Prytaneum
Interlude
Meeting of the Gods
Part 2
"I am Ganesha!" The good declared proudly. "To begin with, I, Ganesha, would like to that Ganesha's Familia had nothing to do with the monster attack during the Monsterphilia festival. I, Ganesha, have already confirmed that the monster was not one of those captured for the Monsterphilia festival! The monster was a plant-type creature of unknown origin, unseen on any of the floors used! I, Ganesha, worked with the Guild to verify the true nature of any and all monsters brought to the surface, and will swear to all here that I, Ganesha, Lord of the Masses, had no relation to the crime! I, Ganesha, suspect that a third party was involved and attempted to use the festival as an opportunity to sow panic!"
Loki looked at the shouting good dryly, already regretting the fact that she'd volunteered to be in charge of this meeting. At the time, it had seemed like a good way to relax, but within a matter of hours, it had transformed into an enormous pain in the ass. Thankfully, she already knew exactly who to blame, though it took all her willpower not to glare in that direction.
Soon.
"Thank you, Ganesha, but we're all already aware," She said, sticking to the matter at hand. "Most of us were called upon to help assist in the investigation, after all."
"Loki!" The god shouted, ignoring her. She thought she could see tears beneath his elephant mask. "Freya! Hephaestus! I, Ganesha, am truly grateful that you protected the masses before anyone could be hurt and clear my name! I, Ganesha, is truly moved!"
"Your name was never under suspicion in the first place…" Loki murmured. Meanwhile, Freya flashed a dazzling smile the god's way while Hephaestus inclined her head, acknowledging the words in their own way. Obnoxious though he could be, no one could deny that Ganesha put the people first, before even his pride as a god—truthfully, there really hadn't been much suspicion directed his way, even with his Familia being full of Tamers and having recently brought many monsters to the surface. The subject had been touched on briefly, but mostly in how it was a clear attempt to frame the god. He'd been called in and spoken to Uranus for about five minutes and that had 'cleared his name.'
"Ganesha's as melodramatic as ever, huh?"
"It's kind of sad, though," Someone in the crowd of gods said. "I mean, a powerful monster attacks the city for the first time in forever and it's dead before anyone knows what's going on. It's kind of anticlimactic, isn't it? I'd have liked something a bit more exciting."
"I just feel bad for it, honestly? Can you imagine it? 'Finally, I'm free!' And then it runs right into the Cyclops, the Sword Princess, and Vana Freya. Poor guy."
"Just be grateful no one got hurt," Someone else said. "I heard the monster was at least Level 4."
"Seriously? What the hell is the Guild doing, letting something like that out without anyone noticing? There's only one way in our out of the Dungeon, right? And I heard the thing was gigantic! What, did they just not notice someone carrying a giant plant monster out of the Dungeon?"
"It must have been smuggled up with someone's caravan, then. Someone who'd gone on an expedition to the Deep Floors. The Guild checks everything brought up that way, but in comparison, it's probably easy to hide something!"
"Mm. But who? Don't tell me it's those idiots again?"
"Evilus? Seriously? Didn't we kill those guys already?"
"Ugh, I hope so. If I have to hear that name again…"
"Some people have no taste."
"I heard they were working out of the sewers, too. That's just icky."
"Personally, I think it's a fitting place for bunch of stupid shits, though."
"Oi!" Loki said, raising her voice. "Shut up, all a ya'! Most of ya have probably already heard, but I told the old man I'd put the word out, anyway. Someone put that monster that and timed the attack right for the middle of the festival—if we hadn't all been there, it would've been a blood bath. Effective now, whoever did it is persona non grata; if anyone has any news about who it might be, spill it, and if you find anything out, tell someone. Got it?"
"I have something," Dionysus said, an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. "I already told the Guild after what happened, but several members of my Familia have been murdered recently by an unknown assailant. Given what happened, I think it's related to the recent attacks, and so I traced the monster's origin to the sewer system. As of yet, I haven't found any sign of who the attacker might be, but at the very least, they were capable of killing several Level 2 adventurers simultaneously, with what appears to be nothing more than their bare hands."
"Sheesh. Murders? For real?"
"Was this inside or outside of the Dungeon? If it was inside, it's not that surprising, but if someone is killing adventurers in the city…"
"Mm. This is bringing back bad memories."
Loki, for her part, narrowed her eyes at the god, having already heard about that but still feeling suspicious. Until the day before, she hadn't heard about any murders, which meant that he'd hidden them for some reason—and the only one she could think of was that he was suspicious of someone who might find out. And yet, all of a sudden he'd decided to spill the beans? There was more going on with him then there seemed.
She was trying to decide whether or not to press the point in front of an audience when someone interrupted.
"Hey, talking about the plant thing is all well and good, but are we just going to ignore what happened?"
"Idiot, it's called suspense! We were just letting her stew in it for a while, you moron!"
"Tch, ruing the fun. Dumbass."
"Oh well; it can't be helped. Might as well get to the main course."
"Hey, Hestia—where'd you get that kid of yours?"
"You don't actually expect any of us to believe he's normal anymore, do you?"
"That guy…two meetings in four days? What a pain in the ass. This isn't going to be a trend, is it?"
"Who cares about that? We let the magic explanation fly last time, but a Level 1 defeating a Floor Boss!? That's, what, a difference of at least three Levels!?"
"Hey, didn't you hear? He's not a Level 1 anymore."
"What!? So fast! How long has he been an adventurer, a month!?"
"Not even."
