by Fujino Omori
“…Under coral? An item you can only get in the lower levels…” I say, thinking back to an illustration in the Guild’s pictorial guide to the Dungeon.
“That’s what I thought! I saw a few real ones once when I was with Hephaistos Familia,” Welf says excitedly. “Can’t we get some of that? I hear it makes good weapons.”
Probably because he’s a smith, Welf sometimes asks us to collect materials or drop items when we’re right in the middle of exploring the Dungeon. I want to agree, because he works exclusively for our familia, but…
“Don’t be unreasonable, Mr. Welf! Didn’t Miss Aisha just tell us how scary the water is? We cannot enter that dangerous territory!” Lilly insists firmly.
“That under coral has a gorgeous luster to it. If we brought it back to the surface, it would fetch a good price. And look, isn’t that shell hidden inside the coral an under pearl?” Aisha says.
Lilly sighs.
“Well, I suppose we don’t have a choice…! Let’s go get it!”
“Anything for money, eh, Li’l E?!” Welf scoffs.
He squeezes his hands into tight fists, and the rest of us laugh hollowly. It’s decided—we’re going to harvest one of the Dungeon’s most prized treasures.
But first, to get to the far bank, we have to cross the stream.
With Aisha’s warning fresh in our minds, swimming is not an option. But a number of crystal rocks are jutting out of the water, and by jumping from one to the next, we should be able to make it across.
Still, I catch the vague but undeniable whiff of a trap…
“By the way, I don’t think this party has a thief, but is there a scout among us? This type of work usually goes to them,” Aisha says.
A scout’s main job is reconnaissance. They go out ahead of the group to check for monsters on the path or sometimes intentionally lure them into specific areas. Since part of their job involves making use of the terrain, it’s not unusual for them to also be tasked with collecting or excavating dungeon resources.
Hestia Familia has never clearly established a scout position, but as we listen to Aisha’s question, our eyes naturally gravitate to one person.
“…It’s me, isn’t it?” Mikoto says, her black ponytail swaying.
Her Yatano Black Crow detection skill and ninja abilities make her very well suited to scouting and clandestine Dungeon exploration.
The far bank of the river is narrow and won’t hold more than two. Along with Mikoto, who’s been de facto selected, I’m chosen to provide support because of my speed and agility.
“Lady Mikoto, is Yatano Black Crow reacting to anything?”
“No…At the very least, the blue crabs and raider fish that we encountered earlier aren’t in the vicinity. Of course, that includes the water, too.”
“What are we going to do if that rocky bank is actually a crystal turtle…?”
“Your concern is well taken, Bell Cranell. I’ll try shooting an arrow at it,” Ouka says.
To lighten my load, I discard all but the bare essentials—my knives—and put on a backpack to load with the items we collect. Haruhime hands Ouka a bow and arrow, and he shoots at the crystals to make sure they’re not a monster in disguise. They’re not, so Mikoto and I leap from the shore.
Kicking off the tops of the crystal rocks, we fly through the air. Mikoto, who’s ahead of me, moves ninja-like across the stream, drawing surprise from Welf and the others who are watching from the shore with arrows and ropes at the ready.
“This is our first time working as a team of two, is it not, Sir Bell?”
“Now that you mention it…back when we were dealing with Ishtar Familia, we went off in different directions right away.”
We start collecting under coral as soon as we arrive at the crystal-rock shore. Mikoto cuts off pieces at their base with her dagger, and I load them into the backpack. Incidentally, under coral is a different species from surface coral. I’ve heard it’s as hard as a mineral.
“Please get the pearl, too!!” Lilly shouts from the far shore. We follow her orders and locate the fist-size shell concealed inside the mass of branch-like coral.
Under pearls are sometimes called “rainbow jewels” because they shine with a dazzling array of colors. We harvest it, pure-white shell and all.
“Shall we head back? Nothing good will come of excessive greed.”
