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

—【The lower reaches of the Styx will wash away the overflowing remains, returning everything to Mother.】

Cassandra deduces that the lower reaches of the River Styx here are the end of the "Giant Waterfall," which is the 27th floor of the lowest area of ​​the "Water City." In other words, the "Calamity" will also appear on the same floor.

As long as she avoids the 27th floor, she should be able to avoid Lily and the others' "death" prophecy. Cassandra, who has long been tormented by absurd "dreams," has determined, based on her experience, that this is the only place she can place her hopes on.

Cassandra, while deeply resenting her own stammering lips, tried to persuade Lily and the others, at which point Daphne chimed in from beside her:

"I feel the same way as Cassandra. Although we're fine fighting in this floor area, we've only explored it once. There's no place where you're more likely to accidentally fail than a floor you haven't explored yet, right?"

"Daphne..."

"Even if we could have [White Rabbit's Paw] or [Lijie] protecting us as we move forward, I doubt we could find the person faster than other adventurers, right?"

Daphne offered her opinion from a perspective outside of Cassandra's mindset—the avoidance of "precognitive dreams." The young woman, long coerced into being a commander within the Apollo Familia, maintained a cautious approach to the extremely dangerous "lower levels."

"Well, actually, I'm saying this out of selfishness; I don't want to gamble my life on someone I'm not very familiar with."

"...That makes sense, Lily understands. Indeed, the speed of progress is inversely proportional to the number of people in the team, and what we need this time is to act quickly. Let's not all go to the 27th floor together."

Master (Daphne) made a joke at the end, and Lily agreed.

At the same time, Cassandra also felt a great sense of relief, believing that this would prevent her from heading towards the worst possible outcome.

Just as she finally felt relieved, the heavy burden lifted from her shoulders...

"Then the group heading to the 27th floor will consist of Lady Bell, Lady Aisha, and..."

Something else immediately made her body stiffen.

"Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that—!?"

This time, Cassandra raised her right hand and interrupted hastily.

Needless to say, Aisha had also been given a clear "death" prophecy, and she absolutely could not be allowed to go to the 27th floor. They had to stop her no matter what!

Cassandra, met with Lily's "Why are you here again?" and Aisha's surprised look, hesitated, her lips trembling as she forced out words:

"I... I think it would be better for Miss Aisha to stay on the 25th floor with everyone..."

"why?"

"Because... the day before yesterday, when I carried a mentally exhausted Haruhime back to the 18th floor... actually! I felt that Haruhime was really heavy...!"

"null!?"

She's lying.

It's actually incredibly light.

On the contrary, the Black Giant Protective Suit (Goliath Robe) felt rather heavy.

And compared to herself (Cassandra), their waists were so thin it was almost despairing. But their breasts were huge.

Haruhime let out a fox-like scream at the fabricated (unexpected) complaint, her shoulders twitched, and her entire cheeks turned bright red.

"How should I put it? In case something happens, she's so heavy, I might not be able to run far carrying her! Or rather, she's so heavy, I feel like just me and Miss Lily as the two of us as backs might not be enough to protect her! ... Of course, Miss Mei and you will protect us too! But I think we still need Miss Aisha with us, otherwise, Miss Haruhime is so heavy...!"

Cassandra kept shouting that it was very heavy, which made Daphne look at her with a "what did she ever do to you?" look.

Chun-hime, who was being used as a burden, was almost in tears. She glanced at the boy (Bell) several times, unsure of which expression to choose, looking as if she might faint from embarrassment at any moment.

"...Well, who can blame her? She's grown quite a bit since she was in the Far East. Especially her chest."

"Really!"

"Cherry blossoms!! Mr. Welf too!"

Sakura's mutterings triggered Welf's overreaction, and Chigusa's outburst at the two of them dragged all three into the fray. Ming, flustered and at a loss, first patted Haruhime on the back to calm her down.

The fox-man's weeping and wailing faded into the sound of the giant waterfall.

"Whether this silly fox is heavy or light, just have her guard the tunnel and that'll solve the problem. Anyway, there are other adventurers here, so we can just use 'spells' if there's any real danger."

“Ugh…”

"I may have taken good care of her, but to be honest, she has to be independent when I'm not around, otherwise I'll be very troubled too. The same goes for the people of the [Hestia Familia]."

When Aisha gave her extremely reasonable advice, Cassandra was speechless.

At the same time, seeing her earnest concern for the fox-girl, Cassandra felt ashamed of her own actions in taking advantage of Haruhime.

Even so, Cassandra was determined to stop Aisha and the others from moving to the 27th floor, and was anxiously trying to stop them...

"...Um, Miss Aisha."

Only Bell was looking at her profile when he spoke.

"Could you please stay on the 25th floor as Miss Cassandra suggested?"

“Eh…?”

The murmur came from Cassandra.

She was taken aback; in front of her, Bell was facing Aisha.

"What, little brother, do you want me to take care of those silly foxes too?"

"I can't deny that I have this idea... but I hope you can help me keep an eye on someone."

"Keep an eye on one person?"

When Aisha, Lily, and the others expressed their doubts, Bell secretly pointed out a character.

"That werewolf kept claiming that it was Miss Ryu... [Hurricane] who did it. He kept repeating it, as if he was stirring up everyone's emotions."

