P/N let me know if there's any mistakes and I will try to fix them
In his blurred gaze, the night sky looked far, far away.
…I feel like I've seen this place before…
As his body sunk into the earth after the baptism from his idol, his empty
consciousness recalled an irrelevant scene.
Doubt began creeping into his mind about the backstreet, which all along
had looked familiar.
When was it? Where was it?
He couldn't think straight.
"Bell, Bell?!"
Hestia's voice reverberated into his consciousness just as he was about to
sink into the blackness.
He thought of Aiz's sad expression and Wiene's tears.
He closed his eyes once, then raised his eyebrows and scratched his
fingers across the cobblestones.
Far from Bell, in the north-northwest of the Labyrinth District, a woman lay
prone beside a huge broadsword thrust into the ground.
"Damn werewolf…you have no mercy," Aisha said, hurling her spiteful
words at Bete. He was already long gone, leaving her there covered in
wounds. Blood was running from a laceration on her lip.
"Owww…" she said, glancing at the chipped broadsword beside her.
Despite her frown, she sounded secretly pleased with herself.
"Lady Aisha, Lady Aisha…!"
The tears dampening Aisha's brown skin were Haruhime's.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she sobbed, gripping the hand of the woman Bete
had defeated. Haruhime herself was uninjured aside from some scratches
from the stone shards Bete had kicked at her. As the girl's sobs echoed
through the alleyway, Aisha scowled in annoyance.
"Stop crying. A few little bruises aren't going to kill me."
"But—but…!"
"If you have time to cry, you have time to do something else, don't you?"
Aisha stroked Haruhime's long golden hair as the renart wiped the tears
from her face.
"You have some place you're trying to get to, right?"
"…Yes."
She pulled the blue crystal from the sleeve of her kimono.
Holding the oculus she'd been given in her role of supporter, Haruhime
looked down at Aisha.
"Okay, get going, then. I'll just rest a little and then figure out something
to do."
"Thank you so much…Lady Aisha," the red-eyed Haruhime said before
standing.
As she watched the girl run off, fox tail swaying, Aisha felt the energy
drain from her body.
"All I ever do these days is lose…Maybe I should get the Little Rookie to
take me on a trip instead of training."
Aisha's glossy lips curved into a smile as she closed her eyes and drifted
into a long sleep.
"…Bell?"
Wiene stopped and looked over her shoulder.
The sounds of fierce fighting no longer reached her ears, and the worry
she'd been feeling all along ballooned now into a raging anxiety. After
hesitating for a moment, still gripping the veil, she turned and slowly began
walking back down the road she'd come by.
"Bell…Goddess?"
Wiene advanced fearfully through the maze of tangled streets. Pressing
her single dragon wing to her body and hugging her thin chest as she edged
along the walls, she looked less like a monster than a lost child.
Would those golden eyes be staring at her coldly around the next corner?
Would the silver glint of that terrifying sword sever her neck the instant she
stepped into a crossroads? She quivered at the imaginary scenes the dusky
half-light seemed to whisper into her ear.
Just then, a shadow fell across her from behind.
"—?!"
Startled, she looked over her shoulder. A hand reached out and clamped
over her mouth, and another wrapped around her thin waist and pulled her
close. Suddenly she was enveloped in warmth, wing and all.
"Wiene, don't say a word."
"Ah…Bell!"
As the white-haired boy whispered into her ear, the tension drained from
her body and relief took its place.
The next moment, though, she noticed Bell's appearance. His clothes and
armor were torn to pieces and covered in bloodstains. His face could not hide
his pain and exhaustion. She was speechless.
"Let's go," Bell whispered, pulling her along by the hand.
"B-Bell…" she said, her voice dissolving into tears.
"I'm sorry, Wiene, just try to hold out a little longer."
As Bell moved forward, he kept a careful watch for any sign of Aiz. He
squeezed Wiene's hand. Then, as he brought the oculus on his gauntlet to his
lips, he happened to look up.
On one of the walls surrounding the wide intersection paved in sooty
black cobblestones was an ariadne drawn in brilliant red lines.
His sense of déjà vu crystalized and tapped on the door of his memories.
Oh, so that's what it is…
He'd finally figured it out. Of course he felt like he'd seen this place
before.
He'd been down this road once. He'd been with Hestia on the day of the
Monsterphilia, and the silverback had been chasing them.
A self-mocking smile spread over Bell's face as he thought of what he
was about to do.
"Goddess…are there any hidden passages near here?" he said into the
oculus.
"Huh? Uh, um…there are, but none of them lead to where Fels and the
Xenos are. They'll actually take you out of your way," Hestia said, sounding
confused.
"Please tell me how to get there."
Following her instructions, he eventually arrived at a wide dead-end
street. He pushed one of the stone panels on the walls, and the wall opened to
reveal the passage. Bell told Wiene to go in first, then passed something to
her.
"Bell…? Is this…?"
"Yes. You'll be able to communicate with the goddess. She'll take good
care of you…"
He squeezed her hand around his only oculus, which he'd detached from
his gauntlet.
"Bell, you're…"
Coming through the oculus, Hestia's words trailed off into silence.
"Go down this passage. I'm going to stay here for a few minutes," he told
Wiene.
"What…?"
Wiene's eyes, too, were wide with surprise and worry.
"Wh-what will you do?"
"I want to talk to Aiz about something…She's definitely going to end up
here."
