Crossovers: The Journey Begins with DanMachi

For some reason, she felt that if Noah said, "Well, well, I never knew you liked me so much, Ais," she might just jump off the city wall!

Fortunately, Noah simply listened to her in silence. He didn't do anything or make any expressions that would embarrass Ais.

"My looks, cooking, and swordsmanship are definitely the three things I'm most confident in, but whether I'm gentle is another matter. At the very least, I don't think Valetta would call me a good person."

Ais was sure she didn't know anyone by that name, but it sounded a little familiar, as if she'd heard it somewhere.

"Valetta?"

"She's a member of the Dark Faction. The person I fought on the day I joined the Loki Familia, before I met you, was her."

Then Noah told her how he'd easily tricked Valetta and dealt her a painful blow to the kidneys.

After hearing the story, Ais couldn't help laughing, though her laughter came out a little muddled.

"She was so silly."

By then, the sky had begun to brighten, casting a colorful glow on the girl's exquisite cheeks, which brought a doll to mind.

"Why do you think she was silly?"

"Because Noah tricked her so easily."

"What if I hadn't tricked her? Or rather, what if I hadn't been entirely tricking her?"

From Ais's perspective, Noah stood with his back to the sky, half his handsome face shrouded in darkness.

His deep blue eyes grew unfathomable, making it impossible to see what lay within.

"I'm a complicated person, but deep down, I'm actually closer to the Dark Faction. We both do whatever we please, acting without restraint. We like hearing people cry and wail in pain, despair, and the throes of death!"

Ais didn't think Noah would hurt her, but as she listened to his soft voice easily pierce the howling wind, her heartbeat quickened.

"If I had to say what separates me from the Dark Faction, it's probably that they like to torture and kill the weak, while I don't think killing the weak is any fun—"

It was like a seemingly clear, blue sea whose waves concealed an infinitely deep abyss of darkness.

As Ais gazed into Noah's eyes, she felt as if she were being swallowed by that boundless darkness, suffocating.

"—No, what's truly fun is dragging down those who stand high above everyone else, who lord over all and think they're so great, then watching them wail in agony as they're trampled underfoot!"

Noah's voice was soft, yet it made Ais tremble more than the cold wind. Like a naked baby caught in a winter night, she couldn't stop shaking.

Noticing Ais's fear, Noah reached out and patted her on the head.

The warmth from his hand, and the faint fragrance that the gale hadn't quite managed to disperse, calmed her.

There was no doubt about it. No matter what kind of person Noah was, he had saved her, drawn her to him, and the time she'd spent with him had been utterly real!

Thinking about how frightened she'd been made Ais feel ashamed.

An impulse welled up inside her. Before she could even think, her body reacted—she rushed into Noah's arms, wrapped both arms around his waist, and buried her face deep against his stomach.

"Ugh!"

The sudden hug made the corner of Noah's eye twitch. This girl had no idea how to hold back. If he'd eaten breakfast, she might've knocked it right back up.

Still, considering he'd frightened the little girl, Noah let it go.

"Ais, people once called me a hero, a champion, even a savior. I protected the weak, fought evil, and hunted down demons. But do you know something? After I gave everything I had to kill the enemy called the Demon King, I wasn't as happy as I'd imagined. Instead, I felt a little lost—"

Ais lifted her head from between Noah's arms and gazed at him with round eyes.

Why? her eyes seemed to ask.

Noah patted her head to comfort her and couldn't help remembering the past.

"Yeah, I wondered why, too. I didn't understand until my old comrades tried to kill me while they had the chance. Although I felt some sadness and pain, what I felt most was joy, because I could finally fight again!"

Suddenly, a strong wind swept in. The silent forest in the distance erupted in a roar of pine trees, like the crashing of waves.

Flocks of birds took to the sky, and the cries of beasts could be heard.

As the city's bells rang out, the dawn broke through the heavy clouds, dyeing the sky a magnificent blood-red.

