But after that, as he slowly and carefully got used to the child, Zald began to develop a different kind of affection for this tiny life.
Yes—this was the heir to Zeus Familia.
And if you followed that line of thought, then this child was also his heir.
Especially now, with the Familia having fallen into ruin, his heart was full of conflict. On the one hand, he wanted the boy before him to grow up safe and sound, to live happily and without burden. On the other hand, he also hoped the child could inherit the will of Zeus Familia—the will of the strongest—and carry their faith onward.
But at this mont, as he looked at that adorable little smile, the forr wish won out.
He would think about the rest when the child was older. For now, it was enough for him to bask in the love around him.
No matter what, the sa spirit flowed through them both. Even if there was no blood relation between them, that sense of recognition beyond blood was enough to turn him from a beast who slaughtered without blinking into the super-nanny before him now—one who was terrified the child might so much as scrape a knee.
He was already thinking about what he ought to feed him tonight to help him grow.
Bear paw? Snake gallbladder? No… maybe deer antler would be better.
Little Bell, as the heir of Zeus Familia, grow quickly…
It was then that the cry of a bird drew everyone's attention.
A ssenger pigeon landed beside Alfia.
She blinked in surprise, then took the letter tied to its leg.
The mont she unfolded it, she opened her beautiful mismatched eyes—a rare sight.
She scanned through the contents at a glance, and as she did, the resentnt around her quickly faded. A faint smile even appeared on her face.
Hera, seeing this, was startled.
"News from that little lover-boy you've reserved for yourself?"
At this point, she could hardly think of anything else capable of making the woman in front of her suddenly brighten like that.
Alfia had no intention of hiding it.
Or rather, she simply disdained hiding anything.
"At present, he's only my disciple," she said coolly. "But he's improved again. He's already close to Level 4 now, and his growth rate has exceeded even my expectations. It seems he also dealt with one of that Fallen Abomination's split bodies."
Hera's brows lifted.
Of course she knew exactly what Alfia ant by that "Fallen Abomination." They had dealt with it often enough in the past.
"Oh? Interesting. Even a newly born split body of that thing should still be around Level 5 or 6 in strength. And he managed to kill one before even reaching Level 4? Then he's just like you—no, perhaps even more monstrous than you in talent. Astraea really did draw an extraordinary card."
In less than half a year, he had risen two full Levels.
And he possessed the ability to kill above his rank.
That ant his status values had absolutely been trained to their limit—or perhaps, like the woman standing before her, even beyond that limit.
Either way, the word monster suited him perfectly.
"If he keeps growing at this pace, then your plan may have to move forward ahead of schedule," Hera added. "Otherwise, if this continues, in two years even you may no longer be able to beat him."
"...That kind of thing," Alfia said through clenched teeth, turning away at once, "will never happen. Absolutely never."
Yet even she failed to notice the slight disorder in her footsteps as she left.
Her heart was clearly nowhere near as resolute as her words.
Hera said nothing more. She rely watched the fire blazing in the beauty's eyes and smiled.
Good.
Her fighting spirit had been stirred.
That was what a queen should look like.
Orario — Loki Familia's Manor
With an apparently leisurely air, the trickster goddess Loki skipped all the way to Riveria's door and began pounding on it.
"Mommy-saaan, open up! Ti for this month's allowance! I wanna go buy booze—"
The next instant, the door slamd open.
Riveria stood there with veins bulging in her forehead and barked at her:
"Who are you calling Mommy-san? By elven standards, I'm barely into adolescence!"
"Ah, so you really are alive in there," Loki said, not the least bit fazed. "Riveria, what's going on with you? Ever since the crisis ended a few days ago, you've been holed up in this room the whole ti. What have you even been doing? Everyone's worried about you, y'know!"
The mont those words landed, Riveria's fury disappeared as if soone had flipped a switch.
Her expression changed so abruptly that even Loki froze.
