Before Fels could get a word in edgewise.
Reed had already lunged forward. Both great hands, rough with scales, hovered around the crystal sphere with exaggerated care as he bellowed at the top of his voice.
"No! Rei! It's me!"
There was a distinct pause on the other side of the crystal sphere, and then Rei's voice came through, thick with startled delight.
"Reed? Oh, thank goodness — did Lord Fels give you the communication orb? Is everyone all right? We're perfectly fine up here on the surface."
The moment that familiar, bright voice reached them, a ripple of commotion ran through the Variants gathered in the cavern. More than a few of the monsters were so worked up they began scraping their claws against the floor.
Grosse's enormous stone-dragon body shouldered two centaurs out of the way without ceremony. His wings gave a couple of impatient beats at his back, and he strode up to Reed's side, craning his great head close to the crystal sphere.
"Rei — is Rania still there? Can I talk to Rania?"
Grosse's voice was low and rough.
"Rania? One moment, please."
Rei's voice fell quiet.
A brief silence from the other side of the crystal sphere.
Then a voice came through.
"I'm here, Grosse."
It was unmistakably the spider-woman Rania.
The moment he heard it, the body that had been coiled as tight as stone went utterly slack. Grosse exhaled a long, long breath — and with it, two plumes of white smoke jetted from his nostrils.
"How are you all doing up there on the surface?" Grosse pressed.
"Well…" Rania's voice paused for a beat. "Kami-sama is truly a benevolent god who shelters us with genuine goodwill."
The moment those words landed, the entire cavern fell completely silent.
After all, Rania was known among those around Grosse as a die-hard radical — her hostility toward the surface-dwellers ran every bit as deep as Grosse's own.
Now even she was openly admitting that Kami-sama had treated them well. That left no room for doubt whatsoever.
The Variants let out a collective breath — and then, from the cavern, a wave of cheering erupted that could no longer be held back.
The noise on the other side of the crystal sphere quickly became chaotic. The half-bird Fei seized the conversation, her voice brimming with excitement.
"You have no idea! When Kami-sama first brought us out to the surface, there were so many surface-Familia adventurers surrounding us, holding weapons and glaring like demons.
"But Kami-sama came forward personally to protect us! Those adventurers didn't dare lay a finger on us!"
Fei chattered on without stopping.
"And after that, Kami-sama took us to a tavern that was willing to receive us, and we had a proper meal! The landlady is a big-hearted woman with a very tall frame — she made us so much delicious meat and thick soup, and the taste was absolutely wonderful!"
"At night, Kami-sama's Familia ladies took us to bathe in this enormous, wonderfully warm pool — the water was steaming the whole time!"
"And they even had custom-tailored new clothes made for us, modified to fit our bodies — everyone was so considerate and caring!"
These words poured out of the crystal sphere, and every single Variant in the cavern listened with their mouths hanging open, staring in pure disbelief at Onigawara Rin and the other girls standing nearby.
"And that's not all!"
Rei's voice came back through the crystal sphere, carrying a current of excitement.
"Last night, Kami-sama spoke with me at length in the bathhouse. He's currently in talks with the Guild to arrange a new base of operations —
"It's a large castle built to house all of us on the surface."
"Haimer-sama said that once the castle is finished, we'll be able to move all our companions up to the surface in batches to live there.
"There will be more than enough space to allow us to live on the surface."
At those words.
The cavern went instantly dead silent.
Every Variant stood frozen, wide-eyed, staring at the crystal sphere as though they had been turned to stone.
To let all the Variants move up to the surface and live there.
In all the decades — even centuries — that had passed, this was something they had never even dared to dream.
For as long as they could remember, their greatest luxury had been the hope of sneaking one stolen glance at the sunlight of the surface, without being hunted down for it.
"That's… that's wonderful…" Reed murmured to himself, his eyes stinging.
And yet.
In the midst of the Variants' collective wave of moved emotion.
The girls of the Haimer Familia standing nearby had their attention pulled in an entirely different direction.
Onigawara Rin had still been feeling sympathy for the Variants' plight — but now, at those words, the grip wrapped around the handle of her tachi produced a sharp, pained creak.
Kikakujou Mary's fingers, smoothing the cuff of her sleeve, froze dead in their tracks.
The candy in Hanasaka Warabi's hand nearly fell to the ground.
Even Tendou Kisara, who had maintained her silence throughout, couldn't stop her brow from twitching twice.
Wh—.
What?
Rei, last night… with Kami-sama… in the bathhouse?
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Amou Kirukiru raised an eyebrow. A dangerous curve pulled at the corner of her mouth, and her gaze swept to the crystal sphere with a coolly appraising look.
