I was the first to bolt out the door, but before anyone could react I was already at the area where other people were gathering and looking at a body.
I shoved people aside and looked at the body.
Its Achilles were sliced as were the tendons in his arms, he had tears streaming down his face saying that it was not a merciless death.
"IT WAS THE GALE WIND! I SWEAR I SAW HER SWOOP DOWN AND TAKE HIS LIFE!" A werewolf who was shouting in the bar had now arrived here and was still spreading the rumor.
From what I knew about Lyu she didn't have issues with killing people who were considered evil...Asking her to help deal with Hyankinthus probably did a lot more on her than I thought at the time.
More than that though this suggested that if, and only if this was her that this person was undeniably evil, she was in no way like me, who would kill innocents.
"And? If you saw her you just let her go? This was a slow death so I imagine you could have tried to intervene," I said to the werewolf
The werewolf was taken aback that I was defending Gale Wind but then spoke up again "O-OF COURSE I WAS SCARED SHITLESS! AND WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING GALE WIND?! DON'T THINK WE HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU DID EITHER!"
"Damn straight I'm defending her, and if you don't forgive me that's fine, but if you aren't doing anything about it, then you have no right to complain about it,"
Now actively mad he was about to punch me when Bors walked in.
"STOP!"
"Bors! This bastard is protecting a murderer!"
"If you're the only one who saw her then how do we know if you didn't kill him and just try and use her as an excuse?"
He put his hand down and spoke to everyone else, trying to get them on his side.
"I KNOW I SAW HER! SO FOLLOW ME AND WE CAN GET THAT BASTARD FOR KILLING OUR FRIEND!"
As he started hyping everyone up, I decided to just let it happen. There was something more going on here.
Out of nowhere, they blame Lyu who hadn't killed anyone for a few years from what I know. So why now?
Soon Lily and the others walked up behind me and I filled them in.
"I see...So they claim that Lyu killed this person,"
"I can't say it's impossible, but saying she did without asking the person themselves would just be idiotic,"
The large crowd that had gathered was ready to set out on an expedition to go find her, the werewolf told them though to wait until tomorrow morning since Lyu went back into the dungeon.
So apparently he saw Lyu do the murder and she her leave...But even still if she really is here, then that would mean that there was the slim possibility of her being the murderer. I would like to believe though that she didn't.
We decided that we would also leave tomorrow morning, this was so that the big group wouldn't get too weird about us leaving way early and to make sure we didn't have people watch us to make sure we stayed here.
Truth be told...I shouldn't have spoken up for Lyu then, if I kept quiet then things would have gone easier but I felt like it was right.
The next morning we left with the other big party leaving as well. They understood that I was not on their side but they can't really say no to two level four adventurers' help.
Then out of nowhere, Cassandra came running drenched in sweat.
"W-WE CAN'T GO!"
"...Huh?" Everyone else said at the same time
"I-I HAD ANOTHER DREAM! P-PLEASE LISTEN, EVERYONE-"
Then Daphne grabbed her by her collar.
"CASSANDRA! ENOUGH ALREADY! CAN'T YOU SEE THIS IS IMPORTANT?! ENOUGH WITH YOUR DAMN STUPID DREAMS!"
"D-Daphne, please...Just listen a little-"
"NO!"
"B-Bell?" She looked my way for help.
"Sorry, but by the looks of it, you're gonna tell us not to go, and I need to go. I won't comprise on that, so sorry,"
My apology didn't really feel like one from me or to everyone else but they all got the meaning, that no matter what happened I was going to find Lyu.
As we went down we left guards at each floor entrance to alert us with a magic item if she comes into contact with any of them, and before I even knew it we were on the 25th floor.
"The sight is just as beautiful as it was last time," Mikoto said with a slight blush
"Yes!" Haruhime cheerfully agreed.
Suddenly though the group in front of us stopped.
"Let's take a break here, after that we should split up. These floors are too big to look around with only one group," The werewolf eyed me as if saying 'Now don't follow us!'
"Bell?" Lily looked at me
"I'm going down. If we're gonna take a break then now is my best chance to get a headstart,"
"..." After a second of contemplating Lily nodded
"Also...Lily,"
Lily perked her head up when I called her
"Try to do some more thinking for yourself, I understand I'm the leader but do what you feel is best,"
That was my last piece of advice before I bolted past everyone else and went further into the dungeon, everyone was left slack-jawed at my speed beside the people in my party though.
I ran down, trying to find a place that could be used as a hint in order to find her. I had roughly 30-45 minutes of a headstart. After that, the group will likely start to move again.
I looked for any stain of blood, a scratch on the dungeon wall, or a footprint but couldn't find anything.
"Could I maybe find her?"
The Her I was referring to was Marie. She could easily find where my party was last time so I feel like she should be able to find her.
Not knowing where to start I ran down to where I saw her last time. She pulled out a bra to cover herself there so I imagine that would be where "Home" was to her.
After about 20 minutes of running, I arrived and there she was on top of the rock.
"Bell!"
She immediately swam over to me and leaped out of the water to wrap me in a hug.
