The golden combination of Loki Familia’s top two left Aiz and Lefiya speechless. It also served as a demonstration for why they should stay on their good side.
“…”
“Finn?”
“My finger’s broken.”
His face devoid of emotion or pain, Finn shook his right hand as Riveria’s eyes opened in surprise.
Finn followed her line of sight.
“Gahhh…” The red-haired woman was climbing back to her feet, using her hands for support.
“First tier…Level Five—no, Six.”
Blood flowed from her massively swollen left cheek and the fresh gash across her chest. A tone of deep hatred had taken over her voice, spitting out the words like poison.
Finn Deimne. Riveria Ljos Alf. Add in Gareth Landrock, and all three Level 6 adventurers made up Loki Familia’s top commanders as well as their strongest warriors.
Not only did they have more combat experience than Aiz, their knowledge of techniques and strategy made them much more powerful than their Statuses alone indicated. Finn and Riveria were pulling out all the stops to overwhelm the red-haired woman.
“The odds are not in my favor…” she mumbled to herself. Then she took off, running away without another glance at her opponents.
Aiz saw it all happen. Choosing to ignore the pain coursing through her body, she gave chase.
“Miss Aiz!”
Lefiya’s call was far behind her. She practically flew past Finn and Riveria.
She was vaguely aware that they were following her, but Aiz had her sights set on her target.
“…!”
The woman passed through the gaping hole in the town wall, exiting Rivira.
Aiz wasn’t far behind, chasing the woman west, down the trail of shattered rocks and crystal fragments. They were headed toward the center of the island. Aiz could hear Riveria and Finn telling her to stop, but she wouldn’t let herself. Pushing Airiel even further, she started to close the distance, even though the woman was running at full speed.
Anyone who took one step out of Rivira knew that the rest of the island wasn’t much more than a wasteland. The ground was covered with different sizes of rocks, making the footing unstable. Tall, wild grasses and small trees grew randomly here and there. Short crystals also sprouted from the surface, providing speckles of light in the darkness.
Aiz’s Magic increased her speed exponentially, but just as her target was almost within striking distance, the woman made it to the other side of the wasteland and to the western edge of the island.
One green eye looked over her shoulder as she neared the cliff, then she jumped over the edge without a second thought.
Aiz ran to the drop-off, looking over with a deep frown. The red-haired woman was running down the rock face, combining her already incredible speed with gravity. By the time Finn and Riveria caught up to Aiz, the woman’s silhouette was indistinguishable from the boulders at the bottom.
They heard a splash a few seconds later.
“Incredible…” whispered Riveria under her breath.
No matter where they looked, none of the adventurers saw the woman rise to the surface of the lake. Most likely, she was swimming underwater. If they lost track of her now, there’d be no way to pick up the pursuit.
The eighteenth floor of the Dungeon was that big. Vast plains, a wide marsh, and an expansive forest were all located on this level. There were places to hide around every corner. They could search all through the night and never find a trace.
Would she return to the surface or go deeper into the Dungeon, for the time being?
Whatever her decision, there was no way to follow her.
“…!”
Lefiya had finally arrived on the scene. Aiz was looking at where she saw the splash, lips shut tight. She willed her face into a calm expression, but her right fist was clenched and shaking.
She was experiencing a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time—emotional pain. It stabbed at her heart.
The powerless feeling from losing a battle wrapped itself around the girl.
Dim light from the crystals above made her golden hair sparkle fleetingly in the bluish darkness.
Healthy flames roared on top of four torches as their light wavered around the chamber.
Ouranos was silent, the flames illuminating the stone altar where he sat.
Elbows resting on the armrests, he fixed the blue eyes beneath his hood on the stairwell.
A few minutes had passed since Loki’s departure.
Eventually, he opened the mouth that he had kept shut tight and spoke:
“Fels.”
His heavy voice filled the room with echoes of the name.
He called to a dark corner of the chamber where no one should be present. However, there was a response.
“Yes, I’m here, Ouranos.”
A figure in a black robe emerged from a darkness that the flaming torches could not reach.
The cloth covered the figure from head to foot; no skin was visible anywhere. No light reflected from beneath the hood, as if the being were formed of condensed shadows. Black gloves covered the hands at the ends of the robe’s sleeves. A complex and intricate pattern was engraved on the back of them.
The new voice in the chamber was a middle pitch that had no characteristics at all. It was impossible to tell if the speaker was male or female.
“An unexpected visit from Loki…I was on pins and needles just watching.”
“The whimsical actions of gods didn’t start yesterday.”
“Yes, but the reasoning was different this time. Drawing her attention is bad news, Ouranos.”
The robed figure completely came out from the darkness at Ouranos’s left and walked closer. He stepped up onto the base of the altar and came to a stop directly in front of the towering deity.
“Loki and Freya…It would be horrible for either of them to harbor any unnecessary suspicion. They must not become our enemy.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
Fels spoke as if he were trying to warn the deity. Ouranos seemed unconcerned, his expression stoic.
