"Rias, Sona. I didn't expect to see you guys here," Azuma hummed, smiling lightly at the two women. His eyes not so subtly trailed down Rias's body, blatantly staring at her chest as the woman was wearing a rather tight T-shirt.
"I thought it'd be fun to come for the opening," Rias replied back easily, returning his smile, as she not so subtly pushed out her chest slightly.
Sufficient to say, Azuma's antics during his meeting with the woman had gone well. She had kept in touch, as Azuma had already met with her two other times prior to this day as she came to 'check on how the resort's progress was going.'
Is it just me, or is her shirt becoming tighter every time?
The plan to make Rias see him as a potential solution to her Riser problem had gone well, as she was clearly interested in him.
"Yes, I agree. Though, I didn't expect it to be so… grand," Sona replied dryly, staring up at the giant resort in front of her.
"Eh? You said you came by before while it was being built," Azuma asked with a raised eyebrow.
"When I came by it was a small two-story wooden building with a sign on the front," Sona deadpanned, gesturing towards the massive structure, "Now I feel like I'm looking at the first-ever on-land cruise ship."
"Yeah… we made some upgrades," Azuma chuckled sheepishly. His original vision for the resort hadn't been so grand, mainly because he didn't realize that he could openly take so many funds from the Phenex Clan without them throwing a fuss.
"How'd you come up with the name?" Rias asked curiously, "It feels a bit… off. It doesn't really fit how the resort looks."
In massive white letters across the towering building was the words 'Dungeon.'
I never said I was creative.
"Dunno. Just came to me," Azuma shrugged. True to Rias's words, the name didn't really fit the theme of the resort - which was more extravagant than dungeon-like.
"Anyway, I'll take you both in early to check out the inside," Azuma hummed, gesturing to the huge glass automatic doors a few feet away.
"Why? I thought there was going to be an opening ceremony?" Sona asked, pushing up her glasses as she gestured around them, "Won't we miss it?"
"Yeah, you can stay out here for it if you want, but… she's gotta go inside at least," Azuma replied bluntly, gesturing to Rias.
"Me? Why?" Rias asked, tilting her head cutely at him.
"Because you're stealing the fuckin' show," Azuma deadpanned, looking down blatantly at her huge breasts again, "I built the biggest resort this country's ever fuckin' seen, but apparently your cow tits are still bigger."
Rias blinked, then glanced around. True to Azuma's word, out of the massive crowd that had gathered for the resort's opening, a huge portion of the male audience was instead staring openly at Rias.
Azuma couldn't blame them - it was a hot day outside, and Rias's already overly tight white T-shirt was sticking to her body and showing off her insane curves.
"Oh, alright," Rias nodded, apparently not embarrassed or having a problem with literal hundreds of men leering at her or at Azuma calling her breasts 'cow tits.'
"...I'll stay out here for the ceremony," Sona said dryly at Azuma's words, and he merely nodded in response. Sona was certainly beautiful, but not so beautiful that she would take attention away from the resort's opening itself.
Azuma didn't need to be out here right now either - he'd come back toward the end to make a speech, but he was leaving most of it for Ravel to handle.
Azuma led Rias through the door, the woman looking around and admiring the huge interior, "It's nice. I don't know if I've ever seen something this extravagant in the human world."
"Thanks," Azuma merely hummed, grinning as he looked around the interior.
The lobby section was huge, containing not just the front desk, but also a flurry of amenities. And by 'a flurry,' he meant a shit ton.
Mini-golf courses, indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs, bars, restaurants, a literal movie theater, another literal movie theater, a basketball court - and the list just kept going.
Even though I helped design it, this place is still fuckin' insane every time I see it.
Something like this could never have existed in his past world - the sheer cost of it meant that it would never be profitable, especially with the cost to keep it running and pay employees.
Luckily, Azuma had near-infinite funds, no need to turn a profit, and employees that were units and didn't need to be paid.
"What made you want to open a resort?" Rias asked, making small talk as they walked deeper into the interior.
To make a shit ton of points.
"It's always been a childhood dream of mine," Azuma answered, hiding his real intentions, "Though, I never expected to open something this grand, or this early in my life."
"...Ravel's family must really like you," Rias said abruptly, glancing over at Azuma, "I mean, even if it's just human money, this still must've cost a small fortune. I can't imagine that only Ravel paid for all this."
Actually, she did.
While Rias was no stranger to immense wealth, even the Gremory's pockets couldn't hope to rival the Phenex's.
"...Yeah, we have a great relationship," Azuma chuckled, nodding at her words as he lied, "They love me. I watch human football with her father every weekend."
