After one commotion after another had finally passed.
Before anyone knew it, the light on the 18th Floor had faded as evening came.
It was time for everyone to rest and recover from the fatigue they had piled up over the course of the day.
In the beautiful scenery of the forest, with a warm campfire blazing before everyone and delicious food laid out around it, there was only one thing they naturally had to do.
"All right, I think we've already said what needed saying. Let's all celebrate this modest gathering today. Then..."
"Cheers!"
Everyone raised the cups in their hands high and shouted in unison.
And so the modest welcome party began.
"Mmmph, Tio, umm-umm, yes."
"Don't talk while you're eating! Finish your meal first! Ah, this liquor's pretty good. Captain, would you like a cup?"
"Ahahaha, I'll just drink at my own pace."
"Mmph! Tsubaki-san! Please, enough already...!"
"What's this, Raul? For a Level 2 adventurer, you're awfully clumsy. Hey, Gareth. Let's set an example for these kids."
"No, I have my own dignity too... Ghk, Riveria?! I know! I know, all right!"
Well, since this was happening inside the Dungeon, it couldn't be as rowdy as a party on the surface.
Still, with alcohol in the mix, the atmosphere among everyone had become fairly lively.
And the obvious center of attention was Bell Cranel, the reason for this welcome party.
Along with the two companions who had joined him.
"Here you go, Bell-sama. Ahh~"
"Ah, um, I can feed myself."
"Aww, don't be like that..."
"Oh? You're not eating? Then I'll take it."
"Ack! What are you doing, Welf-sama?!"
"Oops, did I get in the way? Sorry, sorry, hahaha!"
"Y-you...!"
The three of them, who had ended up joining unexpectedly, drew strange interest from the executives of Loki Familia, led by the Sword Princess, Ais.
It was only natural that the other members would feel jealous of that excessive attention.
So before any unnecessary trouble could break out because of it, this party had been arranged in advance.
Thanks to that, everyone here kept glancing at those three.
Especially the white-haired boy, Bell Cranel.
"Hey, Lili. Pass me that over there. I can't reach it."
"Yes. Here you go, An-ni... huh?"
At least, that was the case until this man.
No, until this "boy" suddenly appeared at the table.
"Oh, thanks. Yeah, I've had this before too, and it was pretty tasty. Take this chance to try it yourself. I think it'll suit your taste."
"Ah, um..."
"Hm? Why that face, Lili? What, did you see a ghost or something?"
"No, it's just..."
At his appearance, Lili rubbed her eyes for a moment and opened them again.
But the view before her was unchanged, so she rubbed her eyes once more, waited a bit, then opened them again and looked straight ahead.
Rub rub.
Blink blink.
"Hm?"
Yes, what she still saw before her was exactly the same, utterly meaningless and unchanged.
With that, she gathered her courage and took one step toward the "unknown" before her.
Soon after, her lips cautiously opened.
"A-are you... An-sama?"
"That's right, it's me. What, is there some kind of problem?"
"Eh..."
And then.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!"
Her shout, filled with shock and almost like a scream, swept across the entire area.
At that cry, the people around finally realized what was going on.
"W-what?! Y-you! What on earth did you do this time?!"
Tione.
"You got... smaller?"
Ais.
"Huh? What is this? Don't tell me I'm already this drunk? Why does the magus suddenly look like a child? His voice is the same, though?"
Tsubaki.
Including those three, everyone reacted with the same astonishment to his sudden appearance and change.
It was the sort of thing that was impossible to believe even when seeing it with one's own eyes.
"An-sama! H-how on earth did this happen?!"
Lili, who had been the first to notice his appearance, was no different.
To her heated reaction, the magus answered carelessly, as if it were nothing.
"What's there to be so surprised about, Lili? It's obvious, isn't it? Magecraft."
"I-I get that this is probably one of An-sama's things, but that's not what Lili is asking...! I mean, I..."
She rambled on.
For some reason, she couldn't seem to finish her sentence.
At the sight of his disciple like that, the magus let out a sigh.
He had expected this much, but it was so exactly as predicted that it was almost boring.
"My, my. You're still a long way off, Lili. Of course, I know you still aren't a magus in your own right. But this is supposed to be 'your magic,' and you can't even recognize it?"
"Lili's... magic?"
"Well, to be precise, it's only something I 'imitated' based on it."
Then his appearance warped slightly, revealing his original ruined state.
