The sun had not yet fully set.
Orange-red clouds glowed with warm light, blending with the breeze and bringing the calm of dusk.
One Magic Stone lamp after another lit up along the street, while the noise of adventurers never ceased.
The two of them left the crowd behind and walked together along a cobblestone road filled with the warmth of everyday life.
"Ais-san, why did you want to go on a date with me?"
Bell asked softly.
Unlike Lefiya, figuring out what this airheaded girl was thinking always took some effort.
At the very least, the date she meant was definitely not the romantic kind between lovers.
"Because I wanted to talk to Bell... but I didn't know how to start..."
Ais walked beside Bell and answered honestly.
"So, Ais-san, do you know what a date means?"
Bell asked curiously.
"Mm... Loki said that going on a date with me would be really fun..."
Ais walked with steady, unhurried steps, her voice full of certainty.
Bell immediately understood. The date she meant was simply going out together and talking together.
Ais had believed her Familia Goddess's words and sincerely thought that going on a date with her was something wonderful.
That was why she had asked Bell to go on one.
"I see. Ais-san wanted to make me happy. Have you gone on dates with anyone else?"
Bell asked again.
The chance was extremely small, but he still worried that someone might take advantage of this girl's innocent nature and get her into trouble.
"No. Loki doesn't let me go on dates with boys... so you absolutely can't tell her..."
Like a little girl sneaking out of the house, Ais lowered her voice to warn him.
"Got it. I definitely won't say anything."
Bell kept his inner retort to himself.
After she had beaten Bete into that state... there was no way Goddess Loki didn't know.
That innocent way of thinking was exactly what made the blonde girl so adorable, and Bell simply could not bring himself to burst her bubble.
"Is it because Bell has pretty girls around him... that you think I'm not good enough...?"
Ais blinked and unconsciously clenched her fists.
She had seen what Bell looked like on a date before.
Holding hands with two girls from the tavern, laughing and chatting with them.
The same twilight, the same scenery, only this time the person beside him was her.
Without meaning to, Ais compared herself to Syr and felt that her adventurer's outfit looked far too rough.
"..."
Bell went still for a moment.
Her beautiful golden hair was wrapped in the glow of sunset, drifting soundlessly in the gentle breeze.
There was a trace of insecurity on her delicate face, and her golden eyes looked as if bits of starlight had been scattered into them, making her especially captivating.
Bell smiled lightly and said,
"Of course not. If Ais-san had saved me from a monster when I first came to Orario, I might have admired your beauty all this time and kept moving forward because of it."
Bell told a made-up story.
It had no basis at all, and yet the blonde girl's natural, otherworldly beauty gave it a strange sense of plausibility.
"....."
Ais stared blankly at him.
If the beginning of their encounter had been different, how would everything have unfolded?
Would her relationship with Bell have changed completely?
Back in the tavern, would she have refuted the Werewolf's outrageous words for his sake?
There were no ifs in this world.
And even if there were, Ais probably still would not have stopped Bete.
To the blonde girl carrying a sorrowful wish in her heart, there was no difference between a stranger and someone she had saved.
Thinking that, Ais pressed her lips together.
Bell was praising her. His words should have made her happy.
And yet Ais felt a trace of sadness.
"Bell... I..."
Guilt welled up in her chest, but her lips trembled.
"But even if that had happened, I'd still chase after the smiles of girls."
Bell cut off Ais's confession.
He knew exactly what she wanted to say.
Because of the Werewolf's insults, Ais felt guilty for standing by and doing nothing.
But Bell did not want her to say it out loud. That was why he had kept this matter hidden all along.
The guilt was piling up more and more.
A relationship built on that kind of weight was definitely not what Bell wanted.
"Even if Bell admired me... you'd still want a harem?"
Ais's attention was drawn away by his words, and for a moment, she forgot her guilt.
"Of course. That's the soul of Bell Cranel."
Bell said something utterly incomprehensible.
"Mm... womanizer...."
Ais followed her heart and blurted out the complaint.
"Ais-san? Who taught you that word?"
Bell instantly thought of his own Familia Goddess.
"Loki. She said the shorty kept repeating that word while drinking..."
Ais answered honestly.
Bell could already picture Hestia slumped over the table, crying and complaining, while Goddess Loki hid off to the side and snickered.
"Is that so... Let's keep going."
The two of them fell silent for a while and continued slowly down the cobblestone road.
The street stretched on ahead, and now and then the sizzling of hot oil drifted over from both sides.
In the dusk, a woman in an apron took a child by the hand, smiling gently as she stopped them from running around.
The children saw the figure on the stone road and happily called out for their father.
"...."
At the sight of those children's faces, overflowing with happiness and joy, Ais unconsciously came to a stop.
Bell also quietly stopped beside her, enjoying the brief peace.
