Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 6 (21 page)

“The words of children who succumb are…irrelevant.”

Soma’s eyes, black as ink, were finally pointed in Lilly’s direction. However, Lilly’s face was not reflected in them, only empty disappointment.

Lilly remained still, unable to find any words in the face of her god’s cold stare. It was Soma who moved first.

He took a bottle of white wine off one of the shelves built into the wall of his chamber.

Lilly watched in dumbfounded silence as Soma took a glass from a different shelf and said to her:

“If you can say the same thing after drinking this, I’ll listen.”

—She couldn’t breathe.

The deity poured the wine into the glass, its cool yet sweet aroma filling the room. He held the glass out to her. Lilly looked at her own reflection on the surface of the white liquid.

Divine Wine.

Her throat clenched. Sweat poured down her face. The glass nearly slipped from her grasp as she tried to take it with both hands.

Memories of the dark days when she was under the influence of soma’s power rampaged through her mind. She looked back up at Soma, shoulders shaking in fright. The god’s face was void of emotion as he watched her from behind his bangs.

Zanis watched all of these events unfold, smiling as if he’d seen this coming.

“Ah, aah…!”

Lilly stood up on unstable legs.

Her breaths very shallow and staggered, she took another look at the glass in her hands.

She had no choice. In order to save Hestia, in order to finally break her ties with this
Familia
, she had no choice but to drink it.

Lilly brought the glass to her lips, hands shaking and palms clammy.

This wine had once turned Lilly into little more than a monster.

It had stolen her life from her, caused all of her problems.

Under the watchful eyes of Soma and Zanis, Lilly willed her mouth open and drank it down.

“—”

The world warped around her in the blink of an eye.

A boundless drunken euphoria enveloped her. The bliss was intense enough to bend her consciousness.

Tink!
The glass fell out of her hands, hit the floor, and rolled away.

Her arms and legs quivered. She couldn’t keep standing and fell to her knees like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

Acute warmth filled her cheeks as her eyes went out of focus…Lilly giggled.

“—a…haa.”

The flavor of the most delicious wine in existence made her heart melt.

Soma watched the girl’s spirit disappear and turned his back to her without a second thought. Lilly’s ears stopped picking up the sounds around her, with only one exception: Zanis’s bloodcurdling laughter.

Overwhelming contentment spread throughout her body. Memories flashed before her eyes before disappearing again. Nothing inside this room mattered to her, was worth seeing. Even her purpose for being here, why she was so determined to drink the soma, felt like nothing more than a passing thought. Everything that made Lilly who she was evaporated in an instant.

She saw everything in the room with a white hue.

Her body, mind, and spirit were warm.

Down, down, down she went.

Then, just as the white was about to embrace her, she saw something.

A boy, a smiling boy.

“—”

Her craving intensified. The animal that demanded soma within her was on the brink of taking over.

But amid all the white around her, she saw how the boy smiled when he saved her that day.

It remained deep within her soul even after everything else had been erased. His smile stayed with her.

“…”

A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

Her slack, open mouth smiled for a moment before weakening again. Lilly’s head started to rise.

The warmth of the boy’s smile had awakened her heart, filled her with new emotion, and caused a tear to be shed.

Lilly had returned.

“……Please.”

Not much sound escaped her lips, but it was enough to stop Soma in his tracks.

A moment later, he spun around with vigor.

His long bangs swung out of the way, revealing his black eyes. Lilly’s trembling figure reflected within them.

“…Stop it, please.”

Her words were getting clearer.

Soma and Zanis looked on in disbelief.

Lilly made eye contact with Soma.

“Lilly’s begging you—stop the fight!”

Her words were unchanged as even more tears trickled down her face.

“Wha…”

She didn’t know if that sound came from Soma or from Zanis.

She persevered. Lilly held off the effects of soma.

Countless people had fallen under its spell, becoming little more than savages in the process. And yet this little, fragile girl had not.

