CHAPTER 2 DID SOMEONE ORDER A WOLF?
“We need to get our hands on one of the keys.”
It was morning at Loki Familia’s home.
They were conducting a meeting in the dining hall, and Finn was speaking to the rest of the familia.
“While most of them certainly are secure within the Evils’ grasp…there is one we may still have a chance with.”
“You think that Ishtar Familia might have had one? They were the ones hauling the violas to Meren, after all,” Tione pointed out.
“Indeed. Considering the close relationship between Ishtar and the Evils, there’s a strong possibility she may have been given one of the keys,” Finn confirmed. “Due to the surprise attack from Freya Familia, Ishtar should no longer have any contact with the Evils. The key may have gotten lost in the attack. There’s also a chance one of her ex-followers may know of its location. We have no choice but to take our chances…Which is why, from today forward, we’ll be putting all our efforts into finding that key.”
The air in the dining hall grew tense.
“I’d like everyone to start by gathering as much information as possible. Scout out the Pleasure Quarter; interrogate any former members of Ishtar Familia you can find. Do try to keep things on the down low, though, if you would. Does anyone have any questions?”
“I do; I do!” Tiona’s hand shot up just like always. “This is about something else but…where’s Riveria? I haven’t seen her anywhere.”
“Riveria has already left on an errand.”
“I see…Well! That stupid wolf! Where’s he?”
“Worried about him, are you?”
“As if! Just wondering if he was skippin’ out. Totally in-ex-cusable!” Tiona hurriedly added, unable to hide her petulance. Neither she nor the rest of the familia members knew Bete had been placed on leave.
Unsure if it was for better or for worse, Finn shot the Amazon a smile all the same, deciding it would be best to cover for the wolf for the time being. “Bete is, well…Let’s say he’s probably out sniffing around for something on his own at the moment, hmm? Anyway, if that’s all the questions for now, let’s go ahead and split into teams: I want a search team and an interrogation team…If you would, then, Loki?” Finn added, his last comment whispered in the goddess’s ear.
“Roger that, boss! Leave it to me!”
As everyone in the hall rose to their feet to start forming their teams, Loki wove through the hustle and bustle, surreptitiously sliding up next to Aiz.
“Got a favor to ask of ya, Aizuu.”
“Loki…? What is it?”
“Keep an eye on Bete for me, would ya? No reason to go outta your way, though—just while yer out ’n’ about doin’ yer own stuff is fine.”
Aiz’s eyes widened ever so slightly.
“Poor thing may have gotten the boot ’n’ all, but, well, Bete’s still Bete. He’ll be out there lookin’ for clues on his own. Doesn’t matter how he talks in front of y’all.” Loki’s eyes were filled with nothing but trust in her lupine follower. It was a different kind of trust than Aiz and her peers had in one another. This was the unconditional faith of a mother.
“Now, I’m pretty sure the enemy’s not gonna try anything aboveground. I also don’t think Bete’s stupid enough to go wandering about Daedalus Street on his own. But still. Look for ’im for me, would ya?”
“…But I…”
“Huh? Somethin’ wrong, Aizuu?”
“I told Bete that I…hate…him…” Aiz mumbled, her gaze pointed downward.
Hearing this from the girl of few words was enough to make Loki bring her arms to her stomach in a giant belly laugh.
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha!! Now you’ve done it! Poor Bete’s prolly lyin’ dead in the street right about now!”
“S-so, I…I just think that…maybe it’s not so good if…we see each other now…” Aiz continued despondently.
Calming herself, Loki turned toward Aiz, speaking as she would to a child. “Whaddaya think, Aizuu? About Bete? And the rest of the familia?”
“…Well, I…Maybe I told him I hate him, yes…but I…” Aiz started, searching for the words inside her as though attempting to take another look at what was really in her heart. Loki watched gently all the while. “…I can’t help but remember before…when Tiona and Bete would fight, and…Raul and Lefiya and the others would all panic, trying to stop them, and…everyone would laugh…”
“Right.”
“…I want it to be like that again…The way it used to be…” she finished, her golden eyes turning momentarily toward Tiona and Tione. Even with Raul and the others there, it felt like there was something missing. The familia just felt off.
When Aiz glanced back up, Loki had a huge smile on her face, and she reached forward to tousle the swordswoman’s golden hair as though awarding her a gold star. Aiz scrunched one of her eyes shut, not even bothering to push the goddess away despite how much it tickled.
“I feel the same, Aizuu. But considerin’ how stubborn Tiona and the others are actin’, there’s no one else I can go to to help fix this but you. Finn’s got my hands tied, after all.”
“…”
“If yer still feelin’ a little anxious, though, you can always go to Lefiya for help. Whaddaya say, huh? Can I count on you?”
“…Yes, I’ll…do it.”
The short answer brought another smile to Loki’s face, and the goddess patted her on the shoulder. As the rest of her colleagues filed their way out of the room, Aiz threw her gaze toward the window and the sunlight filtering in.
“A magic item with a weird symbol thingy carved into it…?”
Back in the Pleasure Quarter and the high-class brothel Lena had been using as her secret spot beneath the shadow of the city’s eastern wall…
Having moved to the courtesans’ old living quarters on the first floor, Lena was currently stuffing her face with bread from her stash, gazing down at a piece of parchment in her hand. On it was a rough sketch of the item in question—Bete’s handiwork, with just enough detail to be discernible.
“You’re looking for this thing? By the way…you sure you don’t want anything to eat?”
“You think I wanna be even more in debt, you hag? I’ve got enough on my plate as it is!”
“It wouldn’t be like that at all, and you know it! I even made this myself!”
“All the more reason not to…” Bete grumbled to himself as though he hadn’t heard.
Indeed, sandwiching Lena and the table was a whole smorgasbord of simple Amazonian dishes—cut it up, toss it on the fire, and serve. Throwing a glance at the sliced dried meats and bread, the cheeses and honey, Bete looked back up, returning to the topic at hand.
“Your damn goddess mighta had somethin’ like this. Ain’t it familiar at all?”
“Hmm…” Lena murmured as she took a swig of magic-stone-refrigerated milk. Staring long and hard at the D symbol carved into the surface of the ball in the sketch, she raised her gaze to search Bete’s face. “…Though I can’t say for absolute sure…I feel like I’ve definitely seen something like this before…maybe?”
“Really?!” Bete demanded, hand on the table as he leaned toward the girl. Lena nodded boastfully. “Then hurry up and tell me, would ya?!”
“For free?!”
“Huh?”
“That was some embarrassment you put me through last night…I may need a little something to get my mouth working again,” she continued, eyes closing as her lips curled upward with salacious intent.
Bete’s cheek twitched. “You askin’ for a beating, you damn witch?”
“Such violence! This is the negotiation table, don’t you know? The whole point is not to offend the opposing party…Even an Amazon like me knows that!”
“Oh, quit your whining! If that mouth of yours won’t listen, I’ll make sure your body does!”
