Foreword: Hello there!

One quick announcement on : Due to popular demand, I will be adding a "Hikigaya trains with Ryuu and Chloe" chapter. It'll probably be a Volume [].5 chapter when it's finally published, saved for later volumes. Aside from that, enjoy the chapter!

Timestamp: 1 year, 7 months after the end of Volume 1.

Chapter 6
So then, this is the promise they make with each other.

"We're baackkkk!" Hackard loudly announced as she eagerly ran up the stairs that led from the Dungeon to the Tower of Babel, pulling ahead of the rest of us. Behind her, I watched as Schwartz and Yelena exchanged smiles, their hands intertwined with one another's as they walked up the stairs themselves.

Behind them, I could only shake my head as I adjusted the backpack on my back, which was stuffed to the brim with Magic Stones and monster drops. The journey back up from the 24th Floor had been somewhat dangerous up until the 12th, the point where we could finally relax a little and take it somewhat easier than before.

After all, it was only filled with Level 1 monsters. As Level 2s, not even a monster party or an Infant Dragon could pose much of a threat to any of us individually, let alone us as a party. It wouldn't do to be complacent, of course, but the dropoff in difficulty between the Middle and Upper Floors was so obvious once you looked at it that it was hard to stay on your guard, especially when most monsters couldn't even hit you anymore.

Returning to the present, I readjusted my backpack and quickened my pace to catch up with Hackard, who had already sprinted ahead. Can't believe this girl still has so much energy after all of that…

The reason she was so excited was because she and Tulle had scheduled to meet each other up top at the Dungeon's entrance once the expedition had concluded. It had been about a week since we started clearing the 24th Floor, and Tulle was curious about the progress we'd made, having assigned a pseudo-quest of sorts to acquire a few rare materials and monster drops from the 24th as proof of our skills and abilities.

Hackard, of course, had been eager to show off to the half-elf what she could do, and with our dive at an end, had probably gone up to start chatting with her–

Rather, that was what I thought before I abruptly bumped into the pack Hackard was carrying on her back, stumbling a little before I regained my balance. For some reason, she had stopped moving.

"Oi, Hackard." Moving up to her side, I started to tell her to stop blocking the flow of traffic before realizing what she was seeing, the words dying away in my mouth.

"Maris-chan? Hikitani-san? What's going on?" Behind me, Yelena and Schwartz both walked up next to us, smiles still on their faces before they took in what was happening and stiffened.

It was Tulle. She was standing in front of several corpses, which were lined up neatly next to one another–bodies that had just been retrieved from the Dungeon, from the looks of it. Most of them looked as if they had been put through the wringer; there were a few that were just limbs and partial torsos, the rest presumably lost to the Dungeon.

Tulle herself didn't look very good. Her face was a rictus of Guild professionalism, a half-smile still frozen on her face even as she continued to stare at the corpse in front of her with a vacant look in her eyes.

Murmurs trickled in from the crowd around her as they passed by. Tulle didn't move; there wasn't even the slightest indication that she heard them.

"Looks like a monster party got to them…"
"Those crushed ribs… Orc's work, no doubt. Yeesh, what a way to go…"
"Some of these can't even be identified anymore… looks like the Guild's cleanup is gonna have a real handful with this one."
"You think anyone'll show up to claim them?"
"Hard to say. You know how capricious some gods are."

"Hey… hey, hey." I blinked as I realized that Hackard was the one who had said that. Her face grew pale as she took one halting step, then another, and then another, until she was finally at the same body Tulle was standing in front of. "No way… is that… no way. Rudel… ?"

The name seemed to break Tulle's stasis. The half-elf twitched in response to Hackard's words, swayed back-and-forth in place for a second, and collapsed to the floor.

"Eina-san?!" Hackard caught her easily, but she looked worried as she gently eased Tulle into a sitting position, the half-elf's body leaning against her. "Eina-san?!" She put a hand to Tulle's face, but the advisor didn't react at all.

"She's…" The blue-haired girl's face was full of worry as she looked down at Tulle's expression. "She's unconscious." She looked lost before I set my pack on the ground, digging through the pouch with medical supplies before pulling out the smelling salts and passing them over. Hackard pulled it out and held it under Tulle's nose before the half-elf's eyes snapped open.

