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—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Having cleared the blast zone, August and Liliruca Arde exited the Dungeon and made their way straight to the Guild Headquarters.
"Mr. August." Eina Tulle spotted the duo as they walked through the front doors and greeted them warmly.
She already knew the rumors. Word about August wrecking the Ishtar Familia's reputation hit the Guild right away. Fa made gossip travel fast.
"Hello, Miss Eina," August nodded. "Is Miss Misha around?"
August looked around the front desks and saw that Eina was the only advisor he recognized who was still working. The evening shift was still going.
"Ah, Misha," Eina sighed. "She collapsed. Working too much continuous overti finally caught up with her. She's resting at ho today."
"Collapsed?" August raised an eyebrow. "That's rare..."
He never thought the usually lazy Misha Flott would end up working so hard that she needed to rest in bed.
As the two chatted, Lili observed Eina Tulle carefully. Seeing the half-elf's professional attitude put her mind at ease.
Lili wasn't worried about Eina liking August. Elves and even half-elves had very strict, almost instinctive standards for choosing partners. It wasn't just about liking soone a lot—there had to be an instant connection. If that spark wasn't there from the start, an elf wouldn't try for a romance.
Eina always acted professional and kept things businesslike. She never crossed any lines, so Lili felt totally at ease.
"Lord August, I'll head over to the exchange counter and convert the loot into Valis," Lili announced.
As the Familia's designated quartermaster and treasurer, Lili hauled her heavy backpack toward the exchange desk.
But compared to their last two trips, the pile of Magic Stones she put on the counter was clearly smaller.
The Guild appraisers didn't judge her. If anything, they looked impressed.
"These are... high-purity Middle Floor Magic Stones."
"I didn't expect a haul like this."
The appraisers stared at the pile, speechless. The quality and size of these stones were much better than anything from the upper floors.
'Have they already started pushing into the Middle Floors? To harvest this many high-grade stones... how many monsters did they slaughter down there?'
"Lord August, have you already reached the Middle Floors?" Eina asked, overhearing the appraisers' shock. She couldn't believe he was already conquering the deeper strata.
He was advancing at a shocking speed. According to the Guild, this was only his third trip. The way he easily made it to the Middle Floors showed that, for the Captain of the Hestia Familia, the Dungeon was more like a walk in the park than a challenge.
Most Level 2s couldn't do this. August already had the strength of a solid Level 3.
The realization left Eina utterly stunned. How could anyone grow this quickly?
Lili finished the transaction and jogged back, holding a heavy pouch of currency.
"All done, Lord August," Lili handed him the Valis.
This money was for their Familia's expenses and supplies. But as August often said, Orario's currency was useless back on Earth. They only needed it while living in this world.
"Lord August, the exchange rate was massive this ti. It broke the ten-million Valis mark," Lili whispered the staggering total.
"Ten million? From that pile?" August was slightly surprised.
"That's a low estimate," Lili corrected him. "When exchanging for Valis, the purity and size of the Magic Stone dictate the price. These stones belonged to Middle Floor gatekeepers. If we start hunting high-tier Level 2 Minotaurs, their stones are even larger. And Floor Boss stones? A single one of those can easily fetch hundreds of millions of Valis."
Lili understood his surprise. They had defeated an unusually large number of monsters. A normal Adventurer, or even a top team at their level, couldn't do that. Even if they tried, it would take a long, hard effort.
August wiped out whole groups of monsters in seconds. No regular Adventurer could even imagine being that efficient.
"Speaking of which, we need to update our maps," Lili rembered, turning to Eina since Misha wasn't available.
"Could you compile the terrain data for the Middle Floors for us?" Lili requested the complete set of maps for the deeper strata.
"The Middle Floors?" Eina nodded. "Understood. However, so of those maps are classified Guild docunts. I'll need to arrange official copies. They should be ready by tomorrow."
"Thank you very much."
Lili actually liked the half-elf. As long as Eina was helpful and didn't give the Hestia Familia any attitude, Lili had no reason to complain.
"Lord August, if you're planning to hunt the Floor Boss," Eina added, assuming his rapid descent ant he was targeting the Goliath, "you'll have to wait about ten days. The previous Goliath was slain a few days ago, and its respawn tir hasn't reset yet."
"The Floor Boss? I'm in no hurry," August replied.
He wasn't planning to go after the Goliath yet. Fighting such a huge enemy needed a different strategy than fighting groups of monsters. He would have to get special, powerful weapons ready for that battle.
"For now, I'm just focusing on leveling up," August said. He wasn't worried about the respawn tir. Even if the boss appeared, another big Familia would probably go after it. If he wanted to fight it, he'd have to handle the politics first.
August verbally relayed so specific Middle Floor combat data to Eina, which she dutifully recorded into the Guild archives. This fulfilled their basic obligation to the Guild's exploration mandates.
Once the paperwork was done, August and Lili got ready to go.
"We'll be heading out then," August said, leading Lili towards the exit.
"Please stay safe out there, Mr. August," Eina bowed politely, seeing them off.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
August and Lili exited the Guild and headed back toward the ruined church in the West District.
