"Good evening, my adorable children! Welcome home! Ais-tan! Come give me a hug! You must've missed me after a whole day apart, right?! Aagh!!!"
Loki sprang into action!
Loki launched a fierce assault!
Loki successfully caught the ground with her face!
Even with the oversized backpack on her back, Ais easily dodged Loki's flying hug. She looked down at the lump of a creature on the floor, her little face full of disdain.
Riveria had long since learned to ignore Loki so she wouldn't waste time.
After taking off her backpack, she helped Ais remove hers and then looked at Noah.
"Noah, go take a bath first, then come to Loki's room so we can update your Status."
Noah took off his own backpack, which mostly contained Goliath's enormous magic stone and the other drops.
"Huh? We only spent one day down there. Is that really necessary? I wanted to eat first. I'm starving."
Noah remembered that Status updates were generally done every ten days or half a month, or before a major expedition or other important adventure.
After all, a large Familia like Loki's had more than forty members. If they updated their Statuses every day, Loki's fingers would never survive.
"Noah! I want to see!"
Before Riveria could speak, Ais suddenly piped up. She had been silent ever since Noah defeated Goliath.
Her delicate little face was worn with fatigue, yet still shone with a steely brilliance like a sword.
In her dazzling, molten-gold eyes, Noah saw a pleading, hopeful look, like a kitten pawing at his leg for food.
Riveria's eyebrows shot up. She gripped Ais by the shoulders.
"Ais! An adventurer's Status is a secret! That's far too much to ask!"
But Ais's stubborn side emerged. She puffed out her cheeks and stared fixedly at Noah, ignoring Riveria completely.
"I know, but I promise I absolutely won't tell anyone! And I can show Noah my Status, too!"
"Is that really the issue?"
"Then what is? Riveria and the others have all seen his, haven't you? You get to see it, but you won't let me? That's so unfair!"
Noah thought Riveria's face had flushed a little with anger.
"You! I'm Noah's teacher and the vice-captain of his Familia! What are you to Noah? What right do you have to see it?"
That left Ais a little stumped, but not for long.
She widened her eyes, clenched her fists, and puffed out her cheeks. Then, as if she'd made some momentous decision—
"I-I can be Noah's wife, too! That should be enough, right?!"
The moment the words left her mouth, everyone was stunned!
Ais! I saved you, and this is how you repay me?!
Noah's eyes widened, but before he could say a word, Loki leaped into the air, arms and legs spread wide as she flew at him like a giant spider pouncing on his face.
"Noah, you beast! What did you do to my Ais-tan?!"
Caught off guard, Noah flailed about. He could only grab Loki's hands and twist them behind her, then pin her down with his knee. At last, he managed to restrain the frenzied goddess.
But even after being pinned, Loki kept yelling.
"Noah, you ungrateful beast! Ais-tan is so young, and you still went after her! You've betrayed me! You've betrayed all the hard work Mama Riveria put into you! I'm sending you to the Astraea Familia to face justice!"
The Twilight Manor had been quiet, but after Loki's roar swept through it, the place gradually grew restless.
"What? What? I heard Loki say Noah made a move on Ais?"
"Huh? Didn't we hear that Lady Riveria made a move on the newcomer? She's been so attentive to him these past two weeks. I didn't see them this morning, so I thought they'd eloped."
"Then why's Loki so angry? Ah! Could the newcomer be trying to take both Riveria and Ais...? Wow! Bold!"
The Loki Familia members seemed to be "whispering," but a dozen or even several dozen voices whispering at once sounded no different to Noah than people shouting in his ear.
Even Noah, who could keep a straight face while getting his bones broken, felt like crying.
I'm a level-one newbie who went into the Dungeon for the first time today and fought Goliath alone. Surely that should be enough to keep Orario talking for a while?
But it looked like the rumor that he was a beast trying to take both mother and daughter might spread first!
To keep things from getting even worse by trying to explain, Noah wrapped Loki's arms around her face, muffled her mouth, and hoisted her onto his shoulder.
Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Noah looked up and saw Riveria's face growing darker by the second. He felt a surging force from Alf that was about to burst free.
Clearly, Riveria could hear the same whispers he could.
Even Ais, who had been so stubborn just moments ago, now hunched her shoulders like a pigeon and trembled as she looked at Riveria, as if trying to awaken a mother's love in the heart of the Elf Royalty.
"Enough, Riveria! Let her see it!"
Noah stopped Riveria not only because he didn't want to witness a tragic scene of a mother and daughter turning on each other, but also because he didn't want the rumors to spread further.
Although night had fallen, there were still plenty of people outside the Twilight Manor, and Riveria and Ais were both famous in Orario.
If someone heard Ais scream, and then some loose-tongued member of the Loki Familia spread the news...
By then, rumor upon rumor would pile up. Noah couldn't control how far the stories would spread or how wild the gossip might get.
For example, a mother and daughter fighting over a man...
Yikes!!
One look at Noah was enough for Riveria to understand what he was thinking. She narrowed her eyes, took several deep breaths, and managed to suppress the surging force from Alf.
"Just you wait," she seemed to tell Ais with her gaze before leaving.
Ais couldn't help shivering as she watched Riveria's back disappear.
Noah sighed. He felt more exhausted than after a whole day of killing monsters in the Dungeon.
Half an hour later, in the Divine Chamber of the Central Tower.
Noah Cipher
Lv. 1
Strength: I-0?G-234
Endurance: I-0?H-150
Dexterity: I-0?G-270
Agility: I-0?G-245
Magic: I-O?H-198
Development Abilities:
Magic: ----
Skills: ----
"All right, you can look at it yourselves. I'm going to eat a ton, then go home and sleep. Whatever you need, wait until tomorrow to come find me!"
48. Finn! You set me up!
The deity and four people in the Divine Chamber watched Noah's retreating back as he yawned. For a long while, none of them came back to themselves.
Loki was the first to break the silence.
She cracked open her eyes and scanned the numbers on the paper with her brown eyes. A complicated smile spread across her face, somewhere between amazement and excitement.
"That guy Noah doesn't care at all, huh? At this rate, he could level up in half a month... We've got a monster in our Familia! I'll finally get to experience the joy those old geezers Zeus and Hera felt! Ahahahaha!"
As her smile grew more and more twisted and unhinged, Loki's face blurred completely. She writhed around on the bed like a maggot.
To avoid getting hit by anything her wildly kicking legs sent flying, the three pillars of the Loki Familia and Ais silently left the Divine Chamber and shut the door.
Ais was the next to leave, her head bowed and her silence unbroken.
"...I'll go back first."
Riveria watched Ais's small, thin figure gradually fade into the distance beneath the Magic Stone Lamps. Her emerald eyes brimmed with worry and sadness.
"What's this? A moment ago, you looked ready to lecture Ais, but now you're worried about her again? Elves really aren't straightforward, are they? Right, Finn?"
Gareth turned the conversation toward him, but Finn only offered a diplomatic smile that revealed nothing about whether he agreed or disagreed.
If Gareth annoyed Riveria, he'd at most get beaten up with Magna Evis.
If Finn annoyed Riveria, there'd be no one to share his workload.
The Guild had recently issued a mandatory expedition order, and Finn was already swamped. He didn't dare provoke Riveria.
Besides, Finn noticed more than the gruff dwarf did. He could tell that Riveria's worry was different from before.
Once Ais's figure disappeared down the corridor, Finn lowered his voice.
"Riveria, Noah's growth may be a little beyond what we expected, but it's still within reason, isn't it? Why do you look so troubled?"
Riveria glanced at Gareth with contempt, the corner of her lips curling into a faint sneer.
"Within reason? Do you think that's all Noah accomplished today?"
No matter how many disagreements they'd had, both men trusted Riveria's character completely. They knew she would never make things up or exaggerate.
Finn frowned, and the smile disappeared from Gareth's face.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
With a hint of pride and smug satisfaction at being the first to know, Riveria lifted her fair chin slightly.
The expression vanished quickly, but the corner of her lips had indeed curled up for a moment.
"Today, Noah went and defeated Goliath, the Floor Boss of the Seventeenth Floor!"
Her clear, cool voice swept through the corridor like a cold wind, freezing the air into silence.
For a moment, Finn thought exhaustion had made him hear things.
But when he saw Gareth beside him, frozen in place with his mouth hanging open and his teeth showing, he gave up on that last hope.
Finn opened his mouth, then shut it and swallowed his words.
After repeating this three or four times, he finally spoke hoarsely.
"All right, Riveria. I think I understand what you're worried about now. Are you afraid Ais won't be able to catch up?"
Even though Riveria's worries had been guessed, she didn't feel any more at ease.
If there was anything in this world more despairing than pure despair, it was probably despair after being given a little hope.
Riveria hoped Noah would draw Ais's attention, even if all she felt was admiration and a desire to catch up. As long as Ais could step out of the hatred she felt for the world, that would be enough.
But what if, after working hard, she despaired at the distance between herself and Noah?
For most people, being surpassed by one step would make them want to catch up. If someone left them so far behind they couldn't even see their back, they would accept it and feel hopeful for them.
But Ais wouldn't give up. She would chase the limits until she broke down—completely at odds with Riveria's plans.
Who would've thought that one day she'd be troubled because a junior was growing too quickly and was too eager to improve?
Finn had also been a little worried at first, but he rubbed his right thumb and, when he noticed nothing amiss, stopped thinking about it.
After all, with Riveria there, it didn't seem like his place to worry.
"This matter can only be left to you, Riveria. As for what I can think about now... Well, since Noah can already fight Goliath alone, he should be able to join the next expedition, right? Having such a powerful vanguard would ease a lot of the pressure on the expedition team. Of course, it might be even better if he could level up before the expedition."
As soon as he'd voiced his thoughts, Finn saw Riveria's expression change several times. In the end, she even covered her head with her hands.
"Riveria?"
"...Why did you bring up Noah leveling up with me?"
Before you continue