"... Maris… ?" Her voice was a thin gasp as she regained consciousness. "This is…" Tulle looked up at Hackard's relieved expression, before her gaze refocused on the body in front of her. "Oh." Her voice died away, and as I watched, the edge of Tulle's lip began to tremble before she clamped her mouth into a thin line and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she did so.

Her mouth opened, but then it quivered, and I watched as Tulle closed it again. She looked faintly bewildered by the situation, but before she could try again, Hackard cut in with a shake of her head. "It's okay, Eina-san. You just fainted. You don't have to say anything right now."

"No. I…" Tulle's next words were probably meant to sound careful and controlled, with all of the strength and strictness she normally had as Hackard's advisor, but it sounded like anything but that. "I… Thank you for your help, Maris. I think…" Her gaze slid towards the corpse again, and she faltered for a moment before regaining her composure. "I think I'll head back."

"Head back?! You're not in a condition to go back to work right now!" Hackard's outrage was palpable, but Tulle only glared back, a wet shine appearing in her eyes behind the glasses she was wearing.

"It's my job, Maris." At her words, Hackard's features contorted, and she opened her mouth to protest. "I have to do my duty–" Tulle's eyes widened as her gaze flicked behind us, and I turned to see a chienthrope man wearing the Guild's uniform walking up to us, a clipboard in hand. "Chief Rehmer."

"Tulle." He nodded at her briskly as he came to a halt in front of us, raising an eyebrow at Hackard, who was still protectively cradling Tulle in her arms. His face seemed to fall, however, as he looked at Tulle and her expression, as well as the corpse she was still sitting in front of and refusing to look at. "One of yours, huh." It wasn't a question.

Tulle's hesitant confirmation only seemed to make his shoulders slump a little as he sighed. "That's what I thought. You're done, Tulle. Take the rest of the day off." His response made the half-elf's eyes widen, and she surged to her feet, tearing herself out of Hackard's embrace.

"Sir, I can still–" Tulle's fierce words were cut off with a shake from the chienthrope's head.

"No, you can't." Even though he didn't raise his voice in the slightest, Tulle flinched. "Just go home, Tulle. Take the day off. The next one too, if you need it. It's practically Guild policy at this point, anyways." Leaving the half-elf there, the chienthrope only shook his head again as he turned away, moving on to survey the other bodies arranged on the floor.

"..." Tulle had the faintest expression of shock on her face. In that moment, the look on her face reminded me of a lost child's. "I…" Her mouth opened, then closed, before something in her seemed to give away entirely, her body slumping towards the floor.

Hackard caught her again, propping Tulle into a sitting position before undoing the straps of her backpack, wrapping one of Tulle's arms around her neck and helping the half-elf up from the ground onto her back. She gave us a soft smile. "I think I'm gonna take her back. Sorry, guys. Just go on and finish up without me for today."

"Maris-chan…" Off to the side, Yelena raised an eyebrow, but Hackard only gently shook her head.

"It's fine. We'll be okay." A silent conversation passed between the two of them before the chienthrope nodded. "Then… I'll see you guys tomorrow." Hackard's gaze passed from Yelena, to Schwartz, before finally settling on me.

I shrugged. There wasn't much I could say, really. "I'll wire the money to your account." Hackard nodded with a soft "Thanks", that same smile on her face, before she turned around and began walking out of Babel with Tulle on her back, gently murmuring to the half-elf as she did so before they finally disappeared amidst the shifting masses of Orario's crowds.

~~This is a Line Break~~

"Are you okay, Maris-san? You don't look so good." Schwartz's voice made the blue-haired girl in question startle violently, her head shooting up as she looked around.

"What? What's up? What's wrong? Something happened?" We were on the 8th Floor currently. I offhandedly batted away a kobold that rushed me, caving in its chest with my fist as I tuned into the conversation that was going on behind me.

"I was asking you if you're actually okay." Schwartz's voice had a tone of worry in it, and I watched as he split a goblin into 2 with a swing of his spear. "You're so distracted that I'm actually kind of worried."

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Hackard laughed awkwardly, obliterating a goblin with a kick as she did so, but Schwartz wasn't buying it.