These past few days, the elven queen had been very off. She often failed to respond when spoken to. Even during important strategy etings, she had spaced out repeatedly and had needed to be called back to attention more than once.
She kept insisting she was fine, but anyone with functioning eyes could tell sothing was wrong.
Like right now—her flustered expression looked absurdly like a woman caught cheating.
Loki felt numb.
At that mont, she had the overwhelming urge to murder soone.
She felt like so pathetic husband watching her "wife" fall, step by step, into the clutches of a cursed blond seducer, completely powerless to stop it.
"I… I'm fine," Riveria said hastily. "I just… I gained so insight into magic. Yes. I've been sorting through my thoughts."
"Mm-hmm. Sounds real suspicious…"
Loki unleashed what could only be described as a nonexistent death glare.
Riveria refused to et her eyes for even a second.
Then, after a pause, she tossed a small pouch of coins into her goddess's hands.
"You wanted your allowance, didn't you? Here. Now stop bothering for a while. Once I've sorted this out, I'll talk to all of you."
And with that, she nearly slamd the door right into Loki's nose.
The goddess stood there in stunned silence, the bag of coins in her arms, feeling more and more that sothing was deeply wrong.
It had to be that damned brat.
If there was a source of the problem, then it was surely that mission a few days ago with the boy from Astraea Familia.
Based on the reports from the other participants—and what Finn and the others had seen—it had been that boy who had turned the tide, that boy who had saved their lives again and again. Every single mber who had taken part lit up with admiration whenever they talked about him.
They were all practically his devoted fans now.
The thought made Loki grind her teeth.
And after hearing the whole story, the most suspicious mont of all had been when he had laid a hand on Riveria during that defensive spell and poured power into her.
Even if it had been an ergency, it was still outrageous.
Riveria had already had next to no resistance to that power. And then they'd gone and practically rubbed salt into the wound.
Her current behavior was proof enough.
Of course, keeping herself shut up in her room, away from him, was better than the alternative. But this total shutdown wasn't healthy either—for her, or for the Familia.
The problem was that there was nothing they could do.
If it had been an injury, another healer could have treated it. But this wasn't an illness.
More like… a heart disease born from a special encounter.
The only one who could solve it was Riveria herself.
And as for going after that brat to make trouble?
Forget it.
No matter how you looked at it, he had saved their people. If they failed to thank him properly, it would already damage their reputation badly enough. Picking a fight with him after that? Impossible.
They were completely out of options.
Loki felt like screaming.
Inside the Room
Riveria stared blankly at her own hand.
The hand Xien had touched.
In her mind, the images from that battle a few days ago kept replaying again and again—along with that sensation.
Her heart wouldn't stop pounding. She could feel every beat of it, vividly, painfully.
This was a feeling she had never once experienced since the day she was born.
She was no longer the naïve princess who had grown up coddled in a warm nest. She had spent long years in the outside world, and she was no fool when it ca to such matters.
But even so, she still found it hard to accept.
Did she really… truly… harbor those kinds of feelings toward that boy?
Or was this agitation rely the body's craving for that power?
That was the question that had haunted her these past few days.
But to this point, she had made no progress at all.
Every ti she tried to analyze it calmly and rationally, she ended up thinking of his figure, his voice, his movents—
And the mont that happened, reason simply collapsed.
That was what tornted her most.
She did not know whether this was truly love.
And if it was… he was only fifteen.
And she herself…
Worse still, she had no idea what he thought of her. Because feelings like these were supposed to be mutual, weren't they?
"Ahhh—what am I even thinking?!"
Riveria covered her face.
She had no idea how beautiful she looked in that mont—how dangerous that expression would be if anyone else saw it.
At last, she ca to one conclusion:
There was only one way to find the answer.
She had to face him again.
She needed a chance to be alone with him.
To speak with him.
Orario
Peace had finally returned to the city.
