CHAPTER 4
THOSE WHO TEACH AND THOSE WHO ARE TAUGHT
After the first day of the Dungeon practical, things began to go much more smoothly for Lefiya.
The reason was entirely due to her establishing something that could be called trust with the 7th Squad. Having demonstrated how an Orario adventurer got things done, Lefiya was respected and even more idolized by Nano, Miliria, and Cole.
“In the event of an irregularity in the Cave Labyrinth, one possible response is to proceed to a lower floor.”
“In the Dungeon, where it gets more dangerous the deeper you go?”
“I know there’s the safe point, but…it definitely has to be easier to just go back, right?”
“Because it is the Cave Labyrinth, where its structure of caves and tunnels can produce both the worst and best possibilities. It goes without saying that it’s safer to turn back, but…there are situations where that may not be possible. So just in case, keep that possibility in mind.”
“…Escaping into the tunnels is crucial. They are supposed to appear randomly, but is there really no system or pattern to it…? Do you know, Lefiya?”
“That’s a good question, Luke. The caves and tunnels within the Cave Labyrinth are always in the process of opening and closing. Rather than appearing at fixed points, they are concentrated in certain areas at certain times—”
After exploring the Dungeon every day, they would borrow an open room and hold a debriefing and discussion session.
The students eagerly spoke up and asked questions, and Lefiya answered them.
Luke was embarrassed at first, but he carefully heeded Lefiya’s instructions and began to ask her more about what she could teach him as an adventurer. He also made an effort to improve his tone.
His initial desire to save the people suffering around the world had not changed, but he had stopped seeking to advance at unreasonable speeds. He was grappling with what he could do now while trying to find the most efficient way he could achieve without pushing himself or his comrades to an early death. His steadfast earnestness was dazzling to Lefiya.
“You tend to be proactive and go on the offensive, Luke, but you should also learn some of the perspectives and techniques of those who focus primarily on defense. And Cole, you have a habit of hanging back, but you should try to be more aggressive and develop more offensive capabilities. Milly, you should work on more efficient Mind management and Concurrent Casting. And Nano, you should learn the spirit of the great tree…I can teach Nano and Milly, but Luke and Cole, you would do well to rely on Professor Leon and the other teachers.”
And more than anything, Lefiya became more active as an instructor.
Of course, it was not as if she had been holding back before now, but things had changed after her recent epiphany about both the joy of teaching and the responsibility of providing guidance. Stopping by with a cup of tea, Alisa cheered the return of the old Lefiya when she saw her in the guest room, scrawling notes with her quill pen.
And as her instruction of the 7th Squad improved, next up was a full-blown seminar.
“There are adventurers who are much wiser and more experienced than me. Far more than I could count. So I can teach you the change in values that comes with becoming an adventurer after being a student here. Think of it as an update to a student’s perspective regarding Orario.”
She was speaking in a lecture hall.
Every seat in the conical room was filled. There were even some standing in the back to listen. Students’ eager gazes focused on Lefiya as she spoke from the podium.
Her seminar drew a large crowd of hopefuls.
Of course, students whose first-choice career was adventurer were given some priority, but many students seeking other combat careers responded eagerly, and the seminar ended up being moved to the largest auditorium on the academic layer on short notice.
Since she was a graduate of the School District, an active second-tier adventurer, and a member of Loki Familia, her seminar was undeniably popular. As an aside, the adventurers who came as typical recruiters usually did not hold seminars like this. This one was happening because Lefiya was especially in demand as an alum.
“The Dungeon is alive. Many scholarly treatises and papers have said as much, but it has a different meaning to us adventurers. The Dungeon possesses a will. There is a moment when the underground labyrinth that births monsters without end aims to kill adventurers.”
“…!”
“In the course of your fieldwork, I imagine you have ventured into monsters’ dens and ruins, but in the case of the Dungeon, it would be better to understand it as a place where nature—or perhaps it would be more apt to call it a natural disaster—is itself the enemy. Though adventurers might defeat monsters, we have all been defeated by the Dungeon.”
When she first learned how many people had signed up, Lefiya was nervous, but standing at the podium and facing the great crowd of students, she was oddly not nervous.
With a calm mind, she recognized that she would have been only a few days ago, even as she had the presence of mind to observe their reactions while she spoke. The sound of chalk on the blackboard she had been provided filled the lecture hall as she neatly marked a diagram in elegant Koine.
“Other than the presence of the Dungeon, what makes Orario unique is the number of familias. The Labyrinth City boasts the largest concentration of deities, and it is not lacking in turmoil. When I first joined a familia, the thing that left the strongest impression on me was the warning to be careful of sneak attacks at night. Because we were Loki Familia. In later days, I would learn painfully just what that meant…”
As much as time allowed, Lefiya also tried to instill in them the psychological readiness needed to be adventurers in an Orario familia. She felt that her analysis and experience would be more valuable than what they could learn by looking it up themselves.
And that was probably correct.
What the students wanted from this seminar was not knowledge they could learn from teachers but the honest, frank voice of experience.
“I will take questions now. Is there anything you would like to ask?”
“Does what we learn here work in Orario, too?!”
“Do you think that the Dungeon-diving familias and production familias are balanced?!”
“It feels that many of the political policies underlying the Guild’s city management have come under question! What do you think, Lefiya?!”
She set aside time for questions and answers at the end, and the questions just kept coming.
This was a common sight in the School District, or perhaps it would be better to say that this was its truest form.
The raised hands and questions were unending. Feeling a deep emotion at realizing she had once been on that side, Lefiya did her best to answer their questions.
“My personal belief is that the knowledge you gain, including but not limited to the teachings here, will serve you well in some way. However, transforming that knowledge into wisdom requires effort. Regarding craft familias, they may be less visible due to the nature of their work in the background, but there are many of them in Orario. And regarding the Guild, it is impossible to say they have done a perfect job in upholding public order; however, considering the reason for Orario’s existence, I believe I can express a certain level of understanding.”
