"To be honest, it's still incredible. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I still wouldn't be able to believe it even now. Intelligent monsters… Xenos, huh…"
With a casual swing, Ryu finished off the last monster. As she watched Xien walk back toward her, she let out a long breath.
She had really broadened her horizons today. The Xenos, the things Xien had revealed…
How should she put it? It felt a little like discovering that someone in your own family was secretly a major figure in some world outside your knowledge.
As she watched the Xenos gather around Xien while he seriously explained his plans for their future, she felt another kind of shock altogether.
That was the sort of presence only someone worthy of the word leader could possess.
The last time she had felt anything like it was long ago, when she was still very young and had once been fortunate enough to witness the Elven King's procession. From that supreme ruler, she had sensed the same kind of aura.
Someone like that liked her.
And she liked him too.
At that thought, the look in her eyes as she gazed at Xien grew even softer.
No one hoped their partner would be mediocre. Ryu was no exception. The difference was that she also wanted to become better herself, so that she could keep standing at his side.
"There'll be plenty more things in the future that'll surprise you. Just keep that curiosity alive."
"That's true."
When they returned to Babel, the group of overly enthusiastic "fans" who had chased them there was nowhere to be seen, and both of them let out quiet sighs of relief. Even so, on the way back Xien stayed cautious to the very end, only relaxing once he finally caught sight of their familia's home.
Rare as it was, Xien decided he would take the next day off.
After all, work and rest had to be balanced. Thinking it over, his schedule lately had been packed to the brim. Now that he finally had a moment to look back, an awful lot really had happened.
There was no rush to turn in the quest.
He had promised Ryu they would go shopping together before, and now seemed like the perfect time. Maybe he could take her to a clothing shop and buy her a few new outfits. That sort of thing ought to ease some of the weariness in their spirits too.
As he watched the slender back of the elf girl walking ahead of him, Xien indulged in his own little schemes.
Now that Orario had gotten through its crisis and he was no longer just some powerless rookie at the mercy of others, it was about time he spent some time caring for the people around him—spent time with her. After all, romance was not only about thrilling moments. Gentle warmth and attentive care were just as necessary.
The only problem was his age. At fourteen or fifteen, even if his mind was full of ideas, his body still wasn't quite up to the task. He had no choice but to settle for other kinds of benefits.
"Ryu!"
"Hm? What is it?"
Xien stepped forward, slipped an arm around her waist, and gently pulled her close. The touch sent a jolt through the elf girl so sudden she almost cried out.
He's not going to… no, not here, this is the middle of the street… at least somewhere more private…
"Didn't we promise we'd go shopping together before? Let's go on a date tomorrow."
It took Ryu a full second or two to process what he had just said. Then her face instantly turned scarlet, and she lowered her head.
I want to die… ahhh, what on earth was I just thinking…
"Y-yes. O-okay."
A few seconds later, Xien finally heard her tiny reply, and inwardly he grinned in delight.
He didn't tease her further. Instead, he gave her an encouraging thumbs-up.
"Good answer. You've really grown a lot since when we first met. Though next time, a little louder would be better…"
"I-is that so… hehe… ahem!"
Her hands clenched unconsciously. Her stiff body gradually relaxed, while quiet delight bubbled up inside her.
Ahhh, thank goodness, my image… tomorrow's date… hehehe… a date…
Pleased at being praised, Ryu nearly broke into a foolish grin. But she quickly straightened herself up. She could not let Xien's opinion of her drop.
Wait, if we're going on a date tomorrow, what am I supposed to prepare…? Oh no, I have absolutely no idea… Right, Aki—quick, my friend, save me…
Having resolved to visit the Ganesha Familia later for help, Ryu awkwardly turned her face away so Xien wouldn't notice her expression.
Early the next morning, Xien arrived at their meeting place and found the beautiful figure already waiting there.
She wore a white top trimmed with gold, paired with a brown skirt decorated with gold patterns. On her feet were brown shoes, while one leg wore a white stocking and the other a pale blue one. The whole outfit had a distinctive, playful charm—something like a Japanese school-uniform style.
Xien's eyes lit up at the sight.
His own clothes were comparatively simple: a plain white round-neck long-sleeved shirt beneath a short navy blazer, paired with dark gray fitted casual trousers and black leather shoes. The overall look was clean, understated, yet refined—perfectly suited to him.
When he caught the shy little glances Ryu kept sneaking at him, clearly trying to gauge his reaction, he nearly burst with delight.
She was simply too adorable.
"Your clothes are beautiful. They suit you really well, Ryu. You look lovely. Full marks."
