After that. Inside the central courtyard of the manor.
The night breeze drifted past, carrying a faint chill of early autumn.
But before long, that sliver of chill was utterly driven off by several braziers of smokeless charcoal burning red-hot.
A broad wire-mesh rack lay across the top of the braziers.
Great slabs of Horned Boar ribs, cut into steaks a good two fingers thick, were laid out in lavish array.
Under the high heat, the thick, rich fat quickly seeped out of the meat, gathering into glistening beads of oil on the surface and giving off a savory grilled-meat aroma so heady it could rouse anyone's appetite.
"Sizzle—"
A drop of scalding fat slipped through the gaps in the wire mesh and splattered onto the dark-red coals below.
A little tongue of blue-and-yellow flame shot up in an instant.
"Flip it! Flip it, quick! It's gonna burn!"
Seeing this, Tiona hopped and bounced anxiously at the edge of the grill.
"Watch it properly for me! This side isn't cooked through yet!"
Tione, her face dark, shot Tiona a glare. Tongs in hand, she flicked her wrist and, with practiced ease, brushed an even layer of amber-colored secret-recipe sauce over the meat.
"Sis, you're too slow! I'm about to starve to death here!"
Tiona watched, and couldn't help clutching her stomach in protest.
"If you want to eat, go cut vegetables over there! Stop getting in the way!"
Even as Tione spoke, the tongs in her hand darted up and down, lifting the ribs—their edges grilled to a slight char—and slapping them down hard into the huge wooden platter beside her.
Not far off.
Several long wooden tables had been joined end to end into one continuous stretch.
Ais and Lefiya, along with Onigawara Rin and Kikakujou Mary and the others, were setting out platter after platter of freshly cut fruits and vegetables, baskets of buttered bread, and a dozen-odd oversized wooden mugs brimming with ale, white foam churning on top.
And it was just then.
A hearty burst of laughter suddenly came from outside the manor.
"Oho, I could smell this from way off—looks like there's something good to eat tonight!"
The speaker shoved open the oaken doors in one go.
Everyone turned to look.
They saw wheat-colored skin, a black eyepatch over the left eye, long hair draped over the shoulders, and a single conspicuous cowlick standing up on top of the head. The moment Tsubaki stepped into the manor, her gaze locked precisely onto the ribs sizzling and dripping oil in the wooden platter. She'd been busy the whole day too, her appetite roused, and she strode over with great loping steps.
After all, she'd been here a few times already. Tsubaki had long since grown familiar with the place.
Following close behind Tsubaki were Riveria and Hephaestus.
Hephaestus swept a helpless glance over the rowdy scene in the hall, then walked straight toward Haimer, who stood off to one side watching the commotion.
"Tomorrow is the Denatus."
Hephaestus looked at Haimer helplessly. "And you're still putting on this huge spread to drink tonight? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to get up tomorrow?"
"Loki dragged me into it by force—there was no stopping her."
In Haimer's hand was a cup of clear water.
Seeing that Hephaestus had only just finished her work and her throat was still a little hoarse, he handed it over so she could soothe her throat and quench her thirst first. Then he pointed at Loki, who was circling around the grill.
After taking a sip of water, Hephaestus's expression gradually softened.
Following his gaze, she spotted at a glance Loki standing beside Tione, holding half a mug of ale and grinning like a fool. She raised a hand and rubbed her own temple. "Only you would have the spare time to fool around with her."
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you two talking about over there!"
Seeing that Hephaestus had arrived, Loki came scampering over.
"Since everyone's already here, quit pulling that long face!"
"Come on, come on, let's get started!"
And so. The dinner began. Ais stood by the long table.
She stared fixedly at the largest, crispiest, most charred rib that had just been brought out onto the platter.
She hesitated a moment, then was just about to reach out. Only for a hand to suddenly thrust in from the side.
With astonishing speed, Tsubaki snatched up that piece of meat, opened her mouth, and tore off a good half of it.
"Mm! This sauce is incredible! Who made it?"
Tsubaki chewed away, her mouth dripping with grease, exclaiming loudly in praise.
Ais's hand, suspended in midair, froze.
Her gaze followed the meat as it moved, and on her usually expressionless face, a faint trace of dejection began to surface.
If she'd had a pair of dog ears on her head, by now they'd surely have drooped all the way down.
