Inside the grand, antique castle, the atmosphere was steeped in elegance.

The more I looked around, the more I couldn’t help but feel amazed.

‘So this is what it means to be an Empire.’

Seeing the landscape that I could only experience through a monitor was definitely stimulating.

But what was even more astonishing were the corpses lying everywhere.

Normally, upon entering, I would expect a hideous wave of tough mobs with complicated patterns to come rushing in.

And if a companion got taken out, we’d be facing a counter-attack from the Corpse Lord’s minions.

To prevent that, the norm would be to form a party with a few selected strong warriors and take on the challenge.

But now, the dead bodies, lying around like washed-up fish, showed that the owner had fallen and lost their power. Every single one of those corpses bore different signs of battle.

There wasn’t a single soul who looked like they came from the Empire among them.

What that indicated was clear.

The Empire had casually conquered this place like any other dungeon raid. There were no strategies in place to deal with the Corpse Lord.

They didn’t even think it was necessary.

If a companion fell to the enemy and became one of its minions, then nobody should fall in the first place, right?

You could call that foolishness.

But on a different note, it’s also a kind of leisure only the strong can afford.

While the weak would have to use all kinds of tricks and plans just to make it through, the strong could just crush everything with overwhelming power.

That’s some serious brute force.

Seeing this, it was easy to understand how they swept through this Demon Realm.

‘And let’s not forget that planning and strategy aren’t exclusive to the weak either.’

If beings with such power arm themselves with cunning tactics and sharp commands, no nation could possibly contend with them.

They are definitely not an opponent to take lightly.

With these thoughts weighing on my mind, I put on a serious expression… and then let it go.

Well, I already knew the Empire was strong. What needed doing hadn’t changed.

“I think I might’ve found something. Want to come over here?”

Since I didn’t know what would happen next, I had to keep strengthening myself and my party, just like I had been doing all along.

As I yelled that out, I called Siel and Lien over.

The enemy might have cleared out most of this place, but there could still be traps remaining.

Hans was waiting outside.

The two girls who had been searching the castle according to my instructions approached me.

In front of me was a large frame.

Originally, if you recited a specific spell in front of it, a hidden chamber would be revealed.

Of course, this world isn’t a game, so I couldn’t click a search key or recite strange spells through keyboard clicks.

But just like there were methods usable only in games, there are also ways to use in this reality that had become game-like.

“Ready, Lien? When I say one, two, three, let’s…”

-KWA-BOOM!

A massive sound echoed through the hall.

I was in the middle of explaining, but perhaps she misunderstood that as a countdown, and Lien slammed her fist onto the frame.

However, this didn’t matter much.

Actually, it felt like a stroke of luck.

The secret door wasn’t just broken; it rocked violently.
If I had joined in trying to smash it, I might have been buried alive unexpectedly.

The frame shattered to pieces.

Behind it was a passage leading to a hidden room, and at the same time, a deafening alarm rang out.

‘Looks like they cleared this all out for us.’

No arrows were flying. The advance party must have tripped every trap around.

Normally, triggering this place would have meant dodging arrow-like spells coming at you at bullet speed and fighting off endless hordes rushing at you.

But thankfully, the Empire had resolved all of that beforehand.

In fact, they cleared it all out and just left, not even bothering to grab rewards. There’s no bus service quite like this.

So we walked down a very safe and comfortable corridor.

A dark path.

But as we progressed, the surroundings grew brighter.

Golden glimmers awaited us.

A room filled to the brim with gold and treasures lay before us.

“Whoa….”

Lien let out a gasp.

Sure, we had made decent money, but we definitely didn’t have gold stacked like mountains in our storage.

How often do you get to see such a sight?

“Still, since these items are from the Demon Realm, don’t touch them carelessly. There could be curses…”

I intended to caution Lien since she seemed really excited, but I stopped myself.

All this gold must have come from challenges faced by adventurers confronting the Corpse Lord. While it may be infused with the remnants of their souls, I doubted such things would affect either Lien or Siel.

