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

"Who cares about you idiots?!"

"If you keep spouting nonsense, believe me, I'll rip out that filthy thing between your legs!?"

She unleashed a long string of frightening and offensive insults.

Thione, with a fierce expression like an evil dragon, cursed loudly and took a step forward, shattering the floorboards.

"Good girl, good girl—" This time it was Tiona's turn to comfort her older sister who might pounce on her at any moment. The adventurers who had stepped on the landmine all turned pale and squeezed their legs together without exception.

"...Ah—, Perth. You see, they don't have the ability to seduce men."

"Yes, yes... It's my fault, I shouldn't have doubted you. I'm so sorry."

With his hands covering his crotch, Perth kept nodding and apologizing in an embarrassing manner.

Finn seemed quite tired as well, his eyes drooping slightly, but he still mustered his energy and looked around the room again.

"I'd like to inspect this area; it will require touching some items. Is that alright?"

"Well, whatever you want."

Perth seemed to realize he couldn't handle the situation and irresponsibly relinquished control of the scene to Finn. After replying "thank you," Finn, with Riveria's assistance, began to organize and categorize the surrounding environment of the body.

Finn gathered Ais and the other adventurers in a corner of the room, and first he reached out to examine Hassan's remains.

"The cause of death was head trauma... no, it seems the neck bone was broken long before that."

"Did you kill him by breaking his neck and then destroying his head?"

"I'm afraid so."

Faced with Riveria's question, Finn examined his still-formed jaw and neck and nodded.

The body was turned face up, and the face was covered again. No other wounds or signs of a violent struggle were found on the body. This suggests that Hassanal was indeed first struck on the neck and then brutally murdered.

"Was it a premeditated crime... or...?"

After examining the body, Finn looked up at the backpack placed in the corner of the room.

He walked past the blood-splattered parts of the full-body armor and briefly checked the remaining baggage. The backpack looked like it had been ransacked, and its contents were a mess.

"The woman in the robe may have approached Hassanal because she wanted something from him."

"Oh, that reason is easy to understand. So Hassan fell for her honey trap and ended up losing his life."

"Judging from the state of the luggage... the murderer was less anxious and more furious."

Finn, Perth, and Riveria expressed their opinions one after another, and Ais also walked over to the baggage and peeked out.

The backpack was forcibly ripped open, and all its contents were turned out, with some props scattered around. From these items, it's clear that the killer wasn't in a hurry to empty the contents, but rather to vent their anger.

"In the end, the murderer couldn't find what he wanted, so he got angry and destroyed the body...that makes sense."

"She looks just like Tiony—"

"I'm not exaggerating at all!!"

"Don't you dare compare me to the murderer!" Tiony yelled at Tiona.

Ignoring their commotion, Finn rummaged through his baggage, looking for any clues.

"Um--?"

The baggage was mostly filled with damaged and dropped items, elixirs, and other items, but Finn took out a bloodstained parchment.

Ais watched from the side, while Tiona and Lefia also peeked out.

"What is this?"

"A request from an adventurer...?"

Upon opening the parchment, most of the text was smeared with splattered blood, making it impossible to read.

However, he still managed to make out a few words on the blood-red paper.

"Layer 30... Individual, Data Collection... Confidential..."

After hearing the information Finn revealed, Ais and the others began to broaden their thinking.

Finally, as if representing the group.

Finn muttered to himself:

"Hassanar was commissioned to go to the 30th floor to retrieve 'something' the killer wanted...?"

The room fell silent, and the silence gradually spread to the surrounding area.

Finn, who had been kneeling, stopped looking at the parchment and stood up. He looked up at Perth beside him and asked:

Do you recall what kind of gear Hassanna usually wore?

"Hmm—wait a minute. That guy is famous, but I don't think I see him much in town (Orario)... Willie, do you remember him?"

"I remember... he was wearing a helmet before. Somewhat like the one worn by the chief god (Ganesha), the kind where you couldn't see his face very clearly. But he wasn't wearing full-body armor at that time, that much is certain."

"Hmm," Finn said, resting his chin on his hand after hearing what Perth and Willie had said.

He stared at the brown body lying on the ground, and Riveria spoke up beside him.

"Hassana seems to have concealed his true identity because he accepted this commission. And it's very likely he didn't tell the people in the [Family] either."

Rivera's emerald eyes were fixed on the blood-stained full-body armor.

This set of armor was probably prepared specifically for this mission, so it doesn't bear the emblem of the Ganesha Familia.

The faction members did not take any action despite the great commotion in the town, which shows that Hassanna was indeed acting alone—accepting the client's request in a personal capacity.

"...Perse, please seal off the town temporarily. Don't let the adventurers from Rivera Town leave."

All eyes in the room were on Finn, who had made the request.

Perth stroked his rock-hard chin, his face, covered by an eye patch, looking rather unwilling.

"You mean the murderer is still swaggering around town? If it were me, I would have made a run for it long ago."

"This is a top-secret job, and they even hired someone as skilled as Hassanal... The killer must be looking for something extremely important, which is why they're willing to go to such lengths. They won't leave empty-handed if they haven't gotten what they're looking for."

