There was one more pleasant surprise.
After awakening Kongtong Tribulation, Xien gained a much deeper understanding of spatial power. Coupled with the groundwork he had already studied before, he had finally learned his first spatial spell:
Teleportation.
Of course, it still came with limitations. At his current level, he could only manage short- to mid-range teleports, and only to a destination marked by a spatial coordinate he himself had inscribed.
On top of that, the casting wind-up was still rather long—about two to three seconds. It was clear the spell still needed a great deal of refinement. Even so, it was already more than enough for travel, and Xien was perfectly satisfied with that.
Orario, too, had more or less returned to normal.
He did not know all the details of what had happened after that battle. What he did know was that, while they had been holding back the monsters, several Dark Faction executives had led their people in an assault on the Pleasure Quarter. But because there had been prior warning, and because Freya Familia's main force had already been stationed there, the Dark Faction's full-scale offensive had been successfully repelled.
It had been a clever plan, really. Their feint-and-strike tactic had been well executed.
Unfortunately for them, every route had already been blocked.
In truth, things had been extremely dangerous that day. The biggest variable had been the sudden appearance of that corrupted spirit.
If not for Xien being an outright cheat code, the attack might very well have succeeded. Even if they had managed to clean up the mess in the end, it would surely have come only after paying a terrible price.
And that, in turn, would have triggered a chain reaction. If they had not achieved such an overwhelming victory, the enemy's arrogance would only have swelled, and the people would have gone on living in fear of the Dark Faction for a very long time.
If it had really come to that, it would have been a catastrophic opening.
Thankfully, he had changed a few things.
Since the facts were already what they were, there was no point dwelling on them. The enemy were nothing more than stray dogs now. With his current strength, if they met again and he still let them get away, he might as well find a wall and bash his head against it.
So rather than worry about them, Xien had more important business to attend to.
He needed to fulfill that compulsory commission—the one to deliver supplies to Miao'er and the others. And aside from medicine, he felt he ought to prepare a batch of other materials as well.
After all, if someone said they needed medicine, you couldn't very well respond by bringing only medicine.
From their behavior during his last visit, it had been obvious they needed more than that.
But purchasing such a large quantity of supplies would create too much of a commotion to hide from his Familia. At the very least, there was no way he could hide it from everyone.
So after giving it a great deal of thought, Xien went to speak with both his goddess and his captain, and told them about the Xenos he had encountered before, as well as the commission from the Guild.
Inside the meeting room, the three of them wore grave expressions. The room was heavy with silence.
"I see now. Before this, I never quite understood the real purpose behind the Monsterphilia festival. It seems Ouranos had long since made his arrangements."
Astraea glanced at the evidence laid out on the table. As a goddess, her will was strong enough that she accepted the shocking truth remarkably quickly. Thinking back now, many things that had once made no sense suddenly clicked into place.
"I just never expected that the first one to come into contact with them would be you, Xien. It seems they've noticed your peculiarities as well."
Xien nodded. He agreed with his goddess's conclusion, but he was not frightened by it. On one hand, his own strength was no longer weak. On the other, he did not think he and that Great God stood in opposition. If anything, he felt there were many areas where they could cooperate.
And up to now, the other side had already been showing precisely that sort of attitude.
"Still... even for me, this truth is difficult to accept so quickly. Intelligent monsters? And the Guild's upper ranks knew long ago, and have been in contact with them this whole time..."
Captain Alise gave a long sigh. Even someone as broad-minded as she was had been thoroughly shaken by the series of revelations. Compared to this, even the monstrous aberration from the recent attack now seemed almost like small fry.
That was right.
She had seen it with her own eyes.
Not just her. The whole of Astraea Familia, along with the main force of Loki Familia, had all seen it:
That miraculous battle in which Xien, as a Level 3, had slain something with the strength of a Level 6.
Because they had witnessed it—and because they now understood that monster's true identity and power—Xien, who had defeated it, had been unanimously recognized as Orario's "Hero Candidate."
Alise had once thought that creature, and Xien's sudden burst of terrifying strength, were enough to overturn her understanding of the world.
She now realized that had only been the appetizer.
This—this—was the real bombshell.
"And that," Xien said, spreading his hands, "is exactly why I came only to the two of you. I don't think this is the sort of thing that should be spread around right now."
"This would protect them, and it would protect us too."
His tone was serious. His meaning was simple: as things stood, it would be best if only the three of them knew. The fewer people who knew a secret, the longer it could remain a secret.
But to his surprise, Alise slowly shook her head.
"No, Xien. If anything, this is exactly the sort of matter we should face together. Why? Because we are Astraea—because we are Justice. We have to trust our companions enough. You need to trust them."
"No matter how hard the problem is, we can overcome it together. Letting you face that 'monster' alone last time was already our failure."
"That's right, Xien. On this one, I'm with Alise," Astraea said gently. "This is something everyone needs to face together."
Looking at the captain and goddess in front of him, both smiling so confidently and gazing at him with such sincerity, Xien finally let out a breath and relaxed.
Yes.
When had he become so overly cautious?
When had he let even the most fundamental trust between companions begin to blur?
As his strength grew, he had unconsciously placed himself in the role of protector. Without realizing it, he had forgotten that these were not fragile people who needed to be carefully shielded.
They were comrades who could fight shoulder to shoulder with him.
Having realized that, he bowed deeply to the two women before him.
"I understand now. That was my mistake, Captain, Lady Astraea. I apologize. About this matter... please help me."
