After the duel had ended and Kaguya admitted her defeat, Judas stored the dagger back into its sheath at his waist just as the healers from the Astraea Familia approached them.
Judas raised a hand and declined their offer to help, arguing that he had only suffered a few scratches and telling them to focus their efforts on Kaguya instead.
That was when the Astraea Familia's blacksmith, Cecil Blackliza, walked over and narrowed her eyes at the dagger resting in its sheath before shifting her gaze toward Kaguya.
"Vice-Captain… I didn't think you would actually give Sir Judas the other half of Koibito No Ha…"
Cecil said with her arms folded.
Koibito No Ha.
That was the name of the dagger Judas possessed.
'Hmm?'
He glanced toward Kaguya only to see her cheeks faintly turning red, causing him to raise a brow in confusion.
Noticing his expression, Cecil gave a faint grin and unfolded her arms.
"Sir Judas, you must be curious about what it means, right?"
Judas turned toward her, interested in what she had to say.
"Actually, Miss Kaguya requested that I forge a pair of twin daggers roughly two weeks ago. I think that was around the time of the Loki Familia's last expedition, right?"
"Although I don't know all the details myself, there is a tradition in the Far East where swordsmen gift one half of a paired weapon to someone they fancy."
"Kind of like a substitute for engagement rings…"
"Koibito No Ha, in the language of the Far East, means—"
Cecil was about to continue when Kaguya suddenly covered her mouth with a palm.
A faint blush colored her cheeks, but she glared fiercely at the blacksmith.
"That is enough… Cecil. Or do you want to have some extra training with me?"
She said with a cold voice.
The moment the words 'extra training' left her mouth, Cecil began sweating profusely and immediately shook her head.
Kaguya had a reputation within the familia for her extreme training methods, especially when it came to training others.
Nearly every member of the Astraea Familia had gone through it before, and merely thinking about it was enough to make several of them visibly shiver.
Even though Cecil got interrupted, what she just said was more than enough for Judas to understand the implication.
When he shifted his eyes to look at Kaguya's waist, he could see a sheathed dagger that looked identical to his own.
"What are you looking at?"
Seeing where his eyes had wandered, Kaguya questioned him, her expression seemingly trying to suppress her embarrassment.
If Ryuu were to see Kaguya's expression right now, she would be shocked out of her mind.
This was the same foul-mouthed Kaguya who held no sense of shame and would even strip down to her underwear if it was hot, regardless of whether there were men around.
Yet that very same woman was acting shy around Judas, despite her best efforts to hide it.
'I see… to think there was such a tradition. And Kaguya… I suspected it to some extent, but to think she actually held feelings for Judas.'
Alise, who stood nearby, thought to herself.
Then, recalling how Lyra had been acting around Judas earlier...
'Could I get closer to him too if I acted like that?'
However, realizing where her thoughts were heading, she quickly shook her head.
'Ugh… why am I thinking so much about this?'
She turned her attention toward Judas, who was currently being stared at by the members of her familia with admiration and awe.
There were even a few gazes she particularly didn't like.
After all, unlike the Artemis Familia, while Astraea Familia was also composed entirely of women, Astraea did not forbid her children from pursuing romantic relationships.
A sense of frustration suddenly welled up in Alise's heart.
'It's his fault… he's turning my familia into his personal harem…'
For some reason, Alise suddenly felt the urge to smack Judas in the back of the head.
In the end, she walked over and purposefully wedged herself right between him and the rest of the girls.
'Well… everyone is getting lively.'
Astraea blinked a few times as she observed the scene.
Looking at the way her children... especially Alise and Kaguya... were gazing at Judas, she could only smile wryly.
'I heard from Artemis that she found her Orion in Judas… oh dear, what a sinful man you are.'
She touched her chin as she looked directly at Judas, recalling a conversation she had yesterday with Artemis after hearing that she had moved her familia to Orario.
'Oh well… I just hope everything works out.'
She sighed and pushed those thoughts aside.
Despite living for millions of years, Astraea had absolutely no romantic experience.
'To fall in love, huh? I wonder… what does it feel like?'
...
Returning to the Twilight Manor just as the sky turned dark, Judas sat in the middle of the training grounds in a lotus position.
'It would be nice if Loki were here to update my status. I think I can rank up to Level 4 by now.'
Judas thought to himself, recalling that Loki and the female members of the familia were still away in the port town of Melen.
He closed his eyes and cleared his mind of all distractions.
Focusing inward, he felt a subtle glow begin to spread across his body.
In his vision, he could see his mana core, slowly flickering back to life.
When he opened his eyes once more, he raised a hand and summoned a small orb of light that hovered above his palm.
It pulsed with an intense radiance, its mere presence causing the surrounding space to faintly tremble.
This was neither Mind nor the magic power native to this world.
It was mana drawn directly from his mana core... in its purest form.
'It has been a while...'
Looking at the tiny marble-sized sphere of light, Judas allowed himself a faint smile.
'My mana core has finally recovered enough for me to use mana again. At my current state, I should be able to cast third-tier spells.'
Anything beyond that, however, would place too much strain on the still-fragile core.
'It won't be long now.'
He slowly closed his fist.
The orb of mana shattered into countless particles of light before scattering into the air.
"Ah… Judas, I finally found you!"
At that moment, Raul came running toward him while waving an arm.
"Hmm? Is something wrong, Raul?"
Judas asked with a raised brow.
"The captain is asking for you to come to his office."
Hearing this, Judas didn't think much of it and headed there immediately.
"Judas, you're here."
Finn spoke from behind his desk as Judas and Raul entered through the door.
Judas nodded and briefly glanced toward Gareth and Bete, who were also present.
Then he noticed that Aki, the catgirl who seemed to have an ambiguous relationship with Raul, was here as well.
He didn't question why she was here and sat down.
"Well… tell us why we're here, Finn."
Gareth asked while stroking his beard.
With a solemn expression, Finn unfolded a letter in his hand.
"I just received a message from Loki. She's asking us to mobilize the remaining members of the familia and head to Melen as reinforcements."
Finn said as he skimmed through the contents.
"Hoh?"
Gareth's interest was instantly piqued, while Bete, who had been leaning against the wall with a relaxed posture, suddenly straightened up.
'For Loki to ask us to mobilize the entire familia... are they fighting a powerful opponent over there?'
Judas wondered.
"Is it Evilus? Are those bastards up to no good again?"
Bete questioned.
"Well… even Loki isn't sure whether they're directly involved."
Finn replied before looking out the window toward the distant direction of Melen.
He then turned toward Aki and motioned for her to explain the situation.
Aki nodded and began recounting the details of their activities during their stay in Melen.
However, it was the final piece of news that demanded most of their attention.
"Lady Loki is predicting that Melen is about to turn into a battlefield…"
Aki paused.
"This time, there's a high chance our opponent will be the Kali Familia."
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