"When I was little, I thought the tales of heroes fighting to save a princess, avenge their families, or save the world were incredibly boring. It was like seeing a mountain peak and wanting to climb it, to conquer it! Challenging the Demon King, slaying dragons, facing the gods—those things alone were enough to make a boy's heart race! Why do you need a reason?"

The wind blew.

It was a blue, icy wind flowing in from the eastern sky, making a huge flute-like sound between the city walls.

Beneath the vast sky, the silver-haired boy's face seemed to melt into the light of dawn, radiating an extraordinary brilliance.

"So, the moment I got back the chance to fight, I finally remembered how I'd felt when I left my village and set out into the world beneath the dawn. I wasn't doing it to save anyone, avenge myself, or earn praise. I wanted to challenge the Demon King because I wanted to challenge the strongest in the world!"

Don't Be Afraid. I'm Not a Good Person

"Ais, there are two mistakes people make most often in life. The first is misjudging others and forming expectations of them without their consent. For example, a lot of people called me a hero when I killed the Demon King and a demon when I killed nobles. But I'd never changed. I'd always done the same things; they were the ones who'd decided what to expect from me."

On the city wall, the wind howled and pounded like a giant drum, making their hearts race.

"But the more dangerous mistake is misjudging yourself and striving in the wrong direction. It's easy to understand other people, but hard to understand yourself. Just like how you sensed my true nature after knowing me for barely half a month, yet you've never been able to see yourself clearly."

Ais felt suffocated and trapped, while a powerful yearning surged within her, so hot it felt as if it would melt her whole body.

She sensed that Noah was about to say something. She wanted to shout for him to stop, but couldn't. An invisible cage held her whole body still.

Ais realized that this suffocating, constricting feeling was the truth she knew in her heart but had never wanted to face.

"Facing a powerful enemy, drawing your sword, and fighting to the death are only natural to me. But you're different, Ais. Deep down, you don't want to wield your sword for destruction, killing, and hatred! That's who you really are!"

At that moment, the shell of the "Doll War Maiden" she'd built over the past year shattered. Once again, she was the little girl she truly was inside.

Timid, cowardly, shrinking away, afraid of getting hurt, afraid of pain, afraid of death, afraid of being alone and lonely... That was the real Ais Wallenstein!

I've never really grown stronger at all... The realization made Ais's eyes grow hot and blurry.

Even if Noah beat her until she was covered in wounds, she wouldn't have wanted to sob like she did now.

Like a drowning person clutching the last piece of driftwood, she clenched her fists, bit her lips until they bled, and forced her eyes wide open to keep the tears from falling.

"B-but..."

Faced with the little girl's struggle, Noah delivered a calm yet devastating blow.

"Ais, I can tell you want to become stronger so you can take revenge on someone. But if one day you had to pay for your revenge with my death, and Riveria's, and Finn's, Loki's, and the others'—would you do it?"

It was an unavoidable, unstoppable, undefendable strike. It pierced the weakest wound in Ais's heart and tore it open so violently that her mind went blank.

If she had to destroy herself to perish alongside that dark despair, Ais believed she wouldn't hesitate.

But what if the price was losing Noah, Riveria, Finn and Loki, Gareth, and the others?

Waves of grief crashed through the defenses of her heart. The black flames of hatred burned through her, urging her to answer yes.

But...

She couldn't.

A force stronger than the "Doll War Maiden," who lived only to kill, surged through her body—a strength Ais had never even noticed before—and stopped her from answering.

The two forces intertwined and clashed, nearly tearing Ais in half. The pain left her unable to breathe.

Ais didn't understand why, but she couldn't speak. She couldn't answer.

She couldn't do it. Ais realized that.

She couldn't give up everything for revenge, as she'd imagined.

The conviction that had kept her moving despite her pain shattered. It was as if she'd lost control of her body; she was paralyzed, unable to summon even the slightest strength. Her cheeks stiffened, and she couldn't speak.

Only her tears came, falling in streams. Some soaked her golden hair, some were swept away by the cold wind, and some splashed onto the stone slabs.