“Then you’ll question my body? Oh my, Bete Loga! I see you’re quite bold even in broad daylight!”
“Stop hearing only what you wanna hear!”
The fight from the night prior continued, but no matter how much he yelled, it had no effect on Lena, who was sitting prettily with her hands clasped against her cheeks for the moment.
She was possibly the most vexing human being Bete had ever come across. If she had been a normal adventurer, he’d have grabbed her collar right then and there and beat the daylights out of her. But considering the girl in front of him now would probably enjoy that, this made her particularly difficult to deal with. If not nauseating to deal with.
Never in his life had he imagined that someone being attracted to him could be worse than someone who hated or feared him.
Though perhaps it was a little late to say it, he was finally starting to empathize with Finn, given how Tione was usually glued to him. He almost wanted to apologize to the prum captain.
“If you’re not gonna tell me, I’ll just ask another one of you damn Amazons!”
“But maybe I’m the only one who knows about this little ball, hmm? Plus, do you really expect Aisha and the others to bare everything to the one who took them to town last night? It’s just like back in Meren, hmm?”
“Guh…?!”
She had a point. The “repulsive werewolf” was more likely to get spit on than get any sort of information out of the other Amazons. Which meant the only negotiation partner he had left was Lena.
As Bete struggled to find his voice, Lena shot him a wink, drawing a miniature circle in the air with her finger. “Besides, isn’t that the rule of you adventurers? To always pay for your information?”
Bete clenched his canines together as hard as he could.
He already knew the incorrigible girl in front of him wasn’t going to ask for money or any other “normal” payment for the information he sought.
“…What do you want, then?”
“For you to give me a baby! —Kidding, kidding, just kiddiiiiing!” She quickly backpedaled as Bete raised his fist up in a sincerely murderous move. Sweat soaking her forehead as she racked her brain, she finally popped her head up with a smile.
“Go on a date with me, Bete Loga!”
Later that day, when the morning sun had just crested over the city’s walls and the thrum of daily life had returned to its streets…
Northwest Main Street, nicknamed Adventurers Way, was as busy as always, filled to the brim with demi-humans on their way to explore the Dungeon. The nearby Dian Cecht Familia facility, as well—the solid-white field hospital—boasted its own fair share of visitors.
It was here, in the hospital’s pharmacy, that the high elf Riveria stood.
Across from her at the counter was the silver-haired human girl Amid Teasanare.
“Were you able to discern anything from the dagger in question?”
“Indeed, we’ve completed our inspection. However, I really must say…There is something undeniably queer about that weapon,” Amid replied, her voice hard as she dropped her eyes to the obsidian dagger lying atop the counter.
It was a cursed weapon—endowed with an Unhealable Curse.
It was also the same weapon that had been used to slay Leene and the others down in Knossos, retrieved by Aiz herself.
“It boasted quite a curse…I still remember when you brought Captain Finn in with it. None of the items currently in circulation had any effect. It was only by my magic that we were able to make any headway, and it required an extraordinary amount of Mind…” Amid’s tiny hands clenched visibly as she relived the memory in her head. “I even tested it on my own body later. Not even protective accessories or magic items had any success in resisting the curse,” she finished, voice grave.
“No way to defend against it and nigh un-liftable save for the magic of Dea Saint. A powerful curse, indeed…”
Existing equipment and items were entirely ineffective, both in protection and as restoratives. Though perhaps what worried Riveria even more was the thought that there were more of these weapons out there.
The sword the creature Levis had used against Aiz and Finn, the abandoned dagger before them now that had been used against Leene and the others, and even the weapons Tione’s assassin opponents had used against her had all been capable of inflicting this dreadful curse with merely a single graze.
Which meant the enemy had at least one person crafting these vexing weapons for them.
“For a hexer to be able to craft cursed weapons such as these…their power must be incalculable—far beyond our wildest imagination. Either that…or they’re being guided by some kind of crazed delusion…” Amid mused, the outline of some faceless yet assuredly unbalanced hexer beginning to take shape in her mind.
Riveria couldn’t have agreed more.
There was a chance these Evils’ Remnants had all the cursed weapons they could possibly want, which meant going in without a plan would only force them to make more sacrifices. If they were going to return to Knossos, they not only needed to get their hands on one of its keys but also do something about these weapons.
“Then the anti-curse I ordered. Do you think you’ll be able to craft it?”
“…It will be difficult, to be frank,” Amid confessed, the fatigue plaguing her features evidence enough as to the countless times she’d already attempted to craft the curse-repelling medicine in question. And thanks to her near-translucently pale skin, the fatigue looked almost painful. “But…I will do my best. I can’t allow such a weapon to exist,” she finished, dauntless will coloring her voice. It was a rare sight to see the delicate doll of a girl express such strong emotion. After throwing a bitter glance down at the dagger on the counter, she returned her gaze to Riveria. “I will defeat this curse.”
“…We’re counting on you,” Riveria pleaded, almost as though entreating a saint.
The blade of the scimitar bisected the monster’s chin in one clean swipe.
“Gwwwwuuuuoooogggh!”
“Yah!”
Continuing through, it sent the head of the bull-headed minotaur flying. Her long black hair tied up in a ponytail, the girl sliced through the dim gloom of the grotto in a flash. The monster dealt with handily, she continued forward and toward the large swarm now gathered in front of her, aiming a sweeping kick.
“Bete Loga! C’mon, let’s go! We’re on a date! We’re on a date!”
“I never imagined the dating scene would be so brutal…” Bete grumbled, a bit stupefied at the antics of the smiling, waving, slaughtering girl. His hands shoved in his pockets, he delivered a kick to an incoming hellhound that shattered its cranium.
They were in the Dungeon’s middle levels, the “Cave Labyrinth.”
More specifically, on the seventeenth floor—the stronghold of the third-tier adventurers.
It turned out what Lena really wanted was a “Dungeon date,” quite possibly the least romantic idea for a date ever. Certainly, fighting and killing together as a method of increasing one’s affinity with another made perfect sense when it came to the brute-force social skills of the Amazons, though Bete wasn’t sure if this truly applied to all Amazons or just the one in front of him in particular.
If they weren’t fighting on the streets, they were fighting between the sheets.
That was all Amazons knew. Though for Bete, this was more of a godsend than a flaw, as the idea of a normal “date” about made him want to puke.
“Look, look, look! Isn’t this al-miraj the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen?!” Lena cried out as she sent the lovable rabbit monster sailing with a mighty SPROING!
“Gyaaaaaaaah!”
“You say as you beat the living shit out of it.”
The brutish spectacle was so far removed from an ordinary date that had Lefiya and the others been there, they’d have fainted on the spot. As the girl annihilated everything in her path in her excited, happy flailing, her slashes cut deep despite her feminine antics.
