by Fujino Omori
Eina had newfound respect for Hestia and her strategy for keeping Bell’s status a secret.
“Um…Ms. Eina? Are you finished yet?”
“A…ah! Yes!”
Eina’s ears jumped as Bell’s still-embarrassed voice reached them and she noticed the situation. Eina laughed out of her own embarrassment as she looked away from Bell’s status and bowed a few times in apology.
It’s true…she groaned to herself.
There was no way she could withhold permission to enter the seventh level with a status like that. As long as he was careful, he should be able to go there safely, even alone.
—However, she did have one other problem with him going that far down.
“…”
“W-what is it?”
Fully dressed, Bell heard his voice waver as Eina’s eyes traveled his body from head to toe. Her gaze was overwhelming.
But it didn’t look like she doubted Bell’s ability or strength.
She wasn’t looking at his body; she was looking at the poor excuse for armor that was covering it.
“Bell.”
“Y-yes?”
“Do you have any plans tomorrow?”
“…Huh?”
A day has passed since our conversation.
I’m standing by myself in a half-circle-shaped park built just off of North Main.
Waiting for Eina.
Yep, I’m meeting her here.
Is this…a date?
No, that’s not possible, I reassure myself.
Yesterday Eina asked if I had time to go buy some new armor with her. Seemed like she thought my current set wouldn’t be enough. Once again, she’s going out of her way to help me. She’s looking out for me.
So she’s not thinking of this as a date. She’s just being kind—kindly failing to mind her own business.
…Still, to anyone who didn’t know the details, this really would seem like…
All of the conditions are there.
Conditions like “Let’s meet at ten in front of the bronze statue in the park!” and “Just the two of us!”
Whoa! Whoa!!!
“Hey! Bell!”
“!”
And now the time has come.
The owner of the pretty voice comes jogging up to me waving her hand, her figure growing in my line of sight.
“Good morning! Aren’t you early? Was the idea of buying new armor that exciting?”
“Ah, no, I just…”
—I just think it’s strange to be alone with you, Eina. I don’t have the guts to say that to her directly, though.
“Well, I was excited, too. I know this is your shopping trip, but I’m eager to get started.”
Eina is wearing clothes I’ve never seen her in before. Usually she’s in a perfectly pressed Guild uniform, but today she’s in a cute, lacy white blouse and a short skirt. She’s got a good sense of fashion. I can’t really look at her the same way I usually do.
Maybe it’s because I’m used to seeing her in that uniform all the time, but today she seems more grown-up. How do I put it…she’s practically glowing.
Yes, she’s very cute.
I am totally taken in by the charms of this new Eina.
“Do you think I’m strange for getting excited about buying possibly dangerous equipment?”
“N-no, not at all!” I vigorously shake my head, but Eina just giggles. Whoa, whoa…
Eina is probably a contender for the first or second most popular Guild member among all adventurers. I wonder if all half-elves are like her…
“Ahem. Anyway, Bell?”
“W-what is it?”
“What do you think? Seeing me out of uniform? Anything to say?”
She looks up at me with the eyes of a mischievous child.
Whoa, whoa, now…
“You look…well…much younger than usual.”
“Hey! I’m still only nineteen, you know!”
“Owowowowowow!!!!!”
Eina whips her thin white arm around my neck, putting me in a headlock.
As I try to escape, my neck slips into her armpit, my cheek rubbing up against a very soft bulge…
“Hey! Say you’re sorry!!”
“P-please, forgive meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” I yell with all my might over the sound of Eina’s amused laughter.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been out shopping like this.”
“Really? I’m surprised that people can leave someone like you alone…especially guys.”
“Hee-hee, you’re good, Bell. But it’s true. I’ve been busy at work ever since I started at the Guild.”
The sky is a bright, clear blue.
Perfect for a date…is not what I’m trying to say, but the weather is very calming. I follow Ms. Eina southward on North Main, a cooling breeze at my back.
The main streets are always busy at this time of day. It’s difficult to get anywhere. Employees of stores both large and small stand outside trying to bring in customers. I could swear the ground shakes when a dwarf yells out his store’s special deals.
A few of them call out to Eina (apparently mistaking me for a manservant) but she just waves them off with a friendly grin. One animal-person clerk looks really happy when she flashes him a smile.
“Um, can I ask where we’re going today? If we keep going this way, we’ll end up at the Dungeon…”
“Would you be angry if I said ‘Not knowing is part of the fun’? Okay, I’ll tell you.”
Orario has eight main streets all extending out from the core. There’s one that goes north, one that goes northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest. If you think about it from a bird’s-eye view, there are four thick lines intersecting in the middle of the city.
The Dungeon is right where they all come together.
But on ground level, the main streets all meet at Central Park. It’s right in front of us now. In the center of the park is an overwhelmingly large building. It blocks more and more of my view of southern Orario as I wait for Eina’s answer.
“Our destination is…the Dungeon.”
“Whaaaaaaa?”
