Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

She mentioned this to the female members of the group who were also in charge of cooking at the time.

Beside the cargo crates used for transporting supplies, the cat-person Angie, the human Navi, and Lina were chopping mushrooms and herbs into small pieces and stewing them in a pot with spring water they had drawn from, looking at each other in bewilderment.

"We're all in the same business, shouldn't we help each other out in times like these?"

"If I stand by and do nothing, I'll have nightmares."

Angie and Navi, both Lv.4 members of the second rank, gave wry smiles.

"Besides, Miss Ais seems to know that person..."

During her break, therapist Linne, who was helping out, adjusted her glasses and timidly expressed her opinion.

Hearing their answers, Lefia couldn't help but pout.

"But that's really unexpected..."

"What's so surprising, Linne?"

"I thought Mr. Raul would dislike him just like the other boys..."

Linne gazed in one direction and saw an unremarkable human youth among the lower-ranking members, listening to their complaints and becoming completely bewildered.

"Look at Raul... he seems to have a lot on his mind, he probably doesn't have time to think about those things, right?"

Seeing Raul shouting "Don't do this~", Navi, who was younger than him, said something that wasn't exactly on his side with a wry smile.

"...Raul and I entered the country around the same time."

At this moment, Angie, who was stirring the pot over the fire, spoke up.

"When we joined this [Family], that girl (child)... Ais was already Level 2."

"That...that rumor about him achieving the fastest Lv.2 level at the age of eight?"

"That's right, a girl much smaller than us... or rather, a little sister, is incredibly fast, slicing the monsters one by one like butter."

Angie nodded to Lina, perhaps recalling the scene from years ago. She looked down at the pot of soup being stirred with a wooden ladle and gave a slight bitter smile.

"Raul was terrified and has called Ais 'Miss' ever since. Isn't that funny? I think Raul must have respected her a lot, but he couldn't treat her like an 'idol' as the Supreme God (Loki) said."

After all, he had watched that girl grow up.

Angie glanced at the young man who had joined around the same time as her, who was still confused by everyone's explanations.

"Ais was even more terrifying back then than she is now... I couldn't help but keep my distance from her."

Navi, Lina, and Lefia not only joined later than Ais, but were also Angie's juniors. Upon hearing her words, they couldn't help but gulp.

"So it's okay, Lefia."

"what?"

"After Tiona, Tione, and you joined this [familia] halfway through, Ais became much more tactful and smiled more often than before."

Lefia joined the group three years ago.

When she, a Lv.2 "school district" top student, stepped into the gates of the Loki Familia, Ais was already having Tiona and Tione playing with her.

There's no need to worry or be jealous. Miss Black Cat smiled at Lefia like this, making Lefia realize that her innermost thoughts had been completely seen through, and she couldn't help but blush.

To hide her shame, she began to focus on peeling the fruit that was going to be put into the pot, which made even Navi and Linne laugh at her quietly.

(Well, well, after all, we have a deep bond with Miss Ais that no outsider can interfere with, right?)

After being persuaded by Angie, Lefia felt a little better and carried out her cooking work with a smile.

However, as she peeled the fruit with a spare dagger, her expression gradually became serious.

(According to Miss Ais, that person was only Lv.1 before the expedition... he was a novice adventurer from an unknown emerging faction...)

She recalled Belle's unsightly profile as she chased after her.

How did he reach the 18th floor in such a short time...?

Did that boy, who received Ais's special training, also grow? Just like me?

Lefia couldn't help but feel complicated emotions towards the boy she had arbitrarily identified as her nemesis (rival).

Soon after, he and Angie prepared the ingredients for dinner.

While helping with other tasks, Rafia wandered around the campsite and happened to see Ais coming out of the main camp.

Lefia's expression brightened, but upon seeing the white-haired boy who appeared next, her face immediately hardened. Stared at suspiciously by the surrounding members, Bell nervously followed Ais like a little bunny.

Seeing the girl and boy acting together as usual, Lefia's unpleasant mood still rose.

As other members of the group greeted Ais, who was a faction leader, Lefia changed direction and walked straight towards the two of them.

"—You've worked hard, Miss Ais!"

"Yes, Rafia too."

After greeting her with a smile, he brushed past Bell behind Ais.

Lefia wiped the smile off her face as if she were peeling off a mask, and glared at him angrily.

"Alas!"

The elven mage's sharp aura caused the opponent to let out a soft cry of pain.

After her timid expression revealed her thoughts of "How terrifying...!", Bell seemed to notice something and her expression changed.

His deep red eyes were fixed on the slightly twitching elf ears and the beautiful azure eyes.

An encounter near the city walls, a grand chase ensues, and a desperate race against a beautiful elf.

He seemed to recognize Rafia, his cheeks twitching violently.

(If you dare lay a hand on Miss Ais, I won't let you get away with it...!)

(yes……!?)

A silent eye contract, a forced communication of opinions.

Everything happened in an instant.

In less than a second, the brief exchange as they brushed past each other left the boy pale and trembling. Lefia, having given him a stern warning, snorted and walked past him.

She stormed off from the two of them, but then stole a glance at Bell, who was following Ais.

