As the single largest Familia in all of Orario, it had to be said.
The grounds of the Ganesha Familia's base, "I Am Ganesha," were honestly absurdly vast.
From the very outset of its design, all manner of contingencies had clearly been taken into account, and it had been deliberately partitioned into several completely independent zones.
As for this Denatus, the rules had been set rigidly.
The male and female gods, along with the children each had brought, were all divided into different directions.
The male gods and the male Familia members they brought stayed in the building complexes on the eastern and northern sides.
The female gods and the female Familia members they brought were placed in the independent zones on the western and southern sides.
Several shifts of patrolling military police had even been arranged.
Guarding against mortals crossing the lines was one matter, but more importantly, it was obviously out of fear that these gods—so accustomed to their usual idleness—might, on a night like this when bone ground against bone, secretly stir up some mess that couldn't be cleaned up.
It basically achieved a degree of mutual non-interference.
And so. Here, on this side, within the male gods' zone.
In the eastern part of the base, inside a tranquil, top-grade guest room.
From the direction of the bathroom came the creak of a door being pushed open, and a faint wisp of steam drifted out into the air. Haimer had just finished bathing.
He wore a loosely styled dark-black bathrobe, its wide collar slightly open to reveal his solid collarbone. Casually holding a dry towel, he unhurriedly wiped away the droplets dripping from his hair.
No bright Magic Stone lamps had been lit in the room.
Only the bright moonlight outside squeezed in through the gaps of the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, stretching a long, slanting patch of silvery-white light across the floor.
Haimer stood barefoot on the soft carpet, his gaze sweeping across the somewhat empty room.
His eyes wandered idly between the large bed and the writing desk.
At last, his gaze settled steadily upon the floor-to-ceiling window.
To be precise.
It settled at the edge of the heavy velvet curtain that hung all the way down to the floor.
By the direct moonlight, a shadow that clearly did not belong to this room could faintly be made out there, pressed tightly into the corner, its very breathing suppressed to the lowest.
Haimer stopped wiping his hair.
He tossed the dry towel onto the back of a nearby sofa chair, strode over to the table, reached out to grip the exquisite ceramic pitcher, and poured himself a cup of water. "Since you've come, stop hiding."
Haimer's voice rang out. Then.
"Tch." "How dull—found out already, huh."
A woman's voice, carrying a familiar roguish air, came from behind the curtain.
The heavy velvet curtain was yanked aside from within, and a great swath of moonlight came spilling across the floor with a rush. Loki stepped out of the shadows.
She still wore the black silk-blend evening gown from tonight's banquet. Except.
This expensive gown, originally so form-fitting and elegant, now looked rather wretched on Loki. On the side of the skirt one could even see a smudge of dust picked up who-knows-where, and her usually neatly arranged red hair was somewhat disheveled.
Clearly, to dodge the densely patrolling Ganesha Familia military police outside and sneak into Haimer's room, she'd done plenty of wall-climbing and dog-hole-crawling along the way.
Haimer looked at Loki's somewhat bedraggled yet utterly unbothered appearance. He didn't say much.
Though the gods of the Lower World had sealed away their power, someone like Loki, if she truly wished to evade the eyes of ordinary guards, had no shortage of means.
Haimer casually took another clean glass from the tray on the table, tilted the pitcher slightly, poured out a measure of clear water, and gently pushed the cup across to the other side of the table.
"Leaving the front door unused, climbing through windows in the dead of night."
"You're getting more and more practiced at it."
Haimer lifted his own cup, took a sip, and spoke mildly.
Loki, not standing on ceremony in the slightest, simply snatched up the cup Haimer had pushed over, plopped down cross-legged on the carpet without a care, tilted her neck back, and gulped the water down in one go.
She wiped the water dribbling from the corner of her mouth and rolled her eyes irritably. "Hah——!" "You think I want to?!"
"Just think—with the spectacle going on tonight, how many pairs of eyes are watching out there?"
"If I'd come strutting in through the front door to find you."
"By tomorrow morning, the rumors flying around all of Orario would probably fill the sky."
With that, Loki's squinting eyes opened to a thin slit, revealing a glint of shrewdness.
"Right, on to business—I snuck over tonight because I've got something to tell you."
"Of course I know." "Out with it." "What exactly did Freya tell you?"
Haimer pulled over a chair, sat down in front of Loki, propped his chin on one hand, and looked at her.
Loki had come over tonight. Naturally, it couldn't have been for a simple social call.
Rather, she'd come to report to him the results of the intelligence she and Freya had been secretly exchanging.
