Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 5

by Fujino Omori

  All words leave me as soon as I lay eyes on the middle of the body of water.

  There is a fairy.

  She doesn’t have a thread of clothing, only milky white skin—her slender back to me as she washes her body. She cups her hands together and carefully lifts the water above her head before letting it run through her hair.

  This looks like a page out of a fairy tale, no joke.

  A bathing fairy. A chance encounter deep in the woods with a beautiful water spirit.

  This is no different. She’s frozen the flow of time, but for some reason I can make that connection.

  Blip, blip. The water makes soft splashing sounds as the fairy moves. She has a slender but muscular frame and long, pointed ears.

  I stand with my hand resting on the tree beside me, dumbstruck as I take in the view. My brain doesn’t have the ability to produce any kind of emotion when faced with this kind of beauty.

  But wait, in those fairy tales, right about now…

  The person who sees the fairy taking a bath suddenly gets hit with an arrow—

  “—Who’s there!”

  Light flashes.

  A sharp voice and a white blade were thrown at me at the same time—a dagger buries itself in the tree next to my face, above my hand. Shing! My ears finally register the sound of the blade piercing tree bark. Gulp. I swallow the air in my throat.

  The elf’s sky-blue eyes lock onto me. Lyu’s eyes.

  She has her left arm wrapped around her chest, hiding it from view. Her right hand, the one that threw the dagger, is still extended as she glares straight through me…Her eyebrows sink the moment that she realizes it was me who was peeping on her.

  “Mr. Cranell?”

  “…S-SORRYYYYYYYY?!”

  All of my muscles snap to life at the sound of my name. I jump back and away before landing on all fours and executing Takemikazuchi Familia’s trademark facedown bow.

  I slam my face into the ground, trying to apologize.

  What am I doing, WHAT AM I DOING?! I’ve made the same mistake again?!

  That’s twice in a row?! I scream at myself over and over. Lord Hermes must never know.

  My ears burn red as I clamp my eyes shut. “Haa…” I hear her breathe out.

  My shoulders shudder in fear as I wait for her next words.

  “Please turn your back.”

  “Y-yes, ma’am!”

  I keep my head down, rotating on my knees. The edge of the pond leaves my line of sight; tree roots take their place. At that point I raise my upper body and sit as still as stone.

  I can hear the sound of cloth behind me as rivers of sweat run down my face. My cheeks blush. She’s putting on clothes.

  “You may turn around.”

  Slowly, carefully I shift my knees around. Lyu’s wearing the same battle cloth that I saw her in yesterday.

  Hip-hugging short pants and long boots. She’s wearing that cape over her shirt but the hood is down. The beautiful elf and I make eye contact.

  “First, I would like to hear your explanation.”

  “Y-yes!! Well, you see, it’s like this…!”

  Lyu walks right up to me and I stand while stuttering, trying to tell her what happened…but the truth is too embarrassing. What am I supposed to say? That I was discovered watching the other girls bathe and then came here?!

  I have to think of something else…No.

  Her sky-blue eyes are looking right through me; she’d spot a lie instantly. And that would make her even more furious.

  My jaw flexes open and closed a few times before the words start to come out. She listens quietly as I confess to every moral outrage I’ve committed in the past hour.

  I thrust my head down below my waist as soon as I’ve told her everything there was to tell.

  “I understand your situation, Mr. Cranell. Allow me to guide you back to Loki Familia’s campground after this.”

  “…Y-you’ll forgive me?”

  “There is no need for forgiveness, for you are not at fault. A grudge against you would be misplaced.”

  “H-how do you know I’m not lying…?”

  “Mr. Cranell…Modesty may be a virtue, but please stop regarding yourself as inferior. It’s a bad habit.”

  I apologize to her once again. Lyu sounded a little angry there.

  Looking down on my abilities…So she’s angry at me for the way I think about myself?

  Lyu walks toward a different tree, leaving me standing there for a moment. She must’ve stashed her wooden sword and other weapons there before getting into the spring.

  Lastly, she affixes a small pouch to her belt underneath her cape. “My apologies for the wait,” she says as she comes back.

  “…Um, this is a little late, but thank you for coming all this way to rescue me. This floor is pretty far down…”

  “No, please don’t concern yourself. I was planning to come to this floor regardless. The distance is not a problem.”

  My eyes flicker a little bit wider. I wasn’t expecting a response like that.

  Lyu continues talking anyway.

  “I have something to take care of before leading you back to the campsite. Can you spare some of your time?”

  “Ah…Sure.”

  She says a quick thank-you and starts walking.

  I catch a glimpse of the side of her face before following her.

  “Lyu…were you, um…in the forest this whole time?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you join everyone at the campsite? There’re monsters out here! Wouldn’t it be much safer with—”

  “I had an errand to attend to. And I didn’t want others to see my face.”

  She said everything evenly and without emotion, just like usual.

  Lord Hermes said something before, she who had “reasons”…Is this what he was talking about?

  “I assume that god Hermes has informed you about my past already.”

