Conversations Among Passersby

After moving, Falan finally got a glimpse of how his goddess lived in the Lower World.

How should he put it? To Soma, whether he had a Familia or not probably did not matter much.

As long as he had private space, somewhere to live, and somewhere to brew wine, he was satisfied.

Otherwise, there was no way he could have packed everything into his "Backpack" so easily and relocated so quickly.

And so, the night passed. Soma spent the entire night tinkering with those few half-finished bottles of Divine Wine.

Falan could not sleep either. Once dawn broke, he quietly left the house.

Of course, inevitably, he put on a hooded cloak.

After all, the situation had become chaotic because his "Backpack" had been exposed.

But as a human being, he needed food to survive, did he not?

Falan could only be thankful that this was Orario, a city filled with all sorts of adventurers.

There were plenty of adventurers who wore hoods to hide their appearances for personal reasons.

So even though he was covering himself up like this, he did not look strange walking down the street at all.

"Should I go explore the Dungeon again?"

After all, in this world, strength was everything.

After just his first day of adventuring yesterday, his stats had nearly risen from I to H.

On the surface, it seemed that reaching Level 2 would only take around a week.

Even though raising ability scores became more difficult the higher they went,

as long as he worked hard for two or three months, leveling up should still be possible.

"Besides, I need to test whether 'Clear' really works as Lord Soma guessed..."

After all, if "Clear" could erase all matter within an area with just the word clear,

then it was very likely, just like "Backpack," a bug-level ultimate weapon.

By the time he reached the Dungeon entrance, he saw that there were even more people today than yesterday.

"Did they fail to catch me yesterday, so they came to the Dungeon to wait for me?"

Muttering under his breath, Falan quickly pulled his hood tighter and turned into an alley.

He had been a beggar before, one of the lowest people in Orario.

When it came to these alleys, Falan believed he knew them better than those adventurers trying to block him.

After circling around to another street and looking back, he saw that no one had followed him.

Only then did Falan relax slightly. He had thought someone would notice him just now!

Finding a spot by the street, he sat down and began listening to the voices of the people around him.

Passerby A: "Did you hear? Yesterday, a newcomer at the Guild had a very unusual magic."

Passerby B: "Yeah, I heard too. Apparently, his 'Backpack' can hold as much as twenty supporters' worth of supplies."

Passerby C: "What 'powerful' magic. They say the Loki Familia is looking for him. Wonder if they'll find him."

The three passersby gradually walked away, leaving Falan's hearing range.

But from those three adventurers, he had roughly learned several things.

First, his spatial storage magic, "Backpack," had completely spread throughout the city.

By now, the news had likely begun circulating all over Orario. Keeping a low profile was no longer possible even if he wanted to.

Second, the Loki Familia was looking for him, which showed that even large Familias had recognized

how important his special spatial storage magic was to adventuring parties, especially for expeditions.

Third was the danger brought by his magic. After all, there would always be people who could not stand seeing others do well.

Especially since Falan was only a rookie adventurer who could easily die at any moment.

That was the main reason Falan had wanted to enter the Dungeon in the first place. In this world,

without the strength to protect himself, especially while possessing special magic like "Backpack," he was inviting disaster by possessing a treasure.

Just then, another conversation between passersby drifted over.

Passerby D: "It's really terrifying."

Passerby E: "What happened?"

Passerby D: "I heard that last night, a medium-sized Familia was completely wiped out."

Passerby E: "What's so terrifying about that? Don't people die in Orario every day?"

Passerby E: "What's strange about it? We've been adventurers for so long."

Passerby D: "You can't put it that way. You need to know that even that Familia's god went missing."

Passerby E: "..."

To the people of Orario, gods held the highest status.

A Familia being destroyed might count as a major incident, but a god going missing was an even bigger problem.

Especially since a god being "sent back" would cause an unusual phenomenon, yet nothing like that had happened last night.

The person sitting by the roadside quietly stood and secretly followed them.

Those two adventurers probably knew more than he had imagined.

Although Falan had long known that the Soma Familia was unreliable,

and although Soma had taken him away last night only for the Familia headquarters to be destroyed right afterward,

such information should not have been known by ordinary adventurers.

As he followed the two, their conversation continued.

Passerby E: "I really wonder what the adventurers from that Familia can do now."

Passerby D: "There's nothing they can do. They can only convert to another Familia. But that Familia... tsk, tsk, tsk."

Passerby E: "What? Which Familia was it?"

Passerby D: "I'll tell you quietly... it was the Soma Familia. You get it now, right?"

Passerby E: "Oh, I get it. A bunch of selfish bastards. Sometimes they even maliciously lure monsters toward others. The people from that Familia really are unpleasant."

Passerby D: "Exactly. Basically, no god would be willing to take them in."...

After listening to the two adventurers until the end, Falan took advantage of a corner to "lose" them.

Afterward, Falan could not help but feel alarmed, and he was surprised by Soma's ruthlessness.

After all, this incident was probably not a selection process, but rather Soma leaving the original members of the Soma Familia to fend for themselves.

Because from the conversation between those two adventurers, he understood

that in Orario, an adventurer's ability scores could only be updated by the god who had granted them a Blessing.

Soma had fled without hesitation last night, and the Soma Familia already had such a terrible reputation.

Those adventurers who had managed to survive through sheer luck

would not only be unable to update their statuses, but no Familia would be willing to accept them.

Whether they could even continue surviving in Orario was likely a problem as well.

"Still, Lord Soma's approach is worthy of admiration."

Put harshly, he had indeed left them to fend for themselves. Put generously, he had cut off an arm to save the body.

If they could survive this incident and remain in the Soma Familia,

Falan believed they would all be among those with sufficiently strong willpower and considerable ability.