"Besides," Finn continued, then licked his right thumb.

"I think that person must still be in town... although it's just my gut feeling."

Facing the calm, blue-eyed gaze that looked up at him from his feet, Perth nodded solemnly and said, "I understand."

He waved his thick arm to give instructions to the people inside the room:

"Close the north and south gates. Then gather all the adventurers in town in one place. Anyone who disobeys will be considered the murderer, and it's fine to arrest them. Willie, explain this to the adventurers who arrived in town later and tell them to gather elsewhere."

“I-I understand!”

Perth's underlings quickly got to work, while Tiona, Tione, Lefia, and Ais watched from the sidelines.

"Things seem to be getting serious."

"Um……"

"Since things have come to this, let's fight a revenge battle for Hassanna. We must catch the culprit!"

“Okay, okay!”

As Ais answered Tiona and the others, she gazed at the eternally silent corpse.

She lowered her gaze quietly, mourning the dead in her heart, before finally raising her face to join Tiona and the others in their operation.

A wave of turmoil is about to sweep through the town of Rivera.

*

The atmosphere between the two was tense and ready to erupt at any moment.

The streets were bathed in the warm afternoon sun, pleasantly inviting; however, unlike this peaceful atmosphere, the people around Loki wore grim expressions. The four people present exchanged glances, each with a different expression.

Shortly after Bert issued his warning, there was some commotion at the scene.

Facing Bert, who was glaring fiercely at Dionysus, the elf members rolled over to protect their god.

"Don't do that, Phil Weiss. You're no match for him."

"But...Dionysus..."

Despite hearing what the main god said, the girl named Philweis still blocked him with her back and refused to back down.

This was a pure elven maiden. Her features were exquisite, needing no further explanation; her jewel-like crimson eyes contrasted beautifully with her fair skin. Her attire, including her short cloak, was entirely white, with very little exposed skin. The long collar completely concealed her neck, clearly reflecting the elves' aversion to exposed skin.

Her long, straight, and smooth black hair, reaching her waist, paired with her pure white dress, even gave the impression of a shrine maiden.

What a beautiful girl. Just as Loki was feeling inappropriate, Dionysus put his hand on the girl's shoulder and walked over.

"I won't run away or hide. So Loki, will you listen to my explanation?"

"...Okay. Let's just go into any shop and sit down."

Seeing the other party's decisive attitude and the way he was staring intently into his eyes, Loki temporarily agreed to his request.

On the ground floor of a red-brick hotel by the street, two celestial beings used the lounge, which was separated from the outside by glass windows. They slipped a large sum of money to the hotel owner to ask him to make an exception.

Not only others, but Dionysus also seemed unwilling to let the children hear, saying, "I hope we gods can talk alone," and Loki agreed.

"Hey, is this really okay?"

"Hey, it should be alright. If anything happens, I'll give you a signal, Bert, you'll have to come rescue me then—?"

She answered Bert, who was whispering in her ear. After making a coy gesture, Loki looked dejected and waited obediently in front of the hotel lounge.

The hotel staff led the two gods to a place far from the other seats, like a single room, where Loki plopped down.

"Okay, get to the point."

Loki rested one elbow on the table and leaned forward.

She was prepared to get to the bottom of the Monster Festival incident and the man-eating flower monster. Dionysus, seeing her say this, replied "okay" and nodded.

"First, I want to clarify a misunderstanding. I am not the mastermind behind what Loki thinks."

He had initially insisted that Loki was the criminal, but after hearing this, Loki frowned in surprise, but said nothing, only gesturing with his chin to urge him to continue.

"I want to confirm, Loki is investigating... the incident involving the man-eating flower monster, right?"

"Yes, that's right. You showed up just as we were investigating."

"So that's how it is," the divine object before him said, then took a soft breath.

Where should I begin...?

Dionysus lowered his eyes in thought, turning his gaze to the table.

Separated only by a glass window, Bert and Philweis stood outside with their backs to the inside. Dionysus paused for a moment before slowly speaking:

"I was secretly investigating those man-eating flower monsters. No, I should say I did investigate them."

He met Loki's gaze again and then spoke.

"A month ago, one of my group members was murdered."

"!"

Loki was taken aback. "You can verify that with the guild," Dionysus added.

"The method of killing was simple. They approached from the front, grabbed the neck, and broke it. All three members appeared to have died on the spot."

"...What about those kids' LV bags?"

"Two are LV.1, and the other is LV.2."

If Dionysus's words are true, then the murderer is someone skilled enough to easily kill high-level adventurers.

Loki continued to listen to what would happen next while he pondered the situation.

"I couldn't stand by and watch the child be murdered, so I started investigating the matter myself. As I investigated, I found clues that led me to suspect that my team members were silenced because they saw something."

"What clue?"

"This is it."

He took out a colorful magic stone from his pocket and placed it on the table.

Loki stared silently at the crystal that radiated a brilliant light on the table.

"The crystal I found a month ago was even smaller than this, really just a fragment. This piece was taken from a monster that your team, including [Sword Princess], defeated on the day of the Monster Festival. I got it before the guild could."