Chapter 1

A dungeon is a battlefield where only the strong survive.

The weak get hunted. Rookie hunters get exploited by veteran guilds. That was simply everyday life in the eyes of a mid-level hunter named Kim.

‘But… what exactly am I looking at right now?’

He rubbed his eyes. He even used an item that removed hallucination status effects, just in case.

Yet the girl in the hoodie remained firmly within his sight.

‘What is that kid?’

She looked young enough that her only educational achievement might have been graduating kindergarten.

The contrast between her cute face and her solemn expression almost made Kim laugh.

‘No, don’t let your guard down. If she got in here, she must have slipped past our guild’s security, right?’

Maybe she was a hunter transformed into a child.

Kim tensed up and spoke.

“Hey, kid…? What are you?”

“Magical Girl Daisy! …I mean, I am.”

“…”

The child hastily added polite speech at the end. The innocent voice made the tension drain from his hands. She sounded exactly like an elementary school kid pretending to be a magical princess at a playground.

With a serious expression, she continued.

“You’re exploiting low-rank hunters in this dungeon, aren’t you?”

“Exploiting? Hah. Do you even know what that means?”

“Stealing people’s time and effort!”

As if he had asked seriously.

The way she answered so carefully was amusing enough that Kim openly smirked.

“Wow, you’re clever. Where’d you learn that?”

“From the dictionary by myse— no, don’t change the subject. I came here because I know you’re doing bad things.”

The girl pointed behind him.

Magic stones were scattered across the slopes of the low-rank dungeon that the Dungeon Management Department had designated as E-Rank.

“But D-Rank monsters appear here, right? Normally you’d ignore those magic stones because people would slip on them and die if they tried collecting them.”

“…”

“But your guild thinks it’s a waste to lose a few magic stones when monsters step on them and break them, so you bring hunters here and make them fight the monsters.”

“…That’s a hunter’s job, kid.”

“But your guild advertises this place as an E-Rank dungeon and sends E-Rank hunters to fight D-Rank monsters. That’s fraud!”

Her relentless logic left even Kim speechless.

‘What is this kid? Did she swallow a government safety manual or something?’

His pride refused to take a child seriously.

“Listen, little girl. Maybe you haven’t learned enough English yet? The letter E comes after D. That means it’s better.”

“Then I guess you only eat Grade 3 beef. Since it’s better than Grade 1.”

“Pwahahaha!”

Ah, he had been trying to let this slide peacefully.

Twisting his lips, Kim decided to teach the child a harsh lesson about reality.

“E-Rank hunters are way cheaper than D-Rank hunters! Isn’t that obvious?”

“No, it isn’t! I came here because I know a lot of hunters got hurt because of your guild!”

“The idiots who got hurt were just weak. I don’t know how you found out, but—”

Scratching his head roughly, Kim stood up.

“I can’t keep playing with you. I’ve got work to do.”

Soon, those naive E-Rank hunters Daisy mentioned would be entering the dungeon. Before then, he had to clear a route to lure monsters through.

Kim glanced at the girl.

‘She made it all the way here, so she must have some kind of trick, but…’

The mana he sensed from her was incredibly weak.

There were no signs of anyone else nearby either.

‘She’s pathetic.’

Even a Chihuahua would be more threatening.

His fading tension quickly turned into annoyance.

‘If I’d scared her a little, she’d probably be crying already. What a waste of time.’

Fine.

He’d just throw her outside the gate.

Then the guild guards could investigate whoever was backing her.

“Hey, kid. Want me to give you an airplane ri—?”

The moment he reached out—

The girl pulled out a strange book and shouted:

“Where justice is needed, I bloom! Daisy, Hero of Flowers—Blooming Here!”

The instant she finished speaking, yellow flower petals began swirling through the air.

And that wasn’t the only strange phenomenon.

Flowers started blooming all across the barren dungeon where nothing but moss had existed before.

Roses.

Sunflowers.

Forsythias.

Flowers that anyone could recognize.

Was this a dungeon or an amusement park in May?

The sunflowers even grew rapidly and began swaying side to side as though dancing.

‘Was that anti-hallucination medicine expired?’

But what shocked him even more than the flowers was—

‘I can’t move!’

Not his arms.

Not his legs.

Not even his eyelids.

Flower petals repeatedly slapped his defenseless face.

Then an even more unbelievable scene unfolded before him.

The girl’s hoodie began glowing.

In an instant it transformed into a dress with uneven layered skirts.

Her worn cargo pants changed into rolled-up shorts.

Finally, her Crocs floated slightly into the air before transforming into ankle boots.

Pop—☆

With a cheerful sound, the child landed lightly on the ground and declared:

“Magical Girl Daisy has arrived!”

The flower petals circled her once before settling down.

‘…What the hell is happening?’

Only then did strength return to Kim’s body.

But the strange events weren’t over.

The book Daisy had pulled out suddenly floated into the air, flapping its pages like wings.

A bizarre voice echoed from it, as though it had been digitally altered.

[How fearless. You dared lay a hand on Daisy?]

“W-What is this…?”

