Watching the two of them — one goddess and one rabbit — bicker and scrap beside him, Haimer shook his head with a helpless sigh.
"At the end of the day, you still can't even handle a single rabbit, can you?"
At those words, Hestia's already puffed-up cheeks swelled rounder still, and the look in her blue eyes was very nearly throwing off sparks.
"Impossible! How could I, a goddess in my own right, possibly fail to handle one fluffy little pervert rabbit?!" "Come on then! A duel! Watch me knead you into mochi, you perverted little rabbit!"
With that, Hestia shot to her feet and began rolling up her sleeves, ready to climb right over the chair and settle things with Aruru then and there.
"Chuu——!"
Aruru, far from frightened, poked her little head out from the crook of Haimer's arm, flicked her long ears at Hestia in defiance, and let out a thoroughly brazen cry.
Just as this cross-species standoff was a hair's breadth from erupting into open war, a sound came from the direction of the kitchen.
"Breakfast is ready. Please, help yourselves."
Ryu Lion was the first one over the threshold, her slender arms holding steady a large wooden tray — nearly half the width of the table — stacked high with steaming food.
Chloe and Lunor followed behind, each carrying a towering pile of plates; bringing up the rear was Anya, grumbling under her breath, a pitcher of freshly squeezed juice in each hand.
The moment the food reached the table, the air of simmering hostility that had hung over the dining hall was swept away entirely by a wave of rich, mouth-watering aroma.
Hestia's stomach made its feelings known with a long, perfectly timed growl. She shot Aruru one final glare, then — helpless against the pull of food — settled back into her chair, picked up her fork, and set about tackling the bacon on her plate.
The long obsidian dining table filled up quickly. Humans, Cursed Children, Pallums — and a handful of Arinae sitting primly on their custom cushions.
The scene was absurd, and yet carried with it some inexplicable, unforced sort of harmony.
Lilli sat in a corner, nibbling at half a slice of toast in small, careful bites, her gaze drifting every now and then toward Haimer at the head of the table, the tension from last night's decision still sitting quietly behind her eyes.
Haimer picked up a cut of ham and fed it idly to Aruru, who had draped herself across his lap; the little creature ate with her eyes squinting shut in contentment.
They were about halfway through breakfast when it happened.
From outside the manor, at the iron gate, there came a sudden, thoroughly inconsiderate hammering.
"Open up, open up! I know you're home! Don't just sit in there pretending you can't hear me!"
That booming voice, carrying a certain devil-may-care lilt to it.
No need to guess who it was.
"I'll get it!"
Aihara Enju, still with half a fried egg in her mouth, leapt off her chair in high spirits and went trotting outside on her short little legs.
A moment later, the gate swung open. A shuffling clatter of footsteps crossed the stone-paved courtyard and drew near.
Loki came striding in, a massive bundle strapped to her back — larger around than she was — and strolled through the doorway of the hall as though she owned the place.
"Yo-hoo——! Good morning, everyone!"
Loki had barely finished the greeting when her gaze swept across the dining room. She stopped dead.
She blinked her red eyes once, twice, taking in the row of colourful heads around the table — and in particular the sight of Ryu elegantly slicing a sausage, and the Almiraj gnawing on a piece of ham in Haimer's lap.
"Well, well."
Loki let the enormous bundle drop from her back with a loud thud, and clicked her tongue.
"You come knocking first thing in the morning and you're begging for scraps, is that it?"
Haimer, hearing that, couldn't help rolling his eyes at her.
"Oi, oi, oi, what kind of thing is that to say! Who's begging for scraps!"
Loki spluttered, but recovered without a shred of embarrassment, sauntered straight up to the dining table, and fixed her eyes squarely on Haimer.
"I never show up without a reason."
She rubbed her hands together, grinned that grin of hers, and jabbed a finger at the large bundle on the floor.
"Yesterday, after Ais brought that sword of hers home, Finn and the others nearly fell out of their chairs with their eyes popping. My lot have been eaten up with envy ever since and wouldn't stop pestering me until I came to find you."
Loki shuffled half a step closer — practically pressing herself against Haimer's arm — and deliberately pitched her voice into a cloying, saccharine wheedle that made the skin crawl.
"These are the weapons the children are hoping you'll help upgrade and improve — of course, no need to redo the whole lot, just have a look at whichever ones you think you can work with, oh venerable master."
