"Holy shit! Scared the living hell out of me!"
Leon sprinted toward the surface at full tilt, cursing up a storm the whole way.
"Son of a bitch! I definitely didn't check my horoscope before leaving the house today! How the hell did I run into Alfia, that goddamn witch?!"
"Just my luck! Just my fucking luck!"
He kept his head down and ran like a man possessed. The Escape Development Ability engraved on his back pulsed with a faint, steady glow.
By the time Leon made it home, the sky had gone completely dark.
He shoved the courtyard gate open, not caring that the ground was still wet from the rain, tossed his backpack and staff aside, flopped flat on his back on the flagstones, and lay there with his eyes shut, gasping for air.
Hearing the commotion outside, Jeanne, Rose, and Kureha, who had already finished their training and studying for the day and were in the kitchen preparing dinner, wiped their hands on their aprons and came out to look.
"Leon, how come you're back so..."
"What happened to you?"
Jeanne didn't even finish her sentence before she caught sight of the man sprawled out on the stone slabs like a wreck.
The three women exchanged surprised glances, hurried over to Leon's side, crouched down, and prodded lightly at his stomach and arms, laughing.
"What's the matter? You're clearly not hurt anywhere, so why do you look like death warmed over?"
"Don't tell me... you ran into some vengeful ghost lady in the Dungeon?"
"Look at you, scared out of your mind."
Leon: "..."
He was too exhausted to say a single word. But Jeanne's offhand jab still made him roll his eyes.
A ghost lady?
That was exactly what she was!
Except she wasn't haunting the Dungeon. She was haunting Orario!
If it were just some regular ghost lady, he'd have blasted her with a Fireball the second he laid eyes on her. But this ghost lady... forget that she was gorgeous, she was also stupidly overpowered!
Couldn't mess with her. Really, truly couldn't mess with her.
After lying on the ground recovering for a good while, Leon finally sat up like a wet noodle, took the cup of water Kureha handed him, thanked her, then tilted his head back and chugged it down.
Water dribbled from the corners of his mouth. He didn't care.
He drained the entire cup of ice water in one go, then let out a long, relieved breath.
"Ahh... I'm finally alive again!"
"You guys have no idea. I ran all the way home from Floor 16 without stopping, without resting, without slowing down even a little!"
His expression was dead serious as he enunciated every single word:
"Full. Speed. Sprint. The. Entire. Way."
The women went silent. "..."
Just then, Laurier and Aura came thumping down the stairs from the second floor, drawn by the noise.
Spotting Leon sitting on the ground, Laurier tilted her head to one side.
"Huh? Why are you sitting on the ground? It's all damp!"
Aura glanced at the backpack and staff that had been tossed aside, a thoughtful look crossing her face.
"Mr. Leon, did you run into some kind of unavoidable trouble?"
Leon looked at the two elf girls and managed a wry, bitter smile.
"Yeah, you could say that... a tiny bit of trouble. Good thing I reacted fast and booked it out of there immediately, otherwise..."
Kureha gently took his hand and spoke softly.
"Nothing else matters. What matters is that you made it home safe."
"You only get one life. As long as you're alive, there are still infinite possibilities."
"But if you're gone... then there's really nothing left."
As if Leon didn't already know all of that.
It was just...
Back home now, surrounded by the warmth of the people around him, he calmed down a little and started reviewing that brief but terrifying encounter.
With how experienced Alfia is, I used the dust cloud to block her line of sight for just a second and managed to slip away... Could she really not see through that?
Or... did she let her guard down?
The moment that thought surfaced, he shook his head instinctively.
Impossible. She's a top-tier Adventurer who's been forged through countless life-or-death battles. She'd never make a rookie mistake like that.
Unless...
When that possibility clicked into place, Leon went rigid.
"No way! Absolutely no way!"
"She's got bigger fish to fry. Why would she waste time on a nobody like me?"
"Right, exactly! That's how it is!"
"Heh... I'm definitely overthinking this. Just psyching myself out, that's all!"
After talking himself off the ledge, Leon's nerves settled down a bit.
But for some reason, a faint sense of unease still lingered at the back of his mind, like a shadow he couldn't shake.
"Alright everyone, I'm fine. Go on and get back to what you were doing."
"I'm gonna go take a shower."
"Rose, could you sort through the loot for me?"
"Sure."
...
Hot water poured down from the showerhead as Leon closed his eyes, soaking in the brief moment of quiet.
"Hah..."
I really miscalculated... Why would Alfia show up in Orario at a time like this? And why the hell was she taking a stroll through the Dungeon of all places?
And on top of all that, I actually ran into her?
...This isn't some god pulling strings behind my back, is it?
Forget it. What's done is done, no point complaining. For the next little while... I should keep a low profile. Stay off the streets if I can, cut down on the chances of being spotted.
Given the state Alfia's body is in right now, she probably doesn't have the free time to wander around the city all day anyway...
After all, they came back to Orario to do something big.
Then, like a lightbulb going off, Leon hit on a brilliant idea.
Wait. If she can't fight for extended periods... doesn't that mean I just need to go somewhere she can't reach, and I'll be safe?
Where can't she reach? No... the real question is, where wouldn't be worth her spending her precious time and energy?
The next second, a single word flashed through his mind.
Expedition!
...
...
After dinner, once the chores were finished, the entire household gathered in the living room, Leon included.
Since Leon had suddenly announced during dinner that he was calling a Familia meeting, everyone was a bit curious. A formal notice like this usually only came before a new floor push or a Monster Rex hunt.
So everyone had already formed some guesses about what this meeting was about.
In the living room, Jeanne, Rose, and Kureha sat side by side on the long sofa, nibbling at their after-dinner desserts while waiting for Leon to speak.
Laurier and Aura sat on the soft carpet, one with her legs folded neatly beneath her, the other with her legs elegantly tucked to the side.
Leon's gaze swept across every person present. He took a sip of green tea, then spoke in a serious tone.
"Everyone, start getting ready. In three days... we're officially launching our next Expedition."
"Destination: Floor 27, the Water City."
Laurier's eyes went wide. "What?!"
Aura closed the book in her hands and looked up.
Jeanne set down her dessert, lightly wiped the cream from the corner of her lips with a finger, her face full of surprise.
Kureha's brows arched slightly, her eyes glimmering with barely contained excitement.
Rose calmly sipped her sweetened tea, as if she'd seen this coming all along.
...
Leon took in each of their reactions, quietly breathing a sigh of relief.
It seemed like nobody was opposed.
Honestly, before proposing this plan, he'd been a little worried.
After all, given the Familia's current overall fighting strength, venturing into the Lower Floors was, by his own cautious standards, still a stretch.
Granted, when other Familias launched large-scale Expeditions, they typically explored areas one level above their team's average.
But Leon's approach was fundamentally different from theirs.
He didn't need achievements. He didn't need glory. He didn't need fame. Exploring the Dungeon was about more practical things: strength and wealth.
And so, the single most important principle behind every plan he made was survival.
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