A monster — shaking hands with a god!
And not only that: the god hadn't shown even a flicker of disgust at the thought that those rough, fearsome claws might scratch him.
He had simply, without the slightest hesitation, completed the handshake — that gesture humans used to signal goodwill at a first meeting.
That small, quiet exchange.
Had, without question, opened a window inside the Xenos' hearts.
"Kami-sama, my name is Lei!" The Siren with golden feathers beat her wings and flew straight over from a distant stone pillar, landing before Haimer.
— Siren, Lei.
Her upper body bore a face of breathtaking, almost inhuman beauty, her full chest barely concealed by a few simple strips of cloth and feathers, pale skin on full display — and below, the lower body of a bird.
Haimer regarded her calmly, then extended his hand and clasped Lei's wing in a handshake.
And with that.
The Xenos who had been hanging back suddenly surged forward in a single wave.
"Kami-sama! I'm..." "And me...!"
Among them were Shadows, Half-Beasts, and Goblins.
Beyond those — even an Almiraj and a Hellhound.
Fels stood to the side, watching the Xenos excitedly swarm around Haimer, bracing herself for any sign of displeasure on his face.
But.
Mercifully.
Haimer went through them one by one with extraordinary patience — making contact with each of these outwardly terrifying creatures — and even reached out of his own accord to clap a hand on the shoulder of a half-beast with prominent fangs.
That scene — a god and Dungeon monsters sharing what looked almost like genuine harmony — left even Fels standing there in a daze.
And yet.
Where some were overjoyed, others remained wary.
Not every Xenos was moved by this sudden wave of warmth.
On the far side of the bonfire, at the edge of the gathering.
— Stone Dragon, Guroth.
— A Xenos of terrifying Lv. 5 power, one of the leaders of their kind.
Flanking Guroth were a Spider-woman Xenos — her lower half a massive black spider, her upper body clad in full plate armor — along with several other Xenos who radiated the same cold, hostile aura.
They watched everything with cold, detached eyes.
To this radical faction — who refused to believe that the surface-dwellers bore anything but the deepest enmity toward their kind — a god's small acts of warmth looked like nothing more than sugar-coated poison.
"Bunch of naive fools," Guroth snorted.
Reid heard it and spun around, unable to stop himself from shouting back.
"Guroth, don't be such a killjoy — Haimer-sama came here in good faith!"
"Good faith?"
Guroth rose to its feet, the heavy stone wings on its back flaring open and sending a gust of wind sweeping across the plaza. Its red eyes locked onto Reid with bone-deep intensity.
"Don't forget what those humans did to us! The moment they see us, they draw their swords — the only thing they think about is ripping out the Magic Stones in our chests to sell for Valis!"
"And the gods are the ones behind all of it — they built their Familias and turned hunting us into a game!"
"And now you're going to go fawn over a god?! You'll get everyone killed — sooner or later!"
Guroth's words lit a fire in Reid.
He strode up until he was standing directly in front of Guroth.
"Guroth! If we ever want to stand on the surface and feel the sunlight on our skin, we need the people up there to accept us! If we just keep hiding in the dark, hating everything — we'll be monsters that never see the light, forever!"
"And Haimer-sama came here to help us!"
"Stop dreaming that ridiculous dream, Reid! The surface doesn't belong to us!"
"It's just the novelty talking right now — do you honestly think anyone is ever going to take creatures like us seriously?!"
In an instant.
The two of them — one representing the Coexistence Faction, the other the Distrust Faction — were going at each other tooth and nail, a heated argument erupting right in the middle of the plaza.
"Stop fighting! Guroth, Reid — Kami-sama is right here watching!"
Lei's face was a picture of barely-contained panic.
"Haimer-sama, please, don't be angry... Guroth only gets like this because it suffered terrible wounds in the past — it doesn't mean to cause offence, truly..."
Lei spoke in soft, placating tones, terrified that Haimer might take umbrage at such flagrant insubordination.
The other Xenos shared her anxiety.
Haimer, however, seemed to find the whole scene rather entertaining.
"Angry?"
"Why would I be angry?"
"Isn't this rather interesting, Miss Lei?"
Those words landed.