“What do you think of the Record Holder?!”
“…Well, he’s working hard.”
“How does the Sword Princess smell?! Haah, haah…!”
“It seems you need disciplining. Report to me later for punishment.”
She could give only vague answers or smiles in response to some of the questions, but the question-and-answer session continued without end.
“What was exploring uncharted territory like?!”
“…Because of Guild rules, I cannot discuss the deep floors. However, if I were to give my personal impression, I would say it was hell.”
“…!”
“It is on an entirely different level from the regions preceding it. The size is different. The level of danger is far too different. They are worlds apart. I learned that setting foot into uncharted territory for an adventurer means having one’s common sense shattered.”
And with time closing in, the final question.
“Is Orario’s current stance regarding the terrible state of the world correct? What do you think?”
The same question as Luke had screamed in the Dungeon.
Lefiya did not immediately answer, looking around at the students watching her.
And then, so that the 7th Squad sitting in the back of the auditorium could hear, she shared her thoughts and the feelings that she could express now, having experienced regret and loss.
“The current state of the world is a result of Zeus and Hera’s failure to complete the Three Great Quests. I do not believe that is a wrong way to look at it.”
“Yes. That is all the more reason Orario has a duty to demonstrate its sincerity and respond—”
“However, that means there are no more second chances.”
“!!!”
As the questioner’s eyes widened, Lefiya continued.
“By all accounts, the sheer amount of strength Zeus and Hera could muster was the greatest that has ever been seen since the beginning of the era of the gods and has yet to be surpassed. And still they failed. The black dragon gathered strength through the centuries that surpassed Orario’s estimates and even those of the deities themselves.”
It was one of the few old stories that Riveria had let slip.
Curious about Zeus, Hera, and the black dragon, Lefiya had investigated the records herself and shuddered.
The downfall of the two great factions who possessed a Level 8 and a Level 9.
What that meant was that no matter how Orario’s present strength was calculated, there was no way they could defeat the black dragon.
Orario’s vaunted Dungeon assault.
It was a strategy for encouraging familias to grow stronger and hopefully give birth to the heroes the world needed. Adventurers challenging the Dungeon, Loki Familia embarking on expeditions, and Lefiya trying to improve herself. They were all connected.
The reason for Orario’s existence was something that she’d also touched on earlier.
Deities who loved their entertainment certainly evoked a certain image. Still, in addition to preventing the conflicts that demolished city blocks, there lurked within war games the goal of forcing familias to struggle against each other and aim higher. At least, that was what Lefiya had come to think.
When she learned of Kali Familia and the land of Telskyura, where Amazons fought and killed each other in their contests of strength, Lefiya felt it repulsive, but it wasn’t especially surprising. That was a poison that existed in Orario, too.
Though the goals of deities intertwined, it could all be called part of the process of giving birth to the promised land of Orario’s next generation of heroes.
“That is why we must be absolutely sure. Failure means the mortal realm’s hope being snuffed out. Most likely, the next attempt will be our last. That is what I believe…”
The auditorium fell silent. Students gulped as they hung on her every word.
“To say this in my position may well invite misunderstanding, but I will say it, nonetheless. I would like you all to see yourselves as involved rather than bystanders.”
Lefiya gave her answer to the question.
“Orario will slay the black dragon. Even if that is true, I do not think that means the people around the world should leave everything to Orario. We must support and help each other. With the barriers between races falling in the era of deities, that is our greatest weapon.”
She thought back to everything leading up to today.
The cooperation of familias facing the unknown Dungeon.
The roars of adventurers from different familias facing Knossos together.
The backs of Aiz and the other first-tier adventurers who possessed the makings of heroes drew in even those who had not been chosen and inspired the whole world.
Lefiya was sure that was one possible answer.
“I am dedicating myself as well. I hope to answer the mortal realm’s plea not with just the chosen few but with everyone joining together. That is all for me. With that, the seminar is over.”
Putting a hand to her chest, she finished with an elven bow.
The students answered her with a thunderous round of applause.
“That was most certainly the gravitas of an educator.”
After leaving the podium at the edge of the stage.
The hall was still filled with excitement as the students began discussing the lecture without getting up from their seats when Leon greeted her.
“You have the makings of a teacher, just like Alisa.”
“You overestimate me. I am nothing more than a simple adventurer.”
“That’s right, Professor Leon! Just because I’m always at your side, saying I’m worthy of serving as your right hand in such a confessional tone is—!”
“Alisa, he didn’t say that much—”
While she was exasperated to see Alisa shuddering and holding her red cheeks, Lefiya did believe that she had gained something.
When her time here came to an end, she would return to her days in Loki Familia as someone who was still being taught. But with the perspective she gained here as an instructor, she would be able to grasp what people were trying to convey and where they were trying to go faster and with a deeper comprehension.
As she explained key points to the students, she also learned new things.
Verbalizing the process that was usually unconscious and carried out on instinct.
Thinking through her actions and explaining them.
For upper-class adventurers who tended to act reflexively, it was a strategic review. That was a thing that Finn and Riveria were probably the best at in Loki Familia. And she could put it to use at the beginning of her next battle.
She could not afford to simply indulge in being taught. It would be a waste.
It felt like she had become just a little bit wiser.
She had been unhappy about this arrangement, thinking it calculated, but now she was grateful to Loki.
That was when she heard the voices of the girls in the hall.
“Lefiya is so dreamy!”
“I know, right?! I wonder if it’s because she’s an elf.”
“Beautiful and dignified…I can hardly believe she’s only a second-tier adventurer!”
“I want to be like her!”
Don’t underestimate a second-tier adventurer’s senses, please.
Leon smiled kindly as Lefiya’s face flushed, and Alisa watched while stifling a giggle.
