A few months have passed since then, and Ais had grown from a supporter to delving down the Dungeon and slaying monsters. She wasn't alone, of course. Riveria assigned some members to watch over her, but for the last two weeks, Ais went alone. She was progressing nicely, in her opinion.
The Guild had announced Ryuu's Level Up a while ago. It somewhat ignited her heart. If even Ryuu, who loved songs and heroes more than anything in the world, could progress, then even someone like her could also Level Up. She had no doubt Bete also felt the same and cursed Ryuu's name with affection.
As she arrived in front of the entrance to the Dungeon, Ais saw a young Pallum girl struggling to lift her weapon, a spear. Feeling somewhat charitable, Ais approached the girl and helped her.
"Thank you, Miss Adventurer," the Pallum thanked her.
"Aren't you also one? You're welcome."
"This is my first day."
Ais felt a little worried for her. "Whose Familia are you from?"
"Soma Familia. And you?"
"Ais Wallenstein, Loki Familia. Shall we go together? I only managed to reach the fourth floor without supervision." Ais extended her arm to the Pallum girl.
The Pallum looked at her hand and then her eyes, seemingly trying to find something that wasn't there. Slowly, she raised her hand and accepted Ais' hand.
"Liliruca Arde."
"Well then, shall we go, Miss Arde?"
Liliruca, the Pallum girl, nodded. The two of them then entered the Dungeon proper.
It turned out that Liliruca was superior to her in technique. Despite the differences in their weapon, it was clear to anybody watching that Liliruca understood her spear more than Ais understood her sword. However, despite her skill, Liliruca had no strength.
As Ais finished slashing a kobold, her eyes caught Liliruca stabbing a kobold in the neck. The problem was that Liliruca couldn't completely pull the spear out of the monster, and an almost severed neck wasn't enough to extinguish the beast's life.
"Tch," Liliruca clicked her tongue, and with a roar, she pulled her spear off the monster. Although with how much she exerted power, she was thrown away.
The strange thing about the Pallum girl, from what Ais observed, was that her style emphasized her physical strength, even though Liliruca did not have enough power to use it. Ais had to play being her backup when she was about to be overwhelmed by monsters several times.
"Are you okay?"
"...Fine. Sorry..."
"It is no problem. This is why I only went to the fourth floor alone, and that's with my several months of experience." Right now, they were on the second floor. Ais had to admit that they were progressing slowly because Liliruca's technique was strange. She excused it, remembering that this was Liliruca's first day in the Dungeon. "May I ask you one thing?"
Liliruca nodded.
"Your technique is weird. Why is it like that?"
Liliruca bit her lip. "It's self-taught."
Ais frowned but refrained from pushing further. "I see. If you have had sufficient rest, then let's continue."
The Pallum nodded. "Yes."
In her mind, Ais was very sure that Liliruca had just lied to her. If she was self-taught, Liliruca wouldn't have such a mismatched fighting style, even if it was through trial and error. It was as if she was used to a strength she didn't have.
They decided to stop after the two killed the monsters on the third floor. When they walked up, the sight of two children with bloody weapons walking without expression must have surprised the ordinary Adventurers because they had so many eyes trailing on them.
"Same time tomorrow?" Ais offered with a smile.
The Pallum looked at her weirdly. "You said you had gone to the fourth floor."
"Yes," Ais nodded. "Why?"
"Aren't I impending your own progress?"
Ais shook her head in denial. "It's more fun delving with you rather than my seniors."
"...Okay."
Ais nodded. "Okay."
And so the two parted ways in the evening.
Three days after she met with Liliruca, Ais was maintaining her sword. She had told Liliruca that she wouldn't go down the Dungeon today because it was her rest day. This was something that Riveria forced on her after seeing how she delved nonstop a few months ago. It wasn't like Riveria was overpampering her; she was just worried about Ais' body development when she tired it too much. Ais accepted the rest day as a way to unwind.
"Ais," Riveria greeted her as she entered her room. "How are you the past week?"
Since Ais wasn't exactly a child, Finn and Riveria agreed to let Ais be free with the occasional weekly report. This was one such thing. So Ais continued sharpening her sword while telling Riveria about her progress for the past week.
"I'm fine. Although my progress is a little halted."
She saw Riveria frown at her admission. "How so?"
"I made a friend, and we formed a party. We are still new, so we help each other a lot." It didn't help that she was still using the weird style. But Ais did not voice that out to Riveria.
"A friend?" Riveria sounded interested. "Is it an adult or..."
"Someone my age," Ais nodded. "I had to dumb down my words so she could understand."
"Whose Familia is she from?"
"Soma Familia."
Riveria made a 'hmm,' "I see. Should I assign someone to watch over the two of you?"
"No need. I go down alone because I don't like being looked on by the seniors. If you assign someone to watch over us, I might as well go without my friend."
Riveria looked into her eyes. "Be careful, Ais. I heard something happened in Soma Familia. I hope your friend isn't affected by whatever that is."
"Hm? Can you elaborate, Riveria?"
"This is hearsay, but Soma Familia came out in droves, going to the Dungeon very recently. Usually, I don't keep up with this kind of news, but Finn made a specific mention about this because it is very suspicious." Finn was dealing with Evilus. If Finn, of all people, mentioned it to Riveria, then there might be some connection to the evil organization.
Ais nodded in understanding. "Shall I gather information from her?"
"...If she doesn't mind. I don't want you to jeopardize your relationship to get information."
"Very well," Ais nodded.
"Still, for Soma Familia to even let someone your age go fight monsters... " Riveria put her hand on her chin and voiced her thoughts. "This reinforces Finn's suspicions about them. I shall let Finn know about this. Thank you, Ais."
"You're welcome," she nodded and continued to the next step, polishing the newly sharpened sword. She wondered if Liliruca's Familia was really involved with Evilus business. However, when she thought about it once more, it seemed suspicious that Liliruca, a six years old Pallum, was going into the Dungeon alone without supervision since her first day. Even Ais had to be accompanied by her seniors for the early months.
Oh well, maybe she will gather information tomorrow.
A/N: Yeah yeah, I'm evil. This the end of Ais' introduction arc. We've established the status quo in Orario right now and even introduced other reincarnators. So I'd like to end this with a bang.