Some time passed after Yuri’s party had left the floor. The pale transfer gate had disappeared along with them, but it wasn’t long before it manifested once more.
“Aah, here we are, here we are. It sure is convenient to have a shortcut to the bottom floor.”
Her languid voice echoing, Mirka gave her black wings a flap as she descended to the mountain road below. She restlessly looked around but found who she was looking for soon enough.
“Hello there... You’re in quite a situation, I see.”
Mirka grimaced upon seeing him sitting before a mountain of mangled beast corpses, the ground around stained red and black. The large man, the artist behind the travesty, was coated in a layer of discolored dark blood.
Finally noticing his visitor, the man slowly lifted his head.
“...A voice, a voice. A voice of a friend.”
“Yes, yes, it’s your friend Mirka,” Mirka called out, her tone no different than usual. But Wallis didn’t move. He didn’t direct hostility toward her as he had with Yuri.
✦ ✦ ✦
“But man, leave it to Haring to think up some nasty plots. If he weren’t up against you, he would have been strictly punished and banned from the dungeons for that one.”
“Nay, nay. But a trifle. The beasts are not enough to wound me.”
Just as he said, Wallis didn’t harbor a single injury. Having slain beasts that would usually require a moderate-sized team to kill, he did not even feel proud of the accomplishment.
For the Destruction God Wallis Grigor understood this was nothing to be proud of. He understood this was not the battle duelists longed for.
“Truth be told, I wanted to let you fight him to a conclusion. But not only was Haring more enthusiastic than expected, there was an irregular kid with them too, so please don’t be angry.”
“Nay, nay. I feel no anger, it is refreshing.” He spoke on in a muffled voice, “So long...since a battlefield where my heart did dance so. I haven’t felt it with any besides we who stand at the summit, not for a long time now.”
“Mnn, it’s hard to understand with the way you talk, can you keep it simple?”
“Good kid.”
“Oh, that’s simple enough.”
And as she giggled, Wallis quietly muttered to himself.
“He said he would fight me again.” His body quivered as he stared at his hand. “He said he would beat me.”
He clenched his hand hard enough to make a sound, and his shaking ceased.
“I—wish to cross spears with him once more.”
Thanks to the mask covering his face, it was impossible to see his expression. But...there was no doubt he was smiling.
“Good grief, am I not enough for you?”
“Nay, nay. Fighting you is no fight, it is a one-sided massacre.”
“That’s a harsh way to put it. But you are my only friend who goes along with my little games, so I’ve brought you a bit of good news,” Mirka announced, and operated her own Proof. The screen she brought up was transferred to Wallis’s Proof as well.
“Question, question. What is this?”
“It’s an invitation to the Babel Roulette.”
Seeing Wallis cock his head, Mirka lifted the corners of her lips. “Do you wish to fight him...Yuri Eniastar again?”
“Wish, wish. A battle is what I seek.”
“Good reply. In that case, why not come out and play? It’s been a long time.” Her violet eyes glimmered while her black wings spread wide. “Let’s teach the other duelists what it truly means to be the strongest.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Passing through the warp successfully deposited them onto the forty-ninth floor. The party of three immediately collapsed onto the ground.
“Aah... Shit, I seriously can’t believe I’m not dead...”
“So scary, being chased by wolves...”
“I wanted to fight Mr. Wallis to a conclusion...”
Each with their own take on the matter, they all offered a unanimous heavy sigh.
“Erk... Lost all ores worked hard to get...”
“Come to think of it, Mr. Wallis did blow them all away... I was supposed to harvest herbs for Mr. Elias, but in the end, I didn’t manage to get anything...”
While the transfer gate somehow remained intact, if they chose to return to that incomprehensible floor for their harvest, their efforts would all have been for nothing.
A duet of sighs was followed by a loud thud. Yuri and Eleanor turned to see a large cloth bag placed before them.
“Here, weeb elf. Are these the stones you were looking for?”
“Serious? Thank you?”
“And next up, this is for you, brat. You make sure the herbs are preserved right.”
“Y-Yes, of course! But...Mr. Haring, when did you pull it off?”
