Kaguya stared down at the cloth-wrapped bundle in her hands. A bold claim from a bold stranger. Five percent across all stats from food? If this was real, the implications were enormous.
"Kaguya, what's that?"
Alise leaned in, eyes locked on the bundle, curiosity written across every inch of her face.
Kaguya knew her captain's personality better than anyone. The more you tried to hide something from Alise, the more her imagination ran wild, conjuring scenarios more absurd than the last. Where the woman got that boundless creative energy was anyone's guess. So Kaguya gave up on secrecy and unwrapped the bundle in front of everyone.
"It's nothing. Just food."
She paused, then added, "Though... according to that gentleman, there's something a little unusual about it."
"Is that... a bacon-potato roll?"
Alise blinked, then gasped as though she'd uncovered some earth-shattering secret.
"What's special about that? Unless... the food is just a cover, and his real goal was to get close to you? No way. No way! Kaguya, are you getting married?!"
Kaguya choked.
"You... Alise! What is going on inside that head of yours!"
Her face flushed with equal parts shame and outrage, but Leon's deep, unreadable eyes flashed unbidden through her mind, and her cheeks reddened despite every effort to stop them.
"...Could it be?"
Ryuu, who'd been watching with her usual calm, caught Kaguya's reaction and her eyes went wide.
"Kaguya, you actually... Alise guessed right on pure instinct?"
Lyra, off to the side, spared a single glance at the bundle in Kaguya's hands before going back to maintaining her weapon.
Food was fuel, nothing more. Growing up in a city of crime had stripped away any attachment to cuisine. If it filled her stomach, it served its purpose. As for handsome men? Her heart belonged to her hero, and that was that.
But what Kaguya said next stunned every one of them, Lyra included.
"Alise! What kind of nonsense are you cooking up in that brain? It's nothing like what you're imagining!"
Kaguya's face was still burning as she snapped back. "That gentleman brought this food for one reason: to discuss a partnership with the Astraea Familia. This is just a sample to test the effect. As for what makes it special..."
She scanned their surroundings, then dropped her voice to a whisper.
"According to Mr. Hart, eating it temporarily boosts all Basic Abilities. Roughly five percent."
She watched the identical shock register on every face around her and allowed herself a small smile.
"He calls it the Monster Hunter Special."
"But..."
A sly gleam entered her eyes. "Whether it actually works or not, he sent us a sample, didn't he? We taste it and find out."
As for whether the food had been tampered with - whether Leon was some Evilus agent sent to poison them - Kaguya didn't waste a second entertaining the thought.
The vanguard in his party alone, Jeanne, radiated the kind of warmth that no Evilus operative could fake. That was enough to clear them.
Leon, murmuring quietly with his squad as he waited for the verdict, had no idea that Jeanne's effortless sincerity had already landed their entire group on Astraea Familia's vice-captain whitelist.
Now the girls of the justice Familia crowded around Kaguya, eyes burning as they stared at the single bacon-potato roll in her hands.
Alise swallowed involuntarily.
"Since I'm the captain, a critical duty like taste-testing obviously falls to this beautiful genius! No arguments!"
She reached for the food.
Kaguya sidestepped neatly, pulling it out of range.
"You want to eat? Wait until we're back on the surface after the expedition, and I'll let you eat until you burst. We're not so broke we can't afford a meal."
She rolled her eyes, then without further hesitation, held the Monster Hunter Special between two fingers with practiced elegance, and took a small bite.
"...?!"
Under the curious stares of her companions, Kaguya's eyes flew wide open, as if she'd witnessed something impossible. And then...
Her body began to squirm, soft, helpless sounds slipping from her lips.
"Mm... nnh..."
"Hey, hey, hey - Kaguya... what are you doing?!"
Alise, Ryuu, and Lyra gaped at the scene before them. Kaguya's face was flushed, her gaze distant, her body trembling. She'd slipped entirely into some kind of culinary trance, and none of them had the faintest idea how to react.
This... this was the same Kaguya they knew? The Yamato Rindou, who cut down enemies without a flicker of hesitation, who moved through battle with iron precision?
This wasn't even the same person!
By sheer luck, between Kaguya's Level 3 strength and the Astraea Familia's fearsome reputation keeping other Adventurers at a respectful distance, no one else noticed. If they had, word of this scene would've been all over Orario by morning.
After all, Gojouno Kaguya was one of the city's most recognized beauties.
...
"Kaguya! Kaguya! Snap out of it! This is the Dungeon - what the hell has gotten into you?!"
Lyra, barely keeping a straight face, shook and pinched her until Kaguya finally surfaced from the trance.
"Huh?"
"I... what happened to me?"
"What... what was that?!"
Kaguya's face was still flushed, her eyes hazy, the afterglow clinging to her like a second skin. Her whole body felt weightless, her tabi-clad feet might as well have been walking on clouds.
That intoxicating sensation - she'd wanted to stay in it. If Lyra hadn't pulled her out, the sheer intensity might have knocked her unconscious on the spot.
Seeing just how hard the aftereffects hit, even Alise's usual playfulness evaporated. Everyone's expressions turned serious.
This food was something else entirely. If it could reduce the iron-willed Kaguya to that state, there was no telling what kind of humiliating display anyone else might put on.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Fully awake now, Kaguya's gaze fell on the half-eaten roll on the ground, and a flicker of genuine alarm crossed her face.
She had almost lost herself completely in that food-induced fantasy.
"Hey, Kaguya."
Lyra spoke up, shooting an amused glance toward "that gentleman" who was not-so-subtly watching them from a distance.
"Check the effect. If it really does boost Basic Abilities temporarily, a little side effect like that... might be worth it."
Her tone cooled. "But if all it does is mess with your head without any real benefit, then we'll need to have a very different conversation with him."
Leon glanced toward the Astraea Familia and locked eyes with Kaguya. She looked ready to set him on fire with her gaze alone.
He looked away first. Not out of guilt. Out of self-preservation.
Rose followed his gaze, spotted Kaguya's expression, and the pieces clicked. She covered her mouth. "Leon. You gave her the food without warning her about the side effect."
"The reaction is the best sales pitch," he said, not looking at anyone. "Now she knows exactly how potent it is."
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