“Just knowing that Bete Loga is here beside me is enough to shoot me to the moon!” she announced, scimitar in her right hand and gold-lined arm protector on her left. She used the thick metal to ward off her enemies’ attacks as she set her blade awhirl in a dance allegro. It was an altogether unique battle style; the rapid movements made her look more like a spinning top than anything else. She held nothing back as her slender curved limbs executed her every power-packed move and her bare feet slammed into the teeth of the nearby liger fangs with such force they rendered their faces unidentifiable. Every attack sent her undersize loincloth dancing, revealing again and again the white undergarments and copper thighs beneath. Even the arm protector on her left hand became a weapon when she smashed it straight into the monsters’ flesh and shattered the bones inside.
A Level 2, huh? And about to level up again, by the looks of it…Seems she’s got no problem against monsters up to the twenty-fourth floor or so, Bete mused, eyes narrowed as he watched the girl throttle swarm after swarm of monsters with no need of help from him.
She was undeniably beautiful—radiant, almost, with the way the sweat was flying off her. And suddenly Bete realized her plan: After all, what man would be able to resist seeing her now? Well, sans the terrifying howls and spattering blood, perhaps.
“Outta my way,” Bete growled, aiming a kick at a nearby minotaur that Lena had let escape and debilitating it with a single strike.
“Gwuuuaaaagh?!”
“Oh, I knew it! You really are strong!”
And with that, the battle was over. The Amazonian girl seemed satisfied, taking deep, heavy breaths. She then proceeded to run around from pile of ash to pile of ash, collecting the fallen magic stones and drop items in place of the completely unhelpful bump on a log, Bete.
She didn’t seem the least bit concerned that her perpetual high was starting to grate on Bete’s nerves. Just thinking about what they must look like to any other adventurers passing by made Bete want to melt, and he twisted his face into what must have been the thousandth grimace already since the night before.
“This is so much fun! On a Dungeon date with Bete Loga!”
“Yeah. ‘Fun.’”
“My heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest! But since I can’t see your face that well, I wanna hide it by throwing myself into battle after frenzied battle!”
Bete truly didn’t understand how the girl could be having so much fun.
Bouncing over, she shot him a grin, her tiny tongue poking out from between her lips.
This girl, Lena Tully, was an entirely different kind of “simple” than Tiona. Bete’s one consolation was that she was at least smarter than the other Amazon, but she still couldn’t “read the room,” so to speak, for the life of her. Perhaps this was thanks to the fact that her naivete was more lovesick-induced than hereditary.
“…Do you Amazonian witches flaunt your gravy at any old macho thug who walks by?”
“Huh? Oh, no! Not at all! Not. At. All! That’d mean Aisha and the others would be all over you right now, hmm? Since you beat them and all?” Lena protested, fighting back against the common misconception about Amazons.
She did have a point.
“All of us have our types and such, you know? For me, well, mine’s more like an alarm going off. Beep-beep-beep! He’s the one! And then I just know! Like I said yesterday—it’s made me believe in fate!”
“…”
“Which is why!…I just knew I had to have your children!”
It was an admission of love so direct, an elf might frown in disapproval.
Indeed, the Amazons made no effort to hide their procreation-inclined intentions.
With a blush warming her cheeks and a hint of shame coloring her features, Lena shot Bete another smile, almost as though plucking up her courage. “If we keep going much farther, we’ll end up having to stay here overnight. You probably don’t want that, hmm? Do you, Bete Loga? What should we do, then? Maybe…maybe if we could meet again, we could…go all the way down to the lower levels sometime?”
But despite all her efforts, the werewolf’s heart remained as cold as ice.
His amber eyes stared indifferently at the still-smiling girl.
Affection. Pah.
Adventurers didn’t need it. And even more certainly, the strong didn’t need it.
It was nothing more than white noise.
And for Bete right now, a werewolf detested not only by others but by himself as well, it just made him want to gag.
“—Are you really that stupid?”
“Huh?”
And so he pushed her away.
The rotten werewolf, selfish beyond measure, violent to a fault, and capable of nothing but hurting those around him, raised his head.
He was going to make this confused girl understand whether she wanted to or not.
To turn her affection into revulsion.
“You sure talk big for someone who doesn’t even know her place.”
“Th…! That’s…I—I know I’m not as tall as Aisha or the others and…and that maybe I’m not so strong yet. And maybe I even got pushed around by that frog lady a lot, but…From now on, all that’s gonna change! One day, I…I’ll even become as strong as Bete Loga!”
Bete smirked. “You’re a chump. And you’ll always be a chump!”
This made the girl’s orange-pearl-colored eyes widen with a start.
“Doesn’t matter how much you keep yappin’ about ‘someday, someday’—fish bait like you’ll never amount to more than just that: fish bait! So quit your whining! Ain’t gonna do you any good!”
“I…But I…I have to try…”
“Yeah, you and everyone else! You’re all alike! Goin’ on and on about your big dreams, then you don’t regret it till you’re halfway down a monster’s throat. You’re disgustingly weak. Nothin’ but stupid, flimsy dreams and a whole bunch of baloney!” Bete continued, scenes from his past playing out before his eyes one after another. He wasn’t even looking at the stupefied girl anymore, but through her and toward the blood-strewn field of his memories beyond.
And from the middle of that scene came the sound of his own laughter.
“You’re nothing. And you always will be. Ignorantly spewing lofty goals that you’ll never come close to reaching. And I hate it. More than anything else in the world, I hate it.”
“I—I…”
“You don’t even have the guts to tell me I’m wrong, do you? Heh…Well, you can’t polish a turd,” Bete finished, still sneering at the stock-still girl in front of him.
“Weak and strong just don’t mix.”
It was a statement forged of pride, of utter arrogance.
And with it came the contemptuous echoes of his laughter in the dark, quiet grotto where neither human nor monster dared approach.
Lena’s gaze sank slowly toward the floor. Her thin frame began to tremble, almost as though holding back tiny sobs.
Bete’s laughter faded, and for just a moment, he felt a sort of dried-up cynicism (along with just a tiny bit of disappointment) seep out from the corners of his tattoo. But then the feeling was gone, and the smile was back on his face, accompanied by an almost too-forced snort.
At long length, Lena looked up at him.
“Then…does that mean once I’m not a piece of fish bait anymore…I can be with you?!”
Her voice crescendoed into a full-out belly roar.
“…Wha—?!”
The orange pearls that were Lena’s eyes were glittering more violently, more radiantly than ever before. Bete, on the other hand, could only stutter in bewilderment, his mouth hanging open in a stupor.
“Yippee!! All I have to do is get stronger and then I’ve got me a first-tier adventurer as a hubby! The wife of one of the most truly coveted males in the species!! Yes, that’s it! That’s all I have to do! Everything’s going according to plan!”
“Wh-whaaaaaat?!”
“And that means I’ll get to bear Bete Loga’s children!!”
“Y-you idiot! The hell are you going on about—?!”
As Lena raised both arms in a sudden burst of exuberant triumph, Bete felt his heart cry out in agony.
—That’s not it at all, you lunatic!
This wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. No, Lena had truly punched a hole in that strategy, leaving him trembling and confused in its wake. This was, without a doubt, the strangest, most off-kilter response Bete had ever received after shooting off one of his cruel smirks.
“Stop that right now, you baby-obsessed bush leaguer! Were you even listening to me?!”
“Of course I was! And now I’m more pumped up than ever! I’m gonna get strong! The strongest you’ve ever seen! If I can just make it to Level Six, then…he-he-he…he-he-he-he-he-he…!!”
“What the hell…?!”
What in the world is wrong with this girl…?!
The nigh-unparalleled depravity behind her smile was enough to shake Bete to his very core. Lena, however, was ignoring the werewolf’s terror while pushing herself so close to him that their chests were practically touching, then gazing up at him.
Her eyes consumed him, spinning like twin orange whirlpools. S-somebody help me!
“Once I become strong, please make me Bete Loga’s—make me your wife!”
—It’s Tione! Oh god, a Tione just showed up!!
The Finn-obsessed, two-screws-loose Berserker had appeared on the scene!!
He should never have let his guard down in front of this lovesick Amazon.
Not even scorn and ridicule were enough to divert the beating, lovelorn heart of this carnivorous girl, loyal to nothing but her own instincts. No, those would have only thrown more fuel onto the fire.
“Oh yeah! And I get it now!”
Lena continued to speak, her voice like daggers plunging into the werewolf’s short-circuiting brain.
“When you call people fish bait or weaklings…those aren’t insults at all!”
“?”
It was at that moment.
That time came screeching to a halt.
“They’re more like…worms on the end of a hook, you know? Like a carrot in front of a donkey!”
“…”
“Which means…you’re just trying to cheer me on! Yeah, that’s it!”
“…Like hell I am, you pinhead.”
But those were the only words he could manage to squeeze out.
Lena blissfully ignored him, skipping on ahead, almost as though she was in such high spirits that she couldn’t control her own feet.
“…”
Around them, the blue phosphorescence emanating from the walls seemed to brighten, light seeping slowly into the gloom of the normally silent cave. The derisive laughter of the strong had been replaced by the cheery chirping of a young girl, the sound echoing off the stone. The werewolf stood in stunned silence, his shadow stretching toward the wall with no one left to bare its fangs at.
Bete watched the girl leave before letting his gaze drop slowly toward his right hand.
A scene from his memories was rising up to meet him.
Of a girl who’d once told him the same thing.
“You useless roaches! Gettin’ in our way again! You think we enjoy gettin’ slowed down by all this excess baggage, huh?”
Bete had been hurling profanities that day, as well.
“Bete, calm yourself! There’s no reason to disturb the peace!”
“Oh, cram it, you old hag! You know I’m right!”
It had been two years ago, on one of Loki Familia’s expeditions.
On their way down to their target floor, they’d gotten attacked by monsters, and the lower-level members had quickly found themselves battered. This stalled them for quite some time, which was what had led to Bete’s tirade (and Riveria’s subsequent admonishment; the high elf couldn’t let his words go despite the situation).
The whole affair was enough to steal what little morale the lower-levels had left, even with Finn’s and the other elites’ mediation. Heads were drooping, tears were building, and teeth were biting hard on trembling lips. They were completely incapable of fighting back against the first-tier adventurer’s censure.
That girl, Leene Arshe, would have been with them.
“Hey, you! Dum-dum with the glasses! Why’re you here, huh? You think you’re a healer? You can’t even protect yourself! Worthless piece of shit!”
“Ngh…”
“All you fish bait should just crawl back into your hole. You don’t belong on the battlefield…and you never will!”
It was later, when the whole group had finally been able to settle down for a longer rest, that Bete had run into the human girl, Leene, in the shadow of a nearby rock. He’d chided her then, only for the girl to gaze up at him, trembling.
She’d looked him straight in the eye through those large glasses of hers, fear and hesitation all but gone.
“This is the seventh time you’ve yelled at me, Mister Bete.”
“Huh? You’ve actually been keeping track? Heh, you really are hopeless.”
“This is true. I am hopeless. Already, you’ve saved me seven times…no, much more than that.” Gathering her courage, she took his right hand—the one that had been injured protecting Leene and the other lower-levels.
Bete simply stuck out his tongue. Stupid injury. It’s what I get for involvin’ myself with weaklings, is all, he thought, cursing his own ineptitude.
But he wasn’t about to say that out loud. Instead, he prepared to lay all the blame on the “weaklings” themselves, but before he could get the words out, Leene shot him a smile, almost as though seeing through the barrier of his heart.
“I think I…finally understand. What you keep calling us…weaklings…fish bait…They aren’t insults.”
Time had stopped for Bete then, as well.
His hardened features twisting.
The tattoo on his face—his fang—distorting.
Leene’s braid shook, tears in her eyes as she turned a gallant smile toward him.
“I may be one of these weaklings, but…I can still heal you.”
“…”
“So…would it be all right if I…stayed by your side?”
A warm light formed around his hand as she spoke, already working at healing the gash on his skin.
Still, she continued to smile, gazing up at him with cheeks flushed.
“…”
How had he responded to her back then?
For some reason, Bete couldn’t seem to remember.
Maybe…maybe if he’d said something different…she and the rest of his fallen comrades wouldn’t have lost their lives deep within that cold, dark labyrinth.
“Bete Loga!”
Lena’s sharp call brought him back from the sea of his memories.
And when he looked up, he saw a face completely different from that of the girl in his mind, but smiling back at him all the same.
“I’m gonna do my best, okay? And when I finally prove that I’m not weak anymore, you’ve gotta make me your number one, yeah? Promise!”
“…Would you shut up already…?”
But his words didn’t have the same oomph behind them as before, and Lena cocked her head curiously and started back toward him. She took his hand, giving it a gentle tug.
Bete took one look at their hands clasped together before sullenly jerking his away.
Why, you! Lena’s face conveyed her thoughts clearly, her cheeks puffed out in anger, but it didn’t last long; her lips curling back into their usual smile as she renewed her cheerful step.
How sentimental. Maybe it wouldn’t have changed anything at all. But there was a question he couldn’t push out of his mind.
It was something he should have forgotten long, long ago, but this Amazonian girl had dragged it back to the surface, and now it was expanding in his thoughts like rings on water. Gazing off at nothing and no one in particular, he went with Lena into the winding corridors of the seemingly endless Dungeon.
“So…you got any idea of somethin’ you mighta seen that looked a bit like a key?”
“Like I’ve been saying this whole damn time, I don’t know!”
It was later that day, and just around when the sun was beginning its descent toward the western horizon, Tiona was accosting one of her fellow Amazons in the city’s Central Park.
“You’re sure you don’t have aaaaaaaany idea at all? C’mon, Salami! Do your fellow Amazon a solid, would ya?”
“My name is Samira! Not some food! Now you’re just messing it up on purpose! And don’t you try that with me. Amazon or not, you know the wants of Loki Familia are of no concern to me!” shouted the cocoa-skinned Amazon with the short ashen hair, her speech decidedly masculine as she stormed off.
