Danmachi: Unalloyed Blade Works

I Can Hear the Bells Ringing (Pt.2)

"Uh..."

All Bell could do was sit in front of the campfire in silence as his Servant and Emiya glared at one another, clearly not happy at having run into each other. The 'night' cycle had begun on the Eighteenth floor by the time that everyone had reached Muramasa's makeshift campsite. The tense and awkward atmosphere spread to everyone, except for Artoria who was too busy munching away at a gigantic rice ball that Muramasa had cooked up before. Lili and Welf had decided to stare into the fire and say nothing, Ryu was busy toasting what she called a 'marshmallow' in the fire, a new type of food supposedly created by Emiya. 

"T-this is so awkward!" Bell silently groaned to himself. He was of course happy that Muramasa was alive and well. He had no doubts that the Servant couldn't handle himself, but seeing him sacrifice himself to fight against that horde of monsters had shaken him. Like when the two first met, he was completely powerless to help his hero. Even after levelling up, he still couldn't do anything! 

"Muramasa, can I have another one?" Artoria asked as she finished up her rice ball. Everyone present couldn't help but sweat a little, wondering if the young girl could even read the atmosphere. Bell however was thankful that something had decided to break the silence.

The swordsmith simply let out a sigh and began to work on making it. "Bell, you still haven't answered my question. What's he doing here?"

Bell gulped nervously and shifted around in his seat. "Well...when we got separated, we were about to head back to the surface upon Lili's request, but then we ran into Miss Ryu and Emiya on the way. When we told them what had happened, they decided to lend their help, that's all!"

"As if I needed any help, especially from the likes of him," Muramasa spat out.

"My thoughts exactly. A headstrong idiot like you would be better of buried in this Dungeon and never to be seen again." Emiya scoffed.

'G-Goddess! Please help me!" Bell internally begged.

"If my coworker's presence here has offended you in anyway Mister Muramasa, then I am sorry. He was simply running an errand on this floor, and I decided to follow him here to run an errand as well," Ryu explained in a calm and composed manner. "However, he is my coworker and member of the Hostess. I know not of the relationship between the two of you, but I will not tolerate any slander towards him, even if you and your Familia are regulars."

Now things got even more tense with Ryu getting involved! Bell now wanted to burrow into the ground to avoid this mess that he inadvertently created! 

Thankfully, instead of escalating the situation, Muramasa instead raised both of his hands up in defeat. "Right, right. For everyone's sakes, I'll let bygones be bygones. Since we're all stuck down here for the time being, I'll do my best to play nice until we get back to the surface."

"Agreed. And Ryu, you didn't have to play the hero there. I can handle myself just fine." Emiya softly chuckled.

"H-hero? I had no such intention." Ryu quickly corrected. "The marshmallows are done. Everyone, feel free to dig in."

Oooh! Thank you very much!" Artoria plucked the small white treat off of Ryu's stick, biting into the soft, sweet delicacy. "Mmmmmm! It's so soft and sweet!"

"Let me try!" Lili took off a piece and had a similar reaction to Artoria as she savored the taste. "Wow, Lili has never had anything like this before! Master Emiya, if you ever decided to sell this, you'd be very wealthy!"

"I have no intention of doing such a thing. This was simply a side project to me." Emiya corrected.

"Eh? What a shame. Lili is sure it would become very popular if the Hostess decided to sell it." Lili lamented.