Character Details
Sunlight broke through the clouds and fell across the uneven cobblestones of Daedalus Street.
Haimer walked with Lili cradled in his arms, fast asleep.
Behind him, from within the Soma Familia's headquarters, there still came the dull, muffled sounds of the lower-ranking members beating one another bloody in their desperation to lick up the last dregs of divine wine from the mud.
No one dared step forward to stop it.
The very Soma Familia members who on any ordinary day would have had no qualms kicking Lili around in the alleyways were now wishing they could bury their faces in the dirt. In Orario, where strength was the only law, the terror a weakling felt before the truly powerful was carved into the bone.
Loki walked with both hands laced behind her head, humming some nameless little tune, keeping pace beside Haimer with a lightness in her step.
As one of Orario's preeminent gods, she naturally savoured the sensation of every eye in the vicinity turned her way.
And yet — Loki also knew perfectly well.
The vast majority of those wary, sidelong stares were not directed at her.
"Say, Haimer."
Loki cocked her head and cast a glance at the slight, pitifully thin Pallum girl nestled in Haimer's arms, clicking her tongue softly.
"You really did stumble onto something precious this time."
"Divine wine at the purity Soma brews — never mind a little Lv. 1 bean sprout like her, if even my darling Ais took a careless gulp of that stuff, she'd probably be flat on the floor for half a day."
"And this little one gritted her teeth and didn't let that tide of desire swallow her whole."
"That sheer, stubborn viciousness — tch, tch."
Loki's assessment of Lili was nothing short of high.
As a god, she had looked upon more souls than there were stones on the ground. And it was precisely those souls that had spent their lives crawling through the filth — as long as they could kindle even a single undying spark — that were the rarest finds of all.
Haimer walked ahead without causing the slightest jostle.
He glanced down at Lili.
The girl's brow was knitted tight; even in her unconscious state, both her hands were still clenched in a death grip around the front of Haimer's shirt, her face drained to the colour of bone. Her lower lip, from the ferocity with which she had bitten it earlier, had crusted over with a dark-red scab.
She really was a fine piece of raw material.
To resist the ecstasy a god's gift had unleashed, she had traded pain for a second chance at life.
That willingness to use any means necessary just to survive — in Haimer's eyes, it was acceptable enough.
"She has a value that belongs to her."
"There are no people born as waste in this world — only pieces placed in the wrong position."
"Yes, yes, you always have your own brand of logic."
Loki simply pursed her lips at that and said nothing more.
"Still — that Soma actually went ahead and really gave Chanis the boot. Looks like your little trip today accidentally breathed life back into that whole rotten mess by sheer chance."
"Soma's vice-captain Chandra may be as rough as they come, but at least he's a better hand to deal with than someone like Chanis, who only knows how to play dirty tricks from the shadows."
The two of them chatted idly as they wound their way through the tangled labyrinth of Daedalus Street and out beyond the southeastern district's boundary.
They arrived at the intersection of the bustling commercial quarter.
Loki drew to a stop. She stood beside the fountain plaza, stretched a long, exaggerated yawn, then rolled her shoulders back.
"All right, I won't see you the rest of the way home."
Loki rubbed the corner of her eye.
"Getting up this early today was absolute murder — I'm heading back to Twilight Manor to catch up on some sleep."
Haimer paused his stride.
He glanced at Loki.
He thought of how tonight he would still need this particular patron deity to pull her weight, working the bellows at Hephaestus's forge to sort out that pile of weapons.
Letting her go top up her energy now wasn't a bad idea at all. Otherwise, if she had no strength left by evening, he'd have to endure her grumbling away at his ear without pause.
"Mm."
"Get some proper rest."
"Oh?"
At that.
Loki had absolutely not anticipated that Haimer would, for once in his life, actually display something that resembled genuine concern for her as a friend. She had not the faintest awareness that her evening schedule had already been arranged for her in advance. In an instant she narrowed her eyes into a grin, leaned over, and threw one arm around Haimer's shoulder.
"Well, now, isn't this rare — you, actually showing concern for me!"
