Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka

The sun set, the moon came out, and then the sky brightened as the sun rose once again, heralding a new day.

I’m usually still at home at this hour, but today I’ve come to Babel Tower.

While Lilly and I were in the Dungeon yesterday, I couldn’t get the words of the man who’d tried to capture Lilly out of my head. I’d been on edge, and I could tell it was making Lilly uneasy.

I didn’t want to worry her, so I didn’t tell her the details, but I could still tell she was worried—she’d kept stealing glances at me with a nervous, desolate expression as I looked out for anything unusual.

“……”

I invited her out here so early to try and protect her from this mess. So here I am, just staring at the blue sky. I have nothing to do until Lilly arrives, so my mind wanders off into a conversation I had with the goddess last night.

Once I got home from the Dungeon, I told her everything I knew about Lilly and her situation.

My plan was to have her live with us under the church until I was sure the danger had passed—once I had explained everything to the goddess, anyway.

“Bell, is this supporter worthy of your trust?”

“Huh?”

She listened quietly to every word, and then she slowly asked that question.

At first, I didn’t realize what she was saying. Then it hit me and I stood up, leaning over the table to say something in Lilly’s defense. But when I opened my mouth to speak, the tranquil look in the goddess’s eyes sent me for a loop and I fell silent.

“Just from what you have told me, something about this girl smells fishy. Like the day you lost my knife…Oh, I’m not accusing her of anything, so don’t give me that look…I just can’t help but think she was somehow involved because the two of you worked together that day.”

A very sudden meeting, separated from her own Familia for mysterious reasons, targeted by adventurers…The goddess repeated my main points back to me, cutting out all the unnecessary filler.

There was nothing I could say in response. I pitifully sank my shoulders.

“Sorry to put it all like that. But I’ve never met this girl, so I only have what you tell me to go on. You have interacted with her, so your decision might be the best. I won’t be very pleased with it, though.”

She continued by saying she was more worried about me. Then her aura changed, and she acted rather high and mighty as she quietly asked more questions about Lilly.

“Do you think this girl is hiding something from you? Something that adventurer suspects—no, knows she’s guilty of?”

She said that I should know this, too. Her words shot through my heart like arrows.

I might have been trying to avoid thinking about that possibility.

Lilly had done many things for me as a supporter, including saving my life from a monster. Was that making me turn a blind eye?

I just kind of sat there for a while, looking at the goddess as I went through my memories of Lilly. Everything. I was trying to find the moments when Lilly had shown me a piece of her true feelings.

“Goddess, I…”

“Mr. Bell?”

“!”

My thoughts cut off.

The voice calling my name makes me focus and return to the present.

“Ah!…L-Lilly, morning.”

My response is a little slow, and I lightly shake my head to get the final remnants of last night out of my mind.

Seeing that, Lilly’s face shifts to a smile, her eyes hidden behind her bangs as usual.

“Good morning, Mr. Bell. Lilly didn’t think that you would arrive so soon—Lilly couldn’t believe her eyes.”

“Ah-ha-ha, you’re right. You’re always here before me no matter the time, Lilly.”

At least it looks like nothing has happened to her. That’s a relief.

Just as I thought, that adventurer wouldn’t dare put a finger on Lilly aboveground.

Adventurers who cause problems get put on the Guild’s blacklist. Life in Orario is extremely difficult for them. For starters, if they have their registration revoked, the Exchange will no longer pay them for magic stones and drop items, instead unceremoniously taking them away. Not long after that, they’d be kicked out of their Familia—which was tantamount to being abandoned by their god.

They could even be punished and put in jail if their violation was severe enough.

These laws would make the blacklisted adventurers a kind of outlaw, but the Guild has no choice but to take a firm stance against them. You could say that they are keeping criminal activities under control.

So, that’s why if anyone is going to cause a problem, they’ll do it in the Dungeon. With no witnesses, the attacker could say that they were defending themselves or they thought the victim was a monster and attacked by accident. Their escape routes are limitless.

“Mr. Bell.”

“Ah, sorry. What is it?”

“Shall we go to the tenth level today?”

“Um…”

I look down at Lilly, her smiling face hidden under hair and hood, almost in shock.

“It’s very sudden, don’t you think…?”

“Mr. Bell, did you really think that Lilly wouldn’t notice? Mr. Bell has more than enough power to do well on the tenth level, right?”

“……”

The “power” she is talking about must be my status.

It’s true that many of my basic stats, especially my Agility, were already in the A and B ranges. The Guild has declared that the lowest level that Level One adventurers are allowed to enter is the twelfth level.

The reason that I don’t go down there now is the fact that I’m solo. Plus, the layout and difficulty of the Dungeon get especially hostile below level ten.

You could say the Dungeon starts baring its fangs. In any case, having an average status grade of G on the seventh level and an average grade of A on the twelfth couldn’t be more different.

Actually, I’ve already entered and returned safely from the ninth-level floor. At this rate, I should be able to go into the eleventh level, even solo. Lilly must have decided it was a good time for me to try the tenth.

Honestly, I feel like I can do it. I might be a little overconfident in my abilities, but I can see myself thriving there.

Even still, there is another more depressing reason that I don’t want to set foot on that floor.

They come out on the tenth level.

Large-category monsters. There are none of them down to level nine.

……Just like that Minotaur.

“…But I almost died on the seventh level the other day. Are you sure someone like that is ready for the tenth level…?”

“That’s true, but because Mr. Bell has that experience of failure due to overconfidence, the Mr. Bell of today won’t have that problem, right? Lilly believes Mr. Bell has more credentials of being an adventurer now because of it.”

“……”

“Don’t forget that Mr. Bell now has magic. That magic is strong. The new Mr. Bell has no weaknesses.”

I showed her the Firebolt magic yesterday.

It wasn’t much of a presentation—I wanted to see how much my Magic had improved from getting my status updated the night before. That, and I wanted to get used to using the magic, so it was good timing. Lilly had been very impressed.

Since I’m solo, being able to use Swift-Strike Magic is very valuable to me.

“Lilly has been as far down as the eleventh level with other adventurers, so you can take Lilly’s word. Mr. Bell will have an easy time on level ten. Lilly’s guarantee.”

Even before I had magic, Eina gave me permission to enter the lower tenth (as well as a stern warning). So when I think about it like that, just as Lilly said, now that I have magic, the tenth level shouldn’t be a problem.

To advance or to stay put.

“…The truth is, Lilly has to gather a large amount of money in the next few days.”

“Wait a minute, is that…!”

“Lilly can’t say the details, but it involves Lilly’s Familia…”

As if she were guiding my thoughts, she hits me with her real motivation.

I can’t help but remember her being surrounded by those three adventurers.

My mind goes off on its own, and my neck starts to twitch.

“Can you blame Lilly for being selfish, Mr. Bell?”

Lilly bows down in front of me, looking up at my face.

If this is really about her contract with her Familia, then my interference—basically shouldering the load to help her gather the “large amount of money”—would work against her. It would depend on who was there at the time, but if it were discovered that someone from another Familia helped her gather the money, they would have some hard feelings toward said Familia. It might be humiliating.

I don’t have any way of knowing if Lilly’s claims are true. I doubt she’d tell me honestly if I asked her.

I know I wouldn’t if I were in her position.

I make up my mind and clench my right fist.

“All right. Let’s go to the tenth level.”

A large smile blooms on Lilly face when I say that. She bows over and over again, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!” I scrunch my eyebrows down and force a smile.

“Should we leave right away? Or should we buy some more items inside Babel, just in case?”

“Lilly bought extra items yesterday. Lilly has a suggestion, though: why don’t you try this?”

“This is…”

Lilly set her backpack down on the pavement as she spoke. She pulls out the ink-black sheath of a short sword.

The Divine Knife is about twenty celch long, so I would guess this weapon is about fifty, just by looking at it.

A shortsword—no, a baselard?

The simple round sheath is flush against the blade’s hilt, perfectly hiding the blade within. It’s a very simple design for a sword.

“So, why?”

“Don’t feel bad, Mr. Bell, but this was part of the preparation. Mr. Bell’s current weapons don’t have enough reach to fight against larger monsters. Also, Lilly has been thinking for a while that Mr. Bell needs more range.”

“So you’re…giving it to me? I don’t feel right, not paying you for it…”

“Mr. Bell has accepted Lilly’s selfishness; this is a thank-you gift. Please accept it.”

“…Well, if you’re going to put it like that…”

I draw the blade of the baselard she’s given me.

The silver blade is thin on both sides. It’s very light, and not that much bigger than my dagger, so for someone like me who has never used a sword, it might be pretty useful…

“I wonder if it suits me. I’ve never used something like this before…”

“How about testing it on the way to the tenth level? The monsters down to the seventh level would be perfect for practice. If Lilly’s eyes aren’t playing tricks on her, Mr. Bell would do very well using a shortsword.”

