Thanks to more than half a year of effort, Loki Familia's exploration of the Dungeon had now reached the fifty-eighth floor.
Excluding Zeus and Hera Familia, Loki Familia had delved deeper than anyone else in history.
Cid, in turn, had made a contribution that was far from negligible.
Without that, he would not have found himself in the embarrassing position of being forced to level up to Level 3.
After today, he had no intention of continuing to accompany Loki Familia into the Dungeon.
"I've already memorized all the maps. The problem is what excuse I should use."
Cid glanced at the shield he always carried with him—Aegis.
Beyond the fiftieth floor, dragon-type monsters could launch long-range bombardments across layers.
The reason he could still move through that kind of territory despite his apparent strength was not just because Loki Familia looked after him.
More than anything, it was because of this shield.
And it truly deserved to be called a divine artifact. It had more than ninety-five percent resistance to all kinds of magic.
It was even more useful than spirit-woven cloth specialized against specific elements.
Even against a dragon's bombardment, Cid could stand there and block it head-on with the shield.
Honestly, it was absurdly overpowered.
With a shield like this, saying that he "couldn't keep up with the others" was not exactly convincing.
"Since they always overthink anything I say, maybe I should just not explain myself at all?"
Cid was too lazy to come up with an excuse and decided he might as well try that approach.
The moment he returned to his mob identity, Aki... no, Alicia found him almost immediately.
"The captain's calling a meeting, so hurry up... Honestly, even though you're not one of us, you're still the only outsider allowed into the meetings for first-class adventurers. So don't you dare drag Lady Riveria down!"
Alicia complained.
She belonged to the second team and was highly valued herself, but only Cid, an outsider, was ever allowed into the most important meetings.
Even knowing she could not actually help much, Alicia still could not swallow it.
It really was infuriating.
"I'm going right away. Oh, right—after this, I'm not joining Loki Familia's expeditions anymore."
Cid stated it plainly, then waited to see her reaction.
How would she misinterpret it this time?
If her misunderstanding provided a convenient excuse, he could just steal it and save himself the trouble of thinking.
"Eh?"
Alicia stared at him blankly and fell silent.
Under her gaze, Cid began to grow uncomfortable.
This was bad.
She didn't seem to be overthinking things at all.
After a long pause, just as Cid felt he ought to say something more, Alicia finally spoke.
"Well... you're not actually a member of Loki Familia, so..."
She knew she should not stay silent, because silence only made things heavier.
But the more she spoke, the quieter she became.
Some strange sense of grievance tugged at her heart, and even her eyes began to sting.
She had to be tired. That had to be it.
The expedition had just ended, and she hadn't slept enough.
"Anyway, hurry to the captain."
Alicia forced herself to act normal and quickly left.
Even so, Cid could tell at a glance that she felt awful.
"This really is just like when I left Astraea Familia. Girls are such a pain."
Cid almost sighed.
Unlike Ryu, Alicia had always seemed genuinely annoyed by him.
And yet the moment he said he was leaving, even Alicia reacted like this.
Cid truly was not good at handling such things. What a hassle.
Still, it served as a warning.
"I really can't rely too much on random misunderstandings forever..."
This time, he still needed a proper reason for leaving.
Only after preparing what he would say did he head to the meeting.
"Cid, sorry to trouble you again, but I'll need to borrow your brain."
The moment he arrived, Finn called him over and had him sit down.
Riveria and Gareth treated his presence as perfectly natural by now. There was none of the stiff formality of earlier days.
This kind of meeting had happened more than once already. They were used to him.
Other than the three executives, the only additional attendee was Ais.
It certainly was not because they needed her wisdom.
It was simply that if Riveria did not keep an eye on her, the girl would definitely cause trouble again.
"Before anything else, let's talk about you. It looks like you've been thinking about something."
Finn was highly perceptive. He could tell.
At that point, Cid's excuse was already prepared.
"I don't plan on joining Loki Familia's expeditions anymore."
He answered honestly.
Yet the only one who looked shocked was little Ais.
"So you already saw through it. Since there are so many disturbances on the surface lately, and we can't move openly, we really do need you to act."
Finn clapped a hand onto Cid's shoulder, while Riveria gave him an approving look.
Lately, Orario had felt like a storm about to break, one major issue after another.
Finn had noticed it, but there were many things he could not deal with personally.
He was smart enough, but his fame was too great. That made certain moves inconvenient.
If Cid could act in his place, that would be a tremendous help.
"..."
Cid's feelings became complicated.
The excuse he had just come up with was now instantly unusable, like a full-force punch hitting cotton.
What an awful feeling.
"Captain Finn, in your view, what exactly is going to happen in Orario?"
Cid had to clarify that point first.
After all, he still did not actually know what Finn was worried about.
