Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka - Volume 6 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 

THOSE WHO GATHER 

The news that a War Game would be held spread like wildfire among the gods. 

Of course the adventurers and citizens of Orario couldn’t help but notice the jubilant and high-spirited deities all around the city. It was no time at all before every living thing on the surface of the Labyrinth City knew what was going to happen. 

Something else transpired just mere moments after Hestia and Apollo’s announcement had been made official. 

“That’s it, that tower has to be…!” 

Bell had left Apollo Familia’s home at a dead sprint and worked his way through a city much more active than usual. Weaving through unfamiliar territory, he arrived at the northernmost block. One month ago now, he trained with her on top of the city wall. Doing his best to remember the landmarks she taught him, Bell desperately searched to find the building she called home. 

The white-haired boy practically flew down North Main Street, furiously pumping his arms in perfect rhythm with his strides. The side streets webbed out around him; his eyes desperately scanned for something familiar. 

He turned into one side street filled with decorative houses and well-known structures. Bell kept his eyes on the rooftops, trying to find the one that was higher than the others. A few more turns and suddenly he found himself outside Loki Familia’s home, the Twilight Manor. 

“You there, halt!” 

“State your business!” 

“Let me talk to Aiz…Let me talk to Aiz Wallenstein!” 

A man and woman immediately blocked the intruder’s path at the entrance to their home. The boy pleaded with them to allow him to meet with Aiz. 

The male guard took a look at the frantic boy’s face, his eyebrows sinking lower and lower as he started to connect the dots. 

“You, Little Rookie…? What’s the big idea, trying to meet with her?!” 

Bell’s white hair and red eyes must have tipped him off. The guard immediately came to the defense of his ally, trying to protect her from this outsider. However, Bell couldn’t afford to back down. 

The boy asked the guards many times to let him see Aiz, but he couldn’t explain himself. The guards’ voices grew steadily louder and angrier as the boy’s pleas became more and more desperate. It didn’t take long for other members of the Familia to make their way outside. 

“…!” 

A group of twenty adventurers emerged from the building that was built like a wall of spears with several towers reaching out to the sky. They spread out just behind the two guards, ready to defend their home against the intruder. Bell’s situation had just become that much more perilous. 

The new arrivals started shouting threats, calling him “pitiful,” “shameless,” and “reckless,” among others…They already knew that Hestia Familia would be taking part in the War Game and believed he wanted to convince Aiz to join the fight—a fox recruiting a tiger for her claws. They would do everything in their power to drive him away. Their desire to protect their ally quickly turned to anger—how dare he use her for his own gain? 

Fear consumed the boy’s body as he took a step back out of reflex. 

He knew full well that what he was doing was shameful. 

But he was unwilling to turn his back. 

He only had a small window of time to get stronger, to overcome the gap that separated him from his new enemy. The only way he knew to become stronger than Hyacinthus in time was to learn from Aiz once again. Just like how she had made him strong enough to take down a Minotaur. 

The fact that Lilly had been kidnapped was still eating at him inside. Instead of rushing to save her, he was standing out here getting yelled at. Every moment he wasn’t making progress to rescue her or getting stronger felt like an eternity. 

“Let me see Aiz!” he pleaded with the mob again, bowing over and over. Every muscle in his face was squeezed to its limit. 

“What’s all this?” 

A voice cut through the chaos. 

The mob of adventurers immediately fell silent. Bell stopped moving, his eyes glued forward. 

A top-class adventurer, the Amazonian girl Tione Hyrute, walked out onto the lawn. As was normal for her race, she wore clothing that exposed a great deal of her wheat-colored skin. Her long black hair swished back and forth over her shoulders and down her back as she approached. 

The mob quickly parted, allowing her to pass. She walked directly up to Bell. 

One of the guards leaned close to whisper into her ear and explained everything that had happened so far. The Amazonian girl’s eyes flashed at Bell. 

“Be gone from here. I cannot allow this mockery to continue.” 

“…?!” 

Tione showed no sympathy. She had delivered the will of Loki Familia in place of their leader, Finn. 

Her tone was cold and her stare showed no willingness to listen. Bell cowered in her presence. She crossed her arms, aura unyielding and overwhelming. A moment later, she grabbed both of Bell’s shoulders and pushed him away from the front entrance. 

“W-wait! Miss Tione?! Please, just hear me out…!” 

Bell was forced to step backward to stay upright. Her strength overpowered him in no time as Bell was driven farther and farther away from his last hope. 

His body shook, trying to push forward, when Tione leaned in close. 

“—Turn right from here and go two blocks down that street.” 

“!” 

Her voice was quiet so as not to be overheard by the onlookers. 

Tione ignored the look of shock on Bell’s face and gave him one last shove into the street. 

Her face might as well have been carved from stone, emotionless as she stared at him for a long moment before turning her back. Bell watched her long black hair dance behind her, unable to move or speak. The Amazonian girl walked swiftly back through the mob and into the building. 

At long last, Bell’s muscles started to respond. Slowly at first, he backed away from Loki Familia. Feeling the angry glares of the adventurer mob, Bell backtracked down the same street that he had come…The boy took off running the moment he was out of sight. 

He followed Tione’s directions, running through a dim back alley with his heart racing and fighting for breath. One block, two blocks and— 

“Ah! Hey, Aiz! Argonaut’s here—!” 

“Aiz?! And—Miss Tiona?!” 

Standing there to greet him were none other than the saber-wielding Aiz and the other Amazonian girl, Tiona, with some kind of large sheath resting over her shoulders. 

Bell froze in surprise, but Tiona greeted him like a friend as the two girls walked up to meet him. 

“We saw you from the window, Argonaut. Some kind of magic-stone lamp went off in Aiz’s head, and we asked Tione to meet you.” 

Tiona went on to explain the other side of the story. 

Aiz had figured out immediately what Bell was doing when he appeared at their front door. The look in his eyes told her that the boy wanted another round of training. However, they couldn’t allow the mob to see her, so they sent Tione outside to deliver a message. 

Whether she wanted to help out her friend or she was just along for the fun, Tiona was completely on board with the idea. 

“…Aiz, is this okay?” 

Bell took a very cautious step forward as he spoke. 

She had no reason to teach him anything, Bell was asking for a huge favor. Since their Familias were not working together, she’d be doing this on her own as well as face the consequences it might bring. 

Bell’s words hung in the air for a moment, tension rising. Finally, Aiz gave him her answer. 

“I cannot fight for you or alongside you…You have to do your best, and then…” 

“Yep, yep! This is your fight, Argonaut!” 

Tiona interpreted Aiz’s vague words before—whoosh!—pointing her finger right at him. 

Bell broke out in a cold sweat. Aiz continued. 

“I think it would be wrong to…abandon you.” 

“Aiz…” 

The look in the girl’s golden eyes made Bell’s heart melt. Completely ignoring the sudden change in mood, Tiona jumped back into the conversation. 

“This is fine, no problem. If Aiz whips Argonaut into shape, the War Game will be more entertaining! Loki’n all the rest’ll be thrilled for sure!” 

Bell could only grimace at the thought. If the difference in power between him and Apollo Familia wasn’t so staggering, their fight would be more fun to watch. Aiz looked at the Amazon and lightly smiled. 

“But for me, Apollo Familia is going about this all wrong. Way over-the-top, dirty, I just can’t stand it…” 

Tiona’s cheek twitched for a moment before she looked at the boy and grinned from ear to ear. 

“So I’m gonna help you, too, Argonaut!” 

“Wait, so that means…” 

“Yep! You’re stuck with me, too!” 

Bell looked at Aiz, unsure what to say. She nodded back to him. 

Getting over the shock of this turn of events, Bell wasted no time in showing his appreciation to the girls. 

“Really, I can’t thank you enough…” 

“Relax, relax, it’s nothing! Let’s go, time’s a-wastin’!” 

“Yes.” 

Bell swore to himself right then and there that he would find some way to repay them for their kindness. He was in their debt. 

Tiona was so excited that she thrust her large apparatus straight up, a childish smile on her face. Bell and Aiz followed her down the backstreet. 

Their destination: the same place they’d trained before—the northwest city wall. 

Bell’s training under two top-class adventurers was about to begin. 

The Guild officially approved the War Game between Hestia and Apollo almost immediately. 

At the same time, preparations began all around the city. 

However, no one was busier than the Guild employees. They had to find a way to allow both sides to unleash their full potential within the rules of the game while posing no danger to the citizens of Orario. The combatants would need supplies, directions, and most of all a stage on which to conduct the War Game. It could start any day; there was no time to waste. They also had to accommodate the wishes of the gods. 

There wasn’t a soul in the city, adventurer or otherwise, who wasn’t waiting with bated breath for the conditions of the War Game to be announced. In the meantime, all they could do was prepare. 

“—Is Hestia still not here today?!” 

On the thirtieth floor of Babel Tower in the center of Orario… 

Apollo had reached his breaking point. 

Many gods and goddesses had gathered around a circular table in the center of the web of high pillars that supported a lofty ceiling. The rules and style of the War Game were to be decided by the two participating gods as well as the observers—in order to squeeze every possible ounce of entertainment out of the event—at this Denatus meeting. 

Three days had passed since the assault on Hestia Familia. 

Apollo had become irritated that his opponent refused to show her face. She excused her absence by claiming to be “sick” for the past few days. Despite her assertion that she was not physically well enough to take part in the meeting, it was clear as day that she was stalling for time. 

Apollo angrily paced around his chair, insisting that she was concocting an escape plan. The moment he finished his rant, the doors to the tall chamber swung open. 

“Sorry I’m late. I apologize for keeping you waiting.” 

Although her words were polite, she didn’t sound the least bit sorry. Miach strode in beside her. 

What’s more, she showed no remorse for keeping the Denatus at a standstill. Apollo scowled at her. 

“You’re very late, Hestia. How do you plan to take responsibility for delaying Denatus to this extent?” 

“It’s not my fault I got a fever after being chased around the city by your followers. For a while there, I thought I was a goner.” 

Hestia once again brought up her health to circumvent Apollo’s complaints. Miach sided with Hestia, backing up her claim. 

“Yes, she was in dire straits.” 

“Yah, yah, Itty-Bitty’s a moron, but enough burnin’ time. Can’t we get goin’?” 

Loki was leaning back in her chair, one eyebrow raised and hands behind her head as if she were out of patience as well. All of the deities returned to their seats and the discussion finally got under way. 

The first order of business was for Hestia and Apollo to sign the necessary paperwork with everyone present as witnesses. 

“Once I’m victorious, I claim Bell Cranell.” 

“…” 

“I want to make that perfectly clear. There will be no petty excuses or far-fetched assertions after everything is over. Should Hestia win, she’s free to demand whatever her little heart desires.” 

The possibility of defeat didn’t seem to cross Apollo’s mind. He wanted only one thing: ownership of Bell Cranell and his immediate transfer into Apollo Familia. Hestia remained quiet. The deity in charge of keeping notes for the meeting responded with an “All right, then” as he recorded their terms. 

Next up, they needed to decide how the War Game would be fought. 

“One-on-one, the best of our Familias settle everything. Wouldn’t that be exciting?” 

Hestia didn’t even look at Apollo as she made her suggestion from her spot at the round table. 

“It could be held at the Coliseum for everyone to see. The final battle right in front of our eyes. How could anyone not be entertained?” 

“I agree. Watching all of Apollo’s children attack Bell one after the other sounds rather boring.” 

“I second the motion.” 

Apollo’s hostile gaze first fell on Hestia and then to her allies, Miach and Takemikazuchi. 

Quite a few heads around the table started to nod, seeing the logic in her reasoning. 

“What say you, Apollo?” “That’s the Ox Killer you’re fighting!” 

“A strong opponent in a one-on-one duel, sounds good to me.” 

“…” 

The deities around the table grinned in Apollo’s direction. They were on no one’s side; they simply enjoyed watching Apollo’s reaction. 

The blond deity wearing a crown of laurels put on a calm face before grinning once again. 

“The only reason that your Familia isn’t larger is entirely due to your laziness, Hestia, when it comes to recruiting.” 

“Muh…” 

“You can cry all you want about your lack of children, but that’s no reason for me to have to accommodate.” 

“Grrrr,” Hestia growled under her breath as Apollo pointed out that the size of the Familia was completely under the god’s control. 

It was true that Hestia wanted to always be alone with Bell and had never tried to increase the size of her Familia. 

“In the interest of fairness, why don’t we draw for it?” 

Unable to defend her position, Hestia remained silent as Apollo suggested a different solution. “Sure,” came the voice of their transcriber as he pulled a box out from under the table and placed it on top. 

Each of the gods in attendance wrote how they would like to see the War Game be played on a sheet of paper. The papers were collected and put into the box. Of course, Hestia wrote “DUEL” in big, bold letters and shoved her paper into the box. 

All that was left was to decide who would draw. 

“I can’t trust anyone who has sided with Apollo.” 

“…The feeling’s mutual. I won’t accept a paper drawn by Miach or Takemikazuchi.” 

Hestia and Apollo issued their conditions in curt, sharp tones. 