It didn’t matter that her Status was low, that her body was weak. She defeated soma with sheer willpower.

“Lilly wants to save those people!”

She yelled her most earnest desire as loud as she could.

She sounded no different from a sobbing child.

Bonds with her allies had been forged in the fire, and she was a Phoenix emerging from the flame, guided by them.

“Lilly knows, even without any gods telling her, Lilly knows that she was born for this moment!”

It was highly unlikely that Lilly would ever forget.

Even if she died and was reborn many times, even in the deepest pits of hell…

Lilly would never forget the smile on that boy’s face.

“Every mistake Lilly has made was in preparation for this day!”

The warmth of the hands that reached out for her, the kindness of his embrace.

She’d never forget the smile of the one who rescued her.

The image that had been seared into her very soul would never fade.

“This time, it’s Lilly’s turn to save him!”

Bell’s smiling face and warmth filling every corner of her mind, Lilly yelled once again.

She had not forgotten all of the mistakes she made and the gray areas of her past. Those memories gave her the strength to keep shouting.

“Please, bring an end to this battle!”

Lilly’s voice was loud enough to be heard outside the tower.

“……”

Soma stood, unblinking eyes locked on the girl.

Gods did not grow or feel distress of any kind. It was hard to comprehend what just unfolded.

Seeing a person of Gekai change right before his eyes for the first time left Soma speechless.

“No way…?!”

Zanis sensed danger in the expression on his god’s face.

His feeling of invincibility gone, he pleaded with the deity.

“Lord Soma, you mustn’t listen to her! Our
Familia
is under attack—!”

“Quiet, Zanis.”

Soma turned away without so much as a glance in his direction.

Zanis fell silent, face twitching as he knew that there was no chance for a counterargument. Soma made eye contact with Lilly once again.

His ink-colored eyes clearly reflected the young girl’s gaze. Then he walked toward the end of his chamber and opened the large window.

The empty wine bottle still in his hand, Soma stepped out onto the balcony. He could see the battle raging in the courtyard beneath him. Standing next to the railing, he raised the bottle high above his head and threw it into the courtyard.

Spinning end over end, the bottle sent flares of sunlight flashing all over the battle before crashing into the middle of it.

The shattering sound made all members of
Soma Familia
come to a halt.

Every head in the courtyard turned toward the balcony, waiting with bated breath.

“Stop fighting.”

Soma looked down on the rest of his followers as he made his declaration.

Soma Familia
’s members were blindsided by a direct order from a god who had never shown any interest in anything other than his hobby before. No one even considered going against it.

Ignoring Zanis’s commands, they listened to a higher power and put down their weapons.

“Soma moved on his own…?!”

An uneasy silence descended over the battlefield. Zanis couldn’t believe what he was seeing, his eyes glued to Soma’s back. He shook his head from side to side, refusing to accept what was happening. His mask of refined intelligence broken once again, muscles all over his body began twitching nervously.

He rocked on the balls of his feet—
BANG!
The main doors at the base of the tower had been kicked in. His shoulders flexed.

Knowing that the intruders would soon arrive, Zanis looked around the room in a panic. His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Lilly on the floor.

“Damn you! At least give me the pleasure of slicing you open before—!”

Zanis jumped toward Lilly like a beast capturing its prey.

The man had only seen her as possible profit; he captured her out of greed. His avarice made him torment her and now she was too physically weak to run away or defend herself. She was the reason why his perfect world had come crumbling down. Withdrawing a rapier from the hilt on his belt, he smiled to himself, believing that she should be punished for what she had done to him. He reached out with his left hand.

However, just before his fingers reached her collar…

An arrow was fired at his chest.

“?!”

Zanis barely managed to avoid the attack that came from outside the window.

The arrow buried itself in the wall behind him, making a small web of cracks in the stone. Zanis looked back outside in shock.

There, standing on top of the nearest lookout tower, was a Chienthrope wielding a longbow.