Apart from them, no one else was in the chamber. The roar of the flames was the only thing to fill the silence.
“What did you think of our conversation?”
“…Concerning the flowered beasts at the Monsterphilia?”
Ouranos’s gaze shifted to the hooded figure.
The hood moved as if Fels was drawing in his chin at the question.
“Clearly there are beings who wish to destroy the peace and order of the city—no, of all Orario.”
Fels’s answer was clear.
“Ouranos, the ‘whimsical actions of gods’ might be connected to this incident. My own investigations have already confirmed seven types of unknown monsters lurking beneath Orario’s streets.”
“In that sewer system?”
“Yes. However they got there.”
Fels added that he didn’t know if a god was pulling a prank or if the monsters’ presence was the result of more earthly hands.
“It could be the work of ones outside the city, or perhaps the group of deities that refer to themselves as ‘wicked gods’…The remnants of the Evils.”
“Ghosts of the past…”
A “familia” of deities who had once existed in Orario but who despised order and worked to spread chaos.
The familias in power now had conspired to destroy that group, with the Guild’s permission and cooperation. Fels had suggested that some of these deities who still remained on Gekai could be working in the shadows.
“The fact that someone released monsters from Ganesha’s holding cells might be a blessing in disguise. Thanks to that incident, adventurers were quick to take action…before the monsters could inflict too much damage.”
“Indeed. It is safe to say that their plan ended in failure at the Monsterphilia.”
The actions of a certain Goddess of Beauty had spurred Loki and several othe
r gods to act alongside the Guild. By the time the plants had made their appearance, it was impossible to move freely about Orario.
Fels and Ouranos reflected on the surprisingly small numbers that were involved in the attack. Most likely, the mysterious beings behind the incident had sensed a great deal of activity on the surface and hastily removed the rest of the monsters from the sewers. They could be lamenting their failure at this very moment.
With Fels at his side, Ouranos looked forward once again.
“Someone who can manipulate the monsters in question…It appears there is a Tamer whose abilities surpass those of Ganesha Familia.”
“Unbelievable…This is a nightmare.”
Fels’s head shook back and forth, his voice weak after hearing Ouranos’s claim.
Someone was controlling the monsters; all their deliberation had led them to that answer. Fels sighed as if he didn’t want to find out the truth. Ouranos glanced at the hooded figure out of the corner of his eye before looking forward once again.
Silence once again filled the chamber. Slowly, Fels looked up at the deity sitting at the altar.
“Ouranos, I also have sad news.”
Fels began with a preface. His shoulders sank in sorrow before continuing.
“Hashana, the one who took up that quest, has been killed. A message from the town of Rivira reached me moments ago.”
Ouranos closed his eyes.
He kept them closed for a few moments before looking down at Fels.
“What about the delivery girl?”
“I don’t know. At the very least, she has yet to return to the surface.”
“I see.” Ouranos broke off eye contact.
There was pain in his eyes as the deity angled his chin ever so slightly skyward.
The ceiling of the chamber was so high that it was easy to forget that they were underground.
The four torches couldn’t illuminate every corner. The darkness surrounding Ouranos and Fels hinted at the unseen dangers silently lurking in the near future.
The blue eyes narrowed.
“In that case…it was there after all.”
Fels didn’t ask for confirmation, only responded to Ouranos’s statement with a firm “Yes.”
“As much as I didn’t believe it, it appears so.”
Fels’s robe lightly swished from side to side as he continued.
“A mysterious crystal orb that causes monsters to mutate…Something that we don’t know about is happening in the Dungeon.”
An Irregular that even Ouranos couldn’t comprehend.
That…or the existence of something that surpassed monsters. Those were Fels’s suggestions.
“Something is moving beneath the surface.”
The sound of those words was absorbed by the four torches before fading into silence.
CHAPTER 6
PARCHED SCREAM
The woman was like the wind.
Pure, like a child, even more innocent than her own self as a toddler.
She knew nothing of people’s dark side, and would never know.
She flowed like the blue sky above, swaying with the clouds.
Freer than anyone, she was like the wind.
As for herself,
She loved her—warm and kind like the breeze.
She loved the mother who smiled at her with no hidden agenda.
She remembered the feeling of her hand stroking her head.
Her cheeks still felt the warmth of her soft fingers’ touch.
That beautiful voice still lingered in her ears.
The beautiful stories still replayed in her mind.
She was being held against her chest as one of the stories came to a close. She looked up and saw that innocent smile.
Cheeks blushing, she smiled back.
This woman could use magic; she believed it with all her heart.
Anyone who saw her smiled. She could make anyone smile.
She whispered, “I want to be like you,” in her young voice under the woman’s affectionate gaze.
Become someone like the wind, someone like you.
“You are you. You know you can’t be me?”
The woman’s head tilted to the side as she responded in a voice exactly like hers.
