P/N let me know if there's any mistakes and I will try to fix them
Lilly acknowledged that the Guild, in charge of the city and Dungeon
management, would want to keep an eye on them to prevent mass panic from
spreading through Orario. However, from what she could tell, the deal was
incredibly unfair.
Above all, the Xenos members seemed to yearn for something more.
Lilly spelled it all out.
"If this is simply charity, then Lilly will drop the suggestion now…
However."
Averting her eyes and hesitating for a moment, she made her point.
"Are they in this relationship because they want something only Lord
Ouranos and Mr. Fels can provide?"
She'd kept these misgivings to herself ever since arriving at the Hidden
Village, voicing them only now.
Bell and Welf stayed silent, ears perked and waiting.
A look of quiet contemplation grew on Lido's face.
As their conversation reached a standstill, only Wiene's laughter and playful
monster howls could be heard.
"—To walk on the surface."
Just then…
A voice cut through the still air, clear as day.
"Miss Rei…"
"That is our desire."
Rei stepped lightly as she approached the group, winglike arms folded as if
she were hugging her own body.
Bell, Lilly, and Welf gazed at the siren's resolute blue eyes in amazement as
her words sank in.
"…I have dreams."
Lido's soft voice brought them back into the moment.
"Dreams about a ball of red light sinking behind a massive pile of rocks…A
sky that can't be found here, burning red, so red and beautiful it makes me tear
up. Getting redder and redder as time goes by…"
"Wouldn't that be…a sunset?"
The lizardman warrior looked up at the dark shadows that hid the Dungeon
ceiling from view, but his gaze seemed to reach farther, going beyond.
Bell could easily visualize what he was describing.
"You may be right," Lido answered with a nod.
"But is that just a dream…? You've been outside on the surface, haven't
you?"
"Not even once. Which means that maybe sometime in a past life I broke out
of this dark hell and spent some time above."
Lido's suggestion made Bell and the others freeze.
"In…a past life…?"
"You couldn't mean…"
Lilly and Welf whispered in astonishment. Then Bell's voice shook as he
asked:
"Reincarnation…?"
Lido and Rei didn't respond, staring off into the distance.
"You know, Bellucchi, that Wiene's a real talker."
"Huh…? Oh, y-yeah, she is."
The seemingly abrupt change in topic caught Bell off guard, but he recovered
in time to nod his head affirmatively.
Lido watched the laughing young vouivre girl play with Haruhime and
Mikoto as well as chat with harpies and al-miraj.
"Some of us can use language, but some can't speak a word. There are those
who know how to express themselves while others have no clue. Don't you find
that strange?"
Lido amusedly mentioned that was where the individual differences ended,
though.
"Here's what's crazy. The really good ones can speak right from the start.
Almost like they're recalling something they already know."
"!"
"Maybe they'd watched people for a long time in the past…Jealous of them,
yearning after them."
—"Lots of people, just like Bell…Protect someone from me."
—"I see those people, and I feel cold."
—"But those people were beautiful."
The vouivre girl's words, whispered under the covers of a very cramped bed
only a few days ago, came to the forefront of Bell's memory.
A surge of disbelief accompanied them.
Wiene and those like her really did—
"—A powerful longing."
Fels's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Each of the Xenos has their own unique thoughts and feelings. However,
they all have one thing in common: an intense yearning for people or the surface
world."
The Xenos remembered in their dreams their jealousy of the people who
resided beneath the sun and the sky and their desire to do the same.
They had seen beautiful things among the violent hostility and murderous
intent.
Humans desperate to save one another's lives. A dwarf courageously standing
tall despite the numerous injuries covering him head to toe. An elf on the edge of
death and still carrying herself with pride to the end. Or perhaps ones who
showed mercy, sparing a monster's life. Even something as simple as a beautiful
blue sky and the setting sun.
The Xenos remembered their "past lives" in their various "dreams."
And each possessed an intense desire that gave them a strong reason to keep
living.
"I want to live in that world with a beautiful sunset one more time."
"I want to spread my wings in a world filled with light, but in exchange, these arms can never
hold…I want to be held by someone I love."
To be with people in the sunlight. That was their wish. What these men and
women desired.
They were looking for a way to make it happen, with help from Fels and
Ouranos.
All to accomplish a goal that would have been so simple if only the Xenos
were human.
They were also fully aware how difficult it was, how long a road they would
have to take. Both Xenos stopped speaking, letting their words hang in the air.
Lido and Rei smiled wanly as Bell and the stunned adventurers came to the
same realization.
"We know what we are. Our place is in the shadows—halfway between man
and monster, neither side accepting us…Even so, we want to keep dreaming."
