Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

"But don't get too cocky after leveling up to Lv.4! Watch me beat you half to death, training you like I used to!"

I narrowly dodged the sharp slash that the half-human race unleashed right from the start, and was immediately terrified.

But what frightens me the most is that this person said "the self I don't know."

I ignored him and scrambled past him.

In order to escape this place, I decided to push my speed to the limit.

The next second, the warriors who were fighting fiercely around me noticed me and all pointed their weapons at me.

Let's have a fight!

Let's have a fight!

Let's have a fight, Bale!

Faced with those piercing gazes, those waves of anger, and those calls of "my name," I shook my head in resistance.

"I don't know you! I don't understand what you're saying!!"

All I wanted to do was step over the grass and run forward with all my might, free from all this.

Then he leaped over the massive gate guarded by security personnel.

*

"Huff! Huff! Huff...!"

I walked briskly through the bustling area.

Having left the Freya Familia's headquarters, I arrived in the southern part of the city.

The Goddess Festival seems to have come to a successful close, with guild staff and citizens cleaning up the site. Carts loaded with large quantities of agricultural products are being moved away one by one, and the open-air vendors are slowly leaving. Seeing the elaborate decorations celebrating the harvest being taken down evokes a unique sense of melancholy that comes with the end of a celebration… but I have no time to dwell on that sadness right now.

To escape the pursuit of the high-level adventurers, I ran as fast as I could, completely out of breath.

My clothes were tattered, a price I had to pay for forcibly breaking through.

He looks like a criminal who just escaped from prison.

My heart was pounding, I was sweating profusely, and a deep unease spread throughout my body.

I want to relax quickly and forget this uncomfortable feeling immediately.

Therefore, I rushed to the side of the gods.

Heading to our home...!

“Hmm!?”

Because I was so focused on getting rid of my unease and doubt, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings and accidentally bumped into a passerby.

Despite losing my balance at one point, I managed to stand firm.

Fortunately, the person I hit was quite strong, otherwise I would have knocked him down.

Before I could even apologize, I heard the other person start cursing in a familiar voice.

"Ouch! Did you even watch where you were going?!"

──Mr. Modo!

Looking at that familiar face I had interacted with many times, I felt a sense of relief for no reason.

The adventurer glared at me fiercely as usual, but when he realized that the person he had collided with was me—

"Freya Familia's Rabbit Foot!?"

Yes, he looked quite terrified.

"────────"

My expression froze, as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief and smile.

His facial muscles twitched slightly.

Mr. Modo loudly apologized to me, whose mind was completely blank.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't notice it was you!"

"Modo! Money! Hand over the money now!"

"Give him all the money you have and beg for his forgiveness!"

Mr. Scott and Mr. Kyle, who were standing nearby, were also terrified.

What does this scene mean? The answer is quite simple.

They're just worried about retaliation from the city's biggest faction—they're terrified of me from the bottom of their hearts!

"No...you've misunderstood!! I'm not a member of the Freya Familia!!"

"What nonsense are you talking about?! Please, please spare me!"

"You don't need to be so afraid! It's me, Mr. Mordo!! Although you gave me a good beating once, you also taught me a lot of quirky knowledge and helped me many times, didn't you!?"

"Stop talking nonsense! I never did anything like that to you! Please stop deliberately picking a fight with me!"

When I meet the gaze of someone who's a complete stranger, I can no longer remain calm.

I grabbed Mr. Modo's broad shoulders with both hands and kept talking, but I still couldn't clear up the misunderstanding. All I got in return was the response, "You're the one who doesn't understand the situation."

Even though he was much more robust than me, his eyes clearly revealed fear.

This has made it increasingly difficult for me to remain rational.

"Please, let him go!" Seeing Mr. Kyle and the others trying to mediate only made me more flustered.

As the commotion drew more and more onlookers, I gradually lost track of where I was.

"What are you doing!?"

Just as I was standing there, feeling as if I had stumbled into some strange town, a voice came from the side.

A half-elf was seen walking towards them.

That brought me back to my senses.

"Cleanup work for the Goddess Festival is underway! What on earth happened here!?"

He wore glasses on his handsome face, and black trousers with his office uniform, looking no different from usual.

She stepped out gracefully from among her colleagues who were still handling official business.

That attitude of bravely stepping forward to resolve disputes between adventurers simply to fulfill his duty is exactly what a fair and responsible guild employee should do.

"Miss Eina!"

I shouted the other person's name out loud.

If it were her—

If it were Miss Eina, who had always taken such good care of me since I became an adventurer—

I would never utter the lie that I belong to the Freya Familia!

When I called her name, she first slightly opened her emerald-green eyes, then gave a bitter smile.

Then, trying to reassure me, he smiled and said:

"I'm so sorry, have we met somewhere before?"

Snap.

I faintly heard a sound.

A hallucination, like shattering glass, was crisp, cold, and deadly.

It was as if the scene before my eyes exploded.

It was as if cracks were emerging from inside the eyeball.

The scenery and people that came into view began to distort and deform.

"...You really don't remember...who I am?"

"Of course not! In this city, who doesn't know you, the world's fastest white rabbit (record holder)? But... hearing you call my name did startle me a little."

She smiled at me.

Miss Eina smiled at me.

That was a smile I knew very well, yet that smile indicated she didn't recognize me.

"...Because Mr. Modo and the others have been playing tricks on me...even though I belong to the [Hestia Familia]..."

"Hmm...? I haven't received any news about Mr. Crani's conversion."

Miss Eina did not call me by my first name.

She didn't call me "Bell".

No, this is a public place. She was just following the rules for guild employees.

That's definitely the case.

That's how it should be.

"...Um, you're my advisor, right?"

"Huh!? I'm not qualified to be your advisor! Besides, the Freya Familia's policy is that members don't hire advisors..."

Miss Eina denied it.

She denied every single thing I said.

Moreover, it was clear to the locals that we had never seen it before.

"Mr. Kronney...? What's wrong?"

Mr. Modo and his group, who were finally free from me and breathed a sigh of relief, the passersby who were watching from the side, and Miss Eina, who was in front of me, all looked at me with great confusion as I turned pale.

I don't understand anymore.

Why is my voice trembling?

Where exactly am I?

I have absolutely no idea what kind of maze I am in.

"………………………………Who am I, really?"

I opened my dry mouth and asked a question with my tongue that was almost tied in knots.

With the resolve to leap off the cliff, the awareness to climb the gallows, and the feeling of throwing away my weapons in front of the monster, I blurted out the "key" question that I had never dared to face until now.

Miss Eina replied with an incredulous expression:

"You are Mr. Bell Craney of the Freya Familia."

A shock, as if I had been pushed into the depths of a cliff, hit me.

"He is also a candidate for hero who received the 'blessing' of the goddess Freya and broke the record for the fastest leveling up."

It felt as if a rope was tightly strangling my neck, suffocating me and blocking my airway.

"And in just six months, he will become a first-class adventurer, widely recognized as the 'Einheriar'."

It was as if a monster had torn off my limbs with its sharp teeth and devoured my body, leaving not a single hair behind—this body and mind (Bell Crane) were no longer responsive.

who am I?

This is where?

How much time has passed? What exactly happened? Why do I feel so cold?

The gazes focused on me, but none of them were the kind of eyes I was familiar with.

Even she, who always lends me a helping hand like an older sister, is the same.

The sacred flame residing on its back emitted a sound, burning alone and ceaselessly—

*

"What was the result?"

Alfred asked this question.