Hestia and Artemis came back with very tired expressions. Although all the Deities within Orario gathered for the Denatus, nothing really came out of it as it was just chaotic speculation as to what the red Dragon's identity is. As for actions that they could take, none of that was discussed.
If not for Ouranos speaking out and announcing that the red Dragon was just passing by and was not a threat, the Denatus wouldn't have ended. The only concrete action that was decided is to keep the real strength of the 'monster' from the children of the Lower World so it won't give them anything to fear about.
Of course, there are already some Gods who divulged a few things to their children during the 'visitation', but it was only the extreme minority and could still be managed.
"Haaah... Really, what the heck was up with that Dragon?" asked Hestia after a long sigh.
"I don't know... I don't even understand why Yoruichi would call that Kisuke's ride," replied Artemis with creased brows.
And as they went into the Mansion within the hideout, a face they both missed welcomed them along with some newcomers, "K-Kisuke-kun?" muttered Hestia with a blank face.
"Yo, Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama~ I'm back! Have you been well?"
Quietly shaking for a few seconds, Hestia suddenly jumped on Kisuke, "Kisuke-kun!!! Where have you been!? Why did you leave for so long!?"
While rubbing her face on Kisuke's clothes, Hestia kept asking questions and not giving the latter any chance to reply. Soon it became a lecture and reprimand about how he should properly say his goodbyes if he were to leave for long periods of time.
Meanwhile, the three newcomers were taken aback, not by Hestia's actions but by her extreme stature, "This should be illegal, right?" asked Serafall.
"This has to be illegal," added Irina.
"That's obviously illegal," commented Akeno.
Hearing their words, Hestia finally turned her attention to them, "Who are they?"
"They are my friends from my hometown and that one is my cousin," Kisuke introduced them.
Akeno and Irina felt a bit disappointed with his introduction but didn't dwell on it too much. Yoruichi already told them what they could tell and what they shouldn't. So with that in mind, both of them stood up and introduced themselves, "Nice to meet you, Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama. I'm Akeno Himejima, Kisuke's friend."
"I'm Irina Toujou! Kisuke-kun's childhood friend~! A pleasure~!"
Hestia separated from Kisuke and modeled herself as an imposing figure which she spectacularly failed but no one pointed out, "It's also nice to meet you too, Akeno-kun, Irina-kun."
Raising her hand, Serafall took her turn, "And I'm Serafall~! Sona-chan's older sister!"
"Oh? So you're the older sister that Sona-kun always talks about?" Sona wanted to stop Hestia but it was already too late.
With shining eyes, Serafall turned to Sona and grabbed her again, "So you did miss me~!"
Artemis and Hestia were both surprised at the very energetic older sister which is very different from what they'd heard. More than an older sister, Serafall looked like the little sister.
"Ignore them for now. They'll stop sooner or later,"
"W-wait! Kisuke!? You're abandoning me!? Nee-sama! This is embarrassing! Other people are watching!"
"I don't care! I haven't filled up my Sonanium yet! Not after hearing that you'd been talking about me!"
"Nee-sama! Not now!!!"
"Ehem," feigning a cough, Kisuke gathered everyone's attention, "Moving on, this little one here is Claire, my precious cousin."
Gathering her little courage, Claire stood in front of Hestia, "N-nice to meet you, I'm Claire!"
Hestia immediately understood some of this kid's difficulties so she gently smiled and patted her head, "Nice to meet you too, Claire-kun. You can call me Hestia."
"H-Hestia-neesama?"
"Uhuh, that's fine."
"And this here is Ophis. She's a little bit special so don't mind her behavior too much," Kisuke continued while patting Ophis's head. All this time, Ophis was munching on her cookies while quietly staring at both Hestia and Artemis.
Similarly, Hestia and Artemis took note of Ophis's strangeness, however, they can't point out what exactly it is. Nevertheless, Hestia still displayed a welcoming smile, "Ophis-kun is it? Nice to meet you~"
But instead of returning her introduction, Ophis suddenly muttered, "Your flames... Are warm. I like it," before returning her focus to her cookies.
But instead of appreciating that compliment, Hestia and Artemis both shuddered. Immediately after, however, Kisuke interfered with a wry smile, "I told you, she's a bit special and maybe weird. But she doesn't mean any harm. She's just awfully honest when she speaks up."
