On the way home, Evan watched Cecil's pensive expression and asked what she was thinking about.
To his surprise—
She really was thinking about something serious.
"Evan, do you think there might've been someone connected to Evilus inside that Dian Cecht healing house? Or someone from the Rudra Familia—the ones that elf has been hunting?"
Cecil referred to Ryuu Lion as "that elf," a sign that she didn't approve of Ryuu's hostility.
Sure, Cecil's motives for joining the Astrea Familia hadn't been pure at first.
But a year of living together had made her deeply attached to the goddess.
So in Cecil's eyes, Ryuu was a shameless traitor who had abandoned both the familia and their goddess.
Evan didn't comment.
The familia's past was complicated, and no matter what, this was something only Ryuu and the goddess could resolve themselves.
What Evan wanted—no matter what—was to bring the elf girl back into the familia, and make her speak face-to-face with Astrea, clearing everything up.
The knot had to be untied by the one who tied it.
That simple truth was something the idiot Cecil just couldn't understand.
Even though she disliked Ryuu, she didn't oppose Evan's decision to "bring Ryuu Lion back." That was why she said something like this now.
"If there's someone from the Rudra Familia in there, we could just follow them. Then we'd find that elf, right?"
Her reasoning wasn't wrong.
Ryuu was still hunting down everyone connected to the trap that had wiped out her familia in the Dungeon—the evil familia formed by the violent god Rudra.
So anyone tied to them would definitely catch her attention.
But Evan didn't need to do something that roundabout.
Because—
"I've got a better way."
"Huh?"
"It depends on Lady Astrea."
Evan had already told the goddess what he wanted and asked her to write Ryuu a letter.
Ryuu was hiding somewhere in the city, her whereabouts uncertain, and almost no one knew where she was. But she had once been the rising star of the Astrea Familia—an adventurer who fought through the Great Feud era alongside everyone.
In Orario, Ryuu still had acquaintances.
And she wasn't doing anything shameful. Hunting evil familia members—yes, it was vigilante justice and against the Guild's official rules on paper—but in their hearts, people still supported what she was doing.
Even the Guild's bounty was just for show. No one actually tried to enforce it seriously—Evan remembered Loki mentioning that to Astrea a few days ago.
So if they wanted to find Ryuu—
All the goddess had to do was write a letter and hand it to the Hermes Familia.
They were the most "special" familia in the city—the Guild's messengers, handling all kinds of information and deliveries, inside and outside the city, official and unofficial.
And—
Their captain, Asfi Al Andromeda, the "All-Purpose," had a very good relationship with Ryuu. The two had fought side by side during the Great Feud era, and because of certain matters within their familias, they shared a kind of "kindred hardship" understanding.
"As long as the goddess makes up her mind."
"Oh! So that's how it is!"
Cecil's eyes widened as she thought, Why doesn't my captain brain know any of this?!
"Because you come home every day and immediately run into the workshop to swing a hammer."
"And you've got the nerve to say that?! I'm the one fixing your armor!"
"Because Captain Cecil is the most capable, of course~"
"Hmph, hmph, hmph!"
One sentence was enough to coax the girl who'd been posing with hands on hips a moment ago into instantly puffing up with pride.
As they walked, they leaned close together, whispering and chatting in an intimate way. Evan and Cecil were used to it and didn't think anything of it.
But on the street and in the plaza, certain gossip-loving goddesses out for a late-night stroll kept throwing glances their way, giggling quietly to each other.
After a long while—
They passed through the central plaza and the Babel Tower, returning to the dim, tangled slums on the eastern side of the city.
And their topic changed again.
They began discussing the huge bone dropped by the "Goblin Guard" they'd gotten today—what they should make from it.
Evan still wanted to make a shield.
But Cecil thought the thing was heavy enough to forge a full set of body armor.
"I'm just worried it'll break again."
"If you break it, I'll kill you!"
"…"
Evan looked at the girl's fierce, silly face and thought, If it breaks, you're the one who fixes it anyway. As long as you don't mind the trouble.
But Cecil was thinking something else.
Every time Evan came back from the Dungeon, not a single piece of his armor was intact—today was actually mild, with only one tear at his side.
Her forged armor was high quality… but she still needed to make him something even better, so he wouldn't get hurt.
And!
Cecil fumed to herself: this time, once the armor was finished, she absolutely would not let Evan name it!!
Last time she forged weapons for him, the names he chose were completely insane. He called the greatsword "Big Luck" and the dagger "Brown Sugar."
What the heck did that even mean?!
