"…"
"…"
Both silent, they locked their doors and proceeded down opposite hallways. They recognized each other as having guilty consciences and knew nothing good would come of interacting. Their backs to each other, they left the apartment building by different routes, but they were headed toward the exact same place.
"No…"
Lyu stood in front of the dresser murmuring in shock. A waitress was reflected in the mirror.
She was wearing a light green dress that went below her knees with a white apron wrapped around her body. Feared as Leon of the Gale Wind, Lyu felt incredibly out of place in a cutesy uniform like this. If her comrades in the lost familia were here now, they would burst out laughing, no doubt.
Goddess Astrea would definitely be trying to hide giggles.
Her shining gold hair had even been dyed a light green color.
"It looks good on you, Lyu! You're super-cute! Just to be safe, I dyed your hair so that no one will recognize you as Miss Gale Wind."
While Lyu was shocked, Syr was enjoying herself, an affable tone in her voice. It was several days after that fateful day when they had decided she would work at the tavern. Lyu had finally gotten healthy again and was reborn as an employee of The Benevolent Mistress. Mostly because of Syr. By force.
Lyu found Syr's unreserved smile and praise unbearably detestable right now. She wanted to take off the white cap on her head and pummel it into the ground.
"Allll right, let's get right to work. Time to pay back that expensive meal, right?"
"Kuh."
Smirking, Syr warned her that unapproved movements would not be allowed. As a duty-bound elf, it was calamitous for Lyu. If she ran away without returning the favor to people who had made so much effort to heal her, not to mention fed her, the honor of her proud forest species would be sullied.
Because of that, even if she had been treated badly, Lyu's morals would not let her run away, no matter how much she wanted to do so. Even for the peculiar members of Astrea Familia, such a thing was unheard of.
"I'll introduce you to Ahnya and the others later, but first I'll teach you the job."
"Hey, what do you say when someone teaches you something?" There was nowhere to run.
Lyu was pinned on either side by the smiling Syr and Mia with her arms crossed.
"Thank you…in advance…" Her voice quivered as she whispered, her cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment. Thus began Lyu's daily struggle.
Everyone's first job at The Benevolent Mistress—was peeling.
"Newbie, can you peel vegetables, meow?"
"…Where I was before, it was usually catered."
"People always think it doesn't look that bad, meow. Here, if you just hold the knife like thi—"
"—Don't touch me!"
"Fugyah?!"
"Kyaah! Lyu knocked Ahnya into the vegetables!"
"What are you doing, you dumbass!!"
"Kuh!"
Thanks to her aversion toward being touched, she had knocked her coworker down—failure.
Her second job at The Benevolent Mistress involved going shopping.
"Okay, Lyu? When you're buying ingredients, give a cute smile. And it's fine to beg a bit."
"Give a cute smile…beg…"
"Yep, if you do that, they'll give you lower prices. It'll be okay; the old guys at the shop are nice! So good luck!"
"Understood…Shopkeeper."
"Oh, that uniform—The Benevolent Mistress, eh? What do you need today?"
"Those fruits. Please give me a discount."
"Eh?"
"I said discount, please."
"Um, that's…"
"Please do it quickly. Are you trying to insult me?"
"Y-yikes?! Help me—!"
"Lyu! That's not pleading, that's threatening! And cramping your face isn't smiling; you look like a hit man!!" "Kuh!"
Banned from the greengrocer—failure.
The third job at The Benevolent Mistress was serving customers.
"…The menu."
"Oh, a new staff member? Quite the beauty, too! But kind of blunt."
"Kuh!"
The guests did not like her expression—failure.
And the jobs after that, too: failure, failure, and failure. A storm of disappointments.
"You're more useless than I thought…" Mia sighed heavily.
"Kuhhh…!"
When Mia called her out, Lyu endured the humiliation.
This is wrong. It's because I only just started. I'm just nervous because it's an unknown experience. Even refined adventurers make big mistakes in the face of the "Unknown."
Lyu was decidedly not useless, she reassured herself with a loud voice in her head.
…No, it was like this when I was with Alizé, wasn't it?
When she had joined Astrea Familia, Lyu had constantly made mistakes. At the time, she had caused problems for the chief goddess Astrea and her friend Alizé.
When I'm not used to things, I always make mistakes.
"At this rate, instead of paying back the food, you're just acquiring more debt."
"Kuhh…"
Ashamed, Lyu continued her trials.
Why is Gale Wind working as a waitress…?
