Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka Gaiden – Sword Oratoria - Volume 2 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE AN UNEXPECTED REUNION 

It took Aiz and Riveria three days to return to the Dungeon’s upper levels after Udaeus fell in battle. 
Normally, passing through the lower and middle levels could take much longer, but they chose the shortest route, with Riveria handling most of the encounters to give Aiz a chance to recuperate. They even spent some time resting in the town of Rivira on the eighteenth floor, so the two adventurers showed little signs of fatigue. 
“Aiz, are you certain it was a good idea to leave that drop item with him?” Riveria asked. 
“Yes…I don’t really use greatswords,” Aiz answered. 
The two of them were discussing the drop item she’d chosen to leave behind in Rivira: Udaeus’s Black Sword. 
There were many items left after they had slain the small army of spartois as well as Udaeus itself. Among them was the weapon that had given Aiz so much trouble; the black greatsword hadn’t turned to ash with the rest of the monster. Of course, it had taken a great deal of damage during the battle, but the remains were just the right size for an adventurer to retrieve it. 
Carrying this amazing trophy into the town of Rivira had caused quite a stir. The news spread from shop to shop like wildfire: A never-before-seen drop item from the floor boss Udaeus—one that could only be acquired by challenging the beast with a small party—had come to town. 
In the not-too-distant past, Bors had dreamed of becoming a smith. One look at the drop item, with its razor-sharp edge that could have easily passed for the work of the High Smiths, brought tears of joy to his eyes. 
Bors had become quite the weapons expert during his time in Rivira and had convinced Aiz to leave the sword with him for safekeeping in exchange for shaping it into a grand weapon that would be ready the next time she ventured this far down into the Dungeon. 
“And we don’t know when the Tamer will attack again…Having a strong weapon is reassuring.” 
“That man’s choice of words is incredible…” 
Riveria sighed. She could still hear Bors saying, “It’ll come back to ya one way or another,” in the back of her mind. 
What’s worse, she could imagine the look on his face as he ran his hands down the blade and laughed out of pure enjoyment right about now. 
“…?” 
“What is wrong, Aiz?” 
The two had made it to about halfway through the fifth floor. 
Aiz had been lost in thought for a while, when she suddenly spotted another adventurer in the middle of a room. 
“There’s someone on the ground.” 
“Did a monster get him?” 
Riveria’s eyebrows sank as she surveyed the scene. Aiz walked up to his side. He was on his stomach in the middle of the wide room with its light green walls. 
The closer the blond girl got to him, the more her eyes shook. 
The light armor of a lower-class adventurer…a thin body that wasn’t done growing…and hair the color of white virgin snow. 
The adventurer was none other than the rabbit-like boy Aiz had been wanting to see again. 
“No visible wounds, healing and detox appear to be unnecessary…Looks like a classic case of Mind Down.” 
Riveria knelt beside the boy and made her diagnosis. She seemed rather disinterested when she reached the conclusion. 
Aiz was right behind her, eyes glued to the boy in shock. Words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. 
“This boy…” 
“What, do you know him, Aiz?” 
“Not really. We’ve never spoken directly…He’s, um, the boy I told you about. The Minotaur…” 
“…I see. This is the one that idiot insulted.” 
Riveria had been informed about the real reason Aiz ran out of the bar the night after their last expedition. 
She lamented over Bete’s actions for a moment before returning her gaze to the boy with a little bit more understanding in her eyes. 
As for Aiz, the one she’d been wanting to apologize to was now right in front of her. Her chest tightening, she said the first words that came to her mind. 
“Riveria, I want to compensate him.” 
“…There are other ways to say that.” 
Riveria had asked what she would like to do, and the girl’s response had been clear, if a little bit too formal. She sighed again. 
“Huh?” Aiz blinked a few times. 
“Well, helping someone at a time like this is common courtesy…” 
Aiz vigorously nodded her head as the two women once again looked down at the young adventurer. 
A thought came to the elf’s mind, and she glanced at the girl beside her out of the corner of her eye. 
“…Aiz, do for this boy exactly what I tell you. For compensation, that should be enough.” 
“What?” 
Aiz looked at her in confusion and she responded casually. 
“Allow him to sleep with his head in your lap until he awakens.” 
Aiz blinked again. 
“…Is that enough?” 
“Well, I am not certain. But you must protect this spot, even if there is no reason to go above and beyond that…Besides, there is no man alive who would not be happy to receive that from you.” 
Aiz’s confusion only increased. She decided to tell Riveria exactly how she felt. 
“I don’t understand…” 
“You do not need to.” 
Riveria chuckled quietly to herself, her face relaxing as she made eye contact with the girl. Aiz was still wondering if it was okay to do such a thing. However, the things Riveria told her were almost always right on the money. 
“Mmm,” mumbled Aiz, her face aloof. Riveria stood up. 
“I shall return to the surface. Remaining here would only get in your way. The two of you must be alone to reach an understanding.” 
“Yes. Thank you, Riveria.” 
“Ah.” 
Riveria gave an affirmative nod and left them behind. 
They were in the upper levels. She knew that nothing around here posed any kind of threat to Aiz, so she wasn’t worried in the slightest about leaving her alone. 
Aiz watched her leave before looking back down at the boy’s white head. She knelt close to him. 
Slowly, very slowly, she sat down. 
 
