Money.
To Alice, it was one of those things you could never get rid of when you didn't need it, and never had enough of when you did.
Besides, whether it was Alice or the members of the Loki Familia, they could all make a fortune with ease. It was just a matter of spending a little time in the Dungeon.
Earning money wasn't particularly difficult for Alice or anyone in the Loki Familia.
But to be honest, no matter how much money Alice could make, she couldn't shake the feeling that her future was destined to be a cash-strapped one. All because of that one doll she was working on. If she wanted to successfully create it...
Forget the countless experiments needed, just the materials for the doll alone would probably cost as much as Riveria's staff.
According to Lefiya, the forging cost for Riveria's staff alone was over three hundred million Valis. And if you added the 'Magic Gemstone' embedded in the staff, the total cost was simply unimaginable.
Of course.
Even though Riveria's staff was that expensive, the Loki Familia couldn't be considered particularly wealthy.
The Familia's liquid funds were just enough to cover the daily expenses of its members and Loki's occasional hobby of collecting peculiar items, like beautiful yet impractical weapons and armor.
The bulk of the Loki Familia's spending went into preparing for their expeditions.
Potions, blacksmiths for equipment maintenance, and upgrading the entire Familia's gear before each expedition.
After all, the success of an expedition relied on the entire Familia, not just the handful of top-tier elites.
Powerhouses like Riveria and Finn were the final insurance policies. Until they reached the target floor, they needed to conserve their strength.
Before the Familia's heavy hitters stepped in, it was the other, relatively weaker members who had to take action.
Of course, in the Loki Familia, even the 'ordinary' members who participated in expeditions were at least Level 3. In other Familias, they'd be strong enough to lead the entire group as captains.
In short, aside from daily expenses and Loki's collections, ninety-nine percent of the Loki Familia's money was spent on expedition preparations.
And since Loki was a fairly decent god, she honestly didn't have much personal wealth to speak of.
Now, Loki saw a golden opportunity. The comics Alice had given her were bound to take Orario by storm.
So Alice, who was also chronically short on funds, found herself completely on board with Loki's proposal.
The two cash-strapped individuals hit it off immediately.
They spent the entire walk back deep in discussion about how to kick off their collaboration.
Riveria could only sigh inwardly at the two, whose eyes practically glittered with Valis signs, though she couldn't exactly blame them.
For Riveria, as a mage, a staff was more of a supportive tool. It wasn't a weapon she'd use to clobber people over the head.
Though, given her strength, she could probably kill someone just by whacking them with it.
Lefiya was in the same boat. The major expense for her staff was the initial creation. Once made, barring any accidents, it was meant to last a lifetime.
It wasn't like Ais's situation.
Even though Ais's 'Desperate' had an 'unbreakable' property...
The way Ais recklessly wielded it meant repair costs still ran into tens of millions of Valis every single time.
Riveria led Alice and Loki to the reception room.
"You two, can you save the business discussions for later? We have guests from the Apollo Familia right now," Riveria interjected, cutting off Alice and Loki's conversation.
If she could still somewhat follow the initial part of their discussion about collaboration, the later talk about things like 'Dragon Fist', 'Kamehameha', and 'Super Saiyans' left her completely baffled.
Though, come to think of it, what puzzled Riveria even more was why Alice, who got along with Loki so famously, still refused to join the Loki Familia.
"Ah... We're here already?" Loki looked downright disappointed at having her story discussion with Alice cut short.
Some people hate spoilers. Others don't mind them, and might even get more curious and excited about the story because of them.
Loki was undoubtedly the latter.
Right now, she was itching to see what happened next in the comics.
"Hey, hey, Alice-chan," Loki tugged at Alice's skirt, putting on a pitiful face. "When you go in for the meeting, can you put up your Bounded Field? I wanna read ahead!"
Alice's face instantly flushed red at Loki's antics.
"Loki! Your hand!" Alice grabbed Loki's wrist, forcing it down before she could hike the skirt up any further and expose her underwear.
"Ah!" Loki seemed to notice her own actions. "Ahaha~ Sorry, sorry, didn't realize it."
But despite her words, she didn't let go.
Feeling the cool, soft skin of Alice's small hand, Loki's heart did a little flip.
"So! Let go already!" They were about to meet people. There was no way she could let Loki keep tugging at her skirt like this. Alice was starting to get genuinely flustered.
Seeing Alice on the verge of real anger, Loki knew when to quit and finally released the skirt.
Riveria, utterly accustomed to Loki's shameless behavior, simply raised a hand, knocked on the reception room door, and without waiting for a response, pushed it open and walked in.
As the door swung open, Alice swiftly smoothed out her skirt, messed up by Loki, composing herself into a picture of perfect grace. The transformation made Loki's eye twitch slightly.
Hearing Loki's soft snicker, Alice shot her a glare.
There were four people inside the Loki Familia's meeting room.
Two Alice knew, two she didn't.
Three were from the Apollo Familia, and the other was Eina from the Guild.
"Hyakinthos..." Alice frowned as she looked at the three Apollo Familia members. She had considered the possibility of Hyakinthos coming, but seeing him in person still made her scowl.
"Witch..."
Seeing Alice again, Hyakinthos's face also darkened noticeably.
At that moment, Eina stood up.
"Alice, let me introduce you. Besides Hyakinthos, these two are Daphne Lauros and Cassandra Ilion from the Apollo Familia."
"I am here as a representative of the Guild to record the details of the ordeal between you, Miss Alice, and the god Apollo yesterday, as well as the subsequent developments."
"Because your ordeal resulted in a god being forcibly returned to Heaven, and since the fault lay entirely with Lord Apollo, there will be no penalties for you."
"However, this case is highly unusual. It's the first time something like this has happened in Orario. Therefore, we are treating this incident as a de facto Familia War between you, personally, and the Apollo Familia. All assets of the Apollo Familia are now forfeit to you."
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