The end of the second day.
We had cleared out the Monsters around the plaza on the twenty-ninth floor and settled in for a rest.
Checking the responses underground, I detected a massive one.
The boss had respawned. I'd expected the adventurers still active in the Dungeon to mobilize for the kill, but it seemed they were all pulling back without so much as a glance.
Exhausted from the fighting, we decided to take down the boss tomorrow.
When I activated my Skills and scanned the surroundings, I found that part of the Dungeon had started moving.
A metallic clang echoed from the distance — one of the passages must have shifted.
"Floor thirty in just two days... Asking you to come along was absolutely the right call."
Damian took a swig of water he'd pulled from the Seventh Generation's skill, Box.
Since we traveled in light gear, our movement speed was far quicker than that of the surrounding adventurers.
At the same time, the Fourth Generation's skill was boosting our speed even further.
"The speed kept going up partway through — was that your skill too? Give me a heads-up before you use it next time. It seems to have affected my puppets as well, and it felt really off trying to move them."
"Sorry about that."
Damian could be sharp sometimes.
Unlike when he was bickering with Aria, he was now calmly analyzing me with a cool head.
Even so, his interest only went so far — it wasn't a high priority, so he never probed too deeply.
(So it worked on the puppets too. Our speed definitely went up, but... if that's the case, this skill is seriously broken.)
I had no idea what principle it operated on, but the fact remained that it was useful.
So far, the only skill I hadn't used was the Third Generation's: Mind.
In a sense, this is also the most unusual skill of all.
It’s a skill that directly affects the mind, and if misused, it could become a major problem.
(Maybe the reason they didn’t teach it to me was to gauge what kind of person I was?)
While the skill itself is dangerous, the actual process of using it is relatively simple.
However, as for the specifications for its second stage, the Third Generation still hadn’t granted permission for me to access it.
Even if I possessed the ability to use it.
Seeing me deep in thought, Damian spoke up.
"What's the matter? You looked over the Guild materials for tomorrow's strategy, right?"
"Well, yes, that’s true. But I’m definitely nervous. It’s my first time fighting, after all. And it’s not exactly my specialty."
There are adventurers who specialize specifically in defeating resurrected bosses.
They come equipped with specialized gear, and apparently, taking down a boss is practically just routine work for them.
However, those kinds of adventurers often proved useless in other types of jobs.
Our all-purpose party struggled in situations like this, but our strength lay in being able to fight in almost any scenario.
Still—
'Why are you getting all timid? A boss on the next floor would be easy to beat.'
The Second Generation spoke up in a exasperated voice.
He was right.
The trump card available to me now was the First Generation’s skill, [Full Burst]. It temporarily doubled my own abilities.
It was a skill that unleashed explosive power, but to use it, I had to diligently store up magic power on a regular basis.
With my current capacity, I would need to wait two to three days between uses. But if I waited that long, my abilities would...
It temporarily boosts your power two- to threefold.
Since I hadn't used Full Burst before coming here, I could draw out threefold—even fivefold power right now.
"That's the weakness of an all-rounder, I suppose? But as an all-around party member who can handle any situation, you're exceptional. I'd even say you're too exceptional."
Something about Damian's words nagged at me.
But I had an early start tomorrow too. I wanted to get a good night's sleep.
"Is that so? I hadn't noticed. I'm sleepy, so I'll turn in now. I'll have my meal later."
"...I see. Well then, good night."
After parting ways with Damian, I wrapped myself in a sleeping bag pulled from my Box and asked Novem to wake me when the time came, then drifted off to sleep.
"Hey!"
"...What is it, Third Generation?"
Just when I thought I'd fallen asleep, I found myself in the conference room inside the Jewel.
The one who had summoned me seemed to be the Third Generation.
"Don't look so scared. I was going to teach you how to woo Miranda, since Lyle hasn't made any progress at all."
I didn't like the phrasing "woo," but the truth was I hadn't been able to grasp any opening.
You'd understand if you used the Skill.
She showed up in yellow—not an enemy, but not an ally either—flickering unstably, occasionally turning red.
