Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (23 page)

“… Please, get out of here quickly. Find help.”

“B…… Bell!!!”

I’ve said my piece. I stand up.

The goddess’s eyes are filled with tears, her face twisted. She looks at me, about to break down.

“… It will be okay. You know how good my Agility is. I’m an expert at running away.”

It takes all I have to force a reassuring smile to my lips.

I take one step back, spin, and sprint back up the street.

She cries out over and over, but I don’t look back.

I yell, “I’m sorry!” back to her. I’m sorry for being a useless weakling…

“……!”

I rub the tears out of my eyes with my arm as I run back up the sloping road.

I’m back to the intersection. The monster isn’t here, but I back off into the shadow of a wall. Keeping an eye on the rooftops, I reach into my leg holster and pull out a tube of one of
Miaha Familia
’s marlin-blue potions and down it in one gulp.

The pain melts away. Strength once again fills my body.

I’m calm, focused, ready.

“Ruaaaa!”

Here it comes from the other side of the block.

I jump into the middle of the intersection, make sure it sees me run to the other side.

“Uuhh…?”

“Hey! Over here!!”

It looks in all directions. The goddess is nowhere in sight. I yell even louder to get its attention.

The silverback stops in the intersection for a moment, looking
down all three of the roads. It pauses, looking down the path toward the goddess. I hold my breath.

“… Gyaaaaaaa!!!”

It worked!

It’s coming after me. Time to get out of here!

Daidaros Street really is a maze. Everything looks the same: roads go in every direction, sudden staircases. It’s enough to make me wonder if I’ve already come through here. I can’t even tell which way is north.

While running this way, I noticed a few red arrows painted on the walls. They’re
ariadne
—street signposts, probably painted by the locals. They must lead to the entrance of the labyrinth block. The goddess should be able to get out of here easily if she can find one.

On the other hand, they might lead to the core of the maze. Either one is safer than being around me.

I decide to follow the ariadne for a while. It’s better than running around with no idea where I’m going.

“……”

We’re being watched.

There are people hiding in the shadows, watching from windows of their homes. All their eyes are following the monster and me as we tear through the streets. They’re scared.

Just who the hell is that…?

One set of eyes is boring into me. I can’t ignore it. It’s completely different from the rest; this person isn’t afraid.

They’ve been watching me since the beginning of the chase. It’s making my skin crawl. I can’t shake it.

It’s almost like they’re observing me…

I can’t describe this cold feeling flooding into my throat. I cover my mouth to cough.

“Gyaruuu!!”

“Gahh?!”

The silverback caught up to me before I could make it to the next intersection. I couldn’t dodge his ambush from above and went
rolling down the street. Rolling, rolling, rolling. I emerge from the road into a large open space when I finally stop.

It must be some kind of a park. A lot of roads and stairwells lead to this spot. There’s even a shabby-looking fountain in the center spewing water into the air.

“Gyaraaaaa!!”

“?!”

The silverback bursts through the road I rolled out of. It’s even angrier than before—losing the goddess must have enraged the beast further still. And it’s coming right for me!

Somehow, it’s figured out how to swing the chains on its wrists around like metallic whips. Dodge left, right, dodge dodge dodge!!!

The combination of its incredibly powerful arms with the metal chains is absolutely brutal.

“—?!”

After all of that, it gets me.

The blow was aimed at my head but strikes me square in the chest. A shriek of pain shoots out of my lungs.

I succeed in blocking the chain with what’s left of my dagger, but the shock of the impact radiates through my body.

Red sparks fly from my blade as the beast pulls back the chain. The next moment, I’m spun to the ground like a rag doll.

“AH, gyhhhh?!”

I peel my torso off the ground with shaking arms. My body won’t listen to me. I can’t move forward.

This is hopeless; I can’t touch the monster. Not even close.

I’m just staring at the stones in the road, in pain both physically and mentally.