“Well, that could have gone better…” Tiona moaned, scratching her head at the ex–Ishtar Familia captain’s rejection.
“Any luck?…Though it looks like I don’t even need to ask.”
“Ah! Tione! How’d you do, huh?!”
“Horribly. But that’s beside the point! Damn Freya Familia assholes. Dropped by their home with a letter from the captain but couldn’t even get them to answer the door. A bunch of jerks—all of them!”
“Well, our two familias have never really gotten along…”
Finn had tasked the two sisters and the rest of their group with seeking out any information they could on the man-made labyrinth Knossos. While it made the most sense to question the former members of Ishtar Familia, they’d also hoped to make contact with Freya Familia, given how they were the ones who’d effectively wiped Ishtar Familia off the map.
Tiona and her group had come up with a grand total of nothing.
Tione, meanwhile, hadn’t fared much better, completely ignored by Freya and her cronies.
“We were supposed to rendezvous back here with Aki and everyone, but…I’m guessing the results will be pretty much the same across the board.”
“Pretty much, yeah…Huh? Ah, there’s Lefiya!” Tiona suddenly exclaimed, bringing a hand up to wave at their stock-still companions a short distance away. It was the two elves—Lefiya and Alicia—the former of whom dashed straight over upon seeing the two sisters.
But the look on her face said immediately that something was wrong.
“M-Miss Tiona! Miss Tione!”
“Huh? What’s got you all worked up?”
“It…I-it seems that Elfie and the others recently caught sight of Mister Bete…!”
“…Yeah? And what of that damn werewolf, huh?”
Just the mention of Bete’s name was enough to put the two Amazons in a sour mood. Lefiya, however, couldn’t keep the flustered tremble out of her voice as she continued.
“M-M-Mister Bete, he…he seems to have been…out walking with an A-A-A-Amazonian girl…Almost as though they were on some kind of d-d-d-date…!!”
““WHAT?!””
Tiona’s and Tione’s eyes widened with almost audible snaps.
“So he thinks he can go around chasing tail while the rest of us are bustin’ our asses, does he?!”
“WHAT DOES THAT DAMN WOLF THINK HE’S DOING?!”
The two cries of rage were enough to shake the ground where they stood.
It was simply too much—not only had all their information-gathering efforts failed, but that detestable werewolf was off chumming it up with girls.
“And after all that time ignoring Leene! That son of a?!!”
…Perhaps telling these two wasn’t the best idea…Lefiya couldn’t help but think, finding the information hard to believe herself as the whole dumbstruck group watched the twins flail and rant.
For just a moment, she could have sworn she heard Leene’s ghost weeping in the air next to them, but it was just her imagination.
Around the same time that Tiona and Tione were blowing their lids…
Lena’s Dungeon date had come to a close. That didn’t mean, however, that the “date” itself was finished.
“Hey! Bete Loga! Over here! Do you think this looks good on me?”
“It looks like shit.”
“Heeeeey!”
They were in one of the small back alleys set off from the main street, Lena having posed the question while standing excitedly in front of a small accessory stand. Returning the hairpin she’d picked up to the cloak laid out across the cobblestones, she turned to Bete with a harrumph.
“Shit, shit, shit! Is everything shit to you? You’re never gonna get any girls to like you like that, you know!”
“Yeah? Great. Then maybe you’ll stop following me around.”
“Yoooooooooou!” she moaned, bouncing around in frustration.
It had been like this since they’d returned to the surface, to the point where Bete felt he didn’t have any sighs left in him to sigh. He couldn’t even find the effort for his usual ascerbic remarks.
Lena’s eyes trembled in anguish as she looked up at him, until her usual smile returned in an instant mood shift.
“Are you gonna tell me about that key already or what?”
“No way! As soon as I do, you’re gonna leave me high and dry! You will! I’ll only tell you if you stay with me aaaaaall day!” she declared before taking off down the bustling backstreet, glancing back and forth between the stalls of jewels and accessories on either side.
Bete had already gone past the point of caring. Lena may have been an Amazon, but she was also a teenage girl, so it only made sense she’d want to date like one, as well. Bete only half paid attention to her. The hell is fun about this? he silently grumbled as she picked up one item after another, eyes sparkling—“Look at this! Look at this!”—as she turned back to show him.
“You don’t like exploring the market? I thought you would.”
“Like hell I’d enjoy playing house with you, you dumb brat.”
“Cold as always, I see, Bete Loga…Ah! A florist!”
Upon leaving the backstreets, the first thing to cross their path was a small flower shop. Named “Dia Floral,” it was run by a young, free girl who’d stocked its shelves high with an assortment of colorful flowers. The human girl herself must have just come back from making a delivery. Her goddess-rivaling beauty drew all manner of adventurers’ gazes as she made her way toward the store.
Lena, meanwhile, was perusing the flowers out front thanks to an arrangement of tiny light-blue blooms that had caught her eye.
“Hey, Bete Loga!”
“What is it now?”
“Wanna hear what I like the best? And I mean something that I’d be super-pumped, super-jazzed to get as a present?”
“Nope.”
“Then I’ll tell you! There’s nothing that makes me happier than getting forget-me-nots!! They can make me fall in love with a man all over again! Wink, wink!”
Bete almost hurled.
Which was a feeling that was becoming as common as breathing for him at this point as Lena shot him an all-too-expectant glance next to him. He didn’t even have to try to look fed up—his features had already formed the expression for him.
“…Lena? And is that…Vanargand?!”
As the two of them were standing in front of the florist, a voice accosted them from behind.
Turning around, they came face-to-face with a long-haired, long-legged prostitute.
“That woman from the bar…!”
“Guh! A-Aisha?!”
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing, Lena? Why are you fraternizing with his type?”
It was none other than Aisha Belka, one of Lena’s sisters from her former familia and the same Amazon Bete had gone toe-to-toe with in the pub the night prior. Brows raised in surprise, she quickly grabbed Lena’s arm and prepared to pull her away from the werewolf.
“W-wait, Aisha! Bete Loga and I are on a date right now! Th-this is the chance I’ve been waiting for!”
“A date? With this werewolf? Fool! Just how low have your standards dropped?! You’d do better to find yourself someone with at least an ounce of integrity!”
“I’m right here, you know…”
“Flowers are about the last thing you can expect from a man like this,” Aisha continued, still testy about the fight in the pub and not even trying to hide her disdain. She must have heard their conversation, as she threw a disgusted look in the direction of the light-blue flowers Lena had been ogling (and she certainly didn’t pay Bete’s annoyed comment any heed, either).
Lena, however, wasn’t one to give up, and she implored the woman who was as good as an older sister to her. “Pleeeeeease, Aisha! Just gimme some time! Let me pop out two kids!”
“Say that one more time.”
“I see. Like a studhorse, then?”
“Say that one more time.”
“Mm…More like a studwolf!”
“JUST TRY SAYING THAT ONE MORE TIME!”
