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"Why… why?" Ryu's fist slowly tightened as the soul of the avenger within her flared to life once more.
Most elves were deeply loyal and emotional by nature, and Ryu was one of the clearest examples of that.
"Maybe because the Astraea Familia were good people, and when you do good, you tend to make enemies out of bad people."
Anos let out a quiet sigh.
"I'm going to investigate right now…"
"Wait."
Anos caught her by the hand.
"To be blunt, Ryu, you don't have the strength to face them directly yet, That's why I left Balor for you. Once this is over, you should have the power of a Level 5 adventurer."
"…You want me to claim this feat for myself?"
She frowned, If she did, the chances of leveling up really were extremely high.
"So what I'm giving in return… is joining the Hestia Familia?"
Ryu sighed, her complicated emotions mixed with a quiet sense of happiness.
She had thought Anos wanted her because of who she was.
She hadn't expected that what he truly valued was her strength.
A Familia needed to grow.
She knew the Holy Child was powerful, but no strong Familia could be built on one person alone.
It needed many strong people fighting for it together.
"I'm willing to join the Hestia Familia."
Ryu gave her final answer.
If Anos had only asked for her help, she might have hesitated for a long time.
But now… she had her own reason too.
"Then finish off Balor first. I'll help you locate Lady Astraea. If you want to fully leave your old Familia behind, you'll still need your former goddess's approval."
Anos held out his sword.
It looked like an ordinary blade.
And yet, that same sword had just crushed a Floor Boss with absolute dominance.
There was no overwhelming magic wrapped around it now, but with Ryu's strength and Balor already on the verge of death, ending it would be easy.
Without a moment's hesitation, she struck.
Balor's life ended there.
He probably never could have imagined that he would be nearly killed in an instant, only to have the final blow handed to someone else.
"Anos… when you said you could find Lady Astraea's location, were you serious? You can really do something like that?"
Even with a trace of Balor's blood still on her face, Ryu remained as calm as ever.
"Of course. I'm a prophet, remember? Otherwise, why do you think the Guild suddenly started getting all those monster predictions for the Dungeon lately?"
Anos smiled.
"So that was your doing?!"
Ryu had heard that by now, the Guild's cut had already risen to thirty-five percent.
And even so, Familia after Familia was still lining up to buy maps for each floor.
The boost in efficiency those maps gave adventurers was simply too great.
She knew exactly how massive the profits must be.
Because the revenue share came from the gains of the entire Familias.
If this ever spread citywide, and every Familia started relying on it…
The daily profit would become staggering.
And all of that came from the man standing in front of her?
It was honestly terrifying.
But then another thought crossed her mind.
…If he was willing to tell her all of this, didn't that mean he trusted her?
Such important information, shared so easily.
Didn't that also mean she held a special place in his eyes?
"Ryu, welcome to the Hestia Familia."
Anos reached out his hand.
He had already confirmed it.
Once Ryu returned to Lady Astraea and updated her Falna, becoming a Level 5 adventurer was nearly guaranteed.
"…Mm… mm…"
Ryu hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she reached out as well.
Elves generally avoided physical contact with other races.
Their hands met.
Once again, Anos felt that strange, delicate softness unique to a girl's hand.
And Ryu felt something she had never experienced before.
It was as if she were standing beneath sunlight, being quietly purified.
Her entire body and soul felt light.
…
After that, everything became much simpler.
Anos gave her the place where Lady Astraea would appear a few days later, giving Ryu plenty of time to prepare.
She would need to take a leave of absence for a while.
She knew she had just made a decision that might shape the rest of her life.
But…
She didn't regret it.
"Anos, did something good happen today? You seem happier than yesterday."
Hestia looked at him curiously.
By now, Anos had already returned to the Familia and finished training with Ais.
It was his time to rest for the day, and Hestia had, without hesitation, claimed all of it for herself and glued herself to his side.
"Do I really look that happy? Is my expression control that bad?"
Anos smiled.
It wasn't that he was overjoyed, exactly.
But compared to yesterday, he did feel lighter.
Yesterday, too many women had confessed to him, and it had genuinely started to irritate him.
"You still have room to improve, Anos."
Hestia reached out, clearly intending to squish and pull at his face the way he, Loki, and Hephaestus always did to her.
But Anos dodged effortlessly.
Getting his face kneaded into weird shapes was Hestia's signature trait.
He had no intention of stealing her specialty.
"Um, Lord Anos… I can disguise myself as different races. If you want, I could sneak into their camp and listen in on their plans."
A girl's voice came from the side while Hestia and Anos were fooling around.
It was Liliruca.
She had clearly thought long and hard before saying this.
The Hestia Familia had become her home.
A real home.
A place that had given her warmth.
Whether it was the adorably clueless Hestia, the pure-hearted Bell, the powerful adventurer Ais whom Lili had once mistaken for a bad person only to find out she was more airheaded than scary, or Anos himself, the one she admired most…
She didn't want to be separated from any of them.
The fact that just a few days of kindness could change her this much showed how terrible her life in the Soma Familia must have been.
"Lili, there's no need, I already have a perfect plan."
Anos smiled.
He understood the feelings that had pushed her to offer this.
But with everything already prepared, there was no reason to put her at risk.
"It's really fine, I'm part of this Familia now, so doing what I can for it is only natural."
Liliruca quickly waved her hands, thinking he was only refusing because he believed she was forcing herself.
If this were the Bell from the original story, her idea might actually have worked.
Send Lili in, gather intelligence, learn the enemy's strategy, and prepare a countermeasure before the siege begins.
But now?
There was no need for any of that.
"Lili, take a look around you."
Anos let out a helpless little laugh and casually waved a hand.
In an instant, the room filled with layer upon layer of magic.
Golden holy-attribute arrays.
Green wind-attribute circles.
Senjutsu formations.
His own custom-built spell arrays.
The whole room was covered.
He might have spent a long time pretending to be a close-combat mage, but he had never forgotten what he really was.
A mage.
The only reason people still saw him as a swordsman was that it was inconvenient to openly reveal just how many kinds of magic he could use.
Looking at the countless magic circles surrounding them, Hestia calmly took a sip of water and gestured for Liliruca to relax.
Her Anos was just that strong.
Just that gifted.
What else was there to say?
Hestia genuinely felt that the best choice she had ever made in her life was bringing Anos into the world.
"Anos… is this why you chose to fight a defensive battle?"
Liliruca stared in shock for a long while before finally speaking again.
If he could fortify a room like this in moments, then given a bit more time, he could turn an entire fortress into an iron wall.
"So really, you don't have to worry about things like that. Got it?"
Anos gently patted Liliruca on the head.
"When I brought you here, I said it was to be my maid, not one of my fighters. If you don't want to become a combatant or support unit, you can stay a maid forever."
"Y-Yes!"
Liliruca nodded hard, a crystal-clear tear slipping from the corner of her eye.
Meeting the Holy Child really was the greatest blessing of her life.
To him, saving her may have only been a casual act.
To her, it was something she would remember and be grateful for forever.
"Of course, tomorrow, if you and Bell want to come watch, you can, I'll set up defensive barriers for you so you can safely experience a Familia War."
Anos added that as an afterthought.
"Really? We can?"
Bell lit up at once.
She had wanted to help Anos too, but she knew that at her current level, she would only hold him back.
So she had already accepted that she would stay on the sidelines.
She just hadn't expected there to be a VIP seat waiting for her.
"Of course."
Anos smiled.
He couldn't stay in this world forever.
That meant Bell and the others had to grow stronger.
And letting them witness a battle like this was a good first step.
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~Support with 300 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
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