As Riezel had hoped, the anomaly on the 24th Floor had ultimately succeeded in drawing the attention of the higher-ups of the Loki Familia.
He had also successfully relayed the information, clearly conveying the seriousness of the situation, and made the Loki Familia aware of the existence of terrifying darkness and a formidable enemy.
He did not know how Finn and the others would handle these matters, nor was he eager to learn, because right now, he was more concerned about the condition of a certain golden-haired, golden-eyed girl.
’Not here?’
Riezel had walked around Twilight Manor, even checking the courtyards the girl usually frequented, yet he still could not find any trace of her.
’Could she have gone back to her room?’
Walking along the corridor that connected the towers, Riezel silently speculated.
Since leaving the 24th Floor, Ais had kept her head down the entire way, silent and unresponsive, not uttering a single word from start to finish.
Even when monsters she usually loved to hunt jumped out in front of her, she did not draw her silver sword to cleave them into pieces, and instead walked on as if lost in thought, which had even worried the members of the Hermes Familia.
After returning to Twilight Manor, she had gone straight into the manor, disappearing without a trace, leaving him to report the entire situation alone to the captain’s office.
Now, with her nowhere to be found, he felt a growing sense of worry, unsure whether the girl might do something reckless again, like last time when she had gone alone to fight Udaeus.
’Am I being too impatient?’
Riezel could not help but reflect on what he had done and felt a sense of guilt.
He understood why Ais behaved this way.
Aria—this name carried extraordinary significance for her.
And those Jewel Fetuses were also deeply connected to her and would inevitably appear before her, sooner or later.
It was precisely because he understood this that he had involved her in the events of the 24th Floor, intending to let her confront these matters ahead of time and be prepared.
But now, it seemed this approach had been somewhat thoughtless.
’I only thought this situation was unavoidable, only thought I should prepare Ais mentally in advance, only thought to use this opportunity to alert the familia to the enemy’s existence and start preparations, but I never considered Ais’s feelings.’
Knowing full well that confronting this matter would unearth Ais’s long-buried past and pain, he had not taken any precautions beforehand.
Riezel deeply understood this mistake.
He knew that the usually expressionless Ais was, in fact, a girl more sensitive than anyone else.
He knew this, yet he had failed to handle it properly—a lapse he could not forgive himself for.
’There’s nothing I can do now.’
Recalling the last time Ais had fallen into a reckless, despairing state and gone alone into the Deep Floors of the Dungeon to fight Udaeus on the 37th Floor, Riezel was genuinely concerned that the foolish girl might end up doing something similar once again.
In the end, he stopped in the corridor, closed his eyes, and chanted magic.
"God’s Eye."
As the chant fell, the 9th-Tier Magic was successfully activated, and a magical eye appeared in front of Riezel.
Of course, only he could perceive it—no one else could detect its presence.
Under his control, the invisible magical eye flew out along the corridor, effortlessly passing through walls and surveying the entirety of Twilight Manor.
Twilight Manor was a long building formed by a collection of tall towers.
Aside from the central tower in the middle, there were seven smaller surrounding towers positioned around it, each varying in height and shape, with the lower halves of the towers interconnected, while the upper halves were linked by suspended bridges built from stone, allowing movement between towers.
Three towers were reserved for male members, and four for female members, separating their quarters—in modern terms, they were basically the boys’ dormitories and the girls’ dormitories.
Facilities such as the library, dining hall, reception room, and meeting room were not centralized in a single tower but scattered throughout, creating a sense of chaotic disorganization.
Riezel had already toured the central tower and the three towers reserved for male members, so the only places he had not visited were the four towers reserved for female members.
It was only natural, for there was no way he could just barge into the girls’ dormitories—even he dared not do that.
If it were daytime, it might have been manageable, but at night, who knew if a female member might be walking around in revealing clothing?
For that reason, he had no choice but to resort to this method.
’Hopefully she’s in her room.’
While thinking this, Riezel maneuvered the invisible magical eye to pass through the wall of one of the four towers of female members, and that was when trouble immediately arose.
