On the other side, after escorting the remnants of the Evilus, the Loki Familia raised their banners and returned to their base—Twilight Manor.
As everyone returned, a certain red-haired lecher who had been gazing at the horizon from the third floor suddenly had an episode.
She dashed from the third floor to the first at breakneck speed, sprinting toward the returning team—or more accurately, locking onto Ais among them.
"Ais-tan!"
With a lecherous expression, Loki pounced like a big bad wolf targeting a little white rabbit.
"Let me touch you!"
Her perverted hands shot out.
Seeing their goddess in such a state, everyone wore helpless expressions and stepped aside.
Female members like Alicia and Aki especially quickly dodged to the side, fearing that if Loki failed to assault Ais, she would turn her attention to them.
Whoosh!
Loki's tiger pounce missed.
Ais had long been prepared and avoided her god's harassment with a slight shift.
However, Loki grinned mischievously.
"Hehehe, Ais-tan, you're still too young."
That she would dodge was already within Loki's calculations.
Knowing she couldn't catch Ais, Loki had decided from the start to feign an attack, pretend to fail, and then fall with the momentum.
This way, as soon as she looked up, the glorious view under Ais's skirt would greet her eyes!
"..."
"Huh?"
Loki froze, as if witnessing some incomprehensible phenomenon.
Why?
Why was she seeing the hem of the skirt from this angle instead of what was underneath?
'Strange.'
She had specially chosen this ultra-short skirt for Ais—she knew exactly how short it was.
From a sixty-degree upward angle, it should have been a clear view.
"Eh? What's going on?!"
Frustrated, Loki reached out to lift Ais's skirt, but Ais nimbly avoided it and incidentally smacked Loki in the face with the scabbard of her sword.
"Ouch!"
"That hurts!"
Ais expressionlessly walked into the base, ignoring Loki.
Loki clutched her face in pain while muttering, "It really is strange!"
The movement just now wasn't small, so why—why was the skirt's sway so unnatural?
Had some magic been cast on that skirt?
At that moment, Riveria walked over, blocking Loki's path while looking down at her with a gaze reserved for trash.
Loki, stared at with such disdain eyes felt itchy all over.
"Ah—Mama, don't look at me like I'm a bug! This... it's addictive!"
The female adventurers around shuddered, all showing expressions of disgust.
Riveria glanced back at the short skirt of Ais, who was heading into the base and marveled.
"It's actually true. She really managed it."
Seeing Riveria muttering to herself, Loki instantly realized that Ais's skirt had indeed been tampered with.
She loudly demanded, "Riveria! You did something to Ais's skirt, didn't you?!"
Riveria glanced at her, then without a word, turned and entered the base, leaving Loki stomping her feet in anger.
Seeing that Riveria ignored her, Loki didn't give up and started questioning others.
"Aki! Do you know what's going on?!"
"Eh, ah, I-I don't know, nya."
The cat girl avoided eye contact, sweating nervously.
Seeing her clumsy lying reaction, Loki immediately sprang into action, hugging the cat girl tightly.
She started groping her all over.
"Stop lying! Your lies are way too obvious—you never normally say 'nya'! Out with it! Not talking, huh? Heheh, have some of this!"
"W-wait, stop it, you idiot!"
Aki was thoroughly roughed up by Loki, her face flushed and breath coming in ragged gasps.
Humiliated, she relented, "Alright, I get it! I'll talk, okay?!"
Loki wore a pleased expression, grinning mischievously as she demanded.
"Tell me, what's really going on?!"
"Well, it's Noah—I mean, the Hephaestus Familia's Artisan Spirit—he enchanted Ais's clothes with a magical effect."
Loki fell silent for a few seconds.
Then she let out an exaggerated, "HUH?????"
"So it really is magic?!"
"What the hell? Artisan Spirit... that kid named Noah, right? The one who broke our Ais-tan record? That little monster?"
"Yeah."
"And? What do you mean by 'magical effect'?"
"It seems he added a concealment spell that affects perception. The effect makes people think they can see something, but they absolutely can't. It's really good at protecting a girl's privacy."
Aki said with a hint of envy.
Truth be told, she wanted gear with that kind of effect too.
Otherwise, during battles, she always had to be careful to avoid wardrobe malfunctions, which distracted her to some extent.
Plus, as a cat person, her body structure made her even more in need of such privacy-protecting equipment than humans.
