She was already a good distance away from Twilight Manor, and her allies were only now realizing she was gone. The dignified face of the Sword Princess was nowhere to be seen. In its place was the lost, confused expression of a child who just happened to carry a saber and wear body armor.
…Why? Why am I so depressed?
Because it was the second time. The boy had run away from her twice.
She had never cared about what other people thought of her before, nor what rumors said…but for some reason, thinking the white rabbit was afraid of her made Aiz immeasurably sad. It pained her.
Her state of mind resembled that of a child who wanted to pet a cute little animal, only to have it run away.
Did the white rabbit’s rubellite eyes see her as more monstrous than that Minotaur? The thought made her even gloomier.
…The sun…is too bright, she quietly thought.
An ultramarine sky spread out overhead, the warmth of the sun bathing her face as she walked in the crowds traversing the main street.
She wasn’t the only one in armor. The sight of her fellow adventurers sporting bulky plates of metal and large blades was far from uncommon. Yet, without realizing it, Aiz had become the center of attention. She received envious and admiring stares alike from all directions, but she didn’t even glance up as she joined the wave of people commuting south.
The street widened once it reached Central Park, the point where all eight main streets converged. Adventurers streamed into the circular park from every direction.
Aiz was among those entering from North Main Street. She entered Central Park and cast her gaze up at the soaring white tower, Babel.
Setting off for its base, she walked for several moments before…
“Ah!”
“……?”
It was the woman she had met last night—the half-elf who had visited Aiz’s home was now purposefully marching toward her.
Beneath Babel Tower…
A ten-meder-wide hole breached the spacious chamber’s floor. This was the one and only entrance to the Dungeon.
The room was shaped like a round tube with tall pillars lined up along its edges. The ceiling was a beautiful, deep sky-blue that was detailed enough to be mistaken for the real thing.
This place served as the buffer between the city above and the labyrinth beneath. Adventurers passed through this chamber daily in order to enter the expansive Dungeon and begin their journeys. There were too many demi-humans crossing the threshold to count, many accompanied by supporters.
A blond, golden-eyed female swordsman made her way down the spiral stairwell into the always-open hole under the tower. Weaving her way among the throngs of adventurers, Aiz disappeared into the massive opening.
Amid all that, a sparkle.
A tiny blue orb built into the ceiling, camouflaged in the color, twinkled as it followed her movements.
“—Now’s my chance.”
In a room shrouded by darkness, a figure wearing a hooded black robe—Fels—stared down at a crystal sphere atop a pedestal and whispered.
The crystal glowed the same hue as the orb concealed in the ceiling of Babel Tower’s basement floor. An image of a spiral staircase descending into the yawning hole floated beneath its clear surface. A flash of blond hair appeared at the lower part of the stairs—Aiz.
Fels watched her enter the Dungeon by herself for only a moment before making a move.
“Ouranos, I’m going.”
The jet-black robe fluttered as the figure vanished into the darkness.
Aiz had agreed to a request.
While it wasn’t a formal quest by any means and no reward was involved, she had a purpose in accepting it.
The “client” was the half-elf she had met the previous night.
The Guild employee she had met in Central Park—Eina Tulle—made the request without going through the official channels. Her request was simple: please save Bell Cranell.
Apparently even as they spoke, he was in a precarious situation. Eina was the boy’s adviser and had decided to ignore the proprieties to ask someone she had only just met for help.
Aiz had listened to her plea. She had her own reasons for wanting to save him, and there were some words that needed to be said.
Eina had informed her the boy was already in the Dungeon, but she didn’t know where. It was up to Aiz to find him, and now she called on every leg muscle to cover as much ground as possible.
“—Excuse me, but have you seen a boy with white hair?”
“Holy shit!”
“You! You’re th-the Sword Princess!”
Not only did the animal person Aiz addressed come to a complete stop, but the entire party froze like statues when she suddenly appeared.
She went into further detail, describing a boy with “white hair and rubellite eyes.” As soon as someone answered in the negative, Aiz took off in a flash. The adventurers were left behind, standing in awe of the elite adventurer, the flower at the top of the mountain, who had said something to them.
Of course, the search for Bell Cranell would take place in the upper levels.
Only elite adventurers were able to venture into the middle levels, so the ones prowling the levels closer to the surface were for the most part lower class. Luckily, there were many people in the upper levels, and the size of each floor was relatively small compared to the ones farther down. Collecting information was a cinch.
Aiz approached every party she could find and immediately asked if they had seen the boy. She traversed the entire floor, gathering clues along the way.
“A white-haired human…Now that you mention it, yeah, pretty sure I saw that guy.”
“You did?”
“Ah, yeah…Passed through earlier this morning, and I think he had a supporter with him…They were headed for the eighth floor.”
Her Level Six speed allowed her to zip through every hallway of every floor in the blink of an eye, questioning dozens of adventurers along the way.