Our pack stuffed with the Dungeon’s riches, we quickly finish up our task and step off the rocky shore, where a large mass of under coral still remains.
But as we might have expected, the Dungeon is the Dungeon.
It’s not going to let a couple of adventurers who just stole its treasures get away without a fight. The water’s surface explodes violently.
“Whoa—that was huge!!”
“An aqua serpent!”
As Welf and Lilly scream from the far shore, Mikoto and I stop breathing. The monster is enormous. It has light-green scales and a snake’s head, and is clearly a large-category monster. The formidable head with fins protruding from it reminds me of a dragon. According to information collected by the Guild, aqua serpents can grow up to ten meders long!
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
The monster has emerged directly in front of us in the middle of the stream, as if to block our way forward. Its motions send waves through the water as it glares at us and opens its jaws.
It drops its head—which was raised so high it scraped the ceiling—toward Mikoto, who is ahead of me.
“Miss Mikoto!”
“Mikoto?!”
The flow of time slows to a crawl as Haruhime and I both cry out. But before Ouka can loose an arrow from the shore, or Aisha can ready her podao, or I can shoot a Firebolt from my extended right hand, Mikoto herself takes action.
“Ngh!”
She makes a perfect landing on the crystal rock even though it is hidden by the waves, then leaps off again, spinning forward through the air.
Aiming for the aqua serpent’s lowered jaws, she kicks up her toes.
“—GAA?!”
A hard blow from Mikoto’s right foot sends the serpent’s head flying upward and breaks off two of its fangs.
It takes me a few seconds to stop gaping and realize I’ve just witnessed ninja martial arts in action.
“A s-somersault…” Daphne whispers, grimacing.
Her words snap the sluggish flow of time back to its normal pace.
The instant Mikoto falls into the stream, Aisha tosses her a rope, and I rush forward belatedly toward the monster’s long, undulating body. The serpent has plenty of vulnerable points, and as we cross paths, I slice its body in half with the Divine Knife.
“Yah!”
“—?!”
The serpent sinks into the water, its death throes beating up powerful waves. The move almost seems intentional, like a final attack aimed at me. I’m already off-balance from the excess momentum of running forward, and the waves almost sweep me into the stream. Somehow, though, I manage to kick off a rock and land on the shore where Welf and the others are standing. Mikoto, too, has been pulled ashore with the rope.
“M-Miss Mikoto, when did you learn to do that…?”
“A-actually, I was training with Sir Takemikazuchi before the expedition and he taught me some new martial arts…They came in handy right away, I guess…”
“That was amazing, Mikoto!”
“Yeah, you’ve been rocking this whole trip!”
I smile at her from my position on all fours, dripping wet. She wipes her face and smiles faintly back at me, as if to say she’s just narrowly escaped death. Aisha and Chigusa are praising her unreservedly, and the whole party is wrapped up in a fever of excitement.
The excitement lingers after we move from the flooded main route to a small room a slight distance away. Everyone peers curiously at the contents of the backpack that I’ve placed on the ground.
“So much under coral, and an under pearl on top of that…!”
�
��I’d wager there’s at least three million valis’ worth in there!”
“If you play your cards right with the tradesmen, you can probably get three and a half.”
“Th-three and a half…?! So this is the value of the lower levels…!”
“I can pay back the loans I took out for the weapons in one go…!”
“O-Ouka, you can’t have it all for yourself!”
“This is a great achievement, Miss Mikoto and Mr. Bell!!”
Cassandra, Daphne, Aisha, Haruhime, Ouka, Chigusa, and Lilly cheer when they see the haul of coral and pearl sparkling inside the bag. All Mikoto and I can do in response to all this clapping and praise is scratch our cheeks self-consciously.
“It’s starting to feel like a real expedition, isn’t it?” Welf says, throwing an arm around my shoulder.
“…Yeah!” I say, returning his smile.
