Outside the Loki Familia's manor.
Liber stood by the entrance in light gear, waiting for Lefiya to arrive.
A flurry of hurried footsteps came from inside the Twilight Manor.
"S-sorry! I'm sorry for the wait!"
Accompanied by those hurried footsteps, Lefiya appeared before Liber.
Holding her staff in one hand and bent forward beneath a huge pack, she ran up to Liber and apologized nervously.
Liber silently looked at the backpack on Lefiya's back, which was bigger than her entire body.
"What's all this...?" he asked, baffled.
"This?" Lefiya tilted her head and looked behind her, following Liber's gaze.
"Oh, these are the supplies I'm bringing to the Dungeon." Lefiya gave the things on her back a bounce.
"Could you tell me exactly what you've packed?" Liber asked, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"No problem." Lefiya nodded firmly. "There are bandages for treating wounds, emergency food and water, and a change of clothes.
There are also twenty bottles of antidote, twenty bottles of hemostatic medicine, ten high-grade healing potions, and ten stamina potions and ten magic potions.
I even brought three Elixirs as backups for my backups.
And various maps, a simple Magic Stone lamp, and everything else I could think of."
As Lefiya listed everything in her backpack, Liber was left speechless. He looked at her with an extremely odd expression.
"D-did I do something wrong?"
Lefiya had been counting off the items on her fingers, but when she saw Liber's strange expression, she grew uneasy.
She asked cautiously, "Am I missing something?"
"No..." Liber sighed. "You're so well prepared that I almost feel bad."
"Really? Hehe." Lefiya smiled, looking a little embarrassed.
"I wasn't praising you!" Liber looked at her with an exasperated smile.
Just as only weapons carefully forged using the Smithing Development Ability could be called fine weapons,
potions were recovery items that could only be concocted by someone who had learned the Development Ability called {Synthesis} upon ranking up. They were fine medicines whose effects far surpassed those of ordinary remedies made by mixing ingredients.
Their effects were almost immediate. The person taking one could visibly recover from injuries or have poison purged in just a few seconds.
They took effect swiftly, far faster than medical remedies made by ordinary people from mixed herbs.
Like the fine weapons forged with the Smithing Development Ability, these extraordinary potions also came with astonishingly high costs.
And now, for her first party expedition, Lefiya had prepared quite a few of these expensive potions.
High-grade healing potions could stop bleeding quickly, heal damaged flesh, and even rapidly mend bones, curing most injuries.
There were also stamina potions, which quickly restored energy, and magic potions, which eased the weakness caused by depleted magic and restored one's mental strength and magic in a short time.
Every one of these potions was expensive.
High-grade healing potions and magic potions in particular were costly medicines that even high-ranking adventurers wouldn't use unless absolutely necessary. Without savings, they were simply unaffordable.
Besides these expensive medicines, what truly made people gasp was the rare Elixir.
It was currently the best and most famous ultra-high-grade potion available on the Orario market.
Even if an adventurer suffered a fatal injury and lay at death's door, drinking one could restore their ability to move in a very short time.
Its price rivaled that of some equipment used by third-tier adventurers—and it was a consumable, no less.
What's more, this kind of potion was often unavailable at any price. It was a treasured item that had to be reserved from an apothecary in advance.
In short, Lefiya had prepared three bottles of a potion that people valued so highly.
In other words, she'd spent a million Valis or more on supplies for this party expedition.
They were only exploring the upper floors, and she'd still spent that much. How rich was this girl?
Liber grumbled to himself.
The two people standing by the entrance looked about the same age, yet the contrast between them was striking.
One wore light gear and hadn't even brought a weapon. The other was fully armed, holding a staff and carrying an enormous backpack.
"Um... Liber, where's your weapon?" Lefiya asked timidly, noticing that he hadn't brought anything with him.
"I put everything I prepared somewhere else," Liber replied.
"Hmm... So everything you brought is in your pack, right?" Liber pondered for a moment before asking her.
"Y-yes!" Lefiya considered his somewhat odd reply, then paused before realizing what he meant.
"Put your pack down for now. I'll take it, and you'll see why I didn't bring much with me."
"Huh?" Lefiya responded blankly, then followed Liber's instructions and set her backpack on the ground.
The ground beneath the pack rippled, and the backpack slowly disappeared.
Lefiya's eyes widened as she watched it vanish.
"Liber, the backpack..." Lefiya said anxiously.
"Don't worry. I have a storage spell. I can take it out whenever we need it."
Right in front of Lefiya, Liber reached out and grasped the hilt of a sword that suddenly appeared between them.
He drew his weapon and swung it casually a few times, then rested the tip of the blade against the ground and let go.
The greatsword dropped straight down and disappeared before their eyes.
"Th-that's amazing!" Lefiya exclaimed, one hand over her lips.
"Didn't I show you this in the courtyard before?" Liber asked, confused.
"I was too busy looking at Miss Ais to notice anything else." Lefiya touched her index fingertips together and answered in a small voice.
Hearing her quiet confession, Liber didn't know what to say, so he changed the subject.
"This spell is really convenient. Carrying too much stuff wastes a lot of energy."
"I thought I'd have to double as a supporter," Lefiya murmured softly, holding her staff.
In the Dungeon, supporters played an important role.
Usually, if no dedicated supporter accompanied a party, a rear guard who didn't need to move around or engage enemies in close combat would take on that role.
The supporters Lefiya had mentioned were the people who collected Magic Stones and special materials dropped after brief battles in the Dungeon.
They were usually noncombatants with limited strength. Their purpose was to free adventurers' hands and keep their bodies unburdened.
This reduced the adventurers' energy consumption and let them carry more loot, while keeping them from having to fight with heavy backpacks or equipment on. That way, they could gain experience more easily.
There were almost no adventurers like Liber who had a convenient way to store things, and no storage items on the market were easy to use.
Everyone still needed containers to carry their belongings, and the weight of the items couldn't be reduced. The total weight was simply what it was.
There were also some weaker people in Orario who worked exclusively as supporters. They took on jobs for adventurers.
Within Familias, where members were generally stronger, lower-ranking juniors or Mage rear guards usually filled in as supporters when needed.
Liber heard the girl's quiet voice and smiled.
"Your level is higher than mine. If we run into a major crisis in the Dungeon, you'll be the one carrying us."
"I-I'm still inexperienced. I can't inspire the same trust as Miss Ais!"
Hearing Liber's teasing remark, Lefiya looked timid enough that anyone watching might have thought she was about to cry.
The elf girl clearly wasn't the most confident person.
In her eyes, she still had a lot of room to grow compared with everyone else.
Looking at Lefiya cowering again, Liber could hardly cry.
She was supposed to be his senior in the Familia, someone he could learn adventuring experience and teamwork from.
Why did it feel like she needed even more looking after than he did?
Before you continue