INTERLUDE FLIP SIDE OF THE COMPROMISE
“So sorry for dropping by unannounced like this, but consider my surprise. Loki Familia…saving Bell of all people. Color me shocked!” The gentlemanly god smiled coyly as he spoke to them with deliciously clear enunciation.
There was an almost collective sigh from his followers behind him. The passing visitors were gathered in Loki Familia’s main tent for a meeting with Finn and the other elites.
The feminine scream that had pierced the air of the camp during their feast had been none other than Bell Cranell’s patron deity, Hestia, on her way down from the seventeenth floor.
She had intentionally descended into the Dungeon in an attempt to save her dear follower and his companions—willfully defying the statutes set by the Guild—only to find herself suddenly unable to escape. Even for Finn and Gareth, who’d been adventurers of Orario for a long time, this was a first, and seeing her within the Dungeon’s confines was enough for their smiles to turn very troubled.
It hadn’t been just Hestia, though, as evidenced by the well-mannered god standing before them now together with his followers and other adventurers.
“Pardon me, God Hermes, while I try to wrap my head around this, but…you’re saying that you came all the way down here to the eighteenth floor…to save Bell Cranell and his party?”
“You would be most correct, my dear Braver. As part of a request from Hestia. I even have the official quest form here, see?” Hermes replied as Loki Familia’s leaders, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, looked on.
Joining them in the main tent were the other Loki Familia elites—except Bete—as well as non-elite Raul (who would report the details of the meeting later to Lefiya and everyone else still currently cleaning up the dinner area).
Aiz and the others watched on as Hermes pulled out the aforementioned request form. On the parchment, the approving seal of the Guild, as well as the reward of four hundred thousand valis, was clearly present.
Hey there.
…Hello.
From behind Hermes, his follower Asfi greeted her with a smile so slight only Aiz would notice it. Aiz had fought alongside the Hermes Familia captain, Asfi Al Andromeda, during the incident in the twenty-fourth-floor pantry. Their short time in the same party made them what other adventurers referred to as “floor buddies.”
Responding to the aqua-blue-eyed girl, Aiz returned the smile with one of her own.
“Though I am highly curious as to why your party’s simply camped out here on the eighteenth floor…let’s keep to the matter at hand, shall we?” Hermes continued, acting as the rescue party’s ambassador.
Hestia, on the other hand, had been moved to the tent Bell was currently borrowing. Though Aiz was curious about the apparent discord she sensed between Bell’s goddess and the adventurers dressed in Far Eastern garb, she felt her duty as one of the familia’s elites was to hear out the “part explanation, part negotiation” Hermes had promised in his meeting.
“We’d like permission to stay here. With all of you. Also, if it’s at all possible, we were hoping to join you on your return to the surface.”
“So you’re not killed along the way?” Finn mused.
Hermes nodded with a little grin. “Glad we’re both on the same page.”
Bell and his companions had originally fled to the eighteenth floor in hopes of banding together with higher-class adventurers in order to escape the danger zone of the middle levels. Now Hermes aimed to do the same. Though his rescue party didn’t lack in combat power, there wasn’t much meaning in taking unnecessary risks. After all, Goliath still prowled the seventeenth floor.
Allowing Loki Familia to act as a spear carving its way toward the surface and simply following in their wake was the safest choice by far.
“We were in such a hurry to get down here and rescue Bell that we didn’t think about bringing camping provisions. Of course, we could always stay in that cesspool they call the ‘Rogue Town’…”
“And of couuuurse Little Argonaut and his friends would have a terrible time there,” Tiona grumbled softly, hands laced behind her head.
“Quiet,” Tione said as she jabbed her sister with her elbow.
“Food-wise, we’ll figure something out ourselves. If our presence should lead to any sort of incurred expenses, my familia will foot the bill upon arrival on the surface. Of course, if you’d so wish it, I can also provide some sort of remuneration.”
“Yer bein’ rather generous for a man who’s merely carryin’ out a request.”
“Ha-ha, well, I did also have Hephaistos come to me right before I left, asking me to help out her little Welf, you know?”
This god’s really good at negotiating.
