Every corner of the streets was talking about it.
Newspaper boys waved sheets printed with oversized bold headlines, hurrying across the blue-grey flagstones still damp with morning dew. "Extra! Extra! The newly appointed Constable's [Haimer Familia] has formally issued a declaration of war!"
At a general store on a street corner, several adventurers with coarse cloth bundles slung over their shoulders had been counting out their recovery potions.
Hearing the boys' shouts, they tossed down a few copper coins, snatched up the papers, huddled together, and whispered in hushed voices.
Most of them found their eyes going wide, their gazes filled with incredulous astonishment.
After all.
The newly appointed Constable's [Haimer Familia] had dared to name and challenge, head-on, the elite Second Company of the [Loki Familia], one of the very pinnacles of Orario.
And the words they'd thrown down were staggeringly brazen — through a formal duel, they meant to seize in one stroke the right to conquer the Dungeon's deep floors alongside the First Company.
But one had to understand.
The elite Second Company of the [Loki Familia] boasted Lv.4 adventurers among their ranks.
…
Beside a spacious open-air café on North Main Street.
Sunlight spilled past the edge of a great canvas parasol, casting an uneven patch of light across the round black-oak table.
Haimer sat at that table.
Across from him sat Demeter, and gathered around them were several other low-ranking goddesses whose newspaper boys had been running the streets.
"We owe it all to your tip, Haimer." Demeter lifted her plain white coffee cup, pressed its rim against lips painted a soft shade, and took a sip, smiling as she spoke.
"This time everyone can ride the crest of this frenzy and make a killing."
At those words, the other goddesses nodded along in agreement.
Their Familias mostly scraped by selling newspapers and digging up low-level intelligence, forever teetering on the edge of ruin.
Now, holding first-hand news of such explosive appeal, their morning's earnings had multiplied dozens of times over, and the joy in their eyes very nearly brimmed over.
"Everyone gets what they need — and I can hardly do without your channels for spreading word, either."
Haimer looked at the delight on the goddesses' faces.
"In any case, this is a favor we'll all be sure to remember."
Demeter said this while turning her limpid, autumn-water eyes upon him, leaning her body forward to draw a little closer.
That rich scent of rose perfume, mingled with the mellow aroma of coffee, drifted over on the faint morning breeze.
Haimer understood well enough that Demeter's words were meant for the other goddesses' ears.
So after glancing at her, he answered with a mild smile and set his teacup back down on its white saucer.
Having used the goddesses' presses to spread the news through the early hours.
The conversation reached its close.
Haimer rose and took his leave.
Demeter and the goddesses stood as well, their eyes following him all the way until he stepped past the white-painted wooden railing of the café.
And so.
He left North Main Street.
He crossed several intersecting streets and arched stone bridges.
Since he had already arranged for everyone else, led by Hestia, to head to the [Loki Familia] ahead of him for special training.
Haimer simply followed the main thoroughfare, walking toward the northwest district.
This road was ordinarily packed, crowded everywhere with hawking merchants and adventuring parties moving in droves.
Today it was no less thronged.
Yet when the passersby and adventurers saw Haimer coming, the once-noisy crowd parted as though brushed aside by an invisible hand, everyone stepping away to either side.
But.
In that retreating motion there was none of the earlier panic — instead, a kind of careful, wary reverence.
As Haimer passed a stall selling fruit wine, he noticed something more.
A few common women, passing by, even stopped in their tracks and, facing his direction, pressed their palms together before their chests in a slightly clumsy gesture of respect, then lowered their heads and hurried away.
There were clearly many things tangled up in this.
Most of those people were not adventurers; the hems of their robes were patched with uneven mending.
They were likely the victims of yesterday's purge — those tainted, cancerous divine Familias that had been swept away.
They held gratitude in their hearts for the [Haimer Familia] that had changed all of this.
Haimer paid these gazes little mind, and without slowing his steps, walked straight on to the towering gate of the Twilight Manor.
The four low-ranking [Loki Familia] gatekeepers stationed before the Twilight Manor's entrance — the moment their eyes fell upon the man whom even their own captain would come downstairs to receive.
They straightened their backs at once and swiftly withdrew to the steps on either side.
No announcement was needed; the heavy doors had been opened for him well in advance.
He walked into the broad training courtyard.
The special training had begun that morning.
The crisp ring of clashing blades, the heavy thud of bodies colliding, and cheers all wove together in the air.
Haimer passed along the flagstone path.
