by Fujino Omori
“This isn’t much, but I’ll do what I can to help. Bell, Kenki, bring Hestia back safe and sound.”
He said he didn’t want this to be the way he had to say good-bye to her.
Bell was moved by Hermes’s gesture to help a friend in need. He and Aiz next to him both nodded right away.
“I will!”
“Understood.”
As if it had been waiting for the adventurers to depart, the colossal gate opened once again to beckon them forth.
“Lady Hestia was…?!”
The members of Hestia Familia were shocked to hear the news once Miach arrived at their doorstep.
They were standing on the front lawn, the main door wide open. Mikoto cried out, but it didn’t take Welf ten seconds to figure out the reason why his goddess had been abducted. It left him speechless.
Fists trembling, the words “You bastards…!” hissed from between clenched teeth.
Now the goddess had been drawn into his family problem. Haruhime watched him in silence, a look of concern on her face as the young man’s blood boiled. Meanwhile, Lilly rushed up to Miach with a sense of urgency.
Looking up at the tall god, she asked:
“Where is Mr. Bell right now?”
“At the city’s north gate, awaiting Hestia’sNo.”
Miach stopped midsentence and took back his words. He then turned to look north.
Narrowing his eyes as he stared off into the distance, the look on the boy’s face before he left fresh in his memory, he amended his statement.
“He’s left the north gate to go find Hestia himself by now.”
Whistling wind and running feet.
Two adventurers, one with long blond hair and the other with short white hair, navigated a steep mountain road at a speed that average people could never dream of achieving.
Directly north from Orario was the Beor Mountain Range.
It was known for steep drop-offs and incredibly dangerous paths. Clearing one mountain peak only brought several more peaks into view. For that reason, it had been dubbed the “Mountain Castle.” Since it was located so close to the Dungeon entrance, monsters that had come to the surface during the Ancient Times had taken up residence among its countless peaks, resulting in the area being referred to as evil. That reputation and the rugged terrain meant that adventurers hardly came out this way, even during the modern age.
The mountains themselves bore almost no vegetation, their ash-colored rocky surfaces completely exposed. However, the areas between the sharp cliffs in the deep valleys were filled with green. One look toward the horizon showed many stark mountaintops separated by grand cliff sides and brilliant forests.
Bell and Aiz ran through the unforgiving terrain of the Beor Mountain Range underneath a gray sky.
It went without saying that wild animals and even the occasional threatening monster were quick to get out of their path.
One large-class monster, a bug bear, recklessly charged them but was dispatched by the girl’s saber, sliced in half in the blink of an eye.
Monsters on the surface were much weaker than their brethren within the Dungeon. Even so, the only sound Bell could hear as he ran by the carcass still spewing blood into the air was the incessant pounding of his own heart.
“!”
As he gasped for breath, sweat flying off his pumping arms, his legs were a blur beneath him.
Bell pushed his body to the limit, yet the female knight at the edge of his vision was putting even more distance between them.
So fast!
The moment they left Orario, Aiz had blazed forward with the strength of a gale wind, nearly knocking him off his feet.
The difference in their physical abilities was plain. The stark gap between them was even more evident by the time they had entered the mountain range.
She never once lost her balance on the rising and falling slopes, had enough leg strength to shatter the rock face with each step, and possessed a seemingly limitless amount of endurance and power. The truly scary thing about this display was that not a single droplet of sweat had been shed despite her vigorous pace.
The distance between Bell and the top-class adventurer continued to increase. He had been confident in his Agility, but by this point it had been shattered and ground into dust. No matter how hard he pushed, her back kept getting smaller in the distance.
“HaAH…HAaa…haaa…gah…haah…!”
No matter how much of the cool, crisp mountain air he tried to pull into his lungs, it was no use.
Leg muscles pushed to their upper limit, arms pumping with all his might, eyes bone dry from the wind howling past his face, he cried out. Even squeezing every bit of strength out of his body couldn’t prevent the girl from going farther and farther into the distance. It was brutal.
Kenki, Aiz Wallenstein. Bell’s goal, his idol. A flower blooming on the top of a mountain far above.
He could clearly see the distance, the canyon that separated them.
A difference in pure strength that he never even tasted during training sessions with her on top of the city wall.
His current standing, as well as hers, was a visual demonstration of how far above him she actually was.
Thinking he was closing the gap seemed like nothing more than a joke at this point. He wasn’t any closer to that higher plane where she resided; he simply had a better view of it. The path to that summit in front of him was high, extremely steep.
His conviction to save Hestia compelled him to try to stay at her pace, but his body was already screaming in protest. It couldn’t hold out much longer.
Lungs and throat burning with pain more intense than he’d ever felt before, Bell could tell that his legs were about to give out—when suddenly…
Aiz looked back at him.
“”
The side of her face barely peeked over her shoulder.
She didn’t bother slowing down to check on him.
She watched the boy’s shoulders pitifully heave up and down as he gasped for breath for a few moments, before increasing her pace.
—She was holding back.
“!!”
Seeing that lit a new fire within Bell, his whole body flaring up.
