Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

However, the continuous battles that began in the artificial labyrinth of Knossos, coupled with their isolation and lack of support since arriving on the surface, had left the two battered and bruised. They were probably spotted by the orcs' noses while they were rushing to the designated rendezvous point, "Street 277".

"Watch this!"

"Ugh!?"

The centaur's wounds, in particular, appeared severe even from a distance. It was likely an individual that had been captured by hunters. Red Hat was protecting her—no, protecting the female—while wielding his giant axe. Noticing this, the adventurers deliberately targeted the centaur, then proceeded to stab and hack at Red Hat's body as he struggled to defend himself.

"Heh heh, this guy's protecting that half-human bird! Just a mere monster!"

"Even though they're not even the same race, why are you so fond of that female!?"

"Gurgle...!"

Faced with the adventurers' ridicule, the red-hatted woman, pretending to be a mindless monster, groaned in pain.

The encirclement of adventurers, trapping only two monsters within, was tantamount to vigilante justice. But it was also the right tactic. Because there was no need for mercy towards monsters. Even knowing they possessed reason, Aisha felt no disgust towards them—

(After all, it was already agreed upon)

But then he let out a long sigh of resignation, followed by a fierce glint in his eyes.

He raised his broadsword and charged into the battlefield.

"Don't break the 'Magic Stone'! We'll have to carry the corpse to the guild to collect the bounty—huh!?"

"Huh...? W-what happened!?"

"You are, [Lijie]!? What do you want!?"

"Didn't you just say that yourself? It's all about the bounty. I'm planning to 'monopolize' it!"

After the orc fell to the ground after being struck in the back by the back of the blade, the adventurers who noticed the anomaly roared in anger.

In response, Aisha flashed a smile perfectly befitting the image of a warlike Amazon.

"You, you bitch! -- Ah, gaa ...

The crude "opening remarks" were over. So Aisha then launched a ruthless attack on her competitors.

Since it's difficult to 'protect' them in front of the adventurers, then by eliminating the competitors as 'greedy adventurers' and severing their consciousness, we are essentially protecting the heretics.

Fortunately, there are quite a few adventurers in the labyrinthine city who share the same thoughts. Although this is all due to the bounty-based 'guilds'—no, it's the will of the old god Uranus. The situation of dragging each other down happens everywhere except for the Loki Familia. So it won't attract any fatal accusations or condemnations, and besides, the carefree Aisha wouldn't care about such things at all.

Aisha, who had unexpectedly adopted the same method as Bell, who had sheltered the dragon girl Winnie, sighed and was speechless at her own shallow acting skills.

'...!'

Then, he easily knocked the adventurers unconscious.

The red-hatted creature and the half-human bird stared at them in surprise.

"..."

"..."

A moment of silence arrived, and between the one person and the two, silence arose.

Aisha pursed her lips as she looked at the monsters, while the red-hatted man looked back at her with a mixture of wariness and intense confusion.

"...Haa~. —This is my monologue! Don't reply to anything you hear! Nobody is allowed to make a sound!"

Soon after, Aisha sighed repeatedly and then staged a second violent farce.

"No matter how hard we look, we can't find the 'key' to this vast 'maze' beneath our feet!"

"! 』

"If someone were to take it, I really hope they'd at least nod or shake their head in acknowledgment!"

That was a question raised while demonstrating the will not to conspire with the monster, and while drawing a line between each other.

Perhaps realizing that Aisha knew about the heretics, the red hats and the half-bird, supporting each other, opened their eyes wide, looked at each other, and slowly shook their heads.

After carefully confirming that there was no one around, Aisha continued to 'talk to herself'.

"I can't understand the idea of ​​wanting to save a monster."

'...! ! '

"Of course. You're not beings that can be treated with mercy... you monsters."

Faced with that sharp and cold gaze, the monsters couldn't utter a sound.

Even as she inwardly lamented, "What am I doing?" and engaged in a grand self-deprecating remark, Aisha slung the broadsword over her shoulder and continued asking questions.