"Is this it? Have you finally taken notice of the irresistible charm this goddess possesses in such overwhelming abundance?"
"I always said it — how could anyone in the world possibly resist my charm!"
Faced with Loki's sudden and utterly self-absorbed outburst.
Haimer rolled his eyes and simply swatted her arm off his shoulder.
"Just go already."
Loki didn't care one bit. She stepped back two paces, grinning, and shot Haimer an exaggerated theatrical gesture.
"All right, all right~"
"Then this goddess shall take her leave first."
With that she turned, and Loki headed off in the direction of Twilight Manor, the base of Loki Familia.
Haimer said nothing more. He simply readjusted his hold on Lili and walked straight on toward the manor in the high-end residential district of the northwestern avenue.
Midday.
Orario's streets were alive with a steady stream of people, and the cries of vendors rose and fell in an endless chorus.
And yet.
Whenever Haimer passed through, the crowds that had packed the street would part — naturally, quickly, as if by instinct — cleaving a straight, wide path down the middle.
Adventurers, vendors pushing their carts, even the Ganesha Familia constables carrying out their patrol duties — all of them would unconsciously hold their breath and slow their steps.
For once a person had been labelled as someone who could leash a monster from the depths of the Dungeon and stroll it down the main street in broad daylight and not a soul dared do a thing about it — in the eyes of ordinary people, they had already become synonymous with some nameless, incomprehensible force of nature.
...
Not a single obstacle the whole way.
Haimer returned to that broad three-storey manor house.
He pushed the front door open with one hand.
The hall inside was lively.
"She's one of ours now."
Haimer passed Lili, still held in his arms, over to Lei, who came forward to receive her.
"Go and prepare some hot water. Get her cleaned up."
"She has a deep bite wound on her lip — get the medicine box and treat it properly. We don't want it leaving any lasting damage."
Haimer's instructions came in calm, measured order.
"Understood, Kami-sama."
Lei gave a nod, cradled Lili in her arms, and turned to head toward the first-floor bathroom.
Fei quickly followed after, hurrying to fetch towels.
Once Lili had been settled in.
Haimer did not linger in the manor.
He needed to pay a visit to the Guild's main office.
The official paperwork for Lili's transfer out of Soma Familia required formal recognition from the Guild.
In this Lower World game where Ouranos had written the rules and the gods were the players, the surface-level formalities had to be observed.
And besides.
He also wanted to look in on Guild master Royman while he was at it.
To push along the progress of construction on that outer-ring fortress capable of housing a thousand people.
After all, there were still many more people to bring in after this.
And so.
Half an hour later.
The Guild's main office.
The Pantheon.
It was as bustling as ever.
The broad, grand hall was packed with adventurers hauling enormous rucksacks full of Magic Stones to exchange, and with lines of people queuing before the notice board to take on commissions.
And yet.
When the hall doors swung open.
The moment Haimer stepped through them.
The din that had filled the Guild hall was switched off in an instant, as if some invisible hand had pressed a mute button.
Every sound vanished completely within the space of two seconds.
The queuing crowd rapidly retreated to both sides, clearing a passage that ran straight to the front counter.
The adventurers who on any normal day would fly into a temper and reach for their weapons at the slightest provocation — every last one of them now kept their eyes meekly downcast, not daring to draw so much as a breath.
The massive uproar that had erupted outside the Babel Tower's entrance the previous night had already spread to every corner of Orario.
Walking a speaking monster down the streets in broad daylight, cool as anything.
That kind of lunacy.
Not even the Zeus Familia or the Hera Familia, back in the height of their glory days, would have pulled something like that.
And ever since Haimer had staged that spectacle of "heretics taking a stroll above ground" the previous night, the shockwave had very nearly brought the entire Guild's administrative apparatus grinding to a halt. Simply placating the terrified merchant guilds had required an enormous expenditure of manpower and resources.
For all those stares fixed upon him — stares that might as well have been looking at a monster — Haimer paid no attention whatsoever.
He walked straight through the central passage of the hall.
And through to the VIP room.
At this moment, behind the counter.
A pair of refined, frameless spectacles rested on the bridge of her nose.
