Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 2 (5 page)

“Lilly’s name is Lilliluka Erde. What’s your name, mister?”

The eyes looking up at Bell twinkled suspiciously under her hood.

Chapter 2

“So, you aren’t a free supporter…?”

“Nope, Lilly’s in a
Familia
.”

We’re on the second floor of Babel Tower, in the cafeteria. It’s midmorning; most adventurers are prowling the Dungeon. The cafeteria is mostly empty. The small girl and I sit facing each other across a table in the middle of the wide-open lunchroom. I have a few questions I want to ask this Lilliluka Erde.

“What’s the name of your
Familia
?”

“It’s
Soma Familia
, mister. Lilly thinks her
Familia
is pretty well known.”

It seems like this girl who’s approached me about going into the Dungeon together had been released from a contract with members of a different party. She has spent every day since then making trips between the Guild and Babel, trying to find someone to hire her to make money. She’s in dire straits. Today, she happened to see me.

She saw someone without a party or a supporter, a solo adventurer.

She jumped at the opportunity without a second of hesitation.

Sure, I said I’d like a supporter, but to have someone just show up right when I wanted one…I’m not that naïve.

I take another look at her. Her body is very thin, and the slender lips that I can see beneath her hood always have the same happy smile plastered on them. While I can’t see her eyes, she’s got a cute little nose in the middle of her small face. She seems like an adorable kid.

I don’t want to doubt what this innocent-looking girl is saying, but I don’t think it’s right to just agree to something straightaway without asking a few questions first. It’s just common sense.

Something just doesn’t feel right, so I keep asking the girl more questions.

“But, why me? I’m not in your
Familia
. It’s not good for two
members of different
Familias
to have a connection like this. Why don’t you join adventurers in your own group?”

“Eh-heh, Lilly is so tiny, and not strong at all. ‘Lilly is slow and will hold us back,’ all the honorable members of Lilly’s
Familia
always say. Lilly is treated like a burden. Even if Lilly asked them, they won’t say yes.”

She’s being left out? Now I want to help her.

“Lilly’s so useless in a fight it’s embarrassing. The air at home is so bad; Lilly has been going from cheap hotel to cheap hotel every night to sleep.”

Wait…She can’t sleep at home? Not even relax…? What’s with that?!

Her words shock me to the core. I can’t believe anyone would treat a member of their own
Familia
like that.

For me, a
Familia
is a family.

Sure, there are only two members of
Hestia Familia
, but there is a strong bond. Not just a friendly connection but a real, warm family tie between us. Even if another person were to join our
Familia
, I don’t think that would ever change.

A
Familia
is there to help you through thick and thin, that’s how it should be.

But this girl’s family is…shutting her out?

I feel a little dizzy. I know I shouldn’t just take her at her word, but my whole world just turned upside down. I’m shaken.

“Lilly doesn’t have enough money to stay at the same hotel tonight. So please, please, please, mister! Take Lilly with you into the Dungeon today!”

“Well…um…”

“Ah! If you’re worried about the
Familia
thing, there shouldn’t be a problem. Lilly’s god, God Soma, doesn’t talk to any other gods or goddesses, ever. So, unless your god already has something against God Soma, I don’t think any fighting will break out between our
Familias
.”

She must have misunderstood why I was mumbling. Lilliluka didn’t let any silence into the conversation and added that piece of information.

…I do have a few thoughts on this, but for now, let’s change the topic.

Now’s as good a time as any to put some of my misgivings about her to rest.

“I understand your situation, Lilliluka…but can I check one thing?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“We seriously haven’t met before?”

Is she really not the prum girl I met in the side street yesterday?

That’s what has been bugging me. I don’t know the face of the prum girl or her voice, but physically Lilliluka looks almost exactly like her. It happened yesterday; my memory isn’t that bad.

“Today was the first time Lilly met you…Are you confusing Lilly for someone else?”

“…If it’s okay, could you take off your hood?”

If I could see under that long hood, then I could make up my mind. I feel like they could be the same person because I have only seen half of Lilliluka’s face.

Lilliluka looks at me for a moment after my request. Looking all around the room very quickly, I hear a soft “Okay…” come from beneath her hood. Her tiny hands reach up and pull it back.

“…Huh?”

“T-this enough?”

On the top of her head, cutely fluttering from side to side, are two animal ears.

My jaw drops. If this is true…

“…So, you’re animal people?”

“Y-yes. Lilly is a Chienthrope—a dog person.”

A few second pass until…
pop
. I stand up and lean over the table.

Lilliluka fidgets in her chair; maybe she can feel my gaze. A tail is swishing back and forth under her robe. I can see the chestnut fur on it poke out from under the hem.

She’s no prum…But a little animal girl?

…No way.

My mind is still in shock, but my hands move on their own. They reach up and grab hold of both of the girl’s animal ears, barely noticing how her small shoulders cringe.

“Hnnn…”

The ears between my fingers are soft and warm. They’re tender.

I rub my fingers up and down the ears, Lilliluka getting redder and redder.

…They’re real.

The soft fur, the muscles beneath the skin, the pink and moist inner ear—everything is real. There is no mistake.

