Watching the elf girl cram sweets into her mouth like a little squirrel, tantalized by the irresistible aroma drifting through the air, Jeanne and Rose could no longer fight off the pull of the desserts. Their mental defenses collapsed completely.
"Aaah, forget it!"
Jeanne was the first to "give in."
"Just once in a while won't... won't hurt, right, Rose?"
She was trying to drag an accomplice in, to ease the guilt clawing at her.
"Mm, mm, mm!"
Rose nodded hard in agreement, as if convincing herself.
The two of them finished self-hypnotizing in record time, eyes sparkling as they joined the "battlefield," launching into a dessert scramble with Laurier and Aura.
A sly, satisfied grin spread across Leon's face. These were exactly the expressions he'd been hoping to see.
Way too much fun.
It didn't take long before the heaping plate of desserts was wiped clean by the group.
Looking at the contentment on their faces, the lazy air that had settled back in...
Leon spoke up, as if only now remembering, and recounted what had happened to him during the day.
...
"What!?"
Jeanne's voice shot up.
She stared at the man sitting leisurely on the sofa, utter shock on her face, as if he'd just described something trivial.
"You're telling me you went to Tsubaki's place today to handle the spoils, and ended up in the middle of an Evilus attack!?"
"The target wasn't you, you just got dragged in by sheer bad luck?"
"And you actually counter-killed an entire elite squad!?"
"And then you ran into Freya Familia's Hildrsleif at the end of it!?"
The questions came rapid-fire as she stared at him in disbelief.
But seeing him sitting there so calm, so detached, as if none of it had anything to do with him, Jeanne nearly fainted from the rage.
"Leon! You... something this dangerous happened to you, how could you drag it out until now before telling us?!"
Her voice carried shock, lingering fear, and a hint of anger.
"Something this important, shouldn't an emergency familia meeting have been called the second you got home!?"
It wasn't just Jeanne. Rose's expression showed her disapproval too, but what filled those lovely eyes more than anything was deep worry for Leon's safety.
She looked at the man, brow slightly furrowed, her small hand unconsciously gripping the hem of her skirt.
The strength of Jeanne and Rose's reactions had actually caught Leon off guard.
Seeing them angry and anxious on his behalf warmed something in his chest, and he quickly softened his tone to soothe them.
"Alright, alright, look, I'm sitting here safe and sound, aren't I? And besides, I just got dragged into it. I wasn't their target at all."
He tried to defuse the tension with a light tone.
"Also, not to toot my own horn, but with the kind of strength those Evilus grunts had, how could they possibly be a match for me? Don't forget, I'm not the Lv.1 I used to be. I'm a proper Lv.2 upper-class Adventurer now!"
Leon paused, that signature confident smile on his face.
"On top of that... you two should know how I operate."
He shrugged, spread his hands in a bear-hug gesture, and added, half serious and half self-mocking:
"I'm pretty afraid of dying, you know. No exaggeration, if there's one thing I'm genuinely confident in, it's my nose for danger."
"Back in that courtyard, including the squad leader whose level I couldn't pin down, I didn't catch a single whiff of real threat off any of them. I turned it over a few times in my head before I finally decided to move."
Leon's eyes swept over Jeanne and Rose, his smile turning slightly searching for their understanding.
"Think about it. If I'd actually thought I couldn't win, or that my life was on the line, I'd have been out of there like a flash. Greased the soles of my boots. Right? Tell me I'm wrong."
As for the fact that once the fight started, he'd struck faster than Evilus had, he conveniently left that part out.
In his view, hitting first was always the right call. Showing martial virtue to Evilus? Please.
And as for Jeanne and Rose's side of things...
Just feed them the nice version and move on.
No point in making them worry for nothing.
...
The warm, languid atmosphere from before was long gone in the reception room.
Several of the ladies, Jeanne and Rose among them, were either sitting cross-legged on the soft sofa, hugging cushions and frowning in thought, or crowded around Leon, checking him over nervously for injuries.
Only Laurier's small face was lit up with pure curiosity.
"Leon, Leon!"
She leaned in, eyes sparkling like stars, questions spilling out in a burst.
"Come on, tell us the whole thing in detail! How did you end up fighting Evilus?"
"I've been in Orario this whole time and I've never heard anyone really talk about them. What are they actually like?"
"Facing off against them, did you get any deep impressions!?"
"Was it exciting?"
"Also, also, are they strong? What's their fighting style like?"
"I want to hear it! Come on, tell me, tell me!"
Leon and the other three: "..."
This kid, where was all that curiosity coming from.
When other people brought up Evilus, they either kept it hushed and wary, not wanting to say much, or they cursed them up and down, invoking their gods and ancestors.
