Early in the morning, a group had already gathered in front of Daedalus Central Square. Most of them were from Loki Familia and Hephaestus Familia.
This expedition was initiated by Loki Familia, while Hephaestus Familia sent along a large number of craftsn to handle weapon repairs and forging. Naturally, the main participants this ti were mbers from these two Familias.
Of course, there was one more Familia, unntioned, with only a single mber—Hestia Familia.
Because Hestia Familia only had one mber, few even realized it was also participating in this expedition led by Loki Familia.
To see their children off, Loki, Hephaestus, and Hestia had all shown up today.
There were even a few people present who normally wouldn’t be.
For instance, Dionysus, dressed in elegant attire, accompanied by a black-haired elf girl.
And Hers, wearing his familiar feathered cap, followed by the Hers Familia captain, "Perseus" Asfi.
"Dionysus, didn’t think I’d see you here too."
As an old acquaintance, Hers imdiately strolled over when he spotted him, slinging an arm around Dionysus’s shoulder like they were the best of friends.
Dionysus glanced at the hand on his shoulder with a blank expression, restraining the urge to slap it off. Why did this shaless guy always manage to irritate him so much?
"Hers, stop greeting like this."
"Oh? You an you’re not happy to see ?"
"Do I look happy to you? I ca to accompany my child to see off her friend, and then I run into you."
Dionysus didn’t bother to sugarcoat anything when talking to Hers—he might as well have had the word ’annoyed’ written across his face.
But Hers just brushed it off with his usual grinning shalessness.
"Don’t be like that. We’re both Familia Gods here to send off our children—how often does that happen?"
Dionysus still looked annoyed, but he was curious about Hers showing up today.
"Your kid has a friend going on this expedition too?"
"Not exactly. More like... partners."
There was a hint of sentintality in Hers’s tone as he glanced at Asfi beside him, a trace of regret showing on his face.
"My child’s a bit older than yours, and because of that, she doesn’t have many friends her age."
"...Isn’t that your fault? Don’t you ever think about why your kid ended up with so few friends?"
In Dionysus’s view, this was clearly Hers’s doing. The guy was always unreliable—that was the real issue.
Even Dionysus, an outsider, knew just how much Asfi had to deal with on a daily basis.
Hers, of course, just laughed it off as usual.
"That’s a Familia God’s way of training their children. If it weren’t for , my Asfi wouldn’t have grown this quickly."
Dionysus nearly rolled his eyes at that shaless remark. This guy really knew how to glorify himself.
At that mont, Dionysus also noticed Hestia standing among the crowd.
"Hestia? Her child is part of this expedition too?"
Dionysus was fairly familiar with Hestia—they had interacted quite a bit in the past. At the very least, he believed she was different from many other gods, soone worth befriending.
"Ah, her kid’s mostly just tagging along."
"The one who collaborated with Hephaestus before—that was her child. Looks like Loki Familia’s expedition is more of a learning experience for them."
"Oh, so those Rune Stones that caused such a stir were made by Hestia’s child?"
"You didn’t know?"
Hers widened his eyes in mock surprise.
Dionysus gave him a blank look. Why did Hers always act like he was supposed to know everything?
"I knew about her working with Hephaestus, and even her involvent with Loki. But I’ve barely heard anything about Hestia having a child."
Dionysus had long been curious about what kind of person Hestia’s child was, but that kid had barely ever appeared in public...
While he could look up the basic info, that kind of snooping just felt unpleasant to him. It wasn’t sothing he did unless absolutely necessary.
"I always thought, with Hestia’s personality, she would’ve been eager to show her child off. But she’s kept them hidden all this ti—even after doing so much."
"Well, if it were the old Hestia, yeah, she’d probably have bragged about it during one of her argunts with Loki. But it seems her child doesn’t like being in the spotlight, so she held back."
Hers’s explanation genuinely surprised Dionysus.
"Huh... even Hestia’s changed?"
"Yep, even Hestia—once called the ’virgin goddess’ in Tenkai—has changed."
That label made Dionysus frown slightly.
"That title... wasn’t it sothing Apollo ca up with just to mock certain goddesses? It’s not exactly appropriate to throw it around like that."
"I didn’t think you’d say that. Honestly, I expected you to say sothing like, ’So even Hestia’s blood, huh.’"
"...Can you not lump in with Apollo?"
He respected won, thank you very much. Especially Hestia. He’d never liked making her the butt of any joke.
Back in Tenkai, she had helped him more tis than he could count, and Dionysus truly believed she was one of the kindest, most approachable goddesses he’d ever t.
When it ca to goddesses he respected, Dionysus didn’t ss around with lowbrow humor.
"And next ti, don’t assu my thoughts line up with Apollo’s. I’ve got more self-respect than that."
’You’re the one who speaks most bluntly out of all of us,’ Hers grumbled silently, though it was clear Dionysus genuinely held Hestia in high regard.
He just didn’t know what Hestia had done to earn that respect.
...
(100 Chapters Ahead)
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