In that case…Both of the deities looked around the table, their gazes stopping on one god in particular. 

““Hermes”” 

“Ehhh…Seriously?” 

Hestia’s and Apollo’s voices overlapped as they said his name in unison. 

Shocked by his sudden selection, Hermes forced a smile without thinking. 

“My dear friend, I leave it in your hands.” 

“I’m counting on you, Hermes.” 

Apollo, who had known Hermes since their days in Tenkai, solemnly nodded. Hestia looked up at the charming deity with trusting eyes. 

This happened because Hermes had always taken the stance of the go-between and had never taken sides in these situations. “Looks like I gotta,” he said in a deflated voice, accepting the role thrust upon him by the other two deities. He stood from his chair and made his way around the table. Every set of eyes in the room followed him. 

“Please be gentle…” 

Hermes whispered to himself as he slowly lowered his hand into the box. 

Hestia was on the edge of her seat, unable to breathe as Hermes withdrew one sheet of paper and unfolded it. 

Hermes’s face went pale as he paused, an empty smile on his face as he opened his mouth to speak. 

“Castle Siege.” 

—Slam! Hestia drove both of her fists onto the table, teeth clenched. 

“Fa-ha-ha-ha-hahaha! This decision was reached fair and square. This is final!” 

Apollo’s roar of laughter echoed throughout the chamber. 

Whether on the attack or defending, this style of War Game required a large number of warriors. Most likely, Hermes drew the paper written by Apollo himself. “That’s Hermes for ya.” “Can’t wait!” The other deities reacted to the decision, chatting amongst themselves. 

Hermes looked up at the ceiling in disappointment while Hestia’s face turned red, shaking in anger. Apollo, on the other hand, was in a very good mood. 

“It’s impossible to defend the castle with just one person. So I concede the attacking role to Hestia.” 

Apollo was all smiles as his words were recorded. 

Hestia’s molars were halfway into her tongue out of frustration as the worst possible outcome had come to pass. Her shoulders started to droop…“Excuse me, may I have the floor?” Hermes spoke up. 

“Apollo, this puts Hestia at an extreme disadvantage…It’s completely unfair. And I’m sure many of us here will get bored watching it.” 

“…” 

“Therefore, I would like to propose outsiders be allowed to participate in this battle.” 

Hermes’s proposal to allow members of other Familias to join the War Game in order to even the numbers made Apollo frown. 

“…Hermes, I know what you’re trying to do: playing something off like it’s no big deal while at the same time forcing me into a corner. Don’t think for a moment I’ll let it happen.” 

Bringing up their rough relationship in the past, Apollo forced a smile of his own as he tried to stop Hermes’s plan in its tracks. 

Apollo declared that he wouldn’t accept such a ridiculous proposition. 

“All participants in the War Game must be contractually bound to a Familia directly involved, that’s the rule. The presence of other Familias on the field of battle would only disgrace the gods at war.” 

“Well, that’s not wrong.” 

“Also, should a top-class adventurer choose to join Hestia’s side, that would put me in danger. I happen to know that Hephaistos is rather friendly with Hestia as well.” 

Apollo continued his response to Hermes as he looked at all of the gods around the table in turn. 

Hephaistos’s followers were recognized not only for their skills as blacksmiths but for their exploits on the battlefield as well. Their goddess took one look at Apollo, folded her arms, and said, “I would do no such thing.” 

Apollo sneered back at her, unwilling to take her at her word, when— 

“My, my, Apollo. Are you frightened?” 

“Freya…” 

The silver-haired goddess had been sitting quietly in her chair up until now. A small smile bloomed on her lips. 

“Are you afraid to fight more than one enemy at a time?” 

“Don’t take me for a fool…” 

“So then, you don’t trust your children? Is that the extent of your love for them?” 

The deity with the power to control love itself took a shot at the pride of the god who loves too passionately. Apollo’s jaws clenched together, strong enough to make them cry out under the pressure. Sure enough, a large group of male deities sided with Freya and voted to allow the addition of outsiders. The Denatus instantly shook with fervor. 

—So Freya is interested in Bell. 

While the silver-haired goddess’s words set off alarm bells in Hestia’s mind, this was not the time or the place to voice them. If the Goddess of Beauty’s actions would make even the slightest difference in Bell’s predicament, she had to accept them with open arms. 

Perturbed by this turn of events, Apollo gave in and agreed to accept one part of Hermes’s suggestion. 

“…Fine, then. There may be one outsider. However, that outsider must belong to a Familia outside of Orario.” 

You monster! Hestia’s lips formed the words, but no sound came out as her shoulders fell. 

Disregarding sheer numbers, the average strength of a Familia located in Orario was much higher than that of the Familias residing outside its walls. Most of that was due to the fact that Orario’s top-class adventurers were just too powerful. 

There were more than likely a few Familias operating close to Orario with adventurers above Level 2. The difficult part was making contact with one of them and negotiating some kind of deal before the start of the War Game. It was a next-to-impossible task. 

There were no objections to Apollo’s conditions. The new rules were added to the War Game as is. Even Freya didn’t try to interfere. 

The blond-haired god looked thoroughly pleased with himself as he glanced over at a silent and despairing Hestia. 

“We can’t be usin’ just any old castle, so let’s get the Guild in on this. We can work out the date then, too. Shall we call it a day?” 

Loki called an end to the Denatus. Chairs scraped on the floor as the deities made their way out. Apollo took his time, sneering at Hestia before disappearing through the exit. 

Hestia could do nothing but glare back at him. She let out a long sigh as soon as he was out of sight. Soon, only Miach, Takemikazuchi, and other friends of hers remained in the chamber. 

“Sorry about that, Hestia. I kind of put you in a rough spot.” 

“No, Hermes, it’s not your fault.” 

Hermes was the first to approach Hestia and offered his own apology. She shook her head no. No matter how much she didn’t like it, the decision had been reached using a fair draw. It was a miracle that an outsider would be allowed to participate. It was all thanks to the fact that the gods and goddesses were thirsty for a good show, and Freya, that her side was given some favoritism during the meeting. 

All of the rules were in place, so Hestia made up her mind to do everything she could with the pieces she had. Her eyes burned with the desire to find a way to win. 

Mentally flipping a switch, Hestia turned her attention to the other matter that needed to be resolved. 

“So tell me, Hermes, did you find out where our supporter is being held?” 

She hadn’t been standing around doing nothing while feigning illness for the past three days. She had tapped every resource she could to find out what happened to Lilly after she was taken by Soma Familia, including asking Hermes for his cooperation. 

“In fact, I did. That is to say, Asfi did. It looks like little Lilly was taken to Soma’s storage facility.” 

“A wine cellar?! Not their home?” 

“That’s right. Soma bought a big building just for storing his wine. Guess his home wasn’t big enough.” 

Hestia doubted his words, but Hermes was serious. 

The deity continued to relay the information. 

“It’s located in the southeast, close to Daidaros Street. Apparently the security is pretty tight, tighter than their home. Upper-class adventurers are crawling all over the place.” 

“…” 

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to keep my children out of this. I won’t ask them to fight…What will you do?” 

Hestia’s head snapped up in response to Hermes’s question. 

“I’m going, of course.” 

She’d promised Bell. 

That’s what she told them. 

A dirty magic-stone lamp cast faint light onto the stone walls. 

Feeling a cold slab against her cheek, Lilly’s eyes fluttered open. 

She lay on her stomach, hands tied behind her back. Ignoring the aches and pains in her body, the prum girl lifted her head to look around. Nothing had changed in her dark prison cell since she was first brought here. Locked in a cage, she couldn’t help but feel that she was a sorry sight to see. 

She followed Zanis’s orders to the letter and was brought to the Familia’s wine cellar. She’d been locked up in here ever since. 

This floor was designed to hold the Familia members who had violated the rules or gotten a little bit too drunk off the divine wine. She was bound with a metallic wire strong enough to keep lower-class adventurers restrained indefinitely. Several of these compartments were used to store tools as well as serve as a makeshift jail inside the complex. Lilly was being treated as a prisoner as a punishment for the extended length of time she’d spent away from the Familia. 

Having lost all sense of time, Lilly had no idea how many days had passed since the battle in the streets. 

Lilly wiggled her body into the corner of her cell where a small dish of water had been mercifully left for her. Lifting her head off the floor, she put her lips into the liquid. 

Part of her was embarrassed about her miserable condition, but she had been expecting something like this. 

The days that she’d spent with Bell were special, but now she’d live her life by slurping the dirty water she was given. 

Mr. Bell, Mr. Welf, Lady Hestia… 

Were they okay? 

That was all she thought about. 

No one was guarding her outside of the prison, and stone bricks don’t make the best conversation. She had no way of knowing what was going on outside. But not once did she consider trying to escape. The knowledge that she had fallen to the same level as a prisoner tore a fresh hole in her spirit. 

The stone floor was cold and damp. Her body shivered as she drank. 

The magic-stone lamp outside her iron cage flickered like a candle about to go out. 

“…” 

Ker-tap, ker-tap. Noises started coming from the end of the hallway outside her cell, the sound of someone coming down the stairwell. 

Lilly willed her body off the floor and into a sitting position. Sure enough, a long shadow was growing on the other side of the bars. Zanis’s shadow. 

“How are you feeling, Erde?” 

“…Horrible.” 

The man looked down at her through the bars as Lilly practically spat her answer at his feet. 

He smiled ironically at her, his arms folded behind his back. 

“Sorry about this. You see, the past three days have been very busy, collecting information and whatnot. I haven’t had time to step away until now. Forgive me.” 

“…Mr. Bell is still okay? Mr. Zanis really hasn’t done anything to him?” 

“I’m a man of my word. I swear on the name of Lord Soma.” 

Lilly finally got an opportunity to ask the question that had been burning inside her for three days. While she didn’t entirely trust him, she decided to believe his words for now. That settled, there was something else that she wanted to know. 

“Why…does Mr. Zanis care about Lilly?” 

She asked in the most serious, dry voice she could muster. 

She knew he’d said that he needed her when the man took her away. She clearly remembered that moment. 

Just like Kanu, the man who had left her for dead, Zanis often took money from her. Never once had he offered a helping hand. She believed him to be a man who saw her only as an insect that occasionally had vals worth taking. 

“It’s come to my attention that you are worth quite a lot.” Zanis’s smile deepened. “You can’t imagine how happy I was to learn you were alive. I considered capturing you the other day when you appeared before Lord Soma by yourself…but we were already in negotiations with Apollo Familia. We still needed you for our justification after we had secured their payment. You played your part very well.” 

As a result, everything went according to plan, or so the man claimed. Lilly was vaguely aware of her gaze sharpening as she listened to more of his story. 

“…Lilly is useless, not worth anything.” 

“No, no, I have a use for you. I realized that you were saving up a great deal of money in secret. I believe that anyone with fingers as sticky as yours deserves to be recognized for their talents. 

“But above all…” He let his words hang as he pushed his glasses back up his face with one finger. 

“You have a rather ‘unusual’ kind of Magic, do you not?” 

Lilly’s eyes shot open at the mention of her magic, Cinder Ella. 

With the exception of Bell, Welf, and Hestia, she had never told the secret to anyone. “Lord Soma told me,” said Zanis in response to the look of surprise on her face. Soma was the one who’d found that Magic in her excelia and enabled her to use it. Of course he would have known. 

Lilly thought about the time frame and came to the conclusion that Zanis probably knew about her Magic before she’d feigned her death. 

“Just to check…Erde, you can transform yourself into a monster, correct?” 

“…What would it mean if Lilly could?” 

A dark crackle of laughter escaped the man’s lips. 

Zanis’s eyes narrowed in an evil grin as he looked down at Lilly like a wolf that just cornered its prey. 

“There’s a project in which I would love your participation. Nothing much, just a new business venture.” 

“And that is…?” 

“Luring out monsters, capturing them, and selling them for profit…Isn’t that simple?” 

That’s insane!—Lilly mocked him in her thoughts. 

Even if a wild monster were tamed, said monster would only listen to the tamer. Should the tamed monster be locked inside a small room and ordered to wait by its tamer, it would still mercilessly attack anyone else who came near it. That’s why tamed monsters were never used for the carriages and other difficult tasks around town. 

Monsters considered humans to be their mortal enemy; there was no way around it. 

They were completely different from obedient slaves. 

“Monsters have no value.” 

“Heh-heh…I’m not so sure.” 

An unmistakable twinge of greed passed through Zanis’s smiling eyes as he laughed off the girl’s remark. 

Anger began to take hold of Lilly. She glared daggers back up at the man. Even her vain attempts to show respect disappeared. 

“Is that the reason you brought Lilly back, back into Soma Familia…The reason you got involved in the attack on Bell?” 

“Yes, that was regrettable.” 

The tone of his voice turned up a notch, getting excited. 

His mask of intelligence gone, Zanis’s true character was beginning to emerge. 

“I want Lord Soma’s Divine Wine. I want money and women, too. I want to taste the most exquisite dishes—I want every pleasure this world has to offer!” 

BAM! Zanis slammed his boot into one of the iron bars. 

