"Captain."
Looking at the Pallum captain watching him with that gentle gaze, Leo gave a slight bow.
Then his eyes turned to the side.
Finn wasn't the only one in this office.
Aside from him, there were two others.
"Miss Riveria, and old man Gareth, you're here too?"
Beside the desk stood a beautiful woman with smooth, emerald-green long hair and eyes of the same color, her slender figure giving an impression of grace. Her dress was very conservative, hiding the soft curves of her body and her pale skin away beneath her robes, and she carried a sharp, valiant air about her as she stood there holding a stack of documents.
Riveria Ljos Alf. A High Elf who carried noble blood, the vice-captain of Loki Familia. Lv.6.
Not far from this High Elf, on a single chair, sat a sturdily built old Dwarf. Thick-haired, broad and stout, he stroked his long beard with one hand without pausing, a bold and hearty look about him.
Gareth Landrock. A Dwarf adventurer, the front-line great warrior of Loki Familia. Lv.6.
These three were the leadership of Loki Familia, the so-called Three Heads.
They were both the founding figures who had joined the Familia from the very beginning, and the foremost Lv.6s in Orario.
In this Labyrinth City, aside from the one and only Lv.7, Lv.6s like them were the highest-ranking adventurers around.
In all of Orario, those who could become first-class adventurers at Lv.5 numbered fewer than forty, and those who could reach Lv.6 numbered fewer than ten. Those fewer-than-ten Lv.6s were divided between Loki Familia and Freya Familia, which was why these two Familias were the strongest in Orario, called the Two Great Powers.
It was thanks to these Three Heads that Loki Familia had been able to come this far, and become one of the only two strongest Familias in Orario.
Compared to them, even Ais, the so-called strongest female swordsman in Orario, was just a kid.
As Leo was thinking this, the three leaders of the Familia were also looking at him.
"It's been a while, kid."
Gareth stroked his beard, looked at this young man, and grinned, baring his teeth.
"How's it been in the Familia? Are you settling in?"
Riveria's tone was serious and grave, and there was an unspeakable nobility in the way she spoke.
"I've been doing well," Leo said honestly. "Everyone in the Familia has been good to me. I've gotten so much help from them. I'm really grateful."
"That's good to hear." Riveria's face relaxed a little, and she nodded as she spoke. "I didn't really think anyone in the Familia would bully you, but it's still best to hear you've been doing well."
"He's the one Ais brought back, after all. Who would bully him?" Gareth laughed heartily. "Most of them are probably just curious about the kid, right? Even the ones who envy him aren't going to push him around at home."
At that, Riveria couldn't help but glance at Leo a few more times, her eyes full of scrutiny.
It couldn't be helped. Ais could practically be said to have been raised by this High Elf's own hand. Calling her Ais's mother wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Naturally, Riveria was the one who understood Ais best, and she knew exactly what that girl carried on her shoulders.
So a year ago, when Ais brought a man back to the Familia, Riveria had been the most shocked of all, and over the past year she'd kept a constant eye on Leo, wanting to know what it was about this boy that had caught the doll-like girl's attention.
"Looks like you've already received Falna from Loki?"
Finn spoke up at the right moment, smiling as he asked.
"What are you planning to do next?"
As the captain of the Familia, Finn had a duty to know what every member was up to.
He'd been paying some attention to Leo too. For one, the boy was the one Ais had brought back, which had surprised him at the time as well. For another, in the year since, every attempt he'd made to investigate the boy had turned up nothing at all, which had given him plenty to think about.
The biggest reason he'd kept the boy as a trainee for a whole year was to observe him, to see whether this suspicious-origin Human had come to Loki Familia with some ulterior motive.
In the end, after a year of observation, both Loki and Finn were certain. The boy didn't seem to have any hidden agenda. His origins were just a bit mysterious.
On this point, Finn and Loki were quite confident.
Finn went without saying. As the leader of the Familia, he was praised as the hope and hero of the Pallum race. He didn't think his own judgment was so poor that he couldn't read someone over the course of a whole year. So he'd made his decision and let Leo officially join the Familia.
Loki didn't even need to be brought up. She was a deity. Children of the lower world couldn't lie in front of her. The moment they did, she'd see through it. Under those conditions, after a year of living together, if she still couldn't tell whether Leo had any ulterior motives, then she might as well give up on the lower world and head back to Heaven.
And when both the Familia's goddess and its leader had confirmed there was nothing wrong with Leo, the matter was basically settled.
And so Leo was able to officially join Loki Familia and receive his Falna.
As for the mystery of his origins, as Loki had said, it wasn't really a big deal.
In Loki Familia, you couldn't say there were countless people with backgrounds and pasts they couldn't easily speak of, but there were at least quite a few of them, including Ais, who also had origins she couldn't explain to outsiders. So what was one more Leo?
Neither Loki, nor Finn and the rest of the Three Heads, were the kind of people to dig into someone else's privacy.
So as long as they confirmed Leo wasn't there with some hidden motive, that he genuinely wanted to join this Familia and become a member of this big family, that was enough for them.
Honestly, it was that very attitude that had brought Leo a lot of comfort, and gradually given him a sense of belonging in this Familia over the past year that he couldn't let go of.
He really was grateful to Finn and the others, for taking in someone who had nowhere to go and didn't know where to turn, and giving him a place to live in this world.
He was just someone of unknown origin, with nothing else special about him. For someone like that to be able to join Loki Familia, one of the so-called Two Great Powers of Orario, was practically a stroke of unbelievable luck.
If not for Ais vouching for him, Leo was certain there was no way he could have joined a major Familia like this.
Now, faced with his Familia leader's question, Leo answered without hesitation, laying out the plan he'd already settled on.
"I want to go to the Dungeon."
That was it.