"…"
"As long as you listen to the goddess, you'll be completely fine. Don't
worry, I'll be following right after you…"
There was no way he could follow her.
Without the oculus, Hestia would not be able to direct him. He wouldn't
know where Wiene was. Bell stroked Wiene's hair, covering his lie with a
kind smile.
Hestia listened in silence to their conversation. He was grateful; she'd
understood what he wanted to do.
As Wiene looked up at him, dumbfounded, he gently pushed her forward.
"Go ahead."
She slipped into the passage and disappeared as Bell shut the secret door
behind her.
She'd stared back at him with her amber eyes until the very last minute.
As the door shut with a heavy thud, Bell leaned his head against it.
This is the second time…
He felt he was a coward. The instant he realized he would be unable to
protect Wiene if he couldn't beat Aiz, he sent her away from him, just like he
had done with Hestia.
He was still a pitiful, powerless, weak adventurer.
But that time…
When the silverback had been closing in on them, he'd thought to himself
with a tinge of wistful longing that he'd like to see Aiz's face one more time.
How ironic that was in light of his current situation.
Bell laughed. It was funny. No, maybe it was his head that was funny.
A moment later, he heard a scraping sound behind him and slowly turned
around.
"Bell…"
Aiz was staring straight at him. She must have seen him help Wiene
escape. Her eyes glinted with reproach. Bell tried to form his mouth into a
wry smile but failed.
He was guarding the only door to the passage where Wiene had escaped.
Aiz didn't know where it led, so forcing Bell to move aside was her only
option. This would buy time for her to get away. And it would also force Aiz
to interact with him.
He would not let her ignore him.
"Move."
"No."
"What can I do to get you to move?"
"I'm staying here until you listen to me."
"…"
Aiz looked down and closed her eyes.
After a moment, she flourished her sword resolutely.
Bell's smile stretched into a tight line. As Aiz walked toward him, he
drew his weapons.
It was a dark, dark passage.
"…"
"…Turn right there, Wiene."
"…"
"…Now go straight ahead."
"…"
"…"
"…Goddess."
"…What is it?"
"I don't like this…"
"…"
"I don't want to leave him…! Bell is lying to me…!"
"…"
"Bell is trying to save me. I'm happy, but it's wrong. I don't want Bell to
be hurt; I don't want him to cry."
"…"
"I've never repaid him for anything!"
"…I won't stop you."
"Huh?"
"I understand. I was like you."
"A goddess… Like me…?"
"Yes. You know how sly Bell is, right? He knows he's weak, but he's
always trying to show off and do the impossible. He probably wants to
escape more than anything else, and I'm sure he knows he can't beat her, and
still…"
"…"
"Even though he doesn't want to fight his hero and he's suffering…"
"Why did Bell…?"
"Because he can't abandon a girl—no, a family member—who's in
trouble."
"Family…?"
"Yes. It doesn't matter if you're human or monster. He loves you like
you're part of his family."
"…Goddess, I really don't like this."
"I know."
"I want to go to Bell."
"I know."
"I want to repay him for his help."
"Are you prepared to face the consequences? You may be separated from
him forever…What I mean is, are you ready to die?"
"Yes. This time—it's my turn to save Bell."
"…I understand. Go, then."
"Thank you, Goddess."
"Wiene."
"What?"
"You've grown strong."
A hard blow struck his body.
Several empty glass vials were rolling at his feet. The potions were
already gone. He didn't know how many times he'd been on the verge of
being unable to recover. He'd been hit with far too many blows to count. He
gagged, but still, he stood his ground and brandished his knife.
"…!"
Even on the verge of yielding to his enemy, even on the verge of
collapsing, Bell rose again. He would not move from in front of the door. To
the contrary—he dauntlessly attacked her. Aiz gasped softly, but she, too,
refused to let up. Her sword swished through the air and landed mercilessly
on Bell.
High-speed slantwise strike from his shoulder. He was unable to block it.
Uppercut. He knocked her sword off course from the side.
Mowing strike. He was unable to dodge.
Jab to his knife sheath. He recognized that one.
Spinning kick. Direct impact.
Their blades missed. They met. They missed. They slid over each other.
The skills she had taught him, and the tactics he had stolen, were proving
more useful than ever before.
As the glint of the dancing blade flashed before his eyes again and again,
a thought passed through Bell's delirious mind.
What am I doing?
Why am I fighting the person I admire the most?
She's beating me to a pulp.
—Of course, she always beat me to a pulp in training, too.
Smiling at this completely unamusing situation, Bell watched Aiz's
unforgiving sword technique. His attacks couldn't reach her, and his
counterattacks didn't even leave a scratch. She was deaf to his screams and
his thoughts alike.
Did he hate this cold girl? No.
Was he angry with her for refusing to listen to him? Not at all.
Her sword presented him with a towering paragon. It forced him to see the
wall between reality and ideal. That was how he felt. That was how
unforgiving his decision to save Wiene was.
He had to catch up with Aiz.
He had to reach her level.
He had to overtake her.
If he recognized his own weakness, he must push harder. He must rush
forward. Faster. Harder.
"—!!"
His back was hot. His back was burning. His back was screaming a mad
hope at him.
She was fast. So fast. He'd known that. But her skill was limitless.
That was why he had to catch up with her.
He had to save Wiene.
"—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" he roared.