Shame and a desire not to lose provided the spark. His pride as a man served as the fuel.
An intense desire to not look like a pathetic fool fanned the flames in his heart into a thundering roar. Legs on the verge of giving up were suddenly revitalized. Bell kicked the ground with enough power to crack the rocks in his path, determined to catch up with her.
Expecting a battle, other adventurers had graciously provided him with armor—a breastplate, with shoulder and back armor. He tore them all from his body and tossed them away. The pieces of metal tumbled down the mountainside in his wake.
Feeling a bit lighter than before, Bell pushed himself to the brink yet again and managed to gain some ground.
“…”
Aiz silently watched the surges of emotion on the boy’s face as he desperately tried to keep pace with her footsteps.
The female knight’s delicate, doll-like expression didn’t change as she turned forward again. Placing her faith in the boy, she increased her speed.
After a moment of stunned shock, the boy followed suit, zipping through the mountainscape like a deft white rabbit in a frantic dash to keep up.
Bell following behind her, Aiz raced up the rugged terrain and happened to cast her gaze toward the sky.
Drip. A single droplet of moisture ran down her face. Thick gray clouds blocked out the sun overhead.
The mountainside became dotted with the first sprinkles of rain. Aiz couldn’t have cared less, but her golden eyes spotted something else and focused.
A white shadow was circling in the sky, its wings open wide.
“BAH-HA-HA-HA-HA! At last, Orario will get what’s coming to them!”
Deep in the Beor Mountain Range, Ares’s triumphant howl echoed through a mountain road overlooking a beauti
ful green valley.
The battalion of about thirty soldiers was all dressed to look like travelers. Rakia’s main strike force accompanied their god through the twisting mountain roads and had already put a great deal of distance between themselves and the City of Orario. Every so often, a monster would jump out from behind a boulder or from inside a cave, but the Level 2 captains and the Level 3 generals demonstrated why they were the pride of Rakia and quickly dispatched it.
Ares watched these battles from atop his horse, in extremely high spirits as his followers protected him.
“Hey! Ares! What’s the big idea? Put me down right now! There are boundaries to what you can and can’t do, even if we’ve known each other since Tenkai!”
“Shut your powerless mouth, puny goddess! You are nothing more than a hostage to be exchanged for the Crozzo boy! Consider it an honor to have a role to play in my grand design!”
“Who you calling puny, you jerk?!”
Hestia, tied to the back plate of Ares’s armor, furiously swung her arms and legs about in every direction.
Tying the ropes himself, Ares had forced her to come with them. The young goddess lacked the strength to loosen the tight ropes, let alone break free. The most she could do was squirm, kick, and punch, but…“Sit still!!” roared Ares as he drove his heavily armored elbow into her ribs.
“UGHFF!” She groaned in anguish. “So I’m a hostage, am I…?”
Hestia had been almost knocked unconscious when she was captured, but now that she could tell left from right, she understood her situation.
Knowing that pitching in at her part-time job had led to this was a hard pill to swallow, and it filled her with regret. Orario was probably descending into chaos at this very moment.
“Don’t go thinking you’ll get away with this! Bell—all the adventurers of Orario will catch up to you in no time!”
“Will they, now? Our strike forces split into three battalions, all of us executing several maneuvers to cover our tracks. Can they find the right one?”
“Ugh…”
“Take a look around, this is the Beor Mountains! We’re so far in that victory was almost assured the moment we made it through the last pass.”
They had divided their forces in an effort to confuse their pursuers. It was highly unlikely that their location would be discovered overnight. Ares pushed his point even further by saying that the treacherous terrain would bar search parties, thereby increasing the amount of time it would take to thoroughly search the mountains. She had no chance of being rescued.
“Uga-ga-gahh…! Then at least carry me like the prize that I am! Your armor keeps poking me! It really hurts, you know?”
“It’s not my fault that I can’t trust my cowardly, worthless soldiers after a series of unthinkable blunders! I get no pleasure from having a useless goddess like you strapped to my back! You’ll contaminate me!”
Hestia continued yelling at the top of her lungs without denying Ares’s claim. But the god didn’t back down, saying they should share the discomfort.
Her back strapped to his and the ropes pulling every joint, she was in considerable pain. Eyes filled with tears, she howled, “What do you take me for?”
Although they knew each other from their time in Tenkai, Ares had been fond of causing disorder, while Hestia was known for keeping to herself and finding her own entertainment. Being so different, these two would never see eye to eye.
Marius walked next to the two crude divine beings, who were having an argument for the ages. “Haaah…” He let out a long sigh.
“…Looks like rain.”
Drip. A raindrop ran down the bridge of his nose, prompting Marius to look up to the sky.
He was right. The gray clouds overhead started to open, and sheets of rain descended from the heavens. Within moments, a light drizzle had escalated to a downpour. Travelers’ cloaks and warriors’ armor soaked through in a matter of moments.
The same was true for Hestia and Ares. “Ak-choo!” The young goddess’s entire body spasmed as a sneeze came screaming out of her nostrils.
