At the entrance to the Beginning Road in the ground-floor hall of Babel Tower, the place that served as the throat of all Orario and swallowed in tens of thousands of dreams and desires every single day, dusk had just arrived.
This was the hour when adventurers returned to their nests.
Countless adventurers who had spent the day crawling and fighting through the Dungeon were pouring back out along the massive spiral slope.
Some looked utterly exhausted, yet the joy in their eyes could not be hidden. Those were the lucky ones who had found good loot.
Others were covered in blood and half-carried, half-dragged back by their companions. Those were the unlucky ones who had been taught a brutal lesson by reality.
The smell of sweat, blood, and dust fermented together in that vast hall.
And yet, along one side of the busiest exit, there was a strange patch of empty space.
Every adventurer who passed by lowered their head like a startled rabbit and quickened their pace, as though they were afraid that even a single second of eye contact with the people standing there would cost them their life.
The reason was simple.
Because a certain terrifying figure was standing there.
Elephant God's Staff.
Shakti Varma.
The famous captain of the military police stood there in full armor, her expression cold as frost.
She was like a giant warning sign planted right in the middle of the road that said No Entry.
She radiated an aura of silence all by herself.
And beside her stood a black-haired god who, although not wearing a uniform, carried a spear in hand and possessed an equally striking presence.
To ordinary adventurers, that combination looked exactly like they were staking out the area to catch some unlucky wanted criminal.
…
"Mmm… so good! So good!"
And yet right in the middle of that suffocating atmosphere, an utterly out-of-place chewing sound rang out and smashed the tension to pieces.
Hestia was standing there holding a paper bag of freshly fried potato balls.
Her cheeks were puffed up like a squirrel's, and her eyes had narrowed into happy crescents.
Haimer had bought them from a roadside stall and shoved them into her hands to keep her from starving.
Facts had once again proven that, for Hestia, there was no problem a fried potato ball could not solve.
And if there was, then two would do it.
"Haimer, Haimer!"
The moment Hestia swallowed the food in her mouth, she immediately speared a golden, crispy potato ball with her bamboo skewer, rose up on her toes, and held it toward Haimer's mouth.
"You should try one too! This stall's are super good! The creamy filling inside is really rich!"
"I'll pass."
"I'm not hungry. You eat it yourself."
Haimer shook his head and refused the precariously wobbling potato ball Hestia was offering him.
"Hmph… no taste."
After muttering that in dissatisfaction, Hestia did not insist. She immediately stuffed the potato ball into her own mouth and let out a deeply satisfied sigh.
"Haah… I've come back to life…"
"If I could eat this every day, I'd even be willing to sleep on the floor in your mansion, Haimer…"
While Hestia was rambling on like that, a disturbance suddenly rose from deep inside the spiral slope ahead.
"Move! Move!"
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"How did that thing come up from below?!"
The already crowded flow of people was split apart as though some giant beast had plowed through it by force.
Amid cries of alarm and startled curses, the adventurers scrambled to both sides, opening up a broad path.
Then,
Thump.
Thump.
A heavy, powerful series of footsteps struck the stone floor, sending tremors through people's chests.
A gigantic figure entered everyone's view.
It was a black bear.
An absurdly huge black bear.
Its limbs were thick as pillars, and every step landed with crushing force.
But that was not the most shocking part.
What really made people's eyes nearly bulge out was what it carried on its back.
A massive bundle had been roughly sewn together from the hide of a twelfth-floor monster, probably a silverback ape.
It was stuffed so full it was nearly as large as the bear itself.
As the black bear walked, the huge bundle on its back let out a clear rattling sound.
A bright, dense, pleasing sound.
The sound of stones hitting one another.
To every adventurer present, that sound was instantly familiar.
Magic stones, packed tightly together, knocking and grinding against each other.
"Th-that's a black bear, right?"
One adventurer stared so hard that the half-bag of low-purity magic stones in his hand nearly slipped to the floor.
"It really is a black bear! Someone actually brought a beast like that into the Dungeon?"
"Doesn't it attack people?"
"That's not the point, is it?!"