Outside the window, the sun was setting in the blue sky. Going undercover as a customer at The Benevolent Mistress to gather information, Runoa was confused at the spectacle she saw. The elf was wearing a waitress uniform, interacting with customers and taking away plates with a gloomy face.
A wanted person who's even on the Guild's blacklist suddenly got a part-time job at a bar…No way, I don't understand at all…
The elf matched the description and likeness she had received from the corporation. Her hair seemed to have been dyed, but it was unmistakably the same person.
However, Gale Wind—who once sent tremors down the spine of all the villains in the city—had exchanged her bloodstained battle clothes and hood
for a waitress uniform and white headpiece…
What is that look? I want to laugh, but I can't.
"…Hey, hey, waitress, is that elf employee new?"
"Yes, meow. So new that she needs to be watched constantly, meow. At the moment, I'm taking of her myself, meow!"
But you're messing up orders, too, you stupid cat.
Annoyed at the waitress's self-satisfaction when she had brought coffee instead of the black tea she had ordered, Runoa peeked over at Gale Wind again. She was moving around the tavern with a distinct lack of familiarity, and even writing down the orders from the patrons was a struggle. She was somehow managing with the gallant help of a blue-and-silver-haired girl.
A ruse to throw off trackers, or a trap…? But this looks too stupid.
While watching the ill-tempered elf from the side, she sipped her coffee. Looking around at the smiling women guests, she struggled to figure out how to handle the situation.
Why is Gale Wind doing chores at a bar, meow?
Under the same setting sun…
Chloe was pretending to be a messenger and sneaking glances through the back door of the store. The scene unfolding before her eyes shocked her. She watched as the elf was called to the back of the kitchen and scolded by the dwarf mistress.
"It seems pretty busy, but what's wrong with that elf girl?" She tried probing a bit while handing over a letter addressed to the tavern.
"Ahh, sorry. She just started…She messed up a bit, so she's getting some advice." The blue-and-silver-haired girl answered with a hint of a wry smile.
Chloe was confident that the elf was Gale Wind when she heard "just started"…but just like a certain bounty hunter, she could not shake her confusion.
Also, that dwarf…she's super-scary, meow. Don't want to make that frumpy woman mad…
Even from afar, she could recognize the dangerous potential of the mistress's anger.
Gale Wind was quietly nodding and putting up with the scolding, her expression like that of a monk in training who had endured several hours under a waterfall.
"Miss Courier…are you new? Are you that interested in our tavern?" The girl smiled sweetly as Chloe quickly confirmed Gale Wind and the layout of the bar.
"…Aaah, that was rude of me. As you guessed, I'm a provisional employee. Anyway, I've confirmed the letter has been delivered."
Acting normal, Chloe returned the smile and left via the back door. She jogged through a back alley where the sun did not reach.
"Whew, that was dangerous," she whispered to herself as she pulled down the brim of the hat she wore as a disguise. "I can't let my guard down in there, meow…The footsteps of the chefs in the kitchen were awfully quiet, it seemed…"
From my perspective, that platinum haired girl is dangerous, too.
This was Orario. People were trained to deal with wild hooligans, including adventurers, but…
"A bar that puts Gale Wind to work…that place might be bad news, meow?"
Making an odd face as she whispered, she wondered if she might have hit
the bull's-eye—
"Ha-ha, no way."
The skilled assassin couldn't help but laugh away the absurd thought. Yes, she foolishly laughed it off.
"Haaa, I'm tired, meow. Mama is rough with both people and cats, meow." Ahnya complained as she and Lyu carried groceries.
No comment on the cat part, but she does use people roughly, Lyu agreed silently.
Several days had already passed since she had started working at The Benevolent Mistress. She had repeatedly messed up, but she was working as an obedient tavern employee.
"Ah, Lyu. Hold the basket properly! If the vegetables fall, Mama will yell at you again, meow!"
"…I think it's fine."
"Letting your guard down like that will cost you your life, meow! I've slipped countless times! I've been doing this longer than you, so you should listen to what I say, meow! Fufun!"
Falling down and holding a basket aren't related, though. Plus, you're awfully proud saying that.
After Syr, this Ahnya girl was the next person Lyu had gotten to know. She seemed cheerful and simple. An idiot…or at least lacking in some way. The way she kept trying to touch Lyu's hand, no matter how many times the elf countered by knocking her away, was good evidence.
She tried to give off an air of seniority and experience, but no matter how Lyu looked at it, she was still better…on paper. Objectively, maybe. By a slim margin.
