Let us turn back time before the wind pilgrims from Hjaðningavíg set sail westward; there was a journey home of no less importance.
Above a sea of softly rolling white clouds, a golden wind vortex shot through the sky. Its speed surpassed the fastest bird, gliding soundlessly and leaving no trace. Inside that warm protective wind cocoon, Venti leaned back comfortably.
After sending the Goddess Alecto back to Tenkai in a pillar of light that shook the east, the God of Freedom could finally breathe a little easier.
"We are almost arriving at the center of the world, Venti-sama," Aria said to Venti.
Aria, the Great Spirit of Wind, spoke with a tone full of respect. "Are we going to fly straight over the walls of the Labyrinth City?"
Venti opened one eye, staring at Babel beginning to appear on the horizon, then shook his head slowly.
"Let's not go straight into the city, Aria. Drop us off in a suburban village, a few kilometers before the walls of Orario," Venti answered casually, stretching his still slightly stiff shoulders. "Breaching Orario in your brightly shining Great Spirit form is tantamount to lighting a distress flare in front of Ouranos and the gods. We will descend and walk like ordinary humans."
Aria obeyed the command. Slowly, their flight path lowered, diving very gracefully toward a remote village in the outskirts of Orario. As gently as a leaf falling to the ground, their feet finally touched the dew-covered grass.
Venti took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. However, when he turned to look at Aria, the petite young man immediately frowned.
Aria was too beautiful, and her beauty was a kind of ancient majesty that radiated gentleness. Her golden blonde hair reflected the sunlight as if woven from the sun's rays themselves, and her pair of golden eyes were too conspicuous.
"We have a slight problem," muttered Venti, rubbing his chin, circling Aria with an evaluating gaze. "This appearance of yours is too legendary to take for a walk."
Aria tilted her head, confused. "Legendary?"
"In the world today, the fairy tales about the Hero Albert and the Great Spirit of Wind accompanying him are very famous. The story is read to children before bed," explained Venti. "If you enter Orario like this, the gods will likely recognize you."
Aria's face showed concern. She did not want to bring trouble to the god who had saved her from hell. "Then, what should I do? Should I hide my identity?"
Venti smiled mischievously, snapping his fingers. "No need to go so far as hiding like a ghost. The solution is actually quite simple. We just need to trick the outside world."
In his mind, the reincarnator Venti's brain immediately conjured up the legendary disguise trick that Ryuu Lion would use in the canon DanMachi story later on. The former wanted adventurer only needed to change her hair color, change her name, and blend in as a tavern waitress without a single adventurer or god noticing. A classic trick, but highly effective.
"Wait here a moment," said Venti. He darted off to the village settlement, and returned a few minutes later carrying a small bottle containing natural hair dye commonly used by street dancers.
"Come closer," Venti requested.
Aria complied and sat on a mossy rock. Carefully and with a little help from Anemo manipulation so the color would absorb perfectly, Venti began to alter the color of that legendary golden hair. The radiant blonde color was slowly covered by a very soft pale green pigment. After that, Venti used an elemental light refraction trick to dim the golden shine in Aria's eyes, making them look like a common brownish-hazel color.
Aria stared at her reflection in a nearby puddle, looking amazed. She still looked charming, but now her beauty was that of an ordinary beautiful human girl, no longer the divine beauty of the ancient era.
"Perfect," Venti nodded in satisfaction while wiping his hands. "From now on, as long as we are outside or in the presence of the city public, your name is Sylphie. That name refers to the wind element, it suits you very well. Just consider yourself my first follower whom I happened to find outside the city of Orario."
"Sylphie..." Aria spelled out her new name, absorbing every syllable, then gave a very sweet smile. "I like it. Very well, Venti-sama. In front of other people in this city, I am Sylphie."
"Great! Let's go home, my stomach is already singing for a breakfast made by Alfia."
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Entering Orario turned out to be far easier than expected. The gate guards were still in a tired and tense state due to the high alert following the Black Dragon's roar, so they didn't pay much attention to a petite young god in a green cloak entering with a pale green-haired girl.
