Leo soon learned exactly what the gift Loki spoke of was.
"I heard you collapsed straight into unconsciousness from Mind Down after you beat Goliath, so you probably don't know this, but a drop item appeared when you killed it."
Leo was startled to hear that.
"A drop item? You mean Goliath hide?"
That was the most common drop item to come off Goliath, the Floor Boss of the 17th floor, and currently the most common Floor Boss drop material around.
Because Goliath was the first Floor Boss adventurers would ever encounter, and because it just so happened to block the entrance leading down to the 18th floor, obstructing the steps of everyone preparing to push deeper, this particular Floor Boss had been subjugated more times than any other.
And with that many subjugations, there were always chances for its materials to drop.
Goliath hide was the most famous one, and although it was the most common, it was still a drop item that came off a Floor Boss, so its rarity and quality were without question very high.
If nothing else, selling this hide would easily fetch a few million valis, and when the market was tight or demand was high it could even go for over ten million, no less than a Second Class piece of superior equipment.
A drop item like that, and it had appeared after he subjugated Goliath?
"That really is lucky."
The remark came to Leo on its own.
"It was good luck, all right, and Raul went and picked it up for you too." Loki snickered. "I'd planned to leave it to you to deal with, since you subjugated the Floor Boss on your own, which makes it your personal spoils.
"But once I found out, I just took it for myself.
"And now that hide's already been crafted into armor by a master smith I trust."
With that, Loki undid the parcel, letting its contents fall into Leo's view.
It was a full combat outfit.
The combat outfit was black all over, cut like fatigues, understated and inconspicuous, with the top and bottom both close-fitting, snug yet full of resilience, and it came specially fitted with a belt, several clasps along it that made it obvious at a glance they were for hanging weapons and waist pouches.
Layered beneath the combat outfit was a hooded cloak, longer than waist-length yet not long enough to cover the whole body, black in color as well, embroidered with gold stripes that lent it no small amount of elegance.
Loki's voice came in right on cue.
"This combat outfit uses Goliath hide as the main material, supplemented with hide materials dropped from other high-level monsters.
"Goliath hide already has astonishing durability on its own, and it can deflect both physical and magic attacks, only it can't cancel out impact, so I commissioned the smith to remake it, using the smith's own skill along with the other materials to make its defensive performance even stronger while also letting it cancel out impact now.
"That cloak uses Goliath hide as its main material too, but the craft and supplementary materials chosen for it were different, giving it solid defensive performance while also resisting high and low temperatures. Neither flame nor frost can damage it."
Hearing this far, Leo understood.
This combat outfit was without question armor on par with First Class equipment, a piece of First Class gear.
"Don't go blaming me for being a busybody. The thing is, you grow so damn fast that there's no telling when you'll shoot up into the first-class adventurer ranks, and you're reckless besides. In some ways you're maybe even more of a handful than Ais."
Seeing Leo look her way, Loki immediately grumbled a few times and said this.
"Your first expedition's about to begin, and I really do worry you'll go and get yourself killed in the Dungeon by accident, so this once I took it upon myself to prepare this armor for you."
With a piece of armor on par with First Class gear, your survival rate ought to go up quite a bit, right? Loki didn't say it out loud, but that was basically the gist of it, one way or another.
"How much is this?"
Leo was silent a while before asking that question.
"Not much." Loki gave a sly chuckle. "Just fifty million valis or so."
Fifty million valis. Even if that wasn't cost price, it couldn't be far off.
The First Class gear used by first-class adventurers, which of those pieces wasn't worth over a hundred million valis?
Ais's Desperate was worth ninety-nine million valis, and this piece of special armor on par with First Class equipment was absolutely no cheaper than that.
As for why Loki quoted the price at only fifty million valis, that was either because she'd haggled it down, or because the Goliath hide and those supplementary materials had all been provided by Loki herself, so the cost of the materials had been deducted.
Leo wanted to say something, but seeing the look on Loki's face that said don't get precious on me, kid, he dropped the idea.
