Dungeon Overlord: My First SSS Gacha Summon Was a Yandere

(Author’s note: I’m changing one little thing about construction from here on out! Instead of buildings popping up on their own with a snap of the fingers, Freya picks where to place them, pays, and it’s her Mycofoxes who dig and build them. Honestly I think it’s better and more logical, hope you like it too! Thanks and enjoy the read.)

[ Mana: 94/1000 ]

That was what she had left after designating and confirming the construction of her four new buildings.

The slime farm, the magic plant greenhouse, the slaughterhouse and the alchemy workshop. She’d chosen each of their locations one at a time, marking every bare stretch of wall with a wave of her hand before confirming, and the system had drawn the mana as she went, without complaint.

And the dungeon was transformed because of it.

Everywhere she looked, her Worker Mycofoxes were toiling away at full tilt. Some hauled blocks of stone twice their own size, trotting along; others dug straight into the rock, noses forward and paws working; and a little cluster had gathered around the future alchemy workshop, letting out busy little "Kyu"s, like a genuine construction site in miniature. The whole thing gave off a cheerful, industrious energy that had nothing left of the empty cave of her early days.

That suited her, because she’d have more than enough mana left afterward to summon the four new foxes tied to those buildings, at twenty points each, eighty in all.

Right. Now that all that’s running, let’s get back to what I set aside back in the cave.

Her new skill, precisely. The Enchantment Gacha. Turning it over with a clear head, she’d noticed a few things.

First, an enchantment’s effectiveness didn’t come down to its rank alone. The one she’d pulled was the perfect example: a blade that cut through anything was a marvel — just not in her own hands. That same enchantment would have multiplied its potential tenfold in someone else’s, someone who actually knew how to wield a sword.

For her, something like a projection of fire, or any ranged effect in the spirit of her pen, would have been far more useful than a cutting edge she didn’t know how to exploit.

I’ll have to be careful about that going forward. Not to trust the rank on display alone.

Second, she’d gotten lucky. Very lucky. The shaman had been slow on the draw, and the enchantment had come out good, whereas she’d been far too foolish to gamble everything on chance in that moment.

Against an opponent like the Faceless Devourer, she’d have died during the very animation of her skill, before she’d even seen what she’d pulled.

Next time, I’ll activate it well in advance, so I don’t have to be surprised by what I get, or count on the enemy leaving me the time.

And finally, one last point, a more theoretical one. Nothing guaranteed the enchantment would land on something suited to the weapon. An enchantment meant for a bow, falling on a sword, would leave it mediocre at best, utterly useless at worst.

It’s settled. I definitely have to plan ahead next time, and stop doing this on the fly, on instinct. I need to be even surer of what I take on, and leave nothing to chance.

She took a second to weigh the paradox. She, whose entire rise rested on the luck of her pulls, she, who prayed every morning for a good draw on the Gacha, had ended up concluding that she must above all leave nothing to chance. Her whole skill was built on chance, and here she was swearing to be wary of it. She shrugged and moved on to something else.

Deep down, it was high time she went to check on how Mei was doing.

Out of compassion, maybe. Or out of boredom, mostly, because she had nothing left to do but wait for the building sites to finish before she could summon the new Mycofoxes, and pacing around the Heart chamber only half amused her.

So she set off toward the girls’ room, where the guided tour must have ended a while ago.

After a few minutes of corridors, she came out in front of the door, and opened it.

She froze on the threshold.

The scene before her made no sense whatsoever.

Mei lay on the floor, on her back, arms and legs feebly beating the air like an overturned turtle that had given up on righting itself. Aria kept a foot planted flat on her breastplate, not pressing, just enough to pin her there, contemplating her from above with a tranquil smile.

But that wasn’t what took Freya’s breath away.

It was the helmet. It had left Mei’s head, and for the first time since summoning her, Freya could see what it hid.

A face. A real one. Young, soft, with rounded features, framed by a tousled blonde bob still flattened by the helm. Large eyes of a deep red, wide open and drowned in tears, and crimson cheeks that flushed bright red all the way to her ears.

