If Riveria hadn't owed the other party a debt of gratitude for helping Ais last time, and if he hadn't just clashed with the Dark Faction, she would never have brought someone whose identity was unknown into the Loki Familia's stronghold.
Of course, more importantly, no one could lie in front of a god.
If Loki simply asked, "Will you harm the Loki Familia?" any spy would be exposed without fail.
So there was no need to worry too much that he might be an enemy.
Well, if he could even deceive a god, then he probably wasn't an opponent she should be thinking about how to deal with.
Ais, meanwhile, was feeling very conflicted.
On the way over, she'd managed to sort out her thoughts a little.
The jumble of emotions in her heart was still a mess, but there was nothing wrong with thanking the person who'd saved her life first.
If anything, it was strange that she hadn't said anything at all, like she had.
But the timing didn't seem right now.
This is so annoying. Why didn't I think to thank him earlier?
It was like the frustration of getting so angry during an argument in the daytime that you couldn't think straight, only to come up with the perfect comeback in the middle of the night—and nearly stomp a hole in your bed because the moment had already passed.
The irritation made Ais puff out her fair cheeks ever so slightly. Her usually expressionless little face took on such a cute look that anyone would want to pull out a colorful sack and stuff her into it.
Each of the three was lost in their own thoughts, and the short journey soon came to an end.
There stood a tall tower that could be seen from afar, even from the street surrounded by buildings.
A cluster of towers rose far higher and larger than the surrounding buildings. The tallest, the Central Tower, bore a jester's flag that fluttered in the wind.
"Lady Riveria! Miss Ais!"
Seven or eight fully armed adventurers stood before the gate. They respectfully greeted their vice-captain and their Familia's beloved member with immense potential, then turned their attention to the only stranger among the three.
"Thanks for your hard work. Has anything unusual happened today?"
"Other than the attack on the charity meal service a little while ago, and the commotion nearby, nothing unusual. The captain and Mr. Gareth seem to have been summoned by the Guild to discuss something."
"Mm, understood. Stay alert."
Seeing that Riveria made no move to introduce Noah, the guards didn't ask any questions either. They turned and called inside.
"Open the gate!"
While they waited for it to open, Noah felt a few curious gazes land on him.
He didn't need to look to know they were coming from the guards.
They passed through the gate, crossed a garden estate with a not particularly spacious pond planted with all sorts of flowers and greenery, and walked through a red-brick courtyard into the mansion, which took up more than seventy percent of the grounds inside the walls.
It was as if the mansion had expanded upward to make up for the cramped space on the ground. The upper floors were clearly much larger.
As they approached, Noah even got the illusion that the building might topple down on them.
Just as the three entered the mansion, a figure came pounding down the stairs. She moved so quickly that even Noah, lost in thought, barely had time to react before she threw her arms around Ais beside him.
"Ais-chan! Are you okay?! I heard those bugs attacked the charity meal service again. I was scared to death!"
She was a woman with short red hair like the evening sun, a regular face, and eyes narrowed into crescents.
Her chest was so flat that it was almost impossible to make out any feminine features, but her unusually beautiful face still made it easy to recognize her as a Heavenly God.
Of course, she might have looked more like a goddess if she hadn't been shrieking like a pervert while rubbing her face against the little blonde girl in her arms.
Mm. Noah was starting to have second thoughts about joining the Loki Familia.
A god had almost unilateral control over the members of their Familia, so the god's preferences, personality, likes, and dislikes determined the Familia's direction and potential.
Every newcomer to Orario was told that choosing the right god was the most important thing—without exception—before becoming an adventurer!
So could a goddess like the one in front of him, who acted like a perverted old man, really be trusted?
Riveria didn't know that Noah was thinking about that, but perhaps because she had so much experience, she could sense the complicated meaning in his eyes.
It wasn't the first time she'd been embarrassed in front of an outsider, but Riveria still felt her face grow hot.
Chapter 17: Ancient Hero
"Loki!!"
The city's strongest Mage clenched her small, fair fist and brought the Alf Iron Fist down on her own goddess's head.
"There are other people here! Behave yourself!"
A clear clonk rang out. Loki let out a yelp and was hammered face-first to the ground, her limbs splayed out.
A wisp of smoke seemed to rise from the top of her red-haired head.
Ais, finally freed from Loki's embrace, sprang away and hid behind... Noah!
She hurriedly smoothed down her puffed-up, bristling hair. Her fair cheeks swelled like buns as she glared at Loki sprawled on the floor with wide, watery golden eyes. Her pink lips were puckered so far they looked like they could hold a bottle.
She looked like a tiny kitten, not even as big as a hand, puffing up and hissing in anger.
In truth, after spending the past year together, Ais had long since grown used to Loki's perverted behavior and become immune to it.
She'd only been caught this time because she'd been distracted by her worries.
Noah and Riveria, who'd seen the scene, both froze where they stood. They even forgot that the goddess was still on the floor.
Noah: Why did you hide behind me?
Riveria: Why did you hide behind him???
The two instinctively met each other's eyes, then fell silent.
For some reason, there was a hint of reproach in Riveria's emerald eyes.
For some other reason, Noah felt as if he'd done something wrong and couldn't quite bring himself to meet the elf's gaze.
Time passed in that eerie silence. Loki lay on the cold floor, and the three in the hallway all seemed to silently agree not to help their Familia's goddess up.
At last, Loki let out a groan and slowly sat up, her eyes unfocused as she looked around.
"Hm? What happened? Riveria? When did you get back? Huh? And who's this kid?"
Only then did the elf come to her senses. She hurriedly covered her mouth and coughed to hide her embarrassment.