Lei blinked.
Reid and Guroth both fell silent at the same moment, staring at Haimer with a mixture of confusion and surprise.
"Do you know what the greatest difference is between a mindless monster and a truly sapient being possessed of its own soul?"
"A mindless monster acts only on instinct — to kill, to feed."
"But a being with a true soul thinks. It forms different worldviews shaped by its own experiences, and those worldviews lead to disagreement."
"The clash of ideas born from that disagreement is, in itself, proof that each of you has developed an independent mind."
Haimer let those words settle.
The Xenos who heard them went still.
All their lives, they had grown used to being called "disgusting monsters that deserve to die" by adventurers. Not one of them had ever been affirmed — had ever had anyone, let alone a god of noble standing, acknowledge them for what they were.
Reid, good-natured and a little slow, scratched the back of his scale-covered head with a claw, looking thoroughly at a loss — but the excitement burning across his face was impossible to hide.
Guroth, who just a moment ago had been breathing fire.
Found itself stopped cold by Haimer's words, all the harsh things it had been about to say stuck halfway up its throat.
It held them there for a long moment.
In the end, Guroth could only let out a single cold snort. It turned its massive dragon head away and refused to look at Haimer — and said nothing more.
"..."
"All right then."
"That's enough pleasantries for now."
Once both sides had settled down somewhat.
Haimer walked to the center of the plaza and took a seat on a relatively flat stone.
The Xenos arranged themselves instinctively into a semicircle around him.
Haimer sat, and without any preamble or ceremony, went straight to the point.
"As for why I was able to come here —"
"It's because the children of my Familia happened to overhear certain information about your existence from some hunters while they were in the Dungeon."
"They're a good-natured bunch, all of them."
"And I could see that they wanted to offer you shelter."
"So as their head of household, I felt I had a responsibility to come and see for myself."
"To look with my own eyes and determine — whether you are truly worth the compassion of my children. Whether you are worth them bending the rules to help."
As Haimer's words fell away.
A collective silence fell over the Xenos.
Their hearts hammered, waiting for Haimer's verdict.
After all, this determined whether they would ever have a true shelter — something to shield them from the wind and the rain.
Haimer lowered his gaze, eyes moving slowly over the gathered Xenos.
Then his attention stopped in a corner.
There, hiding behind the leg of another Xenos, was a rabbit Xenos no bigger than a human child, wearing a tattered little blue tunic.
— An Almiraj Xenos.
Long ears, wide and alert. A pair of red eyes blinked at Haimer from behind its shelter, equal parts curious and terrified.
Haimer looked at her.
He lowered his hand, and beckoned.
"Come here, little one."
The Almiraj Xenos shivered from head to toe at the summons.
But.
Bolstered by an encouraging look from the Siren Lei, she gathered her courage and, on her tiny little legs, came trotting slowly up to stand before Haimer.
Haimer reached out with both hands, hooked them under the small rabbit's arms, and lifted her from the ground — settling her gently onto his lap.
The little rabbit went rigid with fright, her entire body strung tight as a bowstring, ears pinned flat against the back of her head, red eyes brimming with unshed tears.
"Don't be afraid."
Haimer bowed his head, extended one hand, and pressed his palm between the rabbit's two ears against the soft fur there.
Following the grain of her coat, he stroked slowly and gently down her spine.
Once.
Twice.
Feeling that touch — warm, entirely without threat or killing intent.
The little rabbit's rigid body softened, little by little.
She even half-closed her eyes in contentment, and, growing bold, nuzzled the top of her fluffy head against Haimer's palm, letting out a faint, continuous string of little chirping sounds.
Haimer stroked the little rabbit, a quiet smile on his face, and delivered his final verdict.
"Looking at things now."
"You're... not bad at all."
Those words of approval landed.
Reid, Lei, and the rest of the moderate-faction Xenos let out a collective breath they'd been holding for far too long.
The hearts that had been suspended in midair finally dropped back down into place.
And yet.
Just when everyone assumed the worst was behind them.
Watching Haimer hold the little rabbit and stroke her — watching that small creature's expression of utterly disarming, bashful contentment —
The fury in Guroth's chest, on the far edge of the group, surged back up with a vengeance.
