Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 10 Read online

  Copyright

  IS IT WRONG TO TRY TO PICK UP GIRLS IN A DUNGEON?

  ON THE SIDE: SWORD ORATORIA, Volume 10

  FUJINO OMORI

  Translation by Dale DeLucia

  Cover art by Kiyotaka Haimura

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  DUNGEON NI DEAI WO MOTOMERU NO WA MACHIGATTEIRUDAROUKA GAIDEN SWORD ORATORIA vol. 10

  Copyright © 2018 Fujino Omori

  Illustration copyright © 2018 Kiyotaka Haimura

  Original Character Design © Suzuhito Yasuda

  All rights reserved.

  Original Japanese edition published in 2018 by SB Creative Corp.

  This English edition is published by arrangement with SB Creative Corp., Tokyo, in care of Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2019 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Ōmori, Fujino, author. | Haimura, Kiyotaka, 1973– illustrator. | Yasuda, Suzuhito, designer.

  Title: Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon? on the side: sword oratoria / story by Fujino Omori; illustration by Kiyotaka Haimura; original design by Suzuhito Yasuda.

  Other titles: Danjon ni deai wo motomeru no wa machigatteirudarouka gaiden sword oratoria. English.

  Description: New York, NY: Yen On, 2016– | Series: Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon? on the side: sword oratoria

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016023729 | ISBN 9780316315333 (v. 1 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316318167 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316318181 (v. 3 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316318228 (v. 4 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316442503 (v. 5 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316442527 (v. 6 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975302863 (v. 7 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327798 (v. 8 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327811 (v. 9 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975331719 (v. 10 : pbk.)

  Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.O54 Isg 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023729

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-3171-9 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-3172-6 (ebook)

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  PROLOGUE

  THE MONOLOGUE OF A CERTAIN GIRL

  What would you call this feeling?

  It might have originated as sadness or rage—or maybe even despair.

  But it couldn’t be encapsulated by any of these.

  It was a sharper agony than being sliced by a sword, a deeper throb than being cleaved by an ax, a more painful sensation than being pierced by claws and fangs.

  Its impact tore through her heart and left behind a bloody mess.

  She felt a profound sense of loss—as though her very existence had been rejected. Just as she thought her heart had been stripped of everything, a tornado of jumbled and incomprehensible words rushed in to fill the void.

  No…Get away from that.

  I need you to stay by my side. Please don’t leave me.

  Don’t show me this scene.

  That is savage, despicable, something that should be abandoned. A detestable, loathsome thing.

  Don’t hold it close. Don’t take its hand. Don’t embrace it.

  You can’t show mercy to a plunderer, especially the guiltiest despoiler of this world.

  Do you know its name? Do you understand what it means?

  Its name is monster.

  What would you call this feeling?

  I’m not sure.

  Should I call you a liar? Give you hell and say I won’t forgive you? Tearfully beg you to stop?

  Hey. I want to ask you—over there looking at me like you’re about to cry:

  Was I wrong to think we understood each other? Was it all an illusion? What are you doing? Why are you over there?

  Why are you protecting that monster?!

  You’re cruel! Heartless! Inhuman!

  You’re a traitor!

  Her heart screeched out in pain without end. She couldn’t keep the sword in front of her from trembling, and blood trickled from her ragged body like red tears.

  Her limbs started to freeze up, as if a cold winter day had descended upon her and enveloped her in its memory.

  She realized that she’d lost something irreplaceable and been left all alone. And that’s when she opened her mouth, threatening to say the words that she vowed would never cross her lips again.

  “Someone, please—”

  CHAPTER 1

  OMEN

  “We still haven’t managed to find the key…” someone let out in hushed tones, but it echoed through the office awfully loudly.

  The hands of the grandfather clock marked the evening hour in the corner of a room in the home of Loki Familia, Twilight Manor. As if to announce oncoming nightfall, the sky started to turn a faint crimson beyond the window.

  The others in the room—Riveria, Gareth, and Loki—met Finn’s comment with silence. The “key” in question was a certain magic item: Daedalus’s Orb, a jewel with the ability to open the doors of the man-made labyrinth, Knossos.

  Loki Familia was tracking the whereabouts of that orb using any means necessary.

  “Tiona and the others have been looking, but nothing’s come of it yet.”

  “We’ve found entrances to Knossos outside the city and inside the Dungeon. We’re closing in, but…the enemy’s holed up, as we expected. After Bete killed Valletta, they won’t come out until the time is ripe.”

  The remnants of the underground force of Evils and the creatures under the control of the corrupted spirits were hiding in Knossos—waiting for a chance to fulfill their ultimate objective of destroying Orario. And their goal wasn’t nonsense or a deluded hope, especially now that they were using demi-spirits. Orario was in danger, clear and present.