"Maris-san… I don't know who Rudel was. But both you and Eina-san knew him, right? It's okay to take a few days off if you want to have some space for yourself, you know?" Schwartz's expression was steady as he stared at Hackard, and I refocused my gaze on the surroundings. 3 goblins came at us, but one swing of my sword was enough to cut all 3 of them down before they could even get close.

"No, that's not…" Hackard tried to respond, but fell silent again; when I turned back to look at her, I was greeted by an uncharacteristically serious look on her face. "I didn't know Rudel very well. All I know is that he was one of Eina-san's other adventurers. That's it. But to Eina-san… he was probably a lot more than that, right?"

It wasn't hard to tell where this was coming from.

For the past few days, Hackard had been leaving early, as soon as we were finished with any business at the Guild. According to the girl herself, she usually met up with Umbar afterwards, but I had instead seen her hanging around Tulle and Flott's consultation booths.

I wasn't sure what was happening exactly, but it was clear that it had to do with the adventurer that Tulle was consulting–the one that had died. From what I could tell, Tulle was still grieving, and Hackard and Flott were doing their best to help the half-elf through it.

It didn't seem very successful, though. Tulle's listless expression hadn't changed at all in the few times I had seen her, and both Hackard and Flott seemed to be getting more and more exhausted themselves as time went on.

The reality of the situation, however, didn't sink in until we were at the Guild.

"She's not here…" Hackard's murmur trickled in as I stared at Flott's empty consultation booth. I had asked her to reserve some books about the Great Falls in advance for pickup today, but that would have to wait. Next to me, Hackard looked concerned as she stood in front of the counter Tulle was normally at. It was also empty.

"They're both out for today." Both Hackard and I turned to see a wolf-person receptionist with red hair. She looked vaguely familiar, and I realized that she was the one that had been at the registration counter on my first day as an adventurer. "Left work early."

Hackard looked shocked. Next to me, Yelena bit down on a wince as Schwartz's expression tightened.

Instead of leaving, though, the receptionist continued staring at us, arms crossed. Behind her, her tail swished through the air. Following her line of sight, I saw her eyes alternate between Hackard's face and mine. It was obvious that she had something else she wanted to say, but didn't want Schwartz or Yelena to hear it.

"Schwartz. Yelena." I unslung my bag, passing it over to Schwartz. "Can you take this to the Exchange and finish up for us? We'll be there soon."

"Ah, um, right." Schwartz saw the out for what it was, fumbling a little as he caught the bag before moving towards the Exchange, Yelena in tow after exchanging a long glance with Hackard.

"So…" I turned back towards the wolfgirl–the nametag on her uniform read 'Rose Fannett'–and asked, "What is it?"

Her shoulders drew up stiffly and she gave a short sigh as she uncrossed her arms. Her tail continued to flick back and forth at an agitated pace. "Not here. This way." She led us to a consultation room before closing the door behind us, locking it as me and Hackard sat down.

Her next words fell like a hammer. "I'll be entirely honest: it's probably for the best if you two stopped being friends with Eina and Misha."

For a moment, there was only stunned silence.

"... What're you trying to say?" Hackard's smile had dropped as soon as we were in the room, and while she looked slightly confused, I could hear the hint of anger in her tone.

In response, the wolfgirl held her hands up. "I didn't mean for you to stop talking entirely. I just mean that you shouldn't be so buddy-buddy with them." Hackard's face twisted into a snarl, but Fannett didn't even flinch as she continued. "There's an unofficial policy that goes on between us advisors, alright? And if anyone asks, you didn't hear it from me. But… for advisors, 'It's better if you don't get attached to your adventurers'."

The anger on Hackard's face was abruptly replaced by confusion. "What?! Why?!"

Even though I hadn't been involved in the conversation up until that point, the wolfgirl chose to turn in my direction, giving me a sharp nod. "I see you already know why."

I did. The answers to Hackard's questions were simple, and I had known them from the very first moment I accepted her offer to party up. Umbar's injury had only been a reminder.

It was easy to forget it, but adventuring was a matter of life or death. It had been over a month since we last came close to it because of a monster party on the 23rd, but few other adventurers could say the same. Being Level 2 afforded you a level of safety in the Dungeon that half of the other adventurers in Orario didn't have.

