By now, aboveground it had probably entered the dusk hours of evening, about to give way to night.
Loki Familia's members worked faster at putting up their tents, bringing this camp gradually toward completion.
Among them, beside one especially large tent walled off with cloth curtains, a flag stamped with the Familia's emblem had already been raised, the banner with its jester design swaying in the wind.
Leo, like the members around him, hauled equipment and put up tents while greeting the people who kept passing by.
"How's it going on your end, Leo?"
"You all right? Need me to lend a hand?"
"Let me teach you a little trick. You can put the tent up like this, makes it way easier."
"It's almost time to eat, so I'll go ahead and help you out."
The moment members saw Leo, they'd come right over to strike up a conversation, and those with free hands would even help him out, getting his work done faster.
Leo didn't turn them away either, blending right in with the crowd, laughing as he worked, fully part of it all.
By the time he finished the task in hand, someone else came up to him with a grin.
"Pretty popular, huh, Leo. Everyone's coming over to talk to you."
The one saying this was, of course, Tiona.
This little angel of an Amazoness was bouncing over with her hands behind her back, bringing her face right up to Leo's and teasing him at close range.
"Looks like you're slowly winning people over too. Not bad."
Tione stood at her own little sister's side, arms folded, watching Leo with a look that was half a smile and not quite.
Behind the pair of Amazoness twins, Ais had come along with them too.
The girl was reticent as ever, not speaking up right away, only watching Leo with concerned eyes.
Leo gave the girl a small smile, then looked at the twins in front of him.
"We have fought side by side, after all. How bad could it get?"
Leo didn't deny being popular and winning people over.
In fact, ever since he'd single-handedly struck down the Floor Boss Goliath in front of everyone and leveled up to Lv.3 off the back of it, quite a few people in the Familia had changed their attitude toward him.
Before, it wasn't as though he was on bad terms with everyone. Familia seniors like Raul had always looked out for him, otherwise they wouldn't have prepared a gift for him the first time he went into the Dungeon. But back then Leo was, in their eyes, ultimately just a weak junior. To put it nicely, he was someone who needed their care; to put it less nicely, he wasn't yet qualified to stand as their equal.
The male members especially had long been full of resentment over this junior of unknown origin getting so close to the Familia's doll-like Princess. It didn't go so far as harboring great hostility toward him, but their attitude was definitely less than friendly.
But ever since Leo started to make a name for himself, especially after showing everyone at Lv.2 that he had the strength to single-handedly strike down a Lv.4 Floor Boss, a good many people in the Familia revised their opinion of him drastically.
They began to take Leo seriously, to see him as an equal, and quite a few even belatedly realized they might not even measure up to Leo, so they set aside the resentment in their hearts and, as if spurred on, entered a state of cutthroat competition.
Thanks to that, even though they never came out and said it, Leo knew that a lot of people had come to accept his being close with Ais quite a bit more.
He'd shown everyone through facts that he was no longer the trainee without the strength to truss a chicken, fit only for logistics work, but an adventurer who could even solo a Floor Boss.
If someone like that wasn't qualified to stand at Ais's side, then who was?
So the number of people unhappy about his being close with Ais had dropped sharply by now, with only envy and jealousy left over, making them put on a sour look from time to time.
And then, on this expedition, Leo's performance won over no small number of people as well.
Over this expedition lasting six or seven days, Leo had stayed faithfully at his post as a rearguard Mage, not only displaying magical firepower others couldn't hope to match and a beautiful hand at controlling his magic, but also saving who knows how many people with that very skill.
To say nothing else, just take the Great Wilderness before they reached the fiftieth floor, where the expedition force came under assault by a huge horde of monsters. The vanguard warriors were nearly overrun by that massive, powerful pack, and some that slipped through even broke through the middle guards' line, reaching the rearguard's position and launching an attack on the Mages and Supporters.
In that sudden assault Leo cut loose completely, casting aside even his chant, instantly calling up countless brilliant meteors to dance across the whole battlefield.
The countless meteors flew about erratically, some falling from the sky and slamming down to blast away a great swath of monsters, others curving around his companions one by one as if alive to strike the monsters poised to attack others, killing who knows how many on the spot and saving everyone who'd come under attack.
That display of powerful magical firepower and magic showmanship completely won over everyone in Loki Familia.
On top of that, Leo's performance all along the way was likewise full of highlights, plenty to praise, leaving no small number of people sighing that they fell short. That was how this scene came about.
There's just no denying that having fought side by side really is different. It makes it easy for bonds to grow.
