Lynn hauled Bell along, his body cutting through the air like an arrow loosed from its bow as they wove through the labyrinthine alleys of the Pleasure Quarter.
Bell was practically being dragged; his legs were moving in a frantic blur, and his breath came in ragged gasps. It was clearly his first time sprinting for his life in a place like this.
"Faster!" Lynn urged without looking back, his tone tinged with impatience.
These Amazonian women possessed vitality that was far from ordinary.
However, the nights in the Pleasure Quarter were never as glamorous as they appeared on the surface. Deep within the alleys, the air was a thick slurry of alcohol, cheap powder, and an indefinable scent of decay.
As they rounded a corner marked by a tattered red lantern, disaster struck.
A group of drunken adventurers burst out of a tavern, gesticulating wildly and shouting incoherent slurs. They charged forward like a herd of rampaging bulls, completely oblivious to their surroundings. Lynn reacted instantly, skidding to a sharp halt and narrowly dodging a wine bottle swung by the man in the lead.
Bell, trailing behind, wasn't so lucky.
"Whoa!"
With a startled cry, Bell was swept away by the crowd, swallowed into the chaos. Lynn only managed a fleeting glimpse of a burly man crashing into him before the white-haired boy vanished into the throng.
"Bell!" Lynn frowned, about to turn back for him.
"Handsome! Don't run!" The seductive voices from behind drew closer. The leading elf laughed, her voice like a chorus of silver bells as she gestured forward. "Catch them! We're going to have some real fun tonight!"
Lynn came to a halt and glanced over his shoulder. Behind him, the scantily clad women were closing in, their eyes glinting with the thrill of the hunt and a touch of annoyance.
Lynn's brow furrowed. Bell had been swept away by the drunks; there was no helping him now.
Never in his life—or lives—did he imagine he'd see the day where he wasn't being hunted by monsters in a dungeon, but by a pack of women in a red-light district.
He glanced toward the alley entrance. Mikoto and the members of the Ishtar Familia had completely vanished from sight.
It seemed his priority now was simply to shake these persistent pursuers.
"Sorry, Bell. You're on your own."
"Bloodhound's Step."
Lynn's form left several afterimages in its wake as he vanished into the depths of the alley. The women froze for a moment before shrieking and giving chase.
The alleys of the Pleasure Quarter were a tangled web, branching out in every direction. For Lynn, losing a few ordinary people was child's play. With a few swift movements, he darted through narrow lanes draped in red lanterns and squeezed through gaps barely wide enough for a single person. Soon, he had left the group far behind.
However, when he finally stopped to catch his breath, he realized he was in an unfamiliar area.
This alley was narrower than any he had seen before. Old wooden buildings pressed in from both sides, and the red lanterns overhead swayed precariously, casting a dim, jaundiced glow. Aside from the ubiquitous scent of cosmetics, the air here held a strange, musty quality.
Just then, he heard the faint din of pursuit again. It seemed the women hadn't given up and were still searching.
Lynn frowned and glanced to his side. A second-story window stood half-open, emitting a warm, amber light. Without a second thought, he took a running start, lightly vaulted onto the windowsill, and tumbled inside.
The room was saturated with the heavy scent of powder and incense—a sweetness so cloying it was almost suffocating. The furnishings were simple but elegant: a low table, several floor cushions, and a folding screen in the corner.
A girl with long golden hair and a pair of fluffy fox ears sat kneeling by the table. She wore a lavish pink kimono that emphasized her slender waist and pale, elegant neck.
Hearing the commotion at the window, the girl trembled slightly and slowly raised her head. When her amber eyes met Lynn's, a flash of quiet resignation flickered within them.
She didn't speak. Instead, she rose slowly, smoothed her robes, and walked toward him with small, rhythmic steps—a pace that was both submissive and hesitant.
"Are you... a guest?"
Her voice was soft, carrying a trace of hoarseness that felt like a silken thread caught in the night wind. It was the kind of voice that made one's heart soften instinctively.
Lynn froze, his mouth twitching.
