Aura's Abilities were almost exactly what Ronan had expected. They were excellent.
Compared to Lorie's, each of them had their own strengths.
"Wow, Aura. You have two Magics! I only got one," Lorie said. She hugged Aura's arm and pressed close to her friend, her voice full of admiration and envy.
Aura put down the parchment and let out a helpless sigh.
"Lorie, we are elves. Elves have a natural affinity for Magic, so we have a better chance of manifesting it than many other races. With your potential, you'll catch up to me quickly. You might even surpass me."
Aura was not wrong. Among the races of this world, elves clearly had a big advantage when it came to Magic.
Ronan and Jeanne looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
"That's right, Lorie," Ronan added. "That's why elves are valued no matter where they are in the world. Very few gods would refuse an elf who wants to join their Familia. And if they did, that would say more about the god than the elf."
Lorie looked curious, her clear eyes full of confusion.
By now, Ronan was already used to that reaction, so he simply continued.
"Besides the advantage elves have with Magic, some elves are even born with three Magic slots. But that still comes down to talent. It isn't something every elf is guaranteed to have. You can also tell how gifted elves can be just by looking at your Skills."
"Many elves have race-related Skills that strengthen Magic. That alone already gives them an advantage most races can't easily match."
"Dwarves have their own physical advantages, Pallums have their own rare talents, and Beast People have strong senses or physical traits. But Skills related to those strengths still depend a lot on the individual. They aren't something everyone gets."
"Now look at humans. Most humans start from a much plainer foundation."
"In other words, after receiving a Falna, most humans begin with nothing especially unusual. There usually aren't any big surprises."
After saying that, Ronan shrugged helplessly and spread his hands.
"Ah, I see. Humans really do have it hard." Lorie widened her eyes and looked at Ronan and Jeanne with sympathy.
This silly girl... Ronan thought. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he decided not to respond.
Unlike the innocent Lorie, Aura noticed that neither Ronan nor Jeanne showed even the slightest envy toward the elven race.
Had they simply gotten used to this kind of gap, or was there another reason?
That thought made her fall silent.
It seems our mysterious Captain and Commander are not ordinary people either.
Aura was more mature than Lorie, so she had already noticed an undeniable fact.
Ronan, the one who had guided the Falna ceremony, was not a god.
That alone went against common sense and almost overturned everything she thought she knew about the world.
A human was using an ability to do something that should have belonged only to the gods. The shock of that still had her deeply shaken.
The more she thought about it, the more unreal it felt.
Still, out of courtesy, she would not ask unless Ronan chose to explain it himself. She was certain he would tell her eventually.
She felt sure of that.
...
Aura's guess was right.
After all, the nature of the Falna ceremony was something every new member would notice during the process. There was no real point in pretending otherwise.
Ronan looked at the two of them and gave a meaningful smile.
"Do either of you have anything you want to ask me? Don't be shy. Just ask."
His gaze settled on Aura, who was clearly being cautious.
"Don't be nervous. I think you've already realized how unusual our Familia is, right? For example... a normal Familia is built around a god. The core of it is the god who grants the Falna and the god's blood becoming the mark of the Familia."
"You probably want to ask why I can guide the Falna ceremony. Isn't that supposed to be something only gods can do?"
Aura bit her lip and nodded.
"It's actually not that complicated," Ronan said calmly.
"As you know, this world is full of things no one fully understands. That was one of the reasons the gods sealed away their Arcanum, their divine power, followed the rules, and came down to the lower world to live among its people."
"So, is it possible..."
He paused, his eyes playful.
"That what I can do is simply one of those unknown things no one has seen before?"
The moment those words left his mouth, Aura suddenly connected the pieces in her mind.
She immediately understood what Ronan was implying, and shock filled her voice.
"You mean... your ability lets you guide the Falna ceremony?!"
Lorie was even more stunned. Her mind went blank, and she froze where she stood.
"Huh?"
She stood there with her mouth open, shaking her head.
"Impossible! That's absolutely impossible!"
"How could there be such a ridiculous ability in this world?!"
Ronan chuckled. Ridiculous? You haven't seen much yet.
Forget guiding a Falna ceremony. Even resurrection magic existed, though whether or not it worked properly was another matter.
"Something close to that. You can think of it that way for now."
"The real point is that this ability is connected to our Familia. It works through rules even I don't fully understand yet."
"I see... it's an ability tied to the Familia."
"The answer was actually that simple... I was just stuck thinking in the usual way," Aura murmured.
Like Jeanne, she accepted the explanation surprisingly quickly and treated it as something natural.
For a mage, Magic was already close enough to a miracle. If that was true, then it was not so strange for it to do something like this too.
Learning more about Ronan's ability only made Aura even more certain of one thing.
Her mysterious Captain was definitely hiding even greater secrets.
...
After satisfying his pride a little in front of the two elves, Ronan discussed things with Jeanne and settled on what to do next.
Then he clapped his hands and announced,
"You two, the rain isn't stopping anytime soon, and your bodies still need time to recover. So today's task is to learn basic adventurer knowledge and study the rules of the Dungeon. Don't look down on that. On the contrary, the basics matter a lot. Anyone who wants to explore the Dungeon has to understand them."
As he spoke, Ronan pulled out a small booklet from behind him.
It was the Adventurer's Manual, the booklet handed out by the Guild and carried by nearly every adventurer in Orario.
"This is what you need to study. It may just be a thin booklet, and it may look unimpressive compared to all those huge magic books, but I can tell you clearly that the lessons in this book were paid for by the blood of countless adventurers who came before you."
"Learn them. Remember them. This matters. Understood?"
Aura and Lorie looked at each other and nodded seriously.
The Dungeon, one of the greatest mysteries in the world, was a massive underground cavern beneath the Labyrinth City of Orario.
From there came the monsters that made the Dungeon one of the greatest dangers in the world.
"We'll make sure to learn it well. Our lives may depend on it," Aura answered solemnly.
Even Lorie dropped her usual playful attitude and showed a rare look of seriousness.
"Good. Once you've mastered the manual, we'll move on to the next things. For example: Dungeon Environments and Monsters, Dungeon Resource Guide, 3,000 Common Words and Characters, Encyclopedia of Orario, Orario: Guide to Gods and Familias, Dangerous Monster Habitats, and so on."
As she listened to him list more and more books, Lorie's face gradually fell. Just like Jeanne, she clearly was not the studying type.
Aura, however, had the patience of a mage and barely reacted at all.