by Fujino Omori
We stare at the letter on the table.
“…It’s like an invitation to destruction from some evil god,” Lilly mumbles dramatically. But it’s no exaggeration.
Given the situation in Orario right now, saving the Xenos is synonymous with turning every familia in the city against us.
I feel as if the momentary hush falling over the room is going to crush my heart.
The goddess breaks the silence.
“Let’s come up with a clear response right now. Are we going to save the Xenos or not?”
“…!”
She looks not at me but at Welf and the others. Before anyone else can open their mouth, I fire my words at the goddess’s averted face.
“Goddess!!…This is something for me alone to—”
“Bell, this isn’t just your problem anymore. The moment you, our captain, took action, it became the familia’s problem as well. So that’s enough double-talk from you.”
I feel like my heart seizes up at her apparent criticism of my behavior as leader.
She shifts her gaze from my frozen form and poses her question to Lilly and the others once again.
“Everyone, please make your choice. Will we be allies of the Xenos and live as outcasts? Or will we abandon them and return to our ordinary lives?”
This is the same choice I was faced with as well. I was caught between Wiene and Loki Familia, forced into a binary choice. Now the goddess is putting that choice to the others.
I don’t want them to choose either path. That is the true feeling in my deplorable heart.
I stand there like a criminal waiting for his verdict to be handed down, and my memories of the Labyrinth District mix with guilt over acting immorally.
“Lady Hestia,” Welf says, raising his hand. “Can I add one more option?”
“What would that be?”
“We move sneakily to bring those guys back to the Dungeon. That way we don’t get scolded or mocked.”
At first, I’m so stunned by his words I don’t comprehend them.
Welf is grinning, and the goddess, too, is smiling as if she’s just grasped everything fully.
“Look here.”
Welf draws a dagger from the sheath at his waist, his flame-red hair bouncing.
“This is a magic blade. I have three more in the workshop.”
“I thought that’s what you were up to when you were holed up in there all that time…” Lilly says, heaving a sigh. She looks at the deep-aqua blade as if she already knows all about it.
“I knew what we’d have to do, and I knew we didn’t have much time. In order to save the Xenos…Yes, I had to put aside my foolish pride. If we don’t have something like this, we won’t be able to get around the other adventurers.”
I am still frozen in place—although now it’s because of sheer surprise.
I can’t believe that Welf has announced so clearly he intends to save the Xenos.
“What’s with the strange face, Bell?” Welf says with a questioning look.
“Wh-what do you mean, what…?!” I can’t help shouting. “I abandoned you and did all that stuff without asking any of you!! And I caused our familia all kinds of trouble and pain as a result!! I…was so sure that all of you detested me…”
All the feelings and doubts I’ve kept locked up inside until now spew out uncontrollably.
I’m sorry. It’s not that I expect to be forgiven, but I’m sorry.
As I desperately try to get out those words, Welf beats me to it.
“Bell, I told you before. Don’t apologize.”
A memory springs to mind.
This is what familias do, right? Support one another.
Stir up all the trouble you want. I’ve got no room to complain.
That was what Welf said to me in this very room during the mission to escort Wiene to the twentieth floor. As I recall them, I can’t help but feel moved.
“But if you’ll let me scold you a bit…Next time, don’t leave us behind, okay?”
Welf grins. Next to him, Mikoto crinkles her blue-violet eyes.
“Sir Bell, there’s nothing wrong with you. Because no matter how much we thought it over, we definitely would have come to the same decision as you…All you did was get a head start on the rest of us.”
I have no response to that. Next, Haruhime sneaks up quietly beside me.
“You were suffering this whole time, weren’t you? My deepest apologies. I should have spoken with you sooner.”
“Haruhime…”
“Thank you very much for rescuing Lady Wiene. I am truly happy,” she says with wet eyes, her smile and words unfolding like cherry blossoms.
Their expressions are a mirror image of the tearful smiles Lido and the others showed me as they held the sleeping Wiene in their arms and thanked me.
Lilly has been watching as I talked with Welf and Mikoto and exchanged heartfelt looks with Haruhime.
“—Geez, you are all so softhearted!! I’m not ashamed to say it—I feel differently than you! I am still completely against rescuing the monsters!!” she screeches, as if she has reached the limit of her tolerance.
Her face was turned away, but now she slowly widens her eyes and looks up at us.
“But…there’s nothing to be done if the majority has decided otherwise.”
“Lilly…”
A smile spreads over the prum girl’s face like a sunflower.
“The idea of deserting Mr. Bell or of Mr. Bell deserting any of us…Well, I just don’t like it. Anyway, I’m used to being an outcast. I’m not afraid of a bunch of disappointed stares,” she says.
“…”
I haven’t been able to look at them straight since the day I went behind their backs, and I now slowly turn to each one. Lilly, Welf, Mikoto, Haruhime.
Syr was right.
I have lost some things, but other things remain.
A single tear slides from my eye.
How many times have they saved me? How many times have I felt this way?
I’m so happy I met them…and that we became a familia.
“I’m sorry…Thank you,” I say in a hoarse voice, pressing my arm against the flushed tip of my nose.
