On the day of Monster Feria, several Violas had gone on a rampage through the streets, destroying numerous stalls, road surfaces, and buildings.
Although there had been no casualties, the property damage had been substantial.
However, after more than a month had passed, most of the damage had already been repaired to a reasonable extent. Only the massive pit blasted open by Riezel's magic remained unfilled and barely even tidied up.
Why?
Because the pit had been blasted far too deeply.
Blazing sunlight slanted down from the daytime sky and poured into the cavernous pit, yet it illuminated less than half of its depth. Everything below that point was completely swallowed by darkness.
At the bottom of the deep pit, broken stones and shattered debris lay scattered everywhere, piled into small ruin-like heaps that gave the impression of an abandoned battlefield. Thin streams of water seeped out from the surrounding rock walls, flowing along the bottom of the pit and forming narrow rivulets.
To properly clear such a ruin and then fill and repair it would require an enormous amount of manpower and resources, clearly not something that could be completed within a short time.
Needless to say, that was precisely why the Guild had prioritized repairing the streets and left this massive pit alone for the time being. Only after the surrounding streets had been restored would work begin here, and even then, no one knew how long it would take to fill such a gigantic pit.
Faced with a pit like this, even ordinary adventurers would find it difficult to operate here, let alone construction workers without a familia.
It went without saying that when the time came to repair this pit, the Guild would certainly have to issue quests to business-type familias skilled in civil engineering, asking them to dispatch Falna-bearing professionals.
Otherwise, simply moving in and out of this place would already pose a major challenge.
Finn clearly understood this point.
As a result, he had left most of the regular familia members on the surface to conduct investigations throughout the city, and those tasked with entering the pit were exclusively high-ranking members of Level 4 or above, with several executives even being dispatched here.
Hence, at a certain moment, one figure after another leaped down from the opening at the top of the pit that connected to the bright sky above—they free-fell for a while before landing, one after another, at the bottom of the pit.
"Whoa, this thing's deep as hell."
Tiona, carrying her large double-bladed sword, Urga, glanced up at the pit's opening, which now looked impossibly far away, and let out a sound of amazement.
"For real, it's crazy deep..." Tione said, shooting an annoyed glance at the person beside her. "You really went and blasted this place into this mess, huh? Good thing the Guild didn't make us cough up compensation, or our familia would've gone broke before the expedition even kicked off, right?"
"...I... really didn't do it on purpose..." Riezel fell silent for a long while before replying quietly. "Honestly, I was already holding back a lot."
What he said was not an excuse.
At the time, he had only displayed abilities equivalent to those he had when he had just reached Level 5. Who could have imagined that even a single-target offensive magic like Arcs Ray could cause such enormous destruction?
Of course, that also had to do with Riezel underestimating things.
Even though he truly had only shown abilities on par with his early Level 5 self, there were certain things he had not possessed back when he had first reached Level 5.
For example, the development ability Magic Chant and the skill Pioneer of the Sun.
After being amplified and strengthened by both, even if he only displayed power equivalent to Level 5, the destructive force of his magic was no longer comparable to what it had been before.
Such a Riezel naturally earned nothing but Tione's mockery.
"With attack power of a freaking Level 7 mage, you're telling me this is you holding back? For real?"
Tione could only scoff, leaving Riezel completely speechless.
"Compared to Riezel, even Lefiya looks kinda normal now..." Tiona let out a helpless sigh. "Let's see how that dumb wolf's gonna keep running his mouth and calling Lefiya a magic idiot after this."
"Ahahaha..."
Standing off to the side with her staff, Lefiya felt as if a stray arrow had hit her for no reason at all and could only let out an awkward laugh.
Only Ais, staring at the deep, enormous pit, voiced a genuine impression.
"It's amazing."
'...No, that's not the point here, is it?'
Hearing Ais's words, everyone present complained inwardly.
Riezel did not dare continue the topic and could only look around at the surroundings, turning his gaze toward his own companions.
The main personnel who had descended to the bottom of the pit for this investigation were himself, Ais, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, and several Level 4 members from the familia's second strings.
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth remained on the surface, coordinating the overall situation and communicating with the staff of the Guild and the Ganesha Familia while also gathering information.
Meanwhile, Bete, Raul, and Anakitty led the regular members of the familia to conduct investigations throughout the streets.
As an aside, Loki had also come along.
It was just that no one knew where that elusive and troublesome goddess had slipped off to this time.
"All right, stop chatting. Let's start the investigation."
Riezel said only that much, earning nods from the others.
With that, the group immediately spread out and began moving around inside the pit.
Because the pit was so deep, its bottom was extremely dark, with almost nothing visible. If not for the fact that everyone present was at least Level 4, with vision and senses far beyond those of ordinary people, they would never have been able to move around here so freely.