Ignoring the startled reactions around him, he once again changed himself back into the form of a child and concealed himself.
"Ah."
"Well, as you can see, I'm still in the state of a broken patient. But if being in pain is miserable, then being hungry on top of that is even worse, isn't it? And yet, without caring about someone else's situation, you all keep wafting delicious smells around outside. Since I also happen to have a fair bit of stress built up, I changed my body like this as a temporary measure so I could move around on my own. Do you understand?"
Shinda Ella.
It was the only magic Lili could currently use, and its effect was transformation.
Unlike an illusion that merely covered something with a false image, this magic actually changed the body into something else.
So for the magus, whose body was currently a complete wreck, there was probably nothing more effective than this if he wanted to move around at all.
The only problem was that the total mass of the body could only be altered by a tiny margin of error.
That was why he had appeared as a child.
In other words, his broken body could only manage this much.
"Mm!"
"W-what is it, An-sama?"
"No, I did come up with a temporary fix by using a bit of cleverness. But it seems I still can't completely fool the body. I moved around a little too much, and now it hurts like hell. Especially my insides."
So it couldn't be used to heal injuries.
It only helped him move his uncomfortable body a little more easily.
Even knowing that, the magus stubbornly came out of the tent.
He must have been feeling terribly stifled.
Even while complaining of pain, he forced food and drink into his mouth, and Lili's face went pale as she tried to stop him.
"Eek! T-that's way too dangerous! No, more importantly, what are you doing?! You need to go back to the tent and rest!"
"Hm, no."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Because... I'm in a terribly bad mood right now."
"Huh, wha?"
Lili looked even more puzzled at his answer.
But the magus didn't seem inclined to explain the details to his disciple.
He simply finished the food in his hand and then reached out for the next target, snatching it up.
"So right now, I desperately need to blow off some stress. Therefore, I'm going to eat until my stomach bursts. I'm also going to drink. Don't stop me."
"...What is this? It's a total mess. Don't tell me the transformation magic affected your brain and made you younger too?"
"Of course not... probably."
"What kind of answer is that?! That's incredibly unsettling!"
"You're even noisier than usual today, Lili. Well, whatever. Enough of that trivial nitpicking—move over here for a moment."
"Huh? Move, o-over?"
Even after that, the magus's unusual behavior didn't end.
Lili's confusion only deepened at how unlike his usual self he was.
"Upsy-daisy."
"A-An-sama?!"
The magus sat down directly on her lap, using her thighs as a seat, and resumed eating after the brief pause.
In other words, he was using her like the backrest of a chair.
"Haa, having a soft backrest behind me really is comfortable. I guess once I'm in this state, my body balance gets all out of whack and I tire out easily. Though my original condition being a total wreck probably has something to do with it too... In that sense, at least for a while, until I fall asleep again today, I'm going to rely on you a bit, Lili."
"Seriously... you really must have gotten younger in the head too, An-sama. You're doing all sorts of things you'd never normally do."
"As the body follows the soul, so the soul follows the body. It's a common story."
"What on earth kind of common story is that? Lili really can't make heads or tails of you."
"You don't need to understand it. What use would you even have for that kind of thing?"
Grumbling, the magus emptied the contents of the cup in his hand in one gulp.
Seeing him act so stubbornly, so oddly childishly today, Lili smiled with a faint sense of satisfaction.
And then someone quietly approached the pair of close master and disciple.
"Um, support boy? Excuse me for a moment, okay?"
"Tiona-sama?"
The innocent Amazon girl, Tiona.
Ignoring even Lili, whom she already knew, she brazenly snatched the younger magus from her arms.
Then she immediately hugged him tightly to her own chest.
Judging from the slight flush on her face, her condition was clearly not much better.
"Ah!"
Lili genuinely looked heartbroken at the sight of that outrage.
But that didn't change anything.
The world had always belonged to the strong.
For Lili, all she could feel was the sorrow of her own weakness.
"Hehehe, it's An. A young An. Wow, he's so tiny."
"My, my. You're already drunk, Tiona?"
"Hehe, so cute. So soft~ Squishy~"
"Haa, the charm of this body. What a sinful past."
"Uu, what's with you, An-sama? Getting all smug."
"No, well. I guess I'm feeling pretty high right now. I did it on impulse, but I never imagined there'd be side effects like this."
"You're saying things I still don't understand, even when I hear them again."
In the end, Lili let out a sorrowful sigh and stepped back.
