Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 2 (15 page)

Time comes back to me as the fireball hits the killer ant’s head, and it lets out a scream of anguish.

The Divine Knife in my right hand flickers to life as if responding to Lilly’s call.

“Gyuu?”

“Yeeeaaahhhhhhhhh!”

Slash!
The killer ant’s flaming head flies off with a very satisfying sound. I roll forward to engage the other one, aiming for a one-hit kill.

My blade pierces its armor, splitting it in two. But I don’t have time to watch it pop, because the needle rabbit is coming in from behind. Drawing my second blade, I counter the advance with a strike to its head.

“Gii. Gaah…”

“…Hah-haaaaaa!”

I exhale the breath that’s been stuck in my throat, now that all monsters in the room lay slain on the ground.

Breaking out in a cold sweat that’s much too late, I hunch over and wipe my face.

I almost bit the dust there.

My heart’s beating like mad inside my ribs. I try to smooth out my staggered breathing with the pulse beating in my ears.

“Mr. Bell! Are you hurt?”

“…Lil-ly. Thank you, you saved my life…”

The tension in my body leaves as I see her running up to me. Once she reaches me, I plop my butt down on the floor.

“That was careless! It was a dangerous situation, but Mr. Bell made it worse!”

“Sorry…”

I have no words to defend myself.

I got too comfortable, and it made me overconfident.

I thought I could take out the two of them in one shot, and I underestimated them.

Just like the books—and Eina—said. As long as I took them one at a time, it wouldn’t matter if a needle rabbit suddenly jumped in. This wouldn’t have happened.

Now I know the real terror of the Dungeon: Nothing is certain.

If I had made one wrong move, or if Lilly hadn’t been there, I’d be dead right now.

A shiver rolls down my spine with that thought, making my whole body shake. I’m burning this feeling into my memory. Careless decisions lead to deadly consequences.

I only half hear Lilly’s latest lecture and let out a long sigh.

“Are you listening, Mr. Bell?”

“Ahh, yes, sorry…I’m reflecting on my decisions. I’ll never do that again…”

“Mr. Bell does look like he regrets his actions. In that case, Lilly will keep her mouth shut. It’ll be Mr. Bell’s responsibility if he doesn’t learn anything from this.”

I make one big nod, promising her I’ll remember, and stand up.

I’m about to thank her one more time for saving me when I remember something important.

“Lilly, you used magic just now, right?”

“…eh?”

Lilly flinched when I pointed that out.

“Was that by any chance a magic sword? So that’s how you saved me…Really, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I feel so happy right now.”

“…! L-Lilly didn’t save Mr. Bell because she wanted to! Without Mr. Bell, Lilly wouldn’t get any money and she’d have to find a new contract! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“…What are you talking about, Lilly?”

How am I supposed to respond to something like that? Lilly’s eyes widen when she sees the look of confusion on my face. “What is Lilly saying…?” she mutters under her breath as she pulls her hood forward, grabbing her head. Yep, she’s lost me…

“Umm…You have a magic sword, Lilly?”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, one thing led to another and it just sort of fell into Lilly’s lap, you see…”

“I see. But don’t magic swords break if you use them too much?”

“Yes, they do. So Lilly only uses it at times like this. But Lilly will use its full power to save Mr. Bell!”

That’s the exact opposite of what she said before, but oh, well. No matter.

With that, we decide to eat lunch, as both of us are hungry.

After Lilly cleans up all the slain monsters, we take up a spot in the middle of the room. When resting inside the Dungeon, we usually find a place out in the open to avoid any surprises being born from the walls.

Plus, this room is so big that even if an enemy walked right through the entrance, we’d see it coming.

Come to think of it, I haven’t returned Syr’s basket yet…

As I stuff my face with some plain food, thoughts of the lunch Syr gave me yesterday flood my mind.

I was late leaving the Dungeon last night, and I’d overslept this morning, so I haven’t had any time to swing by The Benevolent Mistress. I’ll feel bad if I don’t return the basket today.

Lilly and I start up a conversation.

The Dungeon is quiet; I don’t feel the presence of any monsters at all.

Lilly looks like she’s in a good mood. She’s laughing and everything. I think this might be a good chance to ask her about something that’s been on my mind.

“By the way, Lilly, you said you had to go to your
Familia
last night. Did something happen?”

I mean to ask the question as casually as possible, but Lilly’s face freezes on the spot.

It only takes a second for her usual smile to return, but it looks clumsy somehow.

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked after all…

“Why do you ask, Mr. Bell?”

“I know that your relationship with members of your
Familia
isn’t very good, so I was kind of…worried. Sorry.”

The impact of when Lilly told me she was living separately from her
Familia
is still fresh in my memory. Enough to make me worried about her well-being when she told me she was going there last night.

I quickly apologize, out of reflex. She relaxes her shoulders and smiles.

“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Bell. But everything is okay; nothing like what you are worried about happened.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s true. Last night was
Soma Familia’
s monthly meeting.”

“A meeting…?”

“…The details will get long, but the main thing is to announce how much money to make in the next month. Everyone combined has to make a certain amount and work hard to make the quota.”

It must be the
Familia’
s operational expenses.

It seems only natural that members would have to contribute a fraction of their income—it’s a lot like the money I pay to support the goddess at home. So there is nothing strange going on at all.

And the reason that Lilly has to sell her services as a supporter is probably to make this quota on her own. She’s left out of parties by her own
Familia
, after all.

“But that’s gotta be rough, having a personal quota you have to meet every month, especially for those members who can’t save up much money.”

