“I am unclean.” A weak smile appeared on her lips as if she was all too aware of the truth. “I do not want to sully my own kin.”
Lefiya’s eyes widened as Filvis explained.
It was a declaration unbecoming of an elf. Her words hanging in the air, Filvis immediately turned to leave.
The cold shoulder should have been the last nail in the coffin, solidifying her rejection of Lefiya’s kindness. The younger elf stood in stunned silence for a moment—then her eyes flooded with determination.
She reached out, fully aware of what might happen, and grabbed Filvis by the wrist.
“You are not unclean!!”
Now it was Filvis’s turn to be shocked.
Looking over her shoulder, she stared directly into Lefiya’s deep blue eyes. Her words had stunned Filvis but…after a moment, she knocked away the young girl’s hand.
Lefiya stepped back, clutching her wrist and seeming flustered.
As though surprised at herself for taking so long to break away, Filvis looked down and stared for a while at her hand that Lefiya had grabbed.
“You are far more beautiful and kind than I will ever be!” Lefiya pressed.
It wasn’t empathy or an attempt to cheer her up, nor was Lefiya trying to make herself feel better. She spoke sincerely.
The word unclean had triggered the reaction. Everything Filvis had said to Lefiya up until this point was for the younger elf’s own good, and she couldn’t stand to see her insulted, even if those insults came from Filvis’s own lips. Elven pride was rooted deeply in the two girls’ hearts, as was the kinship they felt with members of their race. A connection that could not be put into words was forming.
Most of all, she couldn’t stand back and let the girl before her lock herself away.
As Lefiya made her feelings plain in no uncertain terms, Filvis eyed her in dismay.
She responded with a hint of anger.
“How could you possibly know? Do not speak of things you don’t understand! We only just met.”
“Gah…” Lefiya couldn’t string words together in the face of Filvis’s sound argument.
To lose now would be…Lefiya blurted out the first rebuttal that came to mind.
“I-I’ll find many examples during our time together!!”
“……”
“……”
Her words blindsided Filvis.
Lefiya was still frozen in the same pose as when she spoke.
The reckless response of her kin left Filvis feeling like her efforts were pointless…“Heh.” The sound slipped out of her after a few moments.
She quickly covered her mouth with her fingers in an attempt to hide her laughter, but it was useless.
“Heh-heh.” Giving up, she let her lips grow into a smile as she pointed out the flaws in Lefiya’s logic.
“Think about what you just said. That wasn’t an answer.”
“Ahh…”
Lefiya blushed as she acknowledged Filvis’s point.
Seeing her reaction, the older elf fought harder to contain her laughter, shoulders shaking. A soft giggle like the chirping of small birds escaped from her dainty lips.
This could very well be…
…the first time that she, a loathed adventurer, had laughed in a very long time.
Lefiya’s face burned with embarrassment, but she couldn’t help but smile upon seeing Filvis’s expression.
I cannot explain it, but…
There were things that could be understood only between kin. The person standing in front of her was a proud elf with a beautiful spirit. Through their brief interaction, Lefiya was certain of it.
“…You are a bizarre elf,” Filvis quietly remarked, her expression no longer tense.
Her demeanor was ever so slightly less thorny, and Lefiya couldn’t have been happier.
The two young women made eye contact underneath the blue underground “sky.”
“Hey, you elven slackers! Move your asses!”
—And got scolded for it.
The two turned in the direction of the yell and, sure enough, Bete was waiting for them at the edge of the town square.
Lefiya and Filvis exchanged another glance and nodded to each other before rushing to join him.
The three adventurers left Rivira together, just as they had come.
The silver saber Desperate whistled through the air.
“ROOoo—!”
It connected at an angle with the bladelike antlers of a deer monster—a swordstag—and cut straight into the creature’s head.
The monster bucked its hind legs before collapsing to the Dungeon floor with a loud thud.
“Whoaaa. I knew you were strong, but…wow!”
Lulune observed Aiz’s instant victory and was impressed.
Her target had fallen, but Aiz didn’t let her guard down. Scanning the area for more threats, she glanced over her shoulder at her allies. Her new temporary party had already finished cleaning up the last of the wave of monsters they encountered.
The walls surrounding them were covered in tree bark, and patches of glowing blue moss lit their way. As monsters that had gotten stronger with each passing floor fell in their wake, Aiz and the members of Hermes Familia arrived on the twenty-fourth floor.
This floor was very close to being considered one of the lower levels of the Dungeon. While it lacked the intersections and twisting paths of the upper levels and the rest of the middle levels, it was much larger than any previous floors. In fact, the hallways and rooms were so wide, the sixteen-adventurer party could fight freely without feeling confined.
At the same time, the monster numbers and encounter frequency also increased. However, Lulune and the rest of Hermes Familia hardly broke a sweat as they systematically eliminated their targets.
“Lulune…your familia is quite strong as well…”
“You don’t have to be so reserved. We’re practically the same age, you know?”
Explaining that she was eighteen, Lulune said she wanted to keep things casual.
Aiz nodded in understanding while party leader Asfi issued orders from the front of the formation. “Advance,” she commanded.