“I-I’m not the sort of elf who is worthy of such outrageous praise…”
“Modesty taken too far becomes disagreeable, Lefiya. And a perspective lacking in objectivity will only cause unhappiness for you and those around you.”
She could not say anything to that.
In Lefiya’s mind, the standard for praise was Aiz and the other first-tier adventurers.
But by the standards of Alisa and the others who were active outside Orario, she was more than remarkable enough to merit comment.
Neither was wrong. They were both correct.
The School District’s greatest fighting strength was their teachers, and Leon, who as the strongest of them all understood Lefiya’s perspective, too, said:
“Accept it, Lefiya. A proper evaluation is necessary for you in your own growth.”
“…Yes, sir, I shall try.”
Leon smiled wryly at the way she answered.
Lefiya suddenly thought she was doing fairly well despite struggling with embarrassment.
Here time with 7th Squad and the seminar were both going better than she had expected.
Perhaps it was a result of her decision to change. She did not know, but she was happy and proud to recognize that she was growing.
However, even as she was being praised, issues were developing.
“Ughhhhhhh…!!!”
The next day after the seminar.
As Lefiya prepared materials for her instruction of the 7th Squad, she was being glared at.
By a teary-eyed Nano.
“Umm…Nano? Did I do something to you?”
Her eyes were filled with reproach, but the way tears were welling in them was terribly adorable. It made her seem like a cute little animal trying to be menacing, almost making Lefiya want to pet her.
But even so, it was a little difficult to endure.
After she had been so fawning and friendly before.
When Lefiya carefully worked herself up to ask the question, Nano cried out like a woman whose lover had been stolen away from her.
“Lefiya, you thief!!!”
“Eh?”
“I even asked you not to seduce Luke!”
No, it was not like a woman. She was a girl who thought her crush had been stolen away.
Not having any clue where that came from, Lefiya answered with an odd noise.
“W-wait a second, Nano. What are you…?”
“…But you did…”
“Huh?”
“Luke is totally head over heels for you!”
Lefiya had a dubious look as she watched Nano shout with closed eyes.
“Hah?”
Or rather, a look of incomprehension.
Who had fallen for whom?
Seeing her confused look, Nano erupted angrily.
“Don’t play dumb! Ever since that first day in the Dungeon, Luke has been looking at you differently! You’re a devil toying with him!”
“I’m doing no such thing… Ah, but…it is true that Luke has seemed odd recently…”
She had thought he was acting a little distant lately.
Turning to look when she felt his gaze, he would turn red and hurriedly look away. When he seemed like he wanted to say something but was struggling to verbalize it, she would smile and ask what was wrong, and he would look away and stammer that it was nothing. She had thought that he simply didn’t like her.
But it also felt like that when Nano started staring at her like a wraith who had died after being betrayed by someone close to her.
“Luke is totally in love with youuu!”
“Th-that’s not—”
“It is true! As the childhood friend, I can tell! Luke is a pathetic virgin bewitched by the clichéd younger senior!!!”
“That is a little overboard…”
And unexpectedly nasty.
Lefiya could feel a headache coming on as she watched Nano breathing heavily in agitation.
“…Even if that is true, you don’t need to worry. I don’t have any feelings for him.”
“That’s just as aggravating! Luke is totally awesome!!!”
“What would you have me do…?”
She was weary of this blazing fire that grew no matter what she said.
As Lefiya was at a loss for what to do, Nano, seemingly finally calmed down, suddenly looked sad and started mumbling,
“You’re only fifteen, but you’re Level Four and a member of Loki Familia…as clumsy and tiny as I am, I could never match you…”
“Nano…”
“You’re pretty, amazing, and dignified. Of course Luke would be attracted to you. Even I think you’re the epitome of a noble elf…”
Lefiya was reaching out her hand but suddenly froze.
The words noble elf.
When she heard that, everything clicked into place—the doubts, the confusion, it all made sense.
She understood why the students were so noisy when they saw her, why they called her pretty, dignified, and stylish, descriptions that were so ill-fitting for Lefiya Viridis not long ago.
What they were seeing in the current Lefiya…was Filvis.
In learning her fighting style and her determination not to forget her, Lefiya was influenced by the image of the noble elf that Filvis had been. Alisa saying she seemed more adult was also probably because of her desperation to chase after the phantom of Filvis.
If that were not the case, Lefiya could not think of an explanation for why they would describe her as a noble elf.
How absurd…
She had not considered that someone would look up to Lefiya Viridis just as she had looked up to Aiz—as she had looked up to Filvis.
There was no greater irony than becoming an object of idolization after having lost someone so precious.
And so she answered with a self-deprecating smile.
“…It’s okay, Nano. That yearning is only temporary. Just a trick of the mind.”
“Huh?”
“When he learns how pathetic, how ugly an elf I am, he will be disillusioned and snap out of it.”
She had started to say “wretched” but stopped herself.
It was too depressing a self-loathing.
Looking away, she glanced out the window at the sky that was so blue and clear yet again. At the heavens where souls returned to rest.
She was too lacking to be called a noble elf in every regard.
She could not begin to match Filvis.
She was stronger, more beautiful, and more tragic.
Lefiya had loved her.
“—”
Nano was speechless when she saw the eyes of the elf before her.
Her body shuddered, and she turned pale.
But Lefiya did not notice.
“I wonder how Lefiya is doing…” Tiona murmured.
She was in Twilight Manor, Loki Familia’s home.
It had been ten days since Lefiya left to be a recruiter.
Lounging lazily on the sofa in the parlor, she looked to the southwest, toward Meren, where Lefiya surely was.
“Unlike us, she’s got a real education. I’m sure she’s doing fine. It’s her old stomping ground, right? She knows how things work there.”
“Yeah…and Lefiya can get along with anyone…”
Tiona and Aiz answered from their own places on the sofa.
But Tiona’s expression was still clouded.
“I’m not really worried about that… I’m wondering if she’ll come back like that?”
“Of course not! …Of course not, right?”
