CHAPTER 1
GIRL’S REVOLUTION
Twilight Manor, Loki Familia’s home.
The large mess hall was bustling that morning.
Many familia members pulled up seats while greeting each other, and the sounds of silverware and plates clattering echoed in the big room.
Some time had passed since Enyo’s mayhem, and Loki Familia was slowly returning to normal. While many found it hard to ignore how many seats were empty now, they were adventurers, and they knew that brooding and standing still would do nothing for their comrades who were no longer with them. They all had wounds that were not yet healed, but even so, they were filling their stomachs with cheerful smiles and laughter.
It was then that the double doors swung open.
“Sorry for being late.”
Turning to see, everyone in the hall fell silent.
An elven girl had stepped through the doors.
“Lefi…ya?”
That was Aiz’s murmur. Even she did not believe her eyes.
The elf was not wearing the peach battle clothes that had become her trademark.
She was wearing a new red-and-white outfit.
Each and every thread woven into it was imbued with magic power. The sheer amount of work that must have involved was enough to make any mage cry. This labor of love had created a piece of equipment that boasted extraordinary magic resistance while remaining very light. Riveria’s Fairy Queen’s Robe was also enchanted gear, albeit made of a different material. Also, there was a bangle on Lefiya’s right arm that seemed to be a magic item, and she was wearing a pure white set of thigh-high boots on her slender legs.
There were two weapons at her hip. She carried her newly made wand and midsize rod in her belt, almost like a swordsman. And hanging from her back was a single shortsword.
The first thing to come to Aiz’s mind when seeing her was a magic swordswoman.
White and red. Her magic outfit was a blend of Filvis Challia’s dying wish and Lefiya’s quiet passion. That was how it appeared to Aiz.
But the familia was not surprised because Lefiya sported new gear. Nor was Aiz. Nor was Tiona or Tione. Nor was Raul or Anakity or the rest of the second-string familia members. They were in shock seeing one thing in particular.
The hair that she had so drastically cut herself.
The beautiful bright blond hair that so many of her generation had been jealous of and that she had surely been secretly proud of herself.
Despite her ignorance of fashion and appearance, it had even caught Aiz’s eyes.
The long, bright blond hair tied back by a single hair clip was now so short that the nape of her neck was visible.
“………………………………………”
No one could manage to close their mouths, which were hanging agape. She was like a completely different person. It was not just her outfit or her hair. The air about her was more like a cool, clear spring than the gentleness she had evoked before. No one spoke to her as she walked between the tables. Loki alone let out an amused whistle.
“Lefiya.”
As everyone remained frozen, Riveria rose.
She walked over, stopping right in front of Lefiya, who also stopped.
“Barring exigent circumstances, the whole familia eats breakfast together. That is the familia rule that Loki set. Where did you go without notice?”
Riveria was always Riveria. Always. The familia’s second-in-command would not hesitate to reprimand any semblance of rule-breaking, regardless of Lefiya’s change in appearance and demeanor.
In response, Lefiya…looked a little bit confused.
“I left a letter addressed to Elfie in our room…”
“Eh! You did?!”
Elfie let out a little squeal when she was suddenly pulled into the conversation. Everyone’s attention focused on her, and she put on an awkward smile and mumbled to herself. “Right, there might have been a letter on the table…”
Lefiya raised her shoulders in frustration at her roommate, and then, facing Riveria, she bowed at the waist.
“I received a message from Ms. Lenore that the equipment I commissioned had been completed, so I went to pick it up first thing in the morning. I apologize for my selfish behavior.”
When she admitted fault so earnestly, it was impossible to yell at her about it.
“Be more careful in the future.” Riveria sighed before returning to her own seat.
The rest of the familia had been on tenterhooks watching the exchange, but with that, the mood in the room eased again. It wasn’t long before the quiet mess hall grew lively again.
