"So…"
Demeter's voice echoed through the room, carrying a weird kind of disbelief.
"Gale came to apologize and ask you some questions, and you were trying to recruit her as combat power, to use her for yourself?"
She paused, her gaze flicking back and forth between Genichi and Ryu.
"But Gale misunderstood, and thought what you wanted was her body?"
Genichi didn't answer.
He simply stared at Demeter, expressionless, his dark eyes utterly still.
Then he slowly turned his head toward Ryu.
Ryu had her head down, her hair hanging low enough to cover her face.
But from the slight shake in her shoulders and the ears that had gone so red they looked ready to bleed, it wasn't hard to guess what she looked like right now.
Genichi finally spoke.
His voice was calm, but it had a clean, merciless clarity that left nowhere to hide.
"One goddess. Three elf kings."
He paused.
"And every last one of you has your head full of dirty thoughts."
Ryu's body jolted.
In that instant, she wanted the floor to split open so she could crawl inside and vanish.
Humiliating.
This was beyond humiliating.
She, Ryu Lion, Astraea Familia's ace. "Gale," the nightmare of Evilus for five straight years. The vengeful wraith in the eyes of countless adventurers—
And she'd done this.
She'd undone her collar when he hadn't meant that at all.
She'd mistaken his terms for that kind of exchange.
She—
Right now, she wanted to rewind time by a few minutes and stab that foolish, overly dramatic version of herself to death.
You could die standing, you could die on your knees, but you could not die of sheer embarrassment.
Not like this.
Not after the misunderstanding was cleared up. Not when he looked at her with those calm, almost cold eyes, and she finally realized how stupid she'd been.
Ryu wanted to disappear.
Forever.
On the other side, Demeter was just as awkward.
When she'd burst in, she'd genuinely thought she was about to do something reckless. She'd even steeled herself to fight the elf if it came to that.
And instead?
It was a colossal misunderstanding.
Genichi had been trying to recruit her as a fighting asset. His mind hadn't gone anywhere near that direction.
And she, Goddess Demeter, had stormed in and shattered the whole mood, and seen things she absolutely shouldn't have seen—
Including her making a complete spectacle of herself under Genichi's blank stare.
So she started whistling.
It came out in broken bursts, the pitch wobbling all over the place. It was painfully obvious she was trying to cover her embarrassment.
Watching her, Genichi's mouth twitched.
But he didn't comment.
He only withdrew his gaze and looked back at Ryu.
"So…"
His voice returned to its usual calm, as if the awkward misunderstanding hadn't happened at all.
"The condition I proposed earlier. Do you accept, or do you refuse?"
Ryu stiffened slightly.
She lifted her head. Shame still lingered in her blue-green eyes, but what rose above it was solemn resolve.
She looked at Genichi and nodded without hesitation.
"I accept."
Genichi watched her. A tiny, nearly imperceptible ripple passed through his dark eyes.
He knew exactly why she'd agreed so quickly.
Not because she'd been exposed and decided to go all-in out of sheer stubbornness. Not because she was acting on impulse.
But because—
She wanted revenge too badly.
For five years, she'd moved alone through the Dungeon's shadows, hunting one Evilus member after another, and still never found the true culprit.
Her hatred was a fire, burning her every day and every night, leaving her unable to sleep, unable to stop, unable to—
Live.
And now someone was telling her that person was still alive.
Now someone was telling her that person could be found.
Now someone was telling her her revenge still had a real target.
For that, she would pay any price.
Genichi understood that feeling.
Because he was the same kind of person.
"Good."
Genichi nodded, then spoke his next words.
"Until I reach Level 5, or at most three years."
He paused.
"Two years."
"When that time comes, I'll tell you where that person is."
"Do you agree?"
Ryu's brows drew together.
She opened her mouth to speak—
Two years?
Level 5?
Why wait that long?
She wanted to know now. She wanted to go now. She wanted to—
"You don't get to say no."
Genichi cut off the words before they could leave her mouth.
His dark eyes held hers, calm and utterly unyielding.
"If I tell you now, what good does it do besides sending you to your death?"
Ryu froze.
"Do you know what kind of monster is by that person's side?"
Genichi's voice remained even, like he was just stating a fact.
"Level 7."
"A Level 7 creature. A 'creature' created by implanting monster stones into an adventurer's body."
He stared straight into her blue-green eyes.
"Ryu Lion. You're Level 4 right now. How many seconds do you think you'd last in front of her?"
Ryu's pupils tightened.
Level 7.
The summit of Orario. A height all adventurers could only look up at from the ground.
She had clawed her way from Level 1 to Level 4 through blood and madness, hunting Evilus.
And that person had a Level 7 at their side.
If what Genichi said was true—
Then going now really would be suicide.
"So," Genichi continued, voice steady.
"I suggest you take a trip to the City of Swords."
Ryu's eyes shifted.
The City of Swords.
An independent city far from Orario, a special territory run by adventurers themselves.
A place filled with people who wanted to escape the gods' games and live freely.
And a place that also had—
"Astraea is there."
Genichi's calm words hit Ryu like a stone dropped into still water.
"Go find her. Have her update your Falna."
He paused.
"Preferably, reach Level 5."
"Otherwise…"
His gaze pinned her in place.
"You don't even have the right to call it revenge."
Ryu fell silent.
A long, long silence.
She lowered her head. Pale-gold strands spilled down, hiding her expression.
But the slight tremble in her shoulders, and the fingers clenched tight around her clothes, betrayed what was raging inside her.
Astraea.
Her goddess. The gentle, righteous one.
The goddess she had served, the goddess whose familia had been destroyed, the goddess she had begged to leave Orario afterward—
The person Ryu wanted to see most, and the person she was most afraid to face.
If she went to Astraea…
What would her goddess think of what she'd become?
Disappointed?
Heartbroken?
Or—
Ryu closed her eyes and drew in a slow breath.
Then she raised her head.
All the struggle and hesitation in her blue-green eyes was gone.
In its place was a firmness she hadn't felt in a long time.
"I understand."
She looked at Genichi and nodded.
"I'll go."
"I'll find Astraea."
"I'll level up."
"And then…"
She hesitated.
"I'll wait for the day you tell me where that person is."
Genichi nodded slightly.
"Good. Then the deal is done."
(End of Chapter)
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