Heading all the way east.
Along the bleak woodlands of late autumn, crossing vast stretches of prairie and rugged mountain terrain.
When Ryuu-senpai heard they were heading to Solingen, the first thought that crossed her mind was actually to run there on her own two legs, which shocked Isagi and Cecil greatly!
But upon careful reflection, for a high-level adventurer, running speed indeed far exceeds that of a carriage; it might even be faster than a high-speed rail or an airplane.
Right, right, so it's not strange at all!
But even so, Isagi chose to refuse. They weren't in a hurry anyway, so going slowly and returning slowly was fine. It was also like giving themselves a few days off.
The three of them eventually found a caravan traveling from the city to the City of Swordsmiths. After signing on as the 'guards' for the journey, they finally set off with Cecil's bags upon bags of forging materials worth hundreds of millions of Valis.
After several days of the carriage rumbling along.
They did encounter quite a few monster attacks along the way. However, these surface-dwelling guys, after a millennium of reproduction, now had pitiably small Magic Stones in their bodies—almost non-existent—and their strength was truly too weak.
It even gave Isagi a feeling that it was overly easy.
It was a little bit satisfying.
However, the sight of the boy wielding a giant lance several meters long, unleashing an unparalleled sweep through the monster horde, did indeed make the accompanying merchants feel a bit terrified...
"It's just ahead!"
Situated in the west of the continent, the City of Swordsmiths, Solingen, was a city surrounded by mountain forests with excellent natural scenery.
After bidding farewell to the caravan they traveled with.
Isagi and Cecil, knowing the way well, led Ryuu-senpai and the many bags of luggage toward the eastern forest outside the city.
Walking along the gravel path that was now overgrown with weeds and covered in a thin layer of withered branches and fallen leaves.
Before long.
A wooden longhouse appeared before their eyes.
[Star-Respite Lodge].
The name Goddess Astrea had once given to the new Familia base.
The courtyard, originally planted with flowers and grass, had now become somewhat bleak and dilapidated. The house itself was fine, just looking quite dusty.
Very quickly, Isagi and Cecil skillfully opened all the doors and windows to ventilate the place, and subsequently began to clean up.
The tacit understanding between the two even made Ryuu feel a bit superfluous.
There was no helping it, because this house was built bit by bit, slowly, by Isagi, Cecil, and Astrea—the three of them together.
It really was just like playing some wilderness survival game.
Cecil remembered that when she first joined the Familia, she built a temporary, habitable small wooden hut together with the Goddess.
Only later did they start to expand it bit by bit—with Isagi's arrival, they re-planned the living room, bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, warehouse...
And the small workshop piled up from bricks and stones located behind the house.
That was also built painstakingly by the boy and the girl together, one brick and one tile at a time, as if raising a 'child'.
And regarding this.
Compared to the familiarity of Isagi and Cecil, Ryuu felt very, very like a stranger.
The girl couldn't even imagine what it was like when the Lady Goddess lived here.
Since they were only staying here for a few days—as long as they could use the Spirit Furnace, forging a First-Class Armament wouldn't actually take too much time. Moreover, Cecil was fully prepared this time, having completed all the preliminary work.
So, they mainly just needed to tidy up the bedrooms so they were habitable.
"Ryuu-senpai, you stay in the Lady Goddess's previous bedroom. Cecil and I will stay over here."
The incredibly natural words from the boy and girl.
It gave Ryuu the illusion that she had missed several episodes. No, wait, when did you two become so natural about sleeping in the same room?!
"It was like this originally."
Originally?!
Oh.
It really was!
Running over to look at the room Isagi and Cecil mentioned, Ryuu discovered that this wasn't one room at all, but two.
Just like the small attic the boy lived in back on Daedalus Street.
The room was actually partitioned horizontally into two levels.
On one side of the room, there was a vertical ladder leading up. Although it was very close to the ceiling, barely enough to sit up, it was definitely enough for sleeping.
Originally, the Lady Goddess had planned to expand the house to two stories.
That way, they could recruit more Familia children in the future. So Isagi's room was actually temporarily 'added' inside Cecil's room, just waiting to be remodeled later.
But before construction could start, he was dragged off to Orario by the boy.
[So that's how it is!]
But something still felt wrong!
Ryuu blinked, scanning back and forth between Isagi and Cecil. Finally, she spoke decisively.
"Staying in the Goddess's room isn't very appropriate... I'll squeeze in with Cecil instead."
