Reincarnated as a Dungeon Master, I Became Unstoppable by Doting on My Monsters—My Gorgeous Monsters Have Started to Conquer the World on Their Own!

“Is this the legendary love potion that makes any woman fall head over heels in love with the man in front of her if she drinks it?”

Amidst the ruins in an ex-conflict zone, a deal occurs inside one of the dilapidated buildings. The building looks cheap and is surrounded by cement, but the interior is somewhat decorated. A cow’s skull and a crystal sit deliberately on the table, creating a spiritual atmosphere when mixed with the red lamps.

In this space, an older woman dressed as a shaman and a Japanese man in his early twenties with a large backpack sits facing each other. The man swings a small bottle containing a pink liquid, called a “love potion,” in front of him without a hint of skepticism.

“Sou desu yo.”

The older woman replies monotonously because she doesn’t understand a word of the Japanese the man is speaking.

XXX

The older woman is a famous herbalist. Or rather, she’s just a fraudster with no knowledge of medicine or shamanic rituals.

That’s right; she hasn’t made any love potion. She’s only selling drugs disguised as a love potion while wearing shaman-like attire.

Her intention is not just to deceive and earn money. If that was the case, she could sell colored water. She doesn’t because this is her “revenge against selfish men.”

Let’s quickly explain this unimportant character’s background.

Her life has been miserable. Born with natural beauty, she was raised by terrible parents in a sad country. After a hardship, she was coerced into a life of obedience to men due to her poverty. By the time she was wise enough to live independently, she was over forty, and from then on, she was determined to exterminate selfish men, including her father, who had ruined her life.

Her idea was to sell love potions. She would sell prohibited drugs disguised as love potions to men trying to win over women and have them arrested by the bribed cops waiting in the wings. Though she thought of this on the fly, her plan was supposed to fail due to poor advertising, location, and credibility.

But it did work. Somehow, the other medicines she made haphazardly to attract customers turned out to be incredibly effective, making her shop an overnight sensation. As a result, a few men came each year to buy her love potion or to figure it out, and she took delight in sending these men straight to jail.

“Love Potions Available!”

So when she approached the man that day, she figured a wealthy-looking guy wandering into such a dangerous area had to be their customer. She spoke to him in Japanese simply because he looked Japanese.

The man who turned around had an unremarkable, albeit slightly endearing, face. He probably never expected to hear Japanese in a place like this. His eyes blinked momentarily, but he soon smiled and readily followed her.

But the older woman couldn’t help but think…

(When will this guy realize I can’t understand Japanese?)

“I had no idea there was a place making pharmaceuticals around here. But I believe this must be fate.”

The older woman could, of course, not understand a word. Nor did she want to.

(This guy is talking like an innocent child who doesn’t know evil, yet he’s trying to subdue women with drugs. Why doesn’t he realize that love potions can’t be made in a room without proper equipment?)

He may be hopelessly foolish, but he was clever enough to commit crimes. The older woman intensely disliked such men.

(I can’t wait to see this man hauled off to prison, spitting out his just deserts.)

However, the man seemed completely unaware of the older woman’s scheme and continued speaking excitedly.

“My name is Yuuto Soemaki. I thought meeting someone who understands Japanese in this area was rare. Usually, I wouldn’t believe I talk about love potions. But finding love potions in this land can’t just be a coincidence. Take a look at this.”

“So it is.”

Unperturbed, Yuuto Soemaki gleamed as he opened a locket pendant around his neck to show the older woman. It contained a picture of an old, colorless mural of a woman carved into bricks. The older woman sensed that it depicted something sacred.

Although it seemed historical, the older woman had never seen that mural before.

(Is this man’s god, perhaps?)

The older woman felt a slight, just a little, concern for Yuuto. A particular religion ruled this country, and showing such a picture openly could quickly get him attacked. Yet, Yuuto seemed entirely unaware of this risk.

“This mural I discovered at some ruins for the first time in the world. Oh, I’m no expert. It was, by chance, somewhere in the Middle East. I fell head over heels for this goddess… or maybe not that far, but I felt a mysterious destiny with her. That’s why I visited this place, which is deeply connected to the goddess in this photo.”