Experienced adventurers were a rarity in the Guild. Hackard and I were the exception, not the rule–and with how fast we were pushing into the Dungeon, as well as how dangerous it was on principle, there was always the chance that we wouldn't be the exceptions anymore.

The more advisors connected with their adventurers, the more it hurt them when those adventurers died. Distance made things easier. If you could separate yourself from the person you were supposed to be helping, if you could layer professionalism between yourself and them so that it was a 'colleague' rather than a 'friend' that died, it would hurt less. It'd be easier to move on.

I understood Fannett's request all too well. She was only trying her best to look out for Tulle and Flott, even if it meant going behind their backs to do it.

After all, I had found myself facing that very same problem. Time and time again, I was reminded that one day, it was likely that I would end up watching one of them die.

Hackard, Umbar, Yelena, and Schwartz. In joining the party, I had formed relationships with each of them, connecting to each one of them in turn.

The relationships themselves weren't anything special. Ultimately, my interactions with them were superficial and meaningless in the larger picture. But actions spoke louder than words.

Despite the tenuous connection I had with them–despite the fact that we were 'party members' and nothing more–I trusted them. In the Dungeon, I trusted them enough to put my life in their hands, and to accept the fact that they did the same with me.

In doing so, I had already made my choice. I had already found myself facing that eventual possibility, and I was reminded of it every time I stepped into the Dungeon once again.

"But we're different." Hackard's next words pulled me away from my thoughts. "I know what you think. But we've already made it this far. We're not just going up and die on Eina-san and Misha!"

"Do you know how many dead people have said that to us by now?" Fannett retorted. "Face it, kid. There's no reason for us to get attached. Not when we know you'll be dead one day."

"But you can't! You can't just–just give up on people!" Hackard was spluttering now, outraged as she shot to her feet from where she was sitting. "If you're not even going to try your best to help them, haven't you already signed them off as dead?!"

"And I suppose you want us to cry when, even after trying our best, you end up dead anyways?" Hackard winced at Fannett's response, but I could only stare. Her words were probably meant to hurt, but I didn't miss the tinge of pain that had entered her own voice or the way her shoulders slumped afterwards.

In the aftermath of Fannett's retort, there was only silence.

In the end, Fannett only let out a short, angry sigh. "... Forget it." Her face smoothed out into the expression of professional apathy I always saw on her before she bowed to us, once again the image of a proper, polite Guild receptionist. "I apologize. What I said was out of line. Please don't think any further of it."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the door, leaving only me and Hackard behind in the consultation room.

It was a while before I realized that Hackard's shoulders were shaking. Her hands were balled up into fists, trembling as she gripped onto the sides of her pants. I couldn't see her expression, but it probably wasn't anything good. "Hackard–"

"AAAAAAARRGHHH!" I flinched as Hackard threw her arms in the air and let out a roar of frustration. "I can't stand this anymore!" When she turned towards me, I saw the determined gleam in her eyes. "Hikitani, let's go!"

"... Go where?" I had a bad feeling about this. She was going to say 'the Dungeon', wasn't she?

Rather than answer the question, Hackard instead grabbed onto my wrist and began dragging me towards the door. "Come on, Hikitani! Let's go! Time's a-wastin'!" I responded by regaining my balance and yanking my arm out of her hand, which earned me an unimpressed glance.

"Are we just going to leave Schwartz and Yelena behind? They're still at the Exchange." Hackard blinked in response to my logic.

"... Huh. I forgot." Unlike Lyon, however, she just shrugged it off. It's no good! She's too dumb! "Meh, Yelena knows what to do if we don't show up after a bit. It's fine!" Her smile faded and she scratched her head as she looked at me. "Well… actually, it's up to you. If you're fine with it, that is."

The way she said that caught me off-guard. "... What?"

Hackard's mouth drew into a thin line, and she looked down towards the floor. "... I know. I know what I'm asking is probably really inconvenient for you, and messes up your own plans and all that. I know that I can be a pain in the ass whenever I decide to do something like this. It's selfish and it might not be helpful at all and I might be the only person that ends up feeling like I did something, even though I didn't do anything at all. But…" There was something to the expression on her face as she looked at me at that very moment that couldn't be explained or conveyed with words. "... if you don't mind, could you put up with me for a little longer?"

