Loki Familia.
As the War Game entered its final phase, the members of the Loki Familia stopped watching and left the hall to attend to their own matters.
"Hey! Isn't that lil Ais!"
Loki, who had just taken out a bottle of liquor from the storeroom, saw several slender figures passing by not far away.
Her eyes lit up, she let out a cheer, jumped up on the spot, and pounced towards the group.
"You're finally back from the Dungeon! Quick, let me check if you're injured!"
"We're not injured."
Ais took a quiet step back.
"Skip the check~"
Tiona took a step to the left.
"Lefiya, remember to dodge."
Tione took a step to the right.
"Eh?"
Seeing the three people who were originally surrounding her instantly separate, Lefiya showed a look of confusion on her face.
The next second, looking at Loki, who was close by with a lewd smile, she finally realized what was happening and quickly squatted down.
Bang!
"Ouch! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
Loki crashed onto the ground with a flying tackle, crying out in pain and rolling around on the spot.
"Lil Ais, you guys are so heartless! Why didn't anyone catch me!"
"If I catch Loki, I'll be grabbed by the clothes and harassed. I don't want that."
Tiona stood with her hands behind her head, matter-of-factly recounting past events.
"Um... Are you okay?"
Lefiya, who managed to dodge, felt a pang of conscience and cautiously moved closer to ask.
"Hehe~ Lefiya is the best!"
Loki instantly stopped rolling and wrapped her arms around Lefiya's thigh, slowly reaching upwards.
Bang!
A staff made of Holy Emperor Ore, costing nine figures to forge, fell from behind.
Loki, who was just grinning wickedly a second ago, plopped down onto the ground and fell unconscious.
"Phew~ I'm saved."
Lefiya, who was initially at a loss, breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the Elf in front of her.
"Lady Riveria, thank you very much."
"It's nothing. Next time Loki harasses you, just strike directly. Don't be polite."
"Eh? That might not be very good, right?"
Lefiya showed a forced smile.
Although she had been in the Loki Familia for three years and had adapted to the personalities of Loki and the others,
it was still somewhat difficult for her to attack Loki without reservation like the others.
"Lefiya's personality is too soft, that's why Loki keeps bullying her."
"Yeah, it's time to be a bit more assertive."
Tiona and Tione walked by, waving a greeting to Riveria.
"Riveria, we're back~"
"Mhm, welcome back."
Riveria lifted Loki off the ground and led the group towards the hall not far away.
"How was your harvest this time?"
"Counting the commission from the Dian Cecht Familia, we earned a few million Valis scattered here and there."
"Did you encounter any danger?"
"No way, we only went down to the thirty-seventh floor. Every monster we met was taken down with a single punch."
Tiona clenched her fist and swung it, looking completely relaxed.
In fact, the thirty-seventh floor was indeed nothing to her.
As the starting point of the deep floors, the monsters on the thirty-seventh floor hovered around LV3 and LV4.
Before Tiona, whose stats were nearly maxed out and was only missing merit points to advance to LV6, monsters of this level were no different from Goblins.
"By the way, Riveria. Do you know what's going on with the Hestia Familia?"
"The Hestia Familia?"
Riveria paused in her steps, looking thoughtfully at Tiona.
As one of the three giants of the Loki Familia, Riveria reacted quickly.
Although Tiona was just asking casually, she still sensed part of the truth.
"Tiona, do you know Cain?"
"We met him once when we went into the Dungeon a few days ago. Lefiya is his regular customer."
"Regular customer?"
"Yeah, didn't Lefia run out for food seven days a week a few days ago? The stall she went to was opened by Cain, and I heard it was super delicious."
"I see, that man even ran a stall? That's the first time I've heard of it."
Glancing at Lefiya, who silently lowered her head, Riveria showed a thoughtful expression.
"Hey! We're getting off track!"
"Riveria, do you know why Cain ended up fighting the Soma Familia!"
"I didn't look into it closely. If you want to know, you can ask Finn."
"I know~"
Loki's voice suddenly rang out.
Waking up from her stupor, she gently pulled herself free from Riveria's grip.
"Loki, what exactly happened?"
Tiona leaned in to inquire further.
Facing Tiona's question, Loki suddenly showed a pained expression and clutched her head.
"Aiya~ I think I got hit by Riveria's attack and developed amnesia. I need kisses... Wait, wait a minute! I'll tell you, okay!"
Mid-sentence, upon seeing Tiona suddenly raise her fist and show an unfriendly expression, Loki quickly retreated two steps to create distance.
"Let me make it clear beforehand, I inferred this after asking someone. It might not be accurate."
"It's fine, just tell us."
Tione walked over from behind.
Like Tiona, she was also very curious why Cain fought the Soma Familia.
"If I'm not mistaken, Cain initiated the War Game because he was short on Money ."
"Short on money?"
"Yes. I heard that the man named Cain secretly inquired about where he could buy a magic book and what the price was."
"magic book? I think you all understand, right? A normal person wouldn't inquire about such things, let alone that shortly after, the War Game happened."
"This... Is Cain that kind of person?"
Lefiya showed a look of shock on her face.
Starting a War Game because of a lack of money, wasn't that a bit too much?
"Don't rush, I haven't finished yet."
Loki took out divine wine from her embrace, opened the cap, and took a gulp.
"A War Game is not a trivial matter. Initiating one requires the support of the Gods from both sides."
"Although Hestia, that Shorty, is poor, she still has a bottom line."
"Lady Loki, do you mean... Soma Familia has a problem?"
"Yes, that Familia has problems inside and out. It's completely rotten."
Loki revealed a little about the internal situation of the Soma Familia, as well as the matter concerning the Soma divine wine.
"Addicted to the divine wine, losing self-control after drinking, being controlled by others..."
After hearing Loki's description, Lefiya inexplicably felt a sense of déjà vu.
"It sounds a bit familiar."
"Me too."
Tiona and Tione exchanged glances, and a name simultaneously surfaced in their minds.
"The Dark Cuisine World."
Ais's voice came from behind.
"That's right! Isn't this the Dark Cuisine World that Cain mentioned before!"
Lefiya suddenly realized.
"What is the Dark Cuisine World?"
Now it was Loki's turn to be confused.
"Cain said it was a group of chefs who received a blessing from an evil god and liked to make addictive food to force others to eat it, thereby controlling them."
Lefiya recounted the rumor she had heard not long ago, her face showing deep thought.
If she hadn't heard about this strange tale, she would have just thought Cain started the War Game just to make money by picking a Familia with problems.
But after learning about the Dark Cuisine World, looking back at the incident, one would realize that Cain was not randomly choosing a target.
"Cain probably saw the shadow of the Dark Cuisine World on the Soma Familia, which is why he chose to make a move against them."
"As for that Pallum who helped Cain, she probably managed to break free from the control of the divine wine with Cain's help, which is why she betrayed the Soma Familia."
"That seems quite reasonable."
Tiona nodded thoughtfully.
Just then, the group walked into the hall.
After hearing Lefiya's speculation, everyone turned their gaze toward the divine mirror floating in mid-air.
Inside the mirror, Cain looked at the Pallum Girl and asked a meaningful question.
[Lili, do you hate Soma?]
...
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