“The tower above the Dungeon—Babel, to be more specific.”
Babel Tower functions as a lid over the Dungeon itself. It’s that big building casting a massive shadow over western Orario right now.
Being a “lid,” Babel is used to monitor and control the Dungeon entrance.
Managed by the Guild, it’s a building that adventurers see very often.
“Babel…Isn’t it just a public facility and a…shower room for adventurers?”
“You really are clueless, aren’t you? But you’ve only been an adventurer for a few weeks, so I guess it can’t be helped. Right, then, you’re gonna get some useful information today.”
I remember all too well her Spartan style of “summarizing” useful information about the Dungeon, and to be honest, that look in her eyes is scaring me.
Praying that it won’t get as intense as that time, I brace myself for the incoming lecture.
“Just like you said, there are shower rooms for adventurers as well as public facilities inside the tower under the Guild’s control. Did you know there are a cafeteria, hospital, and even an Exchange in Babel?”
“Huh? I thought that the Exchanges at the Guild’s main office and branches were the only ones.”
“Nope, there is one here, too. But it is a little understaffed, so I hear the lines get a bit ridiculous. Anyway, one more thing. The Guild rents out open space to shops and merchants, and that’s where we are going today.”
Okay, now I get it. The reason we’ve come this far is that we’re going to visit one of the equipment shops in Babel Tower.
“Babel was built right on top of the Dungeon, so naturally all the shops there cater to adventurers. Many of them are run by mercantile Familias that specialize. I imagine you’ve heard of Hephaistos Familia?”
“Y-yes.”
My heart jumps. My hand grabs the k
nife currently tucked into the back of my armor.
“How much do you know about Hephaistos Familia, Bell?”
“Well, um, I know that that Familia makes very high-quality weapons and equipment that all adventurers want…”
“Yep, that’s absolutely right. As it happens, we are going to a shop run by Hephaistos Familia today.”
“Wh-whaaaat?”
It’s the loudest I’ve yelped all day. Eina looks at me like a kid who just pulled a prank and I was her victim.
I hurry up to her, hoping for some kind of explanation. But she just steps to the side and reveals a wide-open space at the base of Babel Tower behind her.
“We’re here…”
Central Park.
It makes a perfect circle with the massive white tower in the center. With trees planted all over the place and fountains built into the ground, it really does feel like a park.
Back on North Main, all sorts of people mingle together as they go about their business. But most people in Central Park are carrying big swords and long spears—they’re adventurers. The truly scary thing is that even though there are enough adventurers here to make my eyes spin, Central Park doesn’t feel full at all.
“Eina, what is going on? Do I look like an adventurer who could buy anything from Hephaistos Familia?!”
“Not knowing is part of the fun! You’ll see when we get there.”
“I’ve been sweating bullets since we met up this morning! I can’t take much more of this!”
She looks right at my strained face and crying eyes but is utterly unmoved by them. She won’t even slow down.
“Here we go! Man up and stop complaining!”
My face turns red and my mind is blank as Eina grabs my hand and pulls me into the tower.
Her thin hands are soft and warm—the complete opposite of mine. Hands get rough when you work in the field every day. My head swims; I can’t grab onto any of my thoughts.
As we weave through the crowd, I can’t help but feel like all the male adventurers about to go into the Dungeon are looking at me like they want to murder me…
I take a deep breath and look up at the tower to calm down.
“Ms. E-Eina, m-m-my hand…Please let go. I’m begging you…!”
“Since we’re about to pay one of the top forging Familias a visit, it would be a good idea to know a little about the smiths themselves, right? Bell, do you know about ‘Advanced Abilities’?”
I guess she’s going to ignore my bumbling request. I’m a man, but I can’t even get her to listen. I feel like I’m dying here.
I do my best to shrink behind her, shaking.
“No…I don’t.”
“A blessed person receives an Advanced Ability by choice when their level goes up. They’re usually more specialized than basic abilities.”
Eina simplifies it by explaining that an Advanced Ability is like a reward for your level going up…a “rank up” present of sorts.
“The kinds of Advanced Abilities available for someone to choose are predetermined, but one option is called ‘Forge.’”
Burst Ability and Forge. I’ve never heard these words before.
According to Eina, Forge is necessary to become a smith in today’s world. Also, apparently more than half of Hephaistos Familia’s smiths have it.
To put it another way, more than half of them are level two or above. That’s a very strong group.
“Smiths have been around since ancient times, of course. Most of their works are antiques now, but there are some that can still be used. But blessed smiths with the Forge ability can add special properties to the items they create.”
“Special properties…?”
“An ability unique to that individual weapon. You know how adventurers can get skills on top of their statuses? Smiths with the Forge ability can give skills to weapons. For example, blessed smiths can make a sword that will never break or will always be sharp. If they were just shaping metal, they couldn’t do that, right?”
Very true, I nod in agreement.
“There are also weapons that produce something very similar to magic—like shooting flames when swung, things like that.”
“Huh?!”
