Please Let Me Join Your Familia

In the afterglow of sunset.

Syr stared in surprise at the scene before her, the broom in her hand coming to an absentminded halt.

What in the world was going on?

Just last night, Mr. Thor had had such an unpleasant encounter with the Loki Familia. So why was he being carried on the back of Ais, the Loki Familia's Sword Princess, today?

What happened to him? Was he hurt?

She immediately dropped her broom and hurried over, her gray eyes brimming with undisguised concern as they fixed on Thor's slightly tired face. "Mr. Thor, what happened to you?"

Thor looked up at Syr's concerned expression. Though his fatigue hadn't completely faded, it did nothing to diminish his vitality. His voice was surprisingly steady; someone who didn't know better might have thought he was pretending.

"It's nothing. I just overexerted myself in the Dungeon, so I'm feeling a little weak."

So he'd overused his strength...

The tension in Syr's heart eased at once, and she let out a long breath.

As long as he wasn't injured.

But right after that, a pang of sourness crept into her heart—

Wasn't being carried back by another woman a little too intimate?

And she was from the Loki Familia, no less!

She watched Thor lying listlessly on Ais's back, her emotions churning.

Suppressing her jealousy, she turned her gaze to Thor and put on her sweet, professional smile again. "Then, Mr. Thor, would you like to come inside and have a meal? We have a special set meal that helps relieve fatigue. It might help you recover faster."

"A set meal that relieves fatigue?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Lefiya and Ais asked almost in unison.

As regulars at the Hostess of Fertility, they'd never heard of any such specialty dish.

Syr's smile deepened, as if she hadn't heard their doubts at all.

Her attention was fixed solely on Thor. Leaning forward slightly, she spoke with a girl's playful charm and an alluring quality that was hard to describe. "It's a set meal I made especially for you, Mr. Thor~"

The eagerness and focus in her eyes would have been enough to make any ordinary man's heart race and his face flush.

But Thor was certainly no ordinary man.

He simply returned Syr's gaze calmly.

He knew what Syr was and what she was thinking. How could he not?

In his long life, he'd met plenty of people like her who wanted to get close to him.

Lefiya, ever perceptive, immediately picked up on Syr's unusual enthusiasm and suggestive tone. Her gaze darted in surprise between Syr and Thor. She opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.

So Miss Syr actually likes...

Ais turned her head slightly and stared at Thor on her back with her golden eyes, lost in thought.

Bell quietly marveled at the sight.

Just as Grandpa said, you could have wonderful encounters in Orario.

Thor's gaze swept over the four of them and their varied expressions. He glanced at the restaurant, far quieter than it had been the previous night, then nodded.

"Sounds good. I'll have dinner here tonight. Besides, I have a few things to discuss with you two about your upcoming training."

Syr smiled happily, her eyes curving into crescents. She immediately slipped back into her usual efficient waitressing manner. "Of course! This way, please!"

She cheerfully led the five of them across the somewhat empty dining room and straight to the table in the corner where they'd sat the night before.

Everyone took their seats, and Syr naturally sat beside Thor.

For a waitress to "insist" on serving a single table like this might have seemed rude to others.

But Mia, the proprietress, merely glanced over as she wiped down a glass behind the counter, then continued without a word. She clearly turned a blind eye to Syr's "special privilege."

As she set out cutlery for everyone, Syr couldn't help glancing at the unusual group of Thor, Ais, and Lefiya. At last, she asked, "Mr. Thor, how did you end up with Miss Ais and Miss Lefiya?"

Her gaze lingered on Ais for a moment. She'd gone out of her way to stop them from meeting last night, yet somehow they'd crossed paths again during the day without her noticing.

Lefiya explained, "We're currently receiving special training from Lord Thor!"

"Oh, I see!" Syr said, understanding dawning as her doubts cleared.

She'd wondered how the Sword Princess of the Loki Familia had become so close to Thor that she'd even carried him back herself.

But was their relationship really just that of teacher and students?

Thor picked up the cold drink Syr had promptly brought him and took a long sip. The refreshing chill gave him a slight boost.

He set down his cup and turned to Ais across from him. "Ais, the formal training starts tomorrow." He paused, then added in a calm but firm tone, "For the seven days after that, you'll stay at my place at night."

"Ah?!"

"Eh?! Why?!"

As soon as Thor finished speaking, two startled female voices rang out almost at once.

