The sound of water hitting the ground intensifies as the rain becomes heavier. A single figure could be seen walking down the path toward the Loki Familia's manor. That person is wearing a cloak that conceals most of his body and his face. He was mumbling something as he walked. "…..acid …mercury …no ….cyanide?" As the rain grew stronger, the figure's mumble was silenced by the sound of water hitting the ground. The figure continues to walk toward the mansion.
When he was a couple steps away from the gate, two guards appeared out of their booth, crossed their spear and blocked his path. The two guards pushed the figure away and one said in a stern voice.
"Move away buddy. We aren't dumb enough to let someone like you enter." The guard pointed the tip of the spear at the figure. "Turn around and walk away."
"Wait…" The other guard put her hand on the guard's shoulder. "Why are you here? And what familia are you from?"
The figure seems to not consider the guard spear as a threat as his body didn't tense up nor did he make any move indicating he wanted to go away. The figure reaches somewhere inside his cloak and brings out a letter. He handed the letter to the guard.
The guard shields the letter from the rain as she reads the letter. The guard immediately recognized the handwriting and the sign at the bottom of the letter.
"This….is from Captain Finn." The guard handed the letter to the other guard so that she could inspect it as well.
"….who are you?" The other guard who was pointing her spear at the figure tried to move the cloak away from the figure head, but her hand was quickly caught by the figure before it could touch the cloak.
"…don't." The figure threw the hand away and walked past the guards.
Both guards quickly recover from the shock and follow behind the figure. They were walking a couple inches away from the figure while keeping their eyes on the figure.
The figure could clearly see both guards following him but decide that it wasn't worth the effort to shoo them away. He walked through the garden and into the mansion. As usual, The Loki's familia mansion was full of activity.
Didn't they just finish an exploration? The figure wonders where the members of The Loki Familia got their unending stamina from as he walks through the crowd. He never attended an exploration himself but if he had to guess, he would probably be extremely tired after one.
A figure that wore a wet cloak couldn't be more out of place and catch so much attention even in a crowded place like the Loki's Familia mansion. With the wet cloak and the two guards walking behind him, there's almost no way that he could walk unnoticed even in a mansion full of busy people. Everybody clearly has a big question mark above their head but looking at the two people who were supposed to be their guards following the figure only reassure them that whoever this person is, he is someone important.
The figure climbs all the stairs up to the top floor where Finn was currently in. While he walked, he passed a couple of noticeable faces, like a gloomy sword princess, a knockout Vanargand, a worried thousand elf, the cheerful amazoness sisters and a tired looking Nine hell.
The figure walked up to Finn's office. As he was about to knock on the door, the two guards immediately held his hand, preventing him from knocking the door.
One of the guards said. "Wait here. I will inform the Captain."
The guard knocks on the door and walks in after Finn gives her the permission and after a few minutes, that same guard comes out and tells the figure to come in.
"Here he is, captain." The guard presented the figure to her captain.
"Thank you, you can leave him to me now." Finn said in a calming voice. Finn was sitting behind an office desk and sitting in front of him is the dwarf that is famous by the alias of Elgarm.
Both of the guards nodded their heads and said their goodbye to their captain before leaving the room.
"Didn't know ya will have guests this late?" Gareth said while eyeing the cloaked figure. "Mind if I stay?"
Finn didn't answer his friend's request, instead he eyed the figure and waited for his answer.
"Fine." The figure said. The figure opened the cloak that was closing his face and revealed his face. He was Zhul. "As long as my identity doesn't go around the public, I am okay with that."
Gareth rubs his beard as he judges Zhul. "May I know why are ye here?"
"Your captain understands my reason." Zhul said as he ransacked something inside his cloak. He brings out a bottle filled with green liquid. "I know that this is not what you saw but I couldn't go further just with a magic stone for a source of information."
Finn takes the bottle from Zhul and inspect it for himself. The liquid is thick, it moves slowly when Finn tilts the bottle. Finn then gives the bottle to Gareth. "Could you see how close this is compared to the poison from the new species?"
"…" Gareth takes the bottle and opens the cap. He splashes a little bit of the liquid to his bare skin. Thin white smoke emerged from the little bit of liquid before it got absorbed and left a light burn mark. "By the look and feel of it, pretty close."
"That was fast. Too fast actually." Finn said.
"Experience is very useful. After doing this kind of thing for years, I'll be some kind of a joke if I can't do this much in a short amount of time." Zhul brings out a stack of paper and places it on Finn's desk. That paper was filled with tons of information that was handwritten by Zhul himself. "Here is the raw data."
