35 Chapter 35: Expedition

After reading the book and receiving magic, Lars looked at it once again.

"Oh? The writings disappeared... I guess this is a mysterious magic item." Lars squinted his eyes.

Riveria definitely won't forget about something that can give someone magic.

"So I have been tricked? I do wonder what's the price of this little help?" Lars got suspicious.

So he decided to go to the hostess of fertility tomorrow.

"I guess we can go to the dungeon for now." Lars shrugged.

__Twilight manor__

"Hey, Riveria." Ais tugged on the elf's robe after Lars left.

"Hmm?" Riveria smiled at her and Ais asked a question.

"Why do I feel annoyed when he called me as just a friend?" Ais tilted her head.

"Just a friend huh?" Riveria immediately caught in and she gasped.

'Is she having an emotional awakening!? Damn that Lars, he is more powerful than I thought.' Riveria clicked her tongue.

She then saw Ais was still staring at her. "Ahh, you see... How am I going to explain this?" Riveria scratched her head.

"Like normal?" Ais raised a brow and Riveria sighed.

"Hmm, I doubt you'd understand. But it's easy, you don't want to be just his friend. Or at least stay like that in the future." Riveria explained.

Ais' head almost smoked due to overheating and Riveria chuckled at Ais who plopped onto her bed due to overthinking.

"You would understand one day. Just enjoy being friends with him for now." Riveria smiled softly at her.

'I feel like I'm seeing my daughter grow up so fast and now she's having a crush.' Riveria had a wry expression.

'Too bad I won't have one.' Riveria patted Ais' head with melancholy.

__Morning__

"Oi! Ais! Let's go to the dungeon~" Lars was shouting at the front gates of the twilight manor.

"Lars, do we really have to bring her?" Tione tugged on his sleeve.

"What? It's just a leisurely run on the dungeon. No need to be jealous." Lars had a smug expression on his face.

"Muu! So you know!? You have some nerve, making a lady say it!" Tione hit him on the shoulder lightly.

"What do you mean, lady? You're what? 12 going 13? We're still kids." Lars rolled his eyes.

"T-that's true Tione..." Tiona looked at Tione's developing chest. And she compared hers to her sister's.

'Kuu! They're not growing! Maybe I should drink more milk?' Tiona was in a crisis.

"Oi! Why are ya so noisy in the mornin!? Don't you know that some people have a hangover in the mornin!" Loki shouted.

But she immediately grabbed her head in pain.

"What? Make more noise?" Lars took out a whistle with a ridiculously high noise and blew on it.

"Agh! Make it stop! I'm dying!" Loki did an orz and she was immediately defeated.

"Heh, that's what you get for being a drunk." Lars grinned.

"You shouldn't bully goddesses, Lars." Airmid sighed at him.

"Hello, I would love to go." Ais appeared and she was already decked in her adventurer garb.

She then tilted her head in confusion when she saw their attire.

They were basically naked for a dungeon dive. Just wearing basic shirts, skirts, and shorts.

"Ahhh, our clothes? Don't worry, that's how we always go in. We don't wear any armor unless it's a really deep dive." Lars shrugged.

"Ohhh... Daredevils." Ais commented and the other three nodded with sheepish expressions.

And when they arrived at the dungeon, Lars decided to use his magic that he learned.

They saw a good test subject, a basic goblin.

"Wait, I want to try something. You see, some magic popped in to my head suddenly." Lars held them back.

"Magic!? Come on, show us then!" Tiona was excited as hell.

Their perspective was a bit skewed due to Alfia's magic.

"Ravage." Lars uttered his chant and his mana flowed outwards like a river's stream.

"Incinerate." With a resounding boom, the hallways were swallowed up by fire.

His four companions' jaws almost dropped to the ground. "Oi, close your moths. Flies might come in." He chuckled.

"W-what was that!?" Tione broke the silence and he scratched his head in embarrassment.

"It's my magic, pretty cool right?" He fidgeted around.

"C-cool..." Ais nodded at him and she got really excited.

"Listen, Ais. Magic is a world of visualization. So much so, that it's only limited to your mind's capabilities." Lars instructed her.

And the others also listened intently. Because they thought of having magic as well.

"Due to my imagination, well... I can also do this." Lars pointed at the cracks forming on the wall.

"Ravage; Glaciate." Diamond dust formed in front of him and a sheet of white covered the walls.

The monsters started to freeze and they went rock solid after a few seconds.

Though he was sweating due to the mind consumption. Because his magic was too intense.

It wasn't relying on chants to help with the realization of magic.

He was realizing them with his mind. Using his mana as the payment for effects to happen.

They then continued to go deeper, with Lars practicing with the usage of his magic.

Creating all kinds of elements and throwing them out as bullets.

"Are you going to be the mage type from now on?" Tiona asked him while he was staying in the back line.

"Nope, after all... I can do this with it. Ravage; conjugate." Rock formed around his arms and he jumped.

He then smashed a minotaur like a watermelon with a hammerfist.

"Don't insult me. True mages fight while they move. Not while chanting a long ass verse." Lars snorted.

"So Riveria's a fake mage huh?" Ais mumbled.

"How about you Ais? Remember what I told you? Give it a try. You girls too, form your mana around your weapons." Lars instructed them.

And he will be making the first set of magic warriors that fight with a good balance of martial prowess and magic.

'Warriors that can use magic would be terrifying in the battlefield. It's so much untapped potential. It's why monsters can punch much higher with their weight class.' Lars wondered.

He wanted the group to fight like monsters. But instead of claws, fangs, and horns. They use weapons that smiths forge.

