Chapter 12: Mirai no Mura
Chapter Twelve: Mirai no Mura
The walk through the hidden passage allowed Bell enough time to relay an abbreviated version of their story with the Xenos, leaving the veteran adventures mind-boggled at the revelation. Alfia and Horus had long discussed intelligent monsters- mostly in regard to the Black Dragon- but thought they were a particularly malicious anomaly. To hear what Bell described as essentially benevolent monsters was very peculiar, to say the least. They could tell he wasn't lying, but felt apprehensive about the whole thing regardless, especially when he described a black Minotaur Xenos that could battle on par with Orario's top adventurers.
"Well, glad most of 'em sound friendly enough" Aedan joked, mostly to reassure the others, knowing that his reaction would be important to them. Alfia kept her silence as they moved on; however, both were internally disturbed by the tale, and concerned. Alfia wanted to have confidence in her nephew, but the description of the Xenos hit too close for her. For Horus, he was unsettled, but knew he would have the chance to see things for himself in the future, so he put the issue from his mind. After some time, they came out into a much more expansive space than the pantry they had discovered before. It had numerous levels of wide ledges, alcoves, and offshoots to other possible rooms or passages; all of the space was lit by clusters of the green-glowing crystal.
"Mikoto, come with me, everyone else, stay put; we'll be right back. If we don't come or call in three minutes, there's trouble" Bell said, stepping forward. Mikoto followed with a nod and they ventured into the area, exploring a few of the other connected ones before coming back before time ran out.
"It's empty. I don't think they have ever come to this place, either; it looks completely unused, not just vacant. Don't worry about mapping this space, Lili; as long as you mark the entrance for a private version of the map, we will turn in one showing the pantry to the Guild"
"Yes, master Bell. So should we go back?"
"Yeah, if there are no Xenos here, it could take ages to explore this whole place, and I'm sure it has passages that connect to various parts of nearby floors. We'll go back to finish the 10th floor and then go home for the day"
'Strange' Horus wondered, 'it seems like this area is like a safe zone where no monsters spawn…'
Hestia- despite having her debt effectively paid off by her new child Aedan- still continued to work at the Jagamarukun stand and Hephaistos' shop. She took seriously his offer to have her pay him without the interest instead of Hephaistos, so she would continue both jobs for a while. The Jagamarukun job would go at least until she paid her debt back to the owner, since she had destroyed a good deal of their things when she first started. The whole time she had been working with reduced pay to handle that debt. However, now she actually got paid for her work at her friend's shop, which she could put up to pay back her child.
As she left work for the evening, she thought about when she had converted him and updated his status. It had been shocking with Alfia, but nothing too strange for a Goddess like herself that loved to read; she had encountered stories of tragedy similar to hers before, though she hoped to give the girl some rest as a member of her Familia. With Aedan though, things were quite confusing. His long life meant a massive log for his excellia, but he had also filled that time with many events… most of them were heartbreaking. Not always in a tragic way, though there were flashes of that, but instead in the quiet desperation he seemed to carry most of his life. After losing his first God, he went about with little purpose until Zeus pulled him in, but his feelings were conflicted for a long time with his Familia.
Just when he felt almost at home with Zeus and Hera, they took the Grand Quests, and were eventually cast out of Orario, and he floundered again, living in the Dungeon. After his conversion, she wanted nothing more than to squeeze him in a big hug! She didn't though, she wasn't sure if he would accept that, be comfortable with it, or if it would even help. She hoped Bell would be able to do something, though; he always seemed to pull through in these sorts of things. She also didn't have to worry about Aedan falling for Bell if he did help him, which was a big plus, for her.
As she made her way home, she overheard some rather… distressing sounds coming from the park near Babel where the shop she worked at was.
"Whu-what are we gonna do now? Lady Nyarla… she's gone! I mean, she went back to heaven, but…" her curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly approached the sounds to find a group of young girls in a small huddle.
'Back to heaven? Did one of the gods here get sent back…'
As she got closer, she could see that it was a group of… probably adventurers, some much more emotional than others, but all obviously and terribly sad.
"Excuse me, um… are you girls gonna be alright? What's wrong?" they turned to finally take notice of her and a few realized she was a goddess before tearing up a bit more, "Ah-I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself! I'm Hestia, the Goddess of hearth and home; can I help you guys?" she could tell that all of the girls were very young, only a few could be considered adults; of course, her first child was still 14. He was almost 15 now, though!
"Lady Hestia, it is nice to meet you" one of the girls dressed in plates of armor with blue coloring curtsied to her, "My name is Oriana Drake, but um… we- we're in a bit of a rough spot, at the moment" she trailed off, unsure or unwilling to share what was going on. Perhaps it was sensitive, or somehow personal to them, so Hestia didn't push.