But unknown to the public, a group quietly left Orario while everyone else was still celebrating.
Artemis brushed back her azure hair and cast one final glance over her shoulder at the city behind her.
Their return this ti had been quite fruitful, all things considered.
At the very least, she no longer had to worry that while her Familia was away on missions, their "ho" might be stolen right out from under them. Judging by Orario's current state, things had more or less stabilized.
And monsters didn't exist only in the Dungeon.
They were scattered throughout the wider world as well.
Her Familia's main duty had always been to deal with exactly those sorts of threats in the field. Now that the city's crisis had been resolved, it was ti for them to return to their daily work—accepting requests and hunting monsters.
There was another thing that had surprised her too:
Astraea's little boy.
How should she put it?
He had left an extrely deep impression on her.
Though she had not been present for his final battle, she believed that sooner or later she would see him again—
That boy who had shown the bearing of a hero.
For the next several days, Xien plunged into a frenzy of potion-making.
And before Ryu and the others had even finished preparing everything else, he had already produced enough dicine in advance.
Once all the preparations were complete, he and Ryu left early the next morning without further delay.
But what neither of them had expected was that the mont they stepped out of the manor, Xien beca the center of attention.
He had already granted one fan's request for a signature—and that single act sent everything spiraling completely out of control.
Once people realized he was willing to interact, word spread at terrifying speed.
Before long, an entire wave of people was charging toward them from afar, leaving cold sweat streaming down Xien's back. He imdiately grabbed Ryu's hand and bolted.
And so began a completely ridiculous large-scale ga of cat and mouse.
Xien even had to activate his Breathing Technique just to increase his speed, which said everything about the intensity of the pursuit.
After a series of frantic turns and desperate evasive maneuvers, the two of them finally managed to flee into their "safe zone"—
The Dungeon.
The mont they reached the first floor and saw those familiar monsters again, Xien wiped away sweat that wasn't actually there and finally let out a long breath.
That kind of situation had been completely beyond anything he had imagined.
It was his first ti experiencing the joys of being a "celebrity," and all he could say was that the experience was terrible.
As for the elf beside him, she had been watching the whole spectacle with a smile, clearly enjoying herself.
Seriously? Since when were you switched to this setting? If I'd known, I should've just thrown you out there as a distraction…
Perhaps feeling a tiny bit guilty, Ryu lightly touched his hand.
"All right, that one was my fault. I just couldn't help it. But really, Xien—you're not even the shy type. I never thought you'd get that flustered."
Thinking back to the way he had just looked—sneaking around like so terrified thief—compared with his usual composed self, she nearly laughed again.
"That wasn't even close to the sa thing," Xien said helplessly. "With that many people, if they'd caught us, I'd have been eaten alive."
"Mm."
Honestly, this felt like the first ti he had ever really explored the Dungeon as part of a tiny two-person team. Before, they'd always gone as a group. This ti, it was just him and Ryu.
And that made him strangely happy.
Didn't this count as him seeking an encounter in the Dungeon after all?
Who would've thought he'd actually have a day like this?
Still, dungeon exploration was no joke, so he couldn't let himself get too carried away. But a few sweet little interactions along the way were inevitable.
No wonder people said n and won working together made the work easier.
When there was soone so pleasing to the eye constantly paying attention to your condition, supporting you, coordinating with you—it was practically enjoyable.
Compared to before, Ryu's strength had also grown by leaps and bounds.
After all, Xien had taught her the Breathing Technique as well.
And just as he had expected, the style that suited her best was Wind Breathing, the one that embodied ferocity.
The World Tree branch in her hand was wrapped in sharp, invisible winds. Every swing beca an area attack, like countless unseen wind blades tearing flesh apart. Each blow was enough to rip a monster cleanly to pieces.
Combined with the physical specs of a Level 4 adventurer, she looked like an outright killing machine.
And watching that, all Xien could do was grind his teeth in mild frustration.
....
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