"[Lunatic Light]? You mean the one from fairy tales?"
Bell looked at the transparent gem in Riveria's hand and asked.
"So you know that story too."
Riveria smiled softly.
According to legend, a bard once held this kind of ore under the moonlight, and the stone, as if it had a will of its own, gave off a strange radiance.
As the bard sang a love poem to the moon, the sorrow in the song resonated with the stone. It was said that everyone who heard that mournful love song was moved to tears.
And so, the stone that lamented the moon became a tale passed down from person to person.
"[Lunatic Light] changes color under moonlight, and at the same time produces a small amount of magic."
Riveria carefully explained the ore's properties.
"If it's used to forge a weapon, its hardness changes under moonlight. That effect is useless in the Dungeon, and the ore itself is extremely scarce, so it isn't traded in Orario."
[Lunatic Light] does not form in the Dungeon.
The ore Riveria had picked up had clearly been thrown away by someone.
"So in other words, someone either tried to destroy it, or lost it by accident, and part of it just happened to get stuck in a crack between the rocks?"
Bell looked at the uneven fracture and voiced his guess.
For the ore to end up wedged in a crevice in the middle of that raging current really had to be the result of [Luck].
"That's right. With a bit of polishing, it should still be useful."
Riveria raised her hand and signaled for the boy to take it.
"Thank you. I'll think carefully about how to make use of such a precious ore."
Bell accepted the irregular fragment and stored it away with care.
Moonlight could not reach the Dungeon, so it could not be used as weapon material here, but a stone that generated magic under moonlight would surely be useful on the surface.
"No need to thank me. I never got the chance to properly express my gratitude for the Pantry incident, so consider this an advance thank-you from me personally."
Riveria answered gently.
Between the [Adamantite] and the [Lunatic Light], this trip into the Dungeon had not been for nothing after all.
Still, who would lose something this valuable on the twenty-fifth floor?
Neither Riveria nor Bell thought too deeply about it.
Orario gathered all kinds of strange adventurers. Looking into it further would only bring unnecessary trouble.
"Riveria-san, the fact that you even noticed this transparent [Lunatic Light]... your powers of observation are incredible."
Bell let out a quiet sigh of admiration.
"It was only luck."
Riveria sounded thoughtful as she said, "Bell Cranel, you're very lucky."
"Why narrow it down to just me?"
Bell asked curiously.
The two of them had been together the entire time. From Riveria's point of view, that good fortune had blessed them both equally.
"If you want to know the answer, you have to promise me something first. If I tell you, you can't run away from me."
Riveria smiled mysteriously.
There was a touch of girlish mischief on her breathtaking face, and it stirred Bell's curiosity all over again.
"I promise. No matter what Riveria-san says, I won't leave."
Bell made the promise without hesitation.
"All right."
Riveria lightly flicked her wand and mercilessly blasted away the crab monster charging at them.
Her dignified, elegant figure seemed to declare that no one should interrupt them.
"The reason is actually simple. Didn't I force you to go into that cave room with me just now?"
Riveria guided the boy's thoughts with a question.
"Bell Cranel, suppose that after we took off our outer clothes, a monster suddenly appeared from the wall beside us. What do you think I would do?"
Riveria cut herself off there.
She did not answer the question directly, but she was certain the clever boy had already understood the rest.
"......"
Bell gave a helpless smile.
Riveria's way of doing things was simple. Safety came first.
The reason she had pushed aside her embarrassment, stubbornly kept him with her, had him strip down with her, and sit by the fire together, was all for the sake of safety.
If a monster had appeared, Riveria would have grabbed her wand without a second thought and stepped in front of Bell to protect him.
Even if it meant her beautiful naked body would be completely exposed before his eyes.
Of course, there was no need to say what would happen after that. It would not turn into some beautiful, tantalizing incident. What awaited Bell would be literal violence.
Bell could not help recalling something Riveria had said before.
She would beat him with her wand until he forgot.
When it came to matters like this, the noble elf princess was absolutely unwilling to compromise.
From that perspective, Bell really had been [Lucky] to escape disaster.
"Riveria-san, I don't think a noble princess should be this overbearing."
Bell muttered under his breath.
He had already been dragged into the cave room by her high-handedness, and on top of that he would also have had to bear the risk of getting beaten.
Though to Bell himself, it only felt like a shame...
If something like that really had happened, there was no way he would forget such a beautiful sight just because he got hit.
It would definitely be burned into the deepest part of his memory and remembered for the rest of his life.
So an F-rank [Luck] really couldn't be used however he wanted...
If he wanted to seize that kind of opportunity next time, he would have to keep moving forward.
"Bell Cranel... why do I get the feeling you're actually disappointed?"
Riveria noticed the burning resolve in the boy and asked.
"That must be your imagination. Me hoping to see Riveria-san's absolutely beautiful body? There's no way that could be true."
Bell answered in a dispirited, transparently insincere tone.
"You don't even try to hide it. It seems your nature is just as terrible as mine."
A faint smile spread across Riveria's face.
Even after all the years this body had lived through, it still captivated the boy.
Bell truly, genuinely thought Riveria was a beautiful elf girl.
He wanted to see more with his own eyes.
Even though all he had to do was turn his head to commit that sin, the boy remained a gentleman from beginning to end.
That [Lucky] romantic accident had never happened. If Bell had shown no regret over it, Riveria would probably have started doubting her own charm, and then worrying even more that the boy really did mind her age.
Because of that, the boy's dejection now touched something in Riveria's heart and drew out a smile that came from the bottom of it.
"......"
Bell looked at the beautiful elf princess and fell silent for a moment.
For an instant, he felt as though he had wandered into a forest.
The blue crystal reflected the light.
Riveria's smile was like the first soft ray of morning, slipping through the gaps between green leaves, carrying that pure clarity unique to an elf as it fell into the boy's eyes.
Intelligent, pure, willful, gentle...
That smile, belonging to Riveria-san alone, a smile no one else possessed, was shown to Bell without the slightest guard.
And so, Bell said something that crossed the line a little.
"Riveria-san, could you give me one strand of your beautiful emerald-green hair?"
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