“Went around pickin’ them up while you were fightin’. I ain’t gonna let all our life-threatenin’ effort go to waste. Not on my watch.”
Bag after bag rolled out of his storage. Of course, he had taken his share as well.
“I knew you had it in you, Mr. Haring! Your pettiness saved us all!”
“Haring a wonderful looter!”
“I’ll shove your ungrateful asses back into the gate.” Despite his cursing, Haring had been infected by their smiles. “Anyway, that’s one thing off the table. The brat still has time to go, but with things bein’ the way they are, no one can complain if we return now.”
“Eh? We’re going back?”
“Shut it. I’m gettin’ the hell out, and I’m doin’ it now. It was a shady job to begin with; yep, I’m gonna go complain to my client and have her pay in full.”
As Haring stood, Yuri hurriedly grabbed him by the arm. “P-Please wait! Umm—right, take this!” He quickly fiddled with his Proof and transferred a message to Haring’s Proof.
Haring slowly, dubiously took a look at what he’d received. “...Your contact info, and an application to the team?”
“Yes! As long as I send the application, Ms. Mirka told me you can accept or reject it whenever you want!”
“Ah, me too! Give Yuri and Haring contact information!!” Eleanor frantically operated her Proof and transferred her contact info over to the two of them.
However, the matter of the application seemed to still weigh heavily over Haring, and he continued making a bitter expression.
“...I told you, I don’t feel like joinin’ in.”
“But I had a lot of fun with you, you know!” Yuri grinned wide, recalling the moments that had led to this day. “Putting our heads together, having everyone fulfill a given duty was a blast! You’re the one who taught me that, Mr. Haring!” he declared, staring straight at the dragon.
Putting in as much sincerity as he could, Yuri reached out his hand.
“Please, oh please—won’t you fight by our side!?”
He received no response. Haring was left staring at the hand in surprise. And—
“...Oh, what’s this now? Is that a familiar face I see?”
They heard a voice, seemingly from nowhere at all. Eventually, a number of men appeared from the shadows of the thicket.
“How long’s it been...Haring?”
Blond hair in a fashionable undercut. A flashy outfit and sunglasses. A Demon Tribe man. The men waiting behind him shared the black bat-like wings of the Demon Tribe growing from their backs.
The sight of these newcomers warped Haring’s already bitter face into a blatant grimace.
“Tsk... Why’d we have to run into this piece of shit here?”
“Hey, hey, heeey! Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh? Yes, piece of shit’s too much. We used to hang out all the time, didn’t we?”
When the demon man’s eyes were about to turn to Yuri, Haring took a step forward. “...This is the brat my client has me lookin’ after. You ain’t layin’ a finger on him.”
“Client? Oh, you always were such a hard worker! Now I remember! I had a right laugh when I saw you so desperate to earn money you fell through the ranks.” On the flashy man’s signal, his tag-alongs burst into tasteless, exaggerated laughter.
The usual Haring would be at their throats, screaming, when anyone sneered at him, but now he was quiet and meek as a whipped dog.
“Well, I suppose that’s none of my business. Just leave that bag behind, and you won’t hear another word out of me. How’s that sound?”
“...What?”
“I’m talking about that sack you have on you. I mean, you’re going to trade it in for money, and where’s that money going to go, eh? Then having me collect it directly should save you some trouble,” he said, pointing at the sack Haring had taken out of his Proof.
He would never usually accept such a request. And yet...Haring was quick to violently toss his sack at the men.
“...They’re from near the bottom of this godforsaken place. You’d better price them right.”
“Wow, looks like someone’s understanding. But—that’s not all, is it?” said the sunglassed man, looking at the bags by Yuri and Eleanor’s feet.
It was there that Haring finally showed some backbone. “The brats collected those on their own. I’ve got no claim on them.”
“What’s that have to do with it? If they’re going around with you, then obviously that belongs to me.”
After the man had unveiled such an illogical stream of logic, one of the people behind him grabbed Eleanor’s sack.
“No! What you doing!?”
“Shut yer yap! This belongs to Mr. Navie!” the follower replied—all the while pulling a knife from his bosom. Immediately after, Eleanor let out a short scream. The tip grazed her pale neck, leaving a thin line of red liquid in its wake.