One by one, the impromptu meeting room we decided on got progressively more filled as the scattered party members reconvened. Before long, everyone was silently sitting around as we all waited for someone to break the ice. I was too angry at them for trying to force me and Marina to have such… relations, and they knew that. In a way, I’m glad that no one’s speaking up, because knowing them they’d probably just blurt something insensitive out like nothing happened, so who cares?

“A-Ahem,” Sullivan cleared his throat, “I would… like to apologize to Lu-err, Mr. Grimheart. What we did was uncalled for.”

“Why so distant all of a sudden, Sully?” I egged him on by calling him by his nickname with a shit-eating grin in the hopes that it would provoke him.

“Sull-?! Ah, heh… Y-You’re right, Lune, we’re f-friends after all.” He tried to sound friendly, “There’s no need to feel so… distant.” He averted his gaze away from mine.

“My ass we are!” I got up from my seat, “I have tons of friends and not a single one has tried to make me have sex with a mentally underdeveloped girl!”

“Whoa there, let’s not phrase it so badly.” Linus tried to sit me back down, “Marina over here said she consented, and her body is the same age as yours.”

“You’re all sick in the head!” I shouted back, packing my things to leave the room.

“Hey, dumbass, sit the fuck down!” Miss Lionheart ordered me, “I personally don’t care at all what your story is. We’re just following the Book’s orders to make sure we get out of here alive!”

“Exactly!” Sullivan chimed in, “That’s why me and Genevra had s-se…” He bit his tongue before he could finish his sentence, but everyone knew what he was getting at.

“Oh my, is that the only reason you embraced me, Sully?” Miss Lionheart teased him, “But you were so forceful, I was convinced there was more to our relationship…”

“U-Uhhh! W-Well…” He was put on the spot so he fumbled over his words a little before Marina interrupted us all.

“Helloooooo Yelloooooo! Why’s everyone making such a fuss?” She asked.

“Well, the others tried to make us do something we’d regret.” I tried my best to explain our situation to the carefree Marina.

“But I’m incapable of feeling regret!” She said, “No matter what happens, I’ll always be as happy as a clam!”

“Even still, the same doesn’t apply for me, so please keep that in mind.” I explained to her my reasoning behind this, “I have a loving girlfriend who I plan to propose to soon, and our baby daughter. They’d both be devastated if we allowed this to happen.”

“I dunno, but I don’t really care either.” She remarked with an indifferent tone.

“Speaking of Marina,” Sullivan pointed out, “what are we gonna tell the ITA? Or even her family for that matter? We can’t just leave her like this.”

He seemed to be a bit distraught from her new carefree personality, which is something I can at least appreciate about the guy. He may be a bit difficult to talk with, but it seems he cares for his teammates at least.

“Well, we have two options.” Sullivan spoke up, “We can try and get her back to normal, or leave her as she is. Personally, I’d take the former of the two.”

“Let’s just try our best to get out of here alive first.” Miss Lionheart said, “We can worry about her state of mind later.”

“Genevra, we can’t leave her like this!” Sullivan tried persuading her.

“Oh come on, Sully! As a self-proclaimed experienced adventurer, you should know firsthand that our lives take priority. Time is of the essence, we mustn’t let ourselves get buried by the snow outside!” She lashed out at him.

Again, it seems we’ve hit an impasse. No matter what choice we take, someone is gonna end up unsatisfied with the decision. I don’t really trust any of them (safe from Marina), so it’s best if I come up with something before someone else does.

“Let’s just advance to the next floor for now, we’ll try to get Marina back to normal during our stay here. If she returns to her senses then it’s all the better, and if not I’ll take her back to Great Hiana to try and get her back to her family.” I suggested.

I didn’t like the idea of sending her home and ending her adventuring career early, but it seems we have no other choice. She’s safest at home, after all, so I can at least guarantee her safety if we go through with this plan. Plus, it’s a sort of middle ground where both sides should be satisfied.

“Does that mean I get to see Mom and Dad again? Hooray!” Marina jumped with joy as she gave me a hug (Really, if she didn’t have the body of an adult, I’d adopt her).

“Yeah, I like that idea. Let’s go with that.” Sullivan agreed with my plan.

“Hmph! Whatever, as long as we get to continue with this dungeon raid.” Miss Lionheart scoffed.

“Great, now that everything’s settled…” I tried to enter the door to the next floor.

“Hold it there, kiddo.” Old Man Linus suddenly spoke up, “You forgot to explain one thing to us. How did you burn that rope we tied you up with?”

Looks like they caught on to my Spark ability. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone found out, but having it be these guys is pretty rotten luck.

…Crap, now that I think about it, I used Spark once again to free myself of the rope, didn’t I?

“I uhh, I had matches with me. I used those to set the rope aflame.” I tried to use the same old excuse I always use.

“We stripped you naked, remember?” Sullivan looked me in the eyes, “You weren’t carrying any matches on you.”

Foiled again…

“You used the power of a Red Iro, didn’t you?” Miss Lionheart suddenly revealed my secret.

Everyone (including me) looked at her with our eyes wide open. They started questioning her about what she was talking about, but I was more so wondering how she knew about Spark.