“But Lefiya…went to Bete, too…”
“Ugh.”
Tiona and Tione both slumped at Aiz’s dejected answer.
They had been like this all the time lately, ever since Lefiya left.
To be blunt, there was nothing to do.
Of course, Aiz was continuing her self-training. Tione was working hard to help Finn, and Tiona was going into the Dungeon with Narfi and the others. But maybe because everything had become so peaceful, the time they spent sitting around like this had increased.
They had been immersed in near constant fighting until the final battle in Knossos, so this was just an adventurer’s rest, but recently…whenever they were hanging around with nothing to do, they ended up thinking about Lefiya.
And fell into a negative feedback loop due to their excessive unease.
It just became normal that she was always around…
That’s why it’s so lonely…
Aiz glanced at the empty seat on the sofa.
“Don’t worry, Tiona. If that dumbass Balder tries to keep Lefiya…I’ll send up the flare and smash that whole stupid school to pieces.”
“That’s too dramatic… There’s no need to destroy it.”
“And the ones doing the smashing would be us.”
They turned a cold eye on the fourth figure in the parlor, Loki, who had been drinking since the break of dawn.
“Hey, why did you send Lefiya there? I can sort of tell you’re worried about her after her big image change, but could we not have stayed with her?”
“Hey, hey, always diving straight into the heart of things without any warning, Tiona. That’s the naive, childlike character I took ya for! The innocent Amazon is definitely a top-tier trope!”
“Quit dodging the question,” Tiona said with a pout.
Loki downed the last of the alcohol she was nursing and after a moment’s pause:
“Mmm…the thing about people who are students is, in a way, they can be forgiven for messing up.”
“?”
“People who teach’ll admonish ’em and correct ’em no matter what happens. They can be spoiled like that, which is maybe a bit over the top…but anyway, they can do whatever they feel like and keep rushin’ ahead. They can mess up and fall on their face, and it’s fine.”
“…You mean Lefiya?”
Loki did not respond to Tione’s question or Tiona’s cocked head.
“But once you’re on the teaching side, you don’t get that anymore. And then the people you’ve gotta guide, the ones who’re there to learn from you, they become a mirror.”
“A mirror…?”
Loki stared at her reflection in the empty glass as Aiz looked at her.
“When you stand in front of a mirror, you can suddenly see the things that you couldn’t unravel no matter what anyone said… That’s what I’m hopin’.”
“Meaning? There’s something she can’t notice while staying on the side that learns?”
“I wouldn’t put it that strongly. But when you’re the mirror, there’s nothin’ that reflects you, right?”
“I don’t get it at all!”
Loki just smiled at Tiona’s and Tione’s reactions and refused to give a clear answer.
“What do you think of Lefiya, Aiz? As her respected older sister in uncertainty.”
She leaped into the open seat beside Aiz with a grin.
She poked her finger at Aiz’s cheek. She tried to stop Loki, but before she could:
“Well, it’s true Lefiya’s pretty adorable compared to Aiz.”
“Yeah, Aiz is the most unsteady, for sure!”
Tione, sitting on the other side of Aiz, also started poking her cheek, and Tiona moved behind the sofa and grabbed her long, blond hair and spread it out. Surrounded by the three of them, unable to argue, she was transformed into a doll for them to play with.
Even though she had no idea what to do, like a hamster being played with, she did feel like what they were saying was correct.
The current Lefiya was not more unstable than Aiz.
All of them were in agreement on that.
But…
“Lefiya isn’t dangerous…but she is…scary,” Aiz murmured as she looked down at her hand.
“Scary? What do you mean?”
“Like she might…stop being Lefiya.”
“Stop being Lefiya?”
“Mhm…I have a goal. But Lefiya…doesn’t.”
Loki watched quietly as Tione and Tiona expressed confusion.
Because the current Lefiya resembled her younger self, Aiz could understand. It was an instinctive feeling she could not explain well, but she was sure it wasn’t wrong.
And she used the word scary because Lefiya was decisively different from Aiz’s past and current selves.
“Lefiya has no goal, so she will never be satisfied. Even if we say it’s enough…she won’t be able to stop.”
Aiz concluded that there was probably only one person who could stop Lefiya now, and she was no longer there.
But she could not explain it well. It was difficult to put her exact thoughts into words. Disappointed in herself for being so terrible at expressing things, she stared at her feet.
“Sorry…I can’t explain it well…”
“It’s fine, Aiz. I can get the gist, and the important thing is you’re serious about Lefiya.”
Loki’s foolish attitude disappeared, and she patted Aiz on the head.
“The main reason I sent her back to that rotten ship was to return her to her roots…An alma mater can be unexpectedly good for helpin’ ya realize some things.”
“Back to her roots…?”
“That’s right. Hopefully, Lefiya can remember herself. That’s what I was thinkin’.”
And as they looked at her, she slipped back onto the sofa and looked up at the ceiling.
“I’m just lettin’ it ride, but…I wonder how it’s goin’.”
“Achoo!”
Lefiya covered her mouth.
“Lefiya, did you catch a cold? You caught a cold!”
“No, that shouldn’t be…”
“That sneeze was so cuuute! I’m sure it’s that someone was whispering about wanting to see your cute side!”
“Please don’t tease me, Nano.”
Miliria and Nano excitedly gossiped as Lefiya looked down to hide the red in her cheeks and tried to feign calmness.
They were on the west side of Meren, in front of the giant shipyard.
The School District was currently on the ground.
Though it stuck to sea routes to avoid overuse and natural safety concerns, Hringhorni could rise onto the land by cranking its flotation device to deliver maximum power, and was precisely what it was doing now to undergo a complete overhaul.
The technicians who usually worked in the industrial district of Orario were all called in to repair and rebuild the structures and armor covering the bottom of the ship. It was already almost winter, but the heat rising from inside the shipyard was enough to make them sweat. All sorts of brawny dwarves and men were walking around in work pants and tank tops, making it feel like they had stumbled into an industrial city. The clanking rhythm, different from a blacksmith’s hammer, evoked something almost emotional in Lefiya.
