part 2
They're completely naked and not trying to hide anything, their wheatcolored skin completely exposed.
—Have Amazons no shame?!
"Wha-wa-wa-wa…?!"
"Eh? Ehhh…?!"
"Don't tell me…Lord Hermes?"
To my right, a very pink Mikoto stands completely still as Chigusa swiftly
hides her body underwater.
Asfi is next to them. She doesn't have her glasses on but that doesn't stop her
from looking up into the tree, beams of rage blasting out of her eyes.
Rustle. The branches around the area I fell from start twitching.
"Bell, it's children like you…!"
"W-what do you think you're doing, Mr. Bell?!"
To my left, the goddess has her hair down and her feet on the bottom of the
lagoon. Half of her bulging chest is hidden under the waterline as she yells at me
with a red face.
Lilly's the same way, screaming in a high-pitched voice.
"…ah."
And directly in front of me…
Aiz is standing with her back to the waterfall, hugging her body to hide her
chest. Her cheeks are a light shade of red.
Water is dripping from her wet golden hair, tracing its way all the way down
to her legs.
I turn a deep red as the image of Aiz's naked body is burned into my eyes.
The next moment, my head explodes.
"S-SOOOOOORRRYYYYYYY!!"
I launch myself out of the water and race past the lookouts in the blink of an
eye, taking off into the forest as fast as I can.
I charge into the forest with reckless abandon.
More distance, faster, forward! A big tree stands in the middle of my path so I
take a hard right. I cut over to the forest floor, running like a scared rabbit.
But then I notice something important.
"I—I'm lost…"
At long last, the flames burning within me cool enough for me to think
straight. I take a look around and see that I don't recognize anything. The trees
and crystals in this area don't look like the ones close to the campsite; the
canopy is thinner and brighter, too.
Am I in the southern part of the forest? The east? Maybe the southeast?
I try as hard as I can to remember how the forest looked from the town of
Rivira this morning, but I can't remember any details. I don't think anyone could
remember the layout of an area after only one day.
I have no clue where I am.
"Guaaa…"
"B-bugbear…?!"
I quickly jump out of sight after catching a glimpse of a bearlike monster
sitting at the base of a tree.
If I remember right…their Strength and Defense are on par with a Minotaur.
But what really makes them dangerous is deceptively high Agility that doesn't
match their large body size. First appearing on the nineteenth floor, they corner
their prey before tearing it apart. The thought of an agile Minotaur is absolutely
terrifying. This particular bugbear must be hungry, or it's found its favorite thing
in the world, because it's completely distracted by the fruit on the lower
branches of the tree. It's got one honey cloud in its massive paw and another in
its mouth.
I clasp my hands over my nose and mouth while trying to get my beating
heart under control. Turning my back toward the tree, I slowly shimmy around
the trunk and wait for the bear to leave.
T-this is bad, really bad…!
An impending sense of danger, being lost in a forest filled with monsters,
takes over me.
Aiz said something earlier today about the adventurers in Rivira regularly
culling the monsters on the eighteenth floor to keep their numbers down.
Unfortunately, I don't think they come this far out in the woods—why would
they? That means there are more of them out here than closer to town.
I'm lost and more than likely surrounded by monsters. This is a very, very
dangerous situation.
If I don't get back to the campsite by "night"…!
I press forward, my eyes playing tricks on me, making the forest look like an
ominous swamp, my ears on high alert.
Wait…What's that?
A different kind of sound sends my mind into a whirlwind.
This isn't the quiet murmuring of a stream, but like water being poured out of
a glass…Very unnatural.
I can't deny that there's a chance that a monster is making the sound at a
nearby pond. In fact, that's probably it. But I'm hungry and my throat is dry
enough to rival a desert. I decide it's worth the risk and walk toward the sound of
the water.
A pile of logs greets my eyes as I turn a corner. They're blocking the area
between two trees on the ground, but I can climb up and over them. Keeping an
eye on my footing to avoid the clumps of moss, I work my way to the top and
through the opening, toward the source of the noise. Kaw, kaw! Two bird
monsters fly off in the distance.
The foliage around me becomes thicker, the path darker. But before long,
everything around me starts taking on a light-blue hue.
The trees stand like vertical columns, crystals shining beneath my feet as if
guiding me forward…
"—"
The forest opens to reveal a small pond.
All words leave me as soon as I lay eyes on the middle of the body of water.
There is a fairy.
