The Journey Begins in DanMachi

But the merchants cared nothing for such things; they only knew that the Guild's monopoly on magic stone trade hindered the continued growth of their wealth.

Thus, after the Zeus Familia and Hera Familia were defeated and retreated, and the Guild's power began to wane, the merchants initiated their own plans.

As for the fact that the destruction of the Orario Guild would lead to Dungeon monsters breaking through the shackles of Babel, or even the future return of the One-Eyed Black Dragon, plunging the world back into the age of monsters from thousands of years ago—that was of no concern to them.

This was a point that, after seven years of clashing with the Dark Faction, someone in the Orario Guild must have surely realized by now.

But this kid had only been in the city for a few days—how could he have already thought this far ahead?

Fantastic! If I have this kid as a teammate, why would I ever worry about failing to outmaneuver that insidious villain Finn?

Thinking of this, Valletta Grade's mood became increasingly pleasant! She even felt like throwing her head back and laughing!

Valletta: It's so hard for me to feel a spark of interest.

"And your methods for attacking Orario aren't exactly hard to guess. After all, for you lot, who spend your days scurrying around like rats, defeating the Guild and other Familias head-on is nearly impossible. But this city has its own weakness—aside from being entirely dependent on the outside world for food, there is the Dungeon!"

Under Valletta Grade's intrigued gaze, Noah Cipher lifted his foot and tapped the bluestone floor.

"This endless treasure trove that created the prosperous scene of the Dungeon city is itself a massive bomb. As long as it is detonated, Orario will naturally be destroyed—and as for the spark, that would be the Arcanum that triggered the Dungeon riot a few days ago, right?"

As he finished speaking, the alley fell into silence, with only the gentle sound of the wind blowing through and the distant clamor of citizens blending together.

After a long while, Valletta Grade slowly began to clap, her eyes filled with admiration.

"Not bad, not bad. To be able to see the situation so clearly after only being here for a few days—Orario hasn't seen such an excellent, clever person in a long time."

In truth, what Noah Cipher said was no earth-shattering secret.

On the contrary, these situations and key points of Orario were things that a significant number of people could understand, provided they had enough time.

After all, while there aren't many clever people in this world, they do exist.

When a person thinks they have come up with a brilliant idea that no one else in the world has thought of, there are definitely over ten, or even hundreds of others who have had the exact same thought.

If that idea hasn't been implemented, there is certainly a reason for it.

Destroying Orario by detonating the Dungeon was a plan that had been in motion since the birth of the Dark Faction hundreds of years ago.

But the problem was, how to do it?

With the Zeus Familia and Hera Familia—a group of people more monstrous than the monsters themselves—standing guard, one would need to incite peerless monsters from below the 70th floor of the Dungeon to have any chance of breaking through; otherwise, they would be destroyed halfway.

If the Dark Faction had the ability to enter the 70th floor of the Dungeon, they wouldn't need to go through all this trouble.

Even today, with Orario in decline and only one Level 6 and fewer than ten Level 5 adventurers, it would still be safest to incite monsters from the 50th or 60th floors.

Yet, for the Dark Faction, this remained as difficult as ascending to heaven, because even if they gathered all their combat strength, they could at most penetrate to the area around the 40th floor of the Dungeon.

Although breaking through Babel wasn't difficult, the key was how to prevent being stopped by Orario's adventurers in the process.

Therefore, all problems ultimately returned to the essence: power.

How many "divine strategies" could there really be in this world?

What determines the final outcome of an event, or even the fate of the world, is always the balance of power between the two sides.

But this by no means meant that the silver-haired youth before her wasn't excellent.

After all, those who see through the essence of things at a glance are destined for a completely different fate than those who take decades, or even a lifetime, to see it.

For instance, there are still many low-level members in the Dark Faction today who think that as long as they crush the Freya Familia and Loki Familia, they can destroy Orario.

That is likely why they were at the bottom of Orario's society before joining the Dark Faction, and why they can only serve as cannon fodder now.

"My name is Valletta Grade. And you?"

Searching her name in his mind, Noah Cipher finally recalled seeing her portrait on the Guild notice board in front of the Great Library of Gnomes.

However, it had only been a fleeting glance while passing by, and since the portrait had been weathered by wind and sun for years, it was already blurred, which was why Noah Cipher hadn't recognized her immediately.

Level 5—she seems like a dangerous person. I wonder if I can beat her.

But that's fine; this is the best way to see where my strength stands in this world.

Besides, if I take Valletta Grade's head, it will certainly be enough to attract the attention of the gods of Orario.

At that point, the situation will shift from me trying to find a top-tier Familia to join, to the major Familias begging for me to choose them.

It makes all the acting I did while starving worth it.

"Noah. Noah Cipher."

"Noah-kun! We have the same goal and the same enemy. Let's cooperate!"

Valletta Grade reached out her hand toward Noah Cipher.

If anyone else were to see this scene, their jaws would surely drop.

The Killing Emperor, who slaughtered without mercy, was actually preparing to shake hands with someone.

"Let's destroy Orario completely in the darkness together!"

Facing the hand Valletta Grade extended, Noah Cipher didn't even move his feet, instead lifting his chin with disdain.