"So last night, when you suddenly disappeared for a while — you were secretly sneaking off to bathe with Kami-sama?"
The moment that voice rang out.
On the other side of the crystal sphere, Rei's heart clenched. She had never for a moment imagined that the girls at Haimer-sama's side had already joined up with Reed and the others.
Then Fei's voice chimed in from nearby.
"That's right! And Rei wouldn't even let me come along! I wanted so badly to help scrub her back — Rei is just too sneaky!"
A sharp collective intake of breath——!!
At those words, every girl's eyes went wide, and they couldn't help clicking their tongues inwardly.
Keeping all the good things to herself!
After all, just a short while ago, it had been them soaking in the great bathhouse.
And then Amou Kirukiru had been the one to slip away early and go find Kami-sama in his study.
And now this.
This seemingly soft and delicate big-sister bird-woman with her beautiful feathers — she turned out to be a woman of action too, slipping away to make herself agreeable to Kami-sama while he was taking a bath!
This new lot — every single one of them was more formidable than the last!
And it wasn't only the girls — Reed and the other Variants, and even Fels, who had been standing quietly to one side the whole time, were every bit as dumbfounded.
On the other side of the crystal sphere, the shift in atmosphere had apparently registered. Rei's voice, flustered and urgent, immediately rushed in.
"N-no, it's not what you're all thinking!"
"I-I only… only felt that Kami-sama had given us so very much, and I simply wanted to do whatever I could to repay his kindness… so I went to help wash Kami-sama's body…"
Even as she gave that explanation, everyone could plainly hear the fluster threading through her voice.
It was an explanation that was clearly doing nothing to defuse the situation.
Reed noticed that the looks the girls nearby were directing at the crystal sphere were growing increasingly strange — there was even something in those gazes that suggested a very strong urge to draw their blades.
And in the same instant, the memory came back to him — of just how breathtakingly stunning the black-haired Kami-sama had looked at first sight.
On top of that, over these past ten-odd years, Reed had eavesdropped on more than a few choice pieces of gossip from adventurers' mouths about the romantic escapades of the gods on the surface.
It took him no great effort to guess that these girls clearly harboured feelings for Haimer-sama that were anything but ordinary — and instantly he felt the scales on his back begin to seep cold sweat at a frantic rate.
He hurriedly scratched that great lizard head of his and forcibly wrenched the conversation in a different direction, bellowing at the crystal sphere.
"Ahaha! Rei, you were acting on behalf of all of us — that counts for everyone!"
"After all, Kami-sama has resolved the fate that would have kept us Variants hiding underground for decades — even centuries — to come. We really do owe it to ourselves to repay Kami-sama with everything we have!"
Reed gave two forced dry coughs, trying desperately to salvage the situation.
"So, uh… Kami-sama didn't… mind, did he?"
Rei's voice came back, very small and quiet.
"No. Kami-sama was gentle with me the whole time."
It's over.
Reed's heart lurched violently in his chest. He didn't dare turn around to look at the girls' expressions.
He had the distinct sensation that several pairs of eyes boring into his back were on the verge of burning clean through his tough scales.
"Is that right! Well, good, good!!"
Reed hastily cut that dangerous thread of conversation off and turned to shout at the Variants gathered around him.
"Since things are going perfectly on the surface side, and Kami-sama has shown us Variants immeasurable grace —"
"We Variants absolutely must repay that kindness! We have to play the most gracious hosts we can to Kami-sama's children!"
"Everyone! Bring out the best of everything we have!"
The other Variants were every bit as swept up in the feeling.
As for Rei, they were all a little simpler-minded in that regard — they took it purely as an act of gratitude toward Kami-sama, and not a single one of them sensed anything the least bit off about it.
At Reed's call, every Variant let out a cheer and scattered.
They ran to a storage area deep in the cavern.
Several of the stronger Variants joined forces to haul out a number of enormous flat clean slabs of stone, and arranged them neatly in the centre of the open space to serve as tables.
Then.
Out came every precious foodstuff they had gathered over the long, hard days in the Dungeon's safe zones.
Blue-glowing mushrooms that gave off a faint sweet scent, each cap as wide across as a basin.
Red berries picked from sheer cliff faces — red as carnelian, filling the air with an intoxicating fruity fragrance.
Crystal-clear, sweet spring water brought up from the safe zone on the eighteenth floor.
And several enormous chunks of honeycomb — sticky and golden and glistening — that some of the Variants had dug out from who-knows-where, so mouthwatering they made your fingers itch just to look at them.
The Variants enthusiastically ushered the girls to their seats.