“It’s wild that she cut it so all at once…”
“I’m surprised. I’ve heard that elves have a big thing about their hair.”
“Is this what gods mean when they say someone had a makeover?”
Anakity, Tione, and Tiona, who were at the same table, glanced over while talking. The fact that they kept their voices down, other than Tiona, who was chowing down on some bread and bacon, was because they could guess the reason Lefiya cut her hair. Aiz, sitting next to Tiona, also glanced over in concern.
Meanwhile, Lefiya’s expression did not change as she started walking again.
The end of breakfast was approaching. Most of the familia had finished eating and had empty plates, but she did not try to sit with them.
Curious gazes, concerned murmurs, she ignored it all—as if she had decided it in advance—and went to one person in particular.
“Mr. Bete.”
“…What?”
The werewolf’s gray hair swayed as his ears pricked up.
Slouching haphazardly in his seat, he looked up in annoyance at the girl standing beside him.
These two never sat together during breakfast.
Lefiya was usually with either Aiz or Elfie, and Bete always staked his claim to the farthest seat in the mess hall since he hated how noisy Tiona and the others around her were.
Bete probably did not expect to be called out, either, judging by the dubious look on his face.
Raul and Cruz, sitting with him, were visibly baffled.
But whether she knew what they were thinking or not, she continued:
“Please teach me how to fight.”
And her question silenced the room again.
“………Huh?”
Again, it was Aiz’s murmur. Or at least it felt like it.
A deep quiet filled the mess hall.
As if turning back time, every gaze was focused on Lefiya again.
Some froze, those who could not believe their ears, and those sitting there slack-jawed.
Every familia member had their own reaction, but this time, Finn, Riveria, Gareth, and even Loki were stunned.
The next moment.
“Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?!”
Tiona shattered the silence.
With a loud voice that shook the mess hall, she finished the breakfast she had been casually working at and rushed around the tables to Lefiya.
“Why?! Why?!!! What happened?! Why are you asking this stupid wolf?! You want to learn to fight, so that means you want a teacher or a master, right?! That wasn’t my ears playing tricks on me, right?!”
Tiona rushed over in wild confusion, but she was also voicing the question that pretty much every other familia member had in the back of their mind.
Lefiya’s expression betrayed a bit of confusion when she saw how fiercely Tiona demanded an explanation.
“I’m not looking for a master or anything…and I have Lady Riveria already. It is just that I just wanted to learn how to fight at close range from Mr. Bete…”
“Then why Bete of all people?! You have me or Tione or Aiz, don’t you?!”
“I ain’t teaching shit. Sounds like a pain in the ass.”
“Hey, don’t you dare reject Lefiya, jerk! I mean, I want you to reject it, but don’t be so smug about it!”
Suddenly, Bete found himself on the other end of Tiona’s scrambled and confused reactions instead of Lefiya.
Most of the familia nodded in agreement with Tiona. All the male members of the familia’s second-string adventurers regarded Lefiya with shivering, wide-eyed stares, wondering if she had lost her mind to choose Bete of all people. Raul and Cruz, sitting next to Bete, were shaking their heads in earnest as well, pleading with her to rethink this.
“Lefiya! It may not be for Tiona to say something there, but we can definitely teach you martial arts. And we can spar with you as much as you want to. You don’t need to rely on that selfish, violent, pain-in-the-ass wolf!”
Tione had left her seat and rushed to join the fray, too.
Her mindset was that of an older sister not wanting to have her precious little sister taken away from her. Though there was probably also a personal distaste, as Bete was involved. The twins were not mincing any words:
“Get a grip, you asshole Amazons…”
A vein swelled in Bete’s forehead.
Both Amazon sisters clearly disapproved of Lefiya’s plan and were desperately trying to convince her to change her mind. But….
“I gave it a lot of thought, and I believe it would be best if Mr. Bete taught me. Not because you would be bad. It’s just that it feels like this is what I need right now,” Lefiya stated calmly.
