The girl before her was not only mysterious, but her personal tastes were bizarre too!
"Riveria..."
Caught off guard by her name being called, Riveria's body trembled. "W-what is it?"
Ritsuka said nothing, merely looking at her silently, her gaze shifting between the bowl in front of her and Riveria's eyes.
"You've been staring at this. Are you interested...? I'll make you a bowl too, then."
"Eek!! Um, no need, really..."
A few minutes later, Riveria sat in a corner, trembling as she picked up her chopsticks.
Before her was an improved version of Mapo Ramen. Compared to the original, its spiciness had been cut in half, while the numbing flavor and fragrance had been enhanced.
After seeing Kishiya's disastrous experience, Ritsuka had never made the original version for anyone else.
That old man named Kishiya was very strong. He gave Ritsuka a sense of danger powerful enough to be fatal, while Riveria was nowhere close. In Ritsuka's estimation, Kishiya Zelretch Shuvain Oug was undoubtedly the strongest person she had ever met.
Even someone like him could not withstand authentic Mapo Tofu Noodles.
Unless one of this world's gods wanted to challenge it, or she herself craved it, the original version would probably have little chance to show its might again.
Of course, the Mapo Water was the original version...
Cold sweat quietly slid down Riveria's cheeks. The rolling red spice before her stung her eyes, and she secretly cast a chantless spell on herself. Its effect was not strong, but it should have been enough to resist the heat.
Having made sufficient "preparations," Riveria picked up a mouthful of noodles and put them into her mouth.
"So spicy!! Spicier than I expected—spicy like my life is flashing before my eyes!!"
The magic she had cast beforehand took effect. Riveria's expression shifted, but she did not collapse right away.
Under Ritsuka's astonished wow stare, her arm stiffened like a machine's. She picked up another mouthful of noodles and swallowed it with a large bite of tofu.
Riveria's fingers suddenly froze.
Her fingers slipped, and her chopsticks fell to the floor. As the noodle bowl was flung into the air, magic had already become meaningless. The elf royalty toppled headfirst onto the table before her, her forehead striking the wooden table with a crisp sound.
After tumbling slightly through the air, the noodle bowl landed upside down over Riveria's head...
"Riveria!?"
"...My... my mouth and stomach feel like they're burning. A volcano exploded in my stomach... I'm dying..."
After delivering her "last words," Riveria went still.
Loki Familia
In the adventurer city of Orario, there were two Familias known as the Dual Kings: the Freya Familia and the Loki Familia.
Compared to the relatively low-profile Freya Familia, which was not particularly active, the Loki Familia possessed tremendous influence. No one dared to ignore such a colossal force.
But on this day, everyone was shocked.
The "Nine Demonesses," Orario's strongest mage, Riveria, who had gone out and had not even returned for lunch, was brought back to the Familia by an unfamiliar girl. She remained unconscious the entire time.
For a time, the Loki Familia was thrown into turmoil.
However, since several core members of the Familia were absent, the gatekeepers who could not make a decision could only let the girl who had brought Riveria back leave. Besides, according to her, she was merely the owner of an ordinary dessert shop.
After returning the unconscious Riveria to the Familia, the girl left directly after accomplishing her goal, leaving them without any idea of what had happened.
Inside Riveria's room, the green-haired elf princess rested quietly.
"Loki, is Mama Riveria alright?"
The brown-skinned Amazon girl uttered words that would have made veins bulge on Riveria's forehead.
Unfortunately, that usual icy gaze was nowhere to be found. For the first time, the green-haired elf royalty showed her vulnerable side before her junior.
"She's fine. Although we can't determine the reason for her unconsciousness, her condition has stabilized. There won't be any aftereffects."
The Familia's chief deity, Loki, the goddess of deceit and fire, sat at the bedside and turned her head slightly.
Her narrowed eyes opened for the first time. A bone-chilling coldness swirled within them, and the blood-red scarlet made Tiona uneasy.
At Orario's central plaza, Ritsuka endured the burning stares from the Tower of Babel and entered the Dungeon.
The dessert shop could not turn a profit, so the money in her hands dwindled with every use. Moreover, because she could not exchange the items in her possession through legitimate channels, the rewards she received were always reduced by a portion.
Once, someone had nearly tried to rob her outright. She had only gotten her belongings back with her fists.
"Let's go straight down to the fifteenth floor."
Opening the map in her hand, Ritsuka muttered to herself.
As a non-adventurer, the Dungeon maps she could buy were only ones purchased from low-level adventurers, and they only covered the routes from the first floor to the tenth.
After the tenth floor, the monsters' respawn intervals and appearance rates changed drastically, making it easy for inexperienced rookie adventurers to suffer setbacks.
Therefore, maps beyond the tenth floor could only be purchased from the Guild by Level 2 adventurers.
The map in Ritsuka's hands was the lowest-grade Dungeon map. Its use to her was limited to wasting less time on the earlier floors. The floors more suitable for her were the fifteenth through seventeenth, where monsters were numerous and their value was not low.
As for deeper floors, she was not a professional adventurer, and going there would take too much time.
"Alright, let's go."