  “No, nothing…”

  “…Really?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “It seems I have come to the wrong conclusion…” Though she’s looking the other way, I can sense the pained smile on her face. “We’ve already come this far. There’s no point in hiding anything at this stage. Follow me.”

  What is it…? Does she have some kind of connection to this floor?

  All I can do is just follow that cape and think about the moment when she said she was once known as an adventurer.

  Lyu must know this area extremely well. She’s walking with purpose as she makes sharp turns at specific trees and crystals as if following a set path. We walk for about twenty minutes without encountering any monsters before arriving at her destination.

  “This is…”

  What greets my eyes after emerging from a narrow tunnel through the trees is a graveyard.

  There’s a small open space surrounded by thinner trees and absolutely stunning crystal formations.

  A series of wooden crosses, broken tree branches held together with string, are lined up in the clearing and bathed in the crystal light shining through the canopy above.

  “…Mama Mia occasionally gives me time to bring them some flowers.”

  Lyu goes to each of the grave markers and carefully sets a flower in front of them.

  Was gathering these flowers her “errand”?

  She reaches under her cape to the small pouch and withdraws a bottle—she pours a little bit of the wine onto each of the graves.

  “Lyu, what is this place—?”

  “All that remains of the women who fought by my side. My Familia.”

  She quietly looks back at me as she speaks. I feel like I’ve just been hit by a ton of bricks.

  Her sky-blue eyes draw me in.

  “Another with knowledge of my past has emerged. It’s only a matter of time before you find out…I would regret not telling you myself.”

  She says it’s a bit selfish of her, but asks for my permission.

  I nod back at her.
>
  “My name appears on the Guild’s blacklist.”

  “?!”

  Then she says something unbelievable.

  “My position as an adventurer has been revoked. There was a time that a bounty was placed on my head.”

  She hid her face and she didn’t stay with us at the campsite…Is that why?

  “I once belonged to Astrea Familia…She is the goddess of justice and order, and I idolized her from the day we met.”

  Lyu Lyon. That’s how she was known. Her title, “Gale Wind.”

  A hooded adventurer shrouded in mystery whose full name was unknown.

  “Apart from activities in the Dungeon, my Familia took it upon itself to eliminate those who try to rob Orario of peace. For that reason, we made many enemies.”

  She says that as recently as five years ago, Orario was inundated with an “evil” that threatened the city.

  Swearing upon Astrea’s crest, a winged sword of justice, Lyu and her allies fought to purge the city of that cancerous presence and protect those vulnerable to it.

  “Until, one day, a Familia that had taken up arms against us set a trap in the Dungeon. I was the only one to escape alive…Unable to retrieve their bodies, I collected what articles I could and buried them here.”

  “So that’s what these graves are…?”

  “Yes. These women were fond of this location.”

  She tells me that they would always casually joke, saying if they died, they wanted to be buried here.

  I can’t imagine what images must be running through her head. She looks toward the ground, her lower lip quivering.

  “…I went to Astrea as the sole survivor and told her everything. Then I pleaded with her to leave Orario by herself. I begged her for days, and at long last she obliged.”

  “Y-you helped your goddess escape?”

  “No, not that.”

  Lyu’s voice snaps, saying her reasoning was much more selfish as her fists clench.

  “I didn’t want her to see the passionate, violent creature I was becoming.”

  She says that she didn’t know how to control the emotions that were overtaking her at that time.

  “I had to avenge those who had fought beside me. I set my sights on the Familia that ended their lives and swore to take revenge alone.”

  “A-alone…?!”

  Attacks under the cover of darkness, ambushes, traps. She used all manner of sneak attacks to eliminate them one by one—until that Familia was wiped out.

  A large and influential group in Orario was torn out by the roots and utterly eliminated at the hands of a single elf.

  “My actions had nothing to do with justice. Filled with a lust for revenge, I tracked down each member and erased them along with anyone connected to them…Even the slightest suspicion was enough.”

  That’s what landed her on the Guild’s blacklist.

  In her quest for vengeance, she earned the hatred of not only adventurers but merchants, smiths, and townspeople. They were the ones who issued the bounty.

  The reward for her capture kept growing and growing…The Guild had no choice but to punish her despite the surrounding circumstances. Especially considering she had bared her fangs at groups connected to the offender. After all, they sold the items and weapons used to kill her family.

  With the goddess Astrea outside the city walls, her Status remained intact as the “Gale Wind” covered Orario in a storm of fury.

  “…So, what happened after that?”

  “I collapsed. With all targets eliminated, with no one left, alone in a back alley.”

  She must’ve accepted death the moment she swore revenge.

  Her quest complete, her goddess gone and friends dead, there was nothing left for her in this world.

  “Covered in blood and dirt on the side of the road…It was a fitting end for someone who had committed atrocities such as I.”

  “…”

  “However…”

  “—Are you okay?”

  A warm hand had reached out to take hers.

  Syr found Lyu in that back alley and saved her.

  She listened to her story—everything Lyu had done, over and over—and managed to bring her back from the brink.

