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/Later that day, atop Babel…/
"... And with this, we conclude the War game after talks." One of the Gods proclaimed as she put a small stack of papers down
'She stretched her fingers, after writing so much so fast, she needed a rest.'
'Clearing her throat, she continued:'
"As previously discussed, the Ishtar Familia not only will take the blame for the previous incident, but it'll also reimburse all Familias, the value changing based on their size and rank up to C."
"From there, it's a fixed amount of 25 Million for B Rank Familias, 50 Million for A Rank, and 100 Million for S Rank."
"The Guild will later reveal the exact amounts after post-calculation, it may take a few weeks for that to be done due to how many Familias were affected, patience is advised."
'The Gods nodded, though most weren't exactly eager about it.'
'After a lengthy and boring discussion, the total amount each God would receive wasn't exactly much, though, for smaller and lower rank Familias, the amount was exorbitant.'
'A recent I rank Familia with 2-4 members would receive as much as whopping 200 thousand Valis, an amount so big for them it could immediately bring them out of poverty.'
'However, a C rank Familia with 300 members would receive only as much as 30 Million Valis, a lot yes, yet not much in the grand scheme of things.'
'Although, in the first place, there aren't that many Familias of that size... Even if there are, they aren't Exploration Type Familias, but either entertainment/commerce focused Familias...'
'A good example would be the Demeter Familia, they may be a C rank agricultural Familiia, but their importance is no less than a Familia like Loki's as if the supply were to stop, Orario may experience widespread famine.'
'They have thousands of members...'
'Just with this alone, Ishtar got herself close to 5 Billion Valis in debt, she should count herself lucky that most Familias in Orario aren't even F rank, though their numbers made up for it.'
'But this was just the start...'
"The payment can and should be discussed through either the Guild or personally with Ishtar herself, as we already agreed that immediate payment is likely not within the realm of possibility."
'For things to be the fairest, the Gods agreed that the payment would be done from the bottom up, so lower Rank Familias would receive the amount first while higher ranks later.'
'Orario would receive a massive boost thanks to this as there were many small Familias that could make use of such money.'
'Though if this was good or not has yet to be seen, some may question if its good to take away the early struggle many had to go through from those Gods...'
'Growing past it was supposed to be an essential part of their lives here in the mortal plane after all...'
'This, of course, was taken into account after Ishtar stabilized her situation and paid the person in question first… Hestia.'
"Also, the Ishtar Familia is to immediately reimburse the Hestia Familia with 500 Million Valis worth of assets, not accounting property."
"The value can be split into multiple affronts such as armor and materials, all of which will have to first go through the Guild for appraisal."
"Though, after some discussion, Goddess Hestia compromised and accepted a total value of 425 Million as long as it's delivered by the end of the month, otherwise the deal is considered Void."
"Adding to the list of requirements, the Ishtar Familia, starting from this day, is banned from entering the Dungeon for 5 years."
"This includes any activities associated with it, such as the exchange of magic stones from within the Dungeon and the taking of commissions."
"If any adventurer directly associated with the Ishtar Familia is reported to have entered the Dungeon secretly, a bounty of up to 20 thousand Valis shall be issued by the Guild and paid by the Ishtar Familia themselves to the one that reported it."
"In case the Ishtar Familia refuses to pay, or fails to do so within the given time, a fine ranging upwards of 50 thousand Valis may be issued by the Guild atop the already previous bounty."
"Not paying the fine will result in the ordinary consequences everyone is already used to, such as a demotion in Rank and further ban from taking commissions directly from the Guild, this adding up to their 5-year time."
"The exact details will be later delivered to Goddess Ishtar for reviewing and approval."
"Lastly, the Ishtar Familia will have to pay a small fine to the Guild for…"
'She started to say quite a long list of infractions, such as public chaos infringement, and illegal distribution of items…'
'It seemed all of her private business have been brought to light, and the Guild has decided to show it to the world… The better word might be…'
'Kick her while she was down.'
"There it is..."
Ishtar... Your business is finally being brought to light.
Ouranos... No, I should say the Guild... It isn't holding itself at all.
'Hermes cringed a little as he heard the long list of charges, he had investigated some of it, perhaps even participated in it... Albeit merely as a middleman, making sure something reached its destination.'
'The rest, obviously, came from a source that would be kept in the dark…'
'It was the same person that caused all of this mess, to begin with, though no one knew that aside from him and Ouranos.'
'Some might connect the dots and figure out it was Silver, considering what he stole from her private vault, but that wouldn't change anything.'
'The only thing that mattered now was that Ishtar's debt increased even further.'
"... And also pay for physical and mental damages caused to the victims of her children's actions."
'It wasn't said here, but the Guild was now fully aware of Phryne's actions.'
