DanMachi: The Epic of the Heroic Spirits of Emiya Shirou

Emiya was somewhat amused and exasperated by the girl's sharing mentality: "You only eat potato balls?"

Normally, Ais eats nutritious meals prepared by the clan's support staff, but today the girl is adventuring alone, so she willfully only bought the food she likes.

Unexpectedly, Emiya caught him red-handed.

"Because the potato balls are delicious..."

Ais whispered her defense.

Potato balls are indeed a popular food among adventurers in Orario. They are not only delicious and energizing, but also easy to carry. Most importantly, they are cheap, costing only 30 Fali per serving.

Emiya understands the girl's love for potato balls, but the problem is, eating five potato balls in one meal is too unhealthy.

"Come with me, Riveria."

As he spoke, Emiya led the girl into a cave.

By moderately damaging the walls to stop the monsters from being produced here, Emiya projected a small table and then took out a sandwich from his satchel containing an egg, ham, cheese slices, and lettuce.

"Projection, start."

A silver knife appeared in his hand. Emiya lifted the top layer of bread from the sandwich and then took a potato ball from Ais's food box.

With a deft cut, chop the fried potato balls into mashed potatoes, then spread them evenly on the bread with a knife to create a new layer.

The cheese was placed on top of the mashed potatoes, projecting a flaming magic sword—its original was a defective item stored in Tsubaki's collection warehouse. The magic circuit of this magic sword was flawed, and the output flow was completely insufficient, so it could not release fireballs and could only slowly emanate a weak flame.

Its firepower is only good for roasting food, but only a madman would buy a magic sword worth hundreds of thousands of falies to do such a thing.

However, for Emiya, this "defective product" was surprisingly useful because of its projection magic.

Use the "Flame Magic Sword" to toast the cheese slices until they slightly melt into the mashed potatoes, then cover them with bread and toast the bread slices on both sides until they are slightly browned.

"Here you go, Riveria."

Emiya said.

"Can, is it okay?"

Ais swallowed.

"It's okay, you can exchange it for this."

Emiya picked up another potato ball, lightly seared it with his magic sword, and took a bite.

Ais held the sandwich in her hands, hesitated for a moment, and then took a bite.

"Delicious!"

Little Ais's eyes lit up, and with a few quick bites, she finished the whole sandwich.

"Let's go, it's getting late, we should leave the dungeon."

Emiya said, "I'll take you back."

"Uh-huh."

Little Ais, savoring the taste of the sandwich, returned to the Loki Familia.

Actually, it's just a sandwich, so how delicious can it be? But everything is relative. In the dungeon, being able to eat freshly baked food so easily is such a pleasant surprise.

"Eh, I think I forgot something... Ah!"

Ais belatedly realized, "I forgot to ask for a master!"

Then, the Loki Familia adventurers saw little Ais standing in the corridor, banging her head against the wall repeatedly.

Onlookers commented: "I don't know what's wrong, but she's so cute!"

Ais: "...However, Master has been so good to me, I shouldn't lie to Master."

Ais, who wasn't lacking in morals but was a bit stubborn, thought with some shame.

“I’ve decided. The next time I see Master, I will tell him the truth… and I’ll also ask Master to help me keep it a secret from Riveria.”

Little Ais belatedly realized that using Riveria's name to deceive people might, perhaps, or maybe was a little bit inappropriate...

"But it shouldn't be a big problem, since it hasn't caused any serious consequences."

Little Ais thought optimistically.

"Commander, I discovered something incredible today while buying sushi on the commercial street in the north of the city!"

A dog-person girl walked up to Chun and whispered something.

The Hephaestus Familia also has many non-blacksmith members, and this dog-woman girl is one of them. She has reached level 2 and is well-liked among the upper-class adventurers. She is good at gathering information and can be considered an intelligence agent for the Familia.

Tsubaki: "Sushi?"

"Hmm, a small shop with a mobile stall. The shopkeeper is a handsome guy who seems to have just arrived in Orario from out of town. The shopkeeper is cute... No, that's not the point."

The dog-woman didn't dwell on the sushi issue; she went straight to the point.

"I saw it! Emiya-kun was strolling through the shopping district with an adventurer from the Loki Familia!"

Upon hearing this information, Tsubaki's expression turned serious: "Who...could it be...?"

Dog-human girl: "That's right, it's that [Sword Princess], Ais Wallenstein!"

Chun was taken aback for a moment: "Huh?"

[Fiora]? She thought it was Riveria!

Why is it "Sword Princess"? Isn't Rivera, the "Nine Demon Princesses," the one in Loki's Familia who has a close relationship with Emiya?

This information was personally verified by the goddess herself, so it can't be wrong!

"No, no, this isn't that simple..."

Chun thought for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Ah~ I understand!"

"【Sword Princess】Ais must have been sent by Riveria to contact Emiya!"

Chun quickly received the answer and exclaimed inwardly.

The reason is simple: Riveria is too much of a target. This elven princess is the focus of the elves' attention wherever she goes, and obviously, if her relationship with Emiya were discovered, the elves would go crazy.

"So, having Fiora make the contact on your behalf is a cautious approach."

As we all know, Ais and Riveria have a very close relationship, so she is probably the person Riveria trusts the most.