Aiz's arms shook from the vehemence of his furious cry. There was no
question that the force of his incorrigible will shaved some of the strength
from the Sword Princess's blade. He poured what little energy he had into his
two knives, and for the first time, they scared her.
"?!"
She shook off her astonishment and swung her sword through the air,
deflecting the red knife. Instantly she aimed a second blow directly at Bell.
He flung out his left gauntlet to block it. The Sword Princess's strike slid
across his dual-adamantite armor.
The space between them was filled with showers of sparks and the sounds
of blade scraping against blade. He pressed in with all his might, recklessly
trying to get close enough for a solid blow.
Their faces were so close they were practically touching—separated by
the width of his knife.
Bell swung the Divine Knife upward.
"Aaaaaaaa!!"
The flashing blade traced a purple-blue arc across the sky.
Aiz's long golden hair flipped upward as she leaped back to evade the
blow. She pressed her hand to her chest in shock.
"…!"
Her silver breastplate was scratched. Something sharp had made a scar. A
mark that proved Bell's roar had hit its target.
For a moment, Aiz was speechless.
She stared at the breathless Bell, her eyebrows drawn together in
consternation, then once again lunged toward him.
"Huh?!"
Bell instantly pulled his knife back and blocked the blade that slashed
down diagonally across his chest. The blades screeched as he gripped his
knife with both hands against the incredible weight of her sword. She was
once again in a close battle with him.
"Why are you going this far?"
It was the first question she had asked him.
The Sword Princess who had refused to listen to him now stared into his
eyes across their locked blades.
Bell returned her gaze with a surprised look and shouted his reply.
"I want to help that girl!"
"Really? Are you telling me the truth? She's not a person; she's a
monster!"
"She's different from ordinary monsters! She can talk! We can smile at
each other! We can hold hands—she has the same emotions that you and I
do!" he retorted, determined not to give in to the weight of Aiz's sword.
"You're wrong. Not everyone can do those things."
By "those things," she meant, at the very least, hold hands with a monster.
With each word, the sword she held with one hand pushed against Bell's
knife.
"Eh?"
"Monsters kill people. They can take so, so many lives…They make
people shed so many tears."
"But…don't we adventurers do exactly the same thing?" Bell spat back at
her. Each word felt as if it were slicing through his own body.
"…?"
"Your sword and my knife do those things!"
If they wanted to, they could massacre thousands of people. Rationality
was all that stopped them. Rationality and the sense of fraternity that the
Xenos, too, possessed.
Some monsters were kinder than humans.
Some hunters were more hideous than monsters.
Where was the line that divided them?
Bell pushed away Aiz's sword as he pled with her.
"I…"
Aiz hesitated, standing a few steps back from Bell.
It would be a lie to say that Bell had never thought about the things she'd
said. She was right. Essentially, he knew which side he should choose. But
then the smiling faces of Wiene and Lido and the others rose before his
mind's eye. He thought of their tears. He recalled Dix's howling laughter and
the words of Fels.
A bat—a hypocrite.
Bell took all this in and made his decision.
He would tell Aiz the true feelings that had been smoldering within him,
the final statement he hadn't been able to say out loud.
"…I want a place where we can live together with them."
There—he had finally said it to his idol, the girl who stopped time.
"I want a world where they can smile!"
His foolish wishes echoed in Aiz's ears.
"What are you talking about…?" she whispered in astonishment.
Her eyes said that she could not—and did not want to—understand.
They stood on separate sides of the line, she bathed in moonlight, he in
dark shadows.
Aiz turned her face away from Bell.
"I've had enough…get out of my way."
As if his ragged body were telling him it had reached its limit, Bell's
knees sank to the ground. He looked up from below her, his eyes filled with
suffering.
But he did not retreat.
"I don't want to…"
"Stop it."
"I don't want to…"
"I'm asking you, please."
"—I can't!"
"—Move!"
Both of them were shouting at each other more loudly than they ever had
before.
Her hair swaying, Aiz closed the gap between them and thrust her sword
before his eyes.
"I'll cut you."
"…!"
"It's gonna hurt a lot, so…"
Those clumsy words were her last warning.
Bell's throat trembled at the cold air around the tip of her sword, but still
he did not move.
Her gaze was filled with sadness. Bell's chest overflowed with an
inescapable pain.
The next instant, eyes flashing with determination, the Sword Princess
directed all her energy into the tip of her blade.
Bell squinted as the blinding moonlight glinted off her sword.
"—No!"
The door behind Bell burst open, and a figure rushed into his field of
vision.
Her robe fluttered as her hood fell back from her face.
She leaped forward, both arms outstretched, directly in front of him and
Aiz.
"Leave Bell alone!!"
Her high voice rang out, exactly like a human's.
Time stood still as Bell stared at her back with its single new wing, and
Aiz gaped at her bluish-silver hair and strange bluish-white face. A
fragmented word fell from Bell's lips.
"Wie…ne…?"
Pulling himself back into the present, Bell screamed into the oculus that
the dragon girl held in one hand.
"Goddess, why?!"
"…"
The oculus was silent.
Ignoring Bell, who had not yet recovered from his frustration and
confusion at this sudden change, Wiene stood protectively in front of him and
stared into Aiz's eyes.
"Please…don't hurt Bell."
"…!"
At the sight of Wiene's amber eyes, Aiz felt her expression crumble.
The entreaty of the monster shielding Bell seemed to shake her heart. The
dragon girl's actions and words confirmed what Bell had said to her just
moments before.
