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/One week later…/
On the 3rd floor of the Heart Manor, Silver sat at the edge of his bed, thinking about some things...
"It's over…" Silver said as he scratched his head
'He got up from the bed and approached the window facing the training ground.'
'He looked at the girls training below, and the triplets doing their best to keep up, letting out a sigh in the process.'
"They grew more than I expected, I am proud, yet sad."
Proud that they grew so much, and sad about what I did to have pushed them so much.
This training was meant to spare them, especially Hestia, the pain of grieving the loss of a loved one.
The more capable they are, the longer they will live... Or perhaps this will have an opposite effect?
Every adventurer will eventually retire, and many just do so with a coffin...
It's a grim look at life, but I'm not wrong, even though I wished to...
When the time comes, I wonder, will it be due to time, Monsters, or another Human being?
"..."
'They weren't the newbies of a month ago, they were all now adventurers who had gone through Silver's harsh training in the Dungeon.'
'There was still a lot for them to learn, but with what they have, they won't have any difficulties on the Upper floors.'
"Starting from today, they will be free to seek out their own adventures, to grow in their own ways…"
And to risk their lives in the Dungeon for their dreams.
"This also means that I won't be there anymore…"
"Although some of them are adults and as such, fit to do whatever they do with their lives, as their Captain, their friend, and companion, it does make me a bit strange to see them go on their own towards such a dangerous place."
Hestia must be doing much worse than me… She spent way longer with them and their relationship is much deeper…
She was awkward at first but with some help, she is now acting as their Goddess…
It's also a good time for me to go to Loiju and have that annoying talk with him…
About our Familia ranking and specialization.
'Familias are classified in a similar way as stats are. Ranging from I to S based on size and achievements.'
'The ranking also determines the monthly tax a Familia has to pay to the Guild, together with the total achievements and their size.'
'It is illegal to not report the Level of your adventurers to the Guild and there are heavy fines associated with it if you're found out to be hiding such information.'
'And once a Familia reaches D rank, they are required by the Guild to go into an expedition... Not all, only Expedition type Familias if I'm not mistaken.'
'In the end, it doesn't matter, one day or another we'll go in one, it's only a matter of time.'
"Officially, I'm Level 2 and even though I am pretty strong, that doesn't matter much in regards to how they classify things."
"If we go on a whole, the Hestia Familia has 3 Level 2's and 38 Level 1's if we ignore Haruhime..."
The Familia is also currently divided into 8 squads of 5, but this may and will probably change soon.
A few of these girls were Level 1 prior to joining, and they have their own groups, the friends they trust...
Although they've been training here hard, I know that some of them miss or feel regretful for not being able to adventure with their friends.
So these squads will most likely change soon, but I'm not their dad, they'll figure it out on their own.
In case it becomes something more serious, I can intervene, if not, Hestia is there to provide support... She has to learn how to resolve such issues on her own.
Although I'm pretty sure she'll resort to me if she's unable to give them advice...
"As for our ranking, it will definitely be higher than H, but I doubt it will go beyond F."
I don't really care about the ranking as long as it doesn't reach D.
Once you reach D rank, the Guild will constantly harass us with orders to go into an Expedition.
And preparing an expedition would be a pain and I don't think these people are ready to go to the Middle floors and beyond at all.
There is no requirement as to how deep an expedition should go, or how specifically it should be done, but I very well know that if I were to carry 40 people alone to the Middle floors our Familia would become the laughing stocks of the city.
And as a first expedition, we should go at least till the 18th floor, it's a pretty decent goal and I want the Familia to be ready for that when the time comes.
Besides, the lower the rank the better as the lower the taxes we'll have to pay… This is the reason why Hermes that bastard doesn't report the Levels and achievements of his children since he doesn't want to pay.
Alas, he's working with Ouranos so the big guy just ignores his transgressions.
"As for the Familia's financial situation..."
In terms of debts, I'm shouldering the debt with Hephaestus alone as it should be done, my weapon, my responsibility.
And everyone has already become acquainted with the Miach Familia to some degree thanks to my actions.
Once they start adventuring, commissions from them, and from other sources will come very fast and money will flow in droves.
I'll use that money to improve the Manor and its living conditions, and after that, I'll focus on the well-being of our Familia members.