Venti ignored the tension enveloping the Labyrinth City. He guided Aria through the cobblestone streets, turning into narrow alleys, until they finally arrived in the courtyard of an abandoned church.
As Venti pushed open the loudly creaking wooden church doors, the aroma of brewed tea immediately greeted his nose.
"Ah, finally ho—"
THWACK!
A thick brick flew at the speed of a bullet and landed squarely on Venti's forehead.
"Ouch!" Venti cried out dramatically, rubbing his reddened forehead while pouting.
In front of the cleaned altar stood Alfia. The silver-haired woman wore her simple black dress, but the aura she emitted right now was far more deadly than a lower-floor monster. Her heterochromatic eyes glared at Venti with burning anger, while her arms were tightly crossed in front of her chest.
"Six days," hissed Alfia, her voice as cold as the winter wind. "You slipped away in the middle of the night. For six days you disappeared without a trace, right when this whole city nearly went crazy because of the Black Dragon's roar from the north!"
Venti laughed awkwardly, picking up the brick that had fallen to the floor. "Ehe... sorry, sorry. That black dragon threw a tantrum because I just annoyed him. Besides, I left a letter for you before I left."
Alfia snorted loudly. She had, of course, read the letter left by her god, but her relief at seeing Venti return safely was perfectly masked by her pride. Alfia's gaze then shifted sharply toward the pale green-haired girl standing quietly behind Venti.
Those heterochromatic eyes narrowed, scanning the girl.
"Wait a minute..." Alfia uncrossed her arms, her facial expression slowly changing from angry to immense awe. She pointed at Aria. "Don't tell me she is... the Great Spirit Aria?"
Aria smiled warmly. Even though her hair and eye color had been changed, her pure aura of majesty could not be completely hidden from a Level 7 adventurer of Alfia's caliber.
"It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Alfia," said Aria, bowing with the elegance of ancient nobility. "As Venti-sama may have told you, yes, my name is Aria. But from now on, to protect myself from the eyes of the outside world, Venti-sama has given me the name Sylphie."
Alfia simply massaged the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply as if the entire weight of the world had just fallen onto her shoulders. Then a soft laugh was heard from the side room.
"Enough, Big Sister. Stop scolding Him. Haven't you been constantly pacing back and forth staring at the door waiting for Him to come home since yesterday?"
Meteria walked slowly into the main room. Meteria only smiled wryly seeing her older sister immediately look away because her pride was exposed, then looked at Venti with a gaze of genuine relief.
Seeing the interaction, Aria couldn't help but smile as well. Having spent thousands of years in darkness and despair, the warmth of a small family caring for each other inside this old church felt like an oasis soothing her soul.
Venti looked at Alfia and Meteria alternately. In his heart, he felt proud. I kept my promise to you, and to the child still in there, Venti thought. I promised I would return. A very busy six days.
Venti pulled out a wooden chair, sat down, and exhaled a long breath. "Ahhh... now this is a proper life. After all the crazy trouble out there is done, I just want to laze around and sleep all day."
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However, Venti's relaxing time did not last long. When the four of them sat in a circle at the wooden table for a simple breakfast, Venti's sharp reincarnator brain suddenly formulated a question that had always been one of the biggest puzzles in the history of DanMachi.
He stared at Aria intently.
Wait a minute, thought Venti. Aria is here with me now. Then... what about her daughter? Ais Wallenstein.
In the memories of his past life regarding the main story of DanMachi, the history of Ais before she was found by the Loki Familia was very blurry. How could a little girl survive for a thousand years without aging, right after the tragedy of the One-Eyed Black Dragon destroyed the Hero Albert's party? Venti only vaguely remembered that the canon version of Alfia would later give a very specific moniker to Ais: The Dungeon Girl.
Driven by his mounting curiosity over the lore of this world, Venti set down his teacup. The warm atmosphere at the table slowly turned slightly more serious when Venti's playful face evaporated without a trace.
