Eighth District, Twilight Manor.
"Naaa... niii...!?"
An exaggerated yelp shattered the quiet of the conference room.
Red-haired, with those trademark slit eyes, radiating her usual flippant, devil-may-care aura, the goddess Loki cracked those narrow eyes wide open for once after hearing the news Riveria had brought back. Her pupils were filled with pure disbelief.
"A miracle dish that boosts all your stats just by eating it?! Riveria, tell me honestly, did Ais finally piss you off so bad that you lost your mind and brought back this ridiculous intel?!"
Loki slammed the table, leaning forward, her voice climbing several octaves.
Riveria's expression remained calm, as if she hadn't heard Loki's challenge at all. Eyes closed, she elegantly took a sip of the warm tea in her cup before slowly speaking, her voice cool and detached as ever.
"What I reported is what I know. Whether it's true or false, I can't say for certain, but I'm inclined to believe it is. After all, they have no reason to deceive me."
"All right, everyone."
Seated at the head of the table, the Pallum leader and captain of Loki Familia, the Braver Finn, spoke up at just the right moment, cutting off the argument before it could escalate. He laced his fingers together and lightly tapped the bridge of his nose, the usual composed smile on his face.
"There's no point arguing over truth or falsehood. What matters is that they've shown sincerity. Didn't they provide us with a sample?"
His gaze shifted to the cloth-covered plate on the tea table.
"Practice is the only test of truth. We'll know once we try it."
"Finn's right."
Beside him, the dwarf Gareth, built like a slab of granite, slowly stroked his thick beard, his low voice carrying a metallic resonance.
"No point in all this talk. Better to experience it firsthand."
He lifted his heavy brows, sweeping his eyes across the room.
"So, who's going to be the first to try?"
"I will!"
Before Gareth had even finished, a golden figure shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow! Ais's eyes gleamed with an urgency no one had ever seen from her before, her small hand darting toward the cloth on the tea table with lightning speed!
She had been waiting for this moment for far too long!
But a pale, slender hand was faster.
"Wait. Ais, you can't."
Riveria's voice was calm yet carried an authority that brooked no argument. She caught Ais neatly by the back of her collar and, as if picking up a disobedient kitten, effortlessly hauled her away from the tea table.
The blonde girl kicked her legs uselessly in the air, her small face full of frustration and indignation.
Riveria ignored Ais's accusing stare and looked steadily at Finn and Gareth.
"Let me do it. I was the one who had direct contact with them, after all."
"If anything goes wrong, when we go to confront them, they won't be able to pretend they don't know me."
With that, Riveria slowly lifted the cloth covering the dish, revealing what lay underneath.
"This is... uh, bacon potato rolls?"
Gareth's thick brows rose, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
For a moment, every pair of eyes in the room, mortal and divine, was locked onto the few unremarkable-looking morsels of food, as if they might bloom into something miraculous under sustained scrutiny.
"Tch, doesn't look like anything special."
Loki leaned closer, squinting from every angle, before finally pursing her lips in disappointment.
"Don't jump to conclusions, Loki."
Finn kept his gentle smile, turning his gaze to Riveria.
"They should have given you instructions or warnings, yes? Anything we need to watch out for?"
"..."
At the question, Riveria's hand holding the plate gave a barely perceptible tremble, and her expression subtly shifted.
It seemed she had remembered something, and her tone carried a trace of hesitation she couldn't quite hide.
"They did mention... this Monster Hunter Special, while highly effective, comes with a tiny... well, essentially negligible side effect."
She chose her words carefully, her gaze drifting a little.
"They recommended that... the first time eating it, it's best to be alone, in an enclosed space."
"As for why, they didn't elaborate."
In Riveria's mind flashed the memory of those girls at Leon's side, with their strange expressions and the way they had visibly fought to hold back their laughter.
"However, judging from the way their female Familia members looked at the time... it seems... things aren't as simple as they claim."