At a corner of the corridor, just before reaching the main training ground, he came upon Riveria, leaning against a stone pillar, deep in thought.
Hearing his footsteps, Riveria turned to look at Haimer and gave him a nod.
Only, at this moment.
The expression on Riveria's face seemed a touch peculiar.
Haimer stopped and gave her a look.
"Has something happened, Lady Riveria?" he asked.
Riveria hesitated a moment, then said.
"That newcomer called Narukami Koharu has been standing there watching since this morning."
"Watching the others train."
"But just now…"
"She suddenly walked out to the very center, carrying that black tachi of hers, and named Ais directly for a match."
At these words.
Haimer's brow rose.
His gaze immediately crossed the long stretch of corridor between them and the thick white stone arches, landing on the open-air main training ground in the distance, ringed by a circle of white brick.
And there.
In the center of the [Loki Familia]'s training ground, scored all over with chaotic sword marks.
Sure enough, standing at the middle, both hands hanging low as they gripped that 『Weeping Blood』 tachi, was Koharu.
And facing her was none other than the wielder of a first-class weapon, the Sword of Despair — the "Sword Princess," Ais!
But originally.
The matter had not begun quite so directly.
In the morning light, after Koharu had watched for a long while, the first person she'd fixed her measuring gaze upon was the captain of the [Loki Familia] — the "Braver," Finn.
But when Finn looked at her with a gaze carrying some inexplicable anticipation and asked, "Excuse me, are you a Pallum?"
Koharu seemed to mistake it as mockery of her height.
Her brows knit at once.
A flicker of displeasure crossed her face, and she shot Finn a look of pure distaste.
After that, Finn's shoulders visibly sagged.
This near-dejected, feeble reaction thoroughly soured the mood of Koharu, who by nature pursued a clean, decisive fighting style where every stroke drew blood.
Was there anything that couldn't just be said outright?
Koharu had always despised people who kept things hidden away inside.
So she couldn't be bothered to speak with Finn any further, and instead turned on her heel and picked out Ais on the other side, who had just finished a set of high-intensity sword drills.
What Koharu didn't realize.
Was that Finn, who held the revival of the Pallums as the ultimate goal of his life, kept constant watch over every valiant deed performed by any other Pallum throughout Orario.
After all, for the sake of this great restoration plan.
Finn placed particular importance on Pallum bloodlines, and so paid especially close attention to female Pallums of outstanding strength who could pass on excellent genes.
teria saga illust © 2O17, netmableblue Corp.
That was why, after hearing yesterday from those scouts that a girl as small and childlike as a doll had appeared at Lord Haimer's side — and had felled a Lv.3 with a single stroke of her blade.
He'd harbored enormous curiosity, along with certain private hopes.
Only now.
Upon confirming that Koharu was not a Pallum but a human girl, Finn was naturally dealt quite a blow, left rather disappointed.
As for why Koharu had sought out Ais.
It was because she'd earlier heard Inaba Tsukuyo speak of it in detail — that before Haimer had brought them down into this world.
The one who held this world's record for the fastest leveling.
Was precisely this golden-haired maiden of the [Loki Familia], whose features were as lovely as a porcelain doll.
In other words, the very girl praised by the lips of the [Loki Familia]'s patron deity, Loki herself, and granted the title "Sword Princess" — Ais Wallenstein.
One of this world's foremost swordsmen, the holder of the fastest record for subliming to Lv.2 in a single year!
To seek her out and test one's own mettle in this world.
Nothing could be more fitting.
However.
Once word of Koharu challenging Ais spread through the Twilight Manor.
Even the [Loki Familia] members inside the manor set down their work one after another, crowding up against the outer edge of the corridor to peer out through the windows.
After all, as a great house, the [Loki Familia] had always been harmonious within, and their information network had always been keenly connected.
And so.
At this moment.
Before a wide, ornate window on the second floor of the Twilight Manor, the one facing the main training ground.
The "Extraordinary Man" Raul and the "Noble Cat" Anakity had already rested their arms on the windowsill, standing at the spot with the best view.
Because they'd received the scouts' definite intelligence just last night.
The whole officer corps of the [Loki Familia]'s Second Company knew that the golden-haired girl below was the very newcomer who had shone so astonishingly in yesterday's Constable purge — the newly descended rising star, the elder sister of the [Haimer Familia]'s "Faint Cherry Blossom Demon" Inaba Tsukuyo: Narukami Koharu.
They knew, too, that she had personally cut down a Lv.3 divine Familia captain.
