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"I heard a Familia specializing in agriculture will be distributing food rations tomorrow to those who have lost their livelihoods. That's some good news, at least." Mika said with a smile.
"Food rations?" Alise and Gojouno exclaimed. Orario's citizens had been severely impacted by the recent clashes between the Familias and the dark faction.
Many businesses had closed, leaving countless people without income. The city was suffering, and many, driven by hunger, had resorted to crime.
This put a heavy strain on the Ganesha Familia.
Mika, through his conversations with Finn, knew that several merchants were secretly collaborating with the dark faction, hoping to gain access to magic stones without having to go through the Guild, which held a monopoly on them.
They didn't realize that the dark faction's true objective wasn't to replace the Guild, but to destroy the world—or rather, the human world. After all, even they couldn't reach the heavens where the gods resided.
'Foolish People,' Mika thought to himself.
"We should help out tomorrow," Ryuu said. According to their schedule, the Yahweh Familia was assigned to patrol the industrial district the following day, which meant the Astraea Familia was free to assist with the food distribution.
"Then we'll leave it to you," Mika said with a smile. "Make sure you do your best, for all of us."
"You can count on us!" Alise declared.
…
"Ah, what a beautiful day!" Mika said, lying on the roof of a factory in the industrial district, enjoying the gentle breeze.
Airmid sat beside him, her lap serving as his pillow.
"Are you sure it's alright for us to be slacking off like this?" she asked with a smile, looking down at his closed eyes.
"Of course it is. Everything's under control," he replied, not bothering to open his eyes.
"Mellie is patrolling the area on Fufu's back. We'll switch with her when she gets tired. With Fufu's abilities, one of us is more than enough for this task. Why send three?"
"You just want to relax, don't you?" she teased, gently stroking his hair.
"Not at all!" he protested, opening his eyes.
Just then, Mellie's voice called out from above.
"Mika!"
"What is it?" He sat up immediately.
'Thump!' Mellie landed on the roof beside them.
"I saw a fight happening in the distance."
"A fight?" Mika stood up. "Where?"
"Near the food distribution area!"
Mika looked in the direction she indicated, then sat back down.
"Mika, why aren't you worried?" Airmid asked, noticing his calm demeanor.
"Why should I be?"
"You're concerned about the food distribution, aren't you? There's no need to worry. Besides the Astraea Familia, Gareth from the Loki Familia is also there."
"Gareth is there too?" Airmid relaxed. With Gareth having reached Level 6, no one in the dark faction, besides Alfia and Zald, could match his strength.
And she didn't believe those two would interfere with the food distribution. Unless it was their final confrontation, she didn't expect to encounter them again. Not everyone was as unlucky as Mika.
"That's good," she sighed in relief.
"Not good at all." Mika's expression turned serious. "Based on the dark faction's past actions, I suspect the attack on the food distribution area is just a diversion."
"Their true target is somewhere else."
"We need to be vigilant. They might even be targeting us."
"Our break is over," he declared, looking at Airmid and Mellie.
"So you were slacking off," Airmid said with a wry smile.
…
However, the anticipated attack never came.
Based on the sounds of battle they had heard, and information gathered from other adventurers, Mika's suspicions were confirmed.
The dark faction had simply chosen a different target.
And Finn had seemingly anticipated their every move, intercepting their main force before they could act, preventing the situation from escalating.
"As expected of Finn. That guy is just clever," Mika said on their way back to their Familia home after their patrol.
Upon returning, they were greeted by a familiar figure.
"Ais? What are you doing here at this hour?" Since Ais always visited in the morning, her presence in the evening surprised them.
"Riveria sent me with a message," she replied.
"A message? Why send you personally?" Mika asked, ruffling her hair.
"Everyone's busy, so I volunteered."
"I see. What's the message?"
"All members of the Yahweh Familia are to refrain from patrol duty tomorrow. You are to report to the Guild for a meeting before eight in the morning," she relayed, mimicking Finn's tone.
...
The Next Morning.
Mika, Airmid, and Mellie arrived at the Guild promptly and were escorted to the meeting room.
