"This is an adventurer card..."
Luna was about to introduce the process of job transfer to the three girls when she suddenly noticed Noa and Hephaestus leaning in too close, surrounding the equipment and looking left and right at the job transfer tools with obvious curiosity.
"W-well, you two, please don't do that. That is..."
Luna looked flustered and slightly embarrassed as she tried to step between them and the device. She was already preparing to politely ask them to move back, worried that they might accidentally bump into or damage the delicate-looking job change equipment. Even though she trusted adventurers not to act recklessly, the atmosphere made her nervous.
"Relax, Luna-san," Eris chimed in smoothly, stepping forward with a reassuring smile. "If it gets damaged, I'll make sure they pay for it. And honestly, this thing isn't that easy to break anyway."
Her tone was light, almost teasing, as if she were casually dismissing Luna's concern. At the same time, her eyes flicked toward Noa and Hephaestus, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, as though she found the situation amusing in a private way.
"...All right," Luna finally relented after a short pause.
Seeing Eris so confident and sensing no immediate danger she decided not to press the matter further. She returned her focus to the task at hand and continued explaining the job transfer process to Esdeath, Saeko, and Kanae.
Noa and Hephaestus, meanwhile, took a step back, though their expressions still carried mild curiosity as they observed from a more respectful distance.
"This is just a connector, a waste of expression."
Noa muttered under his breath after examining the device more carefully.
It was not what he had initially expected. Rather than being part of a complex system itself, the crystal sphere appeared to function more like an interface or terminal—something closer to a client device. It collected data locally, transmitted it, and then received feedback from a separate system elsewhere. In simple terms, it was a middleman rather than the source of the mechanism.
The real job transfer system, he realized, was likely located somewhere else entirely—something akin to a server hidden beyond their immediate perception.
Even so, Noa did not step away. Instead, he remained where he was, watching quietly and analyzing the process. Now that he understood it was a connected system, he intended to observe how the interface reacted when activated. There might still be useful information to gather from its behavior, even if it wasn't the core mechanism itself.
Eris, who had been subtly observing Noa from the side ever since earlier, noticed his reaction when he realized the truth. She couldn't help but cover her mouth slightly, suppressing a quiet laugh.
Of course she knew what the device was.
She had simply chosen not to say anything earlier.
It was, in her mind, a harmless bit of amusement—watching Noa confidently investigate something only to realize it wasn't what he expected. A small, private satisfaction.
Heh… consider it a little interest.
She glanced at him again, eyes gleaming with mischief.
Just wait. You'd better not fall into my hands someday. Otherwise…
Her thoughts trailed off into a silent, self-satisfied chuckle.
However, Eris did not notice that Hestia had begun quietly observing her from the side. Hestia's face carried a faint expression of confusion, marked by a small "?" in her mind as she watched Eris's behavior.
When I typed the question mark, it wasn't that I had a problem—it was that I thought you had a problem.
She didn't fully understand what was going on, but Hestia could clearly sense a subtle hostility directed toward Noa. That alone was enough to make her curious.
Have these two ever even met before?
She tilted her head slightly, thinking.
So how exactly did Noa offend her?
It didn't make much sense to her, but she decided not to interrupt. Instead, Hestia quietly shifted her attention between Eris and Noa, carefully observing the situation without revealing her thoughts.
Meanwhile, Eris remained completely unaware of Hestia's scrutiny. She was still immersed in her own thoughts, quietly enjoying the idea of future "revenge," entirely oblivious to the fact that someone else had already started watching her just as closely.