She doesn't have a thread of clothing, only milky white skin—her slender
back to me as she washes her body. She cups her hands together and carefully
lifts the water above her head before letting it run through her hair.
This looks like a page out of a fairy tale, no joke.
A bathing fairy. A chance encounter deep in the woods with a beautiful water
spirit.
This is no different. She's frozen the flow of time, but for some reason I can
make that connection.
Blip, blip. The water makes soft splashing sounds as the fairy moves. She has
a slender but muscular frame and long, pointed ears.
I stand with my hand resting on the tree beside me, dumbstruck as I take in
the view. My brain doesn't have the ability to produce any kind of emotion when
faced with this kind of beauty.
But wait, in those fairy tales, right about now…
The person who sees the fairy taking a bath suddenly gets hit with an arrow
—
"—Who's there!"
Light flashes.
A sharp voice and a white blade were thrown at me at the same time—a
dagger buries itself in the tree next to my face, above my hand. Shing! My ears
finally register the sound of the blade piercing tree bark. Gulp. I swallow the air
in my throat.
The elf's sky-blue eyes lock onto me. Lyu's eyes.
She has her left arm wrapped around her chest, hiding it from view. Her right
hand, the one that threw the dagger, is still extended as she glares straight
through me…Her eyebrows sink the moment that she realizes it was me who
was peeping on her.
"Mr. Cranell?"
"…S-SORRYYYYYYYY?!"
All of my muscles snap to life at the sound of my name. I jump back and
away before landing on all fours and executing Takemikazuchi Familia's
trademark facedown bow.
I slam my face into the ground, trying to apologize.
What am I doing, WHAT AM I DOING?! I've made the same mistake again?!
That's twice in a row?! I scream at myself over and over. Lord Hermes must
never know.
My ears burn red as I clamp my eyes shut. "Haa…" I hear her breathe out.
My shoulders shudder in fear as I wait for her next words.
"Please turn your back."
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
I keep my head down, rotating on my knees. The edge of the pond leaves my
line of sight; tree roots take their place. At that point I raise my upper body and
sit as still as stone.
I can hear the sound of cloth behind me as rivers of sweat run down my face.
My cheeks blush. She's putting on clothes.
"You may turn around."
Slowly, carefully I shift my knees around. Lyu's wearing the same battle
cloth that I saw her in yesterday.
Hip-hugging short pants and long boots. She's wearing that cape over her
shirt but the hood is down. The beautiful elf and I make eye contact.
"First, I would like to hear your explanation."
"Y-yes!! Well, you see, it's like this…!"
Lyu walks right up to me and I stand while stuttering, trying to tell her what
happened…but the truth is too embarrassing. What am I supposed to say? That I
was discovered watching the other girls bathe and then came here?!
I have to think of something else…No.
Her sky-blue eyes are looking right through me; she'd spot a lie instantly.
And that would make her even more furious.
My jaw flexes open and closed a few times before the words start to come
out. She listens quietly as I confess to every moral outrage I've committed in the
past hour.
I thrust my head down below my waist as soon as I've told her everything
there was to tell.
"I understand your situation, Mr. Cranell. Allow me to guide you back to
Loki Familia's campground after this."
"…Y-you'll forgive me?"
"There is no need for forgiveness, for you are not at fault. A grudge against
you would be misplaced."
"H-how do you know I'm not lying…?"
"Mr. Cranell…Modesty may be a virtue, but please stop regarding yourself as
inferior. It's a bad habit."
I apologize to her once again. Lyu sounded a little angry there.
Looking down on my abilities…So she's angry at me for the way I think
about myself?
Lyu walks toward a different tree, leaving me standing there for a moment.
She must've stashed her wooden sword and other weapons there before getting
into the spring.
Lastly, she affixes a small pouch to her belt underneath her cape. "My
apologies for the wait," she says as she comes back.
"…Um, this is a little late, but thank you for coming all this way to rescue
me. This floor is pretty far down…"
"No, please don't concern yourself. I was planning to come to this floor
regardless. The distance is not a problem."
My eyes flicker a little bit wider. I wasn't expecting a response like that.
Lyu continues talking anyway.
"I have something to take care of before leading you back to the campsite.
Can you spare some of your time?"
"Ah…Sure."
She says a quick thank-you and starts walking.
I catch a glimpse of the side of her face before following her.
"Lyu…were you, um…in the forest this whole time?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you join everyone at the campsite? There're monsters out here!
Wouldn't it be much safer with—"
"I had an errand to attend to. And I didn't want others to see my face."