Faced with her request, the refusal died in my throat. Maris Hackard was usually cheerful, thick-skinned, and headstrong, barreling through any problems she encountered like they were monster parties to be dealt with. What she had just said was so clumsy, self-contradictory, and awkwardly sincere that it left me at a loss for words.

Eventually, I found it in myself to say, "... I don't mind."

Even after my response, however, Hackard's enthusiasm didn't suddenly reappear. She only gave me a gentle smile. "... Thanks. I'm counting on you to have my back."

"... You still haven't said where we're going."

"Where else?" This was accompanied by one of her fingers pointing straight down. … I knew it. "Don't worry, though. It shouldn't take that long!"

~~This is a Line Break~~

By the time we emerged yet again from the depths of the Dungeon, it had gone from early morning to far past sundown, and I was exhausted. I made to bring our haul of Magic Stones towards the Exchange, but found myself stopped by Hackard.

"Sorry, Hikitani." The way she said that had me raising an eyebrow. "If you don't mind, could we head somewhere else first before we finish up for the day?"

"... Sure." With Hackard dragging me back into the Dungeon for another series of fights all the way to the 21st, I was already going to be late to the Hostess's night shift. There wasn't any loss in sticking around and figuring out what Hackard wanted to do. The impromptu trip back to the Dungeon was only part of it, but I wasn't sure exactly what she was hoping to achieve with that.

At most, she had ended up recklessly charging quite a few monsters and blowing off some steam. But staring at her now, caked in monster dust with small cuts and scrapes here and there, I was questioning Hackard's decision not to either wash herself off or use a Potion. It wasn't like either of us were short on them, either.

"What're you waiting for, then? Let's go!" Hackard's words pulled me out of my thoughts, and as she began to wander off, I followed. Hackard's path took us through a neighborhood that, for all intents and purposes, looked remarkably high-class. The buildings were well-maintained, sporting what looked like fresh coats of paint and neatly lined up on roads that seemed to have been recently repaved. From its relative closeness to the Pantheon, this was probably the residential area that people said was endorsed by the Guild, where many of its staff members lived.

By the time we had made it in front of an apartment door numbered "205", I had a fairly good idea what Hackard was trying to do. The only question was why she wanted me there.

Hackard rapped on the door with her knuckles, and after a while, the door opened. To my surprise, however, it wasn't Tulle that opened it.

"Hi there, Maris–Hikigaya-san?!" It was Flott that drew backwards as she opened the door and stared at me.

"Yo, Flott." She was a mess. Her normally-tidy Guild uniform was rumpled and her hair was disheveled. From the redness around her eyes, it looked as if she had just been crying.

"Hiya, Misha." Hackard smoothly slid into the exchange. "Is Eina-san in?" Flott nodded hesitantly.

"She's… not available right now, but she'll be out soon." The pink-haired girl opened the door a little wider. "Please come in." Both me and Hackard walked into the apartment–presumably Tulle's, though it could've been Flott's as well–and sat on the couch.

Flott closed the door behind us before making her way towards the kitchen. "I'll put the water on. Hikigaya-san, you're fine with black tea, right?" I blinked at her question as a wave of deja vu swept over me.

"... Yeah, sure." None of us exchanged any words as Flott made the tea and brought it out onto the living room table.

"So, Hikigaya-san. What're you doing here?" In response to Flott's question, I took a long sip from my cup, letting the sweetness that was intertwined with the harsher, more acerbic overtones of the drink settle on my tongue as the silence stretched on and I looked for an answer. Soon enough, however, the cup was empty.

There wasn't much I could say. 'Hackard dragged me along' wasn't a good excuse and would in fact probably ruin her own plans, whatever those were. Saying something along the lines of 'I was concerned' wasn't exactly true, either; I barely knew either Flott or Tulle that well, only in a professional capacity to the former and a secondary-friends-by-relation to the latter. Saying something that superficial at best would only be lying to them.

