DanMachi Vol.15

EPILOGUE : HERO'S ELEGY

"Please...you've got to kill it."

As I stand there frozen, a human adventurer I don't recognize speaks to me in a quivering voice. In his wounded arms, he holds a female animal person.

I can tell at a glance she's been fatally hurt; she's soaked in blood. Her eyes will never open again.

"That monster, please, kill it..."

We're on the twentieth floor of the Dungeon; the air is cold in the gloom.

Along with the rest of his badly injured party, the adventurer stares transfixed into the darkness—and glowing in that darkness are menacing eyes staring right back at us as they steadily come closer.

What happened here is obvious. It's an all-too-common story in the Dungeon.

A giant monster attacked a group of upper-class adventurers during their expedition. A single Irregular native to a deeper floor overwhelmed them, and theywere given no option but to flee.

That's where we'd come across them, and even as we tried to help them escape, there was no time to heal them.

The grievously injured female animal person breathes her last in front of her comrades' eyes, without so much as a single final word.

"I know I have no right to say this. I know that. This is the life we chose. But...but please...!"

All adventurers accept the danger of this life as a given. There are plenty of other, safer ways to make a living. But these people—including the woman who just died—chose the adventuring life, seeking fame or fortune, the fulfillment of their ambitions, or simply the inescapable draw of the unknown.

Whatever their reasons, every adventurer has chosen this path with full awareness of the risks that come with it.

Naturally, it's a mistake to resent the monsters. Though they might grievously injure you, though they might slaughter your friends, hating the creatures in the Dungeon is more than misguided; it's downright laughable.

The adventurer speaking to me knows this, even as tears fall from his eyes onto the already cooling body of his comrade. And yet, even though he knows it's a disgraceful thing to ask, he can't help but beg me through his sobs. "Please, Bell Cranell...avenge her...!"

My left arm fully healed, all of Hestia Familia has returned to regular action in the Dungeon—and this is what immediately greets us.

The completely unremarkable death of an adventurer. There is no scandal here—no drama at all. It's just another day in the Dungeon. This cruel reality has always been here, lying in wait. The only question is whether you notice it.

I'd fallen into a stupor the moment my fellow adventurer died, and when I see her comrade's weighty tears, I can feel my head and body flash white.

All distractions and worries disappear, and my body is filled with a single transparent purpose.

To kill the creature whose savage howls even now draw closer.

I hear Welf's and Lilly's voices from beside me.

"Bell..."

"Mr. Bell..."

"Sir Bell..."

"Master Bell..."

From behind me, I can hear the sadness in Mikoto's and Haruhime's voices.

I grip the Hestia Knife and charge the monster with a scream.

From the distant past right up to the present day, Orario has been a city overflowing with death.

There were times blessed by peace and there were times of unthinkable slaughter. People called "heroes" often met their tragic ends in moments of karmic justice that left no room for sympathy. Only one thing was certain—the majority of these events took place during the unending battle against monsters.