EPILOGUE
THE DECISION’S COST
He walked through city streets illuminated by the western sun.
The sky was still red. Bell had parted ways with the Xenos and was now en route to Daedalus Street.
Although it pained him to leave before Wiene woke up, he left her in their hands.
The public would be more than just suspicious should anyone see him together with her. Fels joined Lido’s group to help the Xenos who were now scattered about the surface.
Bell walked with his head down, so as to not draw attention.
He’d arrived on one of the mazelike district’s main streets where Hestia Familia and Loki Familia were most likely still around. He couldn’t just run home and let the whole thing blow over.
Bell had to see with his own eyes exactly what had happened, what his decisions had caused.
No one had shouted at him on his way through the city streets—but the situation changed the moment he set foot back here.
“……?!”
Guild employees rushed about; injured people sprawled out on the ground. Several broken walls also looked familiar. People in the area started to notice the pale boy taking in the sights as he passed through.
Townspeople, adventurers, and Guild employees glared daggers in his direction.
He was the boy who had prioritized his own greed, protected a monster, and pursued it himself for money, and they silently criticized him with a vengeance.
“Yo, Bell Cranell. You get that dragon’s jewel?”
“Why would you do it…? And Loki Familia was fighting so hard for us.”
“Some adventurer you are…Little Rookie, my ass!”
Although it wasn’t long before people he’d never met began to take out their anger on him.
They didn’t hide their merciless contempt for the boy as he trudged through the street.
Hostility, hatred, and despair.
Never having been faced with these dark human emotions before, Bell’s breath caught in his throat.
The name of the “Little Rookie,” renowned ever since his victory in the War Game, had fallen from grace.
Fame and high hopes could be lost with a single action. They were two sides to the same coin. One side meant trust; the other, disappointment.
Bell had betrayed them all. The coin would never flip.
As he encountered the anger of those hurt by his actions, Bell felt his trembling hands turn cold as he endured and pressed on.
Then…
“?.”
Bell came to a halt when he arrived at the street.
The stone pavement was split and broken everywhere. Mountains of debris occupied spaces where houses once stood. There were charred remnants of the battle. The devastation told him one thing—this was what his decision had cost.
“Bell…”
Hestia stood off to the side of the road. Welf and Mikoto were with her. Lilly and Haruhime looked physically ill. It made Bell’s heart ache.
“……”
Aiz was a short distance away. She was staring in his direction with the rest of Loki Familia looming behind her. While some were busy at work, there were others who clearly wanted to give him a piece of their minds. Bell swallowed hard.
“……!”
Then, several Guild employees came into view, along with what was the main battleground.
Amid all the venomous glares, one of the women caught sight of him and immediately rushed over.
She had swishing brown hair, emerald-green eyes behind her glasses, and pointed half-elf ears.
“Miss…Eina…”
Eina came to a stop right in front of the dazed boy.
Her piercing gaze was accompanied by a deep frown, a severe expression that he’d never seen on her before.
No one dared approach.
Everyone around stood completely still; the silence seemed deafening to Bell’s ears.
Eina slowly opened her mouth.
“You put numerous people in danger for self-centered reasons. You even attacked other adventurers?Is this true?”
—It’s not.
He wanted to say so.
The last thing he wanted was for her of all people to get the wrong idea.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t say anything for Wiene’s sake—for all the Xenos.
Bell hung his head and answered.
“…Yes.”
A moment later—SLAP!
A dry impact accompanied the pain in his cheek.
Eyes wide with shock, he looked up. Eina stood with her right hand out and tears in her eyes—she was angry.
“I don’t believe you…!”
Then tears spilled from her emerald eyes.
“I could never…believe you…!”
Crying, Eina wrapped her arms around Bell.
She had seen through his lie, and she was angry that he was hiding the truth, pained by his unwillingness to talk to her.
Bell was speechless as Eina hung off him and hiccupped between sobs.
—Lend a weeping lady your shoulder, hold her.
His grandfather’s teachings echoed in the back of his mind, and both of Bell’s arms rose to the middle of Eina’s back…before falling limp at his sides.
—Gramps, I…
I don’t know what to do.
It was his fault that Eina, whom he practically saw as his older sister, was weeping. The people around them forgot themselves watching the miserable scene.
Hestia and her familia quietly observed them.
With both of Eina’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, Bell raised his head toward the sky.
The darkening red reflected off his eyes.
It was early morning.
The sun still had yet to rise, and the sky was a light-gray hue.
The rain that had fallen through the night had finally lifted. Amid a light morning fog, the northernmost gate of Orario’s city wall opened.
“So my days in Orario have come to a close…but I never thought you’d be the one to see me off, Ganesha.”
“It is because…I am Ganesha.”
Ikelos stood before the open gate, just about to walk out as Ganesha and his followers stood witness. The wheat-skinned deity’s navy-blue hair swished to the side as he flashed a grin at the masked god and said, “You know, that’s not an answer.”
Loki Familia had brought Ikelos before the Guild, where he admitted to his familia’s involvement in black-market dealings. He had also confirmed that they had been capturing monsters behind the Guild’s back.
It was determined that his familia’s activities had caused the monster surface breach that had sent the city into chaos, and he was therefore permanently exiled from the city two days after the incident as punishment.