"Stop…Please don't talk," she said. Unable to regain her composure, Aiz
looked down and hid her eyes behind her bangs. "…Why do creatures like
you exist?"
Bell shivered at her quiet, dispirited words. He sensed something
unknown in the blank expression on Aiz's—no, the Sword Princess's—face
as she slowly raised it.
Wiene, too, froze at the extremely overbearing energy from the girl's thin
body.
"What do you and your kind want?"
"I…I want to stay with Bell."
"—I won't let you do that."
Aiz's eyes narrowed to slits as sharp as her sword.
"I'll never let you have your way on the surface like those other
monsters," she declared, aiming both her words and her sword at the dragon
girl. "Your claws can hurt people. Your wing can frighten them. That stone in
your forehead can kill so many of them."
Her words were filled with condemnation and hatred and rejection.
This was not the usual Aiz. Her unhesitating enumeration of reasons
spoke to the strength of her will. This wasn't the Aiz Bell knew.
What was driving her?
Anger? Hatred? Sorrow? Hope?
He was on the verge of touching the darkness within her—no, her very
core.
"I can't turn a blind eye to you," she said.
As Bell listened to Aiz declare anew her fundamental rejection of Wiene
and her intention to kill her, he forgot to even breathe. She seemed about to
slice him to pieces with a conviction and resolution as sharp as her sword.
Wiene, Aiz's sword pinning her in place, looked down at her hands as
Bell sat unable to speak.
"…"
She stared at her bluish-white palms and at the sharp claws that had hurt
Bell just like Aiz had said. Quietly, she wrapped her right hand around the
claws of her left.
"Huh?"
Bell had noticed too late.
Breathing raggedly as Aiz looked on in amazement, the dragon girl broke
them all off in a single movement.
"Wiene?!"
Next, she did the same to her left hand.
After she snapped them off, the cracked claws pattered onto the
cobblestones. Wiene ignored Bell's cries for her to stop and brought her
bloodied hands to her wing.
"Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…!!"
As if offering up a payment for her sins, the girl ripped her dragon wing
from her body.
"—"
The wing, with its ashen skin stretched across a bluish-silver framework
of bones, fell at the feet of the dumbfounded Aiz.
The girl's slim arms, filled just a moment before with a dragon's power,
now dropped limply to her sides. As she collapsed toward the ground, Bell
caught her in his arms. The lifeblood that poured from her bluish-white skin
and stained Bell's armor a brilliant red was exactly the same as Aiz's.
Bell put pressure on her back, frantically trying to stem the bleeding from
where wing and skin had been moments before, as Wiene slumped against his
chest and looked up at Aiz.
"If I…What if I disappeared?"
Struggling to breathe, she brought one hand to the stone in her forehead.
"This time, I'll really disappear…"
She moved her hand from her forehead to her chest—to the place where
her magic stone, the core of every monster, resided.
Bell's face distorted with grief, and Aiz's crumbled.
Slowly and quietly, Wiene spoke again.
"…I was always alone. It was cold and dark…and I…before I became
myself…I was always alone. Nobody came to save me. Nobody held me…"
She spoke hoarsely, from the depths of her darkest memories.
"I was cut; I was hurt…It was scary and lonely," she whispered. Even
breathing seemed a struggle. She looked up into Aiz's golden eyes, almost
the same color as her amber ones.
"But Bell saved me when I was all alone."
"!"
"When I was in the darkness…and nobody would save me, Bell came to
my rescue!" she shouted.
The transformation was dramatic. As she listened, Aiz's mask dissolved.
She stood silently, as if she had discovered something within a bleak winter
landscape. She must have been imagining it. From the monster girl's
fragmented story, she must have been piecing together what she had seen,
what she had felt. Or perhaps she could see it through her own golden eyes.
She had forgotten everything beyond the girl's tears.
"I want to stay with Bell…!"
The innocent monster was not explaining herself or trying to prove
anything but rather expressing her wish. Before the sword that would take her
life, she had revealed the depths of her heart.
Aiz's gaze wavered at the dragon girl's tearful voice. The tip of her sword
quivered for a moment, too, as if in hesitation.
The sword that she could neither drive home nor withdraw glinted with
her agony. The blade that she was ostensibly holding against Wiene seemed
to be cutting into her own flesh.
Reason and emotion battled within her heart as she fought her own
internal contradictions. Then a light shone in her eyes—not a glint of pain
and confusion but, instead, something resembling a drop of the moon.
Sorrow?
Envy?
What did Aiz see in Wiene?
As Bell, who had protected the vouivre from the start, stood there unable
to speak…Aiz hung her golden head.
She looked precisely like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
She lowered the sword that had been pressed to Wiene's chest.
"…I can't kill the vouivre," she mumbled in a voice drained of all energy.
"Miss…Aiz…"
"I…I can't help feeling you two were right…that's why I can't do it."
"…"
"I can't fight you anymore…"
As she stood there with her eyes to the ground, bathed in moonlight, she
looked tremendously small to Bell. Not an adventurer, not the Sword Princess
—simply a girl.
In an attempt to hide the tightness in his chest, Bell wrapped his arm
around Wiene's shoulder.
After a moment, Aiz withdrew an elixir from the pouch at her waist, set it
on the cobblestones almost as if she was dropping it, and turned away from
them.
"I can't save you…I'll be here."
"Miss Aiz…"
"Go."