"Have this one." Seeing this, Onigawara Rin walked over to Ais's side and picked out a more tender cut of meat from another platter, handing it to Ais, who was still staring blankly after Tsubaki.
Ais turned her head, her golden eyes lighting up for a moment. She softly said "Thank you," then took it and began to eat.
"All right, don't just eat meat—have something to drink too!"
On the other side, Loki planted one foot on the edge of a wooden chair and lifted high in one hand that oversized ale mug overflowing with foam.
"To this rare barbecue! To the joint feast of our two—no, three—Familias! Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
Tiona was the first to respond, grabbing a mug nearly as big as her own head and clashing it against the others.
The wooden mugs knocked together hard, and the golden-yellow liquor, mixed with foam, splashed out and scattered onto the grass.
"Hey! Loki! No standing on the chairs!"
Hestia was quite displeased with Loki's standing on a chair.
"Oh my, the little bean really does fuss over these little details."
Loki grinned, an utterly nonchalant attitude about her.
"Though with a build like yours, I'm afraid if the chair weren't a bit higher you couldn't even reach the table, you little shorty."
"What did you say!"
Hearing this, Hestia bristled at once and immediately, gnashing her teeth, went to yank at Loki. "Heh, can't catch me!"
Seeing her scheme succeed, Loki gave a sly grin, leaned her body back, and nimbly leapt clear of the chair.
And just like that, the two of them began a round of chase around the long table.
On the other side. In a corner.
The spider-woman songstress-bird Rei and the harpy Fei were sitting on the grass.
Somewhat at a loss, they watched as Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina each carried a large wooden tray piled high with sliced grilled sausages and chunks of meat, eagerly shoving them right in front of the two of them.
"Eat more! Eat more! This one with the chili powder sprinkled on it is super tasty!" Aihara Enju pointed excitedly at a bright-red meat steak.
Right in front of Fei, Hiruko Kohina too, with a dull-edged table knife, stripped a bone-in rib clean at lightning speed, then made to stuff the meat into Fei's mouth.
"Can't let it go to waste—you've got to eat it all up, okay."
"To be honest, it's only here."
"Anywhere else, letting adventurers and monsters sit at the same table to eat would be absolutely insane."
Seeing this scene, Hephaestus swirled her wine glass too.
Haimer, meanwhile, was watching Hanasaka Warabi over on the other side teaching Aruru how to use a fork. "The world is always changing."
"Those who cling to old notions and refuse to let go will, in the end, be cast aside by the times."
"This is what they mean by the waves of the Yangtze, the ones behind driving on the ones before—each new generation surpassing the last."
"Fine, then."
Hephaestus let out a sigh. "You've got your reasons, I suppose."
"Still, coming from you, I'm not so worried anything will go wrong."
"So... cheers?"
Haimer smiled faintly, raised the cup in his hand, and gestured toward Hephaestus. And at that. Hephaestus, helpless, raised her cup and clinked it against his.
Not far away.
Because Onigawara Rin had gone off to pour drinks for Lili,
the platter in Ais's hands now held only a few leaves of lettuce.
She stood in the open space between the grill and the long table.
Her golden eyes glanced from time to time in Haimer's direction.
Oh, no!
She really wanted to go over. But at Haimer's side was Hephaestus, and the two seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. Ais took a step forward, then drew it back.
She lowered her head and looked at the lettuce on her platter.
Such a meager thing—using it as an excuse to strike up a conversation, wasn't that too unconvincing?
And just as Ais was agonizing over it.
A huge shadow loomed over her.
Ais looked up. And saw. Kyoubou, great eyes wide, reared upright on her hind legs, cradling in two bear paws—each bigger than Ais's head—an enormous wooden basin carved from a single whole tree trunk.
The basin was piled high with all sorts of grilled meats and fish, and even several whole Haguas.
"Roar—" Kyoubou lowered her head and looked at the lettuce on Ais's platter, then looked at the mountain of meat in her own basin.
She promptly extended a claw and, ever so carefully, nudged loose a large chunk of bone-in grilled beef from the top of the pile.
With a "plop," it dropped into Ais's platter.
The lettuce leaves on Ais's platter were crushed flat outright by the grilled beef. Ais was stunned.
Kyoubou, for her part, patted her belly, gave a satisfied "hrumph" of a grunt, then turned and lumbered her massive body off toward the other side.
