"Ah, I'm so tired. I want to eat meat."
"I just want to lie down on my comfy bed."
"I'm just glad I can finally take a proper bath."
"Ahaha."
The Loki Familia murmured amongst themselves as they walked through the manor gates, smiles on their weary faces.
That was... until they heard a loud voice rapidly closing in on them.
"WEEEEEEELCOOOOOOOOMEEEE HOOOOOOMEEEEEEE!"
It was their flat-chested goddess, Loki, launching herself like a missile toward them.
At this point, it was basically tradition.
Every time they returned from an expedition, Loki never failed to make a dramatic welcome like this.
"Haha..."
Finn chuckled nervously as he watched Loki completely ignore the boys and dive straight toward the girls.
The veterans, already used to her antics, quickly sidestepped to avoid her perverted hands.
Unfortunately, one poor soul failed to dodge in time.
"Eh?"
An amber-haired elf blinked absentmindedly.
Wearing a pink dress and holding her staff with both hands, this was Lefiya Viridis, a level 3 mage poised as Riveria's successor.
"Kyaa!!"
Lefiya shrieked as Loki grabbed hold of her.
"Is everybody alright? Huhu... I was so lonely at home."
Loki said with a perverted grin, shamelessly groping Lefiya's chest while the flustered elf froze in mortified silence.
Finn sighed.
"Loki... thankfully, there were no casualties during this expedition. Though we ran into some trouble on the lower floors on our way down, we made sure everyone reached the 50th floor safely."
He said, his tone calm despite the absurd situation.
"However, we failed to reach the 59th floor this time. Our deepest record remains the same. There are still details I need to report, but I'll include them in a written report later."
"Hnn... understood. Keep up the good work, Finn... and welcome back."
Loki said with a grin, finally releasing Lefiya, who nearly collapsed from embarrassment.
"Yeah... I'm back, Loki."
Finn replied with a small smile.
"Sorry about that, Lefiya."
Loki said with a mock-sagely expression.
"Seeing all of you come home safe just made me overflow with emotion."
Her expression then twisted into that of a perverted old man.
"By the way, did your boobs get bigger? I could feel the difference from last time when I cupped them just now."
Loki demonstrated with her hands, making a cupping motion.
"Please stop talking! And no, they didn't get bigger!"
Lefiya yelled, her face red as a tomato.
Everyone around sighed in exasperation... especially the women... who looked at their own goddess with a mix of irritation and slight disdain.
Of course, with Loki's infamously thick skin, she wasn't bothered in the slightest and bounced back like nothing happened.
"Yo, Ais! Welcome home!"
"Ah, I'm back, Loki."
Loki walked up to the golden-haired girl and patted her on the shoulder.
"Your body must be aching right now, huh? Let me guess... you pushed yourself too hard in the dungeon again?"
Loki said with a knowing smirk before turning around and continuing her rounds of teasing the others.
'Even Finn, Riveria, and the others couldn't tell... but Loki had actually seen through me with a glance.'
Her hand twitched as she felt her whole body aching with pain.
Even for a Level 5 like her, the expedition had taken a huge toll on her body.
That was the price to pay for being positioned on the frontlines.
Without any regard for her safety, she pushed herself constantly just to gain a little bit of strength.
She was aware that this kind of behavior was usually unacceptable, but she didn't care.
For the sake of her goal, she had to get stronger no matter the cost.
To get back what she had lost and to protect what she had now.
Looking at the lively scene around her, Ais couldn't help but relax.
'I won't let any monster take away anything from me ever again.'
Just as the tension in her body loosened, at the corner of her eye, she spotted a light rising in the sky.
'What is that?'
BOOM
A loud explosion rang through the air, and a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared above.
"An attack?"
"What is going on?"
"In the training grounds!"
The Loki Familia suddenly became alert.
Everyone moved their feet and rushed toward the source of the explosion.
'Another assassination attempt?'
She speculated. From her experience, such things were commonplace.
Ais remembered just how many assassinations she had experienced back when she was a lower-level adventurer.
Although now that she was Level 5, ambushes from other factions had nearly become non-existent... but unexpected situations can always occur when you least expect them.
That was a lesson ingrained into her after many years of being an adventurer.
It took less than a second before she spotted an unfamiliar figure.
'A boy?'
She questioned in her mind.
The boy turned his head, and his purple eyes met her golden ones.
'Huh?'
At that moment, Ais felt a disturbance deep within her blood.
"An intruder?"
Everyone skidded to a stop when they spotted a black-haired young man standing in the middle of the field.
"Well, that's one way to make a first impression."
Judas sighed, looking at the Loki Familia who stared at him either with bewilderment or hostility.
"The metal shrapnel is about to rain down."
'Don't want anyone to get hurt... let's just summon a barrier.'
He shifted his gaze to the sky, raised his hand, and summoned a magic circle beneath his feet.
But to the Loki Familia, they completely misunderstood his intentions and thought he was about to fire a magic attack toward them.
"Bastard! How dare you mess around in my turf!"
Bete growled menacingly, tensed his legs, and launched himself forward.
"What?"
Judas was completely caught off guard by the werewolf's sudden charge.
But now wasn't the time to stand still like an idiot.
『Permeation』
Fortunately, he was able to react in the nick of time and avoided getting sent flying by a hair's breadth.
"Huh? What just happened?"
Bete said with a confused expression when his kick passed through Judas like he was some sort of ghost.
But Judas did not offer any reply and was not in the mood to entertain Bete right now.
『Earth Coffin』
A chunk of earth rose up beside the wolf and then encased him like a cocoon.
『Barrier』
He cast a hexagonal barrier that blanketed the space above the manor, covering every corner of the base.
Suddenly, metal pieces landed on it and fell like water droplets... a rain made from bits of metal.
When the members of the Loki Familia noticed this, they couldn't help but be surprised.
"No chant?"
"He cast those magic spells instantly and created a barrier this big?"
"He even survived after getting attacked by Bete!"
"Who is he?"
A commotion rang out, loud voices mixing together and creating a chaos of noise.
At this point, several members and the executives already figured out the identity of this unknown boy.
"Hey... this must be the rookie that Miss Argonaut told us about, right? Judas was it?"
Tiona said as she leaned toward her sister's ear.
As if to confirm her suspicion, Loki, who had been quietly watching, walked toward the boy with an amused smirk etched on her face.
"That was one hell of an introduction... you even involved pyrotechnics and all that... wooh... it almost seemed like a WWE entrance."
The trickster goddess chuckled and wrapped her arm around Judas' neck.
"Meet the new recruit of our Familia... the new record holder who took Orario by storm in his debut... ladies and gentlemen... Judas Spade."
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