  To stop the enemy and attack the impregnable labyrinth, Loki Familia needed the key to the orichalcum doors.

  “I thought I was on the right track, but…that sex addict of a goddess plays dumb whenever I try to talk to her. She won’t hand over any damn information,” added Loki in a voice steeped in disgust from her perch on the edge of a desk.

  This was fresh on her mind, since Freya Familia had just wiped out Ishtar Familia, which had been connected to the Evils’ Remnants. And with the intel Bete had gotten from the former Ishtar Familia member Lena Tully, they knew Ishta
r had been in the possession of a key, but she’d already been sent back from whence she came.

  Loki sensed Freya was the one holding the “key”—literally and figuratively.

  “…There’s no time.”

  The conversation came to a halt, followed by a brief period of silence.

  Finn spoke up solemnly. “Internal conflict…Well, that might not be the right way to put it. But if Loki’s right that Freya Familia has the key, we have no choice but to weigh all our options.”

  Riveria’s and Gareth’s faces became grim.

  Their captain wasn’t ruling out the possibility of a struggle—aka a somewhat forceful transaction backed by more aggressive methods— if negotiations fell through.

  It went without saying that the Labyrinth City itself would incur serious damage if the two familias at the top of Orario took an actively hostile stance with each other. And it was hard enough for the members of both groups to interact when they operated under the whims and desires of the two patron goddesses. This whole situation highlighted the pitfalls of the entire system of deity-led familias to begin with.

  Finn planted both hands on the desk, narrowing his blue eyes, which seemed very much like the surface of a lake. He opened his mouth, ready to give out instructions.

  “Captain! I’m coming in!” Raul barged into the room without knocking.

  He was terribly out of breath, wincing when he noticed he’d stumbled into an obviously tense conversation. The gazes of everyone in the room shifted to him, and he gulped uncomfortably when he realized he’d done it again.

  “Did something happen, Raul?”

  “Um, uh…I was ordered to keep you updated as we get new info…! Though it’s got nothing to do with Knossos…”

  It’s fine—just tell me, Finn urged with his eyes.

  Raul flinched before glancing out the window at the cityscape. “We just got word that there was a disturbance on the west side of town—”

  “A humanoid monster…?” Aiz parroted back.

  “Yeah, yeah. It showed up yesterday in the western quarter,” replied Tiona with dramatic flair, spreading her arms as she walked next to Aiz.

  Beside Tiona, Tione frowned in annoyance.

  The morning sun poured in through a row of windows.

  After finishing her daily practice of swinging her sword, Aiz happened to run into the Amazonian sisters in a narrow hall of the manor. The two of them explained the uproar that had taken Loki Familia by storm the day before.

  “And it’s not an oversized monster…?”

  “Apparently not. According to the lower-tier adventurers, it was like a harpy or a siren. I bet it’s not related to the incident that happened during the Monsterphilia.” Tione shook her head.

  Aiz was basically asking if it was a man-eating flower, and Tione confirmed that this event was most likely unrelated to the monsters running free in the underground waterways in Knossos—the same monsters they had dealt with during the Monsterphilia incident.

  Aiz cocked her head.

  It was possible the witnesses had misidentified a beast-headed monster with a humanlike body—like a kobold, for example—for a humanoid. Humanoid monsters appeared only as high as the nineteenth floor, and it was difficult to imagine they could make their way up that many floors without being noticed by adventurers.

  And first and foremost, it was a huge deal for monsters to appear aboveground in Orario, which was protected by Babel and its giant city walls. Aside from the Monsterphilia, bringing beasts out of the labyrinth was strictly prohibited. It was common sense that anyone caught breaking that rule would be harshly punished by the Guild.

  “It caused a big fuss yesterday. A bunch of Guild workers are investigating things right now, apparently.”

  According to the reports, the alleged humanoid monster appeared in the middle of a street where regular folk were going about their day. If that was the case, it would certainly be major news. There was no doubt such an incident would cause the peaceful street corner to fall into chaos.

  “…Does Finn know about it?” Aiz asked.

  “Yep. The captain said he’d like people with free time to try to gather some information without drawing too much attention. I think he’s got something in mind,” Tione answered.

  Finn must have had some thoughts about the incident if the lower-tier adventurers in the familia were already gossiping about it this much.

  The appearance of humanoid monsters…If they’re guessing it’s a harpy or a siren, then it’s gotta be a winged species…

  And the monster might have concealed itself somewhere in the city, leaving the civilians in a state of perpetual fear. It was unbearable to imagine.

  Aiz lifted her head and gazed at the ceiling, telling herself to drop the mental image and approach the situation as an adventurer residing in the city.

