A few hours ago, Line and Sophie met each other in front of the Hearth Manor's gate, "Good evening, Line-san." Sophie greeted the other first.
"Ah... Uhm... Good evening, Sophie-san." Line greeted back but she didn't know how to advance the conversation. However, coming to her rescue, Kisuke arrived from behind them, "Let's not talk outside. Come in."
Sophie wondered why Line was here, but chose to remain quiet and followed Kisuke inside.
"Kisuke-san, what happened earlier?" Line asked as she matched Kisuke's pace and walked beside him.
"Wallenstein-san was following you. I thought it would be troublesome if she were to reach this place, so I distracted her."
"I-I see..." Ais was someone who had very few obsessions, however, all of those were present in Kisuke so Line knew that they couldn't go peacefully if she were to see them leave, 'It would be indeed troublesome enough that Loki-sama might have to interfere.'
As soon as they reached the doors, they swung open and Tanis greeted them with a big smile on her face, without her disguise, "Kisuke-niichan! You're back!"
Sophie hurriedly reeled back upon seeing her, "M-monster!?"
But Kisuke ignored her reaction for now and patted Tanis's head with a smile, "I'm home~. Did you behave today?"
Tanis was surprised when Sophie suddenly raised her voice, but she immediately calmed down and felt secure when Kisuke touched her head, "I helped with the packing today!"
"I see. That's good. Go call Ophis-chan and Claire-chan now. Tell them we'll have our dinner soon."
"Okay~!" answered Tanis before she ran off.
Without looking back, Kisuke commented, "I guess your position isn't high enough to know about their existence. If you want to know more, tell Mardeel-san that you want to meet Fels. Since you're our adviser, you should have at least the privilege to know a few things."
"Fels?"
Kisuke started walking and answered, "He is Ouranos-sama's right-hand man. He should tell you what you need to know. And you don't have to worry about Tanis-chan. Even Line-san here from the Loki Familia could guarantee that she's safe."
Sophie looked towards Line who nodded at her and sighed, "Is this related to the latest incident?" she asked while following Kisuke inside.
"You're sharp and should have already noticed that there's a lot of strange points regarding the subjugation of Knossos, and you're right. They are related. In fact, these special monsters are one of the forces that fought along with Loki and Freya Familia to deal with the Evilus. In a hindsight, the citizens of this city are also indebted to them."
Sophie's head started aching, "But there's no way everyone would just suddenly accept them even with supporting words from the strongest Familias."
"Correct. So it'll really be nice if you could keep their existence a secret. At least until they already have a chance to get along with the people of the Lower World."
Sophie stopped walking but Kisuke and Line didn't wait for her. After thinking for a brief moment, she took a deep breath and restarted her steps, speeding up so she could catch up to the two of them, "I'm sorry about my attitude earlier. I might have scared her."
Kisuke and Line were surprised, "That's really startling... I never thought that you're that accepting and on top of that, you're an Elf."
Sophie got immediately pissed and said with a loud voice, "I'm a proud Elf! But even then, I judge people by my own eyes! Seeing a child happily reporting her activities for today like that, it's hard to see her as unfeeling monsters that only knew how to attack people!"
Kisuke looked at her for a second before he started chuckling, "Right... I apologize."
After that sudden outburst, Sophie felt a little embarrassed and cleared her throat, "Ehem... I'm sorry for raising my voice again. And you don't really have to apologize since most Elves have a very appalling hate for monsters and I personally think it's unreasonable. However, this sort of thinking would only invite trouble, so I just kept it to myself."
"That's really admirable."
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The dinner started and Sophie was able to talk happily with everyone. Since she was the one looking out for them in the Guild, they have become quite close with each other. It was actually to the point that it became harder for Sophie to sleep at night whenever they dive into the Dungeon. Although she'd already lost a number of Adventures under her care, she just couldn't get used to it, especially now that there's a special bond between them and not just a business one.
After dinner, Sophie still continued her chatter with everyone without mentioning anything about her work or their life inside the Dungeon. Instead, they started talking about girl issues and life hacks that made Kisuke slightly uncomfortable to stay in.
But to maintain his stoic image, he sat through everything despite Sophie looking at him weirdly.
At some point, Sophie even started getting along with Tanis and even played a few rounds of cards with the kids.
Knowing that she's already overstaying their hospitality, Sophie asked Kisuke, "You said you're going to leave this evening. Although it's a weird time to leave, shouldn't you be getting ready? And I presume Line-san is also going with you."
"She's indeed coming with us, since I properly got Loki-sama's permission for her and there shouldn't be any problem with the Guild about that." Kisuke then stood up and continued, "And it's true that we should get going."
"Then I shouldn't stay long." Sophie then faced everyone and smiled gently, "Sona, Koneko, Aika, Irina, Akeno. I had fun with you despite just being your advisor. Serafall-san, Medusa-san. Thank you for all the assistance you gave me. It helped me out a lot. Hestia-sama and Artemis-sama, good luck with your new journey, and please take care of my good friends. Let's see each other again some time."
Everyone looked at each other and laughed softly. They wanted to tell her that they could return anytime but decided against it. In any case, it'll be a good surprise when they suddenly appear in front of her.
"Thank you for taking care of us too. Your knowledge of the Dungeon helped us out a lot too." Sona replied.
"The sweets store you told us about is really good," Koneko gave her a thumbs up.
"I will actually miss your reprimands~!" Aika added with a wink.
"The next time we see each other, I'll tell you more about the Bible~," said Irina who has been casually spreading her religion to the other world.
"And I'll tell you more about all the risque novels that I know~", and Akeno was talking about a completely different thing.
With a flushed face, Sophie immediately stopped her from talking further, "Well then. I won't be seeing you off. Thank you for the wonderful dinner and have a safe trip."
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Kisuke accompanied Sophie to the gates, "You don't have to escort me. The route from here to my house isn't dangerous."
"I guess that's true." Kisuke then took out a coin and handed it to Sophie, "Then please take this."
Sophie took the coin and looked closer at it. Although there's complicatedly drawn lines on it, she couldn't tell anything special about it, "This is?"
"It's a Magic Item. If you hold it tightly and think about talking to me, I would be able to hear your voice. Always keep it with you since it'll also serve as a lucky charm."
"You'll be able to hear my voice? What for?"
"If there is anything interesting happening in Orario, I'd like you to tell me. In return, I'd tell you about the Dizara Region and even send you images through it."
Rarely being able to go anywhere, Sophie's eyes lit up, "Deal!"