"My legs are so sore."
"...I really am sorry. I don't even know what to say..."
They were sitting by the water.
Not directly soaking their pants in it, of course. They were perched on the shell of a giant crab that Ziel had previously hunted, using it as makeshift chairs.
The woman sitting beside him, rubbing her feet, spoke up.
"Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm Lililia, affiliated with the Church. People often tell me there's too many 'li's in my name."
"I'm Ziel."
"Following the same naming pattern, you'd be Zielelel."
"Really now?"
"Feel free to call me Lili or Lia, whichever you like," Lililia offered.
So Ziel decided to stick with calling her Lililia.
"By the way, about my situation..."
"Oh, I’ve sort of heard about it already," she cut in.
"Huh?"
"Before I entered this labyrinth, a cute girl with gray hair—kind of short—asked me to look after you."
Ziel searched his memory.
Realizing it might be Klaha, he thought:
"So she still remembers me..."
He had been certain she must have given up on him by now.
If their positions were reversed—if he had heard of someone being dropped alone into a region past where even S-rank adventurers had failed and not returning for months—he would’ve assumed they were dead.
Yet, she had held onto hope for his survival—
"She told me to at least bring back your bones."
"...Well, yeah. That makes sense."
Ziel accepted it with a resigned nod.
He mentally stuck a note deep inside himself: Never demand from others what you can't achieve yourself.
"But why did you end up so deep in here?" Lililia asked.
"This isn't even above the fourth layer, right? How’d you manage to get here alone?"
"Well, I was initially knocked down to a pretty deep part."
Ziel explained his ordeal in detail.
"And then, as I was almost consumed by my gorilla persona, grunting 'ooh-ooh-ah-ah' while wandering around, you suddenly appeared in front of me."
"You're calling yourself a gorilla, but Ziel, you’re actually quite sleek."
"Traveling makes it hard to bulk up. You can’t get a steady supply of food, and whatever you store up is quickly burned off."
"Putting that aside..."
"That person really did something awful to you."
Lililia expressed her anger at the situation again.
"When we get out of here, let’s go protest. Big sis will go with you."
"Ha, thanks... Big sis?"
She nodded.
"Believe it or not—or rather, it’s hard to tell—I’m over twenty."
"Really?" Ziel nodded and pondered.
Should he be using honorifics with her?
He had no intention of using polite speech with other adventurers; it was something his mentor had taught him.
There were three reasons:
- It makes you seem weak.
- In emergencies, words of respect become noise.
- It makes you seem weak.
But the person before him wasn’t exactly an adventurer—she was just someone affiliated with the Church, and older at that.
Considering Ziel never failed to say "thanks," "that was delicious," and "excuse me" when dealing with restaurant staff, he felt a pang of guilt.
Still, if sticking to formalities delayed vital communication in an emergency, it would be ridiculous.
"So... should I use polite speech with you?"
He decided to ask outright.
"Not at all," she replied, her voice tinged with amusement.
"It’s rare for me to have a younger guy speak to me so cheekily. It feels refreshing—this might actually be kind of nice."
"...Sorry about that."
Not being able to see her face was unnervingly disconcerting.
So Ziel tried to explain his reasoning, hoping it would sound less rude.
"This is purely for the sake of efficiency—"
"Then I’ll speak cheekily too. Wow... this feels so new!"
In the end, Lililia accepted it—or so it seemed.
"Anyway," Ziel brought the conversation back, "I got dropped pretty far down. I’ve been trying to climb back up, but I still can’t make it to the surface. I think I’ve made a lot of progress, though."
"Hmm. So we just need to keep heading upward. You’re pretty strong, right? Surviving alone down here and all."
"I’m decent," Ziel admitted with a wry smile.
"I can handle most of the small fry."
"Most?"
"There’s a Floor Boss, you see... Do you know what that is?"
"Yep, I get it."
"I can’t beat the one here."
Swallowing his pride, he confessed:
"The path to the next layer is blocked by it. If I had glasses, maybe..."
"With glasses, you could beat it?"
"Probably. Its weak point isn’t visible, so my blade won’t pierce it. If I force it, my sword might break. That’s just an excuse, though."
Ziel clenched his fists tightly.
"If I were more skilled, I could brute force my way through. That’s why I’ve been staying here, training. There’s plenty of water, so at least I don’t have to worry about thirst."
"Water?"
"Hmm?"
Lililia’s questioning tone made Ziel uneasy.
"You see this place as having water?"
"Yeah... Wait, don’t. Don’t scare me. What’s wrong with this water?"
"Wow... you really think this liquid is water..."
There was a three-second pause.
A splashing sound indicated Lililia scooped up some of the "water."
"Wow... fascinating..."
"Stop it! Don’t make me anxious! What’s with this water!?"
"Well, we’ll clean your insides later, okay?"
"Dammit, now my stomach feels funny!"
"That’s probably just in your head," she replied calmly.
"Anyway," Lililia said, "we need to take down this Floor Boss."
"Yeah, eventually."
"Alright."
With a determined "Alrighty," she stood up.
"Let’s go take it on now."
"...I mean, sure. We won’t get anywhere unless we keep challenging it, but..."
"Non, non."
Clicking her tongue, she added:
"Let’s just win outright."
"Huh?"
"Don’t worry. Leave it to me."
Her voice radiated confidence, accompanied by a cheerful tone.
"Big sis here is pretty strong, after all."