'Hermes was one of the few that knew the full extent of it, and his face cringed in incredible disgust when he remembered what he read.'
'So much so he promptly hid this from Asfi, she didn't deserve to have her mood darken anymore than it already was.'
'Also, it wasn't like Phryne was the sole person to have ever caused problems to civilians, it was rarer but some of the Berbera had documented proof of having raised their hands against civilians and other lower-ranked Familias.'
'If by their own will or through someone else's orders... It didn't matter now.'
'Regardless of it all, Ishtar would be taking the blame for not putting them in line.'
'As for them... They were lucky that someone was getting the consequences for their actions, it may even be the chance to start fresh... It's all on them.'
"Tsk, Ishtar dug quite the stinky hole for herself…" Loki mumbled as she looked down from her seat
Might as well call it a tomb.
Looking at her face, it seems she realized she's completely and utterly over.
There's no way out of this dung heap.
"In total, after a slight estimation, she'll have to fork out over 6 Billion Valis… Just thinking about it makes me shiver." She said as she shook her head
6 Billion... More than enough to arm Finn and the others, together with perhaps some of the Level 4s such as Raul with the best equipment possible, the kind of equipment that would cost over 50 Million a piece.
"You opened your mouth to take a bite out of the meat… But the bull was still alive and well, kicking ye right in the face."
Now you'll forever live in the mud you so desperately tried to flee from...
Given your pride, I'm surprised she hadn't ended herself yet.
…
/Back at the center of the meeting…/
"A few extra words before we end this…"
/Chatter!/
'The Gods were already impatient, this subject had been going on for over 2 hours already, and they were super duper bored!'
"Enough with this already! I already understand that Ishtar is fucked, can we proceed?" A rude man said as he crossed his legs
/Cough!/
"His words are a bit unsightly, but he's right, enough of this."
"Ishtar can take care of the rest herself, I have no need to hear the intrinsic details, I'll pass by the Guild tomorrow or whenever they're ready to hear the rest, let's end this already."
""Yeah!""
"..."
Sigh…
'The Goddess reading the papers was also bored and tired, but she had a job to do, and with each complaint, this meeting was just pushed further…'
/Gulp.../
"..."
Things are getting out of control...
'Hestia on the other hand tried to keep herself composed, it was hard at first, to be at the center of everything, but as time went on, she realized she had very little to say as the discussion progressed on its own.'
'Everything she had to say had already been stated, it was now the Gods and Ishtar that had to discuss with each other.'
'Her back may be hurting from sitting on a stone chair for a few hours, but she had to.'
"Urg... Mnn..."
'As for Ishtar… She looked terrible.'
'Her clothes were all over the place, stained and ragged, she looked half drunk, and she smelled of booze.'
'It seemed she had truly and utterly lost her mind and composure, to the point she drank herself to sleep yesterday, and had to be dragged here by someone.'
'It became an all-out beating as she couldn't defend herself... No, she didn't want to.'
'As everyone kicked her down mercilessly, she only smiled in a silly way, giggling… And honestly, Hestia felt pity.'
'She didn't like conflict, she didn't like to see this… But then again…'
'Ishtar kind of dug this for herself, she deserved it.'
'So she could only sigh silently and wait for the verdict to be proclaimed.'
'Because even if the total amount was completely absurd, it wasn't like she couldn't pay for it.'
'Ishtar owned many businesses all over the entertainment district, and now that she had lost, many people were willing to pull her down from there.'
'Without Phrine, she could only rely on her other warriors and Tammuz, but she knew that they wouldn't stay for long…'
'Tammuz was loyal, but the others… Perhaps her male servants, but their loyalty was wavering, and with her current looks, there was no one to stop them from rebelling.'
'To recover from this, she would have to give up everything she built and go back to step 1 where all began.'
'Ishtar would truly be reduced to a one-member Familia with a simple home, at least so if she wished to pay for all of this.'
'Although she had many prostitutes and workers under her blessing and name, they would definitely move together with the brothels they worked at, so it wouldn't make sense for them to still be under her name when they transferred from her possession.'
'She already saw other Gods slowly extend their hands into her private territory…'
'Even if she couldn't rule over everything within the entertainment district, she was still the sole God within it.'
'However, it didn't seem like that would be the case anymore.'
'The only good thing going on for her was that Tammuz was Level 5, no one without a Level 4 would even dare to touch her.'
'That was why they were kicking her here of all times, it might be the only time they would ever be able to do so.'
'No amount of dirt and secrets she had stored in her coffers would do to save her from this disaster... Even then, she lost a big portion of it as Silver... Stole it.'
'Even if he wanted to, Silver wouldn't steal from her big coffers, there was no need to, after all, the money would come to him in legal ways, there was no point in making it illegal.'