And he kept rambling about how—
Someday, she'd forge him the strongest "First-Grade Armament," and it had to be a greatsword, because he wanted to be some kind of "two-handed strength macho man," and it had to be a "Moonlight Greatsword"…
No matter how you looked at it, shouldn't it be the "Star Greatsword" or "Starlit Greatsword"?!
Lady Astrea was the goddess of justice and the stars! What kind of nonsense was "Moonlight Greatsword"?
Did Evan want to betray them and join the Moon Goddess's familia?!
Unforgivable!!
Then Cecil suddenly remembered—the moon goddess Artemis was apparently a beautiful girl.
And that made Cecil even angrier. She huffed and kicked Evan's heel.
It didn't hurt at all. Evan was more worried that Cecil might've hurt her own foot.
But seeing how mad she looked, he thought, What's wrong with her now?
Why did her expression flip so suddenly?
She'd been cheerful a second ago, and now she'd gone from clear skies to cloudy to stormy in an instant…
Is it that time of the month…? he wondered.
When we get home, I'll boil her a cup of hot brown sugar water.
With that—
The boy and girl returned home, each lost in completely different thoughts…
…
Under the starlight and moonlight, warm yellow light still glowed inside the old house.
As usual, Lady Astrea updated Evan's status.
His growth was about the same as yesterday, so his Strength, Endurance, Agility, and Dexterity all broke through the "A" rank, pushing past 800 points.
His Magic was a bit weaker, but since he wasn't a mage-type adventurer, it wasn't a big deal.
What confused the goddess most was this:
Evan's Feat had suddenly increased by a noticeable amount today. Not enough to level up, but enough that Astrea briefly wondered whether he'd participated in a battle against a floor boss.
A Feat was something an adventurer needed to level up—something purely spiritual, a deed so compelling it could move even the gods.
Evan's own understanding was basically:
Everyone sincerely believes that, at your current level, being able to do something like that is ridiculously awesome.
Normally, the most common path for a Lv.1 adventurer to become Lv.2 was to take part in the subjugation of the Dungeon's Lone King: Goliath, on the 17th floor, at the Wall of Sighs.
It was a floor boss officially ranked at Lv.4, with vitality hundreds of times greater than monsters of the same level—standing guard over the path to deeper floors.
Just having the courage to face it was something many Lv.1 adventurers could never do.
Let alone fight it, contribute, and help bring it down.
Of course, that was only for ordinary adventurers. Astrea wasn't worried about Evan in that sense.
What she was worried about was what Evan had been saying over dinner:
Even today, he still hadn't gone to the Dungeon's second floor.
Which meant—
Evan had killed a monster on the first floor that was enough to earn him a Feat.
That made Astrea deeply uneasy.
The Dungeon's abnormality clearly had something to do with Evan's special skill. And he was still growing, far from reaching any limit—his ability values making one thing clear:
Hero candidate.
Just like Alise, Kaguya, and Ryuu had once been.
For a brief moment, Astrea even wanted to take Evan and Cecil and leave the city immediately—back to Solingen, anywhere. Anywhere was fine, as long as they never went into the Dungeon again.
She was afraid.
A god could always sense whether a child bearing their blessing still existed. If the blessing vanished, it meant the child had died.
That night when Astrea was alone in the familia's base…
She had felt it clearly—one child after another disappearing, one by one…
In theory, a god's "good" or "evil" could be judged by how much they cared about their children.
And without question, Astrea was a kind goddess who cared deeply. That was why she still couldn't escape the past—and why she couldn't bear the thought of another such night ever happening again.
Heroes were necessary.
But right now, the goddess would rather her children never become heroes at all.
I've become weak…
Astrea shouldn't have been so afraid of death. Sacrifice was inevitable on the path of justice.
But when gods descended to the Lower World, they truly were influenced by their children—enough to change who they were.
That was one reason eternal gods came to the human world in the first place.
Astrea forced a smile onto her face so the boy wouldn't see her sorrow. Then she rose, went upstairs, and returned to her own room.
In the small room—
On the desk beside her bed lay a blank sheet of letter paper.
She had tried to put pen to it more than once, never knowing what to write.
But now, after thinking for a long time, she looked out at the bright stars of the spring night and finally began the letter that would be delivered to her former child.
Ryuu, have you been well lately?
This letter… is something your juniors urged me to write.
And now, I truly do have many things I want to tell you…
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (180 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (110 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (190 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (78 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (130 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (80 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (140 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (50 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (60 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (80 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (43 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (41 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (55 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (30 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (47 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it