Hearing Haimer's words, and meeting his gaze, Loki grinned, let out two low "heh heh" chuckles, her tone carrying a hint of gloating.
"Heh heh, guess what."
"Freya's informants dug up a batch of interesting characters. There've been gods these past few days secretly arranging for people to investigate everyone you've come into contact with lately—even the few maids who come to clean your residence every day have been investigated."
"Including that base of yours over in the Outer Ring—the one the Guild specially approved and that's now under construction, the one whose scale is honestly a bit excessive—there are people watching and monitoring it around the clock too."
"Right now, every move these people make is being closely tracked by Freya's people."
"And then Freya turns around and passes the information to me."
"Honestly, I actually kind of understand how those guys are feeling right now."
Saying this, Loki propped her chin on her hand, legs crossed, and began muttering and sighing to herself.
"I mean, put anyone in their place—with a great blade hanging over your head every day, never knowing when it'll fall, nobody could live in peace."
"Especially since, per our earlier agreement, any god descending to the Lower World must seal away their Divine Power, and may bring down at most a single authority they preside over."
"For instance, what Hephaestus brought down was the craft of smithing."
"What Freya brought down was charm."
"Using that one single authority, they show the world a little of the might of a god, so as to establish their own faction on this land and enjoy the entertainment the children of the Lower World provide."
"But precisely because of that, when you—the big boss—suddenly showed up in the Lower World, everyone has to worry whether you brought down that most representative, most terrifying authority of yours from the Heavens."
"As for. Why they've only just now suddenly turned so bold."
Loki shifted her posture and set the water cup back down on the carpet.
"The root of it is still that the news of you forging weapons and hammering iron these past few days has spread throughout Orario."
"So the hearts they'd had stuck in their throats have started stirring again. After all."
By the rules, a god descending to the Lower World may bring only one authority.
As long as they could confirm that Haimer, having descended, was truly willing to abide by the rules, and that what he'd brought down was merely the authority of smithing, then the gods of Orario could keep holding their say in Orario.
After all, a smithing god who only knew how to swing a hammer in a forge and craft weapons for mortals was absolutely far more reassuring than a fearsome god who could flip the entire table over single-handedly at any moment.
"And then?" "Is there any other, more valuable intelligence?"
Lacking interest in this, Haimer continued to look at Loki as he asked.
"Of course there's more than this. If it were just this little bit, I wouldn't have suffered through all that misery to come over."
Loki raised a single finger and smiled slyly.
"Freya also told me that, with your descent, the gods of Orario have already secretly formed an exclusionary little clique."
"It's no small scale—factions big and small have nearly all gotten mixed up in it."
"And the purpose is crystal clear—with perfect tacit agreement, they've set the targets of their exclusion as you, me, Hephaestus, and Hestia."
"Anyone who's grown close to you, or who's made their stance clear, has been shut out by them."
Having said this, Loki's gaze flicked toward the tightly shut door; she cocked her ear to listen for any movement outside, then lowered her voice and continued.
"Tsk tsk, you could say this is because, after your descent, these guys who normally won't even acknowledge one another have been forced, for the first time ever, to huddle together for warmth."
"Especially before this Denatus officially opened, they'd already convened a secret meeting in advance at some private location."
"According to Freya, the reason so many gods today knew that Ganesha would make an exception this time and allow them to bring their own Familia is precisely the word that leaked out in advance through that meeting."
"As for who exactly that meeting was discussing—well, I think you could guess that with your toes."
Haimer nodded slightly. The content of the discussion was nothing more than how to band together to deal with the threat he posed, or how to probe his limits at the upcoming Denatus.
"So I won't waste my breath on those boring schemes." Loki cleared her throat and shifted her body toward Haimer, her expression turning rarely serious for a moment. "Let me tell you something genuinely interesting instead."
"After that secret meeting, the gods, each with their own interests and ideas, debated quite fiercely behind closed doors."
"Though they all bear the banner of an anti-Haimer alliance, divisions had already long since formed within."
"After all, since the gods each have a different relationship with you—good or bad—after some time of discussion they've already clearly split into several entirely different factions."
"They neither want to be bound by you in the Lower World, nor is any of them willing to be the bird that sticks its head out first to bear the brunt of your wrath."
"After all, building up a Familia and scraping together some assets isn't easy for anyone—whoever steps up to be cannon fodder is a pure, utter sucker."
"And so the meeting had been bickering endlessly, with no good direction in sight for the longest time. Ganesha, as the host, in order to ease the atmosphere, took the lead and suggested that perhaps the gods might use a relatively veiled method at this Denatus to express their respective stances."