"M-more than honest..., her eyes are too good. Way too good," said Artemis with a slightly concerned expression.
In contrast, Hestia's smile returned, and replied, "I see, so you like it! I'm happy to hear that as the owner of that flame!"
Hearing that, Artemis was taken aback before smiling wryly, "So this is what it means to get used to their strangeness, huh? I guess I have to open up a little more."
With a blooming smile, Kisuke decided, "Alright~ Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's go eat out as a celebration~ The newcomers will want to try some local cuisines. Let's set aside the other stuff till after the meal."
Serafall immediately agreed on his proposition and the group went to the Hostess of Fertility while the newcomers enjoyed the new and refreshing scenery, though the streets are relatively empty due to today's events. Although Claire was afraid of her surroundings, while holding Kisuke's hand, she was still able to enjoy the fantasy-esque city of Orario.
Reaching the door of the unusually quiet pub, Kisuke opened it with a bang and yelled, "Mia-san~! We've come!!!"
What greeted him back, however, is a wooden plate flying straight towards his face. After casually deflecting it to the side, the group immediately heard Mia's voice, "You're too noisy! And you lot are still in the mood to eat out after what just happened?"
After entering the establishment, they looked around and saw that there are no other customers, "It's precisely because of what happened earlier that we hoped that we have this place for ourselves tonight~!"
"You sure have some guts to say that in front of my face," Mia then took a peek at the group while cleaning a wine glass and snickered, "You tricked more girls? As expected of the Gigolo Master."
Kisuke pouted at her words and replied, "Come on now, Mia-san, that's spitting on my reputation! I'm an honest shopkeeper and was never a Gigolo."
"Whatever, take a seat wherever you want," She then turned towards the direction of the kitchen, "Ryuu! Anya! Take some orders!"
A Catwoman then came out and asked in disbelief, "There are still customers, nyaa!?" But after she saw who it is, she immediately understood, "Of course it's you, nyaa! You guys don't follow common sense, nyaa!"
However, she immediately received a hand chop on the back of his head from an Elf, "Stop being rude to the customers."
"That hurts, nyaa!" complained Anya as she approached Kisuke's group.
"Ryuu, has Syr returned?" suddenly asked Mia.
Ryuu nodded and answered, "Yes. She's currently dressing up and getting ready to get back to work."
Editors:
28th00: Ah, Ophis seeing Hestia’s Flame is quite unnerving, since it’d be her core of divinity/soul being laid bare, but Ophis saying she likes it? Well! That’s a grandiose compliment in Hestia’s books! Basically take Freya’s Soul Sight and x100 it to get Ophis’ normal mode Eyes. Wonder what she’s gonna say about Syr? Huhuhu~ Claire holding his hand while walking around? DID NOBODY HOLD PHIS-CHAMA’S HAND!? I assume Claire was holding her hand too. She’s a good Dragon, she hasn’t caused untold panic and fear just by existing yet!
Goyya: Ophis can see a lot of things, however, she’s more interested with ‘changes’ and ‘development’. In addition to that, even if she can see something, that doesn’t mean she knew what it meant.
"Huh? Gigolo Master? What's that?" asked Serafall with an amused face.
"You don't know, miss?" asked Anya as she approached their table, "Green Crusader: Gigolo Master, nya~! It was the Alias that was given to him after the Gods figured out that everyone from his Familia were his lovers, nya~!"
But as soon as she said that, she suddenly shuddered but didn't know where it came from. Nevertheless, the ignorant cat continued, "Though it's such a funny Alias compared to the rest, it's strange that nobody is talking about it, nya~!"
The moment Anya mentioned them being lovers, Sona became incredibly nervous due to her sister. However, a response she wasn't expecting came out.
Serafall proceeded to give Kisuke a dirty look, "Heh~? Everyone's lover, huh? Aren't you pretty good?"
"N-nee-sama?"
But Serafall just closed her eyes and said, "Don't worry about it. Everyone from our hometown was already aware of it, including Mom and Dad, that this guy bribed."
Sona's eyes widened for an instant before a large smile appeared on her face. All this time, she was a bit worried that she and Kisuke would clash because of her, but it seems that her worries were misplaced. Sona didn't question Serafall's words about Kisuke bribing her parents because she knew that this was within Kisuke's range of strange actions.
'So she's Sona's older sister...' Thought Anya as she gathered everyone's order. She still wanted to talk, but she could feel Mia's threatening glare from behind which was making her instincts scream.
