[đ Shoutout to Taz, Gerson, Sai & GamersLab for joining patreon. Thank you very much.đ€]
"[Sword King], to bestow such a title upon a mere Lv.2 adventurer, this is completely disregarding our family's [Sword Princess]!"
The first-class adventurer of the Loki Familia with Lv.5 strength, Ais Wallenstein, holds the title of [Sword Princess], meaning Princess of the Sword.
This title has followed Ais since she reached Lv.2 and remains unchanged even after her recent upgrade to Lv.5.
[Sword Princess] is a title that perfectly matches Ais's temperament, something all gods fully acknowledge. It would be strange if Ais were no longer the [Sword Princess] one day.
"That infatuated goddess, knowing this full well, still proposed the title [Sword King]," Loki grabbed a bottle of red wine and frantically drank from it.
"In that gathering of foolish male gods, no one could stop the [Goddess of Beauty]... Ugh, Ais, I'm sorry," Loki lunged towards the Sword Princess, but little Ais deftly dodged the sudden attack.
The red-haired goddess fell face-first to the ground, while Riveria sighed and facepalmed.
'I think it's fine,' Ais whispered, thinking to herself, 'In the realm of swords, I am no match for Emiya...'
"It's just a title, Loki, no need to get so worked up over it," Riveria couldn't help but shake her head.
Loki sat up, wiped the blood from her nose, and looked seriously at Riveria, "No, Riveria, you're the one who should be most concerned."
Riveria was puzzled, "Why?"
"Because, [Sword King] is the father of [Sword Princess], and as everyone knows, you are Ais's mother..."
BOOMâ
Riveria punched the disrespectful goddess, embedding her into the wall.
"Emiya is going to be my father? And Riveria is my mother?", Ais's mouth hung open, her little face full of shock.
"Don't listen to Loki's nonsense!", Riveria gritted her teeth, rubbing Ais's head, "It's just a title, don't think too much about it."
Ais nodded, then looked up at Riveria, a flash of inspiration in her mind, 'âIf Emiya is my father, does that mean I can legitimately learn his swordsmanship?'
'Riveria, I acknowledge you as my mother, for the sake of my swordsmanship, could you make a sacrifice...'
Ais Wallenstein, aged thirteenâif Riveria knew little Ais's thoughts, this might be the only outcome.
Fortunately, little Ais, though bold, isn't foolish, and she doesn't dare to say everything. To this day, Riveria remains unaware that Ais has used her name to "swindle" outside.
"Speaking of which, Loki, since you returned, you've been complaining about the title [Sword King]," Riveria asked, "What about the titles of Ais, Alicia and Lefiya?"
Loki struggled to get up, "Ais and Alicia's titles remain unchanged, still [Sword Princess] and [Pristine Garden], while Lefiya's title has been confirmed as [Thousand Elf]."
"How about that, sounds nice, right~", The goddess raised a thumb, proudly seeking praise from the elven princess, "Ah, with veteran adventurers leveling up one after another and promising newcomers joining, my Loki Familia is truly thriving!"
'A fairy capable of using a thousand types of magic, [Thousand Elf]... quite fitting,' Riveria nodded.
"What are you thinking about, Riveria?", Instantly noticing her vice-captain's preoccupation, Loki tilted her head to ask.
"Ais just recently leveled up to Lv.5, but her situation is special; in the dungeon, she can be considered a Lv.6 combatant," Riveria rubbed Ais's head, "As for Alicia, Finn and I plan to promote her to an executive and transfer her to the first army."
In short, due to the leveling up of two key familia members, the combat strength of the Loki Familia's first army expedition team has significantly increased.
"Finn and I hope to take this opportunity to break our previous record in the next expedition, reaching deeper floors."
"Also, we want to try to directly defeat the 49th floor's labyrinth king (BOSS), the Evil Eye King Balor."
So far, the Loki Familia's dungeon expedition record is the 49th floor, which is also the floor where the labyrinth king resides.