Instead of breath attacks, magic that has been honed to the absolute limit.

Peerless warriors that don't specialize in just one thing. But not diverse enough to be spread too thin.

Overspecialization is a mistake that will cost people greatly. Unless you're a heaven defying genius like Alfia.

"Okay, let's give it a try." Airmid concentrated and her blade started glowing white.

"O-ohhh! Something's happening to her sword! Let me try too." Tiona closed her eyes.

She then ran at a minotaur and smashed it to pieces with her weapon.

But instead of the normal crushing slash. It released an additional impact upon hitting.

The ground cratered and Tione shielded her eyes from rocks.

"That was crazy!" Tione also tried and she felt her stamina decrease like crazy.

But her blades glowed red and she ran at some ligerfangs.

She immediately noticed that her swords were sharper, faster, stronger.

They were sliced into pieces with more slashes before they turned into dust. And Tione cancelled her magic by brandishing her blade to the side.

"Tempest!" Ais sprung into action. "Denser, sharper." She couldn't let them outshine her.

She has been using Ariel for a long time after all.

Her arm, a blur. Ais released a vacuum blade and the dungeon's hallway was scarred by a crescent blade of her magic.

"I... I did it!" Ais' golden eyes brightened and he patted her head.

"You did." He smiled at her and the others stared at him.

"You guys too." Lars caressed their hair and everyone was happy.

__Orario__

Lars headed towards the hostess of fertility and he looked around for Syr.

"Heya, Syr. Fancy meeting you here." Lars had a sweet smile on his face when he saw her.

"H-hello, Lars-san." Syr looked nervous and Lars walked up to her.

Even though she was taller than him, he was just simply intimidating with his golden eyes.

"Thanks for the gift, that must be expensive." Lars narrowed his eyes a bit.

"W-what gift?" Syr gulped and Lars took out a book. He then spread open the pages.

"A book that gives you magic. Riveria won't leave this thing behind." Lars put an arm on her shoulder after tiptoeing.

"So what gives? What's the price, eh?" Lars interrogated her like a mafia boss.

"You got me..." Syr raised her hands and he didn't expect her to just give up like that.

"I'd like you to just be a regular customer. And please have this lunchbox when you go to the dungeon." Syr gave him a small lunchbox.

'That's not enough at all...' Lars thought as he accepted it.

"I see, I'm such a sinful man." Lars swept up his hair.

"Y-yes..." Syr nodded at him reluctantly. "I'll play along, Syr Flova." Lars smiled at her knowingly.

Syr then took his usual order of one of everything.

When she retreated, she immediately sighed of relief.

"What is with Lars? He's scary as hell... I knew it was a risk that I calculated. But I sure am bad at math." Syr sighed.

__Dungeon__

A cat man was currently digging like his life depended on it.

"Shit... Shit!" He coughed violently and he looked sickly.

"Damn it all. Those bitches! I'll kill them if it's the last thing I do." Jura held his stomach.

"How long do we need before this gets completed!?" He shouted at his subordinates that got replenished.

"A few months at least, boss!" The mooks replied.

"Then I'll have to last until then." His bloodshot eyes were brimming with insanity and desire for vengeance.

__Stardust Garden__

"So? Why have you called us here?" Lars asked Alise.

"Ahhh, you see. We haven't gotten any leads on the Rudra familia. And we would like to have you guys with us." Alise had a cheerful smile on her face.

"Explain more, Alise. What she means is we would like to use you as bait." A pink haired Pallum sighed.

(Pic)

"I like your honesty." Lars nodded at her and she grinned.

"Lyra, you're too crude. You should've said that they would attract their attention." Kaguya chuckled.

"That's even worse, you're trying to trick them." Ryuu snorted.

"Well, the Rudra familia doesn't have any level 4's. We'll decimate them if we meet them." Tione remembered them.

"We'll crush em." Tiona smacked her fist on her palm.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, they would surely use traps again." Airmid calmed them down.

"Ahhh, they did try to ambush you guys with traps. We have to be careful of that as well, guys." Alise reminded them.

"Yeah, they used mines to try and kill us. Then kidnap Airmid, but it obviously failed." Lars shrugged.

And he almost had his arm back as well. They won't last at all with their new arsenal.

"So we would like to go on expeditions with you." Alise requested.

"Hmm, I guess we could try to cooperate with you. It will be a learning experience to cooperate with people, everyone." Lars looked at his team.

They then nodded, trusting his decisions. It led them here today after all.

"Thank you for cooperating with us." Alise bowed sincerely.

'I guess she's serious about her job. But Monstro isn't ready to be discovered yet.' Lars squinted his eyes.

So it would be best to go with them on the expeditions as well.

"When do we start? We're all ready." Lars asked and the Astraea familia was stupefied.

"You don't even have any equipment on you." Kaguya pointed and she already checked them for hidden weapons.

As an assassin back home, she knows where are the nook and crannies where people hide things are.

"Blink and you'll miss it." Lars tossed a coin in the air and when they looked at them again, they were already decked with their equipment.

Airmid wearing her full plate, looking like a great crusader.

The amazon twins already holding their weapons that were made with the finest materials.

And his gauntlets that looked terrifying was awfully close to Kaguya's torso.

"You were saying?" Lars smirked and Kaguya grinned at him.

"I like you, I think we'll get along nicely." She licked her lips.

"Kaguya!" Ryuu shouted in outrage as Lars was just a kid.

"Enough, we'll depart later after an hour then." Alise announced and the Astraea familia scrambled to get their equipment.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.