Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 9

by Fujino Omori

  While the three of them stood dumbfounded, it was Lido who spoke up with an answer:

  “Fels is the Sage. An awesome Magus.”

  Those words.

  It was as though Bell and his companions had been doused by water, all of them going silent.

  That is, until a moment later, when Lilly let out a cry.

  “The Sage?! As in THE Sage?! The one who created the Philosopher’s Stone in the Kingdom of Magic—the only one to ever successfully create the elixir of eternal life? That Sage?!”

  “Y-yeah…Probably that Sage, I guess…?”

  The lizardman was unfamiliar with what was considered common sense on the surface, so the prum’s red-faced outburst caught him by surprise. Overwhelmed by this demi-human girl only half his size, Lido took a step back as a stunned Bell remembered the story Eina had once told him about the Sage.

  Just as Lilly said, that legendary person created the Philosopher’s Stone, a magic item that granted the user eternal life.

  Mastering the Advanced Ability Enigma, the Sage became the most powerful Magus in history.

  He brought his creation, the Philosopher’s Stone, before his god only to watch the deity smash the stone on the floor…

  If that story were true, then the being standing before him was worthy of being named among the heroes in fairy tales and legends. Bell’s eyes opened as wide as they would go.

  “Another correction, if I may. I am what became of the one once called the Sage.”

  The Magus shocked the adventurers further, explaining with a shade of self-deprecation.

  “As my story will be handed down to future generations…and as it is told even today, I came to loathe the deity who destroyed my precious stone. I became more driven than ever before in my pursuit to acquire more knowledge, to unlock the secrets of immortality…and became what you see now.”

  The skeleton recounted the traumatic experience with that god while running black gloves up and down the robe that hid the rest of his body.

  “My methods took their toll, causing my skin and flesh to rot off my bones. Now I have become something more revolting than a monster. I’ve forgotten the sensation of hunger and thirst…I am no more than a living ghost.”

  Fels finished by saying that all his experimentation produced was a “curse.”

  Learning the other side of the story, one that had been lost in history, the adventurers gulped as the Sage’s fate came to light.

  At the same time, they were in awe at how cruel the deusdea could be, completely ruining the lives of their followers.

  “I now go by the name Fels the Fool.”

  “Fels.” A fitting name for someone who had once been known as “Sage,” only to have been reduced to a farce.

  Incapable of expressing even the slightest emotion, the skeletal Magus who could no longer even smile now went by that name.

  “…Mind explaining how the Sage ended up in a place like this?”

  “It’s a long story, to say the least. Suffice it to say that Ouranos took me in despite my wretched state after I wound up in Orario.”

  Welf certainly looked uncomfortable, but he posed his question without fear. Fels responded openly, making the peculiarly indistinct voice friendlier in tone.

  “Now I’m privy to a front-row seat in the ‘center of the world,’ the driving force behind the changing times.”

  Pulling the hood back up, Fels spoke as though satisfied with the state of things.

  As Bell stood frozen in place, he had thought nothing could surpass the shock of encountering Lido and the other Xenos. Now his eyes were spinning from a second knockout blow.

  “The Sage, huh…Well, of course I’ve heard of him. So that kid from earlier has become your right-hand man, Ouranos?”

  “I do not deny it. Outside of my agreement with the Xenos, Fels is the one piece I can move at will…My private soldier.”

  Ouranos nodded at Hestia’s inquiry.

  Several familias, including Ganesha Familia, worked closely with the Guild to create a public face. Meanwhile, Fels, a Magus—a being who had a firm handle on the intricacies of Magic—worked in the shadows, conducting dirty jobs and taking on secret missions.

  “I take it Fels played a major role in keeping the Xenos a secret up until today?”

  “Indeed. We have already worked together for centuries.”

  Fels also filled the role of Ouranos’s personal bodyguard. Many Guild employees had witnessed his movements through Guild Headquarters, with rumors of an elusive “ghost” circulating among their ranks through the generations, each with a common thread.

  “Monsters with the capacity to think and feel…I first encountered Lido and his kind fifteen, maybe sixteen years ago.”

  Fels continued to speak even as the siren sang among the happily dancing monsters in the background.

  At that time, members of the familia close to Ouranos captured them. The deity managed to keep their presence a secret from the rest of Orario by issuing a strict gag order. That familia fell into ruin and no longer existed.

  Fels obeyed Ouranos’s divine will and had served as a messenger ever since, eventually becoming the Xenos’s first contact with the world aboveground.

  “After talking with Lido and his companions, we decided to dub their group of heretics ‘Xenos.’ They now live as a community under the same name.”

  “A community?”

  “Yeah. Others like us are born throughout the Dungeon. We make contact with our comrades to form our own organization.”

  Bell asked for clarification from Fels, but it was Lido who provided the answer.

  “We gather in Hidden Villages like this one and travel between different floors in the hopes of finding comrades nearby.”

  As soon as Lido explained that most of their activities took place in the lower levels, Lilly jumped back into the conversation to ask about something that had been stewing in her head for some time.

