DUNGEON DIVE, page 14
Of the possible outcomes I’d pictured going in, this was close to the best one. It was safe to call it a smashing success. There’d been more holes in the ritual than I’d anticipated, which had proved fortunate. Or maybe it was more that I was simply too strong. No one in this world could stop me anymore. The mission was such a success that I didn’t feel off base thinking that. I was able to save Lastiara without losing anyone or bringing about any enemy casualties. I knew it was still too early to relax, but I naturally ended up grinning. Dia and Lastiara noticed me smiling and sent smiles of their own my way, their dresses fluttering in the wind. The smiles of those two dressed in pure white costumes were so radiant it ought to have been illegal.
Ahh, I’m so relieved.
I was so glad I was able to safeguard those smiles. All we had to do now was get back on our feet in the south and resume Dungeon diving from there. Moreover, given the circumstances, the chances were high that Mr. Hine and Ms. Radiant would help us on our dives. My friends and allies would increase in number, making exploring the Dungeon progress that much more smoothly. The two knights were suitable for labyrinth exploration. Mr. Hine’s wind magic meant we wouldn’t have to worry about flying monsters. Ms. Radiant’s wolf form, meanwhile, meant she could give a ride to the slow-moving magic-users, causing the collective power level of the party to jump dramatically. That being the case, Maria participating in the dive was no longer a pipe dream either.
At the thought that I had good news to report to Maria, my lips curled even more. I could finally tell her with confidence that we should explore the Dungeon together.
For real, I’m so relieved...
I’d assumed that absconding with Lastiara would be highly risky, but at the end of the day, I’d incurred no losses. In fact, I’d increased the number of allies I could rely on. Dia had made a full recovery and returned as a mage—one who was better than ever before. Lastiara would regain her true identity and go on adventures with me again. Mr. Hine and Ms. Radiant’s loyalty to her was authentic and ironclad, and they would make trustworthy companions.
With Maria in the mix, it was a party of six. On the larger side as far as parties went, but having a lot of people wasn’t a bad thing in my eyes. As long as I had Connection, we could progress while swapping party members in and out. There was no need to go in every single time as a unit of six. And if I kept gaining more comrades, we could explore the Dungeon using various rosters and rotations. Ahh, my dreams were expanding. My Dungeon diving options were multiplying, and I was delighted from the bottom of my heart. Everything’s going great!
It made me want to show the passive, negative Kanami of a few days ago how I was now. I could say it out loud without embarrassment: with a little courage, you can make wonderful things happen. If you do your best, the results of your hard work will bear fruit. That was what I wanted to tell my past self. Sure, this was a fantasy world where everything beggared belief, but for that very reason, a happy ending right out of fiction was awaiting me. My past self needed to know that.
My body felt light as a feather as I ran. There was no more anguish or rage over my “???” skill. I can do anything.
I continued along the path of roofs and crossed the nation’s border, dashing down the Vart highway and heading for the hill where my house was located. The house where Maria was waiting. I felt like now, I could properly engage with her feelings. I could face everything I’d been avoiding and solve that problem. I’d gained the confidence to be able to do it. That was how decluttered my heart had become. And that was the reason I wanted to see Maria.
Ahh, I wanna see Maria quick. I wanna see her, and then...and then...
But what met my hopeful eyes when I laid eyes upon the hill wasn’t my house. It was smoke. Something was burning there atop the hill. A large dark plume was filling the sky.
Huh?
My jubilation was dampened in an instant. I got the distinct sensation that the peace in my heart had been dropped into a pitch-black puddle. I turned pale. My head was empty. I bolted home, running alone up the hill to reach the source of the smoke. And then I got there...and I saw it.
It was my house. My house was on fire.
Two girls were staring at it too. At my house, which was crackling like a campfire as it burned. They turned to look in my direction.
“Look. Sieg’s here,” Alty told Maria with a smile.
Maria found me and smiled innocently. But that smile soon disappeared. She looked behind me, and her expression stiffened. Alty comforted her, whispering something as she stroked her head consolingly.
