Chapter 20: Hazy Feelings!
"Apologize?"
Looking puzzledly at the serious-faced Takemikazuchi, Hestia asked confusedly, "Take-kun, what did you do that requires apologizing to me?"
"No, it wasn't me..." Shaking his head, Takemikazuchi stepped aside, revealing the few people behind him.
"It was them."
"Ah! Aren't these the children from your Familia, Take-kun?"
Seeing the three people standing in a row behind Takemikazuchi, Hestia walked out of the church, smilingly patted Ouka's broad shoulder, "This is Ouka, right? At the Denatus where your adventurer title was decided, Take-kun proudly boasted to the other god friends, saying he found a man with the spirit of a War God..."
"Hestia-sama, I..."
Hearing Hestia say the phrase 'man with the spirit of a War God', Ouka's face instantly flushed with shame.
His hands clenched into fists, his whole body trembling continuously.
"I'm sorry! Megami-sama!"
Finally, under Hestia's kind gaze, he lowered his head penitently and said loudly, "Due to my mistake, your most prized Familia member, Luke... he got trapped in the middle floors of the Dungeon and still hasn't come out!"
As Ouka finished speaking this sentence, the smile on Hestia's face froze.
Standing behind Hestia, Takemikazuchi widened his eyes slightly, watching his fellow god's reaction.
And Ouka, having shouted out this sentence, gasped heavily, but felt inexplicably much lighter in his heart.
"You... What did you just say? I don't think I heard clearly..."
Struggling to maintain composure, Hestia crossed her arms in front of her chest, turned back to look at Takemikazuchi standing silently in place, her voice trembling, "Take-kun... This kind of thing is absolutely not funny at all... You must be joking with me, right?"
Gazing into Hestia's wavering azure eyes, Takemikazuchi took a deep breath, then closed his eyes.
"Sorry, Hestia. Your child not returning is indeed inextricably linked to Ouka and the others."
"..."
Takemikazuchi's light words fell upon Hestia's ears, instantly causing all expression on her face to crumble.
"Kami-sama, why are you up so..."
From within the church behind her came Bell's voice.
"Bell."
Turning around, Hestia looked at the white-haired boy emerging from the church with eyes calm to the point of emotionlessness.
"Didn't you say last night that Luke-kun was just pulling an all-nighter leveling in the Dungeon?"
"Uh..."
Hearing Hestia's inquiry, Bell looked up.
His gaze passed over her, saw the few people outside the church, and then instantly recognized the girl named Yamato Mikoto who was rescued by Luke yesterday.
No, can't hide it anymore, Luke-sama...
Instantly understanding the current situation, Bell could only shake his head helplessly and reveal everything he knew to Hestia.
"...So since Mikoto-san and your teammates have been rescued, why hasn't Senpai returned yet?"
Meeting Bell's innocent gaze, Mikoto bit her lip lightly and lowered her head, averting her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Luke-sama... To buy us a chance to escape, he stayed behind alone to cover the rear. He's still trapped in the Dungeon even now."
"What?!"
Unlike Hestia's calm demeanor, hearing Mikoto's words, Bell's eyes widened instantly.
"You... How could you leave Senpai alone in the middle floors? That place..."
His words became incoherent.
The thought of Luke being abandoned alone in the middle floors, and still not having returned since last night, made Bell's heart constrict, bringing a dull ache and a sense of suffocation.
And just as Bell felt somewhat lost...
"Plop—"
A sound of something falling echoed within the church.
Subconsciously turning towards the sound, Bell saw Lili's eyes filled with hatred and sorrow.
"Bell Cranel! If it weren't for you... If it weren't for you...!"
His gaze met Lili's fiery eyes.
Bell immediately lowered his head in shame.
Simultaneously, an indescribable emptiness rose in his heart, as if something important had been forcefully taken away.
If given another chance, he would never let Luke stay alone in the Dungeon.
Lowering his head deeply, Bell struggled to control the tears already welling up in his eyes from flowing out, while squeezing out a hoarse voice from his throat.
"Sorry, Lili..."
"Is sorry useful? Even if you apologize, Luke-sama won't come back!"
"Sorry, sorry..."
Quietly listening to Bell and Lili's conversation, the conflict erupting within her own Familia failed to change Hestia's expression in the slightest.
She just gazed silently at the three people before her.
Ouka, Mikoto, Chigusa—under Hestia's silent gaze, all showed expressions of shame.