"Don't flatter yourselves!"
"'Determining whether we're worth saving'?! What does that even mean?!"
"What you're doing right now — isn't it exactly the same as treating us like cheap pets you can summon with a wave of your hand and play with for amusement?!"
"'Determining whether we're worth saving'?!"
"Salvation be damned!"
"What you're really checking is whether we've become sufficiently tame!"
"Whether we'll wag our tails and beg like spineless dogs the moment someone throws us a bone!"
"And another thing!"
"You're just one god!"
"On what grounds do you have any right to lead us toward salvation?!"
That rapid-fire volley of furious accusations.
Sent the eyes of the Xenos — who had just begun to feel reassured by Haimer's praise — wavering again.
Because, yes. Gods were lofty, untouchable beings, in the end.
And no one knew better than they did how vicious the malice on the surface could be.
Even the great god Ouranos had been unable to change that in all his decades of trying.
What could one lone god possibly do against the storms that raged across the entire Lower World?
At that moment.
The little rabbit sitting in Haimer's lap flinched violently at Guroth's outburst.
And when it dawned on her that walking over on her own and letting herself be petted had perhaps, in Guroth's words, literally proven she was nothing but a "plaything" — a wave of burning shame crashed over her.
With that.
The atmosphere that had only just begun to thaw dropped back to absolute zero.
Fels, standing to the side.
The skull hidden beneath her black hood couldn't form expressions — but if she'd still had a heart, it would have been lodged firmly in her throat right now.
These Xenos, who had spent their existence in the depths of the Dungeon, had no idea what this seemingly gentle, dark-haired young man truly represented.
This was the calamity before whom even the great god Ouranos had chosen to yield.
Guroth's provocation was the equivalent of shoving the entire Xenos community headlong into a pit of fire.
"Guroth! Enough!"
The thought sent Fels surging forward a step, voice dropping to a rasping hiss, desperate to salvage the situation before it collapsed entirely.
But.
Haimer simply raised one hand with perfect calm.
That single, understated gesture was enough to make Fels swallow every word of her intended intercession back down her throat.
Haimer's dark eyes regarded Guroth's furious glare with absolute composure.
"You're not wrong," he said.
His voice was unhurried, and every word reached the ears of every single Xenos present.
"I won't deny that gods exist on a higher plane."
"And."
"After everything you've endured in the Dungeon — the slaughter, the betrayal — it is entirely natural that you would greet any sudden show of goodwill with the darkest suspicion."
"Trust is never something you talk your way into."
"Until there is substantive action to back it up, every word is empty air."
"But..."
"There must still be consequences."
The moment Haimer finished speaking.
In an instant.
Guroth — who had been glaring at Haimer just a second ago, hot white breath snorting from its nostrils —
Its massive body, every inch covered in hard grey-black stone scales the size of a small hill, suddenly produced a horrible grinding, cracking sound of bone against stone.
"Gh... wha—?"
A strange, strangled noise escaped from deep in Guroth's throat.
And then.
Under the disbelieving stares of every Xenos present.
Guroth's two massive arms — thick as pillars, tipped with sharp stone talons — moved entirely against its own will.
Smack.
Both enormous claws clamped themselves, without mercy, around its own thick neck.
"What... what is happening..."
Guroth's red eyes contracted to pinpricks.
It strained with everything it had to move its hands away.
Its mind screamed the command to stop.
But it was useless.
Those arms — its own arms — had completely severed their connection to its nervous system.
Not only did they refuse to release.
They continued to tighten.
Tighter and tighter.
Vertebrae cracked and groaned.
Guroth's massive body began to tremble uncontrollably; its legs buckled, and with a thunderous boom, it crashed to its knees on the hard stone floor.
The impact drove two spider-web cracks into the rock.
Kneeling before Haimer.
Strangling itself with its own hands, its fang-filled maw stretched wide open — unable to draw so much as a thread of air.
"..."
"Guroth!"
Reid's eyes went wide; a cry of shock tore from his throat.
"Haimer-sama!!!"
Fels, standing nearby, witnessed the scene.
The skeletal body beneath her black robes gave a violent shudder.