Lilly’s been with many parties and seen many fighting styles; I can trust her on this. She’s been with me a while now; she knows what she’s talking about.

There is no reason to doubt her; I’ll take her word for it.

“Ah…I don’t have a belt for a sword…”

All I can do is hang it from my waist. I was a little slow to realize that the sheath would get in my way.

“Mr. Bell, Mr. Bell.”

“?”

“If Lilly remembers correctly, Mr. Bell’s protector can hold weapons about that size, right?”

Ah, forgot about that. I even told her that myself.

I take the Divine Knife out of the protector for a moment to see if the baselard will fit inside. Yep, no problem.

“You have an amazing memory, Lilly. I completely forgot.”

“Hee-hee, Lilly only just remembered now, too.”

Lilly puts her hands behind her head and shyly turns away for a moment.

I can’t help but laugh as I watch her, but soon I realize I have another problem: Where do I put the Divine Knife?

“……”

Suddenly, I hear the goddess’s words from last night in my head:

—Is this supporter worthy of your trust?

It’s almost like the Divine Knife in my hand speaks to me, as the goddess’s voice asks me the same question for a third time.

“…”

I quietly close my eyes, asking for forgiveness.

When I open them up again, I slip the knife into my leg holster.

It has slots big enough for potion tubes; the knife and its sheath fit securely.

“…”

Lilly watches me silently, giving a light nod.

“Well then, shall we go?”

Lilly raises her head at my invitation. Bobbing her head slightly, she smiles and says, “Yes.”

“I’m counting on you, Tulle. It may be an inspection, but don’t go overboard.”

“Yes, sir.”

Eina’s supervisor at the Guild saw her out the door as she stepped onto West Main.

She was assigned to go to Babel to inspect the shops renting space from the Guild. This was just a routine job—entering the shops themselves and making sure that none of the Familias were doing anything shady.

Slipping an official armband up her sleeve and wrapping a scarf around her neck, she set off into the early morning streets of Orario. This set identified her as an inspector from the Guild. There were other Guild employees assigned to Babel Tower, but Eina was a few minutes behind them.

I didn’t get a chance to talk with Bell after all…

The information she collected at Loki Familia yesterday had been churning in her head all night.

Loki’s warning was still fresh in her mind, and she was itching to tell Bell just how much danger he was in right now.

She regretted not trying to do more yesterday evening to see him; she should have stopped at nothing to tell him.

I’m overstepping my bounds…But since I’ll be there anyway, I should inform Goddess Hestia.

Eina was going to inspect Hephaistos Familia today. The face of the goddess who recently started working there in her mind, she decided talking to her was the best course of action. The serious, law-abiding Eina realized that doing this would be an abuse of power as well as mix her personal and professional lives. However, she kicked those thoughts out of her head with a “Think I don’t know that?!” and continued on her way.

“Ah.”

“……?”

It was when Eina had just entered Central Park from West Main that Aiz Wallenstein came into Central Park from North Main and walked toward her.

“…G-good morning, Miss Wallenstein.”

“……Good morning.”

Aiz gave a small head nod, greeting the stuttering Eina. Her long blond hair, sparkling as if it were filled with golden dust, shook lightly as her head dipped.

While Eina didn’t know how to proceed, she would feel guilty not saying more than “good morning” to someone she had formally met yesterday. So she said the first thing that came to mind:

“Miss Wallenstein, what are you doing today?”

“I was thinking about buying some items.”

“Umm…at Babel?”

Aiz nodded again as their conversation continued. It sounded as though she was planning to go into the Dungeon today as well.

Eina thought it was a little strange that Reveria used a different item shop, but looking at the fully equipped and battle-ready Aiz, she nodded to herself.

While it might be difficult to imagine just by looking at her, this beautiful girl was known by two other names. Her first nickname was “kenki”: sword princess, or lady of the sword. However, she wanted to be known as “senki”—lady of combat, or lady of the battlefield—by other adventurers.

…She still looks depressed.

Eina had seen Aiz’s condition the previous night at Loki Familia. She did her best to engage Aiz in conversation, despite the blond girl’s spiritless voice and constant downtrodden eyes.

It must have really been a shock to her, having a boy she liked run away.

Even as she wanted to see the guy who would run away from a girl as breathtaking as Aiz, Eina decided to do some meddling on the behalf of her favorite younger-brother figure.

“Miss Wallenstein, please allow me to express my gratitude for saving one of my adventurers.”

“……?”

“Don’t tell me you have forgotten? A short time ago, you slew a rampaging minotaur on the fifth level just in time to save him.”

“………A minotaur.”

“Yes. The adventurer’s name is Bell Cranell. He’s extremely grateful to you…”

The instant Aiz heard Bell’s name, her neck twisted to an almost shocking degree. Eina was trying to let her know how Bell felt about her, but took a step back in stunned silence.

They stood there quietly beneath Babel Tower for a few moments. Aiz then looked at Eina with a hint of sadness in her eyes and nervously opened her mouth to speak.

“…He’s not afraid of me?”

“Wha…Huh?”

Eina was so confused, only a few sounds escaped her mouth in response.

“—?”

Just then, Eina happened to catch a glimpse of something.

Four adventurers had gathered under a tree with wide leaves just inside her line of sight.

Three of them had an emblem with a crescent moon over a glass of wine on their armor…Soma Familia’s symbol.

Almost out of reflex, Eina did what she could to lip-read their conversation from afar.

“—just as planned—make a mistake—”

“—know that—Erde needs to—”

There was quite a distance between them, but Eina’s emerald eyes were able to pick up those words from their conversation.

While they didn’t mention Bell’s name directly, they said the name of his supporter.

The group then broke up, but all of them made their way toward Babel. Eina was almost certain they were heading for the Dungeon.

“…Is something wrong?”

Aiz must have sensed something wrong with Eina. She raised her head as she spoke.

Eina’s expression was much more intense than usual, her eyes shaking. Eina stood silently for a few heartbeats before lowering her head in a crisp bow and releasing all of her anxiety at once.

“I know this is incredibly rude of me, but I have to ask. Please, help my subordinate. Save Bell Cranell.”

“……”

“I might just be overthinking it, but I have reason to believe he is in a very dangerous situation. I realize I’m asking a lot from you, but I beg you, come to his aid.”

“Is that yesterday’s…?”

Aiz had heard the conversation in Loki Familia’s reception room the night before and instantly connected the dots. The still-bowing Eina nodded and proceeded to tell Aiz everything in detail, from the beginning up to the party of Soma Familia adventurers that was now headed for the Dungeon.

Aiz listened quietly to every word. She nodded back and, when Eina finished, said, “I understand.”

“Are you sure this is okay?”

“Yes…I haven’t gotten a chance to apologize to him properly yet.”

While Eina was a little confused about the meaning of Aiz’s words, she stepped aside to let the girl pass.

Eina was just going to see her off, but watching her golden blond hair go into the distance, she had an urge to yell out one more thing.

“Um, Miss Wallenstein!”

“……?”

“Bell is…Bell Cranell really is extremely grateful to you for saving his life!”

Eina’s words brought a new level of focus and clarity to Aiz’s face—as well as a bit of softness around her eyes and the very slightest of smiles to her lips.

The layout and interior of the Dungeon change dramatically on levels eight and nine.

First of all, the number of rooms increases and they become much wider. The corridors connecting the rooms are all very short. Next, the ceiling that had been three or four meters above my head before is now about ten meters high.

The walls in these levels are yellow and covered in moss. Since the floor is covered with short grass, these levels look like a vast prairie. The light above is concentrated into one spot, like the sun over a massive plain. It feels like I’ve stepped into the countryside.

The monsters that show up here are like a review of previous floors—rather than new ones roaming the floors, stronger versions of goblins and kobolds show up. As long as adventurers don’t underestimate their strength, all of the techniques they’ve learned fighting these monsters on the upper levels will work here, too. Conquering levels eight and nine should be relatively easy.

As proof of that, Lilly and I have come down here many times in the past few days.

Now, our main destination: the tenth level.

This floor is…

“Fog…”

It’s not that bad, but there’s a cloud of mist hovering in this floor that’s thick enough to make it hard to see the other end of the room.

The look and pattern of the tenth level is more or less the same as eight and nine. However, the bright “sun” shining down from above is gone. Instead, it looks like a morning fog just before sunrise in here.

This is the first time that visibility has been an issue in the Dungeon.

“Lilly, stick close to me.”

“…Yes.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve said that to her, but I say it one more.

Of course I’m worried about getting separated and losing her in the mist, but I’m also keeping a sharp eye out for that male adventurer. Who knows when he’ll strike. I’ve been on the verge of pestering Lilly to stay by my side long before we got down to the tenth level, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s sick of it by now.

In any case…this thing isn’t half bad.