She said everything evenly and without emotion, just like usual.
Lord Hermes said something before, she who had "reasons"…Is this what he
was talking about?
"I assume that god Hermes has informed you about my past already."
"No, nothing…"
"…Really?"
"Y-yes."
"It seems I have come to the wrong conclusion…" Though she's looking the
other way, I can sense the pained smile on her face. "We've already come this
far. There's no point in hiding anything at this stage. Follow me."
What is it…? Does she have some kind of connection to this floor?
All I can do is just follow that cape and think about the moment when she
said she was once known as an adventurer.
Lyu must know this area extremely well. She's walking with purpose as she
makes sharp turns at specific trees and crystals as if following a set path. We
walk for about twenty minutes without encountering any monsters before
arriving at her destination.
"This is…"
What greets my eyes after emerging from a narrow tunnel through the trees is
a graveyard.
There's a small open space surrounded by thinner trees and absolutely
stunning crystal formations.
A series of wooden crosses, broken tree branches held together with string,
are lined up in the clearing and bathed in the crystal light shining through the
canopy above.
"…Mama Mia occasionally gives me time to bring them some flowers."
Lyu goes to each of the grave markers and carefully sets a flower in front of
them.
Was gathering these flowers her "errand"?
She reaches under her cape to the small pouch and withdraws a bottle—she
pours a little bit of the wine onto each of the graves.
"Lyu, what is this place—?"
"All that remains of the women who fought by my side. My Familia."
She quietly looks back at me as she speaks. I feel like I've just been hit by a
ton of bricks.
Her sky-blue eyes draw me in.
"Another with knowledge of my past has emerged. It's only a matter of time
before you find out…I would regret not telling you myself."
She says it's a bit selfish of her, but asks for my permission.
I nod back at her.
"My name appears on the Guild's blacklist."
"?!"
Then she says something unbelievable.
"My position as an adventurer has been revoked. There was a time that a
bounty was placed on my head."
She hid her face and she didn't stay with us at the campsite…Is that why?
"I once belonged to Astrea Familia…She is the goddess of justice and order,
and I idolized her from the day we met."
Lyu Lyon. That's how she was known. Her title, "Gale Wind."
A hooded adventurer shrouded in mystery whose full name was unknown.
"Apart from activities in the Dungeon, my Familia took it upon itself to
eliminate those who try to rob Orario of peace. For that reason, we made many
enemies."
She says that as recently as five years ago, Orario was inundated with an
"evil" that threatened the city.
Swearing upon Astrea's crest, a winged sword of justice, Lyu and her allies
fought to purge the city of that cancerous presence and protect those vulnerable
to it.
"Until, one day, a Familia that had taken up arms against us set a trap in the
Dungeon. I was the only one to escape alive…Unable to retrieve their bodies, I
collected what articles I could and buried them here."
"So that's what these graves are…?"
"Yes. These women were fond of this location."
She tells me that they would always casually joke, saying if they died, they
wanted to be buried here.
I can't imagine what images must be running through her head. She looks
toward the ground, her lower lip quivering.
"…I went to Astrea as the sole survivor and told her everything. Then I
pleaded with her to leave Orario by herself. I begged her for days, and at long
last she obliged."
"Y-you helped your goddess escape?"
"No, not that."
Lyu's voice snaps, saying her reasoning was much more selfish as her fists
clench.
"I didn't want her to see the passionate, violent creature I was becoming."
She says that she didn't know how to control the emotions that were
overtaking her at that time.
"I had to avenge those who had fought beside me. I set my sights on the
Familia that ended their lives and swore to take revenge alone."
"A-alone…?!"
Attacks under the cover of darkness, ambushes, traps. She used all manner of
sneak attacks to eliminate them one by one—until that Familia was wiped out.
A large and influential group in Orario was torn out by the roots and utterly
eliminated at the hands of a single elf.
"My actions had nothing to do with justice. Filled with a lust for revenge, I
tracked down each member and erased them along with anyone connected to
them…Even the slightest suspicion was enough."
That's what landed her on the Guild's blacklist.
In her quest for vengeance, she earned the hatred of not only adventurers but
merchants, smiths, and townspeople. They were the ones who issued the bounty.
The reward for her capture kept growing and growing…The Guild had no
choice but to punish her despite the surrounding circumstances. Especially
considering she had bared her fangs at groups connected to the offender. After
all, they sold the items and weapons used to kill her family.