“Lilly thinks so, too. Especially for supporters, or adventurers without much bite…”

AH!
My eyes pop open for a moment.

I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough, but I think I’ve finally figured something out.

Before, when Lilly made a slightly ironic comment about needing money…?

Perhaps the reason that her relationship with her
Familia
is so rocky is because of money.

A twinge of dread fills my mind; I have to ask now. “What happens to the members who don’t reach their quota?”

Almost as if she can see right through me, Lilly smiles and answers, “Nothing at all, really.”

So there’s no penalty…I relax a bit too much, like an idiot. But the fact that a small animal child like Lilly has to work alone to fill her quota makes me think that something is amiss within
Soma Familia
.

I’m thinking so hard about it that my forehead wrinkles up. Lilly looks at me and pulls her hood down with a pitiful look on her face. Why a pitiful look…?

“Um, one other thing I wanted to ask.
Soma Familia
is in the wine business, isn’t it?”

I want to clear the air a bit, so I change the subject.

I force my face into a smile. Not a very good one, either.

“Ahh…That’s the rejected stuff.”

“Re…jected?…Wait, what?”

“That’s right. It leaks out of the container while it’s being brewed. So it’s collected and sold to stores. It would be a waste to throw it away.”

Now just hold on a second.

If I remember right, Eina said that their wine was extremely good and was always in high demand…The wine’s cult following has been seeking…a reject?

How could something like that be a reject?

Lilly looks at my confused face with a clouded smile.

“It means the wine is so delicious that even the failures are that good.”

The word “failure” doesn’t apply here, or at least it shouldn’t. I sit there in disbelief, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand.

But wait, that would make the “successes”…

“Lilly’s god, Soma, completely neglects other gods and isn’t interested in anything…except one. And that’s making wine.”

“……”

“It’s not going too far to say that the only reason he made
Soma Familia
, our one and only purpose, is to assist him in his one and only hobby.”

So then the reason that he gives members of his
Familia
a quota to fill is to cover the expenses of making large amounts of wine.

I don’t think it’s that rare for a god or goddess to use their
Familia
to pursue their own interests. It’s understandable that gods, who came to this world for entertainment, would need more money than what was required to just live here, like rent and food. It has to take a good deal of curiosity on the god’s part to want to dive into an industry.

But…I still can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong with
Soma Familia
.

It could just be everything I know about Lilly’s situation is making me suspicious, but I can’t help but see
Soma Familia
as the bad guy.

—“Fighting amongst one another”—“Live fast, die young”—“Frantic”—

I still remember Eina’s face when she spoke those words not too long ago.

“A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…If the stuff’s that good, maybe I should have a taste…?”

I can feel my face changing to a frown, so I decide to lighten my mood by joking around a bit.

Lilly gazes at me with a blank stare and makes a little laugh that vanishes in a heartbeat.

“Lilly doesn’t think that’s such a good idea…”

“……”

Our conversation ends with her muttered words.

I’m about to strike up a new one when monsters appear in our room. We don’t have much choice but to engage them head-on. Lilly is soon back to her usual self, and I guess I respond to that.

There’s still a gap between us.

I don’t know if it can ever be filled in.

I get that kind of strong feeling from her.

It feels like any manliness I ever had is gone, and my weak, useless self is exposed once again.

Two days have passed.

It’s been a full day since I went into the Dungeon with Lilly.

Yesterday morning, Lilly told me that she had something to take care of and wouldn’t be able to go. I don’t know if it had something to do with her
Familia
, but I clearly remember the apologetic look on her face.

After seeing that, I just couldn’t bring myself to prowl the Dungeon solo.

I keep telling myself a long break is a good idea, since I’ve been spending so much time in the Dungeon…but what is this feeling?

Whenever I think about Miss Wallenstein, a little voice in my head says, “There’s no time to just be sitting around!” Even still, I don’t feel like getting up. I’m a balloon without any air.

“…Ahhhh, this isn’t good.”

I pull my body up from the sofa, roughly fixing my hair.

Forcing out a deep breath, hoping to get this pent-up feeling out of my body at the same time.

I just need to move. What can I do? I’ll get rusty if I just lay here.

If I can’t clear my head, I can at least change my focus. I need to stop worrying about Lilly for now.

Been a while since I’ve done any cleaning…

Since the time I spend here has gone down dramatically, I feel like I haven’t done any chores recently.

I shouldn’t leave it all up to the goddess, seems unfair. I force my legs off the sofa and onto the floor…only to catch a glimpse of Syr’s basket, still sitting on the shelf.

“…Oh.”

I’m such an idiot.

“I’m so, so sorry!”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha…”

Clap!
I bring my hands together and lower my head as far as it will go.

I raced over to The Benevolent Mistress under the daytime sun, and am now apologizing directly to Syr. There’s nothing I can do to rationalize forgetting to return the basket for days.

“Please raise your head, Bell. I don’t mind.”

“Yeah, but…”

“If that’s how you feel, be more careful from now on, okay? What’s done is done, and nothing can change that. So concentrate on what you can do from now on.”

She’s absolutely right. I timidly raise my eyes before slowly standing back up.

Syr looks at me kindly, a soft smile on her face.

It’s times like this that make me realize she’s older than me.

“But, yes. Without any news, I was starting to get worried about you. So worried that I was making mistakes at work.”

“I’m really sorry about that…”

“…Do you know how much they teased me?”

She suddenly has a twinge of resentment in her eyes. Huh? My eyes open wide in confusion. She blushes, turning her cheeks a pinkish red before she does one of her very obvious coughs. I hope that means she’ll cut me some slack.