lerbook #160 - Section 160
#160 - Section 160
The goddess said.
“Ah—don't mention that again! My head is going to hurt—!”
“By the way, is there a banquet tonight?”
Ais asked curiously.
After that, the members of the Loki Familia went directly to the city to begin the follow-up work of the "expedition," mainly selling the spoils for cash.
“I am Finn Deimne of the Loki Familia. As notified earlier, our expedition has been successfully completed. Please exchange these magic stones for cash.”
Guild staff member Misha Flott warmly welcomed them.
The exchange of magic stones is relatively simple because the Guild has a unified purchase price, which is reasonable and convenient.
“This time, we discovered many unconfirmed monsters in the deep area. Although this information is currently only useful to some factions, please remind other familias that expeditions to the deep area, especially below the 51st floor, are very dangerous.”
Misha sighed.
“What's wrong, Miss Misha?”
Noticing the other party's gaze, Finn raised his head and asked curiously.
Misha gave an encouraging smile.
Finn smiled wryly. The fact that he, as the captain, was surpassed in level by the vice-captain Riveria has recently become a hot topic in the city.
“Thank you.”
Finn thanked her frankly.
Currently, the familia with the closest cooperation and the largest transaction volume with the Loki Familia is naturally the Hephaestus Familia where Shirou is located.
This time, the task of transporting the dungeon spoils to the Hephaestus Familia's residence—Volcano Manor—was given to Riveria, the Loki Familia's newly promoted Lv.7 adventurer, plus Anakitty as support.
However, the content on the note was surprisingly simple.
In a nutshell: tell her to go and act coquettishly with Shirou.
“How could I do such a thing?”
“But, if it's for the Loki Familia…”
“Lady Riveria, Lady Anakitty, hello!”
“Miss Liliruca, hello.”
Anakitty gave a friendly smile and nodded, saying, “Riveria and I are here to trade the spoils.”
Anakitty nodded in agreement: “No problem.”
Then, Liliruca signaled several shop assistants to come forward, move away a large number of drops, and hand them over to experienced blacksmiths for appraisal. There are many rare materials among these drops, all obtained during adventures in the deep layers of the dungeon.
This supervision task was assigned by Anakitty to an accompanying adventurer whose main responsibility was to transport and guard the items, while Anakitty followed Riveria to the rest area to wait for a while.
However, before Shirou arrived, during this short gap, Anakitty suddenly did something that completely stunned Riveria.
A look of determination flashed in Anakitty's eyes, as if she was firming her belief. She murmured in a low voice: “For the Loki Familia.”
Just then, the door to the room was pushed open, and Shirou's figure appeared at the door.
She tilted her head slightly, with a blush on her face, and her tail wagged unconsciously.
Riveria realized something instantly when she saw this scene. She subconsciously touched her pocket, only to find that the note was gone.
It seemed, maybe, perhaps… it was picked up by Anakitty?
Anakitty sat on one side of the sofa with a flushed face, the blush on her fair skin being particularly obvious. On the other side, Riveria was also blushing, her lips pursed tightly.
The reason is very simple—Shirou is usually busy with dungeon adventures and training, and he has a lot of time to spend crafting equipment. How could he have the time to care about how much those drops are worth?
So, acting coquettishly with Shirou to increase the price of the spoils is actually completely ineffective. All of this is just a prank set up by the goddess Loki to watch the fun.
“Let the willing take the bait.”
Riveria realized Loki's trick with shame.
In the room, suddenly only Shirou and Riveria were left.
Silence spread instantly, and even the slightest breathing could be heard in the air. The two sat facing each other, neither of them speaking, and silence enveloped them like an invisible barrier.
However, just as Riveria mustered up the courage to say something to break the silence, Shirou suddenly stood up.
Riveria was slightly stunned. Before she could react, Shirou had already walked to the door in a few steps and locked it.
The young man's footsteps rang out in the silence, walking towards Riveria step by step. The fiery aura made her feel a strange tension.
“Shirou, don't… don't bully people like this…”
A high-end tavern located in a bustling area.
Loki dragged a chair and sat down opposite Hermes.
“How is it? Did you find anything?”
Therefore, Loki entrusted the task of "searching for dungeon entrances and exits" to the Hermes Familia, who were best at intelligence investigation.
The wandering god, who usually disguises himself, has a surprisingly easy-to-understand and unpretentious heart—he is a "Heroic Tale" enthusiast.
Hermes shrugged, and the beast-girl behind him shook her head.
“Is it possible that the entrance is outside the city?”
Compared to the secret entrances and exits of the dungeon, there are actually surprisingly many hidden passages in and out of the city.
For Loki, their primary task now is to find the secret passage that leads directly from the dungeon to the city.
Hermes said: “However, I do have an idea.”
“When I travel to various cities, I see many similar cases—the underground of a city is often an ideal place to hide dirt and grime.”
In the evening, the adventurers who successfully completed the sale of the spoils held a grand banquet in the tavern. The sounds of noise and laughter intertwined, and the entire tavern was filled with a celebratory atmosphere.
Little Ais tilted her head, looking at her with confusion in her eyes.
Little Ais approached and, upon closer inspection, her sharp eyes captured a trace of something unusual—a band-aid was faintly visible under the Elf Princess's beautiful hair.
Before Ais could finish speaking, Riveria covered her mouth.
Riveria spoke as she hurriedly chased the curious Little Ais away.