With the goddess Astrea outside the city walls, her Status remained intact as
the "Gale Wind" covered Orario in a storm of fury.
"…So, what happened after that?"
"I collapsed. With all targets eliminated, with no one left, alone in a back
alley."
She must've accepted death the moment she swore revenge.
Her quest complete, her goddess gone and friends dead, there was nothing
left for her in this world.
"Covered in blood and dirt on the side of the road…It was a fitting end for
someone who had committed atrocities such as I."
"…"
"However…"
"—Are you okay?"
A warm hand had reached out to take hers.
Syr found Lyu in that back alley and saved her.
She listened to her story—everything Lyu had done, over and over—and
managed to bring her back from the brink.
"After rescuing me, Syr convinced Mama Mia to employ me as a waitress at
The Benevolent Mistress...I also keep my hair dyed."
Since she'd always worn a hood and gone by the name Lyon during her time
as an adventurer, the chances of her being discovered were very low as long as
she changed the color of her hair.
In a soft tone, Lyu goes on to explain how she became her current self.
"…I apologize for soiling your ears."
"Wh-what?"
"In short, the elf you see before you is a shameless, violent criminal…I have
betrayed your trust, Mr. Cranell."
She looks at me with the same calm expression, even though she's confessing
all of her crimes to me. I clear my throat.
I don't know how to respond, so I just say the first thing that comes to my
mind:
"Lyu…Please stop regarding yourself as inferior. I'll get mad at you."
Her sky-blue eyes open a little wider.
She stands still for a moment before finally saying:
"That was…very clever."
Only very slightly, but her lips soften.
She isn't smiling by any means, but her eyes don't look as piercing as they
normally do.
All I did was repeat her own words back to her, just stole the line, but her
reaction makes me feel good. Why wouldn't it? Her usual ice-cold expression
just warmed up a little.
A tranquil mood overtakes us in the middle of the graveyard, surrounded by
green leaves and crystal light.
"…Can I ask…"
"What is it?"
"Can I ask why you came to Orario?"
This is my best chance.
My best chance to find out why Lyu came to the place where people go to
follow their dreams.
I want to know why she and I met in the first place.
"…"
She opens her mouth very slightly before looking up toward the ceiling.
Then Lyu squints her eyes to protect them from the beams of light
penetrating the canopy above.
"…We elves are a race known for our good looks."
Her eyes barely open, she wanders around the grassy Dungeon floor.
At long last, Lyu continues her story.
"Myself and others have been praised for our beauty. However, is that really
true? Extremely proud and revolted by anything unclean, we do not allow others
to easily touch our skin…"
"…"
"There are some who believe other races to be dirty on the surface as well as
within, and refuse to interact with them, isolating themselves in their home
forests. At the very least, most of the elves from my home forest believed as
such…
"However," she continues.
"Only recognizing their own beauty while looking down at everything else as
if it were nothing more than trash…A thought came to me."
Lyu once again looks up to the light.
"That the beautiful, magnificent elves were actually the most revolting."
Knowing the value that elves place on interpersonal relationships, I bet she
was the only one who felt that way.
Among all those elves, so full of pride, she was the only one to question their
logic.
"As soon as that idea took hold, it was impossible to remove. I became
embarrassed of my own motherland, so I left…and eventually arrived in Orario."
"By accident?"
"Not exactly…I heard many travelers say that Orario was home to gods,
humans, and other fairies, a place full of life where people gather. I thought that
if I were there, I might be able to find something…No, that's not it."
She looks into the palms of her hands as if she's remembering her first days
in the city.
"I wanted companions worthy of my respect who felt I was worthy of theirs."
It was the one thing that she didn't have growing up in elvish culture with
elvish customs.
People who placed no value on race or looks, but on content of character.
Friends who would laugh alongside her.
"I came to the city with high hopes…but they were quickly dashed. I didn't
expose my skin to anyone but other elves. My face always covered by a hood, I
slapped away any hands that reached out."
Elvish culture was too deeply ingrained…Lyu couldn't turn over a new leaf.
In this new place, she was constantly stared at because of her beauty, and she
couldn't take it.
Elves don't allow someone they don't trust to touch their skin. She couldn't
fix that and other elvish teachings that had been drilled into her head since
childhood—it must've tormented her.
"What a jest. I left my homeland because I couldn't stand my own kind, and
yet in the outside world, I was no different from them. So I cut myself off,
creating a wall."
So that was why she kept her hood up during her time in Orario.
