As evening arrived, a grand welcome banquet was being held in the dining area on the second floor of the Twilight Manor.
This was a large restaurant and dining hall that could accommodate almost all Familia members.
As a talented newcomer personally acknowledged by Loki and the three executives of the Familia, Asta was pushed to the forefront to make an appearance.
“Everyone!
Our Familia family has a new member!
Let’s meet our new family member!
Asta-chan!”
Picking up a wooden wine cup to use as a microphone, Loki laughed loudly as she introduced Asta to everyone in the Familia.
Asta’s mouth twitched slightly.
What the heck is Asta-chan?
I really want to retort…
But it was just a thought.
The current situation was clearly not the time for retorts, as over a hundred people around him were staring.
Compared to before, Asta’s experience in dealing with being watched had grown considerably.
He simply gave a normal self-introduction, politely greeted everyone, and after finishing his speech, Asta immediately slipped away.
Then, Loki naturally changed the subject.
The goddess with vermilion hair stomped on the table with a “bang,” striking a bold pose unbefitting her status, raising her wine glass to liven up the atmosphere.
“Alright!
To welcome the newcomer, tonight is a banquet!
Drink your fill!!!”
After speaking, Loki led the toast under everyone’s gaze, and then everyone clinked their beer mugs together, the atmosphere in the dining hall gradually warming up.
Under Loki’s leadership, the banquet gradually reached its climax.
For a time, the boisterous atmosphere within the Loki Familia could even be heard from the street outside.
And even if Asta slipped into a corner, he still couldn’t escape the fate of being “watched.”
One by one, Familia members with friendly, or “friendly,” gazes approached Asta.
Among them, there might have been people who genuinely wanted to say hello.
But more often, they were people holding wine glasses, wanting to come over and “greet” Asta.
“Wuw!
Wuwuwuwuwuwu…”
In a corner of the dining hall, Simon, as the one who brought Asta to the Familia, was crying and drinking heavily.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong with you, Simon?”
His friend beside him, seeing him like this, couldn’t help but ask with concern.
“I’m so jealous…
Even the Goddess and the Captain acknowledged his talent!
I thought our team of gatekeepers was going to expand again!”
Simon sobbed, wiping his tears.
So, he had been looking forward to it all day for nothing.
Thinking of his schadenfreude when he thought Asta would join the gatekeeper team, Simon couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
I was the clown after all?
“This…”
These words made his friend beside him not know how to comfort him~
Forget it, let him cry, he’ll be fine tomorrow anyway.
Another part of the banquet.
Ais’s eyes flickered with confusion.
She looked at Asta’s direction, then turned back to Lefiya, and then turned back to Asta again…
She repeated this action two or three times, and then the confusion in her eyes turned into certainty.
“Lefiya…”
“Wha-what is it, Ais-sama?”
Suddenly called upon, Lefiya looked puzzled.
“The newcomer isn’t a girl, he’s a boy.”
Ais said very seriously to Lefiya.
“Uh…
I know…”
Should I say it’s Ais-sama after all?
To be unexpectedly conflicted about something like this?
But Ais-sama like this is also so cute!
Suddenly, not knowing what she thought of, Lefiya started giggling “hehe,” her face showing an expression of being lost in fantasy.
At this moment, Asta’s face turned green when he saw so many people lining up with wine glasses, ready to “greet” him.
To be blunt, Asta, in both his lives combined, had barely drunk alcohol.
He neither liked to drink nor knew how to drink.
At most, he only went as far as mixing red wine with Sprite and taking a small sip, lamenting that it wasn’t as good as soda pop.
So, at such a banquet, what would be Asta’s fate after being “greeted” by people one after another?
As expected, Asta collapsed halfway through the banquet…
He died!
He didn’t remember when he lost consciousness, only that when he woke up again, it was late at night.
No, it was probably already past midnight, right?
Asta struggled to prop himself up from the bed.
His gaze fell upon the water and a hangover remedy marked with a note placed on the nightstand.
He couldn’t help but reach for it and drink it.
Although he didn’t know who prepared it, he was grateful.
Unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar room, the sheets and bedding were all new.
Clearly, someone had taken care of him.
Realizing this, he lay back down, sighed, and a sense of comfort rose in his heart.
If nothing unexpected happened, this would be his personal room from now on, right?
“A hotel room can’t compare at all…”
Even though the room was simply decorated and not large, it felt very comforting.
Why did so many people in my previous life buy houses even with high loans and debt?
Wasn’t it for that sense of security?
With his hands clasped behind his head, Asta opened his game-menu-like system to check the quest panel.
[Completed Quest: Join a Familia]
[Adventurer Level: LV1]
[Updated Main Quest: Adventurer Level increased to LV2]
[Reward: Obtain Skill: Morning Star]
…
“Main quest updated?
Reach LV2, so does that mean every time my Adventurer Level increases, there might be a corresponding reward?”
Asta softly speculated.
This was a habitual way of thinking, as game tropes were always like this.
Of course, it was just a guess; Asta couldn’t say for sure whether it was true or not.
The Morning Star skill made him a little curious, but he couldn’t know the specific attributes of the skill until he obtained it.
“So, what I need to do next is just keep raising my level.
After all, in this Maze City, strength is everything…”
Thinking this, Asta shifted his gaze from the ceiling to outside the window.
Tonight was a cloudless night sky, with countless stars twinkling in the firmament, seemingly endless as if they could fall directly to the ground.
Although only a corner could be seen from the window beside the bed, it was still dazzling and beautiful enough.
As Asta looked at the brilliant stars, his mind raced, and he suddenly felt a refreshing coolness in his head, his thoughts clearer than ever before.
His originally emerald-blue pupils slightly dimmed, transforming into a deep blue hue, with shimmering starlight flowing within them, radiating brilliantly.
At once, Asta recalled the effect of his skill.
Stars Favor: Doubles his mental power, and doubles again when the stars are brilliant.
“When the stars are brilliant” simply means a cloudless night with an exposed starry sky.
Currently, these conditions were met, and Asta’s mental power was enhanced to four times its normal state.
Although he had only just received his Falna today, Asta, in terms of mental power alone, with the skill’s boost, even surpassed some ordinary LV2 Magic Guidance practitioners.
“But this just makes me even less sleepy…”
Feeling his mind becoming increasingly clear at this moment, Asta’s tone was a bit helpless.
This was simply an essential skill for staying up late.