The Star Compass: a mysterious instrument that always points to the far reaches of the sky.
Its needle led not to the far end of the sky above, but in fact to the exact opposite of that...
the very depths of this planet!
It pointed to the far reaches of the Abyss!
This again?
Here we go again...
That's right! It had already begun!
The truth of this Star Compass was most beautifully revealed, and from the depths of the Abyss...
a mysterious robot boy appeared!
If that doesn't mark the beginning, then what does?!
Walking down obscured, everyone's will to defy dwindles
So I made their eyes even shinier than torchlights
As my desired blossoming delays,
I straightaway lose myself
Through the opened gates of the abyss,
Let us pursue towards the truth
If the answer is found right now,
I don't mind sacrificing everything
And through the as-yet-reverberating echo,
Those voices are hushed
Since forever our compass
Was aiming towards the darkness,
Where the direction of nowhere dwells
Even if it's a curse,
The palpitation is genuine
Never again will our longing cease
Resurrection Festival
When cave raiding in the Abyss, the return journey presents a problem...
The deeper you go, the greater and more severe the physical toll of heading home becomes...
Returning from the depths' first layer, you experience mild dizziness.
From the second layer: nausea, headaches, and numbness of the extremities.
From the fourth layer: intense pain throughout the body and bleeding.
From the sixth layer and beyond: the loss of your humanity or even death.
This mysterious phenomenon, which is unavoidable for any human cave raider...
is called the Curse of the Abyss.
So that means...
robots should be unaffected by the curse, right?!
Reg, you must've come from the bottom of the Abyss, after all!
Assuming that's true, then what did I come up here to do?
That's what I want to talk about.
Oh! The Compilation of Recorded Relics!
"Recorded Relics"?
It's a field guide to the major Relics that have been unearthed.
Ah, the Unheard Bell!
Classified as a special-grade Relic, it's a "bell that stops time"!
Look, Reg! My mother was the one who found it!
She's so close...
I searched everywhere inside this thing...
but there's nothing listed that's anything like Reg.
Riko, care to fill us in on what you've found out about Reg's features?
Sure thing!
Let's see...
He puzzlingly can run on either food or electricity,
and on top of possessing a strange power that can melt petrified trees in an instant,
he has skin that's smooth despite being able to stop a blade.
And even fire was unable to burn his hair!
Fire?!
Seems his vision and hearing is better than mine, too.
Besides that, his arm can extend about 40 meters.
His metal-looking parts are made of some mysterious flexible material,
which I couldn't pierce even with a drill.
A drill?!
He also has a belly button, but I couldn't really see inside his butthole.
I tried to probe him with a measuring stick, but it broke while inside him...
Also, his penis doesn't appear to be mechanical but more like a real one...
Okay, Riko, that's enough...
Sorry. We couldn't stop her...
Penis?
I got the stick out.
Leaving aside the second half of the report, none of those features are listed within the Relic record...
and even if they were, they'd be classified above even grade-1.
What do you mean?
Reg's body is a bundle of special-grade Relics.
In the whole history of the Abyss, he is perhaps one of the most valuable Relics...
a so-called Aubade – a supreme treasure of the netherworld!
Huh...?
That's super awesome!
Not even my mother found one of those!
If I'm right, then...
Reg will be quickly taken away, his existence will be concealed...
and he may even be dismantled.
Furthermore, our usual classes and jobs start up tomorrow!
I guess we won't be able to stay with him all the time then, huh?
But...!
Well then, I'll keep him hidden in my room!
Yeah, right. Even your dog was found out...
In that case... I have an idea!
I call it the "Bring Together Leader and Reg Strategy."
So you want to be a cave raider?
What happened to your family?
I have no family. My big sister died, so I came here.
I heard that if I work here, I can become a cave raider...
You don't look like you were born in Orth...
My sister found me a year ago.
I don't remember anything before that due to an accident.
After that, I began rag-picking with her in a cliff-side neighborhood in Orth's south district.
You think that backstory's okay?
Seems like it is, right? I doubt that Leader's ever been to the slums.
What happened to your hand?
He asked!
It's, uh...
been like this for the full year I've had my memory.
An old man in the cliff-side neighborhood said it's foreign technology...
Clench it for me.
Seems your grip is strong enough.
Very well then, what's your name?
Reg... It's Reg!
Alright!
He pulled it off...
He really is an Aubade!
By the way, Reg...
you don't know anything about the incident in the Depths of the Abyss the other day, do you?
What are you talking about?
Oh, never mind...
Well, come inside.
Come on, let's hurry!
Hey! It went well, right? Right?!
And thus, I became a student at Belchero Orphanage...
and set my sights on becoming a cave raider.
Riko Bombs
Preperation
in Progress
Hammerbeak chicks!
Whoa!
What was that huge thing?!
It swallowed up that hammerbeak!
Oh, the hammerbeaks are fighting back!
