"That guy..."
Riveria raised a hand and pressed hard against her own temple, her fingertips rubbing at the corner of her brow a couple of times.
She felt her blood pressure was probably climbing in a straight line.
Meanwhile.
Seeing this, Hestia rolled up her sleeves and made to charge toward the bathroom as well.
A hand reached out from beside her, steadily seizing the back collar of Hestia's pajamas.
Hephaestus helplessly dragged Hestia back like lifting a kitten, pressing her back down onto the sofa cushion. "Enough, stop trying to join in on the fun."
Hephaestus took a sip of her drink, her gaze carrying a lazy, seen-it-all-before air.
"Those two were always huddling together back in the Heavens, fiddling with all sorts of strange things."
"Loki and Haimer have gotten along for so many years—it's not as if you don't know. They know each other inside and out; nothing's going to happen."
"It's probably just an excuse to go discuss some serious business they don't want overheard."
"Even if it is serious business, whoever heard of two people huddling in a bathroom to talk it over?! What kind of impropriety is that?!"
Hestia puffed out her cheeks in indignation, arms folded across her chest, eyes still fixed on the bathroom door.
Hephaestus, for her part, couldn't be bothered to respond; she tilted her head back and downed the liquor in her cup in one go.
Though in truth, Hephaestus was quite curious too.
A topic important enough for Haimer to pull Loki aside to discuss alone surely carried no small weight.
Meanwhile.
In the bathroom, just a wall away.
Steam suffused the air, white mist rolling and curling above the broad stone bathing pool.
Haimer sat on the stone steps at the pool's edge, half his body submerged in the warm water.
Loki sat cross-legged on the platform behind Haimer, a long, soaked towel in her hands, wiping at his back in a desultory, on-and-off manner.
"Come to think of it, ever since I reunited with you here in the Lower World last time, I've been getting one-sidedly exploited by you!"
Loki grumbled in discontent as she scrubbed his back.
"Last time it was working the bellows, this time it's scrubbing your back."
"Say what you will, I'm still a goddess as lovely as a flower and good enough to eat."
"Suddenly running into the same bathroom with a man—this could have a really bad effect on my reputation."
She pursed her lips, rinsed the towel in the water, and wrung it out again. "You jerk, treat me a little better, would you? Show me a bit of the respect I deserve, can't you?"
The moment Loki finished speaking, her fingers suddenly curled.
Under the cover of the towel, she pinched hard at the soft flesh of Haimer's lower back.
Of course.
That bit of force didn't hurt Haimer in the least.
Haimer turned his head and shot Loki a glance. "A goddess?" "Judging by your usual conduct, I'd say you're more like a sleazy old man who likes to peep at girls on street corners."
There was a trace of amusement in Haimer's voice.
"Besides, words like 'lovely as a flower, good enough to eat'—those only really fit Hestia and Hephaestus. With that flat, never-changing bony frame of yours, you'd best spare us such words; they sound a bit out of place."
The air seemed to freeze in that instant.
Hearing this, Loki dropped the towel in her hand straight onto the floor! "Waaaahhh!!!"
"You jerk! You're saying outrageous things again!"
"Don't you understand what's called the golden-ratio beauty of slenderness?!"
"You really had your eyes spoiled by those big-chested, seductive back in the Heavens! Shallow! Vulgar! Utterly unreasonable!"
Grinding her teeth, Loki snatched up the towel, twisted it forcefully into a rope, and gave Haimer's back a furious scrubbing. The force had increased by no small measure; the towel rasped against his skin with a "zzzt-zzzt" sound, clearly laden with personal grievance. Haimer simply closed his eyes and let Loki fuss about behind him.
After a while, Loki too seemed to feel this method of revenge was utterly meaningless.
With a soft snort, she eased off the force in her hands and went back to wiping obediently.
Steam kept rising, blurring the outlines of the two of them somewhat.
The sound of the towel gliding over skin rang especially clear in the empty bathroom.
After some more time passed.
Loki found it boring.
So she just tossed the towel into the water and sat down on the edge of the platform beside Haimer.
"I quit. You won't even give me the slightest perk—I don't have the energy to wait on you for free."
"Let's just get to the serious business."
Loki leaned back, hands propped on the stone slab behind her, toes idly stirring the surface of the water a couple of times.
"This afternoon, when I had nothing to do, I went and paid Ouranos a visit."
"About those few monsters you brought back up to the surface—the old man's mouth was clamped shut at first; he wouldn't let a single thing slip."
"But after I dropped your name and probed a little, he must've figured he couldn't keep it from me, and in the end he let me in on a bit of it."