“Getting back to the subject at hand. Today we’ll be conducting a small expedition to the Dungeon’s middle floors. The plan is to head to the eighteenth floor, the safe point.”
The control, residential, and academic layers underwent maintenance during the overhaul.
The control layer was in the middle of significant repairs and renovations.
Its primary residents, the sailors, and mages, were forced out and in the process of setting up residence in the residential layer or at inns in Meren while Lefiya prepared to set out with the 7th Squad.
“The Under Resort…! Oooooh, I can’t wait!”
“A mysterious floor that has day and night cycles even though it is inside the Dungeon…I always wanted to see it, at least once!”
“I’ve heard hardly anyone has reached the eighteenth floor while enrolled!”
“And those few were all people who broke the rules and almost died, from what I’ve heard.”
Nano, Cole, and Miliria were getting excited. Luke was feigning his usual calm, but he was clearly looking forward to it, too.
Students were given permission to advance only as far as the Cave Labyrinth and only to the fifteenth floor.
With two Level 3s, the 7th Squad certainly had more than enough strength to clear the middle floors, but students and adventurers were different. They lacked the experience adventurers would have built up on the upper floors. As evidence, there was no end to the number of students who came back from the Dungeon practical with terrible injuries every time it was held. There were even deaths on rare occasions.
Even if they could make up for it with their status, Lefiya believed that the administration’s decision to set the boundary at the fifteenth floor was correct.
And Lefiya herself was one of those people who had almost died during her time as a student here.
“It’s perfectly fine to be excited about it, but this is no field trip.” Lefiya took a sterner instructor’s look. “I have no complaints about the amount you’ve grown this past week, and you have adapted well to the Dungeon. I can vouch that monsters in the middle floors will not catch you off guard. However…”
““Don’t let your guard down.””
““You never know what might happen in the Dungeon.””
“That’s right. It seems like there shouldn’t be any problems. Let’s go.”
After she watched Luke, Cole, Nano, and Miliria repeat her warnings in unison, Lefiya nodded in satisfaction. They set out from the shipyard alongside countless other students headed to internships or to face the Dungeon like the 7th Squad.
Students were getting tired of going back and forth between Orario and Meren, and there were those still looking around excitedly the moment they passed through the gate, just as they had on the first day. While the students were in town, there were merchants and familias aiming to meet the students’ special needs, creating an even livelier atmosphere than usual.
A chic candy shop with special nougats and honey all lined up.
A café had rare books set out on display.
Places rented out to tenants looking to provide something the students might like.
Around a corner, a stylish back alley came into view, and Lefiya could not help laughing a bit. “Is this really Orario?”
Nano and Miliria went out on their days off with other girls from the School District, apparently searching for interesting spots and discovering all sorts of places.
Moving past the market in the southwest that was particularly thriving, they headed northwest to Guild Headquarters to handle the paperwork for their Dungeon exploration and to double-check that there were not any irregularities reported in the middle levels, just in case.
“—Heee?!”
“Hm?”
When they were walking through the courtyard of the Guild building, a boy Lefiya walked past let out a little shriek.
He was a student just like the 7th Squad, and he was wearing a school-provided combat uniform that was not yet broken in. He was a hume bunny. He had a fluffy tail at his back and long ears extending out of his brown hair, which was long enough to mostly cover his eyes.
She wondered why he would react like that since it was their first meeting.
…Hm?
He seems sort of familiar…
Lefiya’s eyes narrowed, and she looked closer when he froze and suddenly looked away.
“Rapi, what are you doing? Let’s go.”
“R-right! Sorry, Nina!”
Called by a half-elf girl, he hurried over to a group of students who seemed to be a squad.
“That was…”
“Ah, that’s the dropout squad.”
“Balder Class Third Squad. They’re the exact opposite of our Seventh Squad…nicknamed the worst party.”
“It’s sad since the squad leader, Nina, tries so hard. She’s smarter than me and a good girl…and she’s only thirteen!”
“It’s less that they’re failures and more that they’re all so extreme, they can’t really work together. That’s what it seems like in mock battles, at least. Though…there was a new person who enrolled recently, they’re currently a squad of five.”
Lefiya cocked her head as Miliria, Cole, Nano, and Luke all explained.
There had not been any squad with the distinction of being called the worst party when she was a student, so this had to be quite the collection of problem children.
At the very least, she got the feeling from the hume bunny that he was capable…but maybe that was just her misinterpretation?
Either way, the 7th Squad she and Alisa were part of were both elite and troublemakers as well.
Perhaps it was just the thin line between genius and stupidity.
“They’re going to beat us to the middle floors…”
After watching them until they disappeared from view, Lefiya and the 7th Squad entered the Guild.
After finishing the paperwork and stopping by Adventurers Way to pick up items for their little expedition, they entered the Dungeon.
Of course, they cleared the upper floors without issue and reached the middle floors.
“Growling torrent gleam, blessed censure. Shatter the noble with thy splendor. Swallow, jaws of lightning. —Luke, get back!”
“Got it!”
With that clear, crisp, and careful cast, magic power began to swell. A vivid magenta magic circle unfurled at her feet as sparks flew. Luke cleared the line of fire while Nano thrust her blessed iron staff forward.
“Zalga Amalda!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!”
A flash of lightning erupted.
Twelve bolts overlapped and transformed into a torrent of pure energy that scorched the Dungeon and monsters. The three liger fangs disappeared without a trace.
“Control your magic a bit more, Nano! We can’t gather drop items or even magic stones like this!”
“Huh?! I’m sorrrry, Mimi!”
“Wait, a cave. More are coming.”
Just as Miliria and Nano were arguing, Cole, the party’s scout, was watching the surroundings even after the fight. His ears pricked up as he noticed an enemy, and Luke and the others turned to follow.
