I know I missed it last chapter, but, to keep consistent updates, I must limit my pages. So lets start with how poor Hestia is doing...

Happy new year, by the way. (Please drink responsibly. And if you don't drink, please binge read responsibly.)

(Unless you do both at once. Can't help you there.)

Oh, and to that one comment from that one person who doesn't have an account: That's where Momiji and Kaede are from.

Chapter 14

(Someplace in the middle floors of Babel tower)

The 'grand meeting room'. A big, Colosseum styled room, with progressively wider rings of seats as you got further away from the centre podium. 'Etiquