Raised in Dungeon

"Aaaaaah!!! W-we have late!"

"Huh?! Don't suddenly yell! My head hurts!"

Amid a vast grassland, at the boundary between the Water and Fire regions, a brilliant moon illuminated the night sky, casting its gentle light upon the oasis pond nestled within the heart of the meadow. The moonlight created a mesmerizing reflection on the pond's still surface, a sight of exquisite beauty yet one marred by the grim horror unfolding in its proximity.

A blood clot was next to the horse-drawn carriage. The carriage looked like it belonged to a nobleman. What appeared to be a noble's carriage also doubled as a transport for soldiers, whose lives had been abruptly cut short. The nobleman's guards, now lifeless, lay strewn about the area, their lifeblood seeping into the earth.

In the pond were two members of the Noctem Dolls, Clarissa and Norman, who were clearly the cause of the catastrophe.

Norman was seen washing his blood-soaked body. Meanwhile, Clarissa seemed to be forced by Norman to wash his clothes with the amnis she had. Her scream earlier indicated that she stopped washing Norman's clothes.

Norman walked over to Clarissa, took her half-damp shirt and put it on.

He tried to make amnis fire before her, but there was no reaction.

"Damn, fire spirits aren't around. Oy! Clarissa quickly uses the water spirit to dry my clothes!"

"We're too late!!!" Clarissa shouted again.

Norman stepped on Clarissa's thigh with his left foot and crushed it.

"I'll listen to you after you dry them! Hurrryyyy Uuuup!"

"It hurts! It hurts! Okay!"

Clarissa spontaneously drew water to suck the moisture out of Norman's shirt. Her face looked a little tearful. And it seemed that the crying was not because of Norman's footing.

"So, what's too late?"

Hugging her own body, she said, "The hero's reincarnation is already become the Academy student."

Every member of the Noctem Dolls had a distinct purpose. Clarissa's sinister ambition was to seek out and consume all those souls reincarnated as heroes. The bond among the members ran deep, intertwining their emotions and compelling each to advance the ambitions of the others. So as Clarissa said the news about the hero's reincarnation, Norman too experienced a pang of disappointment, tinged with a trace of sorrow.

"Well... what can we do? We'll just have to find the other hero before she graduates," Norman said.

Then why are they upset? Why did it matter to her if the hero's reincarnation became an academy student?

It was because Clarissa made a contract with Eliphas, the principal of Oxwade Academy . Eliphas had imposed a formidable condition on her—she was prohibited from laying a hand on any of his students. The genesis of this pact is traced back to a time when Clarissa had set her sights on Percival, a direct descendant of heroes, who happened to be a student at Oxwade Academy. Principal Eliphas captured Clarissa and put her on the verge of death. It was during these dire circumstances that the principal and Clarissa forged their agreement: he would spare her life on the condition that she refrained from harming any of his students.

Clarissa's only recourse was to bide her time, patiently awaiting the day when Percival would complete his education at the academy, marking him as her next target.

Then, secondly, Clarissa's search led her to the descendant of another hero, Felicia, in Wildenhall castle. Clarissa, at that time couldn't delay capturing Felicia because she was afraid that Felicia would enter the academy. After she failed to catch her, she had to do the mission that Ivaylo did.

Three years had passed since then, or, at this juncture, and Clarissa, accompanied by Norman, was en route to the Boldenville family residence, intent on capturing Felicia. However, they arrived too late. Felicia was now enrolled as a student at the academy, presenting Clarissa that she should patiently await Felicia's graduation before she could eat her.

Then after three years, or at this time. He and Norman were on their way to the Boldenville family home to capture Felicia, but they were too late. Felicia was now an academy student.

"I-this is because we were too slow to find the horse! W-we should have just destroyed the town earlier to get their horses!" Clarissa shouted,

"Killing everyone in town takes a lot of time too. Besides, it's also very tiring."

"I-I have the amnis to destroy them all at once!"

"Then you'll also kill me and the horse!

Besides, how did you know that girl was already an academy student?"

"I-I had left a trace of my mana within her. It lacks any tracking capability but allows me to sense her presence when I'm nearby. A-Additionally, with my mana residing within her, I could bestow my god's blessing upon her. H-However, the mana has abruptly vanished. Likely, the child has now become a disciple of Mr Eliphas, and the mana has dissipated due to my contractual bond with Mr. Eliphas.."

"What can we do? We have to find another one now."

"I-It will be very difficult... we've already found two heroes in one country, plus me three. This place is indeed a meeting point of the entire continent because this is where the great war was fought, but I'm sure that the heroes are scattered not only on this continent. A-and there are three people already, it's hard to believe that the fourth person is also on this continent right now."

"Then there's only one choice," Norman said as he walked to the nobleman's carriage. He took one of the soldier's gloves, put it on, and moved the bodies away from the carriage.

"C-choice?"

"We go..."

"W-where?"

"Oxwadeshire... It's the only place where people from all over the continent come, I just hope all the heroes are there. Besides, we just need to make a new agreement with that old fart. Although we can't touch his two students, we can at least ask him where the rest of the heroes are."

"C-can he do that! Is he willing to show us?"

"It depends... the old man likes interesting things, so if we give him some entertainment, he might be willing to show it to us in some way."

"Hi-entertainment? W-what does that mean we're going to try to kill him?"

"How stupid... there's no way I'm going to do that," as he said, he quickly jumped onto Clarissa, lifted her up, and threw her into the carriage.

"Ouch! I-I wish you could be more gentle,"

Norman looked straight at Clarissa, and with a grim face, he said

"You know that yourself, Clarissa. Don't ever try to fight the Untouchable Eliphas. There is not a single being in this world who can defeat him."