Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 6 (23 page)

The two stood face-to-face in silence.

The tension building, Takemikazuchi gave in and opened his mouth.

“—Mi-Mikoto.”

“—Lord Takemikazuchi!”

The two spoke at exactly the same moment.

Both paused, saying, “My apologies, go ahead,” and, “Speak first, I insist,” back and forth.

Mikoto was the first to accept the offer.

She took a deep breath and made eye contact with her god.

A moment later, she threw herself to the floor at his feet.
Takemikazuchi Familia
’s special technique, the prostrate bow.

“Please forgive me!”

“Wh-what?”

Takemikazuchi was taken aback by Mikoto’s sudden plea, her hands, knees, and forehead on the floorboards.

She didn’t look up, only raised her voice to be heard clearly despite speaking directly into the floor.

“Please allow me to go assist Sir Bell!”

Takemikazuchi’s eyes shot open.

“Despite nearly causing his death, I haven’t done anything to atone for my actions! I also made a promise; we made a promise to help each other!”

Mikoto’s body shook as her voice took on a more serious tone.

“This is my chance. I can’t abandon him in his time of need…”

The look of surprise gradually left Takemikazuchi’s face as he watched his follower bare her soul to him.

His shoulders relaxed, arms hung loosely at his sides.

So we both came to the same conclusion…

He had been with her for so long and yet he had failed to anticipate how she would react to the situation. It was shameful.

Takemikazuchi grimaced before a genuine smile grew on his lips.

“Ahhh…” He let out a long sigh. Mikoto’s shoulders shook once again.

The deity looked back up at the ceiling and mumbled under his breath.

“One year…Such a long time.”

Mikoto looked up with a start.

It was a rule among
Familias
: A child who had been transferred to a different group with Conversion could not be transferred again for at least one year.

Mikoto immediately understood what his words meant. Her face grew brighter and brighter by the second.

“But it will pass. Learn as much as you can from Hestia’s children and come back stronger than ever.”

“—Yes, sir!”

Mikoto brought her fist and palm together as Takemikazuchi smiled upon her.

Lastly, she gave him her
Familia
emblem for him to hold on to until she returned.

Mikoto Yamato had joined
Hestia Familia
.

“…”

Hephaistos sat at her desk, examining a dagger in her hands.

She was visiting one of her
Familia
’s shops located on Northwest Main. Rather than working in her private office, she was focusing on this particular weapon.

There was a story behind its maker. A rather difficult child, his skills had been rather unpolished at the time he forged this dagger, but passion for his craft alone gave him incredible potential—that “passion” could be felt by anyone who used the blade.

Hephaistos herself could feel it coursing through her when there came a knock at her door.

“Enter.”

She opened one of the desk drawers at her side, returned the blade to its sheath, and placed it inside.

Closing the drawer, Hephaistos looked up to see the silhouette of a young man in a black jacket standing in the doorway: Welf.

“What is it?”

Rather than answering, Welf walked up to the other side of her desk.

Showing no hesitation, he came as close as the desk would allow and met her gaze.

“I’ve come to say good-bye.”

He closed his eyes and continued.

“I’m joining
Hestia Familia
. Please allow it.”

This was not a request for permission, but a demonstration of strong will and determination.

Leaving
Hephaistos Familia
would mean that he would be forbidden to use her logo as a smith. Despite attaining his dream of becoming a High Smith at long last, he was willing to forfeit the right to engrave “Ἥφαιστος” into any of his work and leave Hephaistos behind.

“And what makes you think I would allow such a selfish decision?”

“Because the goddess I know and love would scold me if I didn’t.”

Welf responded without missing a beat.

Hephaistos displayed no emotion, her face stoic as she asked another question.

“Didn’t you want to overcome the blood in your veins, create a weapon that exceeds magic swords?”

“As long as I have a hammer, metal, and a good flame, I can forge weapons anywhere. The one who taught me that was you.”

Even apart from her, he would work to spread his name and reach a higher plateau.

He answered her without any hesitation.

“And what was it that inspired this intense enthusiasm?”

Welf raised his chin and grinned.

“Friendship.”

At long last, a smile appeared on Hephaistos’s lips.

“Then I accept.”

Hephaistos stood up from her desk and walked toward a long line of hammers on a shelf behind her.

She selected one that was the same crimson color as her hair and eyes, and picked it up.

She approached Welf, still standing in front of her desk, and handed the hammer to him.

“A parting gift. Use it well.”

Hephaistos said her good-bye by bestowing him with the soul of a smith. Welf grinned from ear to ear and graciously accepted it with a bow.

“Thank you for everything.”

The fabric in his black jacket ruffled as he turned to leave.

Leaving the goddess he revered behind, Welf confidently strode out of the office.

Welf Crozzo had joined
Hestia Familia
.