"?"
Seeing the confused and puzzled look in Isagi's eyes.
Ryuu felt a little happy in her heart; she saw that cute look of the boy again!
So this is what it feels like to tease a junior. No wonder Alise, Kaguya, and the others, as well as Goddess Astrea, liked to tease her back in the day. Hmph...
However.
What Ryuu didn't realize was.
The look revealed in Isagi's eyes was actually a kind of 'sympathy'...
After bustling about for a long time.
The lazy, cold evening arrived quietly as the sun dipped low.
After cleaning the house, Isagi gathered the two girls and held a small 'meeting' to clarify the things that needed to be done in Solingen these next few days.
First, was obtaining the permission to use the Spirit Furnace.
In the tradition of the City of Swordsmiths, only blacksmiths acknowledged by the Spirits could enter to forge weapons and equipment.
"Acknowledged?"
"Mm, it means obtaining a [Spirit Tear]."
Isagi said.
He indicated that this matter was very simple and to just leave it to him!
For some reason, hearing this gave Ryuu a bad premonition. Especially before they set off, the boy's teeth-gritting appearance as he called for them to depart, saying something about 'turning a Spirit into a weapon', made it feel even more terrifying!!
But this wasn't even the most outrageous part.
Ryuu didn't know why the topic suddenly drifted to: [The Familia is still missing a Healer].
Mm—
Although they were indeed lacking one.
She knew healing magic herself, and had taught it to Lefiya, but neither of them were specialized Healers after all.
Moonlighting usually was fine, but in that kind of prolonged, arduous combat, they wouldn't have any spare energy to undertake this task.
Not only was the magic effect average.
Both she and Lefiya had their own primary roles to fulfill. After fighting for a long time, they wouldn't necessarily have the excess Mind to cast healing magic.
Therefore.
Equipping the squad with a professional Healer was quite important.
But here came the problem.
Healers were very, very rare guys. Even the Loki Familia currently didn't have a high-level Healer. Moreover, according to Isagi's thinking, if they were going to find one, they should find a good one, a powerful one, one that could be used immediately, so—
Dian Cecht Familia, [Battlefield Saint] Amid Teasanare.
The publicly recognized strongest Healer in the city. Although only Level 2, she possessed the [Mystery] Development Ability, resulting in her healing magic having curative powers comparable to 'miracles'.
Detoxification, curse removal, recovery...
It could be said that as long as a person still had one breath left and got in front of Miss Amid, they would definitely be able to survive. And if even this Battlefield Saint couldn't cure them, then they were thoroughly hopeless and dead for sure.
"I heard Miss Amid doesn't like going to the Dungeon."
"Eh?"
"It's said that compared to grinding levels in the Dungeon, staying in the treatment center for one more minute can save more people."
"Like an angel."
"Mm..."
And regarding such an 'angel' revered by the entire city, these two juniors were actually thinking about how to abduct her into their own Familia. It was simply unbelievable!
They would become the public enemy of Orario!!
Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that was indeed the case.
And most importantly, Miss Amid herself indeed didn't like going to the Dungeon. Isagi felt they should respect her wishes.
Thus.
The target was quickly switched—
Freya Familia, [Goddess's Gold] Heith Velvet, Lv.4. The currently known highest-level Healer in the city.
Information was scarce.
But the members of the Freya Familia conducted live combat training in their base, [Folkvangr], every day, so they naturally needed to rely on Healers to recover from their daily injuries.
In terms of practical experience, Miss Heith should be the guy with the most experience dealing with adventurer injuries in the city right now.
Moreover, according to grapevine news.
She herself also possessed extremely excellent combat capabilities. It was said that after upgrading to Lv.4, she realized she had no talent for combat, so she switched to become a Healer.
"Very nice."
"The level is just right too."
"Yeah, she can be used immediately upon coming over."
"Mhm, mhm, mhm..."
No, what are you discussing!
Treating another Familia's adventurer like picking out Chinese cabbage!!
And that's the Freya Familia—
Ryuu covered her forehead, wondering if her two Familia juniors were missing a screw in their brains. This wasn't even a question of justice or not anymore, but rather...
But Isagi still had that saying.
"There are always more solutions than difficulties!"
Speaking of which, Isagi actually thought it would be great if the adventurers of Orario had a 'Transfer Window'. Since everyone's goal was to explore the Dungeon, wouldn't it be normal to assemble a Galactic Battleship team and look for suitable teammates?
