Teammate Prepared for Riezel

The next day.

After finishing his preparations, Riezel did not leave Twilight Manor for the Dungeon right away. Instead, he waited for someone in the courtyard.

He held a piece of parchment in his hand, upon which a crooked line of Common Language had been written.

"I found you a teammate. Although her level is higher than yours, the executives, including Finn, all believe she still needs to properly train her combat abilities. Perfect timing—you two can pair up, form a party, and sharpen each other."

This was obviously a note Loki had written.

That morning, Riezel had only just stepped out of his room when he found the note placed on the floor outside his door, waiting for him to pick it up.

"So Loki really did find me a teammate to train my group combat abilities?"

Riezel felt somewhat helpless, but he had no intention of objecting. He quietly came here and waited for his teammate to arrive.

Although going into the Dungeon with someone else would definitely prevent him from acting as freely as before, group combat was indeed something he needed to train.

Especially once he leveled up in the future and needed to venture into deeper parts of the Dungeon—or even join expeditions—he would most likely have to descend with the Familia's teams. Considering that, it might have been a little early to train his group combat abilities now, but Riezel could accept it.

Of course, Loki had probably made this arrangement because, when he needed to prepare Great Achievements and Level Up, she planned to have him form a party with the Familia's seniors to conquer the Dungeon and safely gain experience.

There was nothing Riezel could do about that. For now, he could only try following his god's arrangements.

"I wonder who my teammate will be."

Would it be one of the First Class Adventurers who served as Familia executives?

"No, definitely not."

If they entered the Dungeon with him, it would not be training his group combat abilities. It would be showing off before a newcomer and crushing weak monsters for a rookie to watch.

Combined with the information Loki had mentioned in her note, the person assigned to him should be some junior member of the Familia, with a level not too far from Riezel's and apparently some kind of issue.

"Who could it be?"

Riezel searched through his memories of the original work.

But before he could find an answer, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded inside Twilight Manor.

"S-Sorry! I'm late!"

Along with those frantic footsteps came a female voice filled with tension, timidity, and unease.

An elf girl appeared before Riezel. She wore conservative clothing adorned with an elegant, natural style, held a staff in her hand, and had camellia-colored hair tied behind her head, swishing like a small animal's tail.

Her somewhat youthful face showed that she was at most fifteen years old. Just as Riezel had expected, she was a junior member of the Loki Familia.

However, Riezel had never expected that the person assigned to form a party with him would be a future star so highly anticipated by the Familia's upper ranks.

"You're Lefiya Viridis?"

Riezel spoke in considerable surprise.

That was right.

The newcomer was none other than Lefiya Viridis, the elf girl from the Loki Familia who was one of only two people capable of using more than three spells and possessed the special Summoning Magic known as Elf Ring.

"Huh?" Lefiya froze slightly. "Y-You know me?"

"Of course." Riezel regained his composure and smiled faintly. "You are the vice-captain's personally chosen disciple and successor, a future executive of the Familia. Even a newcomer like me, who joined the Familia only recently, has heard of your name."

Not to mention, she was an important supporting character in the original work's side story—the undisputed female lead after the heroine.

It would have been stranger if Riezel did not know her.

However, Riezel's words seemed to make the elf girl even more uneasy and nervous.

"S-Successor is still far too early for me!"

Lefiya looked deeply troubled, as though she were under immense pressure.

Clearly, the expectations of the Familia's upper ranks had placed considerable pressure on Lefiya.

Seeing this, Riezel naturally would not continue adding pressure to a girl younger than himself, so he softened his tone slightly.

"Since you appeared here, that means you really are my teammate, right?"

Riezel confirmed it for the moment.

"Yes." Lefiya said nervously, "E-Even though I'm not very reliable, I'll do my best to keep up with you. Please take care of me!"

As she spoke, Lefiya gave Riezel a deep bow.

Riezel took a step back, avoiding the gesture.

"Don't do that." Riezel's expression became somewhat complicated. "Logically speaking, I should be the one saying that. Don't you have our positions reversed?"

After all, Lefiya was a Level 3 Second Class Adventurer, a full two levels above Riezel, who was only Level 1.

Moreover, Riezel had only joined the Familia recently. Even if Lefiya was also a junior member of the Familia, she had far more seniority than he did.

Under such circumstances, those words should have been spoken by Riezel. He should have been the one feeling nervous and uneasy. So why had their roles been completely reversed, making Lefiya seem like the newcomer while he seemed like the senior?

This was not scientific at all.

Yet Riezel's words once again failed to relax Lefiya. Instead, they made her even more nervous.

