History Returns 9.1

Lili always wondered why the walls were always empty and thus basically perfect for training. Maybe it was a relict of the past, not that the Pallum was a big history buff. Perhaps there were better places to train, like personal halls or Monster Farms owned by big families.

Whatever the case was, the rookie team gathered on this very wall, wearing their combat gear on demand of their teacher. Said teacher wore what he always did, but this time, as he promised before, he was armed. The weapon he was armed with however was rather disappointing on first glance.

It was a hammer. Not a warhammer, or a hammer Welf tended to use in the forge. It was a wood hammer. Completely out of wood, for one hand. It was the most harmless thing Lili had ever seen that could be called a weapon, since it was barely the length of her own head.

Nevertheless, Obsidian insisted that they should use their sharp, deadly weapons, casually held the hammer in his right hand, hanging at his side. Naturally, the students weren't so sure about that. They were confident in their abilities and their teamwork. Their level ups gave them even more options to work with and they somewhat got used to Obsidian's speed and strength.

Then the three "seniors" remembered who they were dealing with, a guy who screamed random stuff and still kicked their asses without breaking a sweat. They decided to take this serious then and there, weapons brandished, Liberty in dagger form in Lili's case. Sadly, their newest member did not have such life experience and still seemed skeptical about this. After all, it felt unfair to use a real knife against an opponent who only had a wood hammer to defend himself with. Of course, that was before the training began and Bell realized his knife was sooner to break against the air than hurt the teacher, or touch him in the first place.

Though hitting him wasn't the biggest problem the team currently had. They had been breathing heavily after the first minute of fighting and Obsidian didn't eve attack yet. All he did was parry and dodge, as the team went after him one by one, immediately following up if someone missed.

However, Obsidian's observation phase was over now, as he cracked his left fingers.

Bell jumped forward with a cry, but a hammer to his right cheek quickly shut him up and made him fly over the head of Welf.

"BOOM!" The man yelled with a wide grin and cracked his neck as he lightly jumped on the spot, moving as if he was walking on the same spot.

The blacksmith took a deep breath and swung his sword downwards the moment Bell was out of the way. Almost disappointed for a moment, Obsidian spun to his right.

"ORA!"

Using the momentum, he kicked Welf in the stomach, making him fly straight into Bell, who was about to recover from his daze. A loud "oof" later and Lisa rushed forward, shield in front of her. While Obsidian nodded in approval, his casual grin was still in place as he reeled his right arm back. Then, he swung his hammer with full force into the shield.

"SEI!"

Now, for reference. The shield may not have been made of an Infant Dragon, but it was still pretty good metal that was usually used in the Middle Floors. It could hold up to a Minotaur, one of the physical toughest monsters. In comparison...a hammer that was cut from a tree with zero iron. By all means, the wood should have shattered on the shield.

Instead, Lisa was launched away like she weighted nothing and Obsidian's weapon was not a bit worse to wear. Naturally, the shielder's eyes went wide open, but then she turned her head around in panic, to see Welf about to stand up, while Bell twirled his head, stars in his eyes.

"Incoming!"

Another crash, another down. Now it was up to Lili. Honestly, she fought him often enough to not feel scared, but the hammer made all the difference, which caused her to be wary of it.

Knowing from experience, the reach advantage from her other weapon forms were useless against him, so she had to put everything into speed. With that in mind she made quick steps to increase her speed, before circling around him with narrowed eyes.

The man didn't follow her with his eyes. He just stood there and looked at her groaning teammates, trying to stand up and fuss over Bell, who was hit by two young adults at full force. Lili knew better than believing that was an opening though.

Obsidian had eyes everywhere. She tried the blind spot thing early in their training and no matter what she did, he dodged her or blocked perfectly.

Because of that, she decided to go with her usual approach.

Don't be picky.

With that in mind, she aimed for his neck, after twirling her weapon for a stab. Naturally, the hammer appeared in a flash, knocking her dagger off course to the left to barely miss him. Lili clicked her tongue. He made it look so casual as well.

Well, whatever.

He may have predicted it, but blocking something aimed at your back was harder than something aimed at your front. It was a minor difference, but it gave her time to predict him. As in, ducking the moment he spun around to his left, elbow aimed at her face.

Then, Lili breathed in, dagger in reverse form, and began to slash at him with all her speed.

Kidney was defended. Attack on the left arm was blocked. Stab to the heart was deflected. Her dagger was battered away when she slashed at his throat.

And many, many similar situations happened. She attacked, he made sure that attack was useless.

He did all of that with only one arm and his weapon. It frustrated the Pallum.

Logically, a hammer should not have been so versatile in blocking or attacking, but Obsidian apparently had enough experience to move it like a knife, as he pushed her dagger down again and almost immediately spun the hammer to hit her in her left side of her face. Only a quick sway back saved her from losing a tooth or two. She grit her teeth in frustration.

She just needed to get a damn hit in and then she could escalate!

Her eyes widened when she saw him move his right arm in a certain way similar to what she saw Lisa do often enough with her shield. Already ducking away to the right side, he grinned widely.

"TOMAHAWK!"

With that, his right arm blurred for a bit. He didn't make a wide swing, it was more of a hand snap. Nevertheless, as she expected, the hammer was no longer in his hand and instead, Lili felt a sharp wind brush her left ear. While Lili sweated, she smirked. The hammer missed her, barely. Still, his screaming was getting on her nerves, she thought as her smile fell.

It wasn't even a tomahawk! Lili rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, before restarting her assault. He lost the weapon after all, so this should be easier now.

More confident in herself, she ran forward, but to her surprise, the man just crossed his arms with a smile. It ticked her off a little. By now, he should have some respect for her skills.

Then, a distant memory awoke in her head and Lili's eyes widened, at the same time as his smirk grew wider.

Wait. Didn't Lisa told her something about toma-

Before she could finish the thought, sharp pain sparked on the back of her head. As her vision blurred and she hissed at the agony, she could hear a quiet thud.

Then, pain flared up in her stomach and she felt her world move. At the same time, Lili realized what Obsidian just did.

He kicked her in the stomach the same way he kicked open the Hostess' doors.

Then, she crashed against the wall. Well, would have. Instead, she landed on something slightly more squishy. Some part of her knew she crashed into her teammates, but most of her was more busy falling forward on the ground and squirming in agony.

"I...told you we should move..." She could hear Lisa mutter with a groan.

"Tell that to my broken body..." Welf replied, equally beaten up. "Bell, you okay?"

"No, grandpa, I wanna hear more about the maiden and the hero..." He muttered, clearly not fully conscious anymore.

The aftermath was a blur for her, but it was probably nothing more than recovering from the beating. Anyway, her mind decided to reactivate when she and the others were sitting in front of her teacher, who also sat in a cross legged position.

The smug aura around him made Lili combine her glare with the others to achieve the feat of incinerating him with only using eyes.

It didn't work, sadly.

"Awake now?" He asked in a sweet tone and their glares intensified.

"Fuck you," the three seniors replied in sync and Obsidian waved them off dismissively.

"Yes, yes." He crossed his arms and looked at the pouting Bell with a more sincere grin. "So. First impression?"

"Painful," he muttered and sighed, before looking at the teacher with a raised eyebrow. "Was that necessary?"

"Silly Bell," Obsidian replied with a "tsk" and raised his right index finger. "To be a good fighter, you first need to learn to be beaten up and stand up despite that. That's my philosophy."

"You really need a different one," Lili said dryly and the man shrugged casually.

"Works fine with me, so you're just whiny." He gave Lisa a grin. "Boundary style."

Said merchant daughter however only gave him a flat look, shaking her head slowly.
"Lord Noir, everyone agrees that you and the other Lords are crazy. Nobody else thinks that's a good idea."

"Crazy is good," Obsidian replied with a frown, before putting his hands on his knees. "Besides, it works, doesn't it? Nobody died yet, according to them."

That was not reassuring at all. The students all shared a glance and decided not to push it. Still, the complains were not over, as it was Welf's turn now as he pointed at the wooden hammer lying on Obsidian's right.

"What's that thing even made off?!" He yelled at the travesty of a weapon and the teacher shrugged.

"Normal wood." He wiggled with his right hand, his left hand supporting him as he leaned back. "I just covered it with neutral magic to harden it."

Lili tilted her head, at the same time as the others. That was the first time she ever heard of that. Then again, her teacher did tend to whip out new stuff out of his cloak every other day.

"You can do that?" She asked and Obsidian nodded.

"If you can control your magic power, yes." Before they could raise their hopes, he raised his hand while shaking his head. "I won't teach you that. It's harder than it sounds and I'm not the mage in the family. Also..."

A loud crack made them jump and they looked at the hammer, that now was nothing more than a bunch of wood splinters.

"That," Obsidian said casually, pointing at it. "Magic is only temporary. The damage returns once it wears off. Only useful for training and saving up money."

"Aren't you rich?" Welf asked and the bandaged man gave him a flat stare.
"Never waste."

True enough, Lili thought and judging from the way the others nodded, they thought so too. Anyway, the man stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Alright, let's start the review..." He sighed and shook his head. "Don't come at me one by one. I thought you learned your lesson."

Lili coughed awkwardly. Glancing at her teammates, they had similar reactions. Bell blushed, Welf scratched his head sheepishly and Lisa giggled nervously.

"Sorry. Real weapons and all that..." The blacksmith replied.

"Also, with Bell, we kinda need to rethink our formations," the shielder added and Obsidian nodded at that, before pointing at said girl.

"Lisa, while it's good that you stopped throwing the shield non stop, you still rely too much on the sturdiness of your shield and too much on defense. Running up to me like a bull doesn't work when your opponent is stronger than you. Mix it up when you defend. Parry, dodge, there is more than one way to reduce damage. And you can't beat anyone if you don't attack them properly. So throw when you should, not when you want."

Lisa grunted in acknowledgment, eyes focused as she processed the information. Next, he turned to the next target with his finger.

"Welf, good power and way better efficiency than before, but don't bother with speed, it doesn't suit you. Instead, you need to predict where your opponent is going and what you need to do to make their life hell. Also, work on your toughness and efficiency. Those still got some work to do."

Welf sighed, but nodded nonetheless. Obsidian then pointed at Lili.

"Lili, transition got better, but only with Liberty. Between other weapons, it's still too clunky. Either properly learn how to handle all the weapons you carry around or figure out other ways to fight with Liberty." He frowned. "Also, rely less on Infinite Shift. It's useless against stronger and more skilled opponents. You gotta fill that hole."

At that, the Pallum frowned and looked away with a pout.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" She muttered, but straightened up her back when he raised his right hand in disapproval.

"Not what I just said. I know what you were thinking. Just one hit and I can ramp up, just one hit and I can hit him even more." He sighed and shook his head. "Really, you've been trying to abuse your skill in order to beat me, but you don't have to beat me, you have to get better. Desperation gets you nowhere, as does trying to stall time against someone who can break you if he ever wanted to."

Lili lowered her head. She...did focus a lot on her skill, didn't she? Why else would she have decided to branch out in order to somewhat use new weapons? It was all so that she could ramp up faster.

Lili sighed. Her teacher was right. She should focus on mastery first, instead of leveraging one skill of hers. Because of that, she nodded slowly and Obsidian gave her a small smile. Her attention shifted when she saw a hand being raised at the corner of her vision and everyone turned to Bell, who seemed a bit nervous.

"What about me?"

For a moment, the teacher frowned in thought, as if wondering how to give him the review. In the end he shrugged and began to move his finger with every point he made.

"Be more practical in your movements. Think more, less charging in thoughtlessly. Look for openings, counter attacks and be more patient. Look for weak spots if you can, but don't be picky if you don't find one. Use your whole body, the knife isn't the only thing you have for attack. Less jumps too, or else your speed is wasted. Don't hesitate in anything you do. Don't scream like an idiot, that wastes breath, unless you need to psyche yourself up, then keep doing it. And..." He trailed off, wincing when he saw Bell's horrified expression and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Well...you're fast?"

The other students gave him a flat look, while Lisa at the same time patted the shocked Bell on the back.

"Wow, that was harsh, Lord Noir," she said in a somber tone and Obsidian raised his hands in defense.

"Hey, training is only useful if the critique is honest. And he needs lots of improving." He sighed and gave his newest student an exasperated look. "Back straight, it's only the start. Lili did as bad as you."

The Pallum in turn groaned and rolled her eyes, before glaring at him.

"Thanks, teacher. Thanks," she drawled and the man shrugged with not a single care.

"Lead by example." He stretched his back and cracked his neck, before walking off, waving his arm at them dismissively. "Anyway, ten minute break."

With that, he walked off, probably taking a walk, leaving the students to themselves. Immediately, Lisa turned to Bell, narrowed her eyes in worry.

"You do know he is just trying to help, right?" She asked in a soft tone and the rookie nodded slowly.

"Yes, but..." He sighed, eyes downcast, but not depressed. "I didn't expect to be that bad..."

"You're a beginner," Lili argued and crossed her arms. "Really, it's better to have him rip you apart now with words than a monster rip you apart with claws."

The captain of the Hestia family nodded, raising his head with determination. Everyone could tell that he took the words to heart and was hyper focused on improving.

Anyway, as they recovered their breath, Lili tilted her head at the others.

"Any of you got a status update already?"

Normally, the status of someone was a private matter, that only the gods and the Guild knew of. It was considered an invasion of privacy to look at someone's status, thus talking about it at all was frowned upon. However, surrounded by friends and asking for updates, which only included the stats, Lili didn't feel like she crossed any lines. The others felt the same, as the others nodded.

"Yup. You don't?" Welf asked with a raised eyebrow and Lili shook her head.

"There were lots of people, but I managed to squeeze in." She grinned and puffed out her chest. "Pretty good boost."