"Hestia, I understand your feelings. And your child also fell into danger to save Ouka and the others, but..."
"Take-kun."
The cold blue glint in Hestia's eyes instantly cut off Takemikazuchi's words halfway.
Only then did he hear her continue, "If Luke-kun dies because of this incident, I will absolutely never forgive you."
Not pursuing the responsibility of Ouka and the other two, Hestia directly released her malice towards Takemikazuchi.
Allowing his own children, whose strength was still insufficient, to enter the middle floors, resulting in an accident and implicating outsiders—Takemikazuchi indeed bore inescapable responsibility.
Therefore, facing the ice-cold Hestia, Takemikazuchi didn't try to defend himself, silently enduring her resentment.
Glancing faintly at Takemikazuchi who willingly accepted the blame, Hestia's gaze shifted to Ouka and the other two.
"Although you indeed made mistakes in this matter, since Luke-kun was willing to go to the middle floors to save you, it means he must have been prepared to pay the price. So I won't resent you either..."
Ouka and the other two lowered their heads.
The expected storm of reprimands didn't arrive.
Instead, they heard Hestia's calm and righteous voice.
"Then, may I ask you now, to help me rescue Luke-kun?"
Lifting their heads, they saw a pair of azure eyes filled with gentleness and compassion.
Behind the petite Hestia, the sacred and solemn church shone brilliantly under the morning light.
Instantly, an indescribably powerful emotion struck hard at the hearts of Ouka and the other two.
"We humbly obey!"
The three members of the Takemikazuchi Familia uniformly knelt on one knee, lowering their heads in salute.
Seeing his own Familia members swearing allegiance to Hestia in response to the goddess's mercy, Takemikazuchi narrowed his eyes slightly but didn't intervene.
Having received the promise of help from Ouka and the others, Hestia turned back to look at Takemikazuchi again, her expression softening slightly.
"Take-kun, you definitely bear a large part of the responsibility for this incident. So later, you must help me."
"What do you intend to do?"
"Is there even a need to ask..." Her gaze turned towards Tower of Babel standing tall against the sky in the early morning.
Hestia's voice was calm and resolute, "Of course, it's to recruit adventurers from other Familias, go into the Dungeon, and bring Luke-kun back."
...
Dungeon.
"Pata, pata..."
Luke slowly walked out of the vertical passage.
On the long sword held in his right hand, scarlet blood flowed over the pitch-black blade, dripping drop by drop from the tip onto the ground.
The current floor was the 16th.
Although it was impossible to know exactly how much time had passed due to the lack of sunrises and sunsets in the Dungeon, Luke was aware of the fact that he had been continuously battling monsters in the Dungeon for quite a long time.
And the proof was the terrifying number of kills that had caused blood to flow like rivers on almost every floor starting from the 13th.
"Crack—"
Not long after Luke entered the 16th floor, several faint cracking sounds came from the surrounding rock walls.
Tightening his grip on the sword hilt, a feeling of soreness rose up his forearm.
After continuously fighting Lv.2 monsters for an entire night, under such ultra-high intensity combat, even with Endurance and Constitution exceeding 60 points, he began to feel fatigued.
However, experiencing the soreness and weakness constantly transmitted from all parts of his body, Luke's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Under the state where all basic Job Skills of [Black Swordsman] were active, Luke could clearly perceive that something was brewing within his sword techniques...
Or perhaps saying it like that is too vague, but this feeling was incredibly strong, definitely not some empty illusion.
"Kala kala..."
Around Luke, the sound of rock walls cracking became increasingly dense.
Pairs of bloodthirsty, savage, yet cunning beast eyes, through the cracked rock walls, locked onto the lone, thin figure dressed in black within the floor passage.
"Clang—!"
Facing the prying gazes of these monsters, Luke flicked his right hand.
A cold, murderous sword cry instantly filled the entire floor.
The sword, king of a hundred weapons.
A gentleman should be warm like jade, his edge concealed within.
But the sword is also an instrument of slaughter.
With two edges, if it doesn't harm others, it must harm oneself.
Luke's cold eyes indifferently regarded the various monsters continuously emerging from the rock walls around him.
He slightly raised his blade, leaning his body forward.
The cold sword hilt rested in his hand, feeling as if connected by bloodline, moving like an extension of his arm.
The next moment.
Luke, drew his sword...
...
Inside the Hostess of Fertility tavern, Syr was repeating the action of wiping tables and chairs.