It was none other than Eina Tulle — currently assigned by Royman as the exclusive advisor to Haimer Familia.
Eina was bent forward sorting through documents, the movement pulling her standard Guild uniform taut, the fabric stretching into distinct creases over the striking curves beneath, with a sliver of pale, inviting white visible at the neckline.
She had her head bowed, a quill pen in hand, staring vacantly at a sheepskin document.
At the sound of approaching footsteps before her.
She looked up.
Her jade-green eyes, behind the lenses, focused on the figure who had arrived.
"Haimer-sama!"
Eina exclaimed in surprise.
She straightened hurriedly. In her haste, her knee clipped the drawer inside the counter, drawing a dull thud.
"There's no need to rush like that, Miss Eina."
Haimer stood at the wooden counter, watching what had just happened, a trace of helplessness on his face.
"Though from the look of you, it seems you slept rather well last night?"
Hearing Haimer's calm, even voice.
Eina felt her heartbeat quicken unmistakably.
In a mild fluster she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"Thanks to your kind concern, Haimer-sama."
"I did indeed sleep very well last night."
As she said so.
Eina's gaze dropped to the document on the desk.
Something seemed to come to mind. She made an effort to maintain a professional composure and looked toward Haimer.
"Right, yes."
"Haimer-sama."
"You've come today to handle the transfer paperwork for that Pallum girl, haven't you?"
For while Haimer had been walking back to the manor with Lili in his arms.
Soma's side had already dispatched someone to the Guild.
They had submitted a transfer declaration document, formally consenting to dissolve Lili Luca Erde's membership in the Familia and confirming her entry into Haimer Familia.
It had caused no small stir within the Guild.
Several of the Guild staff members who had come to collect the documents, including Eina's colleague and close friend — the pink-haired Misha Floret — were currently all ears, stealing glances in this direction.
Because.
— Soma Familia. In Orario, it was a name utterly and completely notorious.
A dark swamp that wrung its lower-ranking members dry like livestock raised purely for profit — one you could fall into but could never escape from alive.
And more than that.
The name Lili Luca.
In the Guild's front-desk records, was anything but clean.
She was a support member with a thoroughly poor reputation — one who had been reported multiple times by adventurer parties for secretly absconding with their employers' weapons and equipment to sell on the black market.
Such a girl — with a record like that and not a shred of combat ability to speak of, a Lv. 1 Pallum — how on earth had she suddenly caught the eye of Haimer Familia, currently the most talked-about and terrifyingly formidable Familia in all of Orario?
This was more absurd than the sun rising in the west.
"Indeed."
"The paperwork shouldn't be any trouble, should it?"
Haimer gave a nod.
"There are no problems whatsoever with the paperwork."
Eina saw this and hesitated slightly, lowering her head.
Her fair fingers pinched at the edge of that sheepskin document.
"But… Haimer-sama."
"Are you truly certain you want to take that child in?"
It was out of her duty as exclusive advisor.
And out of a concern for Haimer that she herself couldn't quite name or explain.
Casually bringing in a person of unknown background was the equivalent of planting a ticking time bomb.
Eina bit her lower lip and, unable to stop herself, pressed on.
"Because according to the Guild's records here —"
"This child called Lili Luca… her reputation in Orario isn't very good."
"She's been known to abandon the adventurer parties who hired her in the Dungeon, even steal their weapons and equipment."
"Bringing someone like that into a Familia of nothing but prodigies could perhaps…"
Perhaps not be the most suitable idea.
Eina didn't finish that last sentence.
After all, she knew that a god's decisions were not something a mere mortal like herself could readily influence.
And the grace a god bestowed was itself an absolute shackle — in the vast majority of situations, there was truly no need to worry that a Familia member would commit an act of betrayal against their god.
And yet.
Even knowing all of this, she still couldn't stop herself from wanting to speak up.
Hearing her out, Haimer looked at Eina's face, full of worry, with a trace of helpless resignation.
"Miss Eina."
"While I understand what you're worried about."
"A god's eyes are not ones that would mistake a piece of jade buried in the mud for a common stone."