They don't know I exist, and I plan to keep it that way for a while.
Azuma would eventually have to meet with the Phenex Clan, as no matter how careful Ravel was they were bound to find out about where she had been spending so much time eventually.
But, when that time did come, Azuma needed to be in a much stronger position - both power-wise and standing-wise. The Phenex head would never accept Ravel dating a human, much less being a part of a human's harem, and even less being subservient to him if the dungeon ever became public knowledge.
So, when that time came, Azuma needed to be powerful. Powerful enough to be worthy in her parent's eyes, or powerful enough to oppose them if he needed to go the 'villain' route.
The other part of that power came in regard to his public standing - and that was where Rias came in. Azuma would give the girl what she wanted eventually, taking down Riser and freeing her from the marriage, while simultaneously tying her to himself.
The Gremorys were much less concerned about the status quo of marriage, as they had no problem with Rias being a member of Issei's harem, even though he was a human turned reincarnated devil. Even if he was the Red Dragon Emperor, he was still a reincarnated devil, which were essentially seen as inferior by most devils, and even as slaves by some.
And, apparently, Rias wasn't completely blind to that line of thinking either.
"Good to know," Rias muttered, the girl looking lost in thought for a few seconds. Azuma didn't know what she was thinking but assumed it was something regarding the Phenex's. If he had to guess, it was something along the lines of 'the Phenex's love him, so if I marry him instead of Riser, the benefits of the Gremory's and Phenex's growing closer will still exist. Problem solved!'
Unfortunately for her, the Phenex's didn't actually know Azuma existed, so that plan wouldn't work.
"A-Anyway, you're a mage, right?" Rias asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts and back to the present, "What type of magic do you specialize in?"
"...whatever the fuck I want," Azuma answered bluntly. In reality, he didn't really know any magic, so he didn't want to back himself into a corner that he couldn't bullshit his way out of, "Here, I'll show you something."
Azuma gestured for her to follow him, leading her toward the gambling-filled section of the first floor. It wasn't a necessary addition to the resort, but…
If there's one thing that'll keep people at the resort for an insane amount of time, it's a casino.
"Pull it," Azuma ordered, pointing to the bar on one of the slot machines. Rias followed his direction, placing her hand on the bar and pulling it down.
"Well, that's going to make what I'm about to do much less impressive," Azuma deadpanned, watching as the slot machine spun and landed on three of the same fruit, initiating the 'miniature jackpot' of 1,000,000 yen.
"I've always been lucky," Rias smiled smugly.
Alright, this better fuckin' work. If this is the one time it doesn't work, I swear…
Azuma placed his hand on the handle, and then pulled it down, causing the slot machine to spin.
[Alert!]
[You have encountered a 0.1% LUK event!]
A [EPIC] Lucky Event has been activated!
The slot machine spun for a moment, then landed on three 7's, initiating the actual 1,000,000,000 yen mega-jackpot.
This notification had become rather common in Azuma's life since his coin-flipping endeavor. He wasn't sure how high his LUK stat had to be for him to get consistently favorable outcomes, but he had apparently passed the threshold.
I wish I focused on this stat earlier.
The 'LUK events' were helpful - extremely helpful. Azuma encountered one the majority of the time when he was training, causing him to gain an extra stat point for his efforts, though once he had gotten lucky enough to gain as much as 5 STR for reaching a training threshold.
And the concept of luck applied to more than just extra stat gains - what's that? Aphrodite is being extra stupid today? LUK event activated! Now her INT is doubled for the day!
Unfortunately, Aphrodite being twice as smart was still… very lackluster. Instead of becoming smart, she just became a tiny bit closer to having a normal level of intelligence. One brain cell doubled is only two brain cells.
"Wordless and imageless casting?" Rias muttered, her eyes widening in slight awe as she looked over at Azuma, bringing his thoughts back to the present.
…yeah, totally. I know what that means!
"What did you do? Psychic magic to control the inside of the machine?" Rias asked curiously.
"Nah, I… um… controlled the odds," Azuma nodded, finally finding his excuse, "Like, luck control. A spell that makes me super lucky, since the odds of that jackpot are around 0.0001%"
Rias was silent for a moment, staring wordlessly at Azuma.
Did I say something wrong? Shit, I should've actually paid attention when Ravel was trying to tell me about magic theory.
Then, her jaw dropped, her eyes staring at him in awe.
"Y-You… you cast the spell… wordlessly and imagelessly… and…" Rias spit out, her mouth opening and closing, making her look like the world's most beautiful goldfish, "...can control your own luck?"
"Yup," Was all Azuma said, silently wondering if his bullshitting was going to bite him in the ass.
