare objects. If you look carefully around the garden right now, you’ll spot beings that are far from ordinary.]
Just as Lee Ji had assumed the modest pink Rose Garden Bed was just that, one rose within it—a shade deep as a human throat—suddenly gulped down a praying mantis that had been passing overhead. The abundant petals smacked together like lips, then parted open again.
“Eek! Is that what you meant?”
[Precisely. That would be a Carnivorous Rose the Marquis acquired.]
A carnivorous rose? She’d never heard of such a thing.
Not that she cared about this particular specimen—
“But you said I could take any flowers I wanted from this dungeon, didn’t you?”
[I did.]
“Is it really all right for me to take something the Marquis treasures so dearly?”
An ordinary rose she might risk taking.
But if she accidentally chose something extraordinarily rare?
‘I just failed to recognize the Carnivorous Rose, for goodness’ sake!’
Grimoire answered matter-of-factly.
[You may take any flowers that are outside the Greenhouse. The reason the Marquis collects rare things isn’t because he’s a connoisseur—it’s because he has a twisted nature.]
“T-twisted nature?”
[The Marquis has a warped temperament. He competitively acquires rare items, then loses interest just as quickly and gives them away freely to others. Both impulses feed his sense of superiority.]
“Ah! There are kids like that at school!”
The kind who greedily hoard points during group games, rack up enormous scores, then act magnanimous and let others win once they’re bored with it.
‘You shouldn’t think like this! But it’s so annoying.’
So this is what those kids become when they grow up—a Marquis.
As Lee Ji’s expression softened, Grimoire smiled slightly and spoke.
[Remember two things. First, never produce any unusual creature the Marquis might covet. Second, should you meet the Master of the Manor, greet him courteously and thank him for allowing you entry. Understood?]
“Yes! But…… I’m dressed as a Magic Girl. Won’t the Marquis try to collect me?”
Magic Girls are beautiful and magnificent beings, after all!
Grimoire answered plainly.
[The Marquis is a nobleman. He’d consider even your outfit perfectly ordinary unless it were far more ornate.]
“I see.”
[If he saw shabby modern clothing, he might actually recoil in disgust and drive you away. The man has a rotten disposition through and through.]
“Understood!”
Lee Ji found herself checking her outfit. Thank goodness she was a Magic Girl!
[I’ll stay hidden then. The Rainbow Butterfly will function even from inside your pocket, but if things seem dangerous, call for me. I can respond to emergencies.]
“What if the Marquis catches you? Wouldn’t it be safer if you stayed in my bag?”
[……It gives me terrible motion sickness sometimes.]
“……I see.”
Grimoire soon vanished into the grass.
Lee Ji looked around, her heart pounding with anticipation.
The scenery was more beautiful than any dungeon she’d seen before. Yet despite that, her heart kept hammering with anxiety and wouldn’t settle.
It felt as though any sound she made would summon a man resembling Count Dracula, who would shriek, “What kind of safety is this—coughing in my presence?!”
‘I know Grimoire is nearby, but it’s still scary!’
Should she go back right now and beg Grimoire to endure the motion sickness and stay in her bag?
‘Is it because this is the first time I’ve walked alone……?’
Wait.
Suddenly, a flash of realization struck Lee Ji like lightning.
‘That’s not true!’
On the day she first fell into a dungeon at the Career Experience Center.
Back then, she’d only had her Awakening, not a single skill to her name, yet she’d wandered that desert with calm composure.
Even burdened with Jun-seo, an injured person, she’d helped him with nothing but the thought, ‘I’m an Awakened!’
‘Now I’m genuinely a magnificent Magic Girl.’
So why suddenly be afraid? Especially in a dungeon Grimoire had kindly assured her was safe?
Lee Ji’s spine straightened with resolve.
‘I can do this!’
Perhaps because her heart had found peace,
the garden’s truly wondrous qualities began to strike her one by one.
A gentle spring breeze carried the scent of flowers. In the distant Lake, ducklings fluttered their small wings chasing their mother. The air felt like warm spring, yet the sky was crystalline as autumn.
‘This place is really wonderful!’
Now then, shall I search for flowers?
Lee Ji rolled up her sleeves and walked toward the Greenhouse she’d seen earlier.
Once she passed beyond the Rose Garden Bed at the center, a wave of various flowers tickled her eyes.
‘Pansies! Oh, what do I do? The blue Pansies and yellow Pansies are all so pretty!’
Beyond them bloomed several varieties of Tulips—one of her candidates—and at ground level lay thick carpets of Violets and Moss Phlox.
Lee Ji found herself recalling the moment in “Hug Me ☆ Pink Me” when Bunny Princess transformed into a Forklift Knight.
If she’d had that ability, she could have taken all of them……!
‘I have to pick exactly three. ……How?’
To choose just three from dozens of beautiful flowers—how was that even possible?
Without meaning to, a groan escaped her lips.
“Ungh…….”
“……You. What are you thinking about?”
“Eep?”
Lee Ji spun around in surprise toward where the voice had come.
On the Path.
A boy with pale sky-blue hair stood looking at Lee Ji from behind his glasses.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but do you want my help?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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