Touching the short sword at his waist that had kept him company for a month, Leo thought back over today's fighting in the Middle Floors.
The combat intensity on the 13th floor really was high, with not only the legions of Almiraj classified as Lv.2 and skilled at group combat, but also the Hellhounds that could kill off a whole swath of upper-class adventurers just by breathing fire, plus monsters like the Hard Armored that were already tricky and troublesome back on the Upper Floors. After a full day of fighting, Leo, even with magic firepower rivaling a Lv.3, had inevitably been hurt several times.
Several times Leo had fallen into danger, like getting blocked into a dead end by countless Almiraj, and for that he'd even had to release the limit on his Mind and use high-power magic many times, nearly bringing on Mind Down. But even so, he'd still needed Line beside him supporting him, healing him, to turn danger into safety and finally hold out to the end.
But while he himself could hold out, the weapon in his hand had nearly failed to.
Dealing with Almiraj was fine, this kind of monster was soft-skinned to begin with and not too hard to cut down, but dealing with Hellhounds was already a bit of a stretch, their hide and powerful muscle both requiring Leo to swing with all his strength to get the blade's edge in. And when dealing with the Hard Armored, famous for being tougher than a tortoise, his short sword striking it only struck up showers of sparks. Forget cutting open a wound, it was hard even to leave a single white mark on a Hard Armored.
The result was that the short sword in his hand kept getting worn down, and by the time Leo noticed, it was already covered in nicks, and he basically couldn't cut through Hellhounds or Hard Armored anymore, only barely managing to hack at the soft-skinned Almiraj.
This made Leo realize that he'd leveled up, the floors he was clearing had reached the Middle Floors, and so the weapon in his hand needed an upgrade too.
However sharp, however high in quality, if it wasn't superior equipment, then dealing with monsters classified as Lv.1 was fine, but trying to deal with Middle Floor monsters classified as Lv.2 was a stretch beyond all reason.
And this was still the starting point of the Middle Floors, the 13th floor.
What about going deeper later?
What about the 14th floor, the 15th floor, the 16th, even the end of the Cave Labyrinth on the 17th floor?
Sooner or later he probably wouldn't be able to cut through even the soft-skinned monsters, right?
Ordinary steel was ordinary steel after all, fine for dealing with common monsters, but trying to use it against monsters that could rival upper-class adventurers after a Rank Up was nothing but a pipe dream.
So he really did have to change weapons.
"Mr. Leo, you're still a Magic Swordsman, and a Magic Swordsman who's learned Mage at that, so besides a sword, you should also need to prepare a magic staff, right?"
Line watched the silent Leo and spoke quietly.
"Whether it's superior equipment or a magic staff, neither of them is cheap, and it just so happens that Mr. Leo's debut hasn't been long, unlike others who stayed at Lv.1 for several years and, even saving up slowly, have already saved enough to replace their equipment."
So Line knew that Leo was very short on money.
Especially after learning how astonishing his rate of growth was, Line knew that Leo would only be more short on money from here on, because the faster he grew, the more his weapons and equipment would need upgrading, otherwise they couldn't keep up with his ever-rising combat intensity at all.
"I can't really be much practical help either, all I can do is support you people fighting on the front line as much as I can, like this." Line said a little bashfully, "Just take it, Mr. Leo."
At that, Leo still wanted to say something, but after seeing the look in Line's eyes, he couldn't get it out.
This girl who looked so soft and frail had her own convictions in her heart, and Leo had long since known that.
In the original work, it was precisely because she'd been unwilling to abandon her companions, insisting on carrying off the wounded and helping the front-line fighters, that she'd run into danger and in the end stayed there forever.
She knew she wasn't good at fighting, so she wanted to do her own job well and help the people fighting on the front line as much as she could.
It was the same now.
Seeing Leo, this genius making a name for himself in the Familia with a promising future, Line admired him, looked up to him, respected him, and at the same time thought about what help she could be to him.
She was his Supporter, and since that was so, she had to support him outside of battle as much as she could, helping him grow.
"But..."
After listening, Leo still wanted to say something, but Line gave him no chance to speak.
"If you still think this isn't right, Mr. Leo, then I'll go back and tell Miss Ais."
Line's voice was timid, but the content struck straight at Leo's sore spot.