Stepping onto the first floor of the Dungeon, Ritsuka familiarly headed down the stairs. Any goblins she encountered along the way were punched straight into the walls.
Clean and efficient, without the slightest hesitation.
After pressing nearly twenty monsters into the walls with her bare hands, Ritsuka arrived on the sixteenth floor. Familiar Minotaurs appeared in her sight in groups.
The Corner of Ritsuka's Mouth lifted.
The next moment, before she could even project a weapon, the monsters turned and ran.
"Damn it! You're monsters! Have some backbone, will you?!"
A brutal slaughter began. Since she was hunting twelve-hour respawning monsters with little intelligence, Ritsuka showed no mercy.
Wherever her blade pointed, the Minotaurs' bodies, hard as metal weapons, were torn apart without resistance. The girl had become increasingly skilled at fighting monsters, especially Minotaurs.
After all, she had dealt with Minotaurs more than any other monster.
All the dropped crystals and materials were tossed into the Crystal Dice. Two slots inside it held large burlap sacks.
As for size, she could stuff an entire Minotaur into one if she forced it.
With a Sword Axe forged from the foundation stone of a temple in one hand and a projected longsword she could replace at any time in the other, Ritsuka began appearing and disappearing across the sixteenth floor. Miserable screams rang out from all directions every so often.
The slaughter-like hunt continued for nearly five hours.
Roar—!!
On the seventeenth floor, Goliath, the lone king of the labyrinth, let out a thunderous roar.
Its enormous size gave it an overwhelming presence. Even standing upright, its head nearly reached the cave ceiling, and its entire body radiated an aura of terror.
Its crimson-black hand smashed down. Several people scattered, easily avoiding the simple yet brutal attack.
"Lefiya, the main damage output is up to you. Do your best."
The small male, clearly the leader, gave the order. The girl behind him, an orange-haired elven girl with pointed ears, instinctively took a step back.
Just looking directly at that monster made her scalp crawl. How was she supposed to deal with it...?
The girl wailed inwardly.
They had come here to prepare for the expedition that would take place later. Though there were only three of them, they were the absolute core of the Loki Familia.
Level 6 Pallum, "Brave," Finn Deimne.
Level 6 dwarf, "Mighty Warrior," Gareth Landrock.
Level 3 elf, "Thousand Fairies," Lefiya Viridis.
Among them, Lefiya was much weaker than the other two, but because of her talent and her elven heritage, her future strength was undoubtedly promising.
Once the older generation aged, she would become the strongest mage.
This was Riveria's evaluation of her—the current strongest mage in Orario—and it was acknowledged by the Loki Familia.
Goliath was certainly no match for Finn and Gareth. However, another reason the two had come here was to train Lefiya, so that when facing powerful enemies, she would not be too frightened to struggle or fight back.
But judging by things now, the training plan probably won't work.
Finn looked at Lefiya, whose legs had gone weak merely from meeting Goliath's gaze, and wore a helpless expression.
He exchanged a glance with Gareth, preparing for them to attack together.
"Roaaargh..."
Goliath roared, tore a crystal from the cave ceiling, and hurled it directly toward Finn and Gareth. The heavy crystal carried an immense sense of pressure.
Gareth grabbed Lefiya, and all three of them jumped aside.
Boom—!!
Dust filled the air. Finn spun his spear, and with a tremor of its shaft, it shot forth like a startled dragon.
As one of Orario's top combatants, Finn displayed strength worthy of his reputation, easily inflicting massive damage on Goliath.
After setting Lefiya down, Gareth joined the battle as well.
The Floor Master Goliath, merely Level 4, was subjected to an utterly one-sided beating.
No, I can't just stand here and watch...
Lefiya pressed her lips together tightly.
She wanted to catch up to that person. She was still far too weak. Though she was level 3, her actual combat ability was appallingly low under the Familia's protection.
"Arrow of released light, bowshaft of the sacred tree, I am a master archer."
"Strike down! Fairy Shooter..."
Magic power surged around her. Lefiya's long skirt fluttered without wind, and the white thigh-high socks on her legs were eye-catching.
"Lefiya... That's great."
Finn smiled slightly.
As a forty-one-year-old Pallum man, even though he looked like a young boy, he was one of the elders of the Loki Familia.
Seeing Lefiya's actions, he was sincerely happy for her.
But then the situation suddenly changed. Just as the dwarf uncle Gareth swung his battle axe and severed Goliath's arm, the seemingly dull-witted, hulking Floor Master revealed a fierce glint in its eyes.
Its hard head met Finn's spear head-on, forcibly knocking away its own arm. The massive limb, several meters long, came crashing down toward Lefiya.
Lefiya, whose chant had reached its final stage, suddenly panicked. The magic that was about to be completed fell apart at the last moment.
Her magic power dispersed into nothingness.
PS: Today was my final course exam, and I had something to do outside, so the update was late.
Hero Saves the Beauty?
"Lefiya!?"
Seeing the girl neither dodge nor move, Finn panicked and chased after the falling massive arm.
Flames burned around his spear. He hesitated over whether to use his secret technique. At this speed, he definitely would not make it in time, but the price of using that magic...
"I am the bone of my sword!"
"Steel is my body."