"…Thank you."
Bell picked up the elixir and, with Wiene leaning on his shoulder, walked
away.
After a few moments, he looked back one last time at Aiz's distant figure.
She was standing with her back to them, her golden hair blowing in the wind.
To Bell, she looked so ephemeral she might disappear at any moment.
"…"
Aiz stood rooted to the ground. She had even forgotten to return her
sword to its scabbard.
The drifting clouds and silvery moonlight looked down on her.
"Aiz."
"…"
It was Bete.
The young werewolf had descended from above. He stared at the girl's
face, half-hidden by her bangs.
"Everythin' okay?"
"…Yes."
She nodded listlessly at his question, although perhaps she had taken it in
a different way than he intended. She did not say anything else.
"I'll head back first," Bete said.
"…Thank you…very much."
"Why the hell are you thanking me?" he said, spitting on the ground
before walking off.
Stillness descended once again.
Left alone, the girl whispered something to herself, then gazed up at the
deep-blue night sky.
"Bell, does this hurt?"
"Are you hurt, Wiene?"
I've taken off my armor, and Wiene is prodding me gently all over.
We're in a large abandoned building some distance from where we left
Aiz. In the weedy ruins of this stone structure with half its roof missing, we
patch up each other's wounds the best we can. Or more accurately, we apply
the elixir Aiz gave us.
Wiene has taken off her robe and is as naked as the day she was born—
although I've gotten her to at least cover her chest. Her wounds have all
closed up, but even the elixir can't bring back her claws and wing. If that
kind of miracle were possible, of course, Nahza wouldn't be walking around
with a prosthetic arm…
As for me, despite my many wounds, not one was life-threatening.
I wonder if Aiz was going easy on me all the way to the end, despite what
she said.
I've still got a long way to go…
"I'm no match for her," I mutter as I put my armor back on and help
Wiene pull on her robe, which now has a gaping hole in the back.
We have no time to rest. We need to get to Fels and the other Xenos as
fast as we can.
"Master Bell! Lady Wiene!"
"Haruhime!"
Just as we are about to leave, she appears in the abandoned building,
oculus in hand.
The instant Wiene sees her, she flies to Haruhime and wraps her in a
tearful embrace. Haruhime is crying, too, as she pulls Wiene's delicate
bluish-white body close.
"Haruhime, did everything go all right?"
"Yes. Lady Aisha came to my rescue…What about you two?" she asks
timidly.
"…We're fine."
Haruhime must have heard about our exchange with Aiz from the
goddess. I smile awkwardly back at her.
"Well, we'd better get going," I say, steering the conversation in a
different direction.
"Uh, Master Bell…I, um…"
"What is it—Ack!"
"Kyuu!!"
Something soft and fuzzy has jumped onto my face, which is partially
turned toward Haruhime. I pull it off in a panic before I realize it's a little
monster—a Xenos rabbit wearing clothes.
Wiene, who still has her arms around Haruhime, jerks her head up.
"Uh, the al-miraj…Miss Aruru?"
"Kyuu!"
"On my way here, I was able to meet up with several of the Xenos who
had been separated from the others…"
The instant Haruhime says the word several, a number of Xenos rush into
the building.
"Bell!"
"So we meet again, creatures of the surface!"
"Lett! Fia!"
There they stand, Lett the red-cap next to Fia the harpy. And there's the
hellhound…Helga, was it? Including Aruru, who is still glued to me, four of
the separated Xenos are here. It seems that just like Aisha, they saw
Haruhime's magical light as she fled north from the east of the Labyrinth
District to escape the adventurers gathered there, and they took a chance on
approaching her.
It wasn't our original plan, but we're all happy to be together again.
"There're so many of us all of a sudden…We'd really better hurry now!"
"…Bell. I need to talk to you about that…"
The goddess has been quiet, but now she speaks to me through the oculus.
Meanwhile, the al-miraj is quarreling with Wiene, who's peeled her off
my head.
"No, Aruru!"
"Kyuu!"
"I think you'd better give up on meeting with Fels and the others," the
goddess says.
"Huh?"
Everyone looks at the oculus, which Wiene has returned to me.
"D-did something happen to Fels and the other Xenos?!"
"No, they're all right. They got away from Loki Familia and they're in
one of the passages leading to Knossos."
"In that case…"
"There's no way for you to get to them. When everyone heard the fighting
in the west, they all gathered in the center of Daedalus Street—not only Loki
Familia but other adventurers, too…"
In a depressed voice, the goddess tells us that meeting up with Fels is
hopeless.
She's right that it will be a huge challenge to avoid being spotted. There's
no way all of us can fit under the veil, of course. It will take too long for me
to make multiple trips bringing everyone there, and Finn and his troops
would surely sense our presence passing by anyway.
We're out of time…The fight with Aiz took too long.
Wiene looks up at me, but I don't know what to say. Haruhime and the
other Xenos are all silent, too.
It's game over for us. The words of the deities loop through my mind.
"…! Bell, take this!"
"Huh? This…It's the key to Knossos?!"
I can't help starting in surprise at the magic item that Lett offers me. As I
look back at him, perplexed, he explains.
"The last of our brethren gave it to us. He said it made no difference if he
had it or not…"
"No difference…? The Xenos said that?"
"He said he's going to stay here. He said he felt his dream was close by."
"…Is that a good thing?"
"We couldn't stop him…He seemed to be ceaselessly searching for
something."