Gear and magic in order to boost our Familia development while aiming at the future that will be the expeditions.
I need to cash in while the tax is low...
My goal is to make them capable enough to go on an Expedition without me.
"I would hate to see them overly reliant on me. Because that would mean that I failed as a Captain, leading them and dragging them are two completely different things."
I also need to settle the manner of the Vice-Captain slot.
Throughout the month, I pushed this position onto Daphne, but she cleverly rejected it.
Yet, everyone sees her as kind of the 'honorary Boss' whenever I or Hestia aren't around.
"So I just have to make it official…"
"But even if she can't take on that role, I have another candidate…"
'Silver looked at the crowd of girls training and focused on a blond girl with fox ears…'
Next, Haruhime.
"Ishtar has been quite silent recently..." Silver said as he climbed onto his bed again, resting his head on his pillows
It's been over a week since I foiled her plans and stole her money.
She pulled many strings and has recovered financially somewhat, but just enough to maintain her operations.
Besides, her investigations have led her nowhere... Since there is nothing at the end of the clues I left behind.
They'll forever think that someone acted against them but who? That'll be a mystery for many years to come unless I do something about it...
"It's evident that she stopped her War campaign and is now focusing on recovering herself, my plan worked and she has no idea who hit them."
Which is good for me but it puts me in the dark in regards to what she had already prepared, she could blow up at any moment but I can't keep my guard up all the time.
Many of her enemies have now started to put pressure on her, and I heard some of her members were even assassinated...
"..."
I can't really feel bad for them, but that doesn't mean I feel good either.
Some of those girls were just normal workers following orders, their fates set due to a Goddess's stupidity.
Nevertheless, she'll have a hard time recovering anytime soon, and if she ever plans on making moves on my Familia due to resentment or suspicion, I'll be more than ready to repeat everything again.
Even if the Guild fines me I'll be fine, I just need to pay with the stolen money...
"I hope she does it though... I wouldn't mind giving her a beating..."
Talking about the money…
I've been having difficulties managing it for the more absurd this may sound.
Don't get me wrong, most of the money is doing very fine sitting in my inventory space, but such money is useless, I need it to be in circulation.
There are a few grimoires and many magic items and tools, not to mention good gear and equipment, probably items reserved for their expeditions in the Dungeon, which is where most of their revenue comes from.
And tens of millions of Valis in many forms, be it in gems, rare metals, herbs/plant materials from the Dungeon, drop items, and simple gold and silver bars to just plain coins…
But if any of it apart from the coins goes into circulation, Ishtar will definitely sniff it out...
I could get away with selling some of the drop items and materials, and even the Gems can be sold illegally since if I were to sell them legally, I would have to show the buyer the proof of quality... Which is unfortunately not in my name...
I could work around that and play with the Ink... But it's not that simple.
As for the coins, alone, they don't amount to much, and I already used a pretty decent chunk of it...
That's why this past week, I tried to convert most of this money into something useful slowly.
Step by step I bought gear and equipment from Hephaestus as part of our deal using the coins I got from Ishtar.
This money has no way of being tracked as each coin is simply stamped gold without a numerical credential tied to it...
Although I have no idea how the Guild keeps a check on people who print the money… Perhaps they have their own magical ways?
Of course, I can't just buy a lot of once, it could raise suspicion, but I'm lucky that gear meant for low-level adventurers is so 'inexpensive'...
"I bought enough to equip everyone in here today with high-quality gear for their level, I spent around 3 Million Valis to buy enough sets to equip 40 Level 1's…"
"That's around 75K Valis per person..."
The true value I spent for each person varies since some use bows and arrows with light armor while some need a full set of heavy armor with a shield to stand on the front lines.
"In comparison, the basic set the Guild offers for beginners costs between 8K to 10K Valis."
It's normally a dagger and a basic leather set of armor, a crude map, and the simplest potion, it may be basic but it saved the lives of many inexperienced adventurers...
But my Halberd alone costs 300 million Valis…
"Sigh, the price inflation is so absurd…"
"This is the last thing I can do for them, after that they'll be on their own."
Daphne told me it would be fine to give this armor to everyone as a form of a loan with the intent of motivating everyone to work harder.
I don't know how to feel about that since I decided to do this as a gift, but I agreed with her decision eventually.
