Riveria didn't hide it.
"Yes. Eina's mother and I were close—more like sisters than friends…"
So in practical terms, she was basically the "aunt" figure.
Xien's mind instantly threw up a red warning sign:
Never say that out loud.Never.Age-related honorifics around female elves are forbidden arts.
He cleared his throat and chose the safest wording possible.
"I see. Then I should say it the other way around—I'm the one who was looked after. When I was still a rookie, I learned a lot from Miss Eina."
Riveria's expression softened.
"That's good…"
After a few more casual lines, they moved on to the actual treatment.
Xien's method was simple: brief contact, a controlled infusion, and the injury was gone. No chanting, no elaborate rituals. So Finn and Loki didn't need to leave.
Xien stepped forward and held out his hand.
"Alright. Let me take a look."
"Yes… I'm in your care."
The moment her hand met his, Riveria's lashes trembled. A faint blush flickered across her cheeks.
Even after years as an adventurer, she was still an elf—still royalty. The instinctive "cleanliness" and distance from casual touch never fully went away. She'd built tolerance, not immunity.
But what she hadn't anticipated was what came next.
When Xien's Abundance flowed into her—
Riveria's world collapsed into warmth.
It wasn't "relaxing."It wasn't "comfortable."
It was like being ripped back into the first place a living thing ever knew safety—like the embrace of the world itself, reaching past flesh and bones and pressing directly into the soul.
For someone who had lived far from her homeland for too long, it hit like water to a person dying of thirst.
And her body reacted before her pride could stop it.
Her fingers tightened.
Then—clenched.
Then—refused to let go.
Xien blinked.
Something was wrong. But he couldn't just stop mid-flow; cutting it abruptly could cause backlash, or at least worsen the strain. So he held steady, adjusting output as subtly as he could.
Riveria's body, however, was doing something else entirely.
Elven sensitivity was one thing.
Royal elven sensitivity—shaped by proximity to the World Tree, by an almost absurd affinity for life-force—was another.
Xien's Abundance was not "life energy" in the ordinary sense. It was purer, denser, more absolute—closer to a fundamental principle than a spell.
And for Riveria—
It was an overload.
A perfect overload.
Her spine stiffened.
She didn't make a sound, not even a gasp.
But her shoulders trembled. Her breathing turned thin. Her face flushed deeper and deeper until it became painfully obvious she was fighting something fierce.
If anyone in the room had been careless enough to call her "shaken," they would have been mistaken.
This was not fear.
This was her willpower—royal-grade, ironclad—trying to suppress a body that had decided it wanted more.
Every second was torture.
And yet Xien's treatment was fast.
A few heartbeats later, he eased the flow and released her hand.
The moment the contact broke, Riveria's strength followed it.
If she hadn't already been sitting on the bed, she would have collapsed.
Her head dipped sharply, hair veiling her face—an instinctive attempt to hide her expression, her reaction, her shame.
Then her voice came out, strained and unsteady.
"…Leave."
Xien blinked. "Hm?"
"I said—please. Everyone. Leave." Her voice quivered at the edges, dangerously close to breaking. "Give… give me time."
Xien and Finn exchanged one quick look.
No words. Just understanding.
Finn moved immediately.
"Of course, Riveria." His tone was gentle, decisive. "Rest. We'll give you space."
Loki opened her mouth to object—pure reflex—and Finn yanked her out by the collar before she could become a disaster. Xien followed, closing the door behind them.
The click of the latch sounded like mercy.
Inside the room, Riveria finally lifted her head.
Her face was blazing red.
Hands shaking, she covered her mouth, then her eyes, then her entire face—like she could physically hide the fact that her body was still echoing with the aftershock.
She had faced monsters, war, despair, gods.
And now she wanted to die because she'd just learned her body could betray her.
"Why… why did this happen…?"
Worse—far worse—was the truth she couldn't deny:
She wanted it again.
That feeling of sinking into life itself. That moment where everything in her—mind, flesh, soul—had been forced to acknowledge need.
It was a new abyss.
And it whispered sweetly.
Xien had no idea that with one "simple treatment," he had just become a lifelong mental landmine for an elven queen.
Finn exhaled, then bowed slightly toward Xien.
"My apologies. Truly. I… didn't expect that."
Xien shook his head, expression tight with genuine concern rather than mockery.
"It's not your fault. It's likely my power interacting with her constitution—something specific to her. If anyone should apologize, it's me."
Finn's smile was strained, but sincere.
"Regardless, your help is undeniable. I hope this… incident won't damage our relationship."
Xien's gaze slid toward Loki—who was now whistling at the ceiling like an innocent bystander.
"As long as your goddess keeps her promise," Xien said. "Three months. Full cooperation. Then we're good."
Finn nodded without hesitation.
"Understood."
Xien took a step back.
"In that case, I'll be leaving. My familia is waiting. I look forward to cooperating again."
"Likewise." Finn bowed once more—then personally escorted Xien out of Twilight Manor.
When Finn returned, Loki was still loitering outside Riveria's room with a tragic, suffering expression—like a mother who'd accidentally brought home the wrong medicine.
"Loki," Finn asked quietly, "is Riveria alright? What was that?"
Loki spread her hands.
"I don't know! She kicked me out! I can't even check!" Her cheeks puffed in frustration. "But if I have to guess… it's probably elf physiology."
Finn frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Loki rubbed her chin, unusually serious.
"Royal elves are insanely sensitive to life force. World Tree proximity and all that. Riveria's been away from home for ages, and she's already high-affinity. Then Xien comes in with… that pure, dense, ridiculous Abundance."
She shuddered.
"It might've hit her like a weak version of Soma wine."
Finn's eyes widened.
"That bad…?"
Loki groaned dramatically.
"And the worst part is it's nobody's fault. Xien's control is already crazy good—he diluted it with mana. You saw it yourself: for you it felt like a warm bath after a long day."
Finn's expression darkened with regret.
"I should have considered individual differences. That's on me."
Loki waved it off, oddly gentle.
"Don't. Even I didn't expect it. It's just… Riveria being Riveria."
Finn exhaled slowly.
"Then… does this mean elves can't receive his treatment?"
"Normal elves probably can," Loki said. "It's the extreme cases—like her." She sighed. "And knowing Riveria… she'll avoid Xien like he's a cursed relic."
Finn fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke the thought he couldn't ignore.
"…At least he's with Astraea. If someone with that kind of power ever stood against us…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
Walking through Orario, Xien frowned to himself.
This shouldn't be happening anymore.
He'd already refined output through repeated tests. Even during the expedition, this didn't occur—Ryuu and Celty were both fine. Even Tsubaki had been fine.
So why Riveria?
Royal blood? Life-force sensitivity? World Tree affinity? Some unique physiological trait?
He clicked his tongue softly.
"Whatever. If it's not harmful… I'll treat it as a special case."
His priorities were elsewhere.
The city was too quiet.
The fear was too thick.
He could feel it—like pressure in the air.
This wasn't the end.
It was the pause before something ugly moved.
So instead of chasing shadows in Pleasure Quarter on a rumor, he chose the sane approach:
Strengthen their side. Prepare countermeasures. Train. Develop medicine. Expand their support network.
He reported the Loki cooperation deal to Alyshe and the others.
Predictably, the reaction was unanimous:
Approval.
And then—right as Xien thought he was safe—
Leila, somehow behind him, grabbed both his cheeks and started pulling like she was kneading dough.
"YOU LITTLE BRAT! You met Finn without bringing me?! Do you have any respect for your seniors?!"
Xien's face distorted under the assault.
"…We're allied now," he mumbled through stretched cheeks. "We'll… see them again… easily…"
Leila paused.
Then released him with a threatening smile.
"This time I'll let it go. Next time you go see Finn, you bring me. Or else."
"Yes, ma'am."
Later that afternoon, after patrol and consultations, Xien received a sealed letter—addressed to him alone.
A directed request.
He read it, and his expression shifted from puzzlement to understanding.
A one-month window.
A logistics route.
A pickup location for a magic tool.
A reward clause.
The request was simple in wording and massive in implication:
Deliver supplies to the Xenos.
So it was the Guild's—Uranus's—hand moving.
Xien folded the letter carefully and put it away.
His internal priority list updated immediately.
The medicine project just jumped to the top.
Not only for Orario.
Not only for Astraea Familia.
But for the lives hiding beneath the city that nobody wanted to acknowledge.
In the vast estate known as the Battlefield Plain, a woman stretched languidly in a room full of morning light.
Freya.
Barely dressed in delicate fabric, elegant and brazen in equal measure—black stockings, high slit, and a thin veil of luxury that made modesty feel like a joke.
She wore that outfit only when she was in a very good mood.
Because she had seen something.
A soul that should not have changed—
change.
And now, the hunt had become… interesting.
....
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