Earlier today, before Leo left, Raul had told him something.
"Our goddess is looking for you. Drop by her place when you get back tonight."
Heaven help him, Leo hadn't laid eyes on that trash of a goddess for ten whole days.
She was either hung over or on her way to being hung over every single day, and on top of that, Leo was now hopelessly hooked on the Dungeon. He'd head out at first light and not come back until after dark, and the moment he was home he'd basically wash up and crash into bed, sinking into an infant-deep sleep. Which meant that in these ten days he hadn't seen his own goddess once, to the point he was starting to wonder if that trash of a goddess had forgotten he existed.
Thankfully, she'd finally remembered him. Took her long enough.
With that in mind, Leo even sped up his walk home. By the time he reached Twilight Manor, traces of sunset glow were still drifting across the sky. Compared to his usual return time of pitch dark, this was a good bit earlier.
At this hour Twilight Manor felt a little deserted, hardly anyone in sight.
When Leo walked into the central courtyard, Ais wasn't waiting for him there like usual.
"This time of day... is she at dinner?"
Leo had a rough idea of what the Familia members were up to.
By Loki's personal preference, since they were all family in the same Familia, meals naturally had to be eaten together. So Loki Familia's breakfasts and dinners wouldn't formally start until every member not on patrol had gathered.
And right now happened to be dinnertime.
So the great dining hall in Twilight Manor was probably already crammed wall to wall with dozens of members, bustling like nothing else.
Leo rarely went there. He'd only been a trainee before, and even the meal times for members on patrol or guard duty were separated out. As a trainee handling logistics work, he'd had little chance to use the great dining hall. Usually someone just brought food over for him.
Now that he was an official member, he was still up before the chickens and back later than the dogs. He grabbed simple meals outside for breakfast and dinner, so in these ten days he hadn't been to the great dining hall once.
"Ais is probably at dinner right now."
After a moment's thought, Leo first stopped by his own room, stripped off his weapons, armor, and supplies, changed into casual clothes, then headed for the Central Tower and made his way up to the God's Chamber on the top floor.
"It's Leo. Can I come in?"
His knock and greeting had barely sounded when a maddeningly sloppy Kansai accent came through the door.
"Come in, come in. Just got back myself."
At that less-than-respectable voice, Leo pushed the door open and walked in.
"Back early today, huh? Already getting excited about it? Punk."
This time Loki wasn't passed out clutching a bottle. She was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed, leaning back against the bed in a thoroughly cocky pose, picking her teeth with a wooden toothpick.
Leo bit back the urge to call her out and went to sit down in front of her.
"My own goddess finally remembered I exist. I had to come back early, didn't I?"
His words drew a half-smile to Loki's face.
"Didn't forget you, punk. You're the one who never came to see me," Loki said pointedly. "I figured the day you got your Falna, you'd be racing over to update your Status the second you could. Instead... oh boy, you actually held out a whole ten days. Patient bastard, aren't you. If I hadn't called you over, were you really planning on running around the Dungeon with all abilities at 0 proficiency?"
This wasn't Loki making things up.
Unreliable as she was, she still paid plenty of attention to her family, and she'd been keeping an eye on Leo, that particular case, the whole time. Otherwise she wouldn't have known he was coming home earlier than usual today.
When Leo left every day and when he came back, that basic information Loki had a handle on, which proved she really hadn't forgotten about him. She just hadn't gotten around to Leo coming to her.
She honestly hadn't expected that a mortal who'd just received the Falna could actually resist the urge to get stronger, flat-out refusing to come update his Status.
Even on the days she wasn't home, if Leo had wanted to find her, surely it shouldn't have taken him a full ten days?
What did that tell her?
It told her this punk genuinely wasn't in any hurry!
On this point, Loki had to revise her view of Leo.
"How'd you have the nerve to mess around in the Dungeon for ten days in this state, going out early and coming back late every day? You really don't want to get stronger?"
Loki asked, curious.
"Of course I want to get stronger," Leo said without changing expression. "But holding off on the Status update doesn't stop excelia from piling up anyway. Figured I'd train a while longer in my current state. No point rushing this kind of thing."
