Half the raging wind element dissipated.
A golden figure spun through midair and landed cleanly on the stone floor.
Ais Wallenstein gripped the Desperate sword in her hand, her chest heaving, forehead slick with sweat — the grueling training session had clearly wrung a considerable amount of strength from her.
She turned her head, caught the commotion on this side, and let her gaze linger on Haimer for two full seconds.
Haimer was watching her too.
"Hardworking kid."
Haimer spoke, his voice low — just loud enough to reach the ears of those present.
The moment Loki heard that, the grin on her face spread wide.
She'd already been looking for an excuse to show off her prized gem and cozy up to Haimer a little more. If Ais could forge a deeper connection with him, it was pure profit no matter how you looked at it.
But.
Loki's eyes darted sideways as she weighed her options.
Not yet. Now wasn't the time.
After all, Haimer wasn't the type you could push around directly — shove someone at him and he'd shove right back.
With that in mind, Loki cleared her throat and steered the conversation back on track.
"Alright, alright, there'll be plenty of time for pleasantries later."
Loki sauntered up to Finn with her usual casual stride, stuck out her thumb, and jerked it back toward Haimer.
"Finn, get the storehouse key. I'm taking Haimer in to pick through the deep-level materials we hauled back from our first expedition."
The moment those words were out.
The air around them came to a sharp halt.
Even on Finn's boyish face, a rare flash of genuine shock appeared.
And understandably so.
Deep-level expedition materials.
The weight those words carried.
Every single piece had been won by the top fighters of Loki Familia's First Army — clawed out of the deepest floors of the Dungeon at the risk of their lives.
A single chunk of high-purity deep-level ore could fetch a staggering price at auction.
To say nothing of the extraordinarily rare monster drops — those were prime materials for crafting first-rate weapons and armor.
And now.
Their own chief deity was dismissing all of that with one breezy sentence, just letting someone waltz in and take their pick?
That was a little more than generous — that was practically reckless.
"Loki-sama..."
"Are you certain you mean the deep-level materials?"
"Oh, stop fussing already."
"Just open the door and quit dragging your feet."
Loki was clearly in no mood to be questioned.
Finn and Riveria exchanged a glance.
Both of them could see the same intense bewilderment reflected in each other's eyes.
They knew better than anyone what kind of person Loki-sama was.
This was a goddess who normally counted every last Valis before spending even a coin on her own Familia's drinks — and now she was willing to hand over the trump cards sitting in the Familia's vault, just like that.
Unless.
This deal was worth far more than those materials could ever account for.
Thinking about the waves Haimer-dono had made over the past few days, and that terrifying, monstrous group of Familia members he kept around him.
Could it be.
That Loki-sama had already privately forged a deep alliance with this Haimer-dono?
Only a partner of that caliber would be worth Loki-sama spending this kind of capital.
And looking at Loki's demeanor.
Whatever this relationship was — it was anything but simple.
"Understood."
At that, Finn asked no further questions. He gave a single nod of assent.
Their chief deity had already made her decision. In front of a guest, the least he could do was give her full face.
"Haimer-dono."
Riveria glanced at Haimer, unable to hold back the other question pressing at her. There was a probing edge to her voice.
"Deep-level materials are extraordinarily rare, and working with them is extraordinarily difficult."
"If you're selecting these materials, are you planning to commission Hephaestus Familia or Goibniu Familia to forge the equipment?"
In all of Orario.
When it came to workshops capable of handling top-tier deep-level ores and monster materials, you could count them on one hand — two names, maybe.
Hephaestus's exquisite craft, and Goibniu's heavy-forging techniques.
Beyond those two, an ordinary blacksmith couldn't even reach the temperature needed to get a deep-level ore glowing red.
"No."
Haimer fell into step behind Finn and answered without looking up.
"Those materials — I'll handle them myself."
The words landed.
Finn's footsteps faltered almost imperceptibly.
Handle them himself?
Forge them personally?
In the Lower World, gods were absolutely forbidden from using Divine Might.
That meant if Haimer intended to forge equipment, he could only do it through mortal muscle — swinging a hammer, reading the heat, balancing the complex ratios of his materials.
For any blacksmith who hadn't spent decades immersed in the craft of the Lower World, that was a pipe dream.