The sun was setting, coloring the sky over Orario with bright shades of orange and purple. The Gods were wrapping up their day and heading out.
As August crossed a busy plaza near the West District—
"Ah! It's August!"
"It's Hestia's child!"
"Oh wow, seeing him up close... he looks very attractive!"
A group of Goddesses noticed August. Their eyes lit up, almost shining with excitent, as if they had found sothing valuable. They had been hanging around the plaza on purpose, waiting for him to co back from the Dungeon.
Hestia had spent all of Denatus bragging about how amazing and full of potential her child was. So, these Goddesses wanted to recruit him for their own Familias, or at least get him involved in so kind of dramatic romance.
But it wasn't just the Goddesses.
Several male Gods walking by stopped to look at him. So watched him with thoughtful looks, while others were openly creepy, trying to decide if he was worth their attention.
"Lili," August muttered, feeling the pressure of their stares.
He knew how to deal with these Gods. Reasoning with them was pointless. The n were wild—the won were unpredictable. This crowd was much harder to deal with than Hestia.
"Right behind you," Lili said. She knew getting mobbed by bored Gods would be a disaster.
She wasn't stupid enough to stand there.
August grabbed her hand, and the two bolted, instantly ducking into a narrow, crowded alleyway in the old district.
Thanks to their Adventurer abilities, it was easy for them to outrun a group of non-combat Gods.
"Ah! Why is he running so fast?"
"Dammit! I thought I could at least get a conversation out of him!"
"Ugh, sa here!"
The Goddesses complained as August and Lili disappeared into the maze of backstreets. They tried to follow, but August easily lost them.
'Who's the real local here?'
The male Gods, however, analyzed the retreat differently.
"As expected of Hestia's child. That burst of speed broke the standard Level 2 threshold."
"He's fast... and he maintained that pace while carrying soone. You don't casually cross dinsions without having great skills."
"I really want to steal that child for my Familia..."
The male Gods were clearly jealous. So really wanted him for his fighting skills, while others just wanted to use his ability to travel between worlds.
But in reality, most of the male Gods were just talking big. Their attention quickly shifted to a specific God standing nearby.
A God with a laurel wreath and an arrogant smile.
Apollo.
Everyone knew Apollo had a strange, possessive obsession with Hestia. If he tried to take Hestia's favorite Familia mber, it would cause a huge scene.
The Gods waited with bated breath, eager to see how Apollo would react to the ultimate prize.
But what actually happened let them down.
"Disgusting."
While the other Gods were excited about August, Apollo watched him leave with a look of total disgust.
He didn't show any of his usual possessive or eager behavior. Instead, he just looked openly disgusted.
The spectating Gods froze.
'Wait, what? This isn't how Apollo usually acts...'
"Uh, Apollo? You don't like him?" soone finally asked.
Apollo scoffed, glaring at the alleyway. "I prefer adorable n."
"But that??"
"Tch. He's way too old."
Apollo made his dislike obvious.
August was almost in his late twenties. By Apollo's strange standards, he was already past his pri. Even if August looked good thanks to the Falna, he didn't have the innocent look Apollo wanted.
Why was Apollo so thoroughly repulsed?
Look at the Apollo Familia. Every single child in his faction had been violently stolen or coerced into joining him. But he had raised every single one of them from adolescence into adulthood. Even the older veterans in his Familia had been grood by him since they were young, beautiful boys.
August was already an adult when he ca to Orario. His youth was gone, and that untouched innocence wasn't sothing Apollo could claim. Because of that, Apollo saw no value in him.
"Damn, he actually hates him."
"That's rare. I totally thought Apollo would go crazy for him."
"I guess we really can't predict Apollo's sick tastes."
The other male Gods quickly lost interest. They had wanted to start a big War Ga between Apollo and Hestia just for fun, but Apollo didn't even care about August.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
By morning, everyone in the city would probably hear about how disgusted Apollo was.
Of course, August was oblivious to all of this. If he actually knew that Apollo found him repulsive, he would be thrilled.
August and Lili made their way through the winding alleys and soon got back onto the main road heading to the West District.
"Those Gods... they're totally crazy," Lili muttered, still trying to understand how desperate the crowd was. Trying to ambush a new Adventurer in the middle of the day, right in a public plaza, was just wild.
"You get used to it," August shrugged. "Gods are just like that."
August still thought about Gods the way Earth's myths described them. They were chaotic and impulsive, not following normal rules. Most of them enjoyed causing trouble. Trying to reason with them was pointless.
"They've lived for billions of years. They've literally done everything..."
Never underestimate how much trouble a God can cause when they're bored. They were experts at creating chaos. Even if they died, they would just co back in Heaven and start causing problems again.
"Alright, let's head inside. Hestia's probably been waiting for us at the base for hours."
Just as August predicted.
When they pushed open the doors to the ruined church, they found Hestia sitting on the front steps, swaying back and forth, looking completely bored out of her mind.
"Lady Hestia!" Lili called out, waving to her.
"You're back! Are you hurt?" Hestia didn't even acknowledge Lili.
She ran past the Supporter, launched herself at August, and began frantically patting him down, checking every inch of his body for injuries.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
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