Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III

Episode 9

You shouldn't ever have to choose between doing what's right and doing what's easy, but unfortunately the former is very rarely also the latter. Maybe that's why so many heroes are put in the position Bell's in this week: he's done the right thing, stood by his morals and standards, and has become persona non grata in Orario as a result. It's not even that people knew what he was doing – saving Wiene – and disagreed with his choice; instead they wholeheartedly put aside what they know of him as a person and an adventurer and just bought into his lie that he had called dibs on the vouivre as prey. They're blaming him for being more interested in the money for bringing her down and selling her parts…something he never actually did.

But just like there's usually a choice between doing what's right and what's easy, there's often a similar one between believing – do you try and understand the difficult truth? Or do you just go with what the most people believe the loudest? Most of the townsfolk have definitely gone with the second choice, and it will be interesting to see where Loki Familia eventually settles, because they're in the best position to push aside the obscuring veil of popular opinion. Not only does Ais know Bell more personally than others in various familias, but Tiona's fascination with him (and willingness to just flick aside the al-miraj rather than killing her last week) could also lead to a little more consideration for what his motives might be.

And of course there's Finn. He's very likely inspired by Irish folk hero Fionn mac Cumhaill (often Anglicized as Finn MacCool), whose childhood name was Demne, which looks awfully Finn's last name in DanMachi. (“Fionn” also means “fair,” hence Finn's blond hair.) Among other things, Fionn had “the thumb of knowledge,” an ability he gained from eating the Salmon of Knowledge; it was this that actually led to him going from being known as Demne to Fionn. Whenever Fionn recited a specific spell with his thumb in his mouth, he gained all the knowledge he sought. Again, the parallels between Fionn and Finn are clear here, and it is Finn that Hermes is most concerned about as he watches Bell and the rest of Hestia Familia begin to launch their plan to get the Xenos back into the Dungeon safely. Of course, Hermes is worried (in as much as he worries) about Finn figuring out which entrances to Knossos Hestia Familia is heading towards. Perhaps, as legends of Fionn mac Cumhaill suggest, he should instead be concerned about Finn learning the truth about the Xenos and what role Hermes has been playing in all of this.

Just what that role really is remains somewhat up for debate, but he's definitely got more of a thing for heroes in the Greco-Roman mold than in the Celtic. As this episode unfolds, it's interesting to see how the various gods react to what's going on, from Hermes managing (or manipulating) things from behind the scenes and Loki aware that something's going on and just not sure what, to Hephaistos, Dian Cecht, and Takemikazuki aware but unsure of what, if anything, they're willing to do. Their meeting goes back to the idea of whether to choose what's right or what's easy, because it's very clear by this point that Hestia Familia could very well pay a high price for their involvement. With Ikelos banished (but not sent back to the heavens, which is interesting), Bell is the only one who remains an easy target for blame, both because he won't deny his role and because Hermes is excellent at remaining cloaked in shadows. That Hestia is willing to do whatever she has to in order to defend her child could just as easily paint a target on her back, something she seems to know perfectly well. But she, along with the rest of the familia, is more than willing to take that on, both for what they know to be right and because Bell is important to them.

That's what makes one of the quietest scenes also the most effective this week. When Syr bumps into Bell on the street, she doesn't question him. She doesn't ask him what he was thinking or pick at his emotional scabs. Instead she just sits down with him somewhere quiet and lets him know that no matter what, she's got his back. Syr doesn't know why he did what he did, but she trusts him because she knows who he is and she likes that person – and ultimately, that's what makes choosing between the screams of the loudest and the convictions of the silent easy.

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Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and HIDIVE.