The weapon in Isagi's hands was so bizarre that neither girl could find words to describe it.
That blade, shimmering with stars and moonlight, seemed to draw people toward it — even when the slash wasn't aimed their way, it would suddenly appear right in front of them without warning.
It was as though their own bodies were being pulled in.
What on earth was going on?!
Isagi gave the weapon a few casual swings, then — without a word of explanation — put it away with a satisfied air.
Done!
On the way back.
Isagi said his goodbyes to Ryuu-senpai and Ais in front of Twilight Manor on North Main Street, then turned and headed off toward the Garden of Stars.
But partway there, the elven girl ran into an old acquaintance.
"Adi."
"Lion!"
The grey-haired girl came bounding over with boundless energy and her trademark bright smile, closing the distance in an instant.
She then hooked her arm around Ryuu-senpai's with easy familiarity.
Best friends.
Isagi remembered her name — Adi Varma, younger sister of Shakti Varma, captain of Ganesha Familia. She was, alongside Alise, the person closest to Ryuu-senpai in the whole city. Arguably the closest of all.
You could tell just from the name she used — in this entire city, only Adi and Alise ever called her "Lion."
Though originally, Adi had died during the period of the Great Dispute.
But because he and the elven girl had traveled through time on that last occasion, those seven days of the Great Dispute had been erased entirely from history — and that tragedy had been undone.
"Isagi!"
"Hello."
Adi seemed like someone who startled easily, and she was naturally forward with people — she was already cheerfully greeting him.
She had the look of an adorable girl, yet her figure was remarkably mature, which created a striking contrast.
It left Isagi a little unsure how to act around her.
"Mind if I borrow Lion for a bit? Patrolling alone gets boring — I'll bring her right back to you after, I promise!"
"No problem."
The two girls clearly had a lot to catch up on. Isagi smiled and nodded, then said his farewells and continued on his own toward the Garden of Stars.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Adi led Ryuu through the side streets, heading in the direction of Adventurers' Row.
Night had only just fallen.
The closer they got to Adventurers' Row, the louder the noise from the streets became, and the heavier the smell of alcohol hanging in the air.
This was probably the city's most "dangerous" stretch after dark.
The Dark Familias had already been wiped out.
But ordinary adventurers brawling and getting into fights — that was as common as ever. The Guild had no real power to stop it.
And so.
The two girls kept catching the sounds of arguments and yelps of pain from nearby.
As the younger sister of Ganesha Familia's captain, Adi naturally intervened — in fact, she had deliberately come to patrol this area for exactly that reason: to haul in the drunken adventurers picking fights.
In her hand was a longsword named [Sacred Oath] — technically a second-tier weapon, but at Adi's special request it had been given a unique "non-lethal" treatment, which sent the price skyrocketing to nearly the same level as a first-tier weapon.
It was a weapon that was not a weapon.
As a guardian of order, she had no wish to "injure" anyone. That was her own personal vow.
"[Gana's Binding]!"
The moment the spell completed.
With Adi's clear, bright voice ringing out, two adventurers who had been scuffling in the distance were instantly "force-stopped" by an invisible surge of magical power.
It was an extraordinarily potent restraining spell.
Not only could it interrupt the target's movements, spell casting, and attacks, it also comprehensively reduced their stats while bringing them to a dead halt in an instant.
As if time itself had stopped.
A completely broken spell.
By the time the two girls emerged from the alleyways of Adventurers' Row a short while later, there was already a long string of black-and-blue adventurers trailing behind them.
They handed the lot over to some other Ganesha Familia members they happened to run into.
Adi then invited Ryuu to walk with her along the way to West Main Street, looping back around through Central Park before seeing Ryuu home to the Garden of Stars.
They didn't run into any more trouble along the route.
Not that it would've been an issue — Ryuu was already a first-tier adventurer on the verge of reaching Lv. 6.
"I hit Lv. 4, by the way — though I'm nowhere near as fast at leveling as you, Lion!"
Once upon a time.
During the period of the Great Dispute, both girls had been Lv. 3. Now, a clear gap had opened between them.