Shannon shouldn't have been there, yet Miranda looked dazed and unfocused.
"The Sixth Generation seems restless, you know. I want to do something about it too, so I decided to teach you how to use the Skill, even though everyone else says I shouldn't."
"Well, methods that interfere with the mind do raise some concerns."
When I said that, the Third Generation grinned.
"So using Skills to interfere with someone's mind is no good, is it? When humans can manipulate each other at will even without Skills?"
If I think "this guy's dark!" upon hearing that, I don't think I'm in the wrong.
The Third Generation continued her explanation without missing a beat.
"You don't need Skills to manipulate people. What you need are techniques and a few little tricks. Think about it that way, and you could say humans are constantly interfering with each other's minds in everyday life. Why single out the use of a Skill? The real question is how you use it."
"How exactly do you use it? If you tried to interfere by telling them to play nice with our allies, the Sixth Generation would fly into a rage. Honestly, I think he's projecting Mireia onto Miranda."
The Sixth Generation's obsession with Miranda was genuinely terrifying.
He was willing to put even my life at risk to free her from Shannon's grasp.
That was probably evidence he believed I could pull it off.
"When people are tired, their minds become unstable too. Miranda's probably lacking her usual defenses right now because she's in an unfamiliar environment. So... Shannon's influence might be starting to show."
It was true that up until the beginning, Miranda had been more composed than she was now.
The more time we spent delving into the Dungeon, the more unstable she seemed—maybe the Third Generation's theory was correct.
We'd been living in the same mansion all this time, and it was odd how little interference she'd been subjected to.
"Shannon is dangerous, then."
"You think so?"
"Huh?"
The Third Generation's words caught me off guard.
After everything that had been going on, she didn't seem to think Shannon was dangerous at all.
"Miranda's mentally unstable right now because she's in an unfamiliar environment—that's the current situation, right? But what if this were her normal life? She might have handled it surprisingly well."
"...Wait, does that mean we made things worse by getting involved?"
Because the Fifth and Sixth Generations had been so unusually on guard, could it be that we'd made a terrible mistake?
I started to think that way.
"The Fifth Generation and the Sixth Generation—they were both looking at Mireia, weren't they? It's not so much that Shannon was amazing too, but more that Mireia was just that incredible, you know?"
I couldn't see any of it as extraordinary.
I had been up close with Ceres, and yet I didn't sense anything comparable to Ceres from Shannon.
If anything—the opposite.
"You said Miranda reminds you of Mireia, but… the one who's truly frightening might be Miranda, you know?"
That was right.
Miranda, who was bright and considerate of everyone around her—she was the one who seemed to possess something.
Something that drew people in.
It was different from the fear I had felt with Ceres.
"And now that Miranda is unstable… I think that's actually the more dangerous situation. So let me teach you how to use your Skills. If you apply them, your harem could explode in numbers practically overnight, Lyle."
The Third Generation said that to me with a grin.
I knew full well they weren't being serious, but I couldn't believe they actually said it with a straight face.
Playing along with the Third Generation's joke, I had them teach me about Skill applications—how to put them to practical use.
When I woke up—
I immediately rolled around in my sleeping bag to move from where I lay.
Around me, Damian and Aria were fast asleep, completely exhausted. Looking closer, Novem was sleeping too.
Clara had also collapsed on the floor and was sound asleep.
Novem and Clara were supposed to be the first ones on watch duty.
The Second Generation spoke.
"This woman spiked our food!"
Because I had planned to eat after going to sleep, I hadn't touched the food.
That was lucky. She must have mixed sleeping pills into the meal.
The Sixth Generation's voice came from the Jewel.
"So she was being controlled. But why at this timing —"
The Fifth Generation cut off the Sixth Generation.
"Right now, Laiel's life takes priority. Get your head straight."
I leaped out of my sleeping bag and looked at where I had been.
Miranda had slammed the mace I'd been holding into the ground with all her might.
That strength was nothing like what she'd shown since we entered the Dungeon.
"What do you think you're doing, pulling something like this?"
I slowly roused myself and looked at Miranda.
Her usual bright smile was nowhere to be seen.
