After finishing dinner at the Hostess of Fertility, Isis followed behind Alicia and returned to Twilight Manor.
Once the guards opened the gate and let them into the courtyard, Alicia stopped. A faint, gentle curve touched her lips.
"You worked hard today, Isis."
"You too, Senior Alicia. Thanks for everything today. It's getting late, so I'm going to take a bath and get some rest."
Isis answered with a bright smile.
Today's adventure had brought him plenty of gains. He had learned the scope of his own strength, and he had gained real experience fighting Dungeon monsters.
He had fought wild beasts in Alf Forest before, of course, but compared to the monsters of Orario's Dungeon, those encounters had been child's play.
Dungeon monsters varied endlessly. You had to keep adapting to them. The slightest carelessness could cost you your life.
Alicia nodded with her usual graceful poise, then watched Isis cross the courtyard toward the boys' dormitory.
"I should report to Lady Riveria."
Murmuring softly to herself, Alicia noticed that the library was still lit and began walking there with elegant steps.
As the guide who had taken Isis into the Dungeon today—and with Riveria being both his teacher and his aunt—Alicia naturally needed to give a full report.
…
But after parting ways with Alicia, Isis did not hurry back to his room to bathe and sleep.
Instead, he made his way to the training grounds in the courtyard.
He had burned through a great deal of magic today, yet his mind felt oddly clear.
His body was exhausted, but his thoughts were still turning. Even if he lay down now, he doubted he would fall asleep right away.
After stretching lazily, Isis adjusted the magic within himself and opened his palm. Four elemental powers appeared above it, circling one another.
He stared fixedly at those four elements in his hand, recalling his aunt's words:
The elements and you exist in symbiosis.
During today's battle with the monsters, he had felt that truth clearly. And he also knew that if he wanted to go even farther, he needed to completely acclimate himself to the presence of these four elements within his body.
"If that's the case… what kind of existence will my first awakening become in the future?"
Gazing at the bright full moon, Isis murmured softly to himself.
Drawing on his somewhat hazy memory of the game, he thought of the Elemental Bomber's first awakening: Elemental Lord.
He did not actually remember the first awakening all that clearly.
But the second awakening—
that one was still vivid in his mind.
The reason was simple.
The second awakening skill had been cool.
Ridiculously cool.
So cool that it had left a lasting impression on him.
At that moment, a figure appeared at the edge of the training grounds, quietly watching the four elements dancing in his hand.
In the moonlight, Isis finally made out who it was.
"Miss Ais?"
"You're still training this late?"
Naturally, Isis recognized her at once, and there was obvious surprise in his voice.
Honestly, Ais really was beautiful.
In Isis's mind, she was the third person he could describe with the phrase beautiful beyond words.
The first was his mother.
The second was his aunt.
And the third was Ais.
Moonlight traced her features with startling clarity, lending her the kind of beauty that felt almost like a fairy out of a story.
But Ais herself probably had no idea what she looked like.
She simply stood there, looking at the elements in his hand, her eyes filled with nothing but curiosity.
At the same time, Isis could not help marveling again at just how frightening Ais's talent was: the record-holder for the fastest rise to Level 2 in the world, and the youngest Level 5.
She was only two years older than him, wasn't she?
And she was already Level 5.
All Isis could do was sigh inwardly in admiration.
"…Mm."
Ais nodded lightly and sheathed the sword in her hand.
Then her gaze settled on the four elements in Isis's palm.
"What's that?"
A faint ripple appeared in her usually tranquil eyes.
Clearly, she was curious about the four elemental forces he held.
"The four elements I can use."
After hearing his answer, the naturally airheaded Ais tilted her head slightly, a trace of confusion on her face.
"What are they for?"
Isis froze for a moment.
He clearly had not expected her to be this good at conversation.
After a brief pause, he answered,
"They're what allow me to use magic. My aunt—Lady Riveria—told me that what I need to do is adapt to their existence."
"It's kind of like… the more you understand something, the more willing it is to work with you."
"Coexisting with them. Adapting to this new power."
He paused, then added a comparison.
"…Like getting along with people."
That was the metaphor he settled on.
After all, his aunt had told him that Miss Ais was a little absent-minded and not very good at interacting with others, so he tried to explain it in terms she would understand more easily.
"Oh…"
Ais nodded lightly.
But at some point, her gaze had already shifted from the elements to Isis himself.
Looking at that face, which resembled Riveria's in a few ways, she found herself feeling something a little strange.
Isis was Riveria's nephew, bound to her by close blood ties, and yet…
he did not seem nearly as scary as Riveria.
If Riveria had known what Ais was thinking right now, she probably would have whacked her over the head with her staff on the spot.
"I'm going back to rest, Miss Ais. You should get some sleep too. The expedition leaves tomorrow."
With a smile, Isis withdrew the elements and the magic radiating from his hand, stood up, waved, and headed toward the dormitories.
"…Mm."
Ais nodded again, and the two of them went off in different directions.
…
Inside the library, Riveria listened as Alicia reported everything about Isis's day in full detail.
And when she heard that Isis had entered the Dungeon for the first time and managed to kill three War Shadows by himself, she could not help pausing for a moment.
She had not expected this child's performance to be even better than she had imagined.
As expected, it had not been a mistake to plan on raising both him and Lefiya as her future successors.
"You've worked hard too, Alicia. That child must have troubled you all day."
Riveria offered her a faint smile of appreciation.
"It was my duty, Lady Riveria."
Alicia shook her head lightly, but her eyes, when they looked at Riveria, were filled with reverence.
In Alicia's heart, Riveria was a supreme existence—the person she admired most.
"You should get some rest too. The expedition begins tomorrow. I'll handle the remaining matters myself."
Riveria had already noticed Alicia's desire to stay and help deal with the route planning and various pieces of Dungeon intelligence spread across the desk, so she simply gestured for her to leave.
"But…"
"Go."
Alicia had wanted to remain. There was concern in her eyes as she looked at Riveria. She knew how much this woman gave to the Familia, how much thought she carried on her shoulders, and she wanted to help shoulder some of it.
And yet Riveria was as gentle as ever, intending to take that burden onto herself alone.
Gentle Lady Riveria…
How could anyone not admire her?
But since Riveria had spoken, Alicia had no choice but to bow respectfully and leave.
Once the door closed behind her, Riveria did not immediately lower her eyes to the documents on her desk.
She sat there beneath the lamplight, fingers resting on the tabletop, thinking about something Alicia had just said.
His dodge wasn't an instinctive retreat. He stepped half a pace diagonally forward.
This child, the very first time he faced a War Shadow, had already been thinking about his counterattack.
Riveria let out a soft breath.
Her pride was real.
And so was her worry.
She was proud that he was growing even faster than she had expected.
And she was worried because those who grew too quickly sometimes forgot that they had not yet reached the point where they could afford not to care about the price.
She picked up the quill on the desk and wrote her sister's name on a sheet of paper.
Then she stopped.
How was she supposed to phrase it?
Your son entered the Dungeon for the first time today, killed three War Shadows by himself, and took a claw wound to his right shoulder.
Riveria set the quill down again and rubbed at her brow.
If her sister read that sentence, she would probably see not three War Shadows first—
but a claw wound to the right shoulder.
Just like Riveria herself had.
Picking the quill back up, Riveria fell into thought once more.
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