"As you and I both know, there have been unusual disturbances in the deep Dungeon. Recently, those disturbances have begun appearing closer to the upper zones. In three days, the floor boss Goliath will respawn, and we plan to remain and see whether it disappears as well."
Hearing that, Cid lowered his gaze and kept his expression blank, while little Ais discreetly stole another glance at him.
The "disturbance" Finn referred to was the so-called mysterious disappearance of floor bosses.
The floor boss of the thirty-seventh floor was Udaeus, Level 6, with a respawn period of three months.
The floor boss of the forty-ninth floor was Balor, Level 7, with an estimated respawn period of six months.
Over the last half year, Loki Familia should have run into both the Level 6 and Level 7 floor bosses several times.
Those were monsters at Levels 6 and 7. Most Familias could not defeat them.
And yet Loki Familia had not encountered them even once.
Occasionally they had run into Ottar, who liked descending the Dungeon alone, and at first they assumed he had been the one killing them. But he himself had been extremely displeased about it.
The truth, of course, was that Cid had taken them all out and turned them into feats for his own growth.
And especially after he had developed his new training method recently, he had already accumulated the feat needed for another level-up.
Once he returned to Orario this time, not only would his public level rise to Level 3, but his true level would also reach Level 7.
"Based on the intelligence we've gathered, whoever—or whatever—has been hunting the floor bosses in the deep Dungeon isn't a minor force. But until recently only the floor bosses on the thirty-seventh and forty-ninth floors were disappearing. Now, however, the floor bosses on the twenty-seventh and seventeenth floors have started showing the same pattern."
Finn's face was full of worry.
In his view, the force responsible was likely absorbing the power of the floor bosses.
If even the middle and upper layers had started to be affected, then that meant the range of activity was steadily expanding.
And more recently, some of his own people had reported encountering strange plantlike monsters—things resembling man-eating flowers, whose bodily fluids could corrode weapons on contact.
Finn had almost immediately connected them to the ongoing disappearances.
That was why the current trend was enough to keep him awake at night.
What Finn failed to notice was that while he was explaining all this, little Ais had guiltily averted her eyes.
The truth was quite simple.
Lord Shadow, lonely seeker of worthy rivals, had decided to cultivate a future opponent for himself.
And the absurdly gifted little Ais had, without question, become his chosen candidate.
For that reason, Cid had revealed his identity as Shadow to her alone and made her promise to keep it secret. After that, he had shown her the "special usage" of floor bosses.
To her credit, she had not failed his expectations. Over the past half year, her growth rate had been remarkable.
The Level 4 floor boss Goliath on the seventeenth floor had been the latest one Cid had arranged for her to defeat by herself.
Thanks to that feat, Ais had successfully advanced to Level 4, and the fame of the Sword Princess had grown even brighter.
At this rate, Cid would only need to wait another ten years to enjoy a master-disciple duel.
It was a little slow, yes, but worthy rivals did not grow on trees. He could be patient.
His next plan had been to prepare an even stronger opponent for Ais using the same special method.
But if Loki Familia kept watching him, he would have to shelve that for now.
"According to the latest intelligence, the biggest problem areas are Daedalus Street and Ishtar Familia."
Finn continued, casting Cid a knowing glance.
The suspicion regarding Ishtar Familia had reached him through Riveria long ago.
He simply had not had the time to verify it, and could only probe the matter indirectly.
If not for that careful probing, he would never have discovered what Ishtar Familia was hiding.
In other words, Cid's gaze reached farther than his own, and his ability to read people ran even deeper.
That meant the mission once again had to go to Cid.
Only Cid could reassure him. Only Cid could keep Orario stable.
"I agree. I was planning to investigate Daedalus Street next."
Cid responded immediately, having expected as much.
Finn's information came not only from Loki Familia, but from the Guild as well.
It was perfectly normal for him to have arrived at the same conclusions as Filvis.
Thinking of the instructions he had given her, Cid felt rather smug.
In the end, Lord Shadow had once again been one step ahead.
Filvis was hardworking. She would definitely move fast enough to solve the Ishtar issue before anyone else.
And on his own side, as long as he accepted the mission and dragged his feet a bit, he could wait for Filvis to finish the whole matter first.
Everything was proceeding exactly according to Lord Shadow's calculations.
No matter what happened this time, there was no way he would end up becoming the big hero.
"This time, it would be inconvenient for me to act openly. Cid, if our goals do align, would you let me make use of your reputation?"
That question abruptly interrupted Cid's smug satisfaction.
"Use my reputation? What's wrong with my reputation?"
Cid was instantly filled with a very bad feeling.
Finn shot a sidelong glance at Riveria, his mouth twitching as he struggled to remain serious.
"Your reputation... isn't something I can explain easily. Anyway—could you take Raul with you to the Pleasure Quarter?"
....
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