Sigh, the other world is still too primitive—
The sun gradually dipped low.
As the lazy late autumn night fell.
Cecil went to the room to make the beds, Isagi went to check if the bathroom was usable, and Ryuu-senpai was assigned the task of going to Solingen to buy dinner.
Before leaving.
The boy very seriously asked his senior to buy two portions of food, to avoid a situation where she tripped halfway and dropped one portion, leaving another one still edible.
Hearing this, a certain clumsy Elf's fist instantly hardened, yet she couldn't refute it.
She could only puff up her small cheeks with a rare hmph, and subsequently left the house, walking toward the distant town.
The night was long.
Along with the glow of Magic Stone lamps, dotted before her eyes together with the sparse stars in the sky.
Although not as tall as Orario's, the towering city walls, at least thirty meters high, revealed their massive form.
Between the city gates, dwarf guards were inspecting the caravans and flow of people entering and exiting. Ryuu showed the pass Goddess Astrea gave her before they left, and entered this City of Swordsmiths very smoothly.
Behind the city gates.
Was a giant suspension bridge connecting to the mountain range.
It wasn't fully apparent from the outside, but now inside, Ryuu discovered that Solingen was not only a town built against the mountain, but also had many tunnels leading straight into the depths of the mountain range. Indistinctly, the sounds of iron striking and ore being mined constantly interwove within the night.
Looking out, everywhere there were massive brick and stone buildings resembling forging workshops.
There were no magnificent buildings.
Ryuu felt this place was simply like the industrial district of Orario. Rows of factories, casting rooms, and similarly simple stone houses filled this town.
However, in this city that always appeared grey and dusty, the occasionally visible, towering and magnificent 'Spirit Furnaces' were so conspicuous.
Solingen is the City of Swordsmiths.
Bordering the mountains to the north, a great river to the south, and inexhaustible stretching forests to the east and west.
It was precisely this abundance of natural resources that made this city the most famous production site for 'Standard Armaments' on the entire continent.
Including the adventurers of Orario.
Those massive numbers of Lv.1 adventurers; the weapons and equipment they used daily mostly came from Solingen.
Following the 'mini-map' Isagi gave her.
Ryuu turned left and right in this town that was always in full swing, and finally found a tavern run by Gnomes.
Their appearance looked very much like Goblins, but they were actually not.
Gnomes are 'Lower Spirits'.
In Orario, there were also many general stores run by Gnomes, as well as the most famous 'Gnome Bank'.
Ryuu walked inside.
Still following the note the boy wrote for her, she ordered the tavern's signature roast chicken and mushroom stewed lamb, as well as vegetable meat soup.
Two portions of everything!
Although she was a little unconvinced in her heart, Ryuu herself was also worried: what if she really only bought one portion and tripped on the way back? Then her life as a senior would end right there, wouldn't it?
The Elf girl let her imagination run wild.
On the way back, she hugged the two packed food boxes tightly in her arms, and constantly paid attention to the surrounding situation!
Then.
Just as she was passing through a bustling and lively long street.
She suddenly spotted a touch of pink.
Eh?
[It's Miss Heith.]
Probably because she had just been listening to her two Familia juniors loudly plotting at home about how to poach from the Goddess of Beauty.
Or perhaps the beautiful older sister wearing a red and white dress with pink hair was too conspicuous among these mostly grey-faced and dirty dwarves.
Ryuu blinked, confirming for quite a while before realizing it really was her.
Is she in Solingen too?
It looked like she was buying something.
After concentrating her keen elven senses, very quickly, she heard that the other party was purchasing 'Spirit Cloth' from a certain dwarf shopkeeper.
This was a [Specialty] of Solingen.
It possessed considerably potent magical protection and was an important raw material for making mage dresses, as well as numerous 'accessories' for defense magic—such as scarves, cloaks, headscarves, gloves, etc.
Ryuu remembered.
The Freya Familia was about to begin an expedition to the Dungeon recently.
It was said that there were 'Special Female-Form Monsters' that could chant magic, so they were probably purchasing Spirit Cloth in large quantities for this reason.
Thinking this.
Ryuu continued to walk cautiously toward the outside of the city, protecting the food boxes in her arms.
At the same time, she considered whether to tell Isagi about this matter.
It shouldn't matter if she said it.
Poaching someone from the hands of Freya, the Goddess of Beauty, was simply an impossible thing. So even if the boy knew, what could he do?
Right?
____
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