"What do you mean you forgot to bring it, nya?!"
Chloe instantly leaned in close to Ryu, her golden cat-eyes flickering with a blazing love of gossip. "It's right there, tucked into the right pocket of that apron of yours, nya!"
"Yesterday the three of us tagged along with you and spent ages picking it out before the shop closed, nya."
"And then when it really counted, you couldn't be honest at all, Ryu, nya!" "Exactly, exactly, nya!"
Anya, never one to let a chance for chaos slip by, waved her arms and loudly stoked the fire from the side.
"Just now Ryu was as chicken as a turtle hiding in its shell, nya!"
"That's really not like the usual Ryu at all, nya!"
The three companions surrounded Ryu in the very middle of the street and launched round after round of merciless bombardment. Ryu's fair cheeks, which usually carried a cool aloofness, were now dyed an unmistakable shade of peach-pink. She bit down hard on her lip, trying to force her usual cold, detached image back into place.
"Stop talking nonsense!
"There were just too many people around at the time, and Lady Hestia was standing right there. I was afraid that if I suddenly handed over a gift it would be misunderstood,
so I didn't take it out." Ryu stiffened her neck and explained through gritted teeth.
But the way her steps quickened beneath her, and the way she kept dodging the gazes around her, had long since laid bare the flustered turmoil inside her.
The four of them moved off down the street amid the bickering and clamor, their crisp voices carrying a good long way on the morning breeze.
Meanwhile. In the first-floor hall of the Haimer mansion.
Inaba Tsukuyo sat on the sofa, her hands folded together atop her knees.
With her extraordinary hearing, she had already caught every last word of those four's conversation out on the street, not missing a single one.
It seems everyone has thoughts that aren't so simple after all.
Even that seemingly proper elf lady was sneakily pulling off these little gift-giving schemes.
At that thought.
Inaba Tsukuyo didn't open her eyes; she merely turned her face silently toward the direction of the master bedroom on the second floor, her lips pressing slightly together.
About ten minutes later.
In the spacious, brightly lit first-floor living room of the Haimer mansion.
Hestia had already left, planning to go check in on the busy Hephaestus and, while she was at it, take a look at the construction progress of the new base she would soon be moving into.
Rei, Fei, and the others were out in the spacious courtyard basking in the sun, every so often casting their gaze toward Haimer in the hall. The girls of the [Haimer Familia], for their part, had each found a spot in the hall and sat down.
Kikakujou Mary, fully dressed, came down the stairs.
She sat down on a single-seat sofa, but the moment she caught sight of Haimer her gaze drifted off to the side of its own accord, not daring to meet his eyes head-on. Hanasaka Warabi, with no regard for appearances, sat cross-legged atop the broad back of the giant bear Kyoubou, while the little bear beside them lay sprawled belly-up, rolling around and making a racket.
Onigawara Rin held a soft cloth in her hand, head lowered as she carefully wiped the dust from her blade's edge, her expression intent.
Amou Kirukiru, meanwhile, had carelessly thrown a dark jacket over herself.
She hadn't even pulled up the zipper; she lounged with it hanging open, her whole body slouched lazily against the edge of the largest sofa, the very picture of bone-deep indolence.
"By the way, do you all have any plans for today?"
Haimer suddenly asked offhandedly, his gaze sweeping across the girls in the hall.
Hearing this, everyone exchanged blank looks, glancing at one another, none of them able to make up their minds.
In the end it was Onigawara Rin who made the decision. She stopped wiping her blade and spoke up, breaking the silence.
"Aside from continuing to delve deeper into the Dungeon, it seems we don't really have anywhere else to go right now, do we?"
"Shall we go?"
"Then let's go."
Seeing that the girls had decided to follow Onigawara Rin's suggestion, they all began getting ready to rise and set off for Babel Tower.
Just then.
At the words "the Dungeon."
Amou Kirukiru, lounging against the edge of the sofa, let out a very faint cold snort, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "I'm not going." "Eh~?"
Hearing this, the cowlick atop Nomura Satori's head couldn't help twitching, and a trace of curiosity surfaced. "Why's that?" "Does Kirukiru have other plans today?" And it wasn't just Satori.
In an instant, the eyes of everyone in the hall fell squarely on Amou Kirukiru.
After all, everyone knew that Amou Kirukiru was a thoroughgoing battle maniac through and through.
And yet today she had actually gone and said something like "I don't want to go" of her own accord.
Word of such a thing getting out would be even more absurd than Lady Hestia suddenly declaring that she hated eating fried potato croquettes most of all! And so… At the same time.
On the northwest avenue of Orario. "Achoo!"
