Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 4

by Fujino Omori, Kiyotaka Haimura

  Adventurers on the front line needed to be constantly moving, engaged in a sort of sword dance and prepared to tackle even the most unforeseen of circumstances. After that, all that was left to do was throw one new element into the mix—chanting, for instance. This made it much easier for them to not only learn Concurrent Casting but to master it. And that wasn’t even going into their magic output, which was remarkably low—a desirable trait when one’s magic output was like a bomb waiting to go off.

  And so they would freely alternate between attacking and defending, all the while hurling their spells.

  That was the typical image of Concurrent Casting. It was a world that belonged to those on the front line, magic swordsmen like Filvis, and—

  “This is something you shouldn’t try to imitate,” Filvis warned.

  That makes sense…Lefiya thought.

  It was true that in her practice battles with Aiz, her chants had failed more than once when she was trying to defend herself. Her priorities had been out of order, focused on the wrong element.

  There would, of course, be attacks she wouldn’t be able to evade, but she needed to drill into her mind that moving and dodging needed to command her full focus.

  “Becoming a mobile artillery battery may be every magic user’s dream…but for most, it’s a luxurious fantasy.”

  Taking out enemies on the front lines like Filvis, loosing powerful spells one after the other—there were few aside from Riveria, the strongest magic user in all of Orario, who were able to accomplish such a task.

  The first thing rearguard magic users like Lefiya needed to prioritize was invoking magic at all—as her fellow elf so eloquently explained.

  “Now then, there’s no point talking if we aren’t going to put it into practice. Shall we begin?” Filvis pulled out her wooden wand.

  Lefiya readied her own staff in response. “A-all right! I’m ready!”

  Thus, Lefiya’s Concurrent Casting training began anew, only this time with Filvis instead of Aiz.

  “I know I said to toss aside all defensive maneuvers, but you should keep a minimum level of personal defense—blocking my attacks, for instance.”

  “R-right!”

  Brandishing her nonlethal wand as opposed to her usual sword, Filvis began chanting.

  She came at Lefiya with sharp movements, quickly eliminating the space between them, and Lefiya shifted her focus to ward off each incoming attack, using every bit of staff technique that Riveria had hammered into her.

  “Radically short chants like mine unleash a surge of magic power, and they must be invoked without pause, but there’s more to it than just short and long chants.”

  “…!”

  “Don’t rush in without thinking. No premature loading of magic power into your spells. Wait until the chant’s second half rolls around before letting it go.”

  “I understand!”

  Filvis’s theory was right on the money—Lefiya received more and more signs that she needed to place greater emphasis on when and how she used her magic power, as well as how she wove her spells.

  It also helped that Filvis could control her attacks far better than Aiz.

  Though the strikes of her wand were relentless, peppering Lefiya as she dashed about wildly, none of them were overly ruthless, and they always led directly into her next move. It was almost like she was the conductor of some symphony, each wave of her baton indicating where her next spell would land.

  Their spells were the music, and the footsteps became a dance.

  Like a pair of forest fairies, hands entwined in the meadow, they danced gracefully as one led and the other followed. They formed a studied waltz beneath the phosphorescent light of a secluded nook in the Dungeon.

  This time for sure…!

  Lefiya regained her footing after her last failed attempt at chanting, pure power building up behind her eyes.

  The steps of the dance brought her nimbly across the floor, her lips weaving together the words to her next song—and something responded deep inside her. She managed a considerably longer chant than she had the first time around.

  Still, if she had to be completely honest, Filvis’s attacks couldn’t live up to Aiz’s.

  Compared to the lightning-fast strikes of the Sword Princess, which were practically invisible to the naked eye, Filvis’s wand was clear as day.

  Which was exactly why Lefiya had more breathing room.

  “Loose your arrows, fairy archers. Pierce, arrow of accuracy—Arcs Ray!”

  It was during their twentieth spar when Lefiya was finally able to let off a spell, properly using Concurrent Casting.

  The completed missile of her Arcs Ray flew from the tip of her staff.

  The beam of light shrieked past Filvis with a high-pitched screech, the elf jumping aside to avoid it, and crashed into the Dungeon wall to leave behind a crack.

  “I…I did it!” Lefiya muttered in awe, her breath labored.

  She’d been able to cast a spell.

  Hugging her staff to her chest, her face broke into a grin of pure joy.

  Of course, the spell she’d managed to cast didn’t even begin to approach the power of what she could do with both feet firmly rooted to the ground. With her magic power suppressed just to pull it off, her Arcs Ray had done barely more damage to the far wall than a sword could achieve with a few slashes.

  Filvis’s slower attacks had to be taken into consideration, as well. In her current state, Lefiya wasn’t able to accomplish something like this against monsters in a real fight—the kind she’d face in the Dungeon depths.

  But none of that mattered to Lefiya. The results she had produced today were big.

  The fact that she’d been able to concurrently cast even one spell in battle was enough to plant a seed of confidence deep down inside her chest.

  All the training she’d received from Riveria, even the lessons she had with Aiz—all of it led her to this point, and the pure exhilaration pumping in her veins was enough to set her cheeks ablaze.

  “A flawless chant. Don’t forget that feeling,” Filvis commended her.

  “I won’t! Thank you so, so much!”

  A song had been infused into her dance. Lefiya was so happy, it felt like she would burst.

  Watching the girl from the corner of her eye, Filvis wasted no time moving on.

  “Shall we turn things up a notch, then?”

  “Wh-what?!”

  “Wait here a moment, would you?” she asked before turning on her heels toward the exit.

  Lefiya cocked her head in total confusion as Filvis vanished down the passageway, leaving her completely alone. She had no other choice but to wait as Filvis had requested.

  It didn’t take much longer for the sounds of monsters falling to echo off the Dungeon walls. Ten of them, to be exact.

  And then, five minutes later, she heard it.

  “Wh-what on earth…?”

  The ground shuddered beneath her, followed by the repeated croaking of a great many frogs.

  Closer and closer, the quakes and monster cries approached. Then—

  From the entryway emerged Filvis—dragging behind her what appeared to be an entire horde of monsters.

  “?!”

  “Time for round two, Viridis. Only this time, it won’t be me you’re fighting.”

  Filvis dashed past the still-in-shock Lefiya, leaving the croaking mass of reptilian frog shooters nowhere to leap except straight at the less experienced elf.

  “EH, EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!”

  —A pass parade?!

  The teeming throng of some twenty monsters leaped at Lefiya en masse. She simply turned around and ran.

  The frog shooters cared nothing about her sheer terror and followed behind her in a swarm.

  “You’re not to lay a finger on those monsters, Viridis!”

  “What?!”

  “Use your magic! You can only kill them with a concurrently chanted spell!”

  Filvis’s instructions brough
t Lefiya to a halt—she’d been fully prepared to go hog wild on the lot of them, fighting off the Level 1 creepy-crawlies with her staff.

  “You and I both know the monsters on this floor can’t do you any real damage. Perfect for a bit of Concurrent Casting practice, no? I used to do this sort of thing all the time before I mastered the skill,” Filvis called out from her spot a considerable distance away.

  What are you, a teacher from hell?! Lefiya wanted to scream, but even she could understand where Filvis was coming from. Quickly, she began chanting a spell.

  The frog shooters drew near, forming a menacing circle around Lefiya as she focused solely on evading, rather than countering, their incoming attacks. Just because the frogs were barely stronger than low-level monsters like goblins and kobolds, that didn’t mean she could fend off a relentless swarm of them coming at her from all sides.

  “Loose your arrows, fairy archers. Pierce, arrow of—Nngah!”

  One of the giant, single-eyed beasts lashed out a tongue from its mouth and landed a direct hit on Lefiya’s face, cutting her chant short.

  Wet, sticky saliva coated her cheeks. It was just as Filvis had said—the attack didn’t do much damage, but their long-range capabilities certainly didn’t make the fight any easier.

  “Take it up a notch” is right!

  Not only did she have more enemies to deal with, she also had to guard herself against ranged attacks from farther away.

  There couldn’t possibly be a more suitable enemy in the whole Dungeon for mastering Concurrent Casting.

  “Proud warriors, marksmen of the forest…” Lefiya began, doing her best to ward off both the body slams and the tongue slaps from her surrounding foes.

  “Take up your bows to face the marauders. Answer the call of your kin, nock your arrows…” she continued, injecting fire into her words even as the blows rained down and sweat dribbled off her.

  Casting her field of vision wide, Lefiya dedicated just enough focus to moving and dodging. She was the unshakable tree.

  Everything she’d learned from Aiz, Riveria, and Filvis—it was all strung together, everything reflected in the way she moved.

  “Bring forth the flames, torches of the forest. Release them, flaming arrows of the fairies—”

  Again and again, her spell was interrupted, and the chant failed. But still, she didn’t give up.

  She wouldn’t allow herself to give in.

  “Fall like rain, burn the savages to ash…”

  In her eyes she could see the girl she longed to become, standing atop the ledge of success.

  And she could feel the boy—probably giving it his all at that very moment even as he ran himself ragged and the metallic taste of blood invaded his mouth.

  I won’t lose to him.

  Determination coursing through her veins, her body set alight with sheer, fiery willpower, Lefiya loosed a mighty roar.

  “—Fusillade Fallarica!”

  She completed her spell.

  Dodging incoming body slams, parrying the multitude of tongues flying at her, Lefiya jumped back as a brilliant, golden magic circle formed beneath her feet. Then a barrage of flaming arrows rained down on the teeming mass of frog shooters.

  The frog shooters’ skin and bulbous single eyes glowed a brilliant red before the raging magic storm swallowed them.

  Everything within the spell’s large blast area erupted in flaming agony, followed by the roar of tens of hundreds of explosive blasts.

  “…”

  Filvis, who’d been fending off additional incoming enemies to prevent them from interfering, narrowed her eyes at the spectacle. She said nothing.

  Lefiya stood authoritatively amid the embers, char, and residual magic, her staff clenched in both hands as she inhaled and exhaled.

  “It seems you’re getting the hang of it” were Filvis’s first words as she started toward Lefiya.

  The frog shooters decimated, a breath of calm had settled upon the room.

  “Th-thank you so much! It is only thanks to your help that I was—”

  “Oh, please. The foundation was there long before I happened by. This is nothing but a result of your own hard work.”

  Still gripping the staff, Lefiya felt her cheeks grow warm from hearing the friendly words of praise. The things Aiz and the others taught her had finally started to take root. Not only was she being commended, it felt like her mentors were, too, and the thought manifested as a mixture of pride and happiness bubbling up inside her.

  Filvis’s eyes softened as she noticed Lefiya’s bashfully downturned gaze. Remembering her exhausted reserves of magic power—and the fatigue that would come with it—she invited her onetime pupil to take a seat on the ground.

  The two faced each other in the center of the room, shoulders relaxed.

  “But it is true, Miss Filvis. Your instruction was so easy for me to understand. Even I felt like things would turn out well in the end. Don’t you think you have a natural gift as a teacher?” Lefiya continued, refusing to let the topic die.

  “…It was a happy accident. I have no talent when it comes to guiding others,” Filvis retorted curtly, though her brusqueness was more a side effect of her embarrassment than a cold refusal. She closed her eyes.

  Lefiya couldn’t resist a small smile, seeing the pink that tinged the other elf’s sullen features.

  Though she’d already sensed it before their training began, the two of them really were growing closer.

  The cold distance between them at their first meeting had all but evaporated.

  Exchanging thoughts, feelings, making it through the fight on the twenty-fourth floor together—their hearts and minds had never been more closely bound.

  Perhaps it was as Dionysus had described, and Filvis had let Lefiya into her heart.

  The thought made Lefiya incredibly happy.

  But she couldn’t help the little voice inside her craving more.

  A desire that only Filvis could fulfill.

  “I, uh…Miss Filvis?” Lefiya began as her cheeks reddened, drawing the gaze of her fellow elf.

  “What is it, Viridis?”

  “I was wondering if…perhaps…you could call me Lefiya from now on?”

  Filvis froze. Then she, too, turned a brilliant shade of red.

  An awkward silence passed over them as Filvis faltered, the true meaning behind Lefiya’s request sinking in.

  “I-I can’t.”

  “Oh, please!”

  “I said it’s not possible!”

  “I am begging you!”

  “Stop hounding me!”

  “I shall hound all I like!”

  The pair were practically shouting at each other, their faces flushed.

  Filvis found herself overwhelmed by Lefiya’s request, her body pressed forward and her voice shrill.

  Finally, she turned away, averting her gaze.

  Upon seeing this, Lefiya realized she might have gone too far and quickly reined herself in.

  Filvis still refused to meet her eyes. Her lips parted once, twice, and then, in the tiniest of frail voices, so soft it was hardly even there—

  “—L-Lefiya…”

  Her entire profile was dyed a vivid, radiant crimson all the way to the tips of her elven ears.

  Hearing her name, Lefiya felt her face grow steadily brighter, until it practically sparkled, and she let out a jubilant “Thank you!” A gratified smile was plastered across her face.

  Filvis still refused to lift her head, which elicited a mirthful giggle from the other girl as happiness flooded through her.

  The two elves, different though they were, sat there in comfortable companionship, the walls of the Dungeon all but forgotten.

  “Can I…ask you something?” Filvis asked.

  “Hmm? What is it?”

  “You…truly plan on joining the expedition, don’t you?”

  A lull settled over them as Filvis finally returned to her usual self.

  The expedition she referred to was,
of course, the upcoming Loki Familia expedition.

  “…Yes. I’ll head for the Dungeon’s uncharted depths with Aiz and the others.”

  The journey would take place in a mere three days’ time.

  Riveria and Finn had told her directly that she’d be joining the main party aiming to reach the fifty-ninth floor—they’d need the combined forces of the entire faction to take on this venture into the Dungeon. She’d act as both a sort of stalwart fortress and rearguard assistant to Aiz and the other first-tier adventurers.

  Hearing this, Filvis averted her gaze, ruby eyes pointed toward the ground.

  “Ah…” came the single word from between her thin lips.

  She was quiet for a moment, a glimmer of anguish leaving a trace on her features, as though she were desperately trying to keep her feelings sealed inside.

  As Lefiya watched, her eyes finally cracked open.

  “You are able to re-create…summon the magic of other elves, yes?”

  “Huh? I, uh…Yes.”

  Filvis rose to her feet, looking down at Lefiya.

  Lefiya responded instinctively with a nod of her own. Even her alias, Thousand Elf, had its origins in this technique—the Summon Burst.

  “If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me the requirements?” Filvis requested.

  Lefiya pushed herself to her feet. She was hesitant at first—her magic was supposed to be kept secret, after all—but ultimately, she trusted Filvis, and she began explaining it.

  The magic-summoning technique, Elf Ring.

  It was limited to elven magic, and it required a two-part chant and an expenditure of Mind to perform. As far as requirements went, it was necessary to have a complete understanding of the desired magic’s effects, as well as the proper chant.

  Filvis took it all in with a light nod and then began walking.

  She stopped an adequate distance away before bringing out a white magic circle and casting a spell.

  “Shield me, cleansing chalice—”

  Lefiya’s eyes widened as Filvis conjured her magic almost instantaneously.

  “—Dio Grail!” Her voice was loud, piercing as she invoked the spell, and with it came a brilliant flash of light that illuminated the space around her.

  It was a pure-white barrier, almost like a symbol of the elf’s inner spirit and sublimity.