Hearing Lefiya's voice, Alice turned around to see both Lefiya and Ais, completely unharmed. Her eyes lit up at the sight.
"You two are alright?" Alice looked Lefiya over carefully and found that aside from her hair being a bit messy, she was perfectly fine.
"We're okay. Miss Ais grabbed me and ran right before the explosion happened." Lefiya surveyed their surroundings and couldn't help but click her tongue in amazement. "But Alice, did you... cause all this?"
Lefiya's eyes widened as she stared intently at Alice.
Scratching her head a little sheepishly at the question, Alice replied, "Sorry about that. It was an attack I came up with on the spot. I just didn't expect the destructive power to be this huge. Thank goodness you two weren't caught in it."
The moment the explosion erupted, Alice had actually considered pulling both Lefiya and Ais into the Gap with her. But when she looked their way, Ais had already carried Lefiya to safety, so Alice slipped into the Gap without worry.
"Um..." Ais spoke up, looking at Alice.
"Hmm?"
"Can I learn that attack?" Ais's gaze held intense expectation.
"Well..." Alice furrowed her brow, then spoke with a hint of apology. "I'm sorry, Miss Ais. That attack was developed based on the unique properties of my magic. It's not something you can learn."
Truthfully, if Ais really wanted to learn, Alice wouldn't have minded teaching her the Seven Luminaries magic. But Ais's talent lay in swordsmanship; her magic was solely focused on wind control. Trying to learn the Seven Luminaries magic would honestly be a waste of her innate gifts.
"I see..." Although she had expected it, hearing Alice say it still left Ais feeling a little disappointed. But in an instant, she recovered. She still had abilities she needed to train. Learning something else would just waste time and do more harm than good. The current Ais felt no uncertainty about how she needed to grow stronger.
Seeing the look in Ais's eyes shift from disappointment to confidence, and then to calm resolve, Alice smiled softly. She understood that Ais had already sorted out her feelings and moved on.
"My business here is done. Do you two have anything else to do?" Alice asked them with a smile.
Hearing her question, both Ais and Lefiya shook their heads.
"In that case, let's head back." With that, Alice started walking towards the upper floors.
After a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
"Ah! I almost forgot! The drop! The drop!" Turning around, she scurried back to the epicenter of the explosion to search for whatever might be left behind.
As a floor boss, there should definitely be a drop item. But Alice's big bang was incredibly powerful—who knew if the drop had been vaporized? In the end, though, Alice left looking quite satisfied. It must have been a pretty good drop.
--+--
After Alice and the other two left, many adventurers gradually made their way up from the 18th floor. They, too, were utterly shocked by the devastated state of the 17th floor.
Furthermore, some adventurers skilled in analyzing traces discovered an even more astonishing fact. The only adventurers who had been on this floor today were three individuals, and judging by the size and depth of the footprints, they were all female. Most incredibly, the floor boss of the 17th floor, Goliath, had been instantly defeated by a single person using an immensely powerful explosive-type magic.
And so, on that day, a story spread throughout the 18th floor: a girl wielding tremendous explosive magic had single-handedly slain the floor boss Goliath.
The legend of the Explosion Magic user.
--+--
By the time Alice, Ais, and Lefiya returned from the Dungeon to the surface of Orario, it was already evening. Since Alice's home wasn't really on the way to the Loki Familia's home, the three parted ways directly.
Alice arrived home right around dinnertime.
"I'm hooome~~~" Alice pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Having defeated Goliath and obtained a nice drop item, Alice was in a wonderfully cheerful mood.
The moment she entered, a delicious aroma hit her nose—it seemed the dolls were cooking something tasty. But mixed with the food was the scent of alcohol, much sweeter and more fragrant than the malt ale she'd had with Hermes before.
Along with the alcohol were rich, sweet fruit notes. Even though Alice's understanding of alcohol was purely theoretical, and she was the type to get drunk after just one cup, she could tell this was an exceptionally rare and fine drink.
But alcohol was still alcohol. After smelling it, Alice couldn't help but frown.
'Lili doesn't drink... so it must be Hestia?'
Just as Alice was wondering, Hestia provided the answer.
"Alice-chaaan~~~ Welcome back~~~" Hestia called out loudly, running out from inside the room. "Alice, come quick! We have Soma's divine wine today! It's really amazing stuff!"
Hestia's face was flushed with excitement.
"Soma's divine wine? Where did it come from? Did Lili get it?" Alice raised an eyebrow. If she remembered correctly, Lili was a member of the Soma Familia. Soma was the god of brewing, and the wine he produced was considered the finest of treasures throughout Orario. But given Lili's capabilities, she shouldn't have been able to get her hands on Soma's divine wine.
"Huh? Lili-chan?" Hestia was taken aback by Alice's question and quickly waved her hands. "No, no, it was delivered by a staff member from the Adventurer's Guild."
"The Adventurer's Guild?" Alice frowned. "Why would the Guild deliver Soma's divine wine?"
"Who knows? That half-elf lady said it was an apology gift for you, sent by someone," Hestia replied, also unsure of the reason.
"Half-elf?" Alice's eyebrow twitched again.
Following Hestia into the living room, a familiar figure rose from the sofa.
"It's good to see you again, Miss Patchouli Knowledge."
Eina looked at Alice with a smile and uttered the fake name Alice had given her.
Seeing it was Eina, Alice smiled wryly.
"So it was you after all."
"Indeed, Miss Patchouli. I wonder if this time you might tell me your real name?" Eina continued to smile at her.
Alice's lips curved into a smirk.
"It's Alice. Alice Margatroid."
--+--
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.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.