Even then, Tiona kept holding the younger magus tightly in her arms and poking at him here and there like he was a doll.
And for him, that was extremely annoying.
At least she was touching him carefully, as if he were a precious object, which was the only saving grace.
As time passed, even that was reaching its limit.
"Hm, by the way, I'd like to head back soon. Would you let me go now, Tiona?"
"Eeeh, nooo~ I'm going to keep hugging you like this~"
"You're drunk, you're drunk."
"Hey, Aaan~ Can I take just one bite~?"
"Tiona, you sound really scary right now?!"
"Aww, stop wriggling~!"
Despite her tone, her eyes were no joke.
As the people around them began to feel an uneasy sense of danger from the expression on her face, which was growing more beastlike by the second, they were preparing to step in if necessary and stop her.
"You idiot. You don't need to be so scared. I'm still here."
The magus quietly stroked her hand as if to soothe her.
At some point, only he, the one in her arms, could have noticed it.
Her body was trembling faintly with a fear that still hadn't gone away.
It seemed what had happened on the 59th Floor had been a considerable shock to her.
Well, seeing the end of someone she cherished.
It was only natural, considering she had witnessed such a wrecked state with her own eyes.
At that moment.
Tiona had been more frightened than ever before.
And the shock still hadn't fully faded.
The magus had already noticed that about her.
"An, I..."
"You don't need to apologize. That was all my own choice."
Even though he himself was already in rough shape because of the "price" he had paid, or rather had been robbed of, the magus still tried to comfort her.
That was how weak he was when it came to his own people.
Though, more than that, it was probably just him putting on a front because he thought it was a good time to do so.
In the end, the difference was negligible.
"I can't say I'm in perfect condition, of course. But once we get back to the surface, I've got a way to restore things to normal, so you don't need to worry too much."
"...Okay. I believe you."
At his words, Tiona's faint trembling had already stopped before she knew it.
After reassuring her, he once again struggled and thrashed to escape from her arms.
But she, pouting like a child, only held him more tightly and gently refused to let go.
In the end, it was the magus who gave up first, exhausted.
"If you understand, then let go already. My back's hard as a board, and it's really uncomfortable."
"Th-that... what do you mean, by that?"
"Oops, my mistake. Could it be the effect of getting younger in appearance? Hahaha, I guess I've gotten pretty loose-lipped too."
"An! Youuuuu!"
But that was only a brief rest before the next leap.
At his teasing provocation, Tiona felt a little of her drunkenness clear.
That was how much her modest chest was a source of worry, and a complex for her.
And then, just as she loosened the arms she had wrapped around the magus in a fleeting burst of frustration.
"All right, my turn now."
A third person slipped into the gap between them and snatched him away.
""Huh?""
Flump~
What followed was a different kind of relief, felt against the back of the magus's head.
That overwhelming softness could only be described as supreme motherhood itself.
"Mmm~ Nice~ The body temperature's a little low, which is a shame, but he's the perfect size to hold and sleep with~"
It was, of course, Tsubaki.
"Oh, it's you. The one-eyed one."
"Ah, Tsubaki!"
Tiona, furious at having him snatched away in an instant because she had let her guard down, glared in frustration.
Ignoring her, Tsubaki thoroughly enjoyed the familiar satisfaction of stroking the magus in her arms with rough yet gentle hands.
Another difference between her and Tiona was that the only thing visible on her face was drunken mischief.
Because of that, the magus could also leave himself in her arms without much resistance to her touch.
"Heh, isn't this quite the sight, magus? At this point, it looks like anyone could kidnap you and carry you off without trouble."
"That sounds like it would cause a hell of a lot of trouble."
"Exactly! It would! And An, you need to say no firmly too! You can't let that happen!"
"Hmm, what should I do?"
Flump~
"Well, let's think about it a little later."
"Hahaha, you little brat! You've gotten pretty round now that you're smaller. Cute."
"Y-youuuuu!"
Holding him even deeper in her arms, Tsubaki teased the furious Tiona playfully.
"Gyaaaaaah!"
"Whoa, she exploded!"
"Oops, did I tease her too much?"
"My, my. You really can't act your age against someone younger."
"That goes for you too, magus."
At last, Tiona could no longer hold back and went berserk, causing a full-blown incident.
The two of them laughed it off and casually pushed the blame onto each other.
"Don't mind me. By the way... the hero's head looked a little swollen. Could it be?"