Expeditions promise high returns in exchange for high risk. I’ve learned the meaning of those words firsthand by retrieving these treasures.
As I stand there laughing excitedly with my friends, something different from my desire to grow stronger rises in my chest…Something that makes me remember the innocent child’s heart of my earliest days in Orario. Back then, I was completely wrapped up in the fun of the quest. The events of a few months ago feel like ancient history, but I’ve rediscovered my old excitement for adventure.
On the other hand, to have been attacked by an aqua serpent so soon…
Even as I’m smiling with everyone else, a warning bell is ringing softly in my adventurer’s heart.
It’s fine to enjoy ourselves to the fullest during happy moments. But when it’s time to switch gears, we really have to get our heads in the game. I’ll never be like Finn, but I should at least be able to overcome my carelessness and conceit. I’m the one responsible for leading our party. Quietly, I focus my mind.
From now on, I’ll be anticipating the excitement of a new floor, along with the challenges of exploring watery terrain, and the quick wits that requires.
Over and over, I review in my mind the information I learned about the lower levels, and the face of the person who helped me learn it.
I hope Bell is okay…
The boy’s face was a constant image in Eina’s mind.
She was in Guild Headquarters on the surface, where the midday sun was shining brightly.
It was break time, and having finished her lunch, Eina was looking down at a parchment spread out on her desk, chin propped in her hands. At the neighboring desk, her coworker Misha Frot was sighing over the mountain of paperwork that had forced her to give up her break.
I don’t think he can possibly have reached the lower levels yet…Ah, I wish I had pulled out more of the second-tier adventurer material for him!
It was the second day since Bell and his party had left on their expedition. Eina figured they were probably still making their way through the Colossal Tree Labyrinth. She looked down at the scroll.
The upper levels were different from the middle levels. That was what adventurers often said to one another. Likewise, the middle levels were different from the lower ones. Eina had tried to teach Bell everything she could, but perhaps due to the earnest elf blood in her, she couldn’t help feeling now that she could have done more.
As she read the words on the parchment, she sighed several times.
“Eina, if you’ve got time on your hands, maybe you could help me. Think you could do that?”
“Nope, no way. You need to do it properly on your own.”
“Ugh!…By the way, what are you looking at?” Misha said, hanging her head and glancing at Eina’s desk. The scroll Eina was reading listed incomplete quests in the middle and lower levels.
“Hmm…I feel like a lot of adventurers are going missing lately. Especially in the lower levels…That’s where Bell’s party is headed, and it’s making me a bit worried.”
The quests listed on the scroll were all requests to search for adventurers who had disappeared in the Dungeon. Hestia had filed a similar request when Bell and his companions failed to return from their first venture into the middle levels and she became anxious about them. Eina suspected some root cause was behind the fact that adventurers were not returning from the lower levels.
Misha stopped moving her feather pen in response to her friend’s worry and gazed at her inexpressibly anxious face.
“…Hey now, isn’t that the usual situation?”
“Huh?” Eina said, unsure what to make of Misha’s point.
“I hate to say this, but…not a day goes by when a report isn’t filed about an adventurer missing in the labyrinth.”
The Dungeon claimed victims on a daily basis. Any Guild employee knew that. It was even truer with regard to the hard-to-clear lower levels.
“Plus, Eina, weren’t all those search quests filed quite a while ago…?”
Eina suddenly realized Misha was right. She’d definitely seen this quest before…and this one…!!
But only now was she pulling out all the search requests, listing them up, and sighing each time she looked at them. Only now, when Hestia Familia had left on an expedition.
What must Misha think of her?
The moment the thought entered her head, Eina’s face grew hot.
“No, but really, I do feel like there’s been a lot lately! I-I’m not pulling out these documents because I’m anxious about Bell or anything like that…I-I’m not even worried about him!”
That was a lie. Bell was the only thing on her mind. She was definitely being overprotective…or rather, overanxious. Until recently, she had never become this restless when Bell went to the Dungeon.