Another companion swallowed hard and stared fixedly at that enormous bundle, undisguised greed filling his eyes.
"Judging from that sound… don't tell me that thing is packed full of magic stones?!"
"You've got to be kidding… how many monsters would they have had to kill to fill a bag that big?!"
The adventurers all around widened their eyes until their jaws nearly dropped.
In this city, where magic stones served as both energy and the foundation of wealth, that dense, crisp sound was more beautiful than any music in the world.
That was the sound of coins pouring into a purse.
The sound of fortune itself.
And so, under everyone's stunned gaze, one figure after another stepped out from the shadow behind the black bear.
Tsubaki.
Amou.
Tsukuyo.
Rin.
And the other girls.
Although every one of them had some undried bloodstains splashed across their equipment and carried a faint smell of blood, they were not injured.
In fact, there was not even a trace of obvious fatigue on their faces.
Especially the figure walking at the very front.
Tsubaki Collbrande, captain of the Hephaestus Familia.
…
"Haah!"
The moment she stepped out of the passage, Tsubaki stretched lazily, and the joints all over her body cracked like a string of beans popping.
"The air up here really does smell better."
She reached up and slapped the back of her neck hard, as though trying to shake off the moldy Dungeon scent that had clung to her body.
Then she lifted her head, swept the crowd with her single eye, and quickly spotted Haimer standing not far away. Her eye lit up at once.
To begin with, Tsubaki had already been itching to see Lord Haimer's expression the moment he laid eyes on that huge bundle of loot.
Just imagining it was enough to amuse her.
After all, even someone like her, a Level 5 used to big scenes, had been startled by the terrifying efficiency with which this group of newcomers had swept through the Dungeon that afternoon.
A few hours ago, this had still been a party that other people pointed at like some nursery group.
And now they were returning loaded to the brim.
That kind of contrast was more than enough to leave plenty of people speechless.
She had even already worked out exactly what kind of smug tone she would use to report her achievement to Haimer.
However, once her gaze truly settled on the scene, the smile on her face froze.
Or rather, it froze the moment she noticed the figure standing beside Haimer.
Short dark-blue hair.
Impeccable regulation armor.
Special metal gauntlets.
And that unmistakably stern expression.
Captain of the Ganesha Familia.
Elephant God's Staff, Shakti Varma.
"…."
Tsubaki's single eye widened sharply.
As someone who had spent years mixed up in Orario and who was herself the captain of a Familia, she naturally understood exactly what Shakti's presence meant.
Whenever this captain of the military police appeared in full armor, it never meant anything good.
Either there had been a riot somewhere, or some unlucky bastard had done something bad enough to get dragged off in chains.
And now this living disaster was standing motionless beside Haimer, less than five steps away.
That position…
Don't tell me something happened?!
…
Tsubaki's heart immediately gave a heavy thump.
Fortunately, once Haimer spotted them, he walked over.
"Good work, everyone."
Haimer wore a gentle smile as his gaze swept across the girls before finally landing on the enormous bundle. He nodded in obvious satisfaction.
"Looks like you had quite the harvest."
"My lord!"
The moment they saw Haimer come over, Amou, Tsukuyo, and the others all saluted at once.
"Mm."
"You all worked hard. Welcome back~"
Haimer replied with a faint smile, then noticed that Tsubaki still looked completely thrown off.
"What's wrong, Miss Tsubaki?"
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Uh…"
Snapping back to herself, Tsubaki awkwardly scratched her messy hair and let her strange gaze drift back and forth between Haimer and Shakti.
"My lord…"
She raised a hand and pointed at the silent Shakti standing beside him.
"You know Captain Shakti, right?"
"Of course I know her…"
Tsubaki's mouth twitched.
Who in Orario didn't know that face?
"It's just… I'm very curious why she's here."
"And also…"
And also why she was standing there as if she were following Haimer around.
The whole thing was too bizarre.
"As for Captain Shakti…"
"Today she's here under Ganesha's orders, specifically to protect my safety."
"Protect your safety?"
Tsubaki blanked out for a second.
What kind of chief god needed the captain of the military police to personally protect them?!
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