"…At any rate…"
"?"
"You still look so gloomy, meow. Kind of…depressed, meow? It's concerning, meow…"
Lyu was at a loss for words as Ahnya spoke bluntly, placing the basket of vegetables on the table.
For better or worse, the thoughtless catgirl had no restraint. Recognizing
she was right, Lyu could not respond. She had been made to work plenty at this tavern, but there was still a gaping hole in her heart. It would unintentionally reveal itself, and her expression would darken.
"…Sorry for making you worry."
Maybe Ahnya has been paying so much attention to me because she is worried about me. Thinking this, Lyu apologized.
"Why should I worry about you?"
But Ahnya made a stupid-looking expression—or rather a deeply confused one as she tilted her head.
"N-no…but you said I was depressed."
"Depressing things are depressing, meow. But Mama definitely uses elves roughly, too, so you'll forget about the things bothering you, meow." Lyu went wide-eyed at her words.
"Look at Mei over there, meow. She also had a lot of things happen and looked suuuuper-depressed at first, but now she doesn't have the time for that, meow."
Ahnya pointed to one of the catgirl chefs. She was shorter than them, scampering around like a prum. She did not even have the time to adjust the chef's hat slipping off her head, a busy whirlwind as she moved around the kitchen.
"So feel free to feel down, as long as you get back up again, meow. Everyone at this tavern was like that, meow. And you'll get there, too, meow."
She crudely and carelessly said this. She did not have any proof. However, her words made Lyu's heart feel several times lighter, so much so that she was jealous, wondering how much easier it would be if she could be like that.
"Ahnya…were you like that, too?" Lyu asked, suddenly curious.
"I—I…" The catgirl all of a sudden started to get flustered.
Her eyes darted to the left and right, making suspicious movements. The slender tail coming out of her back started quivering as though it could not stay still.
"I—I just remembered a chore, meow! I need to go for a bit, meow!" Awkwardly excusing herself, she disappeared.
Even that carefree girl had special circumstances. Lyu felt bad for bringing it up.
"Lyu, if you are back from the storehouse, then hurry up and come here."
She was briefly glancing in the direction that Ahnya had fled when Mia stuck her head into the kitchen and called her over.
"Next is washing the plates. Even a clumsy elf like you can do that, right?"
"…Understood."
Lyu nodded and headed over to the washing area. Noting the stacked-up tableware, she started washing them with water.
"…"
She dunked them over and over in a bucket of water. Soap bubbled, and the grime on the plates fell off. As the other girls carried over more dishes, she accepted them and kept moving her hands. Quietly, like a puppet.
Ahnya said all of that…But if the days continue like this, what should I do?
Lyu pondered her situation amid the squeaks of the plates she was wiping and the rush of flowing water in the washing area.
There is what Mia said. Eating delicious food is a good enough reason to live by itself. If that's true, then there's no reason for me to work here. Actually, I should probably get mad about this ridiculous maltreatment and leave. I could be free and do what I like.
In truth, now that she thought about trying to run away, she would be able to do so. But she didn't. It was not a sense of duty as a proud elf holding her back. It was because she did not have any goals to accomplish, and she had nowhere to go back to.
I already…don't have anything…
The emptiness of her revenge. The sense of loss from losing all her comrades. A hodgepodge of feelings dominated her heart. In an instant, her mind fell into darkness. The final support for her heart, the goddess Astrea, was no longer in Orario. Lyu herself had been the one who encouraged her to leave the city.
I cruelly forsook my own principles, and I've been stained and burned by the black flames. Why would she ever acknowledge me or let me live with her again?
She no longer had a home to return to.
And now I'm using this tavern in a vain attempt to avert my eyes…
I'm spending peaceful days working hard at a job I'm not used to, forgetting my emptiness temporarily. I'm depending on this idle life and calling it unavoidable as an excuse.
Acknowledging her feelings, Lyu recognized that much. She was not finding a goal. Not thinking about the future. Continuing to drag along her lost past. It was all just avoiding reality.
If I could find some other reason to stay at this place after— "Lyu, can I help you?"
"…"
Lyu silently looked at Syr as she approached.
I see. It's because this girl is here.
Here was the reason that she could not break away from this tavern.
"…I'm okay. I'm not too busy, so you can do your own chores…"
"I've finished over here, so I thought I'd help out a bit? And this many dishes is pretty rough for one person."
