“Astrea Familia, the [Crimson Blossom], Alise Lovell…” Beneath the black robe, the fleshless skull that served Fels the sage for a face could show no expression, yet the way the figure froze mid-motion, the faint stumble in that voice — both laid the sage’s inner shock utterly bare.
Proof enough that, for the sage, what was happening here was an accident on top of an accident.
“How did you find this place?” In the hollow sockets of that skull lay a bewilderment only their owner could measure.
As the Guild’s hidden watcher and the envoy of the great god Ouranos, Fels the sage kept eyes and ears across the greater part of the Dungeon, with special, unbroken attention paid to every floor where Xenos were known to exist.
Yet nowhere in that surveillance network had there been the slightest sign of the Astrea Familia’s captain being involved in any of it — let alone tracking her way to a blind corner as well-hidden as this one on the seventh floor.
“Heh heh, you can thank that twisted vice-captain of ours for that.
She dangled something this interesting in front of me and then sent me up to the upper floors on purpose.” Alise laughed brightly, as though the tension strung through the chamber had passed her by entirely.
“So I figured, since I was already on this floor, I might as well make a circuit of every hidden room around here.” “Lucky for me the floor you’re on isn’t that deep.
Otherwise, no matter how good my luck is, I’d never have stumbled onto this place so fast.” It also helped that she was fast enough to manage it — so said the red-haired girl, the glow of her magic [Crimson Flower Stitchwort] still wreathing her body.
So it really had been nothing more than that…
Under the black robe, Fels fell silent.
Against a person who threw out the rulebook and carried absurd luck besides, even several centuries of accumulated wisdom amounted to a headache.
“Anyway, let’s all calm down a bit.” Sensing that Fels’ guard was still raised, Alise lifted both hands, and the flames around her ebbed away like a receding tide, taking with them the crushing pressure that a moment ago could have melted stone on contact.
“I don’t have any hostility toward any of you.
Mister Skeleton — no, going by the feel of it, it’s Miss Skeleton, isn’t it?” “Fels.” “Right, Miss Fels, then.” The red-haired girl blinked, apparently relaxed enough to correct her own form of address, then turned a gentle gaze on Artorias, who had kept quiet off to one side.
“Since you know of our Astrea Familia, you must also know that we would never stand by and do nothing when someone in front of us needs help.” “Not even when that someone is a talking monster the rest of the adventurers would never accept.” “Besides, if Kaguya’s mixed up in this too, then maybe Astrea Familia owes them a debt we ought to be repaying.” With that, she walked straight up to Artorias without a trace of hesitation, crouched down, and reached out a hand — ???
And before Artorias could react, that large, surprisingly soft hand had already closed over his fluffy rabbit head and started rubbing.
The awful familiarity of it made his brow furrow.
This was bad.
He’d run into Adi Unit Two.
“Wow, the texture really is amazing!
No wonder that girl Adi keeps running off into the Dungeon lately — she’s been hiding an animal friend this cute down here.” The red-haired girl’s eyes were positively sparkling.
“Hello there, monster named Artorias.
Just as Miss Fels introduced me, I’m the captain of Astrea Familia, Alise Lovell.” “Would you be willing to be my very first animal friend, the way you are with Adi and Kaguya?” What in the world was an animal friend???
Artorias, none the wiser, had barely finished nodding when Alise — grinning from ear to ear — made her move.
The hands of someone standing at the very top of Level 3 were a fearsome thing.
Even forewarned, even springing backward in time, he couldn’t escape her clutches; he was scooped up in one motion and hauled against her chest.
The Stitch Rabbit sighed in her arms.
He genuinely did not understand why every female adventurer he met came with the same broken art style, always so eager to get their hands on him.
Still, since resistance was off the table, he shut his eyes and settled in to enjoy it.
Her technique wasn’t bad, after all, and the embrace was pleasantly warm.
If Adi felt like a gentle, approachable brook, then the Alise in front of him was a winter sun that shone on everyone equally.
Which was why, even handled like this, Artorias couldn’t summon a shred of resentment.
“By the way, that smuggling case with the Evils faction that Kaguya and Adi cleaned up a few days ago —” Alise kneaded his head like a cat’s while leaning in to study the Stitch Rabbit she’d picked up, “you were part of that too, weren’t you?