Aiz thought this to herself about Asfi’s patron deity as she watched him. Expressing both his true motives and polite regard for the other party, then pressing with just enough awareness of the situation to ensure they would be disinclined to refuse. He knew that Loki Familia couldn’t possibly abandon a member of an allied familia. Hearing this, even Gareth couldn’t help but sigh.
“I do apologize for any trouble this may cause you, as I know that you must be tired after your expedition…but I hope you’ll consider it.”
Hermes…He was famous for his tendency to aid not only random strangers on the road but merchants, as well. He was also a god known for falsifying the levels of followers in his neutral familia. His skill with words was of an entirely different variety compared to Loki.
As Aiz stood there now observing this deity, having just returned from the trip he’d taken immediately following Denatus some ten days ago, she couldn’t help but think him quite shrewd.
“Lord Hermes, if you would, I don’t care much for needless haggling. So long as you and your followers don’t cause any sort of trouble around here, you’re welcome to stay and leave with us for the surface. After all, it would be cruel of us to simply abandon those we’ve already taken under our wing.”
“Oh, you are too kind, too kind! You have my utmost thanks.”
Finn gave in to Hermes’s request. He hadn’t exactly left them with much choice, which had undoubtedly been the god’s intention.
Once the deal had been struck, Finn went on to explain their current situation—the poison-vermis attack and their stopover here on the eighteenth floor, all of which Hermes took in with an understanding “I see…” Finn continued by relaying their estimated time of departure and allocating the newcomers tents for the night, keeping the conversation rolling.
“Oh dear, I’d almost forgotten! Though I may be a bit late, congratulations on a successful return from your expedition…at least, I assume it’s a successful return?”
Hermes’s comment came right as the discussion was wrapping up, the god’s characteristic smile back on his face.
“Thank you. We are returning with zero casualties.”
“Amazing! I should have expected no less from Loki Familia,” Hermes began, excitement creeping into his voice, before continuing. “Then I do have to wonder…What might you have found down on the fifty-ninth floor, hm?” he mused, clearly probing. While the smile on his lips never faltered, his thin, bow-like eyes widened eagerly.
Those all-seeing eyes seemed to stare straight through them, and Aiz couldn’t help but give a little start. Even Tiona’s and Tione’s faces instantly stiffened, though of the group, only Raul showed any obvious outward signs of discomfort.
Finn’s, Riveria’s, and Gareth’s composure, however, never cracked.
“We are followers of Loki. We have no duty to disclose familia matters to gods with questionable intentions.” Riveria was the first to speak, one eye closed as she shot Hermes down.
Behind Hermes, Asfi reacted to the sudden tense atmosphere with the aura of someone who had gone through much hardship, one hand gently cradling her abdomen.
“Right you are. I do apologize. It’s simply that you’re the first ones to tread on such ground since Zeus’s party did so long ago. The entire city is watching you, so I’ll admit I was a bit curious myself,” Hermes responded, unfazed, seemingly aloof toward the goings-on of the city and its people. “Ah, right. Have you heard that I’m now in an alliance with Loki and Dionysus?”
“!”
“The three of us have come together as victims of the same crimes. To take a stand against those vibrantly colored monsters and the remnants of the Evils,” he continued with a blasé attitude as Aiz and the others attempted to digest the latest piece of surprising news.
Finn, however, remained as cool as ever. “I’m afraid we’ll have to confirm this with our own goddess before we can fully believe you, Lord Hermes.”
“Of course, of course! In that case, feel free to ignore what I’m about to tell you now, hm?” Hermes began before continuing. “Though you may have already noticed, Braver, Finn Deimne…somewhere aboveground, there is another entrance into this mighty Dungeon besides the one found in Babel. That’s the conclusion your goddess and I came to.”
The gulps were almost audible this time.
Even the gazes of Riveria and Gareth hardened.
“Which is why we were hoping…for you to perform a systematic search all throughout Orario and its periphery upon your return to the surface.” Hermes’s orange eyes narrowed, his gaze never leaving that of the tiny, motionless familia captain in front of him.
After an extended pause, he turned away.
“Consider it compensation for our lodging, small as it may be. Do take care of it, hm?” he added before making his way out of the tent.