"Oh ho? Pretty clear-headed, aren't you, kid." Loki tossed the toothpick aside and looked Leo over, impressed. "If only my Ais had this kind of attitude. We grown-ups around here wouldn't have to be on edge every day, worrying she's off somewhere we can't see doing something reckless."
Ais had an extraordinary obsession with getting stronger. Even on the rest days after returning from an expedition she'd dive into the Dungeon to slaughter monsters, coming home a mess every day. She'd given Loki, Riveria, and the others no shortage of grief over it.
"She's still doing that?" Leo paused, surprised. "I thought she'd settled down lately, not running off like before."
These past days, before Leo left every morning he'd seen Ais practicing with her sword in the central courtyard, and when he came back he'd see her in the courtyard waiting for him. He'd assumed she hadn't been going out much.
"Hmph, that's just because you weren't looking," Loki said sourly. "This whole time, my Ais has been heading out not long after you leave, and getting back not long before you come home."
At that, Leo fell silent.
He genuinely hadn't known Ais was leaving on his heels every day, much less hurrying back before him.
Was she doing it on purpose?
"What's so great about you anyway, punk, that my Ais worries about you that much." Loki huffed. "Lemme make this clear right now. Ais is mine. You try to steal her, and you better watch your back walking home in the dark."
Saying this, Loki picked up the box of needles next to her, took one out, and drawled,
"Alright, turn around. Shirt off. Let's see what kind of state you've gotten yourself into these last ten days."
At that, Leo pushed his jumbled thoughts aside, turned around, and pulled off his shirt, exposing his back.
Loki was quick about it. One jab of the needle and a drop of blood welled up from her finger, falling onto Leo's back, and his back rippled like the surface of a disturbed lake.
A jester emblem soon surfaced, revealing the locked Status beneath.
Then Loki pricked her finger again, squeezed out a second drop, let it fall onto Leo's back, and the Status began to glow with a faint light.
Hieroglyphs drifted up one after another, floating into Loki's view.
Loki extended her finger and began swiping, altering, and inscribing among the Hieroglyphs.
"Heh heh, you really did stack up a fair amount of excelia."
Loki's voice came out cheerfully.
"Pull all this excelia out, turn it into nutrients for growth, tweak it a little..."
"Mm, that should about do it."
"Let's see, your Status now grew to..."
Mid-sentence, Loki's voice abruptly cut off.
Not just her voice. All movement stopped too, and Leo could even feel Loki's finger gone rigid against his back, as if completely frozen in place.
"What's wrong?"
Leo twisted his head around, puzzled, and looked at Loki.
What he saw was Loki, dumbstruck and frozen solid, in all her stupefied glory.
"...How is this possible?"
This usually unreliable, unserious goddess now looked stunned senseless. Her perpetually narrowed eyes were wide open, like she was seeing a ghost, her whole face contorting.
"What's the matter?"
Seeing that even Loki's slitted eyes had popped open, Leo felt a jolt, and tensed up too.
His Status hadn't gone wrong again, had it?
Remembering that unreadable special Skill, Leo really did start to worry that something was off with his Status again.
"Y-you punk, just what did you do these last ten days?"
Loki finally managed to react, looking at Leo, trembling, and actually stammering.
The way she looked, you'd think Leo was the god and Loki was the mortal. She was a perfect picture of someone who'd just seen a deity.
"I didn't do anything." Leo frowned and said hesitantly, "Just normal exploring in the Dungeon. Is something wrong?"
"Hah." Loki's mouth twitched into a smile uglier than a sob. "Normal exploring? You call this rate of growth normal exploring? Normal my ass!"
Loki's voice had risen without her meaning to, with the faint feeling she was on the verge of losing it.
"What rate of growth? You wanna tell me what you mean!"
Leo was almost rattled by her reaction, his chest tightening.
"...See for yourself!"
Loki's mouth opened, closed, opened again, in that classic about-to-say-something-then-not-then-wanting-to-again routine. In the end she just gave up on explaining, quickly copied Leo's Status onto parchment, translated it into the common script, and threw it in his face.
Leo hurriedly caught it and looked.
And then he froze.
......
Leo Eligos
Lv.1
Strength: I0 → D557
Endurance: I0 → E496
Dexterity: I0 → D581
Agility: I0 → C644
Magic: I0 → B752
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200 powerstones for the extra chapter
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