Is that not possible or somethin'? Why is she looking at me like that?
"A-And… you're a human, right?! T-That wasn't a bloodline spell!" Rias said loudly, looking up at him strangely.
"Yup, definitely a human," Azuma replied eloquently, keeping his sentences as simple as possible.
The first rule of bullshittery - don't try to sound all smart by explaining shit, or you'll get caught.
"...And you don't have a sacred gear?" Rias asked, staring at Azuma strangely, "That was magic?"
"Yup," Was Azuma's long-winded response.
"W-Where did you learn to do that? Did you go to a magic academy?" Rias pressed, taking a step toward him excitedly.
"Ah… nah, self-taught," Azuma replied, silently patting himself on the back.
If I said yes, then I'd have to actually know the name of a magic academy. I doubt she'd believe it if I said Hogwarts.
"You learned magic on your own?!" Rias asked loudly again, and Azuma instinctively took a step back as Rias took another one toward him, "You found that spell on your own?! Where'd you find a luck-increasing spell?"
"...yeah? I, uh… made it?" Azuma answered sophistically, confused about why Rias was suddenly so excited and interested.
I don't know the names of any magical books - if those even exist.
"You… you made the spell?!" Rias spit out, taking another step toward him as her eyes became as wide as saucers. Her excited look shifted slightly, turning almost predatory, "You made your own spell?! One as advanced as that?!"
"...yes?" Azuma answered, starting to doubt his own responses at her reaction, "I… wanted to be more lucky, so I made the spell."
Rias didn't answer, but the girl's face did all the answering Azuma needed. She became lost in thought, her slightly eager face turning full-on predatory. She stared Azuma down, looking more like a tiger staring at a prime piece of meat than a young woman.
Reputation Update!
Your Affection with [Rias Gremory] has advanced one stage!
[Strongly Liked] -> [Attracted]
…I'm not sure why yet, but I feel like I fucked up.
Azuma opened his mouth to try and fix the situation, then abruptly closed it as he shrugged.
Fuck it. It'll work out.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, Ravel?"
"Yes, Master?"
"Would it, hypothetically, be a big deal if a mage made their own spell?" Azuma asked, looking as inconspicuous as he could as he didn't look directly at Ravel.
"Their own spell? Yes, that would be a very big deal," Ravel nodded with a hum, "Though, it would depend on the spell. If it was just a variation of an already-formed spell, then it wouldn't be that big of a deal. If they created their own from scratch, then they would at least be mentioned in history books. If the spell was particularly groundbreaking or useful, then they might even be taught in supernatural schools around the world."
…
"...what if the spell was - and this is all just hypothetical - a spell that increased someone's luck?" Azuma asked blandly.
Ravel blinked at his words, "Well, that would be revolutionary, Master. At the current moment, luck and all-around probability magic are underdeveloped and unknown. Some races are naturally lucky, but no one knows why, how to increase that luck, or how to replicate the luck in other races. If there really was a spell that could increase someone's luck, then the mage who created it would go down in history."
"...so it'd be a really big deal?" Azuma asked dryly.
"Yes, a very big deal. Currently, the only ways to control and manipulate luck or probability is through advanced youkai techniques on a small scale, or through using a longinus on a larger scale. Having that power could essentially make you as powerful as a longinus wielder depending on how drastically you can increase the luck," Ravel nodded, finishing her explanation.
Oh. I might've bullshitted a little too hard.
"What's 'wordless' magic?" Azuma asked next, still not looking over at Ravel.
"That's when you cast a spell without an incantation, Master," Ravel hummed easily.
"So… that wouldn't be super impressive or anything, right?" Azuma asked, nodding in satisfaction at her first answer.
Rias made it sound like a big deal, but I guess it's not that impressive.
"Not particularly…" Ravel answered, causing Azuma's shoulders to relax as his thoughts were confirmed, "...Unless it was a human using it."
Well, fuck me then, huh? Why didn't you start with that!
"Wordlessly using magic is considered to be what separates a good mage from a truly powerful one," Ravel continued, and while Azuma couldn't see her, he didn't need to know she was holding up her finger as if she was a student answering a question her teacher had asked her, "For supernatural races who are naturally inclined to utilize magic, such as devils, it's not very impressive. All high-class devils, and a lot of middle-class devils, can do it. However, very few human mages can do so, and those that can are usually in the latter half of their lives."
…so, I just told her I'm a fuckin' mage prodigy, huh?
"What about 'imageless' magic?" Azuma pressed for more information, wondering just how damage he'd unintentionally done.