'He would be the biggest suspect anyway... And worst of all, Ishtar might just declare bankruptcy and she would be forced out of Orario without paying anything, then everything that was said here would become useless, and the Gods might become dissatisfied.'
'It's unreasonable yes, but people often choose someone to vent to, the same went for Gods, they were also people, even if very weird by Mortal standards.'
'As for the future… The sober Ishtar would have to deal with it, the current drunk Ishtar could only stare at the ceiling with an absent gaze, mumbling something incomprehensible as her stained makeup marked her face like scars…'
'Broken ego, shattered glory, Fallen...'
…
/Later…/
"With everything out of the way… Hestia… Ishtar, you two may take your seats, we'll be starting the naming ceremony we've all been waiting for!" The Goddess said with an eager smile as her job was completed, she could finally take a breather
Though Ishtar will need some help with that...
/COMMOTION!/
'The Gods rilled up, screaming in ecstasy, yes, this was the moment they've been waiting for.'
'It was time to give a name to the fierce warriors that shone during the small time between the last Denatus and today.'
'Although the Schedule had been all messed up due to the many meetings they had, the Gods would still follow the tradition.'
'Because they simply couldn't hold themselves and wait for the next Denatus in several months, they had to scream their ideas out and let everyone hear them.'
'Also, with several dozen Amazons making their way to Levels 4, 3, and 2, it was time to choose their names as they would likely enter their Familias.'
'Someone had to absorb Ishtar's forces, right?'
'It was no secret that many Amazons fled the Entertainment district after the War game yesterday, causing quite the trouble throughout all of Orario.'
'They had to go somewhere, some found Inns to stay at, some had people they knew, others directly "joined" a Familia.'
'Everyone already knew they had resolved themselves to leave the Ishtar Familia, now it was the time to fight for those girls.'
'Many were already expecting Ishtar to be stubborn and not let go of them easily, and as such, they were willing to negotiate, which would likely be how Ishtar would make her situation less terrible.'
'With the inability to go to the Dungeon, the Berbera were useless to her apart from looking tough to the people that competed with her, even then, without the ability to enter the Dungeon and grow, Ishtar was between a rock and a hard place as it would take no time for the Berbera to grow inpatient.'
'So the best way was to drain as much value out of those girls as she could.'
'If she could decrease her debt by a few Million for each girl, in total, she might even be able to decrease her debt by half a Billion, if not more, Valis.'
'It all depends on how well she negotiates and how kind the person she's dealing with is.'
'It may seem hard to give up several Milion for a single Level 3 or 2, but remember, this all came to them pretty much for free.'
'In fact, most Gods were even starting to see Hestia in a very good way as now, they were technically heavily indebted to her for giving them such a good opportunity.'
'The Hestia Familia pretty much butchered the Ishtar Familia, allowing all to feast upon it.'
'She was still the big booby Loli, but she was now THE big booby Loli.'
'Just like THE flat board, who was unmistaken, Loki, her reputation had risen greatly… Just don't say that to either of them, else your end won't be a good one.'
'With this naming ceremony, many Gods would determine how people would look at these girls that were now part of their Familias, so they wanted to give them good Aliases.'
'The question was, who would grab the big fish? Aisha?'
'Out of all of Ishtar's forces, Aisha was without a doubt the one with the biggest potential, her fighting capabilities were almost on par with Tammuz', and there was an entire Level of difference between them.'
'Her fierceness and combat ability made many Gods nod in approval, they had to get her… But she vanished.'
'No one knew where she had gone.'
'Either way, there were a few Level 4s to fight for, one less wouldn't make much of a difference.'
/CHATTER!/
'So as the previous Goddess, the host of this Denatus pulled a small stack of papers containing many faces and details, those were the profiles made by the Guild of all of the adventures that leveled up during this time.'
'And in no time at all, the Gods started their fierce debate...'
"Sharp Bronze!"
"Whisp of Nightfall!"
"Conductor!"
'As the Gods voiced their cringy names forward together with the reasoning as for the why, mayhem soon took over the room as their voices mixed in with each other.'
'Some Gods like Loki and Freya remained silent, not very interested in all of this…'
'For them, there was only one name that mattered…'
'And of course, the best plate was served last.'
'A new heavy hitter made his way to the top, they had to give him a very fitting name didn't they?...'
'Their smiles said it all.'
"Haaa…" Hestia sighted as she covered her face in worry
They are incredibly eager… What do I do?... If it continues like this, the name I choose won't pass at all…
This is hard, someone, help me!
'Hestia cried silently, her sobbing muffled by the others.'
'This meeting would last a little longer, the day had only just begun.'
'And time was the thing the Gods least needed.'
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Notes
Just one more chapter before the Special side chapters, with one of them being Hephaestus'.
That is all from me, see ya later, peace.