In a corner not far from the central courtyard, the Human boy and the Elf girl glared at each other, clearly not on friendly terms.
Personally, Leo had nothing against Lefiya. His current physical age was only a year older than hers, but his real age was a lot more than that, and he wasn't about to nitpick with a little girl.
The hostility and ill will in Lefiya's eyes didn't annoy Leo. If anything, it left him caught between laughing and sighing.
"Admiring someone's hard work from hiding, huh?" Leo said pointedly. "That's a pretty unique way of doing it. Way more avant-garde than any Elf I've ever heard of."
The girl's face went red.
Not from embarrassment, but from anger.
"Y-you think everyone's as shameless as you?! Just waltzing up to Miss Ais to chat whenever you feel like it! So shameless!" Lefiya said, somewhere between furious and envious. "That's Miss Ais we're talking about! Shouldn't a normal person be afraid of bothering her?"
"Right," Leo said, crossing his arms and looking down at her from his height advantage. "Which is why all you can do is hide and sneak peeks at her, huh?"
"I. Already. Said. I wasn't sneaking!" Lefiya went redder with anger, her voice rising a notch. "I-if you hadn't come over, I was gonna find a chance to talk to Miss Ais myself!"
"Then should I wish you luck?" Leo said cheerfully. "Or do you want me to help? I'm open to negotiation, you know."
For some reason, every time he saw the Elf girl flustered, Leo couldn't resist teasing her.
In other people's eyes, Leo was a diligent, hardworking type, always polite to the senior members of the Familia. But in reality, he wasn't that serious.
He was actually a bit of a goof, and he usually did whatever he wanted. He wasn't the type to put himself through unnecessary misery.
If he'd been born into a wealthy household or a noble family, he absolutely would've chosen to be a spoiled heir doing whatever he pleased. His favorite pastime would definitely be wine and women, lounging around with a crowd of beautiful girls, living like a god on earth.
But he wasn't. And he knew very well that the current him didn't have the means to do whatever he pleased, which was why he worked so hard.
This wasn't hiding his true nature. It was building up the capital to make it all happen.
Knowing full well that he didn't yet have the freedom to act however he wanted, Leo didn't mind grinding himself to the bone to get stronger, all so that one day he could finally cut loose.
So when it came to the seniors in the Familia who were stronger than him, Leo treated them with a measure of genuine respect, while constantly soaking up their experience and learning their skills. Naturally, this gave everyone the impression that he was diligent and very polite.
But that politeness didn't have much left in the tank for this little girl, a year younger than him, who'd disliked him from the start over Ais. All that was left was the amusement of needling her about her peculiar little quirks.
Which was probably also why the Elf girl was always so unfriendly to him.
Either way, Lefiya just couldn't stand the sight of Leo.
"I don't need your help!" Lefiya clenched her small fists. "I've known Miss Ais way longer than you have! I understand her way better than you do too! Why would I need your help?"
"You sure?" Leo raised an eyebrow and suddenly smiled. "I happen to know lots of Ais's little secrets, you know. You really don't want to hear them?"
Lefiya's pretty face froze.
"If you knew her little secrets, it'd be way easier to talk to her, get closer to her, wouldn't it?" Leo's tone was full of temptation, like he was luring someone into corruption. He drawled, "You really don't want to know?"
Lefiya visibly wavered.
"Miss Ais's little secrets... g-getting closer to Miss Ais..."
The girl's gaze on Leo turned into a complete mess, like she desperately wanted it but couldn't stomach surrendering to her "love rival."
"W-why would you know Miss Ais's little secrets?"
That was the best Lefiya could manage, trying to accuse Leo and wrest back control of the conversation.
Unfortunately, when it came to this bluffing paper tiger, Leo wasn't the least bit afraid.
"Well, I am that shameless. Not the least bit afraid of bothering her, just waltzing up to Ais to chat whenever I feel like it," Leo said, grinning. "So naturally, someone as shameless as me would pick up all sorts of things from Ais that nobody else knows."
At those words, Lefiya felt a surge of rage burn through her.
"You think saying that's gonna make me jealous?!"
Lefiya shouted it loudly, but her big pretty eyes were misted over, on the verge of tears. She might as well have written "yes, I am totally jealous" across her face.