“That’s not what I meant,” said the girl, puffing out her cheeks.
“Then what did you mean, roly-poly?” The woman laughed.
Still pouting, the girl couldn’t help but be pulled in by that smile and eventually do the same.
Holding, being held, the two looked at each other in the eye and laughed together.
Soon, the girl looked the other way.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw a young man appear.
His light armor was accented by a black scarf and a silver longsword tucked away in its sheath.
The moment the woman saw his face, she put the girl down. The woman stroked the girl’s face one last time before slowly rising to her feet.
She smiled at the young man, but it was a different kind of smile. The man grinned back and nodded to her.
He felt the girl’s lonely gaze and clumsily smiled at her, too.
“Sorry,” her father said apologetically.
He turned on his heel, and called to her mother.
“We’re going—Aria.”
The two left her behind and walked arm in arm toward a bright light.
“…”
The dreamy fog started to slip away.
Her consciousness left a white forest, arriving at the darkness created by her closed eyelids. Time had bridged the gap between past and present.
Her shoulders shifted ever so slightly. The caress of cold air on her cheeks brought her fully awake.
Aiz slowly opened her eyes.
“Doing okay, Aiz?”
“…Yes.”
A few heartbeats passed between Tiona’s question and her response.
Looking up, she could feel the Amazon’s gaze on the side of her face.
“Rest time is almost over. We’ll be leaving any minute.”
“Okay…”
A few images of her past lingered, still halfway between her dream and reality as Aiz answered. Tiona gave a crooked smile at the sight.
The blond girl lightly shook her head to get rid of the last remnants of sleep and looked around with clear eyes for the first time.
The first thing she noticed was the flickering light of a magic lantern, designed to be carried on long trips. It illuminated the faces of Finn, Riveria, Tione, Tiona, and lastly, herself. Everyone was sitting down, rummaging through backpacks and pouches to make sure weapons and items were in order. She was the only one who had been sleeping up until now.
They were all in a dim, dead-end room with off-white walls. Lefiya was at the other end of the room serving as a lookout, accompanied by one other member of their familia.
Aiz’s battle party rested in a corner of the vast Dungeon.
Six days had already passed since the events in the town of Rivira.
Aiz and the rest of Loki Familia returned to the surface after the dust settled. At the same time, the girls who had been at the center of it all had to do many things.
The first was healing the injured and escorting them back to the surface for further treatment. After that, they each gave detailed reports of the incident to the Guild and Loki. As for the red-haired woman who assailed Rivira—the Guild considered letting the public know that she was a Tamer, at least until Loki told them to “Hold their horses.” That piece of information remained secret, but Ganesha Familia insisted that she be known as Hashana’s killer—and be blacklisted by the Guild.
Since only Aiz’s battle party and Lulune had made direct contact with the woman, the monster’s sudden appearance was recorded as an Irregular—the only other person who knew the truth about the Tamer was Bors, who had heard it directly from Finn. Only upper-class adventurers were privy to the knowledge of what had happened in Rivira, and that Hashana was murdered. The Guild
believed that telling the many lower-class adventurers who couldn’t make it into the middle levels would only spread unnecessary fear and confusion.
Lastly, the Guild demanded that every one of the innumerable brilliantly colored magic stones be turned over to them.
The fervor surrounding the incident died down as all evidence of it was swept under the rug.
“The town of Rivira is taking shape again. They really work fast.”
“It’s really amazing how motivated people get when there’s that much money involved…Just to be clear, I’m not complaining.”
Tiona and Tione struck up a conversation while everyone else was preparing to continue their Dungeon prowl by the light of the lantern.
Once they had finished everything that needed to be done on the surface, the group came back down to the eighteenth floor and found people hard at work—the town of Rivira was up and running again. Despite all the damage it had sustained, upper-class adventurers were already in the midst of reopening their businesses in the center of town.
Bors could be heard walking around town, spewing idealistic banter like, “This is an all-important forward base in the Dungeon! All of it goes to waste unless we bust our asses, got that?” He was very impassioned, tears even rolling down his cheeks. However, just as Tione had said, everyone there knew this performance was just for show. It was money they were after.
The long arms at the Guild couldn’t reach the town of Rivira, which made it a paradise for those who didn’t want to be found. It was a place where outlawed items like Status Thief could be bought and sold as residents and visitors saw fit, whenever they wanted. All morals aside, many adventurers needed a place like Rivira.
It wasn’t known as the world’s most beautiful rogue town for nothing.
Those who chose to do business there were some of the most bold and stubborn adventurers around.
“Those plant monsters and that Tamer have been keeping a remarkably low profile.”
“Hmm, I doubt they can do much after pulling that stunt. Gods themselves have their eyes and ears open, so they can’t do anything to draw attention to themselves. Also, it would be next to impossible to tame that many beasts overnight. I doubt we’ll see anything like last week for quite a while.”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 2 Page 16