by Fujino Omori
Upon witnessing that scene, seeing the monster’s tear-filled smile, Aiz felt as though time had frozen in place, and she hadn’t been able to stand before the boy until now.
She was faced with the reality that she’d been desperately trying to avoid for five days.
Let’s say a monster could smile, like a human.
Or be consumed by worry, like a human.
Or shed tears, like a human.
Or was self-aware, like a human.
She’d been uncertain about the true meaning of his questions, which now stood before her eyes.
“So this is what you meant……”
The vouivre he’d protected to the point of standing against them wasn’t dead.
The impetus behind this whole incident, the cause of her and Bell walking down separate paths, was still here—
Aiz slowly lifted her head.
Her body quivered as her eyes met those of the vouivre standing stock-still and holding on to the boy’s hand.
Its amber eyes reflected Aiz’s face and housed an undeniable intelligence.
They mirrored the Sword Princess’s cold, dark, emotionless gaze.
“Miss Aiz!! This girl is—” Bell started, turning in place and trying to protect the vouivre from Aiz’s gaze, pleading with her.
“My answer,” she cut him off, speaking with a razor-sharp tone, “will not change.”
And she put her hand on the hilt of Desperate.
“If anyone cries because of a monster—I’d kill it.”
The boy froze at the Sword Princess’s answer—at her drawn sword.
As she held back the grief in her heart, Aiz took a step forward.
“Wait…Please wait, Miss Aiz! This girl hasn’t harmed anyone or anything! She would never do something like that! This girl—Wiene—is different!”
She had no more desire to lend an ear to his nonsense.
“Will you be able to say the same thing if that vouivre goes on another rampage?”
“”
“I won’t allow it.”
He didn’t have a response.
The vouivre trembled, and the crimson stone in its forehead glimmered like a garnet. With the knowledge that her expression had become coldhearted, Aiz thrust peremptorily with her response.
The boy didn’t know why Aiz was being this unsympathetic, and he probably didn’t want to know.
But one thing was clear—there was no room to negotiate. She hammered home the grave reality that they were already in opposition.
“U…ah…” he moaned.
Get out of the way.
Approaching the deathly pale boy step by step, Aiz desperately wanted him to move. But at the same time, she already knew that her wish wouldn’t be granted.
For no other reason than that he’d already given his answer.
On that day, the fool who had stood against Aiz and Loki Familia would not go back on his resolve. He’d arrived at the opposite answer from theirs, as if a reflection in a mirror.
Aiz’s eyes narrowed with sorrow when he took the hilt in his hand and drew his pitch-black knife.
“—Gh…” The vouivre faintly whispered something.
“…” Aiz wore a coolheaded mask.
“…Why?” Bell’s lips quivered.
“…Why?”
In the face of the boy who was consumed by emotions, Aiz resolutely kicked the ground.
“—Damn it!”
A sorrowful clash of blades rang out.
INTERLUDE
THE WHEREABOUTS OF A SCHEME
“Cruz, the attacks from Knossos have stopped!”
“Good—use this time to finish recovering!”
A familia member’s voice resounded in the large stone passage.
The underground passage beneath Daedalus Street in the northwest. Loki Familia’s squad was exalted by the fact that the violas had stopped pouring out.
“This is thanks to Riveria, isn’t it? This means…!”
Cruz had been deployed to lead the squad and recognized this as evidence of the chaos in the enemy’s hideout. Knossos was being devoured by the unexpected invasion of the elf squad, and they couldn’t divide their soldiers or even their monsters to deal with Cruz’s group. He suspected that on the other side of that one door, the northwest of the labyrinth had been deserted.
They’d been forced to fall back by an intense attack by the monsters, but now they had the passage to themselves again.
Is there any value in having the northwest passage under control? It might be better for us to move to the southeast…But we still don’t know the location of the armed monsters. I can’t mess up the captain’s formation on a whim…
They’d sent a messenger to the main base to report in and ask Finn for instructions.
“How do you do? Ladies and gentlemen of Loki Familia.”
“!”
A single god appeared in the hidden passage.
“You…Lord Hermes?!”
The figure donned a winged traveling hat and loose clothes for travel.
Cruz was shocked as Hermes walked up.
He didn’t even have guards from his familia. His lack of vigilance was incomprehensible. It was unnatural for a god to be on a battlefield alone.
Even though they were on the same side after forming an alliance, that didn’t exempt Hermes Familia from their shady behavior. Not to mention that there was a good chance they were on Hestia Familia’s side in the struggle going on around the Labyrinth District, based on Finn’s analysis earlier.
More than anything, it was ominous.
His orange eyes were hatching a plan.
Everyone was confused, but Cruz alone stayed on his guard.
In response to his attentive gaze, Hermes let a suave grin play on his lips.
“To tell you the truth, I just wrapped up a contract with Loki. I came to report on it—and look, it’s the magic item you guys were searching for.”
“!!”