Keeping Lilly in my line of sight, I take a look at the baselard in my right hand.

It’s been very useful. I’ve never used a blade longer than my dagger, so it felt a bit awkward in my hand at first. But I think I’ll be giving it my seal of approval. It turns killer ants into mincemeat.

The baselard’s longer reach is like a breath of fresh air. I never knew how it felt to launch strike after strike from a safe distance.

It doesn’t have the cutting power that the Divine Knife has, but I can’t complain.

“……!”

A room opens up in front of us as we exit the corridor.

It’s another room of open savanna. The fog is still hanging in the air, but I can make out the dimensions of the room.

There are leafless, limbless dead trees scattered all around.

“……”

They stand eerily still within the haze. I frown as we set foot inside. For now, the best plan is to get away from the wall before a monster is born.

We approach a small group of the dead trees. Each stands somewhere between one and two meters tall. Abnormally thick bark covers a wide base, but the trunk becomes thinner and thinner the taller the tree grows. Very strange indeed…

—Ah, this must be them.

After giving the dead trees a once-over, I turn to talk to Lilly.

“What do you think? Should we cut these down?”

“No, we don’t have time for that.”

Lilly’s voice jumps in surprise as she stares past me.

I feel a wave of dread run down my back as I turn around to see what startled her.

A large silhouette is moving through the fog. Not only can I hear its gigantic feet hit the floor as it walks, I feel the vibrations of the impacts through my boots. My whole body is shaking.

I put up my arms defensively, with my face cramping up as I clench my jaw, hard.

“Ughaaaaaaa……”

The orc—a monster solidly in the Large category—appears through the fog with a low growl.

It has brown skin and a boar’s head. With old hide wrapped around its waist, it looks like it’s wearing some kind of beat-up old skirt. I think it’s about three meters tall—just a bit taller than the Minotaur.

However, compared to the thickly muscled Minotaur, the orc is round—squat and hugely fat.

“Well, they really are large…”

“You mustn’t run away, Mr. Bell!”

Lilly always says that escape never leads to the way forward. I swallow and nod.

She’s right. If I can’t slay this orc, then I’ll never be able to take down other large-category monsters later on…like the Minotaur.

I can’t let it scare me just because it towers over me.

I take a deep breath and make up my mind.

“Gahhh, ungahhh…!!”

The orc catches Lilly and me in its beady yellow eyes.

Locking onto its prey, the orc quickens its pace and the floor shakes even more. It makes its way through the group of dead trees, holding out its arm.

Grabbing onto one of the trees with its meaty hand, the orc pulls it out of the floor.

What was once just natural scenery inside the Dungeon has become a crude club in the monster’s hands.

A landform—the Dungeon’s own armory.

Yet another one of the Dungeon’s troublesome characteristics.

The living Dungeon itself provides natural weapons to the monsters that roam around inside it.

Landforms first appear on level ten and give the monsters here that much more power.

The Dungeon’s support has given one or two extra stones to monsters that could be taken down if unarmed.

“Lousy timing…”

Landforms can be destroyed, but since they are part of the living Dungeon, they grow back after a certain amount of time. It’s the same as the monsters themselves. However, I’ve heard that these dead trees grow back almost instantly.

Normally, adventurers would cut down the landforms before monsters arrived to prevent them from being used as weapons. The timing here couldn’t have been worse.

Now I have to confront a fully armed orc with almost no room to spare.

“……”

The orc’s heavy breathing is getting closer.

Its eyes are sparkling, like it could jump at me any second.

This will be my first battle with a large-category monster. I couldn’t be tenser.

My chest feels like it’s going to explode. Trying to get a handle on my beating heart, I take a deep breath and relax my shoulders.

That’s when the orc roars with all its might.

“GUOOOUUUHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

The starting bell. It’s time for battle.

Hearing the signal, I charge.

I can’t take a hit!

The difference in size is just too great. There’s no way I can block an attack.

If I’m hit, I’ll go flying. The protector on my arm isn’t going to stop anything.

On the other hand, if I’m on the attack…

First target: the lower body. Especially the feet planted firmly on the ground.

Just because it’s big doesn’t mean it’s invincible. Sure, I’ve been scared of its size from the start, but just like all big monsters, it has weaknesses.

When the enemy is big, it can’t hit a smaller, nimble target very well.

This is particularly true for the slow and sluggish orc. Its body is so heavy that it loses its balance very easily.

One hit.

Just one hit.

If I can avoid the first hit, it’ll be wide open to a counterattack.

The orc is getting closer, charging right for me!

“UGHOOOOOOOOOO!”

The orc builds up a head of steam, raising its club as it comes barreling forward.

The dead tree’s roots are round, making it look like a big hammer or club. The orc swings it around over its head, lining me up for its first strike.

Over its head…That means—!

“!”

I shoot forward with no hesitation.

It’s much easier to dodge an overhead arcing strike than a sideways sweep. If I can just figure out where the weapon will land, I can get out of the way. Once the club hits the ground, I don’t have to worry about a follow-up attack.

And the orc can’t defend itself until it raises the club again, so that’s my chance.

I’ll hit with everything I’ve got!

“GHOUUUU!”

“Gotcha!”

“—Gwouhhh?”

I handily dodge the falling club.

I use that momentum to get close to the orc’s right side and thrust the baselard into the beast just below its ribs.

The orc lets out a piercing scream as greenish liquid squirts out of its wound.

The grass below is stained a slightly thicker green.

“Ha!”

I quickly decide to follow up my stab attack with the original plan, and attack the legs.

I spin around, getting the blade as low as possible before bringing it up and into the monster’s thick right leg.

I grasp the shortsword in both hands as it skims the top of the grass before the blade makes contact just below the orc’s knee.

“—??!!”

A deafening roar hits my ears like a wall.

The baselard hits bone and comes to a stop. I can feel both the bone itself and the monster’s weight bearing down on it; the blade won’t go any farther.

But I grit my teeth.

I use all of my strength to lift the orc up, forcing the baselard’s cutting edge forward.

“TAKE THIS!!”

Its leg comes clean off.

The baselard shoots out of the back of the monster’s shin. Its lower leg no longer attached, the orc falls to the ground.

The room shakes with the beast’s scream of pain. The orc is in serious agony, but I can’t stop now.

Thok, thok. I dash up onto the orc’s back and run to the back of its head. Holding my shortsword upside down, I take aim and thrust the baselard into its skull.

“GIH, GOUghhh…”

“Mr. Bell!! Another one!”

“!”

The orc beneath me violently shakes before expiring. I look up from its corpse to see, just as Lilly said, one more orc charging at us from the way we came in. It must have heard the sounds of battle and become enraged because even as it plows through the fog, it’s ignoring the landforms entirely.

I jump down from the lifeless orc and stick my right arm out, straight forward.

I won’t miss.

I lock my eyes onto its massive frame and pull the magic trigger all at once.

“FIREBOLT!!”

“BAGOUUGHHHH?!”

A bolt of flame sears the air as it hits the newcomer square in the chest.

It lets out a scream and loses a step, but that’s all.

The orc’s ragged chest is burned to a crisp, but it’s not about to fall, either.

It looks like my magic isn’t strong enough to slay an orc in one blow right now. Not surprising—I just learned it the other day. Firebolt’s power is still low.

However…

“—FIREBOLT!!!”

Round 2.

Another Swift-Strike spell hits the orc in quick succession.

I wasn’t really aiming for it, but the magic hits the orc in almost the same spot, and the explosion knocks it back. The blast catches its chin, and the orc looks up at the ceiling as it wavers on its feet, stumbling away from me…and stops.

“……”

The orc silently turns to ash.

The two direct blasts of Firebolt opened a hole in the orc’s chest. The magic stone inside must have gone up in flames and disappeared.

I watch the monster dissolve from between the fingers of my outstretched hand. Only when the last of it disappears do I slow my breathing and lower my arm.

I won…

It worked.

The sword, my fighting style, my magic—everything worked.

They worked on a monster much larger than me, on a large monster not unlike the Minotaur.

As my heart finally slows down, a new flame swells within me.

It’s the feeling of accomplishment. Maybe the feeling of progress.

I’m enjoying every second of the feeling of triumph that’s bubbling up inside me, making my lips quiver in joy.

“Lilly! I did…it…”

I turn around to find her, a look of pure happiness on my face. But all that’s there to greet me is white fog.

The partner who’s traveled with me up until today has disappeared.

My euphoria is gone.

“Lilly?!”

My voice is just a pitch shy of a scream as it leaves my throat.

My head spins as if I had been slapped in the face. But no matter what direction I look, I can’t see hide nor hair of Lilly, just the fog.

I fear the worst at first, but I take a deep breath to calm down, then take off running.

If that male adventurer is responsible for Lilly’s disappearance, she would have fought back somehow, yelled out at least. A monster seems a lot more likely.