Let alone for a god.
Could it be that this Haimer-dono had also been a god of the forge back in the Heavens — one who specialized in exactly this?
That was an unexpected piece of news.
"Oh, relax, relax, relax."
"Riveria, put your heart back where it belongs." Loki wiggled her eyebrows. "If this guy's got the nerve to ask for the materials, he absolutely has the skill to back it up."
"Besides, I already worked out the terms with him — whatever scraps are left over after he's done forging, he'll help us touch up a few of our weapons as payment."
"We come out ahead no matter what!"
Rather than reassuring Riveria, Loki's words only made her head hurt more.
Touch up their weapons with leftover scraps?
The nerve of that.
Even Tsubaki, captain of Hephaestus Familia, wouldn't dare claim she could improve a top-tier weapon with nothing but offcuts and remnants.
Finn said nothing, and simply walked ahead in silence, leading the way.
The group passed through a long corridor and came to a stop before a heavy metal door deep within the Twilight Manor.
Finn produced a key from his person, slid it into the lock.
A complex series of mechanical clicks sounded.
The massive door ground slowly open to either side.
A spacious underground vault came into view.
"Here we are."
"Alright, you two go do what you need to do — I'll just show Haimer around inside."
Loki gave Finn and Riveria a wave of the hand to dismiss them.
Inside, innumerable crates were stacked in rows.
"The ordinary stuff's over here — don't waste your time on that."
Loki navigated the vault like she owned the place, leading Haimer toward the far end.
Haimer stepped inside.
His gaze swept across the shelves.
Every item was sorted and categorized — materials ranging from the upper floors all the way down to the deep levels.
The Twilight Manor's reserves were every bit as formidable as their reputation.
In all of Orario, the only Familias capable of mounting large-scale expeditions below the fiftieth floor were Loki's and Freya's — and no one else's.
Loki strode ahead and pointed to a separate section at the very back of the vault.
"There — everything in that corner is the top-grade haul from the deep levels."
She gestured toward a cluster of large crates.
Haimer walked over.
His gaze swept across the contents.
What met his eyes.
Was ice-blue ore radiating a bone-deep chill, tough leather hides covered in strange, crawling patterns, and several enormous monster venom sacs suspended in murky liquid inside specially crafted glass jars.
All of it was rare, premium material — the kind you almost never saw on the open market.
Haimer moved forward.
He stepped up to a crate packed with ore and reached straight in.
One load. Two loads.
His movements were clean and unhesitating.
Thanks to Divine Appraisal, he could read the quality of a material at a glance.
Everything Haimer picked out was among the finest and most valuable specimens in the vault.
With the high-grade materials sorted.
Next stop.
Hephaestus Familia.
That was Haimer's thought.
Meanwhile.
Back at the manor. Second floor.
Sunlight poured through the corridor's glass windows and fell across the carpet in warm, shifting bars.
The Holy Emperor pushed open the solid wooden door of her guest room.
Her pale violet eyes still carried a faint, sleepy haze from just waking.
At the same moment, the door of the adjacent room gave a quiet click.
Tendou Kisara stepped out.
She was dressed as she always was — a clean, form-fitting white sleeveless top and black training trousers, her straight black hair falling loosely over her shoulders.
"Good morning, Holy Emperor."
"Morning."
The Holy Emperor dipped her head slightly, a gentle smile drifting across her refined features.
The two of them walked side by side toward the staircase.
This mansion — equipped with a Magic Stone circulating temperature-control system — was more comfortable than anything either of them had imagined. It brought to mind what Haimer had said last night, asking them to get some proper rest.
That god truly didn't carry even a trace of loftiness or condescension when it came to them.
"It smells amazing!"
They had barely rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs when Aihara Enju's bright, energetic voice rang out.
Right behind it came the sound of little Hiruko Kohina's feet padding across the floor.
The Holy Emperor and Tendou Kisara followed the sounds with their eyes.
In the broad hall on the first floor.
The massive obsidian round table was already covered end to end with steaming dishes — roasted bacon, caramel-butter toast, warm milk, and a large platter piled high with fresh fruit salad.
But it was the figure busy at that long table who made both the Holy Emperor and Kisara stop in their tracks.