Bete’s indignant commentary grew louder and louder as the two girls talked around him.
“So, just let it go, yeah? Pretty please? What’re you doin’ out here anyway, huh?”
“I seriously can’t believe you…Me? I’m out on a walk is all, and keeping an eye on things while I do. I like to make sure our fellow sisters and Berbera who’ve been scattered to the wind aren’t in any trouble.”
“Really? You old softy!”
“Oh, don’t patronize me. Which reminds me—you haven’t been using that ‘secret place’ of yours in the Pleasure Quarter again, have you? I heard you didn’t return to your familia last night!”
“Guh?! F-forgive me, Aishaaaaa!”
“How many times were you told to stay away from those old buildings?!”
The conversation continued as though Bete wasn’t even there.
Whether the first-rate courtesan, who had a decidedly more put-together look and sexually alluring body than Lena, had been persuaded by Lena’s arguments or not, she finally let out a sigh and gave up on her lecture. This didn’t stop her, however, from menacingly advancing toward Bete before taking her leave.
“Hey, Vanargand. I’ll permit you to drag her along for now, but if anything, and I mean anything, should happen to her, you’ll wish you’d never been born.”
“She’s the one doin’ the dragging here—not me,” Bete grumbled under his breath as the older Amazon walked away with a final glare.
“Aisha may not look it, but she’s a real sweetheart underneath everything. I can’t count the number of times she’s helped me out, and I’m basically nobody among the Berbera. She’s even looked after the old crackpots of the group who everyone else had already given up on. She just does a whole lot, you know?”
“You think I care? And, hey! Stop pullin’ me!”
Lena had taken to clutching Bete’s arm in her glee, rattling on and on about the older woman like a proud younger sister. Bete attempted to peel her off, grimacing internally.
I shoulda known this would attract more attention than the Dungeon. I don’t even wanna think about what’d happen if we bumped into someone I know…
The fact that Aisha had discovered them so quickly only added to his already growing sense of paranoia. If any member of his own familia were to see them, it would only be worse.
Indeed, if even Aisha had noticed them—
“…Mister…Bete?”
—then anyone could.
“…A-Aiz?”
It was her, Aiz, and the moment he sensed her shock, his face froze in terror.
Sweat began leaking down his skin like a waterfall as the tail protruding from his backside tensed up like a lightning rod. Aiz, too, was staring at him with an expression of sheer disbelief, almost as though she’d just encountered the most outlandish of phenomena. She looked back and forth between Bete, his cheek twitching, and Lena, who happened to be clinging to his arm.
A strange sort of tension wove its way between the two first-tier adventurers, neither one making the first move.
“Huh? What’s going on, huh? Don’t tell me…the Sword Princess is your wife?!”
Fortunately, there was someone there to break the ice for them—a certain reckless Amazon.
“Nuh-uh! No way! I’m gonna be Bete Loga’s wife, you hear? I’m the one holding him in the middle of a crowded street, aren’t I? And I’ve already promised him a pair of healthy bundles of j—”
“Would you shut the hell up already?!”
“Gwwwuaagh?!”
Bete didn’t even try to restrain himself this time, aiming his elbow at the back of the girl’s head. The impact practically knocked her eyes out of their sockets, and with a sharp yelp, she was out like a light, Bete lugging her body up under his arm.
Aiz had yet to get over her shock, and as Bete continued sweating buckets, he did the only thing his lupine instincts could think to do—he ran.
“D-don’t get the wrong idea, Aiz!” he shouted back as he picked up Lena and fled.
Meanwhile, Why am I running?! was all he could think, unsure as to why he was sprinting like his life depended on it. But that didn’t stop him from hightailing—or perhaps wolf-tailing would be the better word—it out of there, the passersby on the street looking on in bewilderment as he raced by at full speed.
“W-wait!”
Finally recovering her senses, Aiz took off after him.
“Oh, sure! You choose now of all times to chase me!”
“I’m supposed to…to watch out for you…!”
“Well, that’s news to me!”
“I know you’re upset, but…children, Bete? Don’t you…think you’re being a little too…hasty?!”
“You’ve got it all wrong!” Bete howled back.
Aiz must have taken Lena’s words to heart, the airheaded swordswoman now trying desperately to warn him against the dangers of having children across familia lines. She was like an assassin, ready to do whatever it took to carry out Loki’s orders, and Bete put everything he had into his legs to increase his speed to its utmost limit.
Just when it seemed he might get away, Aiz sped up, too.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it…!”
“Awaken, Tempest!”
“Damn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttt!!”
Throughout the streets, they ran, the golden-haired swordswoman gaining, the limbs of the Amazonian girl bouncing wildly, and one final scream ripping its way out of the wolf’s throat.
Sweat pouring off him, Bete fled.
“Haah…haah…gnnagh…Damn…woman…”
Night had descended upon the city.
Having arrived safely back at Lena’s secret place in the ruined Pleasure Quarter, Bete tossed aside the girl beneath his arm and collapsed to the ground.
He was still the fastest runner in Loki Familia, able to outpace Aiz even when she used Airiel. As he sat there, shoulders still heaving, Lena gave a small moan—“Ngh…”—from where he’d thrown her as she finally came to.
“Huh? Is this my…secret place? And…Bete Loga, why are you all covered in sweat?!” she furiously inquired, though she was quickly silenced by the werewolf’s bloodshot glare (“Gngh?!”). Taking in his worn-out state, she seemed to postulate what had happened, letting out a forced laugh. “Aha…ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry, it was…my fault, wasn’t it?…Though now what’re we gonna do, huh? It’s night already, which means I won’t be able to…”
Finish the date? Fulfill the requirements for the date?
Either way, their time was up. And from the look on Lena’s face, she was greatly regretting the time lost.
Bete pressed his lips together in a tense line, picking his spent body off the floor and sluggishly rising to his feet.
“…I’m tired. It’s too much trouble to go anywhere else at this point, so I’ll just stay here.”
“Huh?”
“But you’re gonna help me search for that thing tomorrow, you hear?!” he quickly snapped as Lena looked up in surprise.
“You’ll stay here again? Really?”
“…Whatever.”
“You’ll really stay here with me?”
“Do I gotta say it again?” Bete growled.
A smile popped onto Lena’s face, and she jumped to her feet, arms flailing. “W-wait! I’ll cook dinner! We can eat together! So just…You can just go upstairs and rest, okay?!” she urged excitedly before racing toward the kitchen.
Bete watched her disappear down the hall, not saying a word before trudging his way up the stairs to the bedroom on the top floor. Same as the night before, he disregarded the bed, sitting himself in front of the open window.
“…I shoulda gotten what I needed and left…” he mumbled. As the night breeze played with his gray fur, he narrowed his eyes. “…I’m not even thinkin’ straight anymore…”
Was it because it’d been so long since anyone had shown him any sort of affection? Or because the girl downstairs had repeated those same words Leene had told him so long ago? Bete wasn’t sure. All he knew was that little by little, his lips were starting to forget how to sneer.