I make for the corner of the room where the fog is thickest.

“…?”

Weaving my way through the dead trees, a horrible smell hits my nose like a ton of bricks.

I bury my nose in my sleeve and look around for the source. It doesn’t take long.

There is a hunk of bloody, raw meat at the base of one of the trees.

“Isn’t that…a monster lure…?”

I kneel down next to the oily mass of processed flesh to get a closer look.

No doubt about it. These things are sold in item shops. Adventurers like me can use these trap items to draw monsters to them and increase their haul of magic stones and dropped items without leaving their usual route in the Dungeon…

But why is there one here…?

“—”

The sound of heavy footsteps reaches my ears. Orcs.

As in not a lone orc. The impacts of many sets of feet are coming all at once; it sounds like the world’s worst drum line.

And then I notice something else. There are masses of glistening, slimy meat scattered all over the place.

I stand there, stunned. The footsteps are close enough that I can get some idea how many orcs there are. Air leaves my lungs.

…Oh shit…

—Four.

I curse to myself in a numb silence as their shadows appear in the fog, all walking in a line, side by side.

Taking down even one of these took everything I had. Four at once is impossible. I don’t stand a chance. I’d be surrounded and sent into the afterlife in seconds. And then there’s their size. If they used any of the natural weapons around here, there’d be no escaping their wide range.

I have to get out of here, now.

There’s no way I can get out of this alive.

But what about Lilly?

What if she’s lying injured in this room or can’t escape for some reason?

Do I leave her behind? Do I leave Lilly to die?

The orcs lured here by the smell of the bloody meat notice me, and they’re less than pleased. The dark green veins in their thick, muscular arms slowly pulse as they glare at me.

It’s to the point now that I won’t be able to get away without drawing my sword, but I still can’t move an inch.

Suddenly, something flies at me from out of sight, whistling as it cuts through the air.

“Huh?!”

Clang! The thing strikes my left leg holster, sending a piece of it flying. The piece containing the Divine Knife. That piece.

I see a small golden arrow sticking out of the holster as it flew up and away.

The orcs see my wide eyes following the holster, figure that’s their chance, and all come at me at once.

“OOUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“!?!!”

Two of the orcs grab landform weapons and take a big swing in my direction.

I make one of the most ungraceful dives ever but manage to get out of the way.

I don’t have time to catch my breath. As big and clumsy as they are, the remaining two orcs cover the distance between us in no time flat.

“E-gaaa!!!”

I scream out as massive arms come at my head from all directions.

This is serious! What the hell am I gonna do now?!

I’ve never felt this vulnerable as a solo adventurer before. I don’t even have time to breathe as I dodge the storm of fists and strikes raining down from the orcs around me.

When I dodge an overhead strike and happen to glance past the monsters, that’s when I see her.

She’s a safe distance away from the orcs, walking as if she were in Central Park.

“Lilly?! Eh-dahhh!!!”

The next attack comes down the moment I yell for her. I can’t lose my focus, even for a moment.

While I’m dodging for my life, Lilly picks up the piece of my leg holster and takes out the Divine Knife.

She then looks it over carefully before tucking it into her shirt and looking in my direction with her usual smile.

“Sorry, Mr. Bell. This is where it ends.”

“Lilly, what the hell are you saying?!”

“Lilly thinks that Mr. Bell shouldn’t be so trusting of others.”

I catch another glimpse of her between orc limbs: she’s tilting her head to the side like a cute little girl, even though I’m screaming at her.

Her eyes aren’t covered by her hood or her bangs, and as always, her cute little smile.

But she looks somehow…lonely.

“I hope you find an opening and escape.”

Lilly speaks from the other side of the orcs, like she’s leaving her last bit of advice.

Then she adjusts her bulging backpack before turning her back to me.

“Good-bye, Mr. Bell. We won’t be seeing each other again.”

She takes one last look over her shoulder before running off into the fog.

“Lilly! Lilly!—Dahhh! Enough already!”

“BUGOuuhhh?!”

“You’re too nice, Mr. Bell.”

Lilly ran through the halls of the Dungeon, carrying bags that no normal person could hope to lift.

Grasping the straps of her backpack, she kept on going forward with no hesitation in her steps.

Lilly had told Bell a total of two lies.

The first was that she was a dirt-poor supporter.

Lilly was a thief. Or “con artist” might be a better way to put it.

She targeted adventurers with high income and class, especially ones who had valuable weapons and armor.

For example, she’d worked with Bell up until this point because he’d been her target. Or rather, to be more precise, the Hephaistos Familia knife he carried had been her target.

The story about being poor was nothing more than a way to approach him.

And the second lie…

“Hmm.”

A breeze blowing against her as she ran pushed her hood down. Her fluffy, furlike hair and dog ears were exposed.

Lilly reached up to lightly pet her ears as her lips recited an incantation:

“Stroke of midnight’s bell.”

As if she had been dosed in ash, a gray dust covered her head.

A light flashed without sound, and the ears on her head were gone when it cleared.

That wasn’t all. The bangs that covered her eyes and the furry tail behind her had disappeared as well.

“Looks like a full transformation isn’t necessary. Changing out a few parts is just as effective.”

If Bell had been here to see this, he would surely have been shocked.

Her big chestnut eyes looked cheerful, her face that of a cute girl. The dog-girl child was gone.

There was no doubt now—Lilly was the prum girl who had run into Bell that day in the back alley.

Lilly’s second lie: Who she really was.

She had been running away from that male adventurer and used her “Cinder Ella” magic to change her appearance from a very suspicious prum girl to someone else entirely.

Lilly had used this special magic to fool many, many adventurers.

Her victims would charge after her in a rage, but she would change her appearance and make them think she was someone else. They had made a mistake; they couldn’t do anything to her. The rumors going around among adventurers about a “group of thieving prums” was a testament to the power of her magic.

Sometimes she became a supporter. Other times she was an innocent civilian.

Lilly had used this magic not only to change her appearance but also to change her race, and she had committed hundreds of crimes up to this point.

Looks like being careless enough to let that adventurer see me transform was a big mistake…

The man who had pursued her the other day was a victim of one of Lilly’s schemes, and he happened to see her reverse the effects of Cinder Ella. He saw her true face. That was the full story behind the incident in the alleyway.

She’d made a clean getaway, but now it seemed like that adventurer had told Bell some things he didn’t need to know.

Ever since she’d spotted them having a secret meeting that day in Central Park, the boy started acting much different toward her. He was always looking at her, and he hid information from her anytime she tried to ask why. It was almost as though he was suspicious of her, or he knew that she could change her appearance and was on the lookout for it.

It looked as though deciding that this was her last chance and making her move was correct…

…This really is it…

What a waste, she thought to herself as she remembered all the money she made while working with Bell.

It was over—the good mood and security he’d provided were gone. A part of her felt the loss.

This was a strange feeling for a thief such as herself. She didn’t understand.

But there was something that she did understand: No matter how much she thought about this odd feeling, it was nothing more than a useless emotion.

There was no way to continue any connection with the boy.

She couldn’t ignore the risks of continuing the contract after what that man had told him.

Now that Bell knew everything, there was no way he would forgive her.

“……”

Lilly’s face became downtrodden. But she took a deep breath and shook her head from side to side.

Who cares? she thought to herself as she dismissed any feelings of guilt. For someone like her to be moved by the kindness of an adventurer—what a joke.

Because all adventurers were the same.

Adventurers…adventurers…!!!

Lilly had been born into Soma Familia. Her parents were members, which meant that from birth, Lilly had no choice but to join Soma Familia herself.

Just by being who she was, the gears of fate might well have been snarled from the beginning.

The world had not been kind to Lilly.

Both of her prum parents said over and over how they wanted to save money to support Lilly when she was just an infant. However, they never did anything that could be considered parental, and before she knew it they were dead. Their desire for money—for Soma—drove them to prowl dungeon levels that were way out of their league. Apparently they were killed by a monster before they even realized what had hit them.

This left Lilly on her own in Soma Familia to fend for herself, in a group that was always stealing Soma from one another. She was alone. No one in the Familia looked after her. Those were very painful days.

Since the moment she drank Soma when being officially inducted into the Familia, she too had fallen under its spell.

There was no one she could depend on. So she decided to go it alone and make money by herself. But it was futile. She didn’t have what it took to become an adventurer and was forced to work as a supporter.

Then she was exploited.

Whenever she worked with a party, they would always say: “You stole some magic stones for yourself, didn’t you?” “You swiped some cash, didn’t you?” “You should be punished.” “You’re not getting any of our shares.”

She frantically tried to tell them there was a mistake, that she was innocent. But all they did was turn their backs on her, smirking. When she was in the clutches of a monster, inches from death, they didn’t help her. They even refused to heal her afterward. She was kicked around all the time. They threatened to do all sorts of things to her if she lost the bags.