  “…This has been bothering Lilly for a while, but…do monsters not spawn in this room?”

  “Oh? You noticed, Lillicchi?”

  “L-Lillicchi…?”

  As the prum struggled with how to feel about being addressed in such a strange manner, Lido glanced out over the chamber dotted with dark-green quartz jutting from the walls and ceiling.

  “This place…You might call it a safe point. There are plenty more just like it.”

  “Eh?!”

  “Of course, adventurers haven’t found them. That’s why we call these places Hidden Villages.”

  Lido ignored the astonishment on Bell’s, Welf’s, and Lilly’s faces and carried on with his explanation.

  The Xenos frequented undiscovered Frontiers in the middle levels all the way down to the deep levels—places adventurers didn’t know existed—using them as base camps in their search of monsters who shared their unique gifts.

  They were a community of monsters, a traveling brigade.

  “There are about forty Xenos at the moment…The numbers go up and down, but Lido, Rei, and Gros were members from the start.”

  “It has been a long time, yes?”

  Fels glanced at the siren and gargoyle while the lizardman flashed a toothy grin.

  “…That would make you the leader, wouldn’t it?”

  Welf finally asked what he and Lilly had suspected for a while now.

  “Yeah. Gryuu used to hold that title, but his dragon body can’t move like it used to. So I’m leading everyone in his stead now.”

  “Then the strongest member is…”

  “Of course! You’re looking at him!!”

  Lido proudly puffed out his armored chest.

  Bell thought that might be the case after fighting the lizardman one-on-one. Lido was most likely holding back at the time, but it still summoned flashbacks of Ishtar Familia’s first-tier adventurer, Phryne, during the battle. Therefore, the boy had suspected that the lizardman’s potential strength could very well exceed hers.

  “…Well,
that’s what I’d like to say.”

  —However, Lido let his reptilian head droop, shoulders slumping right away.

  “One of our newest comrades took the title from me in no time flat…”

  “O-ohhh…”

  Welf wasn’t sure what to do with the clearly depressed lizardman. Bell, however, was stunned.

  The question had to be asked.

  “Um, so, what’s this new member like?”

  “He isn’t here now. He’s a strange one, I tell you. Went off to the deep levels on his own for training.”

  “Th-the deep levels…Do…do you think that’s okay?”

  “Knowing him, I think worrying would be a waste of time.”

  Lido drily chuckled to himself as if he was exhausted just thinking about it.

  “…Mr. Fels.”

  “What is it, Lilliluka Erde?”

  After some time had passed…

  Tired of singing and dancing, the revelers were starting to seat themselves on the floor. Mikoto, Haruhime, and Wiene were among them.

  Lilly had been lost in thought when, finally, she looked up at Fels.

  “When the siren Rei…Miss Rei spoke with us, she described the Xenos’s relationship with the Guild as ‘give and take.’”

  “Yes, this is true.”

  “Lord Ouranos provides support, and in return the Xenos scour the Dungeon for new members…Is that really everything?”

  Her chestnut-tinted gaze bore into the darkness beneath the Magus’s hood, but his only answer was silence.

  “Lilly can’t help but feel that this relationship is too one-sided. There’s something oddly urgent about these heretics’ chosen words and actions…”

  A group that used several unknown Hidden Villages and had members capable of traveling alone in the deep levels possessed considerable power. The brigade of monsters called Xenos should be able to take care of itself with or without assistance from Fels and Ouranos.

  Lilly acknowledged that the Guild, in charge of the city and Dungeon management, would want to keep an eye on them to prevent mass panic from spreading through Orario. However, from what she could tell, the deal was incredibly unfair.

  Above all, the Xenos members seemed to yearn for something more.

  Lilly spelled it all out.

  “If this is simply charity, then Lilly will drop the suggestion now…However.”

  Averting her eyes and hesitating for a moment, she made her point.

  “Are they in this relationship because they want something only Lord Ouranos and Mr. Fels can provide?”

  She’d kept these misgivings to herself ever since arriving at the Hidden Village, voicing them only now.

  Bell and Welf stayed silent, ears perked and waiting.

  A look of quiet contemplation grew on Lido’s face.

  As their conversation reached a standstill, only Wiene’s laughter and playful monster howls could be heard.

  “—To walk on the surface.”

  Just then…

  A voice cut through the still air, clear as day.

  “Miss Rei…”

  “That is our desire.”

  Rei stepped lightly as she approached the group, winglike arms folded as if she were hugging her own body.

  Bell, Lilly, and Welf gazed at the siren’s resolute blue eyes in amazement as her words sank in.

  “…I have dreams.”

  Lido’s soft voice brought them back into the moment.

  “Dreams about a ball of red light sinking behind a massive pile of rocks…A sky that can’t be found here, burning red, so red and beautiful it makes me tear up. Getting redder and redder as time goes by…”

  “Wouldn’t that be…a sunset?”

  The lizardman warrior looked up at the dark shadows that hid the Dungeon ceiling from view, but his gaze seemed to reach farther, going beyond.