"I'm still very immature. I can't look after juniors the way Lady Riveria does."

Lefiya looked as though she was about to cry.

This elf girl was clearly not the type with a particularly steady mindset.

In her eyes, she was not mature enough herself, yet she was supposed to rely on her level and seniority to guide a newcomer? And that newcomer was Riezel, who was two years older than her and looked so composed?

There was no way she could do that!

"Fine." Seeing the girl panic into a mess, Riezel could only say, "We'll be forming a party and fighting together from now on. Since that's the case, let's both act naturally around each other. You don't need to be so polite, and you don't need to use honorifics with me."

"Is... is that really okay?" Lefiya felt a little more relieved when she heard that, but she still seemed uneasy.

"Let's do it that way." Riezel did not like people who dragged things out. Seeing that Lefiya had finally calmed down somewhat, he said directly, "Honestly, I'm the one benefiting here. I get to interact as equals with someone who is both my senior in the Familia and higher level than me. If you don't like that, then I can only be more formal and use honorifics with you."

"Then... all right?" Lefiya cautiously studied Riezel's expression. Seeing that he had looked directly at her from beginning to end, with no strange emotions in his clear eyes, she reluctantly nodded.

Only then did Riezel smile. At the same time, he began pondering the intentions of the Familia's upper ranks.

There was no doubt that the upper ranks had deliberately arranged for Lefiya, a future pillar of the Familia, to become his teammate.

Even if Lefiya was indeed somewhat immature, sending the vice-captain's successor to team up with a newcomer who had only recently joined the Familia so they could develop their group combat abilities together definitely carried unusual significance.

Thinking carefully, who would need to train teamwork and group combat alongside someone who might one day inherit Riveria's position and become the Familia's vice-captain?

Obviously, it would have to be someone who could likewise become a pillar capable of supporting the entire Familia in the future.

Looking at it that way, the implication behind the Familia's upper ranks sending Lefiya to form a party with him was worth pondering.

"So they're already preparing to treat me like Lefiya—someone to be specially cultivated and closely watched?"

Having figured that out, Riezel did not know what kind of emotion he should feel.

Should he be delighted by such importance?

Or should he feel pressure over the clear path being laid before him?

"That Loki really put me in a position where I don't know whether I should be happy."

Riezel smiled bitterly inwardly.

Yet despite thinking that, Riezel remained as natural and calm as ever on the surface.

"Are you ready?"

Riezel asked Lefiya.

"Yes, I'm ready." Lefiya nodded firmly. "Twenty Normal Elixirs, ten High-Grade Elixirs, ten antidotes, twenty Magic Elixirs, and even two Panaceas. Nothing can go wrong!"

Those words nearly left Riezel speechless. The look he gave Lefiya became extremely strange.

"W-What is it?" Lefiya immediately asked uneasily. "Is my preparation not enough?"

"No." Riezel sighed. "Your preparation is more than enough. So much that I feel embarrassed."

Elixirs were recovery items that only pharmacists who had learned the Development Ability called "Mixing" could make. They were magical medicines whose effects far surpassed ordinary drugs.

Their effects could practically be called immediate. They worked at speeds ordinary medicine could never match, allowing the user to recover within only a few seconds.

On the night Riezel returned from his first trip into the Dungeon, a Familia senior had seen how miserable he looked and, frightened, taken out a High-Grade Elixir, allowing him to rapidly recover from his injuries.

Now, Lefiya had prepared a large quantity of these expensive recovery items.

Normal Elixirs, which could quickly restore stamina.

High-Grade Elixirs, which could replace lost flesh, stop bleeding, repair broken bones, and rapidly treat most injuries.

Magic Elixirs, which could quickly restore mental strength.

Every one of these elixirs was expensive, especially High-Grade Elixirs and Magic Elixirs. A single bottle cost tens of thousands of Valis. Unless one was a high-level adventurer with some savings, they simply could not afford them and would be reluctant to use them.

And that was not even the most expensive part. The truly costly items were Panaceas.

These were the highest-grade elixirs available on the market, the best recovery medicine in circulation, effective even against fatal injuries.

On the market, a single Panacea cost five hundred thousand Valis, comparable to some Third-Class Armaments.

And yet?

Lefiya had prepared two of them.

In other words, she had spent at least over a million Valis preparing for this party expedition.

Was this little girl really that rich?

Riezel, who only ever brought weapons, armor, and at most some Rations and water whenever he entered the Dungeon, looked at the nervous Lefiya and was rendered speechless on the spot.

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