Her deep blue eyes did not waver as she responded to the sisters’ pleas.
“And…I thought that Mr. Bete would be the one who would hold back the least.”
“Ugh.”
Tiona and Tione both were at a loss for words.
Lefiya was right. Even if it was training, there was a point where they both would stop out of concern for Lefiya. But Bete would never do that. It was a safe bet. It would not matter that it was just training. He would pummel her mercilessly with punches and kicks, even to her stomach, even to her face. That was precisely the Bete Loga that they were talking about.
Put another way, that was exactly why they didn’t want Lefiya to train with Bete.
Turning to face the two of them, Lefiya bowed her head.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Tiona. Ms. Tione. It feels like if I don’t change now…I never will.”
She couldn’t afford to indulge in their kindness.
After she laid her heart bare, there was nothing more the sisters could say. Alicia and the other elves watched with eyes wide.
Looking up, she faced Bete again.
“Please, Mr. Bete.”
“You heard me. Go cry to Aiz like the dumbass said.”
Bete’s answer was unchanged.
He sought strength for himself. As a lone wolf with no time for small fry—and deciding that she had nothing to teach him since he did not use magic—he brusquely rejected Lefiya’s request. He didn’t even bother looking her in the eye as he bit into some of the bread he had left.
The old Lefiya would probably have just turned tail dejectedly. But the current Lefiya stood firm.
“You hate weaklings, right? But with a little bit of hassle, you could have one less weakling to deal with.”
Elfie and the others listening in gulped.
It was an uncharacteristically defiant response—surprisingly aggressive coming from Lefiya.
And hearing that, the werewolf turned his eyes to Lefiya for the first time.
“You have magic, too, don’t you? Even if it’s not Concurrent Casting or high-speed casting, I can teach you how to manage casting while in the vanguard.”
“I don’t use magic.”
“Is that so? Then what about training under heavy bombardment? You need to test the limits of your reworked Frosvirt, don’t you? I’m apparently second only to Lady Riveria in terms of absurd magic power.”
“…”
“I can make it worth your while.”
She sold herself eloquently, highlighting her value with a calm face. By this point, everyone else was at a loss for words as Lefiya continued.
“I can become useful.”
There was a brief silence.
Hearing those determined words, the werewolf…broke into a grin as he stood up.
“Interesting. Sounds like you can talk the talk, so let’s see if you can walk the walk.”
“Please do.”
“I’m not gonna play around, though. Don’t regret it.”
“Why would I?”
She met his grin with a steadfast expression.
The familia members who had watched from start to finish in silence struggled to keep up, but they at least understood that Lefiya was serious enough to convince Bete.
“What a surprise. Didn’t think she would ask Bete……uh, Aiz? Hey, Aiz?! You’re not looking so hot!”
“………………………………………”
Anakity, who had been staring long and hard at the unfolding drama, finally noticed something was strange with Aiz and frantically raised her voice.
The blond-haired, golden-eyed girl was frozen in time, a mere ghost of herself.
Lefiya, who had trained with her before, had suddenly been taken away.
Her heart burned white as that thought filled her head.
Though it was a massive shock to everyone in the familia, Lefiya and Bete agreed to train together.
Time is priceless.
That was the first thing Lefiya instilled in herself when she decided to change.
Study, training, the Dungeon, chores, personal affairs. She realized there would never be enough time to devote her full attention to everything. She finally understood that.
Time was finite. And even for a long-lived elf, time was still precious.
If there were trials awaiting her in the future, if she was destined to sacrifice things unless she changed, then she had no choice but to put in the hard work now. If sheer effort could change something, she wouldn’t hesitate to pour herself into it. She was certain that the only way to achieve that immutable goal was to strip away everything extraneous.
If she still had regrets even after all that, she would give up and accept her fate. But regrets stemming from sloth were unacceptable. That would be unforgivable.