  “After rescuing me, Syr convinced Mama Mia to employ me as a waitress at The Benevolent Mistress……I also keep my hair dyed.”

  Since she’d always worn a hood and gone by the name Lyon during her time as an adventurer, the chances of her being discovered were very low as long as she changed the color of her hair.

  In a soft tone, Lyu goes on to explain how she became her current self.

  “…I apologize for soiling your ears.”

  “Wh-what?”

  “In short, the elf you see before you is a shameless, violent criminal…I have betrayed your trust, Mr. Cranell.”

  She looks at me with the same calm expression, even though she’s confessing all of her crimes to me. I clear my throat.

  I don’t know how to respond, so I just say the first thing that comes to my mind:

  “Lyu…Please stop regarding yourself as inferior. I’ll get mad at you.”

  Her sky-blue eyes open a little wider.

  She stands still for a moment before finally saying:

  “That was…very clever.”

  Only very slightly, but her lips soften.

  She isn’t smiling by any means, but her eyes don’t look as piercing as they normally do.

  All I did was repeat her own words back to her, just stole the line, but her reaction makes me feel good. Why wouldn’t it? Her usual ice-cold expression just warmed up a little.

  A tranquil mood overtakes us in the middle of the graveyard, surrounded by green leaves and crystal light.

  “…Can I ask…”

  “What is it?”

  “Can I ask why you came to Orario?”

  This is my best chance.

  My best chance to find out why Lyu came to the place where people go to follow their dreams.

  I want to know why she and I met in the first place.

  “…”

  She opens her mouth very slightly before looking up toward the ceiling.

  Then Lyu squints her eyes to protect them from the beams of light penetrating the canopy above.

  “…We elves are a race known for our good looks.”

  Her eyes barely open, she wanders around the grassy Dungeon floor.

  At long last, Lyu continues her story.

  “Myself and others have been praised for our beauty. However, is that really true? Extremely proud and revolted by anything unclean, we do not allow others to easily touch our skin…”

  “…”

  “There are some who believe other races to be dirty on the surface as well as within, and refuse to interact with them, isolating themselves in their home forests. At the very least, most of the elves from my home forest believed as such…

  “However,” she continues.

  “Only recognizing their own beauty while looking down at everything else as if it were nothing more than trash…A thought came to me.”

  Lyu once again looks up to the light.

  “That the beautiful, magnificent elves were actually the most revolting.”

  Knowing the value that elves place on interpersonal relationships, I bet she was the only one who felt that way.

  Among all those elves, so full of pride, she was the only one to question their logic.

  “As soon as that idea took hold, it was impossible to remove. I became embarrassed of my own motherland, so I left…and eventually arrived in Orario.”

  “By accident?”

  “Not exactly…I heard many travelers say that Orario was home to gods, humans, and other fairies, a place full of life where people gather. I thought that if I were there, I might be able to find something…No, that’s not it.”

  She looks into the palms of her hands as if she’s remembering her first days in the city.

  “I wanted companions worth
y of my respect who felt I was worthy of theirs.”

  It was the one thing that she didn’t have growing up in elvish culture with elvish customs.

  People who placed no value on race or looks, but on content of character. Friends who would laugh alongside her.

  “I came to the city with high hopes…but they were quickly dashed. I didn’t expose my skin to anyone but other elves. My face always covered by a hood, I slapped away any hands that reached out.”

  Elvish culture was too deeply ingrained…Lyu couldn’t turn over a new leaf.

  In this new place, she was constantly stared at because of her beauty, and she couldn’t take it.

  Elves don’t allow someone they don’t trust to touch their skin. She couldn’t fix that and other elvish teachings that had been drilled into her head since childhood—it must’ve tormented her.

  “What a jest. I left my homeland because I couldn’t stand my own kind, and yet in the outside world, I was no different from them. So I cut myself off, creating a wall.”

  So that was why she kept her hood up during her time in Orario.

  She was disappointed in herself for realizing she was exactly the same as the elves back in the forest.

  From her point of view, she was the one looking down at people.

  Her inborn disdain for other races came full circle, back to herself. It became self-loathing.

  “I didn’t change. I was still an elf, nose high in the air with pride.”

  “Lyu…”

  “However.”

  Her tone suddenly changes.

  Then she walks right up to me, face-to-face, and gently grabs my hand.

  “—Huh?”

  “Just like this, there was someone who took hold of my hand, who I could touch.”

  She’s shaking my hand.

  Her fingers feel so small and delicate that I’m afraid they might break off if I shook back. And yet, her skin is very soft and supple. My cheeks blush before I know it.

  “This is my second time with you, yes? Do you remember?”

  “Y-yes?!”

  “The day when you lost your knife and were desperately searching.”

  I’m too stunned to figure out what she’s talking about at first, but then the feeling of her skin on my hands triggers a memory. The day when Lilly, disguised as a dog person, stole the Divine Knife. That’s what she’s talking about.

  I clearly remember happily embracing her hands because she had recovered the knife.