Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Ais In The Dungeon?

Right after Ais had caught Isaac in midair, Lefiya had snapped out of the distracting thoughts clouding her mind and became fully aware of what kind of danger that the young man had been in. But just after she had thought everything would be solved now that Ais had taken control of the situation, Lefiya was stunned speechless when she saw how her respected idol just stared into Isaac's eyes with an enamoured expression as if spell-struck, completely ignoring everything around her.

Although Lefiya had always been scared of monsters, that was only a hindrance when she was directly targeted by them. Now that they were distracted and were fully focusing on a person who she wholeheartedly looked up to, all doubts and fears had temporarily disappeared from her mind while she chanted an incantation, as quickly as she possibly could.

"Proud warriors, snipers of the forest. Take up your bows before the advancing plunderers. Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows. Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest. Release them, the fire arrows of the fairies. Falling like rain, burn away the savages."

Right after she began chanting, a golden yellow-colored magic circle appeared beneath her feet, driving away the darkness surrounding the young Elf. It only took her five seconds to finish her chant. Normally, that amount of time would pass by before she even consciously took notice of it. But on this occasion, it had felt as if the end of these familiar sentences was getting further and further away, while the various monsters surrounding Ais got closer and closer to her as well as the young man.

For some reason, she managed to finish her chant right before the first monster jumped forwards. Whether this was because of the instinctual fear that the monsters felt towards a First Class adventurer like Ais or just due to the weird situation of their prey standing in front of them, completely motionless and ignoring them, Lefiya couldn't say. But none of this mattered to her, as the last two words left her lips right as she had finished targeting all of her enemies with her spell.

"Fusillade Fallarica!"

From Isaac's perspective, all he could see was Ais' blushing face suddenly being lit up by a warm red light while the surrounding temperature turned unbearably hot for a short few seconds, accompanied by the pained cries of monsters. Immediately after, the temperature returned to normal just as fast as it had risen earlier.

This finally broke him out of his 'spell' and made him break eye contact with the girl of his dreams. As soon as he looked away, Ais also seemed to come to her senses, looking visibly confused, the crimson tinting her cheeks quickly receding.

Having finished inspecting his surroundings and having come across a room full of burned monster remains, Isaac noticed that he and Ais weren't the only two people here. Instead, there was a young Elf girl - who he recognized to be Lefiya - storming towards them from the same direction that Ais had previously come from. She had a concerned and slightly hostile look plastered on her cute face, which was perfectly showcasing the ridiculous standard of elven beauty.

Yes, Isaac had no doubt at all that all of that animosity was definitely directed at him. But even more importantly than that, remembering the awkward position that he currently found himself in, he couldn't help but glance up at Ais and cough a little, trying to make her understand the situation.

Hearing the man in her arms cough, seemingly trying to get her attention, the confused look on Ais' face faded and she focused on him. It took her only a short few moments before she noticed that she was still holding on to him, even though there was no need to carry him any longer. She did, however, not know or realize that her holding him like this would be seen in a different, not so innocent light, if this act had been performed out in public.

Right after Isaac finally had solid ground under his feet once more, Lefiya arrived right next to Ais, sizing her up from top to bottom, checking whether or not she was injured anywhere.

"Thank you, Lefiya. I got distracted."

Upon receiving the well-deserved gratitude, Lefiya couldn't help but blush a bit while her pointed ears twitched happily. This soon served to divert her attention from her worry about Ais, as she quite apparently didn't seem to be in any danger.

Thinking that he should probably thank his saviour as well, even though she most likely wouldn't care too much whether or not he did so, Isaac followed in Ais' footsteps.

"I'd like to thank you as well. Both of you."

Having her happy thoughts interrupted by a calm and harmonious male voice, Lefiya was reminded of the one person who was, in her eyes, most likely responsible for putting Ais in danger in the first place. Remembering this, she turned around, obviously quite annoyed with the stranger.

After sizing Isaac up a bit, Lefiya wasn't surprised to see that he was quite pleasing to the eye. As an Elf, she was used to good-looking men, as all males of her race were mind-bogglingly beautiful. What surprised her instead was that he gave off the same sensation as her idol, Ais. It was a feeling that she couldn't comprehend, but she was sure that it was there. Something about the look in their eyes was eerily similar. It made her anger dissipate like smoke, because she associated this feeling with Ais herself. Therefore, her mind subconsciously put him into the 'Ais' category.

After just a few seconds, she noticed her unintentional lapse in judgement and got annoyed again. This man and Ais were categorized completely differently in her mind now, for one simple reason. Ais never really showed much of an expression on her face, while Isaac had a calm, collected and friendly smile plastered all over his own.

