69. Ryuu-senpai is Indeed a Useless Senpai!

Don't move, don't move!

The traditional elf girl, once evaluated by her companions as having 'prehistoric old-fashioned views on love.'

She had promised Isagi to stand still, so she absolutely wouldn't move!

Thus.

Ryuu's slender waist bent down. Facing the longsword blade right before her eyes, she had no choice but to lean back, forming a perfect curve close to ninety degrees.

This was an embarrassing pose.

She might not understand, but Isagi did—

Whenever making such a pose, regardless of size, a quite beautiful 'golden arc' would appear.

And perfectly, under Ryuu-senpai's cloak, she was indeed wearing that relatively thin and form-fitting grayish-white tank top.

This immediately made the curves even more prominent.

"What's going on?"

Isagi was puzzled too.

Weren't they just training? How did it turn into this in the blink of an eye... Eh?

"Eh?!"

The boy and girl were stunned simultaneously.

Ryuu was stunned because she realized Isagi was getting closer and closer, his entire body pressing down toward her. While wondering what technique this was, seeing the increasingly near face, she suddenly panicked.

Th-this... th-this... what... is this!!

She couldn't move, nor push the other away, because 'pushing' also counted as counterattacking!!

!

At this moment.

The elf girl's brain 'burned out.'

Meanwhile.

Isagi realized his foot had gone numb, so his whole body was involuntarily falling toward his Familia senior.

"?"

Too deliberate!

Though he had just leveled up and body incoordination could cause similar issues, and he had indeed used a bit too much force just now, but...

Still too deliberate, right?!

Such a classic 'training with a beautiful girl, ending up hugging on the ground' scenario.

"Isagi, are you okay?!"

Suddenly, two strong forces came from behind, stopping him from actually pressing onto the elf girl.

It was Tiona and Anya.

Those two really came fast. Looking at the Amazon girl and cat girl squatting one left one right, tilting their little heads, pulling his cloak with their hands while blinking big eyes worriedly.

Isagi pursed his lips.

"I'm fine... just my foot's a bit numb."

"Oh!"

"Then rest a bit, nya!"

"Senpai, get up quickly too!"

Lefiya, who had just arrived, huffed. Her deep blue eyes darted back and forth between the boy and girl— even more suspicious! Mr. Isagi and senpai are way too suspicious!!

To this.

Ryuu also reacted, somewhat guiltily climbing up from the ground.

Ugh!

Somehow feels so embarrassing in front of the juniors!!

...

A long time later, until the bonfire rose between night and sky.

The girls gathered outside the ancient ruins, preparing tonight's late-night snack.

The orange glow illuminated Ryuu's cool pretty face. Visibly, the cute cherry-pink tint she didn't know about showed no signs of fading; instead, it grew even deeper.

Everyone was busy.

Lefiya was making her familiar 'vegetable stew.'

On the fire, the large iron pot bubbled. The elf girl took out a small cutting board, carefully chopping carrots, greens, potatoes, onions, etc., dumping them all into the pot to simmer while.

She also began pinching meatballs from prepared filling, dropping them one by one into the pot to cook.

On the other side, Tiona caught many fish from the nearby small river, cleaned them, skewered them on branches, and roasted them by the bonfire.

Anya was with Isagi by the fire, using a small iron pan over the embers to fry potato pancakes!

The cat girl was now extremely skilled!!

The fried potato pancakes were crispy outside, tender inside, sweet and delicious, simply irresistible—not just from Isagi's careful guidance these days; Anya had worked hard too.

During the Monster Festival before, Isagi specially skipped the Dungeon, pushing his fried potato ball stall to the 'snack street battlefield'!

Anya had come to help then too.

They busied the whole day; the newly developed 'potato mini burger' was hugely popular! Making the dummy cat girl smug for quite a while!!

Everyone was indeed busy.

Only Ryuu had nothing to do, as she couldn't help much.

The elf girl knew her own cooking skills well; Kaguya's constant 'useless elf' wasn't just sharp-tongued.

It was fact.

A fact Ryuu herself couldn't refute.

Ugh!

As a senior elf girl, she suddenly felt even more useless!!

Thus, only when it was time to eat.

Ryuu, dipping potato pancakes into vegetable soup, her little mouth unable to stop, quietly tugged Isagi's clothes, making the boy sit closer.

—Familia senior mysteriously.

Passed him the investigation report on the dark Familias she had gathered recently.

Under current circumstances, of course they couldn't discuss it openly in front of Lefiya and others—Ryuu didn't plan to drag anyone else into her revenge.

Isagi silently took the reports.

Then, quietly agreed with the elf girl to meet tomorrow afternoon at the 'usual place' (Demeter Familia's empty farmhouse), to discuss details then.

Done with that.

Ryuu seemed to sigh in relief.

Thinking, as a senior, she wasn't that useless after all!

Then looking at Lefiya on the other side, thinking since the other was both Familia junior and compatriot, she should get along well?

How to do it?

Ryuu pondered a while, then suddenly realized, quietly shifting beside her.

"Um... Lefiya."

"What is it, senpai?"

"What do you think justice is?"

"?"

Justice interrogation!

The rigid, traditional elf girl, after thinking long, came up with 'getting along well with junior' as this!!

Because her former Familia often discussed this.