She’d never fit in with Soma Familia. After returning from the Dungeon, a fierce argument and fight over the money earned were always waiting for her.

Lilly hates adventurers…Lilly loathes them…!

After the effects of Soma wore off, she ran away from the Familia, a waterfall of tears in her wake.

She threw away the title of being a member of Soma Familia and tried to live a normal life in the city. Once she had acquired a sense of stability and happiness, it was taken from her. Members of Soma Familia destroyed her new life.

How they found her, she didn’t know. But they came, their eyes driven mad with greed, and stole everything from her. Not only that, they ransacked where she was living.

The nice elderly couple who had let her stay at their flower shop kicked her out after that. Lilly could still remember how they looked at her, like a soiled, rotten piece of garbage.

Even here, Soma Familia tormented her.

Lilly held a grudge against the god at the top, Soma. She wondered why he had created such a Familia.

She bore no ill will or malice toward him. Soma wasn’t interested in them, anyway. There was no connection of any kind.

Soma never did anything for them. He wouldn’t. She didn’t even think he knew what was going on in his own Familia.

Perhaps, from his point of view, it was pointless to take pity on any of his “children” despite being their “father,” their god. But Lilly’s grudge against him never went away.

In the end, Lilly’s only option was to return to Soma Familia and work as a supporter to survive. If she made a bad choice—if she failed to play her part as the faithful little supporter—all it did was invite more hurt. Even if she was on good terms with a few members of the Familia. Even if she worked for free.

Yes, all adventurers were exactly the same.

All of them did horrible things to Lilly, just because she was weak.

Even that boy, surely…surely…

Even Bell…Even Bell—!

No matter how nice he was, he would have eventually raised his hand to her. There was no doubt.

What was so wrong with betraying someone before they betrayed you?

The elderly couple had treated her like their own granddaughter. Just thinking about them made Lilly remember their eyes. Yes, no matter what she did, she would always be thrown away at some point. She would always be abandoned.

Her thoughts did nothing to ease the ache in her heart. She picked up her pace, trying to drown out the pain.

“A Guild inspector will come today. Even if you make a mistake, don’t do anything stupid, newbie.”

“Yes, sir!”

Hestia returned to her post after the half-dwarf store manager finished his lecture.

Hestia had learned much about how to work with store employees who didn’t treat her as the goddess she was. Her twin black ponytails swished lightly from side to side as she set to work.

Her main job was to interact with customers, so she was the one to greet the Guild inspector. When the inspector arrived, she looked like a half-elf Hestia had seen somewhere before.

“Ah, aren’t you…”

“I have come here on behalf of the Guild. My name is Eina Tulle. I am here to conduct an inspection, as scheduled.”

Eina greeted her very professionally. Hestia thought about it for a moment but dismissed it as common sense and led her into the shop.

Keeping her visit completely by the book, after introducing herself to the store manager, Eina pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen before walking around the shop.

“Goddess Hestia.”

“Eh?”

“I would like to speak with you. Do you have a moment?”

While looking over weapon racks and the magic-stone air-conditioning, Eina made her way to Hestia’s side. She spoke in a low voice and never made eye contact. Hestia was a bit surprised at first, but then took a quick look around before casually filling her role as guide and leading Eina into a corner.

“I’m surprised you’d approach me like that. You plan for everything, don’t you, Ms. Adviser.”

“Sorry to trouble you.”

The two of them continued their conversation while pretending to work, never looking at each other.

In response to Eina’s “Do you have a moment,” Hestia shook a weapons rack to cover her as she nodded yes.

“I have information concerning the supporter employed by Mr. Bell Cranell.”

Hestia’s hands stopped as a shiver ran up her spine, making her shoulders twitch. She turned to face Eina.

“I’m going to tell you about the Familia she belongs to, so please listen well.”

The more Eina told her about what she’d learned last night at Loki Familia, the tenser Hestia’s expression became.

Even though the possibility of her being under the influence of Soma was rather low, the supporter working with Bell might have had another motive—like depriving him of all his possessions—when she’d approached him.

Eina said that she would encourage Bell to break off all interaction with said supporter before something serious happened.

“Goddess Hestia, can I ask you to convince him for me?”

Eina looked down at the goddess with her emerald-green eyes.

Hestia looked back at her, speechless.

Since leaving Bell behind, Lilly had stayed on one clear path straight to the upper levels. She cleared the tenth level and ninth level with no trouble at all before arriving on the eighth-level floor.

Lilly knew every twist and turn of the Dungeon down to the eleventh level like the back of her hand.

Her method for relieving adventurers of their valuables was, like she had just done to Bell, to create a diversion and make her move during the ensuing commotion before making her escape—before the mark even noticed she was gone.

However, if they caught up to her, it was all for naught. The only way she had to avoid this was to memorize the dungeon maps sold at the Guild.

Even if she encountered monsters, she had become an expert at leading said monsters to other adventurers and letting them take care of it. In fact, that was about all she did.

Once she got to the surface, all she had to do was return to her normal self and sell off the goods. There was no way any of her victims could catch up at that point.

Alone, she could do nothing. But with a bit of planning and a vicious mind-set, Lilly had tricked many adventurers.

Her reason for stealing from adventurers? To put it simply, revenge.

She decided that she’d take back what was once hers from the people who had tormented her all of her life. She had repeatedly bared her fangs at members of Soma Familia.

She felt no remorse for her actions; it was her right as the victim.

All adventurers were adventurers. That had always been her reasoning, and that was never going to change.

…Everything so far had been the same, until she felt cruel looking away from one boy’s face.

Now that it’s mine, Lilly almost has enough money…

She had no interest in Soma. Actually, quite the opposite—she hated it. A piece of her had a grudge against it as well.

Even just the smell of it might make her fall under its spell again, make her go crazy like an animal.

Therefore, this money was going toward her salvation.

Someday, she was going to trade a large sum of money for her release from Soma Familia.

The point was, Lilly was a possession of the god Soma. She tried to get the Guild involved, but they didn’t have the resources to help her and did nothing. The only thing she could do was convince Soma to let her go by offering an extraordinarily large amount of money in exchange for her freedom.

She made up her mind; she would get her freedom with her own two hands.

“Hmmm!”

Lilly came to a halt as she stepped into some tall grass.

An eighth-level goblin was walking around in front of the only exit from this room, directly in front of her.

There were no signs of other adventurers. The goblin blocked her path. Even if she tried to sneak around it, she couldn’t go forward.

Doubling back and taking another route would take far too long.

While Bell surely had his hands full with the onslaught of monsters heading his direction and wouldn’t be able to pursue her at top speed, there were other dangers in the Dungeon. Time was of the essence, so Lilly decided to break through.

“Lilly’s not built for this kind of roughhousing, yeah?” said Lilly under her breath as she rolled up the right sleeve of her cream-colored robe.

She pulled out a small handheld bow gun.

The magic sword would be wasted on a goblin!

Stepping forward with her right leg, she leveled the bow gun at the monster.

Prums in general were known for having amazing eyesight. Lilly’s round chestnut eyes zeroed in on the goblin, lining it up dead center. The monster finally noticed her as well.

“Bah—ffftt!”

A golden arrow shot out of the bow gun with frightening speed.

The arrow carved through the air and bore straight into the goblin’s right eye.

“GiGYAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

“Excuse me!”

The goblin screamed out in pain, clutching its eye as Lilly used the opportunity to scurry by the monster and to the exit.

Lilly could fight, too, as long as she had a strategy. However, she had to rely completely on weapons and items. Slaying a single monster did not justify the amount of money required to take it down, not by a long shot.

Lilly only fought against monsters in self-defense.

“Lilly’s jealous of Mr. Bell. He could do everything by himself!”

Starting with her magic, Cinder Ella, Lilly’s strengths were not suited for combat. Lilly was very weak physically.

She gained her magic shortly after swearing revenge against adventurers, and hoped that it would transform her into something stronger than her weak self. She was extremely depressed when she learned the truth about it.

However, she soon learned how to use it in a different way to exact revenge. She pushed her magic to its limits and figured out what it could really do.

As proof of its power, her magic allowed her to consistently steal many items, using the same strategy on many adventurers.

Lilly had become powerful enough to laugh at the weakling she once was.

And…seventh level!

She made her way up the staircase jutting out of the wall, to the next floor up.

Lilly kept her speed up as she raced past the light green dungeon walls.

After this floor, the rest is a piece of cake.

In terms of the monsters, the seventh level was the last mountain she needed to climb. It was too early to lose focus.

After this floor, she could handle everything on her own. Her lips started to curve into a smile as she bolted into the next room.

“Ain’t this a surprise. I’ve hit the jackpot.”

“Eh?”

It happened when she came out of a small corridor and into a room.

