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Chapter 51: God of Travelers (Hermes)
Hearing a familiar woman's voice, Tsuna and the others sprinted toward the source. They rushed toward the connecting passageway between the 17th and 18th Floors.
"Uwaaaaaaaah!? N-No one told me there were monsters that huge down here!"
"Ahahahaha!! I really thought I was going to die there!!"
Standing there with an absolutely deathly pallor was Hestia, accompanied by a man dressed as a traveler with orange hair, sporting a strained, twitchy smile. Beside them stood an exhausted-looking woman with short aqua-blue hair, a masked Elf carrying a wooden shinai and two short swords, a large man wielding an axe, a petite girl holding a bow, and a long-haired girl carrying a katana.
"Ah... Bell!!"
"Oof!?"
The moment Hestia spotted Bell, she broke into a dead sprint and launched herself at him. The impact sent Bell tumbling, crashing onto his back with his Goddess pinned right on top of him.
"Bell, Bell!! Is it really you!?"
"G-Goddess!?"
Hestia began running her hands all over Bell's body, patting him down frantically to confirm he was real. Being thoroughly groped by his Goddess in front of everyone left Bell completely bewildered.
"Thank goodness..."
Realizing the boy in front of her was truly her beloved Familia member, Hestia hugged him fiercely, tears welling up in her eyes.
Did she come all the way down here just because she was worried about Bell...!? As Tsuna realized the sheer lengths Hestia had gone to, he was struck by her incredible depth of action. Gods possessed absolute power, but the use of their divine Arcanum was strictly forbidden in the lower world. Therefore, a God's physical combat ability was practically identical to that of an ordinary mortal without a Falna. Even if she had brought an escort, diving into the Dungeon was an insane gamble. One wrong step, and she could be killed and forcibly repatriated to Heaven, never to return to the lower world again. Understanding all of those risks, she had still come. That was how deeply she cared for her Familia.
"That is quite enough, Lady Hestia!!"
"H-Hey! Don't ruin our emotional reunion!! L-Let go of me!?"
Unable to watch any longer, a deeply jealous Lili stepped in and forcibly peeled the clinging Goddess off of Bell.
Wait, is that... Ryuu? Looking closely at the masked Elf, Tsuna realized it was none other than the stoic waitress from the Hostess of Fertility.
And who are the others...? Tsuna tilted his head, completely unfamiliar with the rest of the group.
"You bastards..." Welf growled.
"You know them?" Tsuna asked.
"They're the ones who hit us with the Pass Parade," Welf spat, glaring daggers at the large man, the katana-wielding girl, and the petite archer.
.....
Shortly after, Hestia's group relocated to the Loki Familia's camp, where she explained how she had ended up on the 18th Floor.
When Bell and his party failed to return from their middle-floor expedition, Hestia immediately submitted a search request to the Guild and frantically began gathering allies to mount a rescue. During her search, she visited the God Takemikazuchi to ask for assistance and explain the situation. It was then that she learned the three adventurers who had initiated the Pass Parade were his children.
According to their story, they had dumped the monsters onto Bell's party in a desperate bid to save their own critically injured comrade. However, upon realizing that their actions had likely pushed Bell's group to the brink of death, they were stricken with guilt. Determined to take responsibility and rescue the people they had doomed, they braved the Dungeon all the way down to the 18th Floor.
Currently, Bell's party was sitting inside a tent with the Takemikazuchi Familia adventurers, engaged in a heavy, tense discussion.
"U-Um... you're Ryuu, right?"
While waiting for the discussion to end, Tsuna nervously approached the masked Elf. Ryuu remained silent, giving a single, stiff nod.
"I apologize, but could you refrain from calling me by that name, Mr. Sawada?"
"Eh? Why not?"
"It's a long story, but it would be highly inconvenient for me if other adventurers were to recognize my face."
"Got it."
Tsuna didn't understand why she was so desperate to hide her identity, but he respected her wishes and agreed.
"More importantly, are you alright with this?" Ryuu asked.
"Eh? With what?"
"You were a victim of their Pass Parade as well, were you not? Even if they had their reasons, they still forced you into a life-threatening situation. Surely you must have a few choice words for them?"
"N-No, I'm fine, really... Anyway, who is that guy in the hat and the woman with the blue hair...?"
"That is the God Hermes, the head of the Hermes Familia, who graciously offered his assistance for this rescue mission. The woman is Asfi Al Andromeda, the Captain of his Familia and an acquaintance of mine."
"He's a God too!?"
"Yes. Upon hearing of your perilous situation, he personally issued a request for my assistance."
"I see..."
"Regardless, I am truly glad to see that you are safe. Now, we can only hope that the discussion in that tent resolves peacefully."
"Yeah..."
Tsuna and Ryuu stood side by side, casting worried glances toward the tent where the heavy negotiations were still taking place.
"How's the discussion looking?"
Hermes and Asfi strolled over to join them.
"And who might you be?" Hermes asked, noticing Tsuna.
"We have successfully obtained permission from Braver to stay in their camp," Asfi reported to Ryuu, ignoring Hermes's question for a moment.
"I see. We are at an impasse on our end," Ryuu replied.
"Well, considering what happened, I'm not surprised..." Hermes mused.
"It looks like it's going to take a while," Asfi sighed.
Realizing the situation was far from a simple fix, Hermes and Asfi turned their attention back to the boy standing next to the Elf.
"Hm? And you are?"
"U-Um... I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, a member of the Hestia Familia."
"Is that so? I'm Hermes, the patron God of the Hermes Familia. And this here is my Captain, Asfi."
"I am Asfi Al Andromeda. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Asfi added, offering a polite and formal bow despite Hermes's casual introduction.
