Elsewhere, the moonlight illuminated a different corner of the city.
"Yo, Ishtar. I'm here."
"I assume you brought the goods? Hermes."
At the very moment Akumo and Bell were fleeing from the pursuit of the prostitutes, a meeting was taking place between two deities at the peak of the Goddess's Torch, the headquarters of the Ishtar Familia.
"Naturally. Once I've accepted a contract, I tend to see the job through with precision."
Thud—
The trickster Hermes spoke nonchalantly to Ishtar as he placed a specific box onto the table.
"You know the drill. Do not leak a single word about this."
"I'm well aware. I have no intention of betraying your trust."
Slide—
"However, what exactly do you plan to do with this?"
At Hermes' inquiry, Ishtar's eyes immediately flared with wariness. She began to press him.
"Did you look at the contents?"
"I just caught a glimpse by accident~"
"...Hmph. I'll show you something interesting soon enough."
"Something interesting?"
Step, step—
Unbothered by Hermes' casual demeanor, Ishtar smiled and walked toward the window, gazing out at something in the distance.
It was Babel—the tower that symbolized Orario, standing firm and tall.
"I want to see that woman who plays at being king crawling on the ground like a common insect."
"Heh~?"
'I wonder if that's even possible...'
"Goddesses truly are terrifying things."
Ishtar did not hide her jealousy and hatred for the goddess who resided at the pinnacle of Babel. Her intensity was such that even Hermes found her difficult to handle. She was clearly on the verge of summoning a catastrophe of her own making.
"Hermes, do you have the information I want? News about that bitch?"
"If I had it, I would have sold it to you long ago~"
'Even if I told you, you couldn't handle the—'
Fwip!
"Eh?"
Hermes had intended to withhold information to prevent her from causing a major disaster, but he felt a sudden chill down his spine as she abruptly discarded her robes and approached him.
"W-Wait a moment!"
"Be grateful. This is a special service from a Goddess."
"Uugh... hic..."
A short while later, only Hermes remained on the bed, shirtless and weeping. In contrast, Ishtar sat on the sofa, bathed in the pleasant moonlight, smoking a long pipe with an air of satisfaction.
"Bell Cranel, is it? To think she's so infatuated with such a brat."
"I truly can't fathom that woman's mind."
"Fine then..."
"I'll just have to steal that brat away from her."
Ishtar exhaled a plume of smoke, waiting for the night of the new moon that was soon to arrive.
Rumble—!!!!
"Oh? Do those children know the time is coming as well?"
'Abandoning our sponsor is a bit regrettable...'
"But there's no choice if we want to bring this thing to life, is there?"
Meanwhile, in Knossos, Thanatos smiled at the reaction of the Demi-Spirits. He gazed at the jewel embedded in the center of the mural with eyes full of anticipation.
Step, step—
"...."
'Fear...? No, it's something much deeper...'
"Obedience..."
'To think spirits, even half-breeds, would react like this...'
Ein, who was managing the Demi-Spirits, felt increasingly filled with doubt about the entity they were trying to summon, yet she could not stop.
'I cannot become the light...'
"I am merely a monster that struggles to even approach the light."
'For me, only that person...'
"..."
Whether those words were sincere or not, Ein did not notice that she had recently become unable to truly answer her own heart. She simply continued to walk into the darkness.
Creaaak—!
"What did you call me for, Lord Hermes?"
"Akumo-kun! Please help me... ask Mia to send a message to Lady Freya for me!"
"What? Why all of a sudden..."
The next morning, having been urgently summoned by Hermes through Asfi, Akumo opened the door to the Hostess of Fertility where the god was waiting.
"Akumo! Don't listen to that idiot. Just ignore him!"
"Mia! Please, I'm begging you...!!"
"Just what is making you so desperate?"
"This is a matter of life and death...! At this rate, Bell-kun is going to be in grave danger in more ways than one!"
Hermes frantically explained the situation to Mia and Akumo, trying to clean up the mess he made by mentioning Bell's name to Ishtar the night before. Akumo and Mia, still in the dark, first had to listen to the full story.
"Akumo-kun...!! Ishtar has taken an interest in Bell-kun...!!"
"Ah, don't tell me..."
'He went there to find information and ended up getting stripped bare instead...?'
"With that look in her eyes you must have seen in the Entertainment District—"
Chill!
""....!!""
'This bloodlust... it's familiar...!'
A piercing, icy bloodlust stabbed into the backs of the conversing Hermes and Akumo. It was a sensation Akumo had felt many times before.
It was the unmistakable murderous intent he had sensed at least once from every woman around him—from Alfia and Riveria to the rest.
Slide—
"The Entertainment District? Just what does that mean, Akumo-san? Lord Hermes?"
"...Wait, just let me explain, Syr!"
"I-It was unavoidable! Syr-chan!"
"Why would Lady Ishtar even know about Bell-san in the first place? I'd really like. to. know. wouldn't I?"
Syr had approached them without a sound. Though she wore a smile, the aura of coldness surrounding her was oppressive. Even Akumo found himself instinctively taking a step back in a cold sweat.
Grab—!
"Where exactly did you go?"
"R-Ryu...!"
"Where exactly did you go?"
"It was for an investigation! You know the matter I mentioned last time—"
"So, you went there?"
"..."
Ultimately, the two men were forced onto their knees by the chillingly smiling women and had to recount every detail of the situation.