Looking at this spread — humble, certainly, but every last item clearly representing the Variants' very best — the girls found it impossible to let their sting of jealousy surface at a moment like this. They let out helpless sighs in unison, put away their weapons, and settled down at the stone-slab table.
...
As the meal and conversation flowed together.
Once people were fed and watered, the attention had a way of drifting.
The atmosphere gradually unwound.
The girls, nibbling on the sweet, tangy berries, found their gazes drifting, almost against their will, toward the figure of Fels sitting by the campfire — draped in a black robe, not saying a word.
From Reed's earlier introduction, the girls had learned that Fels was the emissary of the Guild's supreme overseer, the great god Ouranos — the Sage, Fels.
From the very start, this creature swathed from head to foot in black cloth had not touched a single one of the foods.
Well — a skeleton didn't have much use for eating, admittedly.
"I'll say — you have direct access to the Guild's great god Ouranos."
Amou Kirukiru tossed her finished fruit pit into the fire without a second thought; it hit the flames with a short, crisp hiss.
"And you and Ouranos have known about these Variants all along."
"So why didn't you just bring them to the surface to live in the first place?"
Amou Kirukiru leaned back against the stone behind her, and gave Fels an entirely unguarded, appraising look.
"From what we've gathered over the past few days, this god called Ouranos was not only the very first deity to descend to the Lower World — he pretty much has Orario in the palm of his hand, doesn't he? He's the one who built the Guild from nothing. How does a being like that lack the power to publicly clear these people's names?"
"Yes, I have to agree."
This was a question that had, in truth, been nagging at everyone seated there.
Onigawara Rin nodded as well. "Given the great god Ouranos's standing, why couldn't he help the Variants prove their innocence?"
Fels sat there, her posture stiffening almost imperceptibly. She stared into the firelight and let out a long, helpless sigh.
"It isn't as simple as you think."
Fels's voice filtered through the black robe, carrying with it a note of old weariness.
"The hatred the surface-dwellers hold for monsters has been building for over a thousand years. That hatred is carved into the bone — it is not something a single divine proclamation can erase."
"Even Ouranos-sama — if he were to stand up openly and declare that he intends to shelter these monsters, he would lose the trust of every last inhabitant of the Lower World in an instant."
"At that point, the Guild's authority would collapse completely. Orario would plunge into an unprecedented state of chaos. And the Variants would become a target for every Familia — hunted down and exterminated by a united front."
"The stakes involved here are impossibly tangled."
"To say nothing of Ouranos-sama — even if every god in existence joined hands, overturning the way the Lower World's inhabitants think in any short span of time would be all but impossible."
Hearing Fels's explanation, Reed and Grosse and the other Variants quietly bowed their heads, signalling their understanding.
After all, for Ouranos to have secretly supplied them with provisions all these years had already been an act of tremendous risk.
And yet.
Fels's words had only stirred up more questions in Amou Kirukiru's mind.
"Something that even the great god Ouranos can't handle…"
Amou Kirukiru rested her chin on her hand, eyes thoughtful.
"Then why is it that when our Kami-sama stepped forward last night — just walked right out in public with the Variants bold as you please — every last one of those gods and adventurers backed down?"
"Fels-dono."
Inaba Tsukuyo cradled her sword in her arms. Those permanently closed eyes couldn't see, yet her face turned with uncanny precision toward exactly where Fels sat.
"Since you are the emissary of that great god, I imagine you know at least something about our Kami-sama… and what he was, in the Heavens?"
The moment those words left her mouth.
The cavern fell instantly silent.
Even the crackling of the fire seemed to quiet itself, its pops dropping to a murmur.
Reed and Grosse and the other Variants pricked up their ears as one, all eyes turning on Fels with open curiosity.
After all — a god who dared, in Orario of all places, a city packed with deities, to openly march monsters out onto the surface while no one said a word.
A single night was all it had taken this black-haired god to forcibly alter the course of their fates. Whether it was the girls who had just joined the Familia, or the Variants sheltering under that divine protection — all of them were filled to bursting with the desire to know more.
Especially the girls, who had witnessed with their own eyes the changes in their Kami-sama's prestige and bearing day by day. The curiosity they felt about what Kami-sama had experienced in the Heavens was absolutely overwhelming.
The firelight flickered and swayed, casting its light and shadow across Fels's skeletal face.
Just moments ago, Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina had sidled up right in front of Fels, staring at her skull with unabashed curiosity for a good long while — and had succeeded in making Fels extremely flustered.
Now, facing this many pairs of bright, hungry eyes.
She sat on her stone, gloved hands resting folded on her knees, staying silent — looking more uncomfortable than ever.
A skeleton had no sweat glands. Otherwise, Fels reckoned she would have been drenched in cold sweat by now.
Because, in truth — it had only been last night.
When she had witnessed with her own eyes Haimer walking out on the main street without the faintest attempt at concealment, Variants in tow, parading openly for all to see — and had watched as he forced the assembled gods gathered beneath Babel Tower to voluntarily stand aside.
She had immediately made her way back through the hidden passage to the Guild's underground altar and reported everything in full detail to Ouranos.
She had assumed Ouranos would be furious at Haimer's decision to expose the Variants so publicly.
And yet.
After hearing the report in full, Ouranos had shown not the slightest sign of surprise.
He had simply given a calm nod and said: "This is entirely the sort of thing Haimer would do."
Fels had been utterly bewildered by that response.
At the time, she had been unable to suppress her own curiosity, and had asked Ouranos directly about what Haimer had been like in the Heavens.
Why could this god act so completely without restraint? Why had those invariably proud gods chosen collectively to yield without exception?
The answer Ouranos gave was one that even now, thinking back on it, Fels found simply impossible to believe — one that still set that hollow skull of hers buzzing.
"Fels-dono?"
Onigawara Rin saw that Fels had gone silent for a long time and offered a quiet prompt.
Under the gentle pressure of everyone present.
Fels had no choice but to lower her head, skull tilting toward the ground, turning away from all those bright, attentive gazes.
"I did indeed learn certain things from Ouranos-sama."
Fels's voice dropped low, as though weighted down by something very heavy.
"But… what I am about to say… may very well overturn everything you believe about your own god…"
She paused, appearing to choose her words with great care.
"Because Ouranos-sama's exact words were —"
"Haimer-sama, in the Heavens, was nothing like the image of boundless compassion and benevolence you have seen him project here in the Lower World…"
"...…"
"On the contrary."
"As for the gentleness and tolerance Haimer-sama has shown here in the Lower World these past days — Ouranos-sama has always regarded his behaviour as deeply abnormal. As though he were scheming toward something terrible."
"Why?"
"Because in the eyes of the gods of the Heavens…"
"Haimer-sama can only be described as an extremely dangerous and ferocious god."
"A ferocious god?"
Going straight from evil god to ferocious god, was it?
Hearing those words, Amou Kirukiru immediately raised an eyebrow, a gleam of thoroughly interested amusement flickering in her eyes.
"Now that's interesting."
"So what kind of ferocious are we talking about?"
Amou Kirukiru's grin spread wider.
Amou Kirukiru's attitude — clearly treating this as prime gossip and thoroughly enjoying every word — made Fels falter.
Looking at this group of girls who, far from being frightened out of their wits, were instead leaning forward one after another with their ears perked up ready for the story — Fels could only steel herself and press on.
"This is something Ouranos-sama told me directly."
"Though it feels wrong to say it this way."
"Ouranos-sama warned me that under no circumstances — absolutely no circumstances — should I let my guard down around Haimer-sama."
"In the Heavens, Haimer-sama harboured an intense — one might even say almost pathological — curiosity about every art and craft, every conflict of skill, every manner of development in all things under the sky."
"Ouranos-sama said…"
"In the very beginning, Haimer-sama was like a newborn, hungry to challenge all the gods who were famous for their martial prowess."
"Haimer-sama had a remarkable gift for learning through divine power."
"A single glance was all it took — any technique the gods held as their proudest achievement would be seen through and fully mastered by Haimer-sama completely."
"But as time went on, mere technique could no longer satisfy Haimer-sama's curiosity."
"Haimer-sama… began to grow curious about how to kill a god."
"But aren't gods immortal?" Onigawara Rin couldn't help but interject.
Gods were immortal.
This was common knowledge that every person in the Lower World knew. Even if a god was killed down here, they were only returned to the Heavens — and after ten thousand years or so they would revive once more.
"Yes."
"But it was precisely because gods are immortal that Haimer-sama wanted to break that rule."
"And because the gods of the Heavens had long since grown accustomed to a deity disappearing without warning or farewell —"
"Haimer-sama's actions drew no attention at first."
"But it was not long before Haimer-sama realised that working alone, the rate at which he could gather data was far too slow. He couldn't accumulate enough data on death."
"And so…"
"Haimer-sama shared with another ferocious god in the Heavens the method he had been searching for to bring about the true and final death of a god — and that god was Loki."
Fels's voice began to tremble.
"Ouranos-sama said that what followed was a darkness so deep that not even the gods wished to remember it."
"Haimer-sama and Loki-sama forcibly ignited a divine war."
"A conflict that went far beyond a dispute between two gods — it spread, and the gods of the Heavens began slaughtering one another on a massive scale."