Get 'em!
Bite 'em! Bite 'em good!
Yeah!
I'm surprised you don't lose interest.
I'll never get bored of this!
Just now, this huge one... Oh?
So, what did Uncle Habo's letter say?
Hm? Well...
he says that he's about to head to the second layer's Inverted Forest.
Oh, the Inverted Forest is pretty amazing!
The trees, grass, and everything else grows upside-down!
And fog rises up from the sea of clouds directly below.
It's like some kind of inverted waterfall!
You almost sound like you've seen it firsthand.
I'm aiming to be a White Whistle too, you know!
Oh, that's right.
Habo wants to become one, too, even though he's not young anymore.
Is being one really all that great?
Auntie?
Welcome!
Laffi, do you have the stuff on this list?
Sure do.
Well... uh, I need to go grab a chair.
Please wait a minute.
Anyway, I've got the others down here...
Here you are.
Oh my!
Hey, you're pretty quick!
See you later, Auntie!
Thanks for coming by.
Riko...
You done making deliveries?
Yeah.
So anyway, I hear Habo is aspiring to be a White Whistle.
I really admire them.
I mean, our country celebrates them as heroes.
White Whistles...
But admiring them isn't exactly the same as wanting to be one.
Huh, why? They don't have any depth limit, you know!
They're truly the best of the best among us cave raiders!
From the day I'm made a White Whistle, I'll go all out to give birth to a ton of legends!
I'm heading out!
See you!
Come on, you guys have jobs to do, too.
Two months had passed before I knew it...
I'm surprised by how well I'm fitting in here...
It's three more days until I go on my first cave-raid.
which also means saying goodbye to this bell.
Lucky you.
Don't worry.
I probably won't be getting any bigger, but you'll keep on growing and growing, Kiyui.
Makes sense...
Ah, there you are, Reg!
Welcome back.
Word is Habo's squad is returning home!
Let's go greet them at the grand pier!
Kiyui, it's dangerous there, so you stay behind, 'kay?
Got it!
They're back!
There they are!
They've come home!
They're coming out now!
There they are!
Ah, it's Habo!
Habo!
Hm? What is he doing?
Is that a Relic?
It's a whistle...
A white whistle.
Huh?! A white whistle?!
Hey, I figured out whose whistle that is!
It's Lyza's! "Lyza the Annihilator"!
For real?!
He says it's Lyza's.
Lyza the Annihilator's?!
"Annihilator"... What an unsettling name...
I don't believe it!
But, why just her whistle...?
What's with that?
Riko?
Lyza is...
my mother's name.
The world's only remaining unexplored chasm, the great devilish pit, Abyss.
And it is we, the cave raiders, who dare challenge it!
The apprentice Red Whistles!
The proficient Blue Whistles! The assistant-instructor Moon Whistles!
The expert Black Whistles!
And finally... those who stand atop them all,
the masters who have surpassed their human limitations to challenge the Abyss!
Our heroes...
the White Whistles!
They have brought us numerous discoveries that changed the world.
No matter how very deep they go, they remain our brilliantly shining nether stars!
And now, the soul of the one who stood out as the greatest even among the White Whistles
has at last returned home after more than 10 years!
Her last dive has come to its completion right here!
She slayed countless dangerous creatures that rose from the depths!
Get your replicas of the Annihilator's white whistle here!
Twelve times foreign cave raiders attacked, and every single time she turned the tables on them!
Now! Time for the big gem projector!
People call her...
Lyza the Annihilator!
Now, to purchase a copy of the Annihilator's biography or a replica of her white whistle,
be sure to visit Belchero Orphanage!
And please be wary of imitations!
Is it... really okay for me to keep this?
It's fine.
Unlike other whistles, that one can only be used by its original owner.
Um... that's not really what I meant.
Isn't there someone more worthy of it than me?
It's customary for a relative to be the one to receive a white whistle like this.
Everyone will be fine with you taking it. Go right ahead.
If that's too heavy a responsibility to bear, you can always entrust it to the guild.
I'll... take it.
Besides that, Lyza had also been carrying a sealed document.
We received both it and that white whistle from a sentry at the Seeker Camp...
However, right now it's being examined.
So it might take some time to get to you, Riko.
So you're saying it's a letter... from my mother?
Habo?
Yeah... I suppose it is!
Riko, I'm sure it's a letter addressed to you.
What are you doing sitting around here?!
Leader...
Today's Resurrection Festival is meant to show just how great your mother was...
It's a very important day for you, too. Make sure to really take it in.
After all, Lyza loved festivals, and in a way this is her final one.
Um... Leader...
my mother was your instructor, right?
What kind of person was she?
Despite being one of the White Whistles I look up to so much, I can't even remember her face.
So, I'm not exactly sad,
but I feel like someone I aspired to be just suddenly disappeared...
When Lyza went in for her last dive, you were still just 2 years old, after all.