While tuning out Yuuto’s incomprehensible Japanese, which sounded like some magic, the older woman began to observe his appearance. He wore plain-colored winter clothes and had a reasonably large backpack. It seemed he was carrying his bedding; more than a mere tourist, he appeared to be accustomed to traveling.

However, the most surprising discovery was the signs of combat on his untrained hands—several marks that looked like a knife cut them.

(Could this guy be involved with some criminal organization?)

Feeling a sense of danger towards the seemingly kind-faced Japanese man for the first time, the older woman quickly decided to give him the medicine and send him away.

“This land, although now has legally recognized gods, used to be a mix of numerous religions. The temple of this goddess was located exactly where you’ve set up your shop, ma’am. And if a love potion I desperately want is sold in such a place, doubting it would be blasphemous.”

“Go away. Just go away.”

The older woman finally said, cutting off Yuuto’s irritating Japanese.

Just then, when the conversation moved forward, the entrance bell chimed. Usually, it would be a trivial matter. Her shop was open for business, and she did have days where five customers visited. There could be two customers at once.

However, the older woman unmistakably felt unsettled by the sound she was so used to. She was genuinely a regular human with no special powers, but she couldn’t help but feel something. It was an inexplicable, primal sense of unease—like when you randomly look up and find the setting sun too big and red.

At that moment, a well-built, tanned man walked in, wearing a pitch-black down jacket and unnaturally stuffing his hands into his pockets. The older woman immediately sensed something off about him. Usually, when someone walks into a shop for the first time, they look at the shopkeeper’s face. The fact that he did not do this suggested he already knew what she looked like and had a reason for not wanting his face to be recognized.

In that brief moment, the older woman realized she was facing death. Whether to panic or to reach for the gun she had hidden under the counter, the man in the down jacket moved so deliberately and efficiently that she had no chance.

“Die.”

The man said in the local language and drew his gun. All of this happened in about three seconds. Only then did the old woman recall who he was—someone she had fooled long ago using a love potion. Despite being at gunpoint, she felt like she was watching a movie throughout those three seconds.

(So this is it? To die so abruptly? A life where I’ve never been truly free, always manipulated until the very end.)

But fortunately, her life wasn’t over yet.

“Forgot about that. Divine protection always comes with trials,” a voice mumbled in Japanese.

Before she knew it, her vision turned crimson. For a moment, the older woman pondered whether death was this red or found the situation somewhat poetic. However, realizing she was still alive, she wondered if the Japanese man had protected her—a thought that also seemed romantic.

Both assumptions were wrong. She later realized the red she saw was just the tablecloth in her shop, only after the Japanese man had subdued the robber.

At that moment, Yuuto, sensing the suspicious man, skillfully yanked the tablecloth and threw it at him. He then delivered a swift, low blow and restrained him with a joint lock.

“Let me go! My partners will be here soon!”

Even after being subdued, the man in the down jacket shouted threats but soon realized that Yuuto didn’t understand the language and shot the older woman a silent glare. Finally, gaining composure, the older woman remembered that in a country where the police barely function, it was unlikely that an older woman would be killed with the help of partners. She then confidently called the police, resolving the situation.

While waiting for the police, Yuuto was skillfully holding down the robber with one hand and one leg, all while fiddling with his phone.

The older woman found herself wanting to trust this Japanese man. Of course, the fact that he had saved her life played a part, but she also found it fascinating that he showed no emotional outburst while subduing the robber. In his composure, she saw intellect.

Could this man have been talking at length about some grand life that would necessitate a love potion? The older woman couldn’t quite believe the existence of such a thing, but seeing how calm he was, she doubted that Yuuto would misuse a love potion. Moreover, who would keep talking endlessly to an older woman who wasn’t even responding?

Perhaps there’s some reason behind this, she thought and considered taking back the love potion she had given Yuuto. Things could go awry if he walked out of the store with the brew. If she chose not to give it to him, the worst-case scenario wouldn’t be that bad, especially if her initial judgment about him being a wrong person was correct. With that in mind, she tried to take it back.

However, dodging her hand, trying to seize the bottle, Yuuto swiftly lifted it high. “I can’t give this potion back. I’ve paid for it in full—everything I have on me, including the contents of my wallet and all my cards.”

