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

Is this behavior permissible? What is the goddess's true purpose? Does she want to start a war? What will become of Haruhime?

Various questions and cries burst forth and intertwined in my mind.

Devastated, he rushed out on the spot without hesitation.

"Lord Bell... Lady Haruhime!?"

■

Accompanied by the "squeaking" sound of the stone rubbing together, the stone slab was lifted up by hand.

Pushing open the stone doorway through the underground passage, I emerged from the stone slabs of a back alley, enveloped by the fresh air I hadn't felt for half a day.

"Finally out..."

I couldn't help but mutter to myself as I climbed out completely from the underground entrance. Under the crimson sky, I turned around, reached out, and pulled Miss Haruhime up with me.

She took my hand and pulled me to the ground, smiling as she thanked me.

"It's already evening..."

I put the stone door, which blended seamlessly with the surrounding cobblestones, back in its place. Looking up at the sky above Fengyue Street, the sunset-colored sky, shaped like buildings, was a vivid and intense red. I had entered the underground city early that morning, been attacked, kidnapped, and escaped... My sense of time had become a little off.

Standing around the wide back alley were old, abandoned brothels, which didn't look like they had any prostitutes inside. Indeed, coming here would ensure that no one would notice you.

"Thank you so much, Miss Haruhime, thank you for bringing me here..."

Surrounded by the semi-ruined brothel, I turned around, and Miss Chunji shook her head with a smile.

"It was my own idea to do this, you don't need to worry about it. Let's not talk about this anymore, you should get out of here as soon as possible."

"But……"

"I will do my best to help you, my lord."

Seeing my hesitation, Miss Haruhime seemed to have misunderstood and brought up Miss Mikoto's matter.

I am indeed worried about Miss Ming, but... I just can't calm down.

I'm worried about her, because she's always pretending to be strong.

I was worried about what I would see her say and do in the underpass.

Although it was as unclear as being shrouded in mist, I just couldn't shake off the worry in my heart.

"Miss Haruhime! I still feel that if things continue like this, you will..."

I felt an indescribable anxiety, and as if making an excuse, I worried that Miss Haruhime would be punished for protecting me and Miss Mikoto from the opposition faction.

"...Lord Crannie, please look at this."

I want to stay here. Miss Haruhime wants me to look at the black choker around her delicate neck.

"This is a magical artifact that will tell them my location... like an invisible chain binding me with a 'collar'."

“Eh…?”

"No matter where I go, I am always under the control of Goddess Ishtar and the others. As soon as I step out of the red-light district, this collar will ring and burn my neck, rendering me unable to move, and pursuers from all sides will come to capture me."

What she said left me speechless.

Miss Haruhime said that even if she wanted to break it, the collar would immediately send out an emergency signal, and touched the surface of the black ring that emitted a strange glow with her finger.

"Once we're discovered, pursuers will definitely appear here."

So you should run away quickly, she said.

"This is the end of the illusionary body."

After saying that, Miss Haruhime smiled again.

"How could this be...?"

I was completely stunned.

At the same time, the feeling of disharmony in my heart reached its peak.

Would someone go to such lengths to treat a low-ranking, non-combatant member?

Would they really prepare magical artifacts specifically to restrict her movements?

Could it be that Miss Haruhime actually holds some important responsibility within the faction (familia)?

We even talked about "redeeming ourselves," but the premise was wrong from the start... A voice came from within me, gradually eroding my thoughts.

A scene flashed before my eyes.

Miss Chunji recounts her past dreams and concludes that she is a dirty prostitute.

He gazed longingly at the outside world from the depths of his self-imposed prison.

Then, as if she had given up on something, she gave a faint, ethereal smile.

—Is Miss Haruhime's despair not just directed at herself as a prostitute?

Perhaps I've misunderstood some crucial question, and this doubt has trapped me, leaving me rooted to the spot.

"...Mr. Crannie, you should leave now!"

A fatal premonition paralyzed me. When Miss Haruhime saw me like this, she panicked and urged me to leave.

"Lord Bell!!"

However, at that moment, a very nervous voice came.

"Miss Ming!?"

I turned my head abruptly and saw Miss Ming swiftly land on the ground from the ruins of the brothel.

Perhaps with the help of the power of the Yata no Hakuga, which she had told me about before, she escaped the palace on her own and came before us. When she saw her appear, shaking her tied-up black hair, Lady Haruhime was also startled.

As for Miss Mikoto, who had changed her clothes, she seemed to have known all along that Miss Haruhime would be traveling with me, and stared intently at her childhood playmate from the same hometown.

"My lord..."

"Lady Haruhime, I have something I'd like to ask you."

"...What is it?"

Miss Ming, exuding no joy at the reunion, asked her.

With an urgent and tense expression, she whispered a word to Miss Chunji.

"...'Sesshoseki' (Killing Stone)."

"!!"