Finn picks up the paper and scans through it a little. "This much information… I knew I could put my trust in you." He put the paper back down and opened the desk cabinet. He pulled out a small chest and gave it to Zhul. "Thank you as always. Here's the payment."
Zhul opens the chest and reveals a small black metal cube. It was the strongest metal that a man could procure, Adamantite. "I assume that this is the highest quality that you could get." Zhul closed the chest and tucked it inside his cloak.
"Yes and I appreciate your efforts. This should make things easier for us."
"Our goal aligns and it was one of the things I could do to help with the exploration."
"Our goal aligns?" Gareth asks with a stern voice. "What happens when our goal doesn't align?"
"Depends on the severity." Zhul answered without a single hesitation. He knows who they're. One of the strongest familia out there so he knows that killing them isn't an option with his current condition. "I am not from your familia nor do I have the obligation to serve you. This is a transaction between a seller and a buyer. Nothing more."
"Hoooooooooo, we have someone interesting in here, eh?" A high, loud woman's voice rings from the door behind Zhul. There standing, Loki and Riveria walking inside the room and closing the door behind them. "Who do we have here?" Loki asks in a pressuring voice. Her slit eyes open up a little bit, showing her red pupils piercing through Zhul like a needle through a paper.
Responding to the pressure emitted by Loki, Zhul pulled out three knives and held them between his fingers. Clearly ready to attack. Riveria walk forward and in the way between Zhul and Loki, defending her goddess from a possible threat. Gareth stands up and ready himself, in case things went wrong and he needed to move fast. The atmosphere is heavy and it looks like things will go down even with a tiny little movement.
"Calm down, all of you." Finn said as he stood up. Finn's commanding voice manages to calm his familia members. "Zhul, please calm down. It won't be beneficial for both of us if my familia members are openly hostile towards you."
Zhul relaxes his body a little but still holds on to his knives. "Finn, you know I am a neutral force right? I am not supporting Loki's Familia nor I am supporting Freya's Familia."
"Yer alias is True Neutral, amirite?" Loki asks even though she knows the answer to her own question. "Hermes's child that works in a small group with little to no connection to Hermes's main Familia, It's you?"
"I have no obligation to answer that." Zhul answers in a calm voice, unintimidated by the three strongest adventurers and their goddess in the room with him. "I am here purely for business, I am not interested in making new acquaintances."
"Finn, can you pass me the paper?" Loki reaches out her hand and take the paper from Finn. She scans the bundle of paper before giving it to Riveria. "Riveria, could you see this and cross check it with your experience with the new species?"
Riveria take the paper and scan it very thoroughly. Her eyes widen as she continues digging deeper into the information. "….almost perfect. We don't know much of the new species so I can't tell how accurate this is, but reading the first page, it seems to be correct. There seem to be a bunch of new information that we need to validate and digest thoroughly before making a call if it is right or wrong."
"Loki, here." Gareth gives Loki the bottle. "The liquid inside the bottle is almost the same as the acid from the new species."
"How do you know all of this?" Loki asks while checking the content of the bottle. "Are you-"
"I give him the magic stone from the new species." Finn interrupted his goddess's question. It doesn't take a genius to deduce that Loki is suspicious of Zhul. "We need all the help we can get if we want to advance. There is so much a single Familia could do alone."
"Finn…." Riveria said in a small voice almost like a hush. But to give the new species's magic stone to an outsider is…
"You right Finn." Loki said in her usual cheerful voice. The heavy atmosphere suddenly changes in a snap. "I just want to know how he got this information. Don't want a spy in my mansion and it's my job to guide you as your goddess, have been doing good up till this point and don't want to start slacking off any time soon."
Zhul tucked his knives back into his cloak. "You have nothing to worry about. I'll warn you if you start going off the road before doing the deeds. Like my alias, I will always be neutral."
"You said that you are neutral right?" Loki asks. "Have you done any kind of job for Freya?"
"Of course I have. Couldn't tell you the details just like I couldn't tell the details of my job right now to Freya." Zhul answers Loki's question.
"Can I ask ye to accompany my children on the day of expedition?"
"Loki…" Riveria couldn't believe her ears when she heard Loki say that.
"….what in it for me and for you?" Zhul closes one of his eyes and starts thinking inside his head. "…..you do realize that there is a huge gap of strength between your familia and my small group right? Joining this expedition is more than a simple gamble for us."
"I know how all of you got to level 2 you know? Hermes asked me a favor." Loki smiled deviously. "I thought he was joking or rumors got to him, but looking at you right now is like a slap for my past self."
"What do you mean, Loki?" All of the Loki's Familia executives in the room have the same question.