Regrets tended to correlate with time spent. If Lefiya found herself dealing with another hard-to-swallow result only to look back and realize she had been lazy, she would undoubtedly curse herself.
Sacrifice, sorrow, grief, tears.
Those were luxuries she could no longer have, could no longer accept. If she was going to change, it had to be now.
Just like she told Tiona and Tione, if she let this moment pass, she would remain as Lefiya Viridis. That was why she chose to rush ahead, insisting on not wasting any more time.
By declaring that this was her only chance to change, she restructured her life.
“Too slow!”
“Gwahhh?!”
And so her training with Bete began the same day she approached him in the mess hall.
They were in Twilight Manor’s courtyard, the open area surrounding the central tower.
The werewolf’s unbridled kick landed cleanly on Lefiya.
“Gaha, gh, gugh…?!”
“How many times do I have to say it to get it through your thick skull?! Quit focusing on your damn casting!”
It was the seventh day of their training.
The sparring began right after breakfast, continuing past lunchtime and well into the evening. The reason it did not start early in the morning was because Bete considered stopping for breakfast “a real pain in the ass.”
The sun had risen high above, straddling noon.
“You don’t defend, and you can’t dodge! So stop mumbling those shitty songs!”
“Geha…argh…?!”
“It’s nothing but bullshit! Figure it out already! Quit humming like a one-trick pony!”
His next blow slammed straight into her stomach, sending her spinning and leaving her on the ground on all fours, groaning in pain as Bete berated her.
Other than not hounding her with follow-up attacks, he showed no mercy and no consideration for gender, size differential, race, or anything else.
The sword and wand slipped from Lefiya’s hands as she tried to endure the terrible pain.
“Hah! What’s the point of copying a dead woman and being even slower than she was?!”
“Gh…!”
Lefiya’s eyes flared with sparks of rage.
But Bete was correct. She couldn’t deny anything he said.
While trying to learn how to fight at close-range using a shortsword from Bete, she was also aggressively attempting Concurrent Casting. Holding her friend’s sword in her right hand, she wielded a wand in her left hand just like her friend, desperate to learn the techniques of a magic swordswoman.
“Copying a dead woman? That’s some cringe shit.”
No matter how much Bete sneered at it, though, that was the one thing Lefiya refused to compromise on. What she wanted was a way to fight on her own.
It was not because she thought less of the dedicated mage role she had performed until now or that she undervalued it. If serving as stationary artillery was what was asked of her, she would gladly fill the role. But that was something she could still do after mastering the fighting style of magic swordsmen. If anything, she would become better at supporting her allies by understanding the movements of the adventurers who fought in the front and center. Becoming a magic swordswoman would be like a mage with a magic circle. Having the ability would be a plus, and not having it wouldn’t be a minus.
She didn’t want to just be protected anymore.
The vanguard protected the back lines, and the back lines covered the vanguard. However, Lefiya wanted to become someone who could protect herself and save others. She wanted to be self-sufficient.
But:
“What do you mean you want to be able to fight by yourself? You don’t even qualify as a small fry! You’re an ant wishing for wings!”
The werewolf spat on her goal with venom in his voice. He dismissed it as wild-eyed optimism, an impossible dream. Even in that, Bete was merciless, stomping down on her naive ideas and forcing her to face reality. All while hammering her with kicks and punches. His strength tyrannized her with far more persuasiveness than a hundred insults, forcing her to realize just how difficult it would be to achieve her goal.
Bete Loga was sterner than anyone else, just as she had expected—and even more than she could have imagined.
—I was right to ask him.
That was why she was glad.
Even as tears welled in the corners of her eyes, even as a strand of spit dribbled from her mouth, even as she coughed over and over, even in the grips of terrible pain that kept her from smiling, in her heart of hearts, she was still glad.
Bete was hammering reality into her. He was teaching her just how harsh the choice she had made really was. The wolf was more familiar with the logic of the law of the jungle than anyone.
