Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka Gaiden – Sword Oratoria - Volume 5 - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 PASSAGE AND THE PRESENT 

Seven days prior, Aiz and the rest of the familia had descended to the fifty-ninth floor—the unexplored frontier—in an effort to increase their floor count. 
What awaited them on that floor, however, was the unknown—a mutated floor of dense, junglelike trees and an abominable fiend called the “corrupted spirit.” 
It was a half-spirit, half-monster hybrid known as a demi-spirit. 
Colossal in size and even capable of magic, it had attacked the party together with its legion of monsters, and upon its defeat, Aiz and the others had left immediately for their camp back on the fiftieth floor, where the remainder of their group awaited. Their rest there had been momentary at best, and soon they were on the move again, leaving behind the base camp. 
The expedition party had hastily gotten ready to leave at Finn’s prompt orders. The top-tier adventurers, exhausted as they were from their advance to the depths, had been shifted to the front, and the other familia members who’d been protecting the camp had been put in charge of all strenuous fighting en route. Not wanting to subject their bedraggled elites to any more unnecessary strain, they (along with Raul and the other supporters) had approached the task with gusto and given Aiz and the other top-tiers a chance to rest their weary bodies despite the long march ahead. And so they’d continued toward the surface, making good progress as they’d put floor after floor behind them. 
However— 
The Dungeon had not been so kind as to allow their triumphant return, nor did it ever when gallant adventurers headed back to the surface with their spoils of war after besting the bowels of its massive labyrinth. 
“Was that a…scream?” 
“You think someone’s in trouble?” 
They were on the lower floors when they heard it. 
About halfway through their trek to the surface. 
The long trail of people that made up their party was currently in the middle of a wide passageway. Aiz, Bete, and the other top-tiers at the front perked their ears up toward the back of the company, where, indeed, multiple screams could be heard. 
“—Finn! Hasten the troops!” 
The next shout came from the back of the line—the old soldier dwarf picking up the tail end of their formation. “We’ve got poison vermis on our hands here!” Gareth roared. 
Almost instantaneously, they saw their companions making a mad rush toward them, followed by a swarm of maggot-like monsters. 
Of all the poison-inflicting monsters in the Dungeon, poison vermis were the most dangerous. The toxin they spewed from their mouths and secreted from their pores was powerful enough to afflict even upper-class adventurers, who had strong status resistances. Though their attack power itself was decidedly low, the small beasts had a tendency to spring forth from carcasses in droves, much like actual maggots, garnering them the nickname “poison graveyards.” 
This time was no exception. In fact, the teeming throng making a beeline for Loki Familia was so dense with wriggling maggots, not even Aiz and the other top-tiers could believe their eyes. 
“S-so many! Is it a mass spawn?!” 
“At a time like this…?! We’re in trouble!” 
Mass spawns were just another one of the Dungeon’s Irregulars. 
As everyone in the party ran while supporting those among them unable to fight, the stampeding mass of more than a hundred poisonous maggot monsters crawled, writhed, and scrambled its way toward them, covering the walls and ceiling like a larval invasion. Aiz and the others swallowed their feelings of revulsion and immediately rushed to their companions’ aid. 
Aiz with her Airiel and Bete with his Airiel-infused Frosvirt joined Gareth and his giant shield to stave off the incoming poisonous spray while Tiona and Tione hurriedly dragged anyone suffering from purple lesions back to safety. Riveria attempted to seal off the tunnel with her freezing magic, but the vermis simply went around. More and more of them were squirming out of countless side passages before regrouping, just as strong. 
“Th-there’s no end to them!” Lefiya’s face paled at the sight as she began Concurrent Casting from within the party’s center. 
It was a monster party—a floor-wide bout of continuous spawning as opposed to a single large-scale spawn. And what’s more, the monster involved was the poison vermis, known for its tendency to move in swarms, which only exacerbated the situation. 