Down below him, the Night District was as tranquil as the sea, the whole of the Pleasure Quarter drenched in shadow. Maybe today, too, beneath the lights peeping out from the surrounding buildings, men and women were giving themselves up to passion, whispering the sweet nothings of love. Even if that love was nothing but a fleeting night’s dream.
Bete could feel his eyelids grow heavy as he gazed out across the night landscape.
He was tired. For many different reasons. So many reasons. The past haunted him, and the words of a girl no longer with him kept creeping into his thoughts, drowning him in a strange sort of sentimentality. Somehow he knew he was going to dream again—a continuation of the one last night.
Even as he heard Lena’s footsteps dance lightly up the stairs, Bete could already feel himself succumbing to the darkness like waning moonlight.
When was the last time anyone had shown him any affection?
Waiting for him at the end of his long journey from his homeland were the towering walls of the Labyrinth City of Orario. And his first order of business upon arriving was to get himself a blessing from the gods. He already had a pretty good idea what these “gods” were, given how many had passed through his tribe’s village on their way to Orario: insincere, pleasure-seeking hedonists, the whole lot of them. For an adventurer to get picked up by a good god, it required considerable luck—and a few hints from the rumor mill, as well. No one could afford to simply wait for a god to choose them on a whim. No, a great deal of meticulous care had to be taken.
Fortunately for Bete, he was picked up rather quickly by a god who didn’t really care one way or another if he joined, and he was soon inducted into Ví?arr Familia, a Dungeon-type familia led by the god Ví?arr.
Ví?arr himself was a god of few words and just about as far removed from Bete’s philistine image of the gods that one could get. More of a hermit than anything else, he had two defining features: his long auburn hair and matching eyes. There was something about the god’s calm, tranquil features and oracle-esque speech that pulled at Bete’s heartstrings.
“Protect that jaw of yours—and that fang—at all costs, yes?”
—Just let anyone try!
The words of his god brought a fierce grin to his face.
His peers had been much the same, all of them purebred adventurers, relatively young, and quite a few animal people were among their numbers. It almost reminded him of his tribe on the plains, and it didn’t take long for Bete to decide this was the familia for him, even if the decision itself might have been nothing more than atonement for abandoning his own tribe.
He butted heads with his colleagues even back then, but that didn’t keep him from slowly making a name for himself in the familia. The experience he’d gotten fighting in the wild as a Beastman of the Plains became a powerful weapon even far beneath the earth in the Dungeon. But more than anything else, Bete wanted to continue tempering his fangs, plowing through the monsters of the deep with a sort of fierce desperation, giving himself up completely to the days of combat. His insatiable desire to feed on the strong was enough to earn him not only the trust of his fellow familia members but their commendation, as well. Before he knew it, he’d become a sort of beloved father figure to the rest of the familia, like an alpha wolf looking over his pack.
All of a sudden, the completely unknown Ví?arr Familia was making news. Led by Bete and his superior skills, the familia saw the number of its members leveling up rise. Even when other familias attacked, they were able to pull out ahead, and soon they found themselves sitting nicely among the other midsize familias of the city. It was during this time that Bete received his first title: Fenris.
The familia itself acted about as terribly as most civilians imagined a group of battle-crazed animal people would act, Bete included. That said, none of them was the type to commit any misdeeds that Bete would’ve deemed “lame” or “stupid.” They weren’t about to become chumps who tormented the weak. There was no room for the arrogance of the strong. If anyone had so much free time they could afford to waste it harassing others, they should’ve been using it to sharpen their fangs. Under the leadership of their captain, Bete, Ví?arr Familia quickly positioned itself as the strongest combat familia in all of Orario.
It’ll be different this time. Not like before with my childhood friend.
Make ’em stronger. Show ’em how it’s done.
That way, even those weaker than me’ll be able to bare their fangs. Become warriors who can fight back against that whole survival-of-the-fittest mentality.
Even the weak could become as strong as him. That’s what he believed. Protecting them as they ran along after him, seeing their smiles when they flipped the tables and protected him in return—yes, he’d been able to believe that.
To Bete, who’d lost everything, Ví?arr Familia suited him just right.
They were a group of idiots who risked the Dungeon for drink money, pulling their god into all-night booze fests. Patronizing the pub with its newly hung red-wasp sign and causing a commotion every single day, not sparing a thought for their antics as they exchanged insults with the unsociable old dwarf who ran the place. Bete, too, had run his mouth off at him innumerable times. And sometimes, even Ví?arr himself would give a speech, letting his hair down just a little too much and eliciting terror from the boys and laughter from the girls. It really seemed like Bete had recovered the one thing he’d lost so long ago—his family.
There’d been a girl in the familia, too. One of the few humans.
She was the vice captain of the familia, second in line to Bete when it came to sheer power and resentful of the fact that he constantly had to look out for her. Her long chestnut-colored hair had run down her back like silk, and she’d always had a determined grin on her face—and was always first in line to scold Bete when he was injured, tending to his wounds in reticent silence.
She’d been a good woman.
From the way she’d felt in his arms, to the way her sighs tickled his ears, to the slight trouble she had with her words sometimes—she’d been his warmth. They’d gotten into a huge fight one time. Bete had complained about her perfume (the smell was hard on his sensitive nose), but sure enough, he noticed the scent was nowhere to be found the next day or the day after that. She’d always tried to be strong for Bete’s sake. For the sake of a man hungry for power.
Everything about her, from her looks to her personality, was different from his childhood friend back on the plains. But that didn’t stop Bete from falling for her.
Somehow, something inside him told him that she’d be able to heal the scar of his first love.
He’d been infatuated. A love so sweet, he would’ve been lying if he claimed he didn’t want to lose himself, to drown himself in it.
But Bete’s fang wouldn’t allow that.
No, the blue tattoo on his face, racing across his cheek like a bolt of lightning that represented all those irreparable wounds guiding his actions, would allow only one thing:
Be stronger.
Feed on the strong.
Indeed, Bete was already stronger than anyone and everything he knew.
The young, weak boy he’d left behind on the plains was nowhere to be found.
It was four years after he’d arrived in Orario. Sixteen years old and now a Level 3, he knew it was time. He was going to take down the Master of the Plains.
He was strong now. And past the point where he could leisurely bide his time, telling himself he just needed to be a little bit stronger, a little bit stronger. Even here in Orario, people knew of the creature stalking the plains far, far to the north. If Bete didn’t kill it, surely somebody else would. And Bete wasn’t about to let that happen. No, Bete was going to take that thing down with his own hands.
Receiving permission from Ví?arr and the rest of his peers, he departed alone from Orario. He left his anxious companions with nothing but a few off-color words, telling them not to worry and to look after the place in his stead.
That girl, too, had tried to keep him from leaving. But Bete had simply shaken her away. He knew she liked him. Knew she loved him. But this time, Bete refused to face her. He’d chosen his fang, after all.
