Chapter 101: Daphne's Warning, A War of Status Updates?! (Patreon)

Once Rozz recovered from the exhaustion of overspending his mental power, the party started back toward Orario, careful not to rush.

It felt a little like a combat exercise.

The Minotaurs and assorted monsters they met along the way weren't strong overall, but whatever their level, they still counted toward his stats.

By the time they reached Orario again, it was already evening on the second day since they'd set out.

Rozz's gaze swept over Ouka Kashima, Mikoto, and the other members of the Takemikazuchi Familia, and he thought back over everything they'd fought through together.

Especially the battle against floor boss Goliath.

At the very least, Rozz had confirmed one thing: against monsters at this stage, the improved Futsu no Mitama magic really could beat opponents above his level.

If there was a problem…

It was that this kind of technique didn't suit fights between Adventurers. It left him too prone to the weakness that came after his mental power ran dry.

And the gravity field he created was actually fairly easy for a fast Adventurer to dodge.

What he was most curious about right now was his stats, and whether killing floor boss Goliath counted as a Great Feat for a Level Up.

He kept his tone easy. "Feels like this Dungeon expedition paid off pretty well overall. I'd say we hit our goal."

"We'll deal with Goliath's drops tomorrow. If you're free, let's get together for a meal at the restaurant."

Kashima had no objection.

The past few days had given everyone plenty to digest, and after a brief farewell, he noticed the state Mikoto was in.

So he led Chigusa and the others away, giving the two of them room to talk alone.

Mikoto, the black-haired beauty with the long straight hair, gazed at the rookie Adventurer before her, the one who kept creating miracles. Her mood was undeniably complicated.

The fastest Level Up on record. The ability to steal… no, to master other Adventurers' magic by studying it, and then improve its effects.

And on top of that—

Facing floor boss Goliath, who crushed them in raw strength, he'd used improved magic to pull off the feat of killing a foe above his level!

She remembered what her god had once said.

"A teacher need not be older than the student. Whoever has attained the way comes first."

Suddenly the girl felt much less burdened. Rozz was beyond her in both Adventurer strength and mastery of magic.

Her eyes were uneasy as she asked, "Um…"

"When you were fighting floor boss Goliath, the Futsu no Mitama you used felt different from mine."

"Once you've finished what you have on your plate, may I ask you to teach me?"

From the way Mikoto spoke, Rozz could feel her nervousness. Well… even that feeling wasn't hard to understand.

It was just like something he'd lived through before his transmigration.

He'd racked his brains tutoring his lolita-type beauty of a deskmate, only for her to take the very same test and effortlessly turn in a perfect score.

That would leave anyone feeling the gap.

But Rozz honestly didn't think he was a genius at magic. If anything, the difference was simply how much information they each had access to.

And then there was something else.

He kept feeling that the Adventurers native to Orario were strangely limited in how they developed their mental power.

Rozz waved a hand casually. "I don't think 'teach' is the right word. Without you, I'd never have mastered this magic either."

"At most, we'd be learning from each other."

"Okay."

Mikoto looked at the sincere smile on his face, and something deep inside her felt like a taut string being gently plucked.

She nodded firmly, then hurried to catch up with her Familia's group.

This sudden development was exactly what Lili worried about most. His talent aside, his personality was flawless.

He was far too easy for the opposite sex to fall for, and in the end he might turn into a total playboy!

But the Supporter girl got no chance to complain, because she noticed a party of Adventurers off to the front side, clearly heading straight for Rozz.

Their uniforms were identical.

Most telling of all, the emblem on their shoulders, a golden bow and the sun, marked them as members of the Apollo Familia.

Lili's face gradually tensed. "Be careful. Those are Apollo Familia Adventurers. They're definitely here for you."

Hearing that, Rozz looked in the direction of her gaze.

The woman at the head of the group had very crisp, short brown hair and wore a white miniskirt uniform with black over-the-knee socks.

The presence she naturally gave off was strong, and it was easy to guess she was the leader.

