Even after stepping out of The Hostess of Fertility, Lefiya was still sowhat dazed.
Her mind kept replaying what had just happened.
'It was hard to imagine that Lady Riveria, whose status was so noble and exalted, would actually do… sothing like that…'
Suddenly, the figure walking ahead of Lefiya stopped.
The absent-minded girl failed to notice and bumped straight into her.
"Ah…!"
Lefiya hurriedly ca back to her senses.
When she looked up, she saw Riveria gazing at her with an extrely "kind" expression.
"Lefiya."
"I-I'm here! Lady Riveria!"
"You saw nothing today. Do you understand?"
If she asked a foolish question now, Riveria, furious from embarrassnt, might directly silence her on the spot with her High-Level spell: Sword of Victory!
Lefiya's mind could not help recalling the bloody scenes during expeditions, when Riveria had easily annihilated large groups of monsters with high-tier magic.
"I understand… Today, I only ca here to accompany Lady Riveria for dinner."
"Also."
Riveria breathed a slight sigh of relief, then said seriously,
"You must not ntion the transaction with the Heroic Smith to anyone either — including our Familia companions."
"Before we fully understand the detailed effects of Mana Crystals, if anyone asks… just play dumb."
"Ahaha…"
At this mont, Lefiya could only show an awkward yet polite smile.
"Yes, exactly like that."
Riveria nodded.
Her gaze casually drifted toward the tavern behind them, and her long pointed ears could not help twitching a few tis.
Her heart was not as calm as she appeared on the surface.
After all, she had been asked to fulfill such a weird condition!
As a proud magical race, elves possessed extrely strong self-respect and would only allow those they acknowledged to touch them.
Yet just now, she had done far more than rely allow that boy to touch her.
She had cooperated in a way that was a thousand tis more serious.
If the stubborn old elders of her race found out what she had done today, they would probably send people overnight to tie her up and drag her back to the elven royal capital, never allowing her to interact with the outside world again.
Of course, that group of old fossils would first have to be capable of beating her.
"Using 'Soma' to enhance alchemical effects… the world really is full of wonders."
As soone who had personally experienced it, Riveria felt rather emotional.
Although she had agreed to his condition at the ti, Riveria had already decided that if she discovered Drake was only trying to take advantage of her, she would imdiately strike and make him pay the proper price.
However, when she felt the life energy inside her body condense in another form, she already believed Drake's words.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain how she, despite being untouched, had condensed Soma.
"Still… needing to replenish it every week is a bit too frequent."
Riveria's gaze flicked almost imperceptibly toward the blonde elf girl beside her.
"The only ones who know about this are and Lefiya."
"In that case… perhaps I can occasionally have her go in my place?"
"But if the Familia begins an expedition, both Lefiya and I will be unavailable…"
"It seems I'll have to gather the strength of the elves currently in Orario!"
...
At the sa ti, Drake returned to his little shop.
"Lady Hestia, I brought dinner back for you."
Hearing his call, the petite goddess, who had already gotten off work and was lying on the table, imdiately perked up.
"You're back so soon? I thought you'd be talking with Nine Hell until very late."
Although Drake knew Hestia had no idea what had just happened, those words sounded to him like she was teasing him.
"Cough. It wasn't anything particularly important."
"Really…"
Hestia approached Drake with a guarded expression, sniffing around him like a puppy.
In the end, she stood on tiptoe and focused her gaze on Drake's chin.
"Whoa, there's such a strong residue of elven magic!"
"Did you drink so elven magic wine or sothing?"
"Hm? What's magic wine?" Drake asked, half curious and half trying to change the subject.
"The elves have that kind of industry too?"
"It's a specialty of the elves… Although it isn't as good as Lord Soma's divine wine, it's very popular among spellcasters."
The single-track petite goddess was indeed distracted by Drake.
"But that kind of wine is very expensive. I'd guess only elven royalty like Riveria could casually treat soone to it."
"I see… But Lady Hestia, aren't you always staying at ho reading novels? Why do you know about things like this?"
"Orario has publications that write about these kinds of anecdotes and curiosities. Don't underestimate the Guild's entertainnt industry."
Being lectured by Hestia for the first ti made Drake feel a strange urge to regain the upper hand.
But considering the topic had finally landed safely… he decided to let it go.
...
After feeding Hestia, Drake returned to the workshop on the second floor of the shop and opened his system panel while suppressing his excitent.
The buff from earlier had not disappeared yet.
[Soma Infusion — Riveria: Enhances the effect of Stigmata Alchemy and increases your magic damage by 50%. Duration: 30 minutes. Permanently reduces mana consumption by 3%. Can take effect up to 9 tis.]
