Chapter 83 - Ais: Tell Me, Emiya, Are You the Sword Demon?!
"Healer Heith Velvet?"
Hearing Freya mention this name, Shirou was a bit confused. He had never had any dealings with anyone from Freya Familia, so naturally, he had no idea who she was talking about.
Surprisingly, Loki, standing nearby, exclaimed in shock: "Wait, wait—Heith went missing? For real? Wasn't she a level 4 adventurer?"
"Level 4?" Shirou was slightly surprised to hear that.
In Orario, healers typically didn't have high levels.
Due to the way the Falna system worked, healers couldn't gain experience from defeating monsters themselves.
Though they could earn some experience by accompanying a party into the dungeon—thanks to shared experience distribution—healers still generally lagged behind others in growth since they didn't fight directly.
On average, Orario's healers were usually just around level 1. Even Armid Teasanare, regarded as Orario's most powerful healer, was only level 2.
So for Heith to be level 4—it was honestly quite surprising.
"Heith is a bit special," Freya quietly explained, as if sensing Shirou's confusion. "She used to be a professional adventurer before changing her role to a healer.
She thought she lacked talent, but really, it was just because the rest of my Familia members are too strong, making her seem less remarkable.
In any other Familia, she would be considered top-tier combat power."
"I see," Shirou nodded. If Heith had originally been an adventurer before becoming a healer, then her high level made sense.
Still, something didn't add up.
"If Heith is level 4, why would she suddenly go missing?" Shirou asked, suspicious. "That kind of level is considered top-class in Orario. Even Apollo Familia's strongest, Hyacinthos, is only level 3."
"I thought of that too," Freya nodded solemnly. "That's why I believe her disappearance is connected to the Ishtar Familia."
"The Ishtar Familia..."
Freya frowned. "Though I usually don't want to bother with her, Ishtar has always seen me as a thorn in her
side. She's caused trouble before. Still, due to our power disparity, she can't really stir up anything serious, so she often resorts to petty tricks to annoy me."
Freya seemed certain that the Ishtar Familia was responsible. "More importantly, the Ishtar Familia has a level 5 and several level 4 adventurers. Capturing Heith would be easy for them. Honestly, aside from them, I can't think of anyone else who could make a level 4 suddenly vanish."
Her reasoning was sound. Purely from a logical standpoint, Freya's deduction made perfect sense.
But the more everything lined up so perfectly, the more uneasy Shirou felt.
Something about it felt... off, like a trap.
So he asked further, "Did Heith disappear in the Pleasure Quarter, where the Ishtar Familia operates?"
"Roughly," Freya replied. "She's one of the few proper, dependable people in our Familia, so she usually handles our procurement tasks. But this time, while out buying supplies near the Pleasure Quarter, she vanished. I sent people to search, but found absolutely no trace."
"That's definitely strange."
"What's strange about it?" Freya asked.
"If it really was the Ishtar Familia," Shirou said, "why would they kidnap someone on their own turf? That's like announcing to the world that they're the culprits. It's too obvious."
"Who knows," Freya replied with a cold smile. "Maybe Ishtar did it precisely to provoke me—just to show off her boldness."
Freya didn't buy Shirou's suspicion.
Since he had no solid evidence to prove otherwise, Shirou could only accept that the Ishtar Familia had likely taken Heith.
So he changed the subject. "Why do you want me to handle this? Your Familia has plenty of powerful people. Surely they could retrieve Heith?"
"Exactly because it's Ishtar. I'm not going to let her manipulate me," Freya explained, her competitive streak flaring at the mention of her fellow love goddess. "My Familia is too well-known in Orario.
If we act in the Pleasure Quarter, the Ishtar Familia will instantly become alert and likely relocate Heith.
That would make rescuing her much harder.
But if someone unconnected to my Familia—like you—investigates, they won't be on guard."
"That... does make sense."
If Ishtar had taken a hostage, then a high-profile rescue attempt would only backfire. Freya's reasoning was again very logical.
Shirou then looked to Loki. "Loki, interested in helping? Apollo said there might be a dark faction base in the Pleasure Quarter. This could be our chance to expose it."
"I'm interested," Loki replied with a wry smile, "but I can't help right now.
A port city outside Orario—Meren—has reported mutated monsters. Some even saw man-eating plants. So Ouranos asked my Familia to investigate. Neither I nor my children can get involved in the Pleasure Quarter matter."
"That's... quite a coincidence."
At the same time Freya loses contact with her member, Loki's entire Familia is sent away from Orario.
It all felt too coincidental, as if orchestrated.
Still, if Ouranos had officially dispatched Loki Familia, she couldn't refuse.
Which meant that Shirou had no choice but to go investigate the Pleasure Quarter alone—both for Heith's whereabouts and to locate the dark faction's hidden base.