Ais looked at the extra beef now on her platter.
Had she just been... fed by her?
Ais blinked.
Then, looking at the beef on her platter, she finally worked up her courage and walked over in Haimer's direction. "Lord Haimer."
Ais walked up before Haimer and came to a stop. Haimer and Hephaestus turned their heads.
And saw Ais. "What is it, Miss Ais?" Haimer's tone was gentle. Ais opened her mouth.
She'd meant to ask about the follow-up maintenance for the Sword of Despair, or to bring up that gift she'd given the other day.
But the words, once they reached her lips, turned into: "Um... that..." Ais held the platter out a little further.
"Would you like some meat?"
"Wuwaaah!! Ais-tan!"
"How can you feed only this guy! I want some too! I want grilled meat fed to me by Ais-tan's own hand too!"
At this moment, Loki—who somehow had shaken off Hestia's pestering—came pouncing over and threw her arms around Ais's waist. Loki, eyes shut, puckered her lips and made to nuzzle up against Ais.
Expressionless, Ais extended a single finger, pressed it against Loki's forehead, and pushed her away. "No."
"Wuwaah! Ais-tan is so cold! But I love it!"
Loki only grew more excited.
Then she opened her mouth and bit down on that very piece of meat Kyoubou had just passed onto Ais's platter. "Mmm-mmm-mmm!!" "Delicious!!"
"As expected of Ais-tan's grilled meat!!"
As Loki spoke, she clung to Ais's waist, face full of bliss, smacking her lips, eating until her whole face was smeared with sauce.
Ais, upon hearing Loki's words, lowered her head to look at the wooden basin, then looked at Loki, who was lost in rapture and unable to extricate herself. "It's not mine."
"Eh?" Loki's chewing froze, her cheeks still bulging high. She opened one eye and looked at Ais in puzzlement: "Ais-tan, what did you say?"
Then. Ais raised a finger as well and pointed off to one side.
Seeing this, Loki followed the direction of Ais's finger.
Haimer and Hephaestus cast their gazes over at the same time.
At the end of the line of sight.
Sensing the gazes from over here, Kyoubou—just about to stuff a slab of bone-in beef steak into her mouth—stopped mid-motion.
Her great big bear head slowly turned around, and her round, beady bear eyes met Loki's gaze precisely.
Then, her line of sight moved downward, landing on the meat juices and sauce smeared all over the corners of Loki's mouth.
It seemed to be the meat she had just kindly shared with that blond, short little human.
"Roar..." Then. Upon realizing that the meat she had given to that blond, short little human had been eaten by a god.
Kyoubou, like a lovestruck maiden who'd just been startled, slapped her two enormous, paw-pad-covered bear paws over her own face with a "smack."
Not only did she cover her face, she even bashfully turned her body away.
Even her round, plump bear bottom wriggled slightly out of shyness, leaving Loki with an exceedingly coy and bashful retreating figure.
"She gave it to me."
"Ugh—!!" At this instant. Hearing Ais's calm voice and realizing where that piece of meat had come from, the chunk Loki hadn't yet swallowed lodged in her gullet, stuck halfway, her eyeballs nearly bulging right out.
She was so worked up her face and neck flushed red, and she broke into violent coughing.
"Ugh... ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
Watching Loki look as though life had lost all meaning, Haimer could only feel helpless.
"Is there really any need to react this strongly?"
"You know, haven't you always liked girls?"
"And it just so happens Kyoubou's a girl too—what a rare bit of fate, isn't that rather nice?"
Hearing this, Hephaestus, off to the side, couldn't help bursting into a snort of laughter, watching Loki's predicament with great interest.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Once Loki had finally caught her breath again, she furiously wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand while looking at Haimer:
"Like hell that's nice!! The whole shape is completely different, okay!"
"What I like is soft, sweet-smelling girls like Ais-tan, not her type, you bastard!"
Hearing the commotion over here.
Realizing her patron goddess was making a fool of herself again, Riveria—who'd been chatting with Tsubaki—could only press a hand to her forehead helplessly.
Lefiya sat off to the other side, cradling a wooden cup full of fruit juice in both hands, watching the lively scene with a touch of reserve. She turned her head and looked at Kikakujou Mary, who was sitting beside her.
"Um... Miss Mary, is Miss Kyoubou from your Familia... usually this human-like, too?" Lefiya glanced at the bashful Kyoubou and couldn't help asking softly.