"After all, every last scrap of high-grade material we brought back from the first expedition went straight to you — so for the sake of old friendship, do us a favour, won't you~"
With that, she made to hook her arm around Haimer's neck.
But her hand had barely extended halfway.
"Chuu!"
"Thwack!"
Aruru immediately sprang up from Haimer's lap and drove the top of her head squarely into the back of Loki's outstretched hand.
At the same moment, Hestia raised her salad-dressing-slicked fork.
"Loki! Say what you have to say standing up! Keep your hands to yourself!"
Hestia jabbed the fork in Loki's direction.
"Hiss——! Ow, ow, ow!"
Loki clapped a hand over the spot on her hand reddened by the rabbit's headbutt, backed up two steps, and glared at Hestia with poorly concealed irritation.
"You little shorty, I'm here to talk serious business with Haimer — what business is it of yours and that rabbit's to come sticking your noses in!"
"Ha?!!"
At that, Hestia only got more fired up.
It looked very much as though these two were about to launch into yet another one of their arguments.
Haimer paid neither of them any mind. He rose from his seat, walked over to the large bundle, and untied the ropes holding it closed with a casual tug.
The contents clattered and clashed as they spilled across the floor. Weapons of every description, spread out in a gleaming, jumbled heap.
Loki had brought over the full first-tier armament of her Familia — proof enough that the lot of them had been well and truly shaken by the combat data of a semi-living weapon.
Haimer bent down and drew out a wooden magic staff from among them.
"The base materials aren't bad at all."
Haimer turned the staff over thoughtfully, spinning it lightly in one hand; the energy feedback from the Magic Stone was reasonably stable.
"All right, leave the things here for now. I'll take them over to Hephaestus tonight to be dealt with."
The moment she heard that firm answer, Loki — who had been squabbling with Hestia in full earnest — broke into a broad, beaming grin.
"I knew I could count on you, Haimer!"
With that weight off her mind, Loki's shamelessness came roaring back in full force. Completely ignoring the murderous look Hestia was directing her way, she helped herself to a chair from beside the table, pulled it up with a clack, and planted herself right next to the long table.
"Right then!"
"Now that business is sorted, I'm not going to stand on ceremony."
"I was up so early I didn't even get breakfast — might as well cadge a meal here, Haimer. Smells absolutely wonderful, by the way."
With that, Loki reached out to grab a bread roll from the basket.
The very picture of someone with a thick enough skin that they no longer noticed they had one.
Haimer, however, turned his head and looked at Loki sitting there pulling apart her bread roll, his expression thoughtful.
If it were anyone else mooching off him like this, he'd probably have kicked them straight out the door.
But Loki — well.
As it happened.
The errand he needed to run in a little while — if he brought this one along, the results ought to be entertainingly effective.
"You're welcome to stay and eat."
"You seem to be at a loose end anyway, Loki."
"In that case, once you've finished eating, you can come along with me somewhere."
"Ha?"
Loki had just swallowed a mouthful of bread when those words landed, and was struck by a sudden, rather unpleasant premonition. She nearly choked, and turned her head sharply, red eyes wide with bafflement.
"Go where?"
"Somewhere that'll put you in a good mood."
"And there'll be something amusing in it for you, too."
Haimer picked up a napkin and wiped his hands, plainly not intending to elaborate. He turned his head toward Lilli, who had been sitting bolt upright in her corner, silent as a statue.
"Had enough to eat?"
Haimer asked.
Lilli hastily put down the small piece of bread she was still holding and nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, Kami-sama."
"Then let's go."
Haimer stood up, gave the top of Aruru's head a pat — she was still rubbing herself against his leg — and lifted the fluffy little Almiraj over to the empty chair beside him.
Hestia, seeing this, immediately began brandishing her fork at Aruru in triumphant provocation, sending Aruru into a fresh volley of indignant "chuu"s.
Loki, for her part, didn't particularly care.
Haimer had spoken.
She crammed what remained of the bread into her mouth in two or three aggressive bites, dusted the crumbs off her hands against each other, and trotted along after him without a second thought.
After all.
She had always had a particular weakness for this sort of inexplicable, hard-to-define excitement.
— — —
The streets of Orario in the early morning still carried a faint, lingering chill from the night.
The shopkeepers along the roadside were yawning as they lifted down their shutters; the few pedestrians out and about were scattered and unhurried — it was not yet the busiest hour of the day.