She had assumed Haimer had used his Divine Might.
But.
The instant Fels's spirit-sense reached out and brushed against the invisible domain surrounding Haimer.
A wave of ice-cold something surged back through her magical perception — pouring directly into that fleshless, skeletal shell of hers.
In that one instant.
Within the soul-vision that was Fels's sight.
The Dungeon's stone walls vanished. The bonfire vanished.
She was pulled into an ancient battlefield of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
There was no sun in that sky — only a single crimson blood-moon.
And behind that blood-moon.
Tens of thousands of blood-red eyes — each one brimming with violence and murderous hunger — opened as one from the darkness.
Staring directly into Fels's soul.
As if waiting to tear apart and devour the ant that had dared to peer at the God of War's throne.
"Kami-sama! Please, spare it, I beg you!"
Finally.
The one who reacted first was the Siren with the face of a beautiful human woman — Lei.
She beat her golden wings in a frantic rush, flew straight to Haimer, and dropped to her knees before him with a resounding thud.
The Siren Lei looked up at him with eyes full of tears, her expression one of profound, desperate anguish.
"Kami-sama! Guroth doesn't mean to offend you!"
"It's just... it has just lived through a nightmare!"
Reid came bolting over as well, falling to his knees beside Lei, his wide forehead pressed flat against the stone.
"Yes! Kami-sama!"
Reid's rough, gravelly voice was saturated with desperation.
"A companion that Guroth trusted — just recently — was caught by a group of hunters from the surface."
"That companion was acting as our rearguard to cover our escape."
"But they fell into the hunters' trap."
"They didn't kill him outright — they tortured him with cursed weapons, slowly and cruelly..."
"By the time we followed the trail and reached him, that companion was in a state between life and death."
"For over ten years — day after day — we have endured too many betrayals and tragedies like this."
"Guroth's eyes have been blinded by hatred — it doesn't bear specific hostility toward you, Kami-sama!"
"Please, in your great mercy — forgive it this once!"
"Guroth is truly a gentle companion at heart. It's simply terrified of losing everyone all over again."
And it wasn't just the two leaders.
Every last Xenos in the plaza snapped back to attention.
Even the little Almiraj rabbit that Haimer had been holding in his lap — now set back on the ground — clutched the hem of his trouser leg with both tiny, white-furred paws, her long red ears drooping.
Tears dripped steadily from her eyes, one after another. She let out a soft, plaintive string of little chirps — as if she, too, was adding her own plea on Guroth's behalf.
Haimer sat there.
In the end.
He raised his hand and gave a single, light wave.
Whoosh —
With that tiny gesture.
The two arms locked around Guroth's neck — who had been on the verge of losing consciousness — seemed to have every last ounce of strength drained from them at once. They fell away, limp, to hang at its sides.
Guroth gulped down ragged mouthfuls of earth-damp air, flooding lungs that had been on the verge of bursting.
It was like a creature being hauled up from the bottom of the sea.
The great stone dragon's enormous body lay sprawled on the ground, coughing and heaving violently.
Alive.
Still alive.
With those desperate, rattling gasps, life at last returned to flow through the plaza.
"..."
"Kami... just now..."
Fels, coming back to herself, turned to stare at Haimer in sheer disbelief.
"Curious?"
"Miss Fels."
Haimer looked at her with a faint smile, and slowly began to speak.
"It is an ironclad law that gods who descend to the Lower World may not make use of their Divine Might."
"However."
"For the sake of experiencing life down here with some convenience."
"A god may choose to retain one ability that exists at the fringe of their divine domain's concept — so long as it does not involve invoking Divine Might to directly interfere with the physical laws of reality."
"That is considered permissible."
Haimer looked at Guroth, who was still gasping and shaking on the ground, his tone perfectly matter-of-fact.
"The way the Goddess of Beauty can twist a person's mind without using any Divine Might whatsoever."
"The way the God of the Forge can look at a piece of metal and see its structure — can breathe a soul into common iron — through pure craft alone."
"Or the way the God of War has branded the martial arts so deeply into his very soul that even in a mortal body, he can stand against great beasts."
