by Fujino Omori
“I won’t waste a second of training time! This is to help me earn more money in the dungeon! So please, Goddess…!”
“Gahh…!”
I’ve been asking her over and over again as if my life depended on it for a few minutes by now, bundling words and promises together like there was no tomorrow.
But the goddess just growls and glances at me before letting out a long sigh.
“You’re too naïve; me, too…”
“Goddess……”
“…Really, just two more days. I’m serious here.”
As soon as I hear those words, my body, mind, and soul all bow as far as they can.
Repenting for all the trouble my selfishness is causing her, I’m extremely thankful.
The goddess’s only requirement is to make absolutely sure that no one else in Loki Familia finds out about our activities. That’s enough to receive her approval for two days’ worth of training with Aiz.
“I’ll say this, though: The moment you do anything else with Bell, I will unleash Hell. Got that?”
“Yes.”
“And seducing him is right out…!”
“Yes… ?”
The goddess is giving Aiz a very strange warning. What’s she talking about… ? I can’t take it—I have to step in.
“Well, then, I’ll be observing the rest of your training session today.”
“Huh?!”
“What’s with that face, Bell? It’s my duty as your goddess and guardian to make sure my precious child is okay?”
“Eh, um, w-what about your job… ?”
“I’m taking the rest of the day off.”
She tells us to wait a moment before returning to the potato puffs stand. I watch her go, scratching my cheek as beads of sweat roll down my face.
I look at Aiz, asking her with my eyes if this is okay. She smiles at me and nods.
“She is a nice goddess, isn’t she…”
“…Indeed.”
We go back up to the city wall with the goddess in tow. Aiz and I set to work immediately to make up for lost time.
I don’t know if it was because I didn’t want the goddess to see something embarrassing, but I don’t get knocked out the rest of the day. I get beaten to a pulp, but I think I do pretty well.
By the time we reach a good stopping point, it’s already night.
“Hey, Bell, look at yourself. You’re a total mess. You should stop now—Aiz Wallensomething is just using you as her personal punching bag.”
“G-Goddess…”
We enter the long stone corridor leading out of the city wall, the goddess taking potshots at my pride.
There are almost no windows in here, so it’s extremely dark. She has a tight hold of my hand as we go down a stairwell, but I’m on the verge of tears. She seems to be in a great mood right now, though; I can see the outline of a big smile on her face.
Is it that much fun to torment me?
But then again, after what nearly happened today, I need to grin and bear this…
“We’ve arrived…”
Aiz is a few paces in front of us, holding a portable magic-stone lamp (she said it was a necessity for adventurers to have one) in her hand.
Surrounded by the echoes of Aiz’s boots on the stone floor, we reach the bottom of the stair and out the exit door. Leaving the slightly damp air inside the wall, a rush of cool, dry air envelops my body.
A golden moon and hundreds of twinkling stars fill the dark night sky.
“Um, Goddess? We made it outside, you don’t have to hold my hand anymore…”
“What are you talking about, Bell? This road isn’t bright like Main Street; it’s really dark back here. You need to make sure I don’t fall and hurt myself.”
The burning sensation won’t leave my face as she tightens her soft fingers and smiles again.
But she has a point—it’s much darker on this street than it is on one of the larger Main Streets. That being said, the moon and stars provide plenty of light to see where we’re going…
The street gets wider as we make our way out of the backstreets.
What does Aiz think about this…?
I feel ashamed, walking hand in hand with the goddess all this way. Still, I work up the guts to get a glimpse of Aiz’s face.
She’s wearing her normal emotionless expression. Kind of sad, now that I think about it…
…Huh?
Looking at the face of the girl walking next to me, my thought process is a little slow.
Her face is as beautiful as always, but her eyes look sharp, like they’re tracking something.
Whoosh.
My head spins around like it’s been slapped.
There’s a wide path that connects to this backstreet. It’s completely shrouded in darkness and so silent that it gives me chills. That kind of complete absence of noise and light is unnatural.
Just as I start to get a bad feeling, my eye catches one of those fancy pole-shaped magic-stone lamps.
…Someone broke it?
The pole part hangs from a wooden stand, but the broken light looks like it was hit with something, hard.
“—”
“!”
“Wha—?!”
Aiz freezes in place.
Only she can sense something is wrong at first, but I stop right next to her. The goddess nearly loses her balance in surprise.
Aiz’s golden eyes don’t try to hide how alert to danger she is right now. I follow her line of sight with my own.
Sure enough, a large shadow emerges from a small space between two buildings.
A cat person…?
The figure blends in with the darkness using black armor, dark clothes, and a black visor over its face.
The visor is made of metal and hiding the top half of the person’s face. However, I can see cat ears sticking out of the top of his head. I’m pretty sure it’s a man.
Maybe he’s the one responsible for the strange aura engulfing this street?