"Ah, that? Let's just call it a little venting over someone handling my masterpiece so carelessly. Well, I did go and pick it back up later."
"That's what it's for in the first place. You should understand that."
"Tch, I'm telling you to add a retrieval function already. It can't cost that much. And yet you still won't do it."
"That's my call."
"You really won't give an inch, will you?"
And the two of them clinked the cups in their hands together.
Watching them like this, the two really were nothing if not childhood friends.
For better or worse.
The two of them were exactly the same sort of people.
"Tione-san! Tiona-san is...!"
"Aah, Captain~"
"Ack! This side too! Somebody save meee!"
"Ais-san...! (snore...) At a time like this?!"
"Somebody help me, please~!"
In the end, the damage spread to everyone else nearby as well.
The party area only grew noisier because of it.
Meanwhile, the three senior members of Loki Familia, who had long since moved away and were watching the whole spectacle from a distance, could only burst out laughing.
Ah, of course, there was one exception.
Riveria alone frowned by herself.
"Hahaha! This is pretty great! Young people are so full of energy! It's never boring watching them from the side!"
"Tch. Shut up, you stupid dwarf. You're only loud for no reason. You're bothering everyone around you."
"My, you're awfully picky today."
At his old comrade's reaction, Gareth merely clicked his tongue and poured the contents of his cup into his mouth instead of laughing.
In his place, Finn asked Riveria,
"So. What do you think, Riveria? Are you still bothered by his conduct?"
"How could I not be?"
At his question, Riveria let out a sigh without relaxing her frown.
Her expression, as if she were suffocating, said everything for her.
"He came down into the Dungeon with his own purpose and goal. The consequences of that, even if it means death, are his own responsibility. Any adventurer would naturally agree with that."
"I know that much."
She answered Finn's words irritably.
But that was the correct and proper view.
And Riveria knew that very well.
"I'm an adventurer too. If it's something like that, I understand it better than anyone."
"And yet?"
"He's gone far beyond the bounds of reason."
Riveria recalled Ais from the past.
That girl, when she was younger, had also been terribly precarious and unstable.
"Even so, back then, that child had a clear goal: to live and grow stronger. And we were there beside her to keep her in check."
But he was different.
In a sense, he was even more dangerous than the reckless Ais had been back then.
The elf mage, who had already experienced something similar before, was making that claim.
"You're saying he's different, then... that he doesn't have the same sense of purpose as Ais?"
"I don't think that's it. There's no way he'd come down to such a dangerous place without any purpose at all. But there is a decisive difference between him and Ais. I only managed to realize that during this expedition."
At Finn's question, Riveria continued in a grave tone.
"From what I observed beside him, his magic, that magic he calls 'Magecraft,' is far too dangerous. Whether the danger lies in the magic itself or only in his method, I can't say, lacking the knowledge to judge it. But even so, my conclusion remains the same: it is dangerous."
"Dangerous, huh. Dangerous for which side?"
"Both. Dangerous for those around him, of course. But especially dangerous for himself."
"Is it just the drawback of using that Magecraft? If that's all it is, then I can't side with your overprotectiveness this time, Riveria. Cold as it sounds, that too was the result of a choice he made himself. He has to bear the responsibility for it himself. As for us, who received his help this time, all we need to do is help him by the amount we owe."
"I find that deeply unsatisfying, but I understand what you mean. Still, Finn, that price is not at all what you or the others think it is. It is far beyond that."
"Beyond that, you say?"
Leaving Finn's puzzled expression behind, Riveria recalled that moment once more.
The others had only looked at his ruined body after the manifestation of Magecraft.
But in her eyes, as the greatest mage present, there was something else visible as well.
And even if the person himself might accept it, those around him should never allow it to become the final line he crossed.
At least, that was Riveria's judgment.
"If what I saw was correct... the price he paid was not merely the loss of part of his body. He definitely lost something more than that, something precious to him, in this battle."
"That's... very dangerous, then?"
"I'm no god, so I can't say for certain... but I'm sure that something has already gone wrong at the very root of his being. It may not just be a shortened lifespan. It could be something more fundamental, perhaps even a problem with his soul itself."
"Something like that..."
At that point, Finn's expression hardened.
He could only vaguely guess what she meant, and only at a shallow level, but he could still tell that these were not light words.
That was how strong and firm his trust in his old comrade was.