The cage had been designed to be strong enough to keep unruly adventurers under control without breaking. But Zanis’s Status was too high for it to withstand that kind of blow, and it bent under the impact. Lilly stared in silence, eyes trembling, at the boot-shaped dent in the bar. 

The avarice in his voice was far beyond anything Lilly had ever heard before—much more hideous than those under the influence of the Divine Wine, soma. 

“I love this Familia. No matter how many questionable endeavors I try my hand at, our god doesn’t say a word. He’s too busy with that hobby of his to give a shit what any of us do. It’s the ultimate freedom!” 

“…Lilly can see your true colors.” 

“Oops.” 

Zanis tried to cover half of his malicious smile with his hand. Taking his boot out of the bent iron bar, the man straightened his posture and continued on, business as usual. 

The anger in Lilly’s stomach burned brighter when she realized that this man cared nothing for Lord Soma. It went without saying that Soma Familia’s current condition was partly due to their god’s neglect, but the man standing in front of her deserved a great deal of the blame. 

Lilly’s eyes flared as she looked up at the man, a thin smile on his face. That’s when it happened. 

“…?” 

“The alarm bell…Are we under attack?” 

Even the thick stone walls of this prison couldn’t keep out the piercing resonance ringing out upstairs. 

The hurried thuds of hundreds of footsteps sounded above their heads, mixed in with the high-pitched tone of the bell. Falling to her stomach, Lilly looked up, down, and all around for a clue as to what was going on. 

“Chandra! Where are you?! Tell me what the hell is going on!” 

Zanis yelled at the top of his lungs down the hall toward the staircase to the surface. 

The hallway was still for a moment as the man’s voice faded into nothingness. A few heartbeats later, a very annoyed-looking dwarf appeared at the base of the stairwell. 

“You could go have a look fer yourself…or are those feet of yers fer decoration?” 

“Enough sass. What’s happening?” 

“A few ‘mice’ got into the maze. From a few Familias…A young-lookin’ goddess was with ’em.” 

A bearded dwarf with short hair and an inhospitable air about him, Chandra glanced at Lilly as he approached the prison cell. 

The girl’s heart jumped at the mention of a “young-looking goddess.” Zanis’s eyes narrowed as he came to the same conclusion about the identity of the intruders. 

“Where are they now?” 

“Fightin’ in the first-floor foyer.” 

“Is that so? In that case—we need to exterminate the pests. I’ll take command.” 

Lilly’s face turned a shade paler in fright. Frantically kicking her legs, she managed to get her body up against the bars with her hands still tied behind her back. 

“You’re breaking your promise?! You said that Lady Hestia wouldn’t be harmed!” 

“She came to attack us. It’s not my fault if she gets burned by her own flame.” 

“Lilly will convince her to leave! Please, let Lilly talk to her…!” 

“Absolutely not. I can’t allow my beloved ally to be put in such danger. I bet they’re here looking for you.” 

Zanis’s claim that he needed to protect her was the final straw. Lilly’s fury ignited. 

“Lilly refuses to work with you if the promise is broken!” 

“How unfortunate…” 

Zanis closed his eyes and calmly walked up to the iron bars. 

A sneer on his lips, he leaned down to look Lilly in the face. 

“Then it can’t be helped. I’ve got a bottle of soma with your name on it. I’ll make sure you drink every last drop.” 

“—” 

Lilly froze. 

“Soma’s influence should turn you into a very dependable servant…You’ll be happy to comply with every order I give you.” 

The “absolute” that was created by Soma. 

A merciless drink that turned the hearts of the people of Gekai into an endless spiral of drunken ecstasy and unbearable craving. 

Not too long ago, one sip of the concoction was enough to make Lilly covet it more than life itself. 

“!” 

Not caring if her skull cracked, Lilly whipped her head forward in an attempt to inflict any amount of pain possible on Zanis. 

Dunnnn. But the iron bars got in the way. The sound reverberated throughout the cell as her head bounced off. The man just smiled as he watched a trickle of blood work its way down the girl’s face, thoroughly enjoying every second of the hatred emanating from the girl’s eyes. 

“Chandra, keep Erde in here for me.” 

“Humph…” 

The dwarf didn’t respond to his leader’s order, only turned his back on the prison cell and sat down. Zanis only shrugged in response before disappearing from Lilly’s line of sight. 

She wanted to yell out, get him to come back, but no words would come out of her shaking throat. The man had been planning on breaking his promise and even intended to turn her into nothing more than his drunken pet from the start. 

Dammit all! Lilly gritted her teeth and decided that now was the time to break out of her cell. 

The only reason for her to stay was gone. She had to help Lady Hestia and the others escape. 

“…!” 

She worked her way into Chandra’s blind spot and began to vigorously pull at her bindings. 

But the dwarf just sat there, taking swigs of wine from the calabash strapped to his back. The wires dug deeper and deeper into her wrists as she fought. She called upon every trick she’d learned as a thief—including how to quietly trigger her magic. The claws of a werewolf grew on her fingers, allowing her to loosen the grip of the wires just enough to get her hands free. 

However, she kept her hands behind her back to hide the fact that she was loose. Now all that was left was figuring out how to escape without the guard noticing. 

Lilly’s mind kicked into high gear as she tried to find a way to get out of the cell without drawing Chandra’s attention. 

But it was the dwarf who spoke up. 

“Ya want out, get out.” 

Lilly was stunned. 

Chandra didn’t even bother to look at her, only wrapped his massive palm around the lock of the cell and yanked it clean off the door frame. 

“Wh-why…did you go against Mr. Zanis’s order?” 

“I hate his guts.” 

The loathing in his voice was more intense than the sounds of battle raining down from upstairs. 

“I came ta this city ’cause I heard I could drink the most fillin’, most delicious wine around. That’s how I found this Familia. But now it’s nothin’ more than that man’s toy. No amount of our god’s wine can satisfy me.” 

Lilly stared at the side of the dwarf’s face as he took another swig from his calabash. 

Chandra Ihit, an upper-class adventurer at Level 2, same as Zanis. 

Never once had he extended a helping hand when Lilly was alone and tormented by other members of the Familia. At the same time, he had never joined in. 

“Got a feelin’ you hate him just as much as I do. So, I’m lookin’ the other way.” 

He took another look over his shoulder. Chandra’s deep brown eyes met Lilly’s chestnut gaze. 

Lilly decided to believe his rather simplistic desire for delicious wine and seized the opportunity. 

“Thank you very much.” 

After a quick show of gratitude, Lilly ran out of the cell. 

Being restrained and locked up for three days had taken its toll on her body. Tripping over her feet several times, Lilly ascended the stairwell to the surface as fast as she could. 

“…?!” 

She emerged at the end of another long stone hallway, but the sounds of battle were coming from the other side of the wall. 

The clash of metal on metal, desperate yells and screams of pain—every sound was like a knife through Lilly’s heart. She couldn’t stand it. Looking around to find a way through, her eyes managed to catch light coming through a window at the other end of the hallway. She wasted no time getting there. 

The window was slightly higher than her head and barred off just like her cell was belowground. She jumped off the ground, grabbed the bars, and stuck her head between them. 

“Mr. Welf, Miss Mikoto, too…?!” 

Despite her very restricted view of the battle, Lilly saw many familiar faces engaging Soma Familia in combat. 

The inner courtyard was wide and littered with piles of boxes, some of which stretched all the way up to the roof. However, the area was absolutely flooded with enemies. Welf and Ouka protected the front lines, Mikoto providing them with blind-side protection. Nahza and Chigusa supported them from a slight distance. Their whole group had been forced into the corner of the courtyard by the seemingly endless onslaught of Soma Familia. 

Most of their enemies were lower-class adventurers, but their numbers were overwhelming. 

“Please get out of here! Run, hurry!” 

Lilly’s face turned blue as she used every bit of air in her lungs, pleading with them. 

There was only one reason why these kind people had come so deep into enemy territory: her. All the damage they took, every injury they sustained was her fault. 

She yelled with all of her might in hopes that the battle would stop. It just so happened that Hestia was holding her head in both hands behind a storage box near the same window and heard Lilly’s cries. 

“Miss Supporter?!” 

“Lady Hestia!” 

Nahza was using one stack of boxes as cover; Hestia had been even farther behind her. Keeping her head low, Hestia went to Lilly’s window. 

The two were reunited, face-to-face through a hole in the thick stone wall. 

“Don’t worry about Lilly! Please escape now!” 

“I can’t do that! I’m not leaving this place until you come with us!” 

“WHY?! Lilly won’t cause any more trouble! Lady Hestia won’t get dragged into any more bad situations without Lilly! So please…!” 

The two young ladies argued back and forth, stay or go, through the iron bars of the window until Hestia screamed back: 

“We’re going to face Apollo in a War Game!” 

“?!” 

“It’s a Castle Siege! Two Familias will collide head-to-head with their full strength!” 

Lilly was lost for words as she heard Hestia’s blitz of an explanation. 

The thought of Hestia Familia, which only had one member, taking on the full force of Apollo Familia in a War Game was beyond belief. Bell was going to have to attack a castle by himself? 

Hestia paused for a moment to catch her breath, not taking her eyes off of the flabbergasted Lilly. 

“I’m doing everything I can to give Bell a chance to win!” 

“Eh…” 

“Right now, that boy is going through hell to prepare for the War Game! But it won’t be enough! We need you! It’s hopeless unless you’re with us!” 

—What was that? 

They need Lilly in order to win the War Game? 

She didn’t believe her. Lilly always held other people back—how could she possibly be the key to victory? 

Other people had used her as a doormat, taken advantage of her at every turn, and stolen many things from her. How could one prum girl trapped in this dark reality possibly be of any use? 

Why was she worth saving? 

Hestia was spouting nonsense. 

“We can’t win without you! It has to be you, no one else!” 

The young girl objected. 

She had never been needed before, and yet this goddess said she was. 

That boy was the only one who ever helped her, who ever said that she was needed—now it was time to help him. 

Hestia wanted Lilly to come to Bell’s aid. 

“Please, help us____help Bell!” 

She ran. 

She ran as if shot out of a cannon. 

Hestia’s pleas on replay in the back of her mind, she zipped through the dim stone corridor doors of Soma Familia’s storage facility with nary a sound. 

It wasn’t something that weak little Lilly should be able to do. How could she possibly be able to save Bell? Hestia overestimated her worth despite her divinity. 

But…! 

She said Lilly was needed. 

She asked for Lilly’s help. 

She wanted Lilly, no one else. 

No one had ever wanted her before, no one had needed her. But now, there was. 

“Wah…!” 

Her vision blurred, head feverish. Her chest felt so tight that her ribs might strangle her lungs. 

There was no way to describe the onslaught of emotions that tore through her. Her only desire now was to help Hestia and those fighting for her in the courtyard. And to do that, she had to move. 

With Zanis at the helm, there was only one way to stop this battle: appeal to the only person with more authority in the Familia than its leader, the god Soma. Lilly desperately searched through her memories of the day she was brought here and remembered seeing the deity in the building. He was also her only hope for being released from her contract with the Familia. She had to persuade Soma. 

She used her memories to piece together a small map of the facility. There was an observation tower that overlooked the entrance to the underground holding cells. She was almost certain that the highest room of this tower belonged to Soma himself. That’s where she’d find him. 

Leaving clear tears in her wake, Lilly rushed to find the stairwell that would lead to her god. 

“They don’t know when to quit…” 

Zanis watched the battle in the courtyard unfold from the roof of the storage facility. 

Soma Familia’s soma wine cellar was a central tower at the front with five more towers on each side encompassing an open courtyard below. His subordinates were engaging intruders who had been forced underneath one of the lookout towers in the corner of the courtyard. 

Zanis chuckled to himself as the group of less than ten desperately tried to fight back. He silently applauded them for making it this far despite the overwhelming odds. 

If he were able to capture the young goddess below, it would be easy to strike a profitable deal with Apollo. He was already working out the finer details in his mind as he ordered his subordinates to surround the enemy. 

“…?” 

Zanis watched the battle like a hawk until a flash of color caught his attention. 

It was Lilly, on her way to the main tower. 

What the hell is Chandra doing?! he silently snapped, his cheek twitching in agitation. But his smile returned a moment later. 

“Interesting. What do you think you can do?” 

Leaving one of his high-ranking subordinates in charge, Zanis took off to intercept Lilly. 

Lilly ran through the vast complicated passages of the main tower. 

At long last, she found the stairwell leading to the second floor. 

Emerging from the narrow confines of the lower floors to this new open space felt extremely liberating. The lower hallways were narrow and there were many doors leading to small rooms and other passages. She could see blue sky outside the open windows and the candlestick-style magic-stone lamps were bright and clean. 

Soma’s room was on the third floor. 

Every adventurer who should have been on guard had gone to join the fight. It was eerily quiet. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Erde?” 

“?!” 

A voice came from behind Lilly as she ran down the open corridor. CRASH! A window out of her line of sight was destroyed. 

It was Zanis. The upper-class adventurer had broken the second-story window before jumping through. Casually stepping on shards of broken glass, the man taunted Lilly again. 

—He found me! 

Willing more speed out of her weak legs, Lilly zipped around the corner and out of sight. 