Kyoubou had already gone beyond the bounds of an ordinary wild beast, even displaying behavior approaching human emotion.
Lefiya found it all very novel.
At this, Kikakujou Mary thought back faintly for a moment.
"More or less."
"Although Kyoubou is big, her temperament has never been like that of other black bears—she's extremely gentle. Even before meeting Kami-sama, back when we were still at the academy, Kyoubou and her cub were already able to get along with us normally." As Kikakujou Mary spoke, her gaze drifted toward a spot not far off.
There she saw Kyoubou's cub—the little bear—holding a skewer of grilled fish and sharing it with the Hellhound, Hagel.
As time slipped by little by little.
The firelight in the braziers gradually dimmed too, leaving only a faint red glow flickering among the coals.
The night breeze grew colder and colder.
When the food had been swept clean, leaving only a few empty liquor casks rolling about on the ground.
Tiona at last let out a loud, satisfied belch and sprawled flat on her back in the most undignified manner on the lawn of the central courtyard, rubbing her round belly and gazing up at the night sky.
"Burp—" "I'm stuffed, I'm so stuffed... If I could eat grilled meat like this every day, I wouldn't even mind not going back to the Familia."
"Don't slack off here."
"Get up and clean things up, quick. You didn't do a single thing tonight—you can't just pat your behind and waltz off."
Seeing this, Tione couldn't help walking over, nudging Tiona's shin with her foot, and saying it all with a face full of disdain.
Once everything was settled.
Well fed and watered, people's nerves tend to relax all too easily.
Looking at the courtyard full of maidens each with her own distinct style, Loki broke into a mischievous grin.
"All right, we've eaten our fill and drunk our fill."
"Look at the state of you all, reeking from head to toe."
"Before we head off, how about we all take a bath together!"
"Loki..." Riveria had thought the hour was already too late and didn't want to impose too much.
But who'd have guessed.
The moment those words were out, several cheers rang up at once.
"Yaay! Bath, bath!"
Tiona sprang up off the ground with a carp's leap.
"I want to be the first one in to soak!"
Aihara Enju too, tugging Hiruko Kohina by the hand, was all excitement.
Watching how eager everyone else was.
Riveria too was left with words she wanted to say but couldn't. Only—
"Heh heh heh..." Seeing this, Loki curled the corners of her mouth into a lecherous grin.
She fished out from her pocket that white towel she'd shown off earlier, then made ready to hunch her body over and tiptoe stealthily into the procession.
Just as she was about to slip in right behind Ais through that door leading to paradise. Loki's heart surged with excitement. But then. Her collar was suddenly seized from behind.
"Wuwuwu, my paradise on earth!!!"
Watching the flock of lovely maidens recede into the distance from beside her, Loki shed great bowls of broad-noodle tears.
After that.
Inside the great bathhouse on the other side of the wall. "Splash—" Tiona stripped herself stark naked and plunged into the bath, sending up an enormous spray of water.
"So hot, so hot! But it feels amazing!"
Emerging from the water, Tiona wiped the droplets from her flushed, tipsy-red face, her whole face full of delight. But. Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol. The women began to take notice of one another's figures as they loosened their bath towels.
Especially the Holy Emperor, Riveria, Ais, and Kikakujou Mary—amid the swirling steam, their fair skin, soaking in the hot water, took on an alluring shade of pink.
It gave rise to an intense sense of crisis.
Not only possessing astonishing fullness, but also the perfect water-droplet-shaped curves—simply a lethal poison to men. Hanasaka Warabi lowered her head to look at herself, then looked at them, and finally couldn't help covering her face.
"The world is just too unfair..." "Don't be sad, Hanasaka."
Tiona walked over to Hanasaka Warabi's side and patted her on the shoulder. "I know how you feel." "Who asked you to understand!"
Hanasaka Warabi was on the verge of tears with no tears to shed.
Ais, by this point, had also sunk into the water, choosing a corner and quietly leaning back against the stone.
Her long golden hair floated on the water's surface, like a water lily in full bloom.
In her mind, she was still replaying that scene from the courtyard earlier—Loki snatching away that piece of grilled meat of hers.
She looked a little dejected.
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Naruto: Is it reasonable to beat up an Otsutsuki with Hamon, right?
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!