The news that Freya Familia and Loki Familia were joining forces to wage war against Astrea Familia sent a shockwave through the city.
Not a few of the visitors who had come for the Fertility Festival chose to stay on rather than leave — all of them eager to see how that particular drama would unfold.
City's strongest Familias — about to clash!
And yet, for Isagi, the news barely registered.
In fact.
Less than two days after the Fertility Festival drew to a close, he had already set out for the Dungeon with the girls — the adventure they had long been planning, the moment everyone had been waiting for.
[Challenge Alfia.]
The party departed in the early morning and made their way to the destination with practiced ease.
Floor 18 of the Dungeon.
Beneath a surface that shimmered like a mirror of crystal — before the frozen [Inner Sanctum], sealed in ice.
Isagi and the girls — Lefiya, Tiona, Ryuu-senpai, Miss Heith, Ais, Haruhime, the little jellyfish Saika, and Riveria.
The Elven Princess's arrival had been something of a surprise.
Originally.
Isagi hadn't factored her into the fighting strength of his side — but it seemed she had heard about their plans through Lefiya and Ais.
Riveria had shown an intense interest in the matter.
The timeline had shifted, it was true — but perhaps because she had once journeyed back through time alongside Isagi himself, her memories had been 'preserved.'
Much like Ryuu-senpai and the various gods, Riveria's mind now held 'multiple timelines' within it.
The original era of the [Great Conflict], and the memories and past events born from the altered timeline — both existed simultaneously within her.
It had, in truth, tormented her for quite some time.
But eventually, she had come to terms with it.
And so.
As someone who had lived through that battle firsthand.
Riveria had stood alongside Ais and Gareth in Rivira, where they defeated the monster [Absolute Evil] — summoned by the Dark Familia at the cost of several gods' lives.
And at that time, on the other side of the battlefield, it had been Astrea Familia and Alfia locked in their own struggle. As the city's foremost mage today, Riveria had naturally wanted to challenge that woman — countless times over.
Riveria was not a warmonger.
She had no particular attachment to titles like 'city's greatest mage.'
But there was a certain regret that lingered.
The kind that surfaced in the deep stillness of late nights — a hollow, aching feeling when memory stirred.
Life was full of things that vanished in an instant; once you failed to grasp them, the chance never came again. Elves were a long-lived race, and for that very reason, such regrets accumulated in far greater number. Add to that the traditional Elven tendency toward self-restraint — suppressing one's own desires in deference to propriety, honor, and appearances, all for the sake of how others perceived you — and it made them all the more prone to melancholy.
And because of that.
The more deeply they suppressed themselves in ordinary life, the more terrifying they became when they finally let go.
That much, Isagi understood very well.
And so, in a sense, this was Riveria being just a little selfish — a request born from wanting to try, or perhaps simply to see.
Come to think of it.
The Princess was not unfamiliar with the woman in question.
When Loki Familia first came to the city, it had been during the height of Zeus Familia's and Hera Familia's dominance.
At the time, they were the city's newcomers — and while they had built up some strength during their travels across the world, they were, of course, nowhere near the level of the former city's greatest in the eyes of those veterans.
Riveria and Finn and Gareth, along with Ottar and the others from Freya Familia, had continually challenged Zeus Familia and Hera Familia.
But such challenges had been utterly meaningless.
Those who had once believed that 'strength was everything' — the city's former greatest — had swept through them without a second thought, as casually as chasing stray cats off a street corner, knocking down the very adventurers who now stood as the city's strongest.
Looking back on it now.
Riveria knew that those encounters hadn't been battles at all — they had been one-sided lessons.
That was precisely why she had to be here today.
In some sense, it was about making peace with herself.
As for Alfia herself, Riveria didn't know a great deal. The most gifted adventurer Hera Familia had ever produced — ordinarily taciturn, radiating a 'keep away' air that discouraged approach.
Back then, Alfia had still been young, no more than a girl of thirteen or fourteen — and yet even so, her absolute strength had been beyond question.
The one thing that could be called an interesting piece of trivia.
Was that she had an extraordinarily, exceptionally adorable younger sister.
The word 'adorable,' coming from Riveria's lips, was genuinely surprising.
But it was simply the truth.
The girl named Meteria was extraordinarily gentle and sweet — Alfia's twin sister. Though her strength was nothing exceptional, she was cherished by all of Hera Familia, adored almost like a princess.
Even Goddess Hera herself — who would otherwise assume a sheepish, retreating expression when she'd been scolded into anger — feared Meteria to some degree. Meteria was one of very few women capable of making even Zeus, that ancient god, feel a pang of genuine dread — for Zeus feared Hera, and Hera feared Meteria.
"As for what happened afterwards —"
Before the building that looked entirely like a worn-out old clocktower, Riveria spoke softly of things that had happened long, long ago. It was rare — the gentle expression that flickered across her face.
"Meteria fell in love with an adventurer from Zeus Familia, and she became pregnant with his child. Since both of them ranked near the bottom of their respective Familias, neither took part in the campaign against the Black Dragon — and so, by fortune's grace, they both survived. And after that, well..."
Zeus Familia and Hera Familia had been devastated.
And so, they were driven out of the city by the other Familias. There was no help for it — the two great Familias of old had carried themselves with a wildness that was simply too extreme, making enemies of far, far too many people.
No one had liked them.
And so, the surviving members — gods included — vanished without a trace, whereabouts unknown.
In truth, it wasn't such a remarkable story.
In the thousand years since Orario's founding, countless Familias had lost their core members and elites to the Dungeon, and slipped away from the city in quiet ruin — much like what had once befallen Astrea Familia.
Even so.
From the tone of Riveria's voice, there seemed to be more to it than that.
At least — Isagi, who had come to know certain secrets from the city's side, found himself glancing over at Ais beside him.
The golden-haired girl had been entrusted to Loki and the others by Zeus Familia, to be 'raised.'
Ais had been found in the depths of the Dungeon.
And if not for trust — why would Zeus have handed her over to Loki?
In its own way, that too was a kind of legacy.
"Let's go."
A grey mist rose from the old, weathered doors of the clocktower.
Nearby, the revival point flickered to life. After a long moment of thought, Isagi switched his character card to the one he had used at the very beginning — the 'Land of Reeds.'
As the ghost-Buddha cradling pale blue flames rose into being, Isagi stepped through the entrance first.
And then.
He saw her once more — that slender, beautiful figure, seated at the foremost pew of the crumbling little chapel, her back turned to him.
____
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