She felt no shame. No humiliation. She had no pride left to lose in the first place. Having already lost something truly precious, what did trivialities like embarrassment matter anymore? If this level of disgrace would help her take even one step forward, she welcomed it. It was worth the price. She would pour her limited time into it. She was more than satisfied with Bete’s unforgiving handling. When she came through on the other side, tomorrow’s Lefiya would be more potent than ever.
“…Again…please…!”
“…”
Seeing her pull her knees up off the ground and try to stand, Bete was silent for a moment.
It was the one thing that Bete was willing to acknowledge in Lefiya, who lacked everything.
Resolve. Obsession even.
No matter how battered she was or how merciless his words were, Lefiya quickly stood back up. She would clench her fists, force her quivering knees up, wipe away the tears in her eyes, and leap back into the swirling vortex of Bete’s violence.
Some people would consider her mindset concerning, even potentially dangerous, but Bete didn’t see any reason to stop her. He welcomed it even as he fought the urge to grin at it.
It seemed like he refused to let anyone get in the way when a small fry was trying to change herself.
Bete’s eyes narrowed, and he shifted from the rough, gruff tone he had maintained up to this point.
“Okay, listen. You need to think. About the difference in how things look from the front and back lines. About your positioning. About the lame-ass role of a mage.”
“…! Yes, sir!”
Lefiya nodded in shock as, for the first time, Bete actually gave her some advice.
“When I’m fighting, magic swordsmen are the easiest to deal with. I always say bring ’em on. You know why?”
“…No.”
“Because they’re half-assed at everything. Casting or attacking. Half-assed is the most useless thing to be. Just like you right now.”
“!!!”
Lefiya’s deep blue eyes widened as he told her, in not so many words, that she was in the process of becoming emblematic of the bad side of a magic swordsmen.
“If you know someone’s weaker than you in a brawl, then all you have to do is charge ’em head-on. Show them you’re stronger, and they’ll get scared of tripping an Ignis Fatuus and just panic. Easy pickings.”
“That’s…”
“There’s nothing scary about a magic swordsman’s Concurrent Casting.”
It was a scathing assessment that hit Lefiya close to home. During all her training with Bete this past week, she had been preoccupied controlling her magic power more than a few times. From her own experience, she could only agree with his stinging evaluation.
Feeling like her resolve and the very existence of her friend Filvis had been rejected, she gripped the sword and wand in her hands.
But:
“The scary thing isn’t Concurrent Casting. The scariest thing about a magic swordsman, or really any mage, is their eyes.”
“…Their eyes?”
He still had more to say.
“The eyes of someone casting with the resolve to self-destruct…the ones who will finish their spell no matter what have feral eyes.”
Lefiya was taken aback. She understood just what Bete was trying to say.
“A mage who’s ready to take you down with them in the Ignis Fatuus…is the most dangerous…?”
“The method ain’t what matters. A mage is like a bomb. Anyone willing to set off their bomb, no matter what it takes, is a pain in the ass. And at the old lady’s level, she even uses it as a bluff.”
Using her casting to keep the enemy off-balance and lure them into making a careless mistake. It was similar to a tactic Riveria had taught her before.
She had used that distraction to coordinate with Finn and the others to land a blow on the monstrous Levis.
Drawing from the example of the city’s strongest mage, Lefiya could grasp the idea more concretely.
“Hesitate? Lose. Get scared? Lose. I don’t know magic, but I know that much. In any case, Filvis was like that.”
When Lefiya heard those words, her determination flared up.
“You aren’t desperate enough.”
It was a brief summary.
So brief that Lefiya was ashamed of getting ahead of herself.
She thought she had been prepared to do anything, but that wasn’t nearly enough. She did not yet have the resolve to cast spells and swing her sword fully prepared to die if it meant landing a decisive blow.
“I’ve said all there is to say. If you still can’t change, then I’m done bothering with you. It’s a waste of time.”
