Lefiya had stopped to talk with a small exchange shop’s Amazonian proprietress. She confirmed that not only had Aiz visited the town, but she was also working with an unidentified party.
Meanwhile, Filvis made her way through the rows of shops and talked with merchants.
“Did you recognize anyone with the Sword Princess?”
“Ehhh, didn’t exactly get a good look. Shady-looking guys are nothing new here, and I didn’t think it was worth checking into.”
“How about their crest? They must’ve purchased something during their time here.”
“The Sword Princess bought everything—using Loki Familia’s emblem, no less.”
The only valuable piece of information she learned was how Aiz’s group had been careful to leave no money trail, yet everything she heard brought them a step closer to learning the identity of the mysterious group. Aiz had flashed her identification to purchase several items while completing other transactions by bartering with magic stones and other items.
“Any idea where the monsters are spilling over from?”
“Y-yeah. They’re definitely showing up on the main route that cuts through the twenty-fourth floor…But there’re too many to tell from what direction…”
“Thanks for the useless tidbit, bub.”
“S-sorry to disappoint…”
Bete kicked in the front doors of a bar. He set to work right away and began interrogating terrified patrons about the monsters that had appeared in the city aboveground.
One adventurer suggested that if they went to the source of the outbreak, they could meet Aiz and the unknown group there. Unfortunately, the monsters were so numerous and pass parades so frequent that it was impossible to discern their origin. It was so bad that even Level Three adventurers were desperately fleeing. Over half the patrons of the bar confirmed that they were waiting for the Guild to dispatch an extermination team before venturing back down.
“Of course now is when there’s no high-level parties coming through here,” said several frustrated voices of adventurers from around the bar. Overhearing them, Bete began to curse so hard it almost made him vomit. He roared that if they couldn’t do anything but rely on someone else, they should hang up their armor and stop being adventurers already.
Leaving the now depressed atmosphere of the bar behind, Bete proceeded to the next one.
“So then, no one was able to find anything concrete…” muttered Lefiya after the three of them convened in the town square sometime later.
They shared everything they learned but were no closer to discovering where Aiz had gone than when they first started. Many had seen the Sword Princess pass through. She was a famous first-class adventurer, after all, and easily recognizable. Unfortunately, no one they spoke with could say any more than that.
On the other hand, they learned that the mysterious group had purchased several spare weapons and a large amount of potions. They were preparing for a long, drawn-out battle, most likely with an overwhelming number of monsters. There was no mistake. All of them were going to investigate the Irregular on the twenty-fourth floor.
They had left the town only hours before, so there was a good chance the small party could catch up with them—if only they could pin down the mysterious group’s destination.
“If only we had just a little more information…”
Lefiya stood next to Bete and Filvis, scanning the area.
The three of them stood in the middle of town, a place known as Crystal Square. Its name came from the twin white and blue crystals in its center, and it was also famous for the large sand dial that showed the remaining amount of “daylight” left on the eighteenth floor. Quite a bit of sand had already built up in the bottom half. There were still a few broken signs and some jagged wood scattered about, leftovers from the flower-monster attack. Other than that, Crystal Square looked much as it always did.
The myriad crystals that covered this level’s ceiling shone brightly overhead, illuminating adventurers as they came in and out of the square.
“You talk to the big buffoon yet?”
Eh? Lefiya turned around, caught off guard by Bete’s question. Confused and unsure of who he meant by “the big buffoon,” the elf listened to his somewhat reluctant explanation.
“You know, the guy who’s always walking around like he owns the place? The big buffoon with the eye patch?”
“Ahh.” Lefiya nodded, getting the hint.
“You bet I saw her. Sword Princess paid me a visit.”
The three of them went to the proprietor of the largest Exchange shop in Rivira, Bors Elder.
With a body built like a mountain, the patch over his left eye gave him a sinister appearance. Adventurers are outlaws—that was his motto, and he looked the part. At Level Three, he also had the strength and skill to go with it.
As the man who topped Rivira’s hierarchy, his information network spread far and wide. The three adventurers counted on it when they decided to speak with him.
Bors was sitting in a chair outside his Exchange shop when they arrived, busily sharpening and maintaining several axes and clubs.
“Asked me to hold some armor for her. ‘Don’t let it outta your sight,’ she says. That’s an odd warning, if ya ask me.”
“Armor…?”
There was a facility in Rivira where adventurers could temporarily store weapons and other equipment. This service allowed them to reduce their cargo by leaving spares in town that they could pick up on the way back.
As the owner of the only such facility, Bors was raking in the cash. There was a cave just visible behind his shop, and even from a distance, the adventurers could see a great deal of ominous-looking sickles and large destructive bows piled up inside.
“Yeah, have a look.”
Lefiya tilted her head as Bors pulled out the item Aiz had entrusted to him.
It was an emerald vambrace, its surface marred with deep gouges.
While it was pretty to look at, this vambrace was not a piece of equipment top-class adventurers would use. In Lefiya’s eyes, its properties were far too weak, more befitting a lower-class adventurer.
