"As for this matter—"
"No need. A few days ago Loki came to find me and took me over to Northwest Avenue to pick out a set."
II
The pink atmosphere that had lasted less than half a minute was scattered outright by that single sentence.
Hephaestus's fingers, which had been pinching the pendant, stiffened for an instant, then swiftly recovered their original sternness.
She quickly drew back her hand and snatched up the dust-covered rag from the corner of the table.
"In that case, then I won't bother fretting over it."
Since Loki had already beaten her to it and curried favor, the matter was now a closed chapter.
At that thought, Hephaestus tossed the rag aside, turned right around, and walked toward the other side of the awning,
pretending to go check on the bricklayers' progress at mixing mortar over there.
But then.
Hestia, who all this while had kept her back to Haimer, digging at the ground with her toe and sulking, heard this exchange,
and both her ears shot up in an instant. She bounced right back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Waaah!" "Hephaestus! Why do you only ask him and never ask me?!"
"I'm going to attend that Denatus tomorrow too! Maybe I'm short a suitable gown as well!"
Hestia loudly protested this blatant favoritism.
Hephaestus, for her part, stopped, lowered her head, and looked down at Hestia—a whole head shorter than herself and reacting so fiercely—and was instantly at a loss for words.
"Don't I know perfectly well just how few coins you could ever scrape together?"
"If I asked you, your very next line would surely be to come begging me for a loan."
"Or else you'd turn around and demand it from Haimer."
"Have I nothing better to do than make that kind of trouble for myself?"
Hephaestus folded her arms across her chest and looked Hestia over from on high, a knowing glint in her eyes. "Still, judging by how self-righteous you look, Haimer must have already bought you one, hmm?"
Hestia's momentum deflated in an instant.
"Did he buy you one?" Hephaestus pressed.
"Y-yes... he bought one..." Hestia shrank her neck in, her voice as thin as a mosquito's whine; her earlier blustering bravado had vanished without a trace.
"I knew it."
Hearing this, Hephaestus could only press a hand to her forehead helplessly and shoot a glance at Haimer.
A few words came slamming down.
Hestia opened her mouth, but her throat caught for the longest while, and she couldn't squeeze out a single word.
Seeing this, Hephaestus could only sigh. She paid Hestia no further mind, strode straight out of the awning, and headed toward the several carts that were being unloaded.
Tsubaki likewise grinned, glanced at the deflated Hestia, then waved a hand toward Haimer.
"Well, we'll be off to work then, Lord Haimer."
With that, Tsubaki picked up that leather waterskin and followed after Hephaestus to supervise.
He looked out at the bustling construction site, where heavy wheeled carts rolled over the ground.
Then.
After Haimer's gaze swept past several catapults in operation, he noticed, at a secluded ruined materials yard several hundred meters away,
the figures of three members belonging to the [Takemikazuchi Familia].
—The captain of the [Takemikazuchi Familia]. Ouka.
He had just unloaded from his right shoulder a log so thick it would take two people's arms to encircle.
That hefty timber, over two meters long, crashed heavily onto the compacted yellow earth with a dull thud, kicking up a ring of yellow dust.
Not only that.
Behind him, Mikoto and Chigusa were together hauling a large rattan basket piled with adult-sized wrought-iron spikes.
Gritting their teeth, the two walked over beside the log Ouka had just set down and let go; the rattan basket slammed to the ground with a clang, the iron spikes inside clattering noisily.
All three were breathing heavily.
Mikoto raised her arm and rubbed her coarse sleeve across her forehead and cheeks, wiping off the mud and grime caked there.
Chigusa, meanwhile, trotted over to a large water vat not far off, scooped up two ladlefuls with a wooden dipper, and carried them over to hand separately to Mikoto and Ouka, who were sitting on the log.
Seeing this, Haimer rose and walked toward that corner.
Catching sight of this, Hestia followed along as well.
The three members of the [Takemikazuchi Familia], who had been drinking, now noticed Haimer drawing near.
Ouka choked on a mouthful of water, hurriedly set the wooden dipper down on the log, and snapped bolt upright.
Mikoto and Chigusa stood up after him as well, taking their places at Ouka's side.
"Lord Haimer." (×3)
"We... we were taking on jobs at the Guild when we heard you were building a new base out here on the outer ring and needed hands."
"So... we figured we'd come lend a hand, do some of the heavy labor..."
As Ouka spoke, his thoroughly callused hands rubbed hard against his dust-caked trouser legs.
"Did the sum Rin settled with you a while back get spent so quickly?"
Haimer looked at the three of them and couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
After all.
Seeing Takemikazuchi himself come over the other day was fine.
After all, that fellow always does everything hands-on.
But today, with the three core members of the [Takemikazuchi Familia] showing up, that was a bit odd.
"No, no, no! Absolutely not!"
Hearing this, Ouka flustered, waving both hands.
"The reward Miss Onigawara and the others settled with us at the Guild that day was very, very generous!"
"Taking that money back to the Far East, we could not only renovate our hometown shrine from top to bottom, but even replace the leaking roof with new tiles."
"As for what was left over, it was more than enough to buy a full year's worth of grain and medicine for the little brothers and sisters back home who never get enough to eat."
"It's just..." Ouka's tone slowly trailed off. He lowered his head and scratched at his dust-covered hair, seemingly unsure how to put it into words.
"It's just that the figure was simply far too much..."
Mikoto, standing beside him, pressed her lips together and hesitated a moment, then spoke up to take over the thread.
"That day in the Dungeon, all we did was help carry the mammoth tusks from the seventeenth floor back up to the surface."
"What we did was nothing but pure brute labor. When monsters ambushed us, it was entirely Miss Onigawara and the others holding the line up front—we didn't even have time to draw our weapons."
"The little effort we put in was nowhere near worth that sky-high figure your Familia paid out."
Mikoto raised her head, a stubborn earnestness showing in her eyes.
"Holding such a large sum, if we don't do more to help you here, Lord Haimer, we won't even sleep soundly at night—truly we can find no peace in food or rest."
"So this is why you ran all the way over here under the blazing sun to haul logs?"
Hearing all this, Haimer raised an eyebrow, looking at the three core members of the [Takemikazuchi Familia] with their mud-smeared faces.
"Because you keep feeling your labor isn't worth that price—that the money burns in your hands, as though you were accepting charity?"
Hearing that, Ouka, Mikoto, and Chigusa exchanged glances, the embarrassment of having their thoughts read flushing across their faces, and they said nothing more.
Wind swept sand and grit through the gap between the three of them.
Haimer looked at the three young people before him—who wouldn't even replace clothes washed pale and frayed at the edges—and let out a helpless sigh.
"Although I, as a god, have no way of seeing clear through every twist and turn in the heart of every child of the Lower World."
"After all, every one of you is one of a kind." "But since Rin and the others slapped that money down on the Guild's settlement counter and counted it out to you face to face,"
"that means that, by their measure, your labor that day was worth exactly that amount."
Haimer took a step forward and stretched out a hand. Under the gaze of three pairs of eyes. He clapped it firmly down on Ouka's shoulder.
"So, don't go thinking whatever you did was somehow beneath you."
"Since it's all money earned honestly with your own sweat, then take it and use it openly, without shame."
"Whether you send the money back to support your old home in the Far East,"
"or head to a tavern and order a few plates of good meat for some hearty meals, or pick out some sturdy, hard-wearing armor at the armor shop, or even buy this little girl a new dress."
Haimer's gaze swept over Chigusa, who shrank back at his side.
"After all, as adventurers, at your age you ought to be finding ways to use your resources to better yourselves—to push your ability values up a little higher, so the road ahead of you can stretch a little farther."
Having said all this,
Haimer didn't bother with whether the three of them had actually taken it in; he turned and left. That was all he had to say.
After all, they were Takemikazuchi's children; as the patron god of a different Familia, there was no need for him to overstep his place and forcibly set them straight.
Saying even a few words was already going above and beyond.
With that thought, Haimer took Hestia along and left the ruined worksite without a backward glance.
Left where they stood, Ouka, Mikoto, and Chigusa stared blankly at the receding backs of Haimer and Hestia.
Soon, having left the dust-swirling worksite and walking along the broad, even street,
Hestia, who had been eavesdropping on the whole thing, now had her lips pouting far enough to hang an oil bottle from.
Even though she felt that what Haimer had just said made sense,
the moment she thought about how Haimer had so rarely had the time to accompany her alone today, only for most of it to be squandered on all sorts of irrelevant people and matters, her mood turned thoroughly foul.
"Hmph."
Haimer looked at Hestia with her displeasure written all over her face and felt a touch helpless himself.
"It's still early anyway, and there's nothing left to do after this."
Haimer stopped and turned his head to look at Hestia.
"Then let me take you for a stroll down South Avenue. Didn't you say you wanted to look at trinkets?"
"Really?!"
Hestia, overcast with gloom a second ago, heard this and her blue eyes lit up in an instant.
"No taking it back! I want a crêpe! And grilled meat skewers too!"
With a cheer from Hestia, the two changed direction and walked into Orario's most bustling, lively commercial district.
For the whole of that afternoon,
Hestia was like a bird let out of its cage, darting between the various stalls and shops.
All kinds of sweets, oddly-shaped wood carvings, brightly colored hair ornaments—anything that caught her eye, she bought up in one go.
Until the sun sank toward the western hills and the clouds at the horizon were dyed a deep orange-red by the evening glow.
Hestia, thoroughly content, hugged a great pile of beautifully wrapped gift boxes to her chest and had no choice but to slow her pace.
By the time they pushed open the gate of the mansion in the upscale residential district,
the sky had already darkened, and the Magic Stone wall-lamps in the courtyard lit up of their own accord, giving off a soft halo of light.
"Lord Haimer! Lady Hestia! You're back!"
Lili, who was in the hall, saw the two enter and immediately came to greet them.
"Here, this is for you."
From the little mountain in her arms, Hestia struggled to extract a small package and handed it to Lili.
"And these are for Enju and Kohina and the others—divide them up once they get back."
"Eh? F-for me?"
Lili, flattered and flustered, took the package, cradling the not-very-heavy box in both hands.
"Ah, that's right! Lady Hestia!"
Lili seemed to remember something and pointed to the second floor.
"Earlier today, a shop called Starweave sent someone over with a great big crate, saying it was the gown you'd ordered. I've already put it in your room for you."
"My gown has arrived?!"
These words instantly drew Hestia's attention away entirely.
"I have to go try it on right away and check it didn't get creased!"
With that,
Hestia dumped the rest of the gifts in a heap on the table, hiked up her skirts at once, and went pattering up the stairs to the second floor.
And just as Hestia had dashed upstairs,
from outside the hall's main entrance came a burst of chatter and laughter.
The heavy door was shoved open from outside in one go.
"Phew—I'm worn out!"
Amou Kirukiru led the way in.
Right on her heels were Onigawara Rin, Kikakujou Mary, Hanasaka Warabi, and the others.
Every face carried weariness, yet also a kind of satisfaction that comes after being tempered.
However.
Before the girls could even greet Haimer—
"Helloo—! Haimer! This goddess has come to play with you!"
Loki swaggered over the threshold.
Her left hand was raised high, a big fistful of enormous horned-boar meat skewers on iron sticks wedged between her fingers, still dripping with secret-recipe sauce; her right hand carried two big casks of strong ale sealed with wooden bungs, as she cackled away.
Behind her, Lefiya, blushing, awkwardly clutched a whole basket of fresh vegetables and mushrooms.
The two sisters Tiona and Tione each shouldered a small keg of liquor.
Ais came last, likewise carrying two bags stuffed with seasonings.
"What's all this commotion?"
Haimer looked at this crowd of uninvited guests pouring into the hall and raised an eyebrow.
"Can't you tell?!"
Loki waved the giant meat skewers in her hand.
"Tonight! We've obviously decided to throw a barbecue here at your place!"
"I've had my eye on this mansion of yours with its big courtyard for ages! Not holding a barbecue party in a place like this would be a sheer crying waste!"
Loki grinned.
"Oh, right!"
Then, as if recalling something, Loki, skewers in hand, leaned in toward Haimer with a sly waggle of her brows.
"Before I came, I had Riveria make a trip along the way to specially notify Hephaestus and Tsubaki."
"They'll head straight over the moment they're done with their work."
"Then everyone can eat meat and drink together, and once we're finished we can all take a bath together right after!"
"Heh heh heh, I've even got the back-scrubbing towels ready!" As she spoke, Loki yanked a long white towel from her waistband and waved it in front of Haimer.
"Sure." Her little scheme was practically written all over her face.
Seeing that Loki was actually plotting something like this, Haimer tugged at the corner of his mouth in a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"In that case—as it happens, I've been thinking lately of finding someone to scrub my back too. So tonight, you'll bathe together with me!"
"Nani?!"
____
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