"As for the ability I chose to retain —"
"Among my options was dominion over all outwardly expressed hostility in this world."
"This ability grants me, whenever I choose —"
"The power to turn any individual who releases killing intent toward me or toward each other against themselves — to have them consumed by their own bloodlust and made to tear one another apart under my direction — all without my lifting so much as a single finger."
"This is not Divine Might."
"It is simply the rule that is intrinsic to my existence."
With that explanation delivered.
The entire plaza fell into dead silence.
The Xenos swallowed hard, eyes filled with awe they couldn't suppress.
Especially Guroth — who had just clawed its way back from the edge of death — and now lay on the ground without even the courage to raise its head to look at Haimer.
But.
Haimer stepped forward anyway, passing Lei and Reid, and walked until he stood directly before Guroth where it sprawled on the stone.
Then, under the anxious gaze of every Xenos in the plaza.
Haimer bent slightly at the waist, and extended his right hand.
He held it out toward Guroth's enormous dragon head.
"That said."
"To endure the backlash of your own killing intent for that long without completely breaking down."
"It seems your willpower is something else."
"Welcome back."
Staring at the human hand extended toward it.
Guroth's massive body gave a sudden, violent shudder.
"Kami... Kami-sama..."
"To be honest, I don't particularly mind being challenged by the residents of the Lower World."
"I might even say it rather pleases me."
"After all, that kind of charged, anger-laced hostility — those adversarial emotions — are, to me, the finest tribute anyone could offer. They delight me greatly."
"It's simply that —"
"Since I came here to discuss serious matters, I couldn't very well let things stay mired in pointless shouting indefinitely."
"So I'm afraid you, you ill-tempered big lug, had to bear the brunt of it."
With those words, Haimer drew a firm and final line under the whole episode.
A slap, followed by a sweet.
"..."
With that small interlude resolved.
After helping Guroth back to its feet, Haimer slowly turned back to face the gathered Xenos — and dropped the next bombshell.
"Furthermore."
"As I said before — trust is never something you talk your way into."
"Until there is substantive action to back it up, every word is empty air."
"Therefore."
"Allow me to take several of you personally up to the surface."
Haimer's voice was perfectly clear.
"Out into the outside world."
"That world above — the one you dream about — go and walk through it yourselves."
"..."
Once Haimer's words faded into silence.
The entire plaza went utterly still.
Even the crackling pop of the bonfire consuming wood rang out with startling clarity in that silence.
He was going to take them to the surface?!
"Kami... Kami-sama..."
Reid swallowed with tremendous effort, his throat bobbing.
That rough, scale-covered face was a portrait of someone desperate to confirm a miracle yet terrified it was only a dream.
"You... you're not joking, are you?"
Faced with Reid's trembling question.
Haimer gave a small nod.
"Gods don't joke about things like this."
Having confirmed — again and again — the sincerity in Haimer's eyes.
"I'm going!"
Reid instantly let out a roar in that hoarse voice of his, and was the first to throw a thick, scale-covered arm high into the air.
And it wasn't just Reid. That single roar —
— Sent every other Xenos who had yearned for generations to bask in sunlight, to breathe the open air of the surface, into an eruption of absolute frenzy.
"I want to go too! Kami-sama, please take me!"
"And me! I've dreamed my whole life of seeing what a human city looks like!"
"Pick me, pick me! I'll be so well-behaved!"
A forest of claws, paws, and even hooves shot up into the air across the entire plaza.
The whole space plunged into something close to delirious, ecstatic chaos.
They had never once imagined.
That there would truly come a day when they could step onto the surface openly, in the light.
And not just that — personally escorted by a god of supreme standing.
What an honor beyond all imagining!
But just as the crowd was working itself into a frenzy wild enough to blast the cave ceiling apart.
The Siren — the most perceptive mind among all these monsters.
Lei hurriedly pushed down the same surge of joy roiling in her own chest, turned around, and snapped her golden wings open with a powerful beat.
"Everyone, quiet down for a moment! Settle down!"
Lei's voice was clear and piercing, and just barely managed to suppress the Xenos' uproar.
She turned and looked at her companions staring at her with pleading eyes, and could only manage a wry smile in return.