A leg appeared from the side and caught Lilly’s short body just under her knee.

Her balance gone, Lilly fell face-first onto the dungeon floor.

Wha…what was that…?

Dazed and confused, she put her hand into the dirt to push herself up. That’s when a long shadow fell over her.

She was yanked up before she could turn around; half a second later a boot was slammed into her nose.

“Gyhaaa?!”

“I’d better be gettin’ an apology, ya piece-of-shit prum!”

A powerful fist nailed her left cheek. A river of blood flowed from her nose.

Just as her eyes were beginning to focus, she took another kick to the chest. Her oversized backpack dislodged from her shoulders, rolling backward like a snowball.

The next hit wasn’t far behind—the heel of a boot bore into the small of her back.

“—hhhh?!”

Her body bounced off the floor like a ball, bouncing once, twice.

Lilly was swept up in a whirlpool of pain as her body finally came to a halt.

“Ah…! Gahaahaa…!!”

“Ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! That’s a good look for ya! Plastered in blood and dirt!”

With the world spinning around her, Lilly finally caught a glimpse of the voice’s owner.

It was a human adventurer. The same one who’d been talking to Bell yesterday. Her former employer.

The man’s jaw was pointing at the ceiling as he looked down on her with a sneer.

“Thought it was about time for ya to throw away that kid. I wet up a net for ya. Been dyin’ to say hello!”

“A…net?”

“The Dungeon is huge. Waitin’ for ya by myself woulda been as borin’ as lookin’ for a needle in a haystack. Got myself some partners, increased my chances.”

The Dungeon itself was extremely large; the floors below level five were wider than Central Park. Despite its size, there were only three or four ways to get this far down.

The man had stationed his partners at each of the pathways and waited for her arrival.

Of the four, Lilly had chosen the route that the man was watching.

“Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that white-haired kid running around with a runt…Don’t tell me, the kid had something that made yer eyes go all a-twitter? Are ya dense?”

“…!”

“But I don’t care ’bout that. Before I tear you limb from limb as a thank-you for stealing my sword, think I’ll make you play along…!”

He declared with a sadistic twinge in his eyes that he would take everything from her.

Lilly did her best to cup her still-bleeding nose as the man ripped off her robe, causing everything inside to fall to the ground. She was now wearing only her underclothes, unable to do anything to resist him.

“Magic stones, a gold watch…Hey, hey! You had a magic sword?! Haaa-ha-ha-ha-ha! So ya stole this, too, eh?”

The man was overjoyed by his discovery.

His mood improved greater still when he saw a knife with a glossy shine.

Spinning the crimson knife in one hand, a dark smile grew on his lips.

“Hee-hee-hee-hee…All right, I’ll let you off the hook, ya piece-of-shit prum. After gettin’ a present like this from ya, I’ll show ya a bit of mercy. Nice guy, ain’t I?…Hyaa!”

“Ahgg…!”

Two swift kicks to the stomach and Lilly was reeling in pain.

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad. Lilly’s heart raced inside her small chest, her brain in all-out panic mode.

She knew at that moment that if she didn’t get away now, she would meet a miserable fate at the hands of this man’s brutality.

Just as she took in a deep breath, another man’s voice came from somewhere distant.

“You certainly went all out, Master Gedo.”

A new person was coming toward them.

“…?!”

Looking in the direction of the new voice, Lilly saw someone she recognized.

He was one of the adventurers who’d tried to get money out of her the other day. Just one of the many members of Soma Familia who had tried to do the same thing many times before.

Then it came to her. The man’s partners were members of Soma Familia. Most likely, after talking with Bell, he had seen them arguing with her and decided to ask them for assistance.

“Get this, Kanu. The runt had a magic sword! Just as ya thought, looks like she’s been stealin’ all over the place. Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“…Is that so?”

An adult male animal person, the one called Kanu, narrowed his cloudy, dark eyes at the happy man, the adventurer called Gedo. But Gedo was in such a good mood that he didn’t notice.

“Master Gedo, I have a suggestion…”

“What’s that? Hand it over? Hey, now, I caught the prum, I should have first dibs on—”

“That’s not quite it. Not just the magic sword, but everything you took from her. I suggest you leave it all on the ground.”

“Huh?” Gedo looked at his partner with a confused smile. Before he could ask any questions, however, Kanu pulled something out from behind him and threw it. It landed just in front of Lilly.

“KEEEEI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Lilly screamed. “K-killer ant…?!”

It was only the top half, making it easier to carry. The bloody mess was still oozing purple liquid from many gashes all over its body; it had likely been slain only a few minutes ago. No, not slain. Its mouth was still moving; an arm twitched in agony.

“You might have thought at first that all of us were hunting together. There’s a chance that Master Gedo, who has conquered many floors, is stronger than we are. So the three of us put our heads together and came up with this plan here.”

Plop, plop. Two more barely alive killer-ant bodies landed close to them.

Two more adventurers had arrived in the room from separate entrances, both of them working with Kanu. The three masses of dying ant let out cries that united to create eerie echoes throughout the room, like a curse from another world.

Both Gedo’s and Lilly’s faces turned pale.

Killer ants released a special pheromone when they were close to death. It was a call for help, and other killer ants would answer.

The three balls of still-breathing ant flesh had been releasing the pheromone for some time. The room had become a ticking time bomb.

“Are you serious?!!” Gedo said.

There were three ants in that state calling for help. Just how many of their friends would answer?

The expressions on Kanu’s and his allies’ faces were surprisingly calm and unchanging, even during Gedo’s screaming.

Only Lilly correctly understood the adventurer’s irrational obsession with money, having been under the influence of Soma herself.

“You don’t want to become their prey while you’re fighting with us, now do you, Master?”

“Hyee?!”

Five killer ants poked their heads into the room entrance behind Gedo.

This room had four entrances. Kanu and his cronies were standing in front of three of them; the last one now had killer ants in the way. Gedo gritted his teeth, shaking in a mixture of fear and anger. His pale face hardened as he threw everything he’d taken from Lilly to the ground.

“Damn! Damn you all!!!”

Kanu grinned as he stepped aside to allow the man to pass. Gedo took one last look around the room before running past him.

Not a moment later, a barbaric roar erupted from the corridor, followed by the sound of a sword clang. After that, silence.

A shell-shocked Lilly had no way to see what happened; there was a wall of giant ants between her and the exit.

“Gii…!!”

“?!”

A killer ant stepped in front of Lilly as the room was flooded with the monsters.

Her injured body wouldn’t move like she wanted it to, and she couldn’t get out of the way of the monster’s incoming claws.

Blood suddenly sprayed into the air.

The injured killer ant fell to the floor.

“Are you okay, Erde?”

“Mister…Kanu…”

Kanu looked down on the girl, his mouth nothing more than an upward rip in his face and a purple blood–splattered sword resting on his shoulder.

“I came for you, to save you. We are in the same Familia, after all.”

Lilly bit her lip and clenched her fists as the man in front of her spoke like some kind of hero.

His partners were holding the killer ants back, for now.

“That’s right, we all came for you, Erde. In this desperate situation, we didn’t abandon you, see?”

“…Yes.”

“…You know what I’m saying, yeah?”

He wrapped his arm behind Lilly’s shoulder as he spoke. His tone sounded as though he were acting in a play rather than facing death.

His eyes might have been looking at Lilly’s quivering body, but in reality he didn’t see her.

All he could see was money—to be more specific, the Soma that the money would get him.

Kanu’s expression was calm and collected, but on the inside he was overwhelmed with anxiety.

“Hey, speed it up! We can’t hold them!” said one crony.

“I know!” Kanu looked to Lilly. “You, yesterday you said you had no money. Drop the act. If you try to pull something like that again…”

“Okay! Okay-okay-okay…!”

Seeing the direness of her situation, Lilly nodded with a defeated look on her face.

She had no time to be angry, so Lilly grabbed a small key that was hidden as part of a necklace and held it out to him.

“The hell is this?”

“A key to a gnome rental storage unit in Orario’s eastern ward…”

“Talking about a safepoint? To think you kept large amounts of vals in a box that small…”

“Gnome jewels are in there…”

“Ah…now I gotcha…”

The jewels and minerals that gnomes collected were highly valuable. Their worth rarely changed so there was always a buyer. Lilly had exchanged most of her ill-gotten gains from coins into gnome jewels at the Gnome Trader because carrying large amounts of money would look suspicious if she were caught.

Another dark grin graced Kanu’s lips as he nodded and grabbed the collar of Lilly’s shirt. With a big wad of fabric in his hand, he pulled Lilly to her feet and then up off the floor, placing her level with his eyes.

“Mr. Kanu…what are you…?”

“We’re in quite the pinch, you know. Look around. We’re being surrounded.”

At least twenty killer ants had made an almost complete ring around them. There was only one exit that was still open for escape.