"Would you all like to come to my home for dinner?"
"Huh?"
Most of them looked as if they couldn't believe what she had asked, so she smiled, "Come have dinner with us; be our guests. My Familia should be returning before too long; let's see if we can beat them back home!" with all the energy of a child despite her long day of work, Hestia cajoled the depressed group along the road, slowly ushering them to her home. When they arrive at the gates of Hearthfire Manor, most of the girls- she noticed the whole group was young ladies- were pretty shocked; a few were able to stick to their manners, though.
She brought them inside and settled the group of ten in the den to get comfortable. As she went to go get some food and drink ready before her own Familia came back for dinner, three of them insisted on giving her a hand. As they worked, the three introduced themselves: A cow person- or properly speaking an aurochthrope- named Iris Bennett was the eldest of the three, followed by Lucia Ramirez, a human with long, braided, brown hair. The last was a cat person named Love Silva, and Hestia quickly deduced she was a bit of a ditz, but still instantly endearing. The girls were polite, and attempted to be uplifting despite their circumstances.
When the rejoined the others, the rest of the introductions were had. She already knew Oriana, a human with auburn hair pulled back in a high ponytail. The youngest came first, an elf with blonde hair styled into disheveled twin-tails declared herself Primo Libera, along with an Amazon named Gina Gwen. Gita Meyers was a dog person, and very much gave Hestia vibes that reminded her of Lili. Karen Morris was another human, and of the bunch seemed to be trying her hardest to keep a cool face, but Hestia could see it was mostly a façade, and she was affected heavily by their loss. Leo Diaz was a human with an almost masculine build, very similar to Bell's; her face was certainly feminine, though. For whatever reason, she reminded Hestia of the Wallenwhatsit girl. The last one to introduce herself was Emma Flores.
"I am- or… I guess I was the captain of our Familia…" she was clearly the most distressed of the bunch, and Hestia immediately determined she was probably their Goddesses' first child. Her eyes- like most of them- showed she had been crying, and she also had more wounds than the others; whatever had happened, she had been right in the middle of it.
"Emma, Leo, Karen, Gita, Primo, Gina, Love, Lucia, Iris, Oriana… it will be some time before my children return, I think; would you like to talk to me about what happened? You don't have to; either way, you're welcome to stay here if you need to" the girls seemed to be over their shock, and out of tears for the moment. Still, they didn't look keen on talking about whatever had happened.
"Well… we're not really sure of the details; for now, the Guild is handling things, but…" Oriana started.
"When we came back today from the Dungeon, a group attacked where our Familia was staying. We don't know who or why, but they were adventurers- or at least people with falna… they were strong, too. We fought them, but only stopped and caught one. We weren't able to stop them from~" Emma tried to explain, but her breath caught and she bowed her head. Iris and Primo hugged her from each side as Oriana finished.
"They attacked Lady Nyarlathotep, and forced her to return to heaven. After we realized what happened, we went to question the cat person we were able to capture, but we found her dead… we didn't injure her severely, but she had passed. We took her to the Guild with our report on what happened, and… well, you found us in the park after"
Hestia- despite putting on a warm and comforting look- was stricken by the news; not only that a fellow goddess had been attacked by some group, but it was one she had known! She didn't have many friends before descending; she was something of a recluse in Heaven. So the few she did know- and the few friends she had- were precious to her. Nyarlathotep was one of those friends; she didn't know that goddess had come down from heaven, but it seems like she had an unfairly short time in the Lower World.
"Goddess! We're home" just then, the voice of her own first child called out from the entrance to the manor, causing her to brighten despite the atmosphere.
"I'm not sure what I or my Familia can do, but why don't you stay here with us for a while? We'll help you and the Guild figure things out, and get to the bottom of why this happened" she stated with a gentle smile before her children came to the room, surprise clear on their faces as they saw the large group waiting for them.
"Goddess~ oh, um… hello there!" Bell smiled, realizing they had guests; Lili kept her peace, but almost face-palmed at his trust. What if they had been burglars!?
Of course, Hestia explained the situation and introductions were shared all around as the full house were acquainted with each other. As the situation came to light, Hestia Familia were mostly horrified at the news, and Horus held a severe frown for the first time since they'd met.
"I may be wrong, but I doubt it; this has Sekhmet Familia written all over it. The question is why target your Goddess?" his words claimed silence and the full attention of the room as he thought, unable to rationalize why Sekhmet would target such a new Goddess and unestablished familia, "Still, most mortals normally wouldn't dare attack a deity so brazenly, and for an assassination? That would already be enough, but then the one you captured killed herself most likely; that's them to a 'T'"
"Mr. Aedan, who are Sekhmet Familia?" Bell- and most of the people in the room- had never heard of the group.