Lett lowers his eyes, and I clamp my mouth shut.
So now we have a key…but it's meaningless if we can't get to a door.
Loki Familia is sure to notice us if we try to take a path leading underground
—
"—Ah!"
A light blinks on in my mind, and I look up.
"Master Bell?"
Ignoring Haruhime, who's looking at me curiously, I desperately try to
reel in the threads of memory.
A path leading underground…A route leading to Knossos.
I've never seen it myself. There's no proof. Still—
"There is! There is one! There's another entrance!"
I look from one surprised face to another, raising my voice in hope.
The residents of Daedalus Street have followed the orders from the Guild
to evacuate. Thanks to that, the northwestern sector where we are located
now seems nearly abandoned. Keeping an eye out for the adventurers who
pass by occasionally, we follow the goddess's directions down one shortcut
after another, finally arriving at our destination in the north of the Labyrinth
District.
Maria's Orphanage, where the children live.
We make it to the back garden without anyone noticing us.
"Did you know about this place, Master Bell…?" Haruhime asks in
surprise.
"Bell, you're amazing!" Wiene chimes in excitedly.
"No, I've just happened to come here before…" I reply with a hollow
laugh. As we descend a set of stairs, I activate a magic-stone lamp embedded
in a wall.
The garden behind the church housing the orphanage leads to a sea of
ruins. Hidden among them is a stone slab door. We use it to enter the
underground passage that I explored with Syr and the children a month or so
earlier.
…The underground room where the barbarian was.
"It's so big…"
"To think a place like this would be down here…"
Fia and Lett murmur in awe as they look around. I, too, survey the place
using a torch I lit with the hellhound's flame. Our stone surroundings are just
as I remember them.
After the incident down here, I filed a report with the Guild through
Eina…but considering how poorly the investigation was done, I guess they
hushed it up before it ever reached Ouranos. I hear they've gotten very
uptight about things ever since the Monsterphilia incident when the monsters
escaped…
"…"
In one corner of the room, there's an enormous pile of ash and the burned
remains of the barbarian's body hair. I look at it in silence, then lead
everyone to the far end of the room.
There before our eyes is the door to a passage, sealed tight.
"Bell, I can't believe it…"
It was the hunter with the goggles who mentioned the passage to me.
Yeah, we caught that big oaf.
Before we had a chance to ship it off, it gave those idiot workers of mine
the slip and actually escaped.
We tried to chase it, but it disappeared down the end of that crumbling
underground passage.
The "big oaf" was the barbarian I'd encountered down here, and the
crumbling underground passage is the door we're standing in front of right
now.
Lett looks down at my right hand, where a white light is pulsing again and
again as a bell chimes.
The hunters who were capturing Xenos used to go in and out of Knossos
as part of their smuggling activities, so it's only logical to assume there's a
door down here that the barbarian escaped through.
I've been charging for two minutes.
I tell Wiene and the others to step back and thrust out my right arm to use
my skill.
"Firebolt."
The massive bombardment that I've charged up blows away the brick
door to the passage in one blast.
" !"
Haruhime and the others press their hands to their ears at the tremors and
roar.
When they look up, they see a half-destroyed doorway where the bricks
were and, beyond that, an underground passage leading into the distance.
"Yessss!" I whisper as I catch sight—far in the distance, among the
crumbling stone walls—of the glint of adamantite.
There's no mistaking it. This passage leads to Knossos.
"If you head down here, you should reach a door to Knossos. I don't
know the way, though…" I say.
"We'll be fine. The scent of our brethren is still lingering in the farther
reaches of the passage. Probably…"
"Woof!"
Helga the hellhound, who's been sniffing the air noisily, finishes Fia's
sentence with a bark, as if to affirm her suspicion. Probably it's the scent of
the smuggling victims…
The Xenos in our group cheer at the path that's opened before them. After
a moment, they turn to Haruhime and me.
"Bell, thank you, thank you so much! We will not forget your help. Next
time, if you are in trouble, it is we who will rush to your aid," the
gentlemanly red-cap says.
"Creatures of the surface, I hope you are able to visit us in our home
again. Let us sing and dance together once more," the ever-curious harpy
adds.
"We will…and next time, we'll bring Mikoto."
The red-cap and the harpy shake my hand and Haruhime's in turn.
As the peculiar al-miraj and hellhound snuffle at our legs as if to say how
sad they are to part, I overflow with happiness that Haruhime has held the
hands of the Xenos.
"Bell."
The last to say good-bye is Wiene.
The dragon girl stands in front of us and looks up into our faces.
"I'm going back with everyone. If I stay here on the surface, I'll only hurt
you both."
"Lady Wiene…"
Wiene smiles, so that Haruhime, who already sounds heartbroken, doesn't
feel even sadder.
"You know, when we parted the last time, I cried and cried because I was
so lonely," she says.
"…"
"But if I do that again, you're going to worry about me, aren't you? So
I'm not going to cry anymore. You don't have to be upset."
"Wiene…"
She sounds like she's trying to free herself from her position as the
protected.
What caused her to change so much in such a short span of time?
Was it all the people she met? The malice humans showed her? Her brush
with death? Whatever it is, I know in the depths of my heart that I wouldn't
trade the sight of her smile right now for all the gold in the world.
I know that it doesn't matter if she's a monster or a human—this girl who
protected me is a noble creature.