With that in mind, I tried my best to proceed as carefully as possible. "I was going to pick up those books I requested earlier today, but I thought I'd let you know that it can wait. It's alright–"

Flott sniffled and burst into tears. Every other conceivable response I could think of instantly disappeared.

Meanwhile, Hackard's expression crumpled. It was clear that she knew something I didn't. "Oh, Misha… I'm so sorry."

… Oh. I closed my eyes and did my best not to make any sound as I quietly exhaled. No wonder Flott and Tulle had taken another day off of work.

Between Fannett's request and Hackard's trip to the Dungeon, I hadn't questioned why Flott and Tulle had disappeared. I never saw any of the others, and so it was easy to forget, but I wasn't the only adventurer Flott was responsible for.

Hackard gently extended her arms in a hug around Flott, who only started to cry harder as she was pulled into the embrace. It was the first time I had ever seen her like this. I didn't know what to say or do.

It wasn't long, however, before Flott regained her composure, wiping away the last of her tears as she sat back again. "I'm sorry, Maris-san… Hikigaya-san…"

"It's fine." I waited for her to finish sitting up before replying, but it seemed to have the intended effect. But there was only one direction this conversation could go in. It wasn't something that I could delay or set aside for later, so I waited for the right moment to keep going. "... What was their name?"

Hackard's face flipped over towards me, caught in an expression of surprise, but just as quickly it was back to normal. What was that about?

"Her name was Katheryne." Flott had started to talk, so I refocused. "She just… she came by yesterday to let me know that she Leveled Up. Then today, she went into the Middle Floors… and–and…" Her voice broke off at the end, and I watched as she let out a shuddering breath. "I thought that… that after Gran… it'd be easier… but it's not… it's not at all!"

Her wail echoed loudly through the room, tears streaming freely down her face, and neither Hackard nor I had any response. What was there to say? The silence was only broken as Flott continued to speak.

"Eina… Eina's adventurers… they're all dead." Hackard flinched as her knee jerked up against the table and hit it with a bang, knocking the teapot into the air, but I was able to catch it and set it back down on the table. "Rudel… Aelin… Talia… Bjorn… Thaddeus. Nobody… nobody comes back, do they?"

Flott's question wasn't a question at all. From the expression on Hackard's face, she knew that too.

"It doesn't matter how strong, or how smart, or how kind… they… they just–they just–" Flott cut herself off with another sniffle, tears dripping down from her face.

"Hey. Hey now, that… that's not…" Hackard said, before weakly trailing off and looking to the side. I knew what she was thinking about.

–"Do you know how many dead people have told us that by now?"

She didn't want to say it. No–it was more accurate to say that she couldn't. Fannett hadn't been wrong. Hackard wasn't able to reject Fannett's ideals, because she didn't have an answer to that question.

Words weren't enough, because they were only words. Without the presence of anything else, they were meaningless. Hackard understood that just as well as me, and that was probably the reason behind her hesitation. After all, if she said anything now, she would only be echoing the corpses that had already been proven wrong a thousand times over.

You wouldn't be able to convince anyone like that. If Hackard wanted to reach Flott and Tulle, she needed to be able to show them the depths of her convictions. And yet, if she wanted to do that…

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, reflecting on the familiar emotions that had unexpectedly welled up from within the depths of my mind. For a brief moment, with the scent of tea still faintly hanging in the air, I was reminded of what had happened on that day.

–That's right. Words were never enough. They didn't mean anything, they couldn't do anything, and in the end, they couldn't even capture the most important things people wanted to convey. They only created problems and invited misunderstandings.

But without words, you couldn't communicate at all. Without words, there wouldn't even be the chance of understanding one another, knowing one another, or reaching one another. In the end, talking was the only thing we had left.

Hackard had to have known that, too. But as the silence stretched on, she remained silent, frozen where she was.

For an instant, I considered taking her place and being the one to talk instead.

But that wouldn't work. Even if I knew what it was that Hackard wanted to say, doing anything now would only look like I was putting words in her mouth. This was something that she needed to do herself.

With that in mind, I reached out towards her. However, right before my hand made contact with her shoulder, I stopped.

Would it even do anything? There wasn't anything I could say, so this was all I had left. This clumsy, meaningless gesture that couldn't convey any meaning or intent, that contained everything that I couldn't put into words–would that really be enough?