"More importantly, shouldn't you be in there participating in the discussion?" Hermes asked, pointing a thumb at the tent.
"N-No... I'm not really good with heavy atmospheres like that..."
"Oh? Why would you tell such a lie?"
Crap!! I forgot Gods can see right through lies!! Remembering that divine beings possessed a flawless lie-detection ability against mortals, Tsuna instantly regretted his poor excuse.
"A lie? What do you mean, Mr. Sawada?" Ryuu asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Well..."
"Are you hiding a guilty conscience?" Hermes pressed, a sharp glint in his eye.
"N-No, it's not that! It's just... I wasn't actually with Bell and the others when that happened... I was somewhere else entirely..."
"Somewhere else? Does that mean you had nothing to do with the incident at all?" Ryuu asked.
"Pretty much..."
"Wait a moment!!" Asfi interrupted, her eyes widening in realization. "If that's true, then how exactly did you get down to the 18th Floor!?"
"She makes a good point...!"
Both Asfi and Ryuu had just connected the dots. If Tsuna wasn't traveling with Bell's party, and he hadn't come down with Hestia's rescue squad, how on earth did a relatively unknown rookie manage to reach the 18th Floor? It was a perfectly logical suspicion.
"Could it be... you've discovered another entrance to the Dungeon aside from Babel?" Hermes suggested, an audacious, probing smile creeping onto his face.
"Eh? Does something like that actually exist?"
He's not lying... I suppose I was overthinking it. Reading Tsuna's genuine bewilderment, Hermes instantly realized his theory was entirely off the mark.
"U-Um... I can't tell you how I got down here, but I swear I haven't done anything wrong. Please believe me," Tsuna pleaded.
Taking advantage of the God's lie-detecting nature, Tsuna explicitly stated his innocence to prove his hands were clean, hoping to shut down any further interrogation.
"It seems he's telling the truth," Hermes conceded, deciding to drop the matter.
"You heard the God. Shall we agree to cease any further probing into his circumstances?"
"If a divine being vouches for him, then I have no objections," Ryuu nodded. If a God confirmed that Tsuna harbored no malicious intent, that was proof enough for her.
"However, I do have a favor to ask of you, Tsunayoshi," Hermes said, his tone turning serious.
"What is it?"
"I need you to swear you won't breathe a word about Hestia and me being in the Dungeon."
"Why?"
"The Guild strictly prohibits Gods from entering the Dungeon. If word gets out that we're down here, the Guild will slap us with a monumental penalty."
"E-Eh!? Seriously!?"
Tsuna panicked. He had risked his life diving all the way down to the 59th Floor just to earn enough money to save the Hestia Familia from poverty. If the Guild found out and confiscated their hard-earned rewards as a penalty, all of his suffering would have been for absolutely nothing.
"But rest assured," Hermes smiled smoothly. "No matter how guilty your actions may be, it's only a crime if you get caught. So just act completely natural. Skulking around and acting suspicious will only draw more attention to us."
"The way you're saying that makes it sound like you're hiding a lot of other guilty secrets..." Tsuna muttered.
"Gulp!? D-Don't be ridiculous!! What a fantastic sense of humor you have, Tsunayoshi!! Hahahaha!!"
He's completely panicking!? He actually gulped out loud!! Seeing the God sweat bullets and act wildly suspicious, Tsuna couldn't help but scream a retort in his mind.
I thought Asfi-san was supposed to be the responsible one... Tsuna shifted his gaze to the blue-haired captain. From her appearance and demeanor, it was obvious she was an incredibly competent and disciplined person. The idea that she was complicit in a bunch of shady, unmentionable activities was genuinely surprising.
"Is something the matter?" Asfi asked, noticing his stare.
"N-No... I just didn't expect someone like you to be involved in things you can't talk about..."
"It is not as if I do these things because I want to..." Asfi's shoulders slumped. "It is entirely the fault of the irresponsible, self-proclaimed deity over there, who treats his Familia like pack mules and drives his members to the brink of death from overwork."
Did I step on a landmine!? The previously dignified and composed Asfi suddenly morphed into an avatar of pure exhaustion. Seeing the life drain from her eyes, Tsuna deeply regretted his comment.
"A-Asfi...? Isn't 'evil god' going a bit too far...?" Hermes chuckled nervously.
"From my perspective, you are nothing short of an evil deity... I already haven't had a single day to rest, and then you suddenly tell me, 'I'm going down to the 18th Floor, come with me'..."
"I-I already apologized for that...!"
"Breaking the Guild's absolute taboo is bad enough, but living with the constant terror that one wrong step could result in our Falna being permanently sealed away... do you have any idea what that does to my stomach!?"
"O-Okay, I get it!! I promise I'll give you a vacation as soon as we get back to the surface!!"
"You've said that countless times, and you have almost never actually given me one!! I can't take it anymore!! I'm so sick of this black-hearted Familia!! I'm going to sue you one day!!"
"Asfi!! I'll listen to all your complaints later, just please don't air out our dirty laundry in the middle of another Familia's camp!!"
Asfi collapsed to her knees, burying her face in her hands as she finally unleashed all her pent-up frustration. Her desperate wails began to attract confused stares from the surrounding Loki Familia members. Fearing for his already dubious reputation, Hermes frantically tried to pacify his overworked captain.
"As you can see, Andromeda has a very difficult life..." Ryuu whispered. "She usually behaves in a manner that hides it, but in reality, she harbors a truly unfathomable amount of stress..."
"Yeah... I can clearly see that..."
Listening to Ryuu's explanation, Tsuna felt a profound wave of sympathy and a strange sense of kinship with the overworked blue-haired captain.
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