This is nuts. They’ve got their backs on the burning house, calm as can be about it. The way Alty’s looking at Maria so adoringly is just odd. And then there’s the way Maria looks ready to kill after seeing Lastiara and the others. It’s so weird. It’s just weird, weird, weird. It’s all too crazy.
My head was going blank. A voice resonated clearly inside my empty mind. It was such a limpid, pure voice. The voice of a girl who might cry. Who sounded so sad, so tormented.
Maria’s voice.
“Give me...Master...back...” she muttered as she looked at us.
Her eyes were darker and more sunken than I’d ever seen them. She was looking at me with eyes that were emptier than nothingness. My heart thumped, and I could feel a small prick of pain in my chest—the first damage of any kind I’d taken since the plan to retake Lastiara had commenced.
Thinking back, the only person who’d been able to make me feel any pain that day was Maria. Only the girl who was standing there and none other. That fact gave me chills. In the face of Alty and Maria, who were supposed to be my allies, I felt only terror...
Chapter 4: Maria _____
It’s burning.
Ahh, it’s all burning. Every little bit. The cherished house entrusted to me by Master, my one place to belong. Burning. I blinked and it was burning. I don’t know when it started...
Did this much really accumulate over time? Is there really so much of that dark red emotion in me? That frothing feeling screaming to be let out. That sticky sludge boiling and roiling and moiling in the recesses of my soul. The fuel that I’d kept pressing down had grown too dense. My mad crush and my envy.
It had started with a spark—that whole new world opened up by the magic the Thief of Fire’s Essence had given me. That spark had burned everything that had been piling up in my heart, igniting it into a hellfire blaze that suffused my innermost being. The abyssal blaze had burned my heart, illuminated it, exposed it.
The shadow of what I truly wanted was cast in sharp relief upon my heart. The daily life of a certain ____, projected like a shadow puppet play.
That’s right. That right there’s what I’m supposed to desire more than anything. I just want to go back. Back to that happy place. Back to my hometown. Back to the past. Back to those wonderful days. I just wanted to regain that slice of peace. Everyone was happy there. I had the company of ____, of _____, of _____, of my friends, of my family, my clan, there in the Fanian hinterlands. It was farmland with nothing interesting to speak of. The sticks were a metropolis by comparison. Day after day, we were busy working the fields, hunting, and helping with the household chores. But everyone was smiling and laughing. Each and every one...
It was me who destroyed that place. No, the power of my eyes destroyed it. These eyes that can see the true nature of things. They didn’t find it or spot it or look upon it. They actively saw it. Which is why, even when I was working the fields, my eyes would immediately be drawn to the fundamental improvements that could be made, and my hands would stop. Whenever I went on the hunt, I stopped being able to use traditional methods. Whenever I did housework, I invariably brooded, thinking this wasn’t the sort of work I should be doing. And every time, I’d be yelled at. Oh, how nostalgic. ____ would always gently admonish me.
“You’ve got a more discerning eye than the other kids,” they’d say. “Those eyes of yours are a gift from heaven,” they’d say. And faintly, I remember them making this request of me: “Use that power and find what can be of use to the village.”
But now I can’t even remember _____’s face.
Where did I go wrong? When those disturbing rumors began to circulate in the village? When the country went to war? No, maybe the decisive moment the dominoes fell was when the army started stationing their troops in the village? Or maybe when I mouthed off to military command about their policies? Or maybe when I said I could win the battle? Or maybe when I took the battle into my own...
No. That’s beside the point. The exact sequence of events isn’t important. And it’s because of my eyes that I know the real problem lay elsewhere.
In the end, that village was destined for destruction no matter what. Its fate was sealed long before the army came. That village was in an unlucky location. It was simple but true, and I understood it full well. Its ruin was destiny in action. Oh, I’d hastened its downfall, sure. But I could see that wasn’t the root cause. Even if I could go back to those wonderful days, as I so wished, I would merely suffer the same fate again. The rare black-haired, black-eyed clan living in such a small village was destined to perish in an era like this. That’s all there is to it.
