Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 13

by Fujino Omori

  “This is not Ishtar Familia!” Haruhime said, covering her red face with both hands and looking almost on the verge of tears.

  “—Okay, let’s get going!”

  Just then, the subject of their argument shifted into action.

  “I can’t stand leaving everything in Bors’s hands! For the sake of my murdered friend, Jan, I’m going to slaughter Gale Wind!”

  “If we get carried away, we’ll probably end up being beaten by our intended victim. Anyway, didn’t Bors tell us to guard this area?”

  “We’re still adventurers! Don’t you at least have the guts to kill the fugitive and make a name for yourself?”

  “…I’m going with Turk. Sitting around here twiddling our thumbs is a joke.”

  Reactions to the werewolf’s call to action were split: Some opposed him, while others sided with him.

  The latter group was far smaller than the former.

  “We don’t want to make Bors mad. But if you want to go, then go.”

  “I’ll go and show you all how it’s done!”

  In the end, a group of four set off for the twenty-seventh floor. Although Bors’s supporters quarreled with the departing group, they did not stop them from leaving, and so Turk and those who had taken his side headed down the path that led west along the cliff’s edge.

  “Let’s go,” Lilly said, standing. Welf and the others nodded silently in response to her brief words.

  Cassandra alone was filled with worry. She could not let them go off without her, however, so she, too, followed the group into the maze of the twenty-fifth floor.

  We can’t take our eyes off the huge hole. Water is falling from it in a thin stream and pooling on the floor.

  As we stand here still as statues looking upward, I notice something.

  “It’s beginning to repair itself,” I whisper.

  The Dungeon is starting to reestablish its composition. The process is so subtle you wouldn’t notice unless you stood here staring at it, but gradually, the crystal ceiling is filling back in, and the hole is closing.

  Judging by the state of things, the repair has just begun. That means the hole was probably made recently.

  In other words, whatever made the hole is…

  “…It’s still nearby, isn’t it?”

  At Bors’s words, the temperature in the passageway seems to drop. At the same time, our group takes up defensive positions. We scan the surroundings and grip our weapons tensely.

  It’s possible that some unknown Irregular with the ability to gouge through the stone walls of the Dungeon is on this floor. My eardrums throb with the sound of rushing water that echoes through the passageways.

  Something cold drips onto my back.

  “…This isn’t the work of Gale Wind, is it…?”

  “I doubt she could do this even with magic…It seems like something dug down from the top, rather than blasting through.”

  Speculation flies back and forth among the adventurers, who have finally let down their guard after several uneventful hours. I realize that the whole party is disturbed.

  There’s an iron rule among adventurers: If something unusual happens in the Dungeon, run.

  Bors is struggling to make a decision, a deep wrinkle etched between his brows. Should we continue on toward our goal or flee this floor?

  All of us sense that this isn’t an Irregular we’ll be able to ignore.

  …Why now…?

  I don’t know why, but suddenly I think of Cassandra’s face, worrying and worrying about something.

  “What do we do, Bors?”

  “Normally I’d haul ass out of here…but we can’t forget about the rest of the adventurers we split off from. Whether or not we keep chasing Gale Wind, I want to tell them about this.”

  I feel increasingly distressed as I listen to their conversation. There’s a good chance Lyu is on this floor. If some sort of Irregular is creeping around here, she’ll be at risk, too. I’m just thinking that I need to find her as quickly as possible when—

  “…?”

  Are we being…watched?

  I’ve gotten very sensitive to the feeling of other people (or things) looking at me, and I sense eyes on me right now. But it’s not an unpleasant feeling…I don’t know quite how to put it…but could it be someone I know?

  I look up in surprise. Just then—

  “Hey, did you hear that…?!”

  “What’s that song?…Is Gale Wind singing? No, it’s…”

  “…‘The Song that Echoes in the Dungeon.’”

  The animal-person siblings and the Amazon forget everything as they listen to the beautiful melody. Bors, too, stands agape and murmurs the name of a song that adventurers whisper about among themselves.

  I dash away from them as if I’ve been hurled forward.

  “H-hey, Rabbit Foot?!”

  “I’ll go check it out!”

  The voices of my companions trying to stop me are already far in the distance.

  I can sense them chasing after me in a flurry, and I run even faster. I feel bad, but in order to ditch Bors and the others, I race randomly through the passageways.

  Whenever I encounter a monster, I try to get around it. If I can’t avoid it, I put on a show with my knife, and when the monster shrinks back in fear, I rush past it. Sometimes I avoid a fight by leaping right over their heads.

  The song is moving!

  Whoever is singing is watching my actions and moving toward a place where we can meet.

  The voice drifts in and out, but it’s always beautiful. The quiet song is like the seashore on a moonlit night, leading me forward. Finally, I arrive in a large room with a spring in it.

  In the center of the spring, sitting on a crystal rock and continuing to sing, is a stunningly beautiful mermaid.

  “Mari!”

  I call out the Xenos mermaid’s name. The last time I saw her was the day I fought the moss huge. It’s hard to believe that was only two days ago.