They wanted to follow those dreams and the permission to do so.
Lido cast his gaze at the labyrinth ceiling once again as he spoke.
"Maybe Mother wanted beings stuck in the middle like us to have a place to
go when she made Hidden Villages like this…The thought crosses my mind
every now and then."
"M-Mother…?"
"Mother—you know: Mom. The one who gave us life."
"In other words, the Dungeon."
Rei's words astonished the adventurers again.
"We still do not know how Mother feels about us…Why those who should be our brothers and
sisters attempt to take our lives. Even so, we are allowed to exist. It is our quandary."
Lido and Rei seemed to be asking the Dungeon despite knowing there would
be no answer.
On top of everything, they still wanted to pursue their dreams.
"So that's why…we couldn't be happier to meet you, Bellucchi, and
everybody else."
After looking off into the Dungeon with Rei, Lido returned his gaze to the
adventurers.
At about the same time, Wiene and the others stood up and rejoined the rest
of the group.
Bell heard someone happily call his name and glanced over his shoulder to
acknowledge it before turning his attention back to the Xenos.
"We're not asking for help or favors. It's enough to know that there are
people who accept who we are…That alone means the world to us."
Lilly and Welf stood motionless with Bell at their side.
The Magus watched from underneath the shadowy black robe. The siren
smiled.
Lastly, the lizardman shyly scratched his nose.
"I'm glad I met all of you."
"—Ouranos, last question."
In the stone chamber illuminated by crackling torches…
Hestia's voice echoed.
"What's happening in the Dungeon?"
"…"
"These 'Xenos'…Do you know why Wiene and others like her were born in
the first place?"
Rogue monsters, subspecies, Irregulars. If these were all it took to explain the
situation, then that was that.
However, she was convinced there was something more to the Xenos due to
the simple fact that not even the deities could explain their existence. Hestia had
to know why.
After a long silence descended upon the chamber, Ouranos slowly opened his
lips.
"What do you think happens to monsters after death, Hestia?"
"...?"
Hestia frowned at having her question answered with another question.
The elderly god didn't wait for her response and carried on.
"The souls of our children return to the heavens, are judged and sorted by our
kind, and then many are reborn into the world…So what about the souls of
monsters? No, it would be better to phrase it as…If these monsters who are not
our children have souls, where do you think they would go?"
Shudder.
Hestia felt her heart tremble.
"Could it be…?"
"This is only my speculation, but I also have confidence it is correct."
Ouranos was gaining momentum.
"After death, monsters return to the mother from whence they came, the
Dungeon…They're given new form somewhere deep inside the labyrinth and
then are born again."
A cycle of death and rebirth—monster "souls" were in constant circulation
inside the Dungeon.
The motionless, elderly god declared it while his deep-blue eyes narrowed.
"Monsters have…souls…?"
"Yes. They have shown change during their centuries of death and rebirth."
Specifically, they became self-aware and capable of learning.
The "change" started to manifest itself in individual monsters after so much
time had passed that the Ancient Times felt like a distant dream. Strong feelings
of attachment and desire accumulated in each soul as it completed countless
revolutions in the cycle.
Hestia's dumbstruck voice tumbled out.
"I can't believe something like that…What could possibly be the cause?"
"The driving force is either the monsters' strong yearning and desire…or—
the Dungeon's will."
Ouranos's words vanished into the shadows enveloping the chamber.
The banquet at the Xenos Hidden Village was coming to an end.
Bell and the others were making preparations to return home. Lido and the
rest of the Xenos were planning to move to another Hidden Village soon after.
Haruhime and Mikoto wore awkward smiles as they shook hands with their
dance partners and said their good-byes to monsters who had become something
close to friends.
The magic-stone lamps were extinguished one by one until only the glow of
quartz illuminated the area.
"..."
Enveloped in their green radiance, Bell watched his allies exchange words
with the Xenos around the dim cavern.
He hadn't had time to think about it before, but the monsters with human
characteristics were all genuinely attractive individuals. Some spoke with ease
while others couldn't say anything at all. It was just as Lido said. Every one of
them was different. Even their body types were incredibly varied. They each had
their own personality, their own way of living.
He had learned that they had aspirations. He had heard they had hope.
And he had also discovered that before they gained these feelings, they were
bloodthirsty beasts incapable of even shedding a tear.
That was just as true for the openhearted Lido as it was for the beautiful Rei.
—Can I point a blade at monsters the way I used to ever again?
The thoughts he'd been keeping locked away started resurfacing in the
corners of his mind.
