"That's how it was back then."
"What is, An?"
"No, nothing."
That was my first meeting with Lili and Tiona.
What happened after that?
It was pretty obvious, wasn't it?
We took care of the unconscious Tiona, and once she woke up, I explained the full situation and cleared up the misunderstanding. After that, we got along just fine.
And I caught Lili, who had been hiding nearby, and calmly talked her into never doing that again. By "talked her into it," I mean I threatened her.
Of course, that only applied to me.
The rest of it wasn't my problem.
Ah, and I also carried out the promised flame forehead flick as scheduled.
Lili, with tears welling up in her eyes from the pain, was honestly adorable.
I'm definitely not a sadist, but even I understood that feeling pretty well at the time.
The girl had a pretty dark side to her, but that only gave her a certain fragile charm, which made teasing her all the more satisfying.
"I'm not going to cry like that again."
"Hm? Did I say anything?"
"It's all over your face. You were thinking of some excuse to bully Lili and make her cry again, weren't you? You're a real pervert, An."
"Oh dear, what a shame."
And so the two of us chatted idly as we descended into the Dungeon.
Then, once we'd gone down to a place with fewer people around, I began my work.
"[Boil, my blood]."
Twitch, twitch... gurgle, bubble!
"[Autonomous defense, automatic search, designated attack: activate]."
The beautiful silver spherical organism before me.
Like a slime made of molten metal, it trembled once at my command and activated the functions inscribed within it.
Yes, there was no need to hide it.
This was the famed El-Melloi's prized top-grade magic item, "Volumen Hydrargyrum."
Well, a minor copy of it.
Under normal circumstances, it would never be in anyone else's hands, nor could it be.
But I had succeeded in making that impossibility a reality in this world.
Unfortunately, I didn't do it all alone.
I'm not some absurdly gifted monster beyond all reason, after all.
Instead, I lured in a certain talent freak who could make it possible, figured out the core components somehow, and then, despite all sorts of practical limitations, I used materials from this world to finally succeed in reproducing it, even if only as a degraded version.
Mm, now that's a true example of human triumph.
Imitation is the mother of creation. Long live it.
"I wonder what kind of reaction I'd get if that sadistic princess found out about this."
She'd probably come marching over in person to cut off Flat's and my heads on the spot.
The Professor would sigh and take stomach medicine along with a string of curses, Gray would panic and try to stop the princess, and the rest would probably just laugh, chatter, and enjoy the spectacle.
"Homesick, huh."
All things considered, life in that Familia had been pretty enjoyable.
Well, I was in a position where I could never go back there again, but even so, I still lived each day dreaming of romance as always.
So everyone can relax. I'll gratefully enjoy this one myself.
Squirm, squirm
"It's such a mysterious magic item, no matter how many times I see it."
Meanwhile, Volumen Hydrargyrum was busily doing its job with its built-in functions.
It automatically searched for prey by targeting creatures with a certain amount of magic stones inside their bodies.
Lili watched as it extended bundles of thin silver tendrils like strands of rope in every direction to search for targets, still looking at it with wonder.
I'd shown it to her plenty of times already. Shouldn't she be used to it by now?
"Right? It's one of my five masterpieces."
"...You have four more things on that level?"
"No, just planning to."
"Planning to? What does that mean, An?"
"A true best-of collection should have about five entries."
"As expected, An, you're a strange person."
"You mean I'm an incomprehensible weirdo?"
At my question, Lili nodded vigorously without a hint of hesitation.
That kind of blunt answer would hurt anyone's feelings a little.
Like, 0.0001 mm worth.
Brrr!
"Looks like it found something."
"Let's see... good. It's near the regular route. Let's hurry."
It was time to move again.
Of course, after finishing its first search, Volumen Hydrargyrum also retracted its extended tendrils and crawled along behind us.
There might be a monster born somewhere in the middle of the route, but neither of us was worried.
That's what the autonomous defense function was for.
Well, we were only in the upper floors anyway.
"There sure are fewer people today."
"Yeah. Quiet's nice."