That sense of happy everyday life soaked into them, bringing a small measure of comfort to hearts worn down by battle.
At that moment, someone brushed past Bell.
"Little Rookie?"
The sturdy man wore a mask, and his voice was extremely hoarse.
"Mercenary?"
From that highly distinctive voice, Bell recognized him at once.
Back when he had first arrived in Orario, Bell had fought this mercenary once during Naaza's kidnapping incident.
"Didn't expect you'd still remember me... Come inside and have a seat."
The mercenary invited him in.
Bell was just about to decline when the man's wife stepped forward with a smile.
"My husband caused you trouble before. If you don't mind, we've got tea, fried potato balls, and...?"
Before she could finish, the blonde girl turned into a gust of wind and flashed to the woman's side.
"...."
"Then I'll take you up on that."
Bell smiled helplessly and stepped forward.
The mercenary carried the young girl into the house.
The interior was fairly plain, but every corner felt clean and tidy.
"Fried potato balls, fried potato balls~ Daddy's home, time for fried potato balls~"
The little girl wriggled free from the mercenary's arms and bounced toward the kitchen.
Her mother took the hands of the two slightly older children and followed with a smile.
"....."
Reflected in Bell's crimson eyes, Ais silently followed after them as well.
That left only Bell and the mercenary in the living room.
"Sit wherever you like."
The mercenary hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still took off his mask.
In complete contrast to those ghastly scars, the way he prepared the tea was surprisingly patient.
"Thank you."
Bell accepted the tea he handed over and replied politely.
"This face is pretty scary, right? At home, my wife absolutely refuses to let me keep the mask on, so... sorry about that."
The mercenary scratched his head.
A mass of horrifying scars twisted across his neck and jaw.
But Bell could tell from his voice that the man was smiling with a kind of awkward, honest warmth.
"I still don't know your name."
Bell reminded him.
"Just call me Mercenary. My name was lost in the Dungeon a long time ago, and even in my current work, I only use a codename."
The mercenary gave a self-mocking smile.
A name had already lost its social meaning for him.
Even if he told the boy his old name, it would only bring Bell trouble.
"That scar... was it really caused by a Minotaur?"
Bell asked softly.
The shape of the scar looked like it had been gouged by a bull's horn, and the man's strength was around Level 2.
Putting those facts together, Bell guessed the source of the injury.
"You figured it out that easily. Just like I expected from you. Little Rookie, when I heard you beat a Minotaur and leveled up, I was genuinely thrilled."
The mercenary spoke with complete honesty.
That green boy from back then had now made a name for himself in one stroke, becoming the world-famous fastest rabbit.
And the opponent Bell had defeated had been the very nightmare wrapped around the mercenary's life.
As someone who had once crossed blades with him, the mercenary still felt deeply moved whenever he thought about it.
"I'm truly sorry about the kidnapping incident. And it's thanks to you that I managed to crawl out of the mire. No matter how much I say it, neither my apology nor my gratitude can fully express what I feel."
The mercenary stood and gave him a perfect bow.
Maybe the rumors were right, and Bell Cranel really was a lucky white rabbit.
The mercenary had once been swallowed by the Dungeon and forced to scrape by at the edge of darkness. It was only after meeting Bell that light returned to his life.
His work had become steady, his wife's illness had improved, and even the nightmare of that raging bull that had clung to him was gradually fading.
"That's all in the past. We were on different sides back then. And when it happened, you not only stopped things from getting worse, you even tossed me a healing potion."
Bell smiled lightly. In his eyes, although the mercenary lived in the gray underworld, he had never abandoned justice. He was a [loser] worthy of respect.
"Besides, the Dungeon was acting strangely at the time, and I urgently needed the Excelia to grow."
Back then, Bell had understood very clearly that the Dungeon's malice was aimed at him. Even if he asked the Guild for help, that problem could never truly be eliminated.
The only way to be safe would have been to give up exploring the Dungeon.
From that perspective, if he had not fought the mercenary, Bell would probably have been in grave danger during the Goblin outbreak.
"Thank you. If you ever need me in the future, come find me."
The mercenary recalled the events of the past two days, then added, "Also... speaking of anomalies, it seems the Guild received complaints about a surge of monsters on the twenty-fourth floor, but they deliberately suppressed the news."
"....."
Bell thought about it for a moment.
According to Riveria, Ais had gone alone to the twenty-fourth floor after receiving a request from the man in black.
Suppressing the news. Sending out a vanguard.
Judging from all the signs, that man in black definitely had ties to the Guild.
"Mm, thanks for the information."
Bell committed it to memory and politely lifted his teacup.
The moment he brought it to his lips, the little girl's voice rang out from the kitchen.
"Yay~"
"Big Sister is gonna have a baby with Big Brother~"
"Have a baby~"