Although Dio was curious about the streets of Orario, curiosity came second to staying alive.
For the time being, he chose to remain safely inside the Demeter Familia’s home.
Standing beside the window of his room, Dio peered through the wooden shutters at several Familia members tending vegetable plots in the courtyard.
They chatted quietly as they pulled weeds, occasionally breaking into hearty laughter.
Most members of the Demeter Familia made their living through farming and running produce stalls.
Only a small number were adventurers who regularly entered the Dungeon.
That was one of the main reasons Dio had decided to remain here.
The Demeter Familia was not one of Orario’s powerful combat Familias, nor was it tangled in complicated rivalries or internal politics.
It was the perfect place for an undocumented outsider like him to hide, keep a low profile, and quietly grow stronger.
Over the past few days, Dio had carefully questioned Demeter whenever the opportunity arose.
From the details she had casually revealed, he had managed to determine roughly where he was in the timeline.
The main story of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
had most likely only just begun.
In other words, Bell Cranel—the white-haired protagonist nicknamed the Rabbit by countless fans—would soon begin making a name for himself in Orario and embark on his absurdly rapid rise.
With Bell’s ascent would come Freya Familia’s attention, Ishtar Familia’s hostility, and a series of incidents powerful enough to shake the entire city.
But what did any of that have to do with Dio?
He was merely a traveler who had stumbled into this world by accident.
He had no obligation to save it, no desire to babysit Bell’s, and absolutely no interest in getting caught in conflicts where gods played their games and mortals paid the price.
At present, calling him a promising newcomer with limitless potential would be generous.
More honestly, he was still weak enough for a goblin to chase him screaming down the street.
His Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility might have risen from I 0 to I 99 overnight, but I 99 was still only an I rank.
He remained far below H or G, let alone the B-, A-, and S-ranked abilities of elite adventurers.
Until he possessed enough strength to defend himself, attracting attention would be suicidal.
Becoming involved in any incident that might draw the interest of multiple Familias would be even worse.
Dio already had powerful abilities, the Dimensional Gate, and plenty of opportunities to grow.
He could carve out a comfortable life without riding anyone else’s coattails, so why risk everything by showing off while he was still vulnerable?
Once he had pushed his abilities to their limits, mastered his two new spells, and accumulated enough combat experience inside dreams, he would finally have the confidence to explore the Dungeon or move on to another world through the Dimensional Gate.
Until then, keeping his head down was unquestionably the smartest choice.
And what if Bell won over all the heroines from the original story before Dio made his move?
What a ridiculous concern.
A faintly dismissive smile appeared on Dio’s lips.
It was not as though this world contained only one beautiful woman.
More importantly, it was not the only world with beautiful women.
Why would he endanger himself for one particular heroine?
Only an idiot would sacrifice an entire forest for the sake of a single tree.
Besides, even if one of those women eventually ended up with Bell, Dio could always experience her in a dream first.
[Dreamwalker] allowed him to enter other people’s dreams.
Before Bell and any particular heroine officially became a couple, Dio could simply slip into her dream and spend a pleasant night with her there!
The experience inside the dream would feel real, while in the waking world, he would never have laid so much as a finger on her.
It would not technically be a crime, nor would he have physically crossed any boundaries.
At worst, Bell would be wearing a purely imaginary set of horns.
Dio would gain the full dream experience without paying or risking anything.
There was no downside.
And that was only the simplest use of the Magic.
Once Dio became stronger and gained finer control over [Dreamwalker], he might even be able to subtly influence those women inside their dreams, gradually encouraging them to view him more favorably in reality.
Then, when the time came…
The smile on Dio’s face grew increasingly wicked.
The corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears, and his eyes drifted dreamily as his thoughts filled with delightful possibilities.
A second later—
“Gaaaah!”
A fist drove straight into Dio’s stomach.
The blow folded him in half like a snapped branch, and a miserable howl escaped his throat.
“Aaagh!”
Dio dropped into a crouch, clutching his stomach as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.
When he looked up, Demeter was standing in front of him with her fist still extended and an expression that clearly said she had seen through him from the beginning.
“Goddess!
Why did you hit me?!”
It took Dio several moments to straighten up.
He continued holding his stomach as he complained through clenched teeth.
“I didn’t even do anything!
What possible reason did you have to punch me?”
“Your expression was disgusting.
Anyone could tell you were thinking about something awful!”
Demeter planted her hands on her hips and glared down at him.
“No one would believe you weren’t imagining something filthy with that look on your face!”
“I wasn’t!”
Dio protested his innocence.
“I was planning my future!
Am I not even allowed to think without getting beaten?”
“Planning your future made you look like that?”
Demeter scoffed.
“Do you honestly think I’m that easy to fool?
I watched your expression change from a sly grin to unfocused eyes, then into that revolting leer.
Are you seriously going to claim you weren’t imagining something you shouldn’t have been?”
Dio fell silent.
He had to admit that his imagination had wandered somewhere extremely pleasant, but there was no chance he would confess that aloud.
“I—I was only deciding what kind of dream to create tonight!”
An excuse suddenly came to him, and he hurriedly changed the subject.
“I was trying to choose between simulating a fight against goblins or Dungeon Lizards.
That’s all!
I only looked excited because I was thinking about combat training.
Yes, exactly!”
Demeter narrowed her eyes and stared at him suspiciously.
Her expression plainly asked whether he thought she was an idiot, but Dio stubbornly refused to change his answer.
Eventually, she decided it was not worth pursuing.
“Hmph.
You had better be thinking about combat training.”