"That's because Adi doesn't go adventuring."
"That's not true! Ganesha Familia does expeditions too, you know!!"
The work of keeping the city's peace was certainly demanding, but with so many first-tier adventurers in Ganesha Familia, they obviously couldn't all be leveling up by catching petty thieves and pickpockets around town.
Just like Loki Familia and Freya Familia.
Ganesha Familia regularly sent their adventurers into the Dungeon to challenge Floor Bosses, accumulating [Excelia] and stats. They also handled many commissions involving enhanced species — whenever one appeared, Ganesha Familia was the first to send people in.
"I've heard all about it, you know — it's all because of Isagi! The Dungeon you lot go into is nothing like a normal one!"
"Ah..."
Ryuu pressed her lips together.
Even now, being around her old friend still left her feeling strangely adrift.
A powerful sense of unreality.
Unlike the gods, Adi naturally had no memory of dying — for her, the Great Dispute simply didn't exist. As far as she knew, during that dark period, the city's righteous Familias had waged a years-long struggle against the Dark Familias.
Until last year, when the city launched its assault on the Artificial Labyrinth and finally destroyed every last one of the Dark Familias.
But for Ryuu, it wasn't like that at all.
So she was still muddled, unsure where to even begin — and looking at Adi kept making her think of Alise and the others. The fact was, it had already been proven possible. All it would take was...
"There's something else I heard, by the way, Lion."
Adi suddenly paused, then turned to look at her with an expression of complete seriousness.
"It was you and Isagi together — you went back to the past and changed what happened, and that's what brought me back from the dead. Isn't it?"
"?! How could that be —"
"I heard it from a god."
Ganesha was a hopeless gossip of a deity.
"And my sister... for some reason, the day she saw me again, she just started crying."
Ryuu fell silent.
She was at a complete loss — she didn't know how to bring herself to talk about any of it, because it truly was too complicated. Even she herself felt a throbbing headache coming on whenever she tried.
"So you're thinking of using the same method to save Alise and the others, aren't you?"
"Do you want help?"
Adi said it again, with that same look of total sincerity.
"If you ever need anything — you have to tell me, okay, Lion."
When Isagi returned to the Garden of Stars, he found Goddess Aphrodite and the others still in the middle of their drama rehearsal.
He waved the Goddess of Beauty over.
The two of them slipped quietly away to a corner of the garden and conducted a thoroughly "top-secret transaction!"
Isagi came away with a helmet capable of turning him invisible, and a "Holy Grail" that could hypnotize others.
As everyone knows!
Invisibility and hypnosis — abilities like these, in a world full of all manner of temptations, were off-the-charts broken in terms of pure "combat power!!"
So Isagi had been wanting to get his hands on these two items from Aphrodite for a long time.
Just imagine.
If he had invisibility while exploring the Dungeon — or could hypnotize monsters — wouldn't that make him completely unstoppable?!
It was practically cheating.
Right, he was getting these two things for entirely legitimate purposes!!
Completely different from Aphrodite and the girls — unlike them, who only ever thought to use things like this for "strange" activities!
Hmph.
A bunch of people with nothing but filth on the brain!
Of course, that said — during downtime, using them as a little "daily diversion" wasn't actually a bad idea either. For instance, Isagi already had a brand-new plan in mind for tonight, and was thinking about getting Ryuu-senpai and Lefiya and the others all together... ahem, ahem, ahem.
In any case, the two items were just endlessly useful.
Goddess Aphrodite naturally understood how "precious" they were — which was exactly why she had kept them on her person all this time and never lent them out to anyone.
That she was willing to hand them over now.
Beyond gaining her trust and recognition, what mattered most was that this was a "transaction."
Aphrodite wanted something from him.
The specifics could wait for later — the request from this scatterbrained goddess was every bit as scatterbrained as she was, but Isagi had agreed to it all the same.
Because when he actually thought it through, it wasn't really that big a deal. It would just require him to...
Aphrodite had said that only he could pull it off.
And when Isagi thought it over carefully, she was probably right.
And so it was that the two of them quickly became, in a certain sense, "allies."
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
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