They handled the successive battles the Dungeon sent their way without wavering, calmly handling all the monsters.
“The liger fangs that were so much trouble the first time were like nothing. Not only do they not seem to have a lingering problem with them, but they are even using their tendencies to deal with them…hmm, they really are excellent, almost disgustingly so even…”
Lefiya watched at a short distance away from the party as she tore into the al-miraj, which closely resembled rabbits.
It had been a week since the start of their Dungeon practical. They had reached the point where Lefiya could leave them to handle the combat alone. She would help out in emergencies, but a necessity like that had not yet occurred.
They are growing at a good pace…
Nano, who had a tendency to be timid and wait to see how her comrades were feeling, was starting to give directions more actively, not just signals for her magic. She was beginning to take command of the squad. She would naturally have the widest view of the battlefield since she was in the rear. With her being more active now, the 7th Squad would become even stronger.
The others trusted her, trusting her to watch their backs while focusing on their own movements. Lefiya was stunned to see Luke fall back to the middle of their formation and let Miliria and Cole take point on his own initiative. They had apparently been training when Lefiya was not around and had become able to cover more positions without issue.
It would have been perfect were it not for Miliria looking back at Lefiya with a smug expression.
“Mm, they are improving.”
Turning their failure into nourishment, they were growing through trial and error.
It was not something that could be learned while focusing on other things. It was the result of diligently addressing the tasks they had been given and not compromising. They were dedicated and skilled.
All that was left was to build a sufficient amount of experience, and they would be standout adventurers.
Lefiya was genuinely pleased by their growth, as if she were the one growing herself. She grasped intuitively that this was the true charm of teaching.
However:
But…I have a bad feeling about the Dungeon today…
While she was pleased, Lefiya couldn’t ignore a growing sense of unease that seemed to prickle the back of her neck.
Something felt off, and it was enough to set off an alarm in the back of her mind.
There are no abnormalities around us…no signs of dangerous monsters…so then why?
Should she wait and see? Explore the surroundings until she could be sure? Or should she take serious precautions and turn back?
They were currently on the main route in the fifteenth floor. She and the 7th Squad could react well enough to any irregularity on this floor.
With that presumption, Lefiya pondered what to do…
“Kikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Whoooooooooooooaaaaaaa?!”
Nano’s cry rang out, along with the sounds of rocks collapsing and creatures being born from the Dungeon.
Standing alone in the rear, she was suddenly threatened by dozens of bat monsters overhead.
“They’re just bad bats! Don’t scare me like that.”
“I-I’m sorry, Mimi. Ugh, I’m just all over the place today…”
Just as they were mopping up the monsters, Miliria easily skewered a bunch with a single arrow. Luke kicked off the wall, unleashing a spinning slash that tore through the swarm.
They were strategically scattering the monsters—but that was when Lefiya’s expression changed.
Her ears quivered, and she suddenly looked around.
“Kiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Kikiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”
“IIAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
The sounds of countless monsters being born suddenly rang out.
“Wh-what?!”
“Bad bat shrieks everywhere…!”
“A mass spawning?!”
Ear-splitting cries tore through the caverns, erupting from their location well into the distance, in every direction, from everywhere. The students readied themselves hearing that.
Bad bats had hardly any raw combat ability. They were bat monsters whose shrieks disrupted adventurers’ movements. Cole, with his superior werewolf hearing, covered his ears at the din of dozens, hundreds of shrieks filling the caves.
Luke was correct. It was a mass spawning of bad bats.
There was no mistake. This was what Lefiya had been sensing. They had not encountered any of a particular type of monster.
Bad bats were always lurking in the Cave Labyrinth’s shadows, yet they had not seen any.
Other than an extreme irregularity, there was a set number of monsters on each floor of the Dungeon. They had not seen any bad bats because an entire number erupted all around the fifteenth floor at the same time.
Instead of coming out of the walls, they came out of the ceiling.
Oh no!
It was already too late when she sensed a clear and present danger.
The ceiling above Nano, where the bad bats had been born, collapsed like nothing was supporting it anymore.
“Wha—?!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!”
The ceiling was filled with holes from the birth of so many monsters, and with a crack, it suddenly fell.
A deadly shower of rocks poured down as those who had leveled up launched themselves into the air with a tremendous reaction speed. They cried out in shock as they did all they could to get themselves out of the way. The side effect of the mass spawning of bad bats impacted the entire floor and a chain of thundering booms rang out like a building collapsing.
And…
“Nano?!”
“Aaah—”
On one side were Nano, Miliria, and Cole.
On the other was Luke.
A massive mound of rubble fell between them, cutting them off.
Luke immediately reached out as their stunned faces disappeared behind the falling rocks.
“Luke, no!”
Lefiya wrapped an arm around his waist as he tried to pursue his comrades, and then she jumped.
It turned out her instinct had been right, because the ground itself collapsed as well.
Lefiya leaped into a tunnel and made an emergency escape from the tremendous cave-in.
“Nanooooooooooooooooooo!”
His shout was drowned out in the thunderous rumble of stone.
“Loki! There’s big trouble!”
Aiz and the others were still resting in the parlor when Elfie rushed in with frantic footsteps.
“There was a big collapse in the middle levels of the Dungeon! The Guild is in a huge panic!”
“!”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
The word was that the Cave Labyrinth, particularly the fifteenth floor, had collapsed, and every route had been blocked off. Multiple floors had collapsed, and there was no way through from the fourteenth floor at the moment.
“What about students?”
That was where Aiz’s mind went first.
The safety of the inexperienced students and of her friend.
“The students have to check in with the Guild before going into the Dungeon, so they know how many were down there… Almost all of them have made it back aboveground…but there are two squads that haven’t come back yet, apparently…”
Elfie answered in fits and starts, her face turning pale.
“One of them is apparently Lefiya’s Seventh Squad…”
Everyone stood up when they heard that.
