Seeing that Ryu was no longer paying attention to her, Kaguya could only shake her head in disappointment and look away.
The other two felt the same way. With expressions that said, After that little shiver, everything suddenly seems pointless, they turned their heads away.
The three of them had no idea that, the moment they looked away, the Blonde Elf's cheek—visible beyond her mask—turned bright red. Her eyes filled with dizzy spirals, and she looked ready to start steaming from the top of her head.
N-no good. If I look at that swordsman for another second, I'm going to faint.
Ryu quickly turned around and pressed her cloak tightly against her face, breathing in its scent deeply and forcefully. Gradually, her nerves settled.
Ryu thought it was strange, too. Just seeing that person made her heart race so badly.
But smelling this scent, so closely associated with him, somehow calmed her down.
Still, this behavior of hers...
Ryu lowered the cloak and breathed in the fresh air. Seeing a glistening trace left on the fabric, she realized it was her own saliva...
Waaah!! What kind of lewd behavior is this?!
A fierce wave of shame swept over her!
Feeling like she was about to faint, Ryu quickly covered her face and took deep breaths.
Then...
Uncover, feel ashamed, breathe, calm down.
Uncover, feel ashamed, breathe, calm down.
Meanwhile, although Riveria didn't scold Noah, she still carefully examined him from head to toe.
She even cast a healing spell, then held his chin with one hand and poured a bottle of medicine into his mouth with the other before she was satisfied.
It must have been a punishment. The stuff was so bitter that it nearly sent Noah's soul soaring out of his body.
With his mouth full of a sour, bitter taste, Noah struggled to keep his expression under control. Just as he was about to deal with the Goliath's magic stone and drop item, he noticed the Blonde Elf acting strangely.
Noah couldn't help stopping in his tracks. He even forgot about the bitterness in his mouth, which had nearly sent his soul soaring, and tilted his head in confusion.
What was that Elf doing? Was she high?
Oh no, this one was different from Ais. She'd probably really had her brains blown out.
But the Goliath had done it. I'd only fought back.
Surely I don't have to compensate her or anything?
I'm still a broke guy with fifty million Valis in debt!
46 The Girls of the Astraea Familia
"Hello, Mr. Swordsman!"
Just as Noah was being intimidated by the Blonde Elf's aura, which felt even more terrifying than the Goliath's, a flash of vivid red burst into his view with the overwhelming presence of a rampaging bear.
"I'm the captain of the Astraea Familia! I'm Alise Lovell, the pure, righteous, and beautiful Red Justice Flower, and a Level 3 adventurer! And thanks for saving our familia members just now!"
Meeting her bright, lively green eyes, Noah listened to her introduction, then sneaked a glance at the Blonde Elf. She'd already turned away.
What was going on with her?
Puzzled, Noah calmly held out his hand.
"Noah Cipher, from the Loki Familia. I also made a mistake just now and got you caught up in it. I'm very sorry."
Before Alise could answer, another human girl with short dark-brown hair shoved her aside.
No—she was quite literally sent "flying."
"How could you be to blame?! The Dungeon and the Goliath were just too cunning! They couldn't beat you, so they resorted to underhanded tricks! Anyway, how did you train your swordsmanship? It's amazing! Could you teach me? Oh, and what about your other training techniques? Like, what's your favorite food? How old are you? What do you like?"
The dark-brown-haired girl clutched both his hands and chattered excitedly without stopping. Noah's expression stiffened a little.
"Um, may I ask who you are?"
"Me? I'm Noin! Noin Yulica. You can just call me Noin! I'm fifteen this year! Ah!!"
That final scream came because Noin, like Alise before her, was sent "flying."
This time, however, it wasn't an Amazon who'd sent her flying, as Noah had expected, but a wolf woman.
Judging by her looks, she seemed a little older than Noah.
She was the tallest member of the Astraea Familia, only half a head shorter than Noah. Her brown-skinned limbs were lithe and supple.
Her fluffy, medium-short hair was white like Noah's, but had a more mineral-like texture. Two tall wolf ears stood straight up from it.
"My name's Neze Ranket. I'm probably a little older than you, so you can call me Big Sister Neze, too! Hm? Little Swordsman, your hands are unexpectedly small. I thought you'd have arms as strong and thick as a dwarf's. You'll have to eat more!"
It would probably be pretty difficult for a human to have arms thicker than a dwarf's, wouldn't it?
And wasn't she paying attention to the wrong thing?
This time, Noah didn't even have time to speak before the wolf woman was stopped.
She was luckier than Alise and Noin, though. She wasn't sent flying; someone simply told her off.
"That's enough, Neze. You're going to scare him if you keep this up!"
Dressed in a kimono completely out of place in the Dungeon, the graceful, black-haired swordswoman bowed to Noah and gave him a perfect, dignified smile.
"Mikoto Yamato, vice-captain of the Astraea Familia."
But Noah wasn't fooled by her appearance.
Whether it was the "intuition" granted by his skill or the bloodline inside him that seemed to have awakened after receiving a Falna, everything told him that the Mikoto in front of him was a dangerous woman.
