The next morning, people from all over the Orario were greeted by a bunch of tables full of food placed near the spots where the Orphans and homeless were known to gather.
Onlookers gathered around it and immediately saw a big note plastered on the table with a message.
'For the hungry kids out there, take some with you. This will give you energy for the whole day~.
-The Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group.
PS: If you're not an orphan, homeless, or extremely hungry, then stay away. Let those who can't fend or work for themselves have some good food.'
The contents of the note immediately spread throughout the whole city and the homeless and orphans came running towards the tables of food.
The others already heard about what the thief group did and how they easily defeated the top Adventurers of the Freya Familia before they escaped while using some unknown magic that didn't use any kind of incantation. So in response, those who weren't the beneficiary of the foods stayed away from it and let those poor children have a safe space around the table.
Although some of the people were praising their actions, most of them still hated their guts for their hypocritical actions. The people who were cursing the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group for robbing the innocent Familia's for feeding the poor. If they wanted to help, they could have earned it through legitimate means and not through stepping on the heads of others for their own satisfaction.
However, as the sun rose up, their opinions changed when the Guild did their usual announcement after the Denatus.
Aside from the new Aliases that were bestowed to the Adventurers, the other announcement of the Guild gathered everyone's attention, "The Guild has conducted a late-night investigation along with the Ganesha Familia due to an anonymous tip. Thanks to this, we were able to gather enough evidence to convict several Familia's.
"Below are the Familia's and their respective crimes:
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"Below are the Familia's that are still under investigation:
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"We hereby announce that the Familia's who are proven to have committed these heinous crimes are henceforth expelled from Orario and that the main culprits are to be detained. We thank everyone for their cooperation. If you have any additional information regarding this, please call out to one of our Guild Staff."
This announcement shook the whole of Orario, as people tried to find the Familia's who were deemed guilty but they could no longer find them. Some witnesses said that they already left Orario before dawn even broke in. Even half of those who were still under investigation, but not yet found guilty, left the city in fear of more sanctions.
It was at the next moment that someone realized something, "...Hey... Aren't these Familia's the ones that the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group robbed?" With just this one simple question, people started using their heads and quickly pieced the puzzle together in their heads.
"Y-you're right! I live near the three Familia's that were attacked by the stink, however, only one of them was robbed. And that Familia is on the list of those which were expelled!"
"I don't know how the others are doing, but the two Familia's near me were also attacked by the stink. However, none of them were robbed, but their names also aren't listed here."
"Same with me! Two of them live near my place and both of them were robbed! One is in the expelled list while the other is in the under investigation list!"
Waves of discussion started sprouting among the Adventurers and normal citizens of Orario, trying to confirm their thoughts. Some people tried to ask the Guild where they got their information from, but the Guild refused as it was against protocol to reveal their whistleblowers.
But that still didn't stop the people from thinking that it was the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group's main goal to expose those Familia's of their crimes while also robbing them so that they could feed those who couldn't fend for themselves at the same time.
The excited cheers of the crowd for such decisive and brave actions from the thief group spread like a wildfire through the whole city, painting the earlier criticism with wild admiration. Adults started talking about this to their children and children started playing as the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group. Minstrels composed songs that everyone sang and Gods became excited at their existence, trying their best to investigate the group. Overnight the chaos had turned the thieving group into heroes in the hearts of the people. Still, many people wondered what did they truly want, and whether or not they would appear ever again.
Little did they know that the group's main goal was to get the people's attention away from the Guild's first announcement, which was the list of the people who leveled up and their new Aliases because they didn't like theirs very much. If the Gods and people were to know that they only created so much chaos that essentially changed the inner workings of the whole of Orario for the sake of distracting them from their measly Aliases, they wouldn't know how to react.
While the Gods were busy searching for clues regarding the identity of the three mysterious 'robbers', Loki was locking herself up inside the Twilight Manor, not partaking in any of the liveliness happening outside.
Although some others had noticed it, only she put importance to the fact that all of the bombed Familia's Gods had attended yesterday's Denatus and that all of them were the ones who created the 'shameful' nicknames for the Adventurers. Although she didn't have any concrete evidence, she had a strange feeling that everything started because of this, 'W-what's going on!? Who can do something like this!?'
As the chairwoman of that Denatus, it was obvious that she had a massive voice to control what kind of Aliases the Adventurers could get, so it was unnatural that her Familia wasn't targeted. Because even their rival Familia, which is a bit stronger than hers, the Freya Familia was 'ignored'. 'I have a feeling that this isn't the end yet... Where is this bad feeling coming from? And that guy should already have received the news regarding his Alias... Why didn't he look for me yet?... Could it be...? No, no, no... Those guys were too strong... But could it really be his fault?'
After shaking her head a few times, Loki decided to change her pace, 'There's no use thinking about this. Maybe I got away with no punishment?'
She left her room for the first time since dawn to get some drinks which could hopefully calm her nerves, and maybe to play for a bit with the female members of her Familia. But at the exact moment she stepped out, she was greeted by a 'glorious' sight, "AHHHHH!!!!" She shouted in horror.
"Loki-sama!? What happened!?" Her children yelled as they ran upstairs and saw Loki sitting on the floor while shaking and pointing towards the wall in front of her, "W-what's this!? Who put this thing here!?"
Loki's children curiously looked towards the wall she's pointing at, but were also gobsmacked at what they saw, "Eh...?"
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"I'm back~!" Kisuke greeted everyone as he returned from the Twilight Manor.
"How did it go?" Yoruichi asked.
"It was a success~!" Kisuke gave her a thumb's up.
"What did you do, nya?" Kuroka curiously asked.
Taking out his fan, Kisuke started boasting, "You see, I've started to paint as a hobby and I'm getting pretty good at it~. I just gifted a painting to Loki-sama as a sign of my goodwill."
"What kind of painting?"
"The glorious form of Mil-tan~!"
*Cough!*" Yoruichi almost spat out what she was eating as she recalled the overly muscled Magical Girl wannabe. "You did what?!", she asked while still being shell-shocked.
"I hung a painting of mine with Mil-tan as a subject in front of Loki-sama's room and I'm planning to continue to do so, at least 10 times a day with differing themes, until everyone from the Loki Familia returns from their expedition."
"She's going to get some nightmares..." Yoruichi muttered.
"Who's Mil-tan, nya?" asked Kuroka.
Kisuke then proceeded to show her some photos of Mil-tan which he took after he got curious about what he looks like after hearing about him from Issei.
Kuroka then looked towards Kisuke with a twitching expression as she remembered Loki's likes and dislikes and tried putting herself in her shoes, "...You're a monster."
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Crimson Apokalypse Thieving Group Fan Corner
Alexander: I went down to the floor and laughed my ass off. That was simply gold. However, I got an idea for an improvement. Just imagine her waking up in the morning, just to see a painting of an encouraging Mil-tan on the ceiling.
28th00: I was honestly expecting the clear tape wall trap, not the door painting one. Kisuke went far more psychological horror on Loki than I assumed with his harassment, it might even make Bestia feel sorry for her…
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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Comment Section
Alexander: ...in the next chapter: The two adorable sword-spirits wondered, "Who are you? You are not mommy?" After hearing that, a confused Tsubaki shouted, "Wha... What the hell is this weapon?!"
28th00: Yeah… I'd be really careful on touching or making any insulting comments on a sentient weapon made from the user's soul… It tends to end poorly. Making any negative comments on a Zanpakuto is a really suicidal move for anyone without some insane soul strength, those things can and have acted completely autonomously before, at levels exceeding their own user even! Not talking about the filler arc, but that counts too.
Sorry for being late...
I honestly forgot to post the chapters...