"What's wrong, Lady Ishtar!"
"No matter how arrogant he is, he's just a god with his divine power sealed away!"
"Guild rules are Guild rules — what can he actually do to us?"
"Is there anyone in the Lower World worse than the evil gods of the dark faction from the Great Conflict?"
Having said that, Frunyi reached out with her thick arms, intending to help Ishtar — who had collapsed to the side of the sofa and was retching violently — back to her feet.
"Don't touch me!!"
Ishtar, breaking into a cold sweat, immediately snapped wide-eyed and flung her arm out with all her might, slapping Frunyi's hand away, her face white with horror.
—
Elsewhere.
Below Babel Tower. In front of the enormous entrance plaza.
The atmosphere there had grown equally, extraordinarily strange.
Haimer stood at the centre of it all.
He had, of course, done nothing so elaborate as cast a memory-reset formula on any of these heretic children.
Only — he knew all too well what sort of creatures those idle, restless gods of the Heavens truly were.
These beings had spent long ages accumulating a persecution complex of spectacular proportions. The moment they encountered something they could not understand — something beyond the bounds of common sense — their minds would automatically fill in the gaps with the most vicious, most cruel logic imaginable.
And so.
The weight of his old infamy alone was enough to hang an invisible shackle in the hearts of these Lower World gods — one that none of them dared reach out and touch.
Then.
Loki came walking out from the front of the crowd.
She stopped three paces in front of Haimer, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the Almiraj rabbit cradled in his arms and the spider-woman he held by the hand.
"Haimer, you madman — what in the world has gotten into you?"
Loki leaned in close and dropped her voice to a register only the two of them could hear.
"It's only been a few days — has your eccentric taste already degenerated to the point where you're keeping Dungeon monsters as pets?"
Hearing this.
Haimer released the hand of the spider-woman, Rania.
His slender fingertips lightly smoothed along Aruru's upright long ears, once, twice.
Aruru nestled a little deeper into the crook of Haimer's arm.
"Nothing much — I just happened to run into a few interesting little ones down below and brought them up for some fresh air."
"Oh? Would you like to give them a pat?"
"No thank you!"
The moment she heard that, Loki jumped back half a step as though she'd touched a live wire.
She crossed both hands in front of her chest and made a large, exaggerated X.
"I have zero interest in any living thing that isn't a beautiful girl — keep them for yourself and enjoy them at your leisure!"
With Loki's reaction establishing the tone.
The tension that had been coiled to near-breaking point all around them visibly loosened.
The patron deity of the Loki Familia herself had tacitly accepted Haimer's words and shown no sign of taking any hostile action.
The other Familia patron gods naturally had even less nerve to poke at a hornets' nest that might go off at any moment.
The adventurers in the front ranks exchanged uncertain glances, then one by one began sliding their drawn longswords back into their sheaths and releasing the tension from their drawn crossbows.
The bright, crisp ring of metal striking metal rose and fell in overlapping waves.
Lei — the Siren, hidden within her heavy black robe — heard those sounds of weapons being put away, and the rigid set of her shoulders finally, finally softened. She let out a long, slow breath.
At the same time, a profound sense of disbelief bloomed in her chest.
These surface adventurers had actually given up their attack.
…
At that moment.
A new stir ran through the outer edge of the crowd.
The adventurers who had formed an airtight cordon parted as though pushed aside by some invisible force, automatically withdrawing to either side, opening up a wide corridor.
Amou Kirukiru walked at the head of it.
That snow-white sleeveless bodysuit and black training trousers.
Her long, narrow eyes brimming with aggression, her gaze sweeping over everyone in her path — she tore a broad channel through the crowd by sheer force of presence.
Behind Amou Kirukiru.
Onigawara Rin, Kikakujou Mary, Hanasaka Warabi, and Inaba Tsukuyo came right on her heels.
They had received word at their residence that their own patron god had been taken hostage by monsters in the Dungeon, and had immediately snatched up their weapons and come charging over, murder in their eyes.
The result.
The moment they burst into the centre of the encirclement.
These girls, who had come fully prepared for a bloodbath, all froze in place.
Jaws dropped.
The grim scene they had imagined — their patron god besieged, torn apart by monsters — was nowhere to be seen.
In the middle of the open ground.
Their patron god was standing there in perfect ease, cradling a white rabbit monster in his arms.
Beside him, several figures in neatly fastened black robes stood perfectly quietly.
The whole tableau radiated cheerful, harmonious tranquillity.
"Kami-sama."
Inaba Tsukuyo was the first to collect herself.
