Renjiro knew that Tiona, hailing from the Amazonian nation of Telskyura, had loved reading all sorts of heroic tales since she was a child. During a particularly low point in her life, those stories had even inspired her.
So, this clever… cough, this little girl, when encountering people whose lives or experiences strongly resembled characters from those tales, instinctively gave them corresponding nicknames.
Sometimes, she would become so fixated on the nickname that she forgot the person's real name entirely.
The clearest example of this was in the future timeline of the current world: Tiona always called the rabbit boy "Argonaut-kun", and she had inadvertently misremembered his real name.
Based on this…
"I just hope she doesn't misremember my real name."
At that moment, Renjiro muttered this to himself.
Earlier today, he had even visited the Goblin Library to borrow a biography collection of the Heroic Tales of the Magic King.
Unfortunately, the work was overly embellished and of almost no practical reference.
So Renjiro planned to wait until the welcome party ended and then ask Bell about the original texts that evening.
He pondered this quietly.
And in that brief interval…
"Over here, over here!"
Tiona walked up confidently, as if she had known everyone for years. A number of familiar figures appeared at the tavern entrance alongside her.
Finn, Riveria, Gareth… and other core officers.
Also, Alicia, Anakitty, Raul, and other Lv.4s—the so-called "Second Army of Loki's familia."
Oh, and Lefiya… the golden-haired elf girl was currently being harassed by a squinty-eyed man.
"Loki, this is a public place. Shouldn't you behave a little? Don't you care what others might think?"
"Y-yes, yes, I understand, Mama."
"Who's your mama?"
True to her familia prestige, only Riveria could rein in a certain red-haired, flat-chested goddess's stalker antics.
At this moment…
"Oh? Oh?"
Loki, having obediently released Lefiya, spotted Renjiro, Syr, and the others from where Tiona was standing.
She slightly opened the eyes she usually squinted, curved her lips into a faint smile, and quickly walked over.
"Yo~ Long time no see, Frigg."
The red-haired, flat-chested goddess came to Syr's side.
"Should I say this is our first official meeting?"
"Indeed, Loki."
Syr smiled as usual.
"You were so obsessed with killing gods in the Heavens, I didn't dare get too close."
"After all, tens of millions of years ago, Odin and Thor both died by your hands."
It was rare to hear gods casually reminiscing about past events—and such terrifying ones at that.
At present…
"You're not too shabby yourself."
Loki's tone was casual, seemingly unconcerned about the catastrophic things Syr had done in the past.
To her, Syr was just an adult reconnecting with an old friend.
"Across the Heavens, you're the only one whose transformation magic I can't distinguish from reality."
"I didn't expect that after coming to the mortal realm, your technique would be so refined—you're almost catching up to that old Zeus."
"I've visited the Hostess of Fertility so many times, yet never realized you were a god… hiding that well!"
Clearly, Loki did not know the true connection between Frigg and Freya.
Back in the Heavens, Frigg, like Loki, was a top-tier master of transformation magic.
Previously, only Odin—the "little brat" in Frigg's eyes—knew Frigg's true identity.
Recently, thanks to a small arrangement by Freya, ten more people now knew that Frigg is Freya.
Among them, aside from Ottar and the core members of Freya's familia, the other two were Renjiro and Freya's personal attendant, Horn (Syr).
Currently, Ottar and the others thought their goddess was being whimsical, and this "entertainment" event was simply a playful experiment in starting a new familia from scratch.
Thus, Vice-Captain Allen continued protecting Syr in secret but made no move to interfere with Renjiro's daily activities.
Because although he was dissatisfied with Renjiro's presence, he would not disrupt the goddess enjoying her "game."
…At least, that's what he thought without knowing the full story.
Renjiro, meanwhile…
He did notice the presence of the cat-girl occasionally.
Back during the recent Lantern Rite Festival, he had already experienced that chilling sense of unease once.
Now…
"Loki, what are you talking about over here?"
Finn's table was close to Renjiro's, and as other familia members sat down, the little halfling hero gathered with Ais, Lefiya, and others.
More people meant more lively chatter.
"Hmm, yeah, we don't usually spread this around—probably even Riveria doesn't know."
Loki shrugged at Finn.
"In fact, if we gods suppress our divine power to the lowest level—basically making the fluctuations almost zero—we can disguise ourselves as mortals!"
She pointed at the silver-haired girl.
"For example, our siter Syr. Plenty of gods came to this tavern before, but none, including us, realized she was Frigg."
"Tch, even a fellow countrywoman, and you didn't clue me in?"
Hearing her complain, Syr only smiled silently.
Finn, clever as ever, mentally noted the crucial information—he knew it would be useful in the future.
Even Riveria and Lefiya standing nearby filed it away mentally.
After some casual greetings…
"By the way,"
Finn turned to Renjiro.
"I heard today that your Frigg familia is going to have a War Game against the Soma familia?"
"How did that happen so suddenly?"
"No choice."
Renjiro patted the rabbit boy sitting to his right.
"I found a promising new recruit today, but some scum in the Soma familia tricked him into being just a support member. Without the god granting the Blessing, he had to earn 100,000 Valis to be formally recognized, and couldn't transfer to another familia otherwise."
"I thought such trash needed a proper lesson—otherwise, more innocents will suffer."
"So, I decided to use the strong to teach the strong this time."
He looked at Finn and the others.
"When dealing with scum who won't listen to reason, fighting fire with fire is a practical solution."
"What do you all think?"