“I’m ready! Fire away!”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

Zanis heard the voice of a young man and saw a flash of gold as the Chienthrope took a new arrow from him and promptly slid it over her bow. She pulled this new golden arrow back, took aim, and fired in one swift motion. But she wasn’t targeting Zanis. The arrow plunged deep into the stone wall next to the balcony.

The man had only a moment to feel surprise—he saw a very thick wire attached to the end of the arrow. His surprise turned to disbelief.

As if to confirm his wildest fear, a young man with red hair and a greatsword over his shoulder ran across the wire toward him.

“?!”

The red-haired man kept his balance, pulling off some very acrobatic moves as he raced across the wire bridge connecting the two towers. The wire held firm under his weight. Sword balanced against his shoulder, Welf quickly reached the balcony, jumped over the silent Soma’s head, and landed just in front of the window.

The smith’s black jacket unfurled behind him as he stepped inside the chamber and came to a stop in front of Zanis and Lilly, both wearing looks of astonishment.

“It’s time for you to come back, Li’l E.”

“Mr. Welf…”

“We’re gettin’ outta here.”

Welf set his jaw, smiling at Lilly before turning to Zanis.

“I’ve come to collect this one. I’ve got a partner who is waiting for her.”

“Rrrgh—
Like hell you are!
” Zanis charged without hesitation, brandishing his weapon high in the air. Welf held his own weapon in his right hand and rushed to meet him.

A rapier against a greatsword in a duel.

The two blades collided in a shower of sparks, the opening bell.

“Come at me, smithy!”

With the ferocity of a madman, Zanis stepped into a forward slash before whipping his blade around and into an upward slice.

All he managed to do was take a small slice out of Welf’s black jacket. It was an attack that would have skewered any lower-class adventurer, but the young man dodged it handily and used that momentum to slash his own sword diagonally upward at his opponent. Zanis was unable to step into his next attack.

Both Level 2 adventurers, they matched each other blow for blow, and their movements gradually picked up speed.

The shock waves generated on impact were strong enough to make Lilly lean backward as the echoes of their clashing blades filled the chamber. Welf deflected Zanis’s spinning strikes and high kicks with the armor on his left arm, not allowing any attack to hit home.

Zanis used his rage to fuel an onslaught of slashes.

Welf held his ground, using his sword like a highly mobile shield despite its weight.

Considering the weapons the combatants were using, Zanis held several advantages. He knew speed was on his side and he could use it to overpower his red-haired adversary. Welf calmly read his movements and narrowed his eyes.

“Tough to bully an upper-class adventurer.”

Welf’s back, shoulders, and arms all flared to life at the same moment.

The massive blade whipped around the young man’s body in a powerful arc. It met Zanis’s downward slash head-on, overpowered it, and sent the rapier flying.

“—”

Time stood still for Zanis.

His techniques and maneuvers were useless in a contest of strength—a “warrior smith” like Welf wasn’t about to fall for the same tricks that adventurers who relied on a high Status would overlook.

Lilly heard Welf’s black jacket swish as the man closed the distance between him and his unnaturally rigid opponent.

Seeing everything in slow motion, Zanis tried to jump out of the way but watched helplessly as Welf’s left foot collided with his chest.

Then he saw the blade flash as it spun around.

Welf had flipped his hold on the weapon so that the blunt edge was facing his enemy.

“Sloppy. That weapon of yours is crying.”

With that said, Welf drove the entire blade forward in a rising arc aimed right for his opponent’s head.

“GHEEEEE—!”

The blow struck Zanis with such precision that it split his glasses right down the middle before launching him backward.

Momentum carried his body straight into the wall, the man’s scream of pain cut short by the impact.

Zanis fell to the stone floor like a bag of potatoes. The blunt edge of Welf’s greatsword left a thick red line down the center of the motionless man’s face. What was left of his glasses lay on the floor beside him.

“That should do it,” said Welf as he returned the blade into its sheath at his shoulder and looked down at the white eyes of his unconscious foe.