"That's magic that's used without a medium, such as a magic circle," Ravel started to explain, "Essentially, it's using magic without any visible sign being shown. Magic mostly requires a medium to be used, with a magic circle being the most common, but there are other ways too - such as a body part or the air itself. Imageless magic uses no medium, thus giving no sign that magic is being used until the actual spell has already been cast. I'm not sure where you heard of it, Master, but imageless magic is immensely difficult and rare."
"...So, it'd be, hypothetically of course, a super big deal if a random human mage could do it?" Azuma deadpanned.
"A very big deal indeed," Ravel nodded wisely, "There have only been a few human mages in history that could do it - people such as Merlin. Imageless magic is even rare among supernatural races, as it's only used by certain families with bloodline magic, or by extremely powerful people such as the Maou."
…So, I told Rias that I'm a historically-genius mage who made his own groundbreaking spell, then showed her that I could win the jackpot instantly… then explained to her that the jackpot only has a 0.0001% chance of being pulled… meaning I altered my luck by a shit ton… something only a Longinus can do… and I'm soooooooo good at magic that I don't need to say shit… or use a magic circle… and that I'm probably the next Merlin…
Azuma sighed, leaning back in his chair.
Yeah, I understand her reaction now.
Whether it was for the best or the worst, he definitely had Rias's attention now.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I… can't… go… on…" Azuma groaned, literally slamming his forehead down onto the desk in front of him, "This is too boring! I quit! I'll do some more later, okay? Is that fine?"
"...Okay? No one's making you do that," Aphrodite answered blandly, staring at Azuma.
"My demons are," Azuma groaned, referring to his own thoughts, which repeatedly urged him to take advantage of the situation in front of him, "But I need a break."
He pushed himself out of the chair, nearly stumbling as his legs weren't used to standing. He had just spent the last nearly twenty hours staring at his screen, repeatedly running the different dice-rolling simulators he had bought.
And so, now his LUK was at insane heights compared to his other stats.
That sucked, but it was worth it.
He idly brought up his stats, looking at the results.
[Azuma Kaito]
[Dungeon Master]
Dungeon Rank: F (28,770 D-Value)
Level: 8 (3,775/5,000)
HP: 7,125/7,125
MP: 14,500/14.500
STR: 157
AGI: 142
END: 103
INT: 152
CHA: 5
LUK: 2,970
HPREG: 80
MPREG: 80
Abilities: [Time Dilation], [Health Container]
Dungeon Level: 2
Dungeon Boosts: None
Points: 14,770
Each dice-rolling simulator hadn't been as efficient as the coin flipper, as there was more variability and chances for him to guess the number wrong due to the increased sides on each dice, but they had still done wonders.
"This game is stupid… this system is stupid… Aph is stupid…" Azuma groaned, his brain hurting from the monotony of his LUK training.
"Why am I being brought into this?" Aphrodite whined, puffing out her cheeks at his words.
"I don't know… I just wanna complain," Azuma groaned, but then shook his head as he pushed his exhaustion away. He was itching for a long, very long, sleep, but he still had one more thing he wanted to do before that.
"I'll finally summon a trainer," Azuma hummed, "I won't start yet, but I at least want a good idea of what kind of training it'll be."
"Oh, yay! Let me help! Let me help!" Aphrodite cheered, flying up behind him and landing on his shoulder.
I'm not listening to anything she has to say.
Azuma swiped up his unit buying options, tapping on the [Training Units] one.
[LVL 1 Dungeon Training Units]
[Turtle Sensei] - 25 Points
[Goblin Veteran] - 50 Points
[Kobold Bowmaster] - 100 Points
[Valkyrie Elder] - 250 Points
[Kitsune Sage] - 500 Points
[Cyclops Blacksmith] - 2,500 Points
[Elven Swordsman] - 5,000 Points
"Damn, these fuckers are expensive," Azuma muttered, staring at the final few options.
I won't even bother entertaining the first three.
He wasn't learning from a turtle - even using his turtle guard was annoying, much less learning from one. He didn't doubt that they were strong, but…
Turtles are so fucking slow.
He also couldn't bring himself to learn from a literal goblin, and while the Kobold was less humiliating to have as a teacher, he didn't use a bow.
"Oh! Oh! Pick the goblin! The goblin!" Aphrodite spit out excitedly, poking his cheek, "Goblins are super awesome and strong! And he's a veteran - that means he's super duper experienced!"
"I'm not picking a fuckin' gobby to train me," Azuma shot her down bluntly, causing the woman to deflate.
"T-Then the turtle! Mr. Turtle Guard is already super awesome and cool and nice! I bet his sensei is also super duper cool!" Aphrodite switched, repeatedly poking her tiny finger into Azuma's cheek.
