Walls like tree bark stretched out before them.
Before heading for the passage to the twenty-fifth floor, Bell and Riveria took a detour to check on the condition of the pantry.
"Sorry for taking up your time."
Riveria apologized gently.
When the Dungeon is damaged, it repairs itself automatically.
The pantry that had once collapsed had already returned to its original state, and there was nothing unusual around the quartz pillars either.
"Not at all. I was worried about the pantry too. Thanks to your help, Riveria-san, I was able to see the result this quickly."
Bell replied.
He had already guessed that, after their intelligence had been exposed and their forces badly weakened, the Red-Haired Woman would definitely choose to lie low for a while.
Still, Bell needed to see the pantry's current state with his own eyes before he could put those unnecessary doubts to rest.
"Whether it was the pantry incident or Goliath's appearance, Ais and the others were only saved because you risked your life for them. If you had not been there..."
Thinking back on what Ais and the others had gone through, Riveria could not help feeling a little emotional.
This whole incident had been dangerous in the extreme.
The Red-Haired Woman, Evilus, Olivas, countless Violas flower monsters, and even that bizarre jet-black Floor Boss. Malice had surfaced again and again.
Thanks to Bell, not a single person had died through that entire chain of events.
If Bell had not been there, then Ais, Lefiya, and the others would surely have met a miserable end.
Just imagining it sent a chill through Riveria.
"Riveria-san, there are no what-ifs in this world. That's exactly why we treasure the people by our side, isn't it?"
Bell spoke up to comfort her.
"You're right. I was being overly sentimental."
Riveria smiled, finally at ease.
To keep tragedy from happening, the boy had always kept his eyes open, held his head high, and walked every step with firm courage.
"But... saying 'the people by your side' is a little vague, Bell Cranel. Does that mean you would risk your life to save any girl as long as she was beside you?"
Riveria's tone did not waver, neatly hiding what she truly meant.
The question carried a faint trace of jealousy, as if she were blaming the boy for having too many girls around him, yet at the same time it sounded like a simple question born from concern for his safety.
"Of course not. My definition of the people by my side is actually pretty strict."
Bell thought for a moment, then added,
"Of course, if we're talking about the one right beside me now, this unreasonable princess who pushed all the elves' suspicion and anger onto me can barely count."
"Hehe."
Riveria smiled like a blooming flower.
Even though the boy had used the word barely, Riveria could feel his sincerity.
During the incident in the Spirit Village, Bell had already risked his life for her and protected the Great Holy Tree.
"Those elf girls were only imagining things. If I told them Bell Cranel was one of my [close ones], it would probably only make them even angrier."
Riveria replied with a soft laugh.
Treasuring the people by your side goes both ways.
Bell worried about the safety of Ais, Lefiya, and the others, and he valued those bonds deeply.
And for the girls, it was the same.
Bell caught the meaning hidden in Riveria's words.
In her heart, he too had already been placed among the people she treasured.
"Huh? Is it still not too late for me to run away? The end of this road is not going to be a pack of elves hunting me down, is it?"
Bell did not spell out their mutual feelings, and instead answered with a restrained joke.
"Unfortunately, that has already been decided."
Riveria answered softly.
Even setting aside what happened in the Spirit Village, the boy had saved Ais and Lefiya several times.
One of them was someone Riveria had cared for over many years, almost like a daughter.
The other was a beloved student she had acknowledged and grown deeply attached to.
Those repeated acts of risking his life for them were enough on their own to draw Riveria and Bell closer together.
But beyond gratitude, another feeling had gradually begun to rise.
Riveria smiled faintly and continued,
"Apart from my companions, there are very few people around me. Bell Cranel, if I were to put it the way my people would, you should feel honored."
"Really? Leaving everyone else aside, Lefiya-san would definitely point her wand at me, yell that she's going to burn me, and start casting magic."
Bell paused, then added, "Come to think of it, Lefiya-san learned that fire magic from you, didn't she, Riveria-san? Looking at it that way, the real culprit is definitely you."
"Hehe, that does seem to be true."
Riveria spoke as if lost in thought. "When I ran away from Alf's Royal Forest , I was attacked with magic too. But as Loki would say, as long as there's love, anything can be overcome."
"..."
"..."
The pale blue moss gave off a faint glow.
The sound of their footsteps spread through the silence around them.
"Bell Cranel, going silent at a time like this. That's rather mean of you, isn't it?"
Riveria was the first to break the awkward silence.
Both of them had noticed the other's feelings. It was an ambiguous sort of affection, somewhere between friendship and love.
It was very faint, but still enough to bring a smile to their lips.
Both of them were clever enough not to say it outright, and instead enjoyed their brief time alone together, trading words that sounded half like jokes.
But then Bell suddenly stopped responding, and that only made Riveria feel a trace of embarrassment.
Like the unreasonable princess from the boy's teasing, she sent back a complaint of her own.
Bell laughed softly and explained,
"This is your fault, Riveria-san. You deliberately said something like that, so I ended up thinking about how I'd run away together with a beautiful princess if I ever met one."
"There are no what-ifs in this world."
Riveria borrowed Bell's own words.
A boy meets a beautiful princess in the forest. To grant her wish, he rides a white horse through thorns and hardship, carrying the princess out of her cage and taking her across the world.
Blue sky, white clouds, grasslands, and sea. The world stretches out before the two of them like a painted scroll.
That kind of fairy tale had never come to Riveria.
And yet, unexpectedly, she did not feel sad at all.
The boy's resolve, together with that fantasy, quietly fell into the heart of the elf princess.
"Bell Cranel, do you still remember our promise?"
Riveria asked softly.
"Of course. I've been looking forward to traveling with you all this time, Riveria-san."
Bell answered without hesitation.
"Is that so... Once we both have some free time, let's set out together from Alf's Royal Forest..."
Riveria smiled gently.
Beneath that beautiful emerald hair, there was no sign of shyness or romantic hesitation.
All of their teasing was only the expression of a faint mutual affection.
And yet, that once distant promise was gradually beginning to take shape.
When the journey was finally set, how would the distance between white and emerald change?
Even Bell and Riveria themselves did not know.