The void. This was the name of the place that every human soul has to eventually reach. It is also the only place that the death gods dare not to enter casually. For the very function and sole purpose of it is only one thing: delete.

And for how it works. It's actually very simple. Because as we know the soul, with all said and done... In the end, It's just data. And to maintain the data, the soul needs energy. And that energy comes from consciousness. Then that consciousness feeds on memories. And finally those memories came from inputs.

Knowing that, to destroy the soul all one needs to do is to just cut out that last component. Inputs. It might take years or even centuries for the process to complete. But eventually… and no matter what... the souls will absolutely get erased.

This was the cruelest yet the simplest and most easy way death gods can use to clear the massive amount of evil human souls that seemed to increase exponentially with each passing millennia.

However, before anyone knew it... dumping all dead human souls to the void became the norm, be it evil or not. They simply just don't have the manpower needed to play the 'afterlife' game with them anymore.

In their defense, the death gods simply said: "Hah? Humans? Hmph, do they think they are the only creatures in existence? We got our hands full with other organisms you little shit!". Thus, this terrifying method was used indiscriminately for each and every single following generations of humans until they were all extinct from the world.

When the last human died, the death gods were overjoyed as if a salaryman would be when that annoying complaining customer was driven out though the front door by the company's guards department.

However, there was one particular human soul that should have already been destroyed long ago but somehow was still in the void even after the last member of its species died...

At that time, they simply shrugged it off as a coincidence. Thinking that it would eventually be deleted like it's peers too. Some of the death gods found it interesting and started betting when the soul will be deleted.

However, more human souls got erased...

Then more human souls faded.

Even the last human's soul was destroyed... but that old human soul was still in the void.

"..." the death gods were speechless.

Because of their indignation to the humans, the death gods still didn't interfere and chose to ignore that soul.

Then the elves went extinct. Then the demons. The angels

And even the last dragon soul was erased...

"Ok, what the FUCK?"

The death gods thought it was too much and finally begrudgingly chose to investigate the matter.

But before they enter the void, a death god suddenly got an idea "Hey guys, why don't we just eject that fucker and be done with this once and for all?"

The others thought about this for a moment and found that it was actually a good idea. The void has one additional function that acts like a cleaner that throws everything inside it outside of this world and into some other random world. In a way it was like rubbing their trash on the faces of each other's planes of existence.

They just recently received that horrendous creature from somewhere recently, so it was just about time they sent a 'gift' of their own too. It also didn't help that they still didn't recover from the trauma they got from the sheer numbers of human souls they got each fucking millisecond in the past.

So immediately all the death gods nodded their heads with totaly happy expressions as they decided to vent their accumulated ire on that single human soul and send it to hopefully one of the most terrible planes of all existences.

The only drawback is that they can't choose which world the trash will be dropped into. But hey, beggars can't be choosers right?

Now for the most important question… how did that human soul survive? Even the dragon souls got erased, so how could a mere human stay in the void for so long?

The answer was pitifully simple yet also frighteningly clever.

'...902,594,157,980,001,512-second'

Numbers are also 'memories'. By incrementing numbers each passing second, that next number will be stored as a memory. So as long as one keeps counting, his consciousness can continue feeding on those numbers instead. Which in turn allows you to protect the soul from decaying.

L

Besides the concept of numbers and his incredible knowledge. That single character was the only thing left of the 'real' memories of the soul drifting endlessly in the void.

He no longer remembers who he was or where he is or even what he used to do. All he knows is that he has to continue counting. For he is fully aware that is the only thing that's keeping his memories full and consciousness awake.

He no longer wishes to find a way out of here. Or rather, he no longer has any personal memories of the outside. The void became his own very world. So why would he risk disappearing for mere curiosity about the outside? He also loses all concepts of pain, happiness, boredom, excitement and all the other emotions that should be the norm of his species.

You only like sweets because there are sweets in your memories, so how can you like sweets when you don't know that sweets exist in the first place? It's that simple.

'...902,594,157,980,001,513-second'

As he continued with the eternal counting, something he didn't know suddenly happened. The originally only black colored void was starting to flicker to white and black in rapid successions. This was something not in his memories, so it could satisfy both his curiosity and also charge his memories at the same time. Thus L opened his eyes wide and chose to focus all of his processing power to analyze this phenomenon instead of the eternal counting.

As the flickering rate increased, he also noticed colorful lines morphing all around him. And as he drew in the memories that he classified as highly important 'knowledge' in his brain, he deduced that the space around him was bending and that a spatial crack might occur at any moment notice.

And true to his guesses, the entire void around him suddenly exploded in a blinding light as all of his senses were instantly overwhelmed and immediately lost consciousness for the first time as he didn't have any memory of that happening to him before.

---

Is it wrong to expect encounters in the Dungeon? There is a seemingly infinite dungeon with many and many floors. Inside there are a variety of heinous monsters. I, together with those adventurers seeking fame and fortune and risking their own lives, registered my own name at the guild, and then began to adventure.

With a sword in my own hand. I would have an encounter with a girl that has been attacked by those monsters. Endless Screams. The monster's savage roars. Just in the nick of time, suddenly the sound of a swift and sharp sword, piercing through the air, would emerge.

The monster was defeated. What was left was the beautiful girl remaining seated on the ground, while I stood gloriously.

Her cheeks would be slightly dyed red, and in those beautiful, tearful eyes, what was projected only by my appearance. A faint love will awaken in her heart.

At times I would talk to the cute shop personnel in a restaurant about my adventures that day, forming a closer relationship.

At times I would protect a female elf from savage adventurers.

At times I would also lend assistance to the Amazon warriors when they were in trouble, forming a party together to adventure.

At times I would get too close towards a girl, and the other girls that witnessed it would be jealous.