Short, shoulder-length hair the color of fresh leaves.
The signature green knee-length dress and white half-apron of a maid's uniform.
An Elf.
Ryu Lion was setting down a plate of sliced, freshly fried eggs onto the table, bending forward to place it just so.
In the open kitchen not far behind her, two figures with cat ears were weaving back and forth between the counters.
"You're..." The Holy Emperor's eyes widened slightly. "The staff from that tavern last night?"
At the sound of her voice.
Chloe Lolo walked out of the kitchen carrying two cups.
Her cat ears gave a couple of flicks, and her bright, keen cat eyes swept across the Holy Emperor and the others before a sly little grin settled onto her face.
"Good morning, meow!"
"Surprised to see us, meow?"
Chloe set the cups down and planted one hand on her hip.
"We were commissioned by Kami-sama to come by every morning as part-time maids — handling cleaning and breakfast, meow."
Chloe glossed over the details with practiced ease.
"Ah, I see."
The Holy Emperor nodded in understanding.
She hadn't expected Kami-sama to have thought of everything so thoroughly.
Even their daily meals and household affairs had been arranged with dedicated staff — and staff from that well-regarded tavern they'd visited the previous evening, no less.
And moreover.
She recalled what Kikakujou Mary had said last night — that they would "see her very soon."
So.
Had she been referring to this Elf woman all along?
With that thought, the Holy Emperor gave a small, gracious bow.
"We'll be in your care from here on."
"Not at all~ it's our pleasure! And just call me Chloe, meow! That's Lunor over there, meow!"
Chloe pointed toward the kitchen.
"And this here is Ryu, meow."
Chloe reached out and poked Ryu on the shoulder.
"Honestly, this is infuriating! Hmph! Hmph!!"
And right at that moment.
The Holy Emperor suddenly noticed something coming from the far inner end of the round table.
A furious sound of chewing.
She followed it with her eyes.
There, at the edge of the table, was the manor's other resident deity — Goddess Hestia — hunched over with her cheek nearly resting on the surface.
Her twin black pigtails drooped limply behind her. The white thin nightgown she wore was thoroughly rumpled.
Three empty plates were already stacked in front of her.
At that moment she was clutching two thick slices of butter toast, each stuffed with bacon and fried egg.
Biting the left. Biting the right. Back and forth.
Her cheeks were puffed out to their limit.
And the whole time, she was muttering under her breath.
"Outrageous!"
"That little... Loki..."
Hestia chewed furiously while mumbling in a muffled, barely comprehensible stream.
"She actually snuck in while I was still asleep and dragged Haimer away first thing in the morning!"
"And that Haimer actually went along with her!"
"HMPH!"
"What's so exciting about picking out clothes!"
"That Loki — she's definitely up to something!"
Hestia snatched the warm milk from beside her, tilted her head back, and chugged it in one go — glug glug glug.
Then slammed the cup back down.
And reached out again, this time dragging the entire plate of roasted sausages and bacon directly in front of herself.
"Haah!"
Watching Hestia's single-minded determination to sweep every last thing off that table.
Kikakujou Mary, who had quietly taken a seat nearby, silently inched her own meal further away from the danger zone.
"Hestia-sama, please eat slowly..."
"There's plenty here — nobody's going to take any of it from you..."
"I don't care!"
"I'm eating!"
"I'm going to eat every single thing in Haimer's house!"
"And stuff myself until I burst!"
"So he comes home and feels terrible about it!"
Hearing a goddess actually declare those words, everyone present went silent — and slightly pale.
Then.
About half an hour later.
Northeast Main Street. Valca's Red House.
The Hephaestus Familia's shop front — with countless forging workshops extending through the back.
The air was thick with the smell of char and ash.
Waves of heat rolled out of the enormous stone furnaces in steady pulses, accompanied by the ringing clang of hammers striking red-hot metal — a sound that rattled straight through the eardrums.
Haimer stood in the wide central corridor.
His dark eyes rested quietly on the group of shirtless, sweat-drenched blacksmiths working ahead of him.
Sparks scattered and flew.
In those black eyes, flickers of light came and went, shifting in and out.
He was watching — attentively taking in every technique the smiths of Hephaestus Familia put on display.
"...Hey."
"How much longer are we supposed to stand here waiting."