But.
Even with such a feat.
The gap between Lv.1 and Lv.5 was still far too great.
After all, in the tangled web of powers that was Orario.
There had long been precedents — veteran Lv.3 adventurers with shaky foundations, who'd climbed up by swindling newcomers through such shady means, or by piling up cheap achievements over years of barely scraping by, only to capsize in a ditch, or be defeated by newcomers of far greater potential.
This sort of slaying across levels did happen now and then.
All the more so for members of the [Loki Familia]'s Second Company.
Every one of them had forged an achievement of their own before their Rank Sublimation.
And though Koharu was a newcomer of formidable strength and merciless strokes.
One had to understand…
The person standing across from that black tachi was the "Sword Princess" — Lady Ais Wallenstein!
A genuine core mainstay of the [Loki Familia]'s First Company.
— A first-tier adventurer at Lv.5!
The savage, colossal monsters she alone had cut down in the Dungeon's deep floors were beyond counting.
The foul blood of monsters that the edge of her Sword of Despair had drunk, together with the bones piled up behind her, would be enough to fill a whole gully.
A Lv.1 newcomer who had received her Grace only yesterday, wanting to challenge the Lv.5 "Sword Princess" in full view of everyone.
In the eyes of the vast majority of onlookers, this no longer fell within the realm of courage.
It was purely the blind naïveté of a newborn calf with no clear sense of its own strength.
At this thought.
The [Loki Familia]'s Second Company member, the Lv.4 "Extraordinary Man" —
Raul Nord
LV.4 Hi-Warpith · Extraordinary Man
— Raul, too, couldn't stop himself; standing on the Twilight Manor's second-floor balcony, he glanced at Anakity beside him.
"Anaki, how long do you think this newcomer will last?"
Raul lowered his voice and asked.
"With your experience… how long do you reckon that newcomer down there with the black blade can hold out against Lady Ais before going down?"
"After buying supplies I've still got five hundred Valis left, and I'll bet thirty seconds at most."
"Even if Lady Ais, out of respect for Lord Haimer, just parries lazily with the flat of her blade."
"With a frame like a child's, there's no way she'll withstand the tearing of Lady Ais's Wind Spirit Magic."
Hearing this faintly contemptuous question.
Anakity — who bore the clear marks of a black cat, her two cat ears forever perked atop her head — bluntly slapped away the arm Raul had leaned in with, drawing a muffled "smack."
Her eyes rolled, and she gave him a disdainful look.
"You'd best save that little money of yours — don't go betting it."
Even though the two were on good terms, Anakity couldn't be bothered right now with this fellow and his foolish blather.
After all.
All of Orario now knew that Narukami Koharu was Inaba Tsukuyo's elder sister.
For Raul to still dare bet on someone's sister — was he not afraid of being overheard? Especially when one considered that their Lord Loki and Lord Haimer were the closest of friends back in the Heavens.
"Say, Alicia, what's your take?"
At this thought.
Anakity turned her head straight toward the [Loki Familia]'s Second Company member who had been standing quietly to one side, adjusting her own belt — the Lv.4 "Garden of Purity," Alicia.
Though she wore the face of a pure young maiden, Alicia, as an elf, was already something of a veteran within the [Loki Familia]'s Second Company.
As a member of the elven race.
Out of admiration for Riveria, who was born of elven royalty.
She had been with the [Loki Familia] for many years now.
These days, the mature, full curves that her uniform could scarcely contain revealed a womanliness at odds with her fresh, youthful face.
Upon hearing Anakity's words, Alicia gently reached up to smooth the long brown hair falling over her chest, and turned her gaze to the two below.
"Lv.1 against Lv.5 — it's basically a one-sided rout."
"But for Lord Haimer's sake, Ais will go easy, she won't do anything reckless. She'll probably hold back her strength, and after a few exchanges, disarm the sword from her hand."
"That way, once this drubbing is over, it'll make this girl called Koharu understand good and well that the wall of the fourth level isn't something you can cross on sheer recklessness alone."
Alicia's assessment was likewise the sentiment shared by most.
The outcome of this duel was all but a foregone conclusion.
"Lord Haimer has arrived!"
Just then, the sharp-eyed cat-person Anakity was the first to notice a familiar figure appear, and she immediately lowered her voice.
At these words.
The other Second Company members shed their idle postures at once, their eyes following her gaze.
There they saw Haimer, led by Riveria, arriving at a raised platform outside the training ground.
…
____
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