Is It Wrong to be a Vessel in a Dungeon?

Chapter 3: Ghosts of the Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? and The Hollow Knight.

When Bell got out of the Dungeon, it was early afternoon. After all, today was just a test run for the Dungeon. He walked towards the Pantheon to turn in the drop items and magic stones he collected, not bothering to wash off the blood splattered all over him. It made for a frightening sight, dried blood crusting his front and his inhuman eyes boring straight ahead. Normally, people would secretly mock a newbie if they ever came out like that. But Bell's features made them move out of the way instead, whispering in worried tones.

Ignoring them, Bell entered the Pantheon and headed towards his Dungeon Advisor, causing people in his way to back away in a hurry. "Hello, Eina," he greeted once he was directly in front of her. The half-elf looked up from her work with a smile. "Hello, BeEEEKKKKKK!"

Eina's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she saw her charge and shrill shriek left her mouth. "Is something the matter?" Bell asked, tilting his head to the side. Eina just stared at him for a few more seconds before glaring at Bell with icy eyes. "Shower! Then we'll talk."

"Where are the-"

"Upstairs!"

Later:

Once Bell was more presentable, he and Eina met in a private meeting room. Once they were seated, Eina crossed her arms across her chest. "Tell me what you did in the Dungeon today. Don't leave out anything." she ordered. Bell nodded before launching into his narrative. He told her about how he journeyed down to the first two Floors and found the monsters to be pitifully weak, before descending down to lower Floors. He went on to tell her that he just kept one going until he arrived at the 10th Floor, where he slew a Minotaur and met a girl with golden hair and eyes who was chasing it. He then informed Eina that he gave up the spoils to her because he felt that he accidentally stole her kill before heading down a couple more Floors, slaying any monsters that he could find. "...and after I slew the Silverback, I decided to head back."

Eina was silent for the whole time. When he finished, she took a deep breath. "So, you're saying that you disregarded my advice about sticking to the first two floors, fought and killed a Minotaur in the 10th Floor, encountered Aiz Wallenstein, aka the Sword Princess, headed even further down to kill more monsters...then you headed up?"

"...Yes?"

"Haaah...Bell, ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Eina yelled. "It's bad enough that you're going into the Dungeons by yourself without a blessing, but going into the lower floors? And fighting a Minotaur no less! How many times have I told you taking risks is absolutely not allowed? Adventurers must not go on an adventure, remember?"

"...But the Dungeon monsters are only slightly stronger than the monsters that I am used to. And isn't the last statement self-contradicting?"

Eina's glare told him that he chose his words poorly. Bell had the decency to look slightly sheepish at his words. "Sorry."

Eina sighed before giving him a small smile. "Well, at least you're okay. That's all that matters. But seriously, I need you to go i to the Dungeon well-prepared next time! Even the most strongest adventurers can face things that can kill them in surprising ways."

"Do not worry. I was planning on searching for armor today and repairing my Nail."

"...Your nail?"

"Yes," Bell replied before summoning his weapon. Eina fought the urge to flinch when Bell momentarily turned black before gazing in awe at the Nail. Despite its sorry state, it was still a beautiful piece of equipment.

"This Nail needs to be sharpened and repaired," Bell continued. "It is still a tough weapon and I can still kill things with it, but it can no longer cut and pierce. Do you happen to know any blacksmith Familias?"

"Er, there's always the Hephaestus and Goibniu Familias. They are the two top blacksmith Familias, though the former is a better choice," Eina replied. Bell just sighed as he picked up his Nail. "It's not that simple, I'm afraid. I need a smith that has a spirit's blood in their veins. That, or I'll need to find a willing god or someone who can work with Orichalcum."

"An Orichalcum weapon? But why does he need a god or a person with spirit blood in their veins?" Eina wondered. "...I know of one person who can help you. I only heard about him, but he's a smith from the Hephaestus Familia. I forgot his first name, but his surname is Crozzo."

"Crozzo?"

"Yes. The the Crozzos are an ancient blacksmith clan from Rakia whose ancestors received some blood from a spirit because of a debt. Their blessing had dried up since then because of a terrible deed the family did, but I heard that one of them lives here in Orario. There's even rumors that he regained the Crozzo family's long-lost power, though he refuses to acknowledge it."

"I see...where is the smith?"

"I think he might be in the Hephaestus Familia workplace, which is in the Northeastern District," Eina replied, pulling out a map and pointing at the location.

"Thank you, Eina. One last question. Who is this Sword Princess that you mentioned earlier?"

