.
.
.
------------
"Hum… Okay."
"First, this story can and will get very personal…" He asked as he looked at Ais
"Personal? What does this have to do with Ais?" Tiona asked
"Everything... It has everything to do with her, or should I say, her parents."
"Ais' parents?" Lefiya said with wide eyes
'It wasn't like this was a taboo topic within the Loki Familia, it just so happened that in the busy days of normal life, such a topic never really came into her mind, or those of many people to be honest.'
'After all, most adventures were like that, with Family either far away, buried, or they had some sort of tragic tale about them...'
'Since it isn't hard to think that, if you were a caring parent, would you want your child to risk its life every day in the Dungeon?'
'Few are those whose parents are adventurers and go with them to the Dungeon.'
'So overall, Family tends to be a bittersweet topic in every adventurer's mouth.'
'Still, it's not like people didn't get curious about one another, especially when it's about Ais... It just never passed through Lefiya's and the other's mind.'
'But even if she could ask Ais, she wouldn't be able to hear an answer as Revira and the others would put a stop to her question by changing the subject, just like they did with many others.'
'The only ones who seem to know what is going on with her past are Loki and the Top Executives, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria, who surprisingly, were not present here...'
'Perhaps that was Loki's plan all along? After all, at first, none of them knew Loki had the intention of coming, yet all of the sudden, she dragged them here...'
'And coincidently on this day, all three of the Top Executives were doing something? Who else but Loki to think this far ahead?'
'But what would be her intention in gathering them?...'
"... I trust them." She Ais said without hesitation
'Loki smiled...'
'Not only her, but this also made the other 3 girls smile... Lefiya's face became fully red due to how happy she felt... She almost melted to the chair...'
'But Loki tsked afterward:'
"Heh, why are you questioning this now?"
"Since I brought them all it's clear this issue was already resolved." Loki said, annoyed
"In fact, it shouldn't have been you who should be asking this question... It should be us." Loki rebuked with a sly smile
'She looked at Haruhime and said:'
"What about that furry tail over there?"
"?!"
"Haruhime? I trust her with this matter." Silver said confidently
There can be no one more loyal than her... Not even a single word of this will come out of here.
"Then it's resolved."
'Silver smiled, took a quick sip of his tea, and continued:'
"Let me start with how I got this information in the first place since I'm sure you are very curious about that." He said with a smile as he looked at Loki
"Looks like I got busted." Loki replied with a smile
He's more cooperative than I thought...
Thankfully, that hard head didn't fully annoy him.
'Silver rolled his eyes and said with a sigh:'
"It isn't as impressive as you think, the information came to me on its own, and I don't have any sort of special information network…"
"A bit before your fight, that Elf came to me for a talk..."
/Bam!/
"Ha?! You never told me that!" Hestia exclaimed as she slapped the table
'Haruhime's tail shot up due to how startled she was by this...'
'Hestia looked at him with a frustrated gaze, she felt betrayed.'
'So Silver quickly replied:'
"Ha… I just thought it was unnecessary as it would cause more worry than giving you answers. I'll make up for it okay?" Silver replied with an awkward smile
"Humph."
'Everyone seemed a bit awkward, Loki even seemed a bit suspicious about her reaction, but before things progressed further Silver continued:'
"I don't know exactly why he came after me, but I have a pretty solid theory after hearing what he had to say."
"He came after me to see if I had what he was looking for, and indeed I had, this prompted him to start talking and ended up in a mock fight… If you can even call it that."
"Why he did so..."
'But then Loki shook her head.'
"Wait a minute, I can understand that he was looking for it, but in the first place, why did you have it?"
"That's a good point." Tione said as she raised her finger to her chin to think
"A mystery!" Tiona replied with a smile
"Well… That was something he told me about… It's a long story and it involves my Family you see…"
"Your family?" Hestia asked surprised
To think I would hear about them here... He told me a lot about them, but never something that could be traced to this event in any way...
The only clue is... His grandparents visited him, but that also remained unsolved...