"Did none of you listen?!"
"Kami-sama said he would take only a few! Only a few!"
"Not everyone!"
At those words from Lei, the previously boiling crowd simmered down considerably — only now registering the condition Haimer had stated.
Haimer gave a small nod, acknowledging Lei's level head with approval.
"Quite right."
"After all."
"The estate I've just purchased in the upper residential district is still rather limited in space."
"The expansion works for the new headquarters have been confirmed, but until they're completed —"
"The concealed living quarters I can provide simply can't accommodate all of you large-bodied creatures at once."
"So for now, it will only be a few people going up."
Hearing that Haimer didn't just intend to take some of them up —
He'd already arranged future accommodations for them as well!
Reid rubbed his hands together, almost shaking with excitement.
"Then... Kami-sama, if we do go up and another Familia's members come to check on us, what should we do?"
Despite his excitement, Reid was aware of how dangerous the surface could be, and rushed to ask the single most critical safety question.
"Simple."
"To the outside world, I will say you are monsters under my control — all nominally under my Familia's registration."
"By those rules, you would no longer be monsters in the Dungeon that anyone can hunt at will — you would be my private property."
"On the surface, any attack against another Familia's members is considered a direct provocation against that Familia's god."
"Before anyone draws a blade, they'll have to weigh whether their own god can afford to weather my anger."
Haimer sat on his stone, delivering this conclusion — one that would overturn every common understanding in Orario — in the most casual tone imaginable.
In this Labyrinth City.
Monsters were monsters.
They were walking ATMs providing Magic Stones and materials. The common enemy of every soul in the Lower World.
Anyone who dared openly shelter a monster that had crawled out of the Dungeon — even a god — would immediately become a target for all.
Reid understood exactly what Haimer's words meant.
And precisely because he understood, the astonishment written across that rough lizard face of his only grew deeper.
"But... but Kami-sama!"
Reid stumbled over his words.
"If things truly go that way... if a major Familia like the Loki Familia or the Freya Familia sends their adventurers to attack us —"
"Won't that cause enormous trouble for you, Kami-sama?"
"And moreover... your reputation among the gods would be ruined for sheltering monsters like us!"
Lei, standing nearby, wrung her hands tightly, beautiful face clouded with worry.
Because.
Even the great god Ouranos — who had been quietly sheltering them for over a decade — had absolutely never dared cross this particular line in public.
To these Xenos, who had spent their lives scraping by in the dark —
Having encountered one god willing to treat them as equals was already a blessing beyond measure.
If, because of their desire to go up and see the sunlight, this kind god ended up ostracized and condemned by the other gods —
They would carry that guilt to their graves.
"..."
Reputation?
Ruined?
Hearing Reid and the others' concerns.
Haimer raised an eyebrow.
"If something like that truly came to pass —"
"I imagine I would only find it rather enjoyable."
Hearing Haimer's utterly unconcerned reply.
Lei and the others exchanged a glance — and found they couldn't bring themselves to say another word of protest.
"However —"
Just as the Xenos' mood had begun to settle once more.
Haimer changed tack and raised one firm condition.
"I'm not being unreasonable."
Haimer rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"It's just that all my children are girls."
"I only heard about your situation from their lips yesterday. Turning around and bringing back a crowd of fearsome-looking monsters to the base tonight is not exactly a great idea."
"My children are capable fighters — they probably wouldn't draw blades on you the moment they saw you."
"But I do worry they'd have nightmares afterward."
"So, out of consideration for my girls' quality of sleep —"
"I would prefer to choose those who are... less frightening in appearance."
That reasoning left every Xenos in the plaza absolutely thunderstruck.
Who could have imagined it.
That a god brazen enough to take on all of Orario.
Would base his selection criteria for who accompanied him to the surface.
On whether they might give a group of girls bad dreams.
And yet.
The moment Haimer's selection requirement was announced, the whole plaza erupted into an extraordinarily theatrical scramble.
A group of monsters that had just been united in shared purpose instantly divided, with remarkable unanimity, into several distinct factions.
The first faction, naturally, consisted of those whose appearances were so utterly terrifying that they failed any conceivable human aesthetic standard by a wide margin.