As followers of the Goddess of Justice, pondering 【What is justice】 was very necessary!

Ryuu thought so!!

To this...

Lefiya blinked, immediately voicing her long-prepared answer.

"【What is justice】—before pondering that, first clarify justice's purpose!"

"Eh?"

"No matter what, there must be a goal, right, senpai!!"

"Well, yes..."

"So, my justice is to protect the important people around me!"

"Saving everyone is too vague, so I'll do my utmost to protect those around me."

Lefiya's justice was firm; this was her own thought-out answer.

To this.

Ryuu inexplicably felt deep respect. So the Familia junior was so serious! And very grounded, even somewhat 'deafening,' making her ashamed...

"Then what is senpai's justice?"

Facing Lefiya's sudden counter-question.

Ryuu fell silent, momentarily unable to speak, because she indeed still hadn't found her own justice...

The certain Familia senior's pretty face flushed red. Never expected the end result to be her interrogated by junior instead—this really is a 'useless elf'!!

Embarrassing, too embarrassing...

...

Late night.

Back home, after bathing, Isagi didn't go to bed.

Instead, at the living room table, he experimentally used his new Lv. 3 character card ability to assemble a new weapon.

Soon, combining the Glimmer Greatsword with a standard iron spear casually taken from Cecil for testing, Isagi obtained an extremely abstractly shaped 'Glimmer Giant Spear' over six meters long, nearly spanning the small living room.

Its effect was simple: enhancing the original 'Glimmer Greatsword's' 'attack range' and 'distance.'

【Character Card:

Puppet Kingdom (Lv.3)

·Puppet Heart—Body puppetized; reduced pain; unable to feel emotions; reduced mental magic, charm... effects;

·Weapon Assembly—Can disassemble weapons into 'blade' and 'handle,' gaining completely different traits via assembly;

·Legion Prosthetic—Acquire different prosthetic blueprints and forge using materials;

·Pulse Battery—Recover own injuries; usable seven times; refreshes at midnight;

·Self-Element—Revive upon death; max three revives; accumulate life points by killing monsters to replenish; refreshes at midnight;】

Conventional healing and revival aside, the three main skills given.

【Puppet Heart】 was fine; Isagi felt no 'puppetization' bodily change. Reduced pain? Cutting his finger now indeed felt painless.

Subsequent mental magic resistance was countermeasures, usually minor.

To him.

This card's key abilities were 【Weapon Assembly】 and 【Legion Prosthetic】, usable even after switching cards.

Assembled weapons became new equipment, and Legion Prosthetics like before's shinobi prosthetic became 'new equipment' upon forging, not vanishing upon card switch.

So this card was a strong 'support card' for him.

"Hoo..."

Looking at the newly assembled 'Glimmer Giant Spear,' its combat art unchanged.

Probably because the 'handle' iron spear was too ordinary; better weapons later should yield more traits and abilities.

Of course, currently.

Isagi's most practical assembly was using the short staff releasing 【Glimmer Echo】 as 'handle' with any weapon.

No longer needing one hand staff, one hand greatsword.

Dual-wielding weapons brought more power and speed than single-handing, and even single-handing allowed shield or dual-wield...

Storing the temporarily assembled giant spear into 【Pandora's Shadow】's cloak.

Isagi still had to go out tonight.

Summer clouds thickened; seemed like a rainy night.

Perfect.

Moonless, windy high.

Isagi, after returning home, skimmed Ryuu-senpai's investigation report, summarizing the elf girl's gains these two months.

Overall, indeed little.

After Magatsuhi Familia's incident, as predicted, many peripheral Familias, merchant guilds, and mercenary groups cooperating with them fled Orario, fearing [Gale]'s revenge.

Ryuu had worried Rudra Familia would leave too.

But Isagi reassured her.

Even after [Great Feud] failure, and [27th Floor Nightmare] end, most dark gods sent back, this god of 'violent evil' remained in Orario.

Soon plotting a trap against Astrea Familia.

Proving a diehard, unafraid of banishment or death.

Indeed so.

Lately, Ryuu focused investigating gods/Familias leaving Orario; no Rudra traces.

Enemies still in city, peripheral tentacles fled clean.

Narrowing search greatly; importantly, former helpers now personally acting, leaving clues.

Isagi decided to add fuel tonight; Ryuu-senpai obediently followed instructions, no actions or kills these two months.

Surely easing dark side's tension.

Perfect chance for surprise attack!!

But as Isagi prepared leaving.

Goddess's voice came; Astrea hadn't slept, standing at bedroom door, looking at him about to leave.

"Isagi, is this revenge?"

"Mm."

"With Ryuu?"

"No, alone tonight."

Isagi didn't plan calling Ryuu-senpai; unnecessary.

Tonight's target Soma Familia; captain merely Lv. 2, members mostly Lv. 1 thugs, many not even Dungeon-going.

One enough.

Even body not fully adapted to Lv. 3 power, perfect 'live combat' chance.

Of course.

Soma Familia strictly not dark; gray-area thugs common in adventurer city Orario.

But their 'gray' identity made Isagi suspect dark Familia ties.

Uncertain, but enough.

Anyway, on-site, could extract from captain; daily deeds alone justified 'justice'!!

However—

"Then I'll go with you."

Goddess suddenly firmly said, momentarily baffling Isagi...