The entertainment district near the slums of Hydrangea had a lot of ruins.
Crushed shops left as-is — that was the same in every city.
Faintly, from those ruins, came the sound of a violin.
Following the source, I eventually arrived at a small white three-story ruined building.
It was coming from underground.
Below was a wrecked bar. This one was rare in that it had a small stage.
In its heyday, it had been a lively venue for debutant bards and musicians.
Now, no one was there.
Standing alone on that deserted stage where no one should have been was a woman.
She was playing the violin.
Her hair was thin and black, but the two ends of her bangs were dyed gold, gleaming in the light.
Her long bangs covered her eyes — the classic eyes-hidden-by-bangs look.
She was of average height, her body thin as a withered branch.
She wore a billowing, not-too-ornate concert outfit.
Her skirt was bright red, spreading out like three flower petals.
To match, she wore a white flowered beret.
And she had a pair of stiff, straight white rabbit ears and a round tail.
When her sorrowful performance ended, a voice came from the audience seats.
"Hey. It's so dark and damp in here."
"............"
"It's dirty and dusty in here."
"......"
"I've been in a place like this for four whole days now."
"............"
"I want to stay at a fancy, beautiful, clean inn."
"............"
"I want to go outside and play under a clear sky."
"......"
The voice came from a small doll sitting in the audience seats.
It was a caricature of the woman, identical in every way — except its hair color was reversed and its outfit was a bright dress.
Its rabbit ears and tail were also black.
"Hey, why is it always, always like this? Dimero, are you a total loner-lover?"
".............."
"Paprika likes music that's bright and fun."
"......"
Dimero raised her violin and began to play again.
Low, heavy, sorrowful notes. Paprika sighed helplessly, then remembered.
"Hey, Dimero.
Have you seen the Retainer's wish list?"
"......!"
The performance faltered and stopped. She glared at Paprika.
"So you've finally looked at Paprika."
"......"
"Paprika. I'm interested."
"............"
"The witch's apprentice. I'm interested."
"......"
Dimero repositioned her violin as if ignoring her, adjusted it, and began to play again.
Was she rattled? The melody was the same, but the notes were slightly more uneven than before.
"I'm interested in the woman who brought down half of Hard-to-Get."
The violin music went wildly off course, and she nearly stumbled.
Dimero glared at Paprika.
".............."
"Dimero, you should just get seduced too."
"......!?"
Dimero stomped her foot in irritation, breathing heavily.
"Dimero, you should become a more mature woman."
"......"
Dimero placed her violin back in its case.
"You're old enough already, you know."
"............"
Ignoring Paprika, Dimero disappeared backstage.
'The Silent Musician' — Dimero Silence.
In the depths of Hydrangea's forest park, there was a forest.
A small forest — a shrine forest. At its center stood a Sacred Tree.
A tree planted from Shuto, the holy city of the Seihō faith — every shrine forest had one.
It was among the great trees, its branches so thick that people could walk side by side along them.
In those branches sat a crude white tent.
Written on the tent in large, crude letters was "Forest King."
Sitting near the tent was a girl eating something she'd pulled from a cloth bag.
She had short green hair and silver eyes.
She had a young, cute face, and her ears were pointed — she was an elf.
She wore green-and-white clothes entwined with vines, her skirt made of leaves in an elegant, adorable style.
On her head was a pale blue feather ornament — from the Blue Aurora Bird, said to bring good fortune.
"Nom nom nom, chomp chomp, munch munch munch, munch munch munch."
She was eating nut gummies from the cloth bag, making horrible noises.
Crunch crunch.
Her unfocused eyes stared blankly ahead as she methodically crunched away.
Every now and then she took a drink from her water flask — honey water.
A refreshing drink of honey and lemon. A crescent moon was painted on the flask.
Its official name was the Crescent Moon Vessel.
The witch owned the Full Moon Vessel, and Wof carried the Crescent Moon Vessel.
It was one of the so-called "Moon Water Series."
She who possessed the world-rare Relic, Verde, was a potion-crafter on par with the witch.
She wasted most of that talent on making gummies to eat — a shameless misuse of ability.
"Oh, ah, ahh... the Crescent Moon Vessel... heard it was given to an apprentice... crunch crunch... an apprentice, huh..."