Loki Familia’s adventurers had already exhausted their supplies and their strength, both physical and mental, every reserve, during their demanding expedition. This random encounter was hard to bear. Even the flames of the few magic swords they had remaining were too little, too late. 
Aiz and the other top-tiers wasted no time transitioning from the offensive to withdrawal once their companions were safe. 
“Finn! We’re losin’ ’em! Rakuta and the others need help right now!!” 
“Captain, do you think we should head back to the safety point…?” 
Tiona and Tione called respectively, carting a boy-girl pair of hume bunnies who were currently groaning in pain. 
“We don’t know the scope of this Irregular! If poison vermis are spawning on the lower floors, too, we’ll be trapped there!” Finn shouted back in between spear thrusts at the front of the party, brushing aside their comments. “Even if we did manage to hole ourselves up there, the time it would take launching a counteroffensive would leave us no chance to heal the injured properly!” he added as he took out a particularly large monster blocking their path. 
To make matters worse, they didn’t have a single antidote left. 
“We’ll head to the eighteenth floor! Everyone, double-time! Carry those who can’t walk if you have to!” 
Lefiya and the others complied with the captain’s orders without a second thought. 
Grabbing the legs and arms of their fellow familia members who’d fallen prey to the poison, they took off at a full sprint. Meanwhile, Aiz and the other top-tiers positioned themselves to the rear, center, and front of the disorganized formation, doing their best to support their companions on the march. 
Giant maggots—easily more than thirty celches—oozed their deadly discharge as they dropped on the fleeing party from the ceiling like purple rain. Even the accompanying Hephaistos Familia smiths were screaming now. 
“This is borderin’ on madness! Even the other beasties are gettin’ caught up in it!” Tsubaki bisected a whole swath of incoming poison vermis as she watched a nearby monster writhe in poison-induced pain. 
The screams of humans and monsters alike filled the passageway as Loki Familia carried and dragged their wounded toward the stairs, charging their way onto the eighteenth floor. 
“Didn’t wanna let us go quietly, I see.” Finn sighed in spite of himself. 
They had set up within the forest at the southern corner of the eighteenth floor—the safety zone—quite near to the tunnel that would take them up to the seventeenth. Finn and the others had quickly set the rest of the familia to work establishing a new base camp. 
The injured adventurers and smiths were splayed out in the grass beneath the trees or inside their tents with the flaps pulled back so the breeze could pass through. Men, women, humans, demi-humans—every victim was covered in a cold sweat, purple lesions dotting their skin. 
Guttural moans of agony permeated the air. 
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth looked out over the sordid scene from their spot beside the main tent. 
“Everyone with lower than a G in resistance has been immobilized…Even the high smiths have been downed—everyone besides Tsubaki, that is. As expected, that poison is no joke.” 
“The Dungeon is an unforgivin’ mistress, after all…Hoped she’d go easy on us this time.” 
Riveria’s and Gareth’s words were heavy as they conversed, no doubt the decisive battle in the unexplored frontier still weighing on their minds. 
This poison-vermis attack had further rubbed salt in their wounds. 
Nearly all the lower-level members, supporters included, had succumbed to vermis poisoning. With more than a third of the entire expedition affected, they wouldn’t be leaving there anytime soon. 
Finn and the others had no choice but to settle everyone in for a large-scale rest. 
“Riveria, how goes the healing?” Finn asked. 
“We’re prioritizing those with the heaviest injuries, but…I do hope you’re not expecting too much. Detoxification magic is rare, and we have only a few mages and healers capable of casting it—myself included.” Riveria lowered her eyes to her Mind-fatigued body. She could feel her power returning bit by bit thanks to her Regen ability, but it was still far from adequate, and she closed her eyes with regret. “What’s more, even with antidotal magic, poison-vermis venom is difficult to treat. I can’t promise full recoveries.” 
The toxin of the poison vermis required a very particular treatment—made from its own secretions—and without it, complete recovery was impossible. 