He'd finally gotten his Falna. Of course he had to head down to the Dungeon as soon as possible, fight the monsters there, work on raising his Status, and make himself stronger.
For a year now, watching the powerful adventurers in the Familia put their inhuman strength on display from time to time, Leo had been itching for it. He'd been envious of them to no end.
He'd never fought anyone before, let alone a monster, but for him there was only anticipation, no fear.
Especially after obtaining magic, he was genuinely impatient to see for himself what his magic would look like when he actually used it.
"The Dungeon, huh?"
Finn wasn't surprised by Leo's words.
Of all the people who came to this Labyrinth City, chose to become adventurers, and received their Falna, there wasn't a single one who didn't want to go to the Dungeon.
In that underground world, so different from the surface, unseen flowers and grasses grew in lush abundance, mineral resources unique to that place could be gathered there, and valuables that were priceless on the surface could be found in great numbers. Even the life-threatening monsters produced magic stones and drop items, drawing countless people down to explore.
Wealth, fame, glory, treasure... everything the world prayed for existed in that one place. Driven by it, those possessed by desire became deeply enchanted with it, and even the gods, in pursuit of entertainment, gathered here because of it, to the point where this place was even called the center of the world.
Many people's ambitions, and the stories born from them, were born here without end. Some ended up as a smear of dirt, gaining nothing. Others made their name, were written into history, and became the great heroes that countless others looked up to and worshipped.
Loki Familia was also a Familia whose main purpose was exploring the Dungeon. The members within were all adventurers, and they knew better than anyone what kind of pull that underground world held.
But they also knew, just as clearly, that anyone who barged into that world without any preparation would only bring tragedy down on themselves.
"I think you should be a bit more cautious. There's no need to rush."
Riveria spoke first.
Looking at Leo with the utmost seriousness, her tone earnest as she gave her advice.
"You only just received your Status. Compared to an ordinary person, you're not really any stronger. Heading into the Dungeon like that is dangerous."
It had been a long time since the Familia had a new Lv.1. The rest of the members were at least Lv.2 now, and when they went into the Dungeon, Riveria and the others didn't worry too much about them. As long as they didn't do anything reckless or try to take on things beyond their abilities, they usually wouldn't stop them.
Once you hit Lv.2, you were considered an upper-class adventurer no matter who you were. Those who became upper-class adventurers all more or less knew what it meant to act within their limits, and their understanding of the Dungeon was no longer thin. They knew what they should and shouldn't do.
But for a Lv.1, they had to fret about it.
After all, Leo had never been to the Dungeon. He knew too little about that place, and there was no avoiding the chance of something going wrong.
That was what Riveria was worried about.
"I understand." Leo knew what Riveria meant. "Over this past year, I've learned a lot about the Dungeon through the seniors in the Familia and the books in the library. It's not like I have a half-baked understanding of it."
"I also know I'm still weak right now, so I'm not planning to go deep. At most I'll stick to the first few floors."
"I won't claim I'm fully prepared, but if I'm only on the first few floors, I shouldn't run into anything I can't handle."
He wanted to get stronger, but he wasn't looking to throw his life away, so he was being careful about it.
Hearing this, the expressions of the Three Heads eased considerably.
"Mm, if it's just the first few floors, then there's not really much to worry about." Gareth glanced at Leo. "Lacks a bit of guts, sure, but you've only got one life. Being cautious is always a good thing. Adventure once you're a bit stronger, that's not too late."
Clearly, unlike Riveria, Gareth was more inclined to let the kids charge ahead with confidence.
Of course, the premise was that they didn't do anything reckless, didn't go looking to die. That wasn't charging ahead, that was just being stupid.
"How about this. I'll call someone to go with you?" Riveria was the type to worry more easily. She frowned, her pretty brows drawing together as she made the suggestion. "Having a senior of the Familia along is always safer. When Ais was Lv.1, it was the same."
The one who'd gone with Ais down into the Dungeon back then had been none other than Riveria.
Looking back, Ais had pulled plenty of reckless stunts in the Dungeon.
If not for her going along, Ais wouldn't have had enough lives to spare for what she'd put herself through down there.
Just thinking about it left Riveria unable to set the worry aside.
But Leo didn't want that.
"Having a senior of the Familia along would definitely be reassuring." Leo started off with a smile, then his tone shifted. "But needing an upper-class adventurer to come along just for the first few floors is making too much of it."
"I know I'm new and don't have much right to say this, but since I've already joined this Familia, I can't have people saying I'm too scared to even go to the Dungeon alone, that I need a babysitter, right?"
"There are too many people watching what Loki Familia does. Idle talk spreads easily. So please, let me turn it down, and let me go check out the Dungeon on my own."
This was Leo's honest thinking.
He really did feel that just going to wander the first few floors didn't warrant troubling a senior of the Familia to take him.
On top of that, Loki Familia was a huge organization, and its name was known everywhere. Acting alone, he probably wouldn't draw too much attention. But with a senior of the Familia accompanying him, he'd become the center of attention in an instant.
While he was still weak, Leo had no desire to stand out.
Hadn't Loki said it too? Orario had never been a peaceful place. Joining Loki Familia meant getting tangled up in a lot of things. If he was too conspicuous and didn't have the ability to protect himself, he'd only become a weapon enemy Familias could use to strike at his own.
Leo had no intention of becoming a weakness for the Familia.
At the very least, while he was still weak, while he still couldn't say for sure how far he could go in the future, he just wanted to keep a low profile.
Riveria and Gareth glanced at each other and fell silent.
Finn, looking at Leo and seeing the clarity in his eyes, broke into a smile.
"That works too." Finn said. "If you've already thought it through, then give it a try."
"Remember, your own safety comes first, above everything else."
Faced with Finn's instruction, Leo answered with all due gravity.
"I'll be careful."