Night had grown deep by the time Ryota reached the familiar doorway of Twilight Manor. As he stepped forward, the familiar mechanical voice finally chimed in his ear:
[Ding! Side Quest — First Adventurer's Commission — Complete!]
[Reward being tallied——]
[Reward 1: Jutsu · Teleportation Jutsu · Unlocked!]
[Reward 2: Chakra Capacity +2500!]
"Tch, the Adventurer's Guild is fast, I'll give them that."
Looking up at the massive mansion, Ryota was about to step inside when a loud, piercing yell rang out from within:
"Damn wolf, can you shut up already?! You're interrupting our captain's storytime! You want me to slice off your head?!"
That voice—clearly Tione, the older of the Hiryute Sisters.
Ryota froze mid-step, the corner of his eye twitching.
He hadn't even seen anyone yet, but his eardrums were practically under siege.
He stepped into the courtyard, and immediately spotted the ever-reliable... no, the workhorse of the Loki Familia, Raul, sweating bullets over something.
When Raul noticed him, he broke into a smile and waved.
"Ryota! You're back!"
"Yeah, thanks for holding down the fort, Senior Raul."
Ryota replied politely, then started toward the main hall.
But as soon as he stepped into the familiar hall, he froze for a moment.
The atmosphere felt strangely unusual.
At a glance, nearly all the core members—rarely gathered in one place—were here:
Loki, sprawled lazily on the couch; Finn, standing nearby, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn't; Riveria, the beautiful ice queen, calmly observing;
Gareth, Bete, and of course the Hiryute Sisters.
Even Ais, who usually kept to herself, was sitting quietly on a stool looking uncharacteristically docile.
However, everyone's eyes were fixated on the center of the hall.
Standing there was the elf girl who'd only just parted ways with him today, Lefiya.
At the moment she seemed to be seriously recounting something to the group.
But the instant Ryota appeared in the doorway, everyone's gazes snapped toward him at once.
The hall, which had been filled with chatter a moment ago, fell into an almost eerie silence.
"Uh, hi everyone. I'm back."
The moment he spoke, the entire hall erupted.
"Whaaa! Ryota, did you really wipe out all those monsters in the irregular monster tide solo?!"
"Tch, I'm telling you, Lefiya must be exaggerating!"
(That voice was obviously Bete's.)
Everyone was talking over each other, making Ryota's head spin.
Just as he was about to explain, the Hiryute Sisters, Tione and Tiona, suddenly zipped up to him like lightning.
One on each side, they locked onto his arms with gleaming eyes like they'd found a sacrifice.
"Come on! Right this way!"
"Hurry up, hurry up!"
Before Ryota could react, they half-dragged, half-carried him right into the center of the group.
Finn cleared his throat and spoke up.
"Lefiya just gave us a general rundown of your performance in the Dungeon today."
"We... have some questions about how fast you're growing."
He paused, then glanced toward Loki with a smile.
"So why not update your Status now, while we're all here to witness it?"
Ryota looked around at the shining, eager eyes of the crowd, then at Loki herself, who was already rubbing her hands together with excitement. His smile started to stiffen.
"You... wouldn't be refusing your captain's request, would you——?"
As Tione spoke, a black "flame" seemed to flare behind her.
The older Hiryute Sisters's face was so dark it looked like a volcano ready to erupt.
Ryota instinctively shrank back. Man, girls with a crush are terrifying.
"Aww, Ryota, think of it as giving us a little treat~ everyone's super curious!"
Tiona chimed in with a carefree grin, clearly used to smoothing over her sister's outbursts.
Ryota glanced around at the excited Loki, Finn and the others gathered behind her—
Even Ais had somehow drifted closer, her beautiful eyes filled with... curiosity?
Wow, so basically I have zero chance of refusing, huh.
Ryota wasn't worried about revealing his Status.
After all, these were all Loki Familia's core members—completely trustworthy.
It was just the idea of being watched like a zoo animal that felt... weird.
Screw it, I'd have to update it sooner or later anyway.
Muttering under his breath, Ryota decisively took off his jacket and obediently lay down on the sofa, exposing his well-toned back.
"Lady Loki, if you would."
Loki stepped forward gleefully, nicking her fingertip with a blade. A droplet of blood fell with a soft splat.
In the next instant, the divine writing of the Status began to shine across his back.
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Loki had been wearing a look of gleeful "mystery box" excitement, but when the lines of text fully emerged, even this goddess, who'd lived for untold millennia, froze as if she'd been turned to stone.
In the world of DanMachi, a person's Status was recorded in sacred divine script that only gods could read completely—though some mortals, like Riveria, could understand bits and pieces.
Standing next to Loki, Finn noticed her stunned expression and nudged her gently.
The red-haired goddess jolted like she'd been zapped, nearly sending her quill flying.
"Ah... right, right!"
She hurriedly began copying down the densely packed, even more absurdly updated Status onto a prepared parchment, stroke by careful stroke.
Ryota could clearly see her hand trembling as she wrote.
Finally, with the last line done, she very carefully handed the parchment to Ryota, then stepped back with a flourish, grinning like she'd just unveiled a masterpiece.
"Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on our Familia's very own monster's latest Status!"