To The Beach

After taking care of everything they had, the Loki Familia, more specifically, the female members of the Loki Familia, arrived at Melen to investigate the strange flower monsters and how they could get into Orario undetected.

Loki presumed that there were other parties aside from Evilus that were smuggling these monsters into Orario and decided that they should investigate the nearest city from Orario, Melen. It was also the highest exporter of goods to Orario, so it was a proper place to start their investigation.

Of course, there were still some problems and mysteries they wanted to know, like the giant dragon that appeared in the sky and the strange happenings around the members of the Hestia Familia within the deep floors. As they were turned away before they could even ask anything, they didn't know what to think about them. The only thing they knew is that Kisuke, the captain of their Familia, left for someplace and hadn't gotten back yet.

They just assumed that's the reason why they'd cut off their contact with other Familias.

Meanwhile, the male members of the Loki Familia were tasked to investigate the sewers and Daedalus Street within Orario so that they wouldn't miss anything.

Other than that, they also intended to check the sealed entrance to the Dungeon, which was situated under the sea near Melen and where the Leviathan had surfaced long ago, as Hermes had suggested to them.

Of course, Loki's main purpose in separating her Familia by gender was to keep the female members to herself and play with them before they actually started their investigation. This was also her way of celebrating after the 'Muscle Magical Girl' appearance stopped around two weeks ago.

Arriving at a secluded spot within the vicinity of Port Melen, the Loki Familia arrived at an untouched beach with beautiful white sand.

Tiona, in her frilly blue bikini, ran towards the sea while exclaiming in delight, "Awesome! The sand is so white!"

Tione, in the same bikini but much larger, followed her and commented, "Wow... Now isn't this gorgeous?"

The 'sea' in front of them was actually a large lake named Lolog Lake that was connected to the sea outside of Melen. The reason why this wasn't a very well-known place is because it was surrounded by a dense forest that was dangerous for normal people. Those who could fight off the monsters within the forest, on the other hand, are all in Orario instead of Melen.

"A God I know let me in on this hidden gem! Nobody's set foot over here before, so feel free to spread your wings and get comfy!" Loki proudly announced, who was also in her swimsuit, while ogling the other members who're very embarrassed by the strange pieces of clothing which she forced on them.

Ignoring Loki, Alicia muttered in embarrassment, "T-this outfit... In a way, this is more embarrassing than those baths on the 18th floor were..."

"So this is a swimsuit... One of the 'Three Sacred Treasures' invented by the Gods..." Anakitty, on the other hand, didn't know what to do in these, 'Are we supposed to play while wearing these? What if it comes off?'

Line, meanwhile, couldn't even move her arms away from her chest out of embarrassment, "You and your sister don't seem to feel the least bit embarrassed, do you?" she asked Tiona.

"Well, it isn't really different from what we usually wear, hehe."

"By the way, where's Riveria-sama?" asked Alicia.

Anakitty pointed towards a large boulder behind them and said, "She's frozen behind that rock, still holding her swimsuit."

It was then that Alicia recalled the 'swimsuit' that Loki had handed to her, that barely covered her important bits, "...Poor thing."

Lefiya, although also embarrassed, was thinking of something else entirely. Seeing this, Loki approached her, "What's got ya feeling down, Lefiya? Is it because we held off on leveling you up?"

"Ah, no. You already convinced me, and I chose this myself," replied Lefiya.

After their recent expedition, numerous members of the Loki Familia also leveled up. Bete, Tiona and Tione had reached Level 6 while Lefiya was asked to stay at Level 3.

"I can already become Level 4, however, my current magic ability is only at B-rank. When I was Level 2, I raised it to S-rank before leveling up. At the very least, I need to get it to a high A-rank. So I'll level up... only then."

Loki nodded in satisfaction, "Finn, the other top guys, and I all want ya to be Riveria's successor. Someday, you'll reach Level 6. When that happens, the fact that you raised your ability to its peak will have a huge meaning." She then looked towards Ais, who was wearing a white bikini, "Besides, look at her. She should have leveled up long ago but she still chose not to do so. Several of her abilities already reached S-rank, but it looks like she's still not satisfied with that. Hehehe, so cute~!"

Lefiya immediately turned towards Ais direction and exclaimed, "Ais-san!" and was immediately smitten by her appearance, "Cute!"

"The best!" added Loki

And at the same time, both of them yelled, "Absolutely breathtaking!!!"

With a wry smile, Anakitty commented, "Lefiya, you're turning into Loki..."

Ignoring their reactions, Ais asked, "Um, do you think Finn and the others are fine? Since we left them at home..."

Shrugging her shoulders, Loki explained, "Nothing I can do about it. In order to get permission to go, the Guild asked us to leave about half of the Familia. It was a promise. I mean, we can't leave Orario open and defenseless, can we?" And with a big grin, Loki added, "Oh man. How disappointing. I could only bring along the female members. This really is unfortunate~!"

"Hey, Loki!" Tiona suddenly called out to her.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You said nobody else knew about this location, didn't you?" asked Tiona while facing to their left.

"Njord said nobody knew about this place," Loki finally got why Tiona suddenly asked that question and faced the same direction she's looking at and saw some people in the distance, "W-what? There are other people here!?"

Loki became worried that other people would witness this wonderful paradise for themselves and asked, "Ais! Who are they!?"

As one of the people with the sharpest eyes, Ais immediately recognized some figures and said, "...It's the Hestia Familia."

"What!? Hestia!?" Loki exclaimed. However, after a few moments of consideration, she decided, "I'm going over there."

Line then suddenly raised and said, "U-umm, me too. Please let me go with you too."

Loki looked at her and nodded, "Sure."

But after that, Ais also spoke up, "I'm coming too."

However, Loki hollered, "No!"

Ais tilted her head and asked in confusion, "Why?"

'Although Kisuke has apparently left for now, we don't know if he's come back. I don't want him to see you in this outfit!' yelled Loki internally and replied, "'Cuz I don't want you to!"

But instead of reasoning with her, Ais started walking towards the direction of Hestia Familia.

"Ais!?"

"Need to ask where he is. I want to ask him something," replied Ais and continued walking.

Loki scratched her head and ran after her, "Wait for me!"

Since the three of them were coming, the other members figured that they should go too, leaving Riveria, who was still frozen stiff behind the rock, staring at her string swimsuit.