Published: September 10, 2025
Corrected typos on 2016/8/2.
This is Satou. They say there are three people in the world who look exactly like you, but considering the chances of meeting them, I think there are actually far more cases of strangers who just look similar.
â—‡
“Ah, um, this is, well…”
Facing Lady Ritdilt appearing beyond the steel golem, Miss Karina became flustered.
But something else was bothering me more (……).
“W-wait, Master, what should we do?”
“Do nothing.”
I lightly brushed off Arisa’s slightly shaken words, patted her shoulder, and pointed at Ritdilt (………).
“—Ah.”
“Got it?”
“Y-yeah. Should I do it instead?”
“No, I appreciate the offer, but I’ll handle it.”
I didn’t really want to, but pushing it onto the kids would be wrong.
I should be the one to deal with it (……).
“Sa-Satou.”
“It’s okay.”
I nodded at the worried Miss Karina and then stepped forward before her.
“…U-ugh.”
A groan came from the shadows of the golem’s remains.
Oh, this comes first.
I healed the adventurers who were crushed and near death with silent casting healing magic, then put them to sleep with silent casting mental magic.
With that urgent task done, I turned back to Ritdilt (………).
“Oh? You’re going to explain—”
Before she could finish, I kicked Ritdilt’s stomach, sending her crashing into the rows of attendants standing stiffly behind her.
Then, sealing the deal, I skewered the attendants with earth magic “Spiral Stalagmite (Tos Drillstone)” as well.
“M-Master?”
“Sa-Satou?”
Seeing my barbarity, Liza and Miss Karina raised shaky voices behind me.
The others reacted similarly, though in different ways.
“Ugh, gross.”
“Don’t worry~?”
Only Arisa and Tama reacted differently.
But the voices of everyone else trailed off.
“Wow, so that’s what a doppelganger (……) is like.”
“Faceless~?”
“They just melted away.”
“Master, requesting information.”
I glanced at the log and explained to my comrades.
Basically, Arisa’s explanation summed it up.
“The monsters we just saw were doppelgangers — they steal some of a person’s appearance and memories.”
At first even Arisa was deceived, but with proper identification, it’s obvious right away.
Besides, the real Lady Ritdilt, marked with a tracker, entered the radar range. There was no way I wouldn’t notice.
“You can’t let your guard down just because you meet someone you know inside the labyrinth.”
At my words, my companions responded cheerfully.
Though I said that, no one we’d met before had given such a warning, and since there wasn’t anyone else in the labyrinth, it seemed the “Dungeon Master” — alarmed by the mass intrusion of high-level adventurers — had prepared this new threat.
The doppelgangers and steel golem appeared in a corridor with a single large room at the end, where traps like water flooding and paralysis were set up.
I think they intended to lure us into that room with the doppelgangers.
By the way, there was a less violent way to handle this, but I wanted to finish it before my companions acted, so it ended up a bit reckless.
I really didn’t want them to witness us killing beings that looked like people.
â—‡
“It’s problematic when a skill’s name is included in it.”
“—Ugh.”
“Why~?”
“It sounds cool, though?”
At Arisa’s criticism, Karina hesitated while Tama and Pochi defended her.
“Even if you hide your appearance, like just now, the skill name can get you into trouble, right?”
“Oops~?”
“Ah, exactly.”
Tama and Pochi exclaimed in surprise after hearing the explanation.
Could it be they only just realized?
“I recommend renaming.”
“That makes sense…”
Nana said calmly while Liza hesitated.
I personally didn’t plan to correct Miss Karina’s slip-ups because they were within acceptable limits, but my comrades clearly thought otherwise.
“Y-You’re not going to say I should change mine too, Satou, right?”
“No, it’s fine —”
When I confirmed, Karina looked relieved.
“For missions where disguise is necessary, you can just stay home.”