Volume 8 Chapter 452 - The Expedition
Not knowing about the chaos happening on the surface, the Loki Familia's expedition had reached the 50th floor before a week could pass.
"What's up with Bete-san and the others?" Raul asked the cat person beside him.
"That's what I'd like to know too…" Aki replied.
"Everyone seems to be more worked up than usual…" Line said after overhearing their conversation as she passed by them.
They were talking about Bete, Tiona, Tione, and Ais. After they witnessed Bell's fight, they were reminded yet again of what being an Adventurer was. Different from the time when they saw the trio fighting with the Minotaurs, this time, they were just starting their expedition and they were already feeling restless, wanting to fight strong monsters. However, they still had to follow their Captain's command and couldn't move on their own as it would endanger not only themselves but also the rest of the expedition as well.
At some point, they started to stare at Aika, Koneko, and Sona as they recalled Bell's status as he defeated the Minotaur, 'If that boy has those kinds of stats, then what about them? They defeated six Minotaurs while only being Level 1… What did their stats look like back then? All S? Or maybe all SS?' All sorts of questions emerged in their heads. And not just them, Finn and Gareth were also wondering what it looked like, everyone except for Riveria who already got a glimpse of Koneko's status.
Aki and Raul noticed their stares and asked Line, "Line, what are those three?"
Line looked at them and tilted her head, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what do you think of them? And why is everyone looking towards them as if they have questions that they want to ask? You're pretty close with them, right?" Aki asked again.
Line stopped for a moment to think and replied, "Hmm… If I were to describe their group then it would be, 'Adventurers who don't follow the same rules as the rest of us.'"
"Adventurers who don't follow the same rules as the rest of us?" Aki and Raul repeated her words in question.
"What I mean is, one shouldn't use common sense to judge them. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you more than that." Line then walked off to join Aika and Koneko who were trying to stop Sona from touching any of the kitchenware, rather desperately.
Aki and Raul looked at each other in confusion but didn't pursue the topic any further as it was useless to make assumptions about people whom they didn't even know.
An hour later, Finn gathered everyone that would be coming beyond the 50th floor and those who would be leading the ones who would be staying on the 50th Floor in order to discuss their roles, "Let's begin our final briefing."
"As mentioned earlier, only a select party will challenge the area beyond the 51st floor. The rest will defend the camp together with the Hephaestus Familia."
"The party will consist of me, Riveria, Gareth, Ais, Tiona, Tione, Bete. And the supporters will be Raul, Narvi, Alicia, Cruz, Lefiya, Aika, Shirone, and Sona."
All of the supporters, except for Lefiya, couldn't believe that the three Level 2's would really be coming with them and wanted to express their concerns. However, they stopped when they noticed that Bete, the one who always had something to say, didn't oppose or even try to raise his voice over Finn's decision, which surprised them even more. Since he didn't say anything, they tried to trust that Bete knew that the trio knew their abilities well and it was enough for them to be included in this party.
Seeing that nobody disagreed with the party's composition, Finn was a little bit surprised because he thought that at least Bete would say something. Honestly speaking, Finn didn't want to agree to this, but Riveria said that she and Ais lost to Kisuke Urahara in a bet and had to agree with it.
He didn't know how they lost or what game they played because they were not allowed to tell anybody, but Riveria assured that they lost fair and square, and Ais even got something in return. He could only trust Riveria in this issue and told her that the three wouldn't be his priority if something bad happened.
He then looked towards another individual and said, "Tsubaki, please accompany us to maintain our weapons."
Tsubaki Collbrande was a brown-skinned woman with long black hair and red eyes. She had an eyepatch, similar to her Goddess Hephaestus, however, hers covered the left eye instead of the right. She was the current Captain of the Hephaestus Familia and had joined the Loki Familia's expedition to take care of their weapons in response to monsters that melted them, which would hinder them from going further.
She had a well-endowed chest, which she kept in a sarashi, and wore a red hakama and sandals. Tsubaki answered, "All right, leave it to me." She said as she took a large bag from her tent and showed it to everyone, "In that case, I have some things to pass on to you."
She then took out all sorts of weapons for everyone from the Loki Familia who would go beyond the 51st floor, "The 'Durandal' that you ordered." Tsubaki said simply. Since it was already proven that the 'indestructible' weapon, 'Durandal' could withstand the acid of the caterpillar monsters, the Loki Familia commissioned Tsubaki to make it for them.
"This 'Durandal' weapon is lighter than I expected," Gareth commented after lifting his double-headed giant ax.
"You didn't order one of those crazy weapons?" Bete asked Tiona after he saw how she received a claymore.
"There was no helping it. They told me that if I was to order something like Urga, everyone's orders wouldn't be completed in time for the expedition." Tiona replied with a pout.
"Ti-Tione-san, you're using a halberd?" Raul asked the other sister as she usually used short swords and daggers.
"Well, I thought it would probably be better for me to use a larger weapon for the opponents beyond the 51st floor," Tione replied as she accustomed herself to the halberd.
Although she only briefly studied how to use a halberd, Sona could tell that she was handling it in a wrong way. But she didn't say anything as she knew that she didn't have enough mastery to teach others.
"While emphasizing durability, I tried to increase the power as much as possible. Though it varies depending on the weapon's shape, I can guarantee that their attack power is on par with second-tier equipment." Tsubaki continued.
"Thank you, Tsubaki. They're just as we specified." Finn said while lifting and checking his spear.
Tsubaki then looked towards the other three who didn't receive anything, except for Lefiya since she's a magic user, "What about you? If you don't have a weapon that can deal with those acids, it'll be very dangerous."
"I use magic," Sona replied.
"I have a way to deal with squishy and soft opponents," Koneko answered.
Tsubaki had some doubts since she didn't know their capabilities, but since they were acting that confident, she couldn't really say anything, "And what about you? Will you be using that?" She asked Aika and pointed at the nodachi which she hugged in her arms.
With a big smile, Aika replied, "My babies are more than enough~!"
"Babies?" Tsubaki and the rest were weirded out when Aika referred to her sword as her babies, but Tsubaki continued, "Can you let me check it? I'm not saying that your sword is weak but we need to make sure that you won't be put in a dangerous situation by overly trusting your sword." As the blacksmith of the team, this was duty.
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