It was an extremely crude, pitch-black longsword.
The sword looked as though it had been cut straight out of a block of black rock. Not only was the blade completely unpolished, the grip was just formed by white bandages wound directly around it, so it looked nothing like an iron weapon and more like a stone one.
If Ais, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, and the others had been here to see this sword, they'd surely have been able to recognize it.
This sword was the pitch-black greatsword wielded by the Floor 37 Floor Boss, Udaeus.
Leo stepped forward, reached out, gripped the bandage-wrapped hilt, and lifted the sword up.
He gave it a casual swing. The seemingly crude blade cut cleanly through the air with a sharp hiss, its edge completely at odds with its appearance.
Udaeus's Black Sword, the spoils Leo and Ais had won after slaying that Floor Boss.
When Udaeus's magic stone was shattered by Leo and Ais working together, its massive body had crumbled straight into ash and vanished, but the pitch-black greatsword, which had appeared for the first time with no prior sighting reports ever, had remained behind, becoming the drop item produced after defeating Udaeus.
Originally, because Leo and Ais had fallen unconscious after the battle, Lefiya and the others hadn't picked it up right away, and had left it lying in the Hall of the Throne. But when Leo's group decided to head back, Lefiya brought it up, and the group went back to retrieve it.
Of course they went back for it.
This was a drop item from Udaeus, a Floor Boss whose potential exceeded Lv.6, and no one had ever obtained one before. It was the only one in the world, with no guarantee that another would ever appear.
On the strength of being a Floor Boss's drop item alone, this drop item's value wouldn't fall short of the Cadmus's Membrane that Leo and the others had once obtained on Floor 51, let alone all the added value it carried.
So when Leo's group brought this trophy back to Floor 18 and entered the rebuilt Rivira to rest, the town's crooked merchants all came running like they'd stumbled on some priceless treasure, crowding around like madmen, calling out bids one after another to try to buy it, until even the person in charge of managing Rivira was stirred into action.
The man begged them again and again to be sure to leave this drop item behind, saying it didn't even have to be sold, that he could forge it into a finished weapon and return it, and they only needed to leave him some scraps, and his eager, imploring manner nearly won even Ais over.
Unfortunately, Leo didn't agree, and flatly turned the request down.
As if. Did they take him for a fool?
Don't be fooled by how merrily those crooked merchants called out their bids, because every price they named was based on Rivira's market rates.
And as for Rivira's market rates, well, anyone who'd been there knew. What kind of high price could they possibly offer?
As for that fellow who claimed he'd forge them a weapon and only needed a bit of scrap, that one nearly earned a kick from Leo.
You have to understand, Udaeus's Black Sword was over six meters long in full. For Udaeus it wasn't large, but for a Human it was bigger than several people stacked standing together.
In the original work, Ais had also obtained this trophy after defeating Udaeus. Her extreme exertion during the battle had shattered the pitch-black greatsword and damaged it throughout, leaving it less than two meters long and considerably narrower, just small enough for an adventurer to wield.
This time was different. Because Leo had joined in, the black sword hadn't ended up damaged very badly, and was still about as large as it had been in Udaeus's hand, which meant Leo's group had to go to enormous trouble just to haul it up to the surface.
A sword this large would use only a fraction of its material to forge a weapon an adventurer could wield.
The so-called scraps would probably be enough to forge another dozen weapons.
That bastard was simply coveting this trophy, and dressing it up so nicely.
In the end, every merchant in Rivira was a bigger crook than the last.
Leo and the others therefore brought the trophy to the surface. When they walked out of Babel, it caused another stir and drew an aggressive crowd of commerce and smithing Familias.
These Familias offered prices excitedly there in the Central Plaza in front of Babel, and the prices they offered were much higher than those from Rivira's pack of crooked merchants.
In the end, Leo sold the pitch-black greatsword to the highest-bidding Familia for a price of 300 million valis, and put forward a condition, having them cut out a portion to leave for him, to use for forging a weapon in the future.
This 300 million valis, Leo had originally wanted to split evenly, but Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya all refused.
"We didn't even help take on Udaeus, so we can't take the money from the trophy!"
"This trophy belongs to you and Ais. Just the two of you split it."
"I, I can't take it either!"
The three of them absolutely wouldn't accept the money, claiming they'd only dealt with the summoned Spartoi, so they'd just take the money earned from those Spartoi's trophies and that was enough.
Even Ais refused the money.
"Udaeus was your prey to begin with. You forced it, one-on-one, to bring out a weapon it had never brought out before, so... it's yours."
Ais wasn't in debt like Tiona and the others. Her original intention had only been to save Leo, and to strike down a strong foe and gain enough excelia to step into the next stage.
Now that she'd gotten her wish, Ais was already very satisfied, so naturally she wouldn't take the money the trophy had been exchanged for.
Leo urged her a few times, but Ais never gave in.
With no other choice, Leo could only accept this unexpected windfall, and the next day received the portion of material, cut from Udaeus's Black Sword, that had been delivered to the Familia headquarters.
That was the black longsword now gripped in Leo's hand, looking exceedingly crude.
Originally, he'd planned to use it to forge a new weapon.
But before Leo went to Finn's office, Loki had brought him a piece of news.
"I've got a craftsman lined up for you. Per your specs, they're going all out forging your custom weapon right now, they've got all the materials and everything ready, you just gotta have the money ready."
In other words, the rare material Leo had set aside wasn't needed for his commissioned weapon.
"In that case, until my custom weapon's in hand, I'll use you as a stopgap for now."
Leo looked at the black longsword in his hand and murmured this.
Though unpolished, it was already a weapon wielded by a Floor Boss classified as Lv.6. Its quality was in no way inferior to First Class equipment forged by a high-level smith.