Haimer walked at the front.
Loki ambled along beside him, hands clasped behind her head, her step light and bouncing, humming some nameless little tune.
Lilli followed along behind the two of them.
The closer they drew to that place where she had grown up —
The slower Lilli's steps became, her fingers clenching tight in the fabric of her own hem.
— Before long.
The three of them came to a halt before a building that occupied a sizable plot of land, yet had a distinctly dilapidated air about it.
Above the gate, hanging crookedly, was a crest carved with the image of a wine cup and a crescent moon.
[Soma Familia] Headquarters.
Loki glanced up, spotted the crest, and paused — then her eyes lit up at once.
"Oh ho! Soma's place!"
"You should've said so from the start — you're here to see Soma."
With that, Loki rubbed her hands together eagerly and marched straight up the steps to the front gate.
Two lower-ranking members of the Soma Familia stood guard at the door.
The pair had been dozing against the doorframe; at the sound of someone approaching, they were just opening their mouths to shout and drive the intruders away —
When their eyes landed on the face of the red-haired figure leading the way, and every rude word they'd been about to say died in their throats. The drowsiness vanished entirely.
"L-Loki-sama!"
One of the guards managed to stammer it out, his legs shaking beneath him.
— The chief deity of one of the mightiest Familias in all of Orario. The sort of figure who, when she stamped her foot, made the whole city tremble.
"Open up, open up!"
"Stop wasting my time — where's that Soma hiding? Tell him to drag himself out here and greet his guests!"
Loki planted both hands on her hips, stepped right up onto the threshold with all the authority of a feudal lord paying a visit to the peasants, and surveyed the place.
Haimer gave a helpless smile at the spectacle.
"Th-this… Loki-sama… are you… are you here to see Soma-sama?"
"Soma-sama… he's always in the brewery in the back courtyard, and he's not receiving visitors…"
Neither guard dared lay a finger on Loki; all they could do was steel themselves and answer as quickly as they could.
"Right, he's in the back courtyard, got it, got it, we'll find him ourselves."
Loki listened, then turned to beckon Haimer with a wave, and without any further ceremony, reached out and shoved the two guards bodily out of the way before striding through the gate.
"Loki-sama… we really should notify the captain first, you can't just…"
"Can't just what?!"
"Haimer and I are old friends of Soma's — if you dare disrespect us, don't be surprised if I send Finn and his people over tomorrow to level your Familia's entire headquarters!"
Loki's expression went flat and hard.
"…Y-yes…"
The two guards wilted on the spot, shrinking back against the wall without another word to say for themselves.
And so.
Haimer led Lilli through the gate and inside.
Lilli kept her head down the entire time, doing everything she could to make herself disappear.
Fortunately, the guards' attention had been entirely absorbed by the overbearing Loki up ahead, and they hadn't noticed Lilli trailing along behind.
Once the three of them were inside the [Soma Familia] compound —
The interior, if anything, was even more of a wreck than the outside had suggested.
Empty bottles were piled up in every corner of every corridor.
The air was thick with a cloyingly sweet smell — the evaporated residue of Divine Wine — heavy enough to make one feel faintly light-headed.
Here and there along the shadowed edges of the corridors, members of the Soma Familia could be seen lying in crumpled heaps, dead drunk, their clothes plastered with the remnants of their own sickness.
None of this, however, seemed to dampen Loki's spirits in the slightest. If anything, she was growing more animated by the step.
"Tsk, tsk, what a dump. I genuinely don't know how Soma stands living in a place like this."
"Then again — his wine really is something else."
Loki drew in a deep breath, and an expression of rapt, nostalgic appreciation spread across her face on the instant.
"Under normal circumstances I can never get more than a few bottles of Soma's wine no matter what I pay — those people hoard it like their lives depend on it."
"I can't believe you've actually brought me here today, Haimer!"
"With you here, I am absolutely going to drink my fill today! I'll walk out with at least two barrels, minimum!"
"But speaking of which —"
Loki changed tack abruptly, her gaze cutting over Haimer's shoulder to the small figure who had been trailing along silently behind them with her head bowed the whole time.
The aura coming off that little Pallum was so faint it was almost painful — you didn't even need to look at her Grace to know she was some bottom-rung adventurer who'd barely levelled up at all.