“That’s why I don’t want to return to the past.”
The Thief of Fire’s Essence replied forlornly, “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”
Then what do I want to do? What do I want?
I viewed the silhouettes created by the light of the flames, witnessing once again the world that portrayed the vista of my heart. That world didn’t contain my hometown or ____ or anything of the sort. All that stuff had burned to cinders. ____, ____, and ____ had all turned to ash, and I could no longer remember any of them. Such was the cost I paid for fire magic. That, I remembered. I knew that they were important to me and that they’d vanished from inside of me. So now, there was just one shadowy figure left. The person with the same black hair and eyes as my clan. He was all that was left to me. The person who kept depositing more sediment into the bottom of my heart. He was the only thing projected in my world.
Then the Thief of Fire’s Essence whispered to me sadly, “Look. Sieg’s here.”
My liar of a Master, “Siegfried Vizzita,” emerged from below the hill. He was a kind person, chosen in my eyes to be ____’s replacement. And he was so noble that I couldn’t fully grasp it, not even through my eyes. He was a hero among heroes. He was my darling. He was the destination of the burning blaze.
My Master had returned at last...
From that day...
At last...
◆◆◆◆◆
The Thief of Fire’s Essence was uninterested in any ordinary romance.
Three days prior. That was when I had met her for the first time in any real sense, after hitting the festival with my Master and Ms. Lastiara. On the way back, the Thief and I were left by ourselves, and that was the beginning of our tale together.
“It’s wonderful! You’re wonderful! Ohh, it’s just so precious, Mar-Mar!” The Thief of Fire’s Essence—Ms. Alty—had deemed my crush “wonderful.”
“Mightn’t you be looking for the word ‘stupid’?”
“Oh no, you’re precious. You’re adorable. You’re by no means stupid. You’re just a normal girl with normal feelings. What’s a pity is how outmatched you are. I mean, when it’s Lastiara you’re up against, anybody would be out of their depth.”
“You’re right. Anybody would be. That’s how perfect she is. In fact, she’s so pretty and perfect that it’s like she was created, not born.” I heaved a sigh, despairing of the power gap between me and her.
“Heh heh, ‘created,’ you say? You hit the nail on the head. She really is a creation, and one that’s overpowered.”
“I resent God. Why didn’t God make me a bit taller? If only I had a nice physique like hers, and I had smooth hair like hers, and I had nicer-looking eyes like hers, maybe then Master would look at me at least a little.”
“Well, I think you’ve got your own appeal, Mar-Mar.”
“Ha ha. In what way, shape, or form? I’m tiny and flat, like a little kid. My hair’s tousled and my eyes look mean. I’ve got no sex appeal.” I could almost feel my spirit sinking into a muddy mire.
“I can’t agree.”
“Even if I’m wrong about that, I’m still unqualified to be standing beside the hero of the story. What Master wants is for me to be strong enough to help him Dungeon dive, and I lack that strength. If only I were strong...”
“Hmm. You want strength, eh?”
I remembered what had happened a few days back. I’d been far from useful in the Dungeon. In fact, I’d only dragged him down. I knew I’d never be able to find a place to shine in the Dungeon again.
Back then, Lastiara had said she’d make sure we didn’t “die or break on her” from the sidelines. I understood that she was rooting for my crush in a roundabout way, but it was an ill portent. It wasn’t as though I had a good pretext for getting closer to him. When he told me he wanted me to cook his food for him every day in this house, I’d managed to step out of the pit of despair, but the tunnel was still dark.
I sighed.
“Don’t get so down in the dumps. You’re gonna make me sad too.”
“S-Sorry...”
Ms. Alty truly did look sad. “No, you don’t need to apologize. Never mind that; you said it’s strength, right? You said it’s power that you lack.”
“Ah, right, yes. Without it, I’ll never be of use to Master.”