Another thing that she remembered right then was the weird phenomena that she had seen earlier and how the young man had been at the very center of everything that had happened. There was no way that he wasn't connected to or knew about what was going on with that kind of magic which she had never encountered before!

"What was that vortex in the air? How did you do that?!"

Isaac, hearing the questions thrown his way, finally took note of something. He could understand and speak their language flawlessly. And yet, he was sure that this was the first time that he had encountered it.

[ Automatic translation is one of the many features of this system, host. ]

'Ah, makes sense. I would definitely have thought of such a basic problem and come up with a satisfying solution. Seeing how there were even programs who could automatically and perfectly translate languages in my source world, it's not too hard to see how such a simple function could be achieved. Are there any restrictions, system?'

[ None. Such a basic function wasn't restricted by you during the creation, host. ]

'Good to have that cleared up. I won't have to worry about this in the future then, it seems. But now… how do I best handle these questions?'

Isaac had two primary ways to deal with this issue: He could either try to play everything off and say that he had no idea what was going on - or he could tell the two girls in front of him the truth. Well, a part of the truth, at least.

He had the choice between either lying to the girl of his dreams and her friend or being honest with them. Which wouldn't cause any trouble for him whatsoever.

It really wasn't a hard choice. If there was one thing that Isaac hated the most, it was lying to or getting lied to by those he cared about. But that didn't mean that he would always answer a question with the truth. Just a part of the truth or refusing to answer were, of course, always options.

While Ais was again staring at him with the same confused look on her face, before Lefiya could get annoyed at his prolonged silence, a slight sigh left Isaac's lips, then he replied.

"Fine, I will tell you the truth about this matter. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else about this unless I am fine with you doing so. Otherwise, you will end up losing my trust. Considering that you don't know much about me yet, you'll have to decide for yourself whether or not my trust is something that has any worth. I am aware that this is a somewhat rude requirement to put forward, but it really can't be helped for now."

Being taken aback by the blunt honesty that she could clearly make out in the suspicious young man's words, Lefiya had to think for a little bit before coming to a decision. Before she could reply, however, Ais had already uttered her response.

"I promise."

Hearing the decisiveness in Ais' voice, Lefiya was a little taken aback. Her idol definitely had no simple feelings for the young man. Now, she was a bit more jealous of him than when he had been carried princess-style. Seeing the relieved smile and gentle light in the young man's eyes as he heard Ais' response, her displeasure rose slightly once more, because she feared that Ais would possibly toss her aside if it turned out that these two were indeed mutually attracted to each other.

But nonetheless, the requirement that the young man had asked her to consider was still something that she had to find an answer to regardless of her slightly clingy worries. Taking into consideration that Ais had already promised to keep everything a secret, it would be unbecoming of her to tell others about something that would put Ais in an awkward position if it became known. Also, Lefiya wasn't really a person who would share secrets entrusted to her with others who weren't privy to them. As a result of these deliberations, the following words finally left her lips.

"I promise as well."

After hearing even Lefiya, whose begrudging and pouting face looked adorable in Isaac's eyes, agree, he could reply to her previous questions without much worry. He did everything that he could, and if either of them violated his trust… that just meant that he wouldn't interact with them on friendly terms anymore.

"The vortex, as you previously called it, was the result of a special ability that I acquired. It's the ability to visit any world of my choosing. As I originate from a world without any magic or any ways to grow stronger than the average person, I had only read stories about other worlds where such things were possible. Of course, I thought of those as mere fiction. But as you probably already guessed, all of that changed when I obtained this ability, something completely out of the norm for the world that I'm from. I figured out that all the stories that I had read actually described a world resembling a real world somewhere out there, one out of an infinite amount of worlds. I then decided to use this ability to come here, to a world similar to one that I had only read about before."

While he was explaining this matter in the simplest words possible, staying just vague enough to not contradict what had actually happened, Isaac could see the faces of the two girls opposite him changing in different ways.

Ais' face turned from confusion to acceptance, taking everything he told her as the undeniable truth. She seemed to notice that Isaac wasn't really telling them everything, just a few pieces of a very large puzzle, but she couldn't make out a single lie, which caused her opinion of the fascinating young man to rise to even greater heights.

Lefiya's face displayed her distrust, but also fascination. She seemed to be doubtful, but also hopeful. As if she really hoped for his words to be true, but she couldn't just accept them without any further evidence. After all, his claims were definitely revolutionary, and not something a normal person from this world would believe without question.

After getting her thoughts in order, Lefiya had to admit that the vortex did indeed seem like it was transporting Isaac here from someplace else. His words seemed plausible. But if what he had said was really the truth, then there was yet another thing that she was puzzled about.

"So you came to this world in a similar manner to the gods, then? You said you read about a world like this one, so you surely know about how the gods travelled from their world, Heaven, to our Lower World, right?"

