Monster Feria.
It was an annual grand festival in Orario—a colossal event organized by the Ganesha Familia.
On the day of the celebration, the Ganesha Familia would collaborate with the Guild to take over a large stadium on the eastern side of the city known as Amphitheatron for the entire day.
Entrance tickets were sold for the event, allowing the citizens of Orario to attend and witness it.
Just like its name, the main attraction of the event involved monsters—specifically, the taming of monsters.
Here, there was a particular profession called 'Tamer.'
Tamers were typically high-level adventurers skilled in the art of training and commanding monsters, able to tame ferocious Dungeon monsters and turn them into obedient pets.
Monster Feria was an annual event held in Orario, and its main show featured the Ganesha Familia sending out powerful tamers to subdue violent monsters brought from the Dungeon, taming them one by one in front of a vast audience.
In simple terms, it was a combination of bullfighting and circus performances.
For this event, the Ganesha Familia would send people into the Dungeon beforehand to capture monsters, bringing them to the surface for the taming show during the event.
However, this event was also highly controversial.
Bringing dangerous monsters to the surface in the first place was not something to be encouraged.
For this reason, every year at this time, many people would unknowingly worry, concerned that the Guild and Ganesha Familia, in their pursuit of the event, might turn things upside down—unleashing dangerous monsters that could cause accidents.
Some even cynically remarked that this was merely a superficial policy designed to appease the citizens.
Despite the criticism and controversy, however, Monster Feria was still held annually.
Why?
Simple.
Monster Feria's true purpose was to ease tensions between the citizens and adventurers.
It should be noted that adventurers, in essence, were armed groups who spent their days fighting and killing.
Because they had received Falna, gaining superhuman abilities, many adventurers not only tended to develop an inflated sense of superiority, believing themselves to be above others, but they also had a habit of solving problems with force whenever something went wrong, often causing friction with the ordinary citizens of Orario and leading to dissatisfaction with the city's security.
Monster Feria's purpose was to use this grand festival to erase the citizens' negative perceptions of adventurers through non-violent taming, showing them that adventurers were not troublemakers or violent individuals, but rather heroes who protected the city and the world, capable of handling monsters.
In order to efficiently recover magic stones from the Dungeon and to maintain the position of adventurers who fought to protect the city, the Guild had no choice but to support adventurers in this manner.
Due to its close relationship with the Guild, the Ganesha Familia had always been the host of the festival, working in cooperation with the Guild to organize it.
Today, this event, which was originally just for the amusement of the masses, had become one of the most famous occasions in Orario, with people even traveling from far outside the city to witness the show.
Riezel had realized that today was probably the day Monster Feria was being held, as the two flags hanging along the streets—one bearing the Ganesha Familia's emblem and the other displaying the Monster Feria's promotional logo—along with the bustling atmosphere, made him believe that his return had coincided with the festival.
However, he did not feel pleased by this.
"...I'm not gonna get into trouble right after returning, am I?" Riezel mumbled to himself, suddenly getting a bad feeling.
No choice.
If he remembered correctly, a great disturbance would occur on the day of Monster Feria.
Someone (a god) would release monsters for their own desires.
Someone (a god) would create chaos for their own evil intentions.
And the Loki Familia would be caught in the midst of it, forced into a hard-fought and bloody battle with the dark forces that had been stirring in the shadows.
Unfortunately, this was unavoidable.
Because the goal of the enemy was the entire Orario, and as one of the strongest factions in Orario, the Loki Familia could not just stand by.
Many in the Loki Familia also had ties to these dark forces, especially Ais, who would inevitably become a target for certain entities.
"Looks like I won't be able to make a quick trip back to the manor, huh..."
Riezel used magic to release a magic eye, sending it up into the sky.
"Anyway, I should find Ais first."
===
At the same time, the golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman Riezel had been searching for appeared on the East Main Street of Orario, located in the eastern district of the city, instead of staying in the home of the Loki Familia.
Unlike the Northwest Main Street, known as the adventurers' street, or the Northeast Main Street, an industrial area, the East Main Street mainly featured facilities managed by the Guild, including the circular stadium used for the Monster Feria.
Most of Orario's guild-managed facilities were concentrated in this area, and nearly all city-hosted festivals were held here, making it a hub for tourism with many inns, stalls, and shops.
