"Tell me. What exactly is going on with Alfia?"
At the top of the northern tower of Twilight Manor, inside the room Finn normally used as his office, Riveria narrowed her emerald eyes dangerously.
Her gaze moved between Ais and Shiro, who were sitting across from her.
At Shiro's request, Riveria had sent Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya outside to guard the door and prevent anyone else in Loki Familia from entering while they talked.
A few minutes earlier, the guilty look plastered all over Ais's face had immediately told Riveria that something was wrong.
What surprised her was that even after Riveria exposed the lie, Ais still showed no intention of confessing.
That abnormal determination made Riveria change targets and begin questioning Shiro instead.
In the end, only after Riveria also promised to keep everything secret did Shiro finally tell her the truth about Alfia.
"Honestly... You caused something this serious without saying a word to anyone."
"Come on, come on."
Loki, who Riveria had summoned over, immediately tried to smooth things over for Ais and the others.
"Mama-san, you're way too serious. I know you're worried about their safety, but sometimes you should try trusting these kids a little more."
"Who are you calling Mama-san?"
Riveria shot Loki a vicious glare.
"And don't think standing beside me makes you innocent. You're involved in this Alfia situation too."
Loki immediately raised both hands with an awkward grin, pretending she had nothing to do with it.
Riveria sighed and rubbed her brow.
"Every last one of you is impossible. If Ais weren't so terrible at lying to me, who knows how far this would have gone before I noticed."
She looked back toward Shiro.
"Do you understand what Alfia appearing again would mean?"
"The rebirth of Evilus? Or rumors that Orario is about to fall into another dark age?"
Shiro raised an eyebrow and listed the most obvious stories that would spread if Alfia were seen.
"It goes beyond that."
Riveria's expression remained grave.
"Someone who supposedly died years ago suddenly turning out to be alive and active in Orario again would cast suspicion not only on our Familia, but on every Familia that participated in that battle."
"If things become serious enough, even the Guild's credibility could suffer a major blow."
Just thinking about it gave Riveria a headache.
She absolutely refused to believe that Loki had nothing to do with Alfia being chosen.
There were so many criminal souls available.
Even if they wanted someone relatively decent, why not choose Zald?
Why specifically Alfia?
Obviously because Loki thought Alfia was attractive.
Which meant Loki had probably considered these consequences the moment she received the soul from Ouranos.
In other words...
'I should've known. It's just one of her usual pranks. Starting chaos for the sake of chaos really does suit her perfectly.'
Riveria could already imagine the expression Loki would wear if Alfia were publicly exposed in Orario.
Then she remembered something Loki had once said while drunk.
Apparently, there had been a god in Heaven whose constant smiling annoyed Loki so much that she had spent ages looking for an opportunity to kill him.
Riveria sighed again.
"What I want to know is why this needs to be hidden from us so badly that you're willing to have Alfia personally set aside time to train Ais."
Hearing that, Shiro instinctively glanced toward the door.
Outside, Tione was still bickering with Tiona and clearly had no attention to spare for the conversation inside.
Only then did Shiro answer.
"Keeping it from all of you is secondary. The main reason is that I don't want Finn hearing about Alfia through Tione or the others."
"So it's because of that Pallum..."
Shiro had barely explained anything, yet Riveria immediately understood.
They had fought beside each other for more than twenty years.
Riveria knew Finn's personality, ambitions, and ideals almost as well as she knew her own.
From the moment he joined Loki Familia to every achievement he had earned under the title [Braver], Finn had always pursued one goal.
Become a hero of the Pallums and revive his people.
When Finn first accepted Loki's Falna and became the first member of Loki Familia, he had even made Loki promise never to interfere with his efforts to restore the Pallum race.
And Alfia's existence could easily become what Finn considered an "obstacle."
Pallums lacked the overwhelming physical strength of dwarves.
They lacked the extraordinary magical talent of elves.
Because of their small bodies, they were even physically inferior to ordinary humans.
That was precisely why Finn had decided to follow the example of the leader of the ancient Fianna Knights, an order composed entirely of Pallums.
He would become a hero his people could look toward with pride and use that image to inspire them once more.
But that dream meant Finn's reputation could not tolerate any stains.
There were many things Finn himself might not personally care about.
Yet to preserve the image he had built among his own people, there were actions he had no choice but to take.
And that meant Alfia, who had once fought on Evilus's side, absolutely could not appear in front of him.
"I understand."
Riveria could not criticize Finn too harshly.
She, Finn, and Gareth had each joined Loki Familia because of their own ideals.
Back then, their different races and beliefs caused plenty of conflicts.
In fact, to the wild princess who had finally escaped the suffocating rules of Alf's Royal Forest, many of Finn's actions had once been extremely irritating.
But after taking care of Ais for so many years, Riveria had gradually come to understand the value of rules.
She had also become more accepting of the things Finn did that she once found difficult to understand.
Put another way, Riveria had grown enormously compared with the girl she used to be.
Many things elves traditionally regarded as "impure" were now things she could at least tolerate.
Perhaps that growing tolerance was exactly why Loki so often called her Mama-san.
Still, even if Riveria understood Shiro's reasoning, there was another problem he could not avoid.
"Even if we help you hide Alfia for now, as long as you continue living in Twilight Manor, this will eventually be discovered."
Riveria went straight to the heart of the issue.
Alfia's current form might resemble a spirit, but problems were inevitable over time.
What if Alfia wanted to come out for some fresh air one day and happened to run into Finn?
They could not possibly remain on guard every moment.
Hiding something was one thing.
Protecting that secret forever was another.
"Yeah. That's why I'm planning to leave again for a while."
Shiro agreed without hesitation.
Then he gathered Magic into his hand.
Under Riveria's confused gaze, he used his magic to create a sticky, shapeless mass on top of the table.
Riveria stared at it.
"What is that?"
"Loki told me you've basically confirmed that Evilus is hiding somewhere in Daedalus Street, right?"
Shiro looked at the strange substance he had created.
"Before the Familia executives finish dealing with the Dungeon situation, I'll go scout the place out first."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"And I'll do it using an identity they would never expect."
…