–If you don't get it, keep thinking it over. Unbidden, Hiratsuka-sensei's words crossed my mind.

I had thought it over already. In the end, this was the only answer I had left. If words weren't enough, this would have to be.

Placing my hand on Hackard's shoulder, I gave her a firm squeeze to break her out of her self-imposed stasis. She turned back towards me with a look of surprise, but I only nodded at her before gently squeezing her shoulder again and flicking my eyes towards Misha.

This was the best I could do–gently pushing her forward, while making sure she could stand on her own two feet and say what she wanted to say herself.

It wasn't a lot, but thankfully, it was enough for Hackard. Her eyes followed my line of sight to Flott before her gaze hardened with determination.

"Yeah… right. That's not true. It does matter. Some of us do come back." Flott looked up at Hackard in confusion, but Hackard only stood up from where she was sitting, voice growing louder as she kept talking. "That's not true, Misha, and you know it! Because we're still here!"

Her shout carried through the room, leaving behind a deafening silence in its wake before there was the sound of a door opening and footsteps sounding out in the hallway.

"Could you not… be so loud, Maris…?" Tulle mumbled as she half-shuffled out of her room. She wasn't wearing her Guild uniform, but was instead dressed in a pair of pajamas, her hair messy and glasses askew. It was a far contrast to the usual Tulle that I usually saw.

"Eina-san!" Hackard turned around.

Tulle blinked as she took in the scene: Flott still sitting on the couch, me sitting opposite, and Hackard standing in the middle of the room, covered head-to-toe with superficial wounds and a layer of monster ashes on top for good measure. She recoiled.

"Wha–what?! What are you doing here?!"

"I made it into the Dungeon and made it down to the 22nd with just Hikitani!" was Hackard's declaration as she put her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out. Tulle's mouth opened a little in shock.

I slowly raised a hand to mention how we had actually only gone to the 21st, but Hackard was faster, turning around to shoot me a look that had me withdrawing my hand and keeping my mouth closed.

"... what?" Tulle's whisper almost went unheard in the room as Hackard kept talking.

"Yeah! Got my ass kicked and everything, too! Those Mammoth Fools were a real pain in the ass, but I go 'em good, right?" Hackard grinned at me, and I finally understood exactly what she was trying to do. For someone like Hackard, who usually solved problems by rushing into them head-first, that wasn't bad at all. It would certainly get the point across, at least.

I nodded at her, and her smile grew even wider.

"... do you know how reckless that is…?" Tulle's voice was a low tremble, but I didn't miss it.

Neither did Hackard, who raised a eyebrow. "Eina-san, did you say something? I didn't catch it." For someone who was a terrible liar, she sure was a good actor when she wanted to be.

"I said… do you know how foolish that is?!" Tulle's voice rang through in the room, filled with a raw harshness that seemed to scrape against the silence. Flott was glued to her seat, and Hackard stood still, all cheerfulness gone as Tulle tearfully glared at her. "Didn't you learn anything from before?! Don't you know that going on adventures will–"

Tulle cut herself off, but the half-angry, half-sad expression on her face remained. The words that she didn't finish hung in the air.

–will get you killed?!

"... I know." Hackard's response wasn't defiant or enthusiastic. She was instead looking down on the ground as she answered, her words quiet and resigned. "I might not know a lot, but I do know that much, Eina-san."

"Then why–" Tulle faltered as Hackard looked up, and I stared at the fire that had appeared in her eyes.

"Because if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even know that." With every word she spoke, Hackard's voice grew in strength. "If it weren't for you, I probably would've died before I even reached the 13th Floor. If it weren't for you, I never would've made it back here today.

"I don't know enough about anything." Even as she said that, Hackard didn't waver. "I don't know enough about the Dungeon, about the monsters I fight, or about what's waiting as I keep diving deeper and deeper." Despite the admission of weakness, her voice was filled with conviction as she kept talking. "But–that's why! That's why I need your help! That's why I need you to keep telling me where I went wrong! That's why need you to keep lecturing me, scolding me, and dragging me away for lessons! That's why I need you to teach me, so that I can keep making it back from there!"

As I watched, Hackard ducked her head into a bow, bending in a perfect 90-degrees at the waist towards Tulle's direction.