He pulled a silver sphere—the Daedalus Orb—from his breast pocket, transfixing Cruz and the others. It was the item that Hermes had received from a certain Goddess of Beauty. He made a show of it, as though he’d just fulfilled the commission from Loki during the skirmish with Rakia three weeks before.
It was a key to Knossos—and the thing they currently wanted more than anything else.
While the other members of the familia stared, entranced by the jewel and unable to peel their eyes from the magic item and its ominous radiance, Cruz managed to wrench a response from his mouth.
“…Thank you very much, Lord Hermes. Could you please hand it over?”
Cruz’s face remained tense as he held out a hand.
Why did he go out of his way to come to us instead of Loki? Why is he on the front lines?
He received his answer in no time.
“Sure, no problem. But before that, I’d like to receive my reward.”
“What?”
“Could you please take your squad here and leave, my good man?” the god requested with a hint of sarcasm, smiling as his eyebrows arched.
“Wh—?…Do what?!”
“In exchange for handing over the key, I would like all of you to disappear from here. What? That’s all I want. Honest. That’s a cheap price to pay, right?”
“Why would you want that?!”
“Because as the god who rules over negotiations and contracts, I believe it would be sufficiently valuable, my boy Cruz.”
Cruz couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had goose bumps when the god spoke his name.
He couldn’t understand—neither Hermes’s demand nor the words he was speaking. None of it.
It’s a trap. Or rather, he’s planning something.
He could feel the other members behind him shrinking back as a drop of sweat ran down his cheek.
“…Our mission is to maintain control of this underground passage. That isn’t something I can decide with my own discretion. If the captain gave directions to—”<
br />
“That’s no good.”
The corners of Hermes’s mouth rose as he challenged Cruz, not letting him finish.
“Here. Now. You decide.”
Cruz gulped at the god’s pronouncement.
It contained an absolute will that wouldn’t allow him to dodge the question.
It was an unnatural negotiation table. It was obvious that he couldn’t take the offer. But they had to get their hands on the key, no matter what. Would it be better to capture him and take the key by force? It would be a simple feat to force a god to hand it over if their strength were equivalent to that of a normal person. But, but, but doing something disrespectful to an unarmed god—
Cruz’s expression twisted over and over as he struggled with a choice that was far above his pay grade.
Hermes sighed.
“If you say you can’t take the deal, then I guess it can’t be helped. There are lots of other people who want this key, after all, so maybe I’ll give it to one of them…”
“Please wait!” Cruz shouted as Hermes started to turn away.
If he let him go now, they would never get that key. He was the kind of god who would really do that. At least, that was the feeling Cruz got from him.
In his anguish, Cruz remembered Finn’s words.
Our number one priority is to obtain a key. The destruction of the monsters and the Evils is secondary.
Forced into making a choice, the chienthrope…followed the captain’s instructions.
“…Understood. We’ll withdraw from here.”
“Thank you. Negotiations are complete. Please take this.”
With a cordial smile, Hermes held out the key, which Cruz took without a word. As everyone else remained quiet, he quickly led the squad out of the underground passage.
The sound of boots hitting the ground reverberated for a while before silence fell once again.
A voice called out from the empty space in front of Hermes.
“It appears they’ve pulled back. There is no one from Loki Familia in the surrounding area,” announced an alluring woman with blue hair as she let down her invisibility.
Asfi Al Andromeda reported in, holding a jet-black helmet in one hand.
Hermes nodded in response.
“I see—then, bring them here.”
A group of armed monsters appeared from the opposite direction of Cruz and the others.
“Calling this sort of thing a secret path…”
“It’s all the same, right? The only difference is that this one was just now created.”
The black robe of the mage standing at the front of the group swayed in apparent disdain, but Hermes responded nonchalantly.
Hermes Familia was more precisely acting as a smuggler now.
They had made a secret deal with the armed monsters Loki Familia was hunting, moving them through the underground tunnels to prevent others from finding them and delivering the group of monsters to that point.
The passage contained an entrance into Knossos.
“With this, you can bid farewell to the world aboveground. After you enter Knossos, I’ll have to ask you to take care of yourselves. I’m afraid I can’t afford to go that far. I pray you safely make it back to the Dungeon.”
The entire group of armed monsters was silent, nonviolent. Their faces were clearly those of beasts but contained hints of gloominess.
The handful of Hermes Familia members, Lulune and the others, made a point of not meeting the armed monsters’ eyes—to focus on fulfilling their mission or to avert their eyes from the uncomfortable feeling of standing next to monsters without trying to kill each other.
By her patron god’s side, Asfi furrowed her brow, a complicated emotion washing over her face.
“Lord Hermes…let me confirm one last time. Is it okay to let them go?”
“Yes. Gros’s sacrifice is a proper recompense. That was the deal, after all.”
Sacrifice. The monsters’ faces strained when they heard that word. Their faces should have been hideous but looked akin to that of a person trying to endure pain.
Advancing like a funeral procession, they moved in front of the door.
