Chapter 11: The Useless elf likes to daydream
Ryuu dragged herself out of her room with a pair of dark circles hanging under her eyes.
Last night, she kept thinking about the Dark Faction, and about what kind of gift she should give Cid, and ended up not sleeping well at all.
Ryuu knew her condition wasn't good, and she also knew she shouldn't have let her thoughts run wild and kept herself awake last night.
But knowing something and actually being able to do it were two completely different things.
Just like how a washed-up writer knows that staying up late writing novels is bad for their health, yet still gets dragged past midnight by procrastination.
And after a whole night of poor sleep, Ryuu still hadn't figured out what gift to give Cid.
It was just like that washed-up writer staying up until three in the morning and only squeezing out four hundred words.
"No, I have to pull myself together."
Ryuu patted her cheeks.
Today's workload was heavy—not only did she need to continue patrolling seriously, she also had to decide on Cid's gift during any breaks in between.
Bearing the safety of Orario and the bonds with her companions, she really shouldn't look this worn out.
Sigh…
Cid walked out of his room as well, looking dispirited.
Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, someone who didn't know better might think he was wearing the same style as Ryuu.
"Cid, you didn't sleep well either?"
Ryuu was a bit surprised, but then felt that it made sense.
She felt sad about Cid leaving—Cid himself must also be feeling terrible about it, right?
If he weren't truly unable to keep up with everyone anymore and suffering deeply inside, Cid definitely wouldn't want to leave the Astraea Familia.
Ryuu couldn't even imagine how much pain one would have to go through to start thinking about leaving the Astraea Familia.
Was Cid hurting this much inside?
Ryuu felt her own heart ache along with his.
And thinking that far, she vaguely realized what kind of gift she should give him.
"Didn't sleep well either? I'm fine, but Ryuu, you should make sure to rest properly."
Cid glanced at Ryuu, not understanding why she looked so unwell.
Yesterday, Alise had barely let him sleep at all.
He really didn't know why she had so many things to complain about.
Was her stress really that high?
And what had Ryuu been through? She looked even worse than him.
"Mm, I'll be careful. Tonight, Cid…"
Ryuu's voice grew softer and softer.
The gift she planned to give was extremely special—she really couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.
"Tonight? I'll be looking forward to it."
Cid didn't hear what Ryuu said afterward, but once she mentioned "tonight," he could guess.
Alise had already told him about the farewell party.
After circulating his magic once, Cid returned to his usual state.
For adventurers, forcing themselves to go without sleep for half a month—or even a full month—wasn't impossible.
Cid hadn't tried it before, but if he really wanted to push himself, two or three months would definitely be doable.
"Cid, are you heading out? There's no need to rush like this, right…?"
Only then did Ryuu notice that Cid was wearing the adventurer equipment everyone had bought for him.
She couldn't help but wonder—was Cid going to apply to another Familia already?
Just imagining that scene made her heart sting.
"Rush? I'm going to the Dungeon. I won't be eating breakfast at the Familia today."
Cid looked completely confused, unable to see through Ryuu's emotional changes.
She looked like she was about to cry.
He didn't think too much about it, waved casually, and left.
Unlike Alise's occasional emotional explosions, Ryuu's low moods happened every few days.
You just got used to it.
"The Dungeon? Could it be…? Then Cid, you absolutely must be careful!"
As Ryuu called out, Cid's figure disappeared from sight.
This time, instead of feeling sad over the brief separation, she actually felt a little happy.
"Even though we didn't tell him, Cid must have thought about it a lot himself. Just like Alise said— even if Cid leaves the Familia, he's still our companion."
Ryuu recalled the content of the meeting.
Regarding the Dark Faction's hideout, they had discussed it at length yesterday and finally reached a unanimous conclusion—
The Dungeon.
They had already turned Orario upside down and only found small fry.
Even if some places were disguised as ordinary civilians, there was no way they could hide that many people.
A place capable of accommodating so many members of the Dark Faction had to be inside the Dungeon.
So only one answer remained.
The Dark Faction must have discovered a hidden area within the Dungeon, which was why they could never find them.
But even having guessed this far, there was nothing they could do now.
Exploring the Dungeon was time-consuming and exhausting, and the Astraea Familia was already short-handed.
Even with the strength of the Ganesha Familia, they had no spare capacity to explore the Dungeon at a time like this.
The Dark Faction's attack could come at any moment—Ganesha Familia had to focus on organizing Orario's defenses.
And if it truly was a hidden Dungeon area, whether it could even be found would depend on luck.
With Orario's survival at stake, what serious leadership would gamble on luck?
Rather than betting on that slim, uncertain hope, it was better to focus on what could be done right now.
"Cid really is smart. So many of us discussed it and only guessed the Dark Faction might be in the Dungeon, but Cid thought through all of this on his own?"
In Ryuu's eyes, although Cid always seemed lazy and his combat talent was fairly average, his mindset was excellent—and he was very intelligent.
Ryuu often felt that Cid's strengths perfectly complemented her own.
She was only good at fighting, while Cid was good at everything except fighting.
"No, I'm not just a useless elf who can only fight."
Even with no one else around, Ryuu still muttered a quiet defense for herself.
She wasn't useless—she was just not as smart, not as firm, not as decisive, not as…
Anyway, Ryuu believed Cid's intelligence was even above Lyra's.
So even if he explored alone, she didn't feel worried about his safety.
Just as Ryuu was about to go wash her face, Alise walked out of Cid's room.
Ryuu: ???
Seeing that familiar red figure, Ryuu's brain short-circuited, and she froze completely.
"Yo, Ryuu, you're up early too. You don't look very energetic though?"
Alise looked radiant and full of energy—forming a sharp contrast with Ryuu.
Only after Alise waved her hand in front of her face for the third time did Ryuu snap back to reality.
Realizing what she had just seen, Ryuu's face instantly turned bright red.
"A-A-A-Alise, why are you coming out of Cid's room?!"
The useless elf completely lost control.
She didn't even dare think deeply about her friend's glowing appearance—
And yet her mind had already conjured up images!
Ahhh! Her thoughts had become impure!
Alise immediately covered her ears, but it was already too late.
The ear-splitting shriek was almost too much even for a level 3 prodigy like Alise.
"What's wrong? When we were kids, I often slept together with Cid."
"When we were kids—that's completely different!"
"What's the big deal? Cid isn't that kind of person… You're not letting your imagination run wild, are you?"
"I-I'm not letting my imagination run wild!"
"Ryuu, you look pretty guilty."
"Why would I feel guilty?! The one who should feel guilty is obviously you, Alise!"
Finally, Kaguya—who habitually slept in and had serious morning grumpiness—stormed out.
"You're all way too loud! Shut up already!"