Easily dodging Lyu's reservations, Syr lined up next to her. Lyu did not bother hiding her sigh. She had only known her for a little while, but she knew that it would be pointless to say more. They rinsed off the plates in the same wash area together.
Syr Flover…a person who took my hand.
Listening to another set of bubbles and water, Lyu glanced over at the girl. When she had collapsed in the back alley, Syr had grabbed Lyu's blood- and mud-covered hand. She had not rejected her, despite her elven tendency to prevent anyone she hadn't accepted to touch her skin, a deeply ingrained habit.
It's not as if I had acknowledged her…
There was no way she would be able to discern the character of someone she had only just met. That was obvious. She had just accepted the warmth of Syr's hand without reservations. As though she had felt the girl's kind spirit, or it was a fated meeting.
Just like Alizé.
That reality was what kept Lyu from trying to leave the tavern. She was the second special person to move her that way, and without realizing it, she could no longer do without her.
"Are you getting used to the job here?"
Lyu was stealing a glance at Syr when her heart jumped at the sudden question. Unusually flustered, she gave a long reply to cover it.
"A-a bit…but I'm still messing up a lot. I'm not as good at dealing with things as you are…"
"That's not true."
Syr smiled wryly as she shook her head. "I made all sorts of mistakes when I first started…Hmmm, probably even worse ones than you."
"…You did?"
"Yes. When the tavern employed me, back when I first started working." Lyu was shocked. Syr stopped washing.
"At the beginning, I thought I could at least do this…but I broke a lot of plates, scorched lots of pots, messed up the ingredients I was supposed to buy…Mama Mia got really mad."
"…That's hard to believe."
Surprised, she was pulled into the girl's story. As far as she could tell, Syr was better than anyone else at all of the jobs in the tavern now.
"It would be nice to be able to say it was all a dream. But it's true. I'm still not very good at cooking."
She covered the bottom half of her face with the plate she was polishing as her cheeks slightly reddened, as if she was really embarrassed.
"When I got home, I'd dive into bed and whimper about how bad it was."
Hearing that, Lyu's lips opened a bit, and a soft chuckle escaped. Syr had shared an unexpected side of herself.
"—You finally laughed."
"?"
"Before that, you would never laugh. It seemed like you were always worried about something."
Lyu was surprised at the warmth in Syr's metallic-blue eyes. She looked back at the elf as she bashfully covered her mouth with one hand. Syr just innocently smiled.
I was able to laugh…
As Syr's cheerful smile faded, Lyu thought back.
It was like that before, too.
From Lyu's perspective, Syr had unnecessarily meddled countless times. Helping her with her work and even making it so she could work at the tavern in the first place. She had given the homeless Lyu shelter from the rain.
Ever since she had collapsed in that back alley, Syr's dedication had helped Lyu.
"…I…"
"?"
"I don't understand you."
As Syr tilted her head, Lyu turned to her.
"Why do you trouble yourself for me like that…? Why go so far? Are you trying to poke your nose into my business?"
She finally asked the questions that had been secretly lingering in her mind.
The girl who had drawn the smile out of her matched the elf's gaze. The clamor of the tavern continued: the footsteps of staff unhurriedly walking around, the bustle of food preparation from the kitchen, the conversations of customers eating with relish. Quietly watching Lyu, she finally smiled again.
"Lyu, come with me for a bit?"
Heading through The Benevolent Mistress's back entrance, they walked a bit into the back alleys. Proceeding through countless winding streets, up dozens of stairways, through arches and tunnels, they reached a building. An abandoned church. One of dozens of forgotten churches in the city's seventh district.
She brought Lyu to the roof of the building. When she crossed the threshold, she was wrapped in a brilliant light, and the sights of a peaceful town spread before her.
"Yep, it's another beautiful day!"
It was close to the blue sky. Syr raised a celebratory voice at the transparent blue canvas.
"Is it okay to leave the tavern without permission? If I do this, that dwarf owner might yell at me again…"
"You're always trying hard, so you can get away with a little."
Syr smiled like a mischievous little child. Lyu had recently come to realize that Syr was talented but a bit lacking in diligence from time to time.
Almost like a breeze that could not be contained.
"…Then why did you bring me here?"
"Because it's my favorite spot. I wanted you to know about it, too."
The roof of the chapel was a bit higher than all the buildings around it, so it had a great view. Far off in the distance, Central Park was visible, and past that the still-sleeping Shopping District. Lyu could understand why it was her favorite place.