Leo had already tested it. Despite the crude surface, its sharpness matched Ais's Desperate.
So even without polishing, it could be used as a weapon.
At the very least, it was far stronger than the Dragon Fang Sword.
Leo now needed the highest-quality weapon he could obtain.
The higher the weapon's quality, the stronger the effect his Star Sword Crossing could trigger, granting him as much amplification as possible.
Leo rewound the white bandages on the hilt nice and tight, found a scabbard, sheathed the black sword in it, and hung it at his waist.
Feeling the weight at his waist, Leo nodded in satisfaction.
"Taking this chance to get properly used to a new weapon is a good thing too."
Before this, whether it was the short sword Leo had used or the Dragon Fang Sword, their types were different from this one.
The short sword was no more than forty centimeters long, while the Dragon Fang Sword was a medium-length weapon of no more than eighty. Neither handled like a longsword.
But the new weapon being forged was the longsword Leo had requested, at least a hundred centimeters long.
So by using this black longsword to adjust, when he got the new weapon in the future he could switch over seamlessly, without needing to spend time breaking it in.
Twilight Manor, the courtyard.
Fully armed, Leo left the tower where his lodgings were and walked into the courtyard.
Along the way, every member he ran into still, like before, greeted Leo of their own accord, their manner quite warm and respectful.
Leo felt there was really no need for everyone to be like this, but in the end he didn't say anything about it in particular, and after responding a few times, headed toward the main gate.
As it happened, Leo ran into a girl who, like himself, was fully armed and just about to leave headquarters.
"Ais?"
Leo looked at the blonde girl who, like him, had a longsword hung at her waist and was outfitted in light gear, and went still for a moment.
"...Leo?"
Ais, too, seemed not to have expected to run into Leo just as she was about to head out, and stopped in her tracks.
The two of them stared at each other, and finally spoke at the same time.
"You're headed to the Dungeon too?"
Having said it, the two of them both fell silent, and finally one couldn't help letting out a soft laugh while the other relaxed her expression.
This scene happened to be seen by acquaintances passing by on the sky corridor.
"...I say, aren't you two being a little too diligent?"
"How long have you even been back? And you're already planning to dive into the Dungeon again?"
A pair of twin sisters leaned out from the sky corridor and called down to the two in the courtyard.
Who else could it be but Tiona and Tione?
The two of them glared at the boy and girl in the courtyard, their eyes full of resentment.
Their looks practically said, "Are you trying to make us look lazy?"
Leo and Ais glanced at each other, both a little amused.
"Don't look at me like that. I just want to go get used to my strength at this stage." Leo spread his hands and said to the two above. "This time the boost is a bit big. If I don't get properly used to it, the mind-body dissonance problem will get pretty severe."
Ais didn't say anything, but from her expression you could tell she thought the same. Having just risen to Lv.6, the boost to her Status was surely large, and her combat habits from when she was Lv.5 surely couldn't be applied to her body now, so she needed to get properly used to it and adjust, so mind and body wouldn't fall out of sync.
This was a phenomenon adventurers who'd just leveled up commonly ran into. Whether it was Leo or Ais, they'd have to deal with it sooner or later, so the two meeting here wasn't entirely a coincidence.
Tiona and Tione were simply overreacting.
"A bit big of a boost?" Tiona asked without thinking. "How big?"
Leo, who hadn't expected Tiona to ask this, went blank for a moment.
But he didn't hide it either.
"Bigger than Ais's, probably?"
Leo's words made not only Tiona and Tione curious, but even Ais looked over at him.
"Seriously?" Tione asked doubtfully. "You rose to Lv.5, and Ais rose to Lv.6, so how could your boost be bigger than Ais's?"
You'd know without thinking that between someone going from Lv.4 to Lv.5 and someone going from Lv.5 to Lv.6, the latter surely got the bigger boost.
The thing was, this time Leo hadn't just leveled up.
"I also learned a new Skill and a new Development Ability, so the boost really is a bit big."
Leo's statement drew no small reaction from all three girls present.
"A new Skill?" Tiona asked, extremely astonished and curious. "What kind of Skill?"
Ais and Tione also stared at Leo, openly curious.
"How do I put it?" Leo scratched his head, then said, "It's about the same as my Star Soul Eternal, except this time it works on other abilities."
Leo's Star Soul Eternal had already been revealed to the expedition force during the last expedition.
So this Skill's existence was no longer any secret, and nearly everyone in the whole Loki Familia knew he had a magic-amplification Skill no less than Riveria's Alf Regina and Lefiya's Fairy Canon, a Skill with a super-strong effect.
Under these circumstances, when Leo said he'd learned another new Skill, and that this Skill was about the same as Star Soul Eternal, everyone immediately understood that the "big boost" he spoke of was probably truly out of the ordinary.
"...You're not going to be stronger than all of us now, are you?"
Tione's eye twitched, and she couldn't help saying this.
The whole place fell silent for a few seconds, and the atmosphere turned a little awkward.
"Well... I'll head out first."
Seeing that the two seemed stung and were beginning to question reality, Leo tactfully changed the subject.
"Don't worry, I'm not going on a full-scale raid this time. I'll be back after dark."
Leaving these words behind, Leo hurriedly turned and left.
Ais quietly followed, watching Leo's back in silence, not saying a word, no telling what she was thinking.
That left Tiona and Tione standing there in silence for a long time.
"...Tione."
"What."
"Next expedition, we've absolutely got to level up."
"...Like you had to tell me."
A fierce refusal to be left behind kindled in both of them.
They absolutely could not stay stuck in place any longer.
And there were many others who thought the same as the two of them.
For instance, a certain elf girl with a complicated expression, walking past on another sky corridor.
And for another, a certain werewolf youth basking in the sun up in a tree in the courtyard, who had heard this whole exchange.
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