Normal detox magic simply wouldn’t cut it. Even those with the highest levels of magic power couldn’t hope to do more than weaken the effects of the poison. The only person Finn knew with healing magic advanced enough to completely cure the affliction was Amid Tessanare, “Dea Saint,” of Dian Cecht Familia. 
“We’ll need the antidote if we’re to have any hope of healing everyone.” 
“Yes. We’ll have to wait for Bete, after all.” 
While everyone had rushed to set up camp and care for the injured the night before—or at least during what passed for “night” within the Dungeon—Finn had instructed Bete to continue on to the surface and purchase the antivenin from one of the stores in Orario. 
Bete was easily the fastest runner in the familia. Skill effects included, his speed surpassed even that of Finn and every other higher-level adventurer in Loki Familia (though just barely). While he still couldn’t compare to Aiz when she activated Airiel, what with the distance involved and the battle-weary condition of the party as a whole, someone with reliable swiftness and endurance was necessary, making Bete the perfect one for the task. 
“You always give me the grunt work!” the werewolf had grumbled before taking off into the night. 
No doubt, he had already reached the surface, hurriedly collecting enough doses of the rare, expensive antidote to cure the whole party. Finn estimated Bete would be back in two days’ time. 
Though the afflicted would have to suffer for those two days, so long as Riveria and the other mages continued their detox treatments, it wasn’t likely anyone’s condition would deteriorate further. 
“First the Durandal from Tsubaki, then the thirty-some magic swords, and now a mother lode of antivenin…Gotta give all the drops to those smiths, too! We’re really gonna be in the red this time!” 
“I ask that you not think of that now, Gareth,” Finn pleaded with a wry smile. “You’ll give me a headache.” 
On top of their unforeseen expenditures, they still had to relinquish most of the drop items from the Dungeon’s depths to Hephaistos Familia as per their initial agreement. This included the valgang-dragon fangs and scales they’d risked their lives for, as well as everything they’d picked up from the fifty-second floor on down. 
Though their efforts had rewarded them with an increased floor count, all they’d earned toward paying off the massive costs of their expedition was a few magic stones—to say they were in a bind was an understatement. If it weren’t for the reward Aiz had received from her quest in the twenty-fourth floor’s pantry, their outlook would have been even bleaker. 
“Perhaps profits should be top priority on our next expedition…whenever that is,” Finn muttered to himself. “…I wanted to inform Loki of the events on the fifty-ninth floor as quickly as possible, but it seems circumstances aren’t on my side. For now, I’ve simply written everything in a letter. I’ll have to trust that Bete will deliver it.” Raising his head toward the ceiling, he narrowed his eyes against the speckled light peeking in from among the forest’s branches. “I suppose fretting will lead us nowhere. If we take the optimistic view, it has given us an excuse to spend some time on the eighteenth floor, right?” His voice was airy, tinged with mirth, as he turned around and let his eyes wander. 
Finn’s words elicited mildly chagrined smiles from Riveria and Gareth, and as he continued to survey the camp, he noticed Raul and some other men of the familia, currently the only ones at work guarding the perimeter and caring for the sick. Finn had sent Aiz and the rest of the female squadron to the forest pool for a soak in hopes of relieving the pent-up exhaustion and gloom. He had plans to send the men there, too, once the ladies returned. 
“Ye sure ye didn’t want to go with Aiz and the others, Riveria? Coulda left it to us to watch over things for a spell.” 
“My presence would only make the other elves hypersensitive. I wouldn’t be able to properly relax,” the high elf responded, and it was true—the other elves would turn instantly into courtesans guarding their queen if Riveria were to join them, making it difficult for her to really indulge in the bath’s pleasures. “I’m fine being the last one,” she finished with a small smile. 
“While we mustn’t throw caution to the wind, we are well past the climax of our expedition. Perhaps we should try to get some rest, too?” Finn posed. 
Riveria and Gareth had no objections to the tiny captain’s suggestion, nodding in agreement as fatigue tugged at their bodies. 
 
“Fall baaaaack! It’s the men’s turn!” 