It took a few moments for the group to form, and then they pushed forward as a unit.
“Well, we’re not hiding our Levels just so we can show off, you know. Of course I’m pretty good, but Asfi and the crew can fight as well as some of the best.”
At their position in the middle of the formation, Aiz and Lulune were close enough to continue their conversation while they advanced.
Aiz had already known going in, but Lulune’s acrobatic fighting style and knife skills were impressive. As a thief, she did not exactly enjoy engaging in intense, pitched battles. But when push came to shove, she assisted her allies with disruptive guerrilla tactics, aiming for monster limbs and landing one attack at a time.
All individually strong, exponentially stronger with well-organized teamwork…
When it came to Hermes Familia, it was difficult to point out any flaws. Even the supporters with backpacks strapped to their shoulders could hold their own.
A war tiger wielding both large shield and greatsword, prums with perfectly timed spells, elves with a wide array of short bows and hand axes at their disposal…They executed different formations and tactics in battle after battle on their way to this floor. The first time Aiz saw any action at all was downing that swordstag earlier, proof of Hermes Familia’s skill in combat.
Their teamwork reflected their leader’s personality. Each part of their battle line—vanguard, center, and rear guard—had a specific role to play. Asfi took charge of the middle ranks herself, making it particularly fearsome. With jack-of-all-trades fighters like Lulune, they were extremely capable in coordinating attacks as well as quickly responding to the ever-changing tides of combat. With a solid and dependable center anchoring their party, the adventurers on the front and rear lines could focus on giving their all.
Eliminating meanin
gless movements and placing an emphasis on efficiency might be their doctrine, but above all else, they were strong.
In terms of their strength as a party, they were on par with top-class adventurers, including Aiz, and as strong as Loki Familia’s core troops, if not stronger.
Aiz had never paid much attention to Hermes Familia, but now she admired them.
Especially…
She looked ahead at the woman with aqua-blue hair and the white cloak over her shoulders.
Asfi usually issued commands during battle, hardly ever joining the fray. But when she did, the way she wielded her shortsword was a sight to behold.
Even as the leader of accomplished fighters, her abilities were head and shoulders above the rest.
“Oh? Asfi caught your eye?”
“…Lulune, what’s her Level?” Aiz asked quietly, leaning in close.
“Level Four,” answered Lulune without a second thought.
It was just as Aiz expected. However, she couldn’t help but feel there was more to it. Asfi’s skill in battle all but confirmed this, and doubtless she was cautious to reveal as little as possible.
Hermes Familia is much stronger than everyone thinks, she concluded silently.
Aiz decided to ask Lulune a question or two to figure out the extent.
“How far below have you gone?”
“The thirty-seventh. But those monsters are pretty damn strong, so we didn’t make it far.”
If she recalled correctly, according to Guild announcements, Hermes Familia had reached only the nineteenth floor. Their actual progress was almost double that. Hearing that Hermes Familia had set foot in the Deep Levels was surprising.
That brought Aiz to her second question, something she was very curious about.
“It’s amazing you’ve managed to go so deep without other adventurers noticing…”
A party this large going that far into the Dungeon was sure to attract attention—and expose their secret about hidden Levels. At least, Aiz thought so.
Lulune grinned proudly and boasted, “Don’t forget, our boss is the Perseus. She can make awesome magic items, and there’s one that prevents anyone else from seeing—”
“Quit the chatter, Lulune.”
Asfi cut Lulune off with a sharp warning. Her piercing glare from behind her silver glasses delivered the message loud and clear: Don’t say what can be left unsaid.
“S-sorry, Asfi.”
“Good grief…”
Lulune, who had been giddy with excitement a moment ago, tried to make herself as small as possible.
Asfi sighed, amazed that a thief could be so careless with sensitive information. She came to Aiz’s side.
“Sword Princess, I would like your honest opinion about this quest.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Lulune has informed me about the attack on Rivira, specifically how it began. A darkly dressed stranger issued a quest involving a mysterious orb…Do you believe this undertaking is dangerous?”
Asfi hinted that the involvement of Black Robe meant that the unusual monster outbreak could be linked with the orb as well. She wanted to know if this quest could lead to another event like the one that nearly destroyed Rivira.
Aiz waited briefly before giving an affirmative nod. At the very least, her opinion as an adventurer was that this was not to be taken lightly.
Asfi did her best to hold back another sigh upon hearing that.
“Well then, we got pulled into a real mess, didn’t we…?”
Lulune heard the entire exchange, and her shoulders fell further still. However, Asfi didn’t press the point. As the leader of the group, it was her job to keep everyone unified.
Hermes Familia used their superb teamwork to quickly dispatch the monsters that sporadically tried to block their path as Aiz and the party progressed through the twenty-fourth floor’s main route.
The entrance to the nineteenth floor of the Dungeon sat under the massive tree in the middle of the eighteenth floor, the safe point. The area extending from there to the twenty-fourth floor was known as the Colossal Tree Labyrinth.