To this day, he couldn’t get that final image of her out of his mind, that resolute smile of hers as she watched him leave.
Ví?arr, too, left him with a final set of words as Bete made his way past the gate.
“Bete…someday, you’ll understand the true meaning behind your fang.”
The trip took him three months with all the stopovers he was forced to make.
But finally, he arrived—the plains of the north and the place of his birth. The wide-open fields stretched out before him like an ocean, followed by the deep green of the forest past the short hills, and even farther than that, the steely mountain range whose tips were covered in white snow. There was even the large lake he remembered swimming in together with his sister and friends. They’d wandered across it time and time again, their backyard rich with nature’s bounties. But now it had become nothing more than a parched land of bones, its surface ravaged by the new master who’d laid claim to it. Bete clenched his teeth together as he looked out across the plains he’d once called home, anger coloring the old memories.
He ended up finding the beast, strangely enough, on that very same day, the moon high overhead in the night sky.
And as for the fight, it lasted the entire night. The beast itself had grown stronger, too, after feeding on not only human prey but its own brethren, as well.
Bete fought with everything he had, blood pouring from his wounds, his bones snapping, sacrificing countless weapons. He repelled the mighty claws that had once rent his mother and father limb from limb, he dodged the great galloping feet that had once crushed his sister underfoot, and he smashed the sharpened jaws that had once fed on the flesh of the girl he’d loved. The dying cry of his enemy echoing out against the moonlit sky, Bete became a beast even greater than the Master of the Plains, brandishing the fang that had led him to this point.
Then.
The colossal beast came crashing to the ground, shaking the very earth and leaving Bete standing alone, his body bathed in red. He’d won. He had consumed the strong. His fang was victorious.
Body battered and bruised and broken, he cried out, the same as he had on that day that started it all so, so long ago.
Joy, anger, sadness, futility, pain—everything welled up inside him, forming one giant ball of emotion that burst out in a howl that crackled in his throat. Toward the moon, he howled, toward the dark night slowly fading into the light of the dawn.
I won!
I devoured it!
I’m the strongest of them all!
I’ll never let anyone take anything from me ever again! Never!!
A trickle of blood wove its way down the fang on his face.
No matter how strong he became, that pain would always follow him.
Night’s shadow curled itself around the half-ruined buildings and strewn rubble of the Pleasure Quarter’s third district—the territory of the former Ishtar Familia. Down among the ruins, voices quiet, Loki Familia conducted their investigation. Their ranks were small: Finn and Gareth in the lead, followed by a few lower-level members and a very disobliged Loki. They conducted their search without light to help guide them, not even the glow of their magic-stone lanterns.
The Guild had stationed guards around the perimeter to keep anyone from entering the Pleasure Quarter, but they clearly hadn’t assigned enough, as their group didn’t run into a single soul on their way inside, and from the looks of the untouched rubble, none of the reconstruction efforts seemed to be making any headway.
“Any thoughts on all this, Finn?” Gareth asked slowly from his spot in the shadow of a nearby brothel, most of the others already dispersed to the four corners of the wreckage.
“Hmm…The way I see it, the enemy has to have left behind at least one key somewhere in the city.”
“And what makes ya think that, huh?” Loki this time, giving a little snort from atop a dilapidated barrel she was using as a chair.
“Because Ishtar’s been sent home,” he answered, glancing over at his goddess. “We already have reason to believe Ishtar was colluding with the Evils after what happened back in Meren. Perhaps the Evils enlisted Ishtar as a source of funds, what with her grip on the Pleasure Quarter. And what would they give her in return for all that?”
“…The downfall of Freya Familia?”
“Indeed. Ishtar’s antipathy toward Freya and her familia is practically common knowledge. So I can’t imagine it would be anything but.” Finn turned his eyes back to Loki.
“Mm, guess that’s true. I bet she was plannin’ on enlistin’ Kali’s help in luring Freya and her goons down into Knossos. Spoiled brat of a goddess, really. There’s no way she wouldn’t’ve asked for a key of her own so she could go slitherin’ through the halls whenever she pleased.”
“Hmm…” Gareth mumbled at this, stroking his beard in thought. “But wouldn’t ye think the enemy’d wanna keep knowledge of a place like that well under wraps? Ye wouldn’t think they’d be handin’ out keys like candy, now, do ye?”
“Well, if what Lefiya learned from Thanatos is anything to go by, both the Evils and the creatures want nothing more than the destruction of Orario, meaning they’d come head-to-head with Freya Familia sooner rather than later anyway. Another obstacle to their goal, so to speak, much like us.”
“I see what yer sayin’. They figured they’d use Ishtar as their front man to take Freya and her bunch down now—or weaken ’em, at the very least. Which is why they agreed to help, yeah?”
Finn nodded.
Hell, that demi-spirit they fought down in Knossos may have even been Ishtar’s trump card.
“For Freya and her men to take out Ishtar Familia now…I would imagine this has the Evils reeling, too.”
“Hmm, here I was thinkin’ we’d lost everything with Ishtar Familia’s destruction, but…lookin’ at it a different way, this might be the chance we’ve been waiting for.”
“That it might. If Ishtar really was in possession of a key, then the Evils will do everything possible to try and retrieve it.” Finn nodded, finishing Loki’s thought. Though it was possible the Evils had already recovered the key, the way he was licking his thumb was evidence enough that the prum thought they still had a chance. “The Evils or us…Who’ll be the first to find it, I wonder?…The fight for the key has begun.”
“Lady Valletta! Loki Familia has been seen prowling about the palace in the Pleasure Quarter…!”
“Goddammit! So they’re on the move, are they?” Deep beneath the earth in the man-made labyrinth Knossos, Valletta cursed under her breath at the news from one of her subordinates. The accessories dangling from her ears jangling, she furrowed her brow in indignation.
“What will you do, then, Valletta dear? If I may be of any help at all, do let me know,” Thanatos said from his spot atop the altar, his black garments fluttering with the slight movement.
Valletta didn’t respond for a moment. The cogs in her head were turning within the ethereal gloom created by the blue phosphorescence of the magic-stone lanterns.
“…There’s no way they got a tip or somethin’, is there?”
“I—I wouldn’t think so, ma’am! There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to their search. Word on the street is they’re also approaching the former Amazons and prostitutes of Ishtar Familia…”
Valletta stilled, bringing a hand to her lips in thought.
Finally, she raised her head, as though she had reached some sort of conclusion.
“I want you to assemble all our assassins.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“And you, Thanatos! Go get that jackass Barca up here…Tell him to start making those cursed weapons of his. As many as he possibly can.”
“Oh? You aim to take them on, then? Outside of Knossos?” Thanatos watched Valletta issue orders, his eyes widening as a smile rose on his face.
Valletta simply brushed her hair back. “Didn’t wanna cause a ruckus up there, but…Well, what can ya do?” she retorted. “I’m not about to let Finn get his grubby little hands on even one of our keys.”
Her lips curled into a vicious smile.
“—We’re going to war.”
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