And I... Forgot about it...
'Ais' expression changed as she looked at the ground, reminiscing about something...'
'Memories of a time when she also had a family of her own, of a time when she cold smile on the fields, her father running after her with a helpless smile while her mother looked at her from a green hill nearby...'
"Yes, but don't get the wrong idea, they didn't contribute to this situation in the least."
"Besides, this was what I heard from him, so it could very well be wrong... I guess I can't really confirm nor deny it until I go back and visit my Family."
"It goes like this, decades ago, my grandparents from my mother side used to be part of a Familia here in Orario... The Prometheus Familia."
"Hah?! Isn't that the one those bastards were part off?!" Tione exclaimed with a frown, slightly angry
"Calm down sister, let him finish..." Tiona asked with a helpless smile
"Well... Yes, but that will come shortly..."
"You see, like many others before them, the Prometheus Familia suffered severe losses in the Dungeon, and that caused a massive shift in the structure of the Familia, and their ideology, causing them to leave due to certain disagreements."
"It was due to a Clash of Ideas if you will..."
'He looked at Tione and said:'
"This is your answer, they left long long ago, before the Familia had changed into what it was today, they are completely unrelated to their current actions, although not entirely unrelated to their goals..."
"I guess you're right... I apologize, I got a bit out of line there." Tione said with a slight bowl
'Silver shook his head.'
"It's okay, I can understand how you feel about them."
"Cough! Anyway, let's go back to the matter at hand."
"Mt grandparents... They didn't quite leave without causing some trouble, you see… Since they took this very item with them."
"That was how it got in my possession so many years later… My… Grandma gave it to me." Silver said slightly embarrassed
I thought about this many times, and I pretty much figured out why she did so.
She probably thought it was safer to do so...
Instead of waiting for him to come after them and recover the item, she gave it to me while keeping this item's origins a secret...
However, she couldn't predict that I would grow and attract attention so fast...
"They seem like… Quite the lovely bunch…" Lefiya said before stopping to a halt, noticing the heavy mood in the room
'She seemed to have forgotten that apart from her everyone else had a rough childhood…'
'Tione and Tiona... Amazons that trained every day since they were born…'
'Ais, a child lost to time after witnessing the death of her parents to a Dragon.'
'And Haruhime, a child of Noble birth outcasted by her own father after being manipulated by someone else, carrying with her the mark of a mistake she never committed.'
'While the other 2 were Gods, never having a Family, to begin with.'
"Still… That does not quite explain how it came to that Familia possession." Loki said with a frown
'Silver shrugged.'
"I would be surprised if there was a record of that..."
I do know that the scarf was previously in his wife's possession before coming to my Grandparents'... But it may be a tad too much to tell that as well.
It would come as strange for me to know that as well.
"Continue." Loki requested with a nod
"Uhum…"
'Silver took a sip of his tea while everyone looked at him.'
'Loki's and Hestia's eyelids twitched in annoyance while Lefiya and Tiona couldn't help but think… "How can he be this calm?".'
'Ais' expression did not change, she continued to wait as per normal while Tione was surprisingly patient, sitting cross-legged with a teacup in hand.'
'Haruhime chuckled slightly, finding it all amusing.'
"Ahh…" Silver said as he fished drinking his tea
/Pinch!/
"Hm?"
'Silver looked at the side, seeing a fairly angry Hestia looking at him with an annoyed face.'
"Was it good?" She asked in a deep tone, slowly, letter by letter
How can you be so calm in this situation?!
"Phenomenal, in fact, thank you Haruhime." He said as he looked at the Fox girl in the corner of the room, who had been silent so far
"..."
'She didn't say much, but her face got slightly flushed as she smiled and her tail wagged.'
'This pissed Hestia even more… And made Loki even more suspicious.'
"So, continuing from where I stopped."
"He told me many things about his past and his story with my grandfather... You know how old people are... Perhaps he was simply bored, reminiscing about the past..."
"He was so friendly that for a moment, I even started to question his reasons and motives..."