The orichalcum door opened without a hitch, thanks to the key in the hands of the mage in black. By chance, the inside was exactly as Cruz had imagined: entirely deserted.
There were no defenses on the Evils’ side.
The only things were darkness and the cool air.
“Lord Hermes…what is your aim…?”
“I said, didn’t I? The world wants a hero.”
After the last monster had entered the labyrinth, the mage turned back, and Hermes coldly responded.
In the next instant, the door closed with a violent crash.
The monsters disappeared from Hermes Familia’s eyes.
“All right—time for the return of a hero.”
While Asfi and the others remained silent, the god turned to leave, lowering the brim of his hat as the corners of his mouth turned up.
CHAPTER 6
THE HERO’S SELF-DENIAL
“Captain, I’m sorry…We’ve lost track of the monsters.”
Aboveground, one of the familia member’s voices melted into the still night air.
They were in the central area of Daedalus Street, in Loki Familia’s encampment.
Listening to the report as he chewed his lip, Finn retreated quietly into thought.
When Gareth got pinned down, should I have moved Riveria? That black fog made it harder to communicate…No use thinking about that now.
The clash in the west of the Labyrinth District had been the crux of the battle aboveground.
If they’d gotten control there, they probably would’ve caught the armed monsters. But they managed to escape their grasp as a result of Finn looking down on their strength—and the power of their supporters, Hestia Familia—and lack of dedicating forces to that front.
Moving Riveria aboveground would have been a big risk…especially when we had no way of knowing when we’d manage to get our hands on a key.
If he’d moved Riveria aboveground, the Evils would have gained control of the underground passage. Which meant they wouldn’t have been able to pull off a quick one on their unprepared enemy. The two fronts had been at odds with each other.
If they had been greedy and managed to get everything, that would be one thing, but if they lost everything because of it…As a commander, Finn had to weigh the risk of that.
The black minotaur hasn’t been found, either. Did someone kill it…? No, someone must intend to do something with it.
He was most concerned about the Irregular that hadn’t been caught yet. The minotaur hadn’t roared out. The Labyrinth District was too quiet. It was ominous.
Plus, I can’t read the enemy’s movements…
It was the armed monsters’ route. They’d totally betrayed his expectations. The moves were irregular, as if they were being guided in the wrong direction.
“The monsters were last seen in the area around Twentieth Street, right?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Finn furrowed his brow upon confirming with the familia member.
Twentieth Street…We investigated it, but…Impossible. That’s…
Something was off. As if two gears were out of sync.
Finn’s thumb wasn’t aching at all.
“…What the hell are they after?” Finn’s whisper was erased in the wind.
Raul was acting as his aide and seemed to misinterpret this as pained silence.
“I’m sorry, Captain…It’s my fault. If I hadn’t gotten tricked, if I hadn’t broken the formation…”
“Raul, I’m not blaming you. Besides, your mistakes are my mistakes. I’m responsible for taking Hestia Familia too lightly.”
Finn wasn’t going to allow Raul, who was busy hanging his head in disappointment at himself, to think that.
“We were able to strike back at Knossos, but we let the armed monsters get away…”
They’d lost the battle but won the war—he couldn’t placate himself with that. Finn had greedily and insatiably intended to win it all. He intended to destroy the armed monsters after using them, calm the chaos in the city, get his hands on the key from the beasts, and beat Hestia Familia and that boy who had rebelled.
And he hadn’t been able to because he’d misread the situation and made light of Hestia Familia. He was the one who had split his forces between them and the remnants of the Evils, and he couldn’t use that as an excuse any longer.
It was his blunder.
“It won’t go according to plan, huh…? Good grief.” Finn sighed slightly, crumpling up the completed plan in his head and throwing it away.
Switching gears.
They hadn’t achieved the outward goal of eliminating the armed monsters, but the main plan—the surprise attack on Knossos—had succeeded. He should just accept that as good enough for now.
And besides, the fight wasn’t over yet.
There were more things left to do.
“Send trackers to Twentieth Street. Have them search every nook and cranny, including any underground passages connecting to dead ends. I want to know how they got away.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Twenty-seventh Street. Where Rox and the others were hit. That’s probably the location of the black minotaur. Call Bete, Tiona, and Tione to the east…no, to the north to search for it. If they find the target, they are to shoot a signal into the air immediately.”
“Understood!”
“Raul, has Aki reported in yet?”
“Yes, they’re currently fighting underground, pushing at the southeastern door while it’s open, but…the Evils are fighting back hard…”
“Got it. Tell them that depending on the enemy’s resistance, they are to pull back. If a creature appears, they should retreat at once. Now that we have a key in hand, it’s pointless to get hung up on one door.”
“All right!”
As Finn handed out orders left and right, the familia members responded.
Because his plan had two different fronts, the squads were divided above- and belowground.
Aboveground, the team was a younger generation of first-tier adventurers, while the underground was important enough to be left to the most dependable forces, Gareth and Riveria. Partway through, he’d had to change the deployment, playing it by ear, but they’d managed to produce results, albeit minimally.