But as she walked away, she stepped on a puddle of water which made her slip, "Huh?"
Anya didn't know where the puddle of water came from because she's pretty sure she cleaned the floor earlier. But as a high-level Adventurer, she instantly reacted and regained her balance. 'Unfortunately' for her, however, another puddle of water was present where she stepped her other foot and completely lost her balance, "What, nyaa!?"
And too bad for her, a 'conveniently' place chair was in the trajectory of her fall and hit her head on it, breaking it, "Unyaa!!!!!" shouted Anya in pain.
"What are you doing!?" yelled Mia.
Since she's durable enough, she didn't actually take any damage but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt, "M-Mia-san, nyaa... I slipped, nya! I don't know why there's a puddle of water here, nya!"
Hearing this, Mia just sighed, "Whatever. Just take their order to the kitchen and clean up the mess. By the way, you'll be paying for that broken chair. I'll deduct it from your pay."
"N-no way, nyaa..." Anya became deflated as she went towards the kitchen.
On the other hand, Mia took a peek at Kisuke, who was currently playing with the black-haired little girl, 'That magic power, was it just my imagination?'
A few seconds later, Ryuu came out with the utensils and set them on the group's table, "I apologize for Anya's conduct."
But Kisuke just shook his head, "Nah, it's fine. I already knew that she was the type of person that can't keep her words to herself."
Ryuu sighed, "Still, I'd like to apologize and please enjoy your stay," She then went to the kitchen to help out.
It was only a few minutes later that the first set of dishes were done and it was brought out by Ryuu and Syr, "Oh, you're really back, Kisuke-san! Just where did you go? The cola was about to run out so I was a bit worried that I won't have any before you returned!"
"Ah, Syr-san. Long time no see~. I just went home for a bit and just returned now. I'll bring the next supply of cola along with others tomorrow so please wait for it."
"I look forward to it~" She then looked towards the new faces, "So these people are from your hometown too? Nice to meet you, I'm Syr Flova."
"Nice to meet you too, Syr-san. I'm Serafall and we intend to stay here in Orario for some time," After that, Akeno and Irina also introduced themselves while Yoruichi introduced the two kids who were already busy with their meals.
Syr immediately noticed something amiss with Ophis and muttered while watching her gouge her very spicy meal, "What a stoic child."
Although Ophis could read the menu, she just randomly pointed at something and ordered it. And since Kisuke and the rest were curious about how she would react to the spicy food she ordered, they didn't stop her. However, they were disappointed to see no particular reaction.
"She's just a strange kid," replied Kisuke with a gentle smile.
But the moment Syr commented on Ophis, the latter's attention was also put onto her.
Ophis stared at Syr for a few seconds and Syr became unnerved by those jet black eyes. Kisuke was about to ask what's wrong Ophis suddenly spoke up with sauce still on the corner of her mouth, "Twisting your own fate... Why do it if it makes you weaker?"
Although Syr smiled wryly on the surface, her heart jumped a few times. Ever since she took this form, she had never been as surprised as today. Thanks to that, however, she didn't notice Kisuke and Yoruichi's reaction.
Instead of confronting Syr, Kisuke immediately stopped Yoruichi from what she's about to do and signaled her not to do anything. He then, with a big grin, patted Ophis's head and ruffled her head while saying, "Told you~ She's a strange kid. Because she keeps muttering nonsensical stuff, she doesn't have many friends aside from us."
"I-is that so?" replied Syr with a not so obvious fake smile, "Well then, please enjoy your food. I won't be bothering you."
Ryuu noticed that something is wrong with her but didn't voice out any of her concerns in front of Kisuke's group, "Please enjoy your meal," she said and retreated back to the kitchen to prepare the rest of the order.
After sending a telepathic message to Yoruichi that they shouldn't talk any of that right now, the group had an overall pleasant experience and the newcomers enjoyed the 'exotic' ingredients.
Although throughout their stay, they didn't see Syr come out of the kitchen again.
Editors:
28th00: Yeah, Ophis dropping knowledge bombs left and right! For Syr, that was probably the single most terrifying moment in the last decade or so. Since from what I know, this is literally heaven for her, to be treated as a normal person. Automatic charm is fucked up man…
Goyya: Due to this incident, Freya will pay even more attention to the group, as much as she paid attention to Bell.