She just stared at me with eyes devoid of any light, muttering under her breath.
"Shannon's enemy is my enemy. Anyone who interferes with Shannon will be eliminated. Shannon's enemy is —"
She must have also taken and used my weapon.
If the Third Generation hadn't been called to the Jewel, things could have been far more dangerous.
"Can you hear me, Miranda?"
Miranda lunged at me.
Seeing her move like a frontliner who excels in close-quarters combat, I leaped backward.
However, she hurled the mace at me.
I dodged, and the mace slammed into the wall with a metallic clang that echoed through the room.
In her hand, she now gripped a short sword—her backup weapon.
The light from a lamp powered by a camping Magic Stone cast a dim glow across the room.
"Laiel... You got in that child's way, didn't you..."
Miranda closed the distance in an instant, appearing right beside me.
"Fast!"
I quickly ducked to avoid the thrusting short sword, but this time her foot was already closing in on me.
In that instant.
I recalled the sight of being kicked flying by Ceres.
I grabbed her foot and forcibly hurled her away, but by the moment she crashed into the wall, she had already corrected her posture, kicked off the wall, and landed gracefully.
The Seventh Generation, who had been watching, spoke.
"Those aren't the movements of a backliner. No... I suppose she can do both."
Seeing Miranda's true ability, I realized she had been hiding it all along.
It probably wasn't Shannon who told her to conceal it.
Perhaps she had been hiding it of her own volition.
The Fifth Generation uttered Mireia's name.
"It seems the troublesome one like Mireia was this girl after all. Truly, my eye for people isn't worth much."
The Fifth Generation muttered in frustration.
The Sixth Generation said nothing.
The surrounding monsters were already defeated, so there was no worry about being interrupted.
But with our allies asleep, there was no help to be had either.
Miranda noticed my gaze almost immediately and moved to position herself between me and Novem and the others.
She drew her short sword and dropped into a low stance — she didn't look like someone who'd only learned to fight a day or two ago.
"Kids these days, they learn even things like that? Well, Novem was pretty much the same, I suppose."
When I smiled wryly, Miranda's eyebrow twitched in response.
"...Could it be that you're actually conscious?"
I couldn't believe that someone this strong had simply grown too exhausted from all the fighting to resist Shannon's interference anymore.
Her cheeks pulled upward, and her mouth curved into the shape of a crescent moon.
Her beautiful teeth gleamed white against the dark room, a ghastly sight.
"...You're all so insufferably annoying. I'm the pleasant one here, resting peacefully while I sleep. I should thank that brat, really — I was finally able to come out."
Miranda let out a shrill, cackling laugh, her demeanor completely different from her usual air.
She drew a second short sword and held one in each hand.
It was the dual-wielding style.
"This girl here is really something, you know — she's so good at playing the part of the sweet, well-behaved one. Because she's so good at it, she even fools herself into acting the part."
Miranda ran her tongue along the blade of her short sword and stared at me with eyes that held a spark of madness.
She looked like she was having a tremendous amount of fun.
"She holds it all in, and then she goes off to cry all by herself. It's really enough to make you sick... But then that brat had to go and do something unnecessary!"
I drew the knife I'd been hiding at my waist and blocked Miranda's short sword.
Sparks flew.
I'd been hiding it ever since the yellow reaction appeared, figuring something like this might happen.
"See, I knew it — you and I are the same… It really makes me want to carve that 'I figured it out' expression right onto your face."
She said that with a dreamy look on her face, and I kicked her away.
But she launched a kick of her own, using the momentum to fly backward.
Like a cat.
"That brat touched the gap in my heart, and I was born! That brat doesn't even realize what she did, which makes it the best thing ever! I was planning to be the first to carve her up once the me on the outside wore herself down and disappeared, but—"
She started rushing in, using feints to try and throw me off.
But the Second Generation's Skill fed me her exact position, so I caught her attack with the loaded knife.
"But now… the one I want to carve up first is… y-o-u! It was you all along, Rael!!"
Miranda-san — no, she — unleashed a barrage of slashes at me, mixing up her attacks with all sorts of variations.
I wished I'd brought out my Saber as I questioned her.
