"Tiona, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Argana scrambled to her feet and roared at Tiona.
"Shut up! I'm not letting you steal Ryoji away!"
"Hm?" Argana froze for a moment before realization dawned on her. "Hahaha! So that's what this is! With a figure that flat, you seriously think you can keep a man by your side? Give it up. Anyone can see we're far more attractive to men than you are!"
"Shut uuuup!!" Tiona looked ready to cry tears of blood. "No! I absolutely won't let that happen! I haven't even won him over yet! It has to be him for my first time!"
"...What?"
"Don't tell me you've been away from home for ten years and you're still a virgin?"
"None of your business!"
"Ha! You're a disgrace to all Amazons!" Argana burst into laughter.
Even Bache's lips twitched.
Among Amazons, "open-minded" was putting it kindly. More bluntly, they were a race with very few reservations. The entire culture took pride in their experience with men, boasting about the quality of the males they had claimed.
Aside from girls who had only recently been born, it was almost impossible to find a virgin Amazon. Compared to that, Tiona and Tione, who were still virgins, were practically heretics.
Faced with Tiona's frenzied assault, Argana had no intention of holding back. She raised her slender arm, ready to throw a punch. As sisters and lifelong rivals, she and Bache knew each other's fighting styles inside and out. Naturally, she could also see straight through Tiona's attack pattern.
Tiona wasn't a match for her.
But just as Argana was about to strike, a flash of light suddenly crossed her vision. Her expression changed instantly. Without hesitation, she abandoned Tiona and leaped backward more than a dozen steps.
"I said stop." Ryoji's face was icy cold.
Inside, however, he was crying tears of blood. Damn it! There goes my chance to pick any Amazon onee-san I wanted!
"She's the one who attacked first!" Argana protested indignantly.
"I know."
"Then why are you cutting at me instead of stopping her?"
"I'm taking her side."
"So what?"
"You...!" Argana was left speechless with rage.
Ryoji looked completely matter-of-fact, as if there were nothing strange about what he'd done. Are you kidding me? If I don't back up my own people, am I supposed to back you instead? Who said I came here to play fair?
"Hahaha! Interesting! Kid, you're far too interesting!" The Goddess Kali laughed heartily. "I'm becoming more and more interested in you. I'd love to knock you out and take you home so I could savor you properly! Unfortunately, today isn't the day. Argana. Bache. It's about time we left."
"Lady Kali?"
"A force is heading this way. As expected of Orario, they reacted quickly."
"Understood." Argana clicked her tongue in disappointment. Reluctantly tearing her gaze away from Ryoji, she walked over, lifted Kali onto her shoulders, and carried her. Beside her, Bache picked up her severed arm from the ground.
"Kid, Argana's offer still stands. Think it over carefully," Kali added. "I hope that the next time we meet, I'll hear the answer I want from you."
After leaving behind that incredibly tempting proposal, Kali lightly patted Argana on the head. The three of them burst forward like twin gusts of wind, forcing their way through the crowd and sprinting toward the distant Tower of Babel.
Once they decided to leave, they left immediately. No hesitation, no lingering. Their movements were swift, clean, and decisive, like soldiers drilled to perfection.
"Don't run!" Tiona shouted, about to chase after them.
"Forget it. Check on Tione first." Ryoji's words finally brought her back to her senses.
The two of them hurried into the wrecked shop and found Tione buried among the debris. The blow had landed squarely in the middle of her back, knocking her unconscious for the moment. Fortunately, with Airmid there, it wasn't a serious problem.
"What happened here?"
Not long afterward, a patrol unit in standard armor arrived at the scene. Surrounded by curious adventurers, they pieced together what had happened from the crowd's overlapping accounts. Hidden among the onlookers, the chestnut-haired Pallum girl stared at the Dian Cecht Familia for a long while before quietly slipping away.
"I didn't expect you three to cause such a huge incident right after returning from the expedition."
At the top of the northern tower of Twilight Manor, the moon hung high in the night sky, while the city below was brightly lit. The Loki Familia's executives had all gathered in Finn's office, including the three people at the center of today's trouble, Ryoji, Tiona, and Tione.
"A street brawl that nearly dragged innocent bystanders into it... When the city guards notified me, I could hardly believe it. The three of you aren't the type to lose sight of the bigger picture," Finn rubbed his aching forehead as he sighed. "Thanks to that, tonight's victory celebration has been canceled."
"Captain, this was all my fault. If someone has to be punished, punish me." Tione stepped forward and voluntarily accepted responsibility. Her expression had already returned to normal. The savage bloodlust she'd shown earlier during the day was nowhere to be seen, as though it had all been an illusion.
"Unfortunately, none of this was your fault," Finn spread his hands, a smile returning to his face. "The Guild has already explained the whole incident to me. The other side attacked first, didn't they? The Loki Familia isn't the kind of Familia that gets hit and refuses to hit back."
That applied even if the opponent was the Freya Familia. That was Finn's stance. No wonder he was so respected; he never made decisions that disappointed his people.
Tione silently stepped back into line. Ryoji glanced at her, then at Tiona. The two of them looked calm again, but they probably weren't as composed inside as they appeared... Well, Tiona might actually be fine. She was simple enough that she probably wasn't overthinking it.
"What concerns me is why the Kali Familia showed up in Orario at this particular time," Finn bit his thumb, his expression unusually grave.
"Finn, did the Kali Familia enter through the proper procedures?" Leaning against a bookshelf, Loki raised a hand.
"No. That's one of the biggest problems." Finn shook his head, his brows knitting tightly together. "According to the Guild, the Goddess Kali and her two top warriors, Argana and Bache, have no official record of entering the city."
Any outside Familia that wished to enter Orario had to undergo strict inspections. The Guild managed Orario with extreme caution, never allowing outside forces to threaten the city's peace. If a god wanted to enter Orario, they would normally be investigated for several days. A major power like the Kali Familia would never have been permitted inside in the first place; the Guild would have stopped them outside the city without hesitation.
"So... they were smuggled in?" Riveria said thoughtfully.
"Exactly," Finn nodded, his expression growing even more serious. "Which means they have someone inside the city helping them. We don't know which faction is secretly assisting them, but someone deliberately smuggled the Kali Familia into Orario. And more importantly... the timing." His voice grew heavier. "I can't help but connect their arrival with Evilus."
(End of Chapter)
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