Hearing those words from Haimer, Eina lowered her head and quietly bit her lip, giving a small, barely perceptible nod. Just as she had expected — her words had not changed anything.
"And moreover."
Haimer looked at her slightly crestfallen expression and gave a helpless little smile.
"Since I have already promised her face to face that I would take her in —"
"Then I, as a god, cannot go back on my word."
"She has become one of my children."
"And so there is no possibility of my abandoning her again."
"I… I understand, Haimer-sama."
Eina raised her head again, a quiet relief flickering through her gaze.
"I spoke out of turn."
"No."
"What you showed was the conscientious dedication of someone who takes her work exceptionally seriously."
"There's no need to reproach yourself, Miss Eina — I rather like your attitude toward your work."
Haimer offered a small smile.
It landed in Eina's eyes.
And despite herself, Eina felt the colour rise in her cheeks again — a faint flush of embarrassment — and she dipped her head.
She reached quickly for the metal stamp on the desk — the one bearing the Guild's official seal — and pressed it down firmly onto Lili's transfer document.
"Thunk."
A crisp, clean sound as the seal landed.
Once the stamp was done, she noticed Haimer still hadn't moved to leave.
Eina's expression turned briefly hesitant.
Then.
She bit her lower lip, drew a deep breath, and mustered her courage — leaning slightly forward over the upper half of her body, reaching out across the counter toward Haimer.
The action made the buttons of her already-snug uniform look very much in danger of giving way at any moment.
A faint scent of floral shower soap drifted with the moving air and found its way into Haimer's nose.
Eina's eyes drifted upward to Haimer's face.
At last, she asked the question that had been circling in her mind the entire morning.
"Regardless of anything else —"
"Setting that matter aside."
"Haimer-sama."
"Last night — you truly went far too far!"
Eina's voice carried an unmistakable undercurrent of lingering fear.
"Gods are forbidden from entering the Dungeon — and on top of that… you actually brought those monsters out with you…"
"When the news reached the Guild —"
"The entire Guild, top to bottom, nearly went into meltdown!"
"This sort of thing —"
"If it had been any other Familia in Orario —"
"Even Loki Familia or Freya Familia —"
"The Guild would absolutely have issued an immediate kill order and mobilised every Familia to suppress them by force!"
Even now.
Whenever Eina recalled it, everything that had happened the previous night still felt like some kind of deranged, impossible dream.
A god who had not only secretly entered that Dungeon — which bore an extreme and absolute hostility toward gods — but had walked back out again without a scratch.
And had then marched monsters back up to the surface in broad daylight, bold as anything.
More preposterous still.
Orario's surface powers, from the highest echelons of the Guild down to the street-level patrols, had all chosen to stand aside and say nothing.
This was something so thoroughly beyond the bounds of reason — something that could conceivably upturn the very order of the Lower World — and every time Eina, who had abided by the rules her entire life, turned it over in her mind, she was struck by a deep and abiding sense of disbelief.
And moreover.
Today, throughout the entire Guild —
From the front-desk receptionists to the senior officers, nearly every single person had been quietly speculating in hushed tones about just what kind of standing Haimer must have occupied in the Heavens, that he could sit on something like this.
"Although this time you came through without any real harm —"
"You are a god, and here in the Lower World, a god's body has no greater physical resilience than that of an ordinary mortal."
"Going off on your own to a place like the Dungeon without warning — that really is far too dangerous."
Eina raised her head, looking at Haimer with complete seriousness.
"If something were to happen to you in there —"
"What would become of your children?"
Watching Eina's earnest face — her nose ever so slightly scrunched in genuine concern for him.
Haimer felt a wave of helpless warmth settle over him.
"Don't worry, Miss Eina."
"Whatever I do, I always put safety first."
"And besides — I still remember, I owe Miss Eina a meal."
"Before I've made good on that promise, how could I possibly let myself be sent back to the Heavens?"
"Eh?"
That sudden, openly direct line caught Eina completely off guard.
Eina's mind went blank with a resounding ring.
