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Safi disappeared from the temple chamber. She must have headed toward the deepest level of the Alvis Dungeon alone.
I stood frozen in the empty room. Through the open window, the night wind howled. The distant mountains were stained red by a pillar of light rising from their slopes to the sky. The echoes of a great roar still lingered in the air.
“I’m going after her!”
I dashed down the stairs and out into the open.
From the temple’s high platform, I looked down over the city—and despair struck me. Crowds of people were moving about, preparing for the coming battle. It was like a mild panic had seized the streets.
To find Safi who’s like a small child in all this is impossible…!
“W-what should I do…?”
My head felt like it was splitting open.
What should I do?
Regret clawed so harshly at my chest that it was so unbearable.
At this moment, I heard the sound of many footsteps behind me. Mia-san, Felix-san, and the Raven Warriors must have rushed out, drawn by the commotion.
“…..You lost sight of Safi?”
Felix-san’s grimaced.
“It was our oversight. The windows weren’t supposed to open, but we underestimated the strength of a black dwarf.”
At that moment, a sudden lightness filled my heart. Like when, in the middle of a raging storm, you pass through a break in the clouds and the wind and rain ease for just a moment.
—Go ahead!
My heart was shouting at me.
When we parted ways with the dwarf king, I hadn’t been able to hear that voice. But now was different. I had hesitated once—I wavered, worried, unable to make up my mind.
So this time, I lift my head high, steady my breathing, and puffed out my chest.
“Let’s go after Safi too.”
The words I spoke clashed against Felix-san’s frowning face.
“…It’s too dangerous.”
And from the coin came another voice—Thor’s.
『He’s right. If the dwarves truly betrayed us, there may already be traps waiting there.』
A flood of thoughts surged through me. Felix-san and Thor are both right. They’re saying that such scenario is “more certain.” Outside the dungeon, we could muster an army. On the other hand, inside the dungeon, there might be traps, and the number of people is limited.
No reasoning of mine could overturn that truth. And yet, as those arguments spun through my head, other images broke through.
Safi, her face lit with laughter as sparks danced in the forge. Black dwarves and white dwarves, side by side, their hammers rising and falling in unison.
Could I really sweep all of that away with just that single word—betrayal?
No. That warmth, that fragile hope, was something I could not discard.
“The lowest level of the dwarves’ dungeon isn’t just a den of monsters—it’s the place where their true power lies dormant. And… that’s why we came here with the awakening horn, Gjallarhorn, isn’t it?”
I reminded myself of our original purpose. We had anticipated the threat of monsters. Even so, we came to rouse the power hidden within the dwarves’ dungeon.
“…..Which means, this argument will simply go in circles.”
Felix-san planted his staff on the ground. His gaze fixed on me, checking my resolve.
“Rion. You say you believe in the dwarves. We, on the other hand, cannot. And the facts we have witnessed in the dungeon—they all seem to point towards the dwarves betrayal.”
“But the guard golems fought against the giant golems. The great ballista was aimed at them as well. And… I’m certain, when the Dwarf King looked at my horn, he was about to say something—something important.”
Felix-san pressed his lips together.
The coin trembled in my hand, and from it Thor’s voice boomed like thunder.
『Just that?』
“Yes. Just that.”
『Feeble. Compared to the giant-forged weapons… and the scene of their dealings, your claim is nothing.』
His voice resounded in my head with such authority that, if I let myself slip for even a moment, I would crumble beneath it.
“S–Still… it comes down to this. Whether the dwarves’ technology stands with us or against us—we’ll know once we pursue Safi. Once we reach the lowest level and break whatever was sealed there…!”
『Hmph! In other words, it’s just a gamble.』
Thor spat the word as if it were an insult.
『If the dwarves truly betrayed us, then the gamble is lost—and so are we. If they had not… then the trap and technology they left behind may become our ally.』
Such exchange of words stopped there. Silence pressed in on us, so heavy that it felt like it would crush my chest.
『Rion. Will you drag your comrades… this entire city… into such a gamble?』
I might have just made enemies of both the gods and the Raven warriors. But—even so, I have to say this. If we were speaking of comrades, then Safi is one as well.
“T-then… believe in me.”
Felix-san’s mouth fell open, as if he had taken a masterful counter blow he hadn’t seen coming.
“B-belive in you…?”
“Yes. I believe in Safi, in the dwarves. So believe in me.”
For a long moment, no one spoke. I had already laid bare the voice of my heart. And when I thought about it, perhaps it was very simple.
To declare, “Even so, I want to believe”.
All the evidence before us screamed betrayal. But if no one gave voice to belief—if I didn’t—then who would? There’s never such a thing as helping someone without risk.
“…In other words, what you want to say to us—the Raven warriors—is simply this: ‘Follow me.’”
For a moment, I nearly flinched. But when put that way, he wasn’t entirely wrong.
“I see. Hmm..…”
Felix-san took a step back, lifting his gaze toward the night sky.
“With the defenses as strong as they are now, if we hedge our bets… at the very least, a reconnaissance mission would be warranted.”
A soft chuckle escaped him, his shoulders shaking.
W—was he… laughing?
Perhaps sensing the change in the wind, Thor spoke,
『But that would mean—』
『Thor.』
『Stay quiet, Solana. You’re far too lenient with your followers. Listen well, Rion. What you’re really saying is—』
Once again, the coin trembled.
『Why not let him?』
It was Loki who spoke.
『Loki, you—!』
Thor roared back.
『Thor, you’re looking at this the wrong way. You and Felix speak of safety—of a battle you cannot easily lose. Rion is different. His way is riskier, yes… but it’s a gamble to win. To gain new allies and turn the tide. That’s the choice he’s offering.』
Thor faltered, unable to reply at once.