“The stairwell in that direction only goes up?” 

“?!” 

Lilly suddenly felt a pressure from behind her before she was tapped on the shoulder. 

The palm of Zanis’s hand was all it took to send the girl crashing to the floor. 

Nauseating pain overtook her as her body tumbled forward on the stone floor. Fighting through it, Lilly climbed to her feet and started running once again. 

“Fu…ha-ha-ha-ha-hahahaha?! Now now, Erde, what’s the rush?!” 

The man’s menacing laughter sounded from behind her. Lilly frowned and continued pressing onward. 

A moment later, the man’s boot plowed straight into her ribs. 

“Agh!” 

“Don’t tell me, you’re going to try to meet with Lord Soma? Pointless! Absolutely pointless!” 

His kick sent her face-first toward the wall. Fighting to find her balance, Lilly kept moving forward. 

Her thin legs reached their limit and Lilly had to thrust her hand out to the wall to catch herself. 

“What makes you think that he’ll listen to you? The only thing our god cares about is his wine!” 

“Ighhh…!” 

“Runts like you are nothing but background noise to him! No matter how much you revere him, asking for help will leave you with nothing but dismay!” 

He let Lilly gain some distance before catching up and striking her again. Then he’d do some more taunting and repeat the process over and over. Be it his fists or his feet, one strike was enough to send Lilly’s small body flying in any direction he wanted. 

It’d become a game to him. His black shadow would overtake Lilly, then he’d decide how to hit, enjoy her squeal of pain, and then look down over her as she got up and kept going forward. 

All the while he would jubilantly remark about how all her effort was for nothing. 

“You’re a strange one, Erde! I thought you were smarter than this! I liked that cold look in your eyes, like you hated the world and everything in it!” 

In her darkest days, she had tried many times to escape the abyss only to have her connection to Soma Familia drag her right back in. The shell of a man who was Zanis sneered at Lilly. 

However, the tears welling up in Lilly’s eyes were not caused by her dark past but by the pain coursing through her body. She would never show tears of sadness again. She had already shed far too many. 

Overcoming Zanis’s physical and verbal attacks, Lilly pressed on. Forward, forward until she finally found the stairwell and climbed to the third floor. 

There were only a few walls on this floor, making one large room with one area portioned off—Soma’s private room. Lilly channeled all the strength she had left into her legs and made a break for it. 

“Three, two…WHAM!” 

“AGUHH!” 

Zanis counted down and playfully announced his own kick, hitting Lilly right between the shoulder blades with all of his strength. The girl’s body whipped through the air like a rag doll. 

However, his kick sent her hurtling toward the door to the private chamber. Lilly folded her arms across her chest and used that momentum to break it open. 

SLAM! Lilly tumbled into the chamber as the doors creaked on their hinges after slamming into the walls on both sides. 

“…” 

Soma was there. 

He stood in front of the wide balcony, tending to many different kinds of plants growing in the sunlight. 

He paid absolutely no attention to the sounds of battle outside the window or even to Lilly’s loud entrance. The amount of water that each plant received, future ingredients for his wine, was the only thing on his mind at the moment. 

“Lord Soma! Lord Soma! Please listen to what Lilly has to say!” 

The deity kept his back to her as Lilly tried to peel her injury-ridden body off the stone floor. 

At first, the god continued working in his slightly dirty robe despite Lilly’s pleas until finally turning around with a slightly annoyed look on his face. 

Zanis had entered the chamber—it was he who Soma was looking at through his long bangs. 

“This is much too bothersome, Zanis. I left all trivial matters in your hands.” 

Ignored by her own god. Lilly was shocked. 

Zanis enjoyed the look on her face to no end, gleefully chuckling under his breath. He kept his eyes on the girl and said: 

“I apologize for the abruptness, Lord Soma. It appears that one Lilliluka Erde wishes to speak with you directly. Won’t you lend her your ears?” 

Zanis spoke with a calm and almost mocking tone, as if he knew what was about to happen. 

Looking even more perturbed, Soma shifted his gaze down toward Lilly. 

The girl managed to force her aching body into a kneeling position. 

“I beg you, Lord Soma. Please bring an end to the battle taking place outside—please save Lady Hestia and those fighting alongside her! Please, please…!” 

Soma’s cheek twitched as if Lilly’s voice had hurt his ears. He slowly squared his shoulders in front of her. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but the expression on his face showed that he believed it to be a waste of time. 

“What good are the words of a child who succumbs to wine so…easily?” 

“—” 

Lilly fell silent after hearing Soma’s monotone words. A cold chill swept through her veins. 

But it was the look in his eyes that did it, made Lilly realize the truth. 

Soma was disappointed. Disappointed in his own followers, disappointed in the world of Gekai. 

The Divine Wine, soma, had caused Soma Familia to collapse from within. Just as he said before, the children succumbed to the power of the drink he was giving them as a reward. They soon began fighting amongst themselves for more, became selfish beyond belief. 

From the god Soma’s point of view, all he did was reward them with delicious wine for their services. But rather than thank him, they turned on one another for more drunken pleasure. He had become disillusioned by their primitive reaction to his more refined methods. 

—Soma harbored no ill will. He had no urge to inflict pain. At this point, he had no interest in any followers like Lilly at all. He was completely detached. 

The divine being who’d had enough of the crude people of Gekai continued to produce soma and reward the children who made it possible for him to focus on his craft. 

“The words of children who succumb are…irrelevant.” 

Soma’s eyes, black as ink, were finally pointed in Lilly’s direction. However, Lilly’s face was not reflected in them, only empty disappointment. 

Lilly remained still, unable to find any words in the face of her god’s cold stare. It was Soma who moved first. 

He took a bottle of white wine off one of the shelves built into the wall of his chamber. 

Lilly watched in dumbfounded silence as Soma took a glass from a different shelf and said to her: 

“If you can say the same thing after drinking this, I’ll listen.” 

—She couldn’t breathe. 

The deity poured the wine into the glass, its cool yet sweet aroma filling the room. He held the glass out to her. Lilly looked at her own reflection on the surface of the white liquid. 

Divine Wine. 

Her throat clenched. Sweat poured down her face. The glass nearly slipped from her grasp as she tried to take it with both hands. 

Memories of the dark days when she was under the influence of soma’s power rampaged through her mind. She looked back up at Soma, shoulders shaking in fright. The god’s face was void of emotion as he watched her from behind his bangs. 

Zanis watched all of these events unfold, smiling as if he’d seen this coming. 

“Ah, aah…!” 

Lilly stood up on unstable legs. 

Her breaths very shallow and staggered, she took another look at the glass in her hands. 

She had no choice. In order to save Hestia, in order to finally break her ties with this Familia, she had no choice but to drink it. 

Lilly brought the glass to her lips, hands shaking and palms clammy. 

This wine had once turned Lilly into little more than a monster. 

It had stolen her life from her, caused all of her problems. 

Under the watchful eyes of Soma and Zanis, Lilly willed her mouth open and drank it down. 

“—” 

The world warped around her in the blink of an eye. 

A boundless drunken euphoria enveloped her. The bliss was intense enough to bend her consciousness. 

Tink! The glass fell out of her hands, hit the floor, and rolled away. 

Her arms and legs quivered. She couldn’t keep standing and fell to her knees like a puppet whose strings had just been cut. 

Acute warmth filled her cheeks as her eyes went out of focus…Lilly giggled. 

“—a…haa.” 

The flavor of the most delicious wine in existence made her heart melt. 

Soma watched the girl’s spirit disappear and turned his back to her without a second thought. Lilly’s ears stopped picking up the sounds around her, with only one exception: Zanis’s bloodcurdling laughter. 

Overwhelming contentment spread throughout her body. Memories flashed before her eyes before disappearing again. Nothing inside this room mattered to her, was worth seeing. Even her purpose for being here, why she was so determined to drink the soma, felt like nothing more than a passing thought. Everything that made Lilly who she was evaporated in an instant. 

She saw everything in the room with a white hue. 

Her body, mind, and spirit were warm. 

Down, down, down she went. 

Then, just as the white was about to embrace her, she saw something. 

A boy, a smiling boy. 

“—” 

Her craving intensified. The animal that demanded soma within her was on the brink of taking over. 

But amid all the white around her, she saw how the boy smiled when he saved her that day. 

It remained deep within her soul even after everything else had been erased. His smile stayed with her. 

“…” 

A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek. 

Her slack, open mouth smiled for a moment before weakening again. Lilly’s head started to rise. 

The warmth of the boy’s smile had awakened her heart, filled her with new emotion, and caused a tear to be shed. 

Lilly had returned. 

“……Please.” 

Not much sound escaped her lips, but it was enough to stop Soma in his tracks. 

A moment later, he spun around with vigor. 

His long bangs swung out of the way, revealing his black eyes. Lilly’s trembling figure reflected within them. 

“…Stop it, please.” 

Her words were getting clearer. 

Soma and Zanis looked on in disbelief. 

Lilly made eye contact with Soma. 

“Lilly’s begging you—stop the fight!” 

Her words were unchanged as even more tears trickled down her face. 

“Wha…” 

She didn’t know if that sound came from Soma or from Zanis. 

She persevered. Lilly held off the effects of soma. 

Countless people had fallen under its spell, becoming little more than savages in the process. And yet this little, fragile girl had not. 

It didn’t matter that her Status was low, that her body was weak. She defeated soma with sheer willpower. 

“Lilly wants to save those people!” 

She yelled her most earnest desire as loud as she could. 

She sounded no different from a sobbing child. 

Bonds with her allies had been forged in the fire, and she was a Phoenix emerging from the flame, guided by them. 

“Lilly knows, even without any gods telling her, Lilly knows that she was born for this moment!” 

It was highly unlikely that Lilly would ever forget. 

Even if she died and was reborn many times, even in the deepest pits of hell… 

Lilly would never forget the smile on that boy’s face. 

“Every mistake Lilly has made was in preparation for this day!” 

The warmth of the hands that reached out for her, the kindness of his embrace. 

She’d never forget the smile of the one who rescued her. 

The image that had been seared into her very soul would never fade. 

“This time, it’s Lilly’s turn to save him!” 

Bell’s smiling face and warmth filling every corner of her mind, Lilly yelled once again. 

She had not forgotten all of the mistakes she made and the gray areas of her past. Those memories gave her the strength to keep shouting. 

“Please, bring an end to this battle!” 

Lilly’s voice was loud enough to be heard outside the tower. 

“……” 

Soma stood, unblinking eyes locked on the girl. 

Gods did not grow or feel distress of any kind. It was hard to comprehend what just unfolded. 

Seeing a person of Gekai change right before his eyes for the first time left Soma speechless. 

“No way…?!” 

Zanis sensed danger in the expression on his god’s face. 

His feeling of invincibility gone, he pleaded with the deity. 

“Lord Soma, you mustn’t listen to her! Our Familia is under attack—!” 

“Quiet, Zanis.” 

Soma turned away without so much as a glance in his direction. 

Zanis fell silent, face twitching as he knew that there was no chance for a counterargument. Soma made eye contact with Lilly once again. 

His ink-colored eyes clearly reflected the young girl’s gaze. Then he walked toward the end of his chamber and opened the large window. 

The empty wine bottle still in his hand, Soma stepped out onto the balcony. He could see the battle raging in the courtyard beneath him. Standing next to the railing, he raised the bottle high above his head and threw it into the courtyard. 

Spinning end over end, the bottle sent flares of sunlight flashing all over the battle before crashing into the middle of it. 

The shattering sound made all members of Soma Familia come to a halt. 

Every head in the courtyard turned toward the balcony, waiting with bated breath. 

“Stop fighting.” 

Soma looked down on the rest of his followers as he made his declaration. 

Soma Familia’s members were blindsided by a direct order from a god who had never shown any interest in anything other than his hobby before. No one even considered going against it. 

Ignoring Zanis’s commands, they listened to a higher power and put down their weapons. 

“Soma moved on his own…?!” 

An uneasy silence descended over the battlefield. Zanis couldn’t believe what he was seeing, his eyes glued to Soma’s back. He shook his head from side to side, refusing to accept what was happening. His mask of refined intelligence broken once again, muscles all over his body began twitching nervously. 

He rocked on the balls of his feet—BANG! The main doors at the base of the tower had been kicked in. His shoulders flexed. 

Knowing that the intruders would soon arrive, Zanis looked around the room in a panic. His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Lilly on the floor. 

“Damn you! At least give me the pleasure of slicing you open before—!” 

Zanis jumped toward Lilly like a beast capturing its prey. 

The man had only seen her as possible profit; he captured her out of greed. His avarice made him torment her and now she was too physically weak to run away or defend herself. She was the reason why his perfect world had come crumbling down. Withdrawing a rapier from the hilt on his belt, he smiled to himself, believing that she should be punished for what she had done to him. He reached out with his left hand. 

However, just before his fingers reached her collar… 

An arrow was fired at his chest. 

“?!” 

Zanis barely managed to avoid the attack that came from outside the window. 

The arrow buried itself in the wall behind him, making a small web of cracks in the stone. Zanis looked back outside in shock. 