Although generally, places like taverns wouldn't have many customers in the morning, she still diligently did what she could do well.
After wiping down a set of table and chairs, Syr straightened up, supporting her slightly sore lower back with both hands, and stretched vigorously.
Finishing her stretch, she placed the wiping cloth on the tavern counter, pulled over a chair, sat down facing backward, then rested her chin on the chair back.
Her pair of gray eyes stared blankly at the empty street outside the shop, suddenly remembering a certain customer who had been frequenting the shop recently and was also very generous.
"Ah, being able to talk to a beauty like Syr-san, I always feel healed afterward. Is this some kind of magic?"
—This was the line this customer invariably used to tease her whenever he returned from adventuring in the Dungeon and drank.
A truly, truly unreliable customer.
"If it weren't for him being so generous, I would have blacklisted him long ago!"
Mama Mia would always say this whenever she saw her being teased by that customer.
However, she didn't seem genuinely angry, which made Syr find it quite amusing.
Because all the adventurers who had teased her in the past had been severely taught a lesson by Mama Mia.
Only Luke was an exception.
But why exactly?
Because this customer was generous?
Mama Mia's answer to her was: "That kid isn't teasing you at all, he's just distracting himself... I don't know where he gets so much pressure from all day. I feel anxious just watching him. He's a pitiful person too, I guess."
Mama Mia's words confused Syr greatly, because in her eyes, this customer lived quite freely—he had a relatively harmonious Familia, the two juniors in the Familia admired him greatly, and he himself seemed to be a very capable adventurer.
He earned considerable wealth by hunting monsters for magic stones.
Recently, she often heard rumors about him, like the Lv.1 adventurer single-handedly hunting a Minotaur, the fastest leveling rookie in history, Goddess Hestia's Young Blade, the Black Holy Swordsman, and so on.
However, Black Holy Swordsman...
What a cool title.
When she first heard from other customers visiting the shop that Luke actually had such a cool title, Syr was envious for quite a while.
Wonder what the customer is doing now?
Probably still hunting monsters in the Dungeon with his junior adventurers, just like usual?
Her mind randomly thinking about matters concerning that generous customer, a noisy conversation suddenly came from outside the shop, bringing Syr back to her senses.
"Hey, did you hear..."
"...It's actually that Black Holy Swordsman..."
"Eh? No way..."
Sharply catching the words 'Black Holy Swordsman' in the conversation, Syr stood up, ran outside the shop, and stopped several adventurers passing by on the street.
"Please wait a moment, Adventurer-samas. Excuse me, what were you talking about just now?"
Walking along, suddenly stopped, the few adventurers turned around.
Seeing it was a very cute beautiful girl who stopped them, they didn't fuss much.
One of them, with a rather burly build, answered, "It's like this, Hestia-sama is currently gathering high-level adventurers at the Guild to go into the Dungeon and rescue a trapped Familia member from the middle floors. Heard it's that famous Black Holy Swordsman from a while back, Luke."
After speaking, he turned back without any lingering attachment and left with the others.
Although he indeed found Syr's looks quite captivating, he didn't dare cause trouble here.
This tavern named Hostess of Fertility...
Watching the few people walk away, Syr then turned back into the tavern, but her gaze was somewhat strange.
Did something happen to that generous customer?
Perhaps she would never receive his tips again, nor hear his embarrassing teasing anymore.
Somehow... my heart feels uncomfortable.
Sitting on the chair with her head lowered, a shadow suddenly fell before Syr.
Looking up, she saw a girl with short green hair, dressed in a maid outfit just like her, but with pointed ears.
Staring somewhat blankly at this elf girl, Syr spoke, "Ryuu...?"
"Do you want to save him?"
From the elf girl's mouth came a voice as cold and beautiful as her appearance.
Although she didn't specify who 'he' was, Syr instantly understood that Ryuu was talking about the generous customer.
"Mm..."
Her gaze shifted away from the elf girl. Syr stared blankly at the tabletop and nodded.
"I understand."
A crisp voice sounded.
By the time Syr looked up again, the elf girl was already gone from the tavern.
...
---
More Chapters(30+ chapters in advance):
patréon.com/AnimeWrite
(Note: Type 'e' instead of 'é' in the web browser.)
(NOTE: Apple charges 30% more if you buy a Patreon membership through the iOS app. So, I suggest using a web browser to buy the membership from Patreon. You can then use the app to read chapters. Of course, if you don't want to save money, then ignore my suggestion.)