"Come to think of it, I really never imagined there'd actually be a group of monsters in the Dungeon possessing full reason—able to speak, to think, even to understand gratitude and fear."
"And from what the old man implied, that group of monsters called the Xenos has somehow eked out a miserable existence for over a decade in an environment like the Dungeon."
"Over ten years—right beneath Orario, right under the noses of us lofty gods."
"Apart from those two who knew all along, Ouranos and Ganesha, not a single god in the entire Labyrinth City caught wind of this beforehand."
"I really don't know whether to say those Xenos hid themselves too well, or that we gods have lived too long in comfort in the Lower World—to the point that even our most basic senses and instincts have degenerated."
Hearing these words.
Haimer picked up a wooden ladle from the basin beside him, scooped up a ladleful of warm water, and slowly poured it down over his shoulder. "Comfort dulls a person."
"Prolonged ease is like a rusted file—it grinds away all vigilance, bit by bit."
Haimer turned his head and looked at Loki.
"That is the price comfort exacts."
Loki arched an eyebrow, a hint of contemplation in her red eyes.
"Do gods get affected by this too?" "Of course."
"When a god willingly gives up the omniscient, omnipotent perspective and chooses to experience life through this mortal vessel, we are being assimilated by the rules of this world."
Haimer's words left Loki momentarily at a loss for a reply. She lay flat, her back against the slightly cool stone slab, gazing up at the bathroom's arched ceiling, and let out a long breath. "Maa~" "I suppose you've got a point."
"In any case, for a guy like you, there really is no great difference in essence between gods and mortals."
Back in the Heavens, the way Haimer treated other gods and the way he now treated the mortals of the Lower World were exactly the same.
At this thought, Loki rolled over, sat back up, and locked her gaze tightly onto Haimer.
"But." "Compared to the Xenos."
"Tomorrow is the Denatus. You really ought to let me in on the truth now, right?"
Loki leaned forward, drawing a little closer to Haimer. "This time you suddenly came down to the Lower World and even kicked up such a big commotion—what exactly is your true aim?"
"You couldn't be..." "You couldn't still be thinking about that matter from the Heavens, could you?"
As she said this, Loki's expression turned downright strange.
After all, though it had never been said outright.
But as one who had witnessed it firsthand, as a co-conspirator.
Loki knew exceptionally well just how obsessive Haimer's pursuit of a god's death was.
But.
"Did Ouranos tell you something?"
Haimer finally turned his head and looked toward Loki.
Loki waved a hand and drew her body back a little.
"The old man didn't say a thing, but the way he braced himself as though facing a great enemy—even a blind man could see it."
Loki pursed her lips.
"Besides, from what I know of you, you never do anything meaningless."
"You suddenly recruited so many little monsters with terrifying potential, and you took on the Xenos—a ticking time bomb—shouldering all the criticism yourself."
"No matter how you look at it, this doesn't seem like something a god would do who just wanted to come down to experience life, drink a little, chat a little—be an ordinary deity."
Having said this.
Loki suddenly stood up and, not caring whether she was dripping wet, simply stretched out her arm and threw it around Haimer's shoulders with great familiarity.
"Come to think of it, why do you always have to fixate on such heavy, boring matters?"
Loki grinned, deliberately adopting a tone so breezy it was nearly exaggerated, trying to dispel the gloomy atmosphere from a moment ago.
"The Lower World has so many fun things, you know! Compared to that bunch of stuffy, dull old fogeys up in the Heavens, the liquor here tastes better and the food's far more varied."
"There's the Dungeon here, all sorts of wonders, and lively events like festivals."
With the fingers of her other hand, Loki poked at Haimer's shoulder.
"Since you've come down, just enjoy the pleasures this mortal vessel brings, won't you?"
"And besides, I can see it perfectly clearly."
"Those little girls in your Familia—though every one of them looks young, their hearts are honestly, truly set entirely on you."
"Their heads are filled with nothing but you, their Kami-sama~"
Loki winked at Haimer.
"If you really are still scheming over those plans."
"Then if one day you up and walk off, just think how heartbroken these girls—who treasure you more than their own lives—would be."
"Could you bear to make them sad?"
At the same time.
On the other side of the wall, beside a long, low table at the edge of the hall.
Inaba Tsukuyo knelt on a soft cushion.
In her hands she held a long-spouted teapot fired from purple clay, its body giving off a warm, gentle luster.
The scalding tea poured out along the spout, drawing a thin amber line through the air, falling into the small white porcelain cup set below, where an emerald-green tea leaf spun on the water's surface.
Inaba Tsukuyo's eyes remained tightly shut.