“Yes, sir!!!”
Lefiya nodded as Bete’s eyes took on their usual dangerous gleam again.
Raising her sword and wand again, she leaped forward.
“Unleashed pillar of light, limbs of the holy tree—!”
She charged while singing over and over, only to be knocked away repeatedly. Time and time again, she wiped away the caked-on mud before returning to the fight.
“Lefiya’s really working hard.”
“Yeah, but…that damn wolf isn’t holding back at all.”
They looked down at the scene in the courtyard from a stone sky bridge that connected different parts of the home.
Curious about Lefiya and Bete’s ongoing training, they watched without breaking for lunch.
“I wondered what sort of training a mage and a warrior with no magic would do, but…”
“At the moment, it’s a lot more reasonable than I expected. Lefiya’s movements are a bit better than when they started…as a fighter and as a mage.”
Tiona leaned against the railing with an annoyed grimace while Narfi and Alicia talked. Like the pouting Amazon, they were initially against Lefiya and Bete training. However, as they kept watching, it was clear that there were improvements in Lefiya’s movements and spellcasting. Her fellow elf Alicia could see that it was the seed of what would eventually become tricks and techniques in Lefiya’s repertoire.
“It seems Bete has put some thought into the training program in his own way.”
“No way, Aki! He’s just lazy!”
Tiona immediately disagreed with Anakity, who was on the other side of Alicia and Narfi.
The training Bete had set for Lefiya was extremely simple. Lefiya’s only goal was to land a blow on him with either sword or magic.
Even if she managed to get off a spell, Bete’s Frosvirt would absorb the magical effects. And if she limited herself to just Arcs Ray, there was no chance of causing damage to their home. And he would handle it the same way if she self-destructed in an Ignis Fatuus.
It was rough around the edges, but his training program made sense.
“C’mon, Tiona, Bete was the head of Víðarr Familia before. He’s not that dumb…seriously.”
“Then he should demonstrate some of that leadership more often…”
It was not entirely clear if Raul was covering for him, and Cruz just crossed his arms with an awkward look on his face.
Many members of Loki Familia had gathered on the long skyway, like a crowd enjoying a show.
Tiona and Tione. Alicia and Narfi. Anakity, Raul, and Cruz.
And:
“Lefiya…Lefiya…with Bete…Just like Bell…? Bell…Lefiya…everyone…is it Bete’s time now…?”
“Aiz! Aiz?! What’s going on with you?!”
Elfie desperately called out as Aiz turned pale from yet another shocking development.
She had been murmuring random things like that in a daze ever since Bete had agreed to train Lefiya.
The mildly airheaded girl who had mistaken Bell Cranell’s goal to become like Bete was currently feeling like the pathetic master who had her beloved disciples stolen away by the Bete School of martial arts. Aiz was despondent, while inside her, a young Aiz in a Far Eastern martial arts outfit lay slumped on the ground.
“Just leave her be, Elfie. She’ll be back to normal if you buy her a Jyaga Maru Kun.” Tiona suggested a random solution as Lefiya rolled violently across the ground.
“How long is this training going to last, do you think…?” Raul grimaced sympathetically.
“Until Lefiya is satisfied, of course.” Anakity sighed, concern visible etched on her face.
The number of people watching them was a testament to her ability to make friends and a likeable personality. And her friends on the sky bridge weren’t the only ones watching, either. Others were keeping an eye on her from here and there around the home.
Lefiya Viridis was a model student, for better and for worse.
She was kind to everyone and cared for by many. She was widely loved, which was uncommon for the notoriously fastidious elves.
But that might more accurately describe the old Lefiya Viridis.
“Right now, she’s working so hard, and there’s no stopping her, but…I’m scared,” her roommate, Elfie, murmured, looking down. “It seems like she’s changing…like she might go someplace far away…”
No one could answer her.
Tione and Tiona, Raul and everyone, they were all silent.