Why would Aiz be carrying something like this…? Lefiya pondered the question as she looked up from the piece of equipment.
“If I may ask, did Miss Aiz say anything while she was here? We are trying to find her, and any detailed information you can provide would be greatly appreciated…”
“Ohhh? Ya want to know where the Sword Princess went, do ya?” The human stood up from his chair and looked down at Lefiya, placing a hand thoughtfully on his boulder-like chin. A small grin appeared as he laughed to himself, like he knew something they didn’t. “Maybe my memory might work better if I heard the clink of a few valis?”
“……”
Lefiya took a small step back, surprised by the man’s poorly veiled demand for compensation.
“—Out with it, meathead.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. I’ll talk, just let me go!”
Bors immediately dropped the act as soon as Bete took a fistful of his collar and pulled his face in uncomfortably close.
As a bead of sweat rolled down Lefiya’s neck at the abrupt shift in the power balance, the large man proceeded to reveal everything.
“Sword Princess and those hooded folks with her bought a lot of trap items for diversions and several sets of camouflage.”
“Trap items? The ones that attract monsters…? In that case, there could be only one place Miss Aiz and her companions would go…”
“The pantry, eh?”
Bete finished Lefiya’s train of thought.
Trap items triggered a monster’s instincts to feed and drew them to one spot. Camouflage was designed to help adventurers blend in with the environs of a specific floor and hide users from nearby enemies. Both items were often used during ventures to a pantry—naturally occurring fertile spaces inside the Dungeon that provided monsters with sustenance. These two items helped the party avoid fighting large swarms of monst
ers all at once.
The group already knew the floor where Aiz was headed. Now Lefiya and her allies knew their exact destination.
“We’re done here,” Filvis said and walked away from the shop without another word. Bete also turned to leave.
Finally free of the werewolf’s grip, Bors rubbed the back of his neck with one of his large hands and muttered, “Damn that cur,” under his breath. “All puffed up, thinkin’ he’s all that. Outta all of Loki Familia, that werewolf pisses me off the most. Say, Thousand Elf, I’ll make it worth your time if ya slug ’im for me.”
“That is impossible…”
Bors leaned in close to whisper in her ear, but Lefiya flat-out rejected his offer.
She could only imagine the repercussions of doing so. Her life itself would be in danger.
“Oh, and by the way…”
Bors stood back up, looking past Lefiya.
In fact, his eyes were focused on the person beyond Bete—the elf, Filvis.
“Are you working with the Banshee?”
“Eh?”
Lefiya turned to him. Bors cocked an eyebrow as if to say, You don’t know?
“Banshee…Is that Miss Filvis’s title?”
“Nah…That’s just what we call her. That elf’s title is something else.”
A completely different nickname that adventurers had decided among themselves. Even the word Banshee had an ominous ring to it.
Lefiya took a moment to steady her beating heart and worked up the courage to ask a question. “Did something happen to Miss Filvis…?”
Bors glanced in the other elf’s direction one more time before returning his attention to Lefiya and started talking about the girl’s past.
“Every party that’s worked with that elf…they’re all dead as dead can be.”
“?!”
“She’s always the only survivor. It doesn’t matter if they were part of her familia or not, they all died.”
The shock was so great Lefiya felt as though a bird of prey had snatched her heart out with its talons. While she stood speechless, Bete’s wolf ears twitched to the side, and he came to a stop.
“Ever heard of the ‘Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare’? Happened about six years ago now.”
“I-I’m aware of the stories…A great deal of adventurers lost their lives that day.”
“That they did. It was back when the Evils were still around. The last of ’em lured a bunch of strong parties into a deathtrap.”
The Evils. Although they had been wiped out by the time Lefiya joined Loki Familia, she’d heard them come up in conversation many times.
Apparently they despised peace and order. They were led by a group of malevolent deities, radicals, and extremists. Their only mission was to destroy the Guild. They wiped out many familias in the pursuit of this goal, earning the title “Evils.”
Some said that of all the atrocities the Evils committed, the Nightmare was by far the most devastating. It had started when they leaked information about strange occurrences in the Dungeon, prompting a large crowd of adventurers to gather in a specific point on the twenty-seventh floor.
Then the ambushers sacrificed themselves to draw an overwhelming number of monsters into the area using pass parades. Monsters from across the floor, including the floor boss, joined the chaotic massacre, where it was impossible to tell friend from foe.
The sight was hellish—rivers of blood, an ocean of dark flames, and a mountain of mangled humanoid bodies, as well as bestial corpses, greeted adventurers who arrived too late. Many said that the remaining monsters feasted on the dead. However, the fact that stories existed at all meant there were enough survivors for rumors.
Influential familias on both sides, whether allied with the Guild or the Evils, suffered such horrific losses that the incident was still well-known as “the Nightmare.”
“Filvis Challia was one of the few to make it out alive.”
Bors said it while casting his gaze at the elf, who stood off by herself in the distant town square.
“She came back here to Rivira looking like she ran for dear life the whole way…Her face was like a corpse’s.”