Lilly futilely kicked her legs as she hung in the animal man’s grasp, but it was like trying to swim in the air.

Kanu, five o’clock shadow and all, made one last big smile.

“Buy us some time.”

“?!”

“We’ll make our escape while you draw them away, Erde. That exit over there isn’t blocked yet, so we can take a few of them while you act as a decoy.”

Terror filled Lilly’s eyes as she looked back at him.

Chancing a look to the side, she saw Kanu’s partners had the same savage smile on their faces.

“Without money, you’re useless. At least do your job to help us one last time, supporter.”

Lilly was thrown.

Making a tall arc in the air, she cleared the ring of killer ants.

The monsters quickly locked onto her airborne body and followed her.

For Lilly, time stood still. She watched the adventurers make a break for the exit, smiling their evil smiles, before finally hitting the dungeon floor.

The impact knocked the wind out of her, but nothing else.

“…haa-haaa…”

She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling and laughing awkwardly, broken. The killer ants were all coming in her direction.

So this is how it ends, she thought to herself. There was no reason to laugh, but she couldn’t help it.

Adventurers truly were not worthy of trust.

If this is some kind of punishment for everything up till now, it’s far too cruel, her train of thought continued.

…But wait.

If this is punishment for what Lilly did to Mr. Bell, maybe it’s okay.

Despite being an adventurer, he didn’t act like any adventurer Lilly knew. If this was her reward, then strangely she felt as though it was her duty to be punished.

“Giyaa……!”

More killer ants than she could count were making noises and advancing on her in a wave of pincers and claws.

There was no way for her to escape. She had landed against a wall.

The monsters had surrounded her. They approached in an ever-closing arc around Lilly as she lay helpless on her back.

“…Lilly’s…sad.”

Her words were drowned out by the continuous pounding of hundreds of killer-ant feet on the floor.

A professional supporter. Always treated like something else.

Adventurers never felt remorse for the luggage carrier, even if the supporter fell. They were useless.

Right where Lilly, who could do nothing by herself, belonged. That was, in fact, who she was.

Her pathetic self.

Lilly hated the person she was most of all.

“Gods…why…?”

No one ever called out to her. No one ever depended on her.

She was always used, never needed.

She hated how weak she was. She hated the fact that her life was always directed by someone else’s hand.

Lilly wanted to become someone else, anyone else but Lilly.

Even the magic she learned showed that she didn’t want to be herself.

“Why…why did you make Lilly, Lilly…?”

She didn’t know how many times she had thought about dying.

She had wished that she could go to the gods and ask for a reset more times than she could remember.

She wanted to become a different Lilly—any Lilly was better than this one.

In the end, Lilly was too weak to go through with it.

But somewhere in her heart, Lilly always wanted a reset.

“Gisyaaa…!”

“……That’s right. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

The half ring of monsters around her was getting closer and closer.

Flop. Her cheek hit the floor as she turned her head to the side with a small, accepting smile on her face.

One killer ant was so close it looked gigantic from her new line of sight.

Its leg stopped right in front of her face.

“…So lonely.”

Lilly was surprised by the words that rolled off her tongue.

It was how she really felt. Only at the end did she realize it.

Oh…Lilly was lonely.

She was used to not being needed.

Used to it, but the loneliness never went away.

Alone.

Not having anyone to rely on or depend on her made her lonely.

She got used to being alone but never got used to being lonely.

“So that was it, Lilly…”

She wanted to be with someone.

She lamented the fact that only now did she see the truth.

“SyyyAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The closest killer ant raised its claws. They glinted in the light shining down from the ceiling above.

Good-bye.

She could finally die. It was finally over. She could go to the gods.

The tiny girl whom no one would save, the girl who was worth nothing, the lonely girl…

She could reset at last.

Finally, Lilly can…

…And Lilly was so close to finding someone, too…

Is Lilly…finally going to die?

She lightly smiled, a tear rolling down her cheek.

And then…

“FIREBOOOOOOLT!!!”

An explosion of flames.

“…Huh?”

A scarlet inferno engulfed the room.

“It’s not possible.”

Hestia looked up at Eina and answered with a long sigh.

“What do you mean…?”

“That’s not going to happen. Bell has already decided not to cut ties with that supporter.”

Eina stood completely still, not expecting that response. Hestia let out another sigh.

Hestia gently closed her eyes and remembered what had transpired last night.

“Goddess, I…Even so, if she is in trouble, I want to help.”

Hestia had mentioned that the supporter, the girl, shouldn’t be trusted. That was Bell’s response.

Maybe Hestia hadn’t heard him the first time, but Bell quickly put those words together as the goddess tried to sway him. However, Bell wouldn’t—no, couldn’t—listen to her and change his mind.

“That girl, she seemed lonely. I don’t think she knows it, though. It’s like she’s numb, just smiling a cute smile…She thinks she’s fine on her own.”

Bell kept on talking about Lilly and the things he had seen. Hestia had never seen this girl, but she kept listening.

On top of that, Bell added his own memory to the conversation.

“Wasn’t it you, Goddess, who helped me when I was lonely?”

He saw a bit of himself in Lilly.

Before meeting Hestia, Bell wandered around Orario by himself, on the verge of being crushed by anxiety and loneliness. Lilly had the same look in her eyes as he did then.

“If I’m wrong, then that’s fine. But if I’m right…This time, I want to be the one to help.”

Bell said that he wanted to become someone like the goddess who saved him, to be like Hestia. He left it at that.

“That boy…Bell. He’s the type of person who can pass on the kindness he receives to anyone. He recognizes pain that he has felt in others…”

Hestia had kept her eyes on the shelves in front of them while speaking. She once again looked up at Eina.

“He’s really stubborn when he makes up his mind. No one can reason with him now.”

Eina looked as though she had been thrown for a loop. Hestia’s shoulders dropped as she looked at the troubled expression on the half-elf’s face. Eina’s lips quivered as if she wanted to say something.

“Not convinced?”

“No, no…That does sound like something Bell would say. But what’s he basing it on……?”

Hestia crossed her arm and let out a small “hmm” as she looked at the unease written all over Eina’s face.

Hestia puffed out her cheeks as she chose her words; it felt strange even to say them out loud.

“About that. Bell has an extraordinary ability to read people. He’s as good as we, the gods, are. Probably.”

“LILLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

A voice calling out to her cut through the swarm of monsters.

Echoes of explosion after explosion of fire filled the room. The startled killer ants all tried to turn and face this sudden attack from behind but ran into one another as they moved.

Flashes of fire reflected off Lilly’s eyes as they came closer, carving a path through the massive ants. The moment Lilly clearly saw lightning flames…The wall of monsters collapsed and a white-haired boy jumped through.

“OUT OF MY WAYYYY!!!”

“GIGAA?!”

The boy, Bell, dove toward Lilly, wielding both his dagger and the shortsword as he tore through the mass of killer ants.

The killer ant standing over the girl froze for a moment before its head was separated from its body in a flash.

“Lilly! You’re okay, yes?! Do you know who I am?”

At first, Lilly didn’t recognize the boy embracing her.

His ruby-red eyes were shaking as he held her. The fingers around her shoulder were clamped down so tight that it hurt.

Bell quickly took out a potion and raised it to her lips.

Lilly’s blank eyes looked as if she already had one foot in the grave. But her mouth opened just enough to allow the blue liquid to roll down her throat.

Koff! Koff! A moment later, a cute little cough escaped her lungs.

“…Mr. Bell?”

“Yes, it’s me! You’re okay, right?”

Bell’s voice cracked as he spoke, tears gushing from his eyes—like Lilly’s were, a moment ago—and a smile on his face.

Heat filled Lilly’s body, which had been cold until now, as she was pulled into a strong and somewhat painful hug.

Seeing that Lilly was all right, Bell immediately looked up from her.

The sharp claws of the surviving monsters were closing in.

Lilly’s hand moved on its own underneath her shirt, where she had hidden a jet-black knife up until now. She pulled it up and held it out to Bell.

Bell grinned from ear to ear as he took the Hestia Knife from her.

“Wait for a minute, just like usual.”

Saying those words, Bell stood up.

Angry, clicking sounds reverberated around the room. Many spots on the floor were burning from Bell’s magic, smoke rising into the air.

There was no greater feeling of isolation that this.

No less than thirty monsters had Bell and Lilly surrounded. Even more were coming from the exits, born from the walls.

All of them looked as though they could charge at any second. And yet, Bell wasn’t afraid.

The Bell of a few days ago would have faltered in the face of this many enemies for sure. Even now, Bell could never contend with this many monsters at once.

However, now Bell had magic.

“Here I come…!”

He withdrew a vial filled with yellowish liquid from his leg holster.

Bell now knew about the limits of the Mind Down and had purchased this 8,700-val trump card to be ready to face death.

“Magic Potion.” Medicine that healed the mind.