The half-elf gaped at her charge in surprise. "You don't know? I'm going to have to teach you about all the famous Familias of Orario some day. For now, all you need to know is that her name is Aiz Wallenstein and that she is one of the most famous and powerful swordsman in Orario. She belongs to the Loki Familia, one of the top two Familias in this city, the other one being Freya. Don't tangle with them"

"...I will keep that in mind. Thank you for today, Eina. I'll need to trade in my magic stones quickly if I wish to meet this Crozzo," Bell said before standing up and storing away his Nail. Eina nodded and accompanied him out, now completely reevaluating Bell. "He's so strong...maybe, just maybe, he can go down to the Lower Floors."

Later:

After receiving a hefty sum for the magic stones and most of the drop items, Bell momentarily returned home to store away all the Pale Ore he got from Hallownest, which was quite a lot, in the worst case scenario that this Crozzo person couldn't repair his Nail. On the way towards the the Hephaestus Familia workplace however, he felt a presence. Turning towards it, he saw a ghostly man who wore an armor that resembled the shell of a rhinoceros beetle. No one else seemed to notice the ghost, occasionally passing through it without care. The ghost gestured towards Bell to follow it and began to walk down an alleyway. Curious, the Vessel-human followed.

He continued to track the ghost, never letting it out of his sight. To his realization, he was going southeast into Daedalus Street. He ignored the Ariadne and kept following the ghost, until finally, they arrived at an abandoned building. When the ghost entered it, Bell followed. The ghost vanished down an open cellar and through a stone wall. Bell blinked before activating his Void Vapor Wings. Summoning only one wing, he used it to tunnel a hole into the wall. A minute of drilling later, it gave away.

A musty smell from the passageway greeted Bell's nose. The ghost was there waiting for him. Walking into the passage way, Bell passed through a doorway with stone stairs leading down to a darkened room. It looked like a forging room with bits of rusted metal, tools, and other such things. The ghost gestured Bell to a corner, which contained a crate, then to a dusty, wooden table with a single book on top of it. Then it disappeared with a content sigh, leaving Bell alone in the room.

Bell first checked out the book, which was in surprisingly good condition. It was written in an archaic form of Orarian language. In it were details about weapons and how to fix/forge them, including Nails. Bell was mildly surprised as to how a human found the method of forging Nails, but then remembered that ancient humans found ancient Hallownest and tried to settle in it. Perhaps one of them managed to survive and ended up in Orario. He flipped through it a few more times before storing it away.

Next, he checked the box. Reaching inside of it, he pulled out a helmet. It looked like an insect head, though the face-plate had a grill visor. It was dusty and old, but he knew that it has never been used, given how good its condition was. Looking back inside the box, Bell found the rest of the set; various armor plates, an arming doublet with black chain-mail, and other leather armor parts. His curiosity piqued, Bell summoned the journal from earlier and flipped through it again, before stopping at the page that talked about the armor and how to forge it.

"The Lightless Armor. The metal used is from Gloom Ore while the leather used is made out of the dyed hide of a Power Bull. The chain mail of the arming doublet is made out of Adamantite," Bell read. "Gloom Ore?"

Flipping through the journal once more, Bell found an entry for the Gloom Ore. "The Gloom Ore is a type of metal ore with similar properties to that of the Pale Ore. But unlike Pale Ore, it almost seems to absorb the light rather than emit light. Other than that, the metal has the same condition to forge as the Pale Ore. This metal ore is found deep in the Dungeon. Perhaps the Dungeon's true origin is tied to a Higher Being..."

Bell stored the journal away once more and stared at the armor set, contemplating on whether he should wear it or not. In the end, he dusted off the armor the best he could and put it on. It was a good fit and was rather light for a full-body armor. He explored the area one last time and found a black medallion with a strange, coiled-up worm with wings engraved on it, along with piles of dark-colored metal that he could only assume was Gloom Ore metal. Storing them away, he finally left the abandoned forge room and headed off.

Chapter 3 End.

Whenever Bell becomes shrouded in void, his entire armor turns black except for the spaces between the grill visor, which glows white.

The Lightless Armor resembles the Arma Gigas from RWBY's fourth volume and above but with modifications:

•The armor suit has no spikes or decorative patterns. Its color is the same space-grey shade as the one in the White Trailer. It also does not have glowing blue outlines. On its back, there are thin spaces that mark the individual platings that make up the chestplate.

•The crotch armor piece is replaced by a chain-mail skirt that is mid-calf long and goes under the hip armor pieces.

•The helmet resembles the helmet of Touch Me's armor from Overlord, but the face-plate has the grill visor and mouthpiece of Goblin Slayer's helmet from Goblin Slayer. There are no decorations on the helmet. The helmet is in the same shade of space-grey as the rest of the armor pieces.

•The palms of the metal gauntlets are made out of leather with Gloom Ore metal chain-mail woven into it.

•The armor plates do not reflect light due to the Gloom Ore metal, meaning that it doesn't shine even when it's polished.

The black medallion is known as a Fear Idol.