She was disappointed in herself for realizing she was exactly the same as the
elves back in the forest.
From her point of view, she was the one looking down at people.
Her inborn disdain for other races came full circle, back to herself. It became
self-loathing.
"I didn't change. I was still an elf, nose high in the air with pride."
"Lyu…"
"However."
Her tone suddenly changes.
Then she walks right up to me, face-to-face, and gently grabs my hand.
"—Huh?"
"Just like this, there was someone who took hold of my hand, who I could
touch."
She's shaking my hand.
Her fingers feel so small and delicate that I'm afraid they might break off if I
shook back. And yet, her skin is very soft and supple. My cheeks blush before I
know it.
"This is my second time with you, yes? Do you remember?"
"Y-yes?!"
"The day when you lost your knife and were desperately searching."
I'm too stunned to figure out what she's talking about at first, but then the
feeling of her skin on my hands triggers a memory. The day when Lilly,
disguised as a dog person, stole the Divine Knife. That's what she's talking
about.
I clearly remember happily embracing her hands because she had recovered
the knife.
"I was very taken aback. Taken aback that I didn't immediately throw the
human who had suddenly grabbed my hands onto the side of the road."
Her face forms an expression I've never seen on Lyu before: a mischievous
grin.
I wouldn't have been able to say anything if she'd sliced me in half…Only
now does the realization hit me. My cheeks and ears are burning, but I do my
best to force a smile.
"You are the third person who I did not immediately punish for touching my
skin."
She says that with her hand still firmly grasped around mine.
—Eh? Your name is Lyu? That's too hard to say. I'll call you Lyon from now
on!
The first, the bright and cheerful girl who invited her to join her own Familia.
—Are you okay?
The second, the nice girl who extended a warm hand to her cold fingers, the
waitress who gave her a place to be.
And the third is…
"Please don't make such a confused face. I feel like you're making sport of
me."
"S-sorry!"
"I am joking…I have been following your actions closely since we met. I've
come to understand your weakness, your sincerity, and most of all your spirit."
"Lyu…?"
"Mr. Cranell, you are kind."
Completely overwhelmed by this new aura radiating from her eyes, I can
only respond by saying her name.
She blinks her eyes closed, the blue orbs hidden from sight for a moment,
before slowly opening them up again.
"You are a human worthy of my respect."
Lyu…smiles.
Her thin eyebrows relax as the edges of her feminine lips curl upward.
My whole body blushes pink as she faces me with a smile as pure and clean
as a white lotus.
"…Uh."
"Mr. Cranell?"
I know it's a little late, but now I truly know why the smile of an elf is a
dangerous thing.
The smile of a refined elf while knowing their usual demeanor day in and day
out is particularly brutal. It's a trump card powerful enough to make my knees
go weak despite having my own aspirations.
Elvish beauty isn't all just on the surface.
A smile that they give only to their most trusted companions.
My eyes are filled with the light beams from above and the tranquil colors of
the graveyard and flowers, but most of all, the beautiful smile on her tilted head.
Now I think I know why other races have a thing for elves.
"Ow, ow, ow…What would you do if you broke my face, Asfi?"
"You reap what you sow."
"Night" had already fallen on the eighteenth floor of the Dungeon.
Two figures quietly made their way out of the forest campsite: Hermes and
Asfi.
"A god no better than a Peeping Tom…Have you no shame!"
"Peeping isn't that big of a deal for us…"
Bell, who had gone missing after the peeping incident, returned to the
campsite shortly before dinner. The fact that he was led to the scene by the deity
—and that he practically buried his face in the ground bowing—allowed him to
escape with a harsh verbal warning. Only Hermes, the instigator, was physically
punished.
"…Well then, where are we going on this pitch-black night?"
"On a pitch-black night like this, there's only one place to bring a lady. Isn't
it obvious?"
On the other side of the grasslands before them, the lights of the town of
Rivira shone like a beacon from the west.
"To a tavern."
"Damn it!"
Inside one of the few taverns in a small niche of Rivira.
Built inside of a naturally occurring crevice in the cliff face, the bar floor was
covered by a dirty rug and had only one table with a few chairs. The walls were
dotted with portable magic-stone lamps. Even in here, crystals grew on one of
the walls and a few spots in the ceiling.
One man slammed his mug down on the table inside this bar that was a little
bit different from most adventurers' usual watering holes.
"Take it easy, Mord."
"Shut it! That brat, I have no freakin' idea how he got down here…Too damn
cocky!"