[Let us teach him a lesson together, Daisy!]

The pages flipped rapidly.

Daisy placed a hand on one of them and shouted:

“My friend—Summon Black King Rabbit!”

A brilliant light erupted from the book.

At the same time, another powerful magical presence filled the dungeon.

‘A summoner-type hunter?’

He couldn’t let things continue like this.

Kim drew his weapon.

The instincts he’d developed through years of dangerous work whispered—

Even against an elementary school child, fight with everything you’ve got.

“Haaaaah!”

Almost simultaneously with him channeling mana into his club—

The thing that appeared before him was…

“…”

A black rabbit.

A large one, admittedly.

But still a rabbit.

Just as Kim was about to laugh—

A deep, masculine voice emerged from the rabbit’s tiny mouth.

“I see a club. A close-combat hunter? It seems you’ve relied too much on mana and neglected exercise. Your muscles are pitiful.”

“What? Y-You—what are you?!”

“What would you do if you knew?”

For a rabbit, it had an absurdly good voice.

If you closed your eyes, you’d swear it belonged to a handsome man.

‘Wait a second. That voice sounds familiar somehow…’

Before Kim could remember where he’d heard it, Daisy shouted:

“King Rabbit! Your speech!”

“…Sigh.”

The black rabbit frowned and stepped forward.

“As the one who judges, I shall ask, meow!”

“…Meow?”

What kind of character setting was that?

The rabbit looked like it was grinding its teeth in humiliation but continued anyway.

“You recruited rookie hunters by pretending to offer good jobs, meow. Then you forced them to fight monsters beyond their abilities and even withheld the wages you’d promised, claiming they performed poorly, meow. Most of them were injured so badly they couldn’t work for a long time, meow.”

“Hah! Now even rabbits are pretending to be righteous!”

Feeling completely painted as the villain, Kim shouted back.

“Is it my fault they’re weak? If they got paid, they should’ve earned it!”

“They bought you time to mine magic stones and defeat monsters safely, meow. Now it is you who must pay the price, meow.”

“W-What?”

Suddenly, darkness swallowed the surroundings.

Two paths appeared before him.

Standing at the fork, the black rabbit spoke.

“You have two roads before you, meow. Atone by helping others… or be devoured by your sins right now, meow.”

The path on the left was lined with the flowers that had bloomed earlier.

But now it looked less like an amusement park and more like something from a horror video.

Creepy voices echoed like broken radios.

“Ha… hee… hoho!”

“Joyful… life! Good… adult!”

Between the flowers, strange animals waved their paws while grinning with mouths stretched unnaturally wide.

The path on the right—

Looked like a normal dungeon.

However, dark human silhouettes stood there staring at him.

As drops of blood fell from them one by one, Kim realized what they were.

The rookie hunters he had sacrificed until now.

The path leading to them was covered in magic stones jutting out like thorns.

“Ah… ah…”

He hated both options.

He wanted to run away.

Then why couldn’t he move?

He couldn’t even open his mouth.

He had to say something—

“There’s only one ending for villains!”

A bright girl’s voice rang out.

The darkness vanished.

Beyond the flowers and the rabbit, Daisy shouted:

“With the power of my friend, Black King Rabbit, I declare this—live a good life from now on!”

Light burst from Daisy’s hand.

A strong wind blew.

At the same time, petals from the flower path rushed toward him.

“AAAAAAAGH!”

* * *

Over the past few weeks, a strange rumor had spread through the hunter community.

A self-proclaimed “Hero of Justice” had been barging into dungeons notorious for unfair contracts and making life miserable for their owners.

Title: One Gangster Guild’s Dungeon Got Totally Wrecked ♬

Post:
The dungeon manager completely lost his mind.

Apparently he was imprisoned by the guild leader because he kept teaching people how to avoid scam contracts lol.

Comments:

• Maybe he was actually a good guy all along…?
• As if. He was a famous rookie butcher.
• Same pattern as the other Hero victims. They get into a fight while working alone, then suddenly become a different person.

Title: If So Many Gangster Guilds Got Hit

Post:
You’d think they’d start working together soon.

From what I know, plenty of guilds have already been targeted. They’re just too embarrassed to admit it.

Comments:

• Are they gonna put out some kind of underground wanted notice?
• That’d be hilarious. Welcome to the Great Pirate Era.
• ↑ Nerd.

Title: Stop Getting Ahead of Yourselves, There Won’t Be a Wanted Notice (Inside Info)

Post:
Apparently nobody knows what the culprit looks like.

Even the people who fought them can’t remember.

They remember the person showing up with their face uncovered, but…

Comments:

• A skill?
• “Remember” not “rember,” idiot.
• [Author] They rember the face being uncovered too.
• You little—♧♪♬

Of course they couldn’t remember.

After all, Daisy was protected by this passive skill:

Passive Skill

[It’s a Secret That I’m a Magical Girl☆ (S)]

Witnesses who see the “Magical Girl” are unable to reveal information or otherwise cause harm to that hunter’s ordinary daily life.

And so Daisy remained safely hidden behind her secret.