"Pfft!"
Loki spat out a mouthful of imaginary blood.
'Think you can see it, but absolutely can't?'
'Magic gear for protecting privacy?'
'Damn it!!'
"What the hell is that brat thinking?! Making something so utterly pointless! Does he have some kind of grudge against me?! Just you wait—I'll get my hands on you, Artisan Spirit!!"
"Actually, I think this invention is pretty great."
Aki muttered under her breath, not daring to speak up.
Meanwhile, Loki jumped to her feet.
"No! I declare this the worst invention of the century—no, of all civilization! Nothing else even comes close!"
Seeing Loki still carrying on, Riveria's tone turned stern as she scolded her.
"Enough, Loki! The Familia members are waiting for you. Stop fooling around and get inside now!"
"Don't any of you realize how serious this is?!" Loki cried out in despair. "If this keeps up, the romance of being a gentleman will disappear someday!"
"O roaring winds, bear unto me the pale frost of the end, and the setting sun of twilight—"
"Eek!!!!"
Seeing Riveria's dark expression as she began chanting, Loki panicked.
She shrank back, "Fine, I get it... Don't yell at me. You're scaring me, Mama."
"Who's your mama?!"
...
Halfway through the meeting.
Finn sorted through the intel in hand and marveled, "The Artisan Spirit abilities are truly as impressive as you say. To think he enabled Raul and Aki to defeat a Level 4 upper-tier Evilus executive without a scratch."
"Not to mention nearly destroying the Evilus remnant's base in one strike and incapacitating over half their forces. Just reading the report, it's hard to believe a Level 2 could accomplish all this."
Riveria said gravely, "Finn, I witnessed it all myself. There are still uncertain aspects, so I believe our current description doesn't fully capture the extent of his abilities."
As for what kind of skills that boy possessed, she still couldn't quite wrap her head around it.
In her view, the boy was the all-around type—his abilities couldn't be simply evaluated by level alone.
His capabilities had already reached strategic significance.
One of the Three Executives, the dwarf Gareth exclaimed in surprise.
"To make a proud elf like you praise someone to this extent, that boy Noah must be truly extraordinary."
As an old friend of Riveria, the dwarf knew exactly how high this proud elf's standards were.
There were very few juniors who could earn her admiration.
Although the newcomers who recently joined the Familia were quite good, he had never seen her pay this much attention to any of them.
Finn pondered.
"Artisan Spirit, with an ability like that—if properly utilized, our expeditions might advance even further."
"Tch, is it really that exaggerated? In the end, he's just a Level 2 weakling, isn't he?"
A somewhat unruly voice suddenly interrupted.
Hearing his remark, Ais turned her gaze toward him.
"Bete, Noah is strong."
"Urgh." The werewolf found himself at a loss for words when even Ais spoke up.
"To have both Riveria and Ais acknowledge him like this, it seems Noah is truly remarkable!"
"Well, he must have some skills."
The two speakers looked very similar.
From their attire and skin tone, it was easy to tell they were Amazons and were actually twin sisters.
"Stupid Amazons," the werewolf muttered.
"Hah? Who are you calling stupid, Bete? I'll kill you!"
"My, my, these newcomers are really lively. Young people are always like this, too full of energy—it's making me feel old." Gareth shook his head.
"Alright, enough sighing. Hurry and stop them, the meeting is only halfway through."
...
The next morning.
Noah and Tsubaki arrived at the Guild together.
At the same time, members of the Loki Familia also arrived.
"Tsubaki, you're here quite early."
The golden-haired pallum male at the front greeted them.
Noah turned to look and saw what appeared to be a human boy, though his actual age was that of a grown man—an eternal youth leading the Loki Familia members as they approached.
No identification was needed—everyone in Orario would recognize this person.
Finn Deimne.
Level 6 Adventurer, bearing the title "Brave."
The captain of one of Orario's two major powers, the Loki Familia.
"Hey, Finn, long time no see. Did you dump the leadership duties on Riveria again to go search for your other half?"
"Don't tease me, Tsubaki. That's a matter of utmost importance to me."
Finn spread his hands, expressing his helplessness.
Noah, standing nearby, noticed that although the other was greeting Tsubaki, his attention had been firmly locked on him the entire time.
"So.. you must be the Artisan Spirit i heard about."
Finn smiled as he stepped forward, extending his hand.