To be specific, almost all of her stats reached F, which was usually insane for only two weeks. But considering the drills she had with Obsidian and the fact she survived the Lower Levels, it made sense for her. The E in magic pleased her the most though. Considering it was a fundamental part of her fighting style and that it was a cheap, but powerful technique, it was natural she would focus on that.

Not to mention her fa-teacher had the same magic, though she didn't see him use it often. Or at all.
Anywho, with that in mind, she turned to Bell, after listening to the others giving their status updates, which were about the same as hers.

"What about you, Bell?"

"Oh, it was...pretty good."

That was rather vague, Lili thought with a frown, but his words still fit from what she could see. Training with Lisa before the expedition, the expedition...pretty good should describe that.

Now that she was thinking about it, Bell was moving pretty good for a level one. Well, up until he got thrown against the wall, but still. He performed much better than her in her first lesson.

The Pallum glanced at the other member of his family and raised an eyebrow.

Lisa bit her lip in discomfort and shook her head. It signaled Lili "Later", whenever that was. The girl nodded slowly, frowning. What was so bad that she had to keep quiet about it?

In the end, the Pallum shrugged. Oh well. Not like it was her business to figure out everything about somebody else' status. Welf didn't seem to care as he slapped Bell on his back with enthusiasm, so why should she be so concerned about it?

Time for a topic change. Turning to the blacksmith, she grinned at him.

"Hey, did you use your Vision on teacher?" She asked with curiosity, but to her disappointment, the young man sighed.

"Yeah, but I didn't get anything." He shrugged. "Guess he's too strong for it to work."

"Or he has a way to disguise it." At Lili's comment, the others stared at her and she narrowed her eyes at them. "What? I wouldn't be surprised."

Lisa tapped her chin in thought in response to that.

"Well, I didn't hear they had anything like that. At least permanently." She crossed her arms at Welf. "How does your Vision work anyway?"

"Gotta sit still and look. Depending on complexity, it only takes a couple seconds to...well, basically endless."

The way he hesitated and coughed awkwardly at the end made Lili narrow her eyes at him.

"Did you look at a work from a Goddess or what?"

"My goddess." He chuckled embarrassed and scratched the back of his head. "She told me I started drooling after half an hour. I don't even remember that."

For a moment, Lili wondered what he actually looked at, but then noticed that Bell seemed uneasy for some reason. Lisa saw the same and tapped the rookie on the shoulder. After he jumped a bit, startled at the touch, his senior tilted her head at him.

"Something wrong, Bell?"

"No, it's nothing." He shook his head and shuddered. "Just have the feeling I'm being watched."

The others shared a confused glance. They didn't feel anything and looking around, there was nobody else but them. Before any of them could question him further however, Obsidian walked back to them, hands on his hips as he let out a satisfied grunt when he cracked his neck.

"Well, there is a big ass tower with a great view. Maybe you have a stalker." Clapping his head, he made a quick head motion at them. "Break over, let's do this again."

"Great, now I feel worried about Bell," Lili muttered as she stood up with the others and Bell gave her a flat glare.

"I'm worried about myself as well."

After getting the crap beaten out of them, Obsidian gave them the review and the squad split up, with Obsidian and Lili making their way to their small home.

Oh, and Lisa, for some reason. Lili wasn't one to judge. Maybe she wanted to stay over or something.

Anyway, they reached their home and Lili entered first, letting out a sigh as she took in the familiar air.

Home sweet home.

Throwing her weapon into her room, she was about to enter it to flop down into her bed, when the door closed louder than usual. Turning her head, she opened her mouth to reprimand whoever did that, but when she looked properly, she stopped.

Obsidian stared at Lisa with a raised eyebrow, who seemed awfully serious for some reason. Then, she took a deep breath.

"Lord Noir...wir müssen reden. Notfall," she said in a low tone.

Lili blinked. What the hell was that? Before she could question what that was, Obsidian became serious as well, crossing his arms.

"Der Fakt, dass du deutsch redest reicht mir schon," he stated in a deep growl, voice filled with authority. "Wie schlimm?"

"Krieg könnte ausbrechen, wenn Leute hiervon hören," Lisa replied nervously. Whatever the hell she said made Obsidian scratch his head in irritation and clicking his tongue.

"Okay, erklär mir, was das Problem ist," he ordered her, leaning against the wall with crossed arms. Lisa nodded and bit her lip in thought, struggling with the words.

Lili felt kind of awkward to speak up, but her curiosity at what the hell these two were talking about got the better of her. They didn't speak Koine, so maybe it was a Boundary dialect? Well, whatever it was, Lili didn't know it.

"Uhm..."

Anyway, Lisa and Obsidian jumped at the noise and whipped their heads around to stare at the Pallum with wide eyes. In turn, Lili's mouth thinned.

Did they seriously forget about her?

Anyway, after getting over their initial shock, Obsidian shrugged and gestured for her to come over.

"Eh, whatever. You can hear it too, I guess."

"Swear to secrecy though," Lisa added with a frown and Lili slowly nodded at her seriousness, before sitting down on her chair.

"Alright." She gestured at her ears with a confused expression. "What was that?"

"Boundary's 'secret' language," Obsidian said, making quotation marks with his fingers, before looking around as he scratched his chin, humming in thought. "Since you are here, we gotta do something else..."

"Do you have tags, Lord Noir?" Lisa asked with a finger snap and before Lili could ask what tags were, Obsidian snapped his finger as well, grinning widely.

"More like all of them. I remember the rule book." With that, he hurried to his room and seconds later, he came out again, with bundles of papers in his arms, which had weird markings on them. Spreading them on the table, he looked up at Lisa. "Help me sort this."

Lili squirmed in her chair awkwardly, as the merchant girl helped out their teacher to sort out the papers. She didn't understand the symbols, but she could see that some had the same markings and Lili concluded they did the same as well.

"Sound Nullification...Vision Illusion, Type Calm..." Obsidian began to mutter, as he put the tags on neat stacks one by one. Lisa mimicked him, using different tags.

"Warning System, Protection Charm...Smell Remover..."

"Smell Remover?" Lili couldn't help but ask and Obsidian waved her off as he continued sorting.

"People can smell secrecy and then sniff around." He paused and let out a giggle. "Hehe."

"Think we need Vision Illusion, Type Distraction?" Lisa asked, raising her head as she wiggled with a certain tag and Obsidian shook his head.

"Nah, let's pretend we aren't even in the house anymore. Also, ignore the Protection Charm. We need the room for stealth, not for defense." He let out a breath and put his hands on his hips, as he looked over the sorted stacks, before clapping his hands. "Right, help me tag the room."

"Taking the left side," Lisa announced and took half the tags they needed.

From then on, Lili bit her lip awkwardly, as they put the tags everywhere. As in, floor, windows, door, wall and even the ceiling. It looked chaotic, but there was some pattern, like putting the tags in a cross formation and never too close to each other. Still, this felt rather tacky, so she raised her hand.

"Is this really necessary?" She asked and Lisa sighed, glancing back at her as she tried to reach the upper corner of a wall.

"Believe me. If people find out about this, war can break out." She paused and shuddered. "Best case scenario."

Best case?!

Lili choked and hit her chest to get rid of the coughing. In the meantime, Obsidian dusted his hands off with a satisfied expression.

"Alright...Think we covered everything." Walking over to his chair, he sat down next to the Pallum, while Lisa sat down on the opposite side. "So, got five minutes before these things run off. What's the problem?"

Lisa took a deep breath and bit her lip awkwardly, before sighing and resting her forehead on her right palm.

"It's about Bell's status. It's...very irregular," she began slowly and the house owner raised an eyebrow at that.

"Irregular for normal people or irregular in Boundary standards?" He asked, honestly confused.

"Both, actually." She put her bag on the table and rummaged through it, while her voice dropped in volume, concern filling it. "His growth...is not normal."

Obsidian and Lili raised an eyebrow at each other and then looked back at Lisa. Both thought the same thing.

That was it? Lili expected something like a spell that could raise the dead or a skill that made Bell immortal. But simple stat growth?

"So he got a lot of stats in a short time. And?" Obsidian asked in an incredulous tone and Lili nodded in agreement, crossing her arms.

"He's right. We also grow fast," she stated in disbelief and Lisa let out a loud groan and shook her head.

"Not as fast as him," she hissed at them, making them lean back a bit in surprise.

"That bad?" The Pallum asked and Lisa whipped out two papers from her bag, before slamming them down on the table, the blank side pointing upwards.

"It's been one expedition. He grew at a somewhat normal rate when training with us." She turned the papers on her left and pointed at it, lips pressed together in agitation. "This is his sheet before the expedition."

Lili and Obsidian leaned forward with narrowed eyes. And while Obsidian let out an impressed grunt, Lili was less impressed as she tilted her head.

"Kinda slow," she said, looking at the H in every category aside from magic, except speed, which had a G. However, her teacher shook his head and gave her an unamused look.

"Hey, you're the ones who didn't want him join in our training, so he didn't get the Noir package." He shrugged as he picked up the paper to look over it, an amused smile on his face. "Having H in all areas except magic and a G in speed is pretty impressive for Orario's standards. I mean, people normally take years until they can even reach the upper bounds of their status, not to mention reach a level up." He peeked over the paper at Lili. "You must be intense."

"Well, of course. He wants to catch up and I did my best to do Boundary style training." She giggled and puffed out her chest with pride and clsoed eyes. "He needed more experience with normal stuff before we would throw him at yo-" Her eyes snapped open and she shook her head, smile replaced by a snarl. "That doesn't matter!"

With a whip of her right hand, she turned around the other paper and smacked it down the table.

"This is his sheet after the expedition!" She shouted in anger and while Lili raised her hands to placate her, sweat running down her forehead, Obsidian leaned forward to look at the data.

Then he froze and the Pallum could swore he gulped before he gaped at the status paper.

"Sweet baby Jesus," he whispered and rubbed his eyes, before pushing his face closer to the paper, as if he was worried his eyes were damaged. Lili let out a confused noise, before rolling her eyes and pushed her teacher away to see what the fuss was about.

Her mouth crashed down like a bird shot by an arrow and she could only let out choked noises.

C and B. His stats reached Cs in everything, except magic of course, and speed, which had a B rank.

Bell Cranel was an adventurer for about two weeks.

This fact, combined with the stats, made Lili whip her head at her friend, face filled with disbelief as she slowly pointed at the cursed piece of paper.

"I don't know what a Jesus is, but I concur," she said faintly and jabbed her finger at it again. "Are you sure Lady Hestia didn't mistake her letters?"

"She triple checked," Lisa confirmed in a somber tone and sighed, rubbing her forehead in agitation. "Bell was starting to get a bit suspicious."

Obsidian clicked his tongue, while Lili tried to process the information, eyes blank as she leaned against her chair.

"Son of a bitch, you were right. This is insane, even for us," her teacher commented and shook his head as he held the paper in front of his face.

"Hey, maybe it's normal for level ones to improve that fast when they are on an expedition to the Lower Levels..." The Pallum said with a weak fake smile, but Obsidian's blank face made her flinch as he calmly put the paper back on the table, removing the smile like a level five would a goblin.

"Lili," he said in a neutral voice, hands folded. "If that were the case, Loki would have more level two adventurers than Rakia since a year or two." Then his face morphed into a frown of disbelief as he spread his arms open and his voice increased in volume "And Rakia is a fucking country!"

Lili scratched her cheek awkwardly. Well, her teacher had a point. Still, she noticed something. Judging from the way Obsidian was freaking out a bit...

"So your goddess doesn't have anything to do with this?" The Pallum asked with a frown and he shook his head, staring at the table in thought.

"Too much in too little time. Not Gaia's style," he muttered and the two girls immediately straightening up their backs.

"Gaia?" Lisa asked quietly and Obsidian's eyes opened wide before he groaned in irritation. Then, he gave them a glare.

"Don't tell anyone."

The two of them nodded. Not like they had any reason to name drop his goddess. They didn't know her and all that. Anyway, back to explaining the apparent genetic freak that was Bell.

"Wait a minute," their teacher said, snapping his finger at the paper. "Skill section. This might explain it."

Lisa's eyes widened and she slapped her forehead.

"Right!" She groaned at her own forgetfulness. "Lady Hestia told me that she would erase it from her daily updates because it would be too dangerous to see..."

Immediately, the three of them looked back on the paper, eyes focused on the skill section. All of them narrowed their eyes at it.

"Liaris Freese...Grows faster with intense emotions..." Lili muttered and looked up at the others. "What does that even mean?"

They shared confused glances, eyes moving left and right. But then, at the same time, they slowly widened, as realization dawned at them and then disbelief filled their expressions.

"We are not actually considering this, are we?" The Pallum asked into the round and the other two were uncomfortably silent. Then, her teacher chuckled nervously.

"Well, the power of love is very present in a lot of books nowadays," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Are you kidding me?!" She yelled and threw her arms in the air, before slamming her head into the table. She could easily reconstruct how Bell's skill came to existence.

Bell Cranel had a crush on Aiz Wallenstein. That much was obvious. But in the dungeon, he could properly see how strong she was. In his belief, he could never be together with Aiz or be called a hero or an adventurer if he didn't reach her level. But he wasn't patient enough to wait a decade or two. People needed help now, he wanted to be next to her now and thus...A skill that boosted his growth based on these emotions.

It was as ridiculous as it sounded. And the thought made her heart burn.

How utterly unfair.

"Should we tell him?" Lili asked as she raised her head a bit, chin still on the table. But Obsidian shook his head frantically.

"It's bad enough we know about it, this shit is the kind of knowledge people kill for." He crossed his arms with a frown. "Besides, what if knowing negates that skill?"

Lili and Lisa bit their lips. Right. If he knew all of his growth was due to being lucky and having a skill? He would totally be the kind of person who thought he didn't deserve any of this and thus, force his skill to stop working.

"Right...I'm not that petty to take it away from him," the Pallum muttered. At the somber mood, Lisa slapped her cheeks all of a sudden and slammed her hands on the table.

