The massive hunk of steel spun continuously, emitting a roaring boom in Ais's hands that sounded like a giant beast.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, that's pretty good, Ais!"
"What part of this is good?! You shut up, you Dwarf!"
Riveria glared at Gareth beside her with annoyance, rubbing her forehead. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
The slender, golden-haired girl was wearing only a rather thin, pure white nightgown, even in this winter night, yet she didn't seem to feel the cold at all.
High-level adventurers naturally appeared at ease when facing extreme environments. This included Riveria and Gareth as well.
At this moment, they were only dressed slightly thicker out of habit; the effects of heat and cold brought by daily weather were practically non-existent for them.
At first, Riveria thought Ais had brought back a lance.
It was just a bit thick and large, completely disproportionate to the girl. It even looked a bit strange at first glance. But she never in a million years expected that this thing would turn out to be a "drill"!
After flipping a certain switch, it just started spinning like that, vibrating. A casual point toward the ground was enough to instantly gouge out a small pit.
What in the world is this?!
Isn't this something Dwarves only use when mining?!
Gareth, of course, was very excited about this. After all, this was his old trade. Before becoming an adventurer, the Dwarf uncle was the best miner in his village.
Even now, the Dwarf uncle would often miss his life back in the village—
So that's exactly why it's no good!
Riveria almost blacked out. As High Elf Royalty, how could she bear to see her own "daughter" holding a miner's tool as a weapon?!
It was as if she had been assimilated by the vulgar, rude, and tasteless Dwarves!
What on earth is going on?
Why did her child, who only went out for an adventure, come back looking like this?
And that wasn't all.
Besides the drill, Ais had brought back another rather crude weapon.
It was also extremely massive.
The whole thing presented a dark color mottled with rust, looking like something cobbled together from odds and ends.
At the end of the long pole, three indescribable "wheels" were strung together like a windmill.
And as the girl activated the switch again, the wheels began to turn gradually, making a "whir, whir, whir" sound, getting faster and faster.
"!!!"
Suddenly, she had a bad premonition.
Riveria twitched the corner of her mouth, seeming to realize what the thing in front of her was primarily used for.
"This is a chainsaw!"
Isagi had called it that, too.
Both weapons were forged by Cecil using "materials" obtained in the Dungeon. Since no Boss drops were used, they were considered ordinary goods. However, because they were infused with a peculiar power, the appearance they presented was "very different" from ordinary weapons and equipment.
Ais forcefully swung the "chainsaw" in her hand. In an instant, she hit a large tree planted in the garden nearby.
"Zzzzt!!"
Accompanied by flying wood chips, the chainsaw sliced through the large tree as if cutting through soft tofu, sawing it down in the blink of an eye.
[So it really is used for cutting trees?!]
This is too simple!
Beside her, Gareth's eyes lit up again. For a Dwarf miner, going up the mountain to chop firewood was also a very daily occurrence. Dwarves liked to live on bare mountains, unlike Elves.
"Ais!!!"
Riveria almost exploded with rage.
Elves are a race that loves nature. Like Spirits, they have an innate aversion to chopping down forests and the like.
Although the Princess could be considered open-minded, the scene before her was still a bit too shocking for her.
She couldn't help but ask herself: her "daughter," who was clearly so well-behaved before, had only been out for a short while. How did it feel like she had been corrupted into a completely different person?!
She learned bad things from that "punk"!
At this, the airheaded girl seemed to realize she had done something wrong. She hurriedly turned off the chainsaw in her hand, and then, taking an umbrella, hid both it and the drill.
After all, this was given to her by Isagi; she couldn't let it get broken.
As a result, this little action of "protecting the punk" made Riveria almost unable to recover her breath.
Th-th-th-this...
"Ais—"
"What is it, Mama Riveria?"
"Come here for a moment."
Trying her best to smooth her heaving chest, the High Elf Princess, tall and slender with long green hair, forced herself to calm the chaotic thoughts in her heart.
Elegant, noble, maintaining the bearing of royalty at all times.
Riveria, as always, used those cool, emerald-green eyes to gently beckon the "daughter" she had raised single-handedly.
Using the usual method of communication between mother and daughter, Riveria wanted to figure out what exactly was going on in Ais's brain right now, and why she would use such weapons.
And regarding this, the golden-haired girl appeared very natural!
Since entering Isagi's dream a few nights ago and fighting monsters in that land full of starry skies, she had slept soundly at the Astrea Familia—but that wasn't the important part!
The important part was that when she woke up exhausted afterward and wanted to try again, she found she couldn't. Isagi said that the ring's "energy" was probably used up and might need to be recharged by entering the Dungeon.
She only half-understood this, but since the boy said they couldn't enter, there was nothing to be done. She couldn't force her way in, right?
So, the two of them later chatted about how she was actually unsuited for using weapons like "rapiers."
Ais actually had no concept of this.
Whether it was combat or technique, the girl had only been relying on instinct and memory in the past. Just like the dreams every night, those were things carved into the depths of her soul by nature.