A prostitute?
This was a massive misunderstanding.
The girl reached him, her head lowered. Her pale fingers reached for the collar of her kimono, preparing to loosen it.
"Please... allow me to serve you tonight."
"Wait!"
Lynn raised his hand in a reflexive gesture to stop her. He had no desire to cause trouble in a place like this, especially given the sensitive circumstances.
"Sorry, you've got it wrong. I'm not here for 'fun.' I was being chased by a crowd and jumped through the window because I had nowhere else to go."
The girl's hand froze mid-air. Her expression shifted from submission to complete bewilderment. Her amber eyes blinked blankly, as if she couldn't comprehend what he was saying.
She retreated two steps, her body trembling slightly. Then, she sat back down by the low table, head bowed, staring fixedly at her knees as if they held some hidden treasure, not daring to look at Lynn again.
Outside, the clamor of footsteps and women's laughter returned.
"Where did that brat go?"
"He has to be around here! Sisters, search every inch!"
The voices drew closer, seemingly at the mouth of the alley leading to this building. Lynn listened intently before looking back at the girl.
"The people outside are still looking for you..." Her voice was as faint as a whisper, carrying a hint of genuine concern. "You... you can stay a while longer. It will be safer to leave once they've dispersed."
Lynn nodded. He looked out the window, then back at the girl, his mind wandering.
Bell was probably shivering in some corner right now. Or, perhaps, he was already being "entertained" by those enthusiastic women. An image of Bell surrounded by Amazonian warriors, face red and utterly helpless, flashed through Lynn's mind.
Well, as pathetic as that sounded, his life probably wasn't in danger.
He offered a silent prayer for Bell's luck and added a mental snark: The kid really has an odd streak of fortune with women.
Regardless, he decided to wait out the storm here.
Silence fell over the room, broken only by the distant revelry that proved the night in the Pleasure Quarter never truly ended. The girl kept her head down, her fingers gripping her sleeves so tightly that her knuckles turned white—a clear sign of her deep-seated unease.
"My name is Haruhime," she suddenly spoke, her voice even softer than before, laced with an indefinable sadness. "I... I was sold to this place."
Lynn watched her but didn't speak, choosing instead to listen quietly. He had seen countless tragedies and lived through enough cycles to be desensitized to human suffering.
Yet, Haruhime's current calmness struck a chord in him. There was no hysteria, no weeping. She spoke of her misfortune in the flat tone of someone narrating someone else's story. That made it more heartbreaking than any sob story.
"Mr. Lynn... you're different from the guests I've seen before." Haruhime looked up, a trace of confusion in her amber eyes. "Those people... as soon as they enter, they start pawing at me or trying to drag me to the bed. You're the first person to just sit down and not touch anything."
She lowered her head again, her voice trailing off until it was almost inaudible. "I... I thought it was strange. Lady Ishtar told me to receive guests properly, but seeing that you had no such intentions... I actually felt relieved."
Lynn noticed that despite her calm words, the fingers gripping her sleeves were shaking more violently now. A faint, unnatural flush colored her exquisite face. This girl didn't seem like someone who had spent years in the trade.
Furthermore... she seemed like she might still be a virgin?
Even though she was supposed to be a prostitute?
He found it strange, but he didn't voice his observations. He simply confirmed one thing in his mind: this girl was different from the others. She didn't belong here.
Lynn walked over to the table and sat beside Haruhime. He noticed a book lying open on the table; the edges of the pages were severely worn, clearly having been read countless times. It was a copy of Heroic Tales, a collection of epic adventures.
"This book..." Lynn pointed at it. "I've read it too."
Haruhime's head snapped up, her eyes gleaming with a sudden, joyous light, like parched earth meeting rain. "You've read it?" her voice trembled. "Where did you see it?"
"Oh, back where I live. On Miss Eina's bookshelf," Lynn said casually. He had flipped through it during a moment of boredom at Eina's place. He hadn't expected the girl to like it.