"Th-thank you… L-lovely or whatever… not really…"
She was meticulous in almost everything, yet when it came to matters of affection, she was like a startled fawn.
An elf girl like that was devastatingly cute.
But Xien had no intention of letting her waste time drowning in embarrassment.
Before she could go on with her awkward denial, he simply grabbed her hand and took off running.
Turning back, he flashed her a confident smile.
"Come on!"
"…Mm."
The moment she saw that bright expression of his, her embarrassment vanished. Forgetting all the "advice" Aki had given her, she let her mind go blank and matched his pace.
She ran too.
Like a couple in the middle of a sweet romance, the two of them began weaving their way through streets and alleys.
Even though Orario had no major festival going on at the moment and life had calmed down somewhat, the city was still crowded as ever.
Xien was using his real body, but to everyone other than Ryu, he looked like someone else entirely.
It was, in a sense, a little illusion born from the Mangekyo.
Not Tsukuyomi—that would have been absurdly excessive just for going out—but rather a small trick he had derived from his growing mastery of illusion techniques, one that let him alter how others perceived his face.
He had come up with it specifically to deal with those overly enthusiastic "fans." Otherwise, today's date would never have happened.
Xien had never seriously studied illusions before, nor had he had any dedicated techniques in that area, but after awakening the Mangekyo and gaining Tsukuyomi, his talent in that field had opened up as well. Digging deeper, he had worked out a few practical tricks, and this face-changing one was what he had developed overnight just for today.
Really, all that effort had gone into a rather peculiar direction.
Still, he also realized just how astonishingly useful illusion techniques were—whether in combat or daily life.
He made a mental note to explore them further later.
Since they were out, it would have been a waste to just buy clothes.
There were plenty of sights in Orario worth seeing, after all. The Hero Bridge, the Great Cathedral of Saint Fulland, and other famous places tied to heroic legends—places he had never really taken the time to visit until now.
This time, he enjoyed them properly.
Still, the thing he was looking forward to most was, without question, his "dress-up plan."
And so, they went to Babel.
Babel was not only the residence of the gods; it also served many other purposes. It was practically like a modern department store. Different floors housed different kinds of shops.
The one thing they all had in common was that everything cost noticeably more than it did outside.
The second and third floors contained places they were already familiar with—medical facilities and exchange counters.
Beyond the Hephaestus Familia branch stores on the fourth through eighth floors were the tenth through twelfth, where luxurious clothes were sold.
They rode one of the lifts upward, warmly welcomed by the attendants.
Why? Because their clothes clearly weren't cheap.
The staff here were experts at sizing people up. To be chosen to work in Babel, sharp eyes and polished service were an absolute must. The moment they saw a young couple, cleanly dressed, with refined manners and obvious intent to buy, they knew these were not paupers—and so their attitude was, naturally, first-rate.
Seeing that Ryu was an elf, they also kept an appropriate distance. Before long, they had coaxed her into trying on outfit after outfit, whispering little things to her from time to time—causing her to blush and cast furtive glances at Xien.
Xien was, of course, delighted to encourage this development.
Helpful sales clerks who practically boosted his romance for him? People like that deserved his business.
In the end, things went smoothly. He captured any number of adorable, flustered moments from Ryu. It had to be said: the elf girl was naturally graceful enough to make almost anything look good.
Though her chest and hips weren't especially grand, Xien thought that was perfect for her current age and build. She was a petite elf, after all—too much would only have looked out of place. And besides, she was still young. There was room to grow.
She tried on outfit after outfit, and under the eager gaze of the accompanying salesgirl, Xien finally declared that he would buy every set she'd looked especially good in.
It instantly made him the honored guest of the day.
He could afford it, after all.
It wasn't as if he lacked money.
He had hardly spent any of what he had accumulated through Dungeon adventuring to begin with. On top of that, there were his shares from the miracle elixirs, and the fees he charged for treating patients.
True, he had once said that everyone in Orario was entitled to one free treatment.
But that didn't mean everyone who came to him was from Orario.
As his fame as a healer had spread, no shortage of people had traveled great distances with hefty sums of money in search of treatment. Naturally, Xien had no intention of turning down money for no reason. If someone genuinely came to him for healing, he treated them all the same. Those with no savings paid a token amount; those who insisted on lavishly repaying him, he accepted without complaint.
Which was why he was now, without question, the richest member of Astraea Familia. He had already paid off what he owed for his equipment, so buying a few outfits was no hardship at all.
As for the inconvenience of carrying so many purchases—he had a solution for that too.
