Riezel might not be aware, but in the beginning, when Lefiya discovered that the familia's top executives had arranged for her to form a party with him to explore the dungeon, she was determined to grow.
She was well aware of her problem.
Unlike the other familia executives who started their careers as adventurers, accustomed to battling monsters and even engaging in intense life-or-death struggles from the beginning, she hailed from the School District.
In simple terms, she was a top student who grew up in the ivory tower, and her thoughts and awareness greatly differed from adventurers who faced life and death every day after receiving their blessings.
Before joining Loki Familia, she had grown up in a very stable environment without worrying about anything, and by the time she became an adventurer, she was already a high-class adventurer.
In reality, she struggled to adapt to highly intense battles.
Being a dedicated rearguard and having a somewhat nervous disposition, she was generally fine in battle. However, if any unexpected situation arose, her heart would tense up, nervous, and couldn't calm down for quite a while.
For a mage, this was undoubtedly very dangerous.
After all, mages primarily used magic as their primary combat method. Chanting and casting magic—these were the only things a mage could do.
Chanting magic typically required a stable mentality and composure. Without these, how could one smoothly and flawlessly chant magic?
When using magic, one needed a stable mentality, a calm heart, and a composed demeanor to keep chanting without panicking when monsters attacked them. This way, their 'Mind' could be refined into magic and cast successfully, annihilating monsters.
Being a mage seemed like just staying in a safe place and casting magic from a distance, but in reality, it required a stronger heart than vanguards and midguards.
In this aspect, she was undoubtedly a failure. She had lost her composure in battle more than once, causing the use of her magic to fail.
Precisely because of this, in her heart, she felt unworthy of the attention from the familia's top executives, and even more so, she couldn't live up to the name of a genius.
Top executives like Finn, Riveria, and Gareth often comforted her. Even other executives such as Ais regarded her highly. They extended a helping hand without finding fault, allowing her to join their parties, but she still frequently got nervous to the point of forgetting to chant magic.
Therefore, she always felt that she couldn't keep up with them, always dragging them down when she was with them.
With this mindset, she agreed to form a party with Riezel, a Level 1 rookie who had recently joined the familia without complaint. Despite her level being higher than his, she didn't dare to consider herself a senior. Instead, she embarked on the adventure with the mindset of someone seeking guidance from him.
Yes, she wanted to take this opportunity to truly grow, to correct her flaws.
She valued this chance greatly.
Becoming a party with the executives meant being a burden, and joining parties with same-level familia members might cause trouble for them. In this situation, exploring with a rookie lower in level and trying out different combat approaches together, suited her purposes more.
But, the results were disappointing—no, it was even worse than disappointing; her performance was undoubtedly at its lowest.
Thinking about how Riezel had saved her multiple times yesterday, remembering her own panicked state, she felt extremely ashamed.
During his life-and-death battle with the Crocodile Dragon, as a rearguard mage, she should have found an opportunity to cast magic and help him defeat the powerful monster. However, in the end, she just stood there in a daze, completely unresponsive, like a statue.
On the other hand, Riezel, despite possessing less strength than the monster and being a rookie who had just started less than a week ago, never showed a trace of fear. Instead, he faced challenges head-on fearlessly, unafraid of life or death, putting on an unprecedented and unparalleled performance.
That posture and that demeanor—even she had to admit that the impression and impact he left on her at that moment were unimaginably significant.
At one point, she even saw the figure of someone she admired the most when she witnessed his struggle against the monster. In her heart, those two figures overlapped to some extent.
In comparison, her performance was simply abysmal.
Realizing this, after returning home, she fell into deep self-loathing, unable to free herself from it.
"Someone like me, no matter where I go, always ends up being a burden..."
Lefiya spoke with her head down, extremely frustrated.
"Mr. Riezel should form a party with more powerful familia members so you won't be dragged down..."
At this point, her tone was not just frustrated but also carried a hint of self-deprecation and self-loathing.
A heavy, oppressive silence settled in the reception room, making the atmosphere uncomfortably tense.
Just when she was about to give in to the urge to escape, Riezel finally spoke.
"Lefiya... Why did you become an adventurer?" Riezel asked with a tranquil tone like a still lake.
Upon hearing that question, Lefiya was slightly stunned and quickly lifted her head to look at his face. Riezel gazed directly at her face with a calm expression without any fluctuations.
