As night came, the moonlight descended, replacing the sunlight as it illuminated Orario.
A full moon hung high in the sky, unobstructed by dark clouds, allowing silver-gauze-like moonlight to pass through Orario's lively city streets and fall upon Twilight Manor, illuminating the courtyard and most of the corridors.
"I'll head back to my room."
"Yeah, good night, everyone."
"Good night."
"See you tomorrow."
After the familia's internal meeting ended, everyone filed out of Finn's office in an orderly manner, exchanging brief farewells as they gradually dispersed.
Riveria and Gareth did not come out.
Loki did not come out either.
It seemed there were still some finer details they wanted to continue discussing.
Under these circumstances, Bete was the first to leave the office, walking off with his hands in his pockets without saying a word.
Raul hurried after him, excitedly talking away behind his back, to the point that even from Bete's retreating figure, one could sense his steadily growing irritation.
Ais also went to her room after exchanging farewells with Riezel and the others, and with that, only Riezel, Tiona, Tione, and Anakitty remained behind.
Of course, it was not that Riezel, Anakitty, and Tione did not want to leave, but rather that their attention had been caught by the strangely behaving Tiona.
"Hmm…"
Tiona had her arms crossed as she stared at Ais's back as it grew more distant, wearing an expression of clear indecision, as though she were debating whether to chase after her.
"What's wrong with you?"
Riezel, who had originally planned to follow after Bete and Raul to return to his room, was the first to notice this scene and asked out of curiosity.
"Quit trying to look all deep. It doesn't suit you."
Tione bluntly exposed her sister without hesitation, making Tiona glare at her with an expression fierce enough to bite someone.
"I'm not trying to look deep! I'm just thinking, okay?!"
Tiona's protest was met only with looks of astonishment.
"You actually think?"
"...Yeah, that really doesn't suit you."
Tione wore a shocked expression, and even Anakitty muttered along, nearly making Tione explode in frustration.
"I might not be good at using my head, but I still think, y'know?!"
Tiona was extremely dissatisfied, just short of formally defending her own reputation on the spot.
"So, what are you thinking about?" Riezel glanced at Ais, who was now far away, and spoke as if pondering something. "Does it have to do with Ais?"
"Yeah..." Tiona admitted it without hesitation. "Y'know, there's still stuff Finn and the others didn't explain at all..."
What things?
Simple.
Riezel, Anakitty, and Tione all thought of it at the same time.
"Is it about 'Aria'?"
Anakitty voiced the matter that had gone unexplained.
"Yeah, that's it." Tiona nodded over and over. "Why'd that thing, those Creatures or whatever, call Ais 'Aria'? And the Demi Spirit on the 59th Floor called Ais 'Aria' too, right? Finn and the others gotta know why, but they didn't say a single thing about it just now."
Her words made both Tione and Anakitty frown as they fell into thought.
Riezel, on the other hand, asked a question for the time being.
"You're saying the Demi Spirit on the 59th Floor called Ais 'Aria' too?"
Because he had arrived deliberately late, he had not witnessed what happened before the expedition party engaged the Demi Spirit in battle.
"Yeah!"
Tiona, knowing this better than anyone, explained it clearly to Riezel as one of the people involved.
"When we ran into that Demi Spirit, she kept yelling 'Aria' at Ais, and even said she wanted to merge with her."
"Back then, Ais was acting really weird. I remember she looked scared, like straight-up freaked out, and kinda in disbelief too, like she didn't wanna accept that that monster was a spirit."
"But Ais was the first one to figure out that the monster was a spirit."
For this reason, everyone had, more or less, developed a vague suspicion that there was some kind of connection between Ais and the Corrupted Spirit—and that this connection had caused the Corrupted Spirit, which intended to bring destruction to Orario, to fix her gaze upon Ais, even going so far as to send out Creatures to target her directly.
Back then, those who had participated in the conquest of the 59th Floor had all realized this and were puzzled by it.
Yet today, although Finn had explained the current situation based on the information provided by Riezel, combined with his own grasp of the circumstances and his conjectures, he had not mentioned Ais at all, not even bringing up the name 'Aria,' which was impossible not to notice.
