Goblins were once a vile race, hiding in shadows and corners. They were cowardly and weak, only swarming their enemies and turning tail at the first sign of a formidable foe, completely disregarding the lives of their comrades...
"In the Age of [Darkness], this was our people's way of survival. It was an era of incomparable filth and shame, but the arrival of the King changed everything."
"Glimmer illuminated our people's faith."
"The King taught all Goblins to hold their heads high, to face any powerful enemy and defeat them in open combat."
"Possessing the courage to charge a giant is more important than anything else."
That was why the buildings in the Goblin Kingdom were so massive.
Whether it was the castles, corridors, plazas, or even these underground pits and tunnels, they seemed excessively huge, not just for Goblins who were typically only a few dozen centimeters tall.
Even for a human like Isagi, who stood at 1.8 meters, it was all a bit too 'colossal.'
"This was to discard our former despicable habits. Before the King's arrival, Goblin tribes and kingdoms were hidden in complex, dark, and narrow caves and tunnels."
The little gold-armored Goblin, still tied up with a rope and being dragged along the ground by Tiona, muttered incessantly, likely still carrying out its duty as an NPC to deliver its 'story text.'
At this moment.
The party of three had already left the pit.
They walked across the mountain-like corpse of the long-dead and exploded Meat Cup Queen, and between the cliff walls behind her, a tunnel exit appeared.
The inside was just as barren.
A few scattered, pale green fluorescent orbs drifted back and forth, occasionally serving as a light source.
Everything in the [Meat Pit] had been devoured by the Meat Cup Queen, so there was nothing left here either. They passed through one barren tunnel after another.
Then, they descended a long, spiral staircase, finally arriving before a massive iron door.
After pushing it open.
They arrived at the management layer between the [Meat Pit] and the [Hybrid Zone]. This was also the living area for the Goblin soldiers and knights responsible for guarding and overseeing the non-Goblin residential areas.
As an intermediate level between the two zones, its area was quite vast, still consisting of spacious rooms connected by giant tunnels.
Isagi and the others were currently in one of these rooms.
It looked like a bar where soldiers would normally rest, but the enormous room contrasted sharply with the tiny tables and chairs the Goblins used (no matter how grand they aspired to be, everyday items still had to match their height and size).
The contrast was inexplicably strange.
There were no Goblins in the room, only a few bloodstains, suggesting something had already happened.
According to Akshi, the [Hybrid Zone] below would be even more dangerous, as it was a place where many different races lived together.
The most prominent inhabitants, of course, were various insects.
"Those guys are even harder to manage than Kobolds, so they were basically abandoned down there. Goblins usually don't go there."
"Everyone usually calls the area below the [Garbage Pit]."
"But to get home, we have to pass through that place. It's better than going to the Colosseum, after all..."
The little Goblin muttered to himself.
Afterwards.
He led Isagi and the girls to find the elevator room within the [Management Layer].
This was also a considerably spacious room. On the floor, the familiar circular stone door appeared once again, and directly above it was an equally massive circular hole.
Isagi activated a mechanism on the side.
Shortly after, a crude elevator made of chains and wooden planks was slowly lowered from the hole above.
At the same time, the sound of a stone door opening echoed from deep within the hole.
Walking over and looking up, he could see with his own eyes that the stone door at the other end of the hole, which was originally closed, was now open.
Riding the elevator.
A long time later, Isagi, Lefiya, Tiona, and Akshi all returned to the castle hall filled with Goblin corpes.
This was the place where the trio had first met the little gold-armored Goblin.
Looking up again.
On the three-to-four-meter-high ceiling was the now-open stone door leading to the [Border Fortress].
The interior was still paved with flawless, mossy-white stone blocks. Besides that, the long tables, fireplaces, counters, and armaments were identical to the passage they had come through.
The shortcut to the lower floors was also open now. From here, they could go directly to the management layer and then proceed to the [Hybrid Zone] on the 7th Floor to adventure.
"Let's head back for now."
Taking out a clock to check the time, Isagi saw that nearly forty hours had passed since the team entered the Dungeon.
Unconsciously, they had already spent almost two days in the Dungeon.
Their supplies were still plentiful, though.
