In the woods, parting the dense forest, a clear, small waterfall cascaded down from among the rocks, like a beautiful white silk ribbon.
Its spray, like scattered pearls, diffused into the air, forming a misty haze that draped the mountain streams and trees in a thin, light veil.
Below the waterfall, a lake, dyed emerald green by the surrounding trees, was enveloped in the misty haze.
The sound of water lapping against the lake’s surface intertwined with the laughter of girls playing in the water.
The lake shimmered with emerald ripples, a pity that no one was around to appreciate this beautiful scene.
After a battle, slowly washing away the filth left on their bodies with clean water was always a part that the girls never tired of.
The process could also be interspersed with cheerful roughhousing and gossip about the day’s various events.
Usually during such times, the girls should have been washing their bodies while chatting about interesting incidents happening in the surrounding villages, or perhaps thinking about what to have for dinner tonight.
But today was different.
They had a new topic among themselves.
“Ugh, I’m all sticky and covered in goo~ Feels awful…”
A half-elf girl with light blue hair and pointed ears let out a mournful cry with a bitter expression.
Beside her, several elven girls nodded in sympathy.
For the elves, who were particularly fond of cleanliness, sweating profusely from prolonged combat was an especially uncomfortable experience.
“Lante, don’t use such ambiguous phrasing.
If the goddess hears, you’ll get a scolding.”
At the center of the girls, a red-haired human woman admonished with exasperation.
“Ehehe~”
Hearing her captain speak up, the half-elf girl called Lante reached up to scratch her head, offering an awkward smile and sticking out her tongue.
Attempting to get by on cuteness.
Lante was the youngest girl in the familia, only thirteen years old.
She had once been an abandoned child found by the goddess on a desolate mountain.
However, after all these years, under the goddess’s care and the familia’s warm atmosphere, she had developed a bright and lively personality.
Especially recently, perhaps due to puberty or a rebellious phase, she often tried to let loose on certain topics.
“It’s all that human’s fault!
Our dragon hunt was going just fine, and then he suddenly popped out, gave everyone a huge scare, and attracted so many ‘Gray Wolf’ packs.
It’s utterly unreasonable!”
Lante waved her small fist in the water, feeling that if Asta were standing before her now, she wouldn’t hesitate to give him a good pummeling with her little fists!
By then, she might be kneeling on the ground begging Asta not to die.
After all, even though Lante was a girl, she was not only a possessor of Falna but also an upper-tier Adventurer who had reached the realm of Level 2.
Her physical abilities were completely worlds apart from those of ordinary people.
Even if Asta’s physical constitution far exceeded that of a normal person due to certain reasons, compared to her, he still fell short.
One must know that in this world, Falna was akin to a cheat bestowed by the gods—a way to enhance one’s strength by defeating monsters and unlocking the latent potential hidden within one’s body.
Calling it a cheat wasn’t far off.
Actually, Lante wasn’t all that angry about Asta drawing aggro from the monsters.
What truly left her speechless was Asta’s behavior of recklessly running around deep in this dense forest despite having little strength.
When Asta was unconscious earlier, the goddess had already confirmed that there were no traces of Falna on him.
He hadn’t joined any familia and was just an ordinary person.
And for an ordinary person to run amok in a dense forest where monsters appeared—wasn’t that like an old man hanging himself, courting death?
“Perhaps that young man was just lost in the forest and had the misfortune of encountering the Gray Wolf packs’ hunt.
Besides, the Wyvern was successfully hunted in the end, wasn’t it?
Lante, stop complaining about this all the time.”
The red-haired human woman, Rethusa, shook her head helplessly, trying to placate the half-elf girl.
As the captain and the most senior member of the familia, Rethusa often played the role of Mama-san alongside the goddess.
This was because the other girls were all younger than them, with many even being underage.
“That may be so, but it feels like we went through a monster delivery for no reason.
I still can’t help feeling a bit aggrieved…”
Lante pouted, her small expression tinged with a hint of resentment.
In the end, she was only thirteen years old.
Expecting her to empathize and consider others’ feelings like Rethusa was simply asking too much.
It had nothing to do with strength, just experience and mindset.
The other girls in the familia could understand this to some extent, so they wisely chose not to involve themselves in the conversation between the two, instead chatting quietly among their own friends.
“Speaking of which, that young man is quite handsome, isn’t he?
He’s my type~”
“Ah!
I felt the same way.
The way he desperately charged at the Wyvern was so cool!”
“Just like a hero from an Adventure story, right?
I get it~”
Gathered around the lake, genuine maidens with slightly flushed faces began their discussion, each more enthusiastic than the last.
When it came to topics related to romance, none of these girls could escape their fervent interest.
Because their goddess was the deity presiding over chastity, one of the three famous virgin goddesses in the world—Artemis.
Under the oppression of this strict goddess, the familia had rules prohibiting romance and seducing men (not even handshakes were allowed).
These girls, in the throes of youthful awakening, had been suppressed for too long, making their private enthusiasm for romance even stronger.
If one day Artemis, the goddess, became enlightened and allowed romance, they would likely all break free like birds released from a cage.
Then, the first thing they’d probably do after finding a boyfriend would be to bring him before the goddess and bombard her with the sour-sweet stench of love~
Seeing the girls’ discussion heating up, Rethusa spoke up again, quite helplessly.
“You all, enough.
The goddess isn’t far away.
Do you want to be scolded together?”
This was the second time in a short while she had invoked the name of their deity.
But whose name was more effective than the goddess’s for her, the captain?
Or perhaps it should be said that when it came to topics of romance, without bringing up the goddess, there was no way to quell their enthusiasm.
“What’s the big deal…
The goddess is so far away.
She definitely can’t hear us~”
A brown-haired girl from the familia weakly voiced her complaint.
“Although I am some distance from you, I must disappoint you, for I heard everything.”