Miss Haruhime's changes are quite obvious.

Her shoulders trembled, her eyes widened, and her head drooped.

Seeing her like this, Miss Ming looked like she was about to cry.

Being completely out of touch with reality, I froze when I heard Miss Ming's next words.

"Tell me this isn't true! Tonight... you're going to be the sacrifice!?"

sacrifice……?

The sudden bad news shocked me greatly. Miss Haruhime kept her head down and remained silent, neither denying anything.

"Lady Haruhime!" Miss Megumi called out, wanting to continue asking questions.

"--So that's how it is."

However, another person's voice stopped her.

「!?」

A figure, as swift as a flying arrow, with long black hair flowing, rushed towards Miss Ming and Miss Chun Ji.

Then she grabbed only Miss Haruhime and passed before the astonished Miss Mikoto.

"Seriously, when exactly did we meet...?"

The newcomer was Miss Aisha, who was holding a large broadsword in her left hand.

She complained, pulling Miss Haruhime's head into her arms with her right hand.

"Miss Aisha...!?"

The fox-girl, who was a full head shorter than the tall Amazon, was completely hampered in her movements.

Miss Aisha held Miss Chunji tightly, as if to prevent her from escaping, or as if to protect her from us.

"You know about our plan now."

"!...So that's how it is...!?"

They were about ten steps apart, and the four of them split into two camps in the back alley, facing each other head-on.

Miss Aisha first glanced at Miss Ming, who was already posing, then stared intently at me. I couldn't help but yell back at her.

"What's going on! Saying that Haruhime-san is going to be a sacrifice... what does that even mean!?"

"...In other words, everything is as the main god (Goddess Ishtar) intended. The goddess wants to use Haruhime to defeat the opposing faction (Freya's Familia)."

I couldn't think of anything to say next, so Miss Aisha began to talk about their plan.

"Miss Aisha! Don't say it!?" Miss Haruhime shouted and tried to struggle, but Miss Aisha held her down with one hand and explained the key points of the plan.

—To seal Haruhime's soul into a magical artifact called the "Sessho-seki".

—Break the stones to mass-produce fragments, allowing everyone to freely use fox-man magic known as "sorcery".

—The goddess of beauty (Ishtar) will use this power to destroy the Freya Familia, the thorn in her side.

The scale of the matter was too large for me to comprehend.

Defeat the Freya Familia, who reign supreme at the top of the city? With Miss Haruhime's "power"?

My mind was in complete chaos as I desperately tried to understand the power of the "Sessho-seki" and the fate of those who became sacrifices to the stone, leaving me speechless.

The absurd magical artifact, which defies common sense, could achieve such an effect, leaving me utterly astonished.

At the same time, I recalled a story that Miss Haruhime told me in the nighttime arcade.

The story is about a fairy spirit sealed in a magic lamp. The girl, who possesses the power of miracles, is imprisoned for a long time until she fulfills the wish of the lamp's owner.

History repeats itself, and there have been similar examples in the past—that's what my rational mind tells me coldly.

"But...but! You said that Haruhime's 'power' is just...!?"

"Are you trying to say she's just a useless whore? Have you forgotten how you defeated me in the dungeon? The 'power' that crushed you was Haruhime's 'sorcery'."

Her sharp tone left me no room for rebuttal. Recalling the battle in the "middle level," Miss Ming and I trembled, and Miss Haruhime, held by Miss Aisha, seemed about to burst into tears, overwhelmed by grief and self-blame.

At that time, Miss Aisha was surrounded by countless particles of light, running rampant and violent.

She was simply unstoppable; with abilities that were probably comparable to those of a high-level adventurer at level 4, she instantly killed me and Miss Fate.

It was only then that I was forced to understand that those light particles, which seemed to be imbued with magic, were the "power" that made Miss Haruhime a sacrifice, and also the super "magic" that could destroy the largest faction in the city.

If that power, capable of drastically enhancing abilities, were bestowed upon all members of the major faction (Ishtar Familia), including the first-level adventurer (Miss Frini)—

Perhaps, it is possible.

Perhaps it can truly overthrow the Freya Familia—causing them to fall from their peak to the ground.

"Miss Aisha, I beg you!? Please spare Lord Crannie and Lord Fate's lives!?"

Miss Haruhime's cry brought me back from the sea of ​​thought.

Miss Aisha completely ignored her as she looked up from her arms and pleaded for mercy.

"There's no other way. Once we know part of the plan, we can't let them go... Goddess Ishtar won't let them live."

Miss Aisha pointed the tip of her broadsword at us and refused Miss Chunji's plea.

Facing her fixed, startlingly cold gaze, a surge of heat rushed to my head.

"Are you going to stand by and watch your family members...or relatives die without offering any help?!"

"..."

"Are we treating her like a tool of war, to be used and then discarded?!"

Miss Aisha responded to my condemnation with a mask-like expression.