This reminds me of Alizé, also…
Her old friend had also liked high places. They had often gone to the roof of a building, surrounded by the lovely blue sky as they talked about the future.
However.
In Lyu's eyes now, that beautiful sky was also—.
—Gray. It all looks gray.
Not just the sky—everything looked colorless. That was what Lyu saw from her shroud of emptiness. As if everything she saw turned to gray.
Lyu's light green–dyed hair shook as she looked down.
"Higher than this is no good, and any lower wouldn't work, either. This is the only place where you can see all of Orario and still feel the presence of the people in the streets."
Perhaps recognizing Lyu's thoughts, or perhaps not, Syr continued talking as she looked out at the view.
"When you're here, you can understand what sorts of things the town is thinking."
"…Understand…the town's thoughts?"
"Yep. The people holding their head high as they walk, the carriage dashing through Main Street…the adventurers' arguments, and the children's laughter."
Lyu looked up at Syr's back as she continued speaking.
"For years, Orario was always sad, scared…"
"…"
Orario's Dark Age. The rise of evil that had been the source of the Evils had brought fear and mayhem to the city. Blood flowed in the endless cycle of destruction. Many non-adventurers were lost, too. Having stood on the front lines where chaos and order clashed, Lyu felt her heart hurt when she thought of the residents of the city still living in fear. She was filled with shame and a desire to apologize.
"But, you know, lately it's different."
"Eh?"
"The town is gradually starting to be able to smile. They can celebrate and be happy."
As Lyu's eyes went wide, Syr turned around, and said:
"That's thanks to you guys, isn't it?"
"—"
Lyu was at a loss for words as Syr smiled.
"Ganesha Familia, Loki Familia, Freya Familia…and also Astrea Familia. You and lots of other adventurers fought, were hurt, and still kept trying…and you protected the people."
Several familias had been established in order to subdue the Evils. They all had their own intentions, but they had fought the followers of the evil gods in order to drive away the darkness covering Orario. Lyu's Astrea Familia had also stood for justice and continued to fight to protect people's smiles. They had tried to destroy evil. And Lyu's own blade had brought an end to it.
"The neighborhood is peaceful thanks to what you all did. That's why I have to try to find some happiness for you, too."
"—"
"If the person who worked the hardest isn't happy...…Well, I don't like that."
"You're wrong! Wrong!" Lyu shouted back. "When my friends were killed, I wasn't fighting for peace! That wasn't justice anymore! I just lost my temper for a personal grudge, to get revenge…!"
And the result was this. In the end I got my name on the blacklist, and I've incurred the wrath and resentment of lots of people.
Syr continued to smile at Lyu, who had acted as judge, jury, and executioner for the criminals throughout Orario who were suspected of a connection with the Evils.
"Even so, the adventurers who come to the tavern say it…even the gods say it. 'Orario was reborn.' "
As if saying "Look," she pointed to a street corner below where a performance was happening. On one corner of the main street, a band was playing a song honoring a valorous adventurer. It would have been impossible to imagine such a scene when evil was rampant and public order was crumbling.
Lyu was speechless.
She had missed it while consumed by the flames of revenge. Something she had not noticed as she grieved for her friend and the comrades who had lost their lives, moaning that there was nothing left.
Something still remained of Alizé and the rest: the fruits of their labor. What Lyu had managed to accomplish was compensation for her friends' lives.
"I'll say it for everyone else, okay?"
As Lyu struggled for words, Syr gazed into her eyes and smiled.
"You fought so hard for us…Thank you."
When she heard those words, a single tear silently spilled from Lyu's eye.
"Now, everyone is able to smile."
Syr looked out across the neighborhood one more time.
The wind carried the voices of laughing children, just like an ordinary peaceful town. If she listened closely, she felt sure that she could sense the feelings of the town.
The feelings of the people who lived here.
I…
In the midst of everyone's feelings, Lyu thought she heard a certain voice.
An imagined voice amid the others.
She could sense the smiles of Alizé and her friends living on in the town. Their soft whispers—In our stead…
I…I have to make sure of it myself, I think.
She would have to watch over their legacy in their stead. That was what Lyu thought.
She had decided on a future she wanted to set out for.
The sky…
As the world turned watery through her tears, the surrounding skies cleared up. Like a forest sprouting new leaves all at once, the gray disappeared, and the beautiful blue color returned.
Lyu realized that the heart she had thought was empty now held something. Her tears fell again.
…She's a mysterious person.
Wiping her eyes, she looked at Syr, who was gazing out over the town. She had unraveled Lyu's feelings just like Astrea—like a goddess of compassion.
I acknowledge her. Her meddling—her words—brought me back on to my path.
Just what is she?
As Lyu stared at her, Syr turned around and broke into a smile.
"Your eyes became really pretty."
"…If you think so, then it's only thanks to you."
"Really? I'm glad. I like people like you…People who can become beautiful for someone else's sake."
As if Lyu was too radiant to look at, Syr's metallic-blue eyes squinted into a smile, her cheeks blushing in delight for an instant.
"What will you do now? If you've found what you want to do, then you don't need to force yourself to stay at the tavern, you know? I can talk to Mama Mia for you."
"I…"
She paused for a second before straightforwardly acknowledging her answer.
"I want to repay you."
I want to repay you for letting me notice what Alizé left behind. For letting me see this beautiful blue sky again.
Those were Lyu's true feelings.
"…Is that okay?"
"Yes. If not for you, my friends would have let me have it." Without a doubt.
Thinking that, Lyu's face relaxed. As the girl gazed in surprise, a small, neat, flower-like smile appeared on Lyu's face. Syr grinned broadly. "Well then, I'm glad you'll keep working with me at the tavern."
"Understood. It's not like I have anywhere else to go. I'll burden you for a bit longer."
"Yep. I look forward to it, Lyu."
Surrounded by the sky, they smiled like old friends, the blue sky warmly watching over them.
"About time to head back?"
"Yes."
At Syr's prompt, Lyu nodded. Lyu looked back one last time in order to etch the scene of the beautiful sky and town into her memory as she left the roof, exiting the deserted church with Syr. She headed back, wrapped in a warm feeling that she did not have when she had arrived. Before long, she could see The Benevolent Mistress.
Her eyes leaped to the people loitering in front of the tavern's rear entrance. It was Ahnya and the rest of the employees.
"Ahnya? Why are you here?"
"Fufun. I saw that you guys were ditching work, so we wanted to congratulate you, meow!"
"Aren't you just procrastinating?"
Ahnya responded to Syr's question with an odd pride, but she yelped and turned red at Lyu's observation. However, she stared at Lyu's face and then smiled cheerfully.
"I like that expression better, meow."
"…Yes. I stopped being so gloomy."
Lyu smiled slightly back. The other catgirls besides Ahnya looked on happily. The procrastination was just an excuse. Lyu understood that they were waiting for her to come back after Syr had taken her out.
"No more going easy on you, meow! You're a rival, not just a stray we took in, meow! You better be prepared to put your jaw into it, meow!"
"Back, Ahnya?"
Ignoring Syr's gentle correction, Ahnya moved closer to Lyu. "Which is to say, let's try shaking hands again, meow!" This is what she's been after.
The catgirl triumphantly put out her right hand, and Lyu's hand made as if to grab it. Just as she was about to do that—slap! She knocked the hand away with all of her strength. The atmosphere froze.
…Crap…
Lyu's hand had reflexively moved as she started to sweat. Even someone as insensitive to people's feelings as Lyu could understand. The carefully constructed pleasantness had been wrecked. While time stopped for Syr and the other staff, she timidly peeked at Ahnya…and saw a savage cat with a blazing fire behind her eyes.
"I'll definitely touch you, meow…!"
"W—"
Lyu was agitated as the stubborn catgirl started talking big.
These catgirls are annoying in an entirely different way from Alizé and the rest—!
Lyu was sure of that as Ahnya gradually slipped into a stance, staring daggers at her.
"Haah!"
"Wha—Syr?!"
Syr had suddenly hugged her.
"You let me touch you."
"L-let me go!"
Syr did not seem to mind as Lyu turned red. Wrapping both arms around her neck, she put her cheek on Lyu's.
"Myaaaaaaa! Why am I bad and Syr's okay, meow? That's impossible!
This is a matter of pride, meow!!"
"—!"
"Fugya!"
Lyu countered, Ahnya was sent flying, and Syr laughed aloud. The rest of the staff all started clapping and laughing along, too.
"…Hey, you stupid girls! Ain't every last one of you skipping work?!"
Watching from afar, Mia's eyes narrowed, and finally she bellowed at them as their horseplay continued.
Lyu thought.
Syr and the other staff were not a replacement for Alizé and the rest. Believing something like that would be a disservice to these girls. And the grief and emptiness from losing irreplaceable comrades was not so easily healed. Even if it healed, unexpected twinges could bring back Lyu's loneliness.