"Why me?"
"Why? Hmm, why is that… I don't knooow!!"
She knew the answer but was hiding it. That was the feeling I got.
Right now, she seemed to be enjoying the fight.
She'd found pleasure in trying to kill me, and she hadn't tried to take the sleeping Novem and the others hostage.
Just—
(Your power is beyond what I expected!)
She'd said she was similar to Mireia-san, but was Mireia-san really this strong?
While that thought crossed my mind, I kicked one of her short swords flying.
"Ahah! Isn't this the best! You're actually pushing back against even this body's physical abilities — you really are interesting, you know?"
"Thanks, I guess."
Trading barbs, I lightly touched the Jewel.
Third Generation spoke.
'Isn't that fine?'
She seemed to know what she was suggesting.
For my part, I wasn't too keen.
"Why me first? Why didn't you go after Novem and the others?"
Miranda answered, twirling a short sword between her fingertips.
"Because when she woke up, you were the one who called out to her. The moment she was asked whether she was conscious, this girl got all flustered."
Grinning broadly, she laid bare Miranda's innermost thoughts.
"Did you know? This girl took one look at you and fell head over heels! She had this faint hope that maybe you'd understand her! Funny, right? Even though she's never once laughed from the bottom of her heart."
She was warm and dependable, someone everyone relied on — but it seemed she carried her own troubles too.
"So... I figured I'd hack you to pieces first and crush that girl's heart. Because I'm tired of being locked away, you know."
I measured the distance between us while inching forward.
She was still smiling, but I could tell she'd pounce the moment I let my guard down.
She clearly understood that I couldn't bring myself to attack Miranda's body.
"The one who tried to kill you first... was the outward me. Isn't that right? The one who tried to finish you off before I came out — that was her will. She was being manipulated by that brat, sure. But still... even the outward me was at least a little bit serious about it. Having it thrown back in my face like that — it stings, doesn't it?"
Her gaze shifted to Novem.
As I heightened my guard, she began to laugh.
"It's fine. I'm not going to cheat on you or anything... But Laiel, you've been getting cozy with Novem, Aria, and over there with Clara too. You're a terrible man, you know that?"
"Too bad. I haven't even kissed any of them. I'm shy like that."
"Oh, what a shame... I should have had the outward me talk to you before trying to kill you."
Hearing that, I flatly denied it.
"Novem was there, so she'd have stopped me, right? She was serious about it."
"...Right. So that's how it is. We're the same, yet the outward me never gets understood."
Her words piqued my interest, but I lunged at her without hesitation.
I was done preparing.
"Oh my, suddenly showing some motiva—!!"
Her face twisted. She glared at me with a pained expression.
As I continued charging, she thrust a short blade toward me.
I caught the fist gripping the thrust-out blade in the palm of my hand.
Between my index and middle finger, the edge of the blade had lightly sliced through my glove.
"What did you do... What did you doooo!!"
I grabbed her left hand with my right, and she kicked out while struggling.
That was no ordinary girl's kick.
Enduring the pain, I explained with a composed expression.
"Interference-type Skills... there are some among support-type Skills too. Did I ever say even once that I can't use them?"
"You scumbaaaagg!!"
The Jewel emitted a blue light, forcibly sealing her away and summoning Miranda.
"How are you feeling?"
When I released both arms, she crumpled to her knees and let go of her short sword.
The clang of metal echoed through the room, but no one woke up.
"...Ugh, this is the worst."
She was looking down, so I couldn't see her expression.
I proceeded to use the Skill [Mind].
He had called out to the deepest recesses of her heart and forcibly drawn it out. The real her, who had started spilling the truth, had also been under the Mind skill's interference.
(Good thing it only just surfaced. Actually, that was dangerous.)
"...So you knew. About Shannon."
When I asked, she opened her mouth.
"You heard it, didn't you? I knew everything. I knew that girl was interfering, and I pretended not to notice. Because... I'm Shannon's big sister."
I recalled what Aria had told me.
It was Aria who had been worried about her, even though she did nothing but cause trouble.
"Everyone has parts of themselves they don't want others to see," I said.