Leaving every sound around her with nowhere to hide—the rush of flowing water, the fine crackle of burning firewood, and of course, including—
The conversation on the other side of the wall, the voices deliberately lowered.
Naturally, none of it could be kept from Inaba Tsukuyo.
Loki's voice was as clear as if it were being spoken directly into her ear.
"But if one day you up and walk off..."
The words bored into her ears.
The wrist with which Inaba Tsukuyo held the pot stiffened.
Her arm, which had been suspended in midair, abruptly lost its steadiness; the spout wobbled, and the line of water instantly veered off its original path.
The scalding tea poured straight onto the pitch-black wooden tabletop.
Lili happened to come over carrying a wooden tray full of empty cups, ready to help hand out the tea.
Sharp-eyed, she spotted the water stain, then lifted her gaze, settling it on Inaba Tsukuyo's hand, still suspended in the air and somewhat stiff. "Tsukuyo-sama?"
Lili spoke up cautiously, a trace of puzzlement in her voice.
Hearing this call, Inaba Tsukuyo's body gave a slight shudder, and she quickly came to her senses. Hurriedly she set the purple-clay pot on the cork mat beside her and, in a fluster, snatched up a cloth from the table's edge to wipe at the tea-soaked tabletop.
"I'm sorry." "My hand slipped; I didn't hold it steady."
Inaba Tsukuyo's voice strained to stay even.
Lili, for her part, stood where she was holding the tray, her gaze sweeping across Inaba Tsukuyo's face.
Though Inaba Tsukuyo's eyes were tightly shut, her faintly flustered expression couldn't fool Lili, who had grown up clawing her way through the lower rungs of society.
But the corner of Lili's mouth twitched; in the end she said nothing, and could only pretend she'd noticed nothing, setting the empty cups in her hands at the table's edge and turning to go fetch a dry cloth.
Once Inaba Tsukuyo confirmed Lili had gone far enough, she too set the soaked cloth aside.
Would Kami-sama abandon them?
Once this thought took root, it grew wildly like a vine in Inaba Tsukuyo's mind, coiling around her heart.
It made Inaba Tsukuyo's small hand cover her chest cautiously despite herself, fingers gripping tightly at her clothes, lips pressed firmly together, as she slowly turned her face toward the direction of the bathroom.
Meanwhile.
Loki was still hanging off Haimer's shoulder.
She stuck out a finger, poking at Haimer's arm again and again.
Still chattering away nonstop over there.
"Honestly, the girls here are so adorable. Take a look at Ais-tan—how endearing that cold-as-ice look of hers is."
"And that swordsman you picked up, the one like a little wolf cub."
"Life is short—seize joy while you can."
Haimer gave her a helpless glance.
Letting her poke a few red marks into his arm. "You sure talk a lot of nonsense."
Haimer pulled her arm down off his shoulder.
"If there's anything else you want to say, say it all at once." "There is."
At this, Loki immediately seized the opening, a flash of cunning crossing her eyes.
"What?" Haimer asked.
"Could you give me that raw gemstone my Ais-tan gave you?"
"I've wanted that raw stone all along."
"And besides, a big man like you has no use for something like that anyway. Better to hand it over to me—I promise I'll put it to good use and make the most of its value."
As Loki spoke, she rubbed her hands together, that sleazy grin resurfacing on her face.
To this, Haimer looked at Loki and said not a word.
Thinking Haimer had no reaction, assuming he'd tacitly agreed, Loki excitedly reached out to grab Haimer's shoulder.
But before Loki could finish what she was about to say next.
Haimer caught Loki's wrist with a backhand and threw her clean over his shoulder! "Splash!"
Loki's whole body traced a parabola through the air and crashed into the bathing pool with a "plop."
Before Loki could even surface and figure out the situation.
She saw.
Haimer sitting on the stone steps, looking down loftily at her as she floundered in the water.
"Since you want to get something out of me."
"Then let's do it by the old rules."
"Only someone who can walk out of here alive is qualified to talk terms!"
"Naniii?!!"
Loki's eyes went wide.
And so.
Then half an hour passed.
The bathroom door finally opened with a "creak."
Tione and Tiona, who were already sitting on the carpet playing cards with Hanasaka Warabi, turned their heads.
They saw.
Grinding her teeth, Loki braced one hand against the doorframe and propped the other on her lower back, brows tightly furrowed, sucking in a sharp cold breath, legs wobbling, as she inched her way out from behind the bathroom door.
"That bastard really put me through the wringer." "Riveria! Let's go! We're going home!"
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Naruto: Is it reasonable to beat up an Otsutsuki with Hamon, right?
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone