“How are they doing?”

  “They are fine; nothing a few bandages can’t patch up.”

  Jeanne let out a sigh at Lisa’s response, “That’s good to hear.”

  Once we returned home with Tris, she was immediately swept up by Lisa to have her wounds looked at and patched up; thankfully, aside from a broken nose and a few bruises here and there, she didn’t receive many injuries.

  Momiji’s group returned moments ter with Coco in hand, though it was more accurate to say in arms seeing as the pallum was in a princess carry in Kyumaru’s arms when they entered.

  The poor girl was completely red in the face and absolutely steaming from embarrassment when Lisa swept her away for medical care, and she looked to be the most injured among the two with countless bruises on her exposed skin.

  In the meantime, Jirou shared what happened with the Soma Familia and the ultimate mastermind behind all that had happened today.

  Once he finished recounting the events, Hecate let out a long sigh, “As expected, it was Aeshima…”

  “I take it that you have long guessed that he had his hands in this?” Jirou asked our goddess.

  “Indeed.” She nodded, “He had tried to take Emma with me yesterday before I put a stop to his wicked actions. I didn’t think he would rope another Familia into this.”

  “It’s a good thing it’s the Soma Familia and not any other Familia.” Garos noted, “Otherwise, our rep might really take a nosedive when news spread.”

  “Looks like he still doesn’t know how to handle a rejection.” Lisa sighed.

  “You all dealt with this Aeshima god before?” I asked them.

  “Unfortunately, yes.” Jeanne sighed, “About a decade ago, he tried to get his hands on Lisa; even demanded for her transfer into his Familia.”

  “And seeing as Lisa is still here, he didn’t succeed.” Kyumaru pointed out.

  “Back then, we were affiliated with both Zeus and Hera Familia, so he couldn’t do any more than mild harassment—”

  “Wait, hold up. What did you just say?” Drake quickly interjected, “We were affiliated with both the strongest Familia in Orario’s history!?”

  “More like under their protection.” Jirou crified, “Lady Hecate struck a deal with them when we first set foot in Orario, their protection in exchange for her services.”

  “But we can shelve that talk for another time.” Jeanne told him, “Our upmost priority here is figuring out how to handle the Aeshima Familia before they pull another stunt like tonight.”

  “You think he will try again?” I asked.

  “That god is a persistent bastard.” Jirou growled, “He’s not going to stop until Emma joined his Familia.”

  “Going by my experience with him, he’ll try and get at the people around Emma to harass her into joining in.” Lisa noted, “He will make it so that her only option is to change Familia.”

  “Jeez, we really drew the attention of a really troublesome god…” I noted.

  And I thought the Soma Familia was bad enough; at least we were dealing with drunkards and addicts that any High-Css Adventurer can handle.

  But if judging by the strength and skill of that blonde bastard, this Familia wouldn’t be that easy to deal with at our current strength and numbers; not to mention we had not much information about them.

  Emma then suddenly suggested, “What if I just go with him? Would that make him stop?”

  And Jeanne immediately rejected it, “Out of the question. We are not going to give you up like that.”

  “But… if it will put a stop to this, then…”

  Garos pced a hand onto her shoulder, “This is not your fault, Emma; you don’t have to feel responsible for all of this.”

  “Yeah! This is all that bad god’s fault!” Tetra cried out, “He was the one that attacked first!”

  “Exactly.” Drake nodded, “And if he tried again, he’s going to regret it dearly.”

  Emma turned to me, I gave her a nod in response, “We wouldn’t let him take you; I swear on it.”

  “Everyone…”

  “…I do have a possible solution.”

  We all quickly turned to our patron goddess, Hecate being uncharacteristically serious for once; it was chilling to see her without the usual goofy theatrics I was used to seeing.

  “What is it, Lady Hecate?” Jeanne asked her.

  “Well…”

  The goddess had us come closer to her before she took a deep breath, and started expining it in detail for everyone to hear.

  And it was not something any of us had expected to hear coming out of the goddess.

  “Are you really sure about this?” Our captain asked.

  “I am.” Hecate nodded, “This is the only way to get that bastard to stop this.”

  “To think we will have to resort to that of all things…” Jirou noted, “Still, it would be the fastest way to handle this.”

  “Indeed.” Garos nodded, “But how are we going to suggest it to him?”

  “You can leave that part to me.” Hecate told him with a grin, “I’ll make sure that Aeshima accepts it.”

  “If you say so…”

  “Oh, come on! Have some faith in me!”

  “Then, is it settled?” Lisa asked, “Are we really doing this?”

  “…Doesn’t look like anyone will object.” Kyumaru noted.

  “So, we are really going to do it?” I asked.

  Jirou nodded, “Indeed we are.”

  “Then it is settled! Rest up for tonight!” Hecate decred, “Come tomorrow morning, we shall put my pn into action—!”

  “Ah, wait a minute.” Drake interjected once more, “What about Otto? Didn’t we agreed to meet with him tomorrow as well?”

  “““…Ah…”””

  Otto let out a yawn while leaning against the foot of the statue situated in the middle of the city square, his arms crossed as he patiently waited for the Hecate Familia to arrive.

  He had been waiting for them ever since the sun had risen, and it had already past the time they had promised yet there was still no sign of any of them.

  ‘Don’t tell me… did they forget…?’

  While he couldn’t really care much about his cut of the money, he had found quite a number of high quality mithril ores in the expedition, as well as quality Under Coral that he was pnning on experimenting with back at his personal forge.

  It was those things that the smith really wants; he deserved that much at least, especially after surviving an encounter with the Amphisbeana.

  ‘I swear, if I had to go to their Home to—”

  “Sorry to keep you waiting!!”

  His thoughts were cleared up when he saw the ones he had been waiting for finally arriving, Lisa and Kyumaru running towards him with the tter having a rge sack on his back while the tter was holding a smaller bag in her hand.

  “About time you guys show up! I’ve been waiting for hours!”

  The pallum could only let out a nervous ugh in response ad she and the renard put down the sack in front of him, “We’re sorry, Otto; but we ran into a bit of an issue st night.”

  “Hah, it’s fine. Did you at least brought my share?”

  Kyumaru nodded as he put opened up his sack to reveal the many ores Otto had harvested in the Water Capital, as well as the Drop Items he was promised.

  There was even a small bag inside that he checked to be filled with coins, his cut of the expedition’s overall earnings.

  ‘They must have just cash this in… no wonder they took so long…’

  After a quick visual check of the contents, a satisfied Otto closed up the sack before hoisting it over his shoulder, “That concludes our business.”

  “Thanks again for your help, Otto.” Lisa bowed to him.

  “No need for thanks; I have earned quite a bit from it.”

  “I’m gd to hear that.”

  “Hey dude, did you hear the rumors?”

  “You mean the one about the Soma Familia?”

  That caught Otto’s attention as he tried to listen in on the gossips being shared between the two Adventurers next to him.

  “Yeah, that one! Apparently, they got attacked st night! Their pce was completely wrecked! Even their boss was beaten into a bloody pulp!”

  “Whoa, seriously!? They have some balls! Do you know who it is?”

  “No one knows, but they say that it might be some High-Css Adventurers that they tried to pull a fast one on.”

  “Yeah, I can see that happening. Those bastards honestly had it coming for a while now.”

  “Same here; I’m just gd someone finally hand them some payback.”

  The smith raised an eyebrow at the new information he had just happened upon, though he was kind of overjoyed at the thought of someone deciding to take matters into their own hands and dish out some needed vengeance on those drunkards.

  He couldn’t count how many times he had seen that Familia’s Adventurers haggling and shaking down other Adventurers for money, so seeing them getting their just desserts was quite refreshing.

  Still, he wondered who would risk getting the wrong end of the Guild and the Ganesha Familia to attack the Soma Familia.

  “Say, what do you… think…”

  Otto could only look at Lisa and Kyumaru trying their best to keep their expression as even as possible, especially the pallum who was clearly uncomfortable with the topic and even looked guilty of hiding something.

  ‘She did mention having an issue st night… don’t tell me…’

  “Uh… I’m just spit-balling here, but…” The smith leaned in next to her and whispered into her ear, “Were the ones that beat up Soma Familia you guys?”

  “What! N-No! Of course not! Th-That’s ridiculous!”

  “Lisa…”

  Her response was enough to crify his suspicions, even more so than Kyumaru’s sigh at her inability to redirect it.

  “…I’m not even going to ask for the reason, but aren’t you acting too fast?” He pointed out, “You all just returned from an expedition! Shouldn’t you at least wait a day before striking?”

  “They took our people.” Kyumaru expined, “We have to get them back as soon as we could.”

  “I get that, but still… to attack their Home? Do you want to start a War Game or something?”

  Lisa rubbed her neck as she looked away, “Hahah, funny that you should mentioned that…”

  Before the smith could ask for crification, the streets were soon reverberating with the combined cheers of gods all over.

  And what they chanted in excitement and joy had him turning at the pallum in sheer shock over what her Familia had just done.

  As soon as morning sun rose above Orario’s walls, we immediately set off from the Arcane Manor to escort Hecate to the Home of the Aeshima Familia, where her pn would commence.

  When asked why she already knew their address, our patron goddess’s response was that she had kept an eye on them in the past decade just for this occasion.

  The escort consisted of Jeanne, Jirou, Drake, Tetra, me, and Emma; Emma in particur had asked to be part of the escort, saying that she had to at least see this through, that she refused to hide while her friends fight for her.

  For she too, as she puts it, was an Adventurer and not some damsel in need of saving.