Asfi was quick to follow, giving a short bow before leaving the group, and the tent, in silence.
“C-Captain…?” Raul finally uttered. Hermes’s offhanded information was still hanging over their heads.
The others responded by turning their gazes toward their small prum leader, faces a varied mixture of emotions. Finn brought his right hand to his mouth, giving his thumb a little lick.
“Though I somehow expected this…it seems we’re not going to be getting much rest once we return home,” he sighed with a shake of his head.
“This thing is big…very big…”
The quiet murmur resonated louder than expected within the large tent.
Lefiya and the others turned toward Tione anxiously, the Amazon currently standing near the tent’s far edge.
Immediately after their meeting with Hermes had ended, they’d rounded up everyone who’d taken part in the fifty-ninth-floor raid, and they’d all congregated here, in one of Loki Familia’s female tents. Lefiya and the other Level-4 second-battalion members, and even Aki, were all present. Raul and the men, however, were still outside giving orders, and Aiz and Riveria were nowhere to be found.
“Y’know, uh…as honored as I feel to be here…is it really okay? I mean, I’m totally an outsider,” Tsubaki piped up from within the women-only tent.
“It’s fine. You were there on the fifty-ninth floor, too, so you already know everything…Besides, it’d be best to hear opinions from everyone,” Tione responded with a drop of her shoulders.
The half-dwarf just laughed. “Then let the party begin!”
Since the moment the familia leaders had concluded the meeting, Tione and the others had been racking their brains, trying to come up with an explanation for this string of strange events. They hadn’t had much of a chance to discuss things, what with their expedition and other happenings, so it seemed like a good chance to do so after hearing Hermes’s info.
“B-but…it just seems impossible, right? For there to be another entrance besides Babel?” Lefiya asked timidly.
“Yeaaah, but this is straight from the gods themselves…” Tiona answered from where she was seated on the floor nearby.
“It does make sense. I mean, how else would somebody be able to lug those giant flowers up to the surface without being seen? Remember during the Monsterphilia and the sewers? If there was only one entrance, we’d have no choice but to suspect the Guild and Ganesha Familia,” Tione continued, adding in her own two cents.
If there really was a second entrance to the Dungeon besides the great chasm of Babel, it would turn everything they knew on its head. As the scope of the issue grew larger and larger, Lefiya brought her hands to her own head with a tiny moan, unable to wrap her mind around the consequences.
“Though…I’m mostly worried about the thing with Aiz,” Tiona began slowly.
The demi-spirit, for instance, what with its strength and its ability to cast magic, was entirely outside the realm of the ordinary. This powerful abnormality could easily surpass even the crimson-haired woman Levis and her other creature friends.
And it seemed Aiz was, in fact, its target.
It had even called her “Aria.”
“As I recall, Aiz was the first to recognize that thing as a spirit.”
“And she got all weird when she saw it, yeah?”
Alicia and Narfi shared their observations in turn.
Aiz had yet to say anything about what had happened down there, nor did she explain the name the demi-spirit had called her. She’d simply averted her eyes when anyone asked, responding with a quiet “I’m sorry…” before letting the issue die.
“Well, she always has been a bit of an odd duck, if ya ask me,” Tsubaki mused, stroking her chin.
“M-Miss Tsubaki!” Lefiya balked.
Tione turned toward Aki. “You’ve known her the longest, right? You wouldn’t happen to know anything, would you?”
“Afraid not. Back then, Aiz was even more of a recluse than she is today…I’ve asked the bosses about it before, but they just tell me she has her reasons.” The black catgirl’s shapely eyebrows bowed in apologetic futility.
“Aria, spirits…somehow I can’t help but think about that legend Dungeon Oratoria.” Tiona’s eyes rose toward the tent’s ceiling in far-off thought.
Tione, however, just frowned. “Then what, are you saying that Aiz is a spirit or something? That legend’s centuries old, from back in the Ancient Times, right? To think they’d have any connection is ridiculous.”
“I didn’t mean it like that…”
“It’s true, though, Miss Tiona. Spirits aren’t supposed to be able to have children…right?” Lefiya chimed in somewhat skeptically.
