Inside the Hostess of Fertility tavern.
The moment they came out of the Dungeon, Finn and the others didn't choose to head back to their Familia; instead, they came here to drink and rest.
Hedin and the others of the Freya Familia had, on the other hand, already gone back.
But Isagi and the other girls were all here—and even Alfia was, too—
That everyone had been able to get out was, in fact, thanks to the woman's "help": she had found the way out—or, in Isagi's words, she had found the "save point" for getting back.
Originally, once everyone had entered those cave-holes in the walls from the "Crossroads," the way back had already vanished.
They had pushed deep into that labyrinth, which seemed to be made up of one "room" after another, threading their way through it—not only unable to find their destination, but with even the path back gone.
Until—
Alfia not only finished off the [Hunter] but also destroyed part of the [Administrator] of the Hunting Grounds, causing the "fence" to break.
Only then did everyone gain the chance to return to the Crossroads at any time.
"So you were attacked by that guy calling himself a Hunter?"
In the tavern, everyone sat gathered around a great round table, eating and drinking while, of course, also exchanging their respective information.
Taking from Riveria's hands the emblem dropped by that Hunter named "Lumina," Isagi spoke thoughtfully.
Finn's progress was a bit faster than his own.
He and the girls had likewise followed the sound of water and found those quaint stone steps leading downward, but they had not yet reached the pitch-black limestone cavern at the end, had not encountered the "prey" inside it, nor suffered a backstab from a "Hunter."
But as for things like a new BOSS joining in the middle of a boss fight—Isagi didn't doubt for a single moment that the Dungeon was capable of pulling something like that.
[Proof of the Victor:
The strong are born amid countless battles to the death—this is the most ancient truth.
The miracle seated high upon the imperial throne regards all conquered lands as Hunting Grounds, and all kneeling, prostrate kings as prey.
And the warriors under its command are, naturally, the Hunters who pursue the prey.
However.
What difference is there, really, between "Hunter" and "prey"?
In truth, that Majesty understood: there had never been any such thing as the hunt at all. In all the world there are only "victors" and "losers."]
It looked like some kind of plot item.
Isagi guessed that this thing was probably needed to unlock some area that couldn't otherwise be passed, or a BOSS room.
So after looking it over for a while, he returned it to Riveria, and at the same time told them about the "plot" he had seen using his magic [Fragmented Narrative].
After all, his own side would obtain the very same thing soon enough.
If everything went just as Riveria described, then next he and the girls would also encounter an elite monster in a pitch-black limestone cavern; after defeating it, it would turn into a BOSS, and at the same time the NPC who had earlier called himself a Hunter would join the battle as well.
As long as they defeated it, they would obtain the same item.
Compared with that, the information from Alfia's side was, on the contrary, more intriguing.
An Lv.7 adventurer truly was strong.
This one was a sheer case of "raw might sends bricks flying": she had outright killed a Hunter who had lost his mind, and had even taken the initiative to attack that [Administrator] of the Hunting Grounds and defeat it—
It always gave off the illusion of a second-playthrough heavyweight doing a speedrun.
No.
In a certain sense, wasn't she, right now, exactly on a second playthrough?
Going by the woman's strength, it would probably take a monster of around Lv.9 to put even a little bit of pressure on her.
After all, the Alfia of this moment was, in fact, even stronger than before.
After her resurrection, the woman's body was no longer as frail and sickly as in days past; for her, the "normal state" was the "perfect state"—you have to understand that the her of before had been fighting day in and day out while saddled with a whole heap of "Debuffs."
Isagi was very earnest about it.
He recorded the entire course of Alfia's and Riveria's adventures, since, from what he could tell so far, this [Lower Floors] of his seemed to be rather complicated.
Still, his objective was quite clear now: to keep heading downward, following the sound of water.
First find that Two-Headed Dragon said to be a miracle, and go from there.
He just didn't know whether this thing, like Goliath, had already died and so wouldn't actually show up—
And so it went, deep into the night—
Just before the tavern closed.
Isagi and the girls, together with everyone else, stepped out of the stiflingly warm room.
The smell of charcoal fire vanished in an instant, leaving only the white snow blanketing the long street, and the great clumps of snowflakes still drifting down from the sky.
The winter night was cold as ever.
Their routes happened to coincide, so they walked together along North Main Street toward the city gate; only then did Riveria and the others take their leave—Ais included.
The girl had originally meant to wait until the lamplights came on before going back—it seemed she had wanted to follow Isagi and the others back to the Garden of Stars.
But unable to withstand a certain princess's "death glare," in the end she had no choice but to trudge back with them, sulking.
As for Alfia, she had long since vanished without a trace.
Isagi had no idea where in the city she actually lived—though most likely it was in that Abandoned Church?
The long-awaited adventure had left everyone feeling somewhat weary.
Back at the Familia's home base.
Bathing, resting, lying on the cozily warm sofa, listening to the firewood in the fireplace crackle and pop.
The night had already grown deep.
But because they had only just come out of the Dungeon, sleep didn't come easily.
The other girls were the same, so right now everyone was gathered in the living room, still chattering about this and that, one chiming in after another.
In fact.
This adventure had taken less than seven days.
Because, after Alfia discovered the path back to the Crossroads, everyone had rendezvoused there and decided to leave together.
For Riveria and the warriors of the Freya Familia, it seemed they all needed to go back and "digest things a bit."
And as for Isagi—
coming back first was no bad thing either; there was plenty of time to go adventuring anyway, and besides—
"Do you all still remember the state of that [Great Waterfall] area, the last time we traveled back to a thousand years ago?"
Isagi's sudden words made the girls all freeze for a moment.
Because that was already quite some time ago—at least a month or two back?
At the time.
The situation they had gone through had been even more peculiar.
That Dungeon had seemed to be "several spaces overlapping all at once."
The world before their eyes was one thing, but the world they themselves actually existed in was another—that strange sense of wrongness was almost suffocating.
[Why was it like that?]
This was exactly what puzzled Isagi.
Was it because the Dungeon had been more active back then, with more usable power available, so the transformations had been especially terrifying?
If that were the case.
Then did that mean that, even if it weren't a thousand years ago, if he were to keep delving deeper into the Dungeon right now, he would still run into that same terrifying predicament?
Or, to put it another way.
Was the Dungeon of a thousand years ago somewhat different from the Dungeon of today?
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