Tsubaki's eyes went wide, her expression twisting, the corner of her mouth twitching like mad.
Then she caught sight of Laurier beside her, that face fighting hard to hold back a laugh, and there was no way Tsubaki didn't get it... Leon was standing here showing off in front of her!
As the old saying goes: wealth without returning home is like walking in fine robes by night!
Leon didn't have many people he was close with, and Tsubaki was one of them. Having just taken down the Monster Rex of Floor 27, if he didn't show off properly in front of someone he knew, then wouldn't killing that twin-headed dragon have been a waste?
"You little..."
Noticing the wild upward curl of Leon's mouth, Tsubaki gave him a punch in mild exasperation.
"Fine, so you just go and kill a Lv.6 Amphisbaena like it's nothing. So with this trip done, you're probably about to level up again, huh? Tsk... how long has it even been since you hit Lv.3? And you're already nearly catching up to..."
Before she could finish, Tsubaki abruptly realized something she'd been overlooking this whole time...
The two of them were standing so close, Leon and the others hadn't deliberately suppressed their aura, and then there was the physical strength that punch had just fed back to her...
Tsubaki slowly let her mouth fall open, eyes going round, her whole face questioning everything she knew about life.
"Hold on..."
"Something's off. Something's very off!"
"This body strength of yours, and this aura..."
"Lv.4?????"
Tsubaki's mind went blank, her gaze hollow as she staggered back several stumbling steps, trembling index finger pointed at Leon, lips quivering but unable to make a sound. In the face of this reality that overturned everything she knew, she lost the ability to think entirely.
"Heh heh!"
"No way, absolutely no way!"
The last time they'd met Leon had only just hit Lv.3, and now, only a few days later, the guy was already Lv.4, and his condition didn't look like someone who'd just leveled up either. If anything, the feeling he gave her was rock solid, like a veteran who'd been sitting at Lv.4 for years.
For Tsubaki, herself also a Lv.4, this landed as an incomparable critical hit.
"Leon!!"
"Look at my eyes!"
"Tell me! This is fake, right?"
"Answer me!"
Tsubaki let out a despairing "scream"!
To which Leon cocked the corner of his mouth and spread his hands in a sheepish shrug.
"Sorry to say, but it's the real deal."
"..."
...
An hour later.
Having finally pulled herself together, Tsubaki tossed a Goblin Bank check onto the tea table with a blank face, then waved Leon and the others off.
"Take my money and leave my materials."
"And get out of my sight, fast! I don't want to look at you right now!"
"?"
"Every time I look at you, it makes me feel like a piece of garbage."
"Sorry about that!"
A vein bulged at Tsubaki's temple.
Leon pinched the check, feeling the distinctive seal embossed on it, then planted a kiss on the figure written there, "65,000,000 Orario standard gold coins (unit: Valis)," and rose to his feet, thoroughly pleased with himself.
"We're off, Tsubaki. Oh... right, our equipment?"
Tsubaki sat with her legs crossed, head down, toying with that blood-crystal-like dragon liver, and answered without looking up.
"Come back in a month."
A month?
Leon's mouth twitched.
"Huh? That's not right. Why so long? I remember... didn't a custom piece used to only take a few days?"
Hearing Leon's confusion, Tsubaki lifted her head with a cold smile and shot back in exasperation.
"Then let me ask you."
"You do realize that's one piece of equipment, right?" "So let me ask you!"
"You go ahead and count up how many pieces of equipment you ordered this time. I'm not some Magic-powered packmule. Main weapons, sidearms, armor, and that's not even counting the staves for your two Mages. Everyone's full sets added together comes to seventeen pieces, and that's only because I, a Lv.4, am forging them for you personally. Go find any other smith besides me and see how that goes!"
Sensing just how unstable Tsubaki's mood was right now, Leon gave a sheepish little laugh.
"So, we'll be off, then?"
"Get lost!"
"You got it!"
...
The moment they left Tsubaki's workshop, that grinning, playful look on Leon's face vanished. The speed of the change drew exasperated stares from the ladies waiting outside.
The group trudged forward over the pure white snow, leaving rows of clear footprints in the alley behind them.
Rose reached over to straighten the collar of Leon's cotton cloak, a trace of worry in her voice.
"You really are something. Even if you think Tsubaki's been slacking off lately, you didn't have to needle her like that, did you? She's a Lv.4 after all, and the captain of the Hephaestus Familia..."
Leon explained while savoring the ease of a stroll through the snow.
"It's precisely because she's the captain of the Hephaestus Familia that I pushed her this way. The point is to make her wind herself up tight and put her energy into building up her strength. After all... the city's been a little too calm lately. Unnaturally so."
Hearing him out, neither Jeanne nor Rose looked surprised, as if they'd long expected that line of reasoning.
It was the battle-junkie Sword Saint Kureha, who day in and day out heard nothing of the outside world, lost in training and reveling in her soaring Basic Abilities, along with the dopey, sweet Laurier, who looked utterly lost.
As for Aura, a master of expression control of the highest order, she had the elven race's manners and bearing baked into her very bones.
On top of that, having been needled by Leon so many times already, there was nothing left that could really surprise her.
Even if Leon were to announce right now that all of Orario would be blown sky-high tomorrow, not a flicker would cross her face.
"Eh? Isn't it a good thing for the city to be quiet? Maybe Evilus isn't out causing trouble because they're getting ready for the Christmas Festival." Hearing Laurier's naive remark, Rose ruffled her already impressively long golden hair with an amused smile.
"Those people aren't the type to celebrate the Christmas Festival. If anything, my guess is there's a very real chance they'd pick the day of the festival itself to make their move."
"What do you think, Jeanne?"
The Holy Maiden put on a serious face and began to think it through. She put herself in someone else's shoes, trying to take on the perspective of an Evilus commander: if you launched an attack during the Christmas Festival, what would you stand to gain?
First, you could deal a heavy blow to the morale of the Order Faction. That was win number one.
Second, on the day of the festival the Order Faction would have to spread a large portion of its forces thin to keep the peace, which made it all the easier for them, the side at a disadvantage in combat strength, to sow chaos. That was win number two.
Third, turning a White Christmas Festival into a Blood-Red Christmas Festival, and having that news spread across the world, would severely shake and damage the prestige the city had built up over hundreds and hundreds of years. That was win number three.
Last, with the festival crowds packed dense and the enemy's forces scattered, you'd only need to toss a few Fire Stones into any crowded event venue to easily kill off a huge swath of people, which meant your killing efficiency would be maxed out at a time like this. That was win number four.
...
"In short, it's winning on top of winning, an absolute landslide!"
"Lady Valletta, what do you think of this plan?"