Meanwhile, back at the scene.
Glancing back at the traveler's hat pinned to the wall by the arrow, Hermes wore a look of regret.
"Oh, what a shame. This hat was custom-made for me by an artisan from Altena, the Great Nation of Magic. The feather on it…"
Before he could finish, Artemis had already nocked another arrow, her sharp gaze fixed straight on Hermes, cutting off his irritating babble without the slightest courtesy.
"Quit your smooth-talking. You lazy good-for-nothing, what exactly are you after, suddenly coming back to Orario? It hasn't even been a month since you were last here. This isn't like you at all."
Especially since she'd just plainly heard her own name lumped in among several other goddesses. Given this fellow's longstanding reputation up in heaven, it was hard for Artemis not to imagine some rather less-than-respectable reasons.
"I…"
"Think carefully before you answer!"
"Uh, dear Artemis, please, you have to believe me. I really came back just for the festival this time!"
Suspicion was written all over Artemis's face.
"You? Celebrating the Christmas Festival?"
"No, no, Artemis, calm down! How about we lower the bow first and talk this out? Besides… even if you don't trust my character, surely you can trust Asfi, right?"
As he spoke, he yanked Asfi, who'd been hiding behind Alise, out in front of him, then patted her little head with a proud expression.
"See? Our kid here, isn't she cute?"
"Don't underestimate Asfi just because she's young. She's a one-in-a-million master of magic items! Even over in the Sea Nation, she ranks among the very best! Poaching her from Poseidon back then took quite a bit of effort!"
"Hmph hmph, and just because of that, that bastard Poseidon still has a warrant out for me to this day, which means I don't even dare set foot in Dysala in the Sea Nation anymore!"
"Such a shame, all those pretty girls in Dysala…"
"Asfi, Asfi, Asfi! I gave up an entire forest, all for you alone, you know!"
Artemis: "…"
Alise and her companions: "…"
The onlookers: "…"
…
"What happened here?"
The Ganesha Familia's military police, as usual, showed up right on time after the fact.
The two figures leading them were old acquaintances to everyone, none other than the famous Varma sisters.
"Shakti, Adi! Over here!"
"Eh? Ryuu? Alise? Kaguya? What are you all doing here too?"
"Well, as you can see, patrol duty for this district today happens to be ours."
"I see…"
Adi chatted easily with Ryuu and the others about the little incident from before, while Shakti's attention settled on the two gods.
"Those two gods are…"
"Lady Artemis and Lord Hermes?"
"For the two of them to show up in Orario at the same time, that's a rare sight."
After Shakti asked around among the spectators nearby, she understood exactly who the culprit behind this commotion was.
"Haah… Lord Hermes, can't you behave a little more properly…"
As the captain of Ganesha Familia and the head of the military police, Shakti had had more than enough of these good-for-nothing gods who spent all day roaming the streets in search of entertainment!
…
On the other side.
Under Artemis's relentless pressure, Hermes had no choice but to kneel pitifully before the moon goddess, head bowed, reluctantly spelling out the real reason he'd returned to Orario.
"A commission to track down slave traders? They've entered Orario? It's the organizations behind the illegal markets and the black market, then…"
"Heh, these people really are brazen, daring to traffic slaves right under Orario's nose, even arrogant enough to put a princess up for sale as merchandise!"
The air around Artemis seemed to plummet. Her hand tightened around the sword hilt at her waist until it creaked, and the reaction frightened Hermes into ducking his head even lower, his scalp prickling as he held his tongue.
As for why he was being so obedient?
That, of course, came from countless prior offenses.
Just recalling the terrifying punishment he'd suffered after getting caught by heaven's resident disciplinarian was enough to make him shudder violently.
Damn it! Damn it, aaaaargh! How could I be so careless! Of all the people to run into, why did it have to be Artemis! My 50 million!
The moment Hermes thought about his attention-hogging antics just now, he regretted it enough to want to slap himself a few times across the face!
"Hm?"
Noticing the shift in Hermes's expression, Artemis shot him an icy glare sharp as an arrow. Hermes hurriedly squeezed out an almost clownish, fawning smile while inwardly he was already wailing!
Damn it! Brawler goddesses like Artemis, Astraea, and Athena should never have descended to the lower world in the first place! For us frail little gods who turn into utter weaklings the moment our divine power gets sealed, it's just too unfair!!!!
Especially these goddesses. Every single one of them was already feared and renowned up in heaven, and now they come down here where everyone's divine power is sealed, and you're telling me… even without their divinity, they've still got the muscle!
Who's supposed to deal with that!
Aggrieved.jpg
…
Seventh District, Leon's home.
The Leon household, who had just finished breakfast amid a somewhat odd atmosphere, naturally had no way of knowing that on this festival eve, all sorts of characters across Orario had quietly taken the stage. Among them, someone had already begun scheming over that 50-million-Valis underground commission Rose had intercepted.
If Leon ever found out about this, given his abnormal obsession with gold coins, he'd probably go straight off the deep end.
After all… that was a full 50 million!
Pull off that one job, and the haul would nearly match what they earned from a two-week Expedition.
No wonder the various ridiculous commissions of the underworld kept cropping up in Orario no matter how often they were banned. With tasks this lucrative, it'd be a miracle if they could be stamped out completely.
In the parlor.
"Leon, Leon, Leon! The Christmas Festival is tomorrow! Have you actually finished planning out our itinerary or not?!"
Leon was leaning back into the sofa, Gale-Force Reading Glasses perched on his nose as he immersed himself in the mysteries of pharmacology, only for Laurier to fling her arms around his and break his train of thought.
He gently took off the glasses and looked around.
Mm. Aside from Margaret and Jeanne, who still wore bashful expressions and avoided his eyes, everyone else had turned their attention his way, including Rose and Kureha, bleary-eyed after serving as last night's grand finales.
"Right, let me think. Today's task is decorating the house. The ribbons, balloons, lights, gift boxes and all that, didn't you all buy them already? We can just get straight to decorating."
"On top of that, Rose and I still have to prep the ingredients we'll need for tomorrow's banquet ahead of time. That's a major undertaking."
"As for tomorrow, Lady Demeter told us to be at Central Plaza on time for the festival's opening ceremony. Once the ceremony's over, we'll be free to do as we like."
"Free time? You mean we can wander around however we want?"
"Mm."
"Yes! I'm gonna put every single treat along the food street on my must-buy list!"
"…"
Watching Laurier chatter away happily, Leon glanced at the time on the grandfather clock.
Then he exchanged a look with Rose, who smiled gently and clapped her hands.
"Everyone, let's get to work!"
"Yeah!"