"He isn't a member of our Familia, but as someone who owes him a debt, and as an elder, I can't just stand by and watch such self-destructive behavior. So at the very least, I want him to never set foot here again, on the front lines, if possible.
The best outcome would be for him never to use that Magecraft again... but from my experience as a mage, that much is probably impossible. When I tested him a little earlier, his stubbornness seemed as hard as steel wire, no less than any child's."
Then Riveria frowned deeply.
Finn let out a sigh at the sight of her, feeling complicated.
It seemed like nothing here was going to be easy to solve.
"If you're saying it's that serious, then I understand. But... unfortunately, that's as far as I can go. I can't allow anything beyond that, even as the captain of the Familia. You understand what that means, even if I don't spell it out, right?"
"Tch. That's why I'm angry too. At him, and at myself. Because there's nothing more I can do for him."
As the two of them sighed in frustration,
Gareth, who had been listening from the side, set down his cup and cut in.
"Then, since it's come to this, how about seriously considering that matter?"
"That matter?"
"After all, if you set aside his stubbornness, the remaining issue is his position, isn't it? I've heard he's the teacher of that girl called Liliruca Arde among those three, but he isn't a member of the same Familia. No, from what I heard from Tiona, he hasn't even received a Falna yet."
"Not even a Falna? Haa...!"
"Oh?"
At Gareth's casual remark, Riveria frowned again, feeling stifled, while Finn reacted with interest.
In other words, the magus's current affiliation was unclear.
To put it another way, he was a raw gemstone with no owner.
No, it was no different from a supreme treasure, already fully polished on its own, lying abandoned by the roadside.
As the captain of a Familia, it was impossible not to feel greedy.
"Then, Gareth, what are you thinking?"
"We somehow sweet-talk him into joining our Familia. If that happens, then he won't be someone else's problem anymore, and we'll be able to help him with full force without worrying about anyone else."
"Hm, that... is a rather tempting idea."
"I don't particularly think so, but it does seem like the best option."
The three of them gradually narrowed in on a single opinion.
And naturally, that led them to one question.
Why had he not received a Falna yet?
For a mortal, receiving a Falna from a god was surely beneficial in many ways.
And yet he still hadn't done it, which meant there must be some private reason he couldn't talk about.
It was only natural to wonder about that.
"Still, one thing bothers me. Why hasn't he received a Falna yet? Is there some separate reason?"
"I already asked about that too. According to Tiona, it's simply his own stubbornness. Apparently, he says a Falna is unnecessary for the path he walks, if not outright an obstacle. As for me, I can't make heads or tails of what he's talking about..."
"That's not exactly good news. If that's true, then it'll take quite a bit of effort to break his stubbornness."
"Haa, and here I thought the troublemakers were already more than enough with just those kids..."
"Hahaha! Mother's got it rough, huh!"
"Shut up! Who are you calling mother, you barbaric dwarf!"
As the three were once again fretting over this new problem,
""Grrraaaah?!""
"Huh?"
"That voice?!"
Several unexpected guests suddenly stormed into the camp.
And the composition of that group was, surprisingly enough...
"T-there's no way a monster that huge exists... I never heard anything about that?!"
"G-Goddess?!"
"Lady Hestia?! What are you doing here?"
Two gods who should have been on the surface had somehow been mixed in together.
An unforeseen emergency that no one had expected.
Before anyone else could even react to it,
""Ah.""
By chance, the goddess Hestia and the magus happened to meet each other's eyes.
And then, because he was startled by the sudden development,
the transformation magic he had been maintaining so well until then slipped for just a brief instant.
This was still an inferior imitation with plenty of room for improvement compared to Lili's original.
And so the magus's original, ruined appearance was exposed to her.
He hurriedly restored the transformation, but by then it was already too late.
In other words, right now he was...
"T-Tsubaki! Let go of me! I-it's an emergency! We need to run now!"
"What's wrong, magus? Your face has gone completely pale..."
The magus, realizing the situation, was flailing desperately to escape.
Just as Tsubaki was genuinely puzzled by his sudden change,
"You're one of Hephaistos's children. Excuse me for a moment."
"Ah, yes..."
Hestia had already come up to them.
She snatched the magus away from Tsubaki's arms while radiating a terrifying pressure that Bell Cranel, her only child, had never even once seen before.
That merciful yet forceful demeanor was goddess-like to the extreme.
"Ma~gus~?"
"Ah, crap..."