“All right! Finally our time to wash up…” 
“Once again, not a single opportunity for a peep or two of the girls…” 
“You idiot! That place is like a holy sanctuary, divine protection and all. And even if it wasn’t, there are still plenty of reasons to keep our distance.” 
“Yeah, like an appreciation for our lives.” 
“Stop it already, guys. Let’s just go!…If Aki and the others hear any of this, I’ll be in huge trouble…” Raul urged his companions, attempting to keep the other Loki Familia men in line as he led them toward the forest pool for their own round of bathing and accompanying guard duty. 
Moans and groans continued to pervade the base camp. While color had started returning to many of the victims’ faces, most were still bedridden and far from total recovery. Aiz and Lefiya were tasked with lookout duty while support healers like Leene earnestly tended to the sick adventurers and smiths. 
“Pretty much what we expected, I guess. Rivira’s nothin’ but a massive rip-off!” 
“Taking advantage of people in need. It’s enough to make me livid.” 
“Welcome back, Miss Tiona, Miss Tione,” Lefiya greeted the two Amazons upon their return to camp. The twins were on their way back from a short shopping trip in the town of Rivira on the western edge of the floor. 
The Dungeon town had actually been their first stop when they’d arrived on the eighteenth floor. What with the lower-level adventurers in critical condition, they’d needed to buy up every vial of poison-vermis antivenin they could find, even if it meant paying the astronomical prices charged by vendors in the aptly named “Rogue Town.” Managed by upper-class adventurers, the shops of Rivira charged an arm and a leg for their goods, well over what those same items would cost on the surface. Tiona and Tione had gone to visit the town again in an attempt to barter for some basic foodstuffs, but as they described in some detail upon their arrival back at camp, they had found nothing but exorbitant prices. Those prices were the very reason Loki Familia set up a camp of their own rather than take advantage of the relay town’s services. 
The merchants there, in striking contrast to the beautiful crystalline landscape surrounding the settlement, had been just as ill-mannered and overbearing as always. 
“We managed to scrape together enough magic stones and drops on the way there to trade for a bit of bread, but…it ain’t gonna last. Not when our supplies are practically gone already,” Tiona commented. 
“It’ll still be a while before Bete comes back…Guess we don’t have a choice but to gather supplies on this floor after all,” Tione responded. 
“Ah! Do you mean fruit from the forest?” Lefiya made a guess, and Tione confirmed it while her sister rubbed her exposed belly next to her. 
“We need to watch our expenses right now, but we can’t expect everyone to just go hungry,” she added, shoulders drooping. 
Which meant they’d need to be self-sufficient—exactly how adventurers were originally. 
“Let’s get word to Aki and the others to put together some small teams. We can collect water, then head to the forest and gather whatever food we can find,” Tione suggested, to which Aiz, Lefiya, and Tiona nodded in agreement. 
“Got it.” 
“Understood!” 
“Let’s do it!” 
The bathing pool wasn’t the only source of water in the forest on the eighteenth floor—there were also small freshwater creeks running across the landscape—and produce from the fruit trees scattered among the vegetation was edible to both monsters and people alike. 
Tione ended up organizing the women into groups of twos and threes, making sure each group had at least one Level 3 or higher. While no monsters spawned within the boundaries of the safety point itself, there would still be numerous beasts that had traveled there from different floors to contend with, and the large forest or the wetlands to the north were sure to be home to at least a few monsters. 
Tione strongly encouraged the groups to be cautious during their search. 
“Shall we get going, then?” 
“Yes! Let’s do our best, Miss Aiz!” Lefiya answered. 
The two of them had been tasked with collecting food. As the different groups set off from the camp, they, too, made their way into the dense thicket of trees. 
The dim light of the crystals growing from the Dungeon’s ceiling peeked between the gaps in the canopy overhead, tingeing the world around them in hazy, piebald patterns as bluish crystal stalagmites rose from the bases of the trees. 