There, standing on top of the nearest lookout tower, was a Chienthrope wielding a longbow. 

“I’m ready! Fire away!” 

“You don’t have to tell me.” 

Zanis heard the voice of a young man and saw a flash of gold as the Chienthrope took a new arrow from him and promptly slid it over her bow. She pulled this new golden arrow back, took aim, and fired in one swift motion. But she wasn’t targeting Zanis. The arrow plunged deep into the stone wall next to the balcony. 

The man had only a moment to feel surprise—he saw a very thick wire attached to the end of the arrow. His surprise turned to disbelief. 

As if to confirm his wildest fear, a young man with red hair and a greatsword over his shoulder ran across the wire toward him. 

“?!” 

The red-haired man kept his balance, pulling off some very acrobatic moves as he raced across the wire bridge connecting the two towers. The wire held firm under his weight. Sword balanced against his shoulder, Welf quickly reached the balcony, jumped over the silent Soma’s head, and landed just in front of the window. 

The smith’s black jacket unfurled behind him as he stepped inside the chamber and came to a stop in front of Zanis and Lilly, both wearing looks of astonishment. 

“It’s time for you to come back, Li’l E.” 

“Mr. Welf…” 

“We’re gettin’ outta here.” 

Welf set his jaw, smiling at Lilly before turning to Zanis. 

“I’ve come to collect this one. I’ve got a partner who is waiting for her.” 

“Rrrgh—Like hell you are!” Zanis charged without hesitation, brandishing his weapon high in the air. Welf held his own weapon in his right hand and rushed to meet him. 

A rapier against a greatsword in a duel. 

The two blades collided in a shower of sparks, the opening bell. 

“Come at me, smithy!” 

With the ferocity of a madman, Zanis stepped into a forward slash before whipping his blade around and into an upward slice. 

All he managed to do was take a small slice out of Welf’s black jacket. It was an attack that would have skewered any lower-class adventurer, but the young man dodged it handily and used that momentum to slash his own sword diagonally upward at his opponent. Zanis was unable to step into his next attack. 

Both Level 2 adventurers, they matched each other blow for blow, and their movements gradually picked up speed. 

The shock waves generated on impact were strong enough to make Lilly lean backward as the echoes of their clashing blades filled the chamber. Welf deflected Zanis’s spinning strikes and high kicks with the armor on his left arm, not allowing any attack to hit home. 

Zanis used his rage to fuel an onslaught of slashes. 

Welf held his ground, using his sword like a highly mobile shield despite its weight. 

Considering the weapons the combatants were using, Zanis held several advantages. He knew speed was on his side and he could use it to overpower his red-haired adversary. Welf calmly read his movements and narrowed his eyes. 

“Tough to bully an upper-class adventurer.” 

Welf’s back, shoulders, and arms all flared to life at the same moment. 

The massive blade whipped around the young man’s body in a powerful arc. It met Zanis’s downward slash head-on, overpowered it, and sent the rapier flying. 

“—” 

Time stood still for Zanis. 

His techniques and maneuvers were useless in a contest of strength—a “warrior smith” like Welf wasn’t about to fall for the same tricks that adventurers who relied on a high Status would overlook. 

Lilly heard Welf’s black jacket swish as the man closed the distance between him and his unnaturally rigid opponent. 

Seeing everything in slow motion, Zanis tried to jump out of the way but watched helplessly as Welf’s left foot collided with his chest. 

Then he saw the blade flash as it spun around. 

Welf had flipped his hold on the weapon so that the blunt edge was facing his enemy. 

“Sloppy. That weapon of yours is crying.” 

With that said, Welf drove the entire blade forward in a rising arc aimed right for his opponent’s head. 

“GHEEEEE—!” 

The blow struck Zanis with such precision that it split his glasses right down the middle before launching him backward. 

Momentum carried his body straight into the wall, the man’s scream of pain cut short by the impact. 

Zanis fell to the stone floor like a bag of potatoes. The blunt edge of Welf’s greatsword left a thick red line down the center of the motionless man’s face. What was left of his glasses lay on the floor beside him. 

“That should do it,” said Welf as he returned the blade into its sheath at his shoulder and looked down at the white eyes of his unconscious foe. 

“Ya really got it done…Won’t have ta drink as much tonight.” 

“…Mr. Chandra?” 

Soma Familia’s Chandra had appeared in the chamber and stood behind Lilly, commenting on Welf’s victory in the duel against Zanis. 

The usual unfriendly expression on his face, Chandra turned the man’s body over and fitted him with sturdy handcuffs that even upper-class adventurers would have difficulty breaking. 

“He was stealin’ soma, usin’ it for his own profit. Deserves some time in the slammer.” 

“What happens now…?” 

“I’ll make sure ya get no trouble. It’s all up to our god after that…Maybe now our voices will reach ’im.” 

Apparently, Zanis had hijacked the Familia using Soma’s name and punished anyone who dared say anything against him. Now that his treachery had been exposed right in front of Soma’s eyes, Chandra felt that the new era was about to begin. 

The god himself was still out on the balcony, assessing the damage to his chamber—but his gaze always came back to Lilly. 

“Are you all right, Supporter?” 

“Lady Hestia…” 

It wasn’t long before Hestia and the other adventurers led by Mikoto and Ouka made it to the third floor of the main tower. 

Truly grateful to Lilly for all of her hard work, the two made eye contact for a moment before Hestia walked over to talk with Soma. 

“I would like to make a deal for the supporter, Lilliluka Erde, to join my Familia.” 

“…” 

Soma stood silently on the balcony as Hestia stopped just before the open window, neither of them blinking. 

“Please accept this knife as collateral for payment.” 

“L-Lady Hestia, that’s—?!” 

“It’s all right. I’ve talked with Bell.” 

Lilly gasped when she saw the goddess hold out the Hestia Knife and hand it to Soma. 

“This knife is a very expensive weapon. If we should lose the War Game, you can get a lot of money for it.” 

“…” 

“But if we win, I’ll buy it back from you with our reward money…I’ll make Apollo pay for it in full. Once you have the money, I’ll take my knife back.” 

She explained that should Hestia Familia win the War Game, she was planning to take a large sum of money from Apollo. Soma held the weapon in his hands, running his thumb down the ???????? logo engraved into its sheath. He looked up at her. 

“Indeed, this is more than satisfactory. She may leave my Familia.” 

His lips barely moved as he spoke to Hestia. 

Welf, Mikoto’s group, and Chandra stood quietly in the doorway as Soma once again cast his gaze upon Lilly. 

Badly injured and still bleeding, she managed to make eye contact. The two stayed still until finally an answer was heard. 

Soma shifted his posture to face Hestia head-on and nodded, saying, “I accept.” 

Hestia, Soma, and Lilly went to the second floor of the main tower, leaving everyone else behind. 

All three of them entered a small room that had no windows. There was no need to worry about any information being exposed to prying eyes or ears. The three set to work in the dim light. 

Lilly sat on a chair, pulled off her shirt, and exposed the Status on her back. Soma made a small cut on his finger and ran it across the hieroglyphs, the ichor in his blood making the markings glow. 

His finger made quick movements across her skin, as if unscrambling a puzzle. The hieroglyphs glowed brighter with each passing moment until every mark started to blink. 

Now it was Hestia’s turn. Pricking her finger, she added her own ichor to the mix, gradually erasing several hieroglyphs as their color faded. The markings indicating Soma’s contract disappeared from sight as Hestia’s name and symbols engraved themselves above Lilly’s name at the top of her Status. 

Conversion. 

A ceremony that allowed a child of Gekai to be transferred from one Familia to another. 

A ring of light worked its way around the girl’s Status, making it look like an epitaph in the dimly lit room. The markings for Hestia Familia shined brightly at the top. 

From this moment onward, Lilly was now one of Hestia’s followers. 

“Lady Hestia…is this really okay? Using Mr. Bell’s precious weapon in a trade for Lilly…?” 

“Perfectly fine. Everything will be back to normal if we win the War Game. And we need you for a chance at winning. No problem at all.” 

Lilly’s nerves had settled down considerably now that the ceremony was complete and she was fully dressed. However, the collateral made her uneasy. Despite that, Hestia puffed out her chest and said everything would take care of itself. 

“Trust me, no problem. Now let’s go.” 

“Y-yes…” 

Lilly’s eyes kept jumping from one deity to the other. Hestia placed both hands on the girl’s shoulders and guided her out the door. 

“…Hest…ia?” 

“That’s me. What is it?” 

Hestia closed the door behind Lilly and turned to face the god she was meeting for the first time. Soma wasn’t even sure how to pronounce her name. 

Only the two of them remained inside the small room. 

“…Did that girl actually receive my Blessing?” 

Even now, he remembered the strong look in her eyes. And yet Soma had no memory of her. Hestia was the only one he could ask. 

“Without a doubt, she is one of the children who suffered due to your selfish discontent. She’s a little girl who grew strong as a result of your neglect.” 

Hestia took it a step further, telling him to imagine how much Lilly had suffered after being abandoned by her own god. 

The blue in her eyes became intense orbs in the dark as Soma was unable to respond to her accusations. 

“You should think long and hard about why she changed, the meaning behind it.” 

Hestia had her hand on the door handle as she wrapped up her lecture with that and left the room. 

Soma was left alone with his thoughts. 

He stood there quietly, Hestia’s words running through his mind. 

Hestia and Lilly rejoined the others at the base of the main tower and exited Soma Familia’s wine storage facility. 

Miach had been waiting one block away in case of an emergency. Joining the group of more than ten, they all ran together through the backstreets. 

“Lilly’s very sorry for the trouble she’s caused…Thank you.” 

“It’s all right…” 

“Think nothing of it, Miss Lilly.” 

“That’s right…It’s nice to see you again.” 

Nahza, Mikoto, and Chigusa—her eyes hidden behind her bangs as usual—responded to Lilly’s apology. 

Welf and the massive Ouka, holding a greatsword and a battle-ax over their respective shoulders, were having their own conversation next to the girls. 

“That wire, did you bring it with you?” 

“Nah, found it in that tower. Thought it might be useful so I picked it up.” 

The sun seemed to be smiling down at them as everyone celebrated the success of their mission. 

Lilly moved closer to Hestia. 

“But, Lady Hestia, Lilly doesn’t understand how she can make a difference in the War Game by herself…” 

Hestia smiled at her confusion and then looked back at the path ahead. 

“Not quite.” 

Hestia shook her head as Miach spoke up. 

“You won’t be alone.” 

All they had done was increase Lilly’s confusion. She tilted her head in their direction and Miach smiled back at her. Feeling another gaze on her, Lilly looked the other way to see Mikoto with a very determined look in her eyes. 

Even Welf was smiling at her. 

The group reached a four-way intersection. 

“See ya later, Li’l E.” 

“…Lady Hestia, we’ll take our leave here.” 

Welf peeled away from the group and went down the right path. Ouka, Mikoto, and Chigusa led their group down the road to the left. 

Miach, Nahza, and Lilly watched them leave from the center of the intersection when a sudden breeze swept through the backstreet. 

Hestia held her black hair out of her eyes with her right hand. 

She looked up at the blue sky, where the wind was blowing in a new direction. 

“Hmmm—gahhh…” 

Takemikazuchi groaned. 

He was pacing back and forth inside his own room in an old building designed to house multiple families, built on the side of a narrow street. The god lived alongside his six-member Familia; this building was their home. Arms folded in front of his chest, he wore a troubled expression. 

“The War Game…I want to assist Hestia, but…” 

The Guild had already announced the details of the War Game. Takemikazuchi knew full well that it was a castle-assault style and everything that entailed. 

His good friend needed military might and he wanted to help her. But he was in a quandary. 

Should he transfer one of his own followers to Hestia Familia with a conversion ceremony, or not? 

“It’s impossible for Miach. He only has one and his Familia will collapse should she leave…” 

Without any members, Miach Familia would be disbanded by default and revoked by the Guild. Miach would lose the reputation and recognition he’d worked so hard to gain. There was also the possibility that he could be forced to sell his home in order to pay off current debts. 

Takemikazuchi completed yet another lap around his room, mumbling to himself as he considered every possibility. 

“Even among my own children, the only two who could compete with Apollo’s children are Ouka and Mikoto. Chigusa and the others would only weigh them down…” 

Chigusa and the other three were still Level 1 adventurers. Only Ouka and Mikoto made sense. 

“Ouka is the captain. I can’t send him…” 

Which would mean the only option was Mikoto— 

“Would she be willing to go to a different Familia…?” 

Mikoto loved Takemikazuchi Familia too much. 

She’d always had a strong sense of justice and an urge to do what was right. Was she capable of betraying Ouka and her allies? There was also the mission given to them by their hometown in the Far East to consider—Mikoto would never abandon it. 

“I’ll just have to find some way to convince her…After all, I’m the one who wants to help Hestia…But wait, if I did that…Ghaaaaaa…!” Takemikazuchi stopped in the middle of the room and scratched his head with both hands as he groaned at the ceiling. 

Caught up in a fit of very ungodlike indecision, he almost didn’t hear the knock outside his door. 

