Alongside Miach was his other child, Naaza. Behind them was another group which was unfamiliar to Kisuke, "For starters, why don't we go inside first? Wallenstein-san, please come in too."
Everyone, aside from the Hestia Familia, was startled as they finally noticed the presence of the Sword Princess. However, they didn't ask about it as they had a more urgent issue at hand.
Once everyone sat down, Hestia started talking and referred to the two Gods in the group, "What's wrong, Miach, Take?"
Miach took a deep breath and told them their story. It had been 20 hours since Bell Cranel and his party dived into the Dungeon. As they didn't go home yesterday, Miach and Naaza immediately went to the Guild early in the morning and asked his advisor about his whereabouts. However, Eina Tulle also didn't see them come out yesterday.
They figured that something must have happened and usually, Adventurers who went missing in the Dungeon were suddenly killed. But Miach insisted that Bell's Falna was still active so Eina created an urgent request to look for Bell's party.
It was around that time that Takemikazuchi's children saw this request and recognized Bell. After that, they immediately told Takemikazuchi what happened. They then looked for Miach to confess their wrongdoings.
On the 13th floor, the Takemikazuchi Familia party got into an accident which resulted in Chigusa, one of their members, being gravely injured. On top of that, a horde of monsters was around them and they couldn't heal them, so they ran away.
But things weren't looking too good for Chigusa and if she didn't get any healing as soon as possible, she might die so Ouka, the leader of their party, saw Bell's party, he decided to use them as a decoy so that they could get away from the monsters.
They knew that it was a bad thing to do, but it was the only way for them to save Chigusa. Ouka and the rest apologized fervently to Miach asking for forgiveness and said that they'll join the effort to rescue Bell's party.
But they knew that just Naaza and three Level 2's from the Takemikazuchi Familia wouldn't be enough, so Miach immediately went to Hestia to ask for the help of her children.
"I see..." Hestia nodded solemnly, "Did they already apologize to you?" She asked Miach.
Miach silently nodded.
"What did you say?"
"I said that I'll never forgive them if something were to happen to Bell-kun." Miach shook his head, but the next second he smiled wryly, "But I'll never hate them for it. After all, they just prioritized their comrade over some strangers."
Although a Pass Parade is generally frowned upon, Miach understood their motivation and couldn't hate them over it, "Hestia, I would like to ask for your children's help to rescue Bell-kun and his party members."
Hestia looked towards Kisuke and Kisuke just smiled. But before he could answer, a voice from outside came, "I hear you, Miach~! Let me give you my assistance~!"
The door of the store abruptly opened and three figures could be seen outside. The man with blonde hair and orange eyes spoke, "I, Hermes, saw your urgent request and decided to help my good friend. I heard from this lady that I might find you here." He pointed to the Goddess with red hair beside him.
"Miach... So you're really here, asking for Hestia's help." Hephaestus entered the store, ignoring Hermes.
"Hephaestus, Hermes... What are you two doing here?" Hestia stood up and asked.
"Welf is my child and one of Miach's child's party members. I'm here to give my assistance." Hephaestus explained, "But regarding this guy over here... I don't know what he wants."
"That's harsh, Hephaestus~! As I said, I'm here to help a good friend~!" Hermes answered too.
All of the Gods gave him a dirty look.
"Wha!? C'mon guys! I really wanted to help and I genuinely wanted to save Bell-kun."
"..." The Gods became even more suspicious, however, Miach could only sigh, "Fine... Thank you, Hermes."
"Are you sure about this, Miach?" Takemikazuchi asked.
"Rescuing Bell and his party takes priority," Miach answered simply.
"But Hermes, where are your children?" Miach knew that Hephaestus' assistance could come in the form of either Adventurers or a weapon so he asked Hermes, who also had a small Familia, "The last time I heard, that most of your children are Level 2 correct?"
"I'm sorry to say most of them are out on business, But I'm taking Asfi with me!" Hermes pointed at his current bodyguard, the last person to enter the shop, and someone familiar to both Ais and Yoruichi, "She's my ace, so there's nothing to fear."
However, before she could greet Ais and Yoruichi with her eyes, some words of her God caught her attention and asked nervously, "Hermes-sama... Just now, you said you are taking me with you. Don't tell me you're..."
Hermes faced her with a smile, "Yup. I'm going too~."
Everyone looked at him with suspicion but didn't voice it since everyone knew that he would just make up some excuse.
"You what!? Aren't Deities forbidden from entering the Dungeon!?" Asfi shouted.
Chuckling, Hermes just shrugged his shoulders, "That just means that I can't be careless, right? What's the problem? I'll be back before the guild even notices~."
"Don't tell me this was your plan all along...!?" Asfi wanted to smack her free-spirited God, but she held herself back as there were too many witnesses.
"Somehow, I already knew that this would happen when I brought him here," Hephaestus muttered. She then faced Kisuke and asked, "So? What's the plan?"
With this, everyone looked towards Kisuke and Hermes gave him a curious look. He was, after all, the captain of the Adventurers that saved his children on the 24th floor. One of the reasons why Hermes came here was to take a look at Kisuke.
Kisuke was aware of his stare but didn't point it out, "We'll also help. And since we have this many people, we can split into two groups. That way, we have more chances of rescuing them."
"Split the group? Who's going? I heard that Sona, Aika, and Shirone are with Loki Familia..." Miach then remembered that Ais, who was supposed to be in the expedition, was among them.
Kisuke then told everyone, "It'll be me, Yoruichi, and Wallenstein-san for one group and the rest of you for the other group." He then faced Ais and asked, "Is that fine with you, Wallenstein-san?"
"Since Kisuke is asking, I'll help too." Ais immediately agreed.
Everyone, aside from Hestia and Hephaestus, were shocked when Kisuke suddenly asked for Ais's assistance, but they were speechless when she easily agreed and the reason for it was because Kisuke asked her. Now they were really curious about their relationship.
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28th00: So, I liked this chapter. Hermes is pretty similar to Kisuke also. Time for a blitz rush, huh? Side note: Bestia is so used to this anarchy, so is her buddy Hepaestus… That's kinda sad, huh? I wonder where Kisuke and the rest of the Hestia Familia fit inside Ais' world view? Kisuke is probably around the same as Riveria in her head, being a teacher/guardian you can trust fully (Bad idea with this troll), but I don't know about the others.
Alexander: I second your opinion. Aside from that, the time for Hermes peeping scene would be near in the canon. Will Kisuke simply hinder him(no chance)? Or, is it time to troll him until he pukes blood?
Goyya: I'm still contemplating on how to go about that scene.