It must be because of the expedition! Yes, it’s the expedition’s fault! It’s because this is so different from ordinary exploration, where a high level of safety is guaranteed.
That was what Eina told herself. If she didn’t fool herself in this way, she wouldn’t have been able to get anything done. But her close friend Misha saw right through her psychological conflict and rapid-fire excuses.
“Now, Eina…”
“What?”
“You looked strange the other day, too. Is it possible that your feelings for your little brother are—?”
“No way!!”
Eina cut off Misha’s words with a loud denial.
Everyone in the office looked at them, wondering what the fuss was all about. Normally, the mischievous Misha would have poked fun at Eina, but one look at her red cheeks told her what was going on. Misha’s face took on the mature expression of an older sister or mother.
“Eina, your little brother…Bell…is five years younger than us. Okay, it may have nothing to do with age, but still, an adviser and her adventurer…Most of the time, that kind of thing ends tragically…I know it’s possible for humans and half-humans to have children…but still…”
“Stop giving me such a serious lecture!”
Eina couldn’t help screaming at Misha, who was trying to give her a gentle talking-to. She didn’t care about the strange looks she received from the other receptionists or the stares of the Guild staff. It grated on her unbearably to have her friend—who was usually the one who needed to be looked after—worrying about her so earnestly. Finally, she threw her head down on the desk with a thud, hoping to at least hide her burning red face.
“Erghhhh!!”
All she could manage was an agonized groan. She raised her delicate eyebrows as she let Misha’s gentle lecturing voice flow past her ears.
I’ve made up my mind…and I won’t change it.
When Bell returned, she’d have him take her out to dinner to make up for this. She promised herself that. It would definitely not be a date or a mixing of private and public matters. In her mind, she saw Hestia appear as a resentful angel of reason, but Riveria, the master of will, put up a barrier to protect the emotional Eina as she crouched low.
Eina’s emerald eyes were just the slightest bit moist as she gazed down at the pa
rchments scattered on her desk. She scratched her finger lightly across the bundle of quests representing prayers for the safety of loved ones.
“That’s why you have to come back…” Eina mumbled softly.
Compared to the yawning cavern of the Great Falls, the inside of the cliff, where the labyrinth is located, is a lot like a high-rise apartment building.
Like Aisha said, there are lots of staircases and slopes. Whenever I start to feel we’ve been going down for a long time, we go up again. I’m getting a real sense of its multilayered construction. I guess we have to go up and down like this over and over to reach the equivalent of the apartment building’s first floor—that is, the passageway to the twenty-sixth floor, which is located on the southeast side of the cavern.
As for exploration itself, we’ve had quite a few close calls. At one point a huge geyser burst through the ground, stopping our progress, and when we tried to get around it via another route, a monster party appeared. Then Daphne absolutely refused to take the crystal bridge that goes right past the Great Falls. Another time, one of Welf’s arms got stuck on a drug octopus’s sucker, and he almost fell into the rapids. But despite the constantly shifting circumstances, we’re managing to make our way down the main route through the twenty-fifth floor.
Right now, we’re in the labyrinth in the northern section of the floor. If we follow the stream due south, we’d arrive at the Great Falls. According to Lilly, who’s reading the map of the twenty-fifth floor with its many drawings of the various layers, we’re not even halfway down the main route. We still have a long way to go. While we take our third rest of the day, we decide to go a little farther and then turn back toward the twenty-fourth floor. We start moving forward again.
“…?”
As we proceed down the dim passageway lit by faintly glowing white crystals sticking out from the floor, I see something. Since I’m at the front of the party, I notice it first, but soon Welf sees it, too.
“Is that…an adventurer?” he says.
Indeed, the silhouette slowly approaching from straight ahead does seem to belong to a human. Long, thin ears protrude from either side of the downturned face…It looks like an elf.