Having just finished breakfast, hands clasped behind her head and stepping along with a brisk, light gait on her way to visit Hephaestus, Hestia abruptly let out a great big sneeze.
"Strange—who's talking behind my back?"
Hestia rubbed her nose and muttered.
Still, she didn't pay it much mind and kept walking forward.
But she hadn't gone two steps before Hestia sensed that the atmosphere around her seemed a little off.
The usually noisy street—today its murmuring chatter seemed unusually uniform, with nearly everyone whispering head-to-head.
And what's more, the central topic of their discussion kept drifting into Hestia's ears. "Did you hear?" "What do you mean did I hear—is there anyone in Orario who still doesn't know? The [Haimer Familia]—every single member is Lv. 2!"
"And let me tell you, it's the absolute truth!"
"It's news that came straight from the Guild's side."
"Those newcomers—how many days have they been in? Three days? Five? And they're Lv. 2 already."
"Back in the day, the Sword Princess Ais Wallenstein took a whole year, and these new arrivals do it as easily as drinking water." "And that's not even the most outrageous part." "Those two bears—you know them, right?"
"Of course, aren't they always wandering around the streets?"
"Those two bears are Lv. 2 as well."
"Beasts! Beast adventurers! Never even heard of such a thing before!"
Hestia pricked up her ears and eavesdropped, and hearing this, mixed in among the crowd, she couldn't help the corners of her mouth ticking upward. "That's right." "And what's more, that Haimer god—just yesterday he was out walking those monsters through the streets! And those were Dungeon monsters!" "Isn't he afraid the monsters might go berserk and bite people?" "Bite people? You think the Guild is blind?"
"Even the bears have received Grace now—who's to say that one day those monsters won't be granted God's Grace too!"
"If the monsters down in the Dungeon all turned into adventurers, wouldn't Orario be turned upside down?"
"Take a guess at how the big shots of Orario see it." "How do they see it?"
"First off, the Guild—Guild Master Royman Mardeel shut the whole thing down with a single word, saying that as long as the rules aren't broken, the Guild has no authority to interfere. Even when several Familia patron deities banded together and went to the Guild to demand answers, they were all rebuffed by Royman Mardeel point-blank."
"And that's not all."
"Some people even ran to Loki to lodge complaints, but Loki wouldn't even show her face and just told them outright to get lost. And Lady Freya's base has had its gates locked down tight these past few days—she's not receiving anyone at all." "If the Guild and the two strongest Familia in Orario won't lift a finger, who else would dare touch this hornet's nest?" "What about the Ganesha Familia?"
"The Ganesha Familia? Lord Ganesha and Lord Haimer are thick as thieves—joined at the hip!"
"No way? The Military Police are in cahoots with him too?"
"How is it no way?! Who do you think paid for the luxury mansion? Captain Shakti bought it herself! And those high-end furnishings—who footed the bill? The Ganesha Familia covered it all! A while back, when that Lord Haimer said he wanted to build a new base, Lord Ganesha, without a word of complaint, stamped the approval right onto the Guild's paperwork. What do you call that? That's a behind-the-scenes financial backer!"
The moment these words were out.
The whole crowd's jaws dropped. A behind-the-scenes financial backer?
Wasn't that Ganesha fellow the one Haimer had been shaking down?
How had this crowd spun the story so outrageously?
Hearing this far, the corner of Hestia's eye had already begun to twitch.
"So by your account, isn't Orario about to undergo a complete upheaval?"
"You bet it is! The Guild tacitly allows it, the Loki Familia backs it, the Freya Familia stays out of it, the Ganesha Familia puts up the money and the land—oh, and right, there's the Hephaestus Familia too. You should know, on their very first day descending into the Dungeon, it was the Hephaestus Familia's captain, Lady Tsubaki, who personally led the team, and the weapons they use are all top-grade pieces forged by the Hephaestus Familia."
"And on top of that, there's that Takemikazuchi Familia from the Far East—they helped haul loads twice and likewise raked in plenty of benefits!"
Listening to this analysis, the passersby all sucked in a cold breath one after another.
Hestia, however, found the taste of it more and more wrong the more she listened.
Loki, Freya, Ganesha, Hephaestus, Takemikazuchi…
In the end, why was she the only one who got no mention at all???
She was the one living together with Haimer every single day!!
And Haimer had even given her a spare key!
Did she really have so little presence?!!
In the eyes of this crowd, did she not warrant even the slightest bit of discussion?!!
Didn't even count as a little tagalong?
"How infuriating!"
At that thought, Hestia stamped her foot in a huff, immediately turned, left the crowd, and dashed off at a quick pace toward the new base in the outer ring.