They looked at each other's faces — each one capable of making a child scream in the night — and immediately let out a chorus of despairing wails, shuffling dejectedly to the outermost edge of the bonfire's light, eliminated from contention on the spot.
The second faction was those who had developed an utterly unfounded confidence in their own looks — the delusionally optimistic.
For example.
A massive Bear-Goblin, covered in coarse stiff fur and sporting a pair of curved horns atop its head.
Upon hearing Haimer's criteria, it immediately stood up straight and worked the rolls of flesh on its face into what it apparently believed was an adorable smile.
The result?
The moment those few uneven, large yellow teeth were bared —
An ordinary Almiraj standing next to it let out a shriek of horror, all four legs kicked out stiff, and it fainted dead away on the spot.
The third faction, naturally, was composed of those who were genuinely better-looking — Xenos that fell in the upper-middle tier of appearances, either adorably non-threatening or humanoid in form.
This was also the most fiercely contested group.
Reid stood where he was, reaching up a clawed hand to rub his rough, rust-red scale-covered jaw.
He took a look at his own long muzzle and the thick tail dragging behind him.
In the end.
Reid could only scratch his head helplessly and heave a tremendous sigh.
"Ahh..."
"Looks like a rough guy like me doesn't stand a chance."
"Since Kami-sama wants someone presentable and non-threatening..."
Reid turned his head directly toward Lei, who was standing nearby.
"Lei, you should be the first to go as our representative."
And it was true.
As a Siren blessed with a face of delicate human beauty.
Lei's fine, fair features and her air of gentle fragility — setting aside the bird characteristics of her lower body, her upper half alone would pass for an unimpeachable beauty even on the surface.
Just as Reid finished his suggestion.
"And me! And me!"
With a rapid burst of wing-beats.
A female Xenos with strikingly vibrant rouge-colored hair — also half-human, half-bird — shot out from the crowd and pushed her way to the front.
— Half-Bird Xenos, Fei-er.
A young, lively face brimming with anticipation.
"Take me too!"
"I'm not scary-looking either! I'm most interested in all the stories about the surface — I promise I'll be completely well-behaved!"
Fei-er made her case with obvious eagerness.
But.
"No."
Lei, seeing this, kept her expression flat and turned Fei-er down flat.
"Even if Fei-er's looks aren't a problem, her personality is far too flighty."
"Always rushing headlong into things without thinking."
"In an environment as complex as the surface — where human adventurers are everywhere — your insatiable curiosity about everything would make it very difficult to keep yourself in check. You'd end up causing unnecessary trouble for Kami-sama."
Lei was thorough in her reasoning, filling the role of the older sister to perfection.
Hearing the flat rejection, Fei-er's previously perked tail feathers drooped instantly.
Her face fell; she pouted with a look of deep, wounded grievance, shuffled to the side, and crouched down to draw circles on the ground with her claw.
Nearby.
From among those who hadn't spoken yet.
A Shadow Xenos — clad head-to-toe in battered black armor, its body seemingly composed of pure darkness itself — quietly raised one blade-like black talon, trying to draw attention.
— Shadow, Aun.
The result.
Before Aun could even produce the raspy sound that indicated he wanted to participate.
Reid turned without mercy and shot him down.
"Aun, you're definitely not viable."
"You're a Shadow."
"The kind of monster adventurers call 'the upper-floor rookie killer.'"
"How many novice adventurers have you and your kind sent fleeing in terror through the Dungeon?"
"If you walked down the street looking like that, the first adventurer who laid eyes on you would instantly start screaming and trying to cut you down."
"..."
Having been skewered by Reid's blunt and merciless critique.
The darkness around Aun's raised talon seemed to visibly darken with palpable dejection.
He quietly lowered the claw he'd been holding in the air.
Then drifted soundlessly over to crouch beside Fei-er, and began drawing circles on the ground beside her.
"..."
After a chaotic but surprisingly earnest round of internal deliberation.
In the end.
Given that this operation carried significant weight as a first probe and contact with the surface.
And that they needed to account not only for the safety of appearances, but also balance among the different factions —
With those considerations in mind.