“Let’s go get Lefiya!”
“Yeah, we can dig our way through the rock.”
Tiona and Tione were ready to charge straight in after hearing their comrade could be in danger, and Aiz started to follow them.
But Loki, who remained sitting on the couch, called out, stopping them.
“Calm down, girls. Unless she got crushed by the rocks, Lefiya’ll be fine. She’s a Level Four Super-Lefiya now, ain’t she?”
“But, Loki, if anything happened…!”
“And the number of my blessings ain’t gone down. At the very least, she hasn’t bit the dust yet.”
Hearing that, the hot heads started to cool off.
“If you force your way through the rubble, you’ll just cause another collapse. This rescue mission needs specialized gear and help from mages. Ganesha should be movin’ already, so work with them. You take the lead on this one, Tione.”
“Got it!”
“I’ll let Finn and the others know. Aiz and Tiona, you go, too. Take everyone here with you if ya want.”
“Okay!”
“I-I’ll go, too!”
Tione, Tiona, Aiz, and Elfie all rushed out.
All alone in the blink of an eye after giving her instructions, Loki let out a heavy sigh.
“This is an important moment for her…read the mood, why don’t ya?”
Standing up, she walked over to the window. Looking toward Central Park, where a big uproar was already happening:
“No matter how peaceful the city gets, the Dungeon’s still the Dungeon.”
“Luke, are you all right?”
The rumbling in the ground finally began to settle.
Lefiya addressed the boy who was kneeling beside her.
They were in a side passage on the fifteenth floor, a narrow little cave far from the main route.
They had run quite far. The ceiling collapse over such a vast area was murderous, and even Lefiya, a second-tier adventurer, had no option but to run. She grimaced as clouds of dust still filled the air.
“Nano…Cole, Milly…damn it!!!”
Luke slammed his fist against the ground.
Breathing raggedly, distraught by his powerlessness, he trembled with an aimless anger. Watching him from the side, Lefiya found herself wanting to click her tongue at herself for the first time in her life.
Finn, Riveria, or Gareth would have noticed the missing bad bats and immediately given the order to fall back. They would not have been so foolish as to try to discover the source of their unease when they were responsible for the safety of students.
Did I think I could do anything now that I’m Level Four?
She still had so much more to grow. Lefiya berated herself for having left them in harm’s way.
“…Luke, breathe in. And exhale slowly. Once your breathing is calm, answer my question.”
Not letting even a trace of how she felt about her pathetic display show, Lefiya immediately shifted gears.
Hearing her voice, Luke’s logic began to take over again, and he slowly breathed in and out like she said, standing up.
“Is this your squad’s first experience with a cave-in? Have you experienced anything similar in your fieldwork?”
“…We have. We were in trouble once, in a ruin in Teresas. The ruins collapsed while we were inside… That time we waited to be rescued and somehow managed to survive…”
“In that case, I doubt they’re panicking. Even if it is in the Dungeon, having experienced something similar before, they should be able to handle themselves.”
That made an enormous difference.
Staying calm and composed led to a dramatic improvement in survival rates inside the Dungeon.
“The problem is that they have all likely fallen down to a lower floor. The floor collapsed beneath all of the rubble in that area. They were likely caught up in that collapse when they disappeared into the rubble…”
Just before she pulled Luke away and ran, she felt the floor collapsing beneath her.
Without her or Luke, they would surely not have been able to escape falling, too.
“…How…?”
As Lefiya calmly analyzed the situation, Luke’s voice trembled, and his eyes flared.
“How can you be so calm?! You don’t even know if they’re safe!!!”
It was a reasonable question.
There was no reason Luke could remain calm when the comrades he had known for so many years were suddenly torn away from him. It would be hard enough just to stay calm. If she were in the same position as him…if she had been separated from Elfie and the others like that, she would have been more than a little shaken.
So, careful not to provoke him, she firmly held up a finger.
“There are two reasons why I am remaining calm. First, nothing about this situation would be improved by losing my composure. Throwing a fit is just a waste of stamina. And there is no point in exhausting myself mentally, either.”
“Gh…!”
“We can’t do anything other than work from the assumption that they are alive. They might be dead, but they might still be alive, too. So long as both possibilities remain, would you abandon them and head back to the surface?”
Of course not.
Luke looked at her, his brow furrowing as he answered without words.
Judging that his emotional state was improving, Lefiya held up a second finger.
“The second reason is that if I lost my composure, then you would, too.”
“!!!”
“So even if it is a bluff, I will always look calm in front of you students.”
Lefiya was not, in fact, agitated at the moment, but even if further absurdities pushed them to their limits, she would still have kept her cool.
Just as Riveria and Aiz and the others did.
Whenever she panicked and cowered at the irregularities that occurred in the Dungeon, they never lost their composure in front of her. They never said anything that would make her panic (though they did tease her on occasion).
Staying calm. Not letting communication fall apart. Even if it was just jokes and banter, just calmly speaking with each other was extraordinarily helpful. It was minor, but it allowed them to understand and reassure each other.
In the past, Lefiya had been the one saved by it, but now it was her turn to save someone else.
“…Sorry, Lefiya. I got heated again.”
“No, the situation is what it is. That much is completely understandable.”
After they’d looked at each other for a few moments, Luke’s fiery temper had cooled, and he apologized.
He was embarrassed, having lost his cool again even though he had been warned about it after that first time in the Dungeon, but Lefiya shared with him a few words, not as an adventurer, but as herself.
“Luke, your tendency to get heated and blurt out whatever’s on your mind might be a bad habit for an adventurer, but…I think the passion you feel for your comrades is a good thing. I don’t hate it at all.”
Lefiya smiled, sharing her honest feelings.
Luke’s face reddened enough that it was visible even in the dark of the cavern.
Though Lefiya didn’t notice as she reached into her pouch and looked over the map she pulled out.