  She looks just as I remember, her long emerald-blue hair adorned with ornaments made of shells and pearls. She’s put on a bikini top made of shells out of consideration for me, which is a relief. We first met on the twenty-fifth floor, but I suspect she can move freely anywhere within the Water Capital.

  It feels strange to meet again so soon, but I step into the spring up to my waist and walk toward her. She turns to face me and pushes off the crystal rocks with both hands.

  Then she hugs me fiercely.

  “Bell!”

  She throws herself at my chest like a child and wraps her arms around me. I start to blush at the soft sensation of her body, but then I notice something.

  “Mari…?”

  She’s shaking…

  I can feel her fear, and it surprises me. I put my hands on her shoulders.

  “What’s wrong, Mari? Did something happen?”

  “…”

  I speak in a gentle voice to calm her.

  Although I had wanted to call on her to help me find Lyu, she was the one who called out to me. Why? She was even willing to risk being discovered by Bors and the rest of our group.

  She looks down for a moment, then moves her petite lips.

  “Something is here…that shouldn’t be here…”

  Something that shouldn’t be here…?

  Right away, I think of the huge hole we discovered just a short while ago.

  Is whatever made that hole lurking around the twenty-seventh floor?

  “Mari, do you know something? What did you see?”

  “I don’t know…I don’t know when it came, and I don’t know where it went…I never saw it before…!”

  Mari’s speech and actions make her seem younger than Wiene, and she speaks human poorly. I can tell that she herself is frustrated by her inability to describe what she saw.

  But what she says is enough.

  Something that scared Mari this much is on this floor. I squeeze her shoulders and ask another question.

  “M
ari, I’m looking for someone. Have you seen an elf girl?”

  “Elf…?”

  “Um, her ears are longer than mine, and she has a wooden sword, and she’s definitely hiding her face…and she’s really fast.”

  I tell her all the concrete details I can think of.

  “I really, really want to meet with her,” I add.

  Mari looks up at me for a few moments. Then she nods.

  But the next minute, she’s burying her head in my chest and rubbing it back and forth, as if to say she doesn’t want to tell me because it’s dangerous.

  “…Wait.”

  She moves away from me slightly, closes her eyes, and begins to sing again.

  This time, it’s not an enchanting melody but a discordant one: her own special song to charm not humans but fellow monsters. Mari has the ability to control monsters with lower abilities than hers.

  As waves ripple out from where she sits in the water, howls echo back to her from various directions. She opens her eyes wide as she listens to the voices of the monsters giving her information about the missing elf.

  “I know now, Bell…She’s over there!”

  “Thank you!”

  As Mari dives into the spring and starts to swim, I climb onto land and begin running.

  Just like before, I move through the water-and-crystal-filled maze guided by the mermaid.

  What will I do when I meet up with Lyu? Should I ask her about what happened on the eighteenth floor? But can I really take the time to do that with irregularities occurring on the floor? Bors and the other adventurers are at risk…!

  All sorts of worries and questions are flying around inside my head. Thinking about everything I need to do is driving me crazy.

  Just then, a powerful shock thunders through the floor.

  “An explosion?! Again?!” I shout as the reverberations rock through me.

  The explosions had stopped for a while, but now they’ve started again.

  Mari, who’s in the water, flinches at the sound. Waves rise in the stream she is swimming down—evidence of the explosion’s strength.

  The sound and shaking seem to be coming from nearby!

  I run faster, guided by reverberations and sounds that seem to be coming from collapsing crystals.

  Mari is leading me in the same direction, and I follow her tail fin as it cuts through the water.

  An ominous feeling runs down my neck.

  I desperately try to ignore it.

  Turning a corner littered with fragments of crystal, I realize we’ve reached the source of the shaking.

  “Oh no…!”

  Everything is a big mess. The ground has burst open and is totally unrecognizable, while the crystal walls have avalanched into the river alongside the path, blocking its flow. Water has started to gush from the cracks in the ceiling, pouring down in a waterfall. The destruction etched into the crystal maze looks like the aftermath of a barrage of explosions.

  Smoke is drifting through the air, as if some kind of item or magic was used, and beyond the smoke is…a humanoid figure.

  Mari, who’s come with me this far, dives in a panic to the bottom of the water.

  My body stiff, I stare ahead of me for several seconds.

  The smoke wavers and begins to clear—

  “—”

  Words fail me as the scene comes into focus.

  A dwarf lies collapsed on the ground. He’s on his back, convulsing and bleeding.

  And there, standing with one foot on the dwarf’s shoulder, is a woman.

  The very woman who has come to our rescue so many times is standing with her back to me, the hem of her long mantle-like cape flapping.

  She’s thrust her wooden sword into the ground right next to the dwarf’s face. In the other hand, she holds up a bloody shortsword.

  I glimpse her sky-blue eyes beneath the hood pulled up over her head. They are wide open, and they make my blood run cold.

  My heart quivers at the sight of her profile, which reveals her emotions so nakedly.

  “Miss…Lyu…?”

  I call her name, half in doubt. I have seen this expression on her face only once before.

  Her ears twitch.