She murmured to herself in her uniquely pleasant voice.
"As always. To think you'd be in a place like this."
A man's voice — she looked up to see a figure in a black robe and hood.
A fairial sat on his shoulder.
"Zeeks. Aria."
"As always with the nut gummies?"
Aria floated up softly.
She had fluffy, peach-colored sidelights in her hair and matching eyes. She wore a blue dress.
A bow was slung across her back, and at her waist were a strangely shaped knife and a rod.
They were roughly the same length. In truth, they were a separable spear.
"Oh ho ho ho."
"Finish eating before you talk."
"Nom munch munch."
"Stop eating with your mouth open."
"Heh heh heh, as always. Zelena."
"Gulp. Zeeks. Mama. Why are you here?"
"Who are you calling mama!?"
Zeeks drew three swords from his pouch.
Three swords housed in a red scabbard, a blue scabbard, and a green scabbard.
The style was identical for all three, but the gem on the pommel was different. Seeing them, Zelena remembered.
"I forgot I'd placed the order."
"I thought so."
"But what do you need a single-use attribute sword for?"
Aria asked curiously. Zelena looked up at the sky.
"Well, the dungeon I'm currently clearing has a three-headed dragon, and I thought I'd use it against that damn lizard — nom munch."
"You... honestly..."
"Oh ho ho ho ho, if that's the case, I could've also made one in a more throwable shape."
"Munch munch munch... then throw it."
"I'm not throwing it! And don't talk with your mouth full."
"Gulp. I'll reuse it, so..."
"It's not that durable, though."
"Even so, it's fine."
Zelena took them and put them in her own pouch.
She'd already paid the full amount as a deposit. One million oro per blade.
Three million oro to defeat it — unclear if that would turn a profit.
But she didn't care. For Zelena, as long as the obstacle was removed, that was enough.
After all, for Zelena, dungeon crawling was a hobby.
And she was the type to spend money on her hobbies.
'Green Guardian Child' — Zelena.
She was one of the Hard-to-Get.
The eight members of Hard-to-Get each possessed transcendent beauty.
Countless men targeted them for that alone, but every one of them was wiped out.
Truly, they were Hard-to-Get.
But Hard-to-Get in itself had an extremely low encounter rate.
That was because, with the exception of Peony, none of them particularly liked people. They were shy and always kept to themselves.
Most of them dove into the deep levels of dungeons and rarely showed their faces in civilization.
Some lived far from towns and villages.
They avoided meeting people, making even encountering them difficult.
And Peony, the 'Knight Commander of the Delvers' Knight Order,' had tight security around her due to that title.
Even those she knew were always watched by a guard named Hals.
Incidentally, the hardest of Hard-to-Get was the witch.
She had the ability to sense even the slightest feeling someone harbored toward her.
Even the faintest hint of affection — she would detect it instantly.
She would erect an Absolute Rejection Barrier. Once that happened, no one could get close.
Only one person existed who perpetually activated a barrier even stronger than hers.
Despite being the one who saved the witch's life, he maintained a constant posture of rejection.
I'm sorry. Forgive me. Apologizing even when he'd done nothing wrong.
Unable to bear it, the witch took one step forward.
Because if this continued, the one who saved her life would die.
And she grew sad at the thorn-like rejection that would also wound him.
Her savior, yet he refused to owe her anything, rejecting her completely — it made her angry.
That later led to the witch meeting her apprentice, but that's enough for now.
After parting with Zelena, Zeeks and Aria...
"Come to think of it. Aria, you were going to meet a friend, weren't you?"
"A friend... yes. It's Ruriha's daughter. I remember her name."
"Oh ho ho ho, don't want to see her?"
Zeeks asked, noting Aria's reluctance.
"We had a fight before. The girl — her name is Mineha. She has an OOPArt spear. But it's a weak OOPArt. Still, it's her father's keepsake, so she's always used it. If she's keeping it as a treasured memento, that's one thing, but using it as her everyday weapon... that's why we fought."
"Awkward?"
"...You could say that."
"Oh ho ho ho ho."
"Don't laugh!"
'Six-Attribute User' — Zeeks.
A Class 2 delver and Zeeks's partner. 'Wind Dropper' — Aria.