The walls and ceiling of the floors were covered in a thick layer of tree bark, and the pattern on the floor made it appear as though they were traveling through a hollowed-out tree trunk. Instead of the phosphorescent light sources that occupied the floors above, the Colossal Tree Labyrinth was lit by soft blue illumination from random patches of wall moss.
Strange types of leaves, large mushrooms, and flowers with silver sap lined the hallways and rooms that adventurers needed to pass through. Most plants here didn’t exist on the surface. Every location adventurers visited had its own unique combination of colors, some rooms even containing lush flower beds.
At the same time, the monsters appearing on this floor were much more aggressive than those above, some equivalent to or stronger than Level Two adventurers. More than ever, precise teamwork and cooperation were required to safely pass to the twenty-fourth floor.
“Oh! Look at that! White Leaves! Asfi, mind if I grab a few?”
“Leave them. Monsters will ambush you the moment you try to collect any. We can’t waste energy or resources before our quest is completed.”
“Shops all over the city are running low on them, too. We could’ve made a killing…Such a waste.”
Lulune had spotted a White Tree as they passed through a hallway and into the back of the room. She immediately moved to collect the leaves, but Asfi stopped her. The chienthrope was reluctant to pass on easy profits, her tail drooping.
This floor’s plant diversity often provided ingredients desirable to chemists, resulting in many quests being issued for this area. Many of the leaves and roots had healing properties so potent that eating them raw could restore health or cure ailments on the spot. Useful as the main component for healing items, these collectibles were incredibly valuable. Even the luminescent moss growing on the walls could be sold for a decent price aboveground.
The group spotted an incredibly rare jewel tree—a tree that produced dazzling red and blue gems that could be sold for a great deal of money—sending a wave of excitement through the party. Even Asfi’s eyes lit up. It pained them all to know they had to press forward without collecting a single one. These trees were protected by green dragons, the strongest monsters on the floor and a good match for even Level Four adventurers. As with the Cadmus dragons on the fifty-first floor, it was common for powerful creatures known as treasure keepers to guard rare items.
Aiz spotted a green dragon sprawled out at the base of the jewel tree. A shot of adrenaline rushed through her when its green eyes met hers. However, she didn’t want to cause problems for her companions and didn’t stop to challenge the beast.
The green dragon clamped its eyes shut the moment the blond, golden-eyed swordswoman left, its large body stirring repeatedly as if recoiling from fright.
“…!”
“Halt the advance.”
Aiz was the first to pick up on the presence farther down the hallway, but the others weren’t far behind. Asfi immediately threw up her hand, signaling their band to stop.
Two hallways intersected directly in their path. It was difficult to tell in the soft blue light of the moss, but countless shadows shifted within the darkness. The adventurers needed only a moment to recognize what they were seeing.
It was a procession of monsters so numerous that it was impossible to tell where one body ended and the next began. The wide passage was completely packed.
“Ughh…”
Lulune’s voice trailed off next to Aiz.
The spectacle of the monsters crowding through the hallway was so overwhelming that the other adventurers reflexively took a step back. The hideous beasts continued endlessly as though from a hidden burrow, and the sight alone was enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
Aiz observed them, thinking that so many monsters concentrated in one place could not be natural. She’d never seen this many together in one ar
ea, let alone proceeding down a hallway in a column.
The group briefly stood in awe before some of the monsters took notice. A few broke away from the stream, others following behind.
“Asfi, what do we do?”
“They must be dealt with eventually. We end it here.”
Lulune’s line of sight was fixed on the oncoming enemies as she addressed Asfi. The leader called out to her company: “Prepare for battle!”
Each member readied a weapon, and designated adventurers arrived in the front to take their places in the shield wall.
“Magic users, begin casting. We need to reduce their numbers before first contact—”
“Wait.”
Aiz interrupted Asfi in the middle of her orders.
The blue-haired woman shot an angry glare in her direction, but Aiz calmly said:
“Leave this to me.”
“What?”
Jerking Desperate from its sheath, Aiz charged into the oncoming wave at full speed.
“H-hey! What are you doing?!”
Hermes Familia’s preparations suddenly halted as the Sword Princess advanced alone.
Aiz engaged her first opponents at about the same time Lulune’s screams of disbelief reached her ears.
One wide swing of her silver saber, and the dying howls of several monsters signaled the beginning of the fray.
“OOOOOooooo!”
The extermination was under way.
Monsters were eviscerated with every mighty cleave of her blade, many collapsing in lifeless heaps. One slash slew three at once as she dodged another beast’s claws and counterattacked in mid-roll. She sprang up, golden mane splayed out behind her as she cut her attacker down in a flash of light.
She faced the swarm head-on, meeting claws and fangs with steel.
With every step forward, the beasts around Aiz vanished—more accurately, they littered the floor with their corpses and small mountains of ash.
Her saber was like a barrier. Any that entered its range met a merciless fate. Heads, limbs, and chunks of torsos flew in every direction.
The title “Sword Princess” no longer seemed appropriate. Aiz used pure force to overpower monster attacks and defenses, taking on multiple enemies at once and leaving a path of devastation in her wake.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 3 Page 9