So, Isagi planned to return to the [Border Fortress] on the 4th Floor to rest for a bit. After the recent boss battle, his mental energy was heavily drained.
His head was still spinning.
Drinking potions didn't work, and according to Lefiya's experience, he absolutely had to get some sleep.
It seems that using 'forbidden' power really does come at a price...
Soon, Isagi had Lefiya climb onto his back and held Tiona with one arm. He shot out his grappling hook, and in an instant, he had moved from the great hall to the bottom of the quiet fortress pit.
"See you next time, adventurers!"
Evidently, the little Goblin, now free, ran off into the distance.
"Boss, the rope broke!"
During the ascent, the rope Tiona was holding had suddenly snapped!
As a result, that Akshi fellow didn't come up with them, but fell back into the great hall.
And soon, the sound of his voice faded away from below the stone door.
Isagi seriously suspected that the mysterious power of the Dungeon was at play. After all, he had just been thinking about what would happen if he tried to take an NPC outside.
And from the looks of it...
It seemed the Dungeon would try everything to stop him.
Never mind.
He thought to himself that at least the Dungeon hadn't spawned some freakish monster to beat him up and snatch the NPC away.
Tiona, however, found it a bit of a shame.
A talking Goblin! If she told her sister, she wouldn't believe it!
And Akshi's golden armor looked incredibly valuable!
Lefiya thought so too. The inexplicably money-minded elf girl sighed with regret in her heart...
Isagi then led Lefiya and Tiona back to the city. By this time, nearly a week had passed since the three of them entered the Dungeon...
A few days later.
Isagi finally returned to the city from the Dungeon with the two girls.
They were delayed for a few more days, not because they continued adventuring after resting, but because on a whim, he took Lefiya and Tiona to the [Colosseum].
He had also heard information about the Colosseum from Akshi, learning that one first needed to complete ten challenges to become a so-called "Non-Goblin Champion Candidate," and then fight a final battle against another "Non-Goblin Champion Candidate"!
The winner, of course, would be crowned the so-called "Non-Goblin Champion"!
But that wasn't all. Being champion once wasn't enough. One had to win six consecutive times to become a six-time champion, thus proving their valor to be recognized by the kingdom, which would grant them access to the elevators exclusive to Goblin nobles and allow them to proceed to the [Kingdom Core] beyond the 8th Floor.
However, this was just the rule on the surface. In reality, no one could ever win six consecutive championships.
[There is no such thing as a six-time champion in this world!]
Those were Akshi's exact words.
Because the opponent in the final championship match was "the King's Strongest Knight."
[To uphold the kingdom's dignity, and to let all non-Goblin warriors know that the kingdom is invincible.]
[No challenger can leave the Colosseum.]
[It is a trap in itself, or rather, a place for the King to display the kingdom's might. The once proud and noble warriors of other races, in order to gain the right to live in the kingdom that Goblins possess by birthright.]
[Must fight with all their might, risking their lives, slaughtering each other in bloody combat, only to be effortlessly defeated by the King's Strongest Knight in the end. The Goblins love to watch all of this unfold. Cruel? A little, perhaps, but that feeling of looking down from on high, watching the other races struggle desperately.]
[For many Goblins, it is truly delicious and addictive.]
Isagi remembered Akshi's tone carried a sense of pity and helplessness when he said this, as if he didn't quite like it.
But it didn't matter at all.
In the young man's eyes, wasn't the Colosseum's mechanism just fighting ten waves of different elite monsters, then challenging five mini-bosses with health bars, and finally facing a truly difficult final boss?
Isagi wondered, could he deliberately die during a challenge and then start over from the beginning?
That way, he could farm stats!
Wouldn't the so-called Colosseum become a place that infinitely spawns elite monsters and mini-bosses?
And so.
With this guess in mind, Isagi decided to test it with the girls before returning to the surface, and it turned out to be true!
As long as he deliberately died mid-challenge, he would revive outside the Colosseum. At that point, the previously closed Colosseum gates would open, allowing Tiona to lead Lefiya out.
When the three of them went back inside, the challenge progress would be completely reset, and they would have to start over!
Oh yeah!
It was exactly the same as the fog gate mechanism outside a boss room!
