Chapter 132 - Please Punish Me!
"...I'm sorry to let you see this."
Alise's hand was on the lounge door.
She had originally planned to push the door open and go in, but she froze after hearing the contents of the argument inside.
Luke, who was standing behind her, also knew that it would not be appropriate for him to go in according to the situation in the room.
"Shall we go somewhere else first?"
"Ah, um, then I'll take you to the next room."
Alise laughed dryly and turned to take Luke to the next spare room.
"Those two are always like that, aren't they?"
"I remember when we first met in the dungeon, those two seemed to be bickering."
Listening to the increasingly heated argument in the room, Luke asked Alise curiously.
"Those two... um, they've always been like that." Alise didn't know what to say.
"Kaguya is the type of person who does whatever she wants and doesn't care about what others think, while Lion is the type of person who is strict with herself and demands the same from others."
"They often argue over small matters, but most of the time, it's Lion who can't stand Kaguya's way of doing things and gets angry first."
As she spoke, Alise seemed to think of something funny and chuckled.
"Sometimes Kaguya will also deliberately provoke Lion."
"Don't let their appearances fool you; they actually have a pretty good relationship, otherwise Lion wouldn't have bothered to talk to Kaguya with her strict personality."
Luke, who often dealt with Riveria, also had a deep understanding of the elf's awkward personality.
So he was not surprised by Ryuu's overreaction, but rather curious about Gojouno Kaguya.
"To be honest, I'm quite surprised that the Vice Captain of the Familia of the Goddess of Justice has this kind of personality."
"Like you and Ryuu-san, or even someone with a pure neutral personality like Lyra, I think that's normal."
"But Gojouno-san…"
"Hehe."
Hearing Luke's hesitation, Alise didn't get angry but instead laughed proudly.
"You don't understand something."
"Kaguya is the only person in our Familia who dares to oppose me."
"In my opinion, if a Familia only has one voice, unless that voice can guarantee that it will never make mistakes, or the Familia has unmatched power, otherwise it will not go far."
"The members of our Familia are all screened by Astraea-sama personally, and there is absolutely no problem with them in terms of 'justice'."
"I have no doubt that they have 'justice' in their hearts."
Alise led Luke to the next spare room.
She opened the door and continued to say to Luke:
"But sometimes I wonder, what is 'justice'?"
"Although I was granted the position of Captain by Astraea-sama, is it really 'correct' for our Familia to move forward according to my 'justice'?"
"Can I guarantee that I will never make any mistakes?"
"Therefore, Gojouno Kaguya, the vice captain, is incredibly important to me."
After saying that, Alise asked Luke to rest in the room for a while.
"Please wait for me for a moment; I'll go get my things."
Luke found a chair in the room to sit down, and he also thought about what Alise had just said.
Alise's statement made Luke think of Finn.
He thought of the high-ranking members of Loki Familia, led by Finn, including Riveria and Gareth.
Just as Alise said, the high echelons of Loki Familia were never of a single voice.
Serious and observant Riveria Ljos Alf, rugged and bold yet mature and steady Gareth Landrock, and the brave and fearless Finn Deimne.
If one were to set aside their common starting point of belonging to Loki Familia, their ways of thinking had virtually no intersection.
"Indeed, as the leader of one of the core Familia of Orario, none of them are simple characters."
The more Luke learned about Alise, the more he marveled.
"I really wonder if that impression of her being brainless and stupid when I first met her was all an act or disguise."
...
Luke did not have to wait too long.
After a while, Alise came in with Ryuu.
"I am really very sorry!"
"???"
Luke looked bewildered at the elf girl who came in, who bowed deeply to him, and apologized.
He scratched his head, somewhat baffled, and looked towards Alise, who also had a hint of apology on her face.
"Hehe, here's your stuff."
Alise put the backpack on the table and then began to explain to Luke.
"Yesterday, I had sent Lion to deliver this backpack to you."
"My exact words were 'Give this to Luke; this is their share of the loot from the exploration of the dungeon before the riot.'"
"But Lion misunderstood it as 'This is their share of the loot; it must be delivered to him personally.'"
Alise helplessly pointed to the backpack and then at Ryuu, who was still bowing and apologizing.
"It would have been okay to give it directly to Finn, but because of Lion's misunderstanding, you had to make a special trip to our place."
"I was planning to have her deliver it to you after breakfast, but you came so early..."
While Alise was explaining the situation, she was secretly giving Luke a meaningful wink.
It seemed she was saying: 'When Lion gets like this, she can be particularly troublesome; hurry and find a way to calm her down.'
Luke looked at Alise and then at the bowing Ryuu.
Thinking of Riveria's strictness to the point of being somewhat rigid and stubborn, Luke sighed inwardly as if he understood something.
Although he had anticipated the outcome, Luke still adopted a just-in-case attitude and said to Ryuu:
"Well, I'm not angry, or rather, I have already forgiven you."
"So Ryuu-san, you don't need to apologize; please lift your body up."
However, as Luke and Alise expected, Ryuu refused Luke's forgiveness without any hesitation.
"No! Doing something wrong is doing something wrong, especially as a member of goddess Astraea's Familia, I should be subjected to severe punishment."
"I appreciate that you can forgive me so easily, but I cannot forgive myself for wasting your time."
"Whether it's a scolding or a rebuke, please administer the appropriate punishment to me."
Seeing Ryuu's behavior, Luke sighed again.
Elves in this world are really quite troublesome in some aspects.
This kind of stringent self-discipline, originating from racial norms, is simply incomprehensible to other races.
The simplest solution to this situation would be for Luke to scold Ryuu right now.
But this is all just a misunderstanding.
Had someone else explained it, it would have been resolved without wasting so much time.
At most, an apology would suffice.
I'm clearly not angry, yet I have to scold someone.
What a strange custom...
Just then, an idea suddenly flashed through Luke's mind.
He pondered for a moment, and then a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Um, Ryuu-san."
"You just said that you feel guilty for wasting my time, right?"
"In that case, lend me your time."
"How about joining our party for a dungeon exploration next time?"
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