“About that. I’ve got a way. A method to make you stronger.”
“Whoa, what, you do?!”
“Yep, of course I do. I am now and always a friend to all girls whose crushes are unrequited.”
“What sort of method is it?!”
“I’ll teach you magic. As a professional specializing in fire magic, just wait, because I’ll make your fire magic primo stuff.”
“Magic?”
“Granted, the method’s a bit of a brute-force tactic. After all, you’re gonna be drinking blood with my magic formulas packed into it.”
“I’m drinking blood?”
If it were a formula-inscribed magic gem I was to swallow, I’d understand, but I’d never heard of drinking blood packed with formulas. I had my doubts that doing so would actually teach me the spell.
“I don’t blame you for being suspicious. The method doesn’t seem to exist in this day and age. But I guarantee you it’ll work. You have my word as the pinnacle of fire mages. With this, you’ll be closer to standing at the peak of all fire mages too.” Ms. Alty stared at me with earnest eyes.
“But if I drink blood, the magic formulas won’t—”
“This fact’s not well-known, mind you. But drinking blood and swallowing a magic gem are ultimately the same. Magic gems are an improved, easier-to-learn method, I’ll give you that. With those, all anyone needs is the elemental affinity to learn a spell. But the mechanism is the same. Of course, the conditions required to learn magic through blood are very limiting. It’s really only for a small subset of people. That’s why the method hasn’t permeated enough for anyone to know of it.”
Alty knew a lot about magic. Though what she said was a bit eccentric, I could be certain that she possessed a deeper insight than Ms. Franrühle, the girl who attended that academy. She was more than a little persuasive.
“And I fulfill those conditions?”
“Yeah, you do. For better or for worse, it’s perfect. Your affinity is basically perfect.”
“What would those conditions be?”
“Hmm, well, it’s actually supposed to be a secret, but...you’re the one and only Mar-Mar, so I’ll let you in on a little bit. Basically, it all hinges on how much the blood giver and the recipient have in common. You and I have the same worries and similar personalities. Our lives are also similar. Honestly, we’re really alike. That’s important.”
“Err, uhh, so in other words, you have an unrequited crush too, Ms. Alty?”
“Heh heh, I do. You and I are the same.”
That fact came as a shock to me. Somewhere deep inside, I’d been laboring under the impression that I was the only one with such woes. “So that’s why you’re spending so much time trying to help me.”
With that, the doubts I was harboring in a corner of my mind were cleared. To be frank, I’d regarded her providing me with so much support as odd and worthy of suspicion. But if she viewed me as a kindred spirit, it was more credible. My Perception skill—my eyes—also saw her as benevolent towards me.
“That’s right. At any rate, if you drink my blood, it’ll all make sense. So whaddya say? Gonna have a drink?”
Ms. Alty extended her arm towards me with a smile. I hesitated. I wasn’t particularly worried about the risk of her lying. I was worried that I was inconveniencing her. I felt bad, receiving so much from her without giving her anything in return.
“Are... Are you sure you don’t mind? Isn’t it the case that mages cherish their spells and don’t generally think nothing of sharing them with others?”
Her reply was immediate. “I don’t mind. I just want to be helpful to you.”
“In that case, I’ll drink it,” I said, replying instantly myself. “If it’s how I can obtain more power, I’ll drink it.”
Seeing me lose any hesitation, Ms. Alty chuckled. “Heh heh, that’s what I like to hear.”
She wasted no time slitting her wrist and shedding her blood. The merciless act of self-mutilation shocked and startled me, but it seemed a mage of sufficient skill and experience could do it without any issues. I steeled my resolve and brought my mouth closer to her wrist. Red blood spilled out and landed on my tongue. Then it traveled down my throat and permeated my insides. The taste of iron spread through my mouth, and it quickly sank in that, yes, I’d just drunk somebody’s blood. At the same time, I felt something hot welling up from the bottom of my stomach. It felt like I had acquired something new. Like my blood was making a stir. Like the magic energy inside my body got startled somehow.