Her cheeks blazed scarlet all the way to the roots of her ears — even the tips of her pointed elven ears were burning a hot, vivid pink.
She immediately retreated half a step, both hands waving in front of her in a flustered scramble.
"H-Haimer-sama!"
"Wh-why would you say something like that now — out of nowhere — !"
Because, she should have you know.
There were still other people around!
The entire area was full of colleagues with their ears perked for every scrap of gossip!
Sure enough.
That whole scene played out in crystal clarity before the eyes of those Guild staff members who had been quietly watching this way all along.
The freshly sorted stack of documents in Misha's hands dropped with a flat "smack" right onto the desk and scattered across the floor.
The others stared in stupefied silence, their eyes blazing with the scorching fires of gossip, gazes sweeping back and forth between Haimer and Eina.
Fortunately.
Just as Eina was so mortified she wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
The Guild staff member who had gone to notify him came hurrying back, Royman in tow.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
To the sound of heavy, rapid footsteps.
Guild master Royman Mardeel, a man of truly extraordinary girth, came trotting up to the counter in a lather, sweat beading all across his forehead.
"Haimer-sama!"
"If you were coming, why didn't you send word ahead!"
Royman mopped his brow with his sleeve.
His arrival, at last, shattered what had been a rather charged and delicately romantic atmosphere at the counter.
Eina breathed a quiet sigh of relief, hurriedly bent her head, and made a show of conscientiously rearranging the scattered documents on her desk — trying very hard to conceal the warmth still burning in her cheeks.
"It's nothing —"
Haimer turned to face this elf of spectacularly spherical proportions.
"I only came to let Miss Eina handle a small matter of transfer paperwork."
"But since you're here, Royman."
"The new headquarters I requested —"
"Construction should have already begun, yes?"
The moment those words brought to mind the new headquarters Haimer had demanded — that enormous outer-ring complex with capacity for a thousand people — Royman's heart began to bleed.
The Guild was footing the entire bill for construction!
Just the cost of mobilising the several Familia in Orario who specialised in construction work — plus purchasing all those vast quantities of premium building materials — had already burned through several hundred million Valis from the Guild's treasury.
"Of course! Of course!"
Royman nodded at once.
"The construction Familia the Guild arranged got fully underway just yesterday evening!"
"If Haimer-sama wishes to confirm it personally, I will escort you to inspect the current progress right now!"
Said and done.
Royman immediately stepped to one side, making a sweeping gesture of invitation, his posture deferential to an extreme degree.
Haimer turned his head.
He glanced at Eina — who was still keeping her head bowed, pretending to be absorbed in staring at a blank document.
"Then I'll leave the transfer document in your capable hands to file away, Miss Eina."
"One of these days when you have time off —"
"I'll come and pick you up after work."
Haimer said this.
And without waiting for Eina's response.
He fell in step with Royman's exceptionally humble lead and brushed past a group of adventurers, heading in the direction of the Guild's front doors.
Now.
Rowman's presence at his side to escort him had at last cemented, beyond all doubt, the nature of the relationship between Haimer and the Guild.
Only after Haimer's figure had gradually and entirely vanished beyond the Guild's sliding doors.
Did Eina finally let out the long breath she had been holding compressed in her chest.
She slumped, somewhat weakly, against the backrest of the chair behind the counter.
"Honestly…"
"Being a god is no excuse to go around teasing mortals in broad daylight like that…"
Eina raised one hand and gently patted her still-warm cheeks.
She couldn't help muttering a small, quiet complaint.
And yet.
As, on instinct, she raised her hand and pressed it against her chest — through the fabric of her uniform — feeling the heart beneath beating at a pace that was plainly far too fast.
Haimer's words from just moments ago surfaced in her mind again, unbidden.
Until.
"Oooooh~!"
A drawn-out chorus of teasing, jeering voices rose up from somewhere close by.
It was only then that Eina snapped back to herself with a start.
She spun around.
There were Misha and the other colleagues, all wearing the most gleefully knowing expressions, their eyes fixed right on her.
"!!!"
And that was that.
Eina transformed, completely and irrevocably, into a living, breathing pillar of steam.
____
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