"Yo, brat. How's Alfia doing?"
The moment Duncan stepped through the door, Chardo—already out of bed—greeted him.
The oversized patient gown had been discarded, revealing his broad, powerful frame. It was nothing like the body that had once been ravaged by poison. Now, Chardo looked completely normal. The black corruption was gone without leaving so much as a trace.
"How do you feel, Uncle Chardo?"
Though the answer was plain from the light in Chardo's eyes and the energy in his movements, Duncan still asked.
"Fantastic. Better than I've felt since the day I killed Behemoth. Right now, all I want is a mountain of food."
True to his gluttonous nature, Chardo answered without the slightest restraint.
"You should stop eating weird nonsense. This worked once, but who knows whether you'll get another chance. More importantly, Alfia says something feels off."
"With food? That's impossible. Eating everything in sight—or getting eaten in return—is my entire philosophy. Give that up and I may as well die. That said, you're not wrong. I'll be more careful about what I bite into from here on. As for Alfia, I already have a guess. Let's go meet up. Where's the old man?"
After giving his own body another quick check, Chardo pulled his patient gown back on and asked the question as casually as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
"He said if he came in person, the god of this familia would spot him, so he dropped us off and went back. Said he was going to repair the cabin."
"Heh. So the old geezer still plans to keep up this ridiculous hermit act?"
For a brief instant, Chardo's black eyes flashed with a fierce, untamed sharpness Duncan had never seen before.
This was the first time, now that his body had fully recovered, that the monster named Gluttony had shown Duncan the face he once wore as one of the greatest adventurers alive.
"Don't look so nervous. This is nothing. You'll face far worse monsters in the future. If you're scared now, how are you supposed to keep going? The old man may be a degenerate, but he once said one thing worth remembering: a man has to keep moving forward. Even if something stronger stands in his way, he must never flinch—especially not in front of a woman. Come on. Let's go see what's wrong with Alfia."
Maybe he had noticed Duncan staring.
Either way, Chardo reined in that savage aura almost at once, then clapped Duncan heavily on the shoulder and strode out the door.
"Alfia, I'm coming in."
Without waiting for permission, Chardo shoved the door open and walked in.
"I could feel your presence through the door. What, are you making some sort of announcement?"
Alfia, still standing by the bed and checking her own condition, turned a cold gaze on him.
"I'm just in a good mood, that's all. After being pent up like this for years, I can finally see a chance of returning to my peak."
Chardo laughed awkwardly, all of that oppressive force vanishing in an instant. Facing Alfia, the stern, overbearing figure of moments ago dissolved into that of an uncle who had always been utterly incapable of handling his niece.
"So you felt it too? Chardo…"
Alfia caught the key phrase immediately.
"Mm. My strength—no, more accurately, my level—seems to have dropped. I don't know how it happened, but judging from this body, I'm at Level 6… no, probably closer to Level 5. What about you? The brat said you were feeling the same thing."
Chardo flexed his fists again, testing the power in his limbs as he spoke.
"…Mine is worse. Much worse. At most, I'm Level 4. Maybe even Level 3."
Alfia's face darkened.
It was hard to tell whether that was because her power had plummeted so far, or because Chardo seemed to have fared better than she had.
"That low? Because your condition was worse than mine?"
Chardo's eyes widened.
He had expected a difference, yes. Alfia's disease had always been clearly worse than his own. But to have her strength nearly halved like this—it was a steep price.
"…I don't know. Where's the old man?"
"Back at the cabin, supposedly. But if we count the time, he should be here any—"
"Honestly, this is why I hate setting foot in other people's territory. Barely arrived and I was already hugged—"
The timing could not have been more perfect.
The moment they mentioned him, Zeus pushed the door open while still muttering under his breath. When he saw that both of them were awake, he blinked in surprise, then raised a brow.
"Ningizzida complained to me that you scared the other adventurers half to death. I thought he was just trying to squeeze compensation out of me. Didn't expect you both to be awake. How do you feel?"
"Great," Chardo answered before Alfia could say a word. "And also terrible. Old man, update my status. Alfia and I both feel the same thing—our levels have dropped."
"Huh?"
Zeus stared.
In a thousand years of hanging around the Lower World, he had seen just about everything.
But a level going down…?
That, perhaps, maybe, possibly… was new.
"Check and you'll know."
Seeing the baffled look on Zeus's face, Chardo said no more. Without the slightest concern for Alfia being present, he dragged over a chair, sat down, and peeled off his upper garment to bare his back.
Though thoroughly puzzled, Zeus stepped forward anyway. Lacking any needle or blade on hand, he simply bit open his fingertip and let a drop of divine blood fall onto Chardo's back.
A pale blue glow spread outward.
As the lock on Chardo's Falna opened beneath the blood, Zeus's expression grew stranger and stranger. He said nothing, just snatched a sheet of paper from the bedside table and hurriedly copied down the new status.
"Well?"
Unable to read the sacred script, Duncan asked anxiously.
"Just like Chardo said," Zeus replied. "His level really did drop."
He handed the paper over.
ChardoLevel 5
Strength: A874Endurance: A897Dexterity: B754Agility: E433Magic: F374
Hunter: DAbnormal Resistance: EShatter: FIron Body: FOverwhelming Strike: I
Magic:Rea Ambrosia
Skills:Divine Feast's Favor
"…So it really happened."
Looking at the updated status sheet, Chardo unconsciously tightened his grip.
In the hand of a first-class adventurer, that single motion was enough to grind the edge of the paper into dust.
"Grandpa, do you know what caused it?"
Bell finished reading and turned to Zeus, who was deep in thought.
"This is only my guess," Zeus said, stroking his thick beard, "but that magic circle seemed to carry a kind of denial with it. It erased the abnormal state itself, together with the power increase that state had brought. On top of that, it seems to have consumed status values to restore flesh and blood."
"Then why did Alfia say her current power feels more like Level 3 to Level 4? If the treatment merely denied the enhancement caused by the condition, shouldn't her level have reset completely?"
Chardo pressed.
"That's why I said it was only a guess. Even I can't fully understand that magic. If I had to describe it… it belongs to neither divine authority nor ordinary magic."
Zeus scratched his head and dumped the problem elsewhere in the most shameless way possible.
"It was a miracle."
....
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