As Bell stared into the palm of his hand, he could almost hear the whirlpool
of anguish inside him.
"…Bellucchi!"
Lido spotted the boy lost in thought. He waved one hand high above his head
and approached him.
Bell looked up to see the lizardman warrior slowly wagging his thick tail
back and forth as he pulled something out from beneath his breastplate.
"You know what this is?"
"That's a magic stone…isn't it?"
Lido nodded as he pinched the purple stone between his claws.
Suddenly, he brought it to his open mouth and plopped it inside like candy.
"!"
"Do you know what happens when we Xenos…we monsters eat magic
stones?"
Crunch! Crunch! Bell wasn't sure how to react as he watched Lido purposely
chew louder than necessary.
At the sight of a lizardman gulping down a magic stone, one of the facts that
Eina had drilled into him rose from his memory.
"Enhanced species…"
It was like how adventurers became stronger by receiving excelia and
updating their Status, but for monsters.
They gained a power boost by consuming another monster's "core"—a
principle of the monsters' world where only the strongest survived. The ones
who gorged themselves on magic stones and became too powerful were
identified by the Guild and subsequently marked for extermination via missions.
Bell couldn't respond as he watched the phenomenon firsthand.
"We kill any monsters that aren't our comrades. Then we pluck out their
magic stones and eat them."
"!!"
"I'm sure you already knew that other monsters attack us on sight. We aren't
about to lie down and let them kill us without a fight. We kill to survive and eat
to see tomorrow."
They had meticulously honed swordsmanship and the potential to match top-
class adventurers…Bell reflected on their earlier battle, the strength and power
the lizardman possessed, and knew at once that Lido was telling the truth.
The Xenos were forced to commit cannibalism every day to stay alive in the
Dungeon.
Purely because their lives depended on it.
Blood drained from Bell's face as Lido made his point.
"So please don't waver. Don't hold back for our sake. Those things are scary
as hell, and they'll kill you if you hesitate for even a moment. You'll die,
Bellucchi."
"Lido…"
"And even if they can speak, if they attack you, kill them for me."
This den of monsters is already littered with corpses and ash.
While he didn't say it directly, the lizardman warrior truly wanted Bell to
prioritize his life above anything else.
"Don't you ever die. I want to see you again."
The Xenos themselves had killed countless other Dungeon-dwellers and
would continue to do so.
So don't you hold back, either. So we can meet once more.
Bell's eyes trembled at Lido's argument.
"Bellucchi."
"...?"
"Let's shake hands."
Reptilian eyes smiling, Lido stuck out his right hand.
Bell paused for a moment, looking between the lizardman's face and his
hand…but then he managed a grin.
Hearing the same words as when they first spoke, the boy smiled at the row
of fangs right at eye level.
He took the hand offered to him.
Bell felt Lido squeeze back, scaly skin rough on his own.
"…So, why did you arrange for us to meet them, exactly?"
The prum was busy tying an item pouch to her waist when she caught a
glimpse of Bell and Lido's handshake. Then she turned to the Magus standing
beside her, looking up at the concealing hood as she spoke.
Fels didn't meet her stare, but a response emanated from deep within the dark
confines of the robe.
"We wanted you to know them. That's all…at least for now."
At the deep, cryptic answer, her chestnut-colored eyes narrowed.
Her glare said it all: We'd rather not have more trouble to deal with, so please
excuse us and leave us out of it.
The black-hooded figure shrugged good-naturedly.
"I don't think I need to remind you, but please keep what you saw today to
yourself."
"Would anyone believe Lilly if she told them?"
Clenched fists trembling in frustration, Lilly stomped away toward the center
of the room where Welf and the others were waiting.
Bell and Lido weren't far behind. The people and monsters gathered at the
quartz pillar before going their separate ways.
"Bell, let's go home."
Wiene immediately broke away from her conversation with other Xenos as
soon as she saw him coming.
Turning around with a smile on her face, she reached out to take his hand.
Bell weakly smiled in return and was about to let her.
However, Lido got in the way.
"Your place is here, Wiene."
"Huh?"
He grabbed hold of her bluish-white arm and dragged her back toward the
Xenos group.
Shocked, Wiene yelped and started struggling.
"Lido! No! Let me go!"
"No. You're staying here in the Dungeon."
"I don't wanna! I want to be with Bell!"
Her thin arms stood no chance of breaking Lido's grip. Tears of desperation
began forming in her amber eyes.
Bell watched, unable to speak as the lizardman knelt down to the girl's
height.
"If you're with them, Bellucchi, Lillicchi, everyone will wind up crying."
"!"
"Bad things happened to you on the surface, yes? Only this time, that might
happen to Bellucchi."