He was screwed.
The magus truly regretted everything as cold sweat poured down in fear.
Why was she here?
How had he ended up looking like this?
How far was this damned fate going to toy with him before it was satisfied?
Those questions surged through his mind like violent waves under a storm of thunder.
Right now, at this very moment, what he desperately needed was a third bomb.
But there was no such thing here.
Reality was cold and merciless.
"J-just a second, Goddess! I'm a seriously injured patient right now...!"
"I can tell that much just from looking at you!"
"Eep!"
The magus shrank back in shock at the goddess's rebuke, so unlike her usual self.
And right now, he was in the form of a child.
As a result, his appearance naturally stirred pity in those who saw him.
But unlike usual, in front of the goddess, who was stricter, more solemn, and more serious than anyone else at this moment, it was useless.
Even Bell Cranel, her only child, was unconsciously avoiding her right now.
She was a demoness.
The wrath of a goddess, in the literal sense.
The furnace inside her was burning hotter than ever before.
She was that angry.
And at the same time, she was grieving.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
"Just what! In the world! Are you! Thinking!"
"Agh! Ugh! Eek! Gah!"
"I told you! So many times! Not to! Push your body! Around! Carelessly! So why! Won't you! Listen! Why!"
At the same time, she was heartbroken.
That was how shocking the magus's terrible injuries were to her.
"G-Goddess! P-please calm down first...!"
"Do I! Look! Like I'm! Calm!"
Was this what mothers were like on the day they came to collect report cards?
It was the raw, concentrated force of maternal fury.
As if buffed by that intense momentum, Hestia relentlessly left bright red handprints on the magus's back again and again.
It was a wrist snap so incredible it would have made even Level 1 adventurers wince.
It was truly the touch of a mother who had reached divine heights.
Smack!
"Kuhk!"
How long had the punishment gone on?
At last, with the final blow, the magus's soul seemed to leave his body as he collapsed unconscious.
At the same time, the transformation he had been maintaining broke, revealing his ruined form.
"Hmph!"
But the goddess only snorted more fiercely at his true appearance, letting the grief inside her boil over into unrestrained anger like fuel on a fire.
That was how little control she had over herself right now.
If anyone tried to stop her here, it would not be strange at all if that person got swept up and scolded too.
So everyone kept silent together.
The noisy camp from just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
"L-Lady Hestia?"
"Support boy."
"Eep, yes!"
"Take this fool inside and lay him down."
"Ah, yes!"
"And wrap him up tight with blankets and rope so he can't run away anywhere."
"U-um, Lady Hestia, you don't have to go that far..."
Glare!
"Eek! I-I'll do it right now!"
Even Lili, who usually bickered back and forth with Hestia through Bell Cranel, couldn't argue with her now.
And so, with everyone's acknowledgment, both self-proclaimed and otherwise,
the goddess Hestia became the strongest person here for this one night.
"U-um, Goddess?"
"Honestly, that child has been like this since long ago... even back when he was little, he was already showing signs of... though back then he wasn't this bad... no, he's always been troublesome... and he never understands how much people worry about him... I thought he'd at least become a little more mature recently, but then how did he end up like this... mutter mutter..."
"G-Goddess?"
"Hm? Ah, Bell-kun~!"
Hug!
"Wah!?"
"You were safe! Thank goodness! I'm so, so glad!"
"Ah, yes. Hahaha..."
Then, upon reuniting with her precious child who had called out to her from behind, she was truly overjoyed, as if she might leap into the air.
At the goddess's wildly shifting mood, Bell Cranel could only let out a helpless, awkward laugh.
And everyone watching from around them felt exactly the same.
She was nothing if not changeable, like a pot of boiling stew.
"Looks like we were already too late?"
"Hmm, so the role of 'mother' had already been decided."
The two oldest members of Loki Familia, watching everything from the back, could only lament it deeply.
Then their gazes drifted toward Riveria beside them.
"What is it, you two? Why are you looking at me with those lukewarm eyes?!"
"No, nothing."
"Well, don't be too disappointed just because the role was taken."
"Indeed. At least the position of elder is still..."
"Enough! Both of you, shut uuuuup!"
The elf, whose head felt especially stuffy today and who wanted even more liquor, snapped.
Meanwhile, the pallum and dwarf enjoyed the liquor even more by using her as their side dish.
The three of them shared drinks together until late into the night.
And so, once again today.
Another day passed safely.