"I see….but I need to decline the offer as there are a couple of pressing matters that need to be taken care of." Zhul said. He then brings his right hand to his ear. "In a sign of good will, I'll give you some advice. Bring a familia that could repair your equipment in the dungeon and watch out for the new species, they aren't perfect."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Gareth asks.
"I am sorry, I phrase that wrong. What I mean is that they aren't perfect yet. Their magic stone isn't complete like normal monsters." Zhul pointed at the bundle of paper in Riveria's hand and told her to open the last page. In there, two drawings of magic stones exist, one from a normal monster and the other from the new species. "I don't know if you broke them or that is how you found them, but the magic stone isn't complete. It's as if their reason for existing is as food or….."
"Or?" Riveria couldn't hold herself. She is certainly sure that the magic stone in the paper is the same as the magic stone they collected in the deep floor.
"I want to say that they have some sort of 'next form' like caterpillars, but I've never seen a transforming monster before." Zhul places down his hand, he then walks to the window behind Finn. "If you want more information. Bring me a live specimen or something that I could observe." Zhul opens the window and immediately, strong wind and rain start rushing in. "Until then, goodbye." Zhul jumps out the window.
"Wait! This is the top floor!" Riveria runs to the window and look down. She didn't see a boy falling to his death, instead she sees a boy gliding away using his cloak as a glider.
"Kids these days… Sigh..." Gareth rubs his beard and shakes his head.
"Well, I guess we are crazy when we are young." Finn said as an answer to his friend's statement.
"I ain't remember any of us jumpin' out the top floor like the lad." Gareth said and laughed. "Unless, I am the only one and ye guys did it in secret."
"Loki, who is he? Why are you fussing about him leveling up?" Riveria ask after she close the window. "And Finn, Loki's said that he works with a small group, do you know his group or you only know him?"
"Well, it dates back to when we were fighting Evilus. A strange rumor spread, the content is that Hermes got tricked by a new member of his Familia, giving the member full autonomy to govern himself and his group while standing under Hermes's banner." Loki said casually. She reaches up one of the bookshelves and pulls out a bottle of wine. "At first I thought that was a joke because I know Hermes isn't that stupid and he doesn't seem to be in any kind of bad mood, so I brush off the rumor like normal but it looks like I was wrong."
"God Hermes got tricked? " Gareth said in disbelief. Hermes is known for being smart and resourceful so for that slippery and sly god got tricked by a mortal is entirely unheard of.
"I knew right? But looking at the guy in person, I think some of the rumors were true." Loki glugged the wine straight from the bottle. "I think he wasn't tricked, but made an agreement. And do you want to know how he levels up?"
"Does this have to do with the destruction of Evilus?" Finn asks.
"It has a connection to that. You know that Evilus needs supplies and they have connection with strong familias outside of Orario." Loki stops and looks at his children. "Well, when we were discussing what to do about them, Hermes said that he would take the job and the next thing you know, three Familias got erased from the face of this world."
Finn's eyes widened and he said under his breath. "The three lights we saw that day, don't tell me…"
"Yes, Hermes was super happy that day. You should have seen his face, it was gross. He asked me a favor about giving his children an alias and keeping it a secret how they leveled up." Loki drank the rest of the wine and continued. "He said that his new members manage to completely eliminate those three Familias alone. I couldn't believe him but my eyes said that he wasn't lying. At the time, I thought that my eyes went blind or broke. Guess I should believe in my eyes."
"Eliminate three strong Familias when they were level one, who are them?" Gareth asked, he couldn't lie that it caught his interest.
"'True Neutral' Zhul, 'Undying Ember' Sutr, 'Unmovable' Briar, 'The Abyss' Tez, 'Unstoppable' Pern, 'Bullseye' Aol, 'The Apprentice' Koth, 'Invisible' Lug, and 'Life Giver' Han." Finn answers Gareth's question. "Each and one of them is special. I had some training with Sutr and I have to say, I have a hard time fighting someone in level 2."
"Hmmm, how come?"
"His alias is appropriate. Not backing up and the longer the fight, the harder it is to put 'the fire' down just like a wildfire and good luck trying to finish the fight in a few seconds. Hahaha… That guy is definitely not normal." Finn said while reminiscing about the fight. "I really need to put in the effort to end the fight. The way he fights, he definitely has mastered the way to fight someone with a higher level than him and after listening to Loki's story, I know why."
"And the 'True Neutral' is able to produce a strong acid and gather information just by a magic stone." Loki spins the bottle of acid in her hand. The tips of her lip curve upward, forming a wicked smile. "I don't know about you guys, but it seems we have a black horse in our hands. Maybe it's a good idea to put an eye on them." Loki couldn't help herself, this and a new species, entertainment that she has been waiting for is finally here and she got the ticket for front row seat. "Things keep getting interesting."