In that sense, Bete was the correct training partner for Lefiya right now. And the worst possible one. The precarity they were feeling in Lefiya, he would affirm it. The two of them would go as far as they could. Even if it was someplace far, far away.
And that was surely what Lefiya wanted.
Recovering from her absentminded babble, Aiz could only look on as she saw something very familiar in the face of Lefiya, who was pouring herself into training down below.
Riveria’s long jade hair swayed, and she felt a terrible headache as she looked at the Status update sheet Loki had given her.
“How long has it been since her last update?”
“The last time I did it was before the fight in Knossos, so around two weeks?” Loki answered easily.
“Absurd.”
An increase of over 1,100 points across all of her stats.
The clearing of Knossos was a massive battle that was nigh unheard of, but these were not normal numbers for a Level 4 mage to achieve in half a month. Even an expedition down to the deep floors would not have caused such dramatic changes.
Riveria stared at the numbers in the home office.
“I imagine most of the excelia came from the battle in Knossos, but…”
“Aye, you can see the training is showin’ results. Bete really isn’t holding back more than the bare minimum. It isn’t exactly fighting with Udaeus every day…but at her level, it’s not far off, either.”
Finn and Gareth calmly assessed the numbers as Riveria furrowed her shapely eyebrows.
As has been repeated several times, the battle in Knossos could safely be called an unprecedented fight to the death. There was no knowing just how much excelia had been gained by those who survived.
In Lefiya’s case, she was adding in serious training with Bete, a first-tier adventurer, on top of it.
It wasn’t hard to believe that her brutal training, which was no different from going into battle every day, would lead to extraordinary growth.
“That much is clear. Even so, it is going too far.”
But Riveria’s brows remained deeply furrowed at that.
Even if she had just leveled up and the range of her stat growth from here would shrink, it was still like seeing a certain Record Holder.
“That’s our Lefiya! She should leave that cocky shrimp’s kid in her dust!”
Riveria’s staff immediately slammed down on her patron goddess’s head.
“Wagh?!”
Ignoring Loki writhing in pain on the ground, the high elf who was Lefiya’s true master sighed deeply.
It was undeniably incredible growth—the manifestation of a determination to claw her way up even if her fingernails broke or tore away.
Right now, Lefiya had slipped the bonds of self-restraint.
“As a familia, it’s welcome news. Several others have grown significantly, too.”
“Sharon, Olba, and Arcus reached Level Four…and Anakity Level Five. Across the board, everyone who fought the demi-spirit directly leveled up.”
As Finn and Gareth said, Loki Familia had seen significant growth as a result of their recent quest.
Almost all the Level 2 members had reached Level 3, and more than half of the Level 3s had reached Level 4. Anakity had reached Level 5, which was particularly significant. She was Loki Familia’s eighth first-tier adventurer.
Much like the massive wall separating lower-class adventurers from upper-class adventurers, there was a seemingly insurmountable gap between second- and first-tier adventurers. The simple fact that there were not forty first-tier adventurers in all of Orario highlighted just how high that wall was.
They had even heard word that Anakity, who usually played the cool and collected beauty, had clenched her fists and let her tail swing excitedly when she found out, looking quite pleased with herself.
They had had a similar exchange the other day.
“Finn, you gonna consider Aki for a leadership position?” Loki asked.
“No…let’s put a pin in that for now. I knew it already, but seeing how she handled things during everything that happened with the Xenos brought it home again just how well balanced she is.”
He was referring to his announcement of their joining forces with the Xenos during the attack on Knossos.
At that moment, when others were shouting in anger and reproach, she had questioned him calmly, which had become the impetus for bringing the familia together again.
“She’ll be a flexible bridge between us and the rest of the familia. She can see things well from the perspective of the strong and the weak. As long as she doesn’t mind it, I’ll have her carry the midlevels of the familia with Raul and them.”