The Evil Eye King Balor, with a potential ability value of Lv.7, like the labyrinth kings of previous areas, possesses extremely high specifications of embodiment and endurance. Balor's body is even larger than the giant Goliath, with endurance reaching Lv.8.
Moreover, Balor's attack power is at the limit of Lv.7âit has two eyes, one always closed, with no visible eyeball. Once this closed eye opens, any first-class adventurer hit by its gaze will die instantly.
Within the Loki Familia, only the Lv.6 heavy warrior [Heavy Champion] Gareth could potentially survive a direct hit from Balor's death ray.
Additionally, Balor possesses the [Monster Summoning] ability that nearly drove adventurers to despair during the Black Goliath subjugation battle. Balor is not a lone labyrinth king; the 49th floor generates numerous powerful beastly monsters, the Formorians, to fight alongside it.
In reality, with three Lv.6 members, the Loki Familia isn't without the possibility of defeating Balor, but Captain Finn aims for a perfect subjugation with no casualties.
And before [Sword Princess] Ais and [Ferocious Wolf] Bete, these new generation first-class adventurers of the familia, Finn never had complete confidence.
Another way is to bypass Balor. Unlike Goliath, Balor doesn't block the entrance from the 49th to the 50th floor but roams the vast wilderness of the 49th floor.
However, without a perfect plan to subjugate Balor, Finn wouldn't choose this approach, for a simple reasonâfinding a moment when Balor isn't present to bypass the labyrinth king and enter the 50th floor isn't difficult, but what if, upon returning from the 50th floor, Balor blocks the passage?
The probability seems low, but if such a situation arises, it would mean certain doom.
Therefore, until they are sure they can defeat Balor, Finn won't act rashly, and the Loki Familia's expedition record has been stuck at the 49th floor for a long time without progress.
Until the past year, when the Loki Familia's titled [Raging Snake], [Great Cleave] the Hiryute sisters, [Ferocious Wolf] Bete, [Sword Princess] Ais Wallenstein, and [Pristine Garden] Alicia all leveled up to Lv.5, Finn and Riveria knew the time had come.
"If we could purchase Hephaestus's recently developed, historically powerful magic sword, our chances would be even greater...", Riveria's tone was melancholic, "Finn asked me to find a way, but the bidding starts tomorrow..."
Loki was puzzled, "Then buy it, it's just bidding, doesn't our Loki Familia have the money?"
Riveria gave the goddess a sidelong glance, then couldn't help but sigh.
.
.
.
"What, our familia's account only has 400 million valis left?!!!", Looking at the ledger Riveria presented, Goddess Loki could no longer remain calm.
If some small familia's gods or captains knew about Loki and Riveria's current emotions, they might cry out of jealousy, as 400 million valis is likely a sum that ordinary familias would never come across in their lifetime.
Yet, the goddess and vice-captain of the Loki Familia, faced with this astronomical sum of money, felt it was completely insufficient.
"How could there be so little left, wasn't our harvest from the expedition before last very bountiful?", Loki found this hard to believe.
Normally, an expedition by the Loki Familia yields about 1 to 1.2 billion valis, and the expedition Loki mentioned took place five months ago.
That expedition went very smoothly; they encountered rare, high-value monsters multiple times during their adventure and were fortunate to collect their drops.
Ultimately, the expedition's earnings reached 1.5 billion valis, and [Raging Snake] Tione Hiryute, [Great Cleave] Tiona Hiryute, and [Ferocious Wolf] Bete Loga all leveled up during that expedition, becoming Lv.5 first-class adventurers.
"First of all, that wasn't the expedition before last, but the one before that," Riveria corrected Loki's statement, "The expedition before last, our luck was poor; many high-level monsters we defeated didn't yield drops, and we barely broke even."
"As for the last expedition... Ais, where are you going?", Little Ais, who was tiptoeing, sneaking, and cautiously heading towards the room door, froze in place.
"Come back."
"Yes," Ais slunk back to Riveria's side.