"Hey, give him more props!" She twirled with her right hand. "Sure, he talked about getting girls and has a crush on Aiz, but come on! We know that isn't everything!"

"Seeing Riveria and the others spurred his drive for becoming a hero?" Obsidian nodded to himself. "Yeah, that could be it too."

"Or a combination of all. I mean, this says emotions. Doesn't say it's limited to only one," Lili added thoughtfully and that made her feel less jealous about the whole thing. Emotions always were a big part of growing. Bell only grew faster. No big deal. She just had to work harder to make sure she could stay ahead or keep up.

"Either way, we are going to have a monster at our hands in short time," Obsidian said quietly as he buried his face in his hands. Lili stared at him with worry.

"Why do you sound so concerned?" She asked and he let out a dry snort and looked up with a sad smile.

"Because I just know that life is a bitch. Having a guy like Bell exist with this skill?" He shuddered and shook his head as he closed his eyes. "That usually means something is going to happen that warrants that."

Lili froze at the words and her mind went crazy. What could be created to counter Bell? A monster growing just as fast? A monster naturally as strong? Someone else with the same skill, only with less heroic intentions? The possibilities were endless.

For a while, they sat there in silence. However, Lisa clapped her hands loudly, done with the current mood and forced a smile at them.

"By the way, the festival is in two days. Are you going to be free?"

Festival. Right, there was something like that, Lili noted. Monster Feria, where the Ganesha Family would make a show out of taming monsters. It sounded fun, actually and would help a lot of relaxing after this topic.

When she and her teacher nodded after hesitating for a moment, the merchant daughter giggled happily.

"That's great! We can all go together!"

"Meet up at the fountain?" Obsidian asked, smiling as well.

"Sure!" Lisa's smile fell and she pointed at the papers. "But remember, this is a secret."

"Naturally," Obsidian replied while Lili flinched at the topic change and took the papers in his hands. "Let's burn this paper and use the ashes as fertilizer."

"Fertilizer for what? You don't have plants," Lili stated with a raised eyebrow and Obsidian paused. Then, he gave Lisa the status sheets.

"Take them with you then. Hestia can probably sell the ashes for a couple valis."

"She isn't that poor anymore!" Lisa objected loudly and the group shared a laugh.


History Returns 9.2

Lili lived a long time in Orario, but the sight of the streets during a festival always made her stare in awe for a moment. It was like a different world.

A good mood filled the streets, as people wandered through the streets. Some looked like they were only here for the festival itself and vendors took this chance to make a major profit. Food stalls, discounts on weapons, the occasional con artist here and there...Not to mention the many couples and families just having a fun time as they strolled through their day. Some adventurers Lili occasionally saw when she was in the guild even cleaned themselves up just for this occasion, either because it was their free day or because they wanted to impress someone.

Lili felt a bit out of place, wearing her usual coat, but she felt more comfortable wearing this when going through the streets. Besides, it was stylish enough for her.

Well, enough staring. She had to meet up with the others. The fountain was close by and she could already see the bouncing twin tails of a familiar goddess, as she waved her arms around while trying to be seen over the bigger people around her.

"Hey, guys!" She yelled when she got close enough and waved her own arm. It surprised her a bit, that nobody of them cleaned themselves up, wearing the stuff they usual wear sans armor. But, she wasn't one to judge and instead slapped hands with Lisa.

"Sup, Lili!" The merchant daughter said with a wide grin. Lili looked around, nodding at the rest of the Hestia family, before raising an eyebrow.

"Welf not here?" She asked, crossing her arms and Lisa casually waved with her hand.

"He decided to work at the forge today. I recommended it to him."

"Why?" The Pallum asked in an incredulous tone and Lisa leaned back on the fountain, having her merchant smirk on her face.

"Celebration equals tourists and improves shopping mood. Therefore, selling stuff today is more profitable than usual."

Awkward chuckles filled the air. They knew the girl, but Lisa's merchant sense was extreme, sometimes bordering at obsession. Still, that begged one question as Lili crossed her arms.

"Why aren't you working then?" She asked and the merchant in question shrugged.

"Eh, my dad can handle it and I promised to spent time with the best goddess and captain in the world." A sly grin appeared on her face, before she covered her mouth with her right hand. "Besides, I heard his goddess was the only person stuck at their forge, so I decided to play wingman. Also, I managed to sell him some blacksmith stuff."

While the latter was something Lili could totally see her doing, the former made her leery. Because of that, she sighed as she pinched her forehead.

"What is it with people and romancing others?" She muttered annoyed and the blonde patted her on the back.

"One day, you will know the joy of shipping." She glanced at her captain with an innocent smile. "Right, Bell?"

The rookie in turn blinked and slowly nodded in confusion.

"Uhm, I guess?"

"Lisa, remember our agreement?" Hestia mumbled with a pout for some reason and her first child winked at her, hugging the smaller goddess from behind as she rested her head on Hestia's hair.

"Sure, I help everyone," she replied in a happy tone and giggled with her goddess, as she rubbed her face against her head.

Lili meanwhile shuddered and blinked furiously before shaking her head.

Yeah, she was done. That was her cue to change topics.

"Anyway!" She clapped her hands together and looked into the round, nodding when Lisa and Hestia separated. "Bete tried to apologize to me and I was supposed to extend it to you."

At the mention of Bete, the mood soured amongst Lili's friend. Looking down on the ground, mouth thinning, a snarl from Lisa even, it was obvious that the werewolf was not very liked with the Hestia family. Nevertheless, Bell tilted his head when he processed the Pallum's words.

"Tried?"

Lili in turn giggled at the memory, covering her smirk with her right hand.

"He coughed up blood when he reached 'so'. I took pity and told him he didn't have to force himself."

The group stared at her in disbelief, mouths half open.

"Is being an asshole ingrained in his blood?" Lisa commented dryly, breaking the short silence that occurred. While Hestia let out an amused snort, Bell coughed awkwardly. Lili on the other hand shrugged casually.

"Sounds like it." Then, she grinned and put her hands on her hips, motioning with her head at the trio. "So, shall we?"

With that said, the group made their way through the streets to enjoy the festival. Most of the time they were window shopping, looking at weapon, clothes or other interesting stuff. However, Lili noticed to which stands they went the most and it made her sigh.

Food.

Every second place they stopped by had something to do with cheap food. The Pallum wasn't sure if she should be amazed or annoyed at how the Hestia family hunted down discounts like a starving dog after meat. Well, she guessed it was somewhat endearing.

Anyway, considering they stopped at yet another food stall, Lili took this opportunity to do some small talk. Most of the times she stayed quiet while the family enjoyed themselves, but she decided to socialize a bit more. Seeing that Lisa was busy poking Bell in a teasing manner, she decided to go after the goddess who had her back turned to Lili.

"Lady Hestia. How are you?" She asked in a respectful tone. When Hestia turned around, it was difficult not to laugh at the goddess, whose cheeks were full with fresh baked bread.

Ditzy looking goddess or not, they deserved respect and Hestia was more likeable than Soma. Even when she looked like a wide eyes squirel as she tried to munch her food faster than before, trying to swallow it.

Biting her inner cheek, Lili could proudly say she maintained her poker face. Her teacher would be proud.

Anywho, food gone into her body, Hestia nodded happily, twintails bouncing among other things, and clapped her hands together in front of her.

"I'm great!" She threw her arms up in the air, as drool ran down her mouth. "Cheap food everywhere, it's like a dream coming true!"

Not exactly what Lili was asking, but the girl nodded with a polite smile nonetheless, withholding any comments she felt spawning in her head. She blamed Obsidian for that.

"I actually meant at your home," she said in small amusement and Hestia blinked at that.

"Oh." She quickly recovered and put her hands on her hips, closing her eyes with a smile. "Well, I managed to make my home quite...homey! With the help from my children of course." Nodding to herself, she held a fist in front of herself and opened her eyes, which were filled with a strong fire. "Hm, hm! No longer am I the poor goddess everyone laughs at! Soon, I will have a church basement everyone will be jealous of! And everyone will hear my name as they buy the products of my child!"

Lili sweatdropped at Hestia's behavior.

Was she a goddess or a merchant?

Hestia looked around and grinned widely as she spotted something, her eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Speaking of products!"

Before the goddess could take another step forward to a stall with lots of meatballs, a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. As she yelped, Hestia turned around with an objection about to leave her mouth, when she froze.

Lisa smiled at her, but her eyes screamed "Don't even think about it". Obediently, the goddess lowered her head like a sad puppy and Bell petted her back with a pitying smile.

After a while, Lisa sighed and the group began to move again, after she made it clear there was nothing to be bought in this area.

"Another reason I'm here. Protecting my goddess from scams." She glanced at Lili and tilted her head. "Where is Lord Noir?"

"He said he would catch up later, saying he needs to do some jobs first," the Pallum replied with a shrug. Then, she snapped her fingers as she remembered something. "Speaking of which, you guys have anything against meeting up with Aiz, Tiona and Lefiya?"

As soon as she dropped the first name, the reactions were immediate. Bell blushed, but looked happy. Hestia's face dropped into a deep frown. And Lisa smirked teasingly before shrugging, pretending not to care.

Lili's mouth thinned. Oh, great. She forgot about this Pandora's Box of drama. Maybe if she ignored it, it would go away on its own.

"No, not really," Lisa exclaimed loudly and threw her arms around her family with a wide grin. Then she glanced at them. "You guys have a problem?"

"N-not at all!" Bell immediately shouted with a smile. At the same time Hestia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Then, she managed to put up a polite smile.

"Why should I?" Then she clapped her hands together and made a dramatic gasp. "Oh, before I forget!"

Almost too enthusiastic, the goddess rummaged around her pockets and then held an item far above her head, as if she was presenting some sort of trophy.

"Tada!"

Then, she presented it to Bell and the other three leaned forward to take a closer look. All of them blinked.

It was a knife inside a black sheath. The handle was black as well.

"Sorry, I couldn't get it before your expedition," the goddess said with a soft smile and giggled as she pressed the weapon into Bell's hands. "But hey, better later than never, right?"

The rookie took the knife in his hands and stared at it with hestitation. Then, he took a deep breath and unsheathed it in one go.

Lili, just like the others, gaped at it.

It was beautiful. That was the first thought that ran through the Pallum's head. A shining, black blade, with a single, sharp edge, that had a lighter color. Dark grey, she would theorize. However, what caught her attention were the symbols on the knife. At the cutting edge and on the inside, runes decorated the blade and the moment Bell put his hands on them, they began to glow. Lili was no magic expert, but even she could feel the power radiating from it, as if it had its own blessing.

After what felt like an eternity, Bell raised his head in disbelief.

"What…?" He trailed off, before looking back at the knife in his right hand, as if to double check it actually existed. Hestia in turn giggled and gave him a soft smile.

"It grows with you. You become stronger, it will become stronger, as it is tied to your Blessing. The weapon is perfect for the one who will become the best adventurer." Her smile widened and she threw her right index finger into the air, while her left hand was on her hip. "The Hestia Knife!"

That name sounded stupid, but Lili felt that saying that out loud would land her with a crying goddess and she was not in the mood for that.

Anywho, Bell choked back a sob and hugged his goddess, who accepted it with much pleasure as she patted him on the head. They stayed like this for a while, but then a cough interrupted them. Separating, they and Lili turned to the source of the sound.

And immediately, they paled.

"Lady Hestia. How much did this cost?" Lisa managed to ask in the flattest tone she could manage, a tone she usually reserved for bad business actions. Lili only saw it once in action, when she witnessed some merchant trying to scam New Age.

She never saw that merchant again. Because of that, the Pallum, like Hestia and Bell, was quite nervous as she took a step back.

Anyway, the goddess gulped, before giggling nervously, scratching the back of her head.

"Eh, you know...a bit," she said, averting her eyes. But Lisa was having none of that. Grabbing her goddess' face, she pulled her close, foreheads almost touching, and stared her dead in the eyes.

"Hestia," she growled with narrowed eyes and Lili could hear Bell let out a whimper as Hestia's eyes widened that the honorific was skipped on this one. "Tell me the number."

"Two hundred," the goddess instantly let out meekly, not daring to move a single muscle. In turn, Lisa managed to narrow her eyes even more.

"Two hundred what?" She asked in a cold tone and Hestia took a deep breath, before closing her eyes in fear.

"...Million?" She whispered, before carefully opening her right eye. Naturally, she recoiled, managing to escape Lisa's grip, as she saw exactly what Lili saw.

A completely pale and frozen face filled with shock.

"Lisa? You okay?" The Pallum asked and snapped her fingers in front of the empty eyes. For a moment, the merchant girl did not react.

However, that didn't last long.

Soon enough, the shielder let out a loud gasp and her legs shook, before they completely gave in as her breath began to become frantic. Immediately, Lili jumped behind her to catch her.

"Whoa there!" She exclaimed and the other two of the Hestia Family frantically surrounded Lisa, fanning her air or giving her words of encouragements as they dragged her over to a nearby bench, near a weapons shop. At the same time, Lisa's eyes almost rolled up as she continued to hyperventilate. When it went on for couple of minutes, gaining the attention of bystanders, Lili was worried that her friend would suffer brain damage from the lack of oxygen she was suffering.

Luckily, Lisa managed to calm herself somehow and was in the middle of drinking lots of water. By then, the bystanders finally left. Letting out a satisfied breath, she whipped her head at her goddess with a disbelieving glare.

"Down on the ground," she declared in a flat tone and the head of the family meekly nodded, before going down on her knees in front of three adventurers, who were sitting on the bench. The supporter took a deep breath with closed eyes, nodding a few times.

Then her eyes snapped open with unholy fury.

"Holy inflation, what?! Two hundred million?!" She yelled, leaning forward as her hands shot up in the air, and Hestia flinched at the volume.

"What were you thinking? I appreciate the weapon, but using so much money for it..." Bell muttered before the goddess could defend herself and she looked like someone jammed a dagger in her heart. However, she shook her head and put up a brave smile for her children.

