The Hestia Familia had been forced into that expedition — they had even needed to borrow money from their own goddess just to hire an auxiliary familia for support.
The fact that Liang Yue was now standing in front of the forge…
…meant the expedition had ended safely.
Looking at the young man before her, unchanged in appearance but radiating a sword aura with even the smallest movement, Tsubaki immediately understood—
His swordsmanship had improved again.
And once she unsheathed the dark short blade he handed her — the very same weapon she had personally reforged — the sword intent exploding from its edge confirmed that thought.
"…"
But when Tsubaki noticed the web-like cracks crawling across the pitch-black blade, her eyelid twitched violently.
Upgrading the weapon's quality was supposed to unleash greater power and increase durability by using tougher materials.
Yet after adding all those expensive components, what happened?
The usable time of the weapon had actually decreased.
In fact, the durability loss this time was even worse than the last time he brought it in for repairs.
At this point, the only reason the blade had not completely fallen apart was because the pure sword intent residing within was forcibly keeping its form together.
She didn't even dare to give it a test swing.
She was afraid it might simply shatter the moment she did.
"…"
"…Your sword style—is it the same type as the Sword Princess?"
Lifting her eyes toward Liang Yue, Tsubaki's gaze was complicated.
The only other person she could think of who destroyed weapons this way was Aiz Wallenstein.
Not that she thought he was doing it on purpose.
Certain techniques naturally generated enormous destructive force—and that inevitably shredded a weapon's lifespan.
She just… couldn't understand how it was possible to ruin a weapon this badly in such a short amount of time. Was he even still human?
Facing Tsubaki's complex stare, Liang Yue did not look away. From an objective point of view… yes, his style wasn't all that different.
Only, in Aiz's case, the weapon was damaged unintentionally in the flow of combat.
In his case… when fighting the floor boss Goliath, fearing the blade might not inflict enough damage, he had intentionally pushed it to the limit by activating its full effects.
…Obviously, that wasn't something he could just say out loud.
After a short pause, Liang Yue simply explained:
"…More or less. My fighting style does consume weapon durability at a faster rate."
"…Figures."
Repairing his weapon for free wasn't just Tsubaki fulfilling her word — it was also her way of helping out her goddess' best friend, Hestia.
Just a standard repair, no need for extra materials.
She didn't consider it a problem. In fact, she was hoping that while doing it, she could figure out why the blade was wearing down so quickly.
"Leave it to me."
"…and congratulations, by the way."
She said it almost irritably — but her voice carried genuine respect as she looked at the black-haired boy who had shaken all of Orario (and even the world) to its core.
Even as a Lv.5 herself, achieving something like that at his age?
Completely impossible.
In a way, she had personally witnessed his growth. Helping repair his weapon now could count as… an investment.
"Thank you, Tsubaki-senpai."
Without the help of Tsubaki of the Hephaestus Familia, who was repairing his weapons completely free of charge, he didn't even dare imagine how much valis he would have had to spend.
Watching her mature, beautiful figure walk away, Liang Yue started to think more seriously about his weapons.
As Tsubaki mentioned, even Aiz had problems with weapons breaking because of her unique fighting style.
Her solution was simple—
Spend a huge amount of money on a custom-made weapon from the Goibniu Familia that had the "unbreakable" characteristic.
"…There really isn't any other way."
Hestia was already at work, and with the weapon now in Tsubaki's hands, Liang Yue didn't stay in Babel Tower much longer.
But he couldn't rely on Tsubaki to repair his blade every single time.
Aiz's sword "Desperate" had sacrificed raw power in exchange for high durability and a pseudo-immortal trait. And even then, "unbreakable" basically just meant the durability was high…
"Maybe I should commission a weapon that trades attack power for extremely high durability."
With Transcendent Sword Qi and Extreme Blade buffing him constantly, damage was no longer something he needed to worry about.
Leaving the upper levels of Babel Tower, Liang Yue already knew exactly what his next stop would be:
Go to the Guild and report his safe return to Eina.
After all, before he left, the half-elf had kindly lent him a full set of armor for protection.
"A few days of rest… and then it's back into the Dungeon."
With that thought, he turned his eyes away from Babel.
He had long become familiar with every corner of Orario — and headed straight toward the Guild building.
But when he happened to pass by a flower shop, he involuntarily stopped for a second.
…It was their first proper meeting again. Bringing a small gift sounded reasonable.
Just then, the girl arranging flowers looked up and gave him a brilliant smile, immediately standing up.
"Sir, is there any particular type of flower you're looking for?"
When Liang Yue didn't answer right away, she quickly added with an easygoing tone:
"Or, perhaps… who do you plan to give the bouquet to?"
"…To a close friend."
Her words snapped Liang Yue out of his thoughts — although to be honest, the main reason was that the girl in front of him was quite beautiful.
Golden, lightly curled long hair draped naturally over her shoulders — and that clear, sunny smile suited her perfectly.
Helping the customer pick the right bouquet was part of Anna Celes's job as a flower shop clerk.
In the end, she chose a soft-colored floral arrangement he didn't even know the name of.
She tilted her head slightly and smiled:
"That will be 150 valis. Thank you very much~
If you ever need a delivery, feel free to ask me directly — just call me Anna."
PS: This is one of the "side quests" from Ryuu's spin-off.
"All right. I'll come to you if I need that."
Truth be told, Liang Yue didn't have any particular standards when it came to giving flowers. The price seemed reasonable, and the bouquet looked good enough.
That was more than sufficient.
—
After the expedition ended, Lili had taken the initiative to go to the Guild on her own to report the completion and exchange the materials.
She believed her relationship with Liang Yue wasn't bad, and as the final "reason" for the forced expedition, she also wanted to make a good impression on her goddess.
The Guild wasn't very busy in the morning. The one at the counter was a pink-haired girl named Misha.
"Welcome. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I'd like to report the completion of a forced familia expedition, and submit the related materials for Guild review."
Lili calmly removed her hood, raising her face to the receptionist.
"A forced expedition… which familia are you reporting for?" Misha asked. She felt like she had heard about it recently, but couldn't recall immediately.
"Hestia Familia."
"…???"
Misha blinked blankly.
But the moment she heard the words Hestia Familia her eyes sharpened in an instant.
She didn't recognize this little pallum supporter—but if a Guild employee didn't know about Liang Yue of the Hestia Familia…
That would simply be incompetence.
Frowning in disbelief, Misha double-checked:
"You mean… the Hestia Familia where Liang Yue belongs? That forced expedition was completed?"
"Is there another Liang Yue?"
Lili replied, smiling brilliantly.
"N-no, not at all! I don't have the authority to handle this—please wait a moment while I fetch Guild Chief Royman!"
Waving her hands frantically, Misha hurried off—but only after she turned around did she truly process what she had just heard.
If she remembered correctly—
The forced expedition had started seven days ago.
And now — including the return trip — a newly formed familia with only one member had managed to push the expedition all the way to the mid-floor boss?
How…?
She couldn't understand it at all.
…Until she remembered that the one involved was Liang Yue, "the man who broke the world record".
Suddenly, it didn't feel strange anymore.
"No… I have to tell Eina right away!"
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