"Ais, people who drift through life in a daze, taking each day as it comes, don't need to agonize over this. But people like you and me will sooner or later face this kind of choice. Do we keep moving toward our ideals, or stop for the people around us? If we choose wrong, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives."

Ais lifted her face from Noah's arms. Her reddened eyes were blurred with tears as she looked at him like a newly hatched chick, pleading for guidance.

"Then... what am I supposed to do? I..."

Noah tenderly wiped the tears from the girl's face and gently patted her back.

Just as he'd once comforted the person he'd been back then, standing alone amid a mountain of corpses all night until the crimson dawn rose and he finally understood.

Noah knew that what he was about to say meant a great deal to Ais.

Every living being in the world had desires. The only difference was whether they were for external things like wealth, power, and beauty, or inner convictions like love, hatred, faith, and obsession.

Some people seemed to want nothing at all. In truth, they'd simply gathered all their desires in one place.

Just like the fanatics in the Dark Faction who feared no death, and certain people in the Far East whose religions preached freedom from desire and the virtue of suffering—they'd merely turned their desire to enjoy this life into faith in transcending it to find happiness in the next.

Among all these desires, as numerous as the stars in the vast night sky, living for oneself was a rather peculiar idea.

After all, a certain degree of self-respect, self-love, and self-acceptance was the foundation of a person's character. For most people, living for themselves came naturally; it wasn't cold or selfish.

But there were some people who couldn't live for themselves.

They were almost like children who never grew up, always needing their parents' opinions to tell them whether they were doing the right thing.

They needed their interactions with others to feel that they existed, and other people's praise to know their own worth. Their need for approval was far greater than most people's.

For them, "finding oneself" was probably a torture worse than going to hell—just like Ais right now.

Of course, Ais had always had some emotional problems, but she wasn't someone who'd been born without a sense of self.

She'd ended up in this state because Noah had shattered the will and convictions that had sustained her for so long.

For Ais, who'd had every reason to fight and every direction to move in taken away, what she needed most now wasn't encouragement and protection. She needed clear guidance and someone to lean on!

At this moment, Noah's hold over this girl's fate was probably more complete than anything her parents or her goddess had ever achieved.

If it had been Riveria and the others, they probably would've told Ais something sensible, like, "Everyone must explore and find their own future. I can't give you the answer, but I'll always protect you until you find it."

Because they were good people, kind people, who'd never interfere in someone else's fate lightly.

"Ais, everyone has to find, decide, and follow their own path. Nobody else can interfere. If you need me, I'll stay with you until you find your way!"

—If Noah were a good person, he would've said something like that, too...

But he wasn't!

Freya: I Smell One of My Kind

Everyone had their own desires, and Noah was no different.

And he understood his own longing very clearly: he wanted to fight.

More precisely, he wanted to surpass and conquer!

But the more people pursued something, the more likely they were to be bound by it. No one was exempt.

Noah was no different.

For someone who wanted to surpass everything, what was the most dangerous thing?

For Noah, the answer was obvious: reaching the summit, with no one left to fight and nothing left to surpass.

Noah had experienced that after killing the Demon King in his previous world, and he didn't want to experience it again.

He had a shoddy, no-name system that could send him to different worlds, but he didn't know where it came from, what else it could do, or who had made it. He probably didn't need to worry about running out of opponents.

Still, taking a few precautions couldn't hurt. If he was worried about running out of opponents in the future, why not start raising one now?

You had to provide for yourself to have enough to eat, after all!

Noah hoped to find someone who could stand beside him throughout his long life, even surpass him, and give him someone to chase after.

This opponent wouldn't be an enemy, but someone who understood him better than an enemy ever could.

To reach that point, Ais would have to strive toward him as her goal, and even live for him.

If I did that, I'd probably be no different from the Dark Faction, wouldn't I?

Still, he wasn't planning to drive someone to despair only to offer them hope. Besides, she was the one who'd come to him.

With a faint, twisted delight in his heart, Noah cupped half of Ais's face.