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

She had already donned her dungeon gear before heading to Hestia's stall. After somewhat painfully finishing two potato balls, she made her way there.

Puff puff puff, puff puff puff, towards the direction from which the sound came.

It was originally the 10th floor.

Deep within the pervasive white fog, not to mention rabbits, there was no one else to be seen.

Next is the 5th floor.

Even though it's impossible for the Minotaur to appear, they still try to find the bull's shadow.

Finally, it's the 5th floor, but in other places.

The large room where monsters were no longer visible. The scenery before her was unremarkable, much like any other area, but Ais's legs seemed to be tightly sewn shut, rendering her immobile.

Puff puff puff! Puff puff puff!

Perhaps it was just psychological, but the sound of the rabbit's footsteps echoing in my mind seemed to resonate strongly as well.

Ais cautiously stepped inside, carefully observed her surroundings, and then made up her mind to sit in the center of the large room. She knelt down.

This is also known as the "empty knee pillow".

She remained silent, but her eyes were more serious than ever before.

Like a hunter waiting for its prey to fall into a trap.

The mysterious Level 1 adventurer sitting alone in the center of the empty hall caused great confusion among his fellow adventurers passing by.

"Hey, what are you doing?" "That atmosphere... is it a hunt?" "It's not just sitting in the main seat, is it?"

"Is that natural?" "Yes, it's natural." "It's natural." "Fiora is definitely natural..."

This even prompted people to express similar sentiments. The atmosphere was so intense that even monsters were bewildered and dared not approach (level).

For some reason, Ais had a feeling that doing this would cause Mr. Rabbit to appear out of nowhere, and after a long period of "empty lap pillows," she became quite frustrated. She had hoped for a flash of inspiration, but instead of hitting her target, she didn't even feel a tactile sensation as if the rabbit had passed through her mind. It wasn't that she wasn't aware of the extremely surprised and bewildered aura of the mysterious force monitoring her—in reality, they were just wondering whether they should apply "charm" to this overly natural existence's strange behavior.

Ais got up dejectedly and listlessly began her journey home.

I didn't encounter anyone or anything. That's what I was thinking at the same time.

(Puyo puyo, puyo puyo...)

Deep inside, I whispered that incredible, yet not unpleasant, tone of voice.

Ais wasn't as clever as Finn. Nor did she possess the extraordinary "thumb pain."

Unlike Cassandra, he cannot see precognitive dreams, nor can he perceive the sense of incongruity with the keenness of the gods. Aside from being a powerful swordsman, he is merely a somewhat naive adventurer.

She is just a girl with a unique world.

So, unlike the hero who walks a tightrope, or the tragic prophet tormented by precognitive dreams, she doesn't violate the rules of the "miniature garden," but stumbles through the minefield without breaking any rules. She feels neither "incongruity" nor even considers her own feelings to be "incongruity," but simply that she too is chasing the phantom of the "white rabbit" pursued by "another little girl (Ais)." But for some reason, she always feels that this is the right way.

(Puyo puyo, puyo puyo... Besides that, there's something else echoing...)

Then, she reached for another "sound source".

When she came to her senses, Ais had already returned to the base.

He brushed past a cheerful young man (Raul), walked straight down the corridor, and gently knocked on the door.

There was no response, but there was a tense, holding-up atmosphere. Ais knew he was inside and opened the door. Even when she used it as a refuge from Riveria's upbringing as a child, he had never scolded her, so she felt there was no problem.

As I entered the office, Finn was inside.

His unreadable eyes were fixed on Ais. Perhaps he was spying on her. Ais found it incredible and asked.

"Finn...do you have the 'key'?"

"……"key"?"

"Um... I'd like to borrow it for a bit..."

When faced with Ais, who moved slightly and raised her eyes as if asking for pocket money, Finn's tense attitude vanished instantly.

His worries and concerns were unfounded. He gave a wry smile, as if to say something like that.

Ais looked bewildered. Finn rested his chin on his hands, his little head nestled in his folded hands, and asked gently.

"What kind of 'key' do you need, Ais?"

"Will I get scolded?" Ais thought to herself before speaking.

"The 'key' to the man-made labyrinth (Knossos)..."

For various complex reasons, the Loki Familia possesses the key to the "artificial labyrinth" where heretics were once captured.

Ais borrowed this 'key'—the 'Eye of Daedalus'.

Use the 'key' to enter the artificial maze and head in the direction from which the sound came.

As the heavy door, made of the hardest metal (Oriha Steel), was opened and then slammed shut, a panicked aura emanated from behind it. It was a member of the Freya Familia, the group monitoring Ais. The naive girl, who had unintentionally disrupted the monitors' pursuit, remained completely oblivious, merely tilting her head slightly.

Ais continued forward, following the footsteps of the 'rabbit' she could hear. She felt she was trying to figure something out. Ahead, she sensed there was another answer to the 'sound source.'

One layer, two layers, three layers, four layers... She descended into the maze marked with the remaining claw marks of battle.

Ais, who had come to disturb them from the entrance of Daedalus Street, stopped at a spot that caught her eye and then walked along several dimly lit roads and staircases. The hunters and remnants of the Evilus faction, who used this labyrinth as their base, were long gone. Not only were the captured heretics nowhere to be seen, but even the monsters were nowhere to be found. All the dangers had been eliminated, leaving only a hazy darkness and a slightly chilling silence. Although she didn't know why Finn had agreed, Ais, who had sneaked in without Loki's and the guild's knowledge, felt a little guilty for doing something wrong. She used her portable magic stone lamp to illuminate her surroundings, searching for her "search item."

Finally, they arrived at the twelfth level, the deepest part of the man-made maze.

This was the most severely damaged part of the labyrinth, proof that a fierce battle had taken place here. Ais felt a pang of pain in her wounds, which should have healed, and unconsciously pressed her upper arm.

