Long Chapter!
...
Hestia and August didn't linger in Orario. Returning to their temporary hideout in the ruined church, they opened the portal and headed straight back to Earth.
But in their wake, a massive shockwave swept through the Labyrinth City.
From the Adventurers grinding in the upper floors to the Guild Advisors who had witnessed the haul firsthand, the tale of the Hestia Familia's captain, August, detonated across the city.
The Adventurer parties who had spectated the carnage returned to the surface, eagerly spreading the story. They spoke of his ruthless, thodical slaughter, detailing how he deployed an arsenal of bizarre, roaring weapons from a spatial dinsion to obliterate an entire horde.
The rumors flooded the streets and alleys. Naturally, the major Familias caught wind of the gossip and wanted to verify if the wild claims were true.
When the Guild dispatched mbers of the Ganesha Familia to inspect the site, they found a seventh-floor cavern scarred by overwhelming firepower. The massive crater blown into the solid stone floor was undeniable proof of a catastrophic battle. Or rather—a massacre. A one-sided slaughter of monsters.
The Ganesha squad reported exactly what they found. Anyone who reviewed the devastation drew a sharp breath in horror.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Loki Familia Headquarters.
"What do you make of this?" Finn Deimne, captain of the Loki Familia, asked the executive mbers gathered in the room, eventually looking toward their Patron Goddess sitting at the head of the table.
"What do I make of it?! THAT LITTLE SHRIMP PLAYED !" Loki fud.
She originally thought the kid Hestia contracted was just a flashy dud. Now, it was obvious she had been totally played. The Shrimp had played dumb and pulled a fast one on her. Dammit!
"And Hephaestus definitely knew what was going on! She was in the room that day! She knows everything!" Loki jumped up and down in frustration. "It pisses off!"
Thinking back, the entire ordeal that day was just a stalling tactic to shoo the other Gods away. The truth had been completely hidden from them. Aside from Hestia, Hephaestus was the only one who knew the full story behind that pillar of light.
"That light confird he was extraordinary. But both Lady Hestia and Lady Hephaestus deliberately concealed the truth. If we go asking now, they won't tell us a thing," Riveria Ljos Alf sighed.
If Loki had dug deeper that day, they might have caught a glimpse of his true power. But thanks to the two Goddesses running interference, the public only knew about his spatial inventory.
And the way he used that inventory...
"Using a spatial dinsion as an armory, then remotely projecting the weapons..." Gareth Landrock shook his head heavily. "The kid is a one-man army."
He always believed that high-level Adventurers could easily crush lower-tier ones, but this shattered that logic. Operating a personal armory for heavy bombardnt ant one man had the destructive output of a military legion. It was absurd.
"But here is the most important part," Finn noted. "He is a fresh Level 1."
Level 1. Just a rookie. Most people got a blank status board upon receiving their Falna. Yet this rookie possessed a terrifyingly destructive unique skill.
"Ergency!"
Tiona Hiryute burst into the room.
"Tiona, we're in the middle of a eting," her sister, Tione Hiryute, scolded. "Where have you been?"
"I HAVE BREAKING NEWS!" Tiona yelled. "That Hestia Familia kid doesn't just have a spatial backpack! He also awakened a miracle-tier healing spell on his very first day! It's called [Healing Fire]. As long as the person isn't dead, he can use it to completely regenerate severed limbs!"
"What did you just say?!" Loki's eyes bulged.
A unique spatial skill and a miracle-tier healing spell right out of the gate? Limb regeneration broke all the rules of conventional magic. It was practically a divine authority.
"Tiona, where did you hear that?" Loki demanded.
"From Tsubaki! The captain of the Hephaestus Familia!" Tiona reported honestly. "She said Lady Hephaestus confird it herself!"
"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" Loki shrieked. "They were hiding it!"
Loki finally realized how thoroughly Hestia had played her. Dammit! If she had known, she would have kidnapped the kid that very day! She would have started a Familia War over him without hesitation. But the ship had sailed. The kid was already established.
"Um, actually, there's one more thing," Tiona raised her hand again.
"What now?" All eyes turned to her.
"When that massive pillar of light hit Orario, the kid used the Hephaestus Familia crests to track down Lady Hephaestus. But his actual target from the very beginning was Hestia," Tiona revealed.
"He was aiming for the Shrimp from the start?" Loki groaned, feeling thoroughly defeated. "Why?! Was it fate or sothing?"
But a second later, Loki narrowed her eyes. "Wait... No. That doesn't make sense. That's impossible."
She knew Hestia better than anyone.
"What's wrong?" Ais Wallenstein asked, noticing the Goddess's expression darken.
"Ever since the Shrimp descended to the lower world, she has been a freeloading shut-in at Hephaestus's workshop. Nobody in Orario even knows she exists, aside from us Gods." Loki began to piece the puzzle together. "So, if he just arrived from the outside world, and his goal was Hestia all along..."
Loki lowered her voice, a chilling realization dawning on her. "How did he know who Hestia was?"
No mortal on the surface knew about Hestia's descent. How did an outsider know she was here?
"That kid definitely has other abilities," Finn bit his thumb, analyzing the intel. "He possessed special abilities even before he received a Falna."
What those abilities were, they had no idea.
"To make two Goddesses play dumb to protect him... this guy is hiding sothing terrifying."
A miracle healing spell... A unique spatial armory... And unknown clairvoyance or ta-knowledge.
"Is this guy... a hero?"
If Loki hadn't seen August's calm, grounded deanor—which lacked the typical fiery aura of a hero—she would have sworn he was one. But with an ability set this loaded, calling him anything less felt ridiculous.
"Dammit! You annoying Shrimp! I am going to uncover your kid's secrets!" Loki growled.
Of course, she was angry, but she wasn't stupid enough to send her kids to spy on him. The danger was obvious. He was a one-man army. Anyone who ssed with August had better be prepared to die. He was a ruthless killer who debuted with an absolute massacre.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Tower of Babel, Freya's Chambers.
"Did I misjudge him?" Freya murmured, swirling a glass of red wine.
Dressed in a revealing gown, she gazed down at the city with a look of surprise. She hadn't expected to be proven wrong, nor had she expected to fall for Hestia's bluff.
As the rumors spread, Freya realized she had missed the mark. His soul appeared perfectly ordinary, yet his capabilities were monstrously abnormal.
"The fact that he could resist my Charm ans he isn't a normal mortal," Freya noted, feeling a rare sense of caution.
There was no doubting August's combat power. Based on the reports, he was a ruthless killer, not so timid little rabbit of an Adventurer. Given his ability to execute flawless massacres and project heavy weaponry from a pocket dinsion, Freya suspected that even her strongest child, Ottar, might struggle against him if August went all out.
"Oh well. Whatever secrets he's hiding, they don't concern ," Freya concluded, losing interest.
Her Divine Eyes could see the true color of a soul. August's soul was dull. It didn't excite her. As a Goddess in the lower world, she judged her targets entirely by the brilliance of their souls. No matter how powerful a mortal was, if their soul was diocre, she wouldn't give them a second glance.
Her gaze drifted across the city streets below. When her eyes locked onto a brilliant, unblemished white soul, she smiled.
"It seems Hephaestus's child has taken an interest. Should I intervene?"
Freya shifted her full attention from August to Bell Cranel. That adorable, pure soul was wandering the city. But she noticed another, more complex soul hovering near him. If she wasn't mistaken, it belonged to Tsubaki Collbrande, the captain of the Hephaestus Familia.
Even from a distance, her Divine Eyes picked up the interference. What was going on down there?
Freya's original plan was to manipulate Bell into joining Hestia. A virgin Goddess raising a pure child would only make his soul shine brighter. Then, when the ti was right, she would swoop in and claim him for herself. The ensuing climax would be euphoric.
Unfortunately, Hestia had already picked up another child. That ruined the dynamic, aning Hestia was no longer the ideal incubator for her prize.
"Whatever. Ottar, find a ti to give Hephaestus's child a little warning," Freya waved her hand. She wasn't going to let Bell Cranel get scooped up by the Hephaestus Familia. A gentle warning from the King would suffice.
"Yes, Lady Freya," Ottar replied dutifully from the shadows.
So Gods cared, while others didn't. They all had their own agendas. In their minds, no matter how strong August was, he was still just a mortal operating within the limits of their world.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Hephaestus's Workshop.
Similarly, Hephaestus had her own plans.
"Does it matter what they know?" Hephaestus muttered, writing up a docunt with a quill.
She knew that leaking the information about August was simply a tactic to build his reputation. Sotis, making enough noise was the best form of deterrence. She understood the political landscape perfectly. She knew exactly how the other Gods operated.
Stretching her back, she picked up a glass from her desk, filled with an iced beverage. She took a sip, relishing the sharp, carbonated bite of the acidic drink.
"Hmm. Still getting used to this."
Hephaestus eyed the modern snacks and drinks Hestia had brought back. She noticed the packaging labels had been deliberately stripped off. Clearly, Hestia knew that the origins of these items had to remain a strict secret.
Hephaestus didn't care about the missing labels.
What she really cared about was sothing else. "What kind of world did that boy co from?"
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
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