We didn't meet a single person on the way.
That was because I'd included the absence of people, or only sparse traffic, in the search settings.
I'd rather keep any third party who wasn't an acquaintance from learning even a little about me, if possible.
As they say, a mage survives longest by having more secrets than anyone else.
There's a reason the world of magecraft is all about concealment.
"Hm? Chicken? Green?"
"I-it's a Jack Bird, An! If we're late, it'll run away, so hurry up and catch it!"
"Why? It doesn't look particularly special..."
"It's expensive!"
"Okay. [Stop]."
Expensive.
With that one word from Lili, the creature's fate was sealed.
Whoosh!
"-Kyaak!"
Before I'd even finished speaking, Volumen Hydrargyrum's blade-like tendril had swiftly separated the bird's head from its body.
That was the end of it.
The dead body vanished into dust, leaving behind a small magic stone and a single drop item on the floor.
At that unexpected haul, Lili's face lit up with pure happiness.
"Waaah! Amazing, An! A Jack Bird's drop item is worth at least 1 million valis. Which means if you negotiate well, you can get even more than that. To hit something this big right at the start? Today's really our lucky day."
"Hmm, 1 million, huh..."
I silently searched my memory for a moment.
I think the production cost of the bracelet I'd given Tione as a service gift was about twice that.
As expected, I still don't really understand the money sense of ordinary people.
Though I'm sure I started out as one myself.
Maybe it's because I've lived my second mage life with too much impact?
"That's great, Lili."
"Hehe, 1 million~ 1 million~"
Before I knew it, Lili's face had gone completely slack with delight.
Of course, I didn't make the mistake of saying what I'd just been thinking out loud.
Watching Lili look so happy made my conscience prick a little, though.
Still, ignorance is bliss, so it should be fine.
Clatter, clatter
"Hm? What's that sound?"
In the middle of that, I faintly heard the sound of a cart being pulled from somewhere.
I hurriedly put Volumen Hydrargyrum back into its glass bottle, and when I went to take a look, I found a group of adventurers carrying several monsters in cages up to the surface.
Seeing that, Lili answered my question.
"That's Ganesha Familia. Come to think of it, Monsterphilia is coming up soon. They're probably preparing for that."
"Monsterphilia?"
"You don't know? It's a festival they hold every year."
"Nope. I spend most of the year shut up in my workshop doing research."
"...You're going to wreck your body if you keep that up, An."
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm calculating everything as I go. ...Definitely."
Ignoring Lili's suspicious glare, I asked about the festival she'd just mentioned.
That was absolutely not some sneaky attempt to change the subject.
"It's exactly what it sounds like. A festival the Guild hosts every year with help from Ganesha Familia. They catch monsters alive like that, bring them up to the surface, make them perform tricks, and the residents come watch. It's basically a circus festival."
"Is that so? Hmm, sounds fun."
"Well, I'm sure it does. For adventurers like us, they're just monsters we see all the time, so it doesn't mean much. But for ordinary city residents, it's different. They even advertise the festival as a way to narrow the gap between adventurers and residents."
"That makes sense. In other words, bread and circuses."
"Basically, it's entertainment for people with full bellies to kill time with."
"Why say it so harshly? In a harsh world like this, things like that are necessary too."
Anyway, my curiosity was satisfied, so that was enough.
Leaving the receding Ganesha Familia behind, we headed back down into the Dungeon.
Still, a festival, huh.
"Are you okay with that? I heard the festival's coming up soon. Won't you miss it if you keep following me around?"
"I don't need it. I've seen it plenty of times over the years, and I don't really have the spare time to enjoy it anyway. Lili would rather spend that time following An around one more day. For other people, maybe not, but with An, there are definitely more benefits to sticking together."
"Well, that's a very realistic reason I don't really want to agree with."
Contrary to my worry, Lili's expression was completely indifferent, as if she really wasn't interested in the festival at all.
Still, it was a rare festival.
I'm a grown adult, so I can let that slide, but this kid really has no romance in her at all.
In more ways than one, it was another day of bitterly feeling reality for what it was.