"Matching sets? Really?" Daphne asked sarcastically as she saw the armors.
"First of all, yes. And secondly they are made of hide taken from the hundred hands giant so be fucking grateful. Anyone else want to put their foot in their mouth or will you take the armor and say thank you like good children?" I said with a raised eyebrow.
""""Thank you!"""" The others said simultaneously as they took their armors.
I shot Daphne a smug look at this and she just rolled her eyes at me but thanked me anyways.
"Hard to believe these are made from the hide of that monster. At first glance they just look like normal leather armors." Welf said as he examined the armors seriously.
"That's intentional. Anyone not in the know might look at you all in them and think they aren't anything special thus reducing the risk of them trying to rob you for wearing treasures so openly." I said proudly.
"And those in the know?" Ophelia asked curiously.
"Depends on a few things actually. Common sense stuff mostly like if you think fighting them is hopeless just give them up. I'd prefer you all survive than to worry about the loss of the armors. If they intend to kill you for them though and you don't think you can win a fight, run. The armors should stop even a level sixes strike so just protect your head and try to escape. If that's impossible fight to the death and know I will burn their familia to the ground when I find them. As for those you think you can handle just fucking kill them or knock them out and be done with it, I don't care." I said seriously.
"What about calling for back up?" Welf asked with a frown.
I shook my head "Not likely to work. I'll be deep diving here soon and probably won't be anywhere near fast enough to reach you on a higher floor from there. " I said honestly.
"Shouldn't you wait for things to settle down before doing that?" Daphne asked with a frown.
"You don't seem to get it. There is no settling down from this. At least not for fucking months at the very least. We are in the position where we are too powerful to touch but simultaneously weak enough that we are a juicy target. The fact that I alone am more or less tied with Ottar for the position of strongest adventurer in the city gives us a huge amount of weight. The problem is that Bells only level four and the rest of you aren't even close to four. Hell two of us are only level one and two more level two. We are woefully lopsided unlike all the other familias. Recruiting more people won't solve this either as this is a problem of time rather than numbers." I said seriously.
"That doesn't explain why you can't just wait." Welf pointed out.
"It's not that I can't wait, it's that I refuse to wait that long. Maybe you think it's selfish but I refuse to put my own growth on pause without a damn good reason. The greed and envy of others aren't things I can control. You think that stuff just goes away over time? No, it sits just beneath the surface until the right moment comes and it can be fulfilled. Unless I just put my own growth on hold indefinitely to protect all of you the moment an opportunity shows up they will strike." I said firmly.
"Damned if you do and damned if you don't then." Ophelia said gravely.
"Yup. Still if it helps no one without a death wish would dare to actually kill any of you even if I am not here. The whole point in attacking you to get your gear is rendered pointless if I just show up shortly afterward and take it back while slaughtering the entire familia involved. At least if they let you live I might just take the gear back and return the favor but if they killed any of you theres not a fucking chance of that." I said with a shrug.
"You seem WAY too calm about the idea of revenge killing an entire familia." Welf said with a disturbed expression.
I shrugged "Comes with the territory. As captain of the familia I have to think about how to respond to different situations we as a familia may encounter. As it turns out overwhelming violence solves most of them. Convenient isn't it?" I said casually.
They didn't argue the point as I wasn't wrong. Truly the philosophy that if violence doesn't solve most of your problems you aren't using enough was wonderful.
Nobody tried anything over the next few days as I worked to stock up on a lot of supplies to delve as deep as possible. I did end up putting trackers in the armors anyways since it wouldn't do if the potential thieves holed up while I searched for them for as long as that took. Really just following the trackers to find them was the best option here. Still time waits for no one and right at the dawn of the first day of another month I set off for the dungeon. The depths were calling my name and I was more than happy to answer.-
Passing through the first few floors were easy as I speed ran way to the exits and soon reached the sixteenth floor. The goliath was still on cool down so I couldn't kill it and moved on. I didn't stop in Riveria and headed through the great tree labyrinth and to the water palace. From there I followed the flowing water to the great fall and backflipped off that bitch.