So, she had never thought about such things.
And on the other side, for Riveria and Gareth, no one could really guide Ais because the girl was too strong. Also, they didn't understand swordsmanship themselves.
In the original trio of the Familia, the Elf woman was a Mage, Gareth was a heavy vanguard, and Finn used dual spears. Perhaps only Finn had a combat style somewhat similar to Ais.
However, Finn was both the commander and the Captain of the Familia. He had endless things to worry about every day; where would he find the time to pay attention to this?
And all along, there hadn't really been any problems with the girl's combat. It was just that her weapons broke easily. So, after forging the [Despair] with the "indestructible" attribute, there was no longer a problem.
But it wasn't enough.
Yes, just by adventuring with the boy once, Ais noticed this point.
[It's still not enough].
The old her never had such a feeling. Even if she encountered powerful, invincible enemies, it might just be a difference in Level; leveling up would solve it.
But now, what the girl realized wasn't a problem of Level, but something more "broad."
"Being with Isagi let me see a 'new world'!"
The airheaded girl stammered, expressing the thoughts in her heart with great excitement.
That slightly flushed, pretty face left Riveria beside her stunned.
[Not good!]
"So, I also want to try and accept it."
"Isagi said so too."
"It doesn't matter anyway, right? Trying out more new weapon types to find the weapon and combat style that suits me."
Ais was the [Sword Princess].
But even she herself didn't know why she used a "sword."
The girl had never thought about this question before, but now, she wanted to try to understand and find the real answer!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk—"
Looking at the girl's golden eyes, shining brilliantly at this moment, Gareth couldn't help but want to lament from the sidelines that being young was truly great.
On the other hand, Riveria felt a headache coming on again.
What is going on?!
What is this feeling that my own daughter has already been abducted by that punk?!!
Although Loki had previously held such thoughts, planning to let Ais hook that person back to the Familia or something, Riveria had always held an opposing attitude toward this!
Of course, if the young people really caught each other's eyes and Ais truly felt the other party was not bad, then developing a relationship would be fine.
But isn't this too fast?!
Didn't they only go on an adventure once? What is with this look of admiration, completely deep in it?!
Thinking about the report from Alicia, whom she had sent out earlier, where the evaluation of the boy was entirely "Full marks, full marks, full marks, full marks...", the Elf Princess's head hurt even more.
Riveria was curious now.
What kind of guy is this Isagi exactly?
She decided she had to find an opportunity to meet him in person! Seeing her own daughter so fascinated by him, she wanted to see just what kind of fellow the boy was!!
However, very quickly, Riveria received a rather bombshell piece of news from Tiona, who had just run back to Twilight Manor.
That was—
"Isagi and the Goddess are already together?!"
To be precise, it should be a "fiancé and fiancée" relationship. This was something Astrea confessed herself.
The Goddess of Justice truly couldn't stand the gazes the children of the Familia kept casting—gazes that appeared somewhat "suspicious"—so she had to announce this matter to everyone.
Of course, she didn't mention that night when Goddess Demeter climbed onto the boy's bed on her own accord. Thinking she couldn't just watch but couldn't pull her off either, Astrea had no choice but to lie down with them, which resulted in seeing even more "terrible" things later, and she even joined in, leading to the situation becoming like this—
Cough, cough, cough.
Astrea naturally didn't say anything about the overly specific details.
It wasn't because the beautiful matron was right in front of her, suddenly tangling with the boy, causing her to get carried away or anything.
Astrea was actually very, very calm at the time!
Her thinking was even terribly clear!
Lying on the boy's bed in that long, quiet night, the Goddess of Justice thought about many, many things.
Echoing in her mind all the while was that sentence from Demeter earlier.
[Has Astrea also fallen in love with her own child?]
The beautiful matron Goddess was very direct.
Reasonably speaking, Gods are actually all like this. Except for certain awkward fellows, they are very direct in expressing things like "love."
Especially when developing that kind of feeling with a child of the Lower World.
Just as Demeter herself demonstrated, it should be very passionate, completely undisguised.
Could it be that she was also an unhonest fellow?!
She thought about this question for a long, long, long time, until the boy woke up from his dream. Then, very suddenly, the two people beside her started...
There was no time!
That was what Astrea thought at the time.
Between the two options of [Leave] or [Stay], the Goddess of Justice ultimately chose the latter.
And regarding this, Ryuu, Cecil, and Lefiya only expressed that they were shocked to the extreme.
What is the situation?!
We just went to the Dungeon once and came back, so how did the Goddess and Isagi already end up in that kind of relationship?!
Too many steps were skipped during this period, weren't there!!
And more importantly, there wasn't even time for the girls to be "sad," because not only Goddess Astrea, but Goddess Demeter had also done it—
The atmosphere of what should have been a somewhat sad matter suddenly became inexplicably strange. The girls were all lost in thought; they even already had their own ideas in their hearts.
Thus, Isagi's "isekai" life underwent earth-shaking changes compared to before...
____
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