“Lord Takemikazuchi, it is Mikoto…May I speak with you?” 

“Ohh!” The deity jumped on the spot in surprise at the girl’s visit. 

Mikoto must’ve interpreted his surprise as an affirmative and opened the door with a slight bow. 

“…? Has something happened, my lord?” 

“N-no. Everything’s fine. Nothing to worry about.” 

The girl tilted her head as Takemikazuchi hastily straightened his hair. 

Forcing an air of calm, the deity closed his mouth and looked upon his follower. She, too, wore a distressed expression similar to his own. 

Her silky black hair was tied back in its usual style. However, she carried herself without her normal level of confidence, shoulders uncharacteristically drooping. Even her violet-colored eyes were trembling as she met his gaze. 

The two stood face-to-face in silence. 

The tension building, Takemikazuchi gave in and opened his mouth. 

“—Mi-Mikoto.” 

“—Lord Takemikazuchi!” 

The two spoke at exactly the same moment. 

Both paused, saying, “My apologies, go ahead,” and, “Speak first, I insist,” back and forth. 

Mikoto was the first to accept the offer. 

She took a deep breath and made eye contact with her god. 

A moment later, she threw herself to the floor at his feet. Takemikazuchi Familia’s special technique, the prostrate bow. 

“Please forgive me!” 

“Wh-what?” 

Takemikazuchi was taken aback by Mikoto’s sudden plea, her hands, knees, and forehead on the floorboards. 

She didn’t look up, only raised her voice to be heard clearly despite speaking directly into the floor. 

“Please allow me to go assist Sir Bell!” 

Takemikazuchi’s eyes shot open. 

“Despite nearly causing his death, I haven’t done anything to atone for my actions! I also made a promise; we made a promise to help each other!” 

Mikoto’s body shook as her voice took on a more serious tone. 

“This is my chance. I can’t abandon him in his time of need…” 

The look of surprise gradually left Takemikazuchi’s face as he watched his follower bare her soul to him. 

His shoulders relaxed, arms hung loosely at his sides. 

So we both came to the same conclusion… 

He had been with her for so long and yet he had failed to anticipate how she would react to the situation. It was shameful. 

Takemikazuchi grimaced before a genuine smile grew on his lips. 

“Ahhh…” He let out a long sigh. Mikoto’s shoulders shook once again. 

The deity looked back up at the ceiling and mumbled under his breath. 

“One year…Such a long time.” 

Mikoto looked up with a start. 

It was a rule among Familias: A child who had been transferred to a different group with Conversion could not be transferred again for at least one year. 

Mikoto immediately understood what his words meant. Her face grew brighter and brighter by the second. 

“But it will pass. Learn as much as you can from Hestia’s children and come back stronger than ever.” 

“—Yes, sir!” 

Mikoto brought her fist and palm together as Takemikazuchi smiled upon her. 

Lastly, she gave him her Familia emblem for him to hold on to until she returned. 

Mikoto Yamato had joined Hestia Familia. 

“…” 

Hephaistos sat at her desk, examining a dagger in her hands. 

She was visiting one of her Familia’s shops located on Northwest Main. Rather than working in her private office, she was focusing on this particular weapon. 

There was a story behind its maker. A rather difficult child, his skills had been rather unpolished at the time he forged this dagger, but passion for his craft alone gave him incredible potential—that “passion” could be felt by anyone who used the blade. 

Hephaistos herself could feel it coursing through her when there came a knock at her door. 

“Enter.” 

She opened one of the desk drawers at her side, returned the blade to its sheath, and placed it inside. 

Closing the drawer, Hephaistos looked up to see the silhouette of a young man in a black jacket standing in the doorway: Welf. 

“What is it?” 

Rather than answering, Welf walked up to the other side of her desk. 

Showing no hesitation, he came as close as the desk would allow and met her gaze. 

“I’ve come to say good-bye.” 

He closed his eyes and continued. 

“I’m joining Hestia Familia. Please allow it.” 

This was not a request for permission, but a demonstration of strong will and determination. 

Leaving Hephaistos Familia would mean that he would be forbidden to use her logo as a smith. Despite attaining his dream of becoming a High Smith at long last, he was willing to forfeit the right to engrave “????????” into any of his work and leave Hephaistos behind. 

“And what makes you think I would allow such a selfish decision?” 

“Because the goddess I know and love would scold me if I didn’t.” 

Welf responded without missing a beat. 

Hephaistos displayed no emotion, her face stoic as she asked another question. 

“Didn’t you want to overcome the blood in your veins, create a weapon that exceeds magic swords?” 

“As long as I have a hammer, metal, and a good flame, I can forge weapons anywhere. The one who taught me that was you.” 

Even apart from her, he would work to spread his name and reach a higher plateau. 

He answered her without any hesitation. 

“And what was it that inspired this intense enthusiasm?” 

Welf raised his chin and grinned. 

“Friendship.” 

At long last, a smile appeared on Hephaistos’s lips. 

“Then I accept.” 

Hephaistos stood up from her desk and walked toward a long line of hammers on a shelf behind her. 

She selected one that was the same crimson color as her hair and eyes, and picked it up. 

She approached Welf, still standing in front of her desk, and handed the hammer to him. 

“A parting gift. Use it well.” 

Hephaistos said her good-bye by bestowing him with the soul of a smith. Welf grinned from ear to ear and graciously accepted it with a bow. 

“Thank you for everything.” 

The fabric in his black jacket ruffled as he turned to leave. 

Leaving the goddess he revered behind, Welf confidently strode out of the office. 

Welf Crozzo had joined Hestia Familia. 

“…So that’s how it is. Would you mind helping out again?” 

Hermes kept a close eye on her face as he asked. 

They were a little ways away from The Benevolent Mistress, inside of the wooden building where the employees lived. The elf Lyu sighed at Hermes’s forced smile. 

“God Hermes, are you mistaking me for some handmaiden?” 

“Sorry! But do this for Syr. Bell needs your help!” 

“I would like you to refrain from using Syr as a bargaining chip…” 

“S-sorry, Lyu…” 

“Syr, your apology is unnecessary.” 

Three figures huddled together inside Lyu’s private quarters: Hermes, Syr, and Lyu herself. 

There were only a few days left before the War Game. Hermes had lobbied to allow outside involvement for just this reason, to request her help. 

The condition: said outsider must belong to a Familia outside Orario—must have the blessing of a deity from outside its walls. Since Lyu’s goddess, Astria, had not been in the city for some time, there would be no objection to her participation. 

Hermes felt slightly guilty for being directly responsible for forcing Bell and Hestia into the extremely disadvantageous Castle Siege and this was his way to, kindly, offer his assistance. 

“Should I fight, there is a high probability that my identity will be revealed during the War Game.” 

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll convince everyone that you came from someplace on the other side of the mountains before the fight begins. No one will believe you’re a waitress at a bar once I’m through with them.” 

Several events in the recent past had landed a hooded adventurer on the Guild’s blacklist—there were still many who resented the “Gale Wind.” Hermes already had a plan to help keep her and those living with her anonymous and safe. 

Lyu sighed. “Mother Mia will scold me again.” 

Either way, the ex-adventurer couldn’t abandon Bell to his fate. The elf agreed to Hermes’s request. 

The room itself had very little decoration. Lyu walked a few paces to the corner and grabbed a knapsack along with a wooden sword. 

“I’ll handle the paperwork with the Guild. It’d make it a lot easier to jump through the hoops if I had your Familia’s emblem. Do you still have it?” 

“I do. Be sure not to misplace it.” 

“It’ll never leave my sight,” he said with a nod as he took the badge engraved with the sword of justice and wings from her. 

Lastly, Lyu approached Syr, who was holding out her cape. 

“Do your best, Lyu. I’ll come up with something to say to Mama.” 

“You have my gratitude, Syr.” 

Lifting the string of her knapsack over her shoulder, Lyu flashed a soft smile. 

Hermes and Syr saw her out of the building and watched as she disappeared into the night. 

Lyu Lyon had joined the War Game. 

Blades clashed in vicious flurries. 

A silver flash, lashing forward at tremendous speed, was blocked head-on by the downward swing of a crimson blade. Knife and saber collided under the reddish glow of dusk, their wielders’ blond and white hair flowing in the breeze. 

The boy’s long shadow passed over the stone surface, slamming into the girl’s shadow over and over. Each time he was thrown backward and each time he charged again. 

Their brutal training was taking place on top of the city wall around Orario. 

“You learned how to…react without seeing…” 

“D-do you really think so…?” 

It was already the fifth day. 

Aiz lowered her saber, signaling a brief pause in the action. Bell took a deep breath and took a look at his own body. What was left of the evening sunlight illuminated all the cuts, scrapes, bruises, and dried blood that littered his skin. Completely covered in sweat, the boy’s condition showed just how intense these training sessions had been. 

After gathering supplies and setting up a small camp, Bell had committed himself fully to sparring with Aiz. They started just before the sun rose each morning and continued until the stars lit up the night, dramatically increasing the length and intensity of their sessions from the last time they were here. They ate meals together and slept at the same time; neither of them had gone into the city even once. A dirty pot and the remains of a fire sat on top of the path just inside the chest-high stone wall, a guardrail on the city side of the wall. Three water bottles and three sleeping bags also sat at the base of the guardrail. 

Bell had his eyes focused on the cuts crisscrossing his arm when suddenly—whoosh! A saber came at them from his blind spot without warning. His instantaneous reflexes brought his weapon into the path of the oncoming blade, deflecting it before he jumped backward. 

Looking very rabbitlike, standing with his left shoulder higher than his right, he stood at the ready for the next attack. Aiz seemed very satisfied as she nodded over and over. 

“Guess who’s back!” 

Bell and Aiz turned to face the owner of the cheerful voice. 

Emerging from the doorway of the tower that housed a stairwell connecting to the city street was Tiona with a very large backpack over her shoulder. She skipped her way up to them and plopped the backpack at their feet on top of the stone path with a light “Hup!” 

“Picked up a ton of meat and fish! Bread and water, too!” 

“Thanks, Tiona…” 

“Sure thing! Ah, Argonaut, these blades work okay for you? I bought about five of them.” 

“Y-yes, thank you very much…s-sorry for the trouble.” 

Bell stood next to Aiz, scared stiff, as Tiona withdrew the weapons from her backpack one after another. 

Tiona had been supplying the two of them with food and items for the past five days. It was thanks to her that Bell and Aiz could focus solely on training. 

Bell couldn’t shake the feeling that he was building up quite a large debt to the always smiling, happy-go-lucky Amazonian girl Tiona. With the exception of Ushiwakamaru, he couldn’t count how many blades had snapped in half or been damaged beyond repair during their combat sessions. 

“Well, I heard quite a bit around town. First off, the War Game is four days from now.” 

“Four days…” 

“Yep. It’s gonna happen outside of Orario, so we have to think about travel time…I’d say you’ve got maybe two more days left.” 

Tiona continued to relay the information she had collected that day. 

Her update complete, Bell looked out over the guardrail and across the beautiful cityscape. 

“Exactly one week…Goddess.” 

The five days of training plus two more would make one week. Bell said a quick thank-you to his goddess, who had managed to deliver on her promise. 

Bell’s ruby-red eyes smiled; he knew that somewhere in this gorgeous city, Hestia was smiling back. 

“Also, you’ll never guess what was posted on the Guild’s bulletin board. Hestia Familia has some new members.” 

“Eh?!” 

“Soma, Takemikazuchi, Hephaistos…Looks like all three of them transferred someone.” 

Bell fought to contain his surprise and delight until Tiona was finished talking. The two girls watched as his face lit up and tears of happiness rolled down his face. 

Hestia had saved Lilly, plus Welf and Mikoto were coming to help him. He didn’t need to know the details because he already understood. The black void that had been eating away at him finally lifted, a new warmth flooding his soul. 

Bell stretched out his arms. He looked at Aiz and Tiona with renewed strength and willpower, feeling stronger than ever. 

“Another round, please!” 

The look in his eyes made Aiz and Tiona smile. 

“Yes…” 

“Try to keep up!” 

The two girls went on the offensive beneath the red sky. 

Three sets of legs dashed about with blinding speed. 

Aiz, Tiona, and Bell mixed attack with counterattack in the very limited space on top of the city wall. Two daggers, one silver saber, and two insanely wide swords struck with jolting impacts, sparks lighting up the twilight sky. 

“Ehsaa!” 

Bell did everything he could to keep the attacks of two top-class adventurers at bay. All the while he couldn’t take his eyes off the massive blades in the Amazonian girl’s grasp. Despite learning how to defend against attacks from the side, knowing that another blade exactly like that edge of death was following right behind it sent shivers up his spine. 

He knew immediately that the weapons were order made. Seeing her wield the thick, heavy blades as if they were nothing more than shortswords was the stuff of nightmares. The Amazonian girl smiled, practically laughing as she danced her way into every strike. 

Rather than trying to defend against such an attack head-on, Bell chose to get out of the way. 

Jumping back to avoid the first and to his right to dodge the second, the boy managed to get clear. However, Tiona charged forward even though her weapons weren’t poised to strike. 

