Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 4 (27 page)

The smell of freshly made soup wafted into her nose a second later.

“…”

Pushing the blanket and sheets off her body, Hestia slowly sat up.

The boy with the white hair noticed right away and immediately came over to her.

“Good morning, Goddess.”

“…Unnn.”

Hestia nodded at Bell’s warm grin.

The clock on the wall read seven o’clock at night. The groggy goddess looked up at it and nodded again a few times in an effort to wake up.

Her twin jet-black ponytails shook from side to side.

“…Did you make dinner?”

“Yes. You looked really tired when I got home so…Sorry I didn’t wait for you.”

There was a simple salad and skinless steamed potatoes along with soup lined up on the table.

The soup had been poured into cute wooden cups, steam softly rising from them.

“…You’re home a lot earlier than usual today, aren’t you?”

Hestia’s voice was thick with irony as she watched Bell try to win her back with something as simple as a nice dinner.

“Did something good happen?” she said with the same tone, not bothering to look at him. Bell turned red and jumped for a moment before leaving the kitchen.

He went to a bookcase, his back to the goddess as he reached up to grab something. Whatever it was firmly hidden in his grasp, Bell returned to the goddess’s bed.

“Um, well…Goddess, this is for you.”

“…Eh?”

Hestia looked down at the box being held out in front of her.

Her eyes went wide as she froze before accepting the box with shaky hands.

She lifted the lid to find that there were two hair ties inside.

The bands were decorated with a blue ribbon that was tied to look like flowers and small silver bells.

“Bell, aren’t these…”

“T-the ones that you have look like they’re about to fall apart, so I, um, well…

“Got you a present…” Bell sounded like he could disappear at any moment.

Hestia was absolutely stunned. She looked up at the boy with wide eyes as he hid his blushing face behind his white bangs.

The hair ties were inside a box that Hestia had seen before—the same box that Bell had shown that half-elf back at the Guild Headquarters.

He hadn’t been trying to give the box to her, maybe he was asking for her opinion—a female opinion about whether or not she thought Hestia would like them.

Thinking back to the way that she’d been teasing him, Hestia realized that she’d made a terrible mistake.

And these hair ties…Did he see me…?

A few days ago, standing in front of that show window on Northwest Main.

The ribbon on Bell’s present looked almost exactly like the one on the hair bands a mannequin had been wearing that she really liked.

“I-I wasn’t trying to hide it, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise and, um…I’m sorry.”

“…”

Hestia softly smiled as she watched Bell fidget uncomfortably.

But a part of her also felt a little sad behind her blushing cheeks.

She’d given up on giving him a present that day, but he had done exactly the opposite.

His feelings for her were stronger than hers for him, and much more admirable.

“So you’ve been working so hard in the Dungeon just to give this to me?”

“You see, um…Yes.”

“Such an idiot…”

These hair ties couldn’t have been cheap
, Hestia thought to herself as she looked at the quality of the materials.

Coming home absolutely exhausted every day, all to earn enough money to buy these as quickly as possible. He’d probably faced danger many times over.

Hestia closed her eyes as her face broke open into a smile.

“Bell.”

“Y-yes?”

“These—put them on me.”

“Huh?”

“They’re a present from you. I want you to put them in my hair.”

Bell didn’t know how to react so Hestia smiled, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the side.

After climbing out of bed, Hestia led Bell to the table and she sat down in her chair. “Quickly,” she softly said while looking up at him from her seat.

Sweat rolled down Bell’s face, as if something was about to explode,
until finally he reached out and picked up the hair ties as if he’d made up his mind.

“Bell, thank you…And, sorry.”

“Eh?”

She giggled. “It’s nothing.” Hestia’s still-blushing face shifted into a warm grin as the timid boy started touching her hair.

Watching the look of sheer concentration on his face in the mirror across from her, Hestia felt a soft thump in her chest as the boy struggled to get her hair through the bands.

She practically purred like a cat every time she felt his fingers run through her black hair. Hestia enjoyed every moment of this special time together with Bell.

“…Hey, Bell.”

“Yes?”

“Meeting you, bringing you into my
Familia
…made me happy.”

Bell stopped moving to listen to the goddess’s quiet voice.

A moment later, the boy was beaming with an elated smile.

“I’m glad that I met you, too, Goddess.”

Hestia couldn’t help but smile and blush again as she watched the boy’s face in the mirror.

—There was no doubt she would grow to love this boy.

The little goddess knew that now.

All she wished for was to always be able to watch over him and to follow his story through the Status on his back.

And so it was that silver bells jingled atop clumsily attached hair bands.

They sounded with every movement of her jet-black twin ponytails.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve thought of blacksmiths as “Strong!” “Austere!” “Cool!” just like in
Dragon Quest
! I knew right away that I wanted the hero’s partner to be a male blacksmith. Now, at long last, he’s in the story. It’s particularly moving for the character to be male because of the number and diversity of female characters that have already been introduced.

The blacksmith who appears in this story isn’t particularly strong or simple, nor can he make the Seikou Juuji Ken. He’s a struggling blacksmith covered in smoke who can’t sell anything. However, when I started writing the scene of the forge, I remember saying, “Uhooooo!” out loud as my fingers moved, trying to capture the images flowing into my mind. The character became a dedicated craftsman.

I get particularly excited when I visualize a blacksmith in a dimly lit workshop in front of the red-hot forge, the high-pitched sound of metal shaping metal as he or she pounds their heart and soul, hopes and fears into a weapon of their own design over and over. No matter how many works they complete, blacksmiths remain the physical embodiment of passion in my eyes.

I live for that moment they emerge from the workshop carrying a truly unique weapon in their arms and present it to their client. While I know this scene almost never happens in today’s world, I can’t help but be fascinated with it.

Since the fourth installment of this series was more of an interlude in terms of the overarching story, I included two short stories that were first published in
GA Bunko Magazine
. The first story,
“Quest X Quest,” takes place in the middle of book three, between chapters two and three, while the second story, “A Campanella to the Goddess,” takes place before the events of book one. I hope you enjoyed them.

The time has come for me to express my gratitude.

To Mr. Kotaki, this book would not have become a reality without your guidance. To Mr. Suzuhito Yasuda, thank you for always taking time out of your busy schedule to create beautiful artwork to bring this world to life. To Mr. Yuuji Yuuji, for agreeing to share part of his work with a smile. Your support made me very happy.

Also, I would like to thank the combined efforts of Mr. Kunieda and Mr. Kurebito Misaki for their beautiful work on the limited edition releases of this series. In addition, I’m extremely grateful to
Young Gangan
and Square Enix for their support of Mr. Kunieda’s work on the comic series based on my novels. I look forward to every new installment.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone, including the readers who picked up this book, from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you’ll all be looking forward to the next volume.

Fujino Omori

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IS IT WRONG TO TRY TO PICK UP GIRLS IN A DUNGEON?, Volume 4

FUJINO OMORI

Translation by Andrew Gaippe

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

DUNGEON NI DEAI WO MOTOMERU NO WA MACHIGATTEIRUDAROUKA vol. 4 Copyright © 2013 Fujino Omori

Illustrations copyright © 2013 Suzuhito Yasuda

Cover illustration by Suzuhito Yasuda

All rights reserved.

Original Japanese edition published in 2013 by SB Creative Corp.

This English edition is published by arrangement with SB Creative Corp., Tokyo, in care of Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

English translation © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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First ebook edition: December 2015

ISBN 978-0-316-34020-5

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