Not only that, but the elite monsters and mini-bosses defeated along the way would also drop Magic Stones and materials!
What a harvest!
Though, Isagi wondered if it was just his imagination, but it felt like the more he and the girls entered the Colosseum, the fewer materials dropped. There was even one run where, from start to finish, they only got Magic Stones and no materials.
Hmph—
Just like that, they used their first two revival chances each day, then camped and rested in the caves outside the Colosseum. When midnight passed and their revivals refreshed, they would challenge it again.
This cycle repeated.
Until the supplies they had brought were almost gone.
The midday sun was quite dazzling.
Perhaps because it was their first time staying in the Dungeon for so long, Isagi and Lefiya felt their moods lift upon seeing the sunlight and the sky.
Compared to Isagi and Lefiya, Tiona was clearly more accustomed to adventuring in the Dungeon for long stretches before returning to the city.
After all, she had been in Orario for a year. Previous trips to the Dungeon's Middle Floors took about one or two weeks round trip as well.
The energetic Amazon girl bid farewell to Isagi and Lefiya.
After agreeing to go to the Dungeon together again next time, she cheerfully ran all the way back to the Loki Familia's home, the [Twilight Manor], located on North Main Street near the city gate.
Under the brilliant sunlight.
Amidst the gray-green walls, a massive building composed of many towering spires stood quietly.
As one of the five major shelters that protected the city's residents during the [Great Feud], the Loki Familia's home occupied a vast area.
It looked like a strange structure with a giant Western-style mansion as its main body, flanked by towers of varying heights.
Perhaps this was also a result of the goddess's peculiar aesthetic sense.
Tiona easily pushed open the iron gate of the garden and walked along the stone-paved path of the courtyard, quickly arriving at the main hall.
There weren't many people home today.
They've probably already left for the expedition—Tiona's guess was correct. The Loki Familia's expedition force had set out two days ago and should have already rendezvoused in Rivira by now.
The usually noisy main hall now only had a few people scattered about, eating lunch. Seeing her return, Elfy thoughtfully asked if she wanted to bathe first or eat first.
The girl was a new mage who had joined the Familia not long ago, so she hadn't participated in this expedition.
In response to this.
If it were the usual Tiona, she would have already run off to feast!
Heaven and earth are vast, but eating is the vastest!
But now there was something more urgent!
"Where's Loki?!"
"Still sleeping, I think..."
Clearly, not many in the Familia respected their unreliable goddess, always calling her by her first name. It was already considered polite not to add 'that-person' to it.
"Got it!"
Tiona immediately scampered upstairs barefoot, her small feet pattering along. She familiarly and quickly ran to the goddess's bedroom and pushed the door right open!
"Huh? It's Tiona... Why'd ya come offer yerself up today? C'mere and let yer goddess love ya up!"
The awakened Loki, just as she was about to harass the beautiful girl like a dirty old man, was promptly thrown from the bed with an over-the-shoulder throw by Tiona.
"Hurry up and update my stats, Loki!"
Can't you let a person rest? Tiona's such a clingy little imp... The expedition team had departed.
Of course, Loki had to update the status panels for every member, which was indeed a very busy and massive undertaking, but that was two days ago. The goddess, who always kept her eyes squinted, opened them slightly, finally revealing a somewhat serious expression. Then, she pricked her finger and unlocked the panel on the Amazon girl's back. The emblem of a wide-mouthed, laughing jester appeared on the girl's smooth, delicate, and healthy wheat-colored skin. As the divine blood fell, complex sacred letters gradually emerged, imprinting themselves upon the goddess's eyes.
"How is this possible... The [Excelia] has been achieved...?!"
"Huh?! Tiona, you can level up!"
Before participating in this adventure, Tiona had already accumulated a considerable amount of [Excelia] and was just on the verge of leveling up.
Tiona was already used to her goddess's unreliability and completely ignored her complaints, simply pulling up a small stool and sitting right in front of her.
That was why the Familia had arranged for her and her twin sister, Tione, to lead the second-string troops to subjugate the 27th Floor Boss, the [Monster Rex · Two-Headed Dragon Amphisbaena], which would be spawning soon, and level up together.
"So a creature like that really is like a Monster Rex"!
