Chapter 867 Realizing a Big Mistake 

News of Riveria leaving the expedition had immediately made rounds among the members, and within the Loki Familia's main tent, Finn, Gareth, Ais, Tione, Tiona, Bete, Lefiya, Raul, and Anakitty were surrounding Riveria who already had her personal belongings packed up.

Finn sighed as he started, "If you're just leaving, I won't be stopping you... But what's this resetting your Level back to 1? Aside from thinking that you're out of your mind, I can't see any reason." As he finished his words, he was already glaring at Riveria.

Before Riveria replied, however, she first looked around and saw that everyone else had complicated expressions on their face, except for Gareth, who had a small smile with his eyes closed in the corner, out of everyone's sight.

'As expected... He's the only one who truly understands me aside from Loki.' thought Riveria, feeling a bit of comfort that she at least got support from one person. As a Dwarf and an Elf, Riveria and Gareth would bicker much more than anyone else and the two of them treated each other as rivals that took two extreme paths, the path of Magic and the path of Physical strength.

As a result, the two of them understand each other more than the rest, including Finn who has to take a certain distance even if they were good friends, due to his position as a commander.

"Does it have something to do with Line staying as a Level 1?", asked Tione.

Earlier today, the girls asked Line what her current level was because of how freely she could control her Magic Power and how much power her heals could provide. They forgot that Line hadn't had a chance to update her Falna ever since discarding it for the first time.

So when they found out, everyone was stupefied and asked her how she was doing it.

Line, on the other hand, only gave them a simple answer. Putting Magic Power control and circulation as top priority. It wouldn't just allow one to more efficiently use Magic Power and slowly increase one's reserves, but it'd also allow one to use more complicated spells. By staying at Level 1, the increased difficulty of Magic Power control could actually give more practice and training for finer control. Seeing the benefits that it could bring in the future, Line decided to stay as a Level 1.

The entire line of Magic users was tempted and contemplated this. But after a few seconds, they immediately discarded this notion as they couldn't bear to think of losing the years of effort that they had already put in to reach their current status.

So when Riveria announced that she was going back to Level 1, none of them could understand how she could so easily discard the effort that basically equated to most of her life.

"If I want to explore Magic more in the future, the Magic Control that it'll provide would prove useful.", explained Riveria.

"Riveria...", Ais muttered her name in worry. She can see that Finn is not liking her reasoning.

"You're discarding your current strength just for the prospect of it being useful in the future? This isn't just about you, so please think this over."

Riveria returned Finn's stare and she could see that he was getting frustrated. That frustration, she could understand. After all, she's not just temporarily leaving, but also erasing the existence of Loki Familia's 'Nine Hell' which served as a large fraction of its power. Finn didn't want the Loki Familia to suffer such a loss.

However, Riveria only joined the Loki Familia due to her desires and she had already made her decision, "I'm sorry, Finn. I know that it's incredibly selfish of me, but I can't let go of this chance. Please understand. If you're worried about the position I'm leaving, worry not as I've already trained Lefiya sufficiently. She may be lacking in a few areas, but I assure you that she's capable enough."

Finn got further frustrated and he wasn't able to hide it any longer to the point that everyone was already feeling the awkward atmosphere covering the entire room, leaving those on the side not being able to say anything between them. Gareth, meanwhile, frowned as he didn't like where this was going.

"You have no idea how big of a hole you're leaving. I know Lefiya is capable, but none could truly replace you, especially in these unknown times." It was unknown what got into Finn, his frustration? rage? or maybe a mix of both and some other feelings but heat ended up rising in the normally very calm Finn, "Or is that? You wanted to follow that man so much that you're throwing away everything?"

"Finn!" Gareth instantly raised his voice in fury.

However, it was already too late when Finn realized his mistake and saw Riveria looking at him coldly, "T-that..."

But Riveria didn't allow him to think of any excuse and cut him off, "It's not like I'm leaving the Familia and I'll be doing my best to work my way up again. And if this is not really allowed, I planned to ask Loki's permission first before going through it. If she disagrees, I'll be returning shortly. I'm sorry for taking your time, but I'm leaving now."

Without waiting for a response, Riveria turned around and exited the tent.

"Riveria!" "Riveria-sama!" Ais and Lefiya first looked around in concern before hurrying up to follow their mentor.

An awkward silence was left behind but before anyone else could say anything, Gareth instructed, "Leave me and Finn for a moment."

Everyone else didn't have a choice and slowly left the tent, leaving behind the disgruntled Captain and angry Vice-Captain.

"I don't need to tell you how stupid that was, do I?" asked Gareth.

Finn stayed silent for a few seconds before shaking his head, "...What I did was beyond rude."

Gareth gritted his teeth and slammed the table, breaking it in half, "It wasn't just beyond rude! It was plain disrespectful! How could you say that to her without any evidence!? You're making light of her resolve!"

"I... But could you think of anything else?"

But that only got Gareth more infuriated and he landed a heavy punch on Finn's face, sending him back and crashing the supply boxes behind him. While his head is still spinning, Gareth angrily picked his collar up and shouted in his face, "Have you gone senile, Pallum!? Have you forgotten why she was here with us in the first place!?"

Gareth's words jogged some of Finn's memories.

[Will I be able to unveil the mysteries of Magic?]

[Unveiling them will be up to you, but I can at least promise you one of the seats as one of the top Mages, of course, given that you'll work your hardest towards it.]

[Hmmm... You're right. It's really up to me. I guess that's good enough. I'll be in your care, Loki-sama.]

[Welcome aboard~! We still have a long way to go~]

It was a simple exchange between Riveria and Loki, when the latter was still recruiting for her newly formed Familia.

It was then that Finn finally realized how big of a mistake he just made was.

Nevertheless, Gareth was still not done with him, "Long ago, she could have stayed in Altena since it was all around a better choice for her, yet she still went with Loki due to her gratitude for bringing her out of that oppressive family. And this time, she didn't even have to leave and it was already right in front of her, yet you still did something stupid as stopping her from reaching it!"

"Don't you have your own ambitions? So what gives you the right to slap her hand out of her own dream?" Gareth pulled Finn closer and whispered, "This Familia is not a tool for your own aspirations. We only succeeded because every member put everyone's elses' desires and wishes into consideration. If you forget about that just because you'd be taking a step back for your own desires, you're just going to bring ruin into this Familia, and make no mistake as I'll be the first one to bring an ax to your face."

After mouthing off, Gareth threw Finn towards the broken crates before directly leaving to cool off his head.