The coin trembled again, and in a flash of light, a miniature Thor wreathed in thunder burst into the open. Loki answered in kind, slipping free of the coin as well, fire curling around his form.
Between me and Felix-san, the two gods faced each other—one clad in lightning, the other in flame, their glares colliding like weapons.
“…Loki. I thought you doubted the dwarves as well.”
“Oh, I still do,” Loki sang back, almost lazily.
“Doubt is part of the risk. But even so—”
At the corner of his eyes, Loki glanced at me.
“Never making a mistake—that’s not the mark of a hero.”
Something in his tone caught me off guard. For all his usual tricks and mischief, in that moment he sounded sincere—as though he were truly praising me.
“It’s about choosing. About deciding. And you said, believe in me. …Very well. I will. You’re the kind of man worth calling a friend.”
With those words, his form unraveled into violet light and slipped back into the coin.
『Rion, I believe in you—just as you believed in me.』
Solana’s voice followed, and warmth bloomed in my chest, as though I had stepped into sunlight.
Then came the others in turn.
『I agree』
Uru, the hunting god voiced out.
『Nor have I any objection. After all, it will be Rion who awakens such power.』
Sigris, god of medicine, also added.
Thor lingered the longest. Hovering above us, he raked his broad hand through his red hair. His face contorted like a thundercloud, he’s still wrestling with himself.
“Aah, damn it!”
He shook his head like a man who couldn’t bear another moment of it.
“…Felix of the Raven Warriors. Is the city’s defense prepared?”
Felix inclined his head, staff in hand.
“It is an adventurers’ city by nature. Even if monsters spill from the dungeon, I can promise you we won’t see the chaos of the royal capital. Whether that’s enough to satisfy the Thunder God’s eye, I cannot say though.”
Thor let out a long, heavy breath that seemed to drain the storm from his chest.
“…Very well. But if you descend, every last one of you will use the Golden Flame. And should the tide of battle turn against you, you will withdraw to the defensive line without delay.”
“Yeah. Actually… that was my plan from the start. If we invoke the Golden Flame here and rush in, we can catch up to Safi.”
Meaning, it would be Felix-san, Mia-san, and me at the vanguard.
With the Blessing of the Sun mirrored through the blessing of the Medicine God, I could extend it to the others—but only two at a time, the strain of magic would allow no more.
Thor’s eyes widened at that.
“Ku… hahahaha! So that’s it—you really had thought this through!”
Once his mind was made up, Thor threw back his head and roared with laughter.
“Then onward!”
With that final command, he returned into the coin in a blaze of crimson light.
I fixed my gaze on the distant outline of the mine. The earth-shaking roar from before had ceased, and even the fiery glow seemed to be settling.
But this… this felt like the calm before the storm.
“Let’s go—”
The words caught in my throat as I noticed someone climbing the slope toward us.
It was a stout, elderly man.
“Eh-hoh… eh-hoh…”
He wheezed with every step, his face half-hidden behind a bristling beard. His back was burdened with a mountain of gear that swayed with his breathing.
At last, he reached the crest of the slope and came to a halt.
“Eh…?”
I faltered, caught off guard. Because I had no idea why—why someone like him would be here.
“A-antique dealer…san?”
It was the same old shopkeeper of the antique shop I’d met back in the capital.
If the word fate meant anything, then he was the one who’d started it all. After all, it was the coin he gave me that led to my meeting with Solana.
When his eyes found us, the antique dealer narrowed them with a gentle smile.
“Well now, was this the right place to evacuate to, I wonder? Ho, ho…”
He chuckled sheepishly, then tilted his head at us in recognition.
And in the shadows behind him, I thought I caught a glimpsed of a pair of ravens flitting past.
My voice caught in my throat.
Since that day in the capital, I’d thought I would never see him again. To meet him here in Alvis—of all places—was beyond belief.
“W-what are you doing here…?”
Felix-san took a step forward.
“Are you a citizen? The evacuation is—”
Before he could finish, two ravens alighted on the old man’s shoulders.
Something is different.…
His smile was as gentle as ever, the thick coat and heavy rucksack the same as back then. And yet—his eyes. They weren’t the eyes of a simple shopkeeper. They pierced straight through me, fathomless and ancient, as if they had watched the skies for a thousand years.
This presence….
A pair of raven…?
Solana’s voice quivered from within the coin.
For an instant, I saw the emblem of the warrior order in my mind—the Raven Warriors, their cloaks embroidered with two black ravens.
『…Hn? I didn’t notice before, but—you’d descended here all along, haven’t you?』
Loki’s words pressed the realization upon me, and before I knew it, I had whispered,
“O-Odin-sama… is that you?”
The antique dealer tipped his chin slightly.
“It seems the coin has served you well.”
It was he—the one who had placed Solana’s sealed coin into my hand. If he is Odin, then even that act of generosity suddenly made sense.
“Use the power of awakening. You carry it within you. And remember—awakening requires the sun.”
The coin case in my palm grew hot.
“Solana. Your faithful believer has grown so much. You must respond to him, must you not?”
『Odin, you…』
Solana’s voice wavered.
“Now then.”
Odin tilted his gaze skyward.
“Wait! There’s still so much I want to—”
“Not now. Another time. For now, Rion… go on. Become the hero you are meant to be.”
With those parting words, Odin vanished into a scatter of raven feathers.
A tremor shook the ground. Deep within the mines, the Flamebone Surtr raged.
『Rion』
“Yeah!”
I nodded to Solana and then I activated the blessing of the Sun. Golden flame cloaked me.
I’m off.
—To rescue a comrade. To save Safi.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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