Over this past year, the Xenos had all been rather busy.
Their biggest task was to help the Guild monitor the situation with the tainted Spirits in the deep floors, serving as the city's "scouts" within the Dungeon.
And so, the Xenos' high-tier combat power had basically all headed down to the deep floors.
The Guild, in keeping with the agreement, would from time to time use the elevator in the Artificial Labyrinth to bring them out of the Dungeon, letting them live on the surface for a while.
Granted, the place where they stayed was still the Demeter Familia's hidden granary tucked away in the Beio Mountain Range, so they couldn't just wander around freely.
But for the Xenos, even that was already enough.
As for the future—Fels had some rather complicated and long-term ideas about it.
Step by step, get the city's residents accustomed to the existence of the Xenos, then find the right moment to make it public, so that they could truly live on the surface.
On this point—whether it was Fels, who had already lived for several hundred years, or the great god Ouranos, including the Xenos themselves—none of them were in any hurry at all.
Isagi did happen to have a pretty decent idea, but now wasn't the time to explain it. For instance...
They could actually livestream the process of hunting down terrifying monsters like the tainted Spirits, and then have the Xenos pitch in to help, boosting the goodwill of the city's residents and so on.
Well, that was definitely a matter for "later."
And right now—after spotting Marie sprawled out and snoring away among the bathing pools, Isagi marched right up and delivered a "hand-chop" to the little rascal!
"Owww!"
Listening to that dopey little yelp of pain come drifting over.
The adorable girl clutched her little head, looking utterly on the verge of tears, which honestly just made you want to keep teasing her some more.
"What was that for?!"
"How long have you been sleeping here?"
No idea!
Said with righteous indignation!!
Because Marie really didn't know!!
Among all the Xenos, the little mermaid girl was the most idle one of the bunch. After all, she was a bit of an airhead, and weak besides, so Ray and the others didn't feel comfortable letting her actually go do anything.
And the most important thing of all—Marie was one of the rare "healers" among the Xenos.
Her blood was comparable to the [Elixir] that Airmid produced. Normally, as long as the other Xenos still had a breath left in them, they could return to base, get a single drop of blood from Marie's fingertip, and quickly be back to bouncing around full of life.
Isagi had even heard that when this little rascal went up to the surface, she got along quite well with Airmid and the others.
The reason being that the girl had once gone to ask Marie for some "mermaid's blood," and ended up just "swindling" a whole lot of it out of her with some potato balls and tasty treats—so much so that even Airmid felt a little guilty about it, and afterward took the little dummy out to eat plenty of delicious food.
Back then, just hearing Lefiya tell the story had given Isagi a headache.
Sometimes, just listening to a dummy's stories was enough to leave a person feeling exhausted.
In short, for the little mermaid Marie, whenever she was down in the Dungeon, she'd spend every day at the Great Waterfall or in some "secret hidden room," soaking in hot springs, swimming, and singing.
The moment someone came looking for her, she'd hurry back to base to eat, sleep, and provide healing for her kin.
Up on the surface, she'd spend every day playing around in the Beio Mountain Range, or get taken by Airmid and Lefiya and the others on picnics and outings through the forested hills.
Now that was what you'd call a carefree life.
Of course, she also wouldn't remember exactly what had happened.
To Marie, every day seemed the same, yet also a little different—nothing at all worth committing to memory.
This was the carefree innocence of a child, wasn't it.
And so, Isagi could only adopt the tone you'd use to coax a kid as he asked the little rascal a question.
"So, is there anything that Marie does remember?"
"Hmm!"
Cupping her little face, tilting it slightly upward.
Marie put on a thinking expression, mulling it over for a long while, and at last seemed to recall something.
"Mother seems to be looking for Miss Ray and the others."
"Ah..."
The Siren Ray.
One of the leaders of the Xenos—though of course, by her own account, she had simply been among the earliest to become a Xenos, so she had to look after everyone, that was all.
A gentle presence, like an older sister.
And it was only when Marie put it that way that Isagi remembered Miss Ray hadn't been in the Dungeon for this entire stretch of time.
Not just for the past month or two.
But ever since several months ago, back when it was still winter—that very day when he himself had gone to find Miss Asfi, and she was about to leave the city to head off and carry out some sort of commission.
Word had it that Miss Ray and a portion of the "Xenos" had gone along with her.
The Guild reportedly had no choice in the matter.
They were shorthanded. Normally they shouldn't have dispatched the Xenos out of the city to go carry out commissions elsewhere—after all, an incident was far too easy to occur.
Something like [A Talking Monster Has Appeared].
If they were discovered over in some other country, who knew what kind of panic might break out.
But there really was a great deal going on right now, while the number of adventurers able to head out and carry out commissions was severely lacking.
The Hermes Familia seemed to have been split up and dispatched out, every last one of them—and that was because the high-end combat power of the Loki and Freya Familias had recently all been off adventuring with him in the special Dungeon.
For the city, the top priority was to first let Riveria, Ottar, and the others level up, and then go hunt down the tainted Spirits in the deep floors.
As for that previously promised task of helping the Academic District deal with the [Visiting Dragon] along with a whole series of commissions—those could only be handed off to adventurers from other Familias.
It was said that even a portion of the Ganesha Familia's officers had been dispatched out.
On top of that, the Loki Familia's Bete, Tione, and Alicia, as well as the Freya Familia's flame-gold four brothers and other backbone forces, had all gone out to carry out commissions during this period.
So in an emergency, the only option was to mobilize the Xenos—and that, too, couldn't be helped.
After all, in theory, Ray and the others were now the city's "high-end combat power."
Back when the Xenos had fought in the Artificial Labyrinth, they were already at the Lv. 5 level. With the Guild sponsoring Magic Stones during this period, and them eating every single day, their level increases had been quite pronounced.
Take Xenos leaders like Ray, Lyd, and Gros—they'd all gone from Lv. 5 up to the Lv. 6 level.
Many of the Xenos had also climbed from around Lv. 3 to Lv. 4, on up to Lv. 5.
In a certain sense, if the Xenos really could be counted as the great god Ouranos's "private legion," then their strength could already be reckoned among the "strongest" in the city.
"The Dark Mother is calling out for Big Sister Ray to hurry back."
Marie went on mumbling.
And at this, Isagi seemed to grasp the whole cause and effect. Could it be that the Dungeon wanted Ray to come back and serve as an NPC, but because she wasn't currently in the Dungeon, it couldn't find her—which in turn left his own "story line" on the lower floors stuck in some sort of deadlock state?
In that case... should he maybe consider waiting until Ray and the others got back before the next Dungeon adventure?
____
👻🔥P-a-t-r-e-o-n: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: Rewriting Fate in New Eridu — new on The_Mikudayo
📚 40 chapters ahead over at Walnut-chan — your support is what pays for the translations
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all