We're nothing more than puppets. Toys, created by fate, only to become a source of entertainment for the gods. What more can there be to life than to fulfill that purpose?

It was something she had always said, ever since she became an adventurer. That mindset hadn't changed, not even after she had met him. It was something she had buried deep within her soul - a lesson never to be forgotten. It was how she had survived for so long - she wanted to prove that it was wrong. That there was more to life than being laughed at by deities.

Now, she had given up trying to do so. It wasn't possible - she had resigned to her fate. She would die here, on the 37th floor of the Dungeon, alone.

Well - not quite.

"Ryuu! Are you alright? Ryuu, come on, answer me!"

Her eyes could barely open but she forced them to, to meet the fires of his.

"Mr Cranel…"

"Thank goodness! Can you walk? We need to get out of here as soon as we can. I heard a monster's roar just a minute ago and it didn't sound nice."

The elf could barely make words. Perhaps it was the acid of the Lambton's stomach or the battle with the Juggernaut, but it seemed that something had damaged her neck, burning into it. She ignored the pain, trying her best to sound intelligible.

"Go… leave."

"I'll take that as a no, then," Bell said stiffly, dismissing what she had inferred. Sliding his battered arms underneath her, he lifted her with one swift movement and began moving in the direction of what he hoped was the entrance of the 36th floor.

"Damn it."

"Save your energy for our return trip. I can't carry you forever," Bell joked dryly, hoping to shush her.

"Then don't."

Bell didn't listen to anything she said after that point. He knew she would only keep asking him to make his own escape and to leave her behind. It wasn't going to happen. He had already made his decision; either they both made it out alive or they would die together.

He considered his options. He could keep wandering around this unfamiliar floor and hope to find the door to the higher floors or he could try to find a Xenos Hidden Village and beg that Lyd and his group might find him all the way down here. Looking at his belt and seeing no potions except one dual potion, he ruled out the first option. Yet the second option wasn't much better. They would have a hard time surviving until the Xenos found them.

But it didn't have to be the Xenos. He could hope that a search party would be sent down to find him. In fact, knowing that Ouranos thought him to be the key to peace between demi-humans and monsters, a search party would almost certainly come for him - but then came the problem of Ryuu.

It was a given that the moment they rescued her, they'd take her back to the surface, trial her and most likely…

He didn't want that to happen.

Hearing the fearsome howl of the monster behind him, he picked up the pace, searching for a patch of quartz that might hide a whole passageway into a village behind it.

His feet soon began to drag, unable to support him for so long. He had taken too large of a toll earlier from the battle against the Juggernaut and the experience inside the Lambton's stomach.

"You're heavier than you look," he said, trying to find a distraction from his aching soles.

Ryuu didn't answer, or rather she couldn't. There was no question that he would have to make it to a safe point and give her the dual potion. She wouldn't be able to talk otherwise, and thus it would be impossible for her to use her healing magic.

He didn't take so much as another step before the clattering of bones sounded from behind him. He half-hoped it was Fels but he knew better than to expect a miracle. Turning around, he saw three spartoi walking towards him ominously, swords clanging as they were towed along the ground, sending sparks flying off rocks.

It didn't take much for Bell to start sprinting in the opposite direction. At a potential level of 4, they would be too strong for him to fight alone. It would also take him far too long to defeat them which would allow other monsters to target the pair of surface dwellers.

And not to mention the floor boss of the 37th floor, the Udaeus.

The spartoi weren't going to give up easily. The ran after him, surprising him with their unexpected speed. They were almost able to keep up with him - luckily, with his level of agility, Bell was able to outrun them after a while.

Ryuu, however, had suddenly become wide-eyed after the escape.

Bell knew he couldn't take the time to ask her what was wrong. He could only move forward. The words of his grandfather echoed in his mind.

Can't protect one little lady? You call yourself a man?

She was someone he absolutely had to protect. There were only a select few who did not criticise Bell for his actions in the Xenos incident and she had been one of them. She had praised him for his efforts, even, and she had saved his life on several occasions before that.

Just when he thought he might've been done for, he saw the glow of a familiar crystal. It was like a holy light at this point in time. The quartz shimmered in front of his eyes, a sight for his sore eyes.

"…"

Now all he had to do was to find a wall that might contain a chamber behind it. His eyes took a while adjusting to the brightness of the scene before him and it wasn't long before he heard the terrifying monster call again.

Come on, where's the door? There has to be a village around here, please…

His eyes locked onto a tower of quartz that seemed rather out of place and he raced towards it, not a moment too soon as he heard the discerning bone crackling from behind him. The spartoi had caught up.

He raised his fist at the wall and activated Fire Bolt.

The quartz shattered, a hole now visible behind it. He dived in, hearing one of the spartoi closing in. He clung to Ryuu tightly, practically hugging her. Oh what the goddess and Syr would think. Especially Syr. He could already imagine it, against his wishes not to. Knowing Ryuu's tendencies to place Syr's desires before her own, Ryuu would probably complain too, if she had to mental and physical energy to do so.

The quartz had almost closed behind him when half of the first spartoi body came through. The wall closed after that. The other spartoi, not having the intelligence of a Xenos, stood outside, confused as to where their prey had gone. As for the spartoi inside the wall, it raised its blade to strike the petrified Ryuu, still laying on top of Bell.