"And then, if Miss Ais finds out you're short on money, Mr. Leo, she'll definitely just hand over all her savings to you."
At this, Leo really did shut his mouth.
Mainly because this was absolutely no joke, it really would happen.
Just think back, when Leo had only just become an adventurer, Ais had brought him two Elixirs worth the equivalent of a million valis just like that, so if she found out he urgently needed money, how could she not bring her entire fortune right to Leo?
Elixirs, the highest grade of potion, said to cure anything as long as you weren't dead, what Lv.1 newbie adventurer would use such a thing?
Forget Lv.1 newbie adventurers, even Lv.2 third-class adventurers couldn't afford the thing, and even for Lv.3 and Lv.4 second-class adventurers using the thing was a bit of a waste, only for Lv.5 and above first-class adventurers was using it standard issue.
The potions people gave Leo were at most High Potions, Magic Potions, or antidotes worth tens of thousands of valis, so who would, like Ais, just toss out two Elixirs right off the bat?
If he hadn't gone a bit too reckless back when he still hadn't leveled up, and gotten hurt a bit too badly, Leo definitely would have been reluctant to use those two Elixirs, and after using them he'd ached over it for a long while, feeling that the flesh and blood that had regrown on his body had gotten quite a bit more expensive, not daring to let it get hurt again.
In a situation like this, if Ais found out Leo was short on money, she was definitely capable of pulling something like just handing over cash.
True, this bowl of soft rice tasted pretty good, since the other party was a first-class adventurer who no matter what should have savings of several million valis or even tens of millions of valis, and tossing Leo a little of it would solve his current needs, but Leo had his pride too, and he really couldn't bring himself to do something like asking a girl his own age for money.
And that was going by his current age. If you counted his age before crossing over, he was quite a bit older than Ais.
Compared to that, taking the larger share here was nothing by comparison. No matter what, this money was earned by his own hands, and besides, it wasn't as though Line hadn't taken any.
"Fine."
Leo could only accept the matter, baffled.
Worst case, once he was no longer short on money later, he'd just make it up to Line.
And that matter, since he already knew about it, he couldn't let it happen again.
This girl who thought so deeply about her Familia companions shouldn't wither away in that false underground labyrinth.
But if he wanted to be of use in that event and change this ending, his current strength was nowhere near enough.
Lv.2?
That wasn't even qualified for an entry ticket to that event!
He had to be at least Lv.5, even Lv.6, to have the ability to change how it went.
"At least there's still time."
Leo gripped the money pouch tightly in his hand, light shifting and sinking in his eyes.
Before those events arrived, he had to work hard... no, he had to fight for his life.
This was for his own sake too.
After all, only by becoming stronger could he protect himself, protect Line, and protect Ais too, through those dangers that were coming...
That night, Leo and Line returned soundlessly to the Twilight Manor.
It happened to be just as dinnertime ended, and after coming in the door Line ran into someone she knew and left chatting and laughing together with them.
Leo didn't run into Raul and the others, and after asking around he learned that Raul and a few members he was close with had left the headquarters for the Dungeon that morning and still hadn't come back even now.
It wasn't just Raul. A lot of people in the Familia seemed to have gone to the Dungeon today, including Tiona and Tione, leaving the headquarters today not lively in the slightest, but rather a bit deserted.
Leo didn't run into Ais either, not knowing whether she'd gone to the Dungeon like the others or what, which left him muttering to himself.
"Why'd they all suddenly run off to the Dungeon, one after another?"
Completely unaware that he was the instigator of this, and completely unaware of how much pressure and provocation he'd brought to these seniors in the Familia, Leo walked up the tower alone, heading toward his room.
As he walked, Leo suddenly stopped.
Because up ahead of him, at the other end of the corridor, someone was walking this way with both hands stuffed in his pockets.
It was a young Beast Human man with sharp-furred beast ears on his head and a grey tail at the small of his back.
The young man was probably a bit older than Raul, but not by much, a year or two at most, but compared to the plain-looking Raul, this young Beast Human man was a good deal more handsome, his build well-muscled too, his height over 180 centimeters, and though his bearing was somewhat rough, he came across less as a delinquent thug than as a cold young lord.