"Not doing that either," Azuma replied dryly, causing Aphrodite's excited expression to dim again.
A Valkyrie's probably not bad, and a Kitsune can probably teach me energy or magic-based attacks.
The last two were the most expensive, but also the most appealing.
The cyclops can teach me to make some OP-ass weapons, and being a swordsman with my skills would be crazy good.
It was one thing to literally time-skip through the air and punch someone in the gut, but it would be a whole different level of broken to blip through time and cut their head clean off their body.
"I don't usually spend points so carelessly, but I can't be fucked right now," Azuma hummed, deciding to reward himself for pushing through his boring LUK training. He tapped on the most expensive option - [Elven Swordsman].
"For 5,000 points, this guy better be fuckin' good," Azuma muttered, watching as the screen disappeared.
[Alert!]
[You have encountered a 1% LUK event!]
[Elven Swordsman] will evolve into a [RARE] unit!
Azuma blinked, staring at the notification.
It can do that?
"Damn, it's nice being lucky," Azuma nodded sagely.
[Evolving…]
[Alert!]
[You have encountered a 0.1% LUK event!]
[Elven Swordsman] will evolve into a [EPIC] unit!
Azuma blinked again, staring at the second notification.
It can do th-
"Fuck yeah," Azuma grinned, interrupting his own thoughts, "All my hard work is paying off!"
Coal miners would balk at Azuma calling his 'clicking the simulate button over and over all day' hard work.
"Woah… I've never seen this…" Aphrodite said, her eyes wide in awe.
I'm your first and only Dungeon Master. Of course you've never seen this.
[Evolving…]
[Alert!]
[You have encountered a 0.001% LUK event!]
[Elven Swordsman] will evolve into a [LEGENDARY] unit!
Azuma blinked for a third time, staring at the notification, "Am I being pranked?"
I know I have a shit-ton of LUK, but this is a bit much. What are even the odds of this happening?
Technically, Azuma's chances didn't decrease each time, so it was still 1%, followed by 0.1%, then 0.001%.
"Woah… I've never seen this before…" Aphrodite echoed again, repeating her required 'surprised NPC' dialogue for the encounter.
[Evolving…]
[Alert!]
[You have encountered a 0.0001% LUK event!]
[Elven Swordsman] will evolve into a [HEROIC] unit!
"Okay, this fuckery is going too far," Azuma deadpanned, staring at the notification as his trainer evolved again.
I won't complain about such an important unit getting an upgrade, but I feel like I'm getting too lucky here. Is the world going to counter-balance me? Am I about to get super fuckin' unlucky with something?
"Woah… I've never seen this be-" Aphrodite started.
"You've never seen this before, I know," Azuma cut her off with a deadpan, "If you hadn't seen it the second time, or the third time, why the fuck would you have seen it the fourth time?"
Aphrodite didn't answer - not because she was at a loss for words, but because the entire dungeon suddenly lit up in an explosion of light. A bright white light exploded upwards from the floor, streaming upwards and filling the entire room.
The white light slightly shifted in color, becoming rainbow-esque as a strange thickness seemed to fill the room.
"Damn, dramatic entrance, huh?" Azuma hummed, squinting his eyes as the summoning threatened to blind him. Slowly, a shadow formed within the light, starting from the floor and rising upwards. A face, then a torso, and then finally legs rose out of the ground.
Finally, the light brightened once more, causing Azuma to close his eyes at the abrupt flash, and then disappeared as if it had never been there.
Azuma opened his eyes again, staring at the figure that had emerged from the dramatic showcase.
"I ask you…" The gorgeous woman spoke, her large blue eyes locking with Azuma's, "...Are you my Master?"
…
For a moment, the room was silent, not even Aphrodite daring to mutter an idiotic comment.
…
Then, finally, it was broken.
"Damn it, I knew it!" Azuma shouted, jutting his finger out at the woman standing in front of him, "I knew I was getting too lucky! The world just had to counter it!"
The woman blinked, staring at him confusedly.
"They gave me a fuckin' British one!" Azuma finished, pointing accusing at her, "Send her back! Give me a normal one!"
And so, the Worst Dungeon Master found his trainer at last.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Thank you for reading! Sorry for the wait between the last chapter and this one - I was actually updating my Patreon! It now includes 20 chapters ahead of my public posting schedule, including a bunch of chapters for this story! Patreon.com/Koyon for those interested!
Also - weekly updates for this story from now on! I'm also updating my other DxD story, Devouring Dragon, 2-3x most weeks because I'm super passionate about it rn. So, check that out if you like this one!