The girl behind the brunette was the exact opposite type: long blue hair covering the corners of her eyes, and a timid look on her face.

So,

did Apollo realize that Rozz was steel-straight and decide to switch to the gentler beauty tactic to get him to convert?

That made no sense.

Mature older-sister types were fine by him, but he wasn't about to abandon the lovely sight in front of him for some unfamiliar forest.

"As expected…"

He sighed softly. "Compared to a mature script, I still prefer the prologue of a fairy tale!"

Lili: Could this guy's taste just happen to land right in her own sweet spot?

*

Things developed just as Rozz had expected. When Daphne Lauros saw the Adventurer they'd been looking for, pity showed on her face.

Yes, pity.

She too had been forced into the Apollo Familia. She'd refused, but the Familia hounded her anyway.

No matter where she fled, they caught up with her, and in the end she had no choice but to go to them.

Admittedly, once she joined the Apollo Familia, they hadn't done any of those… disgusting, excessive things, nor restricted her freedom.

They'd even provided high-grade equipment she could never have paid for herself.

Honestly, she felt no loyalty to the Familia. She was grateful to the god, but her hatred outweighed that gratitude.

And now,

at the thought that she had become the one doing the harm, Daphne Lauros looked at the black-haired youth before her and offered an apology first.

"I'm sorry."

She introduced herself. "I'm meeting you in this capacity now. I'm the commander of the Apollo Familia, Daphne Lauros."

"Can we talk alone?"

At least from this female Adventurer, Rozz felt no obvious hostility. In her eyes, he even sensed something like…

she was feeling sorry for his situation!

He gave a small nod, more than a little curious why she'd come for him. "Sure, but can I have my Supporter leave safely first?"

"Suit yourself."

Daphne Lauros didn't mind.

She waited until Lili's figure had completely vanished around the street corner, then turned to the rookie Adventurer beside her, a boy Apollo had been tormenting because of his talent.

Her tone softened. "You must know why I came."

"Yeah."

"To recruit you into the Apollo Familia, by gentler means."

The short-haired girl sounded reluctant as she said it, and she hid nothing even with her close friend Cassandra Ilion standing there.

Daphne Lauros lifted her head. "Honestly, I sympathize. Your situation right now is no different from mine back then."

"So…"

"I hope you'll think it over seriously. The treatment in the Apollo Familia is definitely better than in your current Familia."

"And with a talent like yours, he wouldn't do those despicable things to you. If anything, he'd help your future growth."

Talking this far, Rozz finally understood the pity in her gaze. Daphne Lauros had been through the same thing.

And then she had gone from victim to perpetrator.

How to describe his mood?

He couldn't quite say himself. Still, this was better than Nwankwo and Zanis, who simply held malice toward low-level Adventurers.

At least she was someone he could talk to.

Rozz looked up, thinking back over the past while.

"Suppose a god had looked after you in every way, in the Dungeon and in daily life, from the moment you first arrived in Orario."

"Faced with that, what would you choose?"

Daphne Lauros fell silent for a moment.

The answer was already in his words. She pressed her thin lips together, then said, "Maybe I'd make the same choice you did."

"You can't forget where you came from, after all!"

"Since you've already made up your mind, I won't try to persuade you any further. I just hope you'll be a bit careful from here on."

Her face was full of gravity.

She explained earnestly. "Knowing Apollo, he won't let you off that easily. He's sure to make a move."

"He might interfere with your life with your god, and it could get even more extreme than that."

"Huh?"

At this, Rozz could barely keep a straight face. If he hadn't temporarily converted to the Hephaestus Familia, he'd have had to take this seriously.

He couldn't let his own Hestia get dragged into it.

But then he thought of Tsubaki, a Lv5 Adventurer and the vice-captain, and found himself curious how anyone would even manage to disrupt his normal life.

After turning it over, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and said offhandedly, "I'm not really worried about that. What I'm more curious about is this."

"We're supposed to be on opposite sides. Why are you willing to tell me all this?"

Just before leaving,

Daphne Lauros stopped in her tracks. She thought the question over seriously, then answered with a light smile. "Regret runs through a whole life."