The fairy-tale-loving Amazon crossed her arms in deep reflection. “Hmmm…I guess not. Guess it’s probably nothing after all…”
Aki and the others exchanged glances.
Almost all the stories they’d been told as children included this “spirit.”
But could that spirit of legend really have anything to do with Aiz—some sort of link between humans and demi-humans?
“Puttin’ aside kids’ stories for now…You do realize there is someone with spirit blood runnin’ through their veins, yeah?”
Tsubaki’s question hit them like a ton of bricks.
Every head in the tent popped up with a simultaneous “What?!”
The Hephaistos Familia high smith just laughed.
“I guess that answers that, huh? Why don’t I bring him here?”
“…Can I ask why I’m here?” the red-haired boy said incredulously from his position at the center of the tent. He didn’t even try to disguise his malcontent, sitting cross-legged on the ground as his eyes took in the wide circle of girls surrounding him.
“As y’all already know, this whelp here is the smith in Bell Cranell’s party. He’s also one of the grunts in my familia.”
The boy Tsubaki had brought back with her was none other than the young smith Loki Familia had picked up together with Bell.
“What the hell is going on here, Tsubaki?!” the boy furiously responded, clearly irritated at being dragged here and not afraid to make his displeasure known, even to the captain of his own familia.
Tsubaki, however, ignored him, moving right along even as Lefiya and the other girls looked on in stunned embarrassment.
“This kid’s name is Welf Crozzo.”
“…Crozzo?”
“Why do I feel like I’ve heard that name before…?”
Lefiya and Tiona cocked their heads to the side in simultaneous inquisition.
Suddenly, Aki’s tail stood straight up. “Wait, you don’t mean, like…that cursed magic-sword smith Crozzo, do you?”
“The very same!” Tsubaki responded somewhat triumphantly. “The maker of the invincible swords of legend for the Kingdom of Rakia!…This kid’s a descendant of that very smith nobleman.”
A shocked silence settled over the tent.
The Crozzo Magic Swords were weapons of legend known not only throughout Orario but the entire world. Originally, magic swords were capable only of producing weak magic in exchange for not requiring chants to cast. Crozzo Magic Swords, however, went far beyond that, producing magic even stronger than the originals, which was why the Kingdom of Rakia of old had long used them in their battles, at least according to the many records left behind.
These weapons were, beyond a doubt, the strongest magic swords in existence, reputed to have lit the sea itself on fire.
And now, Lefiya and the others sat facing a descendant of that smith.
All eyes were glued to the young man with the fiery hair, this Welf Crozzo, although he was glaring daggers at Tsubaki.
“Is…that all true?!”
Someone suddenly shouted.
It was loud enough to make the shoulders of everyone in the tent jump.
“But the Crozzo family, they…they’re the ones who burned my home! So many elven tribes have no forest, no village to return to thanks to his family!” screamed the elf Alicia, her face red with rage.
Lefiya found herself at a loss for words. She, too, had heard of the terrible, destructive power of the Crozzo Magic Swords and their use in the Rakian War—stories of battlefields turned to wastelands with nary a blade of grass left. Those flames had reached even the forest of the elves, who were uninvolved in the war but deprived of their homes all the same.
The number of elves who’d lost their villages due to the heedless embers of those magic swords was almost uncountable.
“M-Miss Alicia…”
Compared to Lefiya, who’d grown up under the teachings of both her home and the Education District and had developed a more open-minded way of thinking (or perhaps “naive” was another way of putting it), the truly elven Alicia, whose pride in her people was fiercely intact, looked practically rabid.
The young elf didn’t even try to disguise her vehement rage at the smith of those cursed magic swords, who’d brought such destruction to her land. The relatively young Lefiya and Narfi held their breath at the drastic change in the normally calm, composed, and sisterly elf.
Welf, however, merely scowled as the enraged elf leaned forward in unmistakable hatred.
The sudden tension in the tent seemed liable to explode at any moment, and Tiona and Tione stepped forward to quickly bring the situation under control.
“Hold your horses, there, Alicia. Let me finish talking first.” Even Tsubaki, rather flabbergasted herself, tried to rein things in. She directed an open palm at the elf, whose green eyes blinked in response. “This kid actually disowned his Crozzo lineage.”
