Magic stones were a resource produced only in the Dungeon, and a signature product that only Orario exported.
The magic stones brought out of the Dungeon were ultimately processed into all kinds of magic stone products and shipped all over the world, reaping enormous profits.
So the Guild had always monopolized the trade in magic stones, ruling that the magic stones each exploration-type Familia brought out of the Dungeon could only be sold to the Guild, and could not be privately sold to other merchants, with violators facing heavy penalties.
When Finn returned from the Dungeon with an iridescent magic stone, his first thought was naturally to consult the Guild.
With the trade entirely monopolized, no one in the world understood magic stones better than the Guild.
Since Finn wanted to investigate the magic stone and, by following the trail, figure out the details of those new species monsters, he naturally couldn't avoid going to the Guild.
But when he took the iridescent magic stone to the Guild, its officials provided no information and forcibly confiscated it.
No one would believe there wasn't something off about that.
"At the very start, we even suspected there might be a Guild conspiracy behind this, suspected that the appearance of these iridescent magic stones and the new species monsters all had some huge connection to the Guild."
Gareth explained this to Leo.
"But after you all ran into the attack at Rivira on Floor 18, we basically abandoned that idea." Riveria picked up from where Gareth left off. "That mysterious woman is clearly the one controlling those monsters from behind the scenes, or at least one of the controllers, and someone is working against a woman like her, which is why they commissioned another party to bring the green orb that can produce a female-form monster back from the Dungeon. As a result, the one who accepted the commission was pursued by the mysterious woman, and eventually came to Floor 18, setting off that incident."
"So we have reason to suspect that the party who knows about the green orb and opposes the mysterious woman is the Guild," Finn said with certainty. "The Guild manages Orario and the Dungeon. It has no reason to create chaos in either. Knowing the truth and opposing whoever is causing the disorder fits its position far better."
Of course, this was only conjecture, with no hard proof.
The Guild's system was vast, and even if its position wouldn't be to bring disorder to Orario and the Dungeon, there was no guarantee that some people inside with ulterior motives weren't using the Guild's power to do wrong.
But in the end, Finn and the others set aside their suspicions of the Guild.
The reason was simple.
"After the incident at Rivira drew to a close, we focused our investigation on the two people who retrieved the green orb from the Dungeon, that is, the courier and the receiver you mentioned in your letter."
Finn calmly pointed this out.
"The receiver's identity is already clear. It's a member of Hermes Familia, Lulune Louie."
"And the courier's name is Hashana Dorlia."
"His level is Lv.4, and he belongs to... Ganesha Familia."
The office fell silent.
Ganesha Familia. That was no ordinary Familia.
It was a powerhouse Familia ranked among the very top in all of Orario, with an especially large number of members, and it enjoyed the Guild's deep trust. It had a long-standing partnership with the Guild, a great Familia that also served as guards in the city.
Just how large and powerful was this Familia?
Put it this way. First, its member count far exceeded that of Loki Familia and Freya Familia. You could even say it was the Familia with the most members and the largest scale in all of Orario. Familias that could compare with it in member count and scale could be counted on one hand in the entire city.
Then, its strength also pressed right up against Loki Familia, enough to rank in the top three in all of Orario.
In other words, it was a great Familia second only to Loki Familia and Freya Familia, the strongest Familia below the city's Two Great Powers, one that even Loki Familia didn't dare to look down on.
In all of Orario, only three Familias had reached an S Familia rank, and these three Familias were Loki Familia, Freya Familia, and Ganesha Familia.
Unlike Loki Familia and Freya Familia, Ganesha Familia had no Lv.6 member, the tier just below the city's highest level of Lv.7. What it had instead was a full eleven Lv.5 first-class adventurers. If you counted only the number of first-class adventurers, it even exceeded Loki Familia and Freya Familia.
That alone demonstrated Ganesha Familia's strength.
So it was hardly strange at all that Hashana Dorlia, as a member of Ganesha Familia, was Lv.4.
A second-class adventurer with such solid strength was indeed qualified to accept a request, delve deep into the Dungeon to secretly retrieve the green orb that could gestate a female-form monster, then secretly rendezvous with the receiver Lulune Louie in Rivira on Floor 18 and hand the green orb over to her.
Unfortunately, after completing the task, he didn't manage to leave Rivira before he was killed by the mysterious woman who had come searching for the green orb.
Confirming Hashana Dorlia's identity was what led Finn and the others to conclude that the Guild opposed the mysterious woman.
"The Guild and Ganesha Familia have close ties to begin with, so it's entirely understandable that they'd commission Hashana Dorlia, as a member of Ganesha Familia, to retrieve something from the Dungeon."
"Hashana Dorlia was a Lv.4 second-class adventurer from a major Familia. He wouldn't accept a secret, questionable commission without caution. Ganesha Familia isn't like Hermes Familia, which handles every kind of business. The client must have had a background he could trust."
"Putting all this together, we suspect that the client who commissioned Hashana Dorlia as the courier and Lulune Louie as the receiver is, in fact, the Guild."
Finn unpacked the mystery piece by piece with clear, rigorous logic.
Leo couldn't help but be impressed.
Because Finn's account was correct.
No one understood the twists and turns here better than Leo, who knew the original work.
The client who commissioned Hashana Dorlia as the courier and Lulune Louie as the receiver was indeed the Guild, or rather, a heavyweight figure within the Guild.
The Guild did know something about the origins of the iridescent magic stones and new species monsters, so it wasn't Loki Familia's enemy. On the contrary, it opposed the mysterious woman and whoever stood behind her, placing it in the same camp as Loki Familia.
In all likelihood, this figure inside the Guild had by now confirmed intelligence on the mysterious woman and the existence behind her, and was working out how to deal with them.