Anci: "Yes, I know... The losses from this expedition were huge, especially those shattered magic swords and corroded weapons..."
Loki perked up again: "Of course! Tonight, we're holding an expedition appreciation party, and a banquet to celebrate Riveria leveling up to Lv.7!"
All the members left headquarters, each carrying items and scattering to every corner of the city.
Finn handed a bag of magic stones to the guild staff, with even more spoils piled up behind him.
"Alright, thanks for waiting—! Misha Flotte will provide full service to everyone, welcome back adventurers!"
If we find buyers ourselves, we might be able to sell them for a higher price, such as to those blacksmiths who urgently need specific magic stones to make equipment, but that would take too much time and effort.
While handing over the thick report, Finn added: "This report also contains detailed information such as the level-ups of the members."
"Wow, Lv.7, even though I already knew, it's still shocking!"
"Um, Captain Finn, you're also amazing, please keep up the good work!"
After all, generally speaking, the captain is usually the highest-level person in the Familia.
Finn didn't really care about this, but being encouraged by the staff member made him feel a little complicated.
Besides Finn, the other adventurers of the Loki Familia also each took the dropped items or the ore collected from the dungeon, found cooperative merchants or commercial Familias, and launched fierce "battles" of trading and bargaining.
Riveria looked down at the note in her hand, her brow furrowed slightly, and the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.
This was the "price-raising secret" that Goddess Loki had given her. At the time, the goddess had specially explained in a serious tone that this was a secret weapon to deal with the Hephaestus Familia.
Riveria looked at the note and shook her head.
242
Chapter 242: The Gradually Advancing Investigation.
As soon as they arrived at the Hephaestus Familia's headquarters, they were greeted by a Pallum girl. She was wearing a neat work uniform and had a professional smile on her face.
Lili pushed up her glasses: "Okay! Please wait in the lounge for a moment, we will arrange for someone to count and appraise the spoils as soon as possible. After that, we will give a guide price, and then discuss the specific transaction amount, how does that sound?"
To ensure the safety of these valuable items, she also specifically reminded the Loki Familia to send adventurers to supervise the entire process, to avoid any misunderstandings.
"Lord Welf is also at headquarters, I have already notified him."
Lili specially mentioned before leaving the room, and then left the room with great tact.
Riveria watched as Anci took out a small bottle of fruit-flavored cocktail from her arms. She took a deep breath, as if to cheer herself up, and then unhesitatingly tilted her head and drank the entire bottle.
Riveria asked in surprise and doubt: "Anci? What are you doing!"
Before Riveria could react, Anci stepped forward lightly, bringing her whole body closer to Welf.
The girl said softly in a coquettish voice: "Shirou-kun, can the purchase price be a little higher, meow~"
She remembered that she had inadvertently left the note on the carriage when she came.
Riveria's heart was screaming: "Anci, that note wasn't written for you!!!"
"That idiot Loki!"
They cursed inwardly at the same time.
In fact, Welf was not responsible for the purchase of spoils at all.
Moreover, with his personality, he was completely unsuitable for handling these commercial activities that require a cold mind. Usually, the sales of equipment are handled by agents.
However, the worst thing was that such a clumsy prank could be easily seen through with a little thought, but they were actually fooled by it directly, and not just one person, but two people were tricked.
"That... Lady Riveria, Shirou, you talk, I'll go see the equipment being sold over there... Nn"
Anci hurriedly found an excuse, lowered her head and quickly left, almost fleeing.
Riveria's gaze swept towards Welf with a slightly nervous expression, while he lowered his eyes, as if thinking about something.
Just as he had said to the Goddess Hephaestus before, he now had "resolve."
The "click" sound of the lock was clear and loud, and it seemed particularly loud in this quiet room.
The Elf Princess's body stiffened, and her heart couldn't help but beat faster. She felt a slight tightness in her chest, as if an invisible pressure was pressing down, and she couldn't help but swallow lightly.
Riveria said softly: "It's too early... um..."
A highly soundproof private room was booked, perfect for confidential talks.
Loki asked.
Although the adventurers of the Loki Familia are powerful, they specialize in different skills. Some things, on the contrary, are better suited for "small characters".
Hermes, this god cannot be said to be completely good, and it is difficult to say that he is reliable. However, Loki can completely trust him on the point that he will not cooperate with the Dark Faction.
"We haven't found it yet, the target is hiding very deep."
She said.
The canine girl thought for a while and asked.
Loki thought for a while: "Maybe outside the city, but those controlled monsters, since they can appear in Daedalus Street, then there must be an entrance inside the city as well."
"The structure of Daedalus Street is too complicated, trying to investigate it bit by bit is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"So, is it possible that the entrance is hidden in the city's underground water system?"
243
Chapter 243: Jewel Embryo.
The theme of the banquet was not only to celebrate the successful completion of this expedition, but also to congratulate Riveria on her achievement of advancing to Lv.7.
"Riveria, why did you change your hairstyle?"
Riveria's usual loose emerald green hair had been changed to a side ponytail today, with her smooth hair hanging on one shoulder.
"Band-aid? Riveria, are you injured? Why is there a band-aid on your neck, and you're covering it with your hair..."
"Don't ask such things that you shouldn't, children."
At the same time, Welf on the other side was surrounded by adventurers from the Loki Familia, all of whom were obviously there to inquire about equipment forging.