"There is one thing that makes me very curious," Venti said slowly, drawing the attention of the three women there.
Aria turned, looking at her god. "What is it, Venti-sama?"
"As a god, I know quite a lot about your past and the legend of the Hero Albert," Venti continued, framing his question carefully yet piercing straight to the heart of the secret. "When your party was defeated by the One-Eyed Black Dragon a thousand years ago... where exactly was your daughter? What happened to Ais after that tragedy?"
Hearing her daughter's name mentioned, Aria's body flinched slightly. Her composure as a Great Spirit faltered slightly under the dark memories of the past. Her eyes, which were now hazel, reflected deep sorrow.
Aria lowered her gaze, staring at her reflection in the calm tea.
"Ais... my little daughter..." murmured Aria, her voice as soft as an autumn breeze, full of a mother's affection. She placed both hands over her chest. "When the tragedy happened... when that dragon destroyed everything and swallowed me into the darkness, everything seemed like the end of the world."
Alfia and Meteria listened with bated breath, witnessing the history of the world that had been tightly buried under the sea of time.
"However, amidst that despair, one of our best comrades, a great High Elf mage named Celdia, managed to escape with Ais," continued Aria, her eyes staring far away, as if piercing through the stone floor of the church and looking straight into the depths of the earth. "To protect Ais from the dragon's pursuit and the destruction happening on the surface, Celdia took her deep into the depths of Orario's underground labyrinth. There, in a mysterious area located between Floor 60 and Floor 61, Celdia used her most powerful ancient ice magic... The Ice Magic [Talia]."
Venti leaned his back against the chair, listening to every word carefully.
"The magic [Talia] is not just ordinary ice," Aria explained, the tone of her voice filled with respect for her past comrade's sacrifice. "It is creation magic that forms a wall of eternal ice, creating an absolute zone known as the Frozen Garden of Talia. That ice serves as a multi-layered automatic defense that cannot be destroyed by monsters from the outside. And most importantly... that ancient magic has the ability to absolutely halt the flow of time for anyone sealed within it."
Hearing the explanation, Alfia's eyes suddenly widened. The mage leaned forward, staring at Aria with a look of immense shock.
"Wait a minute..." cut Alfia, her voice trembling slightly because a major realization had just squarely hit her logic. "Does that mean the little girl sealed in ice in the depths of the Dungeon... is your daughter, Aria?"
Aria turned, slightly surprised by Alfia's reaction, then nodded slowly. "Yes. Ais is my daughter."
Alfia leaned back against her chair roughly, massaging her temples as if trying to calm her brain which was processing the information.
"During my time in the Hera Familia, our executives and the Zeus Familia actually already knew that there was a little girl left over from the Hero era of the past sleeping down there, frozen by time," murmured Alfia, staring straight at Aria with a look of disbelief.
"But... by the gods, I never imagined that the sealed little girl was the flesh and blood of the Hero Albert and you." Alfia shook her head slowly, still trying to accept that truth. "How could a Spirit conceive and have a child with an ordinary human? This truly violates all the laws and biology I've learned."
Aria smiled softly, a maternal smile that radiated unparalleled warmth. "The love between me and Albert... created its own miracle, Alfia. Ais is the tangible proof of that miracle."
Aria then touched the spiritual power in her chest with both hands, closing her eyes for a moment to feel the resonance of life very far down below.
"Even though that dragon took everything from us that day, it did not succeed in taking my daughter's future," said Aria with a tone filled with relief and absolute conviction. She opened her eyes and looked at Venti and Alfia alternately. "As her mother, through an invisible soul connection, I can still feel her to this very second. The thread of Celdia's protective magic still stands strong."
The heavy burden that Aria had borne all this time seemed slightly lifted when she spoke her last sentence.
"Through this connection, I know for sure," whispered Aria, offering a grateful smile. "That my daughter is well-sealed... and she is still safe."