It’s not her…

I have no doubt. They may look similar, but they’re not even the same race. There’s nothing left to ask.

I let go of all of the trivial questions and just go with it.

“Ummm…mister…?”

“—?! S-sorry!!”

A little voice makes me realize what I was doing, and I let go and fly back to my chair like a frog jumping away from a fire.

She holds the ears I’d been fondling tightly against her head, looking up at me with a little bit of anger before an evil smile spreads across her lips.

“To think a man would play with Lilly’s precious things like that…Lilly’s going to make you take responsibility for this.”

…I can’t make a sound.

Blinking a few times, I feel like my face is on fire. My voice suddenly comes back, and I apologize over and over again on the spot.

“…If you don’t mind me asking, why do you hide your race like that…?”

“Lilly’s fur is dirty and matted—don’t want people to see it…”

I ask her after finishing my series of apologies, whereupon Lilliluka pulls her hood back up, hiding her face in shame.

Personally, I think her fur looks very nice and kind of cute…But then again, I’m a guy, and there’s no way I can wrap my head around what girls think about their own hair or fur.

It would be one thing if she were a prum, who are widely known to be the smallest race—but Lilliluka is still the smallest animal child I’ve ever seen. She can’t be more than ten years old.

“So what will you do, mister? Will you hire Lilly?”

“…All right, I’ll bring you along. For right now, just for today, I’ll hire you as my supporter.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

After what I did to her ears, how can I refuse? If I left right now, I’d be the scum who did that to a little girl, then ran off.

…And on top of that, if I’m being honest, I want a supporter more than anything right now. I want to get as strong as I can, and I can’t do that unless I can focus completely on combat. Lilliluka’s proposition is a godsend.

“Well, um, isn’t there an advance payment or something I have to give you before we go?”

“Sometimes that’s true, yes. But today is a trial, so we can just divvy up the money after we get back from the Dungeon. If you’d give Lilly thirty percent, Lilly will jump with joy!”

“That’s all? Fine with me. I’d just like to be more professional…”

From there we put our heads together to work out the details for a while, the same carefree smile plastered on Lilliluka’s face.

Each section of the Dungeon was its own world, with unique layouts and characteristics.

The walls on levels one through four were a pale blue, and monsters that appeared there were usually just goblins and kobolds. There weren’t many types of them, either.

The monsters closer to the fourth level were a little stronger and smarter than those higher up, but it could still be said that this area was the easiest for newbie adventurers to conquer. If they went in alone and avoided being surrounded—or better yet, formed a party—then there was very little risk in prowling these floors.

Everything changed on the fifth level.

The walls turned a slimy green and the layout got more complicated, but that wasn’t all. More unpleasant monsters, like the seventh level’s killer ant, appeared in larger numbers.

Plus, the birthing interval of monsters was much shorter on the
seventh than the fourth. The moment an adventurer ventured into a dead end, they could be swarmed from all sides by monsters pouring out of the dungeon walls.

Many adventurers who grew overconfident on the upper levels met their doom here. Even if they didn’t let their guard down, newbies got their first glimpse of the true threats inside the dungeon on lower levels five to seven. It was their first major obstacle to overcome.

They couldn’t just go lower when they got bored on the upper levels. Adventurers needed to build a strong foundation before going deeper. Not just a strong “status,” they needed experience, good equipment, fast reflexes, and general adventurer knowledge—among other things—to survive.

Newbie adventurers needed to spend time learning and growing on the upper floors first.

This was even truer for solo adventurers.

However.

“Hya!!”

“Gyshaaaa!!!”

In Bell’s case, things were a little different.

His growth speed broke all the rules to such a point that he couldn’t be compared to other newbie adventurers.

A killer ant’s thin abdomen was caught by a long sweep of Bell’s knife and split in two.

Prowling the seventh level, Bell charged into an incessantly advancing horde of monsters alone on a floor where a party was all but necessary.

“Jigigigigigigi!!”

“Not today!”

“Byugii!!”

Bell nimbly dodged a purple moth that came from above, the Hestia Knife connecting with its wing as the boy spun backward.

The now one-winged giant moth lost its balance and was slain as Bell plunged his dagger straight into its body.

“You two, stay put!!”

Bell kicked off the ground in the direction of two killer ants.

The monstrous ants flared open their mouth pincers to intimidate him, but Bell only sped up his assault.

He charged forward as if to take on both of the killer ants at once, but lunged for the one on the right at the last second.

The ants were a moment too late to react.

“—Giya?!”

Bell’s leading blade plunged into the ant’s upper body like a skewer.

Its hard outer shell crumbled under the power of the Hestia Knife; the flesh beneath was torn to shreds in an instant. The creature didn’t even have time to writhe in pain or let out a dying shriek. The lights in its eyes cut out, and the killer ant fell silent.

Bell immediately turned to face the other ant—but his knife wouldn’t budge.

“Huh?!”

The knife was jammed in a piece of the dead creature’s thick shell-like skin. Bell couldn’t move.

At the same time, enraged by the death of its brother, the remaining killer ant turned to face the boy and brought down its sharp claws on a collision course with Bell’s face.

Bell jerked his left arm up to protect himself in the nick of time.