"I..." Lefiya was at a loss. Why did she become an adventurer?
As she became silent again, Riezel continued.
"Some do it for fortune."
"Some do it for fame."
"Some do it for power."
"Some do it for survival."
"People who choose to become adventurers have their own reasons and desires. Otherwise, no one would choose a job where they could lose their lives at any moment."
His voice was surprisingly serene, which gave an unexplainable feeling.
"What about you? What are you in it for?"
"I... I..."
Lefiya was still at a loss.
"Can't come up with an answer?" Riezel said with an understanding tone, unsurprised by her reaction.
"Yes..." Lefiya involuntarily lowered her head again and murmured. "I... I don't know why..."
Indeed, she couldn't express it. It felt like there was a reason, but that reason must be insignificant, or at least that was what she believed.
"Maybe you just haven't found a rock-solid reason to confidently tell others that you won't let them down or yourself down, a reason that makes you proud."
Riezel spoke as if he could read her thoughts.
"But you know, it's okay... You'll find your own reasons sooner or later. When you find that reason, you'll realize you can do things just like anyone else. After all, the only difference between you and me is right there."
His words resonated deeply in Lefiya's ears.
For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that she wouldn't forget these words, especially considering his calm expression as he delivered such impactful words to her.
"When there's a reason that forces you to do something, the courage you lack will surely come along. But never numbly go with the flow; you can be confused, you can be puzzled, but never numbly go with the flow. That's... truly fearful..."
Riezel's words carried an indescribable power and significance. Unfortunately, Lefiya didn't have the chance to delve into the reasons behind it.
"You're still immature; that's a fact. However, I dare not say I'm mature either, so we're even." Riezel finally showed a hint of a smile. "I think we should continue as a party like this. Do you have any other thoughts?"
"Of course not!" Lefiya quickly shook her head like a tambourine. After hesitating for a while, she trembled again. "Can I really do this?"
Riezel didn't answer her question but just looked at her eyes calmly, conveying everything with his eyes.
Seeing those serene and calm eyes, Lefiya took a deep breath.
Right here and now, she once again made up her mind to grow.
To avoid letting herself and her idol down, while simultaneously ensuring she didn't disappoint the young man before her, whose figure overlapped with the idol she admired the most.
===
After parting ways with Lefiya, Riezel returned to his room to take his secondary weapon, a short sword. Because his main weapon broke when he fought the Crocodile Dragon, he could only use this for now.
After grabbing the sword, he made his way to the courtyard.
However, when he arrived, he found that someone else was already in this place.
*Whoosh!*
A swordswoman with golden hair wielded a silver sword, dancing gracefully and producing a continuous, sharp sound of cutting wind.
Riezel stood silently, watching her performance for a while, but soon noticed that she had stopped her movements.
Ais stopped swinging her sword, but she didn't sheathe it. She just calmly stood there, turned her head, and looked at him, who had appeared in the courtyard.
The two of them stared into each other's eyes, and for a moment, neither of them chose to speak.
After silently staring at each other for a while, Ais finally opened her mouth.
"Want to practice together?"
As he heard her question, Riezel was slightly surprised.
"You're here to practice, right?" Ais said while tilting her head slightly. "To adapt to your new power."
"...You noticed?" Riezel remained silent for a while before saying with helplessness. "It seems like I made it too obvious, huh..."
"Yes." Ais nodded. "For someone else, it might not be a big problem, but your increased power is quite big. Your movements are noticeably uncoordinated and might affect your combat abilities."
Riezel did achieve an unprecedented full SSS in all basic abilities this time.
Before facing the Crocodile Dragon, the highest rank of his basic abilities was only B. However, after defeating it and undergoing a status update, all his basic abilities skyrocketed to SSS in one go.
Combined with leveling up to Level 2 and gaining a development ability called 'Lightweight', which was further boosted by 'Endless', his body after leveling up indeed needed some adjustments, to say the least.
"Want to practice together?" Ais asked again.
"Sure." Riezel naturally had no objections and nodded heavily.
Before long, the sound of swords clashing echoed in the courtyard.
He continued to grow fiercely and rapidly. Just as his 'Endless' skill indicated, it seemed as if there was no end in sight to his growth.