“Hup!” Spinning in midair, Tiona unleashed a kick right into Bell’s face. 

“Geh?!” 

The wheat-colored skin of her bare foot buried itself in his cheek, sending the boy flying backward. Hitting the stone floor and bouncing several times, Bell rolled to a merciful stop. 

“Try not to use potions. If you take one after every hit, you’ll run out really quick. Better to kick the habit.” 

“I-I’ll try…” 

Tiona approached him with her swords over her shoulders, looking like wings from hell. Aiz wasn’t too far behind. Tiona gave him some advice as soon as she saw the boy’s hand reach for his leg holster. 

“That’s the thing about being an adventurer. We still have to be able to move even after the crap’s been beaten out of us!” 

Although she was holding back, the kick of a top-class adventurer to the face can inflict immense damage. Bell slowly nodded as feeling returned to his head. Just as she’d suggested, it would be a good idea to learn how to fight well when not at full strength. The lesson had literally been beaten into him. 

Gritting his teeth, Bell climbed to his feet as Tiona looked on with a satisfied smile. 

“My turn.” 

“?!” 

The session started back up. Bell was forced to use both knives in order to repel Aiz’s direct attack. 

Not only that, Tiona circled around to his blind side and continued her assault. Two of the greatest sword wielders in Orario weren’t holding back any techniques on top of the city wall. Bell desperately intercepted each strike, deflecting the blades out of his ever-changing path. However, he hadn’t come here to learn how to defend. He had to find a window for counterattack. 

Fighting off his own cowardice, Bell surprised both of them by charging forward. 

“!” 

Aiz’s posture slipped ever so slightly. 

Her feet and shoulders weren’t on the same page, moving in different directions as Bell came in for his attack. Bell couldn’t believe his luck. The girl’s feminine frame was trying to retreat, leaving her side wide open. This was his chance and he didn’t hesitate. 

A golden opportunity—score a hit on the Kenki. 

Taking aim for her ribs, Bell took a quick step forward and thrust the dagger in his left hand toward his opponent. 

“Hm.” 

“—” 

But Aiz spun her body around like a top, armor a blur. 

Taking advantage of his outstretched position, Aiz easily dodged the weapon and traded places with Bell. Now directly behind him, she whipped her saber forward with less than her full strength and nailed the light armor protecting the boy’s back. 

“BuuHA?!” 

“You dove for the opening…” said Aiz as Bell landed flat on his chest on top of the stone floor. 

Only then did Bell realize it was a trap. She had baited and set it for the rabbit as though to demonstrate the prowess of a skilled hunter. Bell’s head hit the stone surface in disappointment. 

The boy pushed off the stone floor into a sitting position. Aiz crouched down in front of him and continued her lesson. 

“Monsters and people fight differently…” 

“Y-yes.” 

“Monsters always attack head-on, aiming to kill…but people read each other, change their strategy.” 

Unlike monsters that used their full power all the time, people used techniques and experience to gain the upper hand in a fight. This was especially true of the combatants of similar strength and skill. 

“People become easier to read when they see a window. Just like now.” 

“…!” 

“Guard is lowest when the final blow is near…That’s what I was taught.” 

People became overconfident when they saw victory within their grasp, which meant they neglected to cover their blind side. 

That was especially true during a duel. 

Bell looked up, making eye contact with Aiz as she finished her impassioned explanation. 

“Your best opportunity lies in the moment you’ve been cornered. Don’t forget.” 

Bell carved her words into his very soul. 

Aiz held out her hand. Bell nodded and took it. 

She pulled him to his feet. 

“How about some more?” 

“Yeah…” 

“Yes!” 

Both combatants nodded at Tiona’s invitation and their battle heated up once more. 

Lessons of the top-class adventurers fresh in his mind, Bell continued his training long into the night. 

In order to grasp victory or to rescue a friend. 

Each of the people caught in the whirlpool was taking their own actions for their own reasons and coming together. 

The city of Orario might appear calm on the surface, but excitement was building underneath its placid exterior. 

The War Game was fast approaching. With each passing day, the average citizens of the city discussed it on the streets, at their workplaces, and over a jug of ale at their favorite bar. The number of adventurers going into the Dungeon fell dramatically, forcing disappointed shops to close early. No one seemed to want to do anything else. Even the children seemed to sense that something was different. Many of them gathered in city parks wielding toy swords and staging their own games. 

Orario was quietly, but undoubtedly, boiling over with excitement. It grew more intense as the War Game drew nearer. 

Most of all, the ones closest to the people caught in the whirlpool had their own reactions as they watched the preparations unfold. 

The curtain of night fell over the city, revealing a star-filled sky. 

The white tower in the middle of it all looked over the city as magic-stone lamps gradually lit up its surroundings. 

“Lady Freya, it has been completed as ordered…Lady Freya?” 

In the highest room of Babel Tower. 

While Freya heard the words of her follower, Ottar, she didn’t respond in the slightest. 

The man looked upon her in concerned confusion as she ran her fingers through her long, gorgeous silver hair. The goddess sat in her usual chair facing the window, watching something outside with so much intensity that Ottar was afraid the glass would melt. 

“…Fu-fu.” 

Her silver eyes were being drawn to a fierce battle taking place atop the city wall. 

The blond-haired, golden-eyed knight along with the warrior wielding massive twin blades fought two-on-one against a white-haired boy. Two female, one male, three different spirits “glowed” as they clashed. Freya was enjoying every second of it. 

She felt no pity for the boy whenever he was launched into the air by the Amazonian girl or cut down by the long-haired human. 

This was because every time the boy got up, his soul shone brighter. It was as if this training ground was a forge and the girls were eliminating all impurities, like a smith prepping metal. They were drawing out his soul’s clear glow. 

It was that glow that originally drew Freya to him and would hold her interest until the end of time. Every hit the boy took added a new sparkle. The goddess sat there, completely transfixed. 

“…Are you certain that we can allow Apollo’s followers to go through with this?” 

Ottar tried once again to draw her attention away from the city wall. 

Her eyes stayed put, but she used one thin finger to pull a lock of her silver hair behind her ear and grinned. 

“I thought about crushing them for trying something so stupid but…No.” 

Her silver eyes narrowed as they followed the boy charging back into battle against the human girl and the Amazon. 

“No goddess worthy of her divinity wouldn’t want to see how this turns out.” 

Her cheeks pulled back into a full smile as she looked down from her spot among the stars. 

Unable to rest, the stars twinkled brightly through the night. 

Even at this late hour, the Guild headquarters was alive with activity. Clerks holding stacks of papers, receptionists carrying boxes upon boxes, and employees with no time to sit down were busily working in every corner of the Pantheon decorated with white pillars. 

With the War Game only four days away, there was enough work to be done to make their eyes spin. 

“No more! I’m gonna die right here!” 

“Misha, you’re too heavy…” 

The human receptionist Misha set yet another stack of papers down on her desk before drifting over to Eina and collapsing onto her back amid the commotion. The half-elf looked at her old friend with tired eyes as she spoke again. 

“Eina, wha’cha doing…?” 

“Making a plan to keep people away from the war zone…Advising, I guess.” 

A small mountain range of paperwork encircled her desk, each pile bearing Eina’s handwriting. 

“Do not enter” was written in big, bold letters—all referring to the Shreme Castle ruins located southeast of Orario. 

“Shreme Castle…Didn’t that group of robbers decide to move in a while back?” 

“Yes. Ganesha Familia accepted our request to remove them ahead of time. A few quests have also been issued to help them out…It’s a good opportunity to catch them while we can.” 

Eina continued writing while she responded to Misha’s question. 

Misha could hear the constrained energy in Eina’s voice despite her weak tone. The girl looked at the side of Eina’s face before standing up and bringing her chair next to her. 

“Eina…are you worried about Bell?” 

“…Worried? How could I not be worried…” 

Her expression became cloudy as her emerald eyes trembled. 

Her head drooped as she brought her hand to her chest. One of the adventurers assigned to her, practically a little brother at this point, was caught up in a battle between Familias. And now he’d been forced into a War Game in which it wasn’t uncommon for participants to die. Needles pierced her heart just by visualizing the boy’s innocent smile—would she never see it again? 

If she could convince him to run away or maybe assist him, maybe she wouldn’t be in this much pain. 

“But I’m an employee of the Guild…I can’t interfere in any way.” 

However, the situation had progressed so far that one half-elf couldn’t have any influence at all. Eina knew that she was powerless in the face of the forces at work. 

That fact had soaked in completely. The tone in Eina’s voice bordered on despair. She felt utterly useless. 

“We____ll, you know…You could root for him?” 

Misha could tell that her friend was upset and tried to cheer her up. 

Eina looked up at her. 

“Root…?” 

“Yep. ‘Go for it!’ and stuff like that? I’m sure that if he had your support, he’d do the best he could to win, right?” 

Eina looked at Misha’s childish smile for a few moments. 

Finally, she stood up and walked over to the window at the end of the office. 

The moon shone brightly down on her as she looked up at the night sky. 

“…Go for it.” 

Eina whispered to the moonlight. 

“Ahh, how patient must I be…” 

The deity’s eyes slowly closed in a dark room illuminated by moonlight. 

Sitting on an ornate throne made of gold, Apollo brought a glass of wine to his lips. 

The manor that he called home was tranquil, a good distance away from the noisy areas of the city. Tonight, it was much quieter than usual. The bulk of his Familia had already left to prepare the castle ruins that would become their battlefield. As it was their role in this battle to defend it, Apollo Familia had a lot of work to do. 

If his only goal was to steal Bell away from Hestia, it would’ve been easy enough to continue their assault and capture him even without the cooperation of Soma Familia. If he had done so, the boy would already be his. 

However, Apollo was partial to the idea of a War Game. 

There was a very clear difference between a conflict fought on the streets and the War Game. Crushing a foe in battle to obtain an objective left everyone involved with a sour taste in their mouths. On the other hand, should he obtain his prize by following a set of rules, then he would be able to bask in the glory of victory and enjoy the spoils. It was, after all, a game. He would not allow the Guild or any other group to profit from this situation. With victory, he would gain the authority to take the follower of the enemy god—if Hestia refused to perform a Conversion, it was impossible to make Bell his own both in name and reality. 

Above all, the other gods would not be satisfied by such a quick turn of events. Apollo had gathered the support of many gods who were starving for some “entertainment” in order to capture Bell. He owed them the show they were dying to see. 

He also wanted some amusement. 

A war of gods fought by mortals. By far the most delicious flavor of Gekai, it was enjoyed by all gods. 

There was no greater excitement than to be able to move their followers like pieces on a board game without any kind of interference. 

Those were Apollo’s true feelings—the influence of his own divinity. 

His wants and desires swirling within him, the god wearing a crown of laurels looked toward the sky. 

“Oh, my beloved Bell Cranell…will there ever come a day I can embrace you in my own arms?” 

He wasn’t sure when he first knew of the boy—most likely when the rumors of a new record holder came to light. Apollo had a habit of indulging in everything new and fresh. Picturing the events that would soon unfold brought him great joy. His very body shook with anticipation. 

—Ahh, Bell! 

—No, my Belly-boy! 

—You won’t get away! 

He could see the boy now, a tear in his eye. But something else was swelling up within him. This heat surging through his chest was proof of his love. Apollo’s craving for the boy was on the verge of driving him insane. His thin, compact build and rabbitlike features with white hair and young, red eyes that were untainted by the truths of this world—everything. 

Apollo’s cheeks flushed like those of a drunken man. 

“…If our love is to grow, Hestia, you will only get in the way. Once he is mine, I will drive you out of this city—no, out of Gekai entirely.” 

Coming back to reality, Apollo opened his eyes and looked up at the stars. 

The moonlight reflected off his suddenly serious eyes as his lips curled upward. 

“I’m counting on you, my cute little children…” 

A low laugh resonated from his room beneath the calming moonbeams. 

Click. A few moments later, both hands of his clock joined him in looking skyward. 

The time drew near. 

The city was filled with a morning chill just before sunrise. 

The streets were lined with silent and motionless shops. Shutters were closed over windows and doors; it was unbelievable how lifeless the city seemed. The city wall cast a tall shadow over the buildings, the streets covered in shade. 

Two figures ran quickly through East Main Street toward the brightening horizon through the unnaturally quiet morning air. 

“You have to hurry, Bell! The caravan’s about to leave!” 

“Right behind you!” 

Hestia and Bell ran through what was left of the morning fog. Their destination was the East Gate. They kept talking as they ran. 

“They already know you’re coming. There’s a spot for you on one of their horse-drawn carts. Get off at a town called Agris, it’s pretty close to the old castle! Guild employees will give you instructions from there, so pay attention!” 

“Will do!” 

The War Game would start the day after tomorrow. 

Bell had finished training with Aiz and Tiona and had received a Status update from Hestia. Now all that was left was to travel to the battlefield. It would take a day to get there, so arrangements had been made for Bell to travel with the caravan of merchants for most of the trip. 

He was dressed in light but strong traveler’s clothes with a cloak around his shoulders. Everything else he needed was in a bag over his shoulder, the drawstring held tight in his grasp. 