"I'll find a way to pay this back."
Leo just said that.
Loki, however, waved a hand.
"It's a gift, I said, so naturally I'm not taking your money." Loki said this with her hands on her hips. "You subjugated a Floor Boss single-handed, accomplished a great feat nobody else managed, and won our Familia a loud reputation. As the head of this house I can't be too stingy, so just call this your reward.
"And the main material was your own spoils anyway, so really all I did was dress up your own loot and hand it back this once. It's not like you came out way ahead.
"As long as you take it easy and stop being so reckless, this armor should last you the whole way through."
This was also what Loki and Finn and the others hoped for from Leo: that he could live a little longer, and not throw his life away on a whim.
Kitting out a Lv.3 member with First Class gear was a bit absurd, true, but given Leo's growth speed and his degree of recklessness, Loki, after talking it over with Finn and the rest, had decided to prepare this halfway-reliable piece of armor for him after all.
"We don't usually talk about this in front of you, but you should know, both I and Finn and the others, we actually hold great expectations for you."
Loki opened her squinted divine eyes, fixed her gaze on Leo, and curled the corner of her mouth.
"And these expectations aren't only from the Familia's angle, hoping you'll come into your own and become the pillar of this house. They go further, hoping for things from you from the standpoint of the whole lower world.
"We hope you can become a hero.
"The lower world's stalemate has dragged on long enough. Everyone's waiting for a hero to appear.
"And you, you've got the makings of that person."
Loki spoke words she would never normally say, the expectation and longing in them so plain, so thick.
If the lower world is fated to produce a hero, one who rewrites the whole world's situation, then why can't that person be my child?
That was what Loki hoped for.
That hope, Loki had once placed on Finn, on Riveria and Gareth, and on Ais too.
She didn't think her children were any worse than anyone else's. In fact she'd always thought her children were finer than anyone's, and felt deep pride and satisfaction in it.
Now Leo had become one of the people in her heart she pinned her hopes on, and this time the hope was greater than for anyone.
His absurd growth speed, that special Skill still unexplained to this day, and his clearly extraordinary origins, all told Loki just how special, how singular this child of hers was.
And so, Finn and the others included, the leaders of this Familia were all quietly placing high hopes on Leo.
In their hearts, Leo's future was fated to surpass their own, to the point that even Ais, whom they'd always been so optimistic about, might not be able to keep up.
His very existence might be the miracle this world had long awaited.
The hero the people of the lower world and the gods of all the heavens had been waiting for, perhaps it was him.
Of course, Leo himself didn't think he could become a hero.
He knew he wasn't that great, and he knew exactly who the real hero was.
Counting the time, that person ought to be arriving in Orario soon, right?
When the time came, the title of the world's fastest white rabbit would surely ring out across the whole world.
But Leo didn't think he'd come up short against him.
Before, he'd never have had this kind of confidence, but with the special Skill Stranger from Another Star, with the absurd progress of climbing two whole levels in a month and a half, if he still didn't have this kind of confidence, that would be far too embarrassing.
Maybe he couldn't become a hero, but he hoped he could become the strongest.
Weaker than no one, lesser than no one, he wouldn't dare claim he could shoulder the wishes of the whole lower world, but he hoped he could become the true pillar of the great family that was Loki Familia.
Under Loki's gaze, Leo reached out and ran his hand over the combat outfit before him.
The texture was very soft. It would surely be comfortable to wear, too.
He'd heard Goliath hide was heavy, that even made into armor or items it carried no small weight. For this to feel so soft and light to the touch, it must have taken the special craft of a master smith to pull off.
Armor like this really was, just as Loki said, something he could keep using the whole way through, even after Leo became a first-class adventurer one day.
First Class gear was meant for first-class adventurers in the first place. To own a piece of equipment like this at Lv.3, you might search all of Orario and find only this one case.
That, too, was a measure of how great the hopes Loki and Finn and the others placed on him.
"Does it have a name?"
Leo suddenly asked that.