After nodding, Isaac immediately replied, because her question didn't touch upon any subjects that he was not ready to reveal at this point.

"I know about the gods' general circumstances, yes. But my manner of travel is not the same as theirs. You might not be aware of this, but all three 'worlds' that people in your Lower World know about - namely Heaven, Tartarus and the Lower World - are actually part of a single, larger world. I came from another larger world beyond that. So me coming here cannot be compared to the simple descension of the gods, it's a wholly different matter that would be nigh impossible without my ability, even for the gods. Oh, with that I don't mean to say that I am more powerful than them, I just have a special ability. You see how powerless I am right now, right? I cannot compare to the gods."

Yes, Isaac really enjoyed giving lengthy and detailed responses.

Listening to his answer, Lefiya felt lost. She didn't truly comprehend what the words of this young man really meant, how vast the scope of 'everything' would actually have to be for the three worlds which she knew about to just be the constituent parts of a single world. It was something beyond what she had ever thought about, something that she would have to ponder about for a long time to even have a small chance of possibly understanding it.

While Lefiya was lost in thought, Ais noticed how Isaac had worded his reply. He deliberately told them that he was powerless at the moment, and therefore couldn't compare to the gods. The words 'right now' were an important part of his statement. They hinted at him possibly having been stronger or being sure of becoming stronger than the gods in the future. For Ais, who only craved for more and more strength, this was a possibility that she couldn't possibly ignore, something which she wanted to investigate. She also didn't sense any lies yet again, so her trust in this young man rose to almost unreasonable heights. No matter what - she decided - she had to stick close to this person and find out about what gave him such confidence in his potential.

To be honest, Isaac hadn't intended to hint at anything at all. He had noticed what his words could imply, but he hadn't expected anyone to notice this, so he didn't bother to change his wording to an alternative version that couldn't incite these thoughts. Still, seeing Lefiya brooding over his reply so seriously, he wanted to change the topic, so that the adorable little Elf's head wouldn't explode from all the thinking. He already saw her as more of a cute animal than a girl, mostly because he had no interest in any girls beyond Ais and Ereshkigal whatsoever.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Isaac, Isaac Blackshaw. It's nice to meet you. What are your names, if I may ask?"

Despite often being thought of as an airhead, Ais was extremely good at reading people. She mostly just got her reputation because she didn't talk very much. So right now, she noticed that Isaac indubitably already knew their answers to his question, but had no ill will whatsoever. His voice conveyed a bit of concern, seemingly wanting to keep her friend's head from producing even more figurative steam. Not wanting his good intentions to go to waste, Ais immediately reciprocated with her own introduction.

"Ais Wallenstein. Nice to meet you, Isaac."

She accompanied her words with a smile wider than she would normally show around people while the blush from before still hadn't completely receded. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Both Isaac and Lefiya couldn't help but stare at Ais for a few breaths, before they both snapped out of their admiration-filled fantasies.

"I-It's nice to meet you, Mr. Blackshaw. I'm Lefiya Viridis. Both Ais and I are part of the Loki Familia, a group of people blessed by our goddess, Loki."

Having stuttered a bit in the beginning because of the embarrassment that she felt for having gaped at Ais for so long, Lefiya decided to call the young man by his last name. This was mostly because her idol so affectionately called him by his first name, like a close friend, so she was a bit jealous. She also intended to showcase that she and Ais had a close connection while simultaneously introducing their familia. Knowing well about Loki's playful personality, a world traveller would undoubtedly interest her which would lead to both her familia and Isaac interacting a lot more in the future.

Hearing a cute girl call him 'Mr. Blackshaw', Isaac almost wanted to cough up blood. Such an impersonal, distanced way of addressing him was just too cruel. He had no special thoughts or feelings for Lefiya, but anyone would like it a lot more if someone was friendly towards them, rather than being standoffish. Especially if the person being amiable was adorable.

Seeing the pained look on Isaac's face and realizing how he felt, Ais couldn't help but chuckle a little, hiding her mouth with her hand. By now, she had resumed to passively watch out for any monsters that might appear - she was a lot less distracted.

While Ais was snickering, Lefiya felt a bit ashamed for behaving so aloof towards someone who didn't seem like a bad person considering all that she had seen so far. She couldn't deny that she was really behaving a bit pettily.

Meanwhile, Isaac was extremely happy about the cute pose that Ais had struck and would have given Lefiya a thumbs up for this, if he wasn't still in pain from the previous mental blow. As a result, he couldn't help but utter a plea.

"Please don't call me 'Mr. Blackshaw', just call me 'Isaac'. It feels very uncomfortable to be called by my last name like that. It makes me feel like I'm an old man…"

This request was a life-saver for Lefiya. She could accept it to seem generous and, at the same time, wash away the shame of being a bit petty before. Now she could finally stop panicking internally while keeping a straight face on the outside.