Because of this, on the day of the Monster Feria, East Main Street was undoubtedly the liveliest place in the city, crowded with people.
On this main street, the roadside stalls emitted mouthwatering scents, capturing the attention of passersby, who couldn't resist moving toward the vendors, drawn by the sizzling sound of meat cooking over open flames.
"C'mon, c'mon, try this, Ais!"
Loki, the goddess of the Loki Familia, appeared on the East Main Street holding a large skewer of roasted meat she had just bought from a stall, grinning as she tried to feed it to the swordswoman beside her.
Upon closer inspection, a small bite had already been taken from the skewer—clearly the goddess's doing.
Loki, the mischievous god from Norse mythology, female in form and with a fondness for women, was preparing to trick the naturally pure swordswoman into playing a sweet, indirect kissing game with her.
Unfortunately, the goddess's wicked little plan had yet to yield any result.
"..."
Ais walked alongside the carefree goddess, being fed meat with a grin, but she didn't even acknowledge Loki.
At this moment, she walked on silently, seemingly lost in thought, as she slowly moved through the street with no expression—yet she became the most stunning sight on East Main Street, attracting gazes of awe, fear, curiosity, envy, and even jealousy from people of various races.
Her golden eyes seemed unfocused for some reason, which indicated that she was daydreaming or perhaps distracted, meaning she hadn't heard the goddess's words at all.
"Hey! Ais! Don't ignore me!" Loki protested loudly, clearly upset. "We're on a date! Aren't you supposed to be having fun with this old-school couple game with me? Keep ignoring me and you're gonna lose points, Ais!"
Her unreasonable outburst made Ais come back to her senses a little.
"…No." Ais finally spoke.
"What?" Loki leaned closer.
"It's not a date." Ais pushed Loki's face away, speaking flatly. "It's Loki dragging me out."
"Well, what can I do? You've been so down lately! You haven't even gone to your favorite Dungeon—that's the first time I've ever seen you skip it!" Loki said, sounding totally unapologetic, like it was the most normal thing in the world. "I mean, sure, I'm glad you're here so I can keep an eye on you, but you've just been sitting at home, moping around! I'm worried about you, y'know?"
Loki let out a sigh and continued.
"You've hit Level 6—the first in our familia to catch up with the top executives—but now, it's like nobody even knows what to say to you anymore."
"Bete, Tiona, and Tione won't stop talking about how you surpassed them—their pride's all bruised—and even Lefiya's been running to Riveria to learn Concurrent Chanting. Everyone in the familia's been going all out, working their butts off."
"But you? You've just been stuck at home looking miserable. Everyone's really worried about you!"
Loki rambled on, but then suddenly stopped.
"Are you really that worried about Riezel?"
Her eyes narrowed as she seemed to have seen through Ais's thoughts, casting a knowing look at her.
In that moment, Ais fell silent.
"Seriously, don't worry about him..."
Loki patted Ais on the shoulder, speaking casually.
"He's already Level 5, y'know. Way stronger than you were before you leveled up. You don't gotta worry about him."
"And that brat's just out doing his thing, not gone forever. He said he'll be back in a few days, maybe a month tops."
"So quit thinking about that heartless guy already. Since you're home anyway, why not hang out with me? Let's go shopping, chill a bit, and just have some fun, yeah?"
Upon hearing this, Ais fell silent for a moment before looking at Loki.
"...He really will come back soon, right?" Ais asked, confirming for the umpteenth time.
"Of course." Loki said, sounding somewhat jealous. "Y'know, Ais, kids from the Lower World can't lie to us gods. So if he said he'll be back in a few days to a month, then yeah—it's true. No lies there. Feeling better now?"
Hearing this, Ais's expression finally softened a little.
"Heh, that's more like it." Loki grinned. "C'mon, let's go have some fun!"
Ais didn't resist and obediently followed Loki, walking through the crowd.
Little did they know, beneath the city, the stirring darkness was finally revealing its fangs.
*Drip—*
In the faint sound of water, a massive creature dragged its long body, slowly moving toward the area where the life force of the earth was strongest.
Over there, without a doubt, was its destination.
*Rumble—*
Suddenly, the ground trembled ever so slightly.
A disaster, neither too small nor too great, was about to arrive.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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