"You give it one."
Loki said this with a smile.
"Then let's call it Giant's Battle Garb."
Leo settled on the name without much thought.
Since it used Goliath hide as the main material, calling it Giant's Battle Garb was fitting enough.
Carrying the garb with him, Leo left Loki's God's Chamber and returned to his own room.
Gazing out the window at the night sky, Leo suddenly found himself looking forward to it.
Looking forward to the arrival of tomorrow's expedition.
The next day, early morning.
The weather that day was exceptionally fine.
There wasn't the slightest haze in the sky, hardly even a few clouds, a clear blue sky stretching for miles.
Sunlight poured down from the horizon, lighting up all of Orario, and lighting up Twilight Manor as well.
The members of Loki Familia were all up bright and early, and the moment they were up they whipped up a fervent, bustling atmosphere.
Some were taking inventory of supplies, others were hauling large cargo crates around the garden, busy as could be.
The Familia's rank-and-file members had all turned out, some sorting out tents, some checking the condition of various supplies and spare weapons, others organizing food, water, and all kinds of items into categories, talking back and forth all over the place as they worked, tense and excited, which made plain enough how they were feeling.
The elite members about to set off on the expedition were confirming one another's status, while off to the side those who couldn't join, who could only stay behind to mind the house, watched them with envious faces, imagining in their hearts the day they themselves would become one of them.
Meanwhile, in one room of one of the towers, Leo too had finished getting ready.
He stood before a full-length mirror, the glass reflecting his appearance at this moment.
The Dragon Fang Sword was strapped at his right hip, the Emerald Staff at his left, along with two waist pouches holding potions, but all of it was concealed under the gold-embroidered cloak he wore.
The black garb was fully donned, close-fitting, and just as soft and light as he'd imagined, not hindering his movements in the least.
The impression Leo gave now was no longer that of a green newcomer adventurer fresh out of the gate, but of a warrior who'd been through a hundred battles.
He stood tall and straight, the black garb and cloak lending him a mysterious air, and there was even a faint quality to him of a young noble riding off to war.
Looking over his own figure in the full-length mirror, Leo gave a slight smile.
Everything was ready. All that remained was to set out.
Leo cast one glance around the whole room, fixing its look firmly in his memory, before he left.
The next time he returned would be when the expedition was over.
An expedition lasted half a month at the shortest, close to a month at the longest, and Leo didn't know what state he'd be in when he came back.
Maybe he'd return in triumph, crowned with glory.
Maybe he'd come back in defeat, weighed down with shame.
But one thing was certain: he absolutely did not want to remain down there forever.
He would, without fail, come back again.
Carrying this conviction, Leo walked out of the room, only to stop in his tracks as he passed through the open-air corridor.
Ahead, Ais seemed to be waiting for him, standing there, her gaze fixed squarely on him.
They hadn't arranged it.
Even so, Leo walked up and said, with a smile.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go."
Leo's words earned a nod from the girl.
"New equipment?"
Ais looked at the Giant's Battle Garb on Leo, a rare trace of curiosity surfacing in her eyes.
"It's an expedition, after all."
Leo didn't say much either, answering that with a light chuckle.
Ais nodded as if she understood, and stepped over to Leo's side.
The two of them left the tower together and came out into the courtyard.
"Leo! Ais! Over here!"
Tiona seemed to have been waiting for them this whole time too, and the moment she saw them she waved happily.
"Where's the captain? Why isn't the captain here yet?"
Tione, meanwhile, waited anxiously for the man she'd set her heart on.
"Hmph."
Bete leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, watching the freshly equipped Leo and the Ais following close at his heels, and gave a displeased cold snort.
Raul and the rest of the members watched Leo come walking up alongside Ais, their eyes lighting up with something between envy and anticipation.
Soon enough, Finn and the other two made their entrance together.
"Move out!"
The Pallum captain didn't waste a single word, just swept his hand wide and gave the order.
A cheer erupted, and the force left their home base.
Destination: Babel.
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