There was a lightning-shaped tattoo on his face, which added a few more notches of menace out of nowhere, and anyone who saw it would want to step aside from his path for a while.
The other party seemed to have seen Leo too, his step pausing slightly, an obvious look of annoyance surfacing on his face, as if clicking his tongue, as if a mood that was already bad had gotten worse, and then he kept walking this way, but his footsteps grew a good deal heavier.
Leo's eyes wavered slightly, not as obvious in expression as the young Beast Human man, but rather, his face unchanged, he set his steps moving again, walking toward the other party.
In the silent corridor, the two of them quickly closed the distance between each other, and as if they hadn't seen each other at all, brushed past shoulder to shoulder with blank expressions.
It wasn't until they'd ended up back to back that the young Beast Human man stopped first, breaking the silence.
"I hear you made Lv.2?"
This wasn't a question, but a demand.
Though it carried no real malice, that utterly blunt, rough tone would still make a person knit their brows without thinking.
Leo didn't knit his brows, since he knew the young Beast Human man's temper well.
No, not just him. In all of Loki Familia, in all of Orario even, there wasn't a single person who didn't know this young Beast Human man's temper.
Because he was Bete Loga, one of the mere seven first-class adventurers in Loki Familia, fewer than forty in all of Orario.
His Level was Lv.5, his age twenty-two, his alias Vanargand, a typical strength-supremacist famously haughty in personality, looking down hard on weak adventurers, vicious in speech and rough in attitude, showing no mercy even when the target was a Familia companion.
He was also the one in Loki Familia who found Leo the most unbearable to look at, on the worst terms with him, who'd been berating him ever since Ais brought him back to the Familia a year ago, hurling abuse every time he saw him, to the point that Leo didn't much want to see him and for that even refused to eat in the dining hall.
With the other party finding him unbearable and Leo not wanting to walk up just to get cursed at, the two of them deliberately avoided each other even within the Familia, with the result that over a year they'd met perhaps fewer than ten times.
The other party was also deliberately ignoring Leo, so much so that even with Leo's recent official debut, the other party had barely shown up.
But this time, the other party clearly couldn't ignore Leo any longer.
"Got a problem with that?"
Leo didn't turn around, returning this one line flatly.
"Pretty capable, huh. Leveling up really does make a difference, even your nerve when you talk's gone up." Bete likewise didn't turn around, keeping both hands in his pockets, and said with a cold sneer, "From Lv.1 to Lv.2 in under a month, you're real pleased with yourself right now, aren't you?"
"What do you think?" Leo responded, his expression calm. "Do I look pleased with myself right now?"
"You're telling me you're not?" Bete's tone was, unusually, impossible to read for any emotion as he said this. "Wiping out the fastest level-up record our Sword Princess set clean off the board, as someone who got picked up off the street, you don't feel that proves something about yourself?"
"Lv.2, that's all, and that counts as proving myself?" Leo said, his own tone giving away no emotion either. "If I really wanted to prove myself, I'd at least have to wait until Lv.5, even Lv.6, wouldn't I?"
"Ha!" Bete laughed, as if genuinely amused, and said full of mockery, "You've really got some nerve dreaming! Lv.5? Lv.6? First-class adventurers, fewer than forty in the whole city, you really think just because your level-up's gotten a little fast you'll be able to make it there someday? And you say you're not pleased with yourself? Looks to me like you're pleased as hell!"
Though Bete was mocking him, he still never turned his head to sneer at Leo to his face.
"But you're right about one thing, only once you're Lv.5 or Lv.6 will you be qualified to feel proud." Bete said coldly. "As for now, you're Lv.2 in the end, that's all, just scraping by in the Middle Floors at best. If that's enough to make you feel proud, then you'd be better off hurrying up and leaving this Familia, going outside to find some little Familia to sit in."
"You were a small fry before you got your Falna, you were a small fry at Lv.1, and even now you're still a small fry."
Leaving these words behind, Bete left, never looking at Leo even once more.
Leo listened to the footsteps gradually receding behind him, his expression not even shifting in the slightest.
Though the other party's words were ugly to hear, it had to be said that Leo himself held this same view.
He'd always felt that his current self was still very weak and needed to keep getting stronger.
Of course, the only ones who'd think this way were probably them.
To others, Leo's achievements were already astonishing.
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