All those angry, jeering voices. Cold, hard stones striking her skin and the
weapons maliciously pointed her way.
Wiene's slim shoulders trembled as memories of that night came to mind.
"…We cannot live on the surface yet. But no one will be cruel to you here. You can live here
with us."
The siren's voice reached them. The young girl's dragon wing, the feature
that clearly identified her as a monster, quivered.
A flurry of emotions flooded the vouivre girl's mind as she looked at each of
the other monsters in turn.
"Lady Wiene…"
Bell didn't move.
He heard Haruhime behind him as she did her best not to cry. The moment of
separation came much more abruptly than he'd expected, and surprise was
written all over his face.
No—it was just an act.
The moment he met Lido and the other Xenos and learned there were others
like Wiene who considered her a friend, he had done his best to ignore the
possibility. Immersing himself in the new discoveries and revelations had
allowed him to run away from reality.
The reality that Wiene had a place here.
That saying good-bye would be the obvious conclusion.
"There is a group of hunters that indiscriminately try to capture the Xenos."
"!"
"After all, they're monsters who can communicate with language. The ones
with humanoid features possess enticing beauty. If they're rare enough, anything
becomes exciting for these hunters. After capturing Xenos, they apparently
smuggle them out of the city and sell them to gourmets."
Lilly and the other adventurers were as genuinely shocked as Bell at Fels's
explanation.
The black-robed Magus spat out the words with disgust.
"They put out tidbits of information, calling the Xenos 'monsters wearing
armor' and the like, but they never leave a trail to follow. They must have a base
of operations, a place to hold their captives, but…"
Fels cast his gaze toward Bell from beneath the concealing hood.
Staying with Wiene will only result in disaster. Bell got the hint.
Ikelos's ominous smile appeared in the back of his mind, sealing off his last
hope of escape from the reality. He turned to face the young girl.
"Beeeell…"
As the lizardman and siren gently held her shoulders, tears rolling down her
face, Wiene cried Bell's name as though hanging on to him.
A realization hit Bell as Lilly, Welf, Mikoto, and Haruhime watched with
worried eyes.
—I won't let her be alone. I won't let her die.
He could keep the promises he made to himself without being there to protect
her personally.
"Bell! I…!"
A large group of intelligent monsters stood directly behind her.
Behind him was the family he'd gone through so much with up until now.
Bell was surrounded by those precious to him, before and behind.
For this girl's happiness…
And his familia's, everyone's, his goddess's—
"…See you, Bellucchi. We'll head out first."
Lido said his good-byes before turning his back on the adventurers.
Bell couldn't stop him, couldn't even take a step forward.
The monsters began to disappear into a corner of the cavern shrouded in
darkness, Wiene with them. She looked around one last time.
He could see her amber eyes glistening with tears. Bell clenched his hands
and shouted even as his expression was on the verge of breaking.
"This isn't good-bye! We'll see each other again!"
He left her with that reassuring promise, unsure if he could keep it.
Wiene sobbed, mouth opening and closing as if trying to tell him something,
but she couldn't turn her feelings into words.
It wasn't long before every Xenos faded into the darkness.
"..."
With his allies silently watching over him from behind…
Bell only stared at the spot where he last saw the vouivre girl.
Morning fog filled the air.
The puddles dotting the stone pavement suggested rain must have fallen the
previous night. Wide-leaved trees appeared to be shedding tears as water
droplets fell from their branches every so often. Another one splashed on the
stone surface and vanished.
The sun wasn't out yet. Only the smallest traces of light were starting to
appear on the horizon.
Silence hung over the sleeping city.
It was early morning at the base of Babel Tower.
Bell's party returned from their mission a little more than a full day after their
departure.
Fels, who accompanied them to the surface, had already disappeared. The
party of five stepped out from beneath the white tower's entrance.
Hestia waited for her followers outside the gate alone before sunrise.
Noticing that they numbered one fewer than when she saw them off, the
goddess's shoulders sank in sadness as she said, "Welcome back," with a weak
smile.
"Goddess…"
"…What is it, Bell?"
The group was completely alone in Central Park. Bell opened his mouth to
speak.
"What…is the Dungeon?" he asked, turning to face Hestia.
Welf and his other friends quietly watched as she averted her eyes.
"The Dungeon is…the Dungeon…"
She gave him the same response deities had given the children of the world
from the beginning.
The goddess wouldn't say more than what had already been said.
Bell stood like a statue as her words faded away.
The boy stared at the ground as if the world itself weighed on his shoulders.
Dawn broke on the other side of the city wall, ushering in a blue sky.