"...Indeed, on the way here, that person repeatedly urged Lord Perth and the others to hurry up. Looking back now, it did seem a little unnatural."

"Hmm. I think that person... is 'lying'."

Lily and the others carefully avoided being spotted, secretly glancing at the werewolf adventurers behind the human wall, who were shouting at each other and linking arms with other adventurers.

After staring at him for a moment, Bell turned her gaze back to Aisha.

"If Miss Ryu did nothing, then that person has ulterior motives."

"..."

"If that person does anything suspicious, I hope you can stop him... Am I putting it in the wrong direction?"

Bell initially presented his views fluently, but in the end, he lacked confidence and became increasingly weak in his speech.

When the boy asked if her judgment was too naive, Aisha didn't answer, but instead sighed slowly.

"What you're saying makes some sense. To be on the safe side, I think we should split up."

"Miss Aisha, then..."

"However, if I'm not mistaken... that elf right now, I don't think you alone can handle it?"

Aisha seemed to know something, her sharp eyes fixed on Bell.

The boy flinched for a moment, but then accepted it with a resolute expression.

"I believe in Miss Ryu."

"...Whatever you want."

Aisha sighed and closed her eyes, then agreed to stay on the 25th floor.

Cassandra was stunned as she watched Bell say "thank you".

She inadvertently met Bell's gaze, and saw his deep red pupils curved into an arc, depicting a smile that resembled a bitter one.

(ah……)

Bell extended a helping hand to Cassandra, who was desperately trying to keep Aisha and the others there. Of course, he had his reasons for doing so, but... when no one was willing to believe Cassandra and she was fighting alone, Bell respected her will.

Deep within my chest, a burning, unbearable itch stirred within me once more.

"But is this really a good idea? Leaving Bell Craney all alone..."

"Lily also thinks there might be various problems, but compared to other problems, it's definitely easier for Lord Bell to act alone. If we want to make contact with Lord Ryu before the other adventurers, Lily thinks that would be more advantageous."

Unlike Bell, who could explore the maze alone even on the "lower levels," Lily replied to Sakura's concerns, "Lily, we must act as a group, otherwise it will be difficult to move forward on this floor."

"Next up, well, the 'powerful armor' is now complete..."

As Lily finished speaking, she looked towards Welf.

"Bell, take this."

"Welf... what's this?"

"The Goliath scarf I made from Riko's robe."

Bell opened his eyes wide.

What was handed to him was a scarf with a jet-black color.

It is armor made by cutting off a portion of the Black Giant's protective suit, which has defenses as strong as an impenetrable wall.

Although it covers a narrower area than a robe, its resilience is no less than any armor, making it a guardian of giants.

"I secretly made this while you guys were fighting on the 21st floor, Bell. It wasn't easy, you know? I didn't have enough equipment, so I even had to use the 'Demon Sword' to cut it off."

"Uh, Welf... are you alright?"

It is against the blacksmith's wishes to have the contract object (Bell) use unprocessed monster body parts (dropped items).

Bell understood Welf's pride as a craftsman and looked up at him; he nodded.

"Well, to be honest, I would prefer you to use the armor I made... but if anything were to happen to Bell, I would never be able to forgive myself for the rest of my life."

Didn't I say I wouldn't weigh my obsessions and companions on the scales anymore?

As he did so, Welf handed him the Goliath scarf.

"It's not very good-looking, please forgive me."

"No, it's okay. But this seems to make my neck really sore."

Bell took the giant's scarf (Goliath scarf) from Welf, wrapped it around his neck, and laughed half-jokingly. The giant's "dropping item" had amazing defensive power, but it was also much heavier than usual.

After the two laughed together like brothers, Welf seemed to remember something and whispered to Bell:

"Mirabilis helped me with this. Actually, she's the one who asked me to prepare this."

“Eh…”

Upon hearing a girl's nickname, Bell stopped what he was doing.

Cassandra felt her cheeks burning when she noticed the gaze directed at her, and she instinctively lowered her eyes.

"Um... Miss Cassandra, thank you."

"..."

With Lily and the others watching, Bell approached Cassandra with a smile, causing her to look up.

The words of thanks made her very happy. And so did Bell's charming, boyish smile.

Unintentionally, she had an idea.

Just because the "prophecy" didn't contain any direct hint of "death," would Bell be allowed to go there alone?

If he goes, something bad will definitely happen to him. There's no doubt about that.

Now that we've come this far, maybe we can be a little more greedy?

This thought flashed through Cassandra's mind...

(...No. He still won't give up.)

But after looking into Bell's eyes, she ultimately gave up.

No matter how much you say, the boy won't give up.

Because Cassandra had only just come to understand that an unyielding will was synonymous with an indestructible destiny.

(Even if he's willing to believe my "precognitive dreams," it's still the same...)

Cassandra considered telling Bell, the only one willing to believe in "prophetic dreams," everything she had seen, several times. However, each time Cassandra dismissed the idea.

Even if he believes everything Cassandra says, what will Bell do when he learns that the cruel fate will also befall the fairy (Ryu)?

It's obvious without even thinking. He knew it was a death trap, but he would still jump in.

Since that's the case, she felt it was better not to let Belle know at all.