  “And if someone runs across it?”

  “Well, Finn’s instructions were ‘it’s better to capture it alive,’” started Tiona, weaving her fingers at the back of her head.

  Tione finished. “And ‘dispose of it if it looks like it might hurt someone.’”

  Aiz let her golden hair be tousled by a breeze as she touched her trusted sword Desperate hanging at her waist.

  “Got it.” She nodded after clearing her mind of all thoughts.

  “A date with Bete Loga! A date with Bete Loooooga! Hey! Hey! Wanna hold my hand?” chirped a girl with brown skin, grinning from ear to ear as she walked beside him.

  Instead of taking her hand, Bete elbowed Lena Tully in the temple without saying a word. By this point, he’d gotten used to making these sudden jabs.

  “Huh?! Why do I see stars?! Why am I seeing a starry night instead of Bete Loga?!”

  “Humor me and tell me what the hell you’re doing here.”

  “I’ve been staking out Loki Familia’s manor, duh! Ack! More stars!”

  “Piss off.”

  The Amazonian girl yelped in pain, clutching the side of her throbbing head and writhing on the ground—paying no mind to the fact that her underwear was on full display. Some passing demi-humans shot her annoyed looks.

  Bete kept walking briskly without even a sidelong glance at the broken girl letting out incomprehensible screeches.

  “She’s really taken to you…”

  “Knock it off. Keep that shit to yourself,” Bete snapped at Anakity, the catgirl looking at him in exasperation.

  Even though they were both animal people, this pairing was extremely unusual, even by Loki Familia standards.

  “Whaaat?! Split up, you two! Spliiiiiiiiit!” Lena jumped to her feet and pounced between the two of them, yanking them apart with her hands. “Gimme a breeeeeeak! Ugh! Loki Familia has way too many cuties and hotties! Bete is gonna get seduced! I’m so worried!”

  “You out of your mind?”

  “Don’t worry. I’d rather anyone but him.”

  The two of them tromped forward, completely disregarding Lena and leaving her by herself in their tracks.

  With a big gasp, she scurried after them.

  “Is this where the monster showed up?”

  “Yeah, seems like it.”

  They’d been heading to the northwest section of the city and now stood in one narrow alley among many. It wasn’t a main road by any means.

  Following Gareth’s instructions, Bete and Anakity, chosen for the simple reason that they could follow its scent with their noses, were tracking the humanoid monster.

  The most recent sighting of the monster was the previous evening. The Guild had concluded their investigation, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any more hints or clues.

  “Who cares about that monster? It’s not like it’s got anything to do with the key.”

  “You don’t know that. We have to gather as much info as possible. Am I wrong?” Anakity chided Bete lightly.

  “Ha! What you’re really saying is that we can’t do nothin’ else.”

  …Hmm? What’s this? Their banter m
akes it seem like they’re partners in crime who don’t get along but have clearly spent years together…! Okay, in all seriousness, is the catgirl my rival…?! What is thiiiis?!

  Bete was in an obviously sour mood because it seemed like they had run out of options, and he kept taking it out on others by snapping at them. Anakity was busy trying to placate him. But Lena misinterpreted their entire exchange, and this filled her with unease about their relationship. Her solution was to cling to him more aggressively.

  Brushing away Lena’s advances with one hand, Bete halted in front of a side alley.

  “It disappeared here. An elven girl took the monster away while the locals were throwing stones at it.”

  “An elven brat?”

  “At first, the monster was wearing a robe to conceal its body, but then people say it spread its wings while attacking a kid.”

  “Somethin’ doesn’t add up…” Bete furrowed his brow as Anakity gave him a quick rundown.

  The two of them started sniffing and immediately picked up on a suspicious scent—the presence of something inhuman. It’d gone undetected by the humans in the Guild and other adventurers, but it couldn’t slip past the noses of animal people, whose senses had been sharpened by leveling up repeatedly.

  They switched locations, leaving the road to follow the scent down a dimly lit backstreet.

  “Tch. They used a damn item to cover their tracks.”

  “Seems like it…”

  “Huh? What? There’s no way a monster can use items…With this and our last convo, doesn’t that mean someone is sheltering it?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know?” Bete answered Lena, whose head popped out from behind him in surprise.

  He was moving on instinct, heading for the seventh district in the city after putting together Anakity’s explanation and a hunch he had.

  “…Huh. What’s with this decrepit old church?”

  They passed by the remnants of a building-turned-mountain-of-rubble that looked as though it’d been blasted apart by magic. They could just barely make out a deserted chapel from the crumbling ruins of what used to be a proper stone building.

  “…Oh yeah, I think I heard a rumor about some familia using a chapel as their home.”