"Maybe…"

"What I couldn't do back then, you can."

"Good luck."

She said all of this as the Adventurer Daphne Lauros, because she knew that the next time they met, it would be at swords' point.

As for the blue-haired girl, far more naive and innocent,

Cassandra Ilion watched her close friend's retreating back, then raised her eyes and looked timidly at Rozz, gathering every ounce of courage she had:

"Um…"

"I'm sorry for taking up your time, Mr. Rozz."

—

Rozz really hadn't expected it.

He'd finally made it back to Orario, and there was still an interlude like this. Still, he held no ill will toward Daphne Lauros.

They simply stood on different sides because of their Familias.

Giving out such crucial intel when they were about to become enemies also told him she wasn't a bad person.

"Now that it's come to this…"

"Let's head back to the Familia Home first and have a god do my Status Update!"

The biggest change that switching to the Hephaestus Familia had made in Rozz's life was the move to the upscale residential district in the northwest.

He followed Adventurer Street back.

When he reached Hephaestus's mansion, he found Hestia and Hephaestus waiting, as if they'd known ahead of time that he was coming back.

And then,

the goddess girl barreled into him like a ball carrier.

Seeing her beloved former Familia member return, Hestia was by far the happiest, especially once she heard what he'd been through.

He'd beaten floor boss Goliath, a Lv4 monster.

Not only that,

he'd held the final line against other women's temptations, which meant… she surely had a place in his heart.

Clinging to the boy's arm,

Hestia's eyes were warm, her voice full of concern. "Rozz, you're finally back~ Thank you for your hard work in the Dungeon!"

"It wasn't that bad."

"This Dungeon expedition was pretty novel for me. The floor boss Goliath, and the Under Resort on Floor 18."

After he'd briefly recounted the trip, the conversation soon turned to the matter he cared about most: his stats. As for which god should do his Status Update, Rozz was a bit stuck.

He looked up.

Beside him stood Hestia, who had accompanied him through the hardest stretch. And his current goddess was leaning against the doorframe in the distance, her face full of amusement.

So—

who exactly should he ask for the Status Update?

Whichever one he picked felt like a recipe for a love-triangle showdown, so Rozz simply gave up. "If I do a Status Update now, who's the right one to ask?"

Hearing Rozz's question,

the goddess girl puffed out her chest and was about to speak, but then she remembered that her precious boy had strategically converted to the Hephaestus Familia.

The smile on Hestia's childish face stiffened a little.

Then she declared with perfect confidence, "Me, obviously! It's only a strategic conversion, and he's coming back later."

"It's just a nominal thing~ so the Status Update should definitely be done by me!"

Normally,

Hephaestus would have gone along with her best friend's demand. But she thought of Rozz's Potential, and she couldn't help being curious about the Falna.

Yes!

An opportunity to look at it openly, like the one right now, was not to be missed.

But when she spoke, the red-haired goddess's tone was very gentle. "Normally, you doing it would be no problem."

"Hestia, you said yourself that Rozz is nominally in my Familia for now. I think we should at least follow the proper procedure."

"Or you could consider buying a Status Update potion. It's pricey, though, and it needs your divine blood."

"It'd cost about 500,000 valis."

Of course, Hephaestus wasn't lying.

She was only withholding a large part of the truth, and playing it as if she hadn't noticed that Hestia could simply do Rozz's Status Update as usual.

And now,

this 'miracle' was about to unfold right before her eyes. The red-haired goddess could hardly hold herself back. Perhaps noticing the hesitation in her best friend's eyes,

she quickly added, "If you're short on money, I can lend you some."

It was all just a Status Update!

If Hephaestus handled it, she'd also get a more direct look at Rozz's talent, and if she ever wanted to fleece him later…

wouldn't that be even easier?

After a fierce internal struggle, the goddess girl lifted her head again and spoke boldly. "Right, we should definitely go by the rules."

"Besides…"

"Hephaestus, you're my best friend. I trust you to keep Rozz's secrets safe!!"