His Hestia Knife slid out of its scabbard to block it, his fatigued arm doing its best to prevent the sword from reaching Ryuu. He gently pushed Ryuu off him towards the inside of the cave so that he could possibly get up and fight the skeleton on his feet. The spartoi reared its sword back up, murderously arcing downwards. Hakugen was pulled out just in time for Bell to complete a double-knife defence, stopping the sword in its tracks. The spartoi, knowing nothing more than to hack and slice, drew its sword back up for another hit.

Bell desperately rolled out of the way, but straight into Ryuu. However, it was out of range of the sword's deadly trajectory. It became lodged in the ground and it gave Bell some time to get up while the spartoi struggled to pull it out.

Every bone in his body hurt - ironically, he was fighting a skeleton. He knew that he had to finish this soon. He couldn't charge Argonaut - his Mind was nowhere near the state it needed to be at for him to pull off a charge. All he could do was to keep blocking and hope for an opening to throw one of the knives into the monster's Magic Stone.

Another slash was blocked by another solid defence, but it didn't allow Bell any time before it came down upon him again. This would only end once one of them ran out of energy and it was undoubtedly going to be Bell who did so first.

Already on his last reserves of energy, Bell fell to his knees before the spartoi after its seventh successive strike. He had all but given up and knew he could survive only one more hit before it was kill or be killed.

The final blow came onto his crossed blades. He grit his teeth, vainly attempting to prevent the sword from coming any closer. It was close enough that he could see all the nicks along the sharp edge. The same edge that would cut into his skull if he didn't do anything soon.

He had run out of options, waited too long. There was no way for him to throw a knife without allowing the sword through. Even the spartoi knew this and shook, as if it were laughing, as it pressed harder on its sword.

But the next instant, it stopped. It stopped moving. Stopped pressing forward. The rattling of its mouth bones, the sound that had been its merciless laughter, had ceased. A short sword had embedded itself within its rib cage, its tip piercing the Magic Stone at the centre.

Bell looked behind him, seeing a drained Ryuu falling on her back once more after watching the result of her careful throw. He collapsed beside her, leaning on the wall next to them. Without a word, he took the potion he had saved out of his belt and opened it. He propped her head onto his leg and raised the tube to her lips. In her state, she couldn't refuse it.

Half the bottle had been consumed when she had recovered enough to stop him from giving her any more.

"Drink the other half yourself."

"…"

Bell didn't move his hand, but he didn't force the rest of the potion down her throat either.

"Noah Heal can take care of the rest," she tried persuading him. He reluctantly downed the rest of the potion, believing her. Ryuu quickly cast Noah Heal on herself to convince him further.

The two of them were silent after that, both unable to produce a conversation. It was hard to say anything under the circumstances they were in.

"You should have left me and gone on your own."

Bell made a sound that almost sounded like he was snarling. "You wish I did."

"I'm a murderer, Mr Cranel… I don't deserve to live."

"You'll be the end of me too if you hold yourself in contempt like that. And quit it with the Mr Cranel. I have a name, so use it, please."

His words sparked a memory within her. He had used her own words, once again - just like that time on the 18th floor.

"Miss Ryuu! Don't hold yourself in contempt. I'll get angry!"

"I'm sorry… it's just that… those spartoi… their skulls… they reminded me of all the people I've brutally killed. My familia members that I sacrificed to save my own life."

Bell couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine. It was as if she was narrating a horror story, and he didn't like it.

"So I ask you again, why didn't you leave me?"

Bell snorted. They were safe for the time being, so he decided one joke wouldn't hurt.

"Syr would hate me for the rest of my life if I left you and returned to Orario alone," he said with a mischievous flicker in his eyes which soon died away. "But also because you're my friend, Ryuu."

He took her hand, feeling her warmth against his.

"A precious friend that I could never leave behind."

Stubborn and straightforward as ever, she continued to disagree with him.

"We're only puppets made for the gods' amusement. We're all the same. Why should I be worth any more than other people?"

"We're much more than that, Ryuu. Humans… Demi-humans, even monsters. We're all the same because we all have a dream," he explained his philosophy to her. "You're worth more because you respect my dream to become the strongest adventurer in the world. You've never laughed at me for wanting that. Nor have you ever questioned my decisions," he continued.

"What if I let my rage take over and turned against you?"

"Then I'd make sure you understand that no matter what, you're always the Ryuu I know," he answered without hesitation, "I won't fight you. Even if it took my life to make sure you understand, I would be okay."

It was enough for Ryuu, who now had tears falling from her eyes.

"Thank you, Bell," she whispered, slowly drifting out of consciousness. She could not be blamed; she was mentally and physically incapacitated due to the events of the past two days. Bell smiled at her, her head still resting on his thighs.

Wait a minute… what is it with me giving waitresses lap pillows?

Bell chuckled quietly, knowing he'd never be able to answer that question. Instead, he took the time he had to decide what his and Ryuu's next move would be. He thought over his previous ideas. It was certain that there would be someone who'd come after them, whether it were Loki Familia or the Xenos. It would've been preferable if it were the Xenos - he had no idea how Loki Familia would treat Ryuu and what would become of her should they be their rescuers.

He decided it probably wouldn't hurt to take a nap himself. He would discuss their options with Ryuu later, when they were both mentally prepared.

A/N - I know I probably should have this at the beginning of the chapter but...

Yeah, I'm back - with a DanMachi fanfiction. Just in case it wasn't obvious that I'm not Fujino Omori, I do not own Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka?, its characters or any of its content for that matter. This'll probably end up being a three (five?) part series, so I hope you enjoyed this one and will read the next. It's been a long time, but I have to say: it's really nice to be writing again.