They split up the duties as they went, Lefiya gathering fruits to add to her pouch as Aiz surveyed the perimeter for signs of danger. 
A lone bugbear monster decided to attack them at one point, but Aiz finished it off with a single swing of her Durandal weapon, Desperate. Even after the long expedition, the silver sword remained in pristine condition. The honing Tsubaki had given it didn’t hurt, either. The sword’s blade now boasted a healthy, razor-like sharpness. 
As Aiz watched the monster turn to ash beneath her sword, Lefiya’s hand roamed from tree to tree in search of fruit. Her fingers curled around a tuft of Honey Cloud—a cotton-like fruit seemingly infused in honey. The sickly sweet smell of the juices dripping from its skin made her mouth water, but she forced herself to pack it away in her pouch with a determined shake of her head. 
Just like the self-repairing labyrinth walls, these trees were also a component of the Dungeon and would bear new fruit after a certain period of time. In addition to the Honey Cloud, Lefiya was able to gather some squash-shaped gourd berries, among other things. The abundance of fruit made it feel like an orchard, and she told herself to commit the area to memory as she glanced around at the rich harvest. 
Aiz continued to monitor their surroundings near the elf, but after a long while without any incident, she, too, began packing fruits away in her pouch. 
“Ah…a crystal drop.” 
“Oh my! Those are so rare, Miss Aiz! That’s truly amazing!” 
They were on their way back to the base camp with considerably heavier pouches, when Aiz discovered a pale-blue sparkle in the grasses at her feet. The tear-shaped, candy-like fruit was hidden among the tiny clumps of crystal that could be found covering the ground in every direction. 
The rare item—or perhaps “rare fruit” would be more accurate—was none other than a crystal drop, and to find one was quite exceptional, even here on the eighteenth floor. 
“If you tried to buy this on the surface, it would be very expensive! It’s often known as the ‘Nobleman’s Candy’…I have only tried it once, myself, but I couldn’t agree more with the name. Pleasantly crisp with a wonderfully refined flavor. Quite delicious, really!” 
Exactly as Lefiya excitedly described, the hard-candy-like crystal drop was not only delicious but a rare delicacy. Its jewel-like beauty had made it popular among the city’s elite as a high-class confection, and a jar of them could go for well over ten thousand on the surface. 
Though they had found only two, the sight of the drops atop Aiz’s palm made Lefiya’s eyes glimmer. 
As Aiz watched her sweets-craving junior eye the two candies, a sudden idea popped into her mind, and her lips curled into an ever-so-discreet smile. 
Without hesitation, she placed the crystal drops in the elf’s hand. 
“Miss Aiz, what are you…?” 
“I’m giving them…to you.” 
“B-but you were the one to find them, Miss Aiz! And they’re quite valuable!” 
Aiz’s smile returned as she watched Lefiya frantically sputtering, her staff in her left hand and the candies in her right. 
“It’s…a thank-you.” 

“Thank-you?” 
Aiz responded with a nod. “For saving me…on the fifty-ninth floor.” 
Lefiya’s azure eyes popped open in surprise. 
On the fifty-ninth floor, they’d faced off against that demi-spirit. Aiz had leaped toward that mighty creature only to fall straight into a trap, with mere moments before she would be shot out of the sky. 

It was then that Lefiya’s magic had saved her. 
The spell of the elf, who’d refused to give up despite countless injuries, had flown straight and true, protecting Aiz from the enemy’s attack. 
“What with everything that’s happened, I haven’t really had a chance to say it yet, so…thank you, Lefiya. Thank you for saving me.” 
The faintest of blushes tingeing her cheeks, Aiz’s face broke into a smile. 
And as Lefiya looked into the eyes of the golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman, as she heard her pure, unadulterated gratitude, her own eyes became unexpectedly wet. 
She brought an arm up instantly to wipe at her face, growing more and more flushed as her actions grew more and more questionable. 
