"So you DO remember!"
Kaguya had been watching his face the entire time, and the moment his expression shifted, she knew he'd recalled the incident.
"Well? How do you plan to make this right?" Her voice was tight with barely suppressed embarrassment. "We trusted you completely, and look what happened!"
The memory of that strange, tingling sensation sent a flash of humiliated fury through her eyes, and she fixed him with a glare that said, very clearly, that an unsatisfactory answer would end in violence.
Leon felt the weight of several gazes on him. He needed to come up with something fast.
He thought it over and came to the miserable realization that he had nothing of value to offer as compensation. He couldn't exactly hand himself over. That was out of the question.
If material goods wouldn't cut it, he'd have to get creative.
He cleared his throat with tactical precision and lowered his voice. "Ahem. Miss Kaguya. This incident was my fault for not warning you beforehand, I'll admit that. But look, the Astraea Familia is a major operation with powerful adventurers across the board. I doubt anything a small-timer like me has would interest you. So how about this: once we're back on the surface, report the Monster Hunter Special situation to Lady Astraea. If she agrees to a partnership with us, I'm willing to offer a discount on pricing. Would that... satisfy you?"
He waited, bracing himself.
Making that offer already felt like carving out a piece of his own flesh. If she turned it down, he'd have to improvise.
"A discount on pricing?" Kaguya's tone gave nothing away. She dipped her chin slightly. "Fine. I hope the price you quote won't be too ridiculous."
She turned on her heel and walked away. Leon stared at her back, not entirely sure if he'd just won or lost that exchange.
That's... it?
Leon raised an eyebrow, thoroughly confused.
What he didn't catch was the flicker of cunning that passed through Kaguya's supposedly angry eyes. The confrontation had gone exactly as planned.
A culinary illusion mishap? Please. A woman of her composure wasn't petty enough to hold a grudge over something that trivial.
The whole point had been to play the aggrieved party and pressure him into a price concession.
And it had worked.
The Monster Hunter Special will be ours.
Her hand tightened inside her sleeve, but she wore a composed smile as she rejoined her companions.
"All settled?" Lyra tilted her head, a playful look on her young face.
"More or less." Kaguya kept her voice low, then added with a serious note: "Don't get your hopes up too high, though. A dish that can temporarily boost all Basic Abilities, something completely unheard of in Orario or anywhere in the mortal world? That's a seller's market if there ever was one."
She glanced ahead at Alise and the massive Magic Stone she was carrying, and a trace of bitterness touched her lips. "Even with a discount, how cheap can it really be? We're lucky to even know about this. Imagine if the Freya Familia or Loki Familia found out first."
Ryuu spoke, her voice cool and level. "The supply would be claimed instantly. At that point, no amount of money would buy a single serving."
A harsh conclusion, but an honest one. Familias built around their patron deities were like small nations, and the competition between them ran deep. Every scarce resource that fell into a rival's hands was one fewer for your own, and denying it to the competition while strengthening yourself was too good an opportunity for anyone to pass up.
The girls all knew this, and they were quietly grateful.
"Lucky that guy screwed Kaguya over back then." Lyra flicked her short blade to clear the blood after cutting down a freshly spawned Fang Lion on the path, and shook her head. "Gave us leverage, and leverage gave us the inside track."
Her companions nodded in agreement.
None of them realized that Leon had been planning to approach the Astraea Familia with a partnership offer all along.
The Loki Familia was a different matter. He did intend to negotiate with them through the right channels. But the Freya Familia, the other powerhouse they'd been speculating about? Cooperation with them was out of the question.
Freya herself might not care, given her temperament. But her Familia's zealots were a different breed entirely. Leon's group was too weak to deal with them on equal footing, and the Freya Familia's fanatics were far too aggressive. Any "partnership" would turn into subjugation before they knew what hit them.
The power imbalance killed the idea at the root. They'd be eaten alive.
...
The return trip was smooth beyond all expectation. Not a single complication, not a single surprise.
The odd monster that spawned along the way was dispatched without anyone breaking stride, barely worth noticing.
Leon wasn't sure whether to be relieved or suspicious. If he were actually a protagonist, shouldn't something have gone wrong by now?
He was still lost in that thought when they walked out of Babel and the evening sky greeted them overhead.
"Jeanne, doesn't this feel... weirdly smooth to you?" He turned to the relaxed Holy Maiden beside him, unable to let it go.