This is surveillance and vigilance.

Lefia, along with the other disliked members, repeatedly observed him during breaks in their work.

Then, while Lefia kept him in the corner of her field of vision—

"Wow—it really is Argonauts!"

A cheerful voice rang out.

It was Tiona, her face beaming with joy.

She jogged over to Bell, who was talking to Ais about something, and Tiony followed.

"I heard you were carried in; so you're already awake! That's wonderful—Argonaut, little hero!"

Tiona's voice could be heard clearly from afar, and it was obvious to everyone around her how happy she was. Even Bell, the person involved, was inexplicably flustered by Tiona's gesture of goodwill. Of course, the mood of Lefia and many others who witnessed this scene plummeted.

It looks like they're introducing themselves.

Tiona approached him with an innocent and carefree attitude, while Tione seemed quite interested.

Approached and teased by the beautiful twin sisters, the boy blushed instantly.

Healthy brown skin, exposed navel, slim waist and full breasts—the Amazonian's devilish figure made his heart flutter!

If you include Ais, who has her head slightly tilted to the side, then it's like having three beautiful girls serving you!

I just warned him!

(Don't get too cocky.)

(Don't get too cocky.)

(Don't get carried away—!?)

(Please don't get too cocky...!!)

Together with the male demi-humans filled with resentment, Lefia chanted a curse in her heart.

She stood in line with the people around her, focusing her gaze on Bell with the power to shoot down dragons.

The male member of the group, Lefia, with her terrifyingly fierce eyes, made the boy standing in the distance turn pale.

"I...I'll go check on my companions!"

Bell sensed danger and ran away from Ais and the others.

He ran back to his assigned tent without hesitation.

Lefia, who had forced the boy to retreat, could no longer bear it and ran to Tiona and Ais, who were leisurely and reluctantly saying, "Ah—, they ran away—".

"Um! Miss Tiona, why have you been... uh, teasing that human? What happened between you and that adventurer?"

Lefia could understand that Ais, who had trained with the boy, had a relationship with him.

However, Tiona and the others shouldn't have interacted with the boy before, and Lefia couldn't understand why they were so interested in him. Even Finn had mentioned "Bell Crane" on the 59th floor to incite Lefia and the others' fighting spirit.

After Lefia asked the question that had been bothering her, Tiona and Tione looked at each other as if they were looking in a mirror.

"Rather than saying anything happened..."

"He was really good back then!"

Tiony smiled wryly, while Tiona beside him exclaimed with unbridled joy.

"At only Level 1, they've already defeated the Minotaur!"

"And it was just one person."

When Lefia froze upon hearing Tiona and Tione's words, Ais nodded in agreement.

She nodded in agreement.

"What……!?"

Lefia was speechless.

✿

"—They risked their lives to reach this 18th floor for their companions; they are all courageous adventurers. I don't expect you to get along with them. But as fellow adventurers, I hope that you can treat them with respect, even if only in the slightest. ...Now, let's return to dinner time."

The forest was shrouded in darkness when Finn rose to speak, his voice echoing throughout the area.

The group members formed a large circle around the magic stone lamps stacked like a campfire, and together raised the cups they had been assigned.

"cheers!"

The small banquet began.

In the center of the open-plan campsite, high above, where the sky is blocked by forest branches and leaves, the crystal ceiling falls silent, bringing "night" to the entire floor.

Following last night's dinner party, Bell and others, whom Ais had brought, were also present. His companions seemed to have recovered enough to walk, and the blacksmith youth and the dwarf girl also joined the dinner party.

Finn indirectly warned them not to cause trouble, and the male members of the group, filled with personal grudges, scratched their heads embarrassedly. Driven by their pride as high-ranking adventurers and their status as the largest faction in the city, they temporarily suppressed their dissatisfaction with Bell.

Once you've become more self-aware, you can fully enjoy your dinner.

Under the watchful eye of the tribal flag—the Trickster emblem—standing at their camp, the members of the Loki Familia ate and drank with a few blacksmiths from the Hephaestus Familia. They ate mushrooms and sour fruit soup seasoned with the last of their supplies and drank the cool, icy water from the stream, cooled by ice magic. The delicious food seemed to soothe their weary bodies from the expedition.

Smiles radiated as people enjoyed the carefully prepared meal made with minimal ingredients.

"..."

While laughter and chatter filled the air, Rafia remained silent, refusing to touch the soup or fruit.

In front of her, Ais, Bell, and the others were sitting far away from her.

The boy seemed to find it very strange at first, looking at the cloud fruit he was given for a while, then took a bite, and then felt a nausea and numbness all over his body.

(At level 1, the Minotaur was defeated...)

She couldn't help but recall what Tiona and the others had said before dinner, and couldn't help but pay attention to Bell, unable to ignore him.

Through training with Ais and the others, Lefia also learned "parallel chanting" and felt as if she had been reborn... But the opponent also defeated a large-scale monster classified as Lv.2 on her own, and the opponent was "Minotaur".

That's a monster that even a third-level adventurer would find troublesome in a head-on fight; it's a representative monster specializing in "strength" and "durability".