The image of the Meat Cup Princess surfaced in the Amazon girl's mind. And to think that monsters similar to it, while not exactly everywhere in that [Goblin Kingdom], were certainly not rare...
Of course.
Of course, the incomprehensible events for the goddess were not over yet.
"Tiona, but I'd advise you not to level up right now."
"Why?"
The Amazon girl was confused. Her stats had already reached their limit, so why would she hold off on leveling up?
That was because...
"Your stats have grown."
"Huh?!"
Breaking the limit?
No, this must be breaking her own personal limit?
Looking at Tiona's four basic abilities, which had started to grow again, Loki fell into deep confusion.
An adventurer's talent has its limits.
After their ability values grow to a certain point, they stagnate. Either they can't improve at all, or they only increase by one or two points after incredibly long adventures, which is highly inefficient.
The previous Tiona had already reached her limit.
However, with both [Strength] and [Endurance] at 'A', and [Agility] and [Dexterity] at 'B', she was already considered an extremely talented adventurer.
But now.
The girl's stats, which hadn't grown for over a month, had suddenly increased by several dozen points in total.
Incredible, how could this be?
Tiona had never seen such a serious expression on her goddess's face.
Loki was thinking.
She recalled what Lord Ouranos had said before, when the anomaly in the Dungeon appeared.
[When a hero who will lead the era appears, the other children will grow alongside them, surpassing the legends of the past and forging a new age.]
[And this is the potential of the lower world, the very thing we gods have been seeking...]
Astrea lowered her eyes slightly, looking at the sacred letters that had surfaced on the elf girl's delicate, jade-like back.
The growth in her [Magic] was as strong as ever, showing no signs of stopping.
This is too much.
The goddess sighed as she always did, because Lefiya's current situation was just like Isagi's—though the boy's growth was even faster.
From the time Lefiya joined the Familia until now, every time she came back for an update, her [Magic] would increase by ten or twenty points.
From an initial '232', it was now approaching '700'.
And this time, it had shot up by more than 80 points, likely because she had spent so long in the Dungeon.
Previously, Astrea had predicted based on experience that Lefiya's growth would gradually slow down. So, could this child also break her limits and raise her Magic to 'S' rank or higher?
At this rate, it would only take another month or two. By then, Isagi would probably be close to Lv. 3.
Astrea rubbed her temples. Even though her former Familia could have been considered a contender for the city's 'strongest,' the goddess never would have imagined that just a few months after returning to the city.
Her Familia would have two 'Lv. 3' adventurers at the same time.
And she could already feel it.
This was just the beginning. In the future, there would probably be even more 'exaggerated' things she would need to get used to.
"Alright, Lefiya, go get some rest."
The elf girl had come straight for an update right after returning home and taking a bath.
Isagi had gone to bed long ago.
Lefiya was also feeling a bit sleepy, but before that, the elf girl still requested that the goddess first conduct their daily 'practice' with her!
Effort, diligence!
The current Lefiya was already 'resorting to any means necessary' to keep up with the boy's growth!
She firmly remembered what Filvis had told her when teaching her [Concurrent Chanting].
[Lefiya, you are not suited for close-quarters combat. This is perfectly normal. Everyone has things they are good at and not so good at.]
[In that case, give up on attacking. Just focus on dodging and defending.]
The elf girl thought her fellow elf's words made a lot of sense!
There was no need to learn sword skills and force herself to become a magic swordsman. As long as she could continuously dodge her opponent's attacks while casting magic in return, that would be enough!
So, both to practice [Concurrent Chanting] and to improve her [Endurance], [Agility], and [Dexterity]—everything besides [Strength].
Asking the goddess to train with her using sword techniques was the best choice!
Looking at Lefiya's serious expression.
Astrea couldn't help but think that this child might be working a little too hard. She was definitely influenced by Isagi. Back in Solingen, it was the boy who was most enthusiastic about practicing with her.
The early summer night was cool.
When Isagi woke up, he glanced at the time and saw that it was already past one in the morning.
As he came down from the attic, the pitch-black house was filled with the sound of that fool Cecil grinding her teeth.
He walked to the girl's bedside.
