Chapter 203: I Need to Leave for a While!
"I just met an interesting new adventurer and had a brief chat with him."
Luke walked over to where Ais and Bete were.
"Huh? A new adventurer? Interesting?"
"You're joking. What could be interesting about that small fry?"
After seeing his return, Ais and Bete ended their rest, and the three prepared to regroup with Finn and the others.
As they moved, Bete bluntly said to Luke:
"Don't tell me that so-called interesting new adventurer took down the Minotaur before you did?"
"Can a Level 1 small fry who can only reach the 5th floor take down a middle-floor monster?"
Luke didn't mind Bete's attitude, so he just shook his head slightly and said:
"Of course I took down that Minotaur."
"However, for a boy who's only been an adventurer for just over a week to reach the 5th floor alone without getting injured..."
"I think that's quite impressive."
Indeed, Bell, the original protagonist, didn't only start getting stronger after his 'encounter' with Ais.
Though he couldn't compare to types like Luke and Ais who possessed considerable strength right from the start, or even match Bete, a beast human warrior who had sufficient combat experience outside of Orario.
But compared to an ordinary adventurer, reaching the 5th floor alone without injury after being an adventurer for only about a week...
That was beyond merely impressive.
At least Raul was far worse than Bell back then.
"Tch, no matter what, isn't he still just a small fry now?"
Though Bete remained verbally defiant, his attitude had softened slightly.
While going to the dungeon alone was extremely foolish, at least the boy wasn't a coward afraid to take on new challenges.
In Bete's opinion, the will to move forward was more important than anything else.
It wasn't long before the group of three soon reunited with Finn and the others who were also looking for them.
And so, Loki Familia's expedition officially came to an end.
...
"Finally back..."
"I'm absolutely exhausted."
"I want to eat meat... want a bath... want to have a good sleep."
Looking at Twilight Manor before them, many Loki Familia members expressed various sentiments.
"Welcome baaaaaaack——!"
Just as Finn called for the stationed members to open the gate, a red-haired figure timed their entrance perfectly and came flying toward them with a shout.
Without even looking at the male members, Loki lunged straight for Ais and the other girls.
"I missed you all so muuuuch——!"
However, Loki's sudden attack was immediately seen through by the girls.
Ais, Tione, Tiona, and the others easily dodged it.
Unfortunately, the only one caught was Lefiya.
The orange-haired elf girl let out an "Eh?! Kyaaa!" cry of dismay as Loki caught and pinned her to the ground.
Some stationed members had come out with Loki, and they took the supplies and luggage brought back by the expedition team, welcoming everyone with words like "Welcome back."
"Loki, there were no casualties on this expedition, but we didn't reach any new floors. I'll report the details later."
"We have more important news."
Finn's words made Loki pause in her act of 'playing' with Lefiya, then she replied:
"Mm…hmm... got it, I'll wait for your report later."
"Also, welcome home, everyone!"
Finally, everyone entered Twilight Manor accompanied by Loki's welcoming voice.
Since it was already quite late when they returned, Finn decided to handle the expedition's spoils tomorrow.
A proper bath and food - these were the first priorities for adventurers returning to the surface.
After dinner, Luke went ahead to Loki's room first.
"You know, no matter how many times I see it, it still feels incredible."
Loki's fingers slid across Luke's back, and with her movements, the ability values on the Falna began to fluctuate.
"Are you still not planning to rank up?"
"I can tell, you know, Ais and the others are starting to waver. Don't you have any plans?"
After updating the ability values, Luke took the parchment Loki handed him, and looking at the values that still had some room for improvement, he silently sighed in his heart.
"Plans... I suppose I do have some."
"Loki, I'd like to request a few days off."
"I need to leave for a while."
...
After dinner, Ais walked toward Loki's room.
She was somewhat eager to know how much growth this expedition had brought her.
Due to the boost from her "Hero and Fairy" skill, Ais had reached Level 5 earlier than in the original story.
But not significantly earlier, because this skill brought her not only growth speed but also increased her ability value limits.
Regardless, the current Ais had reached her limit at Level 5.
Her ability values had barely increased before this expedition.
A wall called 'bottleneck' stood before her.
This was Ais's first encounter with a bottleneck.
Unlike the original story, Ais, who had been following Luke and killing higher-level monsters, never lacked 'great feats' before reaching Level 5.
So this bottleneck put considerable pressure on her.
Besides this, there was another issue that concerned her.
That was Luke's delay in ranking up.
Regarding leveling up, Ais wasn't completely with desires.
But whenever she thought about becoming Level 6, possibly surpassing Luke, Ais subconsciously felt a little lost.
Since she was seven years old, Ais had always grown following Luke's shadow.
No matter when or where, he was always ahead of her, even sometimes needing to slow his pace to let her catch up.
Nine years had made Ais thoroughly accustomed to this way of growing.
Luke's existence was like a guiding light preventing her from losing her way.
But now, that light was about to vanish.
'Catch up to him!' - Ais couldn't remember when this thought first appeared, but it had been her wish for all these years.
Now, not just catching up, but the chance to surpass him lay before her.
But Ais felt no joy in her heart, only emptiness.
The frustration of stopping being stronger and the uncertainty about what came after ranking up left her at a loss.
Just then, Ais reached Loki's room door and vaguely heard the conversation inside.
"...no matter...how many times..."
"...still not...rank up..."
"...can tell...waver...plans..."
"..."
"I need to leave..."
Ais stood frozen outside the door.
She didn't hear Luke and Loki's detailed conversation, but from their fragments of speech, Ais filled in a 'truth' that she found difficult to accept.
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