That was exactly where Leo stood now, the recognition he'd earned in the Familia growing greater and greater, enough to make plenty of people show him goodwill.
Of course...
"A certain wolf still can't be bothered with you, though, can he?"
Tiona stuck out her tongue at Bete, who was putting up a tent with a thoroughly bored look on his face.
Luckily he didn't see it, or those two would definitely have gotten into it again.
Tione, though, had a different take.
"That dumb wolf really is still wearing a sour face, but didn't you notice he hasn't come picking fights either?" Tione, dependable and level-headed about everything other than a certain Pallum captain, said this with a pointed edge. "Other people don't get that treatment, you know."
Leo glanced over in Bete's direction too.
During the expedition, he'd seen plenty of times the people in the party getting chewed out by that werewolf, and the kind of merciless, ugly tongue-lashing at that.
These people had either made some low-level mistake in battle that nearly caused a problem in the line, or suddenly run into danger and nearly lost their lives.
At times like that, Bete would often step up and chew them out savagely, as nasty as it could possibly get.
Even Raul had been on the receiving end. His face had gone white from it, his whole body curled up and his head pressed down low, all but ready to burrow straight into the ground.
Under those circumstances, that Leo, the so-called small fry Bete had always looked down on, hadn't been targeted even once this expedition, which really was strange.
Leo, for his part, knew the score, knew why Bete acted this way.
This thoroughly unlikable werewolf had cursed people out plenty, but nearly everyone he'd cursed out had been helped by him.
When someone made a mistake that nearly caused a problem in the line, the one who'd immediately rush up to fill the gap was Bete, and the people who'd suddenly run into danger and nearly lost their lives were the ones Bete had saved too.
This werewolf cursed people, sure, and was off-putting, sure, but the moment something went wrong somewhere, the moment anyone ran into danger, he was the one who charged in fastest.
That, really, already said a lot.
Pity, the little angel Tiona couldn't see any of this.
"He just hasn't found an opening, that's all. If he does, who knows how badly he'll tear into you." Tiona, without the slightest reserve, hugged Leo's arm and said with childish innocence, "You'd better watch out for that guy, Leo. He's definitely looking for a chance to corner you on the sly."
Leo didn't respond to this. Out of the corner of his eye he looked at Ais and found her staring at that arm of his being hugged by Tiona.
Feeling oddly guilty about it, Leo gave a dry cough and worked himself free of Tiona without making it obvious.
"Where are Lefiya and Line? How come I don't see them?"
At that, Tiona didn't think much of it and spoke up with a grin.
"They're cooking!"
Tiona pointed in a direction, and Leo looked along it.
Over there, a large pot was set up over a pile of campfires, and Lefiya, Line, and the other girls were gathered around it, adding ingredients, now and then giving it a couple of stirs with their utensils, clearly in the thick of cooking up a storm.
Just then, Ais finally seemed to work up her courage and came over.
"...You're not hurt, are you?"
The girl didn't care in the least whether Leo was popular or not, didn't make any fuss over whether he'd won recognition either, only checking on Leo's condition, wanting to know if he was all right.
"Of course not." Leo shook his head and smiled. "With all of you protecting me up front, I'm perfectly safe."
This wasn't flattery, but the truth.
With Leo's Lv.3 strength, after reaching the Deep Floors he'd completely lost the standing to fight monsters in close combat.
This place was full of monsters classified at Lv.4, with even Lv.5-classified monsters visible everywhere. If Leo swung a sword at one, he probably couldn't so much as get through its defenses, and might well get slugged to death by one punch.
Here, he was a Mage who could only be useful under the protection of the Familia's members, with only an outstanding hand of magical firepower to bring to bear.
Without the Familia members protecting him, there was no way he could keep fighting in a place like this.
Of course, this wasn't a bad thing for Leo.
Because every single monster here was stronger than him, every one he struck down earned him a massive amount of excelia, and he'd probably even accumulated no small amount of the high-grade excelia that came from achieving great deeds.
When facing an opponent stronger than yourself, a group of people whose strength falls short cooperating and joining hands to strike the enemy down, that too could earn the high-grade excelia used for leveling up.
Even if the excelia gained this way got split among everyone in the party, it was still the best means for the weak to rely on to defeat the strong, and far safer than venturing alone.
Most adventurers actually honed themselves this way, slowly building up high-grade excelia and leveling up by it.
People like Leo before, who'd beaten powerful foes in solo combat and leveled up off it, were the rare few instead.
Leo was thinking just then whether, once he got back from this expedition, he might be able to level up again.
He was looking forward to it.
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