Chapter 1: Departure

It was still very early during the day, the sun had barely been peeking out of the horizon, but a certain young elf was already making her way through the sparsely populated streets as she headed toward the outer wall of the city. Her amber-colored hair tied in a long ponytail swayed with every step and a magic bag was slung over her shoulder.

As she neared her destination, her blue eyes widened slightly as she noticed two familiar figures standing near the gate. The more familiar boy with his distinctive white hair and a pair of rubellite eyes reminiscent of an almiraj, he too had a backpack slung over his shoulder.

Next to him was a less familiar but still recognizable figure of a petite goddess with her black hair tied into a pair of twintails by blue ribbons. Once she was close enough to the duo, Lefiya bowed toward the goddess as she greeted her,

"Good morning, Hestia-sama."

Hestia nodded as she answered her,

"Good morning. You are... Thousand elf, yes? We met briefly at the 18th floor, didn't we?"

"That's correct, I'm Lefiya Viridis from Loki Familia."

Lefiya felt somewhat nervous as Hestia walked a few laps around her as if scrutinizing her while muttering something,

"Hmm... She's still a girl... a cute one too... but at least it isn't that Wallensomething girl... So, it's better I guess... anyone is better than that... girl."

Finally, the goddess stopped in front of the elf as she spoke again,

"Well, I'll be leaving Bell in your care for a while, okay?"

"I... Understand...?"

Hestia nodded once before turning toward the boy next to her,

"Well, I need to go to work now so I'll be leaving. Bell, take care of yourself, okay? Remember, the most important thing is to come back safe."

Bell nodded as he answered,

"I understand. Thank you, kamisama."

"Well, have a safe trip you two."

Lefiya bowed once again as the goddess left before commenting,

"She's a good goddess to have."

"Yes, kamisama is amazing."

The elf then turned toward the boy and her expression immediately soured as she spoke,

"Well, at least you know to arrive early. I'll gave kudo for that, at least."

Bell laughed nervously as he replied,

"Ahaha... Thank you, I guess... though... actually Mikoto woke me up because I forgot to set my alarm clock..."

Lefiya knitted her eyebrows, obviously displeased about the revelation but refrained from complaining as at least the boy still arrived early at the meeting point. As she placed her bag on the ground, the boy decided to ask,

"Umm... Lefiya-san... Are you planning to bring only that small bag with you?"

"Hmm? Don't you know about the magic bag? This thing has magically expanded storage. Don't look at the size from outside, this thing can fit nearly three times the volume."

"That... sounds expensive..."

"Mine is pretty cheap actually, only around 30,000 valis."

Bell gave the elf a wry smile as he muttered,

"Thirty...thousand... is... cheap..."

If she noticed his discomfort, Lefiya either didn't show it or didn't care as she waited for the wagon next to the boy. At first, there was silence between the two before Bell opened his mouth to speak but Lefiya immediately cut him off,

"Listen, human. I know the purpose of this quest is to show that just because our goddesses aren't getting along doesn't mean that our familias are necessarily antagonistic with each other. However, that doesn't mean that I have any intention of being friends with you, understand?"

"Ahh... Umm... Okay..."

As silence once again fell between them, it was a much more uncomfortable one if it was even possible. Perhaps sensing the boy's high alert against her, Lefiya finally sighed as she spoke,

"How's "it" doing?"

"Eh...?"

"The vouivre. Finn told me about the intelligent monsters, Xenos, I believe they are called?"

Bell's expression visibly brightened as he answered her,

"Ah, Wiene... she's doing... well... She's training with Ludo to get stronger."

"I see... They were a big help in Knossos. I guess I should thank them if the opportunity arises."

Secretly, the elf muttered under her breathe,

"... and apologize... I was one of her sources of trauma when we were chasing her around the city as well..."

"Hmm, what was it, Lefiya-san?"

Lefiya shook her head as she answered almost too hastily,

"Nothing. You know… I guess I should apologize to you as well…."

"Hmm?"

"That time when we, I, was chasing the vouivre, you protected it from my spell right? Seriously, what the hell were you thinking… you were lucky that the spell was just aimed to incapacitate and not kill. You'd be dead otherwise, jumping into the line of fire just like that."

She paused for a moment before continuing,

"Honestly, do you know how frustrating you were? Why couldn't you just explain the situation clearly? I even came to your house just for that but instead, I had the door slammed in front of me."

"Well… umm…."

Lefiya knew that she was blaming him for something which really had a no-win situation for him at the time. Afteral, every hypothesis that she put forward had been based on hindsight, no one had even heard of the so-called Xenos existed at that time. Monsters were feral and have to be put down sooner rather than later had been the obvious agreement for everyone.

It was only during the recent escapades with Knossos and Finn telling everyone of their existence that the idea had been shaken. Still, she had no intention of admitting it, as far as she was concerned, Bell was acting in an extremely reckless manner that could have placed the entire city in jeopardy,

"Whatever… forget it. Just tell them "Thank you" for me if you see them next time."

Bell raised his eyebrows slightly before smiling as he answered her,

"I will!"

Suddenly, an idea seemed to come to the white-haired boy as he spoke,

"Actually… You see… before this quest was issued… I was actually planning to visit them… Welf kind of… promised Wiene that I will. So… umm… if you don't mind…."

Lefiya turned toward the boy with raised eyebrows for a moment before turning back as she answered,

"… I'll consider it… anyway, looks like our ride is here. Come on."

Bell turned toward where she was looking and sure enough a horse-drawn wagon, not unlike the one which took him to the location of the war game again Apollo Familia, was approaching them. The two quickly grabbed their bags and waited for the wagon to stop right in front of them before climbing in.

Unlike the other time, it seemed that the guild had rented the wagon exclusively for them as the driver only asked if they were ready to go before commanding the horse forward. As they left the city, the two adventurers couldn't help watching as the city got smaller and smaller until it was basically out of their sight.