"I'm not doing it to make anyone jealous," Leo said with a half-smile. "I just want to get along with Ais so I can properly repay her down the line, you know?"
That affected tone made Lefiya want to leap up and punch him in the face.
Getting a friendly, social-type Elf this worked up was something of an accomplishment on Leo's part.
Too bad Lefiya wasn't from the modern era and didn't know the slang term "green tea boy," or she would've used it to roast this two-faced jerk to a crisp.
"Don't get cocky! I'm gonna get close to Miss Ais too!"
The teary-eyed, furious Elf girl swore a solemn oath, for no other reason than to keep a certain someone from looking so smug.
"Then I'll be looking forward to it."
Leo decided to quit while he was ahead, before he ended up on the wrong end of a beating.
What could he do? This dainty-looking Elf girl was still a Lv.3 upper-class adventurer, much stronger than Leo, who'd only just received his Falna and hadn't even had a single Status update yet.
Even if she was a Mage who served as a rearguard, and her physical stats weren't as high as the vanguard fighters', her Level was what it was. No matter how fragile she looked, the Elf girl was the kind of monster who could casually shatter an ordinary adult man's skull with one slap.
If he pushed her too far, she might just chant a spell point-blank at him, and then he'd be cooked. No two ways about it.
"I won't go say hi to Ais. If she asks about me, just tell her I went down to the Dungeon."
Leo instinctively reached out to pat the little girl's head, but to keep her from snapping his wrist, he stopped himself from such a suicidal move.
Instead, Leo waved at Lefiya and got ready to leave.
"The Dungeon?"
Lefiya paused, only then remembering that he'd already received the Falna. He was officially a full member now, no longer a trainee.
It wasn't really a secret. A new Familia comrade joining was no small thing in Loki Familia, and the news had already made the rounds the day before.
Thinking about how the person in front of her was now an adventurer capable of venturing into the Dungeon on his own, Lefiya couldn't help but reconsider.
She was actually a pretty kind person, and she genuinely admired adventurers who could explore the Dungeon alone, because she couldn't do that herself.
She might already be Lv.3, but as a rearguard who needed protection, she'd always relied on the help of others.
Without someone to protect her, she didn't even dare to face monsters alone.
If a monster came charging at her, her mind would go completely blank, and she'd get so nervous she couldn't even chant her Magic.
This was Lefiya's flaw, the thing she desperately needed to fix.
Since she didn't dare face monsters alone, she naturally held a measure of respect for the adventurers who did, the ones who took monsters head-on.
Why did Lefiya look up to Ais?
Because Ais was beautiful and powerful, always charging fearlessly to the front, swinging her sword without so much as flinching in the face of endless monsters, cutting down countless powerful foes.
That fearlessness, that strength and beauty, was exactly what drew Lefiya in.
And now, Leo seemed to have become another person who could earn Lefiya's respect.
For every adventurer who dared to enter the Dungeon and face monsters head-on, Lefiya had respect.
Even if it was Leo, whose Level was lower than her own.
Watching Leo's back as he started to walk away, Lefiya found herself speaking up almost despite herself.
"Um... be careful out there."
The girl's slightly sulky voice reached Leo's ears.
"If you get hurt, Miss Ais will be sad too."
The advice, not entirely candid but offered anyway, made Leo stop in his tracks, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
She really was a kindhearted Elf girl after all. Even toward a "love rival," her innate kindness stirred, and she couldn't just sit by while a comrade went off adventuring.
That was also why Leo couldn't help but tease her. If she'd really been the kind of person whose envy ran deep enough to wish him actual harm, he wouldn't have bothered with her at all.
"I'll be careful."
Leo turned his head, waved at Lefiya, and added one more thing.
"See you."
With that, he walked off without looking back.
Lefiya watched him go, and only when his back disappeared from view did she seem to snap out of it, patting her own cheeks.
"No, I have to work hard too! I can't slack off!"
If even Leo was working hard, what reason did she have not to?
"I'll go ask Lady Riveria to give me some Magic guidance!"
With that thought, Lefiya jogged off.
The girl had completely forgotten that, at the start of all this, she'd been determined to go talk to the person she admired.
And now, that admired person stood watching Lefiya run off with a blank look on her face, puzzled.
"Lefiya... when did she get here?"
Today, the girl was as airheaded as ever.
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