“Prince Marius, it would be wise to halt our advance and seek shelter from the rain…I worry for Lord Ares’s health.”
“No…I’d like to proceed to the northern border. Don’t forget that our enemy is Orario. We mustn’t leave anything to chance. Also, that boneheaded deity won’t catch a cold. There are more important things to worry about.”
Marius rejected the advice of a nearby soldier, adding that he didn’t want to run the risk of being surrounded by monsters at the same time. He pressed on, knowing that every one of the soldiers under his command carried Ares’s Falna, his Blessing. This amount of rain wasn’t enough to make anyone sick.
Then, out of the corner of his eye…
A strange shadow passed overhead, just close enough to get his attention.
“…A bird?”
The line of fully armored knights looked up into the sky as the falling rain peppered them.
A white shadow was circling just above them, with something that resembled flapping wings stretching out from its body. A creeping feeling of uneasiness went up Marius’s spine.
The wind was starting to pick up, yet this bird showed no signs of taking cover. Not only that, there were times when it hovered in one spot. The prince racked his mind, trying to find an explanation, but a heartbeat later…
“K-KENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”
A man screamed as if he had seen the oncoming apocalypse. His voice was loud enough to make Marius flinch.
“Wha—?”
While he didn’t completely believe the soldier, he hastily turned to face the rear ranks.
They were halfway up the side of a mountain, the road overlooking a cliff. Sure enough, there was a human figure ascending the steep path at blinding speed.
Wet blond hair stood out like a beacon amid the rocks and rain. Golden eyes locked onto him as water droplets bounced off the female knight. Marius screamed.
“Holy! Aiz Wallenstein, the Sword Princess!”
“We—WE’RE UNDER ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!”
The blond-haired, golden-eyed knight attacked with a vigor that would have given Tiona, “Amazon the Slasher,” a run for her money. Her thin saber whistled through the air as she ran headlong into the rear of their formation. Screams echoed to the mountains, causing Ares and the forward generals to stop and turn their mounts around to have a look. Marius, however, cast his gaze back to the sky.
As hard as it was for him to believe, his eyes identified golden wings, a white scarf, and the forelimbs of a person.
That was no bird—but an adventurer.
“Since when did Orario obtain the power to conquer the skies…?”
An “eye in the sky” had nullified the dangerous terrain and spotted them from a distance.
A girl with aqua-blue hair was still circling over their heads, signaling their location. Marius frowned as the famed Perseus put the immense power of the magic item Talaria, her winged sandals, on display.
A new scream echoed through the mountain range the moment Marius fully comprehended what was going on.
“GAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
A whirlpool of slashes thrashed soldier after soldier.
One swing of Aiz’s saber sent several of them to the ground or hurtling through the air at once.
The War Princess’s path was paved with shrieks of pain and fear as she bulldozed a trail into the middle of their formation, where the mounted deity resided with a goddess tied to his back.
“Wall-Wallensomething…?!”
Hestia’s eyes went wide. Ares, on the other hand, donned a ferocious grin.
He thrust out his heavily armored right hand in an attempt to raise the morale of his followers.
“Stand your ground, my soldiers! While this turn of events was unexpected, there is only one enemy, and we have the mightiest general of the Rakian army on our side! Go, Garyu! Trample that feeble
girl into dust!”
“Lord Ares, Garyu and his battalion have fallen!”
“HE WHAT?!”
It was over in the blink of an eye.
A group of bearded, muscular soldiers literally trembled in their boots in the face of the blond-haired, golden-eyed knight before collapsing in her wake.
Ares ground his teeth together the moment he spotted his once-proud generals facedown on the ground.
“Damn you! So…so it’s come to this…!”
“Uphh!”
Ares cut the rope that bound Hestia to his back and jumped off his horse.
Hestia fell to the ground in a heap as Ares, free from the unwanted cargo, drew a longsword from a sheath hanging from the horse’s saddle.
“Come at me, Kenki!! I’ll deal with you myself!”
“…”
“UWAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Ares roared as he charged. Aiz was silent as she kept slashing her way through Rakian soldiers.
Shing! A dull metallic echo rang out. The deity’s longsword had been sliced in half.
“N-not bad…!”
“The hell are you doing?”
Ares paused for a moment, shocked that his weapon had been broken on first contact. Marius witnessed everything unfold and dove into the fray to protect him.
His moronic god had just attacked a top-class adventurer on impulse. Marius was quickly joined by every other soldier in the vicinity, forming a wall of muscle and steel in front of Ares. The spot descended into chaos, swords clashing amid even more shrieks of pain.
“Goddess!!”
“Ah…Bell!”
A boy charged his way into the mountainside battle.
Following the path that Aiz had cleared, he arrived one step behind her. All the soldiers were busy contending with the blond knight, and he seized this chance to reach Hestia.
The sight of her follower brought a smile to Hestia’s face. She stood up to greet him but—.
She tripped over the legs of one of the soldiers desperately trying to defend Ares.
“”
Pushed backward by the sudden impact, she stumbled toward the cliff that led to the valley below.
Her twin black ponytails seemed to float in midair for a split second before she fell over the side.