“Although Riveria is an elven princess, this kind of thing cannot be entrusted to someone of her own kind.”

Chun thought, "Besides, Ais is young. If she interacts with Emiya, it will be like they are friends of the same age, which will make it more discreet."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Riveria."

Dog-person girl: "Captain, what have you been muttering about since just now?"

Chun: "It's nothing. Don't tell anyone about this except the goddess... Never mind, I'll go and tell the goddess myself."

Afterwards, Tsubaki told the goddess Hephaestus everything about the information the group members had witnessed and her own thoughts.

The goddess thought...that made a lot of sense!

"Sigh, if the other party is an elven princess, a meager gift won't be appropriate... Tsubaki, send someone to the sword-making city to purchase some special materials."

The goddess Hephaestus moved her wrists:

"I'm going to take action myself."

51

Chapter 51 Disciplinary Committee Member: I will protect the Elf race!

"What's wrong, Lord Loki?"

Alicia finished putting on her top and turned to look at Loki.

"Have I gained new development capabilities?"

She started by asking this question.

Development abilities differ from basic abilities; they often enhance a specific area of ​​an adventurer's abilities.

Starting from Lv.2, you have a chance to obtain one development ability with each level advancement. It's also possible that no development ability will appear upon leveling up, or that multiple development abilities will be available to choose from.

For example, Ais Wallenstein, who is also in the Loki Familia, has had multiple development abilities to choose from when leveling up more than once.

For adventurers, the development ability is extremely valuable because it can significantly improve the user's abilities. For example, even if two people use the same raw materials and the same preparation method to make a potion, the potion made by the person with the development ability [Harmony] will be of much better quality.

There are also some developmental abilities, such as [Magic], which can even raise the user's attributes beyond the current level; a Lv.2 [Magic] user's magic power can reach the Lv.3 level.

One of the key reasons why Lefia's magic is so powerful is because she possesses the ability to develop [Magic].

Furthermore, Lefia acquired this development ability when she reached Lv.2, meaning she could begin training it early on and potentially attain a very high level of [Magic] in the future.

Given the difficulty of leveling up, each adventurer has a very limited chance of gaining development abilities. Therefore, the amount of development abilities is an important standard for measuring an adventurer's strength and potential.

"Hmm, you have gained the development ability [Swordsman]."

Loki said, "Only this one development capability has been demonstrated."

Alicia nodded: "I see."

【Swordsman】, as the name suggests, enhances the user's ability to use a sword, and Ais also possesses this development ability.

"You should be one of the few adventurers in all of Orario who possess both [Magician] and [Swordsman] skills at the same time."

Loki said, "A true 'all-around warrior'!"

"【Swift Wind】is positioned the same as me, and if we're at the same level, I'm not as good as her."

Alicia thought, "But at least for now, I'm stronger than her after the upgrade."

"Lord Loki, you just said that I have acquired a new skill?"

Alicia continued, "What kind of skill is it?"

Unlike development abilities, the appearance of skills is unrelated to level advancement; new skills may appear during regular ability updates.

However, the acquisition of skills is often related to the "great achievements" accomplished by adventurers, so skills are often seen to appear along with leveling up.

Skills are even rarer than development abilities. If gaining the development ability [Swordsman] was satisfying, then the appearance of a new skill was a pleasant surprise for Alicia.

"Hmm...it's a very powerful skill."

Loki said vaguely, "As for the specifics, you'll have to see for yourself."

She handed the other person the paper that recorded Alicia's ability values.

Alicia took it and looked directly at the last skill bar.

[Elf Chanting] was her only skill before, with a simple yet powerful effect that increases the speed of spell casting and the ability to control magic.

As for the newly added second skill, what Alicia saw was:

【Elf Bonds】

When fighting alongside a "specific target" or a teammate with "bond" skills, all abilities are slightly enhanced.

Skill descriptions are influenced by the user's perception.

The female elf's hands, holding the straw paper, trembled slightly.

Some "artistic works" she had secretly read in the past came to mind, and she had all sorts of strange associations.

In fact, it is a very powerful skill in terms of its effect. "All-around stat boost" is a very valuable buff. Usually, such a boost would come with the cost of "damage to sanity", "significant consumption of stamina", or "being weakened after the skill ends". However, the condition for [Spirit Bond] is simply to fight with a specific partner.

Right now, Alicia has no time to consider the effects of her skills.

"What was originally just speculation has now been confirmed."

Alicia's voice trembled slightly: "That child's desire was so strong that it wasn't enough for him to just acquire the skills himself; he directly left marks on my body!"

She knew all too well who the "specific target" was; it was undoubtedly the child who had "stolen" her precious first kiss, which she had kept for eighteen years and three hundred months.

When she saw him unreasonably pull [Gale] into his arms, Alicia had a premonition, and now, through her newly acquired skill, she was finally certain!

【Elf Bond】, doesn't that mean completely treating oneself as a bound possession? Right now it's just a bond (rope), but what will this skill become after the "hunt" is completed? 【Elf Collar】?

Besides himself, who else would the "elf killer" target? Could it be Princess Riveria? That child actually wants to form a bond with the princess, to leave a mark, and to wear a collar?

Guh... No wonder he's called the "Elf Killer"!

Alicia trembled all over: "It's so beautiful... no, it's so terrifying..."