I slowly force my neck upward to find the silverback. It’s standing next to the fountain, growling and holding a chain in one hand. It’s spinning. I can hear the chain whistling through the air. Here comes the final blow…

I don’t want to die. I’m not ready to die. But this is hopeless. Part of me has already given up.

My strength is gone, my will almost broken. My neck feels like it could snap.

I wonder if the goddess got away… That’s the only thing on my mind now.

It was like this then, too…

Just like this.

When that person came.

When Aiz Wallenstein saved my life.

But she won’t save me this time. I would have liked seeing her face one last time. On the other hand, I’m glad she’s not here.

She won’t see me in this pitiful position again.

Thinking about that moment just made me more depressed. I drop my head back onto the street in shame.

“Bell!!”

“—”

Time freezes.

A voice pierces the fog in my head and grabs hold of my heart.

I raise my head. I can see clearly again. What I see makes my blood run cold.

Someone has come to help me. It wasn’t “her,” but it’s someone very important to me.

Hestia looks down at me, struggling to catch her breath.

Why? Why did you come back?

That question resonates over and over in my head. I can’t express the feelings that swell up in my chest.

“Ugyaruuu…”

“—”

Then, things go from bad to worse.

The silverback has found what it was looking for. Its eyes shift from me to its new target: Hestia.

And then those wide eyes focus on her.

The goddess is hunched over, trying to catch her breath. She’s an easy target for the silverback. It springs into motion a heartbeat later.

“Goddess!!”

I run.

Breaking all of my limits, I run.

I force my beaten and battered body up, closing the distance to the goddess in less than a second.

I pluck her thin frame from the clutches of the beast and hold her tight.

“…!”

Its meaty hand grazes through my field of vision as I half carry the goddess into the closest road leading away from the park.

At least, I thought it was a road. We dive into a sharp stairwell at full speed and tumble down the stone steps.

The world spins again and again, screams stuck in my throat.

“G-Goddess?! Are you okay?”

“Yes… I’m fine.”

We land on a particularly wide step with a thud. Fighting back the pain in my own body, I make sure she isn’t hurt. She looks dizzy, her head is flopping around, but her voice is clear.

I’m relieved for an instant, and then I let her have it.

“Why are you here?! I told you to run away, far away! Now luring it away was meaningless…!!”

The goddess’s clothes are soaked with sweat. She must have run all around Daidaros Street looking for me.

Either she predicted that I would follow the ariadne, or she followed the eyes of the onlookers and the howls of the silverback to find me.

Why did she come back?! All of my emotions are mixed, turning my voice inside out as I speak.

“… You really have no clue, do you?”

That’s what she says to me.

She wipes her dirty face with her arm and gives me a nice smile.

“I can’t just run away and leave you behind, now can I?”

“…!”

“You want to protect me? Right back at you.”

She doesn’t stop there. She silently mouths the words:

“You made a promise, right?”

“—Ah.”

I remember.

A promise that I should never have forgotten.

I made her a promise on that day. I swore to her.

—“Please don’t leave me alone.”—

I broke my promise when I gave up.

I was about to leave her on her own.

“… But, like this, both of us will…”

My face may have relaxed, but those words nearly tear me apart.

Sensing that I can’t finish that sentence, the goddess puts on a strong face and says in an equally strong voice, “It’s too early to give up, Bell.”

“Eh?”

“I have an idea.”

She reaches into the back of her robe and pulls out a small case.

She beams a triumphant smile when I look at the case. She starts to open it.

“Ah!”

“Huh?”

She freezes with her hand over the lid.

She looks up behind me, her mouth half open.

I follow her eyes to the top of the stairwell. A wild silhouette is diving right for us!

We lock eyes for a moment, our faces instantly pale.

“GYAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

I grab what I can of her and jump.

The silverback lands hard, turning the spot we’d just inhabited into a crater. The goddess and I run as fast as we can down the last part of the stairwell.