Now then, how will this turn out…? 
Backpack over her shoulder and staff in her right hand, Riveria thought about the look on Aiz’s face when she left her alone with the boy as she made her way through the Dungeon. 
A frog shooter monster tried to bar her path, but she struck it down in the blink of an eye. 
Nothing would make me happier than a good outcome, but… 

Riveria was well aware of Aiz’s state of mind. 
The girl’s heart and body had been out of balance ever since she’d fought the red-haired Tamer. The pain inside her had driven her to try challenging a floor boss on her own. 
While most of the remnants of that pain had been expelled, the elf still felt a little bit uneasy. Aiz was not quite back to normal just yet. 
Considering all of this, Riveria was hoping that small amount of physical contact with the boy would distract her from the inner turmoil for a short while. 
“That and…” 
Riveria had noticed a very slight change within Aiz when the two of them were together. 
She genuinely hoped that the girl might become a little bit less blind. 
“…Well, it won’t turn out for the worse.” 
It’s not as though the boy would run away, she mused to herself. 
 
“…” 
There was something refreshing about the weight on her thin thighs. 
Aiz silently looked down at the boy with his head in her lap, his eyes closed as though he were sleeping on a pillow. 
…This is a little embarrassing. 
She felt rather awkward after lifting his head and sliding beneath him. 
Cheeks blushing, she very carefully adjusted her position to match him. She didn’t want to wake the white rabbit, so her every movement was slow and gentle. 
“…” 
The two humans in the middle of the room were discovered by one monster after another, but one flick of Aiz’s wrist was enough to dispatch them without disturbing the boy. 
She continued to protect him, looking down at his peaceful face whenever she wasn’t taking care of any would-be attackers. 
“…You’ve been working very hard.” 
His armor had changed since the last time she saw him. 
It might have been new, but it was already covered with scratches and dents. She could tell it had been used, a lot. There was no doubt in her mind he had been fighting monsters in the Dungeon every day. 
It was heartwarming to see this much effort. He was a pure young man with an untainted spirit. 
Innocent, so very innocent. 
Completely different from her. The purity emanating from his spirit calmed her own. The last of the black flames still flickering in the bottom of her heart were washed clean until finally disappearing entirely. 

A smile appeared on Aiz’s lips before she knew what was happening. 
The pure white rabbit soothed her. 
An urge to stroke his hair overcame her. Her fingers drifted down and caressed his cheeks from time to time. 
“…Mom?” 
The boy spoke after a few minutes. 
A quiver ran through Aiz’s shoulders, caught off guard by the boy’s sleep talk. 
…Is yours gone, too? 
She thought to herself, but the words didn’t come out. 
Her golden eyes looked away for a moment. 
We are…a lot alike… 
She felt a sudden connection with him that she knew she shouldn’t hold on to, as well as a twinge of loneliness. 
Aiz brushed the white bangs out of the boy’s face and apologized. 
“Sorry. I’m not your mother…” 
A moment later, two groggy ruby-red eyes opened beneath her. 
They became clearer every moment as the boy woke up. His gaze locked onto hers the moment he realized she was there. 
The boy seemed lost, trapped in the moment their eyes met. Aiz started stroking his hair once again. 
The tips of her fingers ran past his eyelashes before he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position. 
She thought it a waste for him to leave the warmth of her lap, but gave up. 
The boy stayed sitting on the floor, but turned to face her. 
“…An illusion?” 
“Not an illusion.” 
The boy’s drowsy face suddenly froze, his right hand in midair. Eyebrows slanting outward, he wore a rather unusual expression. 
It might even have been a little rude. 
Aiz, who had felt many emotions in a short amount of time, felt her lips pout slightly as she stared back at the boy. 
…H-huh? 
Ruby-red and golden eyes stared at each other. The boy didn’t budge, but Aiz started to get flustered. 
Had she done something wrong? Although her face didn’t show it, the young spirit dwelling within her was racking her brain, desperately running around and looking for an answer. The white rabbit only looked at her, frozen like a statue with his white hair sticking up like ears, waving back and forth. 
—That’s right, I need to apologize. 
Aiz started to open her mouth the moment the thought hit her. 
Then she saw the boy getting redder and redder from the neck up by the second. By the time she fully noticed, his head was roughly the color of an overripe apple. 
His beautiful red eyes were in bad shape, twitching almost like there were worms crawling under the surface. 
Now she knew for sure something was wrong. She frantically prepared to ask him what—when the boy jumped to his feet. 
Then… 
“GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 
He ran away from Aiz at full speed. 
“…” 
Bounding and leaping like a panicked critter, the boy disappeared from the room. 
Still sitting on her knees in the middle of the floor, Aiz couldn’t move at all. 
“Geh-geh-geh.” She thought she heard some monster laughing in the distance. 
“…Why do you always…run away?” Aiz mumbled to herself, on the verge of tears.