Time flowed on like a river, never pausing day or night.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed since the Great Struggle that had nearly shaken the balance of the world.
Orario had gradually emerged from the shadow of war and once again become the undisputed center of the world.
The adventurers who had distinguished themselves in that war were heavily promoted by the Guild, practically deified and made famous far beyond Orario itself.
Among them, the two Familia captains—Brave Finn and Ottar the Fierce—had seen the greatest rise in fame.
To the general public, those two were the strongest adventurers alive today.
Those with better sources of information, however, knew that the adventurer who had contributed the most during the Great Struggle—and who possessed the greatest strength—was the mysterious one known only by the alias Shadow.
And for some reason, the Guild had never helped publicize Shadow's fame.
Even those who knew the truth always spoke that name with a strange reluctance.
A great many things had happened over the past half year.
The Guild's change in attitude toward Shadow was certainly not born of jealousy or fear of talent.
But that was a story for another time.
Beneath the captains of the two great Familias, there were also a number of adventurers whose reputations had soared.
Strangely enough, the most representative among them was not one of the Level 5 first-class adventurers.
It was the captain of the Hestia Familia, the Level 2 adventurer Cid Rofael, bearer of the alias [Mob].
His strength was beyond dispute. The scars left across Orario by his magic were proof enough.
Countless adventurers who visited Orario left with their greatest regret being that they had failed to witness the Infernal Matchless Blazing Wave Cannon with their own eyes.
As for Cid himself, few people actually had the chance to meet him, but the rumors surrounding him were endless.
His alias struck people as strange; a man that powerful ought not to have such a title.
His romantic scandals, meanwhile, were irresistible gossip. Some claimed he was dating the younger sister of the Ganesha Familia's captain. Others insisted he had improper thoughts about his adoptive sister, who was not related to him by blood.
Still others swore they had seen him out on dates with two girls at once. There were even rumors that his true target was his teacher, the Loki Familia's greatest mage.
The wildest theory of all claimed that he was only interested in virgin goddesses, which was why he had joined the dirt-poor Hestia Familia in the first place.
These rumors left a certain Shadow-sama scratching his head raw in utter confusion.
Why was a Level 2 adventurer's love life so interesting to everyone?
And yes—after more than half a year, Cid still had not advanced to Level 3.
Back during the Great Struggle, after absorbing two enormous waves of experience, Cid had originally assumed that he would be forced to rank up to Level 3 very quickly.
But later he suddenly realized something.
Those two waves of experience had come solely from his use of magic.
In other words, all of that growth had gone into his Magic ability score.
Which meant that, by deliberately training his other stats instead, he could slow his rank-up.
Unfortunately, on this return trip, he would have to level up after all.
Because he had been tagging along with the Loki Familia and suffering much higher-quality beatings, it was only natural that his growth would outpace Raul's by at least a little.
By a normal calculation, this trip was exactly the point where it should happen.
For that very reason, on the way back, the Loki Familia had deliberately left a number of monsters for him to finish off.
"So why is it that I'm only Level 2, and yet every single time, they have to bring me along?"
Cid let out a long sigh.
At the moment, he was on the Eighteenth Floor of the Dungeon, having just returned from another expedition with the Loki Familia.
Dungeon expeditions were Guild-issued assignments, and the two great Familias were not permitted to refuse them.
The Hestia Familia, meanwhile, was still trapped in the same sad state as ever: poor, indebted, and with only a single adventurer—Cid.
Yet because of his special magic, and because of his good relationship with the Loki Familia, he was brought along on every expedition.
Even now, Cid had not completely given up on his identity as a mob character.
As long as he loosened the definition a little, he was still a mob character, wasn't he?
In hot-blooded manga, after all, the one handling command and strategy was often not the focus of the camera. What people wanted to watch was the fighting.
So even if he really did become Orario's commander in the future, that still did not necessarily mean he had ceased to be a mob character.
Only heaven knew what kind of mental struggle Cid had gone through before finally pinching his nose and acknowledging himself as Orario's future commander.
And only heaven knew what sort of mental gymnastics he had performed to convince himself that "commander" still counted as a mob role.
In any case, Cid had once again reasoned his way into acceptance.