"You know what Lido told me? It might not be possible right now…but
he said that if people like you exist, then our dream might come true one
day!" she says, a smile blooming on her face.
I smile back at her.
"We'll meet again, won't we?" she asks me.
"Yes, we will."
"And we can live together one day?"
"…Yes, for sure!" I nod.
I'm not merely consoling her. I am determined to make it happen.
"I promise you. I don't know how long it will take…but one day, I'll
create a place where we can live together."
Wiene blushes and beams at me.
Haruhime, who's been watching us with kind eyes, claps her hands
together.
"Let's pinkie swear!" she says.
"Pinkie swear?"
Wiene and I both look at her questioningly. She explains how in the Far
East, people link pinkies to make a promise. Then she hooks my pinkie
together with Wiene's and recites the promise.
"Th-this is embarrassing!" I mutter shyly.
"No it's not!" Haruhime insists.
Wiene giggles, and Haruhime links pinkies with her. Then she hands
Wiene the oculus as if she's giving her a present, and the two of us wrap our
arms around her.
She hugs her pinkie to her chest like it's her most precious possession,
then follows the other Xenos down the passage.
"Good-bye, Bell, good-bye, Haruhime! We'll see you soon!"
Their strange forms grow smaller and smaller.
Wiene's glittering amber eyes as she turns back give away the tears she
was hiding. I've been hiding mine, too.
Haruhime and I shout our good-byes and watch as the Xenos, still waving,
fade into the darkness.
We stay there until they disappear completely.
"A promise…"
I look at my still-warm pinkie.
I have to make it happen. I can't let it be a lie I told because I didn't know
what else to say.
Even if it's as preposterous as a child's fantasy, even if it's a pipe dream,
even if it's an out-of-reach ideal. We have to smile at each other on the
surface once again.
To make that happen, I have to do more from now on—
"…"
I look down at my palm and squeeze it tightly into a fist.
A minute later, Haruhime smiles, wiping away her tears, and I smile back.
Today, right now, I've engraved a new promise into my finger.
"Really, Fels? Wiene and the others have really entered Knossos?!" Lido
shouted.
He was covered in wounds that told the story of his fierce battle with Loki
Familia. But in contrast to his battered appearance, his voice overflowed with
joy and excitement.
"Yes. It seems that Bell Cranell led them there," Fels answered, holding
the oculus in one hand. The stone passageway where they stood echoed with
the cheers of the monsters. They were advancing down one of the
underground routes leading to Knossos.
Thanks to Welf, Mikoto, and the black mist, a short while earlier they had
made it to a hidden staircase in the central zone of the Labyrinth District that
led underground. The persistent attacks of Loki Familia had taken a heavy
toll, and the scattered group had been on the verge of collapse, but with
strong defense by Lido, Gros, and Rei, they had somehow made it this far.
Now, knowing that Wiene and the separated Xenos were in the clear, their
last worry was gone.
The line of monsters picked up its pace toward the door to Knossos.
"It seems that Lett and the others passed through the door without
incident, but the enemy's underground forces appear to be moving with
dizzying speed. Most likely, Braver realized we have Daedalus's Notebook,"
Fels said.
"And thanks to that, we made it here just in the nick of time," the
lizardman responded.
"But there's not a single enemy in this passage. Must be one of the enemy's
blind spots," the gargoyle pointed out.
"Gros is right. Loki Familia doesn't know that this underground passage
exists. Looks like the plan was our trump card after all," Fels said, looking
down at the blueprint of Knossos copied from Daedalus's Notebook to
determine their route forward.
The western orichalcum door was just around the corner.
"Well then, Fels…" the siren Rei said.
Fels nodded.
"Yes. I don't know if we can call it a victory, but we've almost reached
our destination."
They hurried down the dim passage.
"Whew…I wasn't sure there for a while…but I'm glad they've made it,"
Hestia said, sinking to the ground and letting out a long sigh as the tension
drained from her body.
She was still in the desolate tower on the southwestern outskirts of the
Labyrinth District. It was no surprise that her shoulders had finally relaxed
now that she had safely delivered the Xenos to Knossos. She deserved a prize
for her meritorious service directing Bell and the others from place to place
via the oculi.
Beneath the night sky over her open command center, Hestia returned her
gaze to the magic map spread out on the floor.
"Bell and Haruhime are in the north, Lilly is still wandering around in the
east, Welf and Mikoto are heading south…I guess we're done. Looks like
everyone will be okay from here on out."
The names of the Xenos had already disappeared from the magic map.
That was because the Legacy of Daedalus that Fels had drawn up did not
include the underground passages leading to Knossos. Since the Seeker
Powder couldn't turn the plan of Knossos into a magic map, Hestia no longer
had any way of tracking the Xenos.
"It sure is lonely here. I think I'll go meet up with someone," Hestia—
who had been alone on the tower since Haruhime left—muttered, pulling the
Notebook lying next to the map closer to her.
"Boy, did Bell surprise me. I didn't realize that passage existed…I mean,
it's not even in the plan," she continued, puzzling over the underground
passage he'd brought Wiene and the others to.
Some of the passages seem to be dead ends…I wonder if the descendants
of Daedalus constructed them, she mused to herself.
It wasn't impossible. In fact, there was a decent possibility that was the
case.
Hestia nodded to herself and flipped through Daedalus's Notebook.
"To think this book is a thousand years old…and it really saved us this
time."