As she placed the magic stone lamp on the ground and slowly looked around,

"【Fiora】".

The sound came from the empty void.

Soon after, the black-clad magician deactivated his "invisibility" and appeared as if he had seeped out of the air.

"Mr. Fells..."

"Aren't you surprised? So you already found me here?"

"Hmm... I sense someone's here..."

Even without seeing the figure, Ais sensed its presence the moment it entered the range of her five senses, and wasn't particularly surprised. It wasn't surprising that the black-clad magician Fels was here. After everything was over, this artificial labyrinth was handed over to the guild for safekeeping. More accurately, it became this magician's super-large "Atelier," as Finn and the others had told her. Since her "Atelier" had a guest called an intruder visiting, the magician would naturally come out to greet him.

"So, [Fiora], what are you doing here?"

Ais was about to apologize for her unauthorized intrusion when, before she could speak, the atmosphere in Fels suddenly changed. The mysterious man in black questioned Ais in a voice that was even more inorganic and devoid of temperature.

This is the subjugation caused by 'Charm'. Sensing the unstable movement—fearing what strategies she might employ in the artificial labyrinth to endanger 'The Garden of Shadows' and cause abnormal situations—the magician has fallen into becoming a puppet to maintain the peace of 'The Garden of Shadows'.

In a crisis situation where a wrong answer would immediately label someone an "enemy" and subject them to appropriate "treatment," Ais looked back at Phil, but her expression remained unchanged.

"Is there... here?"

"What?"

She had no idea what was going on and just wanted to find "that thing" before she got yelled at.

"Chime... no... a 'bell' that makes a loud and beautiful sound."

"……ha?"

"Maybe... it's a church-like bell tower?"

"…………………………ha?"

—Miss Sword Maiden (Ais), there really is no clock tower in the underground labyrinth (dungeon).

As if hearing such thoughts from within the black-clad figure, Fels disregarded his own persona and transformed into a broken harp that could only utter "Huh?"

The magician's nonsensical, utterly incoherent statement left even the magician, a master of theory, completely oblivious to the spell of "charm," standing frozen in stunned silence. Ais, her back turned and gazing around, was oblivious to the magician's foolishness. This utterly unconscious "acting solely on instinct"—or rather, the words and actions of the girl from the Land of the Unbelievable (Ais)—was a shortcut to freedom from the control of the charm puppet.

Ais believes it's right here.

Because the sound of the rabbit's footsteps stopped there.

Besides the loud, gurgling footsteps, one could also hear the clear sound of a bell.

(I have always heard your voice (the sound of bells).)

That was a sound of blessing.

That was the starting bell of dawn.

That was the song of retaking.

A ray of light emerged from beyond the horizon, swallowed by the dark ocean, like a dawn announcing that there is no eternal darkness. This was an important voice that gave Ais the 'pure white radiance' within her heart.

(I fought here before, almost lost, almost been devoured, but I still won. But I feel it's more than that. I seem to...here...I heard your voice (the sound of bells).)

Unable to escape the spell of 'bewitching'. The alteration was perfect. People's memories and history were altered flawlessly, just as the goddess had hoped.

Even so, the "other little girl (Ais)" in Ais's heart—the "soul"—is also seeking that "bell" sound.

They placed the white rabbit they caught on their heads, raised both hands straight above their heads, looked up at the rabbit, and frolicked and jumped around playfully.

So Ais stopped looking around and started looking up.

I saw darkness. There was also a large hole. And from deep within the hole... I could hear...

"Did you hear me?"

"ha?"

"The bell tolls."

"...N-no. I can't hear you, Fiora. I really don't know what you're saying..."

"But I can hear you."

Ignoring the bewildered Fels, Ais, as if guided, stared intently at the top of her head.

"The sound of bells... no, the sound of the 'Grand Bell'."

Ais didn't notice the true nature of the "small garden".

I don't feel any sense of 'incongruity' either.

They don't even doubt that "it is actually an extraordinary everyday life".

Nevertheless, she continued her search.

Seeking to save their "treasure".

They sought to preserve the sound of their "Clock Tower".

Even without memories, even if they can't recall them, even if they are distorted, they still yearn for that white radiance.

This quest itself does not harm the "small garden" nor destroy it. It is merely an innocent, pure, and irreplaceable thought, like that of a boy seeking to encounter something important.

So Ais finally arrived.

In a world turned upside down, they arrived at the 'fragments of reality' that were quietly hidden in an underground labyrinth.

"—【Tempest】—"

In order to reach for the 'bell', to hug the white rabbit tightly, and to smile back at the light that saved him, the 'words of magic' had unknowingly slipped out of his mouth.

"Waaaaah!?"

This created a gust of air strong enough to blow away Fels, who was standing there dumbfounded.

But this was not a violent storm.

It was not a black storm that destroyed and covered everything.

Instead, it carries a 'pure white' color, a clear and transparent breeze.

Ais closed her eyes, feeling the wind enveloping her body, and then slowly opened them.

(This "wind" is different from any other... It's not the kind of magic I know (Wind Spirit Swiftness)... Yet it's so warm.)

The rabbit's footsteps could no longer be heard. The time he mentioned for being "late" had passed.

Ais caught up.

Even if she herself was unaware of it, she did not realize that someone's longing had finally reached the source of reclaiming someone's "Clock Tower".

"...I have no idea what you're trying to do, and I'm completely clueless about what you were trying to do just now..."

After Ais, who was hugging her chest tightly with the wind, dispelled the spell, Fels, who had fallen comically to the ground and was staring blankly at everything, spoke up.

"This is the first time I've seen the color of your white wind... I prefer it to the color of your usual magic, Sword Maiden."