Miranda let out a laugh.
"That's easy for you to say. But I was the one who actually saw it, and it was unbearable. I was shown a version of myself that was completely abnormal."
I sighed and used Mind.
The Sixth Generation raised his voice.
"W-Wait, stop, Lyle!"
But the Third Generation held him back.
"That's fine, that's fine. Go right ahead. You said Shannon made you, but that's still the real you. If it's all been piling up and going to burst out someday, it's better to just accept it."
The Third Generation said it in his usual lighthearted tone.
(As if it were someone else's problem.)
"Denying it won't change the facts. That's one of your facets too. I'm going to use my Skills to treat that part now."
Things that had been separated, brought back together as one—
He would make her fully confront the dark emotions she had thrown away.
"...I'm ugly, you know."
"Rest assured. There are even uglier ones out there (your sister Ceres, for one)."
Slowly, Miranda raised her face.
Disheveled hair clung to her cheeks.
And through the gaps in those strands, eyes that had lost their spark were looking at me.
"I don't care what happens. I've been keeping this bottled up for so long."
"It was bound to come out eventually. When it did, it would have been a catastrophe. So please—accept it now. There's another Miranda who should be protecting you."
"Protecting?"
She had probably been treating those bottled-up emotions as something bad.
But in my view, that was human too.
Frustrated, heartbroken, wanting someone to see that side of me... It's embarrassing, but that was part of who I was.
No—it was most of who I was.
But I had used that frustration as fuel to keep pushing forward.
—It wasn't rewarded, but...
"If you only keep getting rejected, there's no point in twisting yourself out of shape over it."
When I touched Miranda's shoulder with my right hand, the Jewel began to glow.
"...That's true, yeah."
"And besides, I'll accept you no matter what."
No matter what kind of Miranda she was, I would accept her as Miranda.
That was what I meant when I said those words.
However—
"Huh, what did you just—"
She glowed blue and then collapsed sideways onto the floor.
She must have been mentally exhausted.
I was also a little tired from using my Skills.
"We still have tomorrow... Haa, guess I'll sleep."
I wanted to believe this had at least moved us forward a bit in our countermeasures against Shannon.
The Sixth Generation murmured.
*'I... didn't understand, did I?'*
—Time for the watch rotation.
Novem slowly rose from where she had been sitting.
Nearby, Damian, Clara, and Aria were asleep under the effects of the sleeping drug.
And Miranda and Lyle were also sleeping.
"...I was told it involved medical expertise, but the dosage was just right. Everyone should be able to wake up tomorrow."
Clara was on the same watch shift, but Novem decided to let her sleep.
She draped a blanket over Clara.
Novem, staff in hand, headed toward Miranda.
Her hair was stuck to her face with sweat.
She looked utterly exhausted.
Novem tightened her grip on her staff, but relaxed when Lyle, who was lying next to Miranda, stirred.
She released the hand that had been gripping the staff, then stared intently at her own palm.
"Why did I have such a reaction? And besides, waking them up now would also be..."
Lyle, also tired, was sound asleep.
Looking at that expression, Novem smiled.
Then, she tried touching her own face with her hand.
Tilting her head, she decided to continue standing watch.
"You all seem tired from the earlier battle, so I'll take the watch here."
During the earlier battle.
Novem had not been asleep——.
Everyone woke up well past the time they were supposed to depart.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
"It's fine already."
Novem gave a wry smile.
Seeing Clara continuing to apologize to Novem after waking up, I couldn't bring myself to scold her.
Because I had also fallen asleep and slept through my watch.
Even when I asked Novem why she hadn't woken me up, she just said I looked exhausted.
Pressing her further would have been hypocritical, given that I was the one who had fallen asleep.
"Man, you were sleeping like a log. Seriously, it felt like I took sleeping pills!"
Damian, laughing loudly, seemed to be in a great mood from having slept so soundly for the first time in a while.
I wanted to press him on what kind of life he'd been living, but he looked like explaining would be a hassle, so I decided to let it go.
Aria was also eating quietly, looking uncomfortable.
Miranda, on the other hand—
"I'm so sorry, Novem!"