"With just you lot? A bunch of bugs being chased around by the Guild—you think you're qualified to cooperate with me?"

At Noah Cipher's look of contempt, Valletta Grade grinned, her face entirely indifferent.

The more capable a person is, the worse their temper; she had long been prepared for this.

After all, within the Dark Faction and Orario, there were plenty of people with no talent and massive tempers.

In order to find a high-IQ teammate who could serve as an external brain, allowing her to be liberated from the day-to-day grind of thinking and return to the joy of killing, killing, killing, and killing, Valetta felt this bit of temper was completely tolerable.

"Noah, you didn't come to Orario just to mock us or go sightseeing, did you? Let me guess, you also want—or rather, your mission is—to destroy Orario, right?"

As if his inner thoughts had been laid bare, Noah's expression grew even colder, his eyes staring down Valetta like blades.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Sensing she had hit the mark, Valetta's smile widened as she slowly walked toward him.

"I'm just saying, if your patron god knew that you were wasting an opportunity to destroy Orario faster by working with us, all because of your own petty anger? Even letting these people in Orario linger on for longer, what would he think?"

Standing before Noah, who was frowning as if struggling with his thoughts, Valetta tilted her head and spoke softly.

"Come on, Noah, you don't want to disappoint your patron god, do you?"

Noah jerked his head up, gritting his teeth as he glared at Valetta.

"Are you threatening me?! Do you think I would submit to a heretic like you?"

Valetta raised a finger and slowly shook it in front of Noah.

"No, no, no. I wouldn't dream of threatening you, and I don't need you to submit. I am merely stating a fact—cooperating with us to destroy Orario does not conflict with your goal of purging heretics. After all, what is better than standing behind someone else to stab them in the back?"

Valetta reached out her hand to Noah once again.

"Isn't the best way to eliminate us heretics to let us and Orario destroy each other? That would surely make your patron god look at you with new eyes!"

Valetta didn't need a teammate she could entrust her life to or be intimate with; as long as she could destroy Orario and kill that despicable, shameless Finn, she didn't care about her own death.

The people of the Dark Faction were all lunatics; Noah realized this once again.

People are always shackled by their own desires; the more they desire, the more powerless they become.

Conversely, the fewer desires one has, the more powerful one becomes.

Even a mediocre mortal, if they cast aside everything including their own life, can unleash astonishing power.

Whether the others in the Dark Faction were like this, Noah didn't know, but the Valetta before him certainly was.

Fortunately, he, Noah, was the same kind of person.

And so, he revealed a look of reluctance and extended his hands.

"Hmph! If that's the case, then just wait and see—"

Valetta, who had just grasped his hand, wore a smile, but the next second, the sound of a blade leaving its sheath echoed through the alley.

The second she heard the sound of the metal blade being drawn, the smile on Valetta's face vanished, replaced by a look of shock.

But because her right hand was still clasped with Noah's, she couldn't pull away in time and could only thrust her left hand out with lightning speed!

Valetta slowly looked down to see Noah's other hand holding a dagger, pressed against her abdomen.

It was only a hair's breadth away from slicing through her clothes and piercing her vitals.

If she hadn't grabbed his arm, she would have definitely bled today.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Valetta lifted her eyes coldly, meeting Noah's deep, dark gaze.

Although he didn't open his mouth, that icy stare made everything clear.

Then, in just a single second, Valetta understood everything, her eyes widening in disbelief.

"You aren't one of us at all!"

Why?

Why did it turn out like this?

The first time she found a teammate with a brain, the first time she didn't have to worry about incompetent allies.

Two wonderful things intertwined, which should have allowed her to put down her burdens and enjoy the pleasure of wanton slaughter!

But why did it have to turn out like this!?

It was so hard to finally feel a spark of excitement!

And yet you made me lose so thoroughly!

Damn it!

Recalling her sincere invitation from just moments ago, the anger of being deceived made Valetta laugh in a fit of rage.

The Loki Familia flag shouldn't have anything else hanging on it; it should just be her own!

And it should be colorful, too!

To recover from the humiliation of being played like a monkey, Valetta etched a smile onto her face—a bloodthirsty, ferocious one, baring her fangs.

"What a pity, what a pity. You've severely underestimated the strength of a Level 5!"

As if he didn't feel the intense killing intent radiating from Valetta, Noah nodded in agreement, signaling his approval.

"Yeah, the strength of a lv5 is still a bit stronger than I imagined. If I didn't go all out, I'm afraid I really wouldn't be your match... Good thing I kept an ace up my sleeve."

Hm?

Noah's sigh, calm and tinged with composure, made an inexplicable sense of unease rise in Valetta's heart.

"An ace up your sleeve? What kind?"

"This hand, of course!"

Before Valetta's widened eyes, in the narrow space between her and Noah, a third hand appeared and even waved at her in greeting!

How is this possible!

Valetta could clearly feel that her right hand was gripping Noah's right hand, while her left hand was pinning down his left arm!

Could it be!

Valetta exerted a little force with her right hand, and the 'right hand' in her palm shattered directly into a flurry of cotton fabric scraps.