Haruhime's eyes lit up, and her entire aura shifted. She was no longer a timid apprentice prostitute, but a young girl full of longing for stories of heroism.
"Which part did you like best?" she asked eagerly, her amber eyes fixed on him.
The two began talking about the stories within the Heroic Tales, from the mythic heroes of antiquity to the dragon-slayers of recent history. Haruhime became more animated as they spoke, her voice growing stronger and losing its cautious edge. She recounted the feats of the heroes with excitement, her eyes filled with reverence and yearning.
"Mr. Lynn, are... are you an adventurer too?" Haruhime suddenly stopped and asked timidly.
Lynn nodded.
"Then... what is your name?"
"Lynn."
Hearing the name, Haruhime's body stiffened. Her amber eyes widened, her pupils contracting slightly.
"Lynn..." she murmured, as if the name held a peculiar magic. "I... I know that name."
Her gaze fell on him again, burning with an unbelievable intensity, as if she were looking at an unreachable phantom.
"The person who breached the city gates single-handedly during Apollo's War Game... You're the hero they're talking about all over the Pleasure Quarter!"
Haruhime's voice shook. She gripped her sleeves, leaning forward slightly, her cheeks flushed with a mix of excitement and disbelief. "Heroes... are they all brave and powerful like in the stories? Can they... can they protect everyone?"
She pressed for an answer, her eyes full of a desperate thirst, as if asking Lynn and herself at the same time.
Lynn didn't answer directly. He looked at her face, which was written over with longing, and felt a complex mix of emotions.
A hero? He was just a "Tarnished." He didn't feel like he had saved anything; even in the Lands Between, there were many he simply couldn't save.
He asked instead, "Haruhime, are you here... by choice?"
The smile on Haruhime's face froze, and the faint light in her eyes died out. She remained silent for a long time—so long that Lynn thought she wouldn't answer—before she finally, with great difficulty, shook her head.
"No..." her voice was so thin it seemed it would blow away with the next breeze.
Lynn sighed inwardly. He had already guessed. This girl's eyes were too clean; they didn't belong in a place like this. She was trapped here like a butterfly with broken wings, longing for freedom but powerless to reach it.
Outside, the sounds of those pursuing Lynn had faded, and the commotion had settled. The night was growing deep, and the madness of the Pleasure Quarter seemed to be winding down.
"Alright, I should be going."
Lynn stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes. He needed to find that idiot Bell.
Loss flickered in Haruhime's eyes again, but she quickly masked it. She knelt respectfully on the floor, head bowed, making no attempt to keep him.
"Thank you, Mr. Lynn," she said softly.
Lynn didn't say anything more. He walked to the window and looked back at her, pausing to think. He walked back toward her, and with a flash of light, a small yellow metal box appeared in his hand, engraved with runes that were impossible to decipher.
[Purchased: Furlcalling Finger Remedy]
Lynn reached out and handed it to Haruhime.
"Fate brought us together, so take this. If you run into serious trouble, open this box. If I'm free, I'll come and help you."
Without waiting for a response, Lynn vaulted out of the window.
Silence returned to the room, leaving Haruhime alone, kneeling by the low table. She slowly raised her head, looking toward the window where Lynn had vanished. In her amber eyes, a faint but resilient light had kindled.
"A hero..." she whispered. Looking at the yellow box on the table, she pulled her copy of Heroic Tales into a tight embrace.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the Pleasure Quarter...
Bell Cranel was surrounded by a bevy of beauties. His face was beet red, and he was utterly helpless, his eyes darting around frantically in search of Lynn.
"Oh, come on, little guy, don't be shy!" a curvy Amazonian teased, leaning in until her chest was practically pressed against his face.
"Exactly! Stay and play with your big sisters for a bit!" An elven woman reached out with red-tipped nails and traced a soft circle on his chest.
"I... I have things to do!" Bell stammered, his head spinning and his heart pounding as if it were about to leap out of his chest.
Mr. Lynn, where on earth did you go?!
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Danmachi: My Primary God is Hidetaka Miyazaki? (Simulpub – Ongoing)
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