“He what…?”
“For reasons I sincerely, honestly, and wholeheartedly can’t fathom, little Welfy here loathes every bit of his own heritage. More than that, he despises his own abilities. Y’see, he can forge circles around me when it comes to magic swords, but he won’t even touch one to save his life. Talk about wasted talent!”
Considering the fact that the Crozzo line had already fallen into decline and lost its ability to forge the magic swords of the past, hearing that there was someone more talented than a high smith at crafting weapons was shocking to hear for Tione and the others.
“But when he was forced to make ’em, he wound up leaving Rakia and his home behind. So you see, Alicia? He ’n’ you may have more in common than ya think!” Tsubaki let out a childish laugh as Alicia simply stared in bewilderment.
The boy in question, on the other hand, only seemed even angrier than before. “Hey! Would ya let a guy speak for himself for once?” he barked in irritation.
“Just tryin’ to clear up the confusion was all.”
“Yeah, confusion thanks to you and your big mouth!” he shouted with renewed zeal.
Alicia grew visibly uncomfortable as she watched the scene unfold, though Welf continued to ignore her and didn’t even bother to spare her a retort. It was almost as if he knew doing so would be completely pointless.
Welf was a true craftsman, untroubled by trivial matters. Or at least that’s what Lefiya made of the boy, watching him as she and the others in the tent gave sighs of relief now that the trouble had seemingly passed.
“Goddammit…whatever! Just get to the point and let me outta here,” Welf finally implored somewhat desperately, clearly fed up with Tsubaki and her aloofness, showing no signs he cared at all what Loki Familia might think of him.
“Then I’m just gonna come right out and ask it, okay?” Tione began. “…Do you or do you not carry the blood of a spirit in your veins?”
“Then, then, then, what weapon did he use to kill it?”
“A spear-like holy sword…and a maiden’s ribbon.”
“Awesome!!” Tiona cried out buoyantly when Bell answered every question correctly.
Her face flushed with excitement, she leaned forward in visible anticipation. “Right, then, Little Argonaut! The story of Arcadia—”
“Ahh, put a cork in it already! We have more important things to talk about!” Tione cut in before her sister could steer things any further off track.
Tiona grumbled with a little pout as Aki and Alicia chuckled to themselves at the fairy-tale-loving Amazon’s antics.
“Getting back to the topic at hand, do you know anything about a spirit called Aria?” Tione asked, moving right along.
“You mean the great spirit of the Dungeon Oratoria? The one closely connected to the life of Albert the Great? That Aria?”
“Yeah, yeah! That one!” Tiona replied happily.
As the legend was one of the world’s most well-known fairy tales, its basic details were known to just about everyone—the name of the hero, Albert, for instance—but the sheer depth of Bell’s knowledge was enough to impress even Tsubaki, Narfi, and the others. Only Lefiya refused to let herself be awed by the boy’s expertise, finding it altogether quite insolent of him to think he could answer the questions so readily.
There were a fair amount of discrepancies in the stories and legends passed down among the different races, mostly as there was a tendency to put one’s own race’s heroes on a pedestal. A hero in the dwarven legends, for instance, was nothing but a stubborn, bigoted coward in the holy book of the elves. And in Amazonian stories, it was one of their own warriors who slayed the legendary beast, while the beastmen claimed no, it was one of their thieves. Needless to say, opinions varied greatly.
Information on the legends ran rampant with bias, and there were few experts on the subject to begin with. The “official” origin stories recognized by the gods were neither read nor acknowledged, as the races much preferred to believe in stories reflecting their own pride and dignity.
Dungeon Oratoria was merely one of these god-sanctioned legends.
It was a massive epic spread across multiple volumes, some of which had been lost to the sands of time, making those who’d managed to read it in its entirety few, indeed.
“Okay, what about the story where Aria cuts herself in order to share her blood with someone…?” Tiona asked somewhat nervously.
“Hmm…” For the first time, Bell appeared to struggle. He brought his hands to his head, brows furrowed in intense thought. “I don’t think I’ve ever read that one, no…”
“All right, how about Aria protecting an injured human? And that human going on to have descendants of their own?” Tione followed up in rapid succession.