She overtook me? When did the goddess get this fast?

Did she just say she wanted to protect me?!?

“Kyaaaa!!”

“G-GODDESS!!!”

The goddess yells as she trips over a stone in the road.

Time slows. Her hands are straight up, falling forward. I burst
forward to catch her before she crashes to the ground. The silverback is right behind us.

“Sorry to be rude, Goddess!”

“Wahh?”

No time for complaints.

I hold her in my arms, completely violating all manners. My arms are wrapped under her shoulders and knees as I pick up speed.

I’m carrying her like the heroes carried the princesses in those stories. Her face is bright red against my chest.

“Sorry, Bell. I know this is hardly the time, but I’m sooooo happy right now!”

“What the heck are you saying, Goddess?!?!”

We’re inches from death and she’s happy?!? I don’t understand at all.

I keep running. I have to ignore my confusion to survive this incident. The goddess swings her arms around my neck, and I tighten my grip on her. I summon every ounce of energy I have left to keep running. It helps that the goddess’s body is unbelievably light. I make my way through the labyrinth at a full sprint and somehow manage to pull away from the monster.

But.

Luck abandons us at the last moment.

“A… dead end…”

Three tall houses surround us, the long road having ended in a cul-de-sac. There is only one road in here, and there’s no point turning back. The monster has us cornered.

I set the goddess down before taking a quick look around. Several of the residents are looking down at us. They quickly hide when they notice I can see them.

Monsters are scary. I know that they aren’t helping us because they’ll get dragged into this situation and possibly eaten. I don’t blame them for hiding.

After all that running, we can’t get away.

The goddess scratches her chin, like she’s thinking of something. I drop my head in despair.

“… No, this is good.”

“EH?!”

She only whispered those words, but I do a double take when they reach my ears.

She looks up at me with a confident smile, diminutive stature and all.

“Bell, you will slay that monster.”

“… uh?!”

“I will update your status right now. You will use up that power to take it down.”

Sure, she could update my status, and I would stand a better chance in a fight than before.

However… it won’t be enough.

The silverback is a lower-eleventh monster. I only just got out of the sixth alive. That’s five floors’ difference. An adventurer’s strength can be measured by the number of floors they’ve conquered. By the same token, a monster’s strength can be measured by the floor on which they are born. The difference in floor is the difference in power. Even if I got a little stronger from a status update, I obviously still have a long way to go to be on par with the silverback.

I wouldn’t measure up in a fight. And on top of that…

“… I can’t, Goddess. You saw it, too, right? I can’t scratch that monster. Even if I got a little stronger, I wouldn’t be able to land a killing blow on the silverback.”

The problem is with my basic attack strength.

When I put all of the Strength of my current status into what was supposed to be a killing blow before coming into Daidaros Street, it was blocked by the silverback’s fur.

Even with a stronger status backing up the weapon in my hand, I don’t think it can penetrate the beast’s defense.

“I… can’t slay it.”

My head falls as I mutter those words. I’m so pathetic.

All of those abusive things that animal guy said. All the other customers trying not to laugh and failing. I can see everything in my head so clearly, and all of it is telling me just how weak I am.

I can’t hurt the silverback, let alone slay it. I just can’t.

To top it all off, I have no confidence whatsoever.

“What if your attacks get stronger?”

“—Eh?”

“Could you slay it if you could do damage?”

She asks before opening the case in her hands. She removes the contents and holds it out for me.

A black knife encased in a black sheath rests in her palm.

I slowly reach out to take the weapon from her. I stand there almost in shock as I take the blade from its protective cover. The handle and sheath are black; the blade is no exception.

The black knife doesn’t curve like a claw. It’s straight as an arrow.

Plus, a series of complicated markings decorates the edges.

It starts glowing a deep purple in my hand, almost as if the “god knife” is responding to my touch.

I stand there, admiring the weapon and its beauty. It feels sacred, as if it was created by the gods themselves.