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

In the Hestia Familia, Haruhime is the one who likes Heroic Tales, but she didn't collect these herself.

Who could it be? It must be the goddess.

There was no one else besides her. After all, she really liked books from the mortal realm.

She blinked her lowered emerald green eyes, and a 'silver glow' peeked out from under her long eyelashes.

Of course, Haruhime did not notice this.

"...It hurts so much..."

Unaware of anything, Haruhime pressed her hands to her chest.

Her beautiful, waist-length blonde hair swayed slightly along with her body as she let out a sorrowful sigh she had never uttered even when she was a prostitute.

Starting from the day after the Goddess Festival ends.

Ever since she met "a certain boy from the Freya Familia", the frequency of her chest trembling has increased.

The exact reason is unclear. But if we're talking about the period when things turned out this way, it must have been around that time. So, is there some causal relationship with that 'boy'? Should we investigate? No, we can't investigate. We can't let this misunderstanding continue. Because for some reason, Haruhime has an unnecessary fear of the 'boy'. So we can't continue thinking with this fear in our hearts.

Haruhime was being forcefully manipulated.

Haruhime couldn't remember what expression the 'boy' with his snow-white hair had made back then, or what expression he had as he looked at everyone. Because if she tried to recall it, her body would become frighteningly cold, and her consciousness would drift away.

But even so.

No matter how thoroughly and cleanly one forgets the pain, like a fox weeping in vain, like snowflakes piling up in a flurry, the inexplicable madness will still rekindle from the depths of one's heart. Haruhime, through her kimono, covered her full breasts, forced to endure that terrible and sorrowful thing.

No matter how many "silver chains" entangle and obscure her soul, she calls out earnestly, as if reaching out through the cracks of a prison cell.

I really want to see him, I really want to see him.

I don't want to forget.

(Whom to see? Whom to forget?)

The voice within did not answer.

There was nothing I could do about the burning sensation in my cheeks. A heat that felt like it was melting my body emanated from the center of my being.

Her mind and body were both affected by the goddess's "allure," which would normally induce a near-oblivious state of trance, but for Haruhime now, these were incurable poisons. Her kimono slipped off her delicate shoulders, and she barely managed to pull it back up with a force that wouldn't let it break.

In this state of high fever, Haruhime saw the things in her mind.

Until just now, the earnest cries of "fenced prison" have been heard.

This is nothing more than a mental image, a product of delusion.

Despite this conviction, Haruhime still stood up.

Enduring the shaky vision, I finally managed to take a step forward, surrendering myself to the gradually melting passage of time.

When she came to her senses, she felt as if she had transcended time and space, standing on the flower-lined street bathed in the setting sun.

"Oh my, you're Haruhime?"

"Why in a place like this?"

"Sisters..."

The prostitutes who started appearing at the brothel noticed Haruhime.

These are all people whom Haruhime cared for under Aisha's instructions when she was a member of the Ishtar Familia.

They would complain reluctantly, yet they still taught me all sorts of things.

"Weren't you redeemed by the Hestia Familia? What bad thing did you do?"

"Are you planning to go back to being a prostitute?"

"……no."

"Then hurry back. If someone like you stays alone in this red-light district, you'll definitely be lured into a hotel by those sycophantic men." Haruhime slowly shook her head.

Orcs and rare dark elf prostitutes gathered in the wooden cubicle, talking all at once.

Beneath his stern tone and insect-like movements lay a tender concern for Haruhime. Haruhime, then despondent about her shattered future after selling her body—believing she had sold her body—did not notice this tenderness.

"...Even after Lady Ishtar left, the older sisters stayed here...?"

Chunji's chest warmed slightly, so much so that she almost forgot her madness, and she absentmindedly asked about the thing that had suddenly caught her attention.

The prostitutes were surprised by the girl's absent-mindedness and replied.

"I seem to be getting more and more attached to the red-light district. Besides, someone has to take care of all those trainee girls."

"After all, we're rather stupid and don't know any other ways of working."

"I haven't given up on my dream yet...! I'll continue my Level 1 Adventurer Customer Get Operation, become a heroine someday, and achieve a home run comeback...! This is the city of heroes, after all...!"

"Hmm, I should say I've been completely tainted by what the gods call 'immorality'... Now, even if I return to the fairy village, I'll only be met with a storm of contempt, and my fellow villagers will solemnly tell me 'I'll kill you.' And only here can I enjoy the decadent pleasure of the handsome men's festival..."

"Wow."

"So fairies can be quite stubborn..."

"This thing must have been an Amazon in its past life."

"Go back to the forest."

The prostitutes spoke freely.

Each of them recounted why they did not leave the brothel district, which was filled with pain for Haruhime.

"Although it's in ruins because of Lady Freya's rampage, the entertainment district itself is still being renovated."