However, I have to move forward. Even if I remember the past, I can only move forward. Together with Alizé's legacy.
She decided to write a letter. One addressed to the goddess she had been separated from.
What I'm doing and what I've decided…If this ever gets delivered, she'll know. She would definitely smile when she reads it.
Returning to The Benevolent Mistress alongside Ahnya and the rest, she secretly whispered to the girl who had helped her, who had constantly meddled and led her to discover so many things. "Thank you, Syr…I'm grateful."
3
The evening sun set beyond the western wall.
Surrounded by the gigantic city wall, Orario's darkness came early. Runoa had learned that much, having come to this Labyrinth City almost four years ago.
"…She's changed."
West Main Street was tinted red. In the middle of a street crowded with adventurers returning from the Dungeon and laborers whose jobs were over for the day, she had stopped and looked over at The Benevolent Mistress. The elf staff girl was reflected in her eyes.
Gale Wind…Her expression is softer now.
She was still awkward at her job. She was still not very good at customer service. But after observing the situation several days ago, Runoa could tell that Gale Wind's face had changed a bit. Before, she always looked as though she was forcing herself and darkness clouded her face.
Her aura had suggested she'd lost someone important, or maybe lost her path.
But it was different now. She was holding her head high, her dignified figure exuding vitality like a large tree in a forest. A spark of determination had returned to her sky-blue eyes, and she sometimes smiled ever so slightly when her colleagues called out to her.
Ahhh…she found a place she belongs.
As if feeling her gaze, Gale Wind turned toward her.
Exchanging glances through the window, Runoa puller her scarf up over her mouth and started moving with the crowd again, heading away from the tavern.
Betrayed is maybe a bit much, but…maybe, recently, I felt like we were alike.
Walking along Main Street, Runoa noticed that she was jealous of Gale Wind.
"Family, friends, familia…I don't have any of that." Looking up at the twilight sky, she spoke to herself.
Being alone in a crowd of people like this brought back old memories.
—Runoa Faust was born in a certain territory of the empire, far from Orario. Before she was old enough to understand what was happening, she lost her parents in the war that led to the country serving the empire, so she became a street urchin, fending for herself without anyone's protection. Between theft, fights, and turf wars with other street kids, a day did not go by without some new bruises.
For Runoa at the time, it was obvious to jump at the opportunity to join a familia as soon as she found out about them and the Falna she could be granted. It was just that important to have power. If she could join one, she would not have to worry about the bare necessities like food or shelter. After she had a Status, her physical strength increased to a new level. Runoa's struggle to survive became significantly easier.
The head god of the familia was a confusing guy. Later she heard that he amused himself with a coup d'état and revolution game. She had never really understood his will and did not enjoy how he used his followers like pawns.
Maybe he had loved them, but she did not really understand it.
In the end, it collapsed into infighting, and the familia was destroyed.
—After that, she began drifting from place to place like tumbleweed.
There wasn't a twilight like this in the imperial territory where I grew up.
For Runoa, such an unfettered life was alluring and exciting. She started collecting bounties in order to earn money for traveling. Whenever she remembered to, she would provisionally join an appropriate familia and have her Status updated. She had already had three conversions. She had never really joined a particular familia.
Outside the city—outside Orario—a difference in Level was absolute. Unlike the Labyrinth City, which boasted the Dungeon, people who could level up were few and far between. The only places that could lay claim to multiple people of Level 3 and higher were famous cities and countries like the Empire or the Great Country of Magic, the handful of world powers. With her talent for fighting, Runoa leveled up quickly and was acknowledged as superior wherever she went—but became isolated.
Her time in her first familia had made her stronger by leaps and bounds. Rough as she was, she provoked animosity and jealousy in her colleagues, so she was not familiar with the concept of comrades. She thought she was fine with that. She took pride in her ability to get by on her own strength. That was why she had decided making friends was unnecessary.
—But I was out of my element here.
Three years ago, she had the opportunity to come to Orario. The Labyrinth City was different from anywhere else in the world she had seen. She did not know how it would look in a few years or a few decades. But Orario at the turning point of the Dark Age was a scary place. Back then, the clash of justice and evil, as well as the powers attempting to use that clash, led to countless formidable forces squaring off around the city known as the Center of the World. So many strong people were fighting like madmen to fulfill their desires and wishes.
Coming to that place by herself, Runoa was swallowed up by the raging waves of the period.
—The first time I thought I might die was probably when I got the contract for Freya Familia.
