And so.
Night was deepening, but the racket inside the tavern hadn't dimmed in the slightest — if anything, with several fresh waves of adventurers piling in straight from the Dungeon, the place was rowdier than ever.
Haimer cast a glance at the deep blue sky outside the door.
About time to get down to actual business.
Last night, he'd agreed to help the Loki Familia process that batch of deep-floor materials, which meant tonight he'd need to borrow the forge belonging to [Hephaestus Familia] and hammer out the gear they were after.
Haimer rose to his feet.
"Leaving already?"
Ryu, who had just finished serving a table of customers their drinks, walked over, a washed-bone-white rag still clutched in her hand.
Seeing Haimer stand, her steps faltered for a beat. She closed the distance a few more paces, her tone a touch stiff and formal.
"Kami-sama, allow me to see you out."
Ryu kept her head ducked, those pointed Elf-race ears drooping slightly, her whole posture exuding a careful, mincing air — for all the world like a student who'd done something wrong and was desperately scrambling for any opening to make amends.
Ever since the load-bearing-wall fiasco at the clothing shop, on top of the earlier misunderstanding in the back-alley where she'd actually drawn her blade against him, this naive-natured Elf girl had been carrying a heavy stone weighing down on her chest.
Ryu was desperately eager to do something — anything — to repay the deity who had, time and time again, shown her such generous tolerance.
Watching Ryu still wound up tight like a spring, Haimer raised his hand with a touch of helpless amusement.
"From here out onto the main street is only a few steps."
"There's no need to go to that much trouble."
Haimer gestured toward the door.
But Ryu didn't move. She just kept her head slightly lowered, those sky-blue eyes carrying a quiet, stubborn glint.
She tightened her grip on the rag in her hand a fraction.
Clearly still insisting.
Seeing Ryu like this, Haimer knew that if he didn't assign her some sort of task, she probably wouldn't even sleep soundly tonight.
"Tell you what, miss elf."
Haimer paused thoughtfully.
At those words, Ryu immediately looked up, spine straightening ramrod-straight.
"Could I trouble you to head over to the plaza in front of Babel Tower in a little while?"
"My girls down in the Dungeon — over in the Great Tree Labyrinth area — might be staying late today. When they come back up, I'd like you to pass along a message for me."
"Tell them — I'm spending the night over at Hephaestus's place tonight handling some prepared equipment, so I won't be coming home. Once they've packed up, they should go hand things off at the Guild and then head back to the manor early to rest."
Hearing that she'd finally been entrusted with a task, Ryu perked up in an instant, nodding firmly.
"Understood."
"I'll make sure the message gets through."
"I'll leave it to you, then."
Haimer smiled and gave a small wave, then turned, pushed open the tavern's heavy double wooden doors, and strode straight out into the noisy night beyond.
Only once Haimer's figure had completely vanished around the corner of the street.
Did Ryu turn, set the rag down on the bar counter, and quickly head off toward the back kitchen — obviously planning to ask Mama Mia for time off so she could get to her vigil in the plaza in front of Babel Tower as soon as possible.
...
And so.
Orario's night.
Magic-Stone lamps cast their glow along both sides of the streets.
The air was thick with the aroma of food, mingled with the distinctive blend of blood and dirt that clung to adventurers fresh out of the Dungeon.
Haimer walked alone down the broad flagstone road.
Almost on pure instinct.
Every single person around him parted like a tide being pushed back by some invisible force.
Adventurers. Stall-keepers. Passersby.
Every one of them, with the silent coordination of long practice, drew back to the sides of the street.
Leaving him an open corridor.
Haimer didn't pay the reactions around him any mind.
He hadn't, of course, forgotten the promise he'd made to Loki that morning.
But before he could borrow the high-grade forge of [Hephaestus Familia] to work the prime materials harvested from Floor 50 and below of the Dungeon —
There was one problem.
And that was: top-tier materials of that caliber had absurdly strict demands when it came to the forge fire's temperature, and an ordinary mortal flame simply couldn't sustain the heat required to anneal them to perfection.
Even Orario's most elite craftsmen — including the Lv.3 and Lv.4 senior smiths within Hephaestus Familia itself — were incapable of maintaining the precise, unwavering high temperature needed to melt deep-floor ore for any prolonged stretch of time.
Hire high-level adventurers to work the bellows?
Their bodies were certainly powerful enough, and their stamina far exceeded that of normal folk — but when it came to fine, delicate control over the flame, that was a different story entirely. They fell well short of what Haimer required.
Therefore.
The only candidates suitable to be his assistant in this work.
Were the gods.
Those beings who, even though they'd had their Divine Power sealed away upon descending to the Lower World, still retained the divine essence within their souls — and whose perception of the elements remained razor-sharp.
For instance — that red-haired goddess.
——Loki.
Up in the Heavens, she was, no exaggeration, a god of fire.
And he had, by his own merciful hand earlier today, granted her permission to go home and rest the entire day away.
Which meant that now — was the precise moment for her to start paying the bill for that nice, peaceful daytime nap.
With that thought, Haimer turned his steps in a specific direction.
West Street, Northern Quarter.
[Twilight Manor].
This vast, grandly-appointed mansion — fully outfitted with every conceivable amenity — looked, under the cover of night, like nothing so much as an unassailable fortress.
Roaring fire braziers flanked the front gates, the orange-red flames bathing the plaza out front — engraved with the clown-mask family crest — in a brightness like the noonday sun.
Haimer walked up to the gates.
The two Loki Familia guards on watch caught sight of the arrival, and their pupils contracted sharply. Their previously lax stances snapped tight in an instant, palms breaking out into faint sweat as they swallowed hard.
"No need to be tense."
Haimer stopped and spoke calmly.
"I met with your chief deity earlier today."
"Mind if I head inside?"
Hearing this, both guards naturally knew that their chief deity's relationship with this individual ran deep indeed.
"If it's Haimer-sama... please, go right in."
One of the guards hastily sidestepped and pushed open the heavy iron gate on one side.
The interior courtyard was utterly silent.
The officers of the First Army had wrapped up their day's expedition rest by now — most of them had returned to their respective rooms to sleep, with only a few windows still leaking faint light.
But in the main hall — there, the lights were ablaze.
Beside a massive redwood long-table.
Loki was sprawled, with zero regard for personal dignity, across a wide chair draped in a velvet cushion.
She had on a simple blue short-sleeved shirt, the hem tucked carelessly into a pair of blue shorts that were quite literally the same shade as her top.
Her two legs were crossed and propped up on the tabletop. She hadn't even bothered to kick off her boots.
In her hand she hoisted an oak drinking mug nearly the size of half her own head — neck tipped back, she was "glug-glug-glug"-ing the last drops of amber ale straight down her throat.
"Hahhh——!"
"It's been forever since I last got my hands on Soma's divine wine. So damn refreshing~"
"Kihihihi!"
Loki let out a loud, satisfied burp, then casually slammed the empty mug down on the table, the base making a muffled thud against the wood.
Across the table from her.
Finn sat ramrod-straight at a long desk.
He wore a yellow vest, and spread out in front of him was a massive sheet of parchment — a map of the Great Tree Labyrinth annotated in red and blue ink with all manner of routes and monster respawn points.
Even though that face of his looked no more than ten years old, every bit as juvenile as a child's.
The pair of blue eyes within it carried a sharpness utterly out of keeping with that exterior.
Riveria, meanwhile, was standing in front of an enormous floor-to-ceiling window off to the side.
She was wrapped in a long white house robe, that head of long emerald-green hair draped casually over her shoulders, an ancient, weighty grimoire cradled in her hands.
The occasional sound of pages being turned.
Not far away, on a sofa, Gareth was working his way through a tankard of ale.
"I'm telling you, Finn..."
Loki ran her tongue across the lingering foam at the corner of her mouth and let her gaze drift lazily across the map opposite her, rolling her eyes.
"That Haimer guy — this morning, of all things, he actually broke pattern and showed concern for me, told me to go back home and rest up properly."
"Hehe, what do you say — that bastard's been down in the Lower World long enough now that he's finally come around, and learned to look out for this old friend of his?"
Loki lifted her hand, scratching at her own chin, a faintly smug grin spreading across her face.
Hearing this, Finn just gave a helpless little smile and made no reply.
Riveria lifted her head from the grimoire, looked over at Loki, her tone calm but laced with a thread of suspicion.
"Are you sure he was being concerned for you — and not just plotting some new scheme?"
Riveria's words landed on Loki's head like a bucket of cold water.
The grin on Loki's face froze for a beat.
Then she abruptly sat bolt upright, both legs swinging down off the table.
"How could that be~?"
"Besides, it's not like you didn't see, with your own eyes, what Ais's Sword of Despair looked like after it evolved!"
At the mention of the Sword of Despair, the attention of the others in the room was likewise drawn over.
"Indeed."
Gareth set down his ale tankard and wiped his beard.
"That test the other day."
"Riveria saw it with her own eyes too — after Ais used that sword to kill a monster, the blade actively absorbed the Magic Stone fragments from the corpse and self-repaired."
"A semi-living weapon that can self-mend and even evolve — old as I am, even I've never laid eyes on the like."
"If only my weapon could have a property like that..."
Gareth swallowed, thinking of the heavy battle-axe that had been his faithful companion for years.
Finn, too, set down the quill in his hand, fingers interlaced beneath his chin.
"That Haimer-sama's smithing craft, without question, has already gone far beyond the comprehension of every other smith in the Lower World."
"Even if [Hephaestus Familia]'s own chief deity stepped up personally, I doubt she could produce a weapon with that kind of living property."
Finn turned to look at Loki.
"Loki, this morning — you did bring up the matter of upgrading our weapons with Haimer-sama, didn't you?"
Pinned by Finn's question, Loki immediately curled her lip.
"Brought it up, of course I brought it up."
"For old time's sake between him and me, Haimer did agree he'd head over to Hephaestus's place tonight."
Loki had barely finished speaking.
Knock, knock.
Two crisp raps at the door.
Every single one of them turned to look.
And there.
Haimer pushed open the door and strode into the main hall.
The air in the hall seemed to congeal in that very instant.
Finn's reflexes were the quickest. The moment he saw Haimer, a perfectly polished, beyond-reproachable smile of respect surfaced on his face, and he stood up.
"Ah, it's Haimer-sama."
"Visiting Twilight Manor so late at night — to what do we owe the honor?"
Haimer didn't immediately respond to Finn's words.
His gaze went straight past the Big Three and landed on Loki, who was still seated behind the long table — drinking-cup-holding posture intact.
Loki saw Haimer appear.
First, she stared blank for a full three seconds.
Then.
"Haimer?!"
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Didn't you say you were going to Hephaestus's place tonight to smith?"
"Don't tell me..."
Loki's eyeballs rolled, and in her head this morning's Haimer-being-concerned-for-her resurfaced, and a wicked little thought flickered through her mind.
Her mouth instantly curved up into an absurdly exaggerated arc, even baring two sharp little fangs.
Hands planted on her hips, she tilted her head up with maximum arrogance.
"Wu~!"
"I knew it!"
"You bastard — letting me go rest up properly during the day, suddenly showing me concern!"
"Coming over to check up on me at this hour of the night — what, you figure smithing alone is just too lonely, and want me to come along and keep you company?"
As she spoke, Loki swaggered out from behind the long table in a stride that brooked no opposition, marching with full-on bravado straight up to Haimer.
She extended her right hand, going for an utterly familiar pat on Haimer's shoulder.
"Admit it, Haimer — you bastard, you finally can't live without me, can you!"
Haimer just looked at the smugly-grinning Loki.
Made no move to dodge.
Let Loki's hand land on his shoulder, and gave a helpless little smile.
"Yeah."
"Working the forge alone really is a bit too lonely."
Hearing this.
The grin on Loki's face turned even more rampant.
She even shot a provocative side-glance over at Riveria, standing nearby.
The look in her eye was practically saying: See? I told you the bastard cares about me!
Would Haimer fold over to Loki this easily?
Absolutely not a chance.
And so.
Under Riveria's furrowed brows and emerald-green eyes brimming with skepticism.
Haimer, having smiled, continued.
"After all, processing the rest of those deep-floor materials is extraordinarily demanding on the forge fire's temperature."
"Hephaestus is going to be assisting me on the smithing side."
"And an ordinary person simply can't control that kind of heat."
"So when I told you to go rest properly during the day —"
"Wasn't that precisely so you'd have the stamina at night to come over to the forge and serve as the bellows-pulling labor?"
The instant those words came out.
That absurdly arrogant grin on Loki's face — it was like someone had hit the pause button — froze utterly in place.
Her mouth hung open. A weird strangled "hck-hck" sound came from her throat.
The hand extended out onto Haimer's shoulder was still there — trembling faintly as it slowly drew back.
"Y... you say what?"
"Labor?!"
"Pul... pulling bellows?!"
What concern!
What bond between old friends!
Loki finally got it.
This bastard's plan, from the very beginning, had been to keep using her as a piece of free labor with apparently inexhaustible stamina!!
"What the — no way!! I'm not going!!!"
Reality crashing down on her in an instant, Loki let out a soul-shredding wail and frantically yanked her hand back, retreating backward step by step!
"What kind of joke is this?!"
"I'm a delicate, dainty goddess, you know!"
"Even for you — making me play laborer for a whole night in a forge that hot and that filthy!"
"You could beat me to death and I wouldn't go!!"
"Finn! Riveria! Gareth! Help!"
"Hurry up and throw this lunatic out!"
____
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