"Um, Loki, this is the man I told you about a few days ago—the one who saved Ais in the Dungeon."
But Loki looked at Noah hesitantly when she heard that—though Noah couldn't see her eyes.
"You're not joking, are you, Riveria? That kid doesn't have even a trace of Falna!"
At those words, the room fell silent.
In the hush, Ais stopped fixing her hair.
She looked at Loki, then at Noah, her little face full of disbelief.
Even Riveria's pupils contracted, and her lips trembled.
First, she looked Noah up and down as if seeing him for the first time. Then she glared at Loki with a grave expression.
"Hey, Loki! Are you sure? Don't joke about this!"
As she spoke, Riveria realized that her voice was trembling.
No—her very brain was trembling.
A person who'd never received Falna had saved Ais from a strengthened winged dragon, a monster estimated to have potential abilities of at least Level 3.
And Loki didn't even know that Noah had just fought the Level 5 Killing Emperor and seemed to have gained the upper hand...
In an instant, Riveria recalled the fear she'd felt back when Orario was dominated and oppressed by the two monstrous Familias of Hera and Zeus—
At that meeting—the one about subjugating Behemoth and Leviathan—the big shots argued over tactics, while little me, still a young girl by elven standards, stood off to the side like a nobody, clutching a stick—Magna Aivis—and didn't dare say a word!
Loki, who'd still been a little dazed, finally came fully to her senses and understood what her words meant.
She sprang up and went straight over to Noah. Her eyes, which had been narrowed to slits, finally opened. Her brown gaze was filled with an undeniable authority as she slowly sized him up.
"...There's no mistake. The aura around this kid is a little frightening, but he absolutely doesn't bear another god's Falna. It's not that his Falna is sealed or removed. He's never received one at all!"
Though the gods' divine powers were sealed after they descended to the mortal realm, each of them retained plenty of abilities thanks to their respective domains.
For instance, the goddess of beauty, Freya, could use a certain degree of "charm" without unleashing her divine power. More importantly, she had eyes that could see the essence of a soul, allowing her to easily recruit talented adventurers before anyone else and get a head start over most Familias.
Likewise, Hephaestus, the god of forging, possessed blacksmithing skills that had reached the "divine realm." Even without forging anything herself, a little guidance from her could help her group of smiths nearly monopolize the creation of top-tier weapons.
As the god of trickery, Loki might not have abilities that powerful, but seeing whether an adventurer bore Falna or another god's aura was easy for her.
For that very reason, however, Loki's previously flippant, careless gaze turned serious.
"So, kid, did I get that wrong? What brings you to our Familia? Whatever it is, you can tell us now."
After being watched by all three of them without saying a word, Noah quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't spoken before because he knew it wouldn't have helped.
It was like suddenly sensing danger while talking to someone and telling them not to look back. There was a more than ninety-percent chance they'd turn around anyway.
No matter how earnestly someone explained certain things, people wouldn't believe them unless they verified them for themselves.
That was true for Noah, too.
"Loki, you're right."
Under the complicated, solemn gazes of Riveria and Ais, who seemed torn between hoping Noah would confirm it and hoping he would deny it—or perhaps both—the silver-haired boy finally nodded.
"I've never received a god's Falna. In fact, I came here to join your Familia."
As Riveria and Ais's expressions grew hard to describe, Loki remained calm and simply rubbed her chin.
"By rights, I ought to be pretty happy to have someone as outstanding as you join our Familia—someone who even makes me wonder whether you're descended from an Ancient Hero. But I have to ask: why?"
Heroes were the many outstanding mortals who had fought against the tides of monsters before the gods descended.
Even without Falna granted by the gods, they had still slain countless monsters. They fought their way through the blood-soaked, dark world, reclaimed the land, and drove the monsters back into the Dungeon, accomplishing feats that left the gods in awe.
Even with the help of gods and spirits, no one could deny the will and courage they'd shown in surpassing their limits and overcoming despair.
The heroes of old had been embodiments of "miracles."
Hearing Loki compare him to an Ancient Hero made Noah feel a little conflicted.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Nolan looked at Loki without changing his expression.
"I come from outside Orario. I can't say anything else, and there's nothing more to say. The only thing I can guarantee is that I mean no harm to Orario or the Loki Familia. And I'm completely sincere about wanting to join the Loki Familia."
Chapter 18: Joining
Seeing Loki slowly nod, Riveria finally let go of her last doubts.
As she'd said before, there was no need for her to worry too much about an enemy who could deceive a god.
As for Noah not explaining his identity, Riveria didn't think there was anything strange about it.
In Orario, almost everyone had their own secrets and past.
"Mm, all right. I accept your answer, outsider. We're friends now. First of all, thanks for saving that willful little sister of ours."
Loki made a face at the puffed-up Ais. When she looked at Noah again, her expression had changed from that of someone regarding a mysterious person of unknown identity and allegiance to that of someone looking at an interesting mortal who could bring her some fun.
Still, her expression looked somewhat... ridiculous.
"So, are you sure you want to join our Familia? I hate to admit it, but the Freya Familia probably is stronger than we are."
Noah accepted the title of outsider.
After all, "outside" was "outside," even if it meant outside of an entire world.
"Yes, I want to join the Loki Familia. As for why I didn't choose the Freya Familia, first, I don't like the atmosphere there, where its members are willing to kill one another. Second, the Familia that was strongest before won't necessarily be the strongest in the future—"
Noah gazed at Loki.
"—Once I join, won't the strongest Familia be the Loki Familia?"
After a long, silent exchange of looks, Loki suddenly laughed.
Before you continue