"Hey, Lefiya, have you been growing recently?"
In a room clearly shared by two people, a lively, cute human girl looked at her roommate with a hint of jealousy in her eyes.
"N-No!"
Her roommate, Lefiya, blushing and embarrassed, shielded her delicate body, her long ears twitching.
It appeared that Lefiya was about to change into pajamas, having already removed all her casual clothes.
In other words, the elf girl was now in a highly inappropriate state, unknowingly observed by Riezel’s magical eye.
Of course, the human girl, Elfy Colette, Lefiya’s roommate and also an active mage in the familia, was in the same state—perhaps even less clothed than Lefiya, the relatively modest elf.
"Mou..." Elfy pouted and lunged at Lefiya. "Let me see! How much have you been hiding from your beloved roommate?"
"N-No! Don’t touch me!"
"Hmph, I knew Lefiya was the sneaky type, secretly growing... Hmm, could it be all for Mr. Riezel?"
"What does this have to do with Mr. Riezel?!"
"Heehee, you can’t hide it from me, Lefiya. Y’know, someone was sleep-talking last night, always calling ’Mr. Riezel’ until dawn."
"Iyaaa! Don’t say that!"
Just like that, the two girls wrestled and teased each other, one grinning mischievously, the other red-faced and screaming.
"..."
Watching the scene, Riezel remained silent.
"...Best to pretend I didn’t see anything."
Muttering silently, Riezel’s sweating magical eye quickly exited the room and moved on.
Unfortunately, similar incidents continued, as after Lefiya and Elfy, he accidentally entered the room of the cat people girl, Anakitty.
"Hm?"
Anakitty, completely naked, seemed to sense something the instant Riezel’s magical eye entered, as her cat ears twitched.
"Strange..."
Anakitty, with her sharp senses, looked around suspiciously, prompting Riezel to hastily withdraw the magical eye.
Unfortunately, he still did not know where Ais’s room was and had to continue blindly exploring, passing through walls, and spying—each time he was not in the right room, he retreated immediately.
By chance—or misfortune—he did not find Ais for a while, inadvertently intruding into several female members’ rooms and witnessing many scenes that could not be casually spoken of.
’Better keep a low profile around Loki from now on...’
Riezel was sweating profusely.
He would, of course, never tell anyone about this.
But facing a goddess like Loki, he worried that if he performed poorly, she would immediately notice his actions. If she ever learned of what he had done, she would likely feel envy, jealousy, and anger, and then devour him in the process.
"You damn brat! As their goddess, I’ve never even peeped on them! How could you have all the fun?!"
Imagining the chaos caused by Loki and the whole familia being alarmed, Riezel quietly decided that he would seal this memory afterward—though it was fine to think about it occasionally, right?
With a near self-abandoning mindset, Riezel began searching recklessly for Ais’s room.
Finally, after ten minutes, he found it.
It was a very desolate room with only a desk, a bed, and curtains—sparse furniture, no decorations, not even a hint of life, completely unlike a typical teenage girl’s room.
Against the wall by the window, Ais’s silver sword, Desperate, was sheathed and leaned quietly, reflecting the moonlight streaming in.
Inside the room, there were no magic stone lamps lit—only the moonlight illuminated it, making its coldness even more pronounced.
In this lonely room, Ais sat on the pristine bed, hugging her knees and leaning against the wall, her face buried in her thighs, her expression hidden.
"..."
Seeing Ais, Riezel felt both relief and quiet concern.
Relief, because she was still home and had not run off.
Concern, because even through God’s Eye, he could clearly feel the loneliness, isolation, and sorrow in her heart.
In the end, after observing Ais for a while, Riezel’s magical eye quietly left her room, letting it dissipate into residual magical energy.
"Aria..."
Muttering the name unconsciously, Riezel stood in the corridor for a long time before finally turning and leaving Twilight Manor.
Ais’s situation could not be rushed, so he decided to shift his focus for the time being and go collect the reward for the quest given by that mysterious magus.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]