"Understood, my dear little junior," Alise replied with her sweetest smile. "Your wish has been heard."
She was delighted. In that moment, she felt she had truly fulfilled her duty as captain.
And so, the next day, Astraea Familia held a full meeting.
When Xien revealed the truth to everyone on the spot, the reaction was... unexpectedly mild.
"Well, that's certainly startling."
"Yeah. If it weren't Xien saying it, I'd never believe it."
"Intelligent monsters... what an incredible thing."
Their words sounded surprised enough, but that was about all. No one raised any fierce objections or serious doubts, and Xien found himself completely thrown off.
"...Aren't any of you going to ask something?" he asked, scratching his hair in confusion. "You all accepted that way too calmly."
He had spent an entire night preparing arguments, ready to debate them all if he had to.
And now none of it had been needed.
Then the quiet elf girl, Celty, softly said something that made him freeze.
"Because... it's you saying it, Xien."
"That's right," someone else added. "At this point, if something unbelievable happens around you, it almost feels perfectly natural. Ever since you joined us, we've been seeing one astonishing thing after another."
"And thanks to that, we've all grown so much."
"Exactly. As long as Xien's around, no matter what happens, it somehow works out, right? I'm sure this time won't be any different."
They were all speaking from the heart.
And that was precisely why Xien had no answer.
This feeling of being trusted was strange... but it made him feel warm all over.
He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and when he looked up again, his usual smile had returned.
"Then... thank you. And I'm sorry for hiding this from everyone. It's just that, until now, I felt the truth might still be too much for us at this stage. That was my misjudgment."
"I can understand that," Alise said. "Honestly, I'm more surprised that you handled this as well as you did."
"So we won't pursue the fact that you kept it from us," she continued. "But as for these so-called Xenos, we'll need to think carefully. We haven't met them ourselves yet. We can't know for certain whether they're truly as harmless as you say."
Xien nodded. He felt no dissatisfaction. If anything, he was already amazed that everyone had trusted him so easily.
If he put himself in their shoes, it made sense. To the adventurers of this city, monsters were absolute enemies.
Hatred toward monsters had been piled up over countless years in blood and death. At a time like this, if someone told them that some monsters had developed intelligence, then fear would be the natural reaction. After all, intelligence meant they would become even harder to deal with.
Not peaceful coexistence.
Even in Xien's previous life there had been sayings like those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts. How much more so when it came to sworn enemies?
For Orario—and the world itself—to gradually come to terms with the Xenos, that would require an enormous amount of time.
"So," Ryu asked at last, "what do you plan to do about the commission? When are you going?"
She had not probed or questioned him any further. She only wanted to know what came next.
"The stock of medicine was partially consumed in the last attack," Xien replied. "So I want to spend a few more days making another batch. Besides that, I also want to buy a supply of basic necessities. I'd like your help with that, Ryu."
"Fine. Leave that to me," the elf girl said at once. "But when the time comes, I'm going with you."
Her tone was utterly firm.
She never wanted to see Xien in danger again.
"...All right," Xien said after a pause. "We'll have to meet them sooner or later anyway. Meeting them one by one is probably better. At least it shouldn't cause too much of a shock."
Seeing the determination in Ryu's eyes, he agreed. He could more or less understand what she was thinking.
"Then I'll go with Ryu tomorrow."
"Mm."
And with that, the discussion concluded.
Outside Orario — A Remote Mountain Village
Alfia and her goddess, Hera, stared at the scene before them in silence.
Not far away, a tiny child was cheerfully begging Zald to pick him up.
"So, old hag," Alfia said flatly, "how exactly did we end up in this situation?"
"I already told you not to call me an old hag," Hera snapped. "And isn't this all because you got tricked by your own little sister? Don't tell me you're trying to wriggle out of it now?"
Alfia's eyelid twitched violently.
Only now did she fully understand the scale of the pit her seemingly harmless little sister had dug for her.
Why in the world had she been fooled by that pitiful, teary-eyed face into agreeing to take this child off her hands?
Was it really just because of those words:
"Big sister, you'll be a mother yourself sooner or later, won't you? So learning how to take care of a little child now will be useful. That way, when your own baby is born, you'll already have experience and nothing will go wrong. As your little sister, I'm entrusting my child to you for practice. Surely you understand how heartfelt that is?"
And somehow, in a daze, she had tacitly accepted the arrangement.
Now she finally understood.
It had all been a pretext so her sister could spend private time alone with that idiot.
How had she fallen for something so blatant?
Which was why, the more she looked at that child, the more irritated she became.
"Those eyes... they're irritating."
"I know exactly what you mean," Hera muttered darkly.
Since coming here, that rotten old Zeus had been avoiding her the entire time, and now who knew where he had run off to again. Hera had been bottling up a bellyful of frustration, and every time she looked at the child's eyes—those eyes that so clearly carried his existence—it made her temples throb.
If he weren't Metelia's child...
In the distance, the big man and the little child both felt a sudden chill down their spines. They turned to look, only to see the resentment practically steaming off the two women several feet high.
Zald sighed helplessly. Without drawing attention to it, he shifted a few steps farther away with little Bell in his arms, then continued awkwardly trying to amuse the newest addition to the group.
Little Bell, at least, seemed to be quite attached to him. Though at first Zald had been at a total loss—after all, asking a massive man accustomed to lifting weapons and tearing down walls to handle a fragile newborn had nearly terrified him.
He had honestly been afraid that a single heavy breath might shake the child to death.
....
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