Finn caught the hesitation in Riveria's words and that subtle shift in her expression. He narrowed his eyes, habitually licking his thumb.
"Alone... enclosed space... this side effect sounds like a lot more trouble than 'negligible' to me."
"In that case, we'll have to trouble you, Riveria. Please be careful."
"Understood."
Riveria nodded solemnly, picked up the plate of deceptively harmless bacon potato rolls, and walked with somewhat heavy steps toward her private chambers in Twilight Manor.
...
Five minutes later.
No one knew exactly what had transpired in those five blank minutes...
But the skies above Twilight Manor echoed endlessly with the wild laughter of the wicked goddess Loki.
And their princess, Ais Wallenstein...
Was wandering the courtyard alone with a dazed, soul-crushed expression, swinging her sword over and over as if facing a mortal enemy, every strike thrown with lethal force.
Meanwhile, inside Riveria's room.
The elven royal, known for her cold composure and regal authority, had utterly fallen apart.
Like a startled young girl, she was curled up in the deepest corner of her soft bed, arms locked tight around her bent knees, burying that normally aloof, noble face between her thighs. The tips of her exposed ears were red enough to bleed.
Faint, shame-choked whimpers leaked in fragments from between her buried knees.
"Uuu... was... was that really my voice?"
"That kind of... that kind of... shameless..."
"Was that even me?"
"Impossible... absolutely impossible!"
"How could that have been me?!"
"That wasn't me at all, aaaah!!!"
"Riveria, how could you... how could you do something like... that?!"
"So humiliating! My dignity... the dignity of my royal line... all of it... uuu..."
"That damned Leon Hart! Liar! A tiny side effect? You call that a tiny side effect?! That was... that was..."
"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!"
The elven princess's sanity, under the crushing weight of that social death and mortification...
Finally collapsed.
...
Under the same night sky, somewhere in the Seventh District.
Leon was sprawled lazily across his soft bed, arms pillowed behind his head, casually admiring the beautiful river of stars beyond his window.
He had no idea that a certain elven princess, far away in Twilight Manor, had him marked for serious retribution.
It was precisely because of his vague, casually dismissive description of "a tiny side effect" that Riveria had been sent straight into social death.
Thankfully, he still had enough of a conscience to drop a hint that the user should try it somewhere enclosed and alone.
If Riveria had tried it in the reception hall, well, that scene...
He didn't even want to imagine it!
...
"Status!"
A flick of his fingers, and the familiar interface unfolded before his eyes.
[Assets]: Reserve Funds: 34,430,000 Valis, Cash: 15,400,000 Valis
[Excelia]: 3,100 points
After half a month of "honest hard work" down in the Dungeon, his Excelia Pool had finally hit 3,100 points.
Why 3,100 exactly?
Because to push all his Lv. 2 basic abilities to S999, he needed a total of 3,081 points.
3,100 was just right. Enough to cover it, with a little change left over.
Since he'd hit the benchmark, what was he waiting for?
Leon's lips curved into a wicked grin, and he thought, System! Let's go all in!
The moment he spoke, the numbers on the panel began shifting wildly, surging upward, dancing!
Under his increasingly fervent gaze, they finally locked in at 999.
Strength: I0 → H102 | Potential: F323 → S999 Endurance: I0 → H119 | Potential: F366 → S999 Dexterity: I0 → H101 | Potential: F378 → S999 Agility: I0 → H115 | Potential: F358 → S999 Magic: I0 → G299 | Potential: E489 → S999
...
Going all in feels amazing, and going all in again feels even better!
Having finished allocating, Leon felt a hollow emptiness settle over him, dropping him straight into post-nut clarity mode.
And one glance at his asset and Excelia reserves killed any remaining urge to do anything at all.
[Assets]: Reserve Funds: 3,620,000, Cash: 15,400,000
[Excelia]: 19 points
"Tch, back to square one. Nearly a year's worth of Excelia, gone. Plus the floor boss's parting gift, blown through clean."
"Now I'm really running on fumes."
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