Jeanne swatted his arm. "Are you a masochist? What's wrong with things going well? You want the Dungeon to throw something at us just so you can feel normal?"
"Huh?"
Leon blinked, then looked down, genuinely questioning whether something was wrong with his mindset.
While he was lost in his existential crisis, the Astraea Familia's girls approached.
"We'll part ways here." Kaguya stepped forward, glanced at the brooding Leon, and addressed Jeanne. "As for the partnership discussion, shall we set a time tomorrow? You choose the location."
"Tomorrow?" Jeanne checked the sky and nodded. "It is getting late. Tomorrow works. The location..."
Leon snapped back to the present and cut in. "How about Wheat Manor? It's close to your base at the Garden of Stars. Same district."
"Good. Tomorrow at three in the afternoon, then." Kaguya dipped her head. "If that's settled, we'll take our leave."
The two groups exchanged brief farewells and parted ways at the entrance to Babel.
Back on the surface, surrounded by the bustle of the city's crowds, Leon felt a sense of safety he hadn't known he'd been missing settle back into his bones.
"Let's go. We're going home."
...
Seventh District. Leon's house.
A soft click, the turn of a key, and the courtyard gate swung open. They filed in one after another, packs still on their backs.
Leon spread his arms wide as if he meant to embrace the entire courtyard, tilted his head back, and drew in a long, deep breath. Pure contentment.
"God, I missed this."
Jeanne leaned her Banner Lance against the wall and stretched, arms reaching overhead in a full, lazy arc. "Finally home. That constant pressure in the Dungeon wears on you. I don't know how expedition teams spend weeks in the deep floors without losing their minds."
Rose settled quietly onto a stone bench, unbuckled her scabbard and set it on the table alongside her shield. She let the late-summer evening breeze, carrying the first hint of a cool edge, play across her face, and tucked a strand of pale blue hair behind her ear. "The Dungeon really is an incredible place," she said softly.
The three of them sat there, trading idle conversation, savoring the peace.
Laurier and Aura, whose very first Dungeon expedition had been dialed up to maximum intensity, were beyond words. They hadn't even managed to remove their heavy armor before collapsing onto their beds and falling instantly, utterly asleep.
...
Night deepened, and the courtyard vanished into darkness.
Late-returning birds called to each other from the branches, filling the quiet evening with scattered song.
When it felt like the right time, the three of them stood, stretched, and headed inside together.
"You two shower first. I'll get dinner started."
Before either of them could respond, Leon had already turned and disappeared into the house, his steps suspiciously light.
"What's he...?" Rose pressed a finger to the corner of her lips, tilting her head with a puzzled look in her ice-blue eyes.
Jeanne leaned close and whispered a few words in her ear, smiling.
"Ohhh." Rose's mouth formed a perfect little circle, followed by a look of dawning understanding and a smug little hum. "So he's sneaking off to open the treasure chest! Heh heh. Leon really is still a kid at heart."
Jeanne covered her mouth and laughed, shaking her head. "Right? He might as well have it tattooed on his forehead."
Meanwhile, blissfully unaware that he'd been seen through completely, Leon was already back in his room.
He stripped off his heavy armor piece by piece, tossing it aside without ceremony, and sat on the edge of his bed. Excitement radiated off him, his eyes bright, as though he could already see the glow spilling out of the chest.
The treasure chests were strange things. They hovered in place like weightless holograms, but the moment his hands cupped one, his palms registered solid, undeniable heft.
Two chests sat before him now, side by side. The smaller one had dropped from the Floor 12 mini-boss, the infant dragon. The larger was from the true floor boss of Floor 17, Goliath himself.
After a moment's deliberation, Leon decided to save the big one for last and start with the small chest.
"Okay... spirits above, spirits below, all you beautiful goddesses watching over me, hear my prayer!"
He dropped to his knees with a thud, facing the direction of Wheat Manor, and bowed his head with the solemnity of a man at an altar. "Please, please, let me pull something I actually need right now!"
Dignity? Pride? Leon didn't buy into any of that. Getting on his knees to pray to the goddesses and beg for good luck was nothing to be ashamed of. If it meant pulling something useful, he'd lick a goddess's boots without a second thought.
"Chest... OPEN!"
He willed it, and the lid cracked open.
A blinding column of golden light erupted from the gap, brighter than the midday sun, searing his unprotected eyes all over again.
Click.
The chest opened fully, light blazing.
"Holy SHIT! Is that... a six?!"