Kongtong Tribulation was incredibly convenient in that respect. Opening up a little space in his sub-dimension to store things was unbelievably practical.
From the high windows, they also looked out over Orario itself.
From the twentieth floor of the tower—already higher than the city's massive outer walls—the view of the city below was magnificent beyond doubt.
Later, when Xien pulled Ryu into an empty side alley and, right in front of her, began storing all the clothes away into his other dimension, her mouth fell open in shock.
Xien couldn't help showing off a little, smiling as he explained his ability.
"So? This is another new application of my power. If you wanted, I could probably make you a set too. It can adjust depending on the environment—very convenient."
"Another application of your power… what exactly does that mean?"
Unlike Miao'er's sparkling admiration yesterday, the elf girl's face was full of confusion.
"I pour the power I use for healing into it, and then it becomes something that can change according to my will."
"…So you mean it's alive?"
Ryu looked utterly incredulous. Could such a thing really be possible?
Turning equipment into living things—she had never heard of anything like it. A chill rose instinctively in her heart.
The domain of life was not something lightly understood. Not even a goddess of life would dare create it carelessly. Any irresponsible act in that realm would, sooner or later, be devoured by the arrogance that birthed it.
It was both the warning and the instinctive defense of life itself.
As a child beloved by nature, once Ryu realized that this power could so easily grant life to objects, her very instincts recoiled from it.
She looked at Xien with unconcealed concern.
Naturally, Xien understood the meaning in her eyes. With a helpless smile, he explained:
"Don't worry. I understand the nature of this power, and I know the kind of harm it could cause if used recklessly. That's why I've always been extremely careful. I'm taking it step by step, turning it into something I can truly control. This is just the first result."
"…That's true. You always think things through more carefully than anyone else."
Ryu recalled the strange quality of his magic during the expedition—the unnaturally agile plants that moved with fierce vitality. Now she understood: that hadn't been merely the effect of magic. He had been experimenting with this power all along.
She remembered too how, with a wave of his hand, those plants had quickly withered away and vanished. So that had been a test too.
Reaching that conclusion, her worry eased considerably. She found herself approving of his actions even more.
He was always so reliable.
That quiet sense of security left her intoxicated.
"Though I admit it looks useful, I'll pass. Wearing something alive just feels… unsettling."
As she said that, she adjusted her outfit. Xien understood at once.
An elf was an elf, after all.
Afterward, the two of them sank into the water together—
No, not now. That was yesterday.
Today, after leaving the alley, it was another pair of eyes that noticed them.
Rivira had finally left the house.
Officially, it was "for work."
For the sake of their vice-captain's physical and mental health, Loki and Finn had gone to great lengths. They had even obtained information on Xien's whereabouts. The moment they heard he was out on a job, Finn had issued an outright captain's order for her to go out and purchase supplies.
To be fair, such chores normally were part of Rivira's responsibilities. But their familia's resources weren't so low that it couldn't wait a couple more days. Compared to that, their vice-captain's condition was the real concern. Hence this arrangement.
Rivira herself knew she had been worrying everyone. Since staying shut up and suppressing herself hadn't yielded any progress, she had eventually agreed.
Yet as she came out of the materials shop and casually swept her gaze across the street, she caught sight of that young elf from Astraea Familia together with an unfamiliar boy.
She immediately looked more closely.
The girl wore such a radiant smile that it seemed obvious the other person was someone close to her. But that only made it stranger. A same-sex friend would have been one thing, but for an opposite-sex companion to draw out a smile like that, their relationship could hardly be ordinary.
And they were holding hands.
If they weren't lovers, then they were at least something dangerously close.
But that made even less sense. Anyone who could draw that kind of expression from Ryu could not possibly be ordinary. And romances involving members of familias usually happened within one's own familia, or at least within one's own race—elf with elf, prum with prum.
So who was that boy?
She didn't recognize his face.
Then, as she watched more closely, Rivira suddenly noticed something strange.
The boy's bearing, his aura… they were very much like someone she knew.
And when she sharpened her senses and truly focused on his face, it seemed to blur and shift the more she tried to pin it down.
Could it be…?
Rivira hesitated, then drew in a deep breath and quietly began to follow them.
After spending the day wandering through the city, the two of them finally arrived, just before evening, atop the eastern city wall—the perfect place to watch the sunset.
Walking side by side along the wall, Ryu gazed at the boy strolling ahead of her, and her heart overflowed with affection.
To a modern person, such a date might have seemed simple, perhaps even a little dull.
But to a girl as inexperienced in such matters as she was, this was the most perfect romantic experience imaginable.
....
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