The next morning, at the Loki Familia headquarters.
In the drawing room.
Loki was slumped on the sofa, her face still bearing the lingering traces of sleepiness.
"Feels like I woke up a bit early."
At any other time, she would never be this abnormal. She would be hungover until dawn, and her wake-up time would depend entirely on her mood, without any concerns.
But what about now?
She rubbed her eyes and looked toward the sunlight outside the window. Even she found it hard to believe that her biological clock was gradually becoming normal.
"Hehe. I bet no one would believe it if I told them."
Loki was, of course, well aware of the specific reason. The reason was definitely all because of Zephyr.
The Gourmet Creatures Zephyr brought back, along with the dishes he personally cooked, made her unable to stop thinking about them.
"I wonder what surprises there will be today?" Loki narrowed her eyes.
She was thinking about whether to go to the kitchen later to see if the Familia children could leave some of the ingredients from last night's cake before they set out this morning.
But just then, footsteps came from the corridor outside the drawing room.
Through the crack in the door, she saw Zephyr carrying a backpack, Lili who was empty-handed, and Lefiya following at the back.
"What's the situation here?"
Logically speaking, Lili should be the one carrying the backpack. After all, once a team's framework gradually stabilized, it wouldn't suddenly change.
Zephyr used to be a Supporter for the Soma Familia. But now, he had properly become a Level 2 Adventurer of her Familia, so why was he going back to his old ways?
The moment this confusion arose in Loki, she noticed Lili's rather poor complexion. Her face was full of unhappiness, clearly the look of someone having a falling out.
'So they've had a conflict?'
Loki propped up her chin and observed this extremely abnormal scene.
When minor friction occurred between Familia children, a god shouldn't actively intervene. Let them reconcile with each other. If they couldn't work it out, then she would step in to help.
Loki waved at the group coming toward the door. "Preparing to explore the Dungeon again today?"
"Yes, Loki-sama."
Zephyr explained, "We plan to check out the 18th Floor today. If we go any further, I feel it will be very difficult."
"After all, our current team size is limited. Camping in the Dungeon and such carries quite a high risk."
"Mm. That's quite thoughtful of you." Loki narrowed her eyes.
She was clearly very satisfied with this answer. Zephyr had just ranked up to Level 2 not long ago. It was obviously unrealistic to rush to the deep floors. He should first stabilize his progress on familiar floors.
However, when she thought of Outsider and the Gourmet Creatures they might encounter at any time, her heart was filled with anticipation.
She narrowed her eyes, her smile exceptionally bright. "Then you lot be careful. If there's anything delicious, remember to bring it back. If I don't have the food you bring back, I feel like I'll starve to death sooner or later."
"No problem." Zephyr nodded with a smile.
Afterward, Zephyr, Lili, and Lefiya walked toward the main gate of the Familia headquarters, their figures gradually disappearing at the end of the long corridor.
Loki remained slumped on the sofa in her original posture.
She could naturally see that Lili clearly had feelings for Zephyr, and even the way Lefiya looked at him was a bit strange. The children of the Familia were developing feelings that went beyond being companions.
She actually didn't mind, but the raging flames of gossip in her heart simply couldn't be extinguished.
I'll have a chat with Zephyr when he gets back.
— — —
Central Plaza.
This time was when Orario's Adventurers were at their most boisterous. Looking around, Adventurers from various Familias packed the plaza to capacity.
Ouka stood at the edge of the plaza, his eyes constantly scanning the passing crowds of Adventurers, waiting for his Familia members to arrive.
'My condition feels pretty good today. I wonder if we can explore into the middle floors.'
Yesterday's exploration had been very smooth. With only Level 1 Adventurers, the team had managed to push into the middle floors. This was definitely the best record for the Takemikazuchi Familia.
The main reason was that the number of monsters encountered during the exploration was surprisingly sparse. The passages along the way were almost empty, as if they had been cleared by Adventurers.
Ouka carefully recalled the specific details. In particular, when they met Zephyr, it was basically certain that most of the monsters along the way had been cleared by this Loki Familia party.
"A monster." Ouka could only sigh like this.
But when he thought of Zephyr, his mood was inevitably a bit strange, and he would inexplicably recall that Braised Spicy Beef.
But then again, the unique texture and rich flavor of that dish were many times better than any dish he had ever encountered in Orario. He could still vividly recall the rich layers of complex flavors that monster dish had brought to him.
'Sometimes a person's sense of taste really is the biggest culprit for deception.'
After returning to the Familia headquarters with his fellow members to report their exploration experience to Takemikazuchi, he had heard about Zephyr from him. It was news from yesterday's Denatus.
Loki personally helped a child in her Familia, who had just ranked up to Level 2, secure an alias.
Gourmet Hunter.
Other Adventurers might find it absurd upon hearing it. After all, in Orario, with so many bizarre aliases, how could one be related to Gourmet?
However, when Ouka recalled his brief contact with Zephyr in the Dungeon yesterday, he just felt that things became inexplicably reasonable.
After all, being able to persist in cooking dishes within the crisis-ridden Dungeon, Zephyr's strange alias fit his experiences quite well.
He is a Level 2 Adventurer.
Ouka was very clear on this point. He felt that there was a profound meaning within the Gourmet Hunter alias that he hadn't yet figured out.
After gathering his complicated thoughts, his gaze swept over the members of the Familia gathered in the plaza, and seeing that they were all prepared to set off, he said, "Then let's begin today's exploration. Yesterday, we were lucky. As long as we can reach the Middle Floors today and gradually adapt to the combat intensity, that will be quite good."
"Okay." Chigusa nodded.
Her hair covered her face, emitting a gloomy aura, and given her cowardly personality, she was destined to be unable to refuse.
As for the other members of the party, they also had no other objections.
Just as Ouka was preparing to hoist his axe and call his companions to set off, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
Mikoto stood rooted to the spot, gazing into the distance.
"Mikoto?" Ouka frowned.
"Mikoto, we should set off."
However, Mikoto did not respond at all. Her eyes were focused on the distance, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Ouka frowned and looked in the direction of Mikoto's gaze.
Immediately after, he saw three figures walking toward them from the distance of the plaza—Zephyr, Lefiya and Lili.
Ouka didn't know why, but when he saw Zephyr approaching, a vague but extremely ominous premonition welled up deep in his heart.
Then, he saw Mikoto, not far ahead, greeting the approaching Zephyr with a serious attitude.
"Um... Zephyr-san. Good morning."
"Hm?"
Zephyr looked toward the direction of the voice and saw a somewhat familiar figure in the distance ahead.
Yamato Mikoto, a member from the Takemikazuchi Familia.
His impression of her was quite deep. The main reason was her level of acceptance toward Monster Cuisine. Yesterday, after learning the true source of the braised spicy beef, she actually had no repulsion reaction at all and continued to choose to eat it.
Mikoto was definitely a special case among all the Adventurers he had met who, upon learning the ingredients were monster meat, could still eat it as a matter of course.
Zephyr nodded with a smile. "Good morning."
Immediately after, he saw several figures walking over from behind Mikoto one after another: Ouka, Chigusa, and several other members of the Takemikazuchi Familia who he had brief contact with in the Dungeon yesterday.
When they looked toward Zephyr, there was something strange in their eyes. After all, the aftertaste brought by that cuisine yesterday left a deep impression in their minds.
Just thinking about the monster cuisine, the expression on Ouka's face was a bit stiff.