"Don't worry, I'll work it off!" She declared with her hands on her hips. Sadly, it did not reassure her family at all.

"This makes it worse!" The captain countered with a frown and spread his arms open. "We are a family and family shares its burden!"

While Lisa nodded in agreement, her words were less altruistic.

"Also, a family doesn't take on a gigantic loan for a fancy weapons!" She hissed at her. Hestia stayed silent for a while, before giggling nervously.
"I could make Hephaestus make you one too-"

"Not the point!" Lisa immediately interrupted and furiously clawed at her hair. "Argh, why is my family so bad with money? First Bell with reading that Grimoire, now you!"

Lili stilled at the words as Bell flinched and turned her head at the shielder.

"Grimoire?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and Lisa let out a dry laugh.

"Yes." She threw her thumb to her right. "This genius over here decided to pick up a random book he found in New Age and decided to read it before we could determine whose book it was or what that book was about." She snapped her fingers with a dry look. "And boom, he learned magic and the thing became useless."

Suffice to say, Bell's head was as red as it was when he talked to Aiz and that was saying something. Lili gave him a pitying look, before turning back to her female friend.

"So...what did you do?" She asked, tilting her head. In turn, Lisa let out an evil giggle.

"We didn't have any records that it was delivered to us, so someone must have forgotten it." She smirked at the Pallum. "Therefore, if that someone comes for it, we pretend it never existed."

That...sounded incredibly illegal, Lili thought dryly. And she approved, worst of all. Maybe it was her old life seeping in, but she didn't care right now.

"I still feel this is a bad thing," Bell muttered as he stared at the ground, but straightened up his back when his senior's head whipped back at him.

"Bell, if we were super rich, I would agree with you! But since we are not, that is the objectively best thing we can do!" She threw her arms up in the air in an agitated manner, as she glared at her goddess. "But now it's meaningless, since we are drowning in debt anyway!"

While Hestia bit her lip, she still managed to look back at Lisa with determination.

"Don't you worry about it! You can keep earning your own money and I work it off!" She declared with her right hand on her chest. But Lisa was not moved as she stared at the goddess in disbelief, shaking her head slowly.

"Hestia, you work at New Age!" She yelled after a small pause and Hestia wavered at that, understandably.

It would have been the same as Lisa's father Gustav paying for the debt.

"I could get more jobs?" Hestia suggested weakly, but recoiled when Lisa slapped her forehead with a groan.

"That's not the issue!" She exclaimed after letting her hand fall and jabbed her finger at Hestia's forehead. "Having debt is bad for reputation! Bad reputation means no new members! No new members means no cash to pay off that debt! You put us into a vicious cycle!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Hestia muttered, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared down on her lap. Lisa's gaze softened up a bit and she closed her eyes with a deep breath.

"Ugh..." Her head lightly hit the wall behind them and she covered her eyes with her hands. "Someone change the topic please, I will break my head on how to fix this another day..."

Lili was all to willing to follow that order. Without missing a beat, Lili forced a grin on her face and looked at Bell, who stared at his goddess with pity.

"What magic did you learn?" The Pallum asked and the captain blinked for a moment, processing the sudden shift. But then he latched onto the chance to change the atmosphere and forced himself to smile as well.

"It's called Firebolt. It's a fast cast fire lightning magic, according to the description," he explained and a deep grunt sounded in an acknowledging manner.

"Sounds neat," a deep voice said casually. "Tried it out yet?"

Bell it turn scratched his cheek with a chuckle.

"Didn't have the time to go to the dungeon yet. Lisa said it would be safer than setting something on fire."

Lisa let out a grunt in turn and the deep voice hummed at the answer.

"Sounds reasonable," the man replied and Lili had to agree. The dungeon was pretty much the best place to train magic. Even the wall would have been too dan-

Wait a goddamn second.

Everyone's eyes snapped open and they all whipped their heads around to the fifth person in the conversation. Though the only one who had to turn her head was Hestia, because Obsidian stood right behind her.

Naturally, the goddess squealed and jumped into Bell's arm, who let out an even higher pitched squeal. Then Obsidian squealed back, with his face not changing from the neutral way it was. Lili and Lisa immediately burst out in laughter, followed by Hestia and Bell after getting over their initial scare. Obsidian shook his head in amusement after he stopped.

Anyway, once they all calmed down, wiping tears of their eyes, Lisa grinned at their teacher.

"Lord Noir! Where did you come from?" She asked politely and Obsidian shrugged nonchalantly.

"Been here the whole time actually, waiting for you to notice me," he said with a smug undertone and Lili rolled her eyes at that.

"Someone should put a bell on you..." She muttered. To her surprise, her teacher tilted his head.

"Why should I let him on my shoulders?" He asked in confusion, pointing at the captain of the Hestia family and Lili narrowed her eyes at him.

"What? No, I sai-" She stopped as realization dawned and gave Obsidian an unamused stare. "Haha."

He grinned lazily and when the other two adventurers realized what Lili realized, Lisa groaned and Bell chuckled respectively.

Hestia on the other hand, whipped her head around in confusion, still sitting on her captain's lap.

"Huh?" Then her eyes widened and she hit her right fist in her left palm. "Oh, because his name is Bell! Good one!"

Immediately, Obsidian's smile fell.

"You ruined the joke by explaining it," he said annoyed and rolled his eyes, before looking at Bell. "Anywho, want some pointers?"

The rookie opened his mouth to reply, but the shielder beat him to it as she snapped her arm up.

"Later. First, I need to consider murdering my family for endangering our budget!" She said in a happy tone that made the rest of her family shiver. Then, she glanced at Hestia. "Also, you can go off him now."

In response, Hestia hugged Bell with a pout, pressing him against her assets.

"Don't wanna. Too comfortable."

"Fair enough," Lisa shrugged and Lili heard Bell sigh.

"Don't I get a say in this…?" He asked weakly, not even trying to put energy into it, which told Lili a lot more about their family life than she ever wanted to know.

After deleting it from her mind, she noticed that he still stared at Bell. Or to be exact, at the blade that was still in his hands.

Then he pointed at it.

"I'll pay for the knife," he said in a neutral tone and the others stared at him in silence, blinking as they processed the information.

Then, Hestia jumped off Bell and put her hands on her hips in disapproval.

"I cannot possible let you-HMPH!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Lisa's arm whipped out in a flash, before covering Hestia's mouth. Then, she dragged her back to the bench, making the goddess sit on her lap, while hugging her.

Thought from Lili's view, it looked more like a choke hold. Actually, judging from the flailing arms weakening in intensity, that was definitely a choke hold.

"She cannot possible let you NOT pay for this!" The merchant girl exclaimed loudly, money signs in her eyes. Hestia let out a muffled scream, her struggling intensifying again, but to no avail. Bell however, was not as restricted, as he stood up and frowned at Lisa.

"Lisa!"

Unfazed by her cute captain's objection, she stared at him with pleading eyes.

"Who gets money for free?!" She screamed in desperation and freed up her left arm to point at Bell's Hestia Knife. "We can get rid of the stupid loan right here, right now! Please!"

Before things could escalate, all three of the Hestia family got bonked on the head in a blink of an eye. It didn't even hurt them, but it startled them enough to make them stop freaking out.

"Chill. Deep breaths," Obsidian ordered, hands behind his back. After they did so, the teacher nodded in approval "We good? Good." Clapping his hands together, he pointed at them. "Back on topic. In exchange for paying for the knife, Boundary wants to reverse engineer this thing. It's a long term project, so don't worry about losing the weapon or something."

The group blinked at that.

Lili did expect that it wouldn't be completely altruistic, but reverse engineering it? He wanted to recreate this divine artifact? Well, it certainly did sound like something that was worth paying two hundred million valis, but…

Lili frowned.

Last she heard, Boundary only had four people with blessings, Obsidian included, so it kinda sounded a bit wasted. Because of that, Lili raised her hand.

"Why?" She asked and her teacher chuckled at the question.

"I can already tell that this weapon can cut into a minotaur if Bell reaches the high ends of his status."

Everyone's eyes widened at that. It was common knowledge that level one adventurers and with that level one equipment would not even scratch a minotaur. That the veteran believed the Hestia Knife could damage a monster like that was mind boggling. But Obsidian wasn't done playing with their imagination.

"Now imagine Aiz with such a weapon."

His statement and wide grin sent shivers down Lili's spine and she could tell the others reacted in a similar manner. If the knife and similar weapons would escalate in proportion to the way levels escalated...She could barely imagine what the Sword Princess would be able to pull off.

Anywho, Obsidian nodded in approval when the implications settled in and then shook his head with crossed arms as he laughed lightly.

"Yeah, my sister is going to flood her laboratory when I tell her," he said with a wistful sigh and Lili could sense a bit of home sickness from him. Before she could ask him about it, Bell raised his hand, tilting his head in confusion.

"Why would it be flooding?" He asked innocently and Lili nodded, not getting it either.

For some reason, Hestia and Lisa blushed all of a sudden and averted their eyes. The former played around with her twin tails, while Lisa whistled as she looked up in the sky. Lili shared a glance with Bell, who looked equally confused.

Weird.

Obsidian stared at them blankly, before nodding slowly.

"Because of tears of joy," he deadpanned and the two older women's blush intensified yet again. Lili tilted her head. What did they think he meant? Well, Bell wasn't bothered by it, nodding in understanding, so she shouldn't make a big deal out of this herself.

"Ah, I see." Bell scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well...I guess if it helps your country, it would be a fair change?"

He looked at the other two of his family. Hestia stood up from her first child and sighed, but nodded with a soft smile. Lisa on the other hand nodded more frantic and Lili could swear there were tears in her eyes.

"Neat," Obsidian said with a grunt, before turning his head around to his right. Raising his finger, he pointed into the direction he was looking. "Speaking of Aiz, there she is with the others."

Lili groaned when Bell froze and his head became red like a tomato again, while at the same time Hestia grit her teeth.

Oh boy, here they go again.


History Returns 9.3

The moment they saw Aiz approaching, chaos ensured in form of Bell freaking the fuck out. As usual. At first, it was cute, but by now Lili was just done with it. Luckily for him, Lisa put her hands on his shoulders before the Pallum could deck the rookie. Turning his face towards her, the merchant girl frowned at him as he almost hyperventilated as much as Lisa did only minutes before.

"Bell, remember your training," his senior said calmly, but Bell only stared at her in disbelief.

"How does stabbing a knife properly help me here?!" He yelled after a small pause. Lisa in turn gaped at him for just a moment, before she slapped him lightly on the right side with a frown.

"Not that training!" She hissed at him. Bell blinked for a few times at that, uncomprehendingly.

"Oh," he let out, before closing his eyes, face still flushed. "One, two, three...deep breaths..." He nodded in determination when he opened his eyes again. "Okay, I'm ready."

"No, you're not," Obsidian instantly denied, with the other girls nodding in agreement. Then, he gave the red boy a thumbs up. "But points for effort."

While the boy whimpered at that, Lili rolled her eyes before turning around to the incoming group, putting on her best friendly smile as she waved at them. Tiona spotted her first and literally bounced to her direction as she waved as well, followed by Aiz and Lefiya, who were more moderate with their walking and waving.

Anyway, Lili was prepared when the amazon jumped at her and braced herself as she caught the petite girl, spinning around so that she wouldn't fall down on her back. Giggling with Tiona for a moment, she let go and nodded at the other two girls, who arrived.

"Guys! Glad you could make it!" Lili said with her hands on her hips and grinned at them. "Hope there weren't any issues or something."

Tiona waved her hand dismissively, before throwing her right arm around Aiz.

"Eh, only problem we had were getting her away from the food stalls."

Aiz in turn pouted a bit at the comment. Lili heard a small squeal behind her, but she ignored it and smirked at the Sword Princess.

"Potatoes again?" She asked knowingly and Aiz crossed her arms, pout intensifying.

"They are the best food," she said in a defying tone and the girls giggled at her behavior, sans Hestia, who still glared at Aiz and the other Loki children.

Anywho, Tiona was the first to calm down and decided to turn to the other family with a joyful nod and with her hands on her hips.

"Lady Hestia, Shield Girl, Rabbit," she addressed each of them with a wide grin. Hestia in response gave a cordial bow herself, with a neutral expression. Bell and Lisa on the other hand both crossed their arms with a frown, though the former looked more like he was pouting.

"It's Merchant Girl, thank you very much," Lisa replied in a clear voice, though Lili was half sure that her friend was somewhat joking.

"I'm not a rabbit..."

Bell on the other hand was completely serious with his muttering, which made it harder to not laugh. The amazon had no such restrictions and giggled at their antics.

Well, this was only somewhat awkward, Lili thought dryly. Maybe some walking would help with this.

"Let's keep moving, or we will cause a traffic jam," she announced loudly and motioned with her head at the crowd around them. "We are blocking the street. Kinda"

"Any plans?" The amazon asked in an easy going way and Lili shrugged in turn.

"Meh, let's just walk around."

Everyone nodded, not having any better ideas and with that they moved on through the streets. After the first few minutes, small groups spawned in their big group, as in everyone had at least one person to talk to.

Lisa chatted up Tiona, though it looked more like the former was trying to grab money from the amazon by giving her lots of offers, half of them completely useless. Worst of all, it was actually working, since Tiona already gleefully accepted some "premium" packages, even though they were normal products dressed up in fancy boxes. Maybe she did it for the boxes? Lili didn't know.

Aiz conversed with Obsidian, probably about the teaching thing she mentioned. The Pallum couldn't hear what they were saying, but judging from Aiz' pouting face, barely visible but there, her teacher seemed to have rejected her, most likely because of her level and thus not really having a need to train with him.