Several of them had seen the boy at some point or another, and Aiz was hot on his trail. As the hunt for new information continued, she descended farther and farther into the Dungeon.
Aiz reached the ninth floor before realizing how deep she was.
The next person she spoke to provided her with the most pivotal piece of information yet: Her target had been seen descending stairs that led to the next floor. She immediately set her course.
—The tenth floor?
Aiz, who had been so focused on tracking him down, suddenly paused.
It was the same strange feeling she had experienced after hearing the boy had taken down one of the monsters that escaped on the day of the Monsterphilia.
The boy Aiz knew was a greenhorn. After he had been nearly killed by a Minotaur twenty days ago, she could tell from his movements and overall fighting ability that he was firmly among the lowest of the low, even for the newest adventurers.
Despite all that, for some reason, he was able to journey deep into the twelve-floor range known as the upper levels—already on floor ten. According to Eina, the boy didn’t have any party members for protection and support. He would have gone solo.
…Did he…improve?
In that short amount of time?
It had taken Aiz more than six months to set foot on the tenth floor back when she was a lower-class adventurer. But he pulled it off in twenty days?
It was…unbelievable.
Much too fast…
Absurd no matter how she thought about it.
After all, she’d never even heard of an adventurer like that.
But even so, why go so deep in the first place? She shook her head, returning to the present. She scolded herself that now was not the time for stray thoughts.
Descending to the next floor, Aiz did her best to push aside questions that couldn’t be answered as well as her renewed interest in the boy.
At last, she arrived at the tenth floor.
Crossing the open spa
ce with a few quick strides, the first thing she saw in the next zone was thick white fog, dense enough to obscure vision and one of the unique characteristics of the tenth floor. A phenomenon like this was called a Dungeon gimmick. This “veil” prevented lower-level adventurers from accurately locating monsters and was detrimental to situational awareness. In short, it caused a lot of problems, including making Aiz’s search for the boy much more difficult. She raced across the tall grasses that covered the Dungeon floor, shredding them in her wake.
All the imps that barred her path or just happened to be in the way were eviscerated as she flew by, slowing her pace by only a fraction of a step. Noting every disturbance in the fog, she proceeded down the main route through the tenth floor by memory.
And as she relied on her ears rather than her eyes—she heard it.
“!”
Ferocious monster roars, quickened footfalls of battle, and human screams sounded in the distance.
The yells didn’t belong to a battle-hardened warrior or a reckless fighter. They were pitched higher, in the voice of someone much younger.
Aiz changed course. She followed the echoes through a long tunnel toward their source, a cavernous room.
Leafless, dead-looking trees protruded from the ground all around the wide room. She could see about as far as the middle of the chamber, which was enough to make several bulky shadows visible in the gloom. She could tell they were large-category monsters—orcs.
The beasts were engaged in battle with a lone human figure.
“—Firebolt!!”
She heard another shout before a flaming missile parted the heavy mist.
Aiz’s eyes widened as she took in the scene of a smoldering orc corpse and a white-haired adventurer thrusting his right arm forward.
—That’s him!
The burst of magic had created a momentary clearing in the murk. The boy was fighting on the other side.
He used a shortsword to counterattack while dodging the swinging limbs of the monster swarm. Although he struggled to keep pace with all the orcs and imps surrounding him, his rabbit-like agility prevented him from being overwhelmed by their numbers.
So it is true. He has grown. She was witnessing proof that the boy was more than able to hold his own on the tenth floor.
Seeing him use magic, likely a very short-trigger spell, Aiz was sure the boy could break free of the ring of monsters on his own with enough time.
She rushed toward him, genuinely surprised.
Suddenly, the boy miscalculated and dodged an attack too late. An orc wielding a dead tree like a club pressed its advantage, forcing the boy to parry with the armor on his left arm. Thwak, thwak, thwak! The plate came up to meet the impromptu cudgel’s rough bark several times, taking the brunt of the impact but also knocking the boy off balance.
Imps charged his exposed back, practically licking their lips—but Aiz didn’t let them.
“Gweee—!”
“!”
A flash of silver light and three imps came apart.
Her saber’s slash behind the boy lasted only an instant. Aiz sensed the boy’s surprise at something happening outside his field of vision, but reducing the monster battle line took priority.
Obscured in the haze, a flurry of fierce slashes shook the air as monsters howled their death cries.
No one on this battlefield could keep up with her. It seemed as though her afterimages delivered the final blows. Desperate cleaved imps one after another as her hair whipped about with her movements. The lumbering orcs had no time to react. By the time they noticed her, their bodies were already neatly segmented.
After a short while, the enemy numbers were severely reduced.
“S-sorry!!”
“Wha—?”
The boy beat a hasty retreat through the broken ring of monsters.
Aiz was left behind, the panicked apology ringing in her ears. He hadn’t even glanced over his shoulder as he barreled toward the exit. She turned in the direction he had gone, but his form had already vanished in the mist.