"The entire Heavens were plunged into a long and bloody age."
"Countless gods, forced into killing each other, experienced the agony of having their souls torn asunder."
"The entire Heavens became an arena more savage than the Dungeon itself."
"Until at last, even Loki-sama had grown weary of it all."
"And yet Haimer-sama still had not found the method to kill a god truly and permanently."
"So in front of all the gods, Haimer-sama did not stop — he continued to order the gods to keep slaughtering one another."
"Finally, the gods could endure no more, and began to unite in defiance of him."
"Haimer-sama's response to the gods' rebellion was quite simple."
"He unleashed a one-sided massacre, and triggered an all-out united crusade against him by every god in the Heavens."
"Wait a moment!"
"Wait, wait!"
"So… the gods banded together at the end and killed Haimer-sama, and then felt it was an unfair victory, and that's why they carry a guilty debt to him — and that's why none of them dare provoke him now?"
Hearing these hidden secrets of the Heavens, Reed couldn't help interrupting, his voice carrying a slight tremor, as though he wasn't sure he wanted to hear any more.
"No."
Fels gave her skull a firm shake, shattering Reed's naive conjecture outright.
"Ouranos-sama said that would have been entirely impossible."
"The truth was precisely the opposite. During that crusade which swept across the entirety of the Heavens, the gods arrived at a hair-raising and hopeless truth."
Fels's voice took on a floating, distant quality.
"As the gods marshalled themselves in ever greater numbers to oppose Haimer-sama —"
"In the end, they discovered to their despair that in the midst of such a vast and sprawling conflict, it was Haimer-sama's divine power that was growing ever stronger."
"To the point where… that lord had gradually come to wield the authority to directly brainwash the very souls of gods."
Brainwash.
Those two words brought even Amou Kirukiru's smile reining in a fraction.
"The numerical advantage did not bring the gods victory. Instead it became the very soil from which a qualitative transformation of Haimer the great god's divine power was nourished into being."
"This drove some among the crusading gods into utter and complete despair."
"They would rather cut themselves down on the spot and lie quietly through ten thousand years of the revival period than fall into Haimer-sama's hands and be turned into a puppet with no will of its own."
"But in the end, there were still a great many gods who fell victim, and became Haimer-sama's absolutely obedient followers."
"This was how Haimer the great god achieved absolute dominion over the Heavens, which endured for ten thousand years on end."
"That was the age the gods called the age of the Tyrant."
"Until, later…"
Fels paused.
"Even Ouranos-sama could not fathom what exactly happened."
"One day, without warning, Haimer-sama personally struck down every last god in the Heavens with his own hands."
"Even those gods who had been the most intimate companions to him at ordinary times — including Hestia-sama, whom you all know well — were cut down without the slightest mercy on that day."
"The entire Heavens fell into complete and utter silence for over ten thousand years."
"..."
Fels stopped there.
The cavern was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
Only the occasional burst of sparks from the wood in the fire.
It didn't matter whether you were a newcomer who had only just received grace, or a seasoned veteran long since hardened to the cruelty of the Dungeon.
Or one of those Variants who had spent a whole lifetime hiding and fleeing.
Every single one of them had been struck dumb by this bombshell account of the Heavens' history.
Fels watched the blank, dazed expressions of the crowd — none of them yet recovered — and continued quietly, delivering the final blow.
"And when those long ten thousand years finally passed."
"After the gods who had died gradually awoke from their revival periods —"
"The gods found that Haimer-sama appeared to have changed."
"No longer obsessed with the study of how to kill gods."
"That — that's a good thing, isn't it!"
Reed wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with one rough clawed hand and forced out a smile that looked more painful than crying.
"That means Kami-sama had grown weary of the killing — he turned good, right?"
And yet.
Fels shook her head.
"On the surface, yes."
"But that is not what Ouranos-sama believes…"
"Or rather — the overwhelming majority of gods in the Heavens do not believe it either."
"Ouranos-sama's exact words were —"
"For someone like Haimer-sama, his curiosity absolutely cannot simply vanish without reason."
"If it were truly the case that Haimer-sama had merely… concluded that the question of killing a god was unsolvable, and had simply shifted his attention to something else that he found more interesting — that would be one thing."
"But the gods of the Heavens can never… forget… that in Haimer-sama's hands… he has always held that power — the power to brainwash a god's soul with casual ease."
"And therefore, to this very day."
"The gods still harbour doubts… about how much of what they remember of their own revival… is truly real…"
"And whether there are other gods who were likewise killed by Haimer-sama… who, to this very day… have still not revived…"
____
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