"That jealousy I hear?"
That line got a chuckle out of everyone around the table, other than Mord.
Only a select few upper-class adventurers had the ability to come to Rivira,
meaning that the more time you spent there the more you got to know the
residents who did business.
The customers at this bar might have been from different Familias, but they
were on good terms with Mord's group.
"The hell you laughin' about?! That piece-of-shit rookie hasn't done nothing,
levels up in a few months, and now his ass is all the way down here?! How
stupid are we, workin' hard for years just to make it this far!!"
Recounting the events at The Benevolent Mistress, Mord wasted no time in
pointing out the source of his rage.
All the people here were part of an exclusive club of upper-class adventurers
within Orario. The thought of some newbie walking the same streets was
something he couldn't take lying down.
Even more so that some of the gods themselves were talking about this
particular rookie, this "rabbit."
The bar became quiet enough to hear a pin drop when Mord's rant finally
came to an end.
"Even got himself some high-quality salamander wool…Damn that kid, I
wanna tear his head off."
Mord spat in anger before taking another swig from a particularly potent ale,
even by Rivira's standards.
"But Mord, no matter how much you want to knock 'im down a peg—how?
He's with the Kenki."
"One of Hermes's and also…Takemikazuchi's group, too."
Mord's companions sat on either side of him, trying to make him see reason.
"The guy wouldn't be here without them…Don't you think the Little Rookie
realizes that?"
"Enough small talk! Are you gonna help me or not? Which is it?!"
Their words had done nothing more than make Mord even angrier.
The adventurers sitting around the table froze in place; the fury emanating
from the man's eyes wouldn't let them move. They knew that at any moment
Mord could draw out any of the weapons hanging from his waist if the thought
crossed his mind.
"If we could get him alone, lure that punk-ass brat away from the others…"
Bell had stood out too much.
He'd come too far into the middle levels too quickly after leveling up.
Quickly enough to draw the attention, and outrage, of other upper-class
adventurers.
"O-oh, you boys are really living it up in here!"
Twitch. Every set of eyes in the bar fell on the entrance.
They saw Hermes, walking in like he owned the place, followed quietly by
Asfi.
"…What business do you have, Mr. Deity? If you're looking for a drink, it'd
be better to go back up top."
"Ha-ha, I just heard some sneaky plans in the works and couldn't help
myself."
Step. One of the adventurers put himself firmly between the god and the exit.
He knew their plan. Hermes had been with Bell, and would no doubt warn
him. The god couldn't be allowed to escape.
Things like this happen all the time these days…Asfi lamented as she hid
herself in Hermes's shadow.
"So, what's it to you? You gonna try and stop us by yourself?"
"What gave you that idea? Do as you like. Ignore me and keep forming a
plan."
"Whaa?" Mord's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"I happen to like children like you. This world would be so boring if
everyone played nice."
Hermes's eyes arched into a smile as he chuckled to himself.
Just for a moment, Hermes flashed his true character—one who enjoyed all
of the charms of being on earth as a god.
He wasn't showing tolerance for good and evil. He actually was good and
evil.
Mord was left speechless by this presence before him, something far more
mysterious than any monster.
"You want a chance to attack Bell, yes? In that case, why don't I tell you our
plans for tomorrow?"
"…How do I know I can take your word, Mr. Deity?"
"Hey, hey, this is Hermes you're talking to. I don't lie to any children."
A few of the others around the table tried to get Mord's attention, but he
ignored them and took Hermes's offer.
"I'm not in a position to help you directly…Oh yes, if you need a 'lucky
charm' of courage to vanquish your foes, I have a little something you can
borrow."
With that, Hermes turned to Asfi, who handed him an item. Hermes took it
and presented it to Mord.
It was a small helmet. Based on its design, it looked more like a hat with a
small brim around the front.
Its color was the same as the dirt found deep in the earth, black as coal.
"And this is…"
"A magic item forged by the one and only Perseus. It'd be easier to show you
what it can do."
Mord's words left him as he watched others put on the helmet. He couldn't
believe his eyes.
A magic item created by one of the most celebrated item makers in Orario.
Perseus's items were said to grant the user Magic and Skills through the power
of "Enigma."
"Seriously, I can use this…?"
Mord's voice shook as Hermes nodded with a "Yeah.
"However, on one condition…"
Mord took the item in one hand and held it to his chest, his eyes gleaming.
"Entertain me. Give me a show I won't soon forget."