She froze, completely bewildered. However, there were still threats around that she needed to tackle.
It was her responsibility to ensure nothing chased after him. A heartbeat later, piles of ash and monster corpses littered the ground.
“He’s gone…”
The words quietly slipped from Aiz’s lips. She hadn’t gotten a chance to say anything.
A silence fell over the savanna-like area, the scuffle from just moments ago feeling like a distant dream.
Their reunion had turned into a back-to-back battle that lasted but an instant.
They never even saw each other’s faces because of the low visibility. Most likely, the boy had no clue it had been Aiz. She had come here to save him…but she had missed him yet again.
“……”
Then a new thought entered her mind.
Perhaps she had done him a favor.
The boy was in a rush. Although he had been cornered, he had passed up opportunities to attack in his desperation to escape. It was as if he was hurrying to someone’s aid.
It was only a guess, but a part of her felt that was it.
He was supposedly a solo adventurer, and yet many she’d talked to had described a supporter accompanying him.
What should I do now…?
According to Eina’s information, there was reason to believe the young boy was caught up in his supporter’s familia problems, but…it was probably all right.
It would look suspicious if she started tracking him again. And…he could use magic. Lower-level troublemakers wouldn’t stand a chance against him now. Thinking back on what she had seen, Aiz was confident the boy stood among the strongest lower-level adventurers. There was no reason to worry.
A few moments passed as she thought it over, when suddenly she saw a flash, a slight glimmer, from the corner of her eye.
“…What’s this?”
She crossed the tall grasses toward the source of the glimmer—and found a piece of armor.
It was an emerald-green vambrace. The light had come from this arm covering.
The damage to the once-smooth surface hinted at how much battle it had seen. In fact, it was in rough shape.
Was this a rare piece of equipment dropped by an adventurer in the Dungeon? Aiz tilted her head as she regarded the vambrace, when suddenly she exclaimed, “Oh!”
“Could it be…”
…what the boy was wearing?
It had probably come loose when that orc hit him with the club. The visibility had been extremely poor, but Aiz was positive she had seen a faint green glint on his arm at some point.
Bending over, she carefully picked up the piece of armor and held it like a valuable treasure. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the securing straps had been violently ripped off. She was convinced—it belonged to the boy.
She stood quietly for a moment, looking at the emerald-green vambrace in her grasp.
“……?”
Aiz looked up.
The sound of parting grass caught her attention.
A needle rabbit jumped out of the grass behind her. It had likely come up from a lower floor and gotten lost in the fog. The horned rabbit made eye contact with Aiz for a moment before bounding away in alarm. All the monster corpses littering the ground around her had tipped off the creature about their difference in strength.
Was it just a monster…?
Aiz wasn’t so sure. She felt a presence spying on her.
Was it just her imagination?
“……”
No.
She focused her gaze into the fog in front of her.
Gripping the vambrace firmly in her right hand, she grasped her saber’s hilt and slid it from her sheath.
There was something hidden out there.
“…Noticed, did you? I underestimated your ability.”
Ripples passed through the heavy mist.
Moments later, a black shadow emerged.
The mysterious figure was draped in cloth the color of night, and the space beneath its hood was so dark it erased any facial features. Black gloves decorated with intricate patterns completely encased its hands. Not a single strip of skin was exposed.
The indescribable atmosphere surrounding the figure made Aiz question whether this mysterious person was human or not. Suspicious of the robed visitor, Aiz stood ready to attack but opened with a question. The voice that responded had a timbre somewhere between male and female; she wasn’t sure which.
“Do you…have business with me?”
“That I do. However, before stating my purpose, I would like you to lower that sword. I mean you no harm.”
The unidentified black-robed figure came to a halt.
Indeed, it appeared to be perfectly benign. Well within her reach, whoever it was, its life was in Aiz’s hands. She could carve anyone in half instantly at this range.
“I only wish to talk.” The voice from beneath the hood claimed to have no ulterior motive. Aiz kept her gaze fixed on the shady person but pointed the tip of her blade to the ground.
“…Who…are you?”
“Me? I’m just a washed-up old mage…Perhaps you would understand if I told you I’m the one who contacted Lulune Louie?”
Those words sent a chill down Aiz’s spine.
Lulune Louie was the young chienthrope who had received the murdered Hashana’s “cargo” in Rivira. She said a mysterious client had hired her to take on a delivery.
“They had on a thick black robe. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman.” Lulune’s description matched the individual before her to the letter.
“Aiz Wallenstein…I would like to entrust a quest to you.”
The robed silhouette got right to the point before Aiz could recover from her astonishment.
“An abnormally large number of monsters have appeared on the twenty-fourth floor. An Irregular has appeared. I would like you to investigate or eliminate the cause.”
The shadowy figure added that there would, of course, be a handsome reward.
“The origin of the Irregular has been traced to the deepest part of the floor, most likely…a pantry.”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 3 Page 4