Laurier? She was treating it like a thrilling adventure story to ask about.
And even though Aura next to her didn't say anything, her expression had already given her thoughts away.
No helping it. Unable to resist the two of them, Leon had no choice but to go through the cause, the lead-up, and the fight in detail.
By the time he finished, it was already midnight.
Leon let out a huge yawn and stood up with a wave of his hand.
"It's late. Everyone, get some rest. I was going to update your Basic Abilities for the two of you. Looks like it'll have to be tomorrow. Laurier, Aura, look forward to it!"
With that, ignoring the pair of elf girls whose eyes had lit up instantly with shock and anticipation, he wished everyone good night and headed straight to his room.
It had been a long day. Especially his first real PvP experience, which had kept his nerves cranked tight for hours on end. He'd been running on fumes.
He was out the moment his head hit the pillow.
But the other factions in Orario didn't get a wink all night thanks to the day's upheaval. Lights burned in every stronghold, and who knew how many people were sitting there with bloodshot eyes, racking their brains through the small hours, pulling all-nighters until their dark circles ran deep.
By the time the sky started brightening and even the Pleasure Quarter had gone quiet, the uproar of the previous day finally settled.
Morning.
Leon woke up to the crisp clash of weapons.
He dragged himself out of bed, pulled open the curtains, and looked down.
Just as he'd expected, the leads of today's sparring session had changed. It was the two braided girls now, Jeanne and Rose.
As for Laurier and Aura, they had miserable expressions on their faces as Jeanne had them running laps around the courtyard, dressed up as "physical conditioning."
Catching the flash of two resentful glances darting toward him from the alley outside the gate, Leon's mouth quirked up. He pulled his attention off them and settled it back on the two fiercely clashing women.
Bang, bang, bang...
Training weapons in hand, Jeanne and Rose were drenched in sweat, going at it hard.
The way they fought, you'd think the person across from them wasn't a familia comrade but a mortal enemy. The two kept ramping up the intensity with near-perfect coordination.
Faintly, the air around them was being stirred up by the swinging weapons.
"Tsk tsk tsk... eating sinful desserts at midnight, and then if you don't put some real effort into morning training, you'll be carrying that sin with you. Heh."
Remembering his "wickedness" from the night before, he lifted an eyebrow and muttered to himself with a grin:
"What a deeply sinful man I am. Tempting ladies with desserts at midnight. So wicked of me."
Right then, for no particular reason, he felt two bolts of killing intent lock on to him.
"Uh..."
Leon hastily plastered on a smile for Jeanne and Rose.
"G, good morning, Jeanne, Rose!"
"Hmph!" x2
"..."
...
After the morning's little interlude, once the sweat-soaked, stamina-draining training was done, Jeanne and Rose had their usual gentle smiles back on their faces.
At the dining table, Leon polished off the last bite of bread dipped in milk. He spoke through his chewing.
"Once we wrap up the household stuff, let me update Laurier and Aura's Falna first, then you two can head to the Dungeon."
He swallowed his mouthful and added:
"Oh, right. The spoils sold for 3.8 million valis total. Plus that little dragon we took down by accident on the twelfth floor. It had a Guild commission on it, and I had Tsubaki submit it for us. Reward was 300,000 valis."
Rose, who was clearing the dishes, asked offhandedly:
"So this run, we made 4.1 million valis total?"
Leon wiped his mouth and confirmed with a smile.
"Right, 4.1 million. Add in the familia's previous savings of 5,277,450, and we're at about 9,377,450 valis total."
As he said it, he opened his System interface to double-check.
...
Total Assets: Reserve: 34.43 million. Cash: 9,377,450. (Unit: valis)
Excelia Pool: 1794
...
With Leon's current reserve funds, he had enough to push every one of his potentials at the Lv.2 stage up past the S tier. The bottleneck now was Excelia.
Worth noting: after leveling up to Lv.2 and expanding the "vessel" of his being, every potential had gained 100 points, totaling more than 500 points across the board.
Which meant that continuing to push his potentials up to the S tier (900+) now required 5 million valis less and 500 Excelia less than it would have before the level-up.
And even for a Lv.2 like him now, those were not small numbers.
If nothing else, raising his potentials would save him enormous amounts of time and money.
The savings were his to allocate as he liked. Keep pushing the intensity and speed up Excelia and valis gains, or expand his toolkit and boost his functionality and versatility. That call was entirely up to Leon.
Seeing Leon nod in confirmation, Jeanne was pleasantly surprised too, and she let out a soft breath.
"Whew... so the familia's assets are almost up to the ten-million mark? Finally, we can relax a little."
The good news lightened the mood around the table noticeably.
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