The Soma buff from Riveria had not disappointed Drake at all.
Aside from a massive 50% magic damage increase, it could even permanently reduce mana consumption.
Most importantly, this effect could stack up to nine tis, aning a total reduction of 27% mana consumption.
"To think it can grant a permanent buff… As expected of Orario's strongest mage."
"Looks like I'll need to try different kinds of Soma in the future. There might be unexpected surprises."
Of course, persuading soone to provide Soma was already difficult in itself.
This ti, Drake had relied on the miraculous effect of the Mana Crystal to convince Riveria.
If the concept of Soma had not actually existed…
He would probably have been physically made to forget everything by that top-class staff in Riveria's hand, which was worth three hundred and forty million valis.
For now, the matters in Orario were handled, and there was still so ti before he needed to rest.
...
Because he had already explored the Sunken Sea today, Drake went straight back to the Black Bullet world.
Enju had returned to Tendo Civil Security Corporation before him. By the ti Drake arrived, Kisara, who had returned from school, was already sitting in the office armchair.
"You ca back so late. Where did you go?"
Seeing Drake push open the door and enter, Kisara imdiately approached him as if she had found her savior.
"That girl over there is your Initiator?"
"Yeah. Her na is Enju Aihara."
Drake nodded and pulled Enju, who had been waiting so long that she looked bored, in front of him.
"Enju, this is the president of our company, Kisara Tendo…"
Enju blinked, then suddenly stared at Kisara's chest and said, "Big brother, why is this big sister's chest so large?"
"Mm… Being large does have its advantages."
Then Enju and Drake were both struck by the red-faced Kisara's furious elbow attacks.
"Can the two of you use that teamwork for completing commissions instead?!"
There were two types of commissions for Civil Security companies.
One was commissions inside the city.
The other was commissions in the forbidden zones outside the Monoliths.
Most city commissions were relatively safe, low in difficulty, and rarely involved Gastrea.
After all, if Gastrea appeared inside a city protected by Monoliths, then humanity's end would probably be near.
Because of that, city commissions paid very little and had limited impact on one's IP Ranking.
The "forbidden zone," on the other hand, referred to the regions outside the Varanium-alloy Monoliths, where Gastrea road everywhere.
Those places were Gastrea paradise, lands that humans could barely set foot in.
That was why they were called humanity's forbidden zones.
Since forbidden-zone commissions required directly facing dangerous Gastrea, the rewards were much higher.
But they also carried an extrely high risk of death. For Civil Security officers, it was no different from dancing on a blade.
For a "newbie" like Drake, who had only just registered as a Civil Security officer, forbidden-zone commissions were temporarily out of reach.
After all, clients would look at the IP Ranking of the Promoter-Initiator pair accepting the commission.
Of course, there was another situation in which the Tokyo Area governnt would urgently issue a recruitnt order.
Even rookies like Drake could participate and go to the forbidden zone to carry out the commission.
That situation was…
When the Tokyo Area was facing an ergency, perhaps even one that threatened the city's safety.
"Breaking news!"
The television in the office, which had been playing a drama, suddenly switched to a news studio.
This unexpected change made all three of them turn toward the screen at the sa ti.
The image on the screen was being fild from a helicopter, showing the forbidden zone outside the Monoliths.
The forbidden zone was filled with enormous trees and lush vegetation. It looked like an untouched primitive forest, unsullied by modern civilization.
"This is deep within the forbidden zone, one hundred and twenty kiloters from the Tokyo Area!"
The host's voice trembled slightly, but they still reported with admirable professionalism.
"Viewers, please look. Yesterday, there was no such enormous structure in this location."
"Almost overnight, this hive-like object grew out from within the forbidden zone!"
"What exactly is it? Why has it appeared here? Is it related to the world-destroying Zodiac-class Gastrea?"
"We hope relevant personnel, experts, and scholars can provide information as soon as possible… Aaaaaah!"
"What is that?! Flying Gastrea—"
"No—!"
The broadcast was forcibly cut off there.
It was unknown whether the equipnt had been destroyed, or whether the scene had beco too bloody to air.
"This is bad."
Kisara Tendo frowned tightly, her expression serious, as if the cheerful atmosphere from earlier had only been a dream.
"To think there are Gastrea capable of flying that high."
"Nothing like this had appeared before…"
"And what exactly is inside that enormous hive?"
That question would probably keep the higher-ups of the Tokyo Area awake all night.
Aside from Drake, no one knew the answer.
And at that mont, Drake's own heart was already stirred by a towering wave.
'Isn't that… Queen Bee's nest?'
'Could it be that even Terraria bosses have been infected by the Gastrea Virus?!'
---------
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