Both of them were strangely specialized in dealing with this kind of stuff. If anything, they would hardly be affected by the minds of dead adventurers.

One was a user of demonic power instead of mana, and the other was a half-finished Demon King.

If a rookie adventurer’s curse got through, now that would be strange.

‘As for me, that’s not even a consideration.’

My traits granted me complete immunity against such curses.

We started leisurely rummaging through the chamber.

Valuable treasures that shimmered brightly were nearly overshadowed by the priceless equipment and elixirs I was carefully gathering.

I spotted a box with a familiar design, a mix of gold and black. I had worried it had been taken by the previous protagonist since it had been ages since it showed up.

But it seemed to have just been buried amongst the piles of gold.

At this moment, I had only one task ahead.

I clasped my hands together in prayer and opened it up.

And what greeted me was…

“…?”

A piece of paper.

A single fluttering sheet of paper.

A disposable scroll.

There wasn’t a rune stone with boss traits, not even a single artifact could be found. I rummaged through the room, insisting reality could be denied, but…

No other boxes were in sight. It was, after all, a unique item, so that made sense.

To summarize…

It seemed like I had thoroughly failed this gacha roll.

*

The fickle nature of the human heart is truly treacherous.

In a situation where I was simply capitalizing on someone else’s boss rewards, getting all kinds of treasures and elixirs effortlessly should have been a cause for celebration.

Yet, all I could think about were the artifacts and rune stones that could’ve come from that box.

With a heavy sigh, I gazed at the scroll I just pulled.

‘This isn’t completely worthless or anything.’

Just ripping it would let anyone randomly use one skill that the boss had employed.

While it’s good, it’s still rather ambiguous.

There’s just one particular skill.

A game-breaking one that could ruin balance entirely.

Devour.

The skill where the Corpse Lord absorbs all the traits of the minions he had commanded during the final phase.

When used as a scroll, it slightly changes effect and grants a buff to acquire the trait of one monster you’ve slain, but only once.

Using that, you could gain traits that you wouldn’t normally be able to get and engage in some questionable gameplay.

But the problem is…

‘That’s not going to come up at all.’

There are over a hundred skills he employs. Would it really be lucky enough to roll that exact one?

Having played too many gacha games, I found it hard to believe in a 1% chance. So realistically, it’d be best to use it for offense rather than aiming for that skill.

Most of those skills wouldn’t even be useful without summons or minions.

Frankly, this situation felt almost like not getting anything from the box at all.

As someone who knew the chances of getting a rune stone were pretty high, I couldn’t help but feel it was unbelievably unjust…

But I took a deep breath and brushed off my worries.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

Holding onto it won’t change what’s inside the box.

Moreover, there are still other potential treasures around. It’s way too early to feel disappointed.

As I walked, I soon spotted the entrance to the grand castle.

Hans was waiting for us up ahead.

I called out to him and suggested we move quickly to our next location.

…Or at least, that was what I intended to say.

“Oh, you’ve arrived! I’ve been waiting!”

Hans greeted us with a friendly face.

But his demeanor felt oddly unnatural. His relaxed tone and the way he treated us all felt off.

I reached out to stop Lien and Siel, who were about to run over to Hans.

“I was hoping there would be something useful, but I suppose that’s not the case.”

And just moments later, a strange voice echoed nearby.

At the same time, it was as if a puppet had its strings cut; Hans… no, Hans’s corpse crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

A blonde man looked at it disdainfully and clenched his fist.

With just that, the corpse twisted grotesquely and compressed.

The human who had only moments ago been talking with me was now nothing but a puddle of blood.

“Well, I suppose that’s fine. I never really needed any luck in the first place.”

With a face that showed no concern after committing such a deed, the man casually approached me.

His hair shone like the sun, a brilliant golden hue.

Those deep blue eyes.

In other words, the symbol of royalty.

I recognized who he was.

There was no way I wouldn’t know him.

“I will put an end to your folly right here and now.”

The First Prince of the Empire stood before us.