"I would be surprised if you knew about them, captain. Sekhmet is known as the 'Shadow of the Continent' as she runs her Familia like an underground syndicate; they do any job that pays, even assassinations, trafficking contraband, and slave-trading. She raises her children from infancy with intricate brainwashing to ensure their utter loyalty, if nothing else. The members are a cult that believe their work to be genuinely good, and if they might jeopardize their Familia, their lives are voluntarily forfeit" his explanation floored the group, minus Alfia, who was somewhat aware of such things in the world. The others were astonished that a familia like that could exist; even Haruhime- who had been a part of Ishtar's fold for some time- was speechless at the sheer difference in even Ishtar and Sekhmet, "I have no idea why your Goddess was targeted; it is likely that it wasn't anything Sekhmet personally wanted, but was a job she was paid to have carried out. That still leaves the matter of the responsible party, though"
"… Do- do you think they will figure it out?" Emma asked, clenching her hands together with a deadly serious expression.
"I don't want to admit it, but I don't think it will happen" he winced at the heartbroken expressions his words caused, "Sekhmet has been a problem for many for ages, but for others she has been extremely useful. It's unlikely the Guild could go through her to find out who requested the attack, which leaves a more cumbersome investigation; it is possible, though, I just think it's unlikely"
"Is there anything you think we could do to help, Mr. Aedan?" Bell spoke up, making the man look at him in slight surprise.
"We can ask Ouranos to be kept in the loop on the investigation, I suppose; it seems that he would probably task Hermes with something like this, unless he wants the Guild to handle it directly. In either case, we can make an appeal; otherwise, we could investigate the situation for ourselves"
"I want to know why this happened, and who is responsible" Emma stated firmly, and was backed up by her allies, "Lady Nyarla was incredibly kind, and none of this should have happened"
Bell looked directly at her as he responded, "Then we will help you as much as we can; I know if something like this had happened to our Familia, I would want to do the same" the girls seemed taken aback by the force and sincerity behind his words, but his own familia was either approving or fondly exasperated at him. Horus had a sharp twinkle in his eyes as he spoke up.
"Well, the first thing you will want to do is probably gain a blessing from another God or Goddess; I know things are still raw, but with your Goddess returned to heaven, your falna will be locked. If your work leads somewhere dangerous- as it may well do- you will be at a disadvantage otherwise" the girls seemed conflicted for only a moment before Emma nodded.
"You're right! We have to get stronger before we can figure out what happened, and so that something like this doesn't happen again; I don't think Lady Nyarla would be very happy with us if we did something thoughtless and ended up coming to her a lot sooner than we should" it seemed that the others rallied around their captain, making it easy to see how she got that in that position.
"In that case, why don't I give you girls my blessing?" Hestia asked with a broad smile, taking the attention onto herself.
"Are you sure, Goddess Hestia?" Iris asked, "I mean, having us guests is one thing, but to offer us to join your Familia…" as she trailed off, Bell could see the unspoken words in the expressions of some of the girls. It reminded him of when he had struggled to join a familia before Lady Hestia found him. Usually- in his experience- it wasn't so simple to join a familia. Many of them must have face a lot of trouble and rejection before joining a hatchling familia like he did.
"Of course I'm sure! I don't need an interview process after talking with you girls; I can already tell you're all good children, so I'm offering to have you here with us. If you don't want to, that's okay; you can stay as long as you need to until you decide how to move forward from here" they took a moment to look around at each other, some whispering quietly for a moment before Emma smiled back at her.
"That's alright, Goddess Hestia; if you'll have us, we would be honored to join your Familia"
"Yippee, you girls make me happy to hear that!" Hestia cheered, raising everyone's spirits, "But! I do have one rule before you can officially join" she waited a moment to make sure she had their attention, but her own children already suspected what she would say, "Bell is off-limits!" she exclaimed, pointing at the boy in question. Not sure what to do, he laughed and scratched his cheek as their eyes all focused on him. Lili nodded emphatically with Hestia's words, while Haruhime seemed in agreement, too. Mikoto simply rubbed the bridge of her nose with a sigh; Welf rolling his eyes beside Aedan, who did the same with a shrug, while Alfia crossed her arms with an inscrutable expression.
"Off-limits…" Emma trailed off, sounding uncertain, "Well, we understand!" she nodded, along with tentative agreement from her friends. Hestia could tell they hadn't totally understood her truly, but would take the answer. Later, she might regret not getting her message properly across, and demanding not only their understanding, but their agreement to her terms properly.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone