by Fujino Omori
“Thank you, Lady Freya.”
Hermes smiled as Freya handed him the Daedalus Orb and then hurried toward the door to the goddess’s room, as if not wanting to waste any more time.
“Pardon me,” he said as he left the room.
“…Hermes? You believe you know everything, but you should be careful. Don’t get tripped up, all right?”
The door closed behind him. The god disappeared, and Freya grinned upon giving him a warning that didn’t reach his ears.
Standing by her side, Ottar offered a response instead.
“By you, my lady?”
“Not by me…By that child,” she responded as she approached the window.
Outside the gigantic, seamless window was a gray and black sky filled with thick clouds.
She stared out at it.
“I have no need for a god-made hero. I’m tired of them.”
Ironically, it had the same ring to it as the “man-made hero” a certain Braver had spoken about before.
“I want to see…No, the world itself desires a hero who’s never been seen before.”
The goddess smiled sweetly, and her eyes narrowed, as if looking at something elsewhere in the distance, as she hooked her hair behind her ear.
“To break the stagnation of the mortal realm, we need…a heretical hero who betrays the gods.”
Her murmur was swallowed up by the darkness.
CHAPTER 4
THE SKIRMISH ON DAEDALUS STREET: BEHIND THE SCENES
Loki Familia moved their camp to the central area of Daedalus Street.
This area of the Labyrinth District was a jungle of towers and tall buildings. The stairs and narrow paths were jumbled together in such a chaotic mess that someone observing the city from up above wouldn’t be able to see the ground. Finn set up his headquarters on the roof of a large building that resembled an old fortress. Its roof was wide, and it was possible to look out over all of Daedalus Street from it.
Directly beneath them, just on the other side of the ground, lay Knossos. The familia members were in position to defend access to Daedalus’s legacy.
“Captain, Hestia Familia is on the move.”
“I see…Notify everyone. It won’t take long for things to start happening. Have the squads deploy according to the plan.”
“Yes, sir!” replied Anakity, serving as Finn’s aide for the operation, after she brought him the report.
When he gave her his orders, the catgirl dashed off, straining her voice as she conveyed them to the members deployed nearby.
According to Cruz’s surveillance report, Bell Cranell and his familia went outside to buy equipment and items…He didn’t have direct contact with anyone, but he’s gotta be moving in accordance with orders from the monster side.
The armed monsters had a commander. From Gareth’s report, Finn suspected that this person wasn’t a tamer but a mage. And the hunk of metal—the golem—that Tiona had destroyed wasn’t a monster but a magic item, as unbelievable as that might sound.
Finn had never heard of an automaton capable of engaging in combat by itself. An incredibly advanced mage had to be supporting the monsters. It must be one of Ouranos’s secret pawns—someone selected from his personal forces, presumably.
A magic item would work or even a written note, if he considered going back to the basics an option. Finn guessed that the armed monsters in the city’s sewers and Hestia Familia were communicating and coordinating somehow. Also, the monsters had probably already concealed themselves in Daedalus Street.
“Finn.” Aiz alone came to him, while the members of the familia started to head out en masse after taking a break.
“If he comes to Daedalus Street…I’ll watch him.”
Finn froze in place and looked back at her. Aiz was asking for the role of monitoring Bell Cranell.
Was it an obsession? Or lingering feelings of attachment?
“Really?…Can you do it? Aiz, you’ve supported Bell Cranell in too many situations. If I’m being honest, I’m afraid you’d purposely lose sight of him,” Finn frankly informed Aiz.
In her heart, Aiz felt turbulent, though she didn’t let it peek out of her usual expression.
“I’ll be frank with you, Aiz. Objectively speaking, Bell Cranell is a destabilizing force in Orario right now. He’s a risk. Given that, we need to do two things. First, be hypervigilant. Second, stop him from acting if need be.”
“…”
“Can you really do that?”
Aiz looked down before meeting Finn’s eyes again and nodding.
“If he tries anything…I’ll stop him. If someone has to stop him, I want it to be me.”
“…”
“And if a monster shows up…I will take it down.”
In her declaration, Finn could hear both an obligation to her duty and her personal desire. He could guess from her resolute expression that something had happened between her and Bell.
In his eyes, she appeared to display a clear sense of responsibility.
“Got it. I’ll leave Bell Cranell to you.”
“Thank you…Finn.”
Finn had approved Aiz’s request upon evaluating her.
As Aiz turned and left, Finn watched her get farther and farther from him before lifting up his head.
“…The rain’s stopped.”
It’d started yesterday and finally gone away. The outline of the clouds in the sky was visible as the moonlight dimly seeped through.
Night had arrived.
Its dark-blue shroud settled over Orario.
The clouds parted after covering the sky for a long time, unveiling a sea of stars.
The sky peered over the giant Labyrinth District. Somewhere in the fray, a single shadow scaled a building in secret. Belying its large body, it leaped lithely onto a roof.
As if steeling itself, it paused for a second before looking up at the moon like an animal.
“OOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo……”
The howl of a monster reverberated through the dark night.
Its long and rumbling roar resounded all through Daedalus Street, making it out to the edges of the city.
In unison, all the adventurers looked up. The residents became scared. Everyone within earshot froze, knowing the time had come.
“AAAaaaaaaa…”
Next, a high-pitched voice resembling a girl’s cry pierced through the sky.
The monsters exchanged cries that echoed across the sky, yowling something incomprehensible to the humans and the gods.
“What’s that?!”
“The damn monsters have come!”
Many of the adventurers in the Labyrinth District began to yell.
“It’s starting.”
A goddess with vermilion hair stopped and scanned the area from high ground.
“Filvis, follow Loki Familia’s movements.”
“Yes, Dionysus.”
The god with blond locks instructed his elf attendant as he watched over the battle—their opportunity for the taking.
“Captain!”
“…”
And ignoring the sudden movements of his fellow familia members, the prum hero glared at the darkness below as it roamed the ground as it pleased.
The monsters’ shouts were a declaration.
The curtain opened quietly. The battle had begun.
The fight with the enemy started in the southern sector.
“I—I think they’re coming out?!”
“A monster! In the alley!”
A single al-miraj had appeared, wearing a blue battle jacket too large for its body and a broken pocket watch hanging around its neck. It matched the armed monster Loki Familia had fought before. It started running around the backstreets in the southern area of the Labyrinth District.
The adventurers roared, rushing to the identified prey.
“An al-miraj!”
“Over there! Follow it!”
Ignoring the intense clamor reaching her ears, Aiz stuck to her orig
inal task.
There’s no need to falter. I’m watching him.
On the roof of a building, Aiz was keeping an eye on Bell Cranell in the streets below her. From the moment he’d arrived on Daedalus Street, Aiz had been marking him. She’d been maintaining a distance that would allow her to subdue him at a moment’s notice if he made any suspicious moves or contacted any monsters.
Bell glanced with distress up at Aiz, letting go of the hand of the half-elf Guild member at his side and sprinting.
The game of tag began.
“Go! Don’t lose sight of him!”
The more perceptive adventurers hadn’t fallen for the distraction—the appearance of an al-miraj—and had chosen to follow Bell Cranell. As she dashed along the rooftops, Aiz could see upper-class adventurers who seemed powerful.
Bell ran to the district’s southeast area without slowing down. With Aiz’s eyes glued to his back, he raced through the streets before suddenly flipping directions. When he ran into a curve in the road, out of sight for a split second, the boy disappeared without a trace.
“?!”
“Where’d Little Rookie go?!”
The adventurers’ confused shouts came at the same time as Aiz’s surprise.
Bell had literally disappeared, leaving the others dumbfounded and locked in place. Even Aiz paused for a second.
The opening chords of chaos rang out in the next moment.
“He’s here! Little Rookie’s here! He went in that house!”
“You’re wrong—he’s here! He went up the street!”
“What?!”
“I-it’s a monster! A monster came out!”
Confusion reigned over the conflicting shouts coming from adventurers searching for their target—not just reports of monsters but also reports of Bell Cranell in entirely different locations. Of course, all of them were false. Everyone was losing track of the monsters and the boy.
In the blink of an eye, their surroundings had become anarchy.
“Did he disappear?” Aiz calmly scanned the area, ignoring the bewildered cries of others.
No, he’s here. And she quickly found his presence.
It didn’t matter if he tried to erase his scent and disappear; his faint footsteps and other traces would never escape the perceptive powers of a first-tier adventurer.
He’s gone invisible! Is this chaos part of his plan, too?
With her wealth of experience, the Sword Princess knew how to follow the boy’s tracks, leaving the other adventurers behind.
Was the turbulent situation created by a spell or a magic item? Either way, they would outwit her if she let her guard down. Aiz discarded her haughty belief that Bell Cranell and Hestia Familia were a lower tier than she was.
As a lone hunter, she continued to track down the boy.
“Sword Princess.”
“!”
Someone was blocking her path.
Someone in tall boots and a long cape with a hood. An adventurer hiding their face behind a mask. The person before Aiz drew a wooden sword worn at their waist.
“I challenge you to a game.”
Aiz gazed in wonder. “Now?…Here?”
“I’m a creature of the shadows. I can cross blades with you in these types of situations.”
There were more than a few people who’d pursued the path of the sword and challenged the renowned Sword Princess to a match. But the commanding voice of the challenger didn’t seem to be hiding a lie.
But could this timing truly be a coincidence?
Is this one of Bell’s…comrades?
In other words, an impediment.
As she reached her hand to her sword belt, Aiz glanced in the direction of the boy’s presence as it continued to move away from her.
“I’m afraid I can’t accept no for an answer.” The masked adventurer charged, swinging their sword.
This person’s fast!
Their wooden sword matched the speed of a first-tier adventurer’s, forcing Aiz to draw her sword. A sharp sound rang out as their weapons clashed. The anonymous adventurer put significant force into it, sending them both tumbling from the roof to the alley below.