The wooden geta on her feet clicked a clear, bright rhythm against the stone paving as she stepped up to Haimer's side.
She tilted her head up slightly, eyes gently closed.
Through the extraordinary perception of her Mind's Eye, she could sense, with perfect clarity, the entirely different quality of the rational fluctuations emanating from these monsters.
"They… what is their situation right now?"
Inaba Tsukuyo's voice was soft; she did not directly name what the heretic children were, but asked in careful, roundabout terms.
"A few new little ones I've taken on."
"Don't worry — everything is fine now."
Haimer looked down and pressed his hand directly onto the crown of Inaba Tsukuyo's waist-length silver hair, giving it a gentle ruffle.
Inaba Tsukuyo dimly realised that these monsters must be the very group of existences she and the others had overheard talk of back on the eighteenth floor.
She asked nothing further — only smiled a quiet smile of understanding and gave a perfectly composed nod.
Onigawara Rin and Kikakujou Mary exchanged a glance with one another, and they too silently lowered the hands that had been resting on their sword hilts.
Haimer let his gaze travel around the circle of his familia members gathered nearby.
He gave them a look that said there was nothing to worry about.
Then he turned his head and looked toward Shakti, who was still standing not far away, maintaining her guarded stance.
"Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up."
Haimer spoke, his voice level.
"Miss Shakti — may we be on our way?"
Shakti's brow was tightly knit.
She looked at the monsters standing calmly beside Haimer — monsters whose behaviour flatly defied every established rule of the Dungeon — then glanced back at her fully disarmed garrison troops behind her.
A visible shade of hesitation crossed her face.
Reason told her that allowing monsters onto the streets of Orario — even monsters that currently appeared to have no aggression whatsoever — was an unacceptable security risk by any measure.
But the reality of the situation was that this god's decision was entirely beyond the authority of a mere Familia captain to interfere with.
Haimer read Shakti's reservations.
He looked up and glanced at the already westward-slanting sun.
"The hour is getting late."
Haimer offered her a gracious way out.
"Since we've happened to run into each other, why doesn't Miss Shakti join us for a meal?"
"It would also give you an opportunity to observe their condition up close — to confirm for yourself whether they truly are, as I say, devoid of aggression."
With that.
Haimer's gaze moved past Shakti's shoulder.
It landed, with precise accuracy, on the figure standing behind the defensive line — stocky build, elephant mask — Ganesha.
"Oh, and."
"Ganesha, you should come along too."
At those words.
Every god lurking in the crowd snapped their gaze to Ganesha in unison.
Ganesha, who had been quietly trying to slip through unnoticed, felt the corners of his mouth beneath his mask begin to twitch uncontrollably.
A meal?
This wasn't a dinner invitation!
This was putting him on a roasting spit and hauling him bodily onto the getaway vessel!
Thinking about how thoroughly Ouranos and Haimer had played him today — set him up at every turn.
A meal? Absolutely not! If he went, he would truly have no way of defending himself before the other gods!
With that thought, Ganesha wheeled sharply around, waving both arms in a wild, exaggerated flurry.
"Ahahaha!"
"I am Ganesha!"
"No problem at all! Absolutely no problem!"
"However — this god has just this moment recalled that there are several newly captured beasts back at the residence that are being extremely unruly and require this god's personal attention to discipline!"
Ganesha shouted as he shuffled frantically toward the outer edge of the crowd.
"Dinner won't be necessary!"
"But since Haimer has extended such a warm invitation — Shakti! You go ahead and accompany Haimer in my place! Give him a proper welcome!"
With that final shout.
This powerfully built patron god greased the soles of his feet, transformed into a blur, and vanished around the corner of a street, leaving not even a shadow behind.
"Lord Ganesha?!"
Shakti reached out a hand clad in its steel vambrace, intending to call him back.
But she couldn't hold on to so much as a glimpse of his retreating figure.
Haimer withdrew his gaze and looked at Shakti, standing there in mild embarrassment, and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.
"He does seem to be quite busy."
"Well then — shall we go."
Haimer, Aruru still cradled in his arms, set off at a leisurely pace and led the group toward the far side of the plaza.
Shakti gritted her teeth and, steeling herself, fell in alongside the procession.
As they walked, Haimer addressed Shakti in a casual, unhurried tone, offering her an explanation.
"Miss Shakti has nothing much to worry about, truly."
"It was merely a small technique — erasing the killing-instinct aggression from their consciousness, and at the same time helping them to sort through their newly awakened awareness."
"Unusual-looking as they may be at first glance."