Meanwhile, Lili herself stayed silent, like Hestia, Bell and Lefiya were. The latter two were busy staring at the Sword Princess with dreamy eyes and a small blush, unaware of their surroundings. It was surprising they didn't crash into others or something. The goddess on the other hand looked peeved, her face switching from her own child over to the ace of Loki's family with a frown.

Not wanting to deal with that, Lili decided to sharpen her ears in order to listen what her teacher was talking with Aiz.

"...don't really see the need for that. Unless I spar with you in a proper way, you won't get anything out of this," her teacher stated in a bored manner, waving with his hand. However, Aiz was not so easily shoved away and she crossed her arms with narrowed eyes.

"Then spar with me," she said, sounding more like a demand than a request. A fire burned in her eyes, but it didn't faze Obsidian at all, as he shook his head with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, so out of form, you wouldn't get a proper challenge."

The fire died out almost instantly as the Sword Princess blinked. But then, she sighed and nodded with a small frown.

"If you get back in form, will you accept my request?" She asked with a soft tone and the teacher shrugged nonchalantly.

"Probably. Maybe should talk with your goddess first."

Aiz smiled softly at his words, nodding in gratitude. However, before she could say anything more, Lefiya decided to shake her daze off and shyly raise her hand.

"Speaking of which..." When everyone turned to her, she fidgeted a little, but she took a deep breath and carried on. "Are you sure Lady Loki would be okay with this?" She wiggled with her right hand, biting her lip. "I mean, the celebrations I can understand, but are...interfamily activities not frowned upon?"

Lili blinked at the words and frowned like the others.

Right, that was a thing, wasn't it? Usually families did their own thing and kept interactions with other families to a minimum. That included training with others as well. Her arrangement with Obsidian and her team was one of the few exceptions Lili knew of. Anymore, and there could be some problems, even if Loki was nice. At least reputation wise, not that Lili understood the workings exactly.

Well, whatever the specifics were, Hestia did not give a damn as she scoffed and crossed her arms with a frown.

"Pah, Flat Chest can come to me if she wants to complain. It's just training anyway, so what's the harm?" She laughed and put her hands on her hips, puffing up her chest with a wide, playful grin. "She really should be more open with her children, like me! You should tell her that, little elf! Maybe then you don't have to worry about interfamily stuff!"

Lili immediately shared a dry glance with Lisa, who slowly nodded. The Pallum in turn sighed. Yup, as she thought. It took the first child to convince her goddess that family interaction with Loki was not a sin.

Anywho, as the others stared at the goddess in confusion, Lefiya blinked, before her eyes moved over Hestia, from top to bottom. Then she pouted a bit.

"I'm bigger than you..." She muttered, rightly so. She had like twenty or so centimeters on the goddess, so Lili thought it was a bit disrespectful to address the elf like that.

Not that Hestia cared much, as she wiggled her finger while shaking her head with a smug expression.

"Not where it counts!" For some reason however, her smile fell, as a glare replaced her expression and Hestia leaned forward, jabbing her finger at the elf, then at the other Loki members sans Lili. "However! Don't think about getting too chummy with my kids. I know what you guys did." She whipped her head around at the Sword Princess."Especially you, Whatstein!"

The group instantly came to a stop.

The Pallum bit her lip, remembering what the goddess was referring to and hoped not to get reminded by it too early. The others, except her teacher, who was indifferent, showed their discomfort as well. Averting their gaze, clearing their throat awkwardly, biting their lip, sweating, all of that happened in the group.

However, to Lili's surprise it was Aiz who shook her head and took a deep breath.

"Wallenstein," she politely corrected the goddess, before bowing deeply at her. "And I apologize for what happened. If I can make it up, please tell me."

Silence reigned in the group, as they stared at the Sword Princess with wide eyes.

"Awkward," Obsidian said with a raised eyebrow after a while, breaking the silence between them. Instantly, Lili gave her fa-teacher a glare.

"No shit," she commented dryly and caused some light giggling among the group. The smug face from the bandaged man made her glare even more intense.

Anywho, Hestia was taken aback by the apology, and she struggled to come up with words that were not chiding or something like that.

"Err..." She looked around, trying to find a proper answer. In the end, she coughed awkwardly and blushed as she puffed out her chest with closes eyes. "W-well, I-I guess I can leave you with a warning!" She opened one eye and everyone could tell that her confidence was faked as hell. "But next time, I won't be so lenient!"

Aiz in turn smiled softly and nodded in gratitude. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief when the atmosphere stopped being so oppressive. Anyway, before Lili could mentally comment about the fact that Bell and Lefiya stared at the Sword Princess with worshiping eyes, Lisa clapped her hands loudly and smiled brightly at the group.

"Let's split up. Less of a hassle to move through the crowds and I think we need to give each other some...air." She giggled awkwardly, but pressed on as she crossed her arms. "We can switch it up in an hour or so. Sounds good?"

Tiona was the one to react first, humming in thought as she tapped her chin.

"Hm, better to interact with each other as well." Crossing her arms behind her head, she grinned. "I'm game."

Looking around, she saw agreements, or indifference in Obsidian's case, and she personally didn't really care either. The day wasn't even close to over yet and focusing on so many people at once was tiring for her.

"So, I think we should split this up into families first," the merchant girl proposed and gestured towards her own family. "Bell, Lady Hestia, with me. The others, go in one group."

Instantly, the goddess threw her arms in the air with a wide smirk, before anyone could object.

"Haha, take that, Watteltein!" She shouted and pointed her finger at the Sword Princess victoriously, before hugging Bell's arm. The rookie in turn blushed furiously, whether by the breasts or by his goddess' behavior, Lili didn't know.

"Wallenstein," Aiz politely corrected yet again and Lili had the feeling a running gag was born. Glancing at the others and seeing them smile awkwardly and sweat at the show, they thought the same.

Anywho, nodding happily, the first child of the Hestia family turned around to Bell and Hestia.

"Come on, guys! I just know where we can get the best discounts!"

"Music to my ears!" The goddess exclaimed and put her arms around her children with a wide grin. "Bell, you brought the bags, right?"

"Three like you asked!" The captain said in a dutiful tone, pulling said bags out of somewhere. The girls laughed and the trio moved away from the Loki family plus Obsidian.

"Let's hoard as much as we can!"

Looking at the retreating backs of the other family, Lili blinked. Glancing at the others, they stared at them with similar confused stares.

To paraphrase her teacher...that was awkward.

Naturally, Aiz did not care for such awkwardness and instead turned to the group, tilting her head.

"Why does Lady Hestia keep mispronouncing my name?" She asked innocently and Lili chuckled lightly before waving her hand in front of herself.

"Reasons."

The others laughed a little as well, leaving Aiz confused as she frowned slightly, before they decided to move into the opposite direction the Hestia family went.

Anyway, soon after they started walking, Tiona giggled awkwardly.

"The Hestia family are a bit too obsessed with saving up money, aren't they?" She asked in amusement and Obsidian shrugged in response.

"The family consists of two members, goddess not counted. Not like they have a lot of money to throw around."

Yet the goddess bought a super expensive knife, Lili thought dryly. Still, she agreed on principle and nodded at his words. The amazon tapped her chin in a contemplative manner and tilted her head.

"Right." For some reason, her smile gained a melancholy tone. "Never had to worry about money."

Obsidian raised an eyebrow at that.

"What, because you were rich from the get go?" He asked in a skeptical tone and Tiona closed her eyes. Lili could swear that it almost looked like she remembered something. When she opened them after a deep sigh, her eyes seemed a bit clouded, her smile more sad than happy.

"Let's say...I had other concerns..."

Looking at the others, Lili saw that Lefiya and Aiz were just as confused. She raised an eyebrow because of it. Huh. So it was one of these "private from even the family" kind of things.

Well, luckily for them, Obsidian was here to save the day before it could get awkward again as he let out a casual grunt.

"Hm." Then he whipped his head to his right and pointed at a stall he looked at. "Who wants food?"

To be honest, Lili had her fill, but if eating could prevent any more drama, she could do for a snack. Hell, it were hot potatoes, so why not?

Aiz seemed to agree wholeheartedly, considering how her eyes began to sparkle.

Fast forward, and Lili had to correct her previous statement. Aiz didn't just agree, just absolutely loved the idea of eating those hot potatoes. Like she was doing at the moment, having a big bag full of those things in her arms, while eating away at them in a rapid pace.

Lili tilted her head.

Huh, she kinda ate like Bell when he tasted something very good. Small, inefficient, but quick bites.

Suffice to say, a certain elf decided to voice out what everyone was thinking.

"How cute..." Lefiya muttered with a dreamy smile. While Tiona snickered at her reaction, Lili rolled her eyes and bobbed her roommate on the head. After letting out a yelp and covered her head, the Pallum gave her a dry look.

"Lefiya, you're doing the thing again," she commented, causing Lefiya to blush furiously and Tiona to hold her stomach as she struggled to contain her laughter. Obsidian on the other hand tilted his head at his student.

"Does the thing have a name?" He asked with minor curiosity and Lili waved him off.

"Eh, still working on it."

"Working on what?"

"Nothing," Lili replied smoothly when she turned around to see Aiz having come closer to the group, deciding that she could walk and eat her favorite food. It worked perfectly, as the Sword Princess didn't seem to suspect a thing as she shrugged.

"Hm." Looking at the potato she already took a bite off, she offered it to the Pallum with an innocent look on her face. "Lili, want some?"

If Lili was raised like a normal girl, she might have been a bit flustered by this. But jaded by Obsidian Noir, she just shrugged, since one was never supposed to say no to free food.

"Sure," she said, taking the potato off Aiz' hands and gulping it down in one go. Meanwhile, Aiz almost instantaneously pulled out another potato to munch on.

"Ah!" At Lefiya's loud exclamation, everyone turned at her, causing her to blush. Touching her index fingers a few times, she lowered her head. "U-uhm, don't mind me."

Confused at the muttering, Aiz blinked at the elf.

"I can give you a potato as well if you want. I have enough," she offered, before pausing and furrowing her forehead in contemplation. "I think."

While Lili and Tiona both let out a dry snort, Lefiya frantically waved her hands in front of her.

"No, that's not..." Her eyes moved around in panic, before they landed on Obsidian. Like a life line, she turned at him and bowed in a ninety degree angle all of a sudden. "L-lady Riveria sends her greetings!"

If it were night, Lili was sure there would have been crickets chirping, so sudden and weird was the topic change. Even her teacher was not safe from this, as he blinked at the elf, before glancing at the other girls in confusion. When Lili and the others shrugged, he scratched the back of his head.

"...'kay? And?" He asked in an uncertain tone. Lefiya raised her body, putting her arms on her hips with a huff. Lili had the feeling only the pride of her race gave her that fake confidence.

"S-she wanted to let you know, that's all!" She loudly declared and nodded with closed eyes. Though it made her look more cute, due to the blush, than serious. "Y-you should b-be honored!"

With a weirded out look, Obsidian nodded slowly.

"She is under no obligation to do that, but..." He trailed off and tilted his head as he crossed his arms. "Tell her I appreciate it, I guess?"

While Lefiya gaped at the man for reasons Lili totally did not force out of her mind, Tiona leaned towards the Pallum's right with a sly grin.

"Is he…?" She began to say gleefully, poking Lili with her elbow. But the latter was having none of it, as she pushed the amazon away with a deep frown.

"Not going to talk about it," she declared and Tiona pouted after letting out a small whine.

"Eeehhh? Still a taboo?"

"Yup," Lili said, crossing her arms with a glare. Sighing, the amazon raised her hands in mock surrender. On the other hand, Aiz to Lili's left tilted her head in confusion.

"I don't get it," she said in a soft voice. With a sigh of relief, Lili patted Aiz on the back.

"And for that, you are my favorite person in the family," the Pallum said with a grin, noticing absentmindedly how smooth the back felt on her fingers. Anyway, Aiz blinked at the words.

"You're welcome?"

After a small laugh among the group and exasperation for Lefiya and confusion for her teacher, Lili and the others idly made their way through the streets, spending most of their time window shopping in the more fashion oriented area of Orario. At the same time, the girls talked about various things, their last topic about the latest shenanigans of their goddess, Loki, who apparently was forced to do paperwork with Tione for Finn after a prank gone wrong. Either that, or sexual harassment gone wrong.

Lili's mouth thinned as she trailed behind the group, not having much to add to the conversation.

She was not sure what to think of Loki.

On the one hand, she was a perverted old man. Lili could count on one hand who Loki didn't attempt to harass and that was Lili herself. And the Pallum was sure that was because of her teacher and maybe Finn. The latter, because Lili didn't really see any other Pallum in the family, but that might be because she missed them.

On the other hand…The goddess was charismatic, and not only because of her divinity. As much of a pervert she was, she enjoyed spending time with her children, though Lili didn't have much chance to interact with her considering the size of the family. Nevertheless, Loki cared and showed it in her own ways, which made her leagues better than Soma.

Before she could think more about it however, a voice to her right shook her out of her thoughts.

"Wonder how it feels like," Obsidian muttered, hands in his pockets as he strolled next to her.

"How what feels like?" Lili asked, looking up at him. The man sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Having a goddess around and caring for each other," he replied quietly and immediately, Lili's eyes were filled with sympathy.

Right, he had a similar situation as she once had. She almost forgot about it. The talk of the other girls must have stirred up some emotions in him, maybe jealousy, for him to bring it up.

Lili wasn't sure what to say to that. 'Yeah, that sucks' didn't seem like the best reply. Not that she came to word, because they were not alone.

Tiona and the others heard what he said. The former turned around crossing her arms behind her back as they came to a stop and the amazon leaned forward to the teacher with a questioning expression, while Lefiya and Aiz were behind her, equally curious.

"What do you mean with that?" Tiona asked and Obsidian sighed.

"Not that close to my goddess, like you guys are," he explained as he gestured at the group. Lili couldn't help but scoff.