"You come charging over to see Soma first thing in the morning, and you bring this little one with you — just what exactly are you here for?"
Loki dropped her voice and nudged Haimer in the side with her elbow.
"Why so many questions — stand there and enjoy your wine."
Haimer, hearing this, rolled his eyes and brushed her off with a throwaway line.
Then.
At a bend in the corridor, Haimer stopped, turned around, and crouched down until he and Lilli were eye to eye.
"Lilli."
"Yes!"
Lilli had been staring anxiously at her own feet, but the moment she heard her name she looked up sharply, straightening her back.
"Before we settle what we agreed on — I have a task for you first."
Haimer held Lilli's chestnut gaze and spoke slowly.
"Go to Soma's private stores, or wherever the finished Divine Wine is kept — and steal me one bottle of the highest-purity Divine Wine you can find."
The words hit the air.
Lilli's eyes flew wide open, pupils flooded instantly with terror.
Steal the Divine Wine?
From inside this building — with all its other members?!
This was all but asking her to jump headfirst into a furnace!
If she were caught, she wouldn't even need Chanis himself to deal with her — the lower-ranking members in the grip of Divine Wine withdrawal alone would tear her apart with their bare hands!
"St-steal… the wine?!"
"But…"
Lilli's voice cracked at once into a near-sob, her eyes going red around the rims.
"There's always someone on guard at the storehouse — if Chanis-sama catches me…Lilli will be beaten to death…"
She knew Chanis's methods far too well.
That man, who treated Divine Wine as his one and only source of income, had never once left anyone who'd dared to touch it alive.
Looking at Lilli on the verge of tears.
Haimer reached out his hand and laid his palm gently on her chestnut hair, pressing down with an easy, unhurried weight.
"Don't worry."
Haimer's voice was the same as ever — calm.
"The fact that I've brought you here means I'm not going to let you die for nothing."
"Go and do this the way you do it best — and if half an hour passes and you haven't found me with the wine in hand —"
"I'll have Soma send someone to bring you back to me."
"Do you think you can trust me?"
With that, Haimer extended his right hand to her.
Lilli looked up at Haimer's quiet, unruffled face.
The decision she had made in that hall last night came flooding back to her.
— Making an attempt is a retreat route left open for failure.
But if this was her wretched life no matter what — if she had already made up her mind to drag herself out of that mudpit —
Then now that Kami-sama had given the word, she was going to bet everything!
At that thought, Lilli drew in a deep breath, raised the back of her hand and scrubbed the tears from the corners of her eyes with a firm swipe, then gave Haimer a single, resolute nod.
"Lilli trusts Kami-sama!"
"Lilli will do it!"
Lilli remembered the words Haimer had taught her the night before.
— Making an attempt is a retreat route left open for failure.
And so.
Lilli took half a step back and closed her eyes.
"Your seal is mine, and my seal remains mine."
『Cinderella』
With a brief, clipped incantation, a grey flash of magical radiance flickered through the dim corridor and was gone.
When the light faded, the chestnut-haired Pallum girl was no longer standing there.
In her place stood a slight, scrawny Canine-species boy, a pair of fluffy animal ears on his head.
Even the clean clothes she had been wearing had transformed into the worn, stained leather armour typical of a low-ranking Soma Familia member.
"Lilli'll be right back."
Lilli — now in the shape of the Canine-species boy — pitched her voice lower; the bright, childish ring of it shifted into a voice that was slightly rough at the edges, adolescent and unformed.
She gave Haimer a small, quick bow, then turned on her heel without a moment's hesitation and sprinted off down the other side of the corridor, disappearing around the corner in an instant.
— — —
Loki had been standing to one side, leaning against the wall, watching the whole transformation unfold.
As the retreating silhouette of the Canine-species boy vanished from view, the corners of her mouth pulled back into a wide, wide grin.
Transformation magic.
Now that was a rare thing.
As for why Haimer had orchestrated all of this at such an early hour — naturally there were wheels within wheels at work.
Before.
She had deliberately made things difficult for the two guards.
Out of the easy, unspoken understanding that had built up between them over the years.
Still.
If Haimer still wasn't laying his cards on the table with her now, then it meant she had already done the part that was hers to do.
At that thought, Loki grinned to herself, looped an arm around Haimer's shoulders,
"Go! Go! Go!"
"Forward!"
"We're not leaving sober!"
Party time!
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!