"So, what direct connection does this have with the Denatus allowing one to bring Familia?"
Haimer shifted into a more comfortable posture, crossed his legs, and rested one hand on his knee.
"That's exactly where Ganesha is clever."
"His requirement that male and female Familia be separated by zone is itself a lead-in, and also offers these gods a chance to show their cards."
"Anyone who brought in elite Familia of the same gender as themselves belongs to the batch with the most resolute stance—the ones who hate you so much their teeth itch, or who most want to drive you out of Orario."
"I imagine you saw this for yourself in the plaza today."
Loki counted on her fingers, a wicked smile surfacing on her face.
"Take Apollo, for instance—who back in the Heavens professed his love to Hestia, and also tried to profess his love to you, getting up to all sorts of lewd, debauched dealings between male gods."
"This guy took a sound thrashing from you back then—he probably still remembers it to this day."
"What he brought today is his Familia's most core members."
"Besides him."
"There's also Ishtar, whose pride was shattered when you once mercilessly humiliated her with your words."
"According to the reports of Freya's informants, Apollo and Ishtar, within the little clique, have been leaning on the fact that their Familia rank as first-rate in scale by Orario's standards to keep threatening the other gods into supporting them."
"They belong to the batch that was jumping around the most ferociously from the very start."
Haimer nodded.
Apollo and Ishtar were entirely within expectations.
He'd always known the character of these two perfectly well.
"Then what attitude do those who brought in Familia of the opposite gender represent?"
Haimer remained perfectly composed.
"Bringing in Familia of the opposite gender…"
Loki stroked her chin, calculating carefully.
"You should've seen Miach, Takemikazuchi, Dian Cecht, and Hermes today, right?"
"Bringing in Familia of the opposite gender actually represents another, more populous attitude within the little clique."
"Simply put, it's an attitude of not wanting to offend you for now—thinking that whatever happens in the end, they should at least leave themselves a way out."
"They belong to those who just want to keep living their lives."
Loki shrugged, with a touch of appraisal toward these neutral-faction gods.
"Then what about Demeter, who didn't bring any Familia at all?"
"With no Familia at her side, what kind of attitude is that?"
"That one—well, that one rather caught even Freya off guard."
"After all, according to Freya, when Ganesha took the lead at that secret meeting and proposed bringing Familia to the Denatus, there'd actually been arguments within the circle."
"After all, everyone knew that if they all suddenly brought their elites in with great fanfare, you'd see through the whole thing at a single glance."
"So the resolution at the time was that gods who found it truly inconvenient to declare their stance, who feared being settled with by you, could also choose not to bring their Familia to the Denatus—a sort of opening left for the marginal gods."
"But Apollo and Ishtar strongly opposed this."
"They demanded that all gods who'd joined the circle must bring their own Familia today."
"They wanted to use this method of pressuring everyone as an indirect way to pressure me, Hephaestus, and Hestia—gods any clear-eyed person could see were obviously leaning toward your side—and leave us isolated and without support."
"At first, Ganesha didn't want to agree to this near-coercive proposal, but pressed by the joint pressure of Apollo and Ishtar—who even questioned on the spot whether he'd already secretly defected to you—Ganesha had no choice but to agree, and together they submitted a special-exception application to the Guild."
"But today, as you saw too—no one ever expected it."
"Apart from Freya, Demeter likewise came alone, bringing not a single Familia member."
"And at the banquet just now, Demeter was even extremely intimate with you—she practically hung herself off you."
"Though even thinking with my toes, I know you must've struck some shady secret deal with her, helped her resolve some kind of trouble."
"But this move of hers today, in the eyes of Apollo and Ishtar, absolutely counts as a naked betrayal."
"Not bringing Familia in line with the final content the gods had agreed on, and especially staying by your side the whole time—this basically amounts to handing over a pledge of allegiance, thoroughly declaring she stands on your side."
"I think after this affair, the divisions among the factions within the gods' little clique will probably grow wider and wider."
"And Freya likewise brought no Familia this time, and the matter of her sending people everywhere to watch those informants will probably be exposed soon too."
"As stupid as those guys are, once they come to their senses they'll be able to tell something's off."
"Whether in the Heavens or the Lower World, Freya is, in the end, still one of our group."
"Hahaha, I really want to see the moment they discover that me, Freya, Demeter, and even the Guild under Ouranos have all completely tipped over to your side."
"Just how livid the expressions on Apollo's and Ishtar's faces will get."
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