"Of course, of course. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable, Isaac."

After they had gotten these unseemly shenanigans out of the way, Lefiya couldn't help but point out an issue.

"Isaac, what do you plan to do next? You shouldn't be an adventurer at the moment, so continuing to stay here - in what we call the dungeon - is extremely dangerous for you. With your strength, you won't survive on the 17th floor where we are at right now. Would you like us to escort you out of here first, to a safer location?"

'She immediately offered her help, huh? It seems like I have to raise my opinion of Lefiya quite a bit. She is a lot less selfish than her acts of jealousy make her appear to be.'

Thinking this, Isaac couldn't help but show a genuine smile which caused the Elf waiting for his answer to blush ever so slightly. Well, it was mostly because she wasn't used to seeing such a gentle, pure smile directed at her from a male. She didn't have many interactions with men other than those from her familia.

"First of all, I'd like to thank you again for your earlier assistance, Ais and Lefiya. If you hadn't caught me, Ais, I would have probably died from the fall. And if you hadn't killed these monsters while me and Ais were both distracted, this… could have ended badly."

Happiness could be seen in Ais' eyes, as her mouth widened into a smile yet again. She really smiled a lot more than usual today. Lefiya, on the other hand, couldn't help but reveal a proud grin upon being commended like this, even if the praise originated from someone who had been a stranger just minutes prior. Praise almost universally makes people happy.

"Now, to answer your questions. As I have read a tiny bit of information about a world just like this one before I came here, I know about the fact that there is the occupation of adventurer, and I am also aware that this dungeon has been around for almost 1,000 years. I know no specific details, though. One of my reasons for coming here was because anyone in a world like this can grow stronger - far stronger than the average person. And where better to do so than in the city surrounding the only dungeon in the world, the Labyrinth City Orario? I plan to become an adventurer. Thank you for offering to escort me out of here, I would be hard pressed to escape every single monster or even find my way to the surface on my own. I'll accept your offer."

Having listened to another one of Isaac's long responses, Lefiya and Ais began to notice that he really tended to talk a lot as soon as he was asked about something. He tried to put as many important details into his replies as possible, seemingly wanting to resolve all of their questions before they even took form. It was oddly comforting, as it displayed how much Isaac cared about his words being understood by the people listening.

"You're welcome. Just stay next to me while Ais leads the way to the surface, we can talk more on the way."

It didn't take long before the three of them had left the cave that Isaac had appeared in and had made their way through many long natural hallways, following a specific path that he wasn't familiar with. Yet.

While many people found it challenging to find their way in unfamiliar environments, Isaac had been different in this regard even when he had still lived in his previous world. Contrary to the vast majority of the populace, he built a 3D-map of everywhere that he had ever been in his head, being able to recall all routes and details perfectly. He would never lose his way anywhere that he had been to before. As long as he had a point of reference, he would always easily figure out where he needed to go.

Now, because he had just come to this world, he didn't have any reference points yet so he had to first wait until he got somewhere safe. There, he could then review everything that he had seen up to that point and put it into proper perspective.

While Isaac was paying careful attention to the environment, taking in the new and unusual sights, Ais suddenly turned around and asked him something, her eyes sparkling with interest.

"You said that getting stronger is only one of the reasons why you decided to come here. What other reasons are there?"

This had always been on her mind since she had heard Isaac's previous explanation. She just couldn't figure out what other pursuits there could be, even beyond or on the same level as strength. Strength was the only thing that she strived for, to fulfill her goals. So if there was something that an unusual man like Isaac held in a similarly high regard, it would probably be useful for her to find out about it.

Ais' question reminded Isaac of the fact that his main reason had been his desire to meet her, Ais Wallenstein, even just once. It was… extremely embarrassing. His cheeks couldn't help but heat up a little and he turned away from her golden eyes awkwardly. He really didn't think that it would be a good idea to tell her about that right now. After all, he didn't want her to think less of him or to classify him as a lowlife.

Before the look of confusion on Ais' face caused by him breaking their eye contact could fully settle in, Isaac made up his mind and responded, unable to completely suppress his cheeks' apparent efforts to make him resemble more of a tomato than a human.

"I promise to tell you in the future, when the time is right. Is that okay with you?"

Realizing that he had some reason as to why he couldn't tell her about it right now, and sensing that he wasn't lying to her when making that promise, Ais felt content. If he was that shy about it now, it was better to wait until he could tell her without being this uncomfortable.

With a nod, Ais turned away again, continuing to lead the small group towards the surface, towards safety.

Meanwhile, the young Elf who had been responsible for lighting the way was gripping her staff a little bit harder while pouting.

'They have only just met and they already made a promise…why are they so close?!?'