  Garos volunteered to stay behind on account of his still damaged arm and to protect the injured girls in case the members of the Soma Familia wanted some revenge, while Lisa and Kyumaru were chosen to meet up with Otto to hand over his share of our expedition earnings.

  “This should be the pce.”

  “So, this is their Home?”

  The Aeshima Familia’s Home was situated a fair distance from almost all of the known housing in the city like ours, only theirs was built suspiciously close to the Daedalus Street.

  It was a pretty big building that was more akin to an inn than a Home, almost as big as our manor, with a tall iron fence surrounding the entire compound with an iron gate as its only entrance.

  “Dae, if you would?”

  “You’ve got it.”

  With fists clenched tightly, I ran up at the iron gate in question and threw a punch into its metal doors, knocking it off its hinges and sending it crashing into the walls of the building.

  And narrowly missing the god standing by the door, a shit-eating grin on his face as he combed his red mane back with his hand; two men fnked his sides, one of which was the same blonde bastard from st night.

  We both shared a gre as he immediately unsheathed his sword, and was about to confront us till his patron god stopped him with his arm; he reluctantly sheathed his weapon as the god stepped forward to greet us.

  “I have been expecting you, Hecate.” Aeshima noted, “I take it you have changed your mind?”

  “Then you’ll admit to your little tricks, Aeshima?” Hecate asked him.

  “There’s no trickery here.” He shook his head, “Just my Enoch’s misguided attempts to give me what I desired.”

  “You have quite the devout follower.”

  “Heh, he can be a handful at times. But you have yet to answer my question.”

  Emma flinched when the god’s gaze turned to her, but she remained steadfast and stood her ground, as did we as we all took our pces next to her and our patron goddess; Jeanne even made a show by smming her spear’s end onto the ground with a loud bang.

  The blonde bastard was the only one that responded to our provocation, immediately drawing his sword once more and at the ready to pounce into action; his comrade not so much, the man taking a step back from fright.

  It was clear who among the two was the better combatant, though it might be due to different duties, seeing as his comrade dressed like he worked at the Guild and not an Adventurer.

  Hecate flicked the edge of her hat as she gred at the god in front of us, “And what do you think my answer to that will be?”

  “Is it your habit to answer all questions with another?”

  “If it means irritating you? Then yes, it is.”

  Aeshima’s grin faded as he gred back at her, “This isn’t going to py out the same as ten years ago; Zeus and Hera are gone, and you are without anyone to hide behind. You are not going to keep her from me.”

  “…You’re right, it’s not going to py out like st time.” The goddess noted, “Because I’m putting an end to this nonsense right now.”

  “Oh? And how do pn on—”

  “I’m challenging you to a War Game.”

  The mention of that term immediately had the god lost for words as he looked at her as if she was mad, not that he wasn’t wrong in that assumption as we thought that our own goddess wasn’t right in the head for even considering it.

  A War Game, as apparent by the name itself, was a proxy war between two opposing gods; it was the only proper way for Familias to duke it out with each other without the risk of getting bcklisted by the Guild.

  And where the victorious Familia had the right to demand anything from the loser; and it had to be fulfilled no matter what, even if the request was as unreasonable as the forced transfer of Familia members.

  Essentially, it was a duel where the winner takes all and loser loses everything; and it was what Hecate was going to use to deal with the Aeshima Familia.

  “You must be joking.” He scoffed, “A War Game? That’s your pn?”

  “What? You’re not about to back out, are you?” Hecate asked him, “I’m giving you a chance to get Emma, you know?”

  “Why should I even entertain such a thing? There’s no merit in such a thing.”

  “Are you scared that I might prove you wrong?”

  That had the god gring at her for the accusation, “…What are you implying?”

  Hecate shrugged her shoulders and expined, “Just that you are afraid to admit that you can’t truly bred the ‘prefect Adventurer’, and and any ‘success’ you have so far couldn’t truly match up.”

  “That is not true!!”

  “Oh yeah? Then prove it. Prove that all those years of selective breeding had results. Or was I right that it was all for naught after all?”

  Aeshima let out a growl, “Grr… you…!!”

  “What will it be, Aeshima?” Hecate gestured her hand to him with a smirk, “Do you accept?”

  “Fine!! You want a War Game!? You have one!! I’ll make you eat your words!!”

  “Woohoo!! War Game!!”

  “We have a War Game!!”

  The gods that had been listening nearby let out a collective cheer in response to his acceptance to Hecate’s challenge, one that echoed down the streets as word of it began to spread.

  Now that the proverbial gauntlet had dropped, there was no turning back for us; only through victory would our Familia be freed from the god’s advances and his machinations, for defeat meant losing Emma and more to him.

  And I would be damned if I was to let that happen.

  …To be continued…

  Hey, hey! This ended up being quite a short chapter, huh?

  Well, this is the set-up chapter for the upcoming arc, so I hope you all are okay with that. The next chapter will be longer, so look forward to it.

  With that, I thank you all for reading this!