Kaguya’s too stubborn to come out and say it, but I could always tell she was covering for someone.” “…Yes.
In exchange, I asked Kaguya to teach me her [Five Lights].” With the guess already that close to the mark, Artorias had nothing worth hiding.
He gave a resigned nod and let her keep working her fingers through his soft rabbit fur.
“Hahahaha!
No wonder Kaguya had such a complicated look on her face when she got back that day.
Little rabbit, you’ve done something genuinely funny.” Alise roared with laughter, Artorias still clutched to her.
“Well then, in that case —” Her eyes lit up.
Holding him against her chest, she surged to her feet and looked at Fels.
“Astrea Familia will do our part in this too.
Talking monsters or whatever else it might be, we’ll —” “I refuse.” Fels cut in before she could finish, the answer delivered in a voice calm to the point of coldness.
“Huh?
Isn’t this the part where I naturally join up with you and we all march off toward a happy ending together?” Alise stood there stunned, having never expected to be turned down.
“This is no game, Alise Lovell.” Fels shook her head slowly, and the body beneath the black robe seemed to give off the heavy air of a setting sun.
“We do not need Astrea Familia dragged into this conflict.” “I would also ask that you speak of nothing you have seen today.
Treat it as though none of it happened.
For both parties, that is the best possible choice.” “And why is that?” Alise’s brows drew together, her tone turning serious.
“Miss Fels, do you think Astrea Familia isn’t worth trusting?” “No.
Simply that you are not enough.” Fels sighed and drove straight to the heart of it.
“Astrea is not like the great gods of the past, nor like Freya and Loki today.
She does not have the capacity to shoulder all of this.” “You are the wind of justice that has made Orario new again.
You are the star of hope in the eyes of the common people and of many adventurers.” If anyone in Orario today was the most beloved by the populace, the most trusted, then without question the honor would go to the Familia of the goddess who presided over justice.
“But that is not enough —” “Your history is short.
Your wings are still soft.” “You cannot even purge the darkness that threatens Orario.
Who could believe you have any chance of severing the chain of hatred binding humans and monsters, a chain forged over centuries?” “So I cannot stake the future of these Xenos — these talking monsters, as you call them — on a sword of justice that might snap at any moment.” Astrea Familia was indeed a brilliant rising star under everyone’s gaze.
Following a path of few members but high quality, its girls were each an [embryonic hero] of limitless promise; given enough time, nearly all of them stood a real chance of reaching first-class.
But who could guarantee that this meticulous, justice-worshipping Familia would be granted that [time]?
This was the labyrinth city of Orario, the very frontline of subterranean exploration, where [embryonic heroes] who fell along the way were as common as blades of grass.
And even now, years after the two great familias led by [Hera] and [Zeus] had been annihilated to the last member, the world had yet to produce the true [hero] capable of bearing all of its hopes.
The words landed like a bucket of cold water, and Alise had no answer.
She could not refute them.
Because Alise knew there was truth in what Fels said.
Compared to the twin giants of the city’s largest factions, Astrea Familia was young, its roots still shallow, nowhere near equal to expectations that heavy.
And yet, even so, she had no intention of meekly heeding the sage’s advice, turning a blind eye to everything and quietly withdrawing.
The standoff dragged on.
And it was then that Artorias, who had been listening in silence because so much of the background outside the main plot was beyond him, spoke up.
“Hold on, Fels.
I think you’ve gotten something wrong.” He wriggled free of the girl’s warm hold, dropped to the ground, shook out his fur, and spoke in a tone that was almost excessively calm.
“Making contact with these adventurers was my own decision.
If I’d wanted to hide my movements, then even having met me once, Adi and the others could never have picked me out of a crowd of monsters that look practically identical.” He touched the pendant hanging at his neck.
“This was my choice, and it has nothing to do with the other Xenos.” “And for that matter — when did I ever say I wanted to go meet my so-called Xenos kin?” The sage who had appeared out of nowhere had delivered a suitably dignified self-introduction and invitation, but he was fairly sure he had never once given her an affirmative answer.
“…” Fels went rigid.
Watching that reaction, Artorias got the sense that Fels had been operating on some mistaken premise about him from a very early stage.
He was nothing like the Xenos in the anime, monsters reincarnated into innocence and ignorance, filled with a tangled mix of longing and terror toward the human world.
He had none of the original story’s burning yearning to see the sunlight of the surface again, nor did he feel isolated and helpless, as though the whole Dungeon were a mass of monsters out to attack him.
If he ever truly wanted conversation or a place to belong, all he had to do was burrow deeper and idle away lazy hours with Tia-Mama, who doted on him unconditionally.
From the very beginning, the existence called Artorias had wanted something entirely different from what the Xenos of the anime wanted.
“If you’re forcing me to choose, then the time I spend with Astrea Familia, or with Adi and the others, is a good deal more comfortable.” Standing before what were supposedly his own kind, the one who had once been human would pick the Familia of justice without hesitation.
Artorias — unlike any Xenos Fels had ever dealt with — declared it plainly to them both.
“So the way I see it, if you won’t let Alise be part of this, then I won’t be going anywhere with you to meet any kin.
Worst case, we part ways here.” “Wait, wait, Artorias!
Think this through.
You’re a monster — do you truly mean to follow an adventurer up to the surface so casually?
That is walking into your own grave!” Now it was Fels who was thrown off balance.
“But weren’t you the one who just said Astrea Familia was trustworthy?” Artorias shot back, a sly note of everything-going-according-to-plan in his voice.
“And if you really have been keeping an eye on me all this time, you can’t have forgotten that I can change the state of my body.” A low hum — and a flash of white light.
The Stitch Rabbit vanished in an instant, replaced by a Purple Moth no bigger than a palm.
It rose lightly into the air, settled on Alise’s shoulder, cocked its insect head, and let out a thin, delicate cry.
Then the light flared over the moth once more.
Back in his original form, Artorias promptly dove into the pack at Alise’s waist, leaving only a pair of long rabbit ears sticking out.
“Just as you saw.
As long as Alise and her people are willing to help me, I can slip into Orario like this without anyone suspecting a thing.” His muffled voice came from inside the pack.
“If anything, I’ve been underground so long that I’ve been wanting to go up and take a look for a while now.” “Alise, will you do me this favor?” The perfectly harmless-looking white rabbit poked his head out of the pack and blinked up at the red-haired girl.
“Sure thing!
Since Miss Fels the sage has refused my help, then by way of consolation, I’ll just take the cute Mister Rabbit back to base and introduce him to everyone who hasn’t met Artorias yet!” Alise caught his rhythm at once, a smug little grin spreading across her face.
“I’m sure everybody’s going to adore Mister Rabbit.” “Wait, wait, wait — this runs completely counter to the great god’s will —!” Watching Artorias, now nestled in the pack, about to be spirited off into Orario by the captain of Astrea Familia, Fels finally lost hold of the unflappable sage’s composure and hurried to stop them.
“Is that really such a problem?” The answer came from a rabbit wearing the face of someone looking at an idiot.
“I’m a monster.
A child of the Dungeon.
Obeying the will of the humans’ gods…
wasn’t that a strange idea right from the start?” At that, Fels fell utterly silent.
An adventurer and a Xenos meeting for the first time had reached an agreement and joined forces to force her to concede.
In all her years of dealing with the Xenos, she had never once faced a situation this troublesome.
The great god’s judgment had been right after all: the Xenos called Artorias was something quite special.
If it were him, perhaps it truly could be done — “Heh heh heh…” A low chuckle rose from the mouth of the skull who had once been a sage.
It was surrender.
It was also anticipation.
“Very well, Xenos Artorias, and Alise Lovell, captain of Astrea.
I will convey the wishes of you both to the great god.” “Until then, I permit you a limited degree of involvement.” She raised a finger of bare bone and pointed into the depths of the Dungeon.
“Alise Lovell, take Artorias to the twentieth floor of the [middle floors].
Advance according to his instincts.
Someone will be waiting for you there.” “Go and earn their acknowledgment.
Prove that the Familia of justice means what it says.” ____ 👻🔥Walnut-chan on Pa+reon for more!🔥👻 🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: