Sigh.
Hephaestus let out a sigh.
Then she said, "In fact, a divine friend of mine in the Lower World sent a request for help from the Rakia Kingdom."
'What?' Rayleigh almost thought he had heard wrong. "The Rakia Kingdom?"
Hephaestus nodded and said, "The Rakia Kingdom is one of the kingdoms closest to Orario, and it is ruled by the God of War, Ares. The Ares Familia is a state-type Familia. In other words, the entire kingdom belongs to Ares."
Rayleigh knew that, but that was all he knew.
The God of War, Ares—a muscle-brained idiot who never wins his wars, a rather foolish god, yet one with enormous ambition.
Just like the authority he governed, he was a war fanatic.
At all tis, he longed for battle and victory, unfortunately, he could only stop at the forr.
Under his rule, the Rakia Kingdom had to bear enormous military expenses every year, and it launched frequent invasions against Orario.
"The goddess asking us for help is nad Phobos. She is a goddess whose Familia was defeated by the Ares Familia and then completely absorbed. Now she is forced to live under Ares' control, repeating dull work every day, until all freedom has been stripped from her."
After hearing that, Rayleigh muttered, "So it's basically like a War Ga."
Who would have thought that Ouranos would actually pick up the conversation?
"That's right." The old god took over and explained, "The Ares Familia is essentially the state religion of the Rakia Kingdom. The God of War Ares stands even above the king in status, and is revered as the Father of the Nation."
"Because of Ares' ideology, the people of Rakia are all soldiers. Excluding the non-combatant civilians, the total scale of its military still exceeds ten million. It is physically and practically impossible for Ares alone to provide Falna and update ability values for such an enormous number."
"So he continuously attacks other Familias, absorbs them, and takes their patron deities as subordinate gods, using them as tools."
Hearing that, Rayleigh quietly glanced at his own goddess' expression.
As expected—it was very dark.
A little frightening, even. It seed she was extrely displeased with that Ares.
"Ares keeps the strong among his children at his side in order to stabilize his own rule. And once a subordinate Familia produces outstanding talent, that person is imdiately ordered to undergo Conversion and is placed at the very bottom of Ares' own Familia."
"The Familias under subordinate gods all long to enter the Familia of the Father of the Nation, because in that kingdom, only the Ares Familia possesses real power. No matter how glorious they once were in that kingdom, once they fall under a subordinate god, they imdiately beco no better than impoverished nobility."
At that point, Ouranos suddenly fell silent.
As if she had already discussed it with him beforehand, Hephaestus very naturally continued.
"Have you heard of the Crozzo family?"
He had suddenly been asked a question, but Rayleigh actually did know this one, so he nodded.
"The Crozzo family.... The family of magic swords. They are famous for their ability to forge magic swords. There are records stating that Crozzo magic swords once devastated the holand of the elves during a war, making them a family the elves hate to the bone."
Only then did Hephaestus reveal a slight smile.
She seed rather satisfied.
"That's right. And for so reason—whether it was the sin of destroying the elves' holand or sothing else—the Crozzos lost the power to forge magic swords. Because of that, they were cast out from the ranks of real military power and beca fallen nobles."
At that point, the red-haired goddess sighed.
She seed to have so kind of opinion about that famous line of smiths, but she did not say it aloud.
"The Crozzos have always dread of reclaiming the forr glory of their ancestors. But the more they desire it, the less they obtain it. They've even declined in the smithing skill they originally had."
"However, by so kind of blessing—or whatever it was—not long ago, one of the Crozzo family children displayed a unique Skill after receiving his Falna."
That sounded like... Welf Crozzo? Right.
Phobos.
No wonder that goddess' na had seed a little familiar to him.
She was precisely the goddess Welf had once belonged to. And not long from now, because she would help Welf escape, she would be punished by Ares and sent back to Heaven.
And this was also because of Welf.
Originally, Welf had studied smithing under his grandfather, listening every day to his teachings on the craft and its principles.
However—when they discovered that he could forge magic swords, that grandfather changed.
He beca hysterical, disregarded the honor of smiths, and only greedily longed for power.
The honor of a smith and all that—it was all bullshit.
Driven into despair, Welf resolved never to forge magic swords again, and instead wanted to rely on his own strength to create a weapon that would not lose to a magic sword.
But the Crozzo family would not let him go so easily.
He was no longer just the individual called Welf Crozzo; he had beco the vessel of hope for reviving the family.
Even if he would rather die than submit, they would still force his bloodline into a chosen woman!
Everything was for the revival of the Crozzo family!
Phobos sympathized with Welf's situation, and so she helped hide the information about the Skill known as [Magic Sword Blood]. But that could not continue forever, because the Crozzo family did not have that much ti to wait. They would soon discover what Phobos had done, and report it to the king and to Ares. At that point, both Phobos and Welf would face the worst possible outco.
"Phobos requested that I gather a force in Orario to help her. And in return, she will have Welf undergo Conversion into our Familia. That is the full cause of the matter."
'A rescue mission, huh.' Rayleigh frowned slightly.
This commission was hard in one sense, but simple in another.
But since it was enough to make Hephaestus troubled, then there must definitely be so sort of restriction.
"Then... what is the reason you called here alone?"
"..."
Ouranos spoke again. "That is my requirent. I cannot allow a large number of adventurers to leave the city. Those are the rules."
"At most, one person. I can only permit one person to go outside the city and operate beyond Orario."
'Tch.'
"What a stubborn old fossil." Hephaestus was clearly angry.
To Orario, the Rakia Kingdom could be described as a place full of crisis because that was the enemy's main camp.
Even if its overall strength was inferior to Orario's, Rakia still possessed an army of one hundred thousand.
Among them, there were no shortage of knights and generals at Level 2 or even Level 3.
For Rayleigh alone to go to the Rakia Kingdom and rescue a goddess and a brat who had only just received his Falna—just hearing it was enough to make it sound unimaginably dangerous.
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