Not dangerous in terms of an adventurer's strength, but dangerous as a "woman."
It was as if something were telling Noah that if he underestimated her, he would pay dearly.
"Exactly! Neze! Even if you're a werewolf, that was way too rough!"
"Noin! How dare you say that about someone else!"
Watching the familia members fool around, Laila went over to Riveria and sighed, shaking her head.
"Sorry, Lady Nine Hell. Our familia members really can't be relied on. I suppose it's only natural, since the captain's just like them."
"...No, there's no need to apologize."
Watching Noah surrounded by the girls of the Astraea Familia, Riveria couldn't help tightening her grip on her staff.
Maybe it wasn't entirely your fault, either.
With the urging of Riveria, an imposing elder, and the two reliable members Laila and Mikoto, the group finally set off for the surface.
The spacious hall soon fell silent. Only the scattered rubble, not yet restored to its original state, silently testified to the fierce battle that had just taken place.
Until a distortion of light flashed in an inconspicuous corner of the stone hall.
"That guy is even more despicable and shameless than Finn!!"
A furious roar, full of murderous rage, echoed through the boundless, shadowy corridor as the light twisted.
It felt as if the Dungeon couldn't wait to see the unwelcome guests off. Noah and the others didn't encounter a single monster on their way back to the surface.
But with the uphill climb and the need to find their way, the return journey didn't save them much time.
By the time they reached the surface, the sky was already completely dark, as expected.
The Astraea Familia's home, the Garden of Stars, was also in the northern part of the city, facing Twilight Manor across the street. So both groups headed north together.
Though they were bathed in the biting winter wind, everyone felt a sense of relief.
The girls of the Astraea Familia began chatting again, talking about treating themselves to a good meal, taking a bath, buying clothes, and other such diversions.
However, one thing kept bothering Noah—
"Peep!"
Keeping his head facing forward and his expression unchanged, Noah suddenly glanced out of the corner of his eye at one part of the group.
It was at the opposite end, the spot farthest from him and separated by the most people: where the Elf swordswoman named Ryu Lion was walking.
After Noah glanced over, she seemed to notice something. Her head shifted slightly as she looked ahead.
At first, Noah naturally thought he was imagining it.
But the feeling kept coming back all the way up, and he was sure of one thing—the Blonde Elf was sneaking glances at him.
What was she trying to do? Was she planning to build up to punching him?
As Noah pondered this, he felt someone come up beside him.
It was Noin, the dark-brown-haired girl.
She looked at Noah with eyes a similar shade to her hair, a hint of anticipation seeming to shine in them.
"Hey, Noah, why do you fight like that?"
Because fighting like this feels great—Noah was just about to answer with his honest thoughts when he noticed the other girls looking at him, too.
Some, like Noin, looked at him with curious, eager warmth. That included the wolf girl, Alise, Neze, and the young Elf who looked like a little boy.
But there were also some less friendly looks—mainly from Asta Knox, the fully armored dwarf vanguard, and the mage holding a staff, Leana Liz.
Of course, they weren't hostile. It was more like seeing someone with a bad habit, wanting to correct them but lacking the standing to do so, and having to endure it with a frown.
The whole thing felt as if they'd been arguing about something and had decided to let an outsider like him settle it.
What was going on?
He had a feeling that something important had happened while he was distracted.
It was like closing your eyes in class and opening them again to find that Riveria's spell-derivation notes on the board had suddenly expanded by several pages.
Within three seconds, Noah had thought it over several times. In the end, he decided to tell the truth.
When he didn't know what had happened, lying would only make things worse.
Only after Twilight Manor's distinctive towers came into view did Noah answer.
"...Because I used to be in pretty poor health, and I was weak. I could only rely on all sorts of schemes and techniques in a fight. So, after receiving my Falna recently, I've been wanting to try what it feels like to defeat an opponent with pure strength... That's all."
Noin's expression grew complicated after hearing his answer—somewhere between disappointment and confusion.
Like a student who was bad at school asking a top student for help, only to discover that the top student's approach—"A is obviously wrong, B doesn't fit the question, C can be ruled out at a glance, so it's D"—was so advanced that they couldn't follow it, but felt too embarrassed to ask again.
The other girls were much the same.
But that had nothing to do with Noah. He just wanted to find somewhere to gorge himself, so he parted ways with them.
The girls headed in the other direction. They were almost at the Garden of Stars when Alise, at the front of the group, suddenly stopped and stared blankly ahead.
"Hmm? Alise? What's wrong?"
"Did Noah just say he'd 'received his Falna recently'?"
Silence fell over the girls, followed by a scream that pierced the night.
"...Could it be?"
"No way, right?"
"Are you kidding me?"
47 Ais: I Can Be Noah's Wife!
After the last rays of sunset faded, the stars and moon appeared in the night sky. Dazzling lights poured out from between the buildings, mingling with cheerful commotion.
When Noah and the other two returned to Twilight Manor, the familia's dinner was already over. The members had gone off to attend to their own business, so no one came out to greet them.
Still, no matter how busy the familia was, there was one person who always seemed to have plenty of free time.
Before you continue