As a cave raider, she was every bit the legendary White Whistle people say she was...
That said... I hardly even got the chance to go cave raiding with her.
What I know of her is from her time here on the surface.
She was a heavy drinker, quick to get into fights, and you could never tell how honest she was being.
On top of that, she had a horribly unbalanced diet.
If she wasn't a White Whistle, she would have been just another weirdo.
She was a real mess...
How are your eyes doing?
Huh?!
Uh, they're fine!
As long as I'm wearing my glasses, I don't get headaches...
You know...
the issue with your eyes is different than common "bad eyesight."
Huh?
Your vision itself is fine and free from abnormalities...
but you suffer headaches unless you view everything through crystal lenses.
The symptoms may be mysterious, but their cause is quite clear:
The Curse of the Abyss.
Huh...?
My bad eyesight isn't from always staying up late?
That was nonsense we made up to teach you discipline...
It's already been 12 years...
No, it was a bit before that actually...
Your mother Lyza had just become pregnant with you
when she had to go down to the fourth layer with a survey team.
Huh...? But why...?
It was a special mission ordered by the country's powers that be.
She was to retrieve the Unheard Bell, a special-grade Relic that had been discovered in the depths.
Their cave raiding proved arduous and stretched on for over 10 months.
They had repeated run-ins with foreign cave raiders, and the survey team was nearly wiped out.
It was at that time your father, a Black Whistle named Torka, lost his life.
And in the midst of it all, you were born.
Huh?
That's right...
The Depths of the Abyss... is where you were born.
Well...
Um... So does that mean...
I'm strong against the Curse of the Abyss?
Of course not!
Did you forget about how much you were throwing up your first time cave raiding?!
Ascending from the fourth layer is something that's unbearable even for adults.
Huh? So, why am I still alive, then?
You have the Curse-Repelling Vessel that Lyza took along with her to thank for that.
However, it was dreadfully heavy,
and the now-decimated team no longer had the strength to carry it home.
Well then, it seems I'm not actually alive, after all...
Lyza abandoned the Unheard Bell...
Leaving behind the corpses of their comrades,
she carried you together with a still-standing squad member.
Bringing home just one special-grade Relic is enough to enrich the city and ensure a squad's future.
And yet Lyza chose you...
Prestige and riches, her comrades and their trust...
All of it...
She desired to have you so much that she was willing to give that up.
Although she made use of a Relic...
The Curse of the Abyss could still not be fully warded off...
Lyza lamented that she was unable to protect your eyes.
You grew up extremely healthy...
and in the face of the pressure of having a mother of such stature, you're trying to choose your own path.
And thus, the one she risked her life to protect is still going strong to this day.
Now, this life the legendary White Whistle Lyza the Annihilator left you with...
How will you use it?
Thank you!
Shortly afterward...
Lyza settled the score with the foreign country that caused her trouble and then recovered the Bell...
Well, some things are better left unsaid.
Abyss, I'm comin' for ya. I'm goin' down there, Abyss.
I'll be a White Whistle in no time...
Hey, don't you think Riko's been actin' a bit strange lately?
I mean, she's oddly cheerful...
Maybe she's forcing herself to act cheerful...
Abyss, I'm comin' for ya. I'm goin' down there, Abyss.
Her mother is missing in action, after all.
I'll be a White Whistle in no time...
Huh?! I doubt she has such a complex personality, seriously now...
Let's just ask her.
Huh?!
H-Hey now, Reg?!
Riko?
Riko, where are you?
I'm here!
You've received permission to view the sealed document.
Huh...?
You need to be at headquarters by 18:00. Hurry.
You're not gonna reply?
O-Okay!
Reg, you go with her. She might behave erratically and I can't stand watching that.
Understood.
Orth's East District
Cave Raider Guild HQ
It's just up ahead. I'll accompany you as an observer.
Please refrain from touching anything.
What is all this...?
Mother went down there 10 years ago...
and yet none of these are in the field guide...
I've never seen any of these before...
What's the matter, Riko? The letter?
That looks like...
Yeah, some parts are different here and there, but this is...
Riko, there's a piece of paper beside it with only writing.
If it's a letter... it's pretty short.
Riko, shine the light on it.
Hmm, let's see...
"At the netherworld's...
bottom...
I'll be waiting..."
At the netherworld's bottom, I'll be waiting.
Pervading sky and brilliant surges,
Uncharted bridges seem to be build
Along hazardous grounds and slippery slopes
Guided by the past and futurity's signposts
Your left hand and my right hand
Are not connected, despite they could, let us begin!
Always staying together
In past, now, and in futurity
Let us pursue the enchantment
Realising that versicolour dream,
I wonder whereto tomorrow flies
If we bring in a tinge of apple-green,
The world will shed radiance, you know?
Let us seek the flower thiving at the back of beyond
Next Episode
Departure