Many questions simmer in my mind as the cat-person adventurer, who stands about a head shorter than me, continues to advance on our position.
There are about two meders left between us when he suddenly plants his foot in the ground.
Thud! A light impact echoes off the stone surface before he vanishes into thin air.
“—”
Less than a breath later, a shadow appears just in front of my face.
Extremely close quarters.
It only took him an instant. His Agility must be off the charts.
My eyes and body shake in response.
Light from the moon sharply reflecting off his metal visor, he silently brings a spear down from above.
Time stops as my life flashes before my eyes.
“—?!”
“?!”
A saber flashes in front of my nose from the side and intercepts the spear just a few celches above my head.
Sparks fly all around me as the thin silver saber pushes the spear back with incredible speed.
Time comes back to me. A fresh wave of cold sweat covers my body, my mind suddenly snaps into action, and I take a fighting stance.
The attacker jumps back to get out of range of Aiz’s saber. But the blond girl silently takes another step toward him.
Both of them charge an instant later, colliding in another explosion of sparks.
“W-what…what…what’s going on?!”
The goddess’s panicked screams mix with the sound of metal on metal. The backstreet has turned into a war zone.
—They’re too fast!
I’m seeing afterimages of spear arcs and saber slashes, only to hear an impact in a completely different spot.
I can’t keep up with them. It’s impossible! I can’t even follow their movements!
The goddess and I stand to the side and watch as black and golden blurs clash over and over.
“—”
That’s when I see them.
Above Aiz’s battle with t
he cat person, four shadows lurk in the darkness.
The shadows leap from the top of the houses, heading straight for the battle.
Sword, whip, spear, axe.
All of them have weapons drawn, glistening dangerously in the moonlight.
“AIZ?!”
Aiz’s momentum changes at the same time I call out to her.
Thrusting the cat person away with a long slash, Aiz goes airborne, knocking all the new assailants to the ground with one massive spinning swipe.
My eyes fall open in awe as the metallic echoes of their armor reverberate around me.
“Damn…monster.”
Standing at a safe distance from Aiz, the first attacker spits the words out like poison.
“……”
Aiz’s saber lightly whistles as she silently makes a few practice swings, letting her sword do the talking.
The five attackers spread out around her, holding their weapons at the ready, and come out of the shadows.
They look like prums. All of them are wearing the same type of armor and visor as the cat person. No doubt about it now—they’re working together.
Their trap set, all five of them mercilessly spring at Aiz from all sides.
“B-Bell, let’s get out of here. This isn’t our stage…”
While the goddess’s choice of words sounds a bit like a joke, considering our current situation, she couldn’t be more right.
I could never measure up to any of these five attackers—not how I am now, at least. All of them must be top-class adventurers. The speed and precision of their attacks are more than enough evidence.
And in the middle of metallic echoes and sparking chaos stands one blond-haired girl, deflecting the attacks without missing a beat.
She has no room to dodge, but the subtle movements of her sword are inspiring. One sword dances around her, blocking all attacks and finding openings to counterattack. Her strikes find flesh more often than not.
That’s the Kenki, the Sword Princess.
Even without being able to see everything in real time, her afterimages show me just how truly powerful she is.
Our levels are too far apart.
…I-Idiot!
I know seeing Aiz in action is a bit shocking, but I’ve been just standing here for far too long.
What am I doing, spacing out at a time like this! Isn’t there something that I need to be doing right now?!
If I’ve got time to stand and watch, I should help her…!
“Wha… ?! B-Bell?!”
“?!”
The moment I brace my body to charge into battle, the goddess grabs my shoulder, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
I flip my head around to face her just in time to see four more shadows jump from the rooftops and run to surround us.
Two men, two women. All of them are wearing the same armor and visors as the others.
My eyes tremble.
—What do I do now?
All of the new shadows charge during my moment of indecisiveness.
“!!”
Take them on! I don’t have a choice now!
I draw my dagger and the Divine Knife as I launch myself into the four.
“Goddess! Get behind me!”
I engage my first target before hearing an answer.
One of the female attackers is holding a dagger a lot like mine, and she closes the distance in the blink of an eye.
Her visor is hiding her eyes, but I can still sense their aura. She wants to tear me apart. Her blade is coming down!
—I can see it!
She’s open on the opposite side of the blade! I quickly step into her space.
“Wh—”
“HA!”
The first blow is mine.
Taking aim at her chest plate, I swing my dagger forward.
Direct hit! My blade hits armor, but the force of the blow sends her flying backward. I don’t watch her land as I spin out of the next attack.
Catching the traumatized goddess in my right arm, we avoid a sudden longsword strike. Rolling into the spot that the attack came from to get out of the way, I land a kick to the swordsman’s body.
Back on my feet, I use my movement to pivot on my left foot and nail the off-balance swordsman with another kick, before turning to face the other female adventurer. A quick spinning slash and she, too, goes flying.