Aiz gave up on Bell and confronted the masked adventurer.
“Word is that an al-miraj showed up to the south! And there have been multiple monster sightings in the southeast, too!”
“False information is getting mixed in…The area is becoming chaotic!”
The progression of the battle was reported in detail at Loki Familia’s encampment. They were relying mostly on magic-stone semaphores to communicate. Members standing by on the roofs of buildings flashed their lamps, sending messages to the main base in the center of Daedalus Street.
“Don’t break formation! Make sure everyone maintains their positions!”
Anakity strained her voice, responding to the familia members receiving the signals.
She tried her best to not disturb the prum leader as he imagined a board and pieces moving around it in different combinations, deftly handing out orders as his second-in-command.
It’s not just Bell Cranell but all of Hestia Familia who have gotten away from their watchers. Even their goddess. Did they use a magic item or just their knowledge of Daedalus Street? Either way, the enemy is moving freely right now.
Finn had lost the initiative.
From the start, his two-front plan meant that Loki Familia had no breathing room, forcing them into a position where they needed to analyze the enemy’s movements and respond almost immediately.
The monsters are using Bell Cranell as a lure, as I expected…but we’ve brought in Aiz. How will they respond?
Aiz’s request had been a stroke of luck. He could neutralize the enemy’s tricks with a single stroke using the strongest piece on his side. The enemy would be forced to make a move. But first, he would find out exactly how good they were.
“Bell Cranell was in the southeast! And, ummm, Aiz has lost track of him…”
“As I said before, Bell Cranell is a diversion. Leave him to Aiz and forget about it. We don’t need to do anything in the south or the southeast yet.”
The report that he’d slipped past Aiz shocked the familia members at the base camp, including Anakity. Finn was surprised but suppressed his emotions and fired off more instructions.
“I think something suspicious is brewing in the west. Elfie, tell Tione and the others in the northwest to move to the ninety-eighth block and take up positions there.”
When they saw their captain was unperturbed, the others were able to keep their composure and replied, ““Yes, sir!””
Loki Familia wasn’t shaken by the enemy’s diversion. They continued to maintain their impenetrable defensive stance around Knossos’s entrances.
Something must have forced Aiz to stop. An ambush? The enemy’s forces are greater than I expected, but…it’ll be fine. Aiz will break out soon.
Placing the shaft of his long spear against his shoulder, Finn meditated.
It bothers me more that our scouts and lookouts haven’t been able to pick up on any of them. Did they see through our plan?…No, it feels more cunning than that.
The enemy was surpassing his expectations. Could they be using a magic item?
As he thought about the presence of something he hadn’t predicted, he asked a question to a nearby familia member.
“Any reports on the black minotaur?”
“Nothing yet.”
“I see…Maintain the formation. Let’s watch how it unfolds.” Finn stayed in the same stance as he continued watching over the battlefield.
And at the same time, he devoted another part of his mind to a different plan. His thoughts never stopped.
We’re still fine. Everything is still within expected bounds. The problem is—
over there. Finn grimaced.
“Violas are coming!” A shout echoed in a hidden passage beneath Daedalus Street.
The adventurers took their positions, faces tense as tall yello
w-green figures approached.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The monsters howled as Loki Familia’s members prepared to fight. They were large-scale monsters, even though they were constrained by the width of the underground passage. There were three—four of them. And more kept coming.
The adventurers were outnumbered against the mass of flailing tentacles and disgusting jaws.
“Which door is open?!” Gareth boomed.
“Southwest! A swarm of monsters is flowing out of Knossos! They just keep coming!” a familia member yelled back in response.
They’d been hit in the length of a single moment. The adventurers had been waiting on standby in the underground passage, redirecting their focus to the report of an al-miraj for a second—when the door to Knossos had swung open without any warning, unleashing a revolting stream of violas.
Unable to hold their ground against the surprise attack, the members had been forced to pull back temporarily.
“The flow of monsters isn’t stopping, which means the door is still open! We can force our way in…!”
“Stop! It’s a trap! After we enter the Dungeon, we’ll be trapped right where they want us and slowly ground down! That’s what they’re hoping for, since the monsters are all that’s come out. There hasn’t been a single one of the remnants!” Gareth rejected the familia member’s impatient plea.
If a single tamer or creature controlling the monsters had emerged aboveground, there would be a target to capture. But all that came out was monsters. They couldn’t noticeably deplete the enemy’s fighting forces, let alone get their hands on a key.
Considering the tide of monsters, the goal of the enemy was clearly harassment—a war of attrition.
“Between a rock and a hard place, huh?! Finn, you mule’s arse! Choose easier plans next time!” Gareth cursed, grinning odiously as he swung his ax.
“Lady Riveria, monster reinforcements are coming!”
Meanwhile, Riveria’s elf squad was exposed to attack, protecting the southeastern side. Her second-in-command, Alicia, manipulated her short bow and magic as impatience started to show through in her graceful features.
