Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 4 (6 page)

—Right after that.

Loki quietly got to her feet.

“…Loki?”

“Before we get to namin’, there’s somethin’ I’d like ta know, Shorty.”

No one objected, as the normally squinting Loki opened her eyes wide enough to let everyone know she had a bone to pick.

“He did that much with our blessin’ in a month an’ a half—you expectin’ me ta believe that?”

WHAM!

Loki slammed the palm of her hand onto her own paperwork on top of Bell’s face, glaring daggers in Hestia’s direction.

“It took my Aiz a year to level-up fer the first time—a whole
year
! And this boy does it in a month an’ a half?! What’re ya tryin’ to pull?”

It was eight years ago.

A relatively clueless eight-year-old had become the fastest adventurer on record to reach Level 2. Not only that, she was human—a race that was physically and mentally weaker than many of its counterparts.

News that such a person had set a record like that had spread throughout Orario and the world like wildfire.

“It’s not like a blessin’ is anythin’ special. A child that levels up that fast ain’t natural. There ain’t no shortcut, all of them bust their tails workin’ hard ta level up.”

Loki went on to say that Falna, the power of a blessing, was not instant.

A Status only gave the children a chance. Falna manifested itself differently in each person, based completely on their own experiences and desires.

Abilities, Skills, Magic. All of them developed based on Characteristics lurking within an individual. Even those characteristics were built up from a personal history—and the excelia gained from those experiences warped the power of a blessing, or degenerated it, into its new shape. It was similar to how the size and shape of a flower growing out of the ground can differ depending on its environment during development.

Therefore, it was a stimulant.

Falna was completely unaffected by outside forces. To be completely blunt, it was the ultimate key to unlocking inner potential.

“So, spill it, Shorty.”

“…”

Hestia could have sworn Loki was breathing fire; the black-haired goddess was drenched in sweat.

This is bad, very, very bad.

The moment that the other gods and goddesses learned of Bell’s Skill, “Realis Phrase,” this place would become an absolute zoo. She hadn’t told Bell about his own Skill for this very reason; she knew exactly how the others would react—. Add to it the fact that he just set a new record for the fastest level-up, and every god in this room would swarm him.

She had to fulfill her duty to protect the boy. However, in order to do that she would have to imply that Bell was special without outright saying it. Her best option was to give Loki a believable explanation, but there was no way she could come up with something good enough to satisfy her on the spot.

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Swinging her arms as if she were trying to swim through the air, Hestia’s mind raced to come up with anything believable.

“So ya can’t say? Ya wouldn’t happen ta be usin’ yer divine power, now would ya?”

“O-of course I’m not!”

“Okay then, out with it. If yer conscience is clean, this should be easy as pie.”

“Ah…”

Loki had accused Hestia of using Arcanum, divine power, to accelerate Bell’s growth. A near-panicked Hestia couldn’t string enough words together to defend herself.

Hephaistos sat next to her friend with a very troubled look on her face. Her mouth was open, as if she were about to speak but couldn’t figure out what to say.

Every set of eyes around the table was now trained on Hestia. Extremely interested in what was going on, all of the gods and goddesses leaned in to catch every single word. Hestia felt as though the room were closing in on her. She had never sweated this much in her life.

I’m finished
, said a little voice in her head as she gave up hope. Just then.

“My my, what’s the big deal?”

A beautiful soprano voice echoed throughout the room.

“…Huh?”

“Whassat?”

All eyes left Hestia in an instant and instead went to the owner of the voice.

Freya was leaning back in her chair, an aloof expression on her face.

“As long as Hestia hasn’t violated our laws, then there’s no need for her to explain herself, yes? It is, after all, taboo to reveal the inner workings of any
Familia
. That includes the Statuses and Abilities of any members.”

Looking at a lock of her hair, she pulled it back behind her ear. Freya appeared disinterested, as if she were only talking common sense. But it stopped Loki in her tracks.

“…But one month? Can’t ya wrap yer mind around that, ya airheaded vixen?”

“Hee-hee, why does this bother you so much, Loki? Your attitude seems rather strange to me…Is this jealousy, perhaps? Is it because Hestia’s boy broke your favorite little girl’s record?”

“Like I care,” Loki retorted with a sneer.

“I wonder,” Freya responded with her ever-present smile.

Loki’s pretty face contorted in rage as she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Just as Loki had done to Hestia moments ago, Freya had twisted Loki’s words into a corner from which she couldn’t escape. The look on Loki’s face made it all worth it for Freya as she smiled smugly in her chair.

Tsk!
Loki clucked her tongue in Freya’s direction, looking at her with the utmost fury.

“Of course it’s difficult to believe my ears when I hear those numbers…But this boy, by some miracle, managed to defeat a Minotaur despite his low level.”

“…”

“If I had to wager a guess, then I would say this Minotaur is the reason. If, perhaps, defeating a Minotaur meant something special to him, then the excelia he gained could also have had more influence than usual…That’s what I think.”

Every one of Freya’s words sent ripples through the meeting room.

Each deity looked down at the paperwork in front of them and under the “personal history” column, only to find that this was, in fact, the second time the adventurer Bell Cranell had encountered a Minotaur. But he had defeated only one of them. One by one, the gods and goddesses around the table started murmuring in agreement with Freya’s opinion. Even Loki couldn’t deny that it made sense, but she wasn’t too happy about it.

It had been nearly a thousand years since the deities had come down from the heavens and begun bestowing blessings on the children.

None of them could hope to predict what possibilities were hidden within each of the people of the world below. Even strange occurrences like this happened every now and again—all Freya did was point it out.