"Hey, sorry but I'm in a bit of a rush. Do you know where I can find an Elf girl? They're the ones with the pointy ears. The one in question has a wooden sword as her main question,"
If Marie turned up nothing then I planned to turn back. Marie could communicate with monsters and if not one monster happened to see her then the chance of her coming down to one of these floors was so low that it wouldn't even be worth it to consider the possibility.
Marie gave a quick nod at noticing my seriousness and started to sing again.
After a rather long song this time she came back to me. "She is one floor down, follow me!"
"Pay attention this time alright?"
"Tee-hee!"
Hopefully not having to play superhero the whole time this time we headed down to the 27th floor.
Luckily for me though she was making an active effort to avoid getting caught by monsters this time, and when she arrived at where she said a monster had seen her last there was a corpse of a dead dwarf.
One look at the body was all I had to know, that the murderer above was not her.
This body was tortured but not in the same way. The Dwarf's joints were bent strangely likely from being stretched way too far, and there was one swift swipe against the neck that had his throat cut open.
The torture methods of the two didn't match up, but then I guess it was a fact she was down here, it also was a fact that she did kill someone. I then noticed that in his bag he had tons of explosion stones.
"Bell..." I took a look at Marie and she looked terrified as she muttered my name.
"Marie, listen to me I need you to do me a favor," I put my hands on her shoulders "I need you to be on the lookout for my party that you saw last time. If you see them tell them the murder on the 18th floor was not Lyu,"
"Ah...O-Ok,"
"Thank you," She then swam away from the river she was in.
I then got up and chased after where the footsteps led, and not even after 5 minutes of running I saw the elf, who had blood on her sword, she stopped running and turned around to see who was looking at her.
Her eyes widened though upon seeing me, not with happiness, or angryness for me chasing her and finding her, but disgust.
"Bell, explain yourself,"
She was talking about the trait murderers have, one can always tell another murderer from the look in their eyes, and she could tell I've murdered innocents.
"Didn't you hear the news of the Adventurer killer Bell Cranel?" I responded
"...I didn't want to believe it until I saw it. Bell, you-"
"I know. I am the absolute worst, I broke my own ideals and shattered the bond that made us allies...I want to try and change though, so I'm making an effort,"
"...I don't believe you," She then walked up to me but instead of attacking she just looked sad, and mad at herself "I...I trusted you. I thought you were the same as me. A killer for justice,"
"Lyu, you're wrong about that," I said, I was thinking about putting a hand on her shoulder but I stopped myself "I gaslit you into thinking that no one could understand you other than me. You were lonely since you had trauma, even I could see that. And I took advantage of that and made you believe you only had me,"
Her fist was clenched and they shook with anger, perhaps at being betrayed by the one she thought was a lot like her, or maybe it was just the thought that she was tricked.
"Leave this place now," She then turned her back on me
"I can't do that, something is going to happen here right? So I plan to take care of it, with you,"
She then turned around and her sword was at my neck. I didn't bother to try and block it.
"JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE! IF YOU DON'T...I WON'T BE ABLE TO CONTROL MYSELF!"
"...I know that you want me dead, but going about this alone isn't gonna work. You're gonna fall right into their hands if you do. So I know that I betrayed you, but let me at least help you, you don't have to trust me,"
"...Do what you want," She then turned around
Feeling a feeling I don't think I've felt before I made sure to keep my distance as I followed. I think this was...Guilt.
(Hermes POV)
I stormed into Freya's castle unannounced and was immediately met by guards.
"MOVE," One glare from the once normal and calm Hermes sent them all down like a pack of domesticated dogs.
I ran all the way up the stairs and broke down the door leading into Freya's room.
"Hermes, don't you know it's rude to barge into a girl's room unannounced?" She sent a glare my way.
"Freya, do you even understand the gravity of this situation you caused? If this fails then-"
"I know, Bell will die. Simply that,"
"Fucking idiot,"
Her eyes widened at that, I was normally never angry with her or any god for that matter. Plus she always thought she had me around her finger with her looks, but in reality, I just played along so as to not stand out.
"If you think Bell's gonna die then you're wrong. What matters is how he's gonna survive,"
"Hermes, Bell is not only your toy, he is mine as well and I will do with him as I please,"
I then took out a mirror and it showed Bell's position. Freya shocked that I was allowed to use my divine power, looked at me.
"I got permission. We'll be fine,"
We both then shut up and watched. Currently, Bell was running after Lyu and had just left Marie behind.
During Bell's conversation with Lyu, Freya's eyes seemed to show surprise.
"Did you think his conviction to change was just something he made up?" I asked
"No...I just never thought he was that serious about it. I saw that he changed a bit last time I saw him but he really is bent on becoming a good person,"
Then at the end of the conversation, I bent my head down and was looking at my lap.
"Freya, Bell made a lot of mistakes when he first came here. He started off by using people, and now he is going to deal with that. Lyu will forgive his betrayal, but...If by chance something happens in the dungeon where the bond that Bell is trying to make is severed then this place will quite literally turn into hell,"
Once again, all my hope was on Lyu. She was the only one who could save this boy from his loneliness.