"You monsters, are you ever thinking about killing people?"

Shake his head.

"You monsters, have you ever eaten human flesh?"

Shake his head.

"Have you ever killed an adventurer?"

After a long silence, the man in the red hat, facing downwards, nodded.

Aisha, squinting, lowered the large broadsword from her shoulder.

"...Sigh—. What am I doing? I got completely absorbed in pointless 'talking to myself,' and the monsters got away."

Seeing Aisha with her back to them, the red-hatted man and the half-bird suddenly snapped out of their daze and looked up.

Aisha had stopped talking to herself and was about to leave.

in case.

If Aisha shakes her head when faced with the final question, she will likely slash her down without hesitation.

They should be regarded as 'monsters' who manipulate lies and sweet talk, and be slain, even more troublesome than monsters.

In the dungeon, polite words don't work. There are plenty of heretics who, faced with adventurers eyeing their lives, are forced to act out of desperation. Just like the red-hatted adventurer who tried to protect his comrades from the sadistic adventurers. That was self-defense, filled with a 'regret' that true monsters couldn't express.

The scene just now was the female warrior Amazon expressing her respect for those who stepped forward to fight and protect their comrades—this is absolutely not true.

It was simply that I prioritized my promise to Haruhime over the request from the [Family]. That's all.

Therefore, since they didn't have the 'key,' there was no need to protect or escort them; they should simply head to the rendezvous point as quickly as possible. Aisha, unaware of her own distressed expression, moved forward with this perfunctory attitude.

"……Thank you so much!"

"!"

However, behind the scenes, gratitude was expressed in human language.

"Even if you harbor deep resentment towards us, even if we cannot work together! We are all very happy to have a proud Amazon warrior like you!"

"Thank you, kind benefactor on earth! I will never forget this kindness!"

It was a voice like that of a young boy or girl.

If you turn your back to that side and listen with your eyes closed, it is just an ordinary language, no different from that of humans.

It was a voice that had nothing to do with race, body, appearance, skin color, fangs, or claws, and carried the same emotions as Aisha and the others.

"...I told you all to shut up."

Leaving behind whispers no one could hear, and without looking back, Aisha was finally leaving that place.

Aisha saw nothing. So the sound didn't belong to the monster. Just as she was building this meaningless mental defense, feeling restless and impatient with her own inner turmoil and ugliness, she unknowingly moved from the eastern part of the maze street to the northern part. Then, she stomped hard on the stone slab and leaped up.

We arrived at the roof of a tall building made of blackened bricks.

Let the body, which must have been heated up from the battle, be cooled by the cold night air.

"...The heretic kills adventurers. No matter how kind and friendly those monsters are to humans, they are 'poison' to adventurers who venture into dungeons. The moment confusion and hesitation arise, we will be killed by the dungeon."

She harbored the same sense of fear and apprehension as a certain hero and god.

For Orario adventurers who make a living by exploring dungeons, and more specifically, who bear the burden of the "Three Great Adventurers' Requests," hesitation when facing monsters is absolutely unacceptable.

Therefore, Aisha set boundaries. Even if she became interested based on what Haruhime said, and then her understanding was just refreshed, she would always maintain the attitude of an adventurer.

Aisha Belka is the kind of strong woman who can do this, more like a female Amazon warrior than anyone else.

(...but conversely, if even after enduring all of this, a transformation can still occur.)

What if this incident surrounding the heretic gives rise to an adventurer who is willing to give up nothing, set no limits, and disrupt the balance?

She was convinced that the man would accomplish an unprecedented feat and become a male known as a "heroic heretic".

Even though it was just wishful thinking, nothing but nonsense, Aisha found herself expecting something from a certain boy, and a smile had unconsciously crept onto her face.

"—!! That light is 'Level Boost'! Is it Haruhime?!"

A golden magical light suddenly burst into Aisha's eyes, who had been standing on the rooftop for a long time.

