Loki stopped speaking for a moment and went on to think of her next steps while peeking at Kisuke's unchanging poker face. A few minutes of silence passed before Loki finally spoke, "Come and join my Familia."
"..." Kisuke's expression didn't change.
"I can offer you much more than that brat can give you." Loki continued her persuasion.
"..."
"It's a waste for someone like you to stay in a Familia without any power! If you're worried about your companions, they can come with you."
"..."
"What? Still not satisfied? Tell me what you want, then I'll work on it!"
Kisuke finally smiled wryly and shook his head, "I'm sorry for staying silent, I was just curious about what you'd be willing to offer me. But you misunderstand me, Loki-sama..."
"Hmm...?"
"It's not that I'm unsatisfied with your offer..."
"Then why?"
Matching her eyes, Kisuke answered, "It's because, I promised."
"..." It was Loki's turn to stay silent.
"I promised Hestia-sama that I'll join her Familia, that includes not leaving it." Kisuke smiled brightly and continued, "You see, to me, two of the most important things I believe in are trust and promises. And I'll never compromise on those two important things."
"... I see. I'm wasting my breath then... I'll leave Line-chan in your care... Riveria and Ais as well." Loki then turned around, intending to leave.
"Oh... You're agreeing? I didn't think that it would be this easy... Could it be..."
"Don't misunderstand me... I'm not selling my children... and that will never happen."
"Then..."
"I want to earn your trust by entrusting my precious children to you. I'm making a big gamble here, so this is the most I can do. Don't disappoint me, or we'll be the first one to crush you! Even if I'm sent back to Tenkai."
Despite facing her back, Kisuke could feel the seriousness of her threat and that is what assured him more in this cooperation.
"Got it, I'll be careful."
Before leaving Loki turned around and looked at Kisuke seriously, "Oh, and by the way, Ais is mine and only mine!"
"I see, I heard from the rumors that you're very protective of her. Some even say that you intend to make her your wife..."
Loki only smiled and put no effort into refuting those rumors.
"And seeing you like this, I can now confirm that there's more to it. Is it because of her identity? Her lineage? You don't want anyone carelessly approaching her."
After those words, Loki's smile froze.
"Oh? I was just fishing in the dark, but it looks like I grazed something..."
With a twitching mouth, Loki muttered, "Kid, you're more terrifying than most Gods."
Smiling bashfully while scratching the back of his head, Kisuke replied, "Ehehe, is that so?"
"That's not a compliment!"
Ignoring her reaction, Kisuke pushed the topic, "Anyway, I'm grateful for this cooperation."
Sighing, Loki started walking away, "Whatever... And I want more of that picture that you sent me yesterday."
"It won't be for free but I'll prioritize you when it's available~. Also, please don't tease that Elf so much with that, she'll try to kill me."
"You already know I'll be doing just that!~ Either way, you probably have a way to escape danger..." Those were her last words to Kisuke before leaving for real while waving her hand.
Kisuke chuckled and wanted to say that she's right. He then went back inside the shop and saw the two Goddesses talking joyfully, "Ah, Kisuke-kun. Done with your private talk?" Hestia greeted him.
"Yep~. I'll prepare lunch, so please sit still. Is that fine with you, Hephaestus-sama?"
"I originally only wanted to accompany Hestia for a little bit today, but I saw something interesting. So I'll be extending my stay, if you don't mind?"
"Of course!~ You're Hestia-sama's good friend, so it's my honor to serve you a warm welcome!~" Kisuke then proceeded to the kitchen to cook lunch.
"Hestia, He's wasted on you..." Hephaestus couldn't help but let out her thoughts in exasperation.
"What was that!?" Hestia and Hephaestus then started bickering.
While cooking lunch, Kisuke also wanted some downtime to process the new information and plan his next steps, 'Although it didn't go exactly as I wanted, getting Loki's cooperation alongside her childrens is one off the list of goals. And now to the Goddess of Forge... Initially, I didn't think Hestia-sama would be bringing her in, but this isn't a bad thing. Now, I only need to find a way to cooperate with her... Let's see what would happen if I show her some papers about Sacred Gears... Hopefully, that would be enough for us to work on something together.'
It took Kisuke less than half an hour to serve everything. But instead of talking about their business over their meal, Kisuke and Hephaestus choose to postpone it and just talk about random things and about Hestia, and dissing her once in a while, resulting in the 'mature' petite Goddess' frustration.
After their lunch, Hestia said that she'll be taking a nap because she's very tired and left the two of them alone.
"Hestia is too lenient on you. She first allowed you to have a private talk with Loki and now she's also allowing a private time for us..." Hephaestus commented after seeing her leave.
"I'm very grateful for that, actually." Kisuke replied with a smile.
"And? Why didn't you accept Loki's offer of joining her?" Hephaestus abruptly changed the subject.
Kisuke looked at her for a moment before saying, "You're guessing?"
"Yes. It's one of the few advantages us Gods in the lower world have is to be able to discern a lie absolutely. And I wouldn't have any problem using it."
"Well, I would do the same." The moment she asked that question to Kisuke, no matter how he answered or didn't, Hephaestus could already confirm if Loki had indeed invited Kisuke to join her Familia, 'I have to find out how this whole lie-detecting works and see if I can do something about it...'
"I didn't accept her offer because I already promised Hestia-sama that we would join and stay in her Familia, and she doesn't want to be left alone either."
"I see..." Hephaestus drank her tea before asking another difficult question, "And it's a lot easier for you to manipulate her than Loki, right?"
"..." Kisuke chose not to answer her and just took a sip from his tea.
The two of them became quiet for a few minutes, drinking only their tea until their cups became empty.
The first one to break the silence was Hephaestus, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to confirm the safety of my friend..."
"It's fine, I understand. Besides, what you said is the truth. It's truly a lot easier to manipulate her than Loki-sama."
"Then..."
"But she's well aware of it."
"She's aware?" Hephaestus' eye slightly widened.
"Yes. I came clean and told her that I'm manipulating her."
"... What did she say?"
"She knew... And she still accepted all of us. That is something I'm forever grateful for. So, if you're worried that I or my group will do something to harm her, then please be rest assured. I'm going to take good care of her. That's the least I can do."
Hephaestus looked down on her empty cup of tea and muttered, "I see... Then let's stop talking about this."
Kisuke smiled and refilled her cup with warm tea.
"Well then, Hestia told me that you want the cooperation of a blacksmith regarding something." Pretending that the earlier topic didn't come up, Hephaestus spoke, "I could lend you a good blacksmith, but only if you were to tell me what that blade is."
EDITORS:
28th00
Alexander
Jake
Ashe Candy
Garan Meyers