Trust/Next prey(corrected)

<Pov Zoe>

(Night before the departure of the Loki Familia men.)

"Ouch, Zoe could you be a little more gentle?"

"Then next time try to listen to my and Lili's advice, that goes for you Welf too."

"Forgive us."(x2)

Seeing the two lowering their heads in guilt, even though their faces were covered with bruises, Lili and I's frown softened.

Three days had passed since the events of the 18th floor, in which the black Goliath appeared. During these days, Bell was in charge of thanking all the people who had provided support during that incident, without any problems, at least until this evening.

We had gone to the 'Hostess of Fertility to congratulate Welf on leveling up and having unlocked the blacksmithing skill. It was a serene evening until the members of the Apollo Familia began to disturb us.

At first, they started with annoying comments, but when their words started to get heavier, Bell snapped and Welf followed suit. They got into a scuffle with them, but when their level 3 captain appeared, the situation turned around and they started hitting Bell.

Fortunately, the situation was resolved by the presence of Bete of the Loki Familia, although I must say that his way of speaking is very... direct?

"As you trust us, we also trust you, so next time try to be careful about these kinds of events, okay?"

"Yes."

The atmosphere became lighter.

If there was one change in particular that had happened after the various events in the dungeon, it was that the relationship of the group improved. From facing a near-death situation to fighting with a monster that seemed unbeatable we had become closer, so I decided to tell them about myself.

I initially discussed it with my mother, but she simply hugged me and said she would trust my feelings and was happy that I was beginning to open up to others.

It had not been an easy choice. It was hard for me to trust people when I didn't even know what kind of person I was, but I didn't want to continue living like that, I didn't want the relationship I had with other people to be based only on the fact that I could read their minds, I wanted to establish a real relationship, like the one I had with my mother, Al, and Ryuu.

I told them about my 15-year-old emptiness, my abilities, my dreams, and my goals. When I emptied everything I felt lighter, but at the same time I feared they would judge me for reading their minds or feel uncomfortable with me.

{Nice to meet you Zoe and thank you for being our friend}.

I didn't need mind-reading to know that they had accepted me. Feeling the warmth of their smiles, while knowing my secret, made me feel for the first time that I truly belonged there.

"I have a question, for what reason did they attack us." -To interrupt my thoughts, it was Welf's question.

"For a Familia like theirs, it makes no sense to clash with us. Have you heard anything Zoe?" -Lili asked me.

"Nothing, all I know was that they had the goal of instigating us to attack them."

"Maybe it was just something about that day." -Bell said, trying to brighten up the room.

Although we weren't convinced, there was nothing we could do to correct the past, but what we didn't know, was that trouble would begin upon the arrival of a letter of invitation from the god Apollo.

<Pov general>

'clop' 'clop' 'clop'

The sound of hooves darting down the street woke Mark, who found himself looking at the ceiling of the carriage as he tried to remember what had happened.

"Right I won the challenge."

"And you surprised a lot of people, too."

Hearing Loki's voice, Mark turned his head and on the other side of the carriage, where he lay, was Loki with Finn and Riveria,

Because of the heaviness caused by the overuse of magic, he sat up slowly and then turned toward Loki.

"So I can fight Goliath?"

"A promise is a promise."

"However, I must congratulate you, Mark, it was an unexpected victory." -Finn told him, smiling.

"Victory eh, I don't even know if I should call it that." -He said to himself self-deprecatingly.

All his strategies proved a failure and even with all those disadvantages Tione had. It could be said that the only reason he had won was that he used the common knowledge of this world against her and the fact that she was underestimating him.

"You don't sound convinced." -Said Riveria.

"I won by luck, if Tione had not let her guard down my attack would not have worked."

"And that's what you deserve kudos for, you managed to fool someone with so much experience and win. You have every right to feel satisfied with your feat."

Seeing the seriousness in Finn's voice, Mark could only take him at his words.

"However six magic circles, I don't even know how to comment on that."

For Riveria who was considered the strongest sorceress, Mark's feat was unprecedented. She could concatenate two magic chants, but always a single magic would come out, instead, he could do six in a tiny time, completely abnormal.

'Well, actually my limit is three.'

Looking at his hand, he tried to remember the feeling of conjuring all those spells, and just the thought of having to calculate all six magic circles at the same time gave Mark a headache. The main problem was not so much the formation of the magic circles, but rather the fact that they had to remain stable, so he had to meticulously check that the Falna was flowing correctly.

The only reason he was able to pull off such an accomplishment was because of the use of 'Golem Heart,' which allowed him to focus completely on magic.

'Come to think of it, they didn't say anything about my state.'

Mark did not think of them as stupid, he knew they had noticed his change, and surely Loki would connect it with the ability she could not read, but since they did not ask questions it was better for Mark.

"By the way, how long did I sleep?"

That question arose naturally to Mark as he saw the sky painting orange and the walls of Orario not too far away.

"A lot. After you fainted, your arm was treated and after finishing the last chores in Melen, we left, and all the time you slept. You know, you are almost innocent when you sleep."

Seeing how she winked at him, he turned to Riveria.

"If it happens again, just make sure she doesn't get close."

"Don't worry." -Said Riveria, nodding.

"Oi."

The short journey left was quickly traversed and after the various events that happened in Melen, the Loki Familia returned to their home more tired than rested from this adventure.

Exiting the carriage, Mark stretched his stiffened body as he bent his head in confusion in the direction of Tione.

"What's wrong with her?"

She walked like a zombie, hair sending shadow to her face, as she kept repeating something. The sight made her quite disturbing to Mark.

"She's having a hard time accepting that she lost the challenge." -Aiz replied to Mark's question.

"Is it so strange that I won?" -Mark asked with a raised eyebrow.

"hmm."

Seeing how she simply nodded, Mark was momentarily speechless, although he could understand her reasoning.

"Mark I want a rematch!"

As soon as Tione saw Mark, she ran toward him with an aura that would have terrified even monsters.

"Seriously, I don't understand why you would propose that." -He asked with tiredness.

"Because I lost!"

"Do you realize that I won because you underestimated me? Heck, you beat me in every strategy I thought of, the last thing I had left was that suicide attack at the end that turned out to be correct." -Said Mark making full use of his patience.

"But I still lost." -Countered Tione, ignoring Mark's words.

'It seems I was right, it is impossible to reason with an amazon.'

Seeing how his head was beginning to hurt, he got rid of her as he entered the base. Since he had defeated Tione, the only target left was the Goliath, so he looked up every piece of information that was in the Familia's archive, and from the Guide's knowledge, he wanted to arrive at the confrontation knowing what he would be fighting.

'How far has the corruption gone?'

[5%]

'sigh.'

When he used his skill for training, it went up by one every 10 minutes, but when he fought in earnest it was not so. In fact, the fight with Tione had lasted only 20 minutes, but the corruption had gone up that much.

[Does the host already know when to face Goliath?]

'I'm going to the guild tomorrow to check. If he's alive, I'll go the day after tomorrow."

[I think the host is getting overloaded.]

'It's the only way to keep the mind occupied from various useless thoughts.' -Mark replied as he finished jotting down the last things.

'Besides, it's the time it takes for the corruption to get down to decent levels.'

[I see, then I hope the host achieves its goal.]

(Author: I promise that their next meeting is near and will last longer.)