Lv.4...
Lv.3, Lv.3...
Lv.2, Lv.2...
A momentary silence settled over the sitting room of Leon's home.
Hedin and Ottar sat on the sofa. The latter sat bolt upright like a martial artist, back straight and expression solemn; the former crossed his legs, folded his arms, and let his calm gaze sweep over everyone else in the room, quietly assessing this team that had risen out of nowhere.
When they sensed the level auras radiating from these ladies, a barely perceptible surprise crossed both visitors' minds.
This kind of strength, while not yet a match for the all-Lv.3 Astraea Familia, wasn't far off from what the trickster god's Hermes Familia could muster.
And if you factored in Demeter Familia's captain, the Lv.3 Priestess of Desolation, Persephone...
Demeter Familia's power was no longer something to underestimate.
Thinking this, Hedin's mood darkened slightly.
Such a rapid rise... when exactly did these people crawl out of the woodwork? If not for Heith's chance encounter, we'd probably still be in the dark. Or is it that this one keeps a deliberately low profile, and we simply overlooked this force because our attention was always tied up with the other large familias and Evilus?
No matter. In the end they're only Lv.4, not even Lv.5, nowhere near enough to affect the situation.
For lack of concrete intelligence, he couldn't untangle it for now, and they were here on real business, so Hedin didn't dwell on it further.
Besides...
Even if Demeter Familia was on the rise, so what? To Freya Familia, with their current strength, the others were nowhere close to a threat. Sure, like Freya Familia, they were an old faction that had operated in Orario for hundreds of years, but their direction wasn't Dungeon exploration, so there was no direct competition tied to shared interests.
Unless one day they managed to raise a Lv.6 or several Lv.5 adventurers to hold up their banner, only then might it be worth Freya Familia sparing them a real glance.
As for anything below Lv.5? In their eyes, a single Lv.5 or a Lv.1 made no difference. Either way they were opponents Ottar could drop with a single elbow, and however many there were, against absolute level they amounted to ants trying to shake a tree, a mantis trying to stop a cart.
Having reasoned all this through, that composed, everything-under-control smile resurfaced on Hedin's face.
His subtle shifts in expression and gaze were of course caught in full by Leon and the others, who had been observing them in secret.
Connecting it to Hedin's role as Freya Familia's strategist and commander, Leon immediately grasped the rough thinking behind that expression.
And so...
The smile on his face grew a little less professional and a little more genuine, more heartfelt.
Because we don't have a single First-Class Adventurer, Freya Familia doesn't think we're worth their attention at all? Good. Better that they don't.
A meaningful little smile curled at the corner of Leon's mouth.
While Leon and Hedin each schemed away with their own hidden agendas, a wordless tension had already formed between Jeanne and the others and Ottar.
It was a warrior's instinct. The moment they met, Ottar caught the scent of a fighter on these ladies. His gaze passed over Jeanne and Rose in turn, finally settling on Kureha.
The Sword Saint's and the King's lines of sight collided in midair.
A single thought rang out in both their minds almost at once:
A kindred spirit!
Leon noticed this, and the corner of his mouth gave the faintest twitch.
Kureha, that battle junkie, has met her match in Ottar.
Level and strength aside, both of them were combat maniacs by nature, so it was no wonder they sniffed out the scent of a kindred spirit at a single glance.
"In the future, I look forward to a fight with you."
Leaving those words, Ottar closed his eyes and gathered himself, handing the floor back to Hedin. Kureha said little, but her stance was clear.
She gladly, eagerly accepted Ottar's future match request.
"That day will come."
Leon: "..." ...
The little exchange between Kureha and Ottar left the atmosphere between the two sides suddenly awkward.
It was amid that slightly awkward, delicate mood that Aura and Laurier, faces stiff, finished pouring everyone's tea and quietly withdrew to a corner. Leon and Hedin exchanged a glance, and only then did he speak up to break the strange silence.
"Since we're all adventurers, let's keep this simple. I won't beat around the bush."
Hedin liked Leon's get-straight-to-the-point style.
He straightened up a little, pushed up his glasses, and looked Leon dead in the eye.
"Go ahead."
Leon didn't dawdle either, and asked directly.
"If I'm not mistaken, you two honored guests are here about purchasing the Monster Hunter Special, am I right?"
Hedin raised an eyebrow at that, a hint of appreciation in the look he gave Leon.
"Correct. We are indeed here for the Monster Hunter Special."
"We need 300 servings a month. Price is no object, but Freya Familia must have its share of the allocation." The moment Hedin opened his mouth, he floored Leon with a gold-coin offensive.
Forget Leon, even Jeanne and Rose were taken aback, let alone Aura and Laurier, who'd never seen that kind of money. The little elves were just plain dumbfounded.
Leon sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, his eyes instantly going red as his breathing turned ragged.
Three hundred servings a month, just like that. The quantity was double Loki Familia's purchase allocation, and the crucial part was... they hadn't even haggled over the money.
Compared to the penny-pinching Loki Familia, Freya Familia was being damn generous.
Guess you really couldn't expect any less from Orario's richest goddess. Insane, just insane. A deal worth tens of millions, handled like buying a grilled sausage off a street stall.
Once he'd recovered, a one-hundred-percent sincere smile broke across Leon's face, and even the strong-one's aura the two of them gave off now felt like a gentle breeze against his cheek.
"Three hundred servings, got it. No problem. The Monster Hunter Special goes for the same price everywhere, 100,000 per serving, so 300 a month comes to 30 million."
Hedin frowned, somewhat displeased.
"100,000 per serving? Only 30 million a month? As its inventor and chef, surely you're aware of what the Monster Hunter Special means to First-Class Adventurers, especially those of us who've been stuck at a bottleneck for years without budging an inch?"
"Our Great Feat is worth a mere 100,000?"
"You look down on Freya Familia?"