“I-I feel like it may have been there, but I don’t remember it specifically being mentioned…” Bell responded hesitantly. The eccentricity of the questions and lack of answers in his own memory seemed to be throwing him for a loop.
A sense of gloom settled over the group. They appeared to have hit a brick wall.
“Although…” The boy raised his head as though just remembering something. “I’m not sure about ‘descendants,’ per se, but…Albert the Great did supposedly have a child.”
“What?!” Tiona burst out. “I’ve never heard anything about this!” Her eyes grew as round as saucers. “Did you read the original version? The very first one from a thousand years ago?”
“Erm, well…no, but…it was more like…something my grandpa drew.”
Tiona blinked incredulously.
Even Tione and the others were taken aback.
“Did you grandfather…write picture books?” Tiona’s eyes narrowed in scrutiny.
“Ha-ha…ha-ha-ha-ha…erm, well, how should I put it?” Bell’s face twitched as he let out an awkward laugh.
If anything, what his grandfather told him was probably more of a dramatization of the story to appeal to children, not something they could actually rely upon. That was what the majority of the tent quickly thought to themselves, their concentration already waning.
Tione, however, remained intensely focused on the conversation. “What happened to the kid, then? I remember at the end of Albert’s story…”
“Yeah, he got involved in that battle…then just disappeared.”
The interrogation on the tent floor continued as the two faced each other, the boy kneeling and Tiona sitting cross-legged.
“By the way, who were the women in his party again?” Tiona continued. “I mean, if he had a kid…”
“There was, uh…the Amazonian empress Ivelda and…the high elf queen, Celdia.”
The moment the high elf’s name passed from his lips, every elf in the tent was on her feet.
“—And just what the hell are you implying here?! Lady Celdia is an eternal saint! Devoid of impurities! The pride of our people, who left her own home on a quest to save the world! It’s unthinkable that she would ever have a child with someone of another race!!” Alicia began.
“All our nobles are descended from Lady Celdia’s younger sister Lady Rishena! Including our very own Lady Riveria!” Lefiya continued.
Bell’s shoulders jumped; even Tiona and the others were startled by the outburst from the two red-faced elves.
“We already have our own bumbling stooges calling themselves ‘royalty’ and spreading rumors about some ‘orphan’ of Lady Celdia’s starting their own sect or what have you…and now you’re saying we should believe them?!”
“A violation of majesty!” Even Lefiya found herself overcome with rage this time. The holy book that had graced every elf village without fail and the high elf she so revered were now under direct attack.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sooooooooooorry!!” Bell wailed tearfully as the two beautiful, seething elves closed in on him.
“Alicia! Lefiya! Calm down!” Tiona shouted as she and the others attempted to intervene.
From outside the tent, onlookers cocked their heads in curiosity at the commotion disturbing the tranquil camp.
“While this has certainly been insightful…we’re not really any closer to the heart of the matter—what any of this has to do with Aiz.”
It was a short while later.
Tione and the others had set Bell free, the girls once again in their circle in the middle of the tent and hunched over in thought.
Why was it that Aiz found herself a target of both the creatures and demi-spirits? As the circle hmmed and racked their brains, Lefiya couldn’t help but feel a twinge of melancholy at the fact that her beloved Aiz hadn’t felt it necessary to let them in on her secret.
“—You all really shouldn’t be prying like this.”
A sudden voice called from the tent’s entrance.
The flap of cloth was pushed aside, and a new face joined them.
“L-Lady Riveria!”
“Wh-why are you here?!”
Lefiya and Tione were startled.
“As if no one would notice the giant commotion you all were making.” Riveria’s long jade-colored hair swayed as she let out a sigh. The noise inside the tent had reached such a fevered pitch, in fact, that Finn and the others in the main tent had sent her to check things out.
As the discerning eye of the high elf passed over each of them, Alicia and Lefiya instinctively shrank back.
Only Tsubaki seemed unfazed by the elf’s appearance. “It’s fine, ain’t it? We were just havin’ a little talk,” she asserted with a shrug.
“…You know, Riveria. Don’t you think this secret of Aiz’s is something we should be aware of? I mean…we’re all in the same familia here,” Tiona said directly, her brows furrowed as she rose to her feet.
Riveria’s face was pensive as she replied, her eyes never leaving Tiona’s. “I won’t deny the fact that we as a familia are connected by a strong bond. Having said that, I’m sure there are also plenty of you who’ve not revealed your entire life’s story to the rest of the group.”
“!”
“How would you like being forced into revealing your secrets?”
Lefiya’s and Aki’s eyes widened in surprise as Tiona and Tione averted their gazes with simultaneous shudders.
“…I do understand how you feel. I really do.” Riveria closed her eyes.
“Right…”
“The fact that Aiz still cannot speak of it is a shortcoming on her part. And the fact that we, too, allow her to conceal it is something we take full responsibility for. I’m sure you feel we’re not acting in good faith…especially as all of you witnessed the events on the fifty-ninth floor.” Riveria opened her eyes, letting them travel across the group. “Though I cannot explain everything without Aiz herself present…” she said, “…I can say for certain that Aiz is, indeed, blessed with the blood of a spirit.”
“You’re sure you still can’t tell Tiona and the others?”
They were back in the main tent. Riveria had already vacated her seat.
The glow of magic-stone lanterns flickered like candlelight in the wide tent. The flap of the tent was securely closed, and Aiz let her gaze fall as if in response to Finn’s question.
“…I feel like…if I told them…it would only make me weaker.” Her words were slow and deliberate. “If I were to tell them…and accept their kindness…it would change me again…and I think I won’t be able to become stronger.”
“You think you’re being strong, but you’re not…” Finn whispered, though the words were inaudible to Aiz.
Instead, it was Gareth who spoke up next, sitting next to Finn as he addressed the girl bound by her all-encompassing desire. “I’m sure there’s more to it than that, lass. Go ahead. It’s only Finn ’n’ me here. Don’t keep it bottled up inside ye so.”
Aiz’s gaze fell.
At long length, the words began to spill from her lips, a little at a time.
“I’m…afraid…of how they’ll look at me…once they know.”
It was a reason easy enough for Finn and Gareth to understand, given that they’d watched over her, protected her since she’d been nothing more than a child.
She wasn’t the mystical Sword Princess who everyone made her out to be. No, the girl in front of them now—the lost, wandering little girl just trying to find her way—was the real Aiz Wallenstein. They knew this. So did Riveria.
Silence settled over the tent.
“…I think you’re makin’ a mountain out of a molehill,” Gareth said finally.
And as the old dwarf stroked his beard with a hearty grumble, Finn couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath.
“Aiz hasn’t been the same since that red-haired creature Levis appeared. I’m sure it was never something she wanted to discuss, nor the connection it had to her blood.”
Lefiya and the others were still in shock as they listened, their suspicions surrounding Aiz’s lineage now confirmed.
Riveria’s eyes turned glassy for a moment, as though she were staring at something far, far off, then she continued. “It was never Aiz’s intention to reveal her past, even with this turn of events.”
“…”
“Someday, however, that time will come…and until it does, I ask that you wait,” she finally finished, entreating the group the same way a mother would. “I also ask that…once you do know, you treat her no differently than you have in the past.”
It grew silent.
But only for a moment, because almost instantly, Tiona was walking forward, a broad smile on her face. “’Course!” she started. “I mean, we’re a familia, after all. Right, Riveria?” she added with a childlike laugh. “Aiz is just, well, Aiz!”
The words were enough to bring the rest of the tent to their feet in agreement.
“Indeed. Don’t you think we’re past this point by now?”
“A-as if I would ever, ever avoid Miss Aiz! Not in all of eternity!!”
Tione and Lefiya assured her respectively, though the red-faced Lefiya was the only one who did so with an undaunted sense of competition. The others in the tent—Aki, Alicia, Narfi—all responded, as well, with somewhat chagrined yet affirmative nods. Tsubaki looked out across the gaggle of girls with a contented smile on her face.
Riveria’s eyes softened in a smile as her lips curled upward.
“Thank you, everyone.”
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