“It’s—Y-you mustn’t say things like that, Miss Aiz! It is I who should be grateful! You and the others have saved me so, so many times, and…and this was merely my chance to return the favor…!” 
“No…it’s fine that way. I said it before, too…right?” 
They would protect her as many times as they had to. 
And Lefiya would use her magic to save them. 
That was what Aiz had told her many days ago. And as the words drifted back into her memory, Lefiya felt her movements come to a halt. Then the smallest yet most triumphant sort of smile spread across her face. 
Abashment still coloring her features, she turned her eyes downward to stare at the two crystal drops in her hand. 
“Thank you…” she finally uttered as she carefully placed the two bluish-white sparkles, her medal for saving Aiz, into the inner breast pocket of her battle clothes. 
“Even Tiona and Tione said you were amazing. If you weren’t there, who knows what could’ve happened.” 
“It—it was all thanks to Miss Filvis…! Oh, but of course your and Lady Riveria’s tutelage, as well, I…I, erm…” 
“Finn was happy, too. That we…that you had grown so strong.” Aiz’s deluge of praise continued. 
“Th-the captain?! I-I mean…that’s…o-oh my…” The excessive compliments from the girl she’d admired for so long finally became too much, and Lefiya’s face turned a brilliant shade of red. Unable to bear it any further, she lowered her eyes, both hands tightly gripped around her staff, radiating heat up to the tips of her pointed ears. 
The scene made Aiz smile all the more, and the swordswoman thought to herself how truly amazing Lefiya had been. 
The girl in front of her had grown so much between this expedition and the last that she was scarcely recognizable. 
Every spell Lefiya had woven in those many battles had helped shape her into the mage she was today. 
Aiz found herself wondering what it was that had spurred her on, pushing her to achieve results. As she stood there looking at the younger girl, Lefiya slowly raised her head. 
“Um…Miss Aiz?” 
“?” 
“The boy the captain mentioned back on the fifty-ninth floor…Bell Cranell?” There wasn’t a hint of unrest in Lefiya’s voice as she spoke, her eyes as sharp as tacks, and Aiz felt her heart jump in her chest. 
It had been during Braver’s encouraging speech in the midst of that decisive battle down on the fifty-ninth floor. The magic-like courage he’d used to turn the tides of the battle, reversing everything even as an overwhelming despair had gripped their hearts. 
It was then that he’d brought up the name of that boy, Bell Cranell. 
“Did that human adventurer…do something as we were making our way to the fifty-ninth floor?” 
Back when Aiz had been giving her training for Concurrent Casting in preparation for the expedition, Lefiya had finally been unable to take it any longer and asked for the name of Aiz’s other mentee, and the swordswoman had replied with that boy’s name. However, Lefiya hadn’t known about what had transpired down on the ninth floor—his ferocious battle with the minotaur. 
Upon hearing that a minotaur had spawned on the upper levels, Finn and the other top-tier adventurers had broken away from the vanguard temporarily to appraise and handle the situation. This much Lefiya had heard from Raul and her fellow familia members. However, the details as to exactly what Aiz and the others had witnessed at the scene remained undisclosed. 
When Finn had mentioned him, it had set off something and changed everything. 
Hearing that boy’s name had lit a fire within Aiz’s heart, within Bete’s—within everyone’s. 
Even Lefiya had been able to tell instinctively that something had happened. 
As the elf’s azure eyes stared through her, Aiz’s gaze traveled up toward the speckled canvas of trees hanging over their heads, almost as though she was searching for something. 
“Mm-hm…He had his own adventure.” 
The array of crystals visible through the leaves spread out across the ceiling like chrysanthemums, guiding her line of sight farther upward toward the floors above. 
“He was truly amazing…just like you, Lefiya.” The words slipped from her mouth so easily, betraying her true feelings. 
Lefiya’s grip around her staff tightened with a jerk. 
That boy…changed, too. 
Aiz lost herself in her thoughts, unaware of Lefiya’s current turmoil. 