Popping the cap off the vial with his thumb, Bell downed it all in one gulp.

“…—RIGHT!!!!”

“Hh!!”

Another one of the ants stepped forward, and Bell raised his right arm.

“FIREBOLT—!!!!”

The killer ant was blasted backward the moment electric flames erupted from Bell’s palm.

That was the signal. All the ants charged at once. Bell started yelling over and over at the oncoming onslaught.

Rapid-fire explosions of flame and electricity blanketed them all.

Every time Bell shouted, a new jet of electrical inferno shot forward, illuminating the room.

Every time his scarlet lightning was released, at least one killer ant was rent asunder. Some of his lucky shots slew two of the beasts at once.

The army of killer ants took Bell’s assault head-on, giving no ground.

Magic was turning the tide of battle against overwhelming numbers.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

Bell reached for his weapons once a good portion of the killer ants had fallen.

Gripping the Hestia Knife in one hand and his dagger in the other, he charged headlong into the mass of wounded killer ants.

Lilly watched on in silence as flashes of purple light were followed by a severed head or torso flying into the air.

“……”

She sat quietly in stunned silence, watching the scene unfold before her eyes.

Whenever she caught a glimpse of his white hair, another killer ant was sliced down in a surge of purple liquid.

He was fast, sharp, and strong.

Before she knew it, Bell was the only one standing. There had been so many killer ants just a few minutes ago; now they were all motionless on the dungeon floor.

Bell returned both blades to their sheaths with a look of relief on his face. He took one last look around the room before returning to Lilly’s side.

“How…did you get here?” she asked.

“Well, orcs kept coming in after you left, but I think another adventurer came, probably. I couldn’t see clearly because of the fog, but all the monsters between the exit and me suddenly weren’t there anymore…”

That was how Bell had managed to do the impossible and cover that much ground to come straight here.

Bell forced a smile, scratching the back of his head as though what he did was no big deal. However, something inside Lilly snapped when she saw that.

“…Why?”

“Eh? Did you say something, Lilly?”

“Why did you do it?”

The floodgates were open; Lilly’s mouth started moving on its own.

There was something else she should be saying right now, but other words were spilling out.

“Why did you save Lilly? Why didn’t you just abandon Lilly?”

“…What?”

“There’s no way you couldn’t have realized by now Lilly was fooling you! Does Mr. Bell think Lilly wanted to surprise him by taking that knife, or something stupid like that?!”

The confused look on Bell’s face only served to make Lilly’s voice even more heated.

Lilly’s sudden rage burned through the last wall of self-restraint.

“What are you, Mr. Bell? An idiot? A buffoon?! An airheaded moron beyond all hope of recovery?!”

“Moron……?! Wait, Lilly, calm down…?!”

“Impossible!! Mr. Bell doesn’t notice anything?! Lilly took money for herself at the Exchange! Mr. Bell’s and Lilly’s shares should have been fifty-fifty, but it was closer to forty-sixty! There were times Lilly got greedy and made it thirty-seventy! Lilly charged you more than double the price of items when Lilly prepared them! Twelve of them! Lilly doesn’t know how many times Lilly was shocked by your lack of knowledge about items, or how careless you are with equipment!!”

Bell’s mouth twitched as all this information suddenly came to light.

Lilly would not stop. A little voice in the back of her head was frantically saying “Stop!” but it was no use. She kept on confessing to everything.

“Do you understand now?! Lilly is a bad, bad person! A thief! Lilly’s a piece-of-shit prum who lied to you over and over! Lilly’s not worthy to be your supporter!”

“U-um…”

“Even still…even still, Mr. Bell saved Lilly?!”

“Y-yes.”

“WHY?!”

Lilly was gasping for breath as she looked at Bell.

She had no clue what she was hoping to hear.

But her heart was beating a mile a minute, faster than it should be even now.

A little frightened by Lilly’s barrage, Bell opened his mouth to speak almost as a reflex and said these words:

“B-because you’re a girl.”

—HUH?? Lilly’s entire body felt like it was on fire.

Her fists clenched; her shoulders rose to her ears in anger.

Her emotions were boiling over, and she had no idea why.

She couldn’t understand this explosion of discontent.

“ID-IOT!! Mr. Bell is an IDIOT!!! Saying something like that again, it’s the same as before?! Would Mr. Bell save ANY woman just because?! Lilly can’t believe this!! You’re horrible!! Playboy!! Pervert!! Enemy of all women!!!!”

For some reason, tears leaked out of Lilly’s eyes during her rant.

She was in no position to be saying any of it, but she unloaded all of her discontent on the boy standing in front of her.

Discontent? About what?

He saved her; just what did she have to be discontented about?

What was this flame in her chest—no, her whole body—trying to say?

She didn’t have any idea.

Bell withstood the latest tirade, Lilly once again panting for breath.

Relaxing his shoulders and smiling, Bell leaned forward and placed his hand gently on the cheek of the dog-earless Lilly.

“Well then, because you’re Lilly.”

“—”

Chestnut eyes went as wide as they could go.

“I saved you because you’re you, Lilly. I didn’t want you to disappear.”

“Fuu, ehh……!”

“There’s nothing else to it. Why would I need a better reason to save Lilly?”

Her tear ducts gave out.

A waterfall of tears gushed from her eyes, flowing down her face in all directions.

Lilly couldn’t hold back any longer and cried out.

“Hic…waaaaaah!”

“Lilly, if you’re in trouble, come talk to me. I’m an idiot, so I won’t know unless you tell me.”

“Hic…! Waaahhh…”

“I’ll help you, you can count on it.”

Lilly dove into his chest and hung on tight.

His metallic armor got in the way, but she didn’t care. She embraced him with all her might, her hands around his back.

She could feel the palms of Bell’s warm hands gently stroking her head and back over and over again.

She knew. She noticed.

Bell had thought of her when he rushed to this room.

His light clothes were trashed, torn to shreds.

The pale skin showing through the holes was covered in cuts and bruises.

Lilly knew that he had taken on hordes of monsters to come to her side.

She wanted to call out to him, to say something to acknowledge what Bell had done.

Lilly wanted him to accept the one thing she hated most: Lilly.

“Sorry…so, so sorry…!”

“…It’s okay.”

The sound of Lilly’s cries echoed far and wide.

The scene of a giant ant massacre filled one corner of the Dungeon. Slowly but surely, their magic stones broken one by one, the slain killer ants turned to ash amid smoke rising from still-burning embers strewn about the room.

The ashes slowly fell off the crying girl’s face, along with her tears.

The human kept the small prum girl in a tight embrace, the same calm smile on his face.

The sky was clear.

Just like on the day that someone called out to him, not a cloud in the sky.

Bell walked toward Babel Tower, his white hair bathed in sunlight.

Two days had passed since then.

He hadn’t seen any trace of Lilly since they broke up.

The room she had used up to that point had been completely cleared out; she’d left no messages.

There was no point going to Soma Familia for help. Lilly had disappeared altogether.

He felt worried and anxious.

He didn’t know how many times he had considered searching the city.

But at the same time, Bell had a feeling.

A feeling that he would see her again soon.

It really was just a thought, but he kept to his usual routine.

So he could be found easily.

“!”

Bell stopped. And then started right back up again.

He caught a glimpse of something at Babel’s west gate: a small figure standing still, wearing a cream robe.

The figure’s hands were clasped around straps of a backpack while she looked at the ground.

The figure’s round, cute eyes were clearly visible between bangs in the sunlight.

Bell set out toward the figure at a brisk walk. He didn’t want to scare her or make her jump.

The prum girl noticed him in no time.

Her shoulders dropped to an almost pitiful level. She stood still as she watched him approach.

“……”

“……”

They were close enough to shake hands—if only one of them would reach out.

Lilly looked up and opened her mouth to speak over and over again, but each time she couldn’t get any words out.

She couldn’t start a conversation; it was very unlike her.

Bell waited patiently for Lilly to speak, but seeing her struggling with it, he flashed a quick smile before starting the conversation himself.

“Miss Supporter! Miss Supporter! Are you looking for an adventurer?”

“Huh?”

Lilly looked up again.

Bell’s big grin reflected off Lilly’s round, chestnut-colored eyes.

“Are you confused? This is a pretty simple situation, you know. An adventurer in need of a supporter has come to you, asking to buy your services.”

Lilly realized what was going on.

Her eyes filled with tears of joy. Her cheeks turned a warm shade of pink.

Bell shyly held out his right hand, as though he were embarrassed.

“I was wondering if you’d be willing to prowl the Dungeon with me.”

Today was a fresh start.

Bell and Lilly really joined forces—their own two-person party.

Their relationship had been reset.

A new beginning.

“—Yes! Please take Lilly with you!”

With a smile as big as a sunflower, Lilly took Bell’s outstretched hand in her own.