"Yo, Mika! You're finally here!" Alise greeted them with a smile. Beside her, Gojouno waved cheerfully.
Only Alise and Gojouno, the captain and vice-captain of the Astraea Familia, were present.
"We're not late, are we?" Mika asked, returning their greetings.
They joined Alise and Gojouno, noticing another young woman with them. She had short, bobbed blue hair and wore glasses.
Mika recognized her: Asfi Al Andromeda, the current vice-captain and future captain of the Hermes Familia.
In the future, as the leader of the neutral Hermes Familia, she would appear in both the main story and side stories, participating in the rescue mission to save Bell and his companions, and investigating the anomalies on the 24th floor.
She was a recurring character, which was why Mika was familiar with her.
"Greetings, members of the Yahweh Familia. I am Asfi Al Andromeda, vice-captain of the Hermes Familia. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, introducing herself as Mika looked at her. As a former princess, her manners were impeccable.
Mika, Airmid, and Mellie introduced themselves as well, and they quickly became acquainted.
"Once I get back, I'm going to give those two a piece of my mind!" Asfi complained. "Why do they always dump everything on me?!"
She was referring to Hermes, the God of her Familia, and the current captain. In her eyes, they were two peas in a pod, constantly burdening her with their tasks.
Mika, Alise, and the others exchanged amused glances.
'Thank goodness our god isn't Hermes,' they thought.
Just then, the door opened, and Ottar and Allen entered. The cheerful atmosphere in the room instantly evaporated as they felt the chilling aura emanating from the two.
Despite having fought alongside them, Ottar and Allen still projected an air of aloofness. After a brief glance at the others, they retreated to a corner of the room.
Although they didn't interact, their presence dampened the conversation.
Another knock echoed from the door, and four more figures entered:
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth from the Loki Familia,
And Shakti from the Ganesha Familia.
Judging by their casual conversation, they had likely met beforehand and arrived together.
"Good morning, everyone," Finn greeted them cheerfully.
"Apologies for the delay. We had some matters to attend to."
"It's alright. We're still early," Alise replied.
Finn nodded and waved to Ottar and Allen in the corner, but they didn't respond.
"I thought the Loki and Freya Familias were rivals. Aren't they supposed to hate each other?" Asfi whispered to Mellie.
"They were, but after their joint expedition into the dungeon, their relationship has improved. They're comrades who faced death together, after all."
"I see." Asfi nodded, enlightened.
Once everyone had arrived, Finn stepped outside and asked a Guild staff member to summon Royman Mardeel, the Guild's representative.
"We, the invited guests, are all here. It wouldn't be appropriate for the one who summoned us to be resting," he said with a smile, returning to the meeting room.
The others nodded in agreement.
Soon, a Portly Elf entered the room. It was Royman, the Guild representative.
He glanced at the assembled adventurers, then addressed them in a booming voice, "Since all the Familia representatives are present, let us begin the dark faction countermeasure meeting!"
"But before we do, I'd like to know what you've all been doing!"
"The dark faction's attacks have continued unabated. And yesterday's incident was particularly egregious."
Gareth stepped forward. "Yesterday's incident was my oversight. I didn't anticipate the dark faction would resort to such tactics."
"Yesterday's incident?" Mika, Airmid, and Mellie, who had been guarding the industrial district, weren't fully aware of what had transpired elsewhere. They only knew that Finn had anticipated the dark faction's attack and thwarted their plans.
"We did anticipate their plan," Shakti explained. "We expected them to use the food distribution as a diversion while their main force launched a surprise attack elsewhere."
"We successfully intercepted their main force, but we didn't anticipate them launching indiscriminate attacks in crowded areas."
"And we didn't expect the Valletta to be involved."
Valletta, the Killing Empress, was the strongest in the dark faction, besides Alfia and Zald.
She is a Level 5.
"Based on our intel, we anticipated they would use bombs, so we had Gareth thoroughly inspect the area. But it seems they outsmarted us." Shakti's voice was filled with frustration.
Mika froze.
"So there are bombs in Orario…" he thought, then realized it was likely just the term used for explosives in this world. Even so, it surprised him.
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