The Steadfast Faction represented by Reid and the Radical Faction represented by Guroth each decided to send one representative to the surface.
Reid's faction naturally nominated the one among them with the best image and the most perceptive mind — the Siren, Lei.
Guroth's faction, meanwhile, nominated the Spider-woman — Lania — whose upper half, clad in full armor, leaned toward a human female appearance even if most of her face was concealed by a visor.
Lania's lower half was a massive black spider, admittedly quite striking.
But her personality was comparatively level-headed among the radicals, and she could serve as Guroth's eyes — going up herself to verify whether the surface shelter Haimer described was genuine and reliable.
"Settled?"
Haimer looked at Lei and Lania, who had been put forward.
The two female Xenos stood at the front, looking rather self-conscious.
"Just the two of them, Kami-sama."
Reid nodded.
"They represent the will of all of us. They won't give you any trouble."
Haimer gave a slight nod.
"Very well."
He rose to his feet.
"Fels, please prepare two large hooded black robes."
Haimer turned his head and addressed Fels, who had been standing to the side the whole time like a ghost.
Fels, without a word of waste, immediately produced two wide, pitch-black robes from her storage item and passed them over.
These were equipment the Guild specifically used for covert transfers of important materials or personnel — made from a special material capable of effectively suppressing and concealing auras.
Lei and Lania took the robes.
With care, they wrapped their conspicuous forms in the generous folds of dark fabric.
Lania's massive spider lower half, beneath the concealment of the black robe, looked like an ungainly, lumpen cart — but under the cover of night, as long as no one looked too closely, it could just barely pass.
A moment later.
Preparations complete, Haimer turned to lead them away from this uncharted territory.
Haimer suddenly felt —
Something tugging gently at the right leg of his trousers.
The force was small.
But insistent.
Haimer stopped walking and looked down.
There.
The Almiraj Xenos he had held on his lap and stroked earlier — then set back on the ground — Yaruuru.
Was standing by his feet.
Both tiny paws, covered in soft white fur, were gripping the hem of his expensive, pure-black formal trousers with stubborn determination.
Yaruuru tilted that small, fluffy head upward.
Those ruby-red eyes still held the lingering awe and timidity she felt toward a god — and yet she refused, stubbornly, to let go.
Not only that.
Her little three-petalled mouth was moving ceaselessly, producing a rapid, continuous, anxious string of chirping sounds.
It sounded for all the world like a protest — or an emphatic, urgent demand.
"What is it?"
Haimer wasn't impatient in the slightest.
He crouched down again, reached out, and gave one of Yaruuru's upright little ears a gentle stroke.
Still a wonderful texture.
"What is she saying?"
Haimer couldn't understand the primitive vocalizations of monsters, and this Almiraj Xenos clearly hadn't yet evolved to the point of being able to speak in human language.
He could only turn to Lei, who had just finished putting on her black robe, to serve as translator.
Hearing Yaruuru's urgent chittering.
Lei's movements stiffened slightly. Beneath the hood, her fair face was instantly suffused with a deeply visible flush of embarrassment.
"This... um..."
Lei glanced at Yaruuru — who was refusing to release her grip on Haimer — then looked back at Haimer, her words stumbling.
"Kami-sama..."
"Yaruuru says... says that..."
Lei bit her lip. Whatever came next was apparently somewhat difficult to say aloud.
"Says what?"
"Yaruuru says that just now, in front of everyone, you... you held her and stroked her..."
"So... Yaruuru's point is... since you've already touched her, and taken advantage of her like that, her purity has been compromised."
"Therefore you must take responsibility — you can't just leave her behind like this, you have to take her with you!"
"Also — even though she may look like nothing more than a rabbit monster on the outside —"
"Still... she is, at the end of the day... still a girl..."
Having somehow forced that entire translation out, Lei instantly flushed scarlet, dropped her head, and absolutely refused to meet Haimer's eyes.
What on earth was this?!
A rabbit monster born in the Dungeon, trying to hold a god accountable over matters of purity and responsibility!
It was utterly, absolutely absurd!
Lei was terrified that Haimer would feel offended by this completely unreasonable scene of being guilt-tripped.