Riveria’s eyes softened in a smile as her lips curled upward.
“Thank you, everyone.”
CHAPTER 3
⅓ PURE PASSION
“What?! Y-you want me to go on a date…I-I-I mean sightseeing with that boy in Rivira?!”
It was “morning” on the eighteenth floor.
Loki Familia’s camp had grown decidedly more cramped after the arrival of Hestia and the rest of her rescue party the night prior. In the midst of the increased bustle, Aiz had just informed Lefiya of the day’s plans, which had prompted the elf’s somewhat intense outburst.
The group had already finished eating their breakfast.
As it was Bell’s and the others’ first times on the eighteenth floor, and they planned on leaving together with Loki Familia anyway, it seemed they were to take advantage of the time they had and do a bit of sightseeing. Aiz was accompanying him as a guide, along with Tiona and Tione, both of whom had free time to spare.
Hearing all of this now with the group of “tourists” standing in front of her, Lefiya found herself completely disoriented.
“Yeah! You wanna come, too? It’ll be more fun if we go together!” Tiona suggested with a smile.
“But I…I…I couldn’t possibly leave my nursing duties…!!” Lefiya replied, her voice strained.
While Aiz and the others might have been familia elites, Lefiya herself was just a mid-level member. It was her responsibility as one of the lower ranks to ensure all miscellaneous tasks around the campsite were attended to.
While it was true that after the plethora of food prepared yesterday, there wasn’t as much to do today, this didn’t mean she could just abandon the tasks she’d been assigned, and this morning she’d been assigned a three-hour nursing shift to help take care of the wounded.
“Stop bugging her, will you? Look, you’re making her uncomfortable,” Tione berated her sister.
“N-no, it’s…I mean…I don’t mind…!”
She wanted to go.
She wanted to go with her.
She wanted to keep an eye on the shameless, insolent boy who’d somehow gotten Aiz to lead him around the city, and she wanted to put a stop to his nefarious plans. She was also hoping to spend time with Aiz and the others, too, of course.
She opened her mouth once. Twice.
“Erm…sorry, Lefiya…?” Aiz finally piped up, an apologetic look on her face.
No doubt, the golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman felt guilty for leaving Lefiya and the others behind to do all the work. Lefiya herself felt no resentment at this. In fact, she would be the one feeling guilty if the familia elites were forced to participate in such menial tasks. Their fatigue couldn’t be compared to that of the lower-level members, what with the horrific battle they’d waged in the Dungeon’s depths, and she hoped only that they’d spend time resting and recovering.
Which was why she didn’t care that they were leaving. Not at all. She didn’t care…in the slightest…that they were leaving.
Her insides churned.
As she watched them walk away, smiling with Hestia and the rest of her party, Lefiya groaned inwardly.
“I’ll…I’ll come join you! As soon as I’ve finished my work!” Raising her shapely eyebrows, she darted forward to grab Aiz’s hand.
“Hm…? Ah, okay.” Aiz simply cocked her head to the side in confusion at the elf’s sense of duty. “Don’t push yourself, okay?” she added before walking over to join Bell and the others.
“Be back soooooon!” Tiona called out with a wave of her hand, and then the group was on their way to the town of Rivira, leaving Lefiya and their other companions behind.
“Rakuta! Do we need water?! The healers aren’t calling, are they?! It’s time to bathe everyone!”
“I-i-it’s fine, Lefiya! Everything’s…already taken care of. You don’t need to shout like that…”
Lefiya got straight to work caring for their poison-afflicted companions, flinging herself into her duties with every ounce of will she could muster, like an elf possessed. Her companions, however, were sleeping peacefully in their tents, and the hume bunny who was her nursing partner started turning pale as she desperately tried to quiet the boisterous elf.
I have to finish as fast as I can to join up with Aiz and the others…! Or, at least, that had been her plan, but her actions so far seemed to be having the opposite effect. Her intensity was only exhausting her already exhausted companions all the more.
She could already hear Riveria scolding her in her mind as she continued her mad rush. “What were you thinking putting your companions through even more suffering?!”
“It seems all I’ve done is be scolded lately…” Lefiya moaned to herself, eyes filled with tears of anguish as she busied herself washing the bodies of the sick with the water she’d drawn from the stream.
Dipping her cloth into the helmet filled with cool, fresh water, she gently wrung out the excess moisture before placing it atop the forehead of her bedridden companion.
Even as she thought back to her own failures, however…she found that every single one of them could be attributed to that white-haired human boy. And the thought made her gleaming eyes fill with tears.
I know I shouldn’t think so ill of him, but…!
She couldn’t help it.
He was constantly poking his nose into Aiz’s business.
It didn’t matter how thickheaded he was. And Aiz’s interest in the boy?
Did it come from actual affection for him or his surprising rate of growth? Lefiya didn’t know for sure, but what she did know was that the power-craving Sword Princess she knew had changed and would continue to change the longer she chased after that rabbit.
And from Lefiya’s perspective, the perspective of a girl who’d long adored Aiz from afar, this was not okay.
Just being near him was enough to make her see red.
Just as she’d first dubbed him her rival back during their special training sessions with Aiz.
But should I really be fighting with him over something like this…? No, but he’s the one from a different familia here! He should be showing a little restraint! A little modesty…! she grumbled to herself, lips pouting and hands shaking. Every thought led her straight back to pure frustration toward that boy.
At any rate, she had work to do! Work she needed to complete if she had any hopes of joining Aiz and the others in whatever they happened to be doing with Bell and his goddess.
And so Lefiya threw herself into her duties, caring for her afflicted companions, wiping down their sweat-soaked bodies, and occasionally making the trip to the small stream for water when her supplies ran low.
“Lefiya! Shift change. We’ll take over from here.”
“Ah, right!”
She’d been so focused, time had seemed to pass in an instant, and already Alicia and the rest of the second shift had arrived.
As soon as she was outside the tent, Lefiya felt her heart soar, and she turned to rush off after Aiz and the others.
However, the moment she pointed herself in the direction of Rivira’s lake to the west…
“Lefiya. You have a visitor.”
“Hm?”
A voice called out to her, stopping her in the middle of her trek across camp.
It was Cruz Bussell, a chienthrope and one of the lower-level members who had accompanied them to the fifty-ninth floor, the same as Raul and the others. A man of few words, he simply pointed toward the camp’s southern border.
“An elf girl. Seems she’s here to see you,” he continued. “She’s from a different familia, so she’s waiting just outside camp.”
“Thank you,” she responded in blank puzzlement before wandering over to take a look for herself.
An elven visitor…? Who in the world could it be?
Her head cocked to the side, she jogged toward the edge of camp to where, true to Cruz’s words, an elf with long obsidian hair stood waiting in her pure-white battle clothes.
&
nbsp; Lefiya’s blue eyes met the visitor’s red ones, and her heart jumped in surprise.
“Miss Filvis!”
Her jog changed to a run as she dashed forward, all smiles.
Filvis Challia.
A second-tier adventurer and member of Dionysus Familia. She was the captain of her familia, and she and Lefiya had first become acquainted during the events in the pantry on the twenty-fourth floor, and they’d had somewhat occasional contact since.
“You are all right…It’s been a while.” The other elf’s lips formed a smile of her own. She looked relieved to see Lefiya in one piece.
Lefiya came to a stop in front of her, looking up just slightly to meet the taller elf’s eyes.
“Why are you here?”
“There were rumors from someone in Rivira who’d returned to the surface to replenish their supplies. They said Loki Familia had returned from their expedition and had set up camp in the forest on the eighteenth floor,” Filvis explained.
It would seem their return was already a hot topic up on the surface.
“I wanted to know how you were, so I requested some time off from Lord Dionysus,” she continued, her crimson eyes fixed on Lefiya’s face. “You’ve…lost weight.”
“I-I have?! Was I really that large before?” Lefiya exclaimed, somewhat shocked given how she’d specifically been trying to avoid sweets during the days leading up to the expedition.
“That’s not what I meant,” Filvis retorted with a wry smile.
Not only had their resources been limited over the course of the expedition, but also the harsh conditions of the Dungeon itself were enough to chip away at anyone’s constitution over time. Lefiya and the others had foregone everything except the utmost of necessities—their finely honed swords, for instance, or their staves carved from the wood of the fairy forest’s most sacred tree.
“You look almost…gallant. No, perhaps that’s the wrong word.” Filvis’s eyes narrowed. Lefiya was taken aback by the implication that the expedition had changed her in some way. “Lefiya, I’m…glad you made it out alive. Seeing you again here makes me truly happy.”
The words coupled with Filvis’s soft gaze were enough to make Lefiya’s cheeks flush pink.
Filvis, too, upon realizing what she had just said, gave a tiny start and turned her gaze away. She coughed. “Anyway, you’re alive. That’s what matters.” She corrected herself a moment too late as a blush clearly appeared on her snow-white cheeks.
Lefiya smiled.
She was overjoyed at the emotions playing out on the other elf’s countenance. To be able to talk like this again, face-to-face, filled her chest with warmth.
It was a reunion half a month in the making.
“Did, erm…anything happen while we were gone? Perhaps regarding the remnants of the Evils…?”
“Nothing. Or at least not that we could see. If anything, Hermes Familia’s unwarranted intervention caused the biggest stir. I wanted to get word to you as soon as possible…” Filvis couldn’t keep the scowl from her face.
Lefiya responded with a curious look of her own, but Filvis simply continued with a question.
“…How did the expedition go?”
“We had no losses. While it was, indeed, extraordinarily demanding, we also…learned quite a bit,” Lefiya explained, standing up straight. “We attained a great many things, both tangible and immaterial.” She continued her explanation, her eyes never leaving Filvis’s and her voice filled with complicated emotion. “—I wanted to thank you, Miss Filvis. I was able to use the magic you taught me to protect Miss Aiz and the others.”
It had been toward the end of the battle on the fifty-ninth floor.
Lefiya had used her Summon Burst, conjuring Filvis’s spell of protection, Dio Grail, to block the corrupted spirit’s magic attack.
The divine, immaculate light had protected her party from almost certain death.
“If it weren’t for your magic, neither I nor the others would be standing here before you today,” Lefiya continued, her eyes flooding with tears of gratitude.
Filvis froze, eyes wide.
“It…I…My magic really…saved you?” she asked before slowly looking down at her right hand.
Her crimson eyes trembled, as though overcome with emotion.
Lefiya could guess what was going on in her mind—that she hadn’t been able to save her own companions, her fellow familia members during the Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare.
Their lives had slipped through her fingers despite her magic.
The same magic had succeeded, now, in saving those Lefiya held dear.
If Lefiya’s guess was correct, what must be going through the other elf’s mind?
Lefiya couldn’t even begin to imagine.
All she could do was stand there, watching over Filvis in silence, as the dark-haired elf stared at her hand.
“—Lefiya.”
It was then that the sound of her own name stole her attention.
It was a voice from behind her.
“L-Lady Riveria! Why are…?”
“I heard from Cruz that you had an elven visitor,” Riveria explained as she approached them, jade-colored hair dancing with each step.
The two elves watched in shock as she came to a stop in front of them.
“I thought it might be you. This young elf…she is the one who taught you that spell, yes?”
“Sh-she is, yes. This is Miss Filvis Challia of Dionysus Familia,” Lefiya responded.
At Lefiya’s confirmation, Riveria nodded before examining the dark-haired elf.
Filvis, on the other hand, could only stand there in a stupor. The introduction of her queen was just too much for her.
“It was your magic that helped us turn the tide of our battle. Filvis Challia, my elven sister, I owe you the utmost gratitude. Thank you,” the high elf said quietly. A smile rose to her enchanting features, which outrivaled those of all other elves.
Every muscle in Filvis’s body froze.
“Lady…Riveria…” she murmured, voice cracking. But even as her body trembled, she wasn’t about to allow herself to be done in by her awe. She quickly stepped away, putting distance between herself and the high-elf queen. “It brings me great honor to stand here before you today…” she said, averting her eyes. “…You’ll have to excuse me.” And then she turned on her heels and walked away.
“M-Miss Filvis?” Lefiya called after her in confusion, but the other elf didn’t respond, simply leaving the camp in silence.
Riveria, too, could only look on incredulously as her fellow elf vacated the premises.
Something had been off about her—that much Lefiya could tell—and she quickly directed a look of confusion at Riveria.
“Don’t mind me. Go after her.”
“R-right! Excuse me!” Lefiya shouted behind her as she took off.
She made a beeline for Filvis.
Toward that wordless elf making her way quickly away from camp and out of the forest. Already, those flowing black locks, reminiscent of a shrine maiden’s, were receding farther and farther from view.
“Miss Filvis, please wait! What’s wrong?” Lefiya shouted as she raced through the trees, quickly catching up with the other elf.
Filvis didn’t stop, pressing forward as she gave a stony response. “…Lady Riveria is a high elf.”
“And what does that have to do with anything? There’s no cause for concern!”
Riveria Ljos Alf was the strongest mage in Orario, and her name and history were well known throughout not only the city but the rest of the world, as well. There wasn’t an elf in the whole world who didn’t know who she was, and for a race as mindful of one another as the elves, this demanded a high degree of reverence and respect.
Lefiya could only look at Filvis in abject confusion.
“Lady Riveria treats us as equals. She’s never cared for those who stand on ceremony!”
There’s no need to treat her with such reverence, she tried to cont
inue, but Filvis cut in before she could finish.
“I am unclean.”
“!!”
She spat the words like a curse.
“She cannot be close to someone like me. What would I even say to her as I am now? So exposed as I am to ridicule? No, I…couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take it. I would end up sullying her, as well,” she said, interrupting Lefiya with her own self-directed scorn.
Her normally beautiful features were contorted in bitter mortification.
“And if there was anyone in this world not to be sullied, it is her.” Her heart, stained with the sins of her past, was stirring within her.
She wasn’t going to stop, obstinately placing one foot in front of the other.
Lefiya watched her in silence.
The girl was both beautiful and ugly. She’d watched her companions die until she was the only one left alive, and the sin of that crime still tormented her to this day. Her elven pride only made it all the more overpowering—a stain she’d never be able to wipe away.
More than anything else, she feared sullying Riveria with that same sin.
Lefiya followed along behind her hate-filled fellow elf until, all of a sudden, she knew what she had to do.
Her eyes flashed just as they had once before, her arm extended just as it had once before, and her hand gripped the other girl’s wrist just as it had once before.
“Miss Filvis!”
“!”
Filvis came to a stop.
Lefiya’s shout hit her and her aura of desolation, like a slap to the face.
“Someone as dirty as you seem to think you are would not have been able to teach me that spell!”
“Gngh…”
“It was your magic. Your magic, Miss Filvis, that saved me. That saved Lady Riveria!”
Filvis was silent for a moment, her eyes wide with shock, and then she winced. She tried to shake off Lefiya’s grip on her wrist, but the other girl refused to let go.
Flustered as she was, her arm had lost its strength.
“Don’t misunderstand me, Lefiya! It’s…!”
“I am not misunderstanding you! There’s not even anything to misunderstand!”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 5 Page 11