Compared to Lefiya—there was no doubt that whatever the boy’s adventure had been like, it could never top the elf’s achievements. 
But his adventure symbolized the starting point for Aiz and the other adventurers. 
The weak defeating the impossibly strong-armed, relying on nothing but their own strength. 
It was one of the simplest yet most difficult feats of all. 
And Aiz and the others had been completely taken by it—the idea of betting everything for a chance to overcome one’s limits. 
One’s first successful exploit would have a major influence on one’s life. 
Everybody’s first adventure simply held that much meaning. 
There was no question that the boy would continue to grow and change from here on out. Aiz was sure of it. 
Would he succeed? Would it merely make him reckless? Or would he become something else entirely? 
Maybe he’d use his newly acquired qualification for herohood to begin scaling that far-off, impregnable peak? 
—What is he doing right now? 
“…” 
Aiz narrowed her eyes against the sight of those pure white crystals blooming on the ceiling. 
The elf, too, followed her gaze, the two of them simply drinking in their ivory radiance. 
 
“Night” had fallen across the eighteenth floor. 
When the white clump of crystals at the center of the mass of blue glowed like the sun, the crystalline ceiling made them feel as if the sky from the surface was rolled out above their heads. 
As time passed, however, the artificial light dimmed, bathing the floor in shadow and simulating a familiar twilight. 
Once Aiz and the others had returned from their bout of scavenging, all of Loki Familia settled down for dinner within the circle of guards standing watch and portable magic-stone lanterns. 
They feasted on the fruits Aiz and the others had harvested, as well as what little bread Tiona and Tione had managed to purchase in Rivira. Tsubaki had brought back some mushrooms from the nearby Wooden Labyrinth as well, and they grilled them whole over the campfire. 
The half-dwarf had taken full advantage of her position as a guest in the group. Traveling about wherever she pleased—though she did make sure someone was taking care of her smiths in her stead—she’d first gone off monster hunting and then used the spoils to trade for alcohol and other various necessities in Rivira. Even with the alliance between their two familias, her actions should not be condoned, but given that the expedition was already over, Finn and the other elites simply let it slide with wry smiles of amusement. 
Of course, such behavior was strictly prohibited for anyone from their own familia. 
“M-Miss Tsubaki, are you sure these mushrooms are edible…?” Raul raised the question as a bead of sweat dribbled down his forehead. “We haven’t even checked if they’re suitable for human consumption…!” 
“Aw, come on! As long as you’ve got a status with decent resistance, you’ll be fiiiiine!” Tsubaki was currently toasting the large purple mushrooms over open flames, sending up a considerable amount of embers in her mildly intoxicated state. 
“So they are poisonous?!” 
“Aww, don’t be like that! They’re a rare delicacy, seriously! C’mon, you try one, Thousand Elf!” 
“I-I must respectfully decline!” Lefiya responded with a frightened shout. 
“Oh man! Let me eat one!” 
Tiona enthusiastically reached toward the mushrooms everyone else was emphatically refusing, prompting a laugh from the others. Even Aiz felt a smile form on her lips. 
As soon as the boisterous dinner came to an end, the group retired for the night. 
Guard duty was to be handled in shifts, though Aiz and the other elites were, of course, exempt. At that moment, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, and the other female members were sound asleep together in the tent they had been given since all other accommodations were being used to house the injured. 
Sensing that the second-tier elf had left for her own night-watch shift, Aiz focused on recovering her strength. 
Before she knew it, it was “morning.” 
“…” 
Light had returned to the eighteenth floor of the Dungeon, and a hazy forest sunrise settled over the camp as Aiz emerged from the tent. 
She was wide awake. 
She always was when traveling deep within the Dungeon. 
A truly sound sleep was impossible within this underground labyrinth, no matter how tired someone happened to be. 
Big time difference between the surface and down here… 
The crystals on the eighteenth floor dimmed and brightened according to their own schedule, creating a gap between the day cycle of the surface and that of the Dungeon, which often discomfited visiting adventurers. 
