Next Bonus, 400PS!
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"This?" August blinked. 'This piece of gear was enough to attract a main supporting character? Fascinating.'
Noticing his confusion, Liliruca Arde pointed at the chest piece. "That is premium light armor forged by the Hephaestus Familia. One glance is enough to tell it's worth hundreds of thousands of Valis."
"How could it not attract attention?"
"Plus, it has defensive enchantnts woven into it. Gear like that is absurdly expensive."
Lili laid out exactly why she had marked him. It was the Hephaestus brand. As a Supporter scraping by in the underbelly of Orario's adventuring parties, she had a sharp eye for valuables. In the Labyrinth City, if you didn't have a good eye, you ended up dead in a ditch.
"Is that so?" August replied.
"So, how do you feel now, having run into a 'rookie' like ?" he asked, studying the Pallum to gauge her reaction.
"Complicated," Lili admitted, her face souring.
This was the first ti she had t a rookie like him. At first, she thought the guy in the fancy armor was a fat fish waiting to be gutted. Now she realized he wasn't a fish at all, he was more like a prehistoric crocodile.
With the kind of firepower he possessed, her entire Familia could charge him at once, and they would all be wiped off the map.
But aside from his power, Lili could tell how August felt about her. He showed no malice or the usual condescension she got from Orario's adventurers. He treated her as a business partner. It might have seed like just a transaction, but for a Supporter who had suffered so much, it felt like a ray of hope.
"Fine. As punishnt for concealing your identity, your share of the loot is reduced to 30% from now on," August declared. He had no intention of abandoning her just because she had approached them with ill intent.
"Exactly!" Hestia chid in. "As the price for trying to scam my Familia, you, Liliruca Arde, are hereby designated the exclusive subordinate of the Hestia Familia!"
"From this mont on, you work only for us. You are forbidden from working for anyone else!"
Hestia was thrilled. This child was now officially on their payroll.
Lili had her flaws, but there was a reason for them. In Orario, she was a rare tactical talent and a real strategist. August couldn't handle every plan on his own forever. They needed soone who could co up with sches and manage logistics.
Having a supporting character like her show up on their doorstep was a huge win.
"Eh?" Lili stared at them in shock, never expecting to be taken in by force.
She had thought August would be furious once he learned she had been planning to rob him. Instead, he was not angry in the slightest, and the goddess standing before her was openly claiming her as one of her own.
"But I'm a mber of the Soma Familia..." Lili protested weakly. "The infamous Soma Familia."
She could not understand how soone like her could be accepted so easily!
"The Soma Familia?" August repeated, stroking his chin. "How many divisions do they have? How many bullets can they withstand? More importantly, can they survive a heavy artillery bombardnt?"
August got right to the main point.
"Huh?" Lili was surprised.
She didn't know what a "Division" was. But she perfectly understood his question about surviving an artillery bombardnt. The blood drained from her face.
"No, no, no! August, please do not commit a massacre!" Lili imdiately dropped to her knees, begging him to drop the terrifying idea. Her fragile heart couldn't handle the guilt of a bloodbath.
She still rembered the sight of that huge cannon firing. If her Familia faced that weapon, there would be nothing left of them.
August and Hestia looked at the groveling Pallum and exchanged a knowing smile.
August didn't mind Hestia expanding her Familia. Adding more people was easy, but finding genuine talent was difficult. Hestia did not want a group full of dead weight. She needed capable people who could truly support August: tacticians, logisticians, and dependable aides.
Now that soone with real skills had landed in their lap for free, Hestia was determined to squeeze every drop of value out of her.
"As the price for your deception, you will serve the Hestia Familia from now on," Hestia stated proudly, crossing her arms.
"If anyone from your current Familia has a problem with that, tell them they can take it up with us."
"Assuming their bodies can withstand suppressive fire, of course."
Having powerful weapons on her side made her feel more confident than ever.
After seeing what modern artillery could do, Hestia would have stocked up on even more weapons if money and the rules hadn't gotten in her way.
August glanced at his Goddess, realizing she'd soaked up more modern military lingo than he'd expected.
What the hell did she pick up while browsing the internet in his world? He hadn't even settled into her fantasy world yet, and she was already talking like a dictator hungry for war.
'Whatever. Let her figure things out,' he thought. 'She always did enjoy reading.'
Ignoring Hestia's chuunibyou mont, he shifted his focus back to Liliruca. He reached out and gave the Pallum's shoulder a reassuring pat, saying nothing else.
August took Hestia by the hand and set off toward the Adventurer's Guild. His inventory was packed to bursting with Magic Stones. Ti to cash in and see what the day's haul was worth.
A few steps later, August glanced back and saw Lili still kneeling on the stones, frozen like she'd glitched out.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?" Hestia puffed her cheeks, annoyed.
For soone who was supposed to be clever, she was slow to catch on. The bosses were leaving, so why was she still kneeling there like an actor in a stage play?
"YES!" Lili scrambled up.
Seeing August and Goddess Hestia looking back and waiting for her, she hastily wiped her tears. A rare smile of relief broke across her face.
She scrambled to her feet and hurried after them, trailing behind her new Patron Goddess and the partner who'd just turned her world upside down.
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~ 15 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
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