"Now then, Bellf. Let's make a deal."
"What?"
The executives spoke with grave expressions, while Bellf still hadn't quite grasped the gravity of the situation.
"We need you."
"I'm not joining in anymore. Besides, it's not like the sky is going to fall just because I'm out, right?"
"..."
Bellf still didn't seem to understand his own value.
Before the expedition, the Loki Familia executives had viewed Bellf as nothing more than a babysitter, or at best, a skilled blacksmith.
But after the expedition, their assessment of him had been completely overturned.
"Ugh... this tastes awful..."
"So you've been eating things like this all this time."
"Haha... I just want to get back to the surface soon."
"There's still some firewood left, right?"
"Huh?"
"The leftover ingredients. Bring them here."
He had made it possible to indulge in warm, delicious meals within the Dungeon—a luxury that should have been impossible in such a place.
"Roar, tempest...!"
"Aiz! You again..."
"If you don't come back right now, you won't get your share of the potato stew."
"I'm sorry! Anything but that...!"
"..."
He could control Aiz even when she lost her reason and charged blindly at monsters that resembled dragons.
"Trace on... [Rho Aias]!"
"Kazuki!!!"
He could mass-produce magic swords capable of dealing fatal wounds to Deep Floor monsters—even when wielded by lower-level Familia members—while simultaneously deploying barriers that could effortlessly block enemy attacks.
On top of that, he never caused trouble; he listened and acted with perfect professionalism.
"You're... an indispensable asset to this expedition...!"
Finn and the other three executives were desperate.
Expeditions that had always been nothing but agony had, simply because Bellf Crozzo had joined them, shifted from unbearable torture to something that no longer felt like hell.
But what if Bellf Crozzo didn't come along?
What if the man who handled combat, support, and logistics all perfectly was absent?
"We'd be dragged back into that hell all over again..."
"...So you want me to join the expedition?"
"Exactly."
"No."
"Aaaah!!! Please!!!"
Finn clung to Bellf's nagrang and begged.
Anyone watching might have called it pathetic, but Finn was truly that desperate.
"You're going to stretch out my nagrang. Let go."
"I won't!"
"I'm not an adventurer. I'm not in the business of exploring the Dungeon."
"Since when is there a rule that blacksmiths can't go on adventures?!"
"I've heard that adventurers shouldn't go adventuring either, so wouldn't that mean blacksmiths definitely shouldn't?"
"Who was it?! Who said that!!!"