They’re all Level One…!
I’m sure of it.
These guys are small fry compared to the group Aiz is battling right now. They’re on my level; the fact that I can see their movement is enough to know that.
There shouldn’t be much difference in our statuses at all.
This battle will be won by technique and skill, not power!
Shielding the goddess with my body, I look up to see a heavily armored adventurer lumbering up to us and brace for combat.
“HYAA!!”
Belting out a fierce battle cry, the adventurer swings a thick cleaver down over my head. I bring the Divine Knife up to defend.
Carving a purple arc in the darkness, the Divine Knife slams into the bulk of the cleaver from the side of the blade, at full force.
“Whaa?!”
He sounds surprised. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to be able to deflect his attack with a short knife. I use the momentum from the deflection to spin and jump with my right leg and launch a kick that lands square in his face. I’m getting pretty good at this!
“GaaHRK!”
The mountain of metal stumbles backward, dropping the cleaver before falling with a loud crash.
“Bell! The others!”
“!”
The goddess’s voice shrieks over the metallic echoes.
They’ve spread out into a triangle, the goddess and me in the center, all charging at once!
I almost forget to breathe as I make a split-second decision and reach out to grab the cleaver from the street.
“GODDESS! GET DOWN!!”
Her head slides just under the heavy blade as I swing with all my might at the oncoming attackers.
“GaHAA?!”
My first swing with a long, heavy weapon hits all three adventurers in unison, sending them all to the ground with massive damage.
—I used it!
The hilt is uncomfortably large in my hands; my palms feel like they’re on fire trying to hold this thing.
“Oooohhh! Bell, that was so cool!! I love you again!”
“Please calm down, Goddess!”
In the midst of everything that is happening, I lose my composure for a moment when the goddess jumps onto my chest and wraps her arms around me. But I get my head back up almost immediately.
There is still another battle going on. Countless sparks fly in all directions as Aiz continues her deadly dance of sword and metal.
I know it won’t work. But that won’t stop me from trying! I raise my right arm and take aim.
Bracing the goddess against my body with my left arm, I watch my targets between my fingers while focusing on my palm.
“AIZ!!”
I see her glance back at me after calling out to her. A swift nod later, she jumps clear of the attackers.
“FIREBOLT!!”
Six blasts in succession.
In less time than it takes to blink, six separate streams of flaming plasma sear the night air on their way toward the men in dark armor.
For a moment, the entire backstreet flashes scarlet.
They hit the targets head-on with a thunderclap, a new wave of sparks erupting on the spot.
But there they are, the cat person and all four prums, standing in a sea of scarlet flames, completely unfazed, before walking out of the fire.
“Magic with no spell…”
“This is worthy news. There is no doubt she will be pleased.”
My head prickling and my arm numb after wasting mental energy on a useless attack, the black figures start talking among themselves.
I knew it wouldn’t work, but to be comple
tely useless…I feel so small, like I could break at any moment.
Taking quick, short breaths, I slowly lower my arm.
I have never seen the difference between me and top-class adventurers so clearly. There’s no comparison…
“Too flashy. This fire will draw too many eyes.”
“I realize that……That’s enough, withdraw!”
The cat person looked skyward for a moment before issuing that order. All of the rest move at once.
The prums retrieve the adventurers I took down before disappearing once again into the shadows.
All that is left are a few weakening spot fires in the street left over from my Magic.
“Bell…”
“Ah! Excuse me, Goddess…”
I let go of the goddess—she was still pressed against my body by my left arm—giving her a quick apology.
Rather than stepping away, she stays close to me and reaches up to my cheek.
“Are you hurt?”
“……”
Her eyes are full of anxiety as she asks me if I’m okay.
She can probably tell. That makes me even more depressed. More than likely she can see that, too.
With the warmth of her soft fingers on the side of my face, I somehow manage to force a smile.
“No injuries?”
“Ah, yes, I’m fine. What about Aiz… ?”
“I, too, am fine.”
Aiz walks toward us without a scratch on her. Even her face is back to its normal emotionless state.
She just now saved me—heck, she’s always saving me. I bite my lip and force my brain back to normal to ask a question.
“So who were they? Attacking us out of the blue like that…”
All of their faces were hidden, and I couldn’t tell if there was a Familia insignia on any of their armor.
Not only did they attack when we were alone, they destroyed the magic-stone lamps as well. Given all that, this was clearly a planned attack with a specific target.
Is there a reason someone would want to ambush us under the cover of darkness… ?
“Ambushes happen, all the time.”
“They do?!”
“Yes, however it’s rare that they happen outside the Dungeon…”
So then this kind of thing is normal in the Dungeon. I’m speechless. I had no idea at all.
And our attackers were at such a high level…They had to belong to an extremely powerful Dungeon-crawling Familia.