And then.
A deeply disgruntled voice came from somewhere behind him.
A wolf-eared, wolf-tailed werewolf youth was hefting an enormous iron-plated crate on his shoulders, an expression of pure, unadulterated irritation on his face as he followed along.
— Loki Familia's First Army. Lv.5.
— 「Savage Wolf」, Bert Loca.
Half an hour ago he'd been cutting through the back courtyard of the Twilight Manor, and his own chief deity had snatched him by the collar on the spot.
Which was how he ended up as the pack mule — lugging deep-level expedition materials all the way through the public streets.
As far as he was concerned, this kind of errand was pure hard labor beneath his dignity.
Ais, standing nearby, was also puzzled as to why Loki had brought her along to this particular place.
"Oh, Bert, Bert."
"This is a rare assignment — you'll see what's in it for you soon enough."
Loki walked alongside Haimer, turned her head, and rolled her eyes at Bert.
Bert let out a grunt, tilted his head away, and the grey in his eyes said everything about how unimpressed he was.
The group continued to wait in the public forging area.
Until, at last, a heavy iron door at the far end — engraved with a crest of a hammer and a volcano — slowly ground open.
Walking out first was a slender woman with short, deep-red hair. A black eyepatch covered her right eye. She wore a simple white shirt and black trousers, sleeves rolled to the elbow, with a smudge of ash on her face she hadn't quite gotten around to wiping off.
Following behind her was a woman with a healthy, sun-kissed complexion, equally wearing an eyepatch — covering the left eye this time — with nothing but a chest wrap and work pants, radiating a frank and unrestrained energy.
— Hephaestus.
— Tsubaki Collbrande.
Haimer was mildly surprised to see Hephaestus finally emerging from her private forging workshop.
But.
When Hephaestus lifted her gaze and saw him, a look of resigned exasperation passed through that single red eye.
"Haimer."
"I haven't had a moment to close my eyes in days — every hour went into that workshop, studying the divine inscriptions and forging structure of the weapon you made."
"Spent days grinding away and came up with absolutely nothing. I'd just dragged myself out hoping to rest and get a coffee."
"And then I hear about everything that's been happening around here lately."
"Do you have any idea how much trouble that spear you walked off with that day has caused me?"
With that, Hephaestus couldn't help reaching up to press her long, pale fingers firmly against her temple — as though trying to physically push Loki's grating voice out of her skull.
"Hephaestus-sama, you really can't blame this entirely on Haimer-dono."
"After all, you were the one who said Haimer-dono could take whatever he liked from the storeroom."
Tsubaki scratched the back of her head from behind, expressing her own mild helplessness.
"Tsubaki."
At those words, Hephaestus couldn't help glancing back at her.
"Tsubaki, I was just venting a little to Haimer — why are you taking his side too."
"Hehe."
Tsubaki kept scratching her head, looking sheepish.
"And you don't even understand how serious the situation is."
"In the eyes of those rumor-hungry vultures out there, I'm already more than halfway to being lumped in with this guy as some kind of dangerous faction."
Hephaestus said, resigned.
"Oh, come on~ isn't that wonderful~"
At those words.
Loki immediately swooped in.
She extended both slender arms — one looping around Haimer's shoulder, the other draping with practiced ease around Hephaestus's neck.
Both Haimer and Hephaestus, in almost perfect unison, grabbed Loki's arm and shook it off with undisguised distaste.
Loki didn't mind in the slightest, and simply slid her arm back around Haimer's shoulder, waggling her eyebrows at Hephaestus.
"Besides."
"Back in the Heavens, weren't you always getting together with Hestia to meet up with Haimer?"
"Now that all those rumors about you forging a weapon for Haimer are already flying all over the place —"
"Those gossips are going to tie the two of you together and chew on it regardless. Things are already the way they are, so just own it properly."
Loki's words left Hephaestus thoroughly winded. She reached up again, pressing her long, elegant fingers hard against her temple as though trying to massage the noise of Loki's voice out of her brain.
"Fine."
But in the end, Hephaestus let out one long, long sigh.
"Ever since I stepped out of the workshop last night and heard all those rumors, it's felt like the sky already caved in."
"Go on, then."
"Tell me what you came here for this time."
____
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