With all his followers gone and his familia’s assets confiscated, the deity was expelled with nothing but the clothes on his back.
“Well, sure beats being sent back up to heaven.”
“The Guild certainly considered that, and I hear there was much debate.”
“I know, I know. They needed a scapegoat to make a scene, right? After all my familia did, can’t really blame them…”
Ganesha was silent beneath his mask as he watched Ikelos accept his fate with a grin.
The Guild had granted townspeople entry into the North Gate to witness the send-off and, despite the early morning hour, a large crowd of people and deities had gathered. They were all here to see Ikelos leave with their own eyes.
“But you know…my only regret is that I lost my front-row seat. Just when things were starting to get good.”
Ikelos looked back inside the gate, taking in Orario for the last time.
“I’m jealous, Hermes.”
“—To sum it all up, things are starting to settle down.”
Hermes casually opened his arms toward the elderly deity and brought his report to a close.
Beneath Guild Headquarters, in the Chamber of Prayers, Ouranos at his altar and Hermes were conducting a secret meeting amid the light of four torches in the darkness.
“I’ve got my children out combing the city, but they can’t find too many people upset with the Guild. That’s probably all thanks to Ikelos taking the blame and responsibility.”
Ikelos and his followers were being held accountable for allowing monsters to escape onto the surface and putting the city in danger. There was no one else to blame, so all the criticism was concentrated on him. The Guild had managed to alleviate the situation for now by sentencing the culprit. The fact that this incident was no longer considered a “monster surface breach” also benefited their cause.
The deity played his role as a scapegoat, agreeing to permanent exile.
“The public is still not aware that sentient monsters exist. But then again, Rivira’s residents saw armed monsters, and there’s the connection between the eighteenth floor and Daedalus Street…It’s only a matter of time before people figure out there’s a way into the Dungeon outside of Babel.”
However, only a few familias and the Guild knew about Knossos.
“I leave the rest up to you,” Hermes remarked offhandedly. “From what I’ve seen, this incident already seems to be going away, so there’s no problem.”
Ouranos opened his mouth to speak to the dandy deity, who was trying to wrap it all up with a nice bow.
“However, it is not over.”
“I know,” Hermes said with a nod before him.
“The Xenos who escaped from Loki Familia…As none of them can return to the Dungeon, they live in constant fear of adventurer search parties. Their lives are on the line.”
“Kind of ironic, finally getting to see the surface like they always wanted but having to go back into the Dungeon to survive. Problem is, the Guild’s higher-ups have not only kept Babel off-limits but they’ve sealed off Daedalus Street as well. Not to mention Loki’s children are standing watch all over. They have no way to get home.”
“It’s only a matter of time until the Xenos are captured, along with Fels for protecting them…”
With the world against them, Hermes ventured, “How about bringing Loki into the fold? Slim as our chances are.”
The god slumped when Ouranos responded with perfectly composed silence. He widened his narrow eyes, his aura changing instantaneously.
“Ouranos, you are the pillar of strength holding up the Guild and the city itself. If you pray for peace and order to continue within Orario’s walls, you must symbolize those very things.”
“……”
“Even if there are undertakings you’d like to keep hidden, anything that would dirty your reputation…”
“…I’m aware.”
Hermes’s continuous chattering finally elicited a response from Ouranos.
The dandy deity smiled the instant he heard that answer.
“—So then, Ouranos, why not put me in charge of keeping further incidents under control?”
“…What is your thinking, Hermes?”
“What’s with that tone? I just want to get in your good graces. Think of it as a reward for working as your pawn.”
That was Hermes’s request.
“I can’t allow that boy—Bell Cranell—to up and disappear. I’ve bet everything on him, Ouranos.”
Public opinion had shifted drastically, and many now hated the young adventurer.
Hermes declared his intent to prevent the boy from being destroyed and exiting center stage.
“Why do you favor the boy so?”
Without offering any of his personal feelings toward the boy, Ouranos decided to ask the deity directly.
Hermes grinned.
“Because he’s a parting gift from Zeus, maybe?”
Crackle! A sudden burst of sparks from the torches illuminated Ouranos’s wide eyes.
The elderly god remained silent and slowly closed his eyes.
“May I have your cooperation this time, Ouranos?”
The elderly deity remained silent in the face of the dandy god’s dark smile, accepting of all things good and evil—and nodded.
A bluish night sky looked down over a pile of rubble on the outskirts of town.
A single monster had concealed itself in the shadows, breathing ever so quietly.
The black minotaur, missing an arm.
The blood, still flowing from open wounds, had dyed its black fur a rusty crimson. Drip, drip. The Labrys protruded from the blood-splattered ground at the bleeding minotaur’s side. The monster’s incredible vitality was the only thing keeping it alive.
“……”
The tranquility was so complete, the thrill of battle felt like a distant dream. The monster slowly shifted its gaze to the hole in the crumbling ceiling overhead.
The sky on the surface. It could see innumerable pinpricks of starlight that didn’t exist in the Dungeon.
A waning quarter moon appeared from behind wispy, flowing clouds.
It was shining white tonight.
Gone was the golden glow, replaced by cold light.
The monster gazed at the white crescent as though searching for something it had yet to find.
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