Syr and Lefiya stared at him wide-eyed.

Syr's face was full of disbelief.

Wait! Training is one thing, but did she really have to stay at his house?

Lefiya was just as shocked.

Live together?! With Miss Ais?! Th-that can't be right! Lady Loki would go crazy if she found out, wouldn't she?!

Their reasons for being surprised were completely different.

A flurry of suggestive possibilities flashed through Syr's mind, while Lefiya was seized by the fear that her idol might be "stolen away."

Ais herself merely tilted her head slightly. Her golden eyes calmly rested on Thor as if she were waiting for a reasonable explanation. Unlike her companions, she showed no obvious emotional reaction.

Thor paid no attention to their exaggerated responses and explained calmly, "You saw for yourself today: the Wind-Riding Sword Art I'm going to teach you is the essence of an entire school. You can't master even the basics in a short time. We have to make every second count over these seven days."

"I'm having you stay over so we can make full use of the evenings. I can try a completely new method of instruction and have you practice a simulation of the training in your dreams. That's the only way you'll have a chance of taking your first steps into the Wind-Riding Sword Art by the end of the seven days."

Ais had no objections.

To her, as long as she could get stronger and master the remarkable sword art that flowed like the wind, where she stayed and what she had to do in return didn't matter.

Thor's arrangement seemed reasonable and efficient to her.

However, she suddenly remembered her Familia and hesitated for a moment.

Thinking of Loki's almost terrified reaction to Thor the previous night, as well as the chaos that morning when Bete had been badly injured, Ais realized the situation probably wouldn't be simple.

Would Loki agree?

How would that free-spirited, fiercely protective goddess react when she learned Ais was going to spend the night at Thor's home to learn his incomprehensible "technique"?

Would she try to talk her out of it? Stop her? Or... do something even more outrageous?

Her hesitation lasted only a brief instant.

The next moment, Thor's ghostlike movements as he demonstrated the Wind-Riding Sword Art came vividly back to her. So did the exquisite way he drew on the air currents and turned an opponent's force against them.

It was a completely different path from the way she'd fought before, one filled with possibilities that set her heart racing.

Her anxiety over the bottleneck she'd faced for three years and her desperate desire for strength instantly outweighed every possible obstacle and complication.

No matter what, she had to learn it!

A single syllable left her lips, full of unshakable determination. "All right."

"Ah?!"

That single word seemed to ignite a powder keg. Lefiya shot up from her seat, the legs of her chair scraping sharply against the floor.

Her beautiful eyes were wide, as if she'd just heard some earth-shattering declaration.

Miss Ais... is going to stay at Lord Thor's house... overnight?!

Lefiya felt her mind go buzz. Blood rushed to her cheeks, and her heart pounded as if it were about to leap from her throat.

Even if it's for training, they'll be alone together... and Lady Loki might not even know! What if... what if...

What if Miss Ais realizes Lord Thor is even more trustworthy than Lady Loki and decides to convert and join his Familia?!

Thinking of the way their own goddess, Loki, acted—and then remembering Thor's instruction that day, Lefiya felt a gap so vast it almost drove her to despair.

No! Absolutely not!

Her sense of duty to protect Miss Ais, along with a faint, indescribable fear that she might be left behind, overwhelmed all her composure.

Almost without thinking, she blurted out in a voice an octave higher than usual:

"I! Please let me join the dream training at night too!"

She gripped the edge of the table with both hands and stared at Thor.

"Lord Thor! I-I paid for this! Seven days for seven million Valis! If it's part of the special training, then the evening... evening training should be included too, right?!"

Her voice trembled faintly. It was an urgent plea, but there was also a hint of desperate "insistence on principle"—

After all, she'd paid almost all her savings! He couldn't favor one student over another, could he?

Syr, seated beside Thor, still managed to keep her professional smile, but it had grown somewhat stiff.

Her gaze darted quickly between Thor, Ais, and the agitated Lefiya. Her fingers tightened unconsciously around her drink.

One isn't enough? Now a second girl wants to move in?

Lefiya had offered to come along.

Thor hesitated, then explained, "Lefiya, you don't necessarily have to take part in the evening training."

"What I'm teaching you—the Parallel Chanting—is all about focusing on multiple things at once and attuning your magic. That requires focused practice while you're awake, not simulations during sleep. Besides, that large-scale spell, Requiem..."

