by Fujino Omori
“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 tha
t 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……!”