Those two meters of terrifying steel, that Rank A+ war machine whose silhouette alone commanded respect, hid the face of a girl on the verge of tears underneath.

Is... is that what she meant by "showing her her place"?

At the far end of the room, the scene was hardly any better. Naïa was strolling about, crowned with the black helm far too big for her that slid down over her shoulders and masked half her face, brandishing a broom in place of a sword. She pounced on her sister with a war cry muffled by the helmet, and Laïa collapsed theatrically, a hand to her heart, miming a death agony worthy of the greatest scenes.

Well. At least those two are having fun together.

Her gaze fell back on poor Mei, still on the ground, who couldn’t have been used to finding herself in that position, given her stature.

Maybe it’s some kind of game, deep down? A way of getting acquainted? No? ...No, really not? Right...

She tried for a moment to excuse what Mei was going through, so as not to have to step in, but her conscience caught up with her before she’d found the slightest valid excuse.

She cleared her throat to draw their attention.

"Ahem... ahem..."

The heads turned toward her as one, and everything reorganized itself in a cascade. The foot withdrew slowly from the breastplate. Aria’s tranquil smile recomposed itself into the smile of a faultless servant. The helm left Naïa’s head. Each of them recovered a decidedly more proper posture.

"Mistress...? What are you doing here?" Aria asked.

"Uh, I wanted to know if..." Freya felt the question pull her in, nearly answered obediently, and caught herself just in time. "No! Wait, that’s not the point! What exactly are you all doing right now?!"

No one answered, having nothing to say to that. So Freya went on.

"Come here. You too, Mei, come." She pointed at the floor in front of her.

"Yes!" they exclaimed in chorus, except for Mei, who got up and approached in silence, clutching her helm against herself like a shield.

The four of them were soon seated before Freya, lined up like pupils in front of a blackboard.

This looks like an honest-to-god hazing. The new girl shows up on her first day and everyone piles on. Poor thing...

"Do you realize you made the new girl cry on the very day she arrived? There are laws against this sort of thing, I’ll have you know. Workplace harassment, hazing... ring any bells?"

The three stared at her without understanding a single word, Mei herself included, blinking her big red eyes, a tear still clinging to her lashes.

"...No. Never mind."

She sighed, then turned her attention back to the armor.

"Mei. Listen to me. You should learn to stand up for yourself a bit more." She paused, searching for her words. "I know it’s hard, believe me, I’m shy too, at heart. But when you have to set your limits, you have to do it. You can’t let yourself be walked all over — literally and figuratively."

"...Uh..." Mei wrung her gauntlets together, her voice barely above a whisper. "Y-yes... I’ll... try..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Freya caught Aria’s face, her smile having tightened by a hair as all this attention was lavished on the newcomer.

Aaah... this is all so complicated to manage...

"And if it happens again," she added therefore, to Mei, "you come and tell me. All right?"

"...All right..." Mei breathed, barely audible.

"Because seriously, I hate this kind of thing." She swept the other three with her gaze, her tone firmer. "Next time, I’ll be a lot, a lot less understanding."

The girls nodded gravely, Aria included, and Freya felt some of her tension ease. The message had gotten through, or so she wanted to believe.

Good. I did my best... I think? Honestly, how are you supposed to manage something like this? A raving-mad yandere on one side, a sugar-sweet giant on the other.

Her gaze lingered despite herself on Aria, who held it without blinking, that tranquil smile still hooked to her lips.

Okay, it’s true she’s also very, very pretty. Cute, even. Her eyes slid on their own down the demon’s figure, that waist, those downright indecent curves, before she caught herself all at once. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, FREYA! That’s not the point! DON’T LET YOURSELF BE CORRUPTED!

She slapped her own cheek with one hand, blew out a long breath under the surprised looks of the girls, and straightened up.

"Anyway, be that as it may. Let’s go sit down around the table. We need to talk together about how to proceed — about the world below, the baron, and all the rest."

And as each of them took her place around the table, it marked the beginning of the very first strategic council of her dungeon.