Morning at the Loki Familia.
After finishing her meal and washing up, Alice stepped out of her room alongside Lefiya.
Just then, members of the Loki Familia were also finishing their preparations for the Dungeon, grouping up and heading out one after another.
As luck would have it, they ran right into Alice.
And due to certain… particular reasons, every single one of them stared curiously at Alice's face when they saw her, then leaned in to whisper to their companions.
Their gazes were full of kindness—but also brimming with curiosity.
Faintly, Alice could make out some of what they were saying.
"Hey, is that the girl Lord Hermes brought over yesterday?"
"Yeah, I think it's her."
"She really is pretty, no wonder the god Apollo took an interest."
"I wonder if she'll join our Familia—I really hope she does."
"Probably not. Didn't Lady Loki say this morning? Told us to be on our best behavior around Alice, and not to antagonize her no matter what."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Dummy, if Lady Loki said that, it means she's not one of us—she's an outside friend. So she probably won't be joining."
"Aww, what a shame. If Alice-chan joined, I'd totally go all out pursuing her."
"Pfft, looks like someone's still half-asleep. Why don't you go home and catch some more Z's? You can dream all you want there."
"What, a guy can't even imagine?"
"It's not that—just don't forget, a little while back, she was about to join us, but then Sir Bete drove her off. She fought Sir Bete and still didn't join, plus she's caught the eye of both Lady Loki and Lord Apollo—there's no way she'd ever be interested in you."
"There's more—I heard from the members who got back this morning that Alice-chan might've also impressed Lord Hermes and Lady Hephaestus."
"Whoa, seriously? Is she, like… a hero or something?"
"Must be. Anyway, she's way out of our league."
Four or five Level 2 adventurers from the Loki Familia glanced Alice's way, chatting quietly among themselves as they walked off.
Though she couldn't hear everything clearly, Alice still caught most of their conversation.
"Did Loki tell everyone in your Familia about me?" Alice asked Lefiya curiously. "And what's all this about Apollo?"
In Alice's memory, the name Apollo only came up once before—back when Lady Hestia was teaching her hieroglyphs.
"Ahaha…" Lefiya laughed awkwardly. She didn't quite know how to answer, so she just took Alice's hand and picked up the pace. "Let's just go see Lady Loki quickly. You can ask her all your questions!"
"Oh… alright."
Alice let herself be pulled along obediently.
But just as the two were about to reach the building where Loki was, Loki herself came rushing out in a hurry, with Finn in tow.
"Lady Loki!" Lefiya called out as soon as she saw her.
Hearing Lefiya's voice, Loki glanced over. She spotted Lefiya—and Alice right beside her.
"Ooh~~ Alice-chan, you're up~~ Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush. I did have something to talk to you about, but it's nothing major. Anyway, just remember this—our Loki Familia might not be able to back you up as a whole," Loki began, speaking quickly.
"But individual actions are totally fine. Like, Riveria and Lefiya here can help you out in certain situations."
"Alright then, Ouranos is holding a Monster Feria in two weeks, so I've gotta run to the Guild now. See ya!"
And with that—before Alice or Lefiya could even react—Loki grabbed Finn and dashed off.
Watching Loki disappear into the distance, Alice and Lefiya just looked at each other.
"She ran off." Alice murmured.
"Yeah…" Lefiya nodded.
"So… what should we do now?" Alice asked, tilting her head. She'd only come because Loki wanted to see her—now that Loki was gone, she wasn't sure what to do.
"Well…" Lefiya shook her head—she didn't know either.
"Hmm…"
"Hmm…"
"How about we go to the Dungeon?" they both said at the same time.
Realizing they'd had the same idea, the two broke into laughter.
"Let's go to the Dungeon, then! It'll be a perfect chance to test out the shortened chant I worked on yesterday," Lefiya said excitedly. She'd been so fixated on refining her magic chant that she barely slept last night—too amped up.
Well, aside from that half hour or so she'd spent taking care of Alice. But since Alice had been well-behaved and passed out right after getting drunk, all Lefiya had to do was change her into pajamas.
"I'll go get Miss Ais! She said yesterday she wanted to go to the Dungeon with us, too."
Lefiya was practically buzzing. If she could show Ais how much stronger she'd become down in the Dungeon, it would make her incredibly happy.
"Ais, huh," Alice recalled the golden-haired swordswoman from yesterday. "Sure, let's go together. I'd actually like to learn a thing or two about swordsmanship from the 'Sword Princess' herself. I saw some books on sword techniques in Loki's study yesterday—I want to try some of them out."
So, with their plan set, the two got ready to head off and find Ais.
"Ah," Alice paused mid-step, suddenly remembering something.
"Hm? What's wrong, Alice?" Lefiya asked, turning back when she noticed Alice had stopped.
"Well, I just remembered—I've got something to take care of back home. I was planning to open for business today, but if we're going to the Dungeon, I should let Lili know we're closed for the day."
"But this works out—I was originally going to handle the renovations myself, but now I can leave it to Lili."
Alice explained.
"I see…" Lefiya nodded. "We could go with you to your shop."
"No need," Alice waved her hand and turned. "Where I live is pretty far from the Dungeon entrance. It'd be out of the way for you two, so I'll just go back on my own. You can wait for me at the Dungeon entrance."
"Don't worry, I'll be quick."
"Alright then… See you at the entrance, Alice."
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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