That was an understatement, but she knew she should keep this secret, for his sake. A small part of her was surprised Obsidian revealed such information. Then again, it was rather scarce and he probably knew what he could reveal and what not.

Anyway, Aiz gulped down her food she had with her and tilted her head.

"Is there bad blood between you?" She asked in a polite tone and the bandaged man waved her off.

"Eh, more like there isn't much of anything between us. She is distant. Only interacts with us in the bare minimum that is required."

Tiona winced, while Lefiya bit her lip awkwardly. For some reason however, Aiz reaction was completely different. Her eyes glazed over, as if she was remembering something. Lili narrowed her eyes. Did Obsidian's words remind her of someone?

"I-I'm sure she will change her mind!" Lefiya shouted, trying to sound confident and comforting. Obsidian on the other hand only gave her a sad smile.

"A decade is kinda long, don't you think?" He asked quietly.

Coughing awkwardly, the elf averted her eyes. In general, the atmosphere was down, the pressure high enough one would think they were in an ocean. Lili closed her eyes with a deep breath.

No way she was going to let him mope around. If he could kick bad atmosphere away, so could she! Crossing her arms, she put up a grin on her face as she looked at her teacher.

"Hey, maybe she will change her mind someday. There has to be something good about Gaia, right?" She said, hoping that this little false hope might be enough to distract Obsidian.

However, the Pallum did not cause the desired effect. Because her teacher froze, like a deer in front of a minotaur.

Then, slowly, almost like his neck was rusty, Obsidian turned his head around, with his eyes wide open, filled with disbelief and a message that screamed "what the hell are you doing, you stupid girl". Lili didn't know what she did to deserve that ten thousand yard stare, but she was certain she didn't deserve that. Looking at the others, she raised an eyebrow at Tiona, but she looked less confused and even more curious that before. Raising her hands behind the back of her head, the amazon leaned to the right a bit.

"So that Gaia is your goddess, mummy man?" She asked, glancing at the man in question and realization dawned on Lili why Obsidian looked so disappointed at her. Her eyes widened in shock.

She just spilled the beans of who his goddess was, the one thing he asked her to keep secret of her. Well, one of the few things, which didn't make the situation much better.

Lili bit her lip.

Fuck her life. She just thought to herself to keep his private life secret and then she proceeded to reveal his goddess' name?! What was wrong with her?!

Naturally, her teacher asked the same by just looking at her in exasperation. When she blushed and shrunk into herself, the man sighed and covered his face as he shook his head.

"It hasn't even been a week and you-"

However, Obsidian did not manage to end the sentence. Why? Because a loud thud sounded in the area and everyone turned around to Aiz, who dropped her bag, the potatoes rolling out of it. Not that Lili really focused on that. Instead, she flinched when she looked into Aiz' eyes.

It was like staring into the abyss. They were almost completely empty, as if she wasn't even all there. It felt like Aiz didn't look at the Pallum, but at some abstract construct only she could see. However, there was also a small glimmer of light, though Lili didn't know what it was.

"Why...did you say that name...?" Aiz asked quietly, her voice filled with disbelief, yet with a touch of hope for some reason.

Before anyone could answer however, vibrations coursed through the streets.

Then, the ground broke apart.


History Returns 9.4

Lili didn't need to wonder for long why the ground began to crack, because the thing that caused it broke through it almost immediately after, causing a big dust explosion. Covering her face, she grimaced as she reflexively jumped back, at the same time as the other adventurers with her. When the dust settled, the Pallum finally laid eyes on the thing – a monster – that caused this event.

A long, snake like being emerged, moving around frantically, as if searching the area.

It moved like a snake as well, but Lili didn't see any facial traits on what she assumed was the head. It could have been a tail, but that begged the question of why the tail would come first and not the head. To be honest, it looked more like some kind of vine or plant now that she narrowed her eyes.

In the back of her mind, the sight stirred something up. However, Lili didn't have much time to think about, as she immediately went into combat mode, moments after her seniors did. In the time she pulled out Liberty from her coat, Tiona already jumped forward into the fray. Rearing back her fist, she grit her teeth before smashing the head down into the ground.

To Lili's surprise however, the monster did not break. It didn't even bruise or got disoriented from what she could see. Instead, something more terrified happen.

Holding her fist close to her face, the amazon hissed in pain as tears welled up in her eyes. From what Lili could see from her angle, the hand was bruised, unlike the plant monster.

"Ouch!" The amazon exclaimed and blew against her fist, before shaking it frantically with gritted teeth. "This thing's hard!"

While this would have been comedic in any other situation, the Pallum sweated nervously.

Tiona Hiryute was level five. Which meant her body was essentially rock hard. For her fist to have hurt meant that this plant snake thing had to be at least as hard as solid steel. Either that, or it had some special skill, like hardening its skin in response to physical trauma or tense its muscles to a ridiculous amount.

Either way, if the first suspicion of Lili was true, that meant…

Her eyes widened in shock.

Offensive wise, this monster could hurt Tiona even more.

"Watch out!" The Pallum yelled at the amazon. The latter looked up from her own fist and yelped as she jumped away. At the same time, the weird monster's head, tail, whatever, smashed into the spot Tiona was in and left a crater in its wake, confirming Lili's suspicion.

This monster was dangerous, even to top class adventurers. Defense, speed, attack power, it had them all.

Lili bit her lips and furrowed her forehead.

It had to have some weaknesses. Every monster had that. The question was, what were they?

If blunt attacks didn't work, maybe cutting would do the trick, Lili mused as she looked at her naginata. She had two weapons for that, but the question was if the others had cutting weapons. Lefiya and Obsidian were instantly out, which only left Aiz and Tiona. From what she could remember, they had to get their weapons repaired. Though it's been some time since then.

"Aiz, Tiona, do you have your weapons?" Lili decided to ask loudly, while Tiona had a standoff with the monster, the latter moving slowly around as if it was observing the amazon.

Tiona shook her head, with a somewhat sheepish expression as she held her arms in front of her, ready to guard at any time.

"Nope, still melted!" She replied loudly. Before Lili could groan in annoyance, she heard a sharp metal sound next to her. Turning her head, she saw Aiz with a high class rapier in her right hand.

Lili blinked at that.

How did she not see the rapier? Was she so used to being surrounded by weapons?

Making some test swings, Aiz narrowed her eyes at the plant monster.

"I have a replacement," she stated, before holding the weapon vertical in front of her body, the tip pointing at the sky. As if an unspoken command was given, Tiona's eyes widened and she immediately jumped out of the way between Aiz and the monster, going so far as to going up on a building.

At the same time, the Sword Princess took a deep breath.

"Awaken, Tempest."

With her soft words, she chanted her signature spell and immediately wind twirled around her like a mini tornado. The next second later, and Aiz shot forward like an arrow, swinging her weapon down, enhanced by her wind.

Too fast for the monster, it could do nothing but take the attack head on. To Lili's relief, her theory was correct: Aiz cut through the monster like a knife through butter, its supposed head splitting in half. Bladed weapons and magic did the work then.

As the monster was abot to dissolve, the Pallum narrowed her eyes at the corpse. The sight made her widen her eyes.

Split apart like that, the "head" revealed its insides and showed how much more dangerous it could have been.

It looked like a flower with for petals and sharp teeth in the middle, which she assumed was the mouth. Well, if it weren't cut in half and in the middle of dissolving. So her suspicion of it being the head was correct. If she had to guess, the monster stone would be located inside the mouth as well.

For some reason though, this increased the intensity of the bugging noise in the back of her head, making the girl frown in annoyance. Before she could think more about it though. Life was as usual not done messing with Lili and the others.

The ground that broke from before left nice gaps. Gaps used by three or four more plant monsters, Lili couldn't tell, who immediately tried to encircle Aiz. At the same time, she could see that more were coming out.

"There are more!" Lefiya yelled in shock and Lili couldn't suppress the urge to roll her eyes.

"We can see that!"

Anyway, the plants split up to attack Tiona and Aiz, both who nimble dodged the assault, despite having to avoid attacks from various angles at the same time. Lili counted herself lucky that they didn't went in her direction yet.

Meanwhile, the Sword Princess weaved around her enemies, then took a deep breath as she reared her arm back with the rapier.

"If it's only that much, I can deal with the-"

Before she could finish her sentence or her swing, it happened.

Just as the blade and the wind was about to make contact with the enemy… The weapon shattered into pieces, leaving only the hilt with a broken blade that made it look like a poor man's dagger.

Aiz froze for a moment, eyes wide as she stopped in mid swing. Everyone else, Lili included, gaped at the sight. Even the plant monsters stopped moving for a moment.

"I am going to get yelled at..." The Sword Princess muttered in a sad tone. This reminded everyone in the area what they were actually doing right now, especially the monsters, who proceeded to renew their assault at Aiz. One of them opened its mouth wide and aimed at her head. However, Aiz wasn't a veteran for nothing and quickly recovered from her loss of weapon.

Slamming the hilt against one of the plants like it was a brass knuckle, she channeled her wind and rocketed her enemy away from her, taking some of the other monsters with it. However, it was not dead and was merely sent away. Still, it bought Aiz time to gain some distance, as she clicked her tongue at the broken weapon.

"Correction, I could have dealt with them," she said with a frown as she stepped backwards, stopping when she was to Lili's left. The Pallum had the big urge to chide the Sword Princess for her carelessness, but decided that now was not the time. Sharing a glance with the other girls, while the monsters were far enough for now, they all nodded at the same time.

They needed to regroup. With no weapons, two of their fighters could not do any good damage and from what she could see, Lili and Lefiya could maybe barely keep up with the speed of the monsters. They needed a stronger front line in order for Lefiya to cast magic and blast these thigns to oblivion.

Though on second thought, they potentially had four people to defend Lefiya with, so-

Lili's eyes widened.

Wait. Four? The words made her notice something.

Why didn't her teacher make a single sound since the plant monster appeared?

Turning her head around, she glanced at her teacher. And the sight made her heart drop.

Obsidian Noir didn't join Aiz and Tiona to battle, because he was too busy being on his knees and hyperventilating, his eyes unfocused as his bandages became drenched with sweat. For a moment, the Pallum was confused why he reacted like this.

Then it hit her and she wanted to hit herself as well.

His past! The monsters he talked about that killed the entire group he was with! What kind of idiot was she to forget that?! It was horrible timing as well! She had to get him out of his funk immediately!

Dashing towards him and reverting Liberty to its basic stick form, she grabbed his cheeks and shook her a bit strongly.

"Teacher?" When he didn't react, she lightly slapped his cheeks. "Teacher!"

But he didn't react. His eyes were still completely lost in his trauma. Lili felt rage well up in her chest and took a deep breath.

"OBSIDIAN!" She screamed right into his face, her throat hurting from the volume she created. But it did the job, she noticed with wide eyes.

The cloudy mist began to vanish and Obsidian blinked. His breathing became a bit more normal. Well, normal compared to the heaving he did.

At last, he looked at her, with full clarity. The sight made Lili smile softly at him.

Yes, she-

"Watch out!"

The panicked voice of Lefiya made Lili snap her head back to the front.

Just in time to see a set of teeth right at her face.

The next thing she knew however, the world shifted and the teeth were gone. Also, Lili was not standing anymore and instead was lying on something soft. The Pallum blinked and then looked up, to see her teacher breathing heavily with a frown, holding her in his arms.

This was when it clicked to her.

Obsidian just saved her from being eaten.

"Nice one!" The amazon yelled as she jumped down from a rooftop, just when it got destroyed by one of the monsters. At the same time, Aiz knocked the plant up into the air that just tried to eat the Pallum. Both landed next to them and with that, the group was back together. Cracking her fists, she looked at Obsidian. "Can you fight?!"

The Pallum bit her lip when she turned back to her teacher.

Lili could already tell with a glance. He may have been back to the present, but the mental damage was still there. His eyes began to cloud over again, not as much as before, but it was still present. His breathing became more erratic, but Lili could see how much he forced himself to stay in the presence.

"Don't...bet on it..." He bit out, gritting his teeth. Standing up, Lili shook her head as she turned Liberty back into its naginata form.

He would be of limited use in this battle, at best.

Tiona clicked her tongue, understandably and turned to the rest of the girls in their "combat line".

"Alright, improvise then. Lili, you cover Lefiya! Lefiya, do the thing!" She turned to the Sword Princess and motioned with her head at the incoming monsters. "Aiz, let's go!"

"Roger that!" The other girls shouted at the same time and the top class adventurers dashed forward to meet the enemy. Honestly, the Pallum wanted to be anywhere but where she was right now, but it wasn't like they had a better choice.

They didn't have time to carry a panicking teacher around and they couldn't rely on him to keep his hold on his sanity. So this was the best course of action: Take them on right there and then.

With her eyes focused, she held her weapon high over her head, standing in front of Lefiya and her teacher. She was a level below the former, but if Lili could at least distract the enemy while she casted, Lili would call it a successful day.

Now, some would question why she didn't give Liberty to the stronger adventurers. It was simple, really.

She couldn't. Or rather, the weapon would be useless, because it would automatically revert to its stick form if it was held by anyone but her. Lili didn't know how it worked, it just did and that was all she needed to know at the moment.

"I wish upon the name of Wishe," Lefiya began to cast, her hands held in front of her and magical energy surging around her and shook Lili out of her musings.

Right. Game face on.

"Static Armor! Static Extend!" The Pallum exclaimed, the familiar tingling of lightning covering her body and weapon like a soft layer, at the same time increasing her reach. Nodding in satisfaction, she was ready to guard her friend and comrade and looked up.

What happened next was mind boggling.

One moment, the plants surrounded Aiz and Tiona as they attempted to strike at them. The next moment, two of them broke of their formation and darted off, with easily double the speed they had before.

Their target? The magic caster.

Their flower heads folded, they were like a blurring block aiming to cripple them. Lili heard Lefiya gasp in surprise, right as she herself stared at them in shock. Mentally, she knew that the little lapse of attention made sure she wouldn't be fast enough to guard herself.