It is true that they can't take these things for granted, if they want privileges, then they need to prove themselves first.
The ones that put in the work will receive the investment of the Familia, while those that don't will have to take the long route and accumulate money themselves.
"However, today also has another meaning..."
Now that some time has passed and we are better established, I'll start to release some of Ishtar's stolen gear on the black market.
I have no use for those pieces of equipment, they are different from the gold and silver as they have identification, if someone sees them, there is a big chance of Ishtar one day finding out about it.
I'll keep the better pieces of gear for myself, some of these are simply too good to be sold, pieces that can cost up to a few Million Valis...
But the worse ones I'll just sell with the gems, together with a few other items... Perhaps even scrap them for materials... What? The blacksmith's recruits could use some material for their training...
Even if they don't, I can easily sell the rest.
In total, they'll get a nice price ranging in the house of 4 to 5 dozen Million Valis even if I sell them through the black market.
"I don't care if I am losing money, it wasn't mine in the first place." Silver said with a relaxed smile
Without a doubt, this will royally piss off Ishtar who will definitely try to investigate.
But due to her power dwindling, her influence in the black markets has reached rock bottom, so she'll have quite the trouble tracing the money flow, so she'll have to use her body a lot…
And it will be all in vain as the only thing waiting for her shall be disappointment once more...
"Hehehe, bitch..." Silver said with a relaxed smile
I hope you get hemorrhoids from giving that ass so much as a lesson from trying to mess with me.
I thought about playing around and making false clues leading to other troublesome people to see if they would clash with Ishtar...
But I chose to make things simple, the less troublesome this is the simpler it is to manage it.
Overall, it will take years for her to recover, but she won't have the chance to do so anyway…
"Because her Familia will disappear soon enough." He said in a deep tone as his eyes flashed
Phryne Jamil… She doesn't deserve to live.
I am not a righteous person, if I were to be one, I would've become akin to a vigilante, clearing out many villains and criminals of this city already.
"But the things I read about her, and the things I saw while investigating Ishtar's manor…"
It's harder for me to actively ignore her existence by trying to act cool than to simply formulate a plan to eliminate her.
Besides, her 'disappearance' would also benefit me.
Phryne Jamil takes pleasure in the kidnapping and torturing of young kids, raping them until they die.
She even has her own special room where she does this, all under the eyes of Ishtar and her companions.
Everyone knows or has some level of idea of what she does since Phryne herself doesn't really hide it that much.
Even her alias is an indicator of that…
Androctonus, AKA, Man-killer.
I don't put too much blame on her companions, there isn't much they can do, but I completely and utterly condemn the ones that help her satiate her thirst.
"It's sickening."
I am not trying to be a Hero, if I was, I would try to talk her out of this situation, but I don't think there is any room for that to such a twisted living being.
Once Phryne disappears, Ishtar's confidence will reach rock bottom and her Familia may very well be destroyed by their own enemies without me needing to do anything.
However, as long as she's there, Phyrne can hold this sand castle on her own without much trouble.
This is the power of a peak Level 5. The power that determines you as a peak power in this world... The power of a Nation is all within a person.
Level 4 is the Elite power in Orario, and everyone that advances further than this is a celebrity, beyond this and you hold part of the world alone.
Not even Ganesha, someone at the top of Orario with thousands of adventurers and 11 Level 5's has someone at Level 6.
Only Loki and Freya are openly known to have Level 6 adventurer's within Orario, outside of it would be Poseidon, who is also known to have the sole Level 7 besides Ottar.
The Knight of Knights... A rather mysterious person.
"But one problem remains with this plan, and that is how to remove Ishtar's print on Haruhime's back."
A change in Familia can only be done when the two parties' Gods agree with each other unconditionally, and I can't see Ishtar being happy with having her switching sides.
"Eliminating her also isn't an option."
Gods must resolve their own issues and it's not up to me to mess with, not because I don't want to, but because the consequences of it are way beyond my capabilities.
"I've already seen those consequences before…"
Lastly, I could forcefully declare a War game against her after Phryne dies, but the problem is not me but my Familia.
Even if they don't need to fight, having a Captain that can at a whim start a War with another Familia, especially if we consider this Familia to be Ishtar's, isn't really comforting.