Haimer glanced sideways at the spider-woman Rania, who was moving along on her eight legs just behind and to his left, keeping up a quick, steady rhythm.
"In practice, they are already not much different from any ordinary resident of the Lower World."
Shakti walked beside him, listening, her heart leaping with every word.
Erasing a monster's aggressive instinct? Reshaping its consciousness?
If anyone else had said such a thing — something that upended thousands of years of Lower World common sense — she would have drawn her spear and hauled that person to the Guild's jail long since.
But.
Right now, all Shakti could do was draw a slow, deep breath and force down the unease churning inside her, and continue walking beside him, alert and watchful, giving a stiff nod.
—
And so.
Nightfall.
West Main Street.
The tavern known as [The Hostess of Fertility].
The dinner rush had only just ended — the most boisterous hour of the evening was well underway.
Yet at this moment, the normally raucous ground floor of this tavern, famous for its noise, had gone strangely, unnervingly quiet.
Around a large, round table by the window.
The group had gathered together.
At the extra seats beside them, Rania had her eight legs folded beneath the table; Lei and Fei had pushed back their hoods and were each clutching an enormous platter, eating with absolutely zero decorum — shovelling food in with reckless, ravenous abandon.
The Hellhound called Helge was likewise buried, head-first alongside Aruru, in an extra-large wooden basin heaped to the brim with braised meat.
Helge's tail was spinning like a windmill, stirring up little gusts of breeze.
Shakti sat diagonally across from them.
Watching this group of monsters eating with sauce smeared across their muzzles, gorging themselves without restraint.
The hand holding her large mug of ale hovered, frozen, halfway to her mouth — she had not managed to take a single sip for quite some time.
Until.
"Clunk!"
A solid oak barrel — larger than a grown person's head — came down on the table with a heavy thud.
———
[Supporter — Intimidation of the Proprietress]
Mia Grande
Level ★★★★★★ | Proficiency 60/60 | Next: 0 | Limit Break
+726 HP
Ability F | Strength 138 (+0)
MP 67 | C Endurance (+0) 159
Physical Attack F | Dexterity 127 (+0)
Magic Attack 98 | G 159
Agility 79 (+0) | Defence G
Magic 98 (+0)
———
Mama Mia — the dwarf proprietress who stood nearly two metres tall — planted both hands on her barrel-wide hips and swept a look around the room, her gaze settling down on Haimer where he sat at the head of the table.
"Now then, Lord Haimer."
Mia lowered that considerable voice of hers, her tone saturated with resignation.
"You want to come in and eat — I'm delighted, both hands raised in welcome."
"But arriving and seating an entire party of Dungeon monsters…"
Mia stretched out one thick finger and pointed around at the hall.
"Take a look around you!"
Following the line of her pointing finger.
The adventurers who normally loved nothing more than throwing back ale and bellowing about how many monsters they had slain in the Dungeon that day — every single one of them was now huddled at the tables in the corner furthest from the window.
Their eyes, wide with fright, were locked rigidly on this side of the room.
A handful of low-ranked novice adventurers were even trembling under their tables, legs shaking uncontrollably.
"You've given quite a few of my regulars a scare, I can tell you that."
Mia grumbled, making no attempt to soften it:
"I'd wager it won't be long before the Guild posts a notice outside my door condemning me for serving monsters."
Listening to Mia's complaints.
Shakti, sitting at the same table, could only awkwardly redirect her gaze out the window and pretend she had heard nothing at all.
Haimer, for his part, could only smile helplessly. He picked up the wooden cup on the table and took a small sip of the sweet fruit wine inside.
"It can't be helped, Mama Mia."
Haimer set his cup down.
"In all of Orario, the only one with the courage to receive them is probably your establishment, Mama Mia, and yours alone."
"But don't worry."
"Today's lost business, the cost of the meal, and the damage to your reputation — I'll settle the whole bill at five times the usual rate."
Hearing the words "five times the rate," Mia's rough eyebrows shot upward — and then, rather than softening, she crossed both arms over her chest and let out a loud, dismissive grunt.
"Lord Haimer."
Mia tilted her chin.
"You think Mia is the sort of woman who throws all principle out the window for a handful of Valis?"
"The fact that I didn't chase them out with a broom — that I'm willing to have them at my tables — means I don't care one bit about that sort of idle gossip!"
"And if anyone dares come to my establishment to make trouble, these old bones of mine aren't made of clay!"
She ran her business by rules — but more than rules, she ran it by her own conscience.
"But honestly."
Mia's tone shifted abruptly. She looked down, gaze settling on the heretic children with sauce smeared all over their faces, and rubbed her chin.