"The previous record was the Sword Princess at a year, meaning he beat the record by over twelve times, right?"
"More like eighteen times."
"That's bullshit."
"It's true, though. I confirmed it with the Guild just this morning."
"It's bullshit because it's true!"
"Seriously, what a freak of nature."
"Magic alone doesn't explain that. Hell, nothing explains that. Hestia, what have you been hiding?"
"At the very least, it must be a Rare Skill, right?"
"Mm, would even that be enough? Something like this—isn't it like what the King did?"
"He's right; just one skill wouldn't explain something like this. Two or three, maybe even for or five, and even then it's a stretch!"
"There's gotta be something else, too, right?"
"Or…hm."
"What is it?"
"Isn't there another explanation? It's not necessarily a matter of Status, you know. That boy wasn't the only one in the Dungeon at the time."
"It's true. By the time we got to view things, it was obvious that a lot of stuff had already happened—Hestia had already entered the Dungeon!"
"And I heard she'd been seen West Main a few minutes before. Entering the Dungeon and covering eighteen floors that fast isn't exactly normal, is it? Even for the strongest adventurers in the city, something like that would be impossible, especially without anyone noticing."
"That's true, that's true."
"Then are you saying…?"
"It makes more sense that way, doesn't it? By the time we could see what happened, the Goliath had already appeared and that boy was fighting it on even footing! A monster spawning on the eighteenth floor, a Level 1 adventurer matching a Floor Boss, covering that distance in an instant…they're all absurd things, but there's an easy explanation."
"Hestia…did you use your Arcanum?" Someone in the crowd accused, voice sharp as a knife.
Hestia, for her part, had been sitting beside Hephaestus, trying to pretend she didn't exist, probably in the futile hope of not drawing attention to herself. Even when the gods and goddess began throwing around speculation, she remained resolutely silent, hoping to endure with sheer force of will. But even she couldn't ignore an accusation like that.
"I didn't!" She shouted, straightening at once and sounding scandalized. For a god, using their Arcanum in this world meant breaking the rules set down among them—and, thus, meant a one way trip back to Heaven for whoever did it.
"Then what happened?"
"Frankly, divine intervention is looking like the most logical explanation right now."
"No matter what the Guild says, you can't possibly expect us to believe what happened was normal. You must have done something!"
"It makes sense. If you used the Arcanum to do it, raising a child's Level or giving them special skills would be easy enough…"
"What a foolish claim," Hephaestus interrupted and dismissed, looking at them disdainfully. "If she'd used her Arcanum, we all would have felt it—and plenty of witnesses can attest that the Goliath spawned long before Hestia entered the Dungeon. Idiots, if you're going to try and strong-arm her, try something that makes sense."
It was true, Loki begrudgingly acknowledged. The divine aura that naturally surrounded the gods went into overdrive the moment they tried to use their true powers, allowing the gods to sense when the rules were broken. To say nothing of being on the eighteenth floor, being on the other side of the world wouldn't change that.
"But how many gods use their powers in the Dungeon?" Someone still tried to claim. "Given what it is, it could have masked her signal."
"Why don't we test it?" Hephaestus answered, rolling her eyes. "Why don't you use your power in the Dungeon and see what happens?"
"Ouch."
"Phae is so mean~"
"Come to think of it, she and Hestia are as chummy as always."
"Even her adventurer was there again!"
"Did you see that magic sword! Hey, isn't it a little unfair that Hephaestus can just have those made at will?"
"Oi, Hephaestus, haven't you ever heard of game balance?"
"I heard he reached Level 2 as well…"
"Two adventurers reaching Level 2 all of a sudden, huh?"
"Hey, then should we use this chance to give them their Aliases?"
"Something like…the magical faery swordsman, Forest Fire!"
"The absurd magical smith, Forge Breaker!"
"Oi, oi, didn't you guys hear? There's a bunch of rumors going around about how close he and Hephaestus are. In fact, one of my children heard a smith say that his wish was—"
"Oh! Then it's obvious, right? The passionately burning swordsman, Love Sword!"
"Oh?" Hephaestus wondered, closing her eye. "And maybe I should double the price of everything in my store for all of you? Somehow, it seems you all forgot to invite me to the last meeting. I'm still somewhat irate."
"We're sorry."
"Please forgive us."
Hephaestus huffed once and then glared at them all for good measure, relaxing in her seat. Beside her, Hestia looked up at her friend gratefully, seeming relieved that the situation had been defused.
In any other case, Loki might have let it slide for Hephaestus' sake. But—
"Hey," She said. "Isn't that a bit much, Hephaestus? Idiots or not, they've got a point. Even if she didn't use her Arcanum, it's clear that she's hiding something major. A Level 1 matching a Goliath in combat, taking hits and hitting it back, lasting far longer than he has any right to. Hestia appearing on the eighteenth floor without passing through any of the floors in between. That strange shadow she was carrying around, that ate a Goliath's magic stone and turned into a giant dog. On a day when two irregularities already appeared, do you really expect us to shrug and ignore this? Even if she didn't use her powers, nothing that boy did was natural! How do we know he's not tied to what's happened!"
"Loki…!" Hestia murmured, gritting her teeth and flushing.
But before she could answer any further, Freya interrupted.
"That's quite an accusation, Loki," The Goddess of Beauty mused with a chuckle. "One wonders if perhaps you're not just upset that your favorite's record was broken."
This time, it was Loki's turn to growl.
"Freya, what are you doing?" She nearly snapped.