Once, she had targeted an adventurer belonging to a certain beautiful goddess's faction, but the tables were turned on her. She ran for her life from four terrifying prums, just barely escaping alive.
For the girl who had boasted of her invincibility outside the city, her first total defeat was only the first shock.
I knew that Orario was dangerous, but I still jumped in. I can't deny that it was mostly just a carefree desire to test my strength. I never thought they would be so monstrous.
Biting back her humiliation, she started to pick and chose her jobs. She fought and fought, and the struggles never ended. By nature, she hated to lose, and whenever she was wounded, she would scream and flail in frustration. She leveled up a third time. But it was endless. Adventurers stronger than her kept appearing one after the other. She would do in a target and get a large reward, but she still did not feel better.
Before I knew, being alone became tiring.
For the den of demons that was Orario, solitude was a poison that ate away at your body.
It was imperative not to go it alone. She had struggled to get this far, but she was reaching her limit.
Just like the Dungeon that could only be challenged with a party, Orario was merciless to solo wanderers.
"…It's exhausting, really…"
Looking back on the days leading up to now, Runoa sighed, wallowing in a sentimentality that was unlike her.
Some of it was the light shock at seeing that Gale Wind had found a place she belonged, but the source of it was the exhaustion. She was tired. Tired of being alone.
Thinking along those lines as she walked among the crowds coming and going on Main Street, all of a sudden—
"Oh…Runoa?"
A goddess appeared. She had buoyant, long, honey-colored hair. She was holding a paper bag to her impossibly large breasts, clearly returning from shopping. Her kindly, rounded eyes sparkled with surprise. One of her followers was beside her as protection. Surprised at running into her in this crowd, Runoa whispered her name.
"Demeter…"
"That surprised me, I didn't think I'd meet you in a place like that."
"Me, too."
A room in Demeter Familia's home, Wheat Hall, in the north of Orario. There, at Demeter's invitation, Runoa had taken her top off and was naked from the waist up.
"I had wanted to ask you to check my Status, so it was perfect timing."
"You only come to see me when you need your blessing renewed. You can come anytime, you know?"
Runoa forced a laugh as Demeter examined at her back with a pout.
Demeter pricked her fingertip with a needle, dripping ichor on Runoa's back while she sat on a chair. In the blink of an eye, a hieroglyph list appeared, and a new inscription was added.
Runoa had contracted with Demeter. In other words, Demeter Familia was her fifth membership.
"The hall is quiet. How are Persephone and the rest?"
"It's harvest time, so almost all of the children are in the fields outside the city. The sun's set, so they'll be coming back soon, I think."
It was random chance that Runoa had contracted with Demeter. When she came to Orario hunting bounties, her Status eventually became out of date. While she was looking for a suitable group, she had bumped into Demeter as she had today and asked for help. From Runoa's perspective, the carefree, gentle-seeming Demeter seemed like a goddess of good character and had been easy to negotiate with.
In particular, Demeter Familia was a commerce-oriented faction, running the farms producing wheat, vegetables, fruits, and the like. She figured that she would not end up in a fight if she was in a non-martial faction, even if she messed up.
"All right, you're updated."
"Thank you, Demeter."
Taking the update report that had been translated into Koine, Runoa started reading it without bothering to cover her chest.
Runoa Faust
LEVEL 4
Strength: B 704 -> 780 Defense: C 660 -> B 722 Dexterity: D 545 -> 577 Agility: D 559 -> 599 Magic: I 0 Punch: H Crush: I Brawler: I
I've been neglecting it for a while, but still…it rose a pretty good amount…
She should have been pleased with what was a good amount of growth for a Level 4, but Runoa was tired. She fully understood how monstrous Orario could be, so all she could manage was a sigh to herself. Borrowing a candle, she immediately burned the paper with her secret Status on it and fixed her clothes.
"Runoa. You're going to have dinner, right?"
"Ah, no, I…"
"I planned a feast today. I'm sure I made too much, so there will be food left over. Will you help me? Persephone also wanted to meet you."
Intending to turn down Demeter's kindness, Runoa was overcome by the goddess's gentle smile. She scratched her cheek as Demeter started the preparations for tea.
Strictly speaking, Runoa was a follower of Demeter, but not a member of her familia. It was just for the purposes of updating her Status—Runoa was free to convert at any time. Runoa had intended to listen to any requests Demeter had in return, but the goddess who ruled over fertility had only smiled cheerfully without asking for anything.