He paused, his tone casual, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"I can help you alter and simplify it, adjusting it into a Spirit Summoning version that's slightly weaker but better suited to your magic. Then you can easily cast a weakened form of it using the Spirit Summoning magic you're already good at."

"C-change it into Spirit Summoning magic?! That's possible?"

Lefiya's blue eyes widened at once.

Modify a spell's structure and even convert it into an entirely different magic system?

That was practically a divine feat!

Wait!

Thor standing before me already seems to have surpassed the divine realm.

At this point, there's nothing left to be surprised about.

Lefiya's brief astonishment passed, and she remembered her real purpose.

I can't let them be alone together!

Beside them, Bell had a straw in his mouth and was blowing bubbles in his drink. He couldn't find a way into the conversation, as if none of it had anything to do with him.

But Lefiya had already forgotten Bell was there.

"Lord Thor! Please... please let me join the evening training too!"

"I understand that Parallel Chanting requires practice while awake, but experiencing that state ahead of time—or even just watching Miss Ais's training—would be invaluable to me! Please let me make the most of every minute and second!"

Her reasoning sounded perfectly solid: it was about learning efficiently and getting the most value out of her training.

Yet everyone around the table could sense the stubborn, clumsy determination of a devoted fan trying to protect her idol.

Thor looked at Lefiya's face, which practically said I'm going to keep an eye on them, for a moment. He seemed to see through her little scheme but had no intention of calling her out.

In the end, he merely shrugged helplessly, as if to say, Suit yourself.

"In that case," Thor said, his voice settling into a serious tone as if he were about to start work, "you can come along too."

He looked at Lefiya, his eyes entirely free of humor. They held only the sternness of an instructor. "I'll train you very strictly, so be prepared."

"Yes! Thank you very much, Lord Thor!" Lefiya immediately straightened her back and answered loudly. At last, the heavy stone hanging over her heart dropped.

Thank goodness!

She clenched her fist to herself, her palm damp with sweat.

At least... at least I'll be with Miss Ais.

That way, no matter what happens, I'll know right away. And I can... do everything in my power to protect the Sword Princess of the Loki Familia.

As for Lord Thor's "strict training"?

If it gets me what I want, I'll put up with anything!

Throughout dinner, Thor focused entirely on instructing Ais and Lefiya.

He clearly explained the fine distinctions in combat, pointed out the weaknesses in their teamwork, and even used examples from their fight in the Dungeon that day to teach them the techniques behind the Wind-Riding Sword Art and the key steps in Parallel Chanting.

His words were concise but precise, every one carefully chosen to help the two girls understand and absorb what he taught them.

He did his utmost to fulfill his duty as their instructor, determined to complete their "contract" to perfection.

But Syr, seated beside Thor, felt as if she'd sunk into the frozen depths of the earth.

She looked at his eyes, deep as the universe. They never strayed from Ais and Lefiya, their attention fixed firmly on them, as if they were the only points of light worth watching in this space.

His gaze was filled with a mentor's focus and hopes for his students—a pure light of guidance, free of any ulterior motive.

The topics she'd carefully prepared, her perfectly timed smiles, even her occasional displays of concern—all were like stones cast into the deep sea, never stirring so much as a ripple.

A profound sense of helplessness gripped her heart.

This supreme being who had created the Starry Heavens seemed to have a boundless heart and gaze that could hold only children who needed guidance and room to grow.

In his eyes, she was no different from any ordinary object in the restaurant.

No matter what she tried, he remained as unreachable as the stars, unchanged through the ages and untouched by worldly desires.

Being ignored so completely, so coldly, weighed on her and hurt more than any direct rejection could have.

Syr's smile remained sweet, but beneath it lay a sadness no one noticed and a stubbornness that was barely perceptible.

At last, dinner came to an end, and Thor and the others prepared to leave.

Just as Thor was about to take his first step, Syr called out to him, her voice clearly audible despite the forced lightness and barely perceptible tremor in it.

"Mr. Thor, please wait."

Thor stopped and finally turned to look at her.

But the "gaze" of his soul still didn't linger on her for even the slightest moment.

Syr met his eyes and forced her lips into the most perfect smile, as if she were casually making a suggestion. But deep in her eyes burned the light of someone with nothing left to lose.

"Didn't you mention last night that you wanted to recruit new members for your Familia?" Her voice was as soft as a feather's touch. "If... if you don't mind, Mr. Thor, would you let me join?"