No matter what the outside world said, he would remain unmoved, like a mountain in the wind.
He would continue walking the path of the mob character.
"So even if I go back and rank up to Level 3 this time, I'll still be a mob. How much difference is there between Level 2 and Level 3, really?"
Before Cid could even take a few more steps and clear his thoughts, he was blocked again by an adventurer.
This time, out of sheer stubborn refusal to care anymore, Cid did not even bother trying to avoid it.
"So you're that 'Mob' guy? You don't look that impressive to me. How about a duel?"
Young, still-unfamous adventurers were always like this, dreaming of a single fight that would make their names.
And when it came to famous adventurers in modern Orario whose actual strength seemed uncertain, the first person anyone thought of was Cid.
Faced with this challenge, Cid righteously defended himself:
"You can't say it like that. The reason I have this powerful magic is because of the gifts of the Astraea Familia. The reason I have my current achievements is because of the Loki Familia's training and Lady Riveria's instruction. Stop piling all the credit onto me!"
Cid was genuinely outraged.
Could these people please open their eyes and see who the real MVPs were?
Giving the MVP award to the top-lane stone wall that merely helped soak damage—this ranking system had clearly distorted the very meaning of effort!
And Cid's grand and dignified speech had exactly the effect it always did: his opponent became ashamed.
He had come here thinking only of becoming famous in one stroke, but the person before him was clearly the sort who treated glory like dirt.
No wonder everyone said Cid would someday become Orario's next commander.
That kind of broad-mindedness alone was already far beyond ordinary people.
"Enough of that. If you insist on continuing, then you'll be making an enemy of the Loki Familia."
Anakitty stepped forward at last, placing herself between them.
"Then I'll give you that much face."
The adventurer, embarrassed now, quickly took the offered way out and backed off.
Once he was gone, Alicia finally came over.
She had arranged her expression into that of a dignified senior.
"What you said just now was very good. Lady Riveria's contribution absolutely shouldn't be ignored. But even if you said all the right things, that still doesn't make you qualified to pursue Lady Riveria!"
Recently, during the past half year, Cid had spent a great deal of time following the Loki Familia around.
And among them, the people he interacted with most were not the first-class adventurers above Level 5, but rather the up-and-coming younger members—people like Raul, Anakitty, and Alicia.
And among them all, Alicia's attitude toward him was by far the strangest.
"I have never once said I was pursuing Lady Riveria."
"Everyone already knows it, so stop denying it. If I were a man, I'd be fascinated by Lady Riveria too. There's nothing shameful about that. But you need some self-awareness."
After making that declaration, Alicia turned and left, dragging Anakitty along with her.
In her view, that was enough encouragement for "a mere Cid."
Anakitty, seeing this, could only shoot Cid a helpless look.
"Alicia, you could stand to treat Cid a little better, you know."
As soon as they got some distance away, Anakitty decided to help her friend along.
By Alicia's own logic, Cid merely had a somewhat broad heart, somewhat strong magic, was somewhat handsome, and had somewhat excellent command ability—and even so, he was still nowhere near worthy of pursuing the great Lady Riveria.
Heaven knew what kind of expression Anakitty had worn when she first heard Alicia describe him that way.
So a man of that caliber wasn't good enough for the magnificent Lady Riveria, but perhaps he could settle for an ordinary elf like Alicia instead—is that how this was supposed to work?
Compared with supporting the incomparably great Lady Riveria, Anakitty was much more interested in supporting her best friend's romance.
"Even if it's understandable, even if he is outstanding, just the fact that he dares harbor thoughts about Lady Riveria means I cannot treat him too nicely."
Alicia's attitude remained firm. She would absolutely never approve of him.
What she did not see was the pained, speechless expression on Anakitty's face.
Cid was very popular, you know.
If Alicia kept refusing to understand her own feelings, she was definitely going to end up as a losing heroine.
But her friend still did not seem aware of what she truly wanted. Should Anakitty spell it out for her?
She dearly hoped she was mistaken.
And if she was not, she hoped Alicia would not cry too miserably later.
Back on the other side, Cid watched the two girls depart, then looked off into the distance.
"The letter should have been delivered by now."
....
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