“…So that’s how it is. Would you mind helping out again?”

Hermes kept a close eye on her face as he asked.

They were a little ways away from The Benevolent Mistress, inside of the wooden building where the employees lived. The elf Lyu sighed at Hermes’s forced smile.

“God Hermes, are you mistaking me for some handmaiden?”

“Sorry! But do this for Syr. Bell needs your help!”

“I would like you to refrain from using Syr as a bargaining chip…”

“S-sorry, Lyu…”

“Syr, your apology is unnecessary.”

Three figures huddled together inside Lyu’s private quarters: Hermes, Syr, and Lyu herself.

There were only a few days left before the War Game. Hermes had lobbied to allow outside involvement for just this reason, to request her help.

The condition: said outsider must belong to a
Familia
outside Orario—must have the blessing of a deity from outside its walls. Since Lyu’s goddess, Astria, had not been in the city for some time, there would be no objection to her participation.

Hermes felt slightly guilty for being directly responsible for forcing Bell and Hestia into the extremely disadvantageous Castle Siege and this was his way to, kindly, offer his assistance.

“Should I fight, there is a high probability that my identity will be revealed during the War Game.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll convince everyone that you came from someplace on the other side of the mountains before the fight begins. No one will believe you’re a waitress at a bar once I’m through with them.”

Several events in the recent past had landed a hooded adventurer on the Guild’s blacklist—there were still many who resented the “Gale Wind.” Hermes already had a plan to help keep her and those living with her anonymous and safe.

Lyu sighed. “Mother Mia will scold me again.”

Either way, the ex-adventurer couldn’t abandon Bell to his fate. The elf agreed to Hermes’s request.

The room itself had very little decoration. Lyu walked a few paces to the corner and grabbed a knapsack along with a wooden sword.

“I’ll handle the paperwork with the Guild. It’d make it a lot easier to jump through the hoops if I had your
Familia
’s emblem. Do you still have it?”

“I do. Be sure not to misplace it.”

“It’ll never leave my sight,” he said with a nod as he took the badge engraved with the sword of justice and wings from her.

Lastly, Lyu approached Syr, who was holding out her cape.

“Do your best, Lyu. I’ll come up with something to say to Mama.”

“You have my gratitude, Syr.”

Lifting the string of her knapsack over her shoulder, Lyu flashed a soft smile.

Hermes and Syr saw her out of the building and watched as she disappeared into the night.

Lyu Lyon had joined the War Game.

Blades clashed in vicious flurries.

A silver flash, lashing forward at tremendous speed, was blocked head-on by the downward swing of a crimson blade. Knife and saber collided under the reddish glow of dusk, their wielders’ blond and white hair flowing in the breeze.

The boy’s long shadow passed over the stone surface, slamming into the girl’s shadow over and over. Each time he was thrown backward and each time he charged again.

Their brutal training was taking place on top of the city wall around Orario.

“You learned how to…react without seeing…”

“D-do you really think so…?”

It was already the fifth day.

Aiz lowered her saber, signaling a brief pause in the action. Bell took a deep breath and took a look at his own body. What was left of the evening sunlight illuminated all the cuts, scrapes, bruises, and dried blood that littered his skin. Completely covered in sweat, the boy’s condition showed just how intense these training sessions had been.

After gathering supplies and setting up a small camp, Bell had committed himself fully to sparring with Aiz. They started just before the sun rose each morning and continued until the stars lit up the night, dramatically increasing the length and intensity of their sessions from the last time they were here. They ate meals together and slept at the same time; neither of them had gone into the city even once. A dirty pot and the remains of a fire sat on top of the path just inside the chest-high stone wall, a guardrail on the city side of the wall. Three water bottles and three sleeping bags also sat at the base of the guardrail.

Bell had his eyes focused on the cuts crisscrossing his arm when suddenly—
whoosh!
A saber came at them from his blind spot without warning. His instantaneous reflexes brought his weapon into the path of the oncoming blade, deflecting it before he jumped backward.

Looking very rabbitlike, standing with his left shoulder higher than his right, he stood at the ready for the next attack. Aiz seemed very satisfied as she nodded over and over.

“Guess who’s back!”

Bell and Aiz turned to face the owner of the cheerful voice.

Emerging from the doorway of the tower that housed a stairwell connecting to the city street was Tiona with a very large backpack over her shoulder. She skipped her way up to them and plopped the backpack at their feet on top of the stone path with a light “Hup!”

“Picked up a ton of meat and fish! Bread and water, too!”

“Thanks, Tiona…”

“Sure thing! Ah, Argonaut, these blades work okay for you? I bought about five of them.”

“Y-yes, thank you very much…s-sorry for the trouble.”

Bell stood next to Aiz, scared stiff, as Tiona withdrew the weapons from her backpack one after another.