Evidently, this caused no small amount of inner turmoil for the not-so-bright amazoness, which was why she stood in place now, staring intently at Ais's back, as if she might discover something just by looking hard enough.
Riezel did not know what to say in response and could only remain silent.
However, Anakitty and Tione seemed to have opened the floodgates and began discussing the matter.
"Judging by the captain's attitude, it doesn't look like he just missed it. Feels more like he straight-up avoided bringing it up on purpose."
Tione understood her beloved's way of thinking very well.
"Maybe it's about personal privacy?" Anakitty said quietly, as though she had guessed something. "Ais obviously knows what's going on, but she just doesn't wanna talk about it. And the captain and the others probably thought about that and decided to respect her wishes, so they just kept quiet."
"But why hide it?" Tiona tilted her head. "Aren't we all family now?"
In response, the usually silent Riezel spoke calmly.
"Even with family, there are things people just don't wanna talk about," Riezel chimed in, looking at the amazoness twins, Tiona and Tione, with a pointed implication. "Everyone's got a past they don't want people digging into, and everyone has secrets they can't just casually spill, right?"
Hearing this, Tiona immediately fell silent—even Tione clicked her tongue, as if she had been reminded of something unpleasant.
Clearly, these two were exactly the kind of people Riezel had been referring to.
"...Since that's the case, we probably shouldn't dig into this stuff too much," Anakitty said, as if trying to change the subject when she keenly sensed that the atmosphere had turned awkward. "As long as the captain and the others get it, that's enough. We just need to trust Ais and trust the captain."
"Of course, I trust the captain." Tione snapped out of her thoughts of the past and immediately stated her stance. "If the captain's not saying anything, then he's gotta have his reasons. Hey, you idiot Tiona, you're not allowed to doubt the captain's decision, got it?"
"I'm not doubting Finn's decision!" Tiona replied unhappily. "I'm just wondering if the Aria those monsters mentioned is the same Aria I know, that's all!"
As soon as she said that, the two women present aside from Riezel were clearly startled.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You actually know who Aria is?"
Tione and Anakitty asked hurriedly.
In response, Tiona answered with striking decisiveness.
"Didn't I just say it? I don't even know if the Aria those monsters were talking about is the same Aria I know!" Tiona puffed out her cheeks. "You guys seriously haven't heard of it? The story of the Great Spirit Aria!"
""Story...?""
Tione and Anakitty immediately looked completely confused.
Only then did Riezel speak again.
"...You're talking about the Great Spirit Aria from Dungeon Oratoria, right?"
Riezel's overly calm words instantly drew everyone's attention.
"Riezel, you know it too? Dungeon Oratoria!"
Tiona's eyes shone as she moved right up in front of Riezel.
"Of course I know it," Riezel replied in the same calm tone. "It's a world-famous work, after all."
In this world, because countless heroic deeds of humanity fighting monsters had taken place in ancient times, stories depicting heroic exploits had emerged one after another.
Some of these stories indeed employed exaggerated expressions and dramatic techniques, but others adhered very closely to historical fact, because those heroic deeds had truly happened and were not merely fabricated.
Even so, broadly speaking, the stories and heroic epics passed down among the various races often differed in content, mainly because each race tended to praise and revere heroes of their own race, sometimes even deliberately belittling heroes of other races to highlight the greatness of their own.
A valiant figure who appeared in dwarven heroic epics might be portrayed as a strange and cowardly individual in the elf scriptures that held dwarves in low regard.
A warrior who appeared in pallum tales might, in the oral traditions of the beast-humans, be nothing more than a weak and useless hindrance.
Likewise, the tendency to exaggerate heroes of one's own race while diminishing those of others was common in the stories and heroic epics of every race.
As a result, although the heroic deeds themselves may have truly occurred, the content of many such tales had strayed from historical fact due to biased and partial perspectives.
Dungeon Oratoria, however, was a work recognized even by the various gods—not only was it vast in scope, but it was also widely regarded as the closest to historical truth.
It was a world-class masterpiece, a heroic epic about which even the gods would unanimously say, "Most of what's written here really happened."
Within this world-renowned work was a story that was particularly familiar to people everywhere.