Finn clearly valued Anakity’s discretion, which none of the other first-tier adventurers had, not even himself. Loki generally left familia management to them anyway, so she accepted their decision with a breezy okay.
Changing subjects, the reserve force during the second assault on Knossos—Raul, Alicia, Cruz, Narfi, and the other Level 4s in the team that had rescued Demeter Familia—would have to wait for their next chance to level up. Raul, who joined at the same time as Anakity, had drawn a few smiles when they saw how his shoulders had drooped at the news.
“We’re gonna have to think of a flashy ole celebration for y’all, too.”
Loki, who had been rolling around on the floor, brushed off the dust and smirked as they answered with weary smiles.
“Lefiya is more important,” Riveria responded, as if unhappy that the original conversation had been derailed.
Circling back to her concerns, she looked around at them.
“It isn’t just her training with Bete. She is practicing releasing her magic power before sunrise and meditating at night.”
“And spending all her free time in the Dungeon, huh…”
“I’ve heard Elfie and Alicia and some others have been goin’ along with her…but maybe it is a bit too much cramming.”
“It not being so obviously reckless makes it hard to address. She’s calm on the surface and inside, making it hard to persuade her. She’s thinking it through before acting.”
Riveria, Finn, Loki, and Gareth all spoke.
Raul and the others had tried to talk with Lefiya, but when they got into the nitty-gritty of the scheduling, the numbers, and the fundamental reasoning behind everything they were apparently outdebated. Raul apparently got so worked up that he had tears in his eyes.
“The brakes deities speak of appear to have been cut.”
“It wasn’t so different for us when we came to Orario and experienced our baptism.”
“All the same. This is too extreme.” Riveria shook her head and closed her eyes. “…The worst part is that Lefiya can continue this for some time yet.”
There was a tone of certainty to her voice. Hiding a pained, pensive feeling in her brow, she continued.
“Having experienced failure once, those who stand back up can embrace the hardships and press on. They can keep running, even as it wears down their body and soul. Because they know now that there is something more bitter, more painful than dying without achieving their goal.”
“…That’s true. Now Lefiya has the security…no, the resolve to not give up halfway. Regret is becoming the thing that fuels her.”
Gareth nodded at Riveria’s assessment.
The elf and dwarf stared into the distance, recalling one particular moment from the past.
“The younger Aiz all over again.”
Riveria could see Aiz’s familiar shadow on Lefiya’s face. Even in the present day, Aiz still had her moments of recklessness, but she had improved a lot. The fact that Riveria had said the same thing was happening again instead of saying Lefiya was just like Aiz showed how deeply concerned she was.
“So it’s not just Aiz. You’re Lefiya’s mama, too, huh, Riveria?”
“Do not taunt me, Loki. I am being serious here.”
She did not bother entertaining with her goddess’s joke. It was the other side of her concerns with Lefiya. Because she had clashed with the young Aiz countless times and almost made mistakes several times, she could see the danger in Lefiya’s current behavior. From a different perspective, and speaking from a different position, even though they didn’t say it openly, they all shared Riveria’s opinion.
“Well, it’s true Lefiya ain’t all right…It’s even worse than the old Aiz in some ways.” Loki crossed her arms with a pensive sigh.
She usually left all the work to them without doing anything herself, but now that she decided to do a little bit of work for once, she let her mind get to work… Then her lips curled into a smile.
“All right, just leave Lefiya to me. I’ve got an idea.”
“…Truly?”
“I mean it, I mean it. I’m a bit curious about her, and that should be just perfect for her.”
Loki flashed an okay sign as Riveria stared at her, unsure whether it was actually safe to trust her.
“It will have to wait just a bit, but I’ve got a trick up my sleeve. The real reason is I just don’t wanna go to that dumbass’s place…but at least I can put him to some use,” Loki boldly declared, as if she were delivering an oracle. “I’ll have Lefiya be our recruiter when the School District comes in a month.”
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