“…So it’s decided. We will save the Xenos, all of us together!”
Our goddess, who has been watching us with kind eyes, brushes away the sentimental atmosphere with her bright announcement. We all nod in unison and smile as she gives voice to her divine will.
“I’ll just say, though, that the situation isn’t any better than it was before. Getting around the other adventurers, not to mention Loki Familia…Well, it’s going to be even tougher than clearing a deep level in the Dungeon.”
“So you’re saying if we can do this, conquering the deep levels will be a piece of cake, right?” says Welf with a grin.
“Don’t get carried away now,” Lilly responds, glaring at him.
And with that typical exchange, the old Hestia Familia is back.
“We’ve got ourselves some fine opponents, that much is certain…In fact, they may be a bit too powerful,” says Mikoto.
“Anything for the sake of Lady Wiene and the Xenos,” replies Haruhime.
Both of them look resolute.
Everyone is already aligned toward the same goal.
“Okay, Bell, get us in the mood! Give us a few words, and speak up when you do!” Welf says, turning to flash me a fearless smile.
Piggybacking on his mood, the goddess is suddenly excited.
“Yeah, Welf, good idea! Let’s all get in a circle!”
“Uh, that kind of thing is embarrassing…” says Lilly.
“Ha-ha, Supporter. This is an order from your leader. You must obey!”
“Of course, now of all times…!”
Mikoto and Haruhime giggle at the sight of the smug goddess and the grumbling Lilly.
As for me, I’m well past my bout of crying. I wipe my face and rush over to join the circle.
The goddess extends her ar
ms into the middle, and everyone else does the same, overlapping their hands in the center. I follow their lead.
“Okay, then…Go ahead.”
I hesitate for just a second before deciding what I’ll say, then nod at the smiling faces turned my way. Under the eye of the owl perched on the back of a chair, my voice swells along with my thoughts.
“Let’s save Wiene and the Xenos!”
“Yeah!!”
The endless rain has lifted.
“We head for Knossos, where we’ll move in accord with Bell Cranell and his familia.”
Fels was addressing the Xenos, who were gathered in the crumbling sewer tunnel leading to the well.
“The adventurers…and Loki Familia may well discover us, but the only possible route is to infiltrate Daedalus’s legacy. We could probably also take the underground route that leads out of the city, but that is most likely a single road with no forks. Loki Familia will unquestionably have strengthened their defenses, and if they are lying in wait for us, we will be helpless.”
“You say we’ll move in accord with Bell, but will that really be possible? I don’t think we’ll be able to just wing it…”
“If they agree with what I wrote in the letter, then sooner or later Bell Cranell and his familia will link up with us. For now, I want you to trust in my decision and theirs.”
“And what about those who were separated?”
“All we can do is send them a signal. The adventurers may have already guessed our plans, but we will send out a message and all push toward Daedalus Street at once.”
As the siren Rei, the gargoyle Gros, and the other Xenos questioned Fels about the plan that would determine their collective fate, the mage responded to each without hesitation.
During this exchange, Lido alone stood staring glumly at his feet.
“Lido…? What’s wrong?” Wiene asked, noticing his dejected mood.
“It’s nothing; I just feel bad because we’re depending so heavily on Bellucchi and his familia…We’re causing them so much trouble,” he said, then adding in a murmur between his fangs, “I feel so ashamed.”
“Lido. I understand how you’re feeling, but so long as Ouranos is unable to act openly, there are very few people we can go to for help. All we can do is cling to Hestia Familia…” Fels said.
“I know, I know…but still.”
“Lido.”
Wiene stretched out a hand and stroked the lizardman’s arm, her fingers gently catching hold of the scarlet scales.
“You know what Haruhime told me? On the surface, there’s a story called ‘The Grateful Snow Spirit.’”
“Grateful…?”
“Yes. To thank the people who saved her, the spirit brought them all sorts of things. So one day, we, too…”
The garnet-like red stone in her forehead flashing, Wiene beamed with joy.
“…we, too, can give lots of help to Bell and the others who help us, right?”
Lido looked in surprise at the innocent eyes that smiled up at him. The girl who had cried incessantly after being separated from Bell was nowhere to be seen.
“Wiene…you’ve changed.”
“?”
Turning to ash and falling into the abyss of death seemed to have awakened her—albeit unconsciously—to the cruelty of mankind and also to the equally powerful beauty of their potential for kindness. She had been held and fulfilled by the humble dream in the heart of the boy. She had been saved by the kindness—perhaps the foolish kindness—of a single person. The vouivre had been pulled from the dream she had held through many lives and found a new desire—a wish to take the kindness that had enveloped her and give it back to someone other than herself.
Yes, she had changed since meeting the boy.
Standing before the puzzled Wiene, Lido squinted his brilliant yellow eyes as if blinded by light.
“Yes, you’re right…If we get through this, we’ll have a lot of favors to return to Bellucchi and his familia!”
“Yes!”
Rei, Gros, and the other Xenos watched gently as Lido and Wiene smiled at each other. Even Fels’s black robe shook, as if the skeleton within were laughing.
“…Let’s get back to talking about how to get to Knossos,” the mage said, withdrawing a magic item engraved with a D from the dark robe’s depths.