He narrowed his eyes as if remembering what he saw that day.
“I’ve seen people who’ve lost their friends, who’ve lost one body part or another…I’ve seen all kinds, but never a face that awful.”
Torn clothing, bloodstained black hair.
Lightless eyes.
No one dared approach her as she dragged her body along.
As if searching for her dead comrades. As if searching for a way to join them in death.
Like she could only keep drifting around Rivira.
“But yeah, ever since that day, every party she’s joined has bit the dust sooner or later. It’s like she’s been cursed or something.”
“……!”
“As adventurers, we know our time could come at any moment. When you gotta go, you go…Luck ain’t got nothin’ to do with it. But word travels fast. Fight alongside that elf and you’ll die. Everybody knows.”
Once Filvis returned to the Dungeon as an adventurer, she became connected to a string of misfortunes and earned a reputation. One party made a poor decision; an Irregular caught another party off guard; another had crumbled from within.
All these parties had only two things in common: Filvis was a member each time, and they had all been wiped out. She was the only survivor.
“And the rest is what I already told you. Some guys call ’er by that nickname, and many avoid her like the plague.”
The party-killing elf—Banshee.
The mournful wails of this fairy had continued since the day of the Nightmare, guiding more victims to an early death.
Adventurers had come to hate and despise the seemingly possessed girl. Even the members of her own Dionysus Familia kept a good distance from their leader.
Filvis Challia stood out among her community for all the wrong reasons. Therefore, she had become known as a strictly solo adventurer in Rivira and aboveground.
“I doubt it’s a reputation she likes havin’…Just…keep your guard up.”
Bors rolled his shoulders before going back into his shop.
Lefiya was left speechless. She and Bete, who had heard most of the story, stared at Filvis even though she didn’t return the gesture. Standing close to the railing at the edge of the square overlooking a cliff, her gemlike red eyes focused on something off in the distance.
Lefiya was deep in contemplation. Just how much has she suffered since she lost her friends during the Nightmare?
Bors said she had looked like a dead-eyed corpse.
Her pride as an elf would have compounded the pain—by not dying alongside her friends and surviving alone, every breath Filvis took would be more shameful than the last. Could there be any escape from such despair?
As another elf, Lefiya envisioned what it would be like to be in Filvis’s shoes. Her body trembled as her sympathy rose.
—Don’t you dare touch me!!
Is her violent overreaction a result of fearing the misfortune that follows her?
Did this series of events force her to isolate herself, physically and mentally?
Unable to save so many, being the one who led so many to die, she might very well have done this to herself.
Lefiya knew that these were only guesses, but even so, the idea weighed heavily on her heart.
She couldn’t help but picture Filvis’s face when she had resembled a soulless husk, when even her own familia put distance between themselves and her. Lefiya’s chest tightened as she hurried to catch up with Bete, who was already walking toward the town square.
The two of them approached the waiting elf. Filvis slowly turned in their direction.
Now aware of her past, Lefiya had no idea what to say.
With Lefiya unsure how to proceed, Bete took a step forward with a smirk on his lips.
“I ain’t got details, but I know you’ve left allies to die a
nd live on in shame. Such a disgrace.” He drily chuckled in her face as Lefiya continued to watch, stunned. “Why the hell are you still an adventurer? You would’ve been so much better off if you’d just died along with them.”
“Mr. Bete!!”
His words were intended to open old wounds. It enraged Lefiya that Bete showed no mercy to those weaker than himself even at times like this…But Filvis said nothing.
Slowly but surely, the apprehensive front that she had kept during their constant quarreling thus far disappeared, replaced by a small smile.
“It’s just as you say.”
It was a smile of self-deprecation that twisted the beautiful face that wore it, to the point it bordered on self-mutilation.
“By not perishing along with my familia on that day, I feel shame with every breath I take. I am a disgrace.”
Filvis didn’t deny that she had abandoned her allies to their fate.
Bete and Lefiya stood completely still as Filvis turned the rest of the way to face them before continuing.
“The rumors have reached you, I suppose? What say you? Shall we part ways? I could very well be the reason you die.”
In response to the voice laced with self-hatred…
Bete frowned and clicked his tongue.
“People thinkin’ like that pisses me the hell off.”
And with those words of disdain, he turned and strode out of the square. He left the elves behind, seemingly abandoning them.
Lefiya and Filvis were alone.
The noise of other adventurers going about their business enveloped them. Someone was playing a stringed instrument, its melodies blending with the various lively conversations drifting around the town. Lights from the crystals above glistened on their golden-yellow and silky black hair.
The two shared a heavy silence, cut off from their bustling surroundings.
Lefiya still couldn’t find the words…Filvis avoided making eye contact but opened her mouth to speak.
“Lefiya Viridis…trying to empathize with me would be a mistake. Stay away.”
The shock of hearing Filvis say her name for the first time made Lefiya’s shoulders tremble.
The one who had gone out of her way to protect her since they began this journey issued her a warning. With her next words, Filvis attempted to shut out her kindness completely.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 3 Page 8