The book's ragged condition spoke to its age. Drawings of the
multilayered maze covered pages that had clearly been turned countless
times, and here and there amid the text she came upon characters she couldn't
read. The words laid down in obsessive pursuit of that masterpiece of
creation—the maze—together with the bloodstained binding were truly a
testament to tenacity.
As Hestia reread the pages of the ancient book that had helped them
outwit Loki Familia, it suddenly slipped out of her hands.
"Oh!"
The book tumbled across the rooftop and, of all the worst luck, landed in a
depression in one corner that was full of water from the previous day's rain.
"Oh no!! Not this th-th-th-th-th-thousand-year-old book!!"
Of course, she should have been handling the precious tome with the
utmost care. Fearing the worst, the suddenly pale Hestia rushed to pull it out
of the puddle.
"Captain, I'm extremely sorry…but we've lost track of the monsters."
As Finn stood at Loki Familia headquarters in the central zone of
Daedalus Street listening to the report from his faction member, he was deep
in thought.
Should I have sent Riveria out when Gareth was held up? That black mist
really threw a wrench in our communications…No, it's a waste to think about
it now.
Finn's instinct when he dispatched Gareth was to kill the group of
monsters. They'd outmaneuvered him due to his fatal underestimation of the
enemy's strength—no, the strength of Hestia Familia standing behind the
monsters—and having been stingy with his troops.
And we still haven't found the black minotaur. Did someone kill it…? No,
I don't think so. Something is going on with that minotaur.
He had failed to achieve his main goal. Now his options were limited due
to a number of factors, including the Knossos situation. He looked out at the
Labyrinth District, which was still buzzing with the chaotic shouts of
adventurers.
More than anything, it's because I can't get a read on the enemy's
movements…
If everything had gone according to the enemy's plan, then their leader
must be formidable. Finn acknowledged that. But there was still something
he couldn't understand.
"You're sure you lost sight of the monsters near the twenty-first district?"
"Yes, sir."
Finn frowned.
The twenty-first district…No way, we surveyed that area, and…
Finn's guess had been completely off. He'd been totally outwitted.
No, something was going on.
"…"
Finn looked down at his right hand.
His thumb was throbbing with surprising force.
"…Where in the world is the enemy heading?"
"The mortal plane has gone crazy."
Somewhere in the world, someone cried out.
The innumerable stories playing out on the world below belonged to the
children, but still, the deities lurked in the background.
Like marionettes on strings, or actors listening to their lines whispered to
them from backstage, or dancers whose performance was rewritten mid-step,
the children were led by the divine will of the deities.
"We are merely puppets of the gods and goddesses."
Somewhere in the world, someone gave up.
"Fels, what next?"
"Right at the next corner! That's where the door is!"
The Xenos advanced. They were heading for the red mark on the map that
represented their one hope.
Clawed feet struck the stone floor. Wings beat the air. A snake's belly
slithered over the ground, hooves beat it, and tails scraped across it. The
monsters ran with all their might.
Finally, they rounded the last corner.
"Oh, it's soaked!" Hestia sobbed, holding the book she had retrieved from
the puddle.
Then she gasped.
"—Huh?"
She felt as if time had stopped.
"What? How could—? I can't believe it!"
Incoherent fragments fell from her lips as she held the wet binding in her
hands. Her eyes widened as she stared at the page open before her. She lost
all remaining composure.
"How can this be…?"
Trembling with fear, she let out a piercing cry.
"Ouranos, what is the meaning of this?!"
"…"
On the altar in the underground shrine, the aged god drew his brows
together and shut his eyes tightly.
"What the—"
The Xenos rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a horrifying
sight.
An enormous stone wall, without a single crack or seam, filled their entire
field of vision.
A massive wall blocking their path forward.
The door that was supposed to save them was nowhere to be seen.
"A dead end…?" Lido said in astonishment.
"Fels…what's going on? Did we make a wrong turn?" Gros asked.
"This is impossible! I'm sure I read the map right…" Fels answered,
looking down at the plan.
The mage had followed the drawings the whole way, heading for the
western door that Loki Familia was unaware of. But still, there stood the
enormous wall.
Is there a hidden door? No, the map didn't indicate anything like that…
Unbelievable. It's like someone's been manipulating us the whole time…
Beneath quivering black robes, the cursed skeleton recalled vividly what it
felt like to sweat. It was then that the mage heard the voice.
"Hey there, Xenos!"
The cheerful voice came from directly behind them.
"!"
"Pleasure to meet you. Please don't be afraid. My name is Hermes. I'm
just an ordinary god."
The god had red-orange hair and was wearing a feathered traveling cap.
His eyes, the same color as his hair, crinkled as he smiled kindly at the
astonished Xenos.
"God Hermes…?! What are you doing here?" Fels asked.
"It's quite simple, downfallen Sage. I'm ambushing you."
"A-ambushing…?!" the Sage sputtered in confusion. The Xenos shared
his bewilderment.
What was Hermes talking about? What did he mean by ambushing? What
was his aim? Fels's mind refused to understand the situation they found
themselves in.
The Xenos, who were pinned in place, sensed something cold in the god
who stood before them. The black-clad mage gripped the map as he asked a
question.
"God Hermes…Why is there no door here? Weren't you the one who
obtained the plan of Knossos? This plan, Daedalus's Notebook—"
Hermes grinned from ear to ear.
"You didn't really think Daedalus's Notebook existed, did you?"