"We only investigated! Truly, it was only an investigation!"
"...It doesn't seem like a lie."
"Is that so, Syr?"
"Given the situation with Knossos, we had to investigate with extreme sensitivity... both Hermes and I..."
Hearing Akumo's explanation, Syr and Ryu accepted the reasoning to some degree. However, they realized that Bell getting entangled with the Ishtar Familia—who was already a person of interest as a suspect after the events in Melen—was a major problem.
"So Cranel-san has been caught in the middle of a Familia suspected of being the primary funder of Knossos."
"Exactly. It wouldn't be strange for a War Game to break out right now. And the item Lord Hermes delivered is weighing on my mind as well."
"What if we intervene proactively?"
"No. The clientele of the Entertainment District is larger than you think—adventurers, of course, but even civilians."
"...."
"It would look as if those of you who represent 'Justice' moved without a proper justification."
'And if the justification of the Level Boost sorcery gets out, other Familias will join the fray and start a city-wide war...'
Akumo and Ryu sat in silence, pondering how to neutralize the threat of the Ishtar Familia.
Eventually, Hermes decided to reveal information about a specific item.
"Akumo-kun...."
"Yes?"
"I procured an item called the Killing Stone (Sessho-seki)."
"....!!"
"Yes. What you're thinking is likely correct... I only managed to deduce it after hearing your stories, Akumo-kun."
Akumo's expression hardened. Everything—the look of resignation on Haruhime's face and why she had spoken those words—now made perfect sense in his mind.
"You met Haruhime-san!?"
"Yes.... but I was rejected. She said she didn't know who I was..."
Mikoto relayed the story of how she had gone to find Haruhime after hearing Bell's information, only to be turned away.
Bell was taken aback, wondering why she would reject her friend.
"....Mikoto-san, could you tell me what kind of person Haruhime-san was back in the Far East?"
At Bell's question, Mikoto's eyes grew misty as she began to speak of her past with Haruhime.
"The reason I was able to receive a Falna from Lord Takemikazuchi was thanks to Haruhime-dono."
"Chigusa-dono, Ouka-dono, myself, and many others were children taken in by the shrine where Lord Takemikazuchi and the other gods resided."
"We were incredibly poor, but it was a warm and wonderful shrine."
"Haruhime-dono was born of noble blood. She heard rumors of the shrine and used to provide us with food and supplies."
A faint smile returned to Mikoto's face as she recounted those memories.
She spoke of how Haruhime, isolated by her status and having no friends, was often visited by Mikoto and the others after they received Falna. They would sneak into her estate at night to take her out to play.
At that time, Haruhime had called Mikoto and her group 'heroes,' a memory that Mikoto still cherished deeply.
"Afterward, we came to Orario to earn money to send back to the shrine, but..."
"In the meantime, I heard that Haruhime-dono was sold into human trafficking by a treacherous individual."
"If the person who was my savior is suffering, I want to save her!"
Tears welled in Mikoto's eyes, a mixture of grief and frustration over her current helplessness.
Flutter—
"Oh? Lord Hermes?"
Flinch—!
"H-Haha~ Bell-kun, Mikoto-chan~"
"What are you doing over there?"
"I was just checking to see if Bell-kun was safe~"
"Safe?"
"Ah, I mean, I wanted to see if you were healthy~ Well, now that I've seen you, I'll be going..."
"Ah, Lord Hermes!"
"Hmm? What is it?"
Bell, realizing that Hermes—who had been eavesdropping—likely possessed significant information, took the god and Mikoto to a nearby shop to talk.
"Hmm~ A normal prostitute would cost around 2 to 3 million Valis?"
"...!!"
"With what we have now, it might be possible!"
"By the way, who are you looking for?"
"A woman named Sanjouno Haruhime!"
"...What?"
'I had a feeling... the girl Akumo-kun mentioned and the one Mikoto-chan wants to save are the same...'
Hermes could only react with bewilderment.
A separate incident, far greater than the spark he had personally lit, was now converging on Bell.
"As a deliveryman, speaking about the cargo twice is taboo, but..."
"Lord Hermes?"
"On the day Bell-kun and I met, I delivered an item to Ishtar."
"An item...?"
"The item's name is the Killing Stone. That's all I can tell you."
Creaak—!
Leaving those words behind, Hermes stood up and left the two of them alone in the shop.
'It's moved beyond a mere incident and closer to an Ordeal now...'
"What kind of adventure will you show me this time, Bell-kun?"
The trickster's eyes held a mixture of apology and confusion for the way things had turned out, yet they also glimmered with curiosity to see how Bell would act—and anticipation to see how Ishtar's end would be decorated.
A day had passed since then.
Crawl—! Grrrr—!
"What did you just say?"
"B-Bell-sama has...!"
"Been kidnapped. Is that what you said?"
"Y-Yes!"
'The pressure coming from Akumo-sama and Lupia-sama...'
Rumble—!!!!
While Akumo was monitoring the Ishtar Familia through cooperation with the Freya Familia, the news that reached him was that Bell had been kidnapped by someone in the Dungeon.
"So this is how they want to play?"
Step, step—
"Akumo-sama!? Where are you going..."
"You all come too. We're going to rescue Bell."
"...!!"
Lilli's eyes widened at the realization that not just Akumo, but even Lupia was moving. As Akumo vanished from her sight, she immediately hurried with her companions to prepare for the rescue operation.
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