"Because someone impulsively chased after a strengthened species dragon monster, the last expedition was a total loss," Riveria rubbed Ais's head, sneering.
Little Ais: *Shivering, not daring to move.*
"Ugh... even so, the familia's remaining deposits shouldn't be this little," Loki was still unwilling to accept it.
"Expedition earnings don't all go into the familia's public account; each participating member gets a proportional share."
Riveria patiently explained, "Moreover, the average 1 billion valis expedition earnings are after deducting initial costs, not including subsequent costs."
The Loki Familia's successful expeditions yield very bountiful earnings, but the costs are also astonishing: 500,000 valis per high-grade elixir, at least twenty needed for both the first and second armies; 100,000 to 200,000 valis per spirit potion, each mage needing to carry at least three; magic swords costing several million, up to ten million each, possibly consuming over a dozen...
These initial costs are already considered when calculating expedition earnings, but there are also equally high subsequent costsâequipment repair fees, treatment expenses for injured members, etc.
"And the annual taxes paid to the guild, our familia's rank is too high, so the taxes we need to bear are almost the highest among all familias," Riveria couldn't help but complain.
Among the Loki Familia's top three, Captain Finn, as the familia leader, is responsible for overall management and strategic planning and army command; executive Gareth's work is the training and development of new familia members; and vice-captain Riveria manages the familia's finances.
Clearly, due to the familia's financial issues, Riveria has accumulated quite a bit of stress and resentment.
"First-class adventurers who have leveled up to Lv.5, the familia funds the forging of a first-class weapon for them, this is our familia's incentive policy," Riveria pulled out a stack of bills, "Tione, Tiona, Bete, their weapon forging costs average over 100 million valis each."
"Ugh," Loki held her forehead, not daring to look at the bills in Riveria's hands.
Continuously forging high-grade weapons for newly promoted first-class adventurers is the main source of the Loki Familia's financial problems, though it's a kind of happy trouble, it has indeed caused the current economic crisis.
"Alicia also needs a new weapon forged, Alicia is a magic swordsman, if we're to forge a first-class weapon with magic properties for her, the cost would likely be at least 150 million valis," Riveria said gloomily.
After deducting this expense, the Loki Familia's account would only have 250 million valis left, and even without considering the initial costs of the next expedition, this sum might not be enough to buy Hephaestus Familia's [Magic Sword âą Spiral Sword ].
After all, Riveria and her team's competitors are the Freya Familia, Ganesha Familia, Ishtar Familia, and Dian Cecht Familia, each with billions in assets, especially the latter two who operate the pleasure quarter and hospitals.
"Speaking of which, I have a batch of bills here, for someone who bought alcohol and various useless things in the familia's name, as well as the costs of throwing parties," Riveria smiled at Loki, "Want to take a look, our beloved goddess?"
Loki's back instantly broke out in cold sweat, "Bills, no need to look... who in our familia would do such things, ah, it must be that kid Raul..."
Riveria stared at Loki.
Loki obediently stood next to Ais, lowering her head: "I'm sorry."
"Sigh," Riveria sighed helplessly, "Anyway, I'll attend the bidding tomorrow, as for whether we can buy the magic sword... we'll do our best."
"Go for it, Riveria Mama!", Loki shouted.
"Do you want to come along, Ais?", Riveria asked.
Ais was also interested in the "historically powerful magic sword" and wanted to nod, but suddenly realized that going to the Hephaestus Familia with Riveria might mean running into Emiya.
If Riveria found out about her previous actions, she'd be done for, so Ais quickly shook her head, her little head bobbing like a rattle-drum, "I want to, go to the dungeon."
Ais found a suitable excuse.
"Alright then," Riveria didn't doubt her, "Be careful on your own, only allowed in the upper and middle layers, no going to the lower layers."
Ais obediently nodded.
"It's getting late, hurry up and go to sleep, Ais, goddess too," Riveria said, "Ais's body is still developing, don't stay up late."
âââââââââââââ
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
đ„łJoining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.đ„° You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y