He pulled the kicked-off blanket back over her and pushed her to the other side of the bed to prevent her from rolling off in her sleep— "This is not a lie, it actually happened. At the time, I was sleeping in the attic and was scared witless by the fool's cry of pain," thinking the Familia home was under attack or something.
Afterwards.
He went to the bathroom for another quick shower, washed up, and prepared to go out.
Ryuu-senpai's investigation into [Magatsuhi-no-Kami] had yielded results. When he returned from the Dungeon during the day, the goddess had given him the letter the elf girl had sent two days prior.
So Isagi wrote back, arranging to meet her at night at the 'usual place'—the farmhouse outside the city belonging to the Demeter Familia.
He prepared to leave.
Before heading out, he left a small note in the living room, telling the goddess and the girls that he had gone out.
Carrying a magic stone lamp, Isagi quickly navigated through the labyrinthine Daedalus Street and reached the main road outside.
The direction of the Pleasure Quarter and South Main Street was still brightly lit, with neon colors reflecting in the dark night, like tiny, glowing suns.
The residential and old districts on the other side, however, were much quieter, with only a few scattered lights, like lonely boats on a vast sea.
Isagi quickly ran out of the city.
In the quiet of the night, he felt like some kind of 'ninja.'
In no time.
He had already arrived at the farmhouse outside the city.
When he entered the house, he found Ryuu-senpai sleeping. In the warm, orange glow of the magic stone lantern, the elf girl was wearing a deep green cloak, curled up asleep on a bed in the corner of the room.
Her weapon was still by her side.
But she seemed to be sleeping very soundly. Isagi watched quietly for a moment and decided not to wake his Familia senior. He thought for a bit, then turned and quietly left—
When Ryuu woke up, she found it was still the middle of the night.
She seemed to have slept for a long time, she couldn't quite remember, but ever since Isagi had told her to get some sleep here that afternoon.
Strangely.
Her sleep had become peaceful, and the nightmare that once haunted her seemed to be gradually fading away.
Although she still dreamed of her former comrades, it was no longer the terrifying scenes, but a jumble of many past events, things she remembered and things she didn't.
Just now, she had dreamed of Kaguya.
It seemed they had argued again. The noble samurai girl from the Far East would always mock her for her weakness.
Especially when practicing with the goddess. Lady Astrea's sword was fast and heavy, always impossible to block.
[That is the weight of justice.]
Whenever she was 'beaten black and blue' by the goddess and couldn't get up.
Kaguya would be on the side, laughing wickedly.
She would mercilessly point out what she was doing wrong and how to correct it, using sarcastic words and a terribly sharp tongue to instruct her in the art of the blade.
Ah!
The just-awakened elf girl let out a small gasp, for it was only then that she noticed the flickering orange candlelight in the room, and, sitting at a nearby table, the boy who was eating.
The room was filled with the aroma of food.
It was vegetables stewed with pork, and a fragrant curry, and...
"Want some?"
Isagi showed the half-eaten potato pancake 'burger' in his hand to his just-awakened Familia senior.
This was a new dish he had recently developed!
Two pan-fried potato pancakes, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sandwiching smoked bacon, a fried egg, a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, and butter with a secret sauce.
It was absolutely delicious!
Isagi had just gone to the Demeter Familia's home and borrowed the goddess's kitchen to make this.
The Demeter Familia had homes both inside and outside the city.
However, the goddess was accustomed to living outside the city and was one of the few gods who could freely enter and exit the city without needing to apply to the Guild.
Isagi had originally thought.
That the Demeter Familia's home would be full of people. After all, it was such a large Familia. Although he hadn't seen many people when he visited during the day, he figured they were all out working.
As it turned out.
When he knocked on the door at night, he found only the goddess herself was there.
How absurd. Isagi recalled the curvaceous, beautiful goddess in her nightgown, looking at him with a half-smiling expression, and realized just how absurd the situation was!
But! As long as he acted with integrity, there would be no problem!
It was just that later, while he was cooking in the kitchen, the goddess also came over to help in her nightgown, swaying in the dim candlelight.
Thinking back on it now, Isagi even felt a sense of 'lingering fear.'
Especially when he was leaving, Goddess Demeter had given him a key to the house, saying he could just come over directly in the future.
