With Loki's instructions,
Many members of the Loki Familia had become aware that someone who wasn't one of their companions had appeared among their ranks.
Figuring out who this person was turned out to be incredibly simple.
If you spotted a stunningly beautiful blonde girl in the Loki Familia—one you'd never seen before—that was Alice, someone Loki had taken a great liking to.
That was also why, the moment Alice showed up among the Loki Familia members, she was recognized almost instantly.
Even though she wasn't part of the Familia, Alice had permission to move freely within their grounds.
So when she arrived at the entrance of the Loki Familia home, the guard on duty recognized her right away.
"Are you Alice-chan?"
It was a werewolf of the same race as Bete, standing guard at the gate. But compared to Bete, his tone was far more polite—though "Alice-chan" was a bit…
"Yes, I'm Alice."
"Pleased to meet you. My name is Warren. As you can see, I'm a werewolf, like Lord Bete. I was actually on gate duty last time you visited the Loki Familia."
"But you got into a conflict with Lord Bete before you made it this far, so we never got to meet."
The werewolf named Warren spoke to Alice in a very friendly manner.
"Hah…" Though Warren seemed polite, Alice wasn't quite sure what he was getting at.
Noticing Alice's calm demeanor, Warren scratched his head and continued, "I heard that the reason you didn't join our Familia was because Lord Bete stood in your way and picked a fight."
"I'm a werewolf too, but I don't have Lord Bete's talent. That's why I'm stuck here guarding the gate."
"All I can say is, even though Lord Bete seems really aggressive, has a foul mouth, and a terrible personality, he's actually a good person. He looks out for the members of the Familia."
"So, Alice-chan, if you decided not to join because of Lord Bete, I'd like to apologize on his behalf."
With that, Warren, the werewolf, bowed deeply to Alice in apology.
Seeing this, Alice was genuinely surprised. She smiled and replied,
"I still can't stand that guy, but he's already apologized to me. There are other reasons I'm not joining the Loki Familia—Lady Loki knows about them. So there's no need for you to do this."
"Well, I've got things to do, so I'll be on my way. Keep up the good work with the guarding!"
After offering a bit of encouragement to the werewolf guard, Alice quickly hurried off.
Warren, still standing in place, lifted his head upon hearing her voice only to find that Alice had already dashed quite a distance away.
"So this is the person Lady Loki has taken such a liking to… She really is something special."
Warren smiled faintly and returned to his guard duties.
--+--
The Loki Familia's home was quite a distance from the entrance to the Dungeon, and where Alice lived was also far from the Dungeon entrance.
What's more, the Loki Familia's home and Alice's place were also located far apart from each other.
If you marked all three locations on a map, they'd roughly form a triangle.
So if Alice wanted to meet up quickly with Lefiya and Ais at the Dungeon entrance, she needed to hurry home.
Although Alice was confident that Lili could take care of herself even if she didn't return,
There was one problem.
Lili was essentially being hunted by the Soma Familia. Even though she had Alice's dolls for protection, and the Little Legion dolls had autonomous defense capabilities,
The magic power for the Little Legion still came from Alice herself.
A full day might not completely drain their magic reserves, but if another day passed, it was hard to say. So Alice needed to go back and replenish their magic.
Early in the morning,
Though many people still noticed Alice's striking appearance, it seemed like something else had captured their attention even more than her.
As she walked through the streets, Alice noticed adventurers buzzing with conversations about things she couldn't make sense of.
But she couldn't shake the feeling—was it just her imagination?—that even though no one was looking directly at her, and they were discussing things she didn't understand, somehow, it felt like everyone was talking about her.
Many adventurers were speaking in hushed tones, but there were also those with louder voices. Alice clearly overheard what they were discussing,
And realized that it definitely wasn't about her.
Because everyone was talking about the Apollo Familia.
The gist of it was that the Apollo Familia's god, while visiting a tavern, had taken a liking to someone from the Hermes Familia and tried to forcefully take them away.
But it turned out that person was apparently from the Loki Familia—way out of his league. And on top of that, the person he'd targeted had given Apollo a thorough tongue-lashing.
Completely unrelated to her… right???
The more she listened, the more familiar the story sounded to Alice.
Faintly, she began to recall that while drinking with Hermes, she might have said something…
She didn't think she'd been insulting, but she had been drunk at the time, so anything was possible.
"Found you… the wretched woman who insulted Lord Apollo!"
Just as Alice was seriously wondering if the person the adventurers were discussing might be her, a voice boiling with rage rang out behind her.
Instinctively, Alice immediately channeled magic energy throughout her body, weaving a defensive barrier around herself.
A moment later, she felt someone strike hard from behind—a powerful, furious blow, fueled by anger.
From what Alice could sense, the attack was roughly on par with her dolls' strength.
Which meant, a Level 3 adventurer.
Also, since the attacker had struck in a crowded area, they likely weren't going all out. It could be an experienced Level 3 adventurer, or even a Level 4.
The force was intense. Alice reacted swiftly but was still sent flying.
The attack had probably been a kick.
Though she was sent tumbling, her magical barrier had already been deployed. So even though she was kicked away, the attack didn't cause any injury.
In fact, it put distance between her and her attacker.
Whoever this was, judging by their close-quarters assault, Alice knew she stood no chance in melee combat.
So, with distance now between them, Alice could focus on defending and counterattacking.
--+--
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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