Half an hour later. The outer-ring ruins, the construction site. The once weed-choked abandoned district had now been completely transformed into a vast and clamorous work site.
Carts loaded with stone rolled over the dirt road, the clinking of chiseling stone and the sound of cutting timber interweaving, while dust swirled in midair.
Hephaestus wore a set of practical work-shorts and a short top, her trouser legs rolled up to the knee. Her eye-catching red hair was casually tied behind her head, and the black eyepatch over her right eye glistened in the sunlight.
She held a scroll of blueprints in her hand, pointing at a wall that was nearly built and giving instructions to a few sweat-drenched dwarves. "Dig the foundation deeper over here. Shift the load-bearing pillar half a foot to the left."
Hephaestus had just raised her voice and finished shouting.
"Hephaestus!"
A cry brimming with grievance came from over by the heap of rubble.
Hestia huffily stepped over the debris on the ground, her blue ribbon bobbing up and down in time with her sulky stride, her whole self like a smoking powder keg charging straight in, her lips pouted out far enough to hang an oil bottle.
Hephaestus stopped what she was doing, rolled the blueprints up into a tube, and held it in her hand. She reached up and patted the lime dust off her shoulder, looking at Hestia with helplessness written all over her face. "Well, well, Your Highness—you've finally deigned to come out and see me." Hephaestus pointed at the dust swirling all around. "But this place is nothing but dirt; what did you come running over here for?"
"Waaah, I'm about to die of anger!"
Hestia grabbed Hephaestus's arm and shook it hard, beginning to pour out all her grievances.
"Everyone on the streets is talking about those little ones of Haimer's reaching Lv. 2!"
"They didn't leave out you, or Loki, or Freya, or Ganesha, or Takemikazuchi!"
"And yet! Not a single word mentioning anything about me!"
The dwarves at the construction site stopped their hammers and looked over curiously.
Seeing this, Hephaestus waved them off helplessly, telling them to get back to work. Looking at Hestia all riled up like a puffed-up cat, the corner of her own eye couldn't help twitching a couple of times.
This girl had run, panting, across half of Orario to find her—really just for some trivial nonsense like this?
"You came all the way here just for this, to complain to me?"
Hephaestus heaved a sigh.
"What else?!"
Hestia was so anxious she hopped in place.
"Whether it was up in the Heavens or down in the Lower World, I was the very first one to get mixed up with him! And now everyone in Orario thinks he's some underworld boss propped up by you big Familia, and I don't even count as a little tagalong!"
Hephaestus watched Hestia still chattering on and gesticulating away.
She turned around, waved at Tsubaki in the distance, and tossed the blueprints over. "Tsubaki, keep an eye on things here for now."
Then she took Hestia by the arm and dragged her off to a shaded spot to the side, sheltered from the wind.
Hephaestus leaned against a boulder, arms folded across her chest.
A trace of seriousness gradually surfaced in her red eyes.
"All right, enough complaining."
Hephaestus looked at Hestia, who still wanted to open her mouth.
"By the way, you've only noticed the one point—that they didn't mention you."
"Haven't you noticed that the reputation of how fast Haimer's little ones are leveling up has now spread completely throughout Orario?"
Hestia was taken aback for a moment. "So it's spread, so what?"
Hestia pursed her lips.
Seeing that Hestia didn't want to face the matter, Hephaestus, too, let out a helpless sigh.
"This place, Orario—far too many people come and go every day. Merchants, travelers, information brokers."
"In no more than a few days, this news will ride the wind and spread beyond Orario's high walls."
Hephaestus turned her head and looked toward Babel Tower in the distance. "The things Haimer did back in the day up in the Heavens—you know about them too."
"If the gods out there were to hear that he's descended to the Lower World…"
Hephaestus paused, lowering her voice. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." Hephaestus shook her head.
"By then, the commotion out there will absolutely be far greater than anything inside Orario."
Meanwhile, on the other side. After Amou Kirukiru had said those out-of-character words just now.
"Oh? Do you have other plans?"
Onigawara Rin, too, paused what she was doing and asked with a raised eyebrow.
Amou Kirukiru worked her neck a little, producing a crisp series of cracks from her joints. "It's not that I have other plans—it's that going would be pointless." "Work it out for yourselves."
"If we keep on plodding along the same two-point daily routine,"
"then judging by the limits of our last two Dungeon expeditions, we'll basically be stuck around the twenty-somethingth floor of the Dungeon."
"That being the case, the question is: those monsters on the Dungeon's twenty-something floors as things stand now—"
"apart from being a bit stronger and a bit more numerous, what difference do they really make to us compared with the dozen-or-so floors above?"
____
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