Just as Riezel was about to activate the magic Continual Light to illuminate the surroundings, Tiona, Tione, and the others each took out a magic stone lamp, letting the glow from the magic stones faintly light up the area around them.
"Well... all right then."
Riezel muttered a few words and once again let his gaze roam across the surroundings.
A transparent sheen flickered in his eyes as he fully activated Transparent World.
The purpose of the Loki Familia's operation this time was to investigate the Violas that had caused chaos during Monster Feria, trace their movement routes, and ultimately uncover the individual controlling those monsters from behind the scenes.
On the day of Monster Feria, the Violas had emerged from underground, so Finn strongly suspected that there were passages beneath Orario that allowed them to move around.
Maybe those passages had been secretly excavated, or perhaps they were part of Orario's underground sewer system.
Riezel and the others' task was to find the routes the Violas had used and, by following the trail, track down the enemy behind it all.
Clearly, this task was not difficult.
At least, for Riezel, who knew the original story and even the location of the enemy's main hideout, that was indeed the case.
"..."
With the Transparent World active, Riezel's sensory abilities were pushed to their limits, and his mind gradually became clear and transparent.
In his eyes, the entire world turned transparent, so that ruins, rubble, broken stones, and even solid rock walls failed to obstruct his vision and were easily seen through.
Before long, he noticed something unusual.
'Over here?'
With this thought in mind, the transparent glow in his eyes dimmed as Riezel walked straight toward a corner of the rock wall.
He could feel that the soil here was looser than elsewhere, and the rock wall itself appeared thinner.
If one pressed an ear against it, faint sounds of flowing water could be heard.
"Decompose."
Riezel placed one hand against the rock wall and activated Decomposition Magic.
In an instant, crimson waves spread outward, and the portion of the rock wall touched by the waves disintegrated like ash, revealing what lay behind it.
A closer look showed that it was a tubular tunnel constructed from stone.
It was about six meters wide, with water flowing through the center, and on both sides were footholds and walkways for people to move along. Branching waterways extended in all directions, causing the sound of flowing water to echo continuously throughout the space.
No doubt, this was Orario's underground sewer system.
Riezel stepped into the waterway and quickly found long drag marks along the ground.
Judging from their size and shape, these were clearly left by massive serpentine-like creatures crawling through the area, and there was more than one of them.
"Detect Direction."
Riezel activated a surveillance magic capable of detecting routes and directions.
In his mind, it was as if a game map unfolded, displaying the various sewer paths and the rough layout of the city above.
After locking onto a specific direction, Riezel moved without hesitation down one of the sewer routes, gradually leaving the deep pit behind, unnoticed by the familia members who were diligently investigating the site of the incident.
No, there were actually two familia members who noticed.
"Riezel?"
Ais, who had been trying to move a small pile of rubble, happened to see Riezel enter the sewer.
In the end, after pausing briefly, she immediately followed him.
"Mr. Riezel?"
Lefiya, who had been paying close attention to Riezel all along, also saw this.
Like Ais, after hesitating for a moment, she hurriedly followed after him as well.
"Why are you two here?"
Hearing the clear echo of footsteps in the sewer, Riezel stopped and turned around to look at the two women who had caught up to him, momentarily taken aback.
"I-I just did it without thinking…"
Lefiya clutched her staff and spoke with a hint of embarrassment.
"Did you find something?"
Ais asked concisely and directly.
Seeing this, Riezel did not pursue the matter any further.
"You could say that..."
Riezel replied and pointed at the drag marks in the waterway that had yet to fade.
"Look, this right here is proof those Violas have been crawling through here for a while. So yeah, the captain was right—the mastermind used Orario's underground sewers to let those Violas loose. That's why they came up from below and popped out on the surface to attack us."
"If we just follow these tracks, we should be able to figure out where those Violas crawled out onto East Main Street."
"I'm heading over there now."
Hearing this, the two women responded without hesitation.
"I'm coming with you."
"I-I'll go too!"
Ais spoke firmly, while Lefiya spoke in a rush, the contrast between them striking.
"Fine..." Riezel said with a shrug, not objecting. "Splitting up would be more efficient, but if you wanna come along, then follow me."
As he spoke, he took the lead, clearly intending to guide the way.
It couldn't be helped.
His purpose this time was to lead his familia to the enemy's hideout, so there was no way he would let someone else take point.
Seeing Riezel move ahead so quickly, Ais and Lefiya were a little surprised, but they immediately followed after him.
Just like that, the three of them left the area where the rest of the familia members were gathered and followed a sewer route toward a certain direction within Orario.
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[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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