  Bell could easily visualize what he was describing.

  “You may be right,” Lido answered with a nod.

  “But is that just a dream…? You’ve been outside on the surface, haven’t you?”

  “Not even once. Which means that maybe sometime in a past life I broke out of this dark hell and spent some time above.”

  Lido’s suggestion made Bell and the others freeze.

  “In…a past life…?”

  “You couldn’t mean…”

  Lilly and Welf whispered in astonishment. Then Bell’s voice shook as he asked:

  “Reincarnation…?”

  Lido and Rei didn’t respond, staring off into the distance.

  “You know, Bellucchi, that Wiene’s a real talker.”

  “Huh…? Oh, y-yeah, she is.”

  The seemingly abrupt change in topic caught Bell off guard, but he recovered in time to nod his head affirmatively.

  Lido watched the laughing young vouivre girl play with Haruhime and Mikoto as well as chat with harpies and al-miraj.

  “Some of us can use language, but some can’t speak a word. There are those who know how to express themselves while others have no clue. Don’t you find that strange?”

  Lido amusedly mentioned that was where the individual differences ended, though.

  “Here’s what’s crazy. The really good ones can speak right from the start. Almost like they’re recalling something they already know.”

  “!”

  “Maybe they’d watched people for a long time in the past…Jealous of them, yearning after them.”

  —“Lots of people, just like Bell…Protect someone from me.”

  —“I see those people, and I feel cold.”

  —“But those people were beautiful.”

  The vouivre girl’s words, whispered under the covers of a very cramped bed only a few days ago, came to the forefront of Bell’s memory.

  A surge of disbelief accompanied them.

  Wiene and those like her really did—

  “—A powerful longing.”

  Fels’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “Each of the Xenos has their own unique thoughts and feelings. However, they all have one thing in common: an intense yearning for people or the surface world.”

  The Xenos remembered in their dreams their jealousy of the people who resided beneath the sun and the sky and their desire to do the same.

  They had seen beautiful things among the violent hostility and murderous intent.

  Humans desperate to save one another’s lives. A dwarf courageously standing tall despite the numerous injuries covering him head to toe. An elf on the edge of death and still carrying herself with pride to the end. Or perhaps ones who showed mercy, sparing a monster’s life. Even something as simple as a beautiful blue sky and the setting sun.

  The Xenos remembered their “past lives” in their various “dreams.”

  And each possessed an intense desire that gave them a strong reason to keep living.

  “I want to live in that world with a beautiful sunset one more time.”

  “I want to spread my wings in a world filled with light, but in exchange, these arms can never hold…I want to be held by someone I love.”

  To be with people in the sunlight. That was their wish. What these men and women desired.

  They were looking for a way to make it happen, with help from Fels and Ouranos.

  All to accomplish a goal that would have been so simple if only the Xenos were human.

  They were also fully aware how difficult it was, how long a road they would have to take. Both Xenos stopped speaking, letting their words hang in the air.

  Lido and Rei smiled wanly as Bell and the stunned adventurers came to the same realization.

  “We know what we are. Our place is in the shadows—halfway between man and monster, neither side accepting us…Even so, we want to keep dreaming.”

  They wanted to follow those dreams and the permission to do so.

  Lido cast his gaze at the labyrinth ceiling once again as he spoke.

  “Maybe Mother wanted beings stuck in the middle like
us to have a place to go when she made Hidden Villages like this…The thought crosses my mind every now and then.”

  “M-Mother…?”

  “Mother—you know: Mom. The one who gave us life.”

  “In other words, the Dungeon.”

  Rei’s words astonished the adventurers again.

  “We still do not know how Mother feels about us…Why those who should be our brothers and sisters attempt to take our lives. Even so, we are allowed to exist. It is our quandary.”

  Lido and Rei seemed to be asking the Dungeon despite knowing there would be no answer.

  On top of everything, they still wanted to pursue their dreams.

  “So that’s why…we couldn’t be happier to meet you, Bellucchi, and everybody else.”

  After looking off into the Dungeon with Rei, Lido returned his gaze to the adventurers.

  At about the same time, Wiene and the others stood up and rejoined the rest of the group.

  Bell heard someone happily call his name and glanced over his shoulder to acknowledge it before turning his attention back to the Xenos.

  “We’re not asking for help or favors. It’s enough to know that there are people who accept who we are…That alone means the world to us.”

  Lilly and Welf stood motionless with Bell at their side.

  The Magus watched from underneath the shadowy black robe. The siren smiled.

  Lastly, the lizardman shyly scratched his nose.

  “I’m glad I met all of you.”

  “—Ouranos, last question.”

  In the stone chamber illuminated by crackling torches…

  Hestia’s voice echoed.

  “What’s happening in the Dungeon?”

  “…”

  “These ‘Xenos’…Do you know why Wiene and others like her were born in the first place?”

  Rogue monsters, subspecies, Irregulars. If these were all it took to explain the situation, then that was that.

  However, she was convinced there was something more to the Xenos due to the simple fact that not even the deities could explain their existence. Hestia had to know why.