"Please, don't give up on me! Please, don't stop being my advisor! Please, don't stop being my friend!"

It was surprising. It was an earnest, undignified, awkward, complicated mess of a request that normally, proud, unabashed, straightforward Maris Hackard would never make.

And in the face of Hackard's gesture, Eina Tulle was, for the first time I ever saw her, completely speechless. It wasn't long, however, before she responded.

"Please… raise your head." Hackard cautiously lifted her head up to Tulle's smile, unshed tears glimmering in the depths of the half-elf's eyes. "Since you've said all of that… how could I refuse?"

There was a moment of silence as both of them composed themselves, maneuvering so that they were facing one another head-on.

"My name is Eina Tulle. From today onwards, I'm your advisor. Pleased to be working with you!" Tulle ducked into a bow that was all Guild receptionist, despite the fact that she was still wearing her pajamas. Somehow, she still made it look professional.

"I'm Maris Hackard. Please take good care of me, Eina-san!" As soon as she finished saying that, Hackard tackled Tulle, sweeping the girl up into a hug. Tulle squawked and tried to free herself, but after a few futile attempts, gave up, wrapping her own arms around the blue-haired girl's body and hugging her right back.

Fannett hadn't been wrong. But neither had Hackard. Without rejection, you wouldn't be able to find out if something was right or wrong. Only by making a choice could you come to a clear conclusion.

And Hackard's choice, her wholehearted rejection of Fannett's ideals, hadn't felt wrong.

That was why this was the answer I had decided on.

From the side, I watched on. Flott did too, sitting on the couch, and as Hackard and Tulle kept hugging one another, her mouth opened into a small smile. However, it wasn't long before she turned towards me.

"Hikigaya-san…" She didn't say anything else, and both of us fell silent. There wasn't a question there–and even if there was, I wouldn't have known how to answer it anyways. But I decided to respond to her anyways.

"I'll still be counting on you, if you'll have me."

"... I'll do my best." Flott's reply was quiet, but I could hear the smile in her words as we both continued to gaze at the heartwarming scene in front of us.

Eventually, I found my eyes drifting away from Hackard, Tulle, and Flott, and looking out of the window instead. It was nighttime, and eventually, I'd have to leave the comfort of Tulle's apartment and walk back across to Orario to where the Hostess was.

But I didn't mind staying here just a little while longer, while things lasted.

Afterword: Hello again!

Welcome to Chapter No Battle Scenes, the Sequel. I mean, yeah, it probably would've been fun to have Maris and Hikigaya go on a funtime rampage through the Dungeon, no strings attached, but I just didn't think it fit as much with the overall theme of the chapter. Unfortunately.

So yeah, the main focus of this chapter was the Maris and Eina friendship, which is forever denied to us because Omori decided to kill Maris for Eina's backstory! Boooooooo. *unhappy thumbs-down noises*

But that's why this chapter exists! Go me, I am truly the greatest, thank you very much.

I thought an exploration of why Eina still remains the way she does (that is to say, basically the same as Eina in Danmachi canon) in Otherworldly present might've been interesting to look at in terms of how Maris's presence both changes things and keeps them the same.

One clever little thing I've really prided myself on is the fact that Maris always calls Eina "Eina-san", suffix and all, despite giving nobody else a suffix. Originally while writing Volume 2, I thought it didn't suit someone of Maris's personality type, but then I realized that it actually made sense in the context of her having so much respect for Eina that she would always attach a "-san" behind Eina's name when talking to her. I liked that little detail, so I ended up running with it. If you were ever curious about Maris's suffix usage, that's why.

I've really enjoyed just diving deep into these other characters and relationships in that I didn't have the chance to explore in Volumes 1 through 3. It's proving to be really fun and has got me thinking a lot about what's to come after this Volume.

On a completely unrelated note (totally), we're drawing close to the finale of this volume, coming next chapter. Hope you guys are all excited, because I sure am!

On a related note to the previous unrelated note, finals season was this past week, so this chapter happens to arrive on the tail end of that. I'm actually releasing this following my last final of 2024. Go me!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter; leave a review letting me know what you think!

See you soon!
Oreo the Cookie