Leaving Tsuna's room, Aki and Alicia quietly walked down the corridor.
"Alicia, don't you think it's such a pity about Raul?"
Aki glanced at the ring on her right middle finger, feeling a pang of regret for Raul, who had failed to keep up.
"Raul always wanted to gain the talent for magic. He worked so hard for it. But now that he finally had a chance to obtain power similar to magic, he let that chance slip away."
"Have you forgotten about how Raul misused the Familia's funds before?"
Alicia hadn't forgotten. Her tone carried a sharp reminder.
"If Lady Loki hadn't been merciful last time, do you think Raul would still have a place in the Familia?"
"…"
Aki couldn't refute that—it was true.
The only reason Raul hadn't been expelled was because Loki had chosen leniency.
As punishment, he'd been made to take on the burden of plugging an information leak—essentially, to assume responsibility for the funds he had misused.
That punishment had even brought him an unexpected "reward."
At least, a beautiful elf with an alluring figure had become the best compensation for his mistake.
He'd fulfilled Loki's punishment for the misuse of funds—and at the same time, settled a personal matter of his own.
For Raul, it wasn't entirely a bad outcome.
But after getting that elf, Raul had become too obsessed with her. In less than three months, he'd already planted his seed in her womb.
"Couldn't Raul just tell Lady Loki about the child?"
"Obviously, that's impossible. Even if Lady Loki has compassion for us, asking her to confront Lady Ishtar to take that elf away? That's out of the question. Raul knows that too."
"Really? There's no way at all?"
"Don't tell me you plan to ask Lady Loki to help him yourself?"
Alicia looked unimpressed by Aki's sympathetic expression.
"Aki, you should think this through. Raul still hasn't gathered the money to buy that elf's freedom. The ransom price was deliberately set high by Lady Ishtar—but facts are facts. He hasn't paid it. When Raul learned the elf was pregnant, what would you have done?"
"What else? Of course I'd work hard to earn enough to buy her freedom. We can't let her stay a prostitute forever."
Aki answered immediately, and Alicia nodded.
"Exactly. But Raul already spent everything he had trying to free her—and even bought a house for her outside. Do you really think he still has the money for another ransom?"
Alicia's words made Aki freeze.
"Then… wait."
A thought struck her—something that made sense of Lady Loki's silence.
"Raul must've touched the Familia's funds again, didn't he?"
With almost no personal money left, and hiding the pregnancy of Liz the elf, Raul could only mean one thing—he planned to handle her ransom in his own way.
And that left him with just two options:
Either sell his most valuable weapon… or once again embezzle Familia funds.
But no matter which he chose, Raul had already lost all trust.
"Lady Loki must be furious. Doing the same thing twice… that's the worst decision he could've made."
"…Yeah."
No matter how much Aki tried to justify him, there was no way to clear Raul's name.
There were only two ways to raise ransom money that quickly.
Oh, maybe a third—selling Familia intelligence.
But Aki didn't believe Raul would ever stoop that low. Doing so would mean betraying Loki completely, and he'd be expelled without a doubt. Even Liz, pregnant and all, would be dragged down with him.
That choice was nothing short of suicide—and Raul would never choose that.
"Aki, you don't need to worry too much. The fact that Lady Loki hasn't kicked him out means she's decided not to act—for now. But given Raul's current state, he'll probably drift away from the Familia's core soon enough."
Alicia didn't want Aki to dwell on Raul anymore—it wouldn't help. His fate was already sealed.
Raul's heart was no longer with the Familia. It was with Liz and their child. Even his act of misusing funds again proved that. His focus had shifted entirely away from improving himself. Within the Familia, that was no different from giving up.
Alicia raised her hand, gazing at the ring on her finger. A purple flame symbolizing "Cloud" flickered to life.
"The Joint Expedition is about to begin. We don't have much time left to adapt to this power. Aki, you'll train with us too, right?"
Aki took a deep breath, calming herself and setting aside her worries for Raul.
"Of course."
Now that she'd let go of those thoughts, she could finally focus on herself.
The power she'd gained—something akin to magic—was precious beyond words.
As an Adventurer with neither magic nor skills, she cherished every opportunity to move forward. Raul's determination had always been her greatest source of inspiration—that was why she'd cared so much about him.
But even though her role model had fallen behind, that didn't mean she would stop walking. If the one she admired could no longer lead the way, then she would become the one to stand at the front.
She glanced again at the ring on her finger.
A power she'd never possessed before… had now become part of her. What better opportunity could there be? Aki believed this was a turning point in her life.
As for Raul—she believed he would simply fade from the Familia's inner circle. As long as Loki spared him, he'd still be fine.
"Still, I didn't expect it'd be Bete who recommended us to Tsuna."
"Hard to imagine, isn't it? But we really should thank Bete later. Without him, we wouldn't have had this chance."