The Depressed Elf Girl

By then, the morning sun had risen into the sky, illuminating the entire Orario district.

Twilight Manor was gradually becoming livelier as well. Members hurried back and forth through its halls, finally making the place feel less desolate than it had at first.

Riezel emerged from God's Chamber, drawing plenty of curious looks from his seniors in the Familia along the way.

Clearly, word of Riezel's battle against the Abnormal Situation on the 6th Floor had begun to spread.

Riezel ignored those gazes, instead thinking about what Loki had said to him just before he left God's Chamber.

"Lefiya seems to be getting herself all worked up. Do you want to go check on her?"

The chief god's parting words had caught Riezel off guard.

Loki had only responded with a wry smile.

"Ever since she came back yesterday, she's been looking like she can't get over something. She's visibly depressed, you know. Riveria mentioned it to me and said it'd probably be better if you, the person involved, went and talked to her."

After saying that, Loki turned around and went back to sleep, leaving Riezel with no choice but to leave.

Thinking of the elf girl, Riezel pondered for a while before ultimately deciding to go see her.

But at the moment, Riezel had no idea where to find Lefiya.

As the Loki Familia's headquarters, Twilight Manor was made up of numerous towering structures. Aside from the thick, massive central tower, seven spires of varying heights and shapes surrounded it.

The lower halves of these spires were connected, while the central tower, encircled by a ring-shaped courtyard, stood independently. Stone skybridges stretched from their upper sections to the other towers, allowing people to travel between them. Public facilities such as the library and grand dining hall were scattered throughout the towers in no apparent order.

However, apart from the central tower, the seven spires were generally divided into three for men and four for women.

In other words, the men's and women's living quarters were separate.

If Riezel wanted to find Lefiya, the first place he should naturally look was her room.

That meant entering the female members' living area, which gave him the uncomfortable feeling of sneaking into a girls' dormitory.

"I'll look around the public areas first."

For the time being, Riezel decided on that.

Yet before he could begin looking for her, he ran into Familia executives on the way.

"Oh? Isn't this the amazing rookie little brother?"

"It really is."

Like reflections in a mirror, the Amazon twin sisters appeared before Riezel. Their faces were identical, with only their builds and hairstyles differing, and they happened to run into him in the corridor.

"Miss Tiona, Miss Tione."

Riezel stopped and bowed in greeting to the two Familia executives.

"Don't be so formal, rookie little brother." Tiona smiled with innocent cheer. "Just call me Tiona."

"You can call me Tione too." Tione gave Riezel a brief once-over, her smile carrying a hint of deeper meaning. "The captain thinks highly of you. He probably believes you'll soon join the ranks of the executives, so you might as well call us by our names."

As executives of the Loki Familia and some of Labyrinth City's foremost First Class Adventurers, Tiona and Tione were treated with considerable respect even within their own Familia.

That was the standing of First Class Adventurers, as well as the treatment Familia executives naturally received.

Thus, they were hardly unaccustomed to others being deferential toward them. But clearly, that did not apply to Riezel.

Whenever they thought of that outrageous skill called Fool's Obsession, they felt it was best not to regard Riezel as an ordinary rookie.

"What are you doing?" Tiona asked, tilting her head. "Are you going to the Dungeon?"

"I heard you just went through an adventure and were still in bed yesterday?" Tione said with some amazement. "You only got out of bed today, and you're already planning to head into the Dungeon? You're working way too hard. You're putting a lot of pressure on us."

The sisters had been making frequent trips into the Dungeon lately because of the stimulation Riezel provided, so they were not merely being sarcastic.

Riezel could tell that the two cared about him. He shook his head and said, "I'm not going into the Dungeon today. I'm just looking for Lefiya."

"Lefiya?"

Tiona seemed surprised to hear Riezel mention the elf girl's name.

"Come to think of it, you two formed a party, didn't you?"

Tione, on the other hand, looked as though she had just remembered.

"Yes." Riezel nodded. "Do either of you know where Lefiya is?"

Apparently, he had asked the right people.

"As for Lefiya, I think I just saw her heading toward the reception room," Tiona told Riezel. Then she asked in confusion, "But she looked kind of low on energy. Is she hungry?"

"Do you think everyone is like you, shouting for breakfast first thing in the morning?" Tione snapped at Tiona. "Besides, if she were hungry, Lefiya would be going to the dining hall, not the reception room."