[Mama gets very lonely being all by herself...]
"Hiss!"
It's getting even weirder!
"Let's eat first."
Isagi stuffed his new creation, the 'little potato burger,' into his mouth and beckoned for Ryuu to come and sit down as well.
In the room.
Only the faint sounds of the two of them eating remained.
"How is it?"
"Delicious."
"Mm."
Isagi felt that Ryuu seemed to find everything delicious, probably because her year-long quest for revenge had ruined her 'sense of taste.'
It was easy to imagine.
The elf girl certainly hadn't been eating properly before.
This way, he couldn't collect any valuable feedback. Maybe he should make more tomorrow and have Anya ask the waitresses at the tavern?
Thinking about such things.
After finishing their late-night snack and cleaning up the table, Ryuu-senpai began to talk about serious business.
"The Magatsuhi Familia is indeed smuggling strange things."
Ever since tracking that Pallum merchant guild president and identifying him, Ryuu had been 'latched onto' this god, thoroughly investigating the movements of him and his core Familia members over the past few days.
Of course, she didn't kill anyone.
That was Isagi's request, because they couldn't afford to alert the enemy.
"On the surface, the Magatsuhi Familia mainly guards merchant ships leaving the city from the port city of Melen. Their Familia home is also in Melen, not in the city."
"But they actually have their own ships, though they disguise them as belonging to other merchant guilds."
"I went aboard to check."
Just the day before yesterday, the elf girl had snuck onto their large ship under the cover of night and discovered many smuggled goods inside.
Mainly magic stone products, monster materials, and various weapons, equipment, potions, and items that are relatively cheap here in Orario due to the large number of adventurers—these things sell for high prices when sold abroad.
After all, they are, in a sense, 'specialty products of the Labyrinth City.'
In addition, the Magatsuhi Familia also smuggles certain things into the city, such as raw materials for brewing wine.
"Wine?"
Isagi was a bit puzzled, but he quickly thought of the recent events in the city concerning the Soma Familia. During the banquet, Loki had warned him not to drink the divine wine.
Goddess Astrea had also very solemnly warned Lefiya and Cecil at home.
Of course, ordinary raw materials certainly couldn't produce divine wine; it required grapes personally cultivated by a god of agriculture like Goddess Demeter.
"There were grapes from a god of agriculture inside."
Ryuu said with certainty.
And not a god of agriculture from outside the city.
That made sense. Goddess Demeter was surely not the only god of agriculture, just as besides Hestia, there was also Ishtar among the goddesses in the city.
Furthermore, both Hestia and Ishtar, like Demeter, preside over fertility—along with two other goddesses in the city.
During the annual Harvest Festival, five Towers of Fertility are erected in the plaza surrounding the central Babel, and the goddesses personally conduct the rituals.
"Anything else?"
Ryuu said with certainty.
"They were all adventurers."
This confused the elf girl. It was normal for adventurers to want to come to Orario, as it is the center of the world, and countless people and gods are drawn here.
After many gods descend to the lower world, the standard procedure is to first travel the world, seeing the sights and recruiting Familia members along the way.
Then, they come to Orario to begin developing and strengthening their Familia.
But there's no need to travel on a smuggling ship, is there?
"I don't know why they are coming to the city."
Because Isagi had said not to alert them, Ryuu, of course, was not foolish enough to reveal herself and ask those adventurers the reason for their visit.
"Hmm..."
Connecting the clues his Familia senior had gathered over the past few days.
Isagi had a bold guess.
"In the city's underground black market, the price of Soma's divine wine is sky-high, but there are almost no genuine products."
This was common knowledge. Similarly, the Soma Familia was a group of thugs and ruffians with little strength, but they were numerous and still rapidly expanding.
"Perhaps smuggling the wine grapes is a collaboration between the Magatsuhi Familia and the Soma Familia to increase the production of divine wine..."
"But I heard from Lady Loki that Soma doesn't manage his Familia's affairs much and locks himself in his room all day. If that's the case, would he listen to his Familia members and brew more divine wine?"
At the previous banquet, Isagi had heard Loki complain that she had been hoping to see Soma at the regular meeting to ask him directly for some divine wine.
