Ais, Aika, Koneko, and Sona, who was being carried, are running through the floors trying to find a certain Adventurer. A few minutes ago, Eina requested the trio to help Bell Cranel because it seems that he found himself in a dangerous situation.
Eina knew that her request is quite a bit selfish, but as his advisor, she's not ashamed to ask Bell's acquaintances for help. But since it's not a big deal, the group immediately took off with Ais in tow.
After asking around for a while. They managed to pinpoint Bell's current location and immediately went to the 10th floor. The moment they stepped into the foggy floor, Koneko's ears immediately perked up, and started sniffing the air before muttering, "...Monster bait."
The group was mildly shocked at her words and immediately went towards the sounds of battle and saw a silhouette of an Adventurer fighting against numerous Orcs. Separating, the group slew the Orcs surrounding the Adventurer one by one.
Finally, they were able to confirm that it's indeed Bell who's fighting these Orcs and once he got a breather, he immediately ran towards the stairs of the 9th floor, "Excuse me! Thank you very much! I'm in a hurry!"
Ais, Aika, Sona, and Koneko regrouped once Bell left, "Looks like he's going to resolve his problem." Aika muttered.
"That's the least he can do." Sona said and looked towards their surroundings full of Orcs, "For now, let's kill all of them so other weaker Adventurers won't be put in danger. Koneko, find the monster bait and dispose of it."
It only took them a few minutes to clear the area around them of monsters and while they were planning their next steps, Koneko was alerted yet again and faced a certain direction, "Who's there!?"
After hearing her, everyone faced the same direction where the fog is especially thick and readied their weapons. A second later, everyone else finally noticed the existence beyond the fog.
"I was noticed by you before the Sword Princess could. How fascinating." Walking through the fog, a black-robed figure came out and spoke with a voice which gender couldn't be determined. Sona furrowed her brows as the movement of Mana around the mysterious figure was weird and she couldn't make sense of it. But she's not the 'leader' here, so Sona waited for Ais to speak up.
Noticing Sona's intention, Ais spoke up while pointing her sword towards the figure, "Do you need something with us?"
"Yes, that's right. I do indeed have a request for the Sword Princess. But before that, I would like you to lower your swords. I have no intention of causing you any harm." The dark figure answered.
"Who are you?" Ais asked as she slowly lowered her sword along with the other three also lowering their weapons.
"Just a poor humble mage. Would it make more sense if I told you that I have made contact with Lulune Louie in the past?"
"...!" Ais's eyes widened. After all, the incident that involved Lulune was the time when they went to Rivira and solved Hashana's death incident. It's also where they met the red-haired tamer that had called Ais, Aria and discovered the existence of the Jewel Fetus that could mutate monsters.
Getting the reaction that he wanted, the black-robed figure continued. "Ais Wallenstein, I have a quest for you. There has been an irregular outbreak of monsters on the 24th floor. Several Adventurers have already lost their lives. I would like you to investigate, and more or less suppress the situation. Of course, I will have your reward ready. As for the objective of the outbreak, I believe it has something to do with the pantry recently located within that floor."
It sounded like a normal request, but of course, Ais had her doubts, 'I didn't know that a monster outbreak was going on. Why wasn't it in the news on the surface? And why would he leave the investigation to me? Instead of someone within their own Familia?'
Not minding Ais expression, he continued, "As a matter of fact, on the 30th floor, there was a phenomenon occurring before similar to where we sent Hashana."
After those words, Ais immediately connected the dots, "!?"
"There's a high possibility that the person with the Jewel who attacked Rivira is involved."
Not just Ais, but the other three knew that this is a bait for the Sword Princess to accept the quest. Even if she didn't like the quest itself, Ais would be very interested in the person who called her Aria.
"The situation is serious, Sword Princess. If you could lend me your strength..."
Ais sighed and said, "I understand."
"I am in your debt. If possible, I would like you to head over as soon as you can."
"Would it be alright if we join?" The silent Sona finally spoke.
The black-robed figure faced Sona's direction, "And you are?" For a while now, he had been curious about the other three who seemed to be exploring with the Sword Princess. 'If I remember it right, they're from the newly established Hestia Familia and claimed that they came from a faraway place with all of their members on the verge of leveling up to Level 2. They did it a few days ago and a report said that they joined the Loki Familia as supporters one time.'
"We are from the Hestia Familia. I'm Sona Sitri and this is Aika Kiryuu and Shirone Toujou. We're all Level 2."
"I see... Of course, I would appreciate more help, but this is going to be a dangerous quest for you."
"That's fine. We knew the risks. And we're a bit interested in what the Guild is trying to do with this incident." Sona replied as she closely watched the black figure's surroundings. And just as she hoped for, she detected the ruffling of Mana around him, revealing his emotions.
Now that she got the answer, Sona immediately said a follow-up, "Hahaha, forgive me. I'm just randomly taking a guess here. I don't really know if the Guild is involved or not. It's just my bad habit. I'm sorry." She immediately gave him a path to escape.
Without hesitation, the black figure replied, "My affiliation doesn't matter as I'm just a worker under someone. But I do hope you could complete this request."
"Would it be okay if I sent a message to my Familia?" Ais asked.
"Hmm? Ahh, I see. I can deliver that for you."
"Then we'd also like to send a message." Sona, like Ais, took out some writing materials and started writing her letter. The contents of the letter are only the fact that they received a quest to the 24th Floor with Ais. Of course, Sona added a hidden message reporting everything she knew and the possibility of the Guild's involvement with the incident by writing another set of the letter using her Mana which is invisible to almost everyone.
And even if it were to be discovered, no one could actually read it as it is written in Japanese. If destroyed? It would alert Yoruichi and Kisuke just the same but with even greater seriousness.
Talky Talk:
28th00: So, at first I was like "Either Enyo or Hermes has to be the scummy manipulator trope right now." Then I saw Sona say "Guild" and went "Ah, it's Fels being a scummy manipulator for Mr. I-sit-on-a-throne-all-year-round."
Alexander: Whoever it is, wash your neck and wait for the Hestia Familia. However, Ais being so trusting is one thing, but I expect from Sona as Kisuke's waifu at least a second message. After all, I wouldn't put my trust in such a shady guy to deliver the letter.
28th00: Oh, for sure! Gotta remember that Sona comes from a race-based on deceit and contracts, and her big sister runs foreign affairs for said race. She's got a lot of experience in spotting deceit and other things! Probably why she wanted to come along in the first place actually.
Goyya: This will also help with Yoruichi and Kuroka's intelligence gathering job as they would have more context clues on what's going on.