"After all these years in this trade, I never imagined there'd come a day when Dungeon monsters would be tasting my cooking."
She bent down, bringing her large face close to Fei and Lei, who were eating with not a moment's pause.
"Hey."
Mia called out in a loud voice.
"Since you lot seem to understand human speech — how does the food here taste to you?"
Hearing the question from above.
Fei hurriedly set down the plate she was holding.
She used the edge of her oil-smeared wing to make a rough swipe at her greasy mouth.
"It's incredibly delicious!"
Fei's cheeks were aglow with excitement, her eyes shining bright.
"Ten thousand times better than the plants and berries we'd been gnawing on down in the Dungeon!"
"This is the most delicious thing Fei has ever eaten in her whole life!"
Lei, sitting beside her, swallowed what was in her mouth and gave a quiet nod.
"We are truly, truly grateful for your hospitality. We have never tasted food this wonderful before."
Hearing that completely unfeigned praise.
The rigid set of Mama Mia's rough face instantly melted away. She planted her hands on her hips with a flourish and let out a laugh that sent a shower of dust sifting down from the rafters.
"Hahahaha!"
"Strange as it feels to be complimented by monsters — for a first time, I'll take it!"
"You lot have good taste! My cooking is the finest in all of Orario! Since you like it — eat until your bellies burst, there's plenty more in the pot!"
The laughter subsiding.
Haimer let his gaze travel around the tavern.
Only a few ordinary servers were carrying dishes out to the floor.
"Come to think of it."
Haimer looked over at Mia and posed a question.
"Where is Miss Ryu, and the others who usually work the floor? I haven't seen any of them out here tonight."
Ryu and the others being absent struck Haimer as slightly odd.
Hearing Haimer ask about this.
Mia's laughter came to an immediate halt, and a look of weary resignation spread across her face.
"All your doing, if you must know."
Mia shot Haimer an unamused look.
"Word was all over the streets just now — they were saying the god of the Haimer Familia had been seized by monsters in the Dungeon, fate unknown."
"That thick-headed Elf heard the news, didn't even stop to take off her apron, went straight to the kitchen for her weapons."
Mia gestured toward the front door.
"Anya, Chloe, and Lunor were the same — they all went flying out the door fully armed right after her."
"They're probably just arriving at Babel Tower right now to find out it was all a false alarm, and they'll come running back any moment."
With that.
Mia's gaze paused for a second on the large spider-woman Rania, who had been sitting quietly at the corner of the table, saying nothing, methodically working her way through her roasted meat.
When she noticed the spider-woman Rania's eight legs go suddenly taut at her scrutiny — a flicker of wariness —
Mia raised an eyebrow, said nothing further, and gave a small shake of her head.
"All right, all of you keep eating."
"I've got a pot of thick broth in the kitchen I need to watch — if I leave it, it'll go and burn on me."
With that.
Mia turned and headed toward the kitchen.
She had barely gone.
From beyond the tavern's heavy double wooden doors.
Came the sound of urgent, rapidly approaching footsteps, and ragged, heavy breathing.
And then.
"Bang!"
A thunderous crash.
Both wooden doors were shoved open from outside with tremendous force and slammed hard into the walls on either side.
"Kami-sama!"
Those two words, carried on heavy, gasping breath, exploded through the silent tavern hall.
Ryu Lion was the first one over the threshold.
The apron of her tavern uniform hadn't even been taken off — it hung askew around her waist.
Her green hair was plastered to her pale skin at the forehead, soaked through with sweat.
Behind Ryu.
Chloe, Lunor, and Anya were all gulping down great mouthfuls of air.
And then.
They all stopped dead.
In the corner of the hall, the adventurers were trembling in terror.
At the large round table by the window.
Haimer sat at the head, in the main seat.
Leaning back in his chair, legs crossed at the knee.
Right hand holding a wooden cup.
"Good evening."
"Miss Ryu, Miss Chloe, Miss Lunor, Miss Anya — Mama Mia tells me you were worried about me and came running. My sincere thanks to all of you."
Haimer smiled softly.
Ryu and the others stared blankly at Haimer — not a scratch on him.
"You… you're all right?"
Ryu's lips moved, her voice coming out slightly unsteady.
After all — they had heard that the god of the Haimer Familia had been taken hostage by monsters in the Dungeon, and had snatched up their weapons and sprinted out the door.
And yet, no sooner had they come racing up to Babel Tower than they found that the Ganesha Familia had already lifted the lockdown entirely.
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Samsara Game: Starting in The Long Dark with My Waifus
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