However, the two of them were not alone.

A blur moved from behind them and the back of tensed hands covered Lili's and Lefiya's vision. It was at that moment that the Pallum was reminded by one simple thing.

He should be even with level six.

Seeing that Tiona went hand to hand against the monsters reasonably well, despite the fact she couldn't hurt them…

Was it a wonder that her teacher, supposedly a level above her, caught the two heads of the flowers with his bare hands?

The bandages were ripped off a bit or fluttered away and he was pushed back a little bit, but his hands still held. They didn't drew blood.

The petals tried to open, but Obsidian simply tensed his hands even more, the man letting out a grunt. They pushed a bit, but the man simply put pressure back on.

Then, he took a shuddering breath.

"Sta...tic.."

The sight Lili saw only made the gap between herself and her teacher obvious.

His arms were completely free of the bandages, as they were blown away like an explosion, revealing his pale skin. His muscles were well defined and she could see some old worn scars. But the girl only gave it a moment of her attention and instead focused on the static.

No, not static, she thought with a wide, open mouth.

Lightning. Instead of the blanket that occasionally shot out sparks in Lili's case, it was a rampaging storm of electrical might. Lili was not even close to emitting such a high Static output. At least not longer for more than a second, even with Infinite Shift. And the man did it with almost not a sweat.

The plants didn't have a chance. The moment he activated his magic, they got incinerated into ashes.

Even when the other plants disengaged from Aiz and Tiona to jump at the man like hounds smelling blood, they were just like flies flying into a candle light. All they did was to make it easier for her teacher to kill them, which he did as the smell of burned flesh filled the air.

Breathing heavily, Obsidian's arms dropped as if they were weighted down. At the same time, more monsters appeared and Lili had to groan in annoyance.

How many were there?!

Looking back at her teacher, expecting him to do the work, she grinned. But it quickly fell when she noticed how he grabbed his arms, as if he was hugging himself.

"Go...after magic..." He muttered, gritted his teeth and suddenly raised his volume of voice, tone filled with frustration. "Stick to the plan!"

By now, Lili could have pieced herself together that the monsters were after magic, but it was always good to have verbal confirmation.

"Can you do that again, Obsidian?!" Tiona yelled at him and he shook his head.

"No!"

The Pallum then knew why he was hugging himself and her eyes widened.

His body was shaking again, which equaled a shaking focus. Despite the fact that Static was a short chant magic, not being able to focus would cause an Ignus Fatuum. With the amount of magical energy he showcased…

The entire street would blow up. Which brought them back to the problem they faced from the get go.

However...

"Please give me strength..."

They bought time and that was all that mattered, Lili noted as she glanced at Lefiya, her momentary lapse of concentration not strong enough to interrupt her spell.

The first phase was done. Now Lefiya had to cast the actual spell she learned from Riveria.

It also spelled the actual start of the fighting, including Lili this time as well.

It was utter mayhem.

She could barely differentiate her surroundings with her eyes, that many flowers were around. She stopped counting after eight but they were long enough that the number seemed to be double than it actually was.

While Tiona and Aiz took the brunt of the monsters, after realizing that Lefiya was a priority targets, they couldn't stop all of them. Even when Aiz threw her wind around like crazy and the amazon catching a bundle underneath her arms, it didn't relief Lili from her duty of slashing around herself like crazy, her naginata twirling so fast it might as well have been a wheel of death. The only reason she could do that was because she didn't use Static.

She would be a crappy bodyguard if she was targeted and taken out first.

Speaking of bodyguard, Lili glanced at her teacher and she clicked her tongue.

There was nothing that could remind her of the one who taught her on the walls. The forms were there, he did attack with proper punched and kicks. But that was it. No sign of tactics were in his actions. He was running purely on instincts and experience. Things that rusted over from not being in any active danger for the last years. Adding the panic and trauma he must have been feeling at the time and Lili was impressed he managed to fight that well.

Rolling forward, she stopped on her right knee and slashed upward with her dagger, gritting her teeth as she pushed herself to cut into the hard hide of the monster. Liberty was sharp, yes, but it wouldn't compare to, let's say, Desperate.

Letting a deep breath out, the Pallum wiped some sweat of her forehead, but the moment she did, cracking sounds came from behind her. Whipping her head around, she saw how two more of the plant monsters rose from the ground.

Right behind Lefiya, Lili saw with wide eyes.

Crap! She got distracted!

She made a dash in a frantic manner, but she knew it was already too late. Her mouth was about to open in order to warn the elf, but she knew that Lefiya did not have the reflexes to dodge it.

None of the others in the group could make it in time either, even if they had no-

"Firebolt!"

The familiar shout was followed by a cracking explosion, engulfing the head of one of the monsters in flames. Lili could swear she saw lightning in there as well, but then she remembered where she heard the word before.

As if he heard her, Bell came out of a side alley, with his left palm stretched out, before rearing his right arm back with the new knife he had received. Then, with a shout, he cut into the other, not burning plant and went through it, leaving a wide open gash on its body.

While Lili stumbled for a just a moment, she managed to gather herself and took a deep breath.

"Static Shot!"

With two swift moves, she shot small lightning balls out of her naginata, aimed at the open mouths of the hurt monsters, frying the crystals inside. At the same time, as Bell next to her, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the Hestia Knife.

His knife was sharp!

Anyway, side by side, Bell glanced at her with a frown while in combat position.

"Are you alright?" He asked with concern and Lili nodded in confirmation, before narrowing her eyes at him.

"Bell, was that the first time you used that?"

At least the rookie looked a bit sheepish as he let out an awkward chuckle.

"Well...yes."

"Talk about trial by fire," Lili said with an amused snort before grinning at him. "Good work."

"T-thanks," he replied with a small blush. Then, his eyes widened and he held his knife higher. "Watch out!"

Reacting immediately, the two of them dodged, Bell via jumping away and Lili via a side step and jamming her dagger into the monster's neck. The action was quickly mimicked by Bell from the other side. Then, at the same time, they drove their weapons deeper and then ran their knife's up to its head, killing it that way.

Taking a small breather, if one could call it that, Lili turned back to the rookie.

"Where are Lady Hestia and Lisa?" She asked with concern, but Bell smiled brightly.

"Lisa escorted her back to the Guild!"

The Pallum let out a sigh of relief. A goddess would be cannon fodder if those things out and about.

Luckily for them, they wouldn't be here for much longer.

"...name is Alf!" Lefiya announced loudly, her magic at its peak. Then, with a strained voice, she yelled out to the others. "I'm ready!"

Lili couldn't help but look at the mage with a whistle. Damn, Lefiya's focus was on point today!

Anyway, at her words, everyone buggered away from the front in order to get behind the caster, Lili and Bell being the slowest despite them being the closest. Once they were out of the line of fire, Lefiya threw her right hand back, with her left palm still stretched, just as the monsters moved to chase after them.

"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"

Casting the name of one of Riveria's magic spells, snow flake symbols appeared behind the young elf. The monsters were up to her face, but it was already too late.

A concentrated blast of pure coldness shot out like tornado, freezing the ground it passed. When the dust settled, it revealed that the plants themselves were also frozen solid in ice chunks.

Not even missing a beat, Tiona stepped forward and punched the ice in front of her.

The small crack quickly became several big cracks and the ice shattered, with the monsters in them. Still, Lili looked around in unease, weapon still in hand.

"Please tell me that was all of them," she asked in a whining tone and the amazon cupped her hands in front of her mouth, taking a deep breath.

"Hey, if you're all dead, don't make a sound!" Silence reigned after she shouted and she turned back to the group, hands behind her head as she smirked. "Yeah, I think we got it."

With that, everyone let out a breath of exhaustion. Still, they all smiled at each other, patting the other on the back or doing a high five.

Or in Aiz' case, "sheathing" the rest of her rapier and nodding at the others with a soft expression.
"You did well." She smiled softly at Bell and Lefiya. "Both of you."

The two of them immediately blushed at the same time and looked away, giggling as they scratched their right cheek.

"T-thanks..." They said at the same time, not noticing the other said the same. Aiz tilted her head in confusion while Tiona snickered next to Lili, who palmed her face in exasperation.

But then, she noticed something.

Where was Obsidian?

Looking around, Lili didn't see Obsidian with them. When she turned her head, she breathed out in relief in spotting him, but something was off as he just...stood there.

"Teacher?" She asked with some concern. But just as she was about to walk over, he suddenly clawed at his mouth, doing something with his bandages there.

Then, he fell on his hands and knees and emptied his stomach. The action shocked Lili so much, she didn't move a muscle.

During his barfing, she could hear him start to sob and Lili was sure he was crying. The sight was surreal for Lili, as she stood there, watching him throw up and sobbing like a child.

But the worst were the words that came out between all of that.

"Oh god...damn it...damn it..." He muttered quietly, yet in the silence, he was easily heard.

Lili shook her head slowly, face filled with disbelief. He sounded...so broken.

The joyful mood of the group was gone by now, she could feel it. Yet neither of them made a move and Lili understood. She herself couldn't make a move either. What was one to say to such a thing? A grown, somewhat respectable man, reduced to a crying wreck?

Looking back, the student should have said something. Or at the very least, not feel disgust at what she was seeing.


Interlude: The Noble Heart II

When the day started for the elf, she didn't expect much. Sure, today was the festival and all that, but considering that she was going to be busy with paperwork all day and the usual trouble makers were outside the building, Riveria expected a calm day.

Considering her life experience, she should have known better than that. The sun hadn't even set yet and already the woman had a headache because of today's event.

Unknown monsters appearing in the middle of the city and Aiz being in debt because she broke yet another weapon were only the top of the cake.

Hearing the report of the girls didn't make her head hurt any less.

Tracking magic, hide strong enough to resist Tiona's and Aiz blunt attacks, apparently strong enough to severely hurt Lili and Lefiya if Obsidian weren't there...Especially with their working theory that they were dealing with an unknown tamer and Riveria did not have the peace of mind she would have liked.

Riveria frowned when she thought about Obsidian.

The man was basically unresponsive to anything since he arrived with the others at the mansion. Sure, he nodded a few times and all that, but he usually stared down on the ground, eyes rather vacant.

It worried the elf.

She did not know what happened to him and the others were hesitant to answer.

Not to mention that if Bete were there, even he would have noticed the awkwardness that surrounded Lili every time she looked at her father figure. Sure, she denied it, but Riveria could clearly see what type of relationship they had. So it was clearly something that not even Lili had ever witnessed.

Riveria let out a deep sigh.

Overall, a day full of headaches. And it wouldn't be over for a long while. There was one more thing she had to deal with. Well, technically two, but one of these had priority over the other.

Standing in front of one of their guest rooms, she turned her head around to look at Aiz, who awkwardly folded her hands in front of herself.

"Are you sure he won't be mad at us?"

Riveria smiled softly at the girl, before letting out a dry huff as she crossed her arms.

"He is the one using one of our rooms, Aiz." She put a comforting hand on Aiz' shoulder. "Besides, this is important and I know him well enough that he won't be mad."

The girl stared at her for a moment, before smiling as well with a grateful nod.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Riveria replied gently.

With that said, the elf lightly knocked on the door with her right hand. From inside, she could hear some shuffling before hearing a sigh.

"Come in. I'm decent," Obsidian said from inside in a tired voice. More importantly however, in a gravely voice.

Riveria frowned. He was affected by today worse than she thought. But considering how he dragged his body over to this room, it was to be expected.

Either way, Riveia opened the door and her eyes automatically moved over to the guest, lying on the bed as he stared at the ceiling. As usual, the man didn't even bother to change his clothes, instead dressed in his usual black colors.

With the exception of his arms, Riveria noted. From what she remembered of the report, he used magic that blew the bandages away from his arms, which had rather interesting connotations. But those were questions for another time.

Though, now that she paid attention to them, she noticed one thing that made her raise her eyebrow.

How smooth. The pale skin was somewhat expected, but she didn't expect his skin to be so devoid of scars or similar things. Sure, potions and the likes could fix that, but Obsidian didn't seem the type to use money for such things.

Blinking for a moment, she took a deep breath before walking into the room, followed by Aiz.

She had to focus here, no matter how nice his arms looked like. Even when they were well defined.

Obsidian turned his head slightly at them and raised his body before leaning against the wall. Then, he raised his right hand lazily.

"Sup," he said, trying to be casual as he smiled. "Fun meeting, wasn't it?"

Riveria could see with a single glance it was fake, but she wasn't going to call him out on it with another person in the room. Instead, she sighed, before crossing her arms and taking a seat on a chair to Obsidian's left, with Aiz sitting to her right.

"We need to talk," the noble stated calmly and she could see how the man tensed up, before turning his head away.

"If this is about Lili-"

Immediately, Riveria raised her hand in a placating manner, shaking her head at the same time.

"Actually, it is not. For now." Seeing him turn his head to them again, in confusion, Riveria glanced at her protege. "Aiz, go on."

The girl in question took a deep breath when Obsidian looked at her, tilting his head. Then, Aiz leaned forward with a determined expression.

"Can you please tell me about Gaia?" She asked in a soft tone and the man blinked for a moment, before looking down on his legs with a dry snort.

"Right, that thing back then..." He crossed his arms at the sword fighter "How do you know her?"

Aiz stiffened at the words, but Riveria somewhat expected the question. No way Obsidian wouldn't be curious about this. Because of that, she turned to the girl and motioned with her head at the guest.

"We should tell him."

The girl closed her eyes and slowly nodded at her mentor's words.

"Hm."

Having her permission, Riveria turned back to Obsidian as she folded her hands on her lap, frowning in thought about how to phrase this. Then she remembered who she was talking to, so better be blunt about it.

"Gaia is her aunt," she explained and then let out a sigh when he stared at her with a blank expression. "It's complicated."

For a while, Obsidian didn't say anything at her words, instead blinking at her as if she said something insane. Then, he slowly nodded his head, but his face was filled with disbelief.