"Still, there was no way I would've dropped my guard, I was dealing with a terrorist, one that had orchestrated something really massive, and even though his plan failed, it still caused quite the substantial amount of damage…" He said as he looked at Loki
"Yeah… I'm still thankful for you being there, you're quite the reliable guy." Loki replied with a mischievous smile as she side glanced at Hestia
"..."
What is she doing? This is unlike her!
'Hestia's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion…'
"Still, after going over his story, we get to the interesting part, the reason you came here for." Silver said with a smile
'Everyone focused.'
'Haruhime put her hands in front of her mouth, she was really enjoying this story...'
"He told me about what this item was supposed to be, and why he wanted it made... That he needed something to repair it."
"Hm? That was a thing?" Tiona asked as she tilted her head
"H-How can a Scarf be broken?" Lefiya asked timidly
"Perhaps broken may be a bad word to use, but it's a simple term everyone can understand."
"After all... Ancient items that aren't properly maintained for long periods of time do tend to malfunction…" He said with a small smile and in a slightly sarcastic tone
"Ah...!" Lefiya said embarrassed
"In fact, that was the reason why he attacked you in the first place." Silver said as he looked at Loki
"What?" Loki asked with a dark expression
/Gasp…/
"I'm sure you can tell if I'm lying, and this one over here would also notice if I was planning something else, so I don't think there is a need to doubt my words."
"From my perspective, his attack on you was merely a distraction, as his goal was something else entirely."
'He then looked at Ais and pointed at her.'
"His target was her. Or more precisely, her blood."
"?!"
'Everyone was shocked by this, even Ais, her eyes darted open as she grasped her clothes in mild anger.'
"What was he going to do with her blood?" Loki asked, remaining focused
"He was going to fully repair the item... How? I have no idea."
"But he told me a few things... And that was the fact he needed the blood of Aria to fix it."
"A-Aria?..." Loki asked with a twisted expression
"..."
Mother...
'Ais dropped her head while Tiona patted her shoulder.'
'Loki frowned, thinking deeply…'
"I imagine that what happened at the end was…"
'But Silver shook his head.'
"Well… I wasn't conscious when this happened, so I can't really comment on it."
"Nevertheless, deeming his sudden increase in strength, he must've achieved what he wanted."
"So?" Loki asked
"... This magic tool… Item… Or whatever you may call it has the very simple ability to help someone break their own limits."
"Wh… You aren't making any sense." Loki said with a frown and in shock
Is it really that…
'Tione and Tiona were seemingly shocked.'
'Lefiya almost fell from her chair… This was too much for her to process...'
'Even Ais gasped, she knew exactly what it was it was to be limited, with each level up, she felt as it became harder and harder for her to improve, everything was becoming slower and slower…'
'Even Haruhime displayed shock, Silver found it amusing to see her reactions each time he says something new…'
"I know very well that it may be hard to take, I was like that as well when I first heard about it from his mouth, besides, don't play with me, I know very well that you're aware of what it does slightly." Silver said with a serious expression
'Silver looked at Loki with a deep gaze, but the latter didn't seem pleased about this situation...'
"Wh-What do you mean Silver?" Hestia asked confused
"After that event, I tried to dig into as much as I could, and I did find faint traces of this item's existence, buried away in time as a legend of some kind."
"You may not know it, due to your past, but I expected this of you already."
"However, this isn't the case for a well-informed Goddess… One that is known for her intelligence." Silver said as he looked at Loki
"Oh, you're making me blush..." Loki replied cheekily
"Hey! I told you many times already, I was really busy in heaven okay?! I barely had time to look at the lower world, much less pay attention to rumors…"
'Hestia on the other hand complained…'
'Seeing her reaction, trying to make light of things, he said:'
"Well, you came to me for answers, so you probably doubt what you know, which probably isn't much."
"So let me shed some light on your worries…"
'He pointed towards Ais' scarf and said:'
"The truth cannot be denied..."
...
.
.
.
Notes