“My sister has a Red Iro. Every time she would get a bit too angry, she could produce fierce flames from the palm of her hands seemingly from thin air.” She spoke calmly, “It’s something she learned at a tender age, but since it wasn’t common knowledge, our family kept her talent a secret from the world in fear of her getting taken away from us.”

We stared at her for a few seconds before Sullivan broke the silence in the room.

“Phah! What’s up with that!” Sullivan started laughing at the prospect, “Flames from her palms? Quit it with the hilarious jokes! Besides, Lune’s obviously a Green… Iro…?” He pointed to my bright red eyes as I demonstrated Spark to them.

“Wha-!?” Old Man Linus broke out in a cold sweat as he looked on with the others in pure bewilderment.

“This is something I’ve learned recently, and I certainly can’t spew fire out like your sister, Miss Lionheart, but I can control this much.” I said as I put the flame out from my fingertip.

“Wow! That’s incredible, Big Bro Lune, you’re so talented!” Marina praised me.

Big Bro… Lune? Hearing her call me that is kind of weird…

“Don’t call me that.” I rejected the nickname flat out.

“Why not? Everyone here is my Big Bro or Sis, cause we’re all a big family!” She proudly professed.

“Even me?” Old Man Linus asked about his title.

“You’re a Grandpa!” Marina said, still smiling.

“I’ll take it.” He said with a distant gaze and a tear in his eye.

“Ahem, in any case,” Sullivan shifted the topic back to me, ”Why didn’t you say anything about this amazing power? It would’ve made our journey way more convenient!”

I wasn’t sure if I should tell them the reason or not. I did vow to keep the secret to my grave, but if I don’t be compliant with them then I’m afraid my grave might be right under me pretty soon. That said, I took a deep breath and said with a trembling tone:

“Because… Because this very power killed a very dear friend of mine.” I remembered Carter’s face, “From that day I swore to never use it, but it looks like my body uses it subconsciously to get me out of sticky situations.”

The room went quiet, the air suddenly felt heavier. I didn’t intent to make them feel bad, but it appears they at least believed me when I said this. Did I make the aura in the party awkward? Yes. Does it clear my name whilst simultaneously making them feel bad? Certainly. All in all I think I made the right choice on this one.

They stood there for a solid minute trying to think of a proper way to say something before finally leaving the matter be and quietly walking through the door to the next floor with me.

***

We were now nearing the end of the dungeon, or at least we thought so, as the Book was starting to mention the outside in its predictions. Everyone was experiencing a mix of happiness, hatred, love and desire towards the dungeon. On one hand, a couple (Sullivan and Miss Lionheart) was born, but Marina lost her sense of danger (although she doesn’t feel all too sad about it). Old Man Linus and I are slowly starting to accept a lot of bad things, making it look like we’re both going crazy (or were we crazy from the start? In any case, I know he was.)

The room we entered was very large, almost too large. So large, in fact, that we couldn’t see the exit to it no matter where we stood. A layer of something fog-like gently covered the floor of the room, making the room feel way more ominous than it should be. In reality, it’s just a normal room, albeit with abnormally large dimensions.

One thing that was apparent, though, was that the room was very warm. We had to actually take off our coats from the heat. I have no idea what’s keeping this room so warm, but even without my coat, I could still feel sweat starting to drip from my forehead.

“Lionheart,” Old Man Linus suddenly addressed her, “what does the Book say?”

“Ugh, let me see…” She stopped to read the Book.

“A fearsome foe awaits the protagonist’s party as they traverse through these pits of Hell.”

“Oh, we’re in Hell now? Cool.” Sullivan said nonchalantly.

“Hold on, does it say anything about this Fearsome Foe of ours?” I asked her to read through it once more.

“Nope, zilch.” She closed the book before using it as a napkin to wipe the sweat from her skin.

“Hey! That Book’s a priceless artifact, be more careful with it!” Sullivan tried to reprimand her, but to no avail.

“I’m sure you’d agree my sweat only adds value to it.” She said seductively.

He gulped as his face went flush, but I’m not sure if he was blushing from the heat or something else entirely (damned lovebirds…)

We made some more small talk before arriving at the door with surprisingly little issues. No foe or anything, but strangely enough we decided not to enter the door just yet. Instead we sat down and awaited its arrival.

“We can’t press onward before this fearsome foe is dealt with!” We all agreed unanimously. To this day I still have no idea why we didn’t just leave the room…

One minute, two minutes, half an hour, two hours… We waited and waited before we saw any signs of a monster. We were getting antsy by now, and were ready to beat up any living creature that came our way, be it fearsome or not.

Just then, we saw a Minotaurus from afar. It was a giant, bull-like being that stood upright on its hind legs. Yes, it’s bipedal, and very dangerous. If it saw us, we’d most definitely be in trouble, which can only mean one thing.

“There it is! The fearsome foe from the Book!” We screamed out as we excitedly picked up our weapons and ran towards it.

Look, cut us some slack. The heat was getting to us, and we weren’t really thinking clearly.

As soon as the Minotaurus spotted us, it roared with all its might, bringing us back to our senses as we realized just how stupid we were acting. Running wasn’t an option, as a Minotaurus is (surprisingly) faster than a human. We had no other choice but to fight it somehow.

“Guess I can finally try out my sword!” I said as I ran to slice it up.

*DINK*

The weapon did almost zero damage to it.

“Wha-!?” I quickly got thrown to the side by the Minotaurus, “Why didn’t the weapon do anything? It’s made of Titanium, damn it!”

The others who heard this collectively facepalmed as they reminded me “Titanium swords are merely replicas meant to look shiny, dumbass!”

The reason they never mentioned this before is because I never actually pulled it out of my scabbard. Guess I’m the idiot this time, but why didn’t that damned clerk mention anything about this? WHO NEEDS REPLICA SWORDS?!?

Before I could get crushed under the Minotaurus’ deadly hooves, Miss Lionheart pulled me aside with an Instarope. To think it could be used like this, she must be really good with ropes…

“Don’t die now, idiot, we need you alive if we want the Book’s prophecies to come true!” She said without breaking eye contact with the deadly beast.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this!” Sullivan said as he readied his bow and arrow, shooting it precisely in the right eye, “There! Just one more left!”

He tried firing off a few more arrows towards its remaining eye, but the beast quickly learned his tricks and protected his good eye. Looks like blinding it isn’t an option.

Just then, Old Man Linus jumped on its back and started bashing its head in as much as he could. But how did he manage to jump on it without getting spotted?

“Heh, I didn’t shoot its right eye for nothing!” Sullivan smirked as he answered my question, “The Old Man snuck up on its right side, its blind spot!”

I was pleasantly surprised, these guys are actually capable! But this praise was short lived, as the Minotaurus quickly shook Linus off its back. Its head was so bashed in that it hardly retained its shape, it was gruesome how it was still alive despite its brains being completely turned to mush.

“I thought if we blinded and dazed it, we could escape, but it looks like we aren’t as lucky.” Linus said as he picked himself up from the ground.

Something you should know about Minotauri, they don’t die from blunt hits. No matter how much you disfigure, dismember or otherwise harm them, they’ll live on and simply regenerate after a while and come back. The only way to kill it would be to either drown it or burn it.

“Lune, it’s covered in fur! We can set it aflame with your Spark ability!” Miss Lionheart snapped her fingers as she turned to me, “I don’t know anything about that friend of yours, but if you were really friends, then I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you using it. It’s a gift, not a curse, dammit!”

Who are you to be talking in Carter’s stead? You have no idea what he’d say! No, wait…

What she was saying is something I knew full well. Carter’s probably laughed at me from the heavens every time I tried to use Spark but opted not to. Even still, I vowed not to, so… why am I nodding my head in agreement? Why am I running towards this beast with flames in my hands, ready to kill it as brutally as possible? Why is… the crackling of fire singing its terrifying song once more?

***

We walk to the door leading to the next room. Everyone is praising each other for a job well done as we greet Marina, who stayed still like a good girl as the fight raged on. We thanked her for taking care of our stuff, but she quickly noticed something.

“Big Bro Lune, why are you crying?” She asked.

Everyone turned to realize the tears dripping from my face. If they didn’t know any better, they’d laugh at me for being a crybaby, but they simply gave me a group hug in order to try and cheer me up.

“I’m sorry for forcing you to do this.” Miss Lionheart quietly said, “But there was simply no other way.”

“You did well, champ.” Sullivan chose to praise me, “If it’s alright with you, I’d like you to one day teach me how to use this gift of yours. I mean, if you could learn it, then its surely not something you’re born with!”

“Listen, kid, I have nothing but respect for you.” Old Man Linus looked me in the eyes, “You are someone who is worthy of their title of Adventurer. Wear it proudly, I’m sure your friend is proud of you.”

I wasn’t expecting this, like, at all. For these guys to actually treat me like this? It’s unheard of! Well, it’s not like I’m crying because I broke my vow. In fact, I think they’re right about Carter wanting me to use this. He would always have me use it as a party trick, laughing and cheering as if it’s the most fun he’s had in his life. No, I’m crying because I don’t know what’s gotten over me.

I didn’t feel a single bone in my body as I leapt to attack the Minotaurus. I didn’t even flinch as it yelped in pain, its flesh melting in the palm of my hand. I saw what was happening, I could process it, but I couldn’t feel it. It was as if someone else was controlling me entirely. It felt… disgusting. As someone who values their own freedom, it felt like I got violated by my instinct for self-preservation.

“Gasp! Everyone, you’re wounded all over!” Marina looked on at our wounded state in horror, “I can’t let this go on! Everyone, sit down and let me patch you up!”

“No offense, Marina, but we don’t really trust your nursing ability-” Sullivan was interrupted midsentence.

“Shut it, Big Bro Sully! I may not look it, but I come from a long line of world-renowned doctors!” She said, proudly lifting her chest up high.

We turned to Miss Lionheart, who quickly flipped through the pages of the Book as if it were common sense.

“Surprising as it is, what Marina said turned out to be true, as after a short break, the protagonist and her party felt better than ever.”

… We’re in your care, Nurse Marina.