But even faced with what seemed like a trap set just for him, Shirou felt no fear. In fact, the more desperate the enemy acted, the calmer he became.
After all— The more they try to do, the more traces they leave behind.
If the dark faction was making this much effort to lure him into a trap, their movements would inevitably expose themselves.
This might be a golden opportunity for Shirou to uncover the truth about the dark faction.
With this thought in mind, Shirou readily accepted Freya's request and agreed to go to the Pleasure Quarter to rescue Heith.
Freya appeared quite pleased by this—or perhaps excited.
She didn't actually care about the dark faction, nor even the Ishtar Familia.
What she cared about was seeing Shirou accomplish more miraculous feats that would surprise and impress her.
Meanwhile, Loki remained highly concerned about the dark faction.
She suspected they had found a way to bypass the Guild's surveillance and reach deep into the Dungeon.
She asked Shirou to keep an eye out for any suspicious passageways while investigating the Pleasure Quarter.
Loki's reason for agreeing to investigate Port Meren was that there was an old, underwater passage beneath it that once connected to the deep Dungeon. Though it was long since destroyed, she wanted to ensure the dark faction wasn't attempting to restore it.
After the meeting with the two goddesses, Shirou returned to the Hestia Familia's base. He planned to prepare a bit before heading to the Pleasure Quarter to investigate Heith's disappearance and locate the dark faction's hideout.
However, on the way back, Shirou suddenly sensed someone tailing him.
The stalker was extremely skilled at concealing their presence—most people wouldn't have noticed—but Shirou's instincts were razor-sharp.
He quickly confirmed he was being followed and decided to delay his trip to the Pleasure Quarter for now, instead going about his usual routine.
He went to the Hephaestus Familia to practice smithing, then worked as a temporary head chef at the Hostess of Fertility.
The entire afternoon passed this way. Finally, he began walking back slowly toward the base.
But the stalker, growing impatient, decided to take more aggressive action.
"Whoosh!"
A gust of wind surged through the air.
Before Shirou could react, a blonde girl appeared in front of him.
"Ais-san? What are you...?"
Feigning surprise, Shirou looked at her.
Ais, the Sword Princess, frowned.
She had been tailing Shirou all day because she suspected he might be the Sword Demon, or at the very least, connected to him.
But Shirou had acted completely normal all day—like an ordinary person—which only deepened her uncertainty. So now she confronted him directly.
"Tell me—are you the Sword Demon?"
"...Why would you think that?"
Rather than answering, Shirou countered by asking for her reasoning.
Ais didn't hold back.
"Your Familia's boy, Bell—his swordsmanship during his fight with Hyacinthos was almost identical to the Sword Demon's. And that sword of his? You forged it.
So I suspect you're the Sword Demon, and you taught him that swordsmanship."
"I see," Shirou muttered.
He was surprised Ais had figured so much out based on so little.
He hesitated.
He didn't particularly want to admit it, but there wasn't really any reason to keep hiding it anymore—especially since he was already allied with Loki.
Revealing the truth to the Sword Princess of Loki Familia wouldn't cause harm.
So he asked her,
"Why do you want to find the Sword Demon? What does this mean to you?"
"...I want to become stronger."
Ais hesitated, then spoke her truth.
"In Orario, few adventurers use just the sword. Most prefer spears or magic with wide attack ranges. That means very few swordsmen can match me.
Back when the Astraea Familia still existed, there were some rivals.
But after their fall, I haven't found any real opponents—until the Sword Demon appeared."
"You think the Sword Demon can elevate your swordsmanship?"
"At the very least, I know his swordsmanship surpasses mine."
She remembered her brief encounter with him on the 18th floor.
Though it had only been a short clash, she had been completely overwhelmed—unable to resist in the slightest.
That sense of being crushed by unreasonable power was something she hadn't experienced since becoming level 5.
Now, she had reached level 6—among Orario's top adventurers—and had few worthy rivals left. She longed for a powerful swordsman like the Sword Demon to fight and grow stronger.
"I understand," Shirou said. "One last question—why do you want to become stronger? Depending on your answer, I might introduce you to the Sword Demon."
"So you really are connected to the Sword Demon…"
Ais looked at him with astonished, blazing eyes.
But at Shirou's question, she faltered.
After a long internal struggle, she answered with a complicated expression:
"I want revenge. I want to slay the Black Dragon—one of the three great calamities of the world."
"The Black Dragon?"
"It's the most powerful monster in the Dungeon—a disaster that nearly destroyed the world.
It was born a thousand years ago and almost wiped out an entire era's heroes. If not for the descent of the gods back then, the Black Dragon might've ended the world."
She explained the concept of the Black Dragon in official terms.
Shirou then asked, "So you want to kill the Black Dragon to save the world?"
"No," Ais replied. "I just want revenge for my parents. Because of some reasons, I believe they were killed by the Black Dragon. I want to become stronger to avenge them."