Yuuto’s face was as earnest as the morning sun. “I’ll drink this potion and come to know love,” he said, dramatically placing his hand on his chest.

“To tell you the truth, I’ve never been in love with a human being. The goddess in the photo I showed you earlier was my first love, but her mural is so worn that I can’t tell if her hair is long or short. I only know that her name is probably Navalbi, but no one knows what kind of goddess she was. It makes sense since she’s from five thousand years ago.”

His grip tightened on the pendant. The older woman didn’t understand what he was saying, but something about Yuuto’s movements reminded her of a confession of sins to a priest.

“I thought it was a compatibility issue at first. From middle school to college, I dated various people. But even then, I never felt that thrill you read about in dramas or novels. I couldn’t even distinguish between my feelings for the women I was dating and others. It became so painful that I wasn’t enjoying anyone’s company. In college, I wondered if I had a unique sexual orientation, so I even tried getting closer to men and started watching some underground adult videos.”

Indeed, for Yuuto, this complex had occupied much of his life, and describing it felt like confessing a sin. As he interacted with people and saw those around him change, the sensation that he alone remained unchanged felt like a fatal flaw beyond simply being immature or destructive at love.

“Still, I couldn’t understand love, so I went to America. They have movie theaters where you can secretly watch illegal porn. Watching it was illegal, too, of course. I swear, that was the first crime I ever committed. Still, even after watching that, I only felt sick, which was somewhat reassuring.”

The older woman didn’t understand a word he was saying, but she probably would have been better off not understanding, given the extreme nature of his words.

“Then I traveled the world in search of love. I snuck into foreign universities to study the science of love; I tried to fall in love with 2D characters through my creative works… The reason I even went to the archaeological site where I found that goddess was that I thought I might be able to fall in love using the suspension bridge effect. I discovered her when I teamed up with a woman who conflicted with the mafia.”

The man opened his pendant and sighed as he looked at the photo as if he couldn’t maintain his identity without doing so.

“I don’t know if you could say it worked, but during that battle, I found the mural of Goddess Navalbi and experienced something that resembled love for the first time. It wasn’t a love that struck me like thunder, nor a sense of comfort developed over time spent together. It was a love that felt like being pulled into an entirely different space.”

Yuuto looked exceptionally cheerful when talking about the woman in the pendant.

“After that, I became interested in mysticism for about a year, but the only one I fell in love with was Goddess Navalbi. The research was interesting, but I can’t keep living like this. I’m a college junior and won’t have time to travel next year due to job hunting.”

Then, Yuuto continued.

“I came to the land where the goddess who granted me an encounter is worshiped as my last hope. And wouldn’t you know it, they have a potion that can make you fall in love.”

“If this love potion doesn’t work, I’ll live a lonely life. This shop seems too sketchy. However, I don’t sense any evil from you, older woman. I feel something positive. So, without any doubt, I’ll drink this potion.”

There would be no need to say so explicitly if he believed, but Yuuto said it anyway. At that point, he finally realized that the older woman didn’t understand Japanese. His tone changed, no longer respectful toward his elder, but he continued his speech nonetheless.

Before he knew it, the older woman had become engrossed in Yuuto’s story. She didn’t understand a word he said, of course. But just as one might get lost watching even a meaningless TV show if it showed a life-or-death struggle like a baby wildebeest escaping from a lion, she felt something akin to the brilliance of life from Yuuto’s speech.

When Yuuto finished his speech, the older woman rubbed her eyes as if she felt a flicker around him, as if by magic. But she didn’t miss the crucial moment.

“With this potion, I can finally love humans!”

With that, Yuuto drank the potion and died.

XXX

The older woman decided to bury the Japanese man. Of course, she stripped his body but chose not to steal the pendant he seemed to care so much about; instead, she decided to bury it with him. At that moment, she felt the charm on the pendant open by itself, but she suppressed it without giving it a second thought.

As she pondered why the man had willingly consumed such a suspicious potion, she returned to the room and noticed something odd. Even though the Japanese man should have swept the tablecloth during the battle, nothing on the table had fallen over. Her interest in the man’s life shifted to why he was so skilled at yanking tablecloths, and he was never thought of again.