Realizing that the light she had seen many times was her little sister's 'voice' plea for help, she transformed into a powerful arrow of wind.

—That's right, Aisha won't be poisoned.

But in return, they will lend a helping hand to boys and girls who are being harassed by strange monsters. That's all.

Aisha etched a smile onto her lips and rushed into the place where the fox-men and werewolves were swirling with golden light particles.

Season 3 Blu-ray Bonus: The Heretic's Letter, Chapter 4

4

"Winnie, are you writing a letter today too?"

That happened while writing letters to Bell and the others, which had become an integral part of their daily routine.

Vinnie, who had laid out paper on the stump-like stone, looked up, intently wielding Fia's quill pen.

In the Heretic's Secret Realm, located 20 levels deep.

When Winnie saw Reed, the lizardman, approaching her, she smiled.

"Yes! I'm going to tell Bell and the others about the crystal flower field we saw yesterday!"

Those who join the Heretics community are taught how to avoid adventurers and their own kind, how to deal with encounters, and how to memorize efficient routes—all sorts of ways to navigate the labyrinth. This is what it means to be a Heretic in the 'learning' process.

As part of the whole process, Winnie had passed through a fantastical room with Rey and the others yesterday, and she seemed quite taken with the view. Her face was flushed with excitement, and if you peeked at her hand, you could see small, cute, rounded characters leaping across the paper. The way she was now writing a letter—though Reed didn't understand—would probably say, if it were Fels, that she looked exactly like a human toddler engrossed in drawing.

Seeing Winnie gripping the quill pen tightly and carefully writing each word, Reed squinted with satisfaction and blurted out the "to-do list".

"Hey, Winnie. Want to go hiking with the kid?"

"Yuan zú...?"

"That's right. There's something I want you to see."

Just as Winnie was blinking repeatedly, Guros and Rey landed behind Reed with the sound of their wings flapping.

"It's a bit far, but we'll still go with them."

The four of us went to the "deep" area together.

Upon hearing Rei use the word "deep," Winnie, who was constantly accumulating knowledge about the dungeons, understood that it was located even deeper than this secret realm, a very remote place. In other words, it would take a very long time to return.

Just as she was looking troubled and shifting her gaze between the letter and Rey and the others, Reed grinned.

"Just finish writing this letter before you go, Winnie."

"real?!"

"Yes. Then, I'll write a letter to Bell after the 'hiking' is over... I'm sure I'll have something new to write about."

Although Reed's next words made Winnie tilt her head, she decided to finish writing the letter first. So, smiling and saying, "Wait for me!", she wrote down the words she had only recently learned on the letter to the boy, which she could now write on her own.

With Reed and the others watching over them, the letter was finally written and entrusted to Fia and Rhett. Unlike Alulu, who often teased Winnie, they were gentle and reliable. "We'll make sure to give it to Fils properly," Rhett replied with a smile, and then prepared to go on the 'hiking'.

Whether it was pre-arranged to stay behind for Reed and the others or not, Rhett and the others came out to see Winnie off.

Winnie waved as she left the secret realm with Reed and the others.

Rett and the others seemed a little worried, and the way they were being looked at bothered her.

During their time away from the secret realm, Reed and Gross, these so-called heretics with monstrous appearances, always acted separately from Winnie and the other humanoid heretics.

Winnie and Rey can easily disguise themselves as adventurers by simply covering themselves with hoods and robes from head to toe. Even in the worst-case scenario, if they are seen from a distance, they will be mistaken for fellow adventurers. But Reed and his companions are different. If spotted by adventurers, they will be seen as 'armed monsters' and attacked.

Even if it was just to avoid being suspected of being an adventurer in a robe traveling with monsters, they had to keep a distance from Reed and his group.

"Hey, Rei. Is it really okay for just the few of us to come on this hike?"

"Hmm. If we bring too many of our own kind along, they might be discovered by our own kind of monsters..."