The destination of the grapes grown by the god of agriculture required further investigation.
Isagi's guess was related to Ryuu's other discovery, which was that the Magatsuhi Familia was bringing in other adventurers from outside the city for the purpose of...
"Reinforcements."
"Ryuu-senpai, what do you think the goal of the Dark Familias is?"
The domains of dark gods are basically these things.
Ryuu also recalled the 'misfortune' and 'calamity' that Magatsuhi-no-Kami presided over. During her investigation these past few days, she had seen it more than once.
That old god would send his Familia members to the port city, a place outside the city's jurisdiction.
They would suddenly appear in deserted alleys to beat up lone passersby;
They would secretly set fire to people's houses at night;
They would throw a child into the sea and watch as he struggled and cried for help in the vast ocean—thankfully, a passing fisherman rescued the child.
Ryuu had been on the verge of rescuing the child herself, at the risk of being exposed.
The moment the child was brought ashore, the girl clearly saw the pleasant expression on the old god's face, who was observing from a distance, as if savoring a fine delicacy, instantly turn horrifying.
If that fisherman hadn't been a member of the port's Njord Familia, some 'heaven-sent disaster' would likely have befallen him.
This was the kind of thing that Magatsuhi-no-Kami, the god of 'misfortune,' loved to do.
Ryuu was absolutely certain.
This guy was definitely a god from a 'Dark Familia.' It was only because he was weak that he had to disguise himself, secretly venting his filthy desires on ordinary people outside the city!
"That's right."
Ryuu-senpai had grasped the key point.
"For dark gods, no matter what they want to do, the most important thing is still 'power'."
"Adventurers are the main form of power in this world."
The boy's words cleared the clouds.
Ryuu thought back to the [Great Feud] three years ago. Why did the Dark Familias have the confidence to go to war with Orario and attempt to destroy the city back then?
Because they had two Lv. 7 adventurers on their side, as well as the monster born from the Dungeon through the sacrifice of several gods, the [Great Evil].
So it was the same now.
The hidden Dark Familias were accumulating power, either by nurturing high-level adventurers, or...
"In any case, as long as they need new adventurers to join, they will need money to maintain the Familia's operations and resources to train the newcomers."
This was a complete 'chain of interests.'
"Magatsuhi is on the periphery. They are responsible for smuggling in things the other Dark Familias need from outside the city: grapes that can be made into divine wine, and adventurers to supplement their numbers."
With Isagi's explanation, it all suddenly made sense.
Ryuu's face showed a look of shock, because truly, she had been seeking revenge for a whole year, but her gains were far less than what she had learned in the past few days.
Most importantly.
She realized that after a year of running in circles, she had never touched the core of the city's darkness, not even the outermost edge.
"So, are we to continue investigating, Isagi?"
She began to consult her junior's opinion.
Inexplicably feeling a bit embarrassed, Ryuu even pictured the girl from the Far East in her mind, calling her a 'useless elf' and a 'fool.'
Kaguya was right after all...
Isagi's direct refusal even made Ryuu pause.
According to the elf girl's thinking, the next step should be to track and investigate where the grapes grown by the god of agriculture went, and where the smuggled adventurers went and what they did after arriving in the city.
"Of course, all of that needs to be done, but besides that, we need to make some noise."
The situation was now clear.
The current Dark Familias had entered a period of dormancy. They were lurking in the city's shadows, licking their old wounds. Digging them out would not be an easy task.
Therefore.
Continuing a 'gentle' investigation would not work.
The cooperation between these Dark Familias was not exactly 'inseparable.' In fact, if a comrade were to be caught and eliminated, they would immediately disavow any connection and just watch from the sidelines, laughing.
[Are we going to start killing?]
Ryuu clenched her fists almost subconsciously. The girl was not bloodthirsty; what she was thinking was.
If she and Isagi needed to kill some Dark Familia members, then she absolutely could not let the boy do it.
Her Familia junior should not be stained with filthy blood for the sake of her revenge.
But.
What Isagi said next was completely beyond Ryuu's expectations.
Because, with a calm and detached tone, as if chatting about some trivial matter, the boy said softly.
"Ryuu-senpai, let's go hunt a god."
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