“Everyone else is already there, so meet up with them in town! Also, here’s your travel permit issued by the Guild—show it to the gatekeepers and the leader of the caravan!” 

Orario was set up so that it was relatively easy to enter the city but extraordinarily difficult to exit. An individual needed several documents approved by the Guild before they were allowed to pass. Bell took the signed sheets of paper identifying him as a War Game participant from Hestia and said a quick “Thank you.” 

At last, they arrived at the heavily fortified East Gate. Somehow, it looked a lot smaller to Bell now than it did when he’d passed through a few months ago. Members of the caravan were already here, talking excitedly amongst themselves. Bell and Hestia worked their way through lines of horse-drawn carts and large storage containers on wheels toward the head of the caravan before stopping in front of the first gate. 

“…I’ll be waiting right here for your glorious return.” 

“…See you then, Goddess!” 

Hestia smiled at him. Bell smiled back. 

That’s when Hestia jumped onto his chest, wrapped her arms around him, and squeezed with all her might. Bell’s body tensed out of embarrassment, but he didn’t try to escape. He couldn’t. Hestia ignored all the commotion around them and enjoyed the warmth emanating from his chest as long as she could. Bell’s face turned beet red as her arms worked higher, going above his shoulders and around his neck as she started to pull back. Meeting his gaze, she opened her mouth into a bright, gentle smile as she said, “Now go.” 

Bell took a step back, a shy smile on his face. Wiping his hot cheeks with his free hand, the boy turned and ran to the front of the caravan. “Wait for me!” he yelled to the front and took off into the maze of carts. The caravan leader was talking with one of the gatekeepers. Both looked up as the boy approached, holding out his paperwork for them to see. 

The gatekeeper was an adventurer—probably someone who had accepted an assignment from the Guild. Two Guild employees emerged from the gate office from behind him and took Bell’s paperwork. Reading it over, they nodded to each other. The caravan leader pointed to a cart in the line and told Bell to take a seat. 

The horse-drawn cart that Bell climbed into was more spacious than he thought. It had a roof as well as windows on each side. A few people—some travelers, merchants, and a hired guard—were already on board. Each of them had a very distinct look about him or her, a few in light armor and others in comfortable clothes. 

“…Hey, you there. Aren’t you the Little Rookie from Hestia Familia?” 

“Ah, yeah, that’s me.” 

“Thought so! On your way to the War Game, huh? Give ’em hell!” 

Bell took a seat at the back corner of the cart next to a rather friendly animal person who immediately recognized him and started a conversation. The smiling young man had the aura of a drifter and a bushy tail wagging cheerfully behind him. The tension in the cart dissipated as the other passengers came over to break the ice. 

“Those guys are rough, but give it your best shot!” “This is our tradition, we have some snacks before every trip!” “How ’bout this?!” 

Each of them came over with handfuls of nougat, dried fruit, and tarts. Surrounded by kind and welcoming people, Bell couldn’t help but smile, nod his head, and manage to say, “Th-thank you…” He didn’t really like sweet foods but he didn’t want to reject their goodwill and decided to eat everything he was offered. 

The cart lurched beneath him as it started to move forward. 

The cries of many horses cut through the morning air. The East Gate was open; the caravan started to move. 

Bell felt every bump in the road through his wooden seat when suddenly— 

“—Bell!” 

He heard someone call his name. 

He leaned over to look out the window and saw Syr running right beside the cart. 

“Syr?! What are you doing? It’s dangerous!” 

Bell lifted the window open and called out to her. 

She was out of uniform, wearing a cape over her usual clothes and running as hard as she could to keep up with the cart. She thrust her right hand toward the window. 

“Take this…!” 

“Huh?” 

Something golden glinted from within her outstretched hand. Bell reached outside out of reflex. 

She gave him an amulet. It was in the shape of a golden teardrop, a jewel in its center. It had to be an accessory that granted the wearer some kind of power. Bell raised his eyes from the item in his hand to look at Syr. 

“It was a thank-you gift to the bar from an adventurer a while ago…A good-luck charm!” 

Bell’s eyes shot open as he listened to her explanation. 

“Do your best! And please come back to our bar!” 

The cart picked up speed and Syr couldn’t stay beside it, almost tripping a few times. 

“I-I’ll have a lunch ready for you! I’ll be waiting!” 

The girl’s cheeks blushed a light pink. Bell couldn’t help but smile. 

He leaned out the window and waved good-bye as she fell farther and farther behind. She came to a stop, put her hands together in front of her chest, and watched the cart disappear through the East Gate. 

“…” 

Bell returned to his seat and looked again at the shining amulet in his hand. 

Sliding the thin chain around his neck, he tucked the amulet under his shirt. 

—Win. 

—Win and come back. 

The faces of everyone he’d met in Orario flooded his mind as he swore to see them again. Squeezing the amulet with his right hand through his shirt, the boy suddenly realized he was smiling. 

He looked outside the window as he felt every bump in the road shake his seat. 

The sun was just peeking over the mountains in the distance. 

Bell shielded his eyes from the bright morning light. 

The ruins of Shreme Castle. 

Standing in a field void of trees or hills, the castle had been built in ancient times as the first line of defense. Completed before Babel Tower served as a “lid” over the Dungeon, it was used to stop the advance of monsters that emerged from the hole to attack nearby towns and villages. Many castles just like this one were built relatively close to Orario for just this reason. Most of them had been destroyed or collapsed after centuries of neglect, but Shreme was used as a staging point by the kingdom of Rakia in the war almost one thousand years ago. Several of its main towers were damaged, but the castle’s main wall and other defenses were very much intact. Now it had been selected to host the War Game. 

The outer wall stood an impressive ten meders high, even higher in the areas where the towers once stood. The wall itself was more than thick enough to withstand the strongest of attacks—perhaps with the exception of a powerful blast of magical energy. Even top-class adventurers would have difficulty cracking it. The castle was located in an open area and very easy to attack. This wall was the main reason it had lasted so long. 

“Get some clay over here. Reinforce everything that’s fixable.” 

Night had already fallen, the moon shining brightly overhead. Apollo Familia was hard at work making their final preparations for the War Game that would begin in a few short hours. 

One hundred ten of them had arrived three days ago and had been working around the clock to make sure the castle was ready. That was almost all of their Familia. Working in groups, they had made repairs to the castle itself as well as set up hidden stores of spare weapons and items in various places inside the structure. 

“Humph, pointless…Why bother?” 

The fortress’s main tower stood above the wreckage of the other towers in the very middle of the castle. Hyacinthus watched the other members of his Familia work from the top floor. 

The time limit for the Castle Siege War Game had been set at three days. Apollo Familia would win if either he was alive after that time or if the enemy general—without a doubt, Bell Cranell—was defeated in combat. 

It was their role as the defender to make sure the castle was ready, but it was obvious that they could win without all this fuss. Hyacinthus had heard that the enemy ranks had increased as of late, but they would face no more than five combatants. What point was there in having more than one hundred warriors repair a castle when they could crush their enemy outright in a head-to-head battle? 

“Lord Apollo, why? Why a castle siege…?” 

Hyacinthus was very confident that he could win without all of these favorable conditions. Did his god not trust him and the rest of the Familia? The man was feeling underappreciated, as though Apollo had forgotten what he was capable of. 

The disgruntled man walked away from the window and took a seat on the throne at the back of the room. The throne itself had been there when Apollo Familia first arrived, but they had made a few modifications. Very comfortable, the back of the ornate chair was an enlarged version of the Familia emblem, a burning sun with a bow and arrow. The rest of the room was decorated with artwork and had been cleaned spotless because Hyacinthus had ordered everyone under his command to make the space pleasing to the eye. 

Leaning back on his throne, Hyacinthus begrudgingly laughed through his nose. 

“What a boring game…” 

“—Yeah, Hyacinthus would say something like that…” 

The short-haired woman, Daphne, grumbled to herself as she looked up at the throne room from her post on top of the solid castle wall. 

Rakia had made a few strange modifications when they occupied the castle. Their god must have really enjoyed showing off because the main tower had many complex designs built onto its surface. It had a luxurious feel to it despite being the castle’s last line of defense. Seeing her own Familia’s emblem attached to the top of the main tower made her want to laugh out of sheer absurdity. That hunk of metal was so big it could probably be seen from Orario. 

Daphne sighed to herself and continued with her own assignment. It was her job to motivate the other members to hurry up with the wall repairs. The hard part was that most of them shared Hyacinthus’s opinion of the upcoming battle and couldn’t wait to watch it unfold. Despite having more than one hundred workers under her command, making sure that there were no weak points in any of the walls of the castle had been frustrating beyond belief. 

Also, Ganesha Familia had arrived at Shreme a few days before Daphne and the rest of Apollo Familia in order to clear out the group of thieves and marauders that had been living in the castle. Since they’d been ordered not to damage the castle in any way before the War Game, the eviction had been carried out by digging holes under the wall and catching the squatters by surprise. They’d captured every single one of the criminals in less than a day. Daphne made sure that they filled in the holes before returning to Orario. 

“Daph…” 

“Cassandra?” 

Magic-stone lamps lit up the top of the wall in place of the torches of old. Cassandra approached Daphne, nervously calling out to her. 

She came to a stop in front of one of the lamps, only half of her face illuminated in the light. She embraced her own trembling body with both arms as if she were afraid it would fall apart. 

“It’s no good…We need to get far away from here.” 

“Huh?” 

“The castle, the castle will fall…” 

Daphne’s expression turned to annoyance as she listened to the nonsense coming out of Cassandra’s mouth. 

“Another dream? You know it’s too late to do that now. Get it together.” 

“Please, please, Daph, believe me…!” 

Cassandra desperately begged her friend to take her prophetic dream seriously even though there was no way it could come to pass. 

Daphne ignored her and continued inspecting the wall, but Cassandra was much more persistent than usual. The long-haired girl’s shoulders slumped as if she were debating whether or not to keep trying, before freezing on the spot. 

Surprised by the sudden silence, Daphne turned around to face her. Cassandra’s face was pale and gaunt as if she were moments away from death, eyes transfixed on a spot below them. 

“No, we can’t let it in. There’s still time; it mustn’t come inside…” 

A small line of horse-drawn carts carrying the last of their supplies was approaching the wall just outside the gate. The girl watched, horrified, as the gate opened. 

“Heey! Wait up, will you?!” 

Luan yelled at the top of his lungs, chasing the last cart as he watched the castle gate start to close. 

The driver of the last cart ordered his horse to gallop to cover the distance, forcing the prum into an all-out sprint just to make it inside the gate before it shut completely. A dull thud sounded a moment after he slid between the massive iron blocks. 

“Why, why would you shut it when I’m still out there?” the small prum man asked in a pathetic, panting voice to the exceptionally large animal person standing at the gate controls. 

The large man just laughed. “Hee-hee, so you were there, Luan. You’re so tiny! Couldn’t see you at all.” 

The lower-class adventurer known as Luan Espel looked much younger than his age, almost like a child. Other members of Apollo Familia treated him like the bottom of the barrel because of the combination of his rank and his appearance. That was why he’d been assigned to bring supplies to the castle at this late hour. 

Prums were often discriminated against because of their short size and unintimidating presence. “Come on,” he retorted as other members of the Familia joined in the laughter. 

“…Quite a large shipment you brought in.” 

“Three days’ worth of weapons and rations. Best to be ready, you know?” 

The animal person laughed again, saying that he was being a little too careful considering their opponent. The large man didn’t even look at Luan as he started to inspect the shipment. 

In moments, other members of the Familia were unloading box after box from the carts and taking them to the castle’s already well-stocked storage rooms. 

“Aaah…” 

Cassandra watched it all unfold from her spot on top of the wall. 

Daphne had never seen her friend like this. Although she felt something was wrong with the girl, Daphne turned to leave. 

“Wake up, we have work to do!” 

Cassandra watched Daphne’s back pass in and out of the light of the magic-stone lamps. She took a deep breath and let out a long, heavy sigh. 

Then she whispered in a shaking voice like a prophet who’d seen the end of the world. 

“It’s too late…The Trojan horse is inside the wall.” 

“What took you?” 

“Sorry.” 

“Are your preparations in order?” 

“Yes. My goddess upgraded my Status already.” 

“Great. Now, here’s the knife I promised you. The cutting edge is way better than the first one, I guarantee it.” 

“Thanks.” 

“Sir Welf…What about those?” 

“Ready and waiting. Didn’t have much time, so I could only finish two.” 

“…Um, Welf, are you sure this is all right?” 

“Yeah…I’ve stopped compromising allies for pride.” 

“?” 

“Never mind…Yo, you can take these now. But I warn you, they were very rushed so I’m not sure about their full power or how long they’ll last. Don’t waste them.” 

“Understood.” 

“Well, then…Everything is going according to Lady Hestia’s plan.” 

“Yep. And tomorrow—we take down the castle.” 

“Yes…Let’s win this.” 

Several voices went unheard under the cover of night. 

War Game versus Apollo Familia. Classification—Castle Siege. 

Victory condition: defeat the enemy general. 

The long night was almost over.