The Shut-In Prince’s Splendid Social Debut — Me, a Villainous Imperial, Have Spent the Last Fifteen Years Fighting the “Wicked Thoughts” Eating Away at My Mind. When I Finally Returned to High Society, There Were Way Too Many People I Didn’t Recognize

—The “Underworld Wail Dungeon.”

It was one of the country’s largest dungeons, made up of seventy-two floors.

Though this world classified it as a “Malignant Dungeon,” in ERT it had been recognized as a “high-efficiency hunting ground” where the accessible area expanded according to your progress.

You could level all the way up to the final boss here.

Since it was a dungeon you had to unlock even in RTA, I knew it well too.

Now then, with that in mind, Lala and I were currently on the first floor.

A wide, cave-like passage stretched onward in a single path.

The recommended level was around 5. It was a floor academy students could cross without much trouble, but—

“Bumooooooo!”

A creature like a turtle covered in moss, but shaped like a cow, came charging at us.

—A Moss Turtle Cow.

It was the weakest monster in this dungeon, and its movements were so sluggish that it was among the easiest to defeat.

“Lala, dodge.”

“U-Uyu…!”

Lala dodged, but clumsily.

Hmm. Her footwork was terrible.

That said, since the Moss Turtle Cow was slow as well, this was still her chance.

“Now, Lala! Aim for the neck.”

“Uyu…! E-Ei!”

Lala swung her sword at the Moss Turtle Cow.

Kakin.

The blade was repelled with absurd ease.

“…Bumo?”

Well, that was only natural. Her attack power was insufficient to begin with.

Considering Lala’s class, that much was expected.

“Lala, your hips are pulling back. Put your weight into it when you slash.”

“Uyuuuu… Yah!”

The second time, she still failed to put her hips into it.

Kakin. The sword bounced off again.

“Bumo?”

“Uuh… I-It’s hard.”

“Lala, you need to put force into it at the moment of impact. Otherwise, your blade won’t bite through.”

After that, I had her try several more times.

While doing so, I identified the habits and problems in Lala’s movements.

(…Well, I guess that’s about it.)

As I observed Lala, I thought about what came next.

This time, the goal was to clear the “exam.”

For that, Lala’s level and mine had to total at least 50.

Setting aside my sealed level, raising Lala’s level was essential.

In other words, what I needed to do was—

train Lala.

“Haa… Haa… I-I can’t… It won’t even budge…”

Lala was already teary-eyed and out of breath.

It seemed her spirit had broken.

Just then, another presence emerged deeper in the cave.

“…Gururu.”

What appeared were moss-covered wolf monsters.

And not just one. Several.

For Lala, it was a desperate situation.

“M-Moss Wolves…! T-This is bad. Y-Yoan-sama, let’s run! With this emergency Smoke Ball…!”

Lala pulled a Smoke Ball from her exploration bag.

According to Yubel-sensei, if you judged that you couldn’t win, you were supposed to use a Smoke Ball immediately and flee.

She was trying to put that into practice.

It was a good decision.

However—

“—There’s no need.”

I stepped forward, placing myself in front of Lala.

Before me stood a Moss Turtle Cow and several Moss Wolves.

“Eh…? W-What are you doing, Yoan-sama?! It’s dangerous!”

Lala cried out in alarm.

“Bumooooooo!” “Garuruaaaa!”

I drew the Treasure Sword and gave a light horizontal slash.

Then, as though space itself had been severed, a line ran through the monsters.

“Bum…” “Ga…”

The Moss Turtle Cow and Moss Wolves split cleanly in two, then dissolved into mist.

I sheathed the Treasure Sword.

“…?!”

(Just as I thought, no experience points are coming in, huh…)

It felt as though the channel through which experience points should have flowed into me had been blocked.

Naturally, there was no sensation of leveling up either.

“N-No way… That many… in one strike…?”

Lala stared blankly, then dropped to the ground where she stood.

I turned back to her.

“Let’s withdraw for now. —I’ve seen most of Lala’s issues.”

We ended up leaving the dungeon early.

We had stayed only thirty minutes.

◇◇◇◇

The cafeteria.

The same counter seats by the window as yesterday.

And just like yesterday, I had coffee, while Lala had cocoa.

“U-Uyuuu… uu………… hic… ngu… I’m sorryyyyy………… I caused troubble for Yoan-samaa…… hic…”

After that, one thing led to another, and Lala ended up crying in earnest.

A lot had happened, really, and the area around us was now steeped in the gloomy atmosphere of a wake.

“…You don’t need to worry about it. Things like this happen all the time.”

I rubbed Lala’s back as she cried.

“…U-Uyuu…”

By the way, after that, Lala’s legs had completely given out and she couldn’t stand.

So I ended up carrying her back on my back.

On the way back, my back had been filled with a spreading sensation of warmth—jowaaaa.

Most likely, the thread of tension holding her together had snapped.