And as a Familia that had become entangled with these beings, Loki Familia had now been chosen by this figure.
By Leo's reckoning, the other side should be coming to make contact with them soon.
Or rather... coming to make contact with him and Ais.
At the thought, Leo knew he might soon come face to face with that mysterious woman again.
"This time, it won't be like the last time we fought."
Leo said it silently to himself, a fierce flame kindling in his eyes as well.
Finn and the others, not knowing what Leo was thinking, held another round of discussion on the matter.
In Finn's words, this mysterious woman and those new species monsters could all become their enemies going forward.
"Last expedition, we had no choice but to turn back because of those monsters, but next expedition, we'll have to fight our way through."
That was how Finn put it.
He was almost certain that on the next expedition, they'd run into those monsters in the Dungeon again.
They'd first appeared on Floor 51, then later climbed up to Floor 50, so there was no guarantee they didn't still exist on even lower floors, just not having climbed up yet.
If they ran into these monsters again on the next expedition, then it would definitely come to a fight.
For this reason, Finn and the others were actually already making preparations.
There was no other way. If they didn't prepare properly, they'd only repeat the same mistake and, like last time, be driven to a dead end by those new species monsters' dissolving fluid.
Last time it happened was one thing, but if it happened again next time, then they'd truly suffer devastating losses.
So Finn and the others had been discussing this whole time how to deal with those new species monsters.
Now that they knew controllers like the mysterious woman stood behind the monsters, they had to be even more careful.
Not running into these controllers last time didn't mean they wouldn't run into them next time.
When that time came, the two sides would inevitably clash in a great battle.
On that basis alone, Finn and the others could confirm that the mysterious woman would be an enemy.
As for the other party's identity...
Finn and the others had already investigated, and in the end had turned up nothing.
Someone who could control so many mysterious monsters, fight evenly with the wind-wielding Ais, and withstand everything Leo had was bound to be rare.
She could stand toe to toe with a first-class adventurer: Lv.5 at the very lowest, and possibly beyond that.
Even if she were only Lv.5, there were fewer than forty such people in all of Orario, and among those fewer than forty first-class adventurers, not a single one matched this mysterious woman.
Could it be that the other party wasn't an adventurer of Orario, but a strong figure from outside the city?
Or... the other party wasn't an adventurer at all?
Finn and the others thought, as one, of the features Leo had mentioned when describing her.
"She's extremely strong, with very high Status, and her fighting style is savage. She has technique, but relies more on her overwhelming physical ability to rampage through her opponents."
"When she swings her sword, it's just like swinging claws, and when she charges, it's just like pouncing to bite. The way she looks at others isn't like looking at her own kind, but more like looking at lowly prey."
"And her body is absurdly strong. It's not just that its toughness is high, but that the structure itself is abnormal."
If Leo had obtained his powerful protective ability only by making Goliath's hide into battle garb to wear on his body, then the mysterious woman's very skin and flesh possessed a defensive ability comparable to that monster hide.
No Human could possess skin that tough.
So, rather than saying she was like a person, it was more apt to say she was more like... a monster.
A monster from the Dungeon.
This thought flashed through the minds of the three of them, and then they pushed it down all at once.
It wasn't that they didn't dare suspect it, but that they didn't want to suspect it.
Because it was too shocking.
A monster from the Dungeon having the same outward form as a person was one thing. After all, it wasn't as if humanoid monsters didn't exist in the Dungeon. But one that looked this much like a person, and could even speak and communicate, was another matter entirely.
What would that make her?
A monster that looked like a person?
"Creature."
Leo suddenly said this.
"Maybe we could call her that."
Leo's words brought a second silence to the whole office.
"A Creature, huh?"
Finn narrowed his eyes, an emotion no one else could read flickering within them.
"A very fitting name."
After saying this, Finn changed the subject, as though to shake off the chilling significance behind the name.
"You just leveled up, so take your time getting used to your strength at this stage. It's not long until the next expedition, and we'll be relying on you when the time comes."
The topic ended there.
Leo nodded, gave a slight bow, and left the office.
The three of them watched his departing figure, and couldn't help sighing.
"To think he's already Lv.5 this fast, it still feels unreal."
"Ais is already Lv.6 too, and Tiona and the others should be close as well, right?"
"I really don't know how much longer it'll take the few of us to advance any further."
The three of them sighed over it, but in the end relief won out.
Even if they'd been caught up to by the ones coming after them, as long as the Familia could flourish, it was all worth it.
Meanwhile, Leo had already left the northern tower and returned to his own room.
First he put on the Giant's Battle Garb piece by piece, then came to the desk and picked up the Dragon Fang Sword, still in its sheath.
After the last fierce battle with Udaeus, quite a few cracks had appeared on the blade.
Clearly, that fight, along with a full week of continuous conquest on Floor 37, had worn the sword down to no small degree, to the point where it had to be taken in for repair.
It wasn't just the sword either. The Emerald Staff, because it so often had to bear Leo's Magic, which far exceeded his current level, had suffered very high wear on its magic treasure stone, already on the verge of shattering, and would need a new magic treasure stone fitted before it could keep being used.
But even if this sword and staff were repaired, at their level they'd likely struggle to bear Leo's strength any longer.
So Leo ran his hand over the crack-covered blade of the sword, put it away again, and set it together with the staff.
He didn't plan to repair them, much less to use them again.
"I'll keep them as a memento for now. Later on, if some new member I take a liking to joins up, then just like the senior who once helped me, I'll give these to a junior as a send-off gift for their debut."
Only after making this decision did Leo turn his gaze toward the corner of the wall to one side.
There, leaning against it, was a sword.
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