At times At times At times At times…

This was a completely normal way of thinking for a male child, who grew up aspiring towards the heroic adventure. Wanting to have a closer relationship with cute girls. Wanting to interact with beautiful ladies from a different race. Holding to these somewhat improper, or perhaps immature thoughts. Isn't this a normal personality for a young male?

Can't I have an encounter in the dungeon, correction, search for a harem, is this

really wrong?

Conclusion: I was completely wrong.

"Wuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

"Huaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

I guess this is the result for an adventurer like me who is holding such improper and immature thoughts. I am about to die.

To be more precise, I am currently being chased by a monster with a human body and a bull's head, a "Minotaur". This monster was completely immune to my attacks, as I was only level 1.

I was about to be eaten by it. I entered a dead end. That's right, I was at death's door.

So this is my fate for being obsessed with such a shallow delusion, becoming a

monster's food, I am such a fool. I am such a fool for expecting a fateful encounter. The idea of becoming rich and getting a crowd of wives and concubines was naturally just a dream. At the instant when I first began to prepare and search for an encounter in the dungeon where numerous people die daily, I was already finished.

Ah, I really want to go back! Go back to the time and punch the me, who had just

became of age and was signing the registration document with sparkling eyes at the Guild.

No matter from what physical angle or from the angle of my fate, these things were already impossible.

"Vuumun"

"Eh?"

The Minotaur's hoof. Although it did not directly kick my back, every step it took crushes the earth, so even the location where I was standing was being affected by the impacts. I wasn't able to stand still and could only roll around the floor of the dungeon.

"Fuuah"

"Uwaaaaah"

I was actually sitting on the floor, when my life would tragically end. The wish of encountering cute girls would be completely destroyed. Looks like from the very beginning... I did not have the qualifications to become a hero like the ones from fairy tales.

My back hit the wall. There was no path to retreat. It passed through dozens of paths and finally managed to chase after me. Forcing me into this square-shaped space.

'Ah…! I'm dead.'

My teeth constantly clattered, tears also flowed down in torrents. My own skin could completely feel the deep and heavy breath exuded from the Minotaur.

Raising my head and staring at the muscular body that was one to two times larger than me. As if I completely gave up, my face expressed a completely disgusting smile.

—In the end, I did not have an encounter with a girl.

And that was the last thing the boy called Bell Cranel thought with closed eyes as another 'soul' suddenly replaced his own.

Then In the next instant, a line passed through the monster's body.

"Vuo"

That was the dumb sound issued by the Minotaur.

The flowing line did not just pass through the body, it also ran through the thick chest, hoof, then the upper wrist, thighs, lower body, shoulders and finally ran to the next, all in one go. The monster was instantly turned into pieces of meat.

"Gubuh?! Vuaaaaaaaah…."

Painful screams echoed throughout the room before its death. Following the carved lines, the Minotaur's body also fell down in parts. Along with the blood spraying out, the dark red liquid gushed out, it completely collapsed in the next moment. And a large amount of blood spattered onto the boy's body, as if he had taken a shower. he was completely drenched in red.

"Are you alright?"

What came after the bull-headed monster was a girl that could have been mistaken

for a goddess. Her slender body was wrapped in blue lightweight armor. The flexible limbs, that extended out from her clothes, were also dazzlingly beautiful.

Considering her slim soft body, her chest was abnormally filled. Wearing an emblem on her silver breastplate, and the same colored gloves and accessories also bore an emblem. Blood was trickling down from the tip of her sword that was pointing to the ground.

Her blond hair extended straight down to her shoulders, it held a shine that would not lose to a large amount of golden treasures. On top of having a body that other females would be jealous of, she had a very cute baby face that everyone would like. The color of her eyes was also golden.

"..."

A blonde swordswoman wrapped in blue equipment with golden eyes.

She was a top adventurer belonging to the Loki Familia.

Among the humans, no, even among the females of all the races, she would be considered to be one of the strongest as a Level 5.

Sword Princess Ais Wallenstein.

"Excuse me….are you alright?"

She asked again. And like a trigger. The adventurer known as Bell Carnel slowly opened his eyes.

"!"

When their gazes met, the Sword Princess suddenly widened her eyes. Whatever she was expecting before, it was definitely not the calculating eyes that were looking at her right now. Those are the same eyes her Goddess Loki would show from time to time in times of emergencies. But she has never seen them on an adventure before. Let alone a young one like him that looked obviously like a rockie adventurer.

She tilted her head to the side in confusion. But to her further confusion he did the same and followed her movements.

"..."

She silently tilted her head to the other side. And again he did the same thing.

Ais blinked her eyes in surprise before she straightened her posture back. But this time around he didn't mimic her and just continued tilting his head while analysing her with those extremely calculating eyes.

At that moment, she also noticed his strange posture. He was crouching comfortably on the ground with one hand over his right knee and the other one over his lips. As if he doesn't care at all about the fact that he was in the dungeon.

"..."

That silent staring contest continued for a few minutes before she finally gave up and decided to say something. This was the first time someone beat her in one so she was a little bitter inside.

"Ahem, excuse me... you seem fine so I'll take my leave now."

But it seems he didn't want to talk at all and just completely ignored her words.

"..."

The Sword Princess's eyes twitched as this was also the first time someone ignored her in her life. She pouted with puffed cheeks as she swiftly sheathed her sword and silently turned around to leave.

"L"

The moment she took the first step in the other direction, she heard him suddenly speak for the first time since their meeting so she immediately halted in place and turned back to face him again.

"..."

The bloodied young adventurer then carefully stood up and used his left hand to scratch the back of his soaked head. His crimson eyes were momentarily fixed firmly in the sword at her hip before looking back at her own golden eyes. He then calmly put both of his hands in his pockets and slowly said.

"I am L"