We left the main route quite far behind to escape. Fortunately, I know this area…but it is far from a connection to the next floor.
Memorizing the route they had taken, Lefiya carefully traced the way back to the main route.
In terms of escape, Knossos is possible, but…we can’t use that. It is heavily classified, and even if Luke and I escaped, that would do nothing for them.
Daedalus’s masterwork was connected to every floor, but without a key, there was no way for her to effectively make use of it. And the access door was far away as well. It could be used to send in rescuers by those who knew its existence, but that was about all the good it could do them now.
“…We should prioritize linking back up with them.”
Putting her mind to work, Lefiya came up with a plan.
Fortunately, they had planned for a mini-expedition and camping out in the Dungeon, so they had prepared more food, water, and items than usual. Half of them were with Lefiya, and the other half were with Nano, who was acting as a supporter in addition to a mage. That the two of them were not together was a small silver lining.
At a quick calculation, if they were still alive, they could support themselves alone for around half a day.
If they holed up together and limited their exertion, it would be different. Still, considering the possibility of having to fight monsters in an endless stream and managing the timing for recovery, that would be their limit.
They would have to find the three of them in the vast area of the middle floors before time ran out.
“…What about other squads or adventurers who got caught up in it…?”
“Ignore them. Even if other squads were left behind, unfortunately we cannot take care of them. And all the more so for any adventurers. Just finding the rest of our squad that we were separated from will be exceedingly difficult. We don’t have the leeway to try to save some unknown number of people who may or may not need help.”
There was no time. They did not have the leeway or the time to make the wrong choice or flounder over what to do.
Luke pursed his lips when she announced it so clearly.
Take responsibility for your own party. It sounded cold, but it was the judgment of an adventurer who knew what she was talking about, and the kindhearted boy accepted it.
He was able to prioritize his desire to search for his own comrades.
And—despite what she said, if they did find someone suffering, she would absolutely help them without question. It was a dispassionate answer to help him clear away his doubt, and it was a lie of convenience.
“Luke, I believe I know what they would do when separated, but I would like to ask you since you have known them for far longer than I have,” Lefiya said, leading into an important question. “Will they wait to be rescued or try to forge their own path? What do you think they will choose in this situation?”
Luke closed his eyes for a moment and then quickly looked up.
“If it were before we met you, we definitely would have waited to be rescued,” he said, envisioning their past selves. However, he continued with a loud shout, “But after learning so much from you, I’m sure they will keep going deeper! They won’t leave their lives to fate or luck! They’ll make their own path!”
They would venture forward even if it were dangerous. They would become adventurers.
Hearing that, Lefiya smiled.
“Good. I was thinking the same thing. In that case, they will have set out for the eighteenth floor. Now that we know that, we can act, too.”
“Yeah!”
There was the possibility that someone was injured and unable to move, but Miliria could use healing magic. As long as it was not an especially bad injury, they would be able to move.
She would have to believe that they would choose to become adventurers and proceed accordingly.
“Let’s go.”
It was just five minutes from the time the floor collapsed.
Lefiya and Luke began to act.
“Mimi, are you all right…?”
“This barely counts as a scratch. Cole covered for me, though…”
“I’m okay, too…I can stop the blood. So don’t cry, Nano. Don’t waste even a drop of water.”
They were in a dark space that would have been impossible to see in if they had not been given falna.
Nano, Miliria, and Cole were kneeling and gathered together.
Caught up in the collapse, the werewolf boy had protected the girl and had gashes across his head and around his right eye. His clothes were torn up, and the cloth wrapped around his head like an eyepatch quickly became scarlet. His right eye would be useless until they could get back aboveground.
But as he said, the bleeding had stopped.
Taking care of the first aid quickly himself, not wanting to use up any items, he understood their situation better than any of them.
They had suddenly been thrust into a survival scenario. They were cut off and had no support. Escape would be nigh impossible. It was a hopeless situation.
But the glint in his left eye proved he had not given up on returning to the surface alive with both of them.
Seeing him so brave and stout-hearted, Nano sniffled and forced herself not to cry.
To repay him for his kind self-sacrifice and courage.
“Cole, Mimi, do you remember what Lefiya said?”
“Of course. In the event of an emergency in the middle floors, if going back up is difficult, going down…retreating to the safe point is also an option.”
“I was confused why she would tell us that at first, but…she really is an adventurer.”
Cole and Miliria smiled together.
“I’m sure Luke and Lefiya will search for us. So…we should trust them and go forward!”
“Not going to consider the possibility that they died?”
“Of course not! It’s Luke! And Lefiya!”
“Ha-ha-ha…true. That’s right. There’s still hope.”
The elf and the werewolf nodded at their human friend’s nonchalant smile.
As sweat trickled down their faces, they made up their mind.
“Cole, can you tell where we are?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a map. I remember the area we were in when we fell…I can’t pinpoint it, but if we go forward some, I’ll be able to tell where on the sixteenth floor we are.”
“Fantastic. Then we’ll go with a formation of three. Nano, it’s time for you to work, too.”
“Yeah! I’ll fight from the front! I have to conserve my Mind!”
The second-in-command, Miliria, took charge in Luke’s stead, and Nano dumped the backpack she was carrying and pulled a metal ball the size of a fist connected to a chain out from the pile.
By connecting it to her blessed iron staff, it transformed neatly into a makeshift flail—a so-called morning star.
“The teachers taught me how to defend myself, too, so it’s okay! I can fight, too!”
“I still can’t understand why you chose that for self-defense as a mage. You really are airheaded…”
“Calm down, Milly…Don’t give yourself a headache… Calm, calm…”
Surprisingly calm, they carefully watched the surroundings as they stood up.
Cole pointed to one of the open routes in the maze of mine-like passages.
“I can smell monsters down all the other paths. If we’re going, let’s go there.”
“Okay…let’s do it!”
Just as Luke had declared, they chose to brave the danger.
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