"It's just that the stewards have changed from Lord Ishtar to unpleasant merchants. Well, the owners of this area are the representatives who rule over prostitutes (us)."

"To protect this shop, please also take care of our [family] to be our support."

Perhaps because they missed Chun-hime, the prostitutes kept talking incessantly.

Chunji felt that perhaps, like the other apprentice prostitutes, she had truly been cared for by them.

As she thought this, she suddenly looked toward the brothel.

In the corner of the room.

That blank space is where I usually sit.

"I really miss it. You used to sit there all the time, looking so sullen."

The orc prostitute who often sat next to her said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Chunji's fox ears twitched.

I feel like I'm here—.

Have you ever met "someone"?

Through the cold grid, I encountered those gentle, crimson eyes—

Before the silver lock rattled, Haruhime's lips trembled.

"I found mine here..."

"?"

"...Who was it that redeemed me?"

The fox-girl's question left the prostitutes looking at each other in bewilderment.

"...Is it [Absolute Shadow]?"

"Your childhood sweetheart who came disguised as a man."

"I couldn't resist striking up a conversation with her too."

The prostitutes all spoke up.

This time, the 'silver light' emanating from his eyes proclaimed the altered history of the world.

The prostitutes stared at Chun-hee through the brothel, while she kept looking at the corner of the room.

As the sun sets in the west, dusk deepens in the eastern sky.

Just like when I met "someone" sometime in the past, a deep blue darkness spread out, and the waning moon began to glow faintly.

"..."

I don't understand anything.

"……、"

But the incomprehensible impulses continue to accumulate.

His trembling lips parted slightly, then closed, uttering just one sentence.

"……,……,……ah"

I only figured out this one sentence.

"…………I really want to see him/her."

Chunji murmured.

"...I really want to see him."

Tears streamed down her jewel-like emerald eyes as she reached out towards the hazy remnants of her memories, which were about to fade away.

"I long to see...the 'hero (you)' who saved me...!"

I don't know what she looks like. I can't even remember what she looks like. But I can still recall the deep red color of those gentle eyes.

Immediately afterwards, the prostitutes, their faces devoid of emotion, transformed into 'seductive slaves,' all reaching out their hands.

Countless hands tried to eliminate any factors that might disrupt the "miniature garden," but were blocked by the wooden lattice. Hands of prostitutes emerged from the gaps in the lattice and grabbed the girl's kimono, ruthlessly tearing it open, but they failed to hold onto the girl who was collapsing.

The girl fell backward, landing on the ground alongside the thick fox tail. Countless outstretched hands, like monsters, tried countless times to pull her in, but merely grotesquely swept through the air.

Chunji ignored the prostitutes who were stirring in the brothel like giant shadows, and simply looked up at the sky.

As if she had been robbed, her shoulders and upper breasts were exposed, and the loose hem revealed her delicate legs. Even so, she seemed completely unconcerned, simply gazing up at the moon.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

I repeatedly savor the misperception of 'allure' that erupts like a raging torrent, and the emptiness that fills my mind with madness.

The moonlight that shone as brightly as when the "hero (who)" found himself now overlaps with the moonlight.

"I...want to see you...who? What? Who, you? I—ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...!?"

Once you regain that affection, you immediately forget about it.

Caught between 'charm' and 'heroic desire (will)', an unusual situation arises.

Despite knowing nothing about it, she still tried to take it back. This self-contradiction and inner conflict gradually destroyed Haruhime's spirit.

Chunji was in dire straits.

Even under the spell of forgetting everything and creating misperceptions, she was still tormented by a pure, sorrowful impulse that hadn't evolved into doubt, chasing after scenes accompanied by a sense of incongruity, until she finally arrived at it. This was an absolute dead end.

That's the place where I will definitely be destroyed.

On the moonlit night when the girl who had given up everything met the hero (whom it was), this place and this timeframe where everything began to turn is the singularity that Haruhime cannot forget. No matter how much reason and instinct try to misunderstand, the location of the bomb of longing that will forever burn her soul remains. The lamentation of her soul gradually etches cracks deep within her heart.

Ironically, despite the minimal effect, her ability to resist the allure of the goddess of beauty was largely due to the divine blood of the virgin goddess (Hestia).

Her cheeks flushed almost sickly, she drooled, and tears streamed endlessly. Just as she was about to break down, a shadow, separated by the moonlight, covered Chunji.

"ah--"

"Go to sleep... close your eyes."

She was a gray-haired "witch".

To be precise, she is both a "disciple of the witch" and the only one who can call herself a "stand-in of the goddess".

That is, the "Daughter of the Gods" who uses the secret art (Seith).

She lifted her long bangs, revealing her right eye that had been covered.

Unlike her gray left eye, her 'silver right eye' emitted a silver light, cutting off Haruhime's violent impulses.

The 'allure' applied in overlapping layers.

The silver chains that leave one feeling empty and sever all will.