Lefiya’s small pocket watch sitting next to her pillow indicated that it was only a few hours past midnight, meaning that the world aboveground was still blanketed in darkness underneath the light of the moon. 
As Aiz stared up at the heavenly rock formations hanging overhead, she found herself craving the light of the sun, the peaceful tranquility of the moon—she’d seen neither for nearly two weeks now. 
Fastening her trusted sword, Desperate, to her side, she notified the others of her departure and left camp behind her for a brief walk. She was up anyway, and it would feel good to stretch her legs. She might even do a bit of sword training—something she’d had little chance to do since delving into the Dungeon. 
All these thoughts were drifting across her mind as her boots swished through the grasses, when suddenly— 
“?oooooaaaaaarrrrr!” 
“!” 
—the far-off howl of something massive reached her, almost like a rumble in the ground. 
A colossal boooom immediately followed, causing the earth to tremble. 
Her top-tier-adventurer senses tingling, Aiz knew at once that something was wrong. The floor boss, Goliath, was on the move in the large hall above her on the seventeenth floor. 
Aiz took off. 
This was the first she’d heard of the beast since they had set up camp. Which had to mean that the seventeenth floor’s Monster Rex had just recently spawned and was now attacking an adventurer who’d trespassed on its domain. The fact that she could feel the vibrations so strongly, too, was a sign that the brute’s iron hammer was wreaking havoc in the passage connecting the two floors. 
Loki Familia’s camp was at the floor’s southern tip, close to the cave leading to the seventeenth floor. 
Concerned for the safety of her companions, Aiz hurtled toward the floor entrance. 
Sprinting through the trees, leaping over the knolls of crystal, she flew out of the dim exit to the forest. 
And then. 
…Huh? 
She saw a group of adventurers sprawled out on the ground. 
They were lying on a bed of green grass just outside the cave’s entrance. 
There were three—two male humans and a prum female. 
It was a horrible sight. The unconscious prum girl’s face was littered with scratches and covered in dust, while the red-haired human boy passed out next to her appeared to have broken his left leg, judging from its ghastly angle. It seemed as if they had rushed to this floor in a last-ditch attempt to escape. 
However, it was the last boy whom Aiz couldn’t stop looking at. 
Dust and sand discolored his snow-white hair. 
His lightweight equipment was scratched, and the salamander-wool linens inside were shredded. 
He was facedown in the grass, unmoving. 
Blood poured freely from his forehead, staining what she could see of his face a dark crimson. 
—It can’t be. 
Aiz’s mind went blank for a moment, her feet glued to the ground, before she managed to start moving forward in a half daze. 
She was having trouble thinking, and the sounds around her seemed so, so far away. It felt as if she were traveling through a white tunnel—her thoughts, her vision, everything was obscured by a pale shroud from the sheer terror and shock of the sight in front of her. 
Rustle, rustle, went her feet through the grass as she neared the prone boy. 
She stopped in front of him, gazing downward as her shadow veiled the boy’s slender frame. 
He was breathing—that much she could tell for sure—but then… 
…his hand twitched. 
“!!” 
Suddenly, he gripped her left foot. 
Aiz couldn’t help but wince when his trembling fingers dug into her boot as his bloodied face slowly rose up toward her. 
Then his lips parted, using what seemed like every ounce of strength he had left. 
“Please…save my…friends…!” he pleaded hoarsely. 
As though fearing she might not understand, he turned his clouded rubellite eyes toward the two adventurers on the ground next to him. Then, his hand slackened, and completely spent, he lost consciousness. 
Aiz found her bearings, dropping to her knees and running her fingers over the boy’s bloodstained bangs and forehead. 
“Bell…?” 
But the boy’s face remained motionless. 
It hadn’t even been two weeks since his grand adventure—his fight with that minotaur. 
Now, at this mid-level Dungeon paradise where nature and crystal lived in harmony, Aiz and Bell were together again for a reunion that no one could have seen coming.