"That makes sense!" Tiona suddenly realized. Then she broke into a grin, not embarrassed in the slightest by Tione's jab. Her optimistic demeanor made her seem bright and lively.

"The reception room?" Riezel nodded thoughtfully. "Then I'll go look for her there."

"Okay!"

"Go on."

The Amazon sisters stepped aside, and Riezel gave them another bow before leaving.

Once Riezel had gone, the Amazon twins watched his retreating back, exchanged a glance, and both fell silent.

"Did you notice, Tiona?"

Tione asked in a low voice.

"Yeah." Tiona had lost some of her earlier carefree demeanor as well. Staring at Riezel's back, she replied, "His movements are different from before, and even the way he walks is a little unnatural. His abilities must have improved explosively, leaving him uncoordinated. It's super obvious that he hasn't adapted to his current strength yet."

"That's what it looks like, huh?" Tione said quietly. "That guy leveled up?"

"Probably." Tiona replied, "After all, only leveling up would cause such a huge surge in strength that you couldn't immediately control your body properly."

After that, the two fell silent again.

"Only seven days."

"Yeah."

The unspoken sentiment in that silence made the atmosphere between them somewhat stiff.

"Going to the Dungeon today?"

"...Yeah."

And so, the sisters quickly settled on their plans for the day.

But they both had a feeling.

No matter how hard they worked, it might all be in vain.

That man—that newcomer who had only recently joined the Familia—would soon catch up to them.

Even so, these two geniuses could not simply stand by and watch without making an effort.

Not just them—even the Werewolf Youth who had just turned away in the corner clicked his tongue.

"Boring."

The Werewolf Youth tossed out that displeased remark, then turned and left.

Twilight Manor, Reception Room.

This was a room facing directly onto the corridor, decorated in a composed style with orange and yellow as its main tones.

Several sofas that were clearly expensive sat inside, along with round tables covered in tablecloths. The decor exuded an air of luxury; no matter what sort of guest was received here, they would never feel slighted.

Yet this reception room did not seem to be a place specifically meant for entertaining guests. Instead, it felt more like a lounge where Familia members could rest.

At that moment, Lefiya was there, sitting in a chair and sighing repeatedly.

The girl had been in this state for quite some time.

Many members who happened to see her had approached to express their concern, only to receive Lefiya's somewhat forced smile in return.

In order to keep others from worrying too much or being affected by her mood, Lefiya had hidden herself away here.

Yet when she was alone, Lefiya's mood did not improve. Instead, she became even more depressed, even faintly withdrawing into herself.

"Someone like me..."

Those slightly self-deprecating words slipped from Lefiya's alluring lips.

Then, a voice sounded.

"What's wrong with someone like you?"

The sudden voice gave Lefiya a violent start.

Only then did Lefiya realize that, at some point, someone had entered the reception room and was standing right in front of her.

And it was someone Lefiya was somewhat afraid to face.

"M-Mister Riezel...?"

Lefiya immediately became nervous and timid.

"Why do you look like I'm about to eat you?" Riezel gave a wry smile and said, "If someone saw this, they might think I was using my age to bully a senior member of the Familia."

"I'm sorry..." Lefiya instantly looked ashamed.

"It's not that serious." Riezel looked at Lefiya, who was still sitting there timidly, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Lefiya said nothing.

But Riezel did not fall silent.

"Are you thinking about what happened yesterday?"

He said it casually, as though what they had gone through yesterday had not been a life-and-death battle, but merely a game.

Yet Riezel's attitude only made Lefiya struggle inwardly even more.

After a long while, Lefiya suddenly stood up.

"I'm sorry!"

The elven girl abruptly gave Riezel a deep bow.

Watching Lefiya like this, Riezel scratched his cheek.

"So you really are concerned about what happened yesterday." Riezel sighed and spoke bluntly. "Do you feel useless because you couldn't help and could only stand by and watch?"

Lefiya's shoulders trembled slightly.

Obviously, Mister Riezel had been right.

When Lefiya raised her head, her face was full of guilt and deep frustration.

"I'm clearly Mister Riezel's teammate. Mister Riezel even told me to look for an opportunity to use magic, and my level is higher than Mister Riezel's—higher than that Crocodile Dragon's—yet I didn't help at all. I just stood there staring blankly. A teammate like me is completely unqualified... completely useless."

Lefiya felt dejected over it.

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