She let a moment of silence fill the room.

Then she went on to say that while she was extremely interested, there was no reason to force an answer for Bell Cranell’s unusual development speed. Soon other gods around the table were saying that it would be against the rules to do so.

Freya quietly smiled again and gracefully looked over at Hestia.

It took her a moment to notice Freya’s silver gaze. All Hestia could do, however, was blink, her body still in a state of shock.

An instant later, Freya stood up from her chair.

“Oh, are ya leavin’, Freya?”

“Yes. I have something urgent to attend to, so I shall excuse myself now.”

“Since you’re here, why don’t ya leave after we’ve given Loli Big Boobs’s child a name? It’s the last one, anyway.”

“Hee-hee, I apologize, but I can’t. Still…” Freya reached down to the table and picked up her copy of the paperwork. She took a look at Bell’s face and said, “Just be sure to name him something cute.”

“““““““OKAY!!”””””””

All of the gods around the table suddenly looked refreshed as Freya flashed her biggest smile of the day at each of them in turn. The goddesses, however, glared at their male counterparts, as if they were looking at rotten garbage.

Freya turned her back to the table and started to walk toward the door, sending one last grin over her shoulder.

“Well, shall we get down to business and choose a title for this boy?”

“Sounds good.”

“But this human…I haven’t heard anything about him.”

“It’s the ones you overlook who surprise you.”

“There are no rumors about him at all.”

The suddenly serious gods began discussing the boy immediately.

Hestia had finally recovered from the abrupt changes of mood during the Denatus and looked up at Hephaistos sitting next to her. Her eyes asked exactly what she wanted to know: “What happened?”

The crimson-haired goddess shrugged her shoulders, a look of frustration on her face as she responded. “I don’t have a clue.”

“There’s not enough information here. Nothing to go on. The Guild was really lazy with this one.”

“He leveled up just two days before the Denatus, so they had to squeeze him in. Can’t be helped.”

“Let’s see…White hair with red eyes…A rabbit…How about ‘The Good Rabbit, Pyonkichi’?”

“No, that name is already used. A smith named Wel-something used it for a piece of armor already.”

“Thought of it before us…!!”

“Wel-something…Just what is he?”

“Hmmm, Ganesha, do you have any thoughts?”

“……I am Ganesha!”

“Yes, yes, Ganesha, Ganesha.”

“As we try to find a more suitable name, nothing really jumps out at me!”

The discussion continued with the male gods taking center stage in a somewhat unproductive conversation.

Hestia tilted her head in relief that the greatest danger seemed to be behind her.

A heartbeat later, a shadow fell over her body.

“…Loki?”

“…”

Loki was standing beside her. She had left her seat on the other side of the table and was now staring directly down at Hestia.

There was no doubt she was in a bad mood, but she forced her mouth open and said:

“…Watch yer back, Shorty.”

“Huh?”

“Keep yer eyes open, is what I’m sayin’. As much as it pains me ta warn ya like this…I can’t stand watchin’ that idiot do as she pleases. Gotta stop it now.

“She’s underestimatin’ me,” said Loki with an annoyed sneer.

Loki jerked her head toward the door to grab Hestia’s attention. Looking in that direction, she saw the last of Freya’s silver hair flow out of sight.

“W-wait a second, here! What do you mean by ‘warn me’?”

Unable to understand Loki’s words, Hestia asked for clarification. Loki’s eyebrows twitched in frustration before she took another step toward the young goddess.

“Are ya that thick?” asked Loki as she leaned down to Hestia’s eye level, their noses almost close enough to touch.

“Idiot! Wake up, willya? She just covered fer yer boy.”

“…?”

Still unable to connect the dots, Hestia could only look back at Loki with dumbfounded eyes.

Loki stood back up, sighing through her nose. She’d had enough.

“Woah, y’really don’t know. Ah well, not my problem anyway. Such an idiot,” Loki said under her breath on her way back to her seat.

Under Hephaistos’s watchful gaze, Hestia’s eyes followed Loki as she went around the table. Then she looked over toward the door that Freya had just exited.

She mulled over Loki’s words.

And then she remembered the look that the goddess of beauty had sent right at her.

…Freya…protected him?

The moment she realized the possibility of a certain scenario, the table of gods and goddesses around her erupted as one.

““““““““““““IT’S DECIDED!!””””””””””””

The atmosphere wasn’t exactly bizarre, but it definitely wasn’t normal.

An air of tension had descended upon one of the largest rooms in the Guild Headquarters.

“Why does everyone look like they’re going to kill something?”

“I don’t think that’s what’s going on…”

Misha whispered into a pointed ear. Eina responded quietly under her breath.

The two of them had left their usual workplace in the lobby and gone upstairs to the second-floor office room.

An intense stillness had taken over a space that was normally in constant motion.

“Tulle, are you listening?”

“Ah…m-my apologies, sir.”

A voice from directly in front of her yanked Eina out of her thoughts. Misha snapped to attention beside her.

There was a male animal person sitting in a chair in front of the two girls, holding in his right hand a document that Eina had recently prepared. His eyes fell from his subordinates back down to the paperwork and narrowed with discontent.

“At the risk of repeating myself, publishing this would be the same as telling all Level One adventurers to die.”

“Umm…”

“I realize you put forth much effort to collect this information, but the Guild cannot under any circumstances allow it to become public. I’m shelving the plan to use Bell Cranell as a model for adventure development.”

I was afraid of that
, thought Eina as she pulled her shoulders just a little farther back.

—While working solo, slay a large amount of killer ants before taking down a Minotaur in one-on-one combat.

That was a very brief summary of how Bell reached Level 2.