And having a deep conversation with them about why I want to fight her seems a bit too much of a stretch.
Besides, doing so right after Phryne dies would almost be akin to shouting that I have something to do with it.
"The best way would be to have someone deal with her."
But that in itself is almost impossible.
Perhaps if I eliminate both Phryne and her Captain, people may very well do the rest for me as I have said before.
Assassinations aren't uncommon and I am sure one day I will have at least one person going after my head... No, I already had people do that once haven't I?
Pretty much all of Orario's Level 5 and above adventurers once had someone go after their head. I could even extend this to Level 4's…
Although most of those assassinations failed, a few succeded, and those people have now faded from History...
I can even see the uproar that would be caused if both Phryne and Ishtar's Captain were to be taken down at the same time...
If I am lucky someone would challenge her to a War game and banish her back to Heaven, but I can't rely on chance.
Worse, what if she's banished outside of Orario? Having her release Haruhime would be a pain.
"For now, Haruhime will have to remain here hidden."
Once I get strong enough, I can have her appear...
And once I do that, Ishtar will hastily turn her eyes to me.
She would definitely understand that I was the one behind it all.
"Yet, she would have no proof… Because in the first place, Haruhime doesn't exist at all in the records."
But… There is a slight chance she may get desperate upon seeing the cause of everything that went wrong and spill the beams…
How desperate would she become after seeing her plans being foiled, her Captain and her strongest warrior being killed?
Spreading Haruhime's ability to the world... I can see her doing that as a last-ditch attempt of seeing me going down with her.
And that would be the end of the Hestia Familia as the entire world would attack us at the same time to get their hands on her.
'Silver closed his eyes in deep thought...'
"It all boils down to Ishtar…"
If she simply disappeared, everything would become simpler.
'As he thought deeply about the matter, something came into his mind…'
"What if I were to control her mind?"
Yes, methods like this are possible.
Although they are called Gods, they aren't impervious to everything, they can get High, Drunk, poisoned, get hurt, and die, being sent back to Heaven in the process.
Some are indeed impervious to some of these effects...
A God related to the poison wouldn't be poisoned and a God of wine would have an incredibly high tolerance to any kind of alcohol, even divine ones.
But Ishtar isn't one such God.
Hestia as an example can easily get drunk even by a simple bottle of wine, much less something like Soma.
Gods can be charmed, as seen by how Freya does it every once in a while, although they seem to have some Level of awareness to it...
But since most of them simp for her they just ignore her actions... Or perhaps that is already part of her Charm? Who knows...
Getting them drunk is the simplest method of them all, and an advanced form of this method is actually employed by…
None other than Dionysus.
As a God of wine, and one that is relatively sane in his work, he has actually managed to make a wine many times better than Soma's.
The reason for this may very well be due to Soma's own attitude as he is someone who is obsessed with the stupid endeavor of achieving perfection.
And it's important to say that Soma is publicly the best winemaker in the world.
"... His wine."
If I can get Ishtar drunk and a little bit of persuasion, it may be possible to get her consent, but that is still susceptible to failure and failure would result in everything I've done crumbling.
So I need a fail-safe plan… I need to learn what Dionysus does and see for myself if it's possible.
"There is just a tiny problem…"
Dionysus' strongest and most loyal child… And his identity.
She is very very strong.
'Silver frowned hard, thinking of more possibilities to enact his plan.'
"No matter how much I think it's impossible, it's too risky to approach him, and if I end up being discovered absolute mayhem would fall into Orario."
There are too many things at risk.
"Would my power work on her?"
If I add my powers on top of the strongest drink in this world, would she bow down to my will?
"Urg… Dealing with her is a pain in the ass."
"There is one last option thought..."
And that option is simple, it's time.
I can simply wait, and give myself enough time to grow.
"But I don't feel good about leaving Haruhime isolated on this Manor for a few more years."
I would've done nothing to change her situation as I promised and instead, she would just be living under someone else.
'Silver looked outside of the window, it seemed their training had come to an end.'
"If I were to pray, would a God out there answer it and get rid of that Hoe for me?" Silver mumbled with a sarcastic smile
'He shook his head and said:'
"I'll think about this later, it's time to congratulate them."
'Silver turned around and left his room.'
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