"Gods can't have kids. Or spirits. So I assume it's more of a non blood relation thing…?"

As he trailed of and tilted his head, Riveria coughed awkwardly into her hand.

"Like I said...it's complicated."

Obsidian gave her a flat stare in response, but before the elf could feel embarrassed about it, Aiz held her right hand to her chest with a somber expression.

"I'm the daughter of Aria, a wind spirit," she started to explain and closed her eyes with a shaking breath. "I am not sure how Gaia is related to my mother, but they told me they were sisters. In what way, I never bothered to find out."

Understandable, Riveria thought with a nod. Usually, children wouldn't know anything whether or not an "aunt" was blood related or just a close friend to the family.

Meanwhile, Obsidian scratched the back of his head with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not even attempt to figure out how this stuff works. My sister is better suited for this..." He let out a sigh and shook his head, before crossing his arms. "Are you a half spirit or something?"

"No, she is completely human. Think of her like someone from the Crozzo line," the elf elaborated, twirling her elf hand with one open eyes.

It wasn't exactly like that, but it was the closest example Riveria could think of that Obsidian would know as well. It wasn't like he had access to grand libraries or the like from where he came from. Most likely, at least.

Anyway, nodding, the man leaned forward with his hands folded on his lap.

"Spirit blessing, got it. Would explain your wind power." He smiled at Aiz in a lazy, but honest manner. "I won't pry into your past too much and I won't say anything either."

"Thank you," Aiz replied with a slight bow. Then, she bit her lip nervously. "Can you…?"

Riveria clenched her hands into fists when she saw Obsidian shake his head with an apologizing smile. Her heart ached when she saw how the hope in Aiz' face got crushed in an instance.

"Sorry to disappoint, but you clearly know more about her than me," he replied in a quiet voice and waved his hand as he lowered his head. "I only know how she looks like. Little girl, short green hair, wore a summer dress last time I saw her about ten years ago, despite the fact we were in a damn tundra. Acted super mysterious and all that, but I'm sure she was doing that just to mess with us."

Riveria had a wry smile when she heard the description. Gaia certainly sounded bizarre enough to be a goddess. Though she wondered how she could wear a simple dress in an ice land. Gods were normal mortals when they were on this world.

Thoughts for later.

Anyway, Obsidian leaned back against the wall and let out a deep sigh.

"After that, only she communicated via messages." Exhausted, he twirled with his right hand. "One day she just...did a thing, blessed me and my buddies and we had to make a kingdom out of snow scratch. Well, it wasn't like she told us to do anything like that, but it was the best way to survive. Occasionally, she would send us missions depending on what we did or 'reward' us. That's it. No real interaction since our first meeting."

Despite her heritage, the elf couldn't help but gape at him in disbelief.

What kind of irresponsible goddess (if she even was one) was this Gaia?! Lady Loki at the very least treated them as family, even if she was a pervert! But this...this was ridiculous!

Glancing at Aiz, while internally fuming, she hoped that Obsidian exaggerated and that the girl wouldn't be too angry. However, to her surprise, the Sword Princess smiled awkwardly, yet softly.

"That...sounds like something she would do," she said in a melancholy tone. Obsidian raised his eyebrow at that.

"Really? How was she anyway?"

At his question, Aiz looked up at the ceiling after letting out a small giggle.

"She was...distant. Tended to stay away from others. Liked to watch more than being involved." Her smile became a bit more sad. "My parents and I were the only people she actually got close to. I could tell she was...awkward at times. Always distant, despite trying to appear nice and social. But she tried her best, if only for our sake. The few times she interacted with others were quite funny. How she tried to act cool." She looked back at the guest and bit her lip. "I...I guess the reason she treats you the way she does is because she's afraid of actual contact."

For a moment, the man stared at her blankly and Riveria was afraid he would snap at Aiz or something like that. But in the end, her fear was unfounded as he simply slumped down and took a deep breath.

"Socially awkward goddess. Great," he muttered as he shook his head and Riveria felt pity blossom up in her chest.

First Lili, now him. Why did fate decide to give them such gods? Still, she knew better than to show her pity openly, so she restrained herself with a neutral expression.

"Is she still alive?" Aiz suddenly asked quietly after a short silence and Obsidian immediately nodded.

"She is. For sure." He let out a dry scoff. "Also pretty sure she's a stalker. How else would she know about what I do?"

A shudder went down the mage's spine. This was very creepy and Riveria lived with Lady Loki in a building. But yet again, bless Aiz' innocent soul, the girl giggled lightly into her hand.

"She is. She called herself the world's greatest stalker." She let out a sigh and stared at the ground with a small smile. "But...it was comforting in a way."

"Really?" Obsidian and Riveria asked in a dry tone at the same time, both raising their eyebrow in a skeptical manner. Aiz blushed lightly with a pout, which reminded the elf how cute the girl could be.

"Yes." Then, her blush went away and she hugged her legs on the chair. "She said she would always watch out for me, that I would never feel alone that way...She always made sure I would know she was watching over me. She...She..."

When Aiz let out a shivering breath, Riveria snapped her head at her and her eyes widened when she looked at her.

She was crying. The tears dropped down to the ground as she readjusted herself, sitting normally on the chair again.

"Aiz…?" Riveria asked in a quiet tone, as Obsidian stared at the girl with worry as well. Aiz let out a sniff and wiped he eyes as she slowly shook her head.

"If she is still alive...then why?" She looked up, her eyes red as she looked at Riveria. "Why doesn't she want to meet me then?"

The elf's eyes widened at the words, realizing the consequences of Obsidian's confirmation. A family member was alive...and didn't even bother to meet with you. Riveria grit her teeth in anger. She could research later where this Gaia was and then force her to do things right. But for now, she had to help Aiz. But the noble did not get a chance to do so.

"Does she...does she just not know about me or...did I do anything wrong?" Aiz continued, her voice a whisper as she tried to suppress her sobs, but failed.

"Aiz, that's not-"

"Excuse me," the Sword Princess abruptly interrupted her, before quickly dashing out of the room as she threw the doors open and then smashed them shut as she left.

With that, the elf was alone with Obsidian, left in an awkward air. Luckily, the man realized that he had to get rid of it and cleared his throat as he leaned forward to address her.

"Maybe you should ask Loki about Gaia. Gods know each other, right?" He recommended and Riveria nodded.
"We never did mention the connection between Aiz and Gaia to her...I will do it later," she said, trying to smile politely. With that done, she remained seated. A fact, that Obsidian noticed and he raised his eyebrow.

"Why aren't you following her?" He asked, tilting his head. Riveria in turn took a deep breath.

Now that they were alone, it was time to confront him.

"This family doesn't only consists of me and her," she explained with closed eyes, her hands folded on her lap. Then, she opened her eyes, staring at Obsidian with a frown. "You look like you need to talk. About...what happened."

As expected, he immediately stiffened and averted his gaze as he looked down on his legs.

"What's there to say? Plants attacked, I helped, I threw up and now I'm here," he muttered and shrugged, trying to act nonchalantly. "No big deal."

Riveria didn't believe it for a second and crossed her arms in disapproval.

"Don't brush it off like this. A traumatic reaction is quite certainly a big deal," she stated, but instead of him opening up, he gave her a smirk.

It was not a pretty one.

"Daw, you worry so much about me?" He asked sarcastically and Riveria's mouth thinned.

Okay, now it was so obvious even Bete would be able to pick up the attempt at diverting her attention. But not with Riveria Alf Ljos.

She was angry. Angry that he didn't trust her enough with this. But one wouldn't get as old as her and not learn some self restraint. So instead, she crossed her legs, her expression blank as she kept staring at him.

"Stop avoiding the topic," she bluntly said and actually made him flinch. For a while, he looked away. But in the end, he let out a sigh. Riveria made sure that he couldn't see her victorious grin.

Looking out of the window, the man leaned back against the wall, slumping against it as he showed how exhausted he actually was.

"I thought I could live up to what Lili expects me to do. Wants me to do. And I appreciate it, I really do," he said in a quiet voice and then grit his fists in frustration. "I tried. Very hard. But the moment of truth came and..."

A sharp breath intake and he closed his eyes.

"I'm pathetic and Lili knows that now. Can't blame her either," he replied, opening his eyes with a sad smile as he slowly shook his head. "Throwing up in front of everyone...The old me could have taken them out without breaking much of a sweat..."

Riveria's gaze softened at his words. So that was the problem. His trauma and his failure to live up to Lili's expectations. Both were disappointed in each other to some degree. But more importantly, they were disappointed in themselves. Obsidian, for his perceived failure. And from what she could see, Lili, for her behavior because of it.

He would not tell her what his relation was with the plant monsters. He kept quiet about it in the meeting and he definitely wouldn't tell her now. Because of that, she simply let out a sigh. She could only to her best now.

Leaning forward, she put a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed in reassuringly.

"I won't push you to tell me what happened. But bottling these feelings up is not healthy." When he looked at her, she gave him a soft smile. "You should talk to her."

Blinking for a moment, he stared at her. Then, he sighed and looked down, gently pushing her hand away with his own right.

"If talking were enough, all problems in the world would be solved." He turned to her again and bowed his head. "I...I can't help you with this stuff. The plants. Not like this."

"I understand," Riveria replied in understanding, but then frowned. "But you didn't tell me what you will do with Lili."

He winced, but otherwise stayed quiet. He opened his mouth a few times, but no sound came out, as he was uncertain on what he should actually do.

Time for a little push then.

"You know that she doesn't hate you, right?" She asked rhetorically with crossed arms. "At most, she is confused. She still cherishes you like before. I am sure she is waiting for you to confront her, as she is too afraid to do it herself. As a responsible adult, you shou-"

Naturally, her nagging had the desired effect, as he raised his right hand with a groan.

"I know..." He nodded a few times and let out a sigh. "I...I'll talk with her later."

"It would most likely be helpful," the elf stated, acting innocently despite the joy inside her.

"Don't sass me, princess," he replied displeased, but smiled nonetheless. But Riveria didn't focus on that.

He spoke normally. In his deep, bass like voice. This time, she didn't restrain herself from smiling. But she still had to hide the real reason and decided to flip her hair behind her right ear.

"Well, if you pout like a child, how could I not tease you like one?" She asked, causing him to roll his eyes in frustration. Now that the atmosphere was more casual now, her gaze moved back to his arms, the sigh unusual for her. She tapped her lower lip with intrigue. "Hm. Rather pale. Interesting."

For a moment, he stared at her as if she was crazy. Then, he followed her eyes and saw his own arms, causing him to click his tongue.

"I knew I forgot something..." He muttered and shook his head. "Got some bandages."

"We only have white ones, so you have to live with this for now," she replied, while thinking it was a shame that he would hide himself yet again.

To her pleasant surprise however, he hestitated. In the end, he let out a sigh and didn't bother to stand up, as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Well, no sense in wasting money for such little skin..."

Riveria's eyes softened at his words.

He was not fine. Not completely. But this was a sign that he got better. The fact he covered his body less than before. Not to mention it was nice to look at.

"Can I borrow Lili for a mission outside Orario? I got the paperwork done anyway, all I need is some signatures." He suddenly said after a small silence, turning his head back at her. Quickly, she met his gaze, trying to hide her embarrassment and politely nodded.

"By all means, I insist."

A mission would be a nice distraction for them, not to mention that the outside world was a lot safer right now than Orario. It would be a good experience as well, and as mean as it sounded, meant one less child to cause trouble for Riveria.

Obsidian smiled in gratitude and bowed slightly.

"Thanks." When he raised his head however, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Though I gotta ask if one of your people could train with Bell."

Riveria tilted her head at that.

"Bell Cranel?" She asked in confusion. "You're not going to take him with you?"

Excluding him sounded...counterproductive. From what she could remember, his self esteem was not the best. Especially after Bete did to the poor boy. In response, Obsidian shrugged.

"Level one and I want him to have more...safe experience. Outside the walls, some nasty stuff can happen. Believe me. Besides, I don't want to leave his goddess alone."

The elf hummed in thought. That sounded reasonable enough and the first floors were usually the safest place to train. But Riveria had a feeling he was hiding something.

Well, it wasn't her business and she could make use of the idea herself.

"I believe Aiz could use the distraction. She needs to learn leadership abilities anyway and that would include training others," she said, agreeing to his proposal. But the man tilted his head with a frown.
"Didn't she smash Lili into a wall?" He asked in a skeptical tone.

"She learned," Riveria countered smoothly, fully knowing how bad Aiz actually was at many things outside being a strong individual fighter. The man slowly nodded, not believing a single word she said. But in the end, it wasn't his problem. Unlike Lili, Bell wasn't like a child to him, so he didn't feel any obligation.

With that, they signed his fate to Aiz and moved on. As in, remaining in silence. Because of that, they simply sat around, rather comfortably, taking in their surroundings.

Well, Obsidian did. Riveria's eyes were attracted by his arms again and she bit her lips.

It was bothering her too much. She couldn't stay quiet.

"Apologies, but I have to ask. What are you using for your skin? It looks so smooth," she asked, not even trying to stop the words flowing from her mouth and instead tried to act casual about it.

The man froze and gave her a weirded out look. When she didn't move a single face muscle, he shrugged it off.

"I have a special skill that helps with that." He waved with his right hand. "Though it's more of a side effect, really."

Riveria couldn't help but feel a bit jealous about it and let out a huff with crossed arms.

"Hmph. Of course you need to cheat for good looks."

"Those are just hands, woman," he said dryly, wiggling his hands. Then he stopped and a smirk appeared on his face. "Or do you have a fet-"

"I do not have such a thing!" She yelled in indignation, her face flushed red as she abruptly stood up. Naturally, Obsidian laughed loudly at her, causing her to blush even more than before. However, despite her embarrassment, she couldn't help but smile. Being with him like this felt...nice.