  Time stops as she turns and pierces me with her sky-blue eyes. As astonishment spreads over her face, I know. It’s Lyu.

  Before my eyes is the unmistakable, beautiful elf I know so well.

  “Miss Ly—”

  “Why are you here?!”

  I stop breathing as she scolds me fiercely.

  I’ve never heard her speak in such an angry voice.

  I’ve never seen her glare like this.

  It’s the expression of…a bloodthirsty murderer.

  “Why. Are. You. Here?”

  A moment later, her face crumples with a range of different emotions.

  What is spilling from her blurred eyes? Suffering? Sorrow?

  Or regret?

  “Mr. Cranell, leave this floor. Immediately.”

  She speaks in a low voice, her tone devoid of emotion.

  My hand shakes as if an electric current is running through it, while the rest of my body remains frozen.

  “You must not be here. Leave now.”

  “M-M-Miss Lyu, what do you mean—?”

  “Just do as I say!!”

  She’s screaming at me again.

  Her words are not a request but a demand that leaves no room for questions, let alone opposition. Meanwhile, she continues to pierce me with her sharp gaze as I stand frozen.

  “You don’t need to do anything. Or know anything. Don’t get involved.”

  She says each sentence in rapid succession, then pulls her sword from the ground, takes something from the fallen dwarf, and makes a move to leave.

  “Miss Lyu…Please wait, Miss Lyu! What is going on? What are you doing?!”

  Time begins to slide forward again. I’ve finally managed to move my frozen lips and get out a few words.

  I feel all turned around, and I have no idea what to say to her, but nevertheless I keep talking.

  “What in the world happened to that dwarf…?!”

  Lyu looks irritated by my shaking voice and glances down at the body.

  “For all I care, this bastard can serve as food for the monsters.”

  She spits out the statement and then takes off running, leaving the battered dwarf behind.

  The voice that spoke her parting words was full of hatred. I’m so shocked I can’t move. I’m left behind, completely useless.

  “Miss…Lyu…”

  I want to know what your true intentions are.

  But that question did not reach you. Far from it—instead, you rejected me and fled.

  I cannot begin to understand what I just saw.

  My mind isn’t even churning—it’s just blank. It’s useless.

  I’m standing here in a daze.

  “Bell…Bell!”

  Mari’s voice brings me back to myself.

  I must have been standing here for quite a few seconds, or rather minutes.

  The sound of running water fills my ears again, and color returns to the scene before my eyes.

  “…!”

  With my mind as confused as ever, I kick the ground. After wavering for a moment over whether to chase after Lyu or stay with the dwarf, I decide on the latter and crouch next to him.

  “Oh boy…”

  The collapsed dwarf adventurer has already lost consciousness. His protective gear is half-destroyed, and his short trunk is covered in blood. He’s marred by long, thin gashes, as if he has been slashed repeatedly.

  “…!”

  I can’t just leave him here, so I start to treat his wounds. Every now and then he twitches, as if his body is recalling the violence inflicted on it.

  All through this, though, the only thing I can think of is Lyu.

  The image of her back turned to me in rejection won’t leave my mind. My hands are shaking so badly, I can’t properly administer first aid.
r />   I’m more in shock than I realized.

  “Miss Lyu…!”

  I finish up the urgent-care measures that can’t be put off, then I tuck the dwarf under one arm and start running. As the dwarf’s limp arms and legs swing back and forth, I head in the direction that Lyu disappeared to, leaping over chunks of crystal that have fallen from the walls and ceilings. Mari hurries to follow behind me, dipping down to the river bottom and then popping her face above the water’s surface.

  “Huff, puff…”

  Sweat flies backward off my body as I run at top speed, still thinking about what just happened.

  I arrived on the scene just moments after the explosion happened. Lyu’s magic is definitely powerful enough to cause this much damage to the passageways. Thinking back on the situation, I believe the string of events fits together.

  A violent assault using magic?

  A bombardment that was impossible to defend against?

  Did Lyu attack this dwarf with the clear intent to kill him?

  It’s a lie; it can’t be…Not her…!

  I want to believe Lyu is not the kind of elf who would do something like that.

  But what do I make of the dwarf under my arm, breathing so faintly I can barely feel it?

  Did she just happen to pass by after he was attacked by a monster? And I happened to be unfortunate enough to find them both a moment later? It’s such a ridiculous idea that I feel like crying.

  The dwarf’s deep cuts look very much like those on the corpse in Rivira.

  It seems nearly incontrovertible that she inflicted these wounds on the dwarf.

  Why did she attack him? What in the world could make her do this?

  I don’t know. I don’t know anything.

  My unsettled mind is unable even to piece together a theory to console myself.

  I thought the incident in Rivira was some sort of mistake.

  I still don’t know the truth of it. But…

  The look on Lyu’s face, the feeling in her heart…that murderous intent…Were they real?

  I shiver as I recall the expression on her face as she stood there with her wooden sword thrust into the ground, looking down on the dwarf with terrifyingly cold eyes.

  Even if someone else’s schemes are involved—even if she’s been pulled into something—if Lyu’s feelings, her intent to kill, are genuine…

  If the motive driving her forward is real, then—