—was bright and energetic.
It was as if what happened yesterday was all a lie. That's when the Third Generation spoke up.
"Once you just accept it and move on, things get easier — seriously."
The Fifth Generation seemed skeptical about that.
"...If only it were that easy. Well, I guess I probably stopped caring too, but..."
He seemed to have something on his mind.
The Second Generation—
"You're more energetic than before. That's good. At this rate, she'll probably help with Shannon's reformation too."
The Fourth Generation agreed.
"It really is a lovely smile. She'd probably help out, but... knowing what kind of emotions are sleeping behind that smile, girls really are scary, aren't they?"
The sheer conviction behind those words left me at a loss for anything to say.
(When I think about it, Novem really is perfect, isn't she?)
I felt just a little bit like bragging to the Fourth Generation about that.
The Seventh Generation was her usual self.
"Well, now I can focus entirely on Damian's request."
The Sixth Generation was feeling down.
"...Yeah."
We couldn't stay like this forever, so once I finished eating, I got up to clean.
"Come on, Clara, that's enough already."
"No way. Support like mine has to really pull through in times like this."
She said it with more energy than usual, so I figured it was her own way of being dedicated to her work.
"Y-Yeah," I said as I went back to cleaning.
Then, as I passed by Miranda——
"Thanks for yesterday. And... let's keep working together from here on out, La-i-e-l."
For just an instant, Miranda wore that smile from back then——the smile she had given me.
The thirtieth floor. The boss's chamber.
An Ogre carrying a massive hollow cylinder stood before my eyes.
"It's like a cannon. Still, there sure are a lot of troublesome Monsters carrying nasty things in this place."
I had sent everyone else back and was now facing the Ogre alone.
"You're really gonna be okay, right~?"
Damian was hanging back with a skeptical look.
Thinking I was looking down on it, the Ogre raised the tube it had been shouldering.
I gripped the Jewel tight.
"...Full Burst."
As I whispered the words, the silver metal that had been a decoration on the Jewel swelled up, forming a greatsword in my right hand.
It resembled the greatsword the First Generation had used, but it had gradually been reshaping itself into something easier for me to wield.
"Sorry about this, but I don't have time. I'll end this in one strike."
I brought the greatsword I held in both hands down to my waist and shifted into a stance to swing it sideways.
Timing my swing with the metal tube being brought down at me, I slashed the greatsword out in a horizontal arc.
A shockwave erupted, blowing the Ogre straight into the wall of the boss chamber.
I had sliced clean through its metal stomach armor and gauntlets, along with the tube itself, sending everything flying into the wall.
The bisected tube split into two halves and clattered to the ground.
I deactivated the skill.
"...This is rough. Unless I can finish things in a single strike, it's going to be tough."
After returning the greatsword to its original form, I started worrying again about the magic power I'd burned through.
Honestly, if I didn't grow stronger at least a little more, I might not be able to make proper use of the Jewel.
My companions, who had been watching me fight, came over.
"As expected of you, Master Lyle."
Novem praised me as usual.
Aria, on the other hand—
"Can't you use that more often?"
"...If I could use it, I'd use it. That's all there is to it."
To that cold response, I gave one in kind.
Well, it's the kind of banter you can only have between companions.
Clara was looking at my Jewel with a serious expression.
"It's a rare metal, isn't it? And a rather expensive one at that."
Miranda-san was clapping with a bright smile.
However, as always, it wasn't just simple cheerfulness.
She seemed warmer than before.
"With this, the professor's request is complete. Now then, Professor, please teach Lyle magic."
Under the promise I made with Damian, I was to be taught magic once I broke through the thirtieth floor.
But Damian looked at me and spoke.
"I'll keep my promise, of course. Mind if I add just one thing?"
"What is it?"
Damian stared at me intently and said:
"If you keep going the way you are, you'll end up no good. Well, not that it's any of my business."
Hearing that, I couldn't find anything to retort with.
Why was that?
And the Second Generation agreed as well.
*'...I suppose so.'*
Damian's request had been progressing smoothly, but it seemed I was now facing yet another problem.