It was the story of a great figure known as the 'last hero.'
"In the final chapter of Dungeon Oratoria, the most heroic figure, a man named Albert, appears."
"He was someone who, in ancient times, led various races, had numerous companions, and called himself a mercenary, an explorer."
"He's considered the origin of modern adventurers. He entered the Dungeon many times, explored its secrets, and is therefore regarded by some as the king of adventurers."
"By his side were not only companions of many races, such as elves, dwarves, beast-humans, pallums, and amazonesses, but also a spirit who stayed with him throughout his life, standing by his side and sharing everything with him."
Riezel recounted this well-known story in his calm voice.
"And the spirit was named Aria, an existence capable of wielding powerful wind magic, displaying magical power that surpassed even that of elves."
At these words, both Tione and Anakitty reacted.
"Powerful…"
"Wind magic…"
Tione and Anakitty exchanged a surprised glance.
"Doesn't that sound a lot like Ais's wind, Ariel?" Tiona asked, clearly having already made the connection.
Indeed, it was impossible not to think of Ais's extraordinary wind magic, Ariel.
It possessed power far beyond that of ordinary enchant-type magic, yet required only an extremely short chant to activate.
Even among elves, a race naturally gifted in magic, such magic had never been seen. And even if it had existed, it certainly could not have been activated with a chant that short.
Power of that caliber could likely rival, or even slightly surpass, enchantment magic cast with an ultra-long chant.
If such magic appeared in a spirit—an existence skilled at wielding miracles, hailed as part god, a beloved child of the gods, and even more representative and mysterious than elves—then it might actually make sense.
Could it be...
"Ais is that Great Spirit Aria?"
Tione was startled by her own words.
"No, that's impossible..."
Anakitty immediately refuted her, shaking her head in denial.
"I've heard the legend of the Great Hero Albert, and yeah, I know about Dungeon Oratoria."
"I didn't read it super carefully or anything, but it's based on ancient legends—stories about heroes from before the gods came down a thousand years ago."
"After that much time, other than the gods, what race could still even be alive today?"
Admittedly, elves and spirits were both famously long-lived races.
Take Riveria as an example—she had to have been at least well over ninety years old by now, but among the elves, her age could hardly be considered old—at most, only Bete dared to call her an old hag.
Still, even if spirits were adept at wielding miracles and were said to be part god, they could not live for a thousand years, so the idea that Ais was Aria could be dismissed outright.
"Could she be Aria's descendant?" Tiona boldly offered another guess. "Like, maybe the Great Spirit Aria is Ais's ancestor or something?"
"Idiot, that's even more impossible," Tione retorted with a frown. "Spirits are basically part god, same level as the gods themselves. They can't have kids. Did you seriously forget that?"
"Ugh... then I seriously have no clue anymore!"
Tiona grabbed her head as if in pain, roughly and messily tangling up her own hair.
"The only Aria I know is the Great Spirit Aria from Dungeon Oratoria. And the one who called Ais Aria was a spirit too. I mean, that spirit was probably some spirit who went into the Dungeon back in ancient times, died horribly, and got eaten by monsters, which is how she ended up corrupted."
"Finn basically said that, didn't he? That's why I kinda think the Aria the Demi Spirit mentioned has gotta be the Great Spirit Aria."
"...When you put it like that, yeah, I guess it's possible..." Tione said, her brow knitting tighter and tighter. "But even if that Corrupted Spirit knew the Great Spirit Aria, why would she mix Ais up with Aria?"
Her question was not only beyond Tiona—it even left the usually calm and sharp-minded Anakitty at a loss.
However, Anakitty soon noticed that Riezel had remained calm the entire time, never once affirming or denying their discussion, which made her pause.
"Mr. Riezel, do you happen to know something?"
Anakitty's question caused the amazoness twins to freeze for a moment before turning their gazes toward Riezel.
It was not impossible.
Although he had not known Ais for long, he was the only person so far who got along exceptionally well with her, and the only one rumored to be romantically involved with her.
Perhaps he really did know something.
Just as everyone thought this, Riezel shook his head.
"Nah, what I know isn't as much as you imagine."
What he said was the truth.
===
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