“Our only advantage is that we possess this key.”
Fels held up the Orb of Knossos, embedded within the ingot and passed down through the Daedalus lineage.
This orb would allow them to open and shut the orichalcum door.
“Is that the one I stole from the man I killed…?” Gros asked.
“If Asterios is alive, he should have the other one…” says Rei.
The key that Fels held was the one that had belonged to Glenn of Ikelos Familia. After Glenn threw the cursed spear at Wiene during her rampage, Gros killed him and Fels took the key from his hand. The other key—the one Bell had taken from Lyu’s pouch—had made its way back to the black minotaur.
“The hunting adventurers and Loki Familia have probably not been able to get their hands on one of these.”
“In other words…”
“Yes. As long as we know the location of the entrances, we can enter Knossos from any of them. And once we close the door behind us, even Loki Familia will not be able to follow us.”
In other words, if Fels and the Xenos made it to Knossos, it would be their victory.
Illuminated by a dim ray of light that pierced the darkness, a lamia and a troll clapped excitedly.
“All that remains is to do as I said at the beginning. Rely on Bell Cranell and his familia to help us reach Knossos.”
“When you say help us, do you mean they’ll meet up with us?”
“No—Bell will act as our decoy.”
The instant Fels said so, the Xenos—among whom Bell’s popularity was currently sky-high—raised their eyes toward the mage one after another. Lido, Rei, and even Gros frowned, and tears came to Wiene’s eyes.
“Fels. Do you plan to use Bell and his familia again…?”
“What scum.”
“You dirty old bag of bones.”
“I hate you, Fels!”
“Wait a minute, stop slandering me! My bones have nothing to do with it!! And, Wiene, your tears are killing me, so will you please listen to everything I have to say first?!” the living skeleton shrieked. The scorn of the siren, the harsh words of the gargoyle and lizardman, and more than anything, the tearful glare of the vouivre were too much to bear.
A more detailed explanation of decoy soon followed.
“Due to the recent string of events, Bell Cranell stands out too much. Even now he is the target of criticism and envy throughout the city, and probably suspicion as well. But we will use that to our advantage.”
“…By creating a diversion?” Gros murmured.
“Yes. By acting independently of us, he’ll draw away the attention of the adventurers.”
The gods and some of the other forces in the city most likely had sensed that Bell Cranell was at the center of the current affair, Fels explained. While their attention was turned toward the young adventurer, Fels and the Xenos would move stealthily toward Knossos.
Lido and the others seemed satisfied with this explanation, but Wiene looked sad.
“So does that mean we won’t get to see Bell?”
“It does. Please find some way to accept that, Wiene,” Fels urged her.
The mage in black then explained the core of the plan.
“We will shift the attention of Loki Familia to Bell Cranell.”
“…And that’s probably what our opponent is thinking.”
Leaders and lower-level members of Loki Familia alike had gathered in their encampment in a corner of the Labyrinth District, where Finn was conducting a meeting.
“The armed monsters will probably use Bell Cranell as a diversion and attempt to enter Knossos, so we’ll pretend that we’ve fallen for their trick and lay a tr
ap in a different location. But the important thing will be to pay attention to what’s happening in the opposite direction of Bell Cranell.”
Now that the rain had lifted, the curtain of night had fallen over Daedalus Street. The faces of the adventurers were illuminated by phosphorescence from the magic-stone lamps they had hung around the campsite. As Finn explained their next moves, a buzz passed through their ranks.
“Hey, Finn, is that mangy rabbit really working with the monsters?” the werewolf Bete asked with a sour look.
“In a bad mood, eh, Bete?” Riveria said.
“Shut your mouth!”
Finn watched Bete as he snapped back at the high elf. Though he was staring at him, however, he worded his response with the silent Aiz in mind.
“At the very least, Bell Cranell is in a position to be used, whether of his own free will or because they’re fooling him. In any case, Bell Cranell cannot be our ally this time…Please be aware of that.”
Aiz and Tiona—both of whom had accompanied Bell during his special training for the war games—appeared to believe that would be difficult. Sitting beside the mute golden-eyed, golden-haired Sword Princess, the artless Amazonian girl locked her hands behind her head.
“Uh, I didn’t really get that, but basically you’re saying that if we let the Argonaut distract us, everything goes down the drain?”
“Yes. Of course, we can’t just let him do whatever he wants, so right now Cruz and a couple of the others are watching him.”
“Better yet, Captain, why not capture him before he has a chance to do anything?” Tione suggested with her typical Amazonian penchant for wild ideas.
Finn responded with a wry smile.
“Well, despite how everyone is treating Bell Cranell like a villain right now, there’s no definite proof against him. If we did something like that, I think we’d end up getting criticized ourselves. The Guild already has its eye on us. It would be scary if we got on the wrong side of the goddess Hephaistos, as she’s friends with Hestia Familia.”
Tione frowned before continuing undeterred.
“Seems like a complicated mess. But, Captain, one more question. I know the armed monsters are highly intelligent, but are they really smart enough to come up with a strategy like that…?”
“They’ve got a leader of some sort…Isn’t that right, Gareth?”