“I thought this was common knowledge…Anyway, weapons that can produce magic-like effects are referred to as ‘magic blades.’ Only a few smiths can make them.”
I swallow audibly. What this all means is that if I can get my hands on one of these magic swords, I would have the power to take on experienced swordsmen.
“A quick warning—‘magic blades’ have a limit. Once they have used up all their energy, they break. And they’re not as powerful as spell-based magic from a magic user.”
Eina adds that they’re both disposable and extremely expensive, a smirk on her face.
I guess that means that most adventurers don’t use magic swords. I’m sure that it’s not due to lack of popularity. But taking a weapon that will break into the Dungeon, where anything can happen, wouldn’t make me feel safe. Yeah, I bet that’s why most people resist the urge to get one.
Well, that and the price tag.
“Um, Eina. Are there Advanced Abilities other than Forge?” As an adventurer, I have to ask. I’ll be going down that path someday. I will rank up!
“Well, many adventurers gain abilities called Heavy Guard or Magic Control. Other than that, there is also an ability called Enigma.”
“Enigma…?”
“Yes, now how do I explain this…It allows someone to perform a special trick—a miracle, if you will. A ‘Divine Art’ might be a good way to put it. Do you know about the Philosopher’s Stone, Bell?”
No, of course I don’t. I shake my head side to side.
“This happened a long, long time ago, but a member of a Familia with the Enigma ability succeeded in making an item called the Philosopher’s Stone. The stone grants the user eternal life.”
“…I don’t know why, but my jaw won’t close.”
“Hee-hee, I know, right? But there is more to this story…You see, the maker took the Philosopher’s Stone to the god of the Familia…The god took the stone in his hand and smashed it to pieces on the floor in front of him…the source of eternal life.”
“…………”
“According to the story, the god looked at the maker’s shell of a face after that and laughed so hard he pulled a muscle in his stomach.”
This is the cruelest myth I have ever heard.
When I say myth, I’m talking about a story about the gods that has a completely appalling ending.
I’m so lucky to have met Hestia first…
“The Philosopher’s Stone was created by accident, and all attempts to recreate it failed. No one after the maker mastered the Enigma skill, so his Philosopher’s Stone became a legendary item.”
“Mastered…? So these abilities need experience to grow, like a status?”
“Not quite. The abilities do have an S to I grade, but raising the level doesn’t require experience like a status. It takes much more to raise the grade, and is very difficult. It’s nothing like raising a basic Ability.”
That sounds really hard…but I don’t actually say what I’m thinking.
I’m still a ways away from experiencing this myself, but I can imagine.
We arrive at the front gate of Babel Tower during our conversation. “Gate” might not be the best word because the ground floor of the tower has many arches all the way around the circumference, to allow any number of adventurers to enter from any direction at any time. Passing through the nearest arch, a pale blue and white lobby opens up in front of us.
The entrance to the Dungeon is right below our feet.
“From here…?”
“We go up. The shops in Babel start at the fourth floor.”
The first floor of the tower is, as I said, a massive lobby. The community center is on the second. We climb up to the third, Eina pulling me by my hand to the middle of another lobby. I catch a glimpse of the Exch
ange out of the corner of my eye. But I can’t see any stairs.
There are several wide, circular pedestals on the floor of the lobby. Eina leads me up onto one of them. A clear tube of something clear rises up around us. I swear it looks like glass…
Eina reaches for some kind of control panel. The instant she touches it, the pedestal leaves the floor and begins floating in midair.
It goes up and up…no, it’s growing upward!
“?!”
“A-ha-ha, I was the same way the first time.”
It seems the pedestal and the glass are parts of a floor-transport device…Most likely this is another magic-stone device.
That means that there must be a large number of magic stones beneath the pedestal, and their energy is being converted into lift. Eina takes a look at my surprised face and explains that the magic stones needed to be changed out after a certain amount of time. This thing doesn’t just work forever, it turns out.
In no time at all we reach the fourth floor of Babel.
“The shop I have in mind is a few more floors up, but as long as we’re here, let’s take a look around. You want to see the top-of-the-line equipment too, right, Bell?”
The entire floor is filled with weapon and armor shops. I’ll admit I get excited looking at all the sharp, shiny things. I nod to Eina as we step off the pedestal.
There is only one sign on the whole floor: Ἥφαιστος. Don’t tell me…all the shops here are part of Hephaistos Familia…?”
“I see you noticed the logo. Actually, all the shops from the fourth floor up to the eighth floor are owned by Hephaistos Familia.”
…The entire floor…Just how powerful is Hephaistos Familia?!
By the way, they also have a shop close to my home with the goddess on Northwest Main.
The short sword in the window…is worth 8 million vals. That’s enough to buy several houses.
Stepping up to the display window of the closest shop, a crimson sword enshrined there catches my eye. I go up to take a look at the price…
…Thirty million vals?!
All the blood leaves my face. I lift my hand to my forehead, trying to steady myself. I can tell that next to me, Eina is giggling to herself.