…Well, um, Lala had ended up wetting herself.

“Hic… hic… uegu…”

Then she started crying, which led us to the present.

For the record, since there were no showers, we had just wiped her off with a cloth and changed into our uniforms.

“Eh, what’s with that…”

“She got hit by reality in the dungeon, I guess. You know, the yearly tradition.”

“Ah, so it’s already that season… …Or rather, doesn’t it smell kind of strange?”

The students who came to the cafeteria glanced over at us from afar, then left.

“…Uuh… Even though Lala said she would protect Yoan-sama… Lala couldn’t do anything…… To have even less attack power than Lv. 1 Yoan-sama, Lala is… really useless……”

Lala spoke while sniffling through tears and snot.

Contrary to how she looked, she must have been a girl with a very strong sense of responsibility.

…Even so, she was still indirectly insulting me.

“Don’t worry about it, Lala. The monsters in the ‘Underworld Wail Dungeon’ are stronger than normal by exactly the amount of extra experience they give.”

I wiped Lala’s face with a handkerchief.

Taking care of your pair mentally was part of the job too.

“Uyuuu………… The handkerchief… it’ll get dirtyyy…… Bueee……”

At this point, worrying about the handkerchief was far too late.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. …More importantly, Lala, how did you even make it to Lv. 10 with that timid posture?”

Lala’s aptitude for close combat was hopeless.

If anything, it was a miracle she had managed to reach Lv. 10 at all.

“Uyuu… Since Lala is ‘Role-less,’ I can’t use magic either. So after I hit them a little with my sword, I had the knights of my house finish them off…”

To gain experience points, you had to contribute to battle.

If your job was combat-based, you needed to deal direct damage. If it was support-based, helping allies also counted.

Lala must have dealt only trivial amounts of damage and crawled her way to Lv. 10 on scraps of experience no bigger than sparrow tears.

“…If that’s how you’ve been doing it, there’s no way your level would rise.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

The sheer inefficiency made them spill out on reflex.

“U-uuu………… guh… Bueeeeeeeeeen………… Lala is useleeeeeess………… Lala is a useless person who can’t do anythingggggg……”

…And she started crying again.

How should I put this? Dealing with a girl this age was difficult.

…After soothing her for a while—

“—Lala, you are not useless.”

When I found an opening, I followed up.

“Uyuuu…, you don’t need to comfort me…… How can you say Lala isn’t useless when I can’t even defeat a single monster…… Uuh…”

“It’s not comfort. Or do you think I’m lying?”

“…”

The moment Lala looked into my eyes, she hurriedly looked away again.

“B-But… it’s impossible… Even though Lala is Lv. 10, I’m a dropout who can’t defeat a single monster, you know…? Because Lala is—’Role-less,’ after all.”

I see. So that was the real issue weighing on her.

Then let’s deal with them one by one.

“Lala, first let me say this: you are—not ‘Role-less.'”

“…!”

Lala’s eyes widened.

“W-Why would you say something like that…?”

“How do I know? Actually, I… have a ‘Role Archetype’ that lets me understand other people’s ‘Role Archetypes.'”

…Well, it was a lie, though.

“…A lie… I-I’ve never heard of a ‘Role Archetype’ like that…”

Even if it was a lie, the part about understanding “Role Archetypes” was true.

For a certain reason, I had become able to see other people’s “Role Archetypes.”

“Whether you believe me or not is up to you. But there is one thing I can say. Your ‘Role Archetype’ is, as far as I know—the strongest ‘Role Archetype’ there is.”

That part was true too.

Because a class by that exact name had existed in ERT.

“The strongest… ‘Role Archetype’?”

“Yeah. Strong enough to—”

—surpass everyone in A Class within the next two months.

“…”

Lala wavered.

“If you want to stay Lv. 10 for the rest of your life, then you can keep crying like that forever. But if you want to change your current situation even a little, then I will lend you my strength. —I will teach you about the ‘Role Archetype’ you possess.”

I held out my hand to Lala.

“…Lala has… I’ve lived all this time being scorned… No one has ever expected anything from me. Everyone says it…”

—The dropout of the prestigious Count Lorietta family.
—The “Role-less” girl who couldn’t defeat even a single monster.
—The half-wit who couldn’t even break through the wall of Lv. 10.

“…I hate that weak self. …I hate my timid self. I hate the self that can’t do anything. That’s why I… want to change this miserable self!

I want to—become strong!”

Lala grabbed my hand.

Wiping away her tears with one hand, she looked straight at me with determined eyes.

“So, Yoan-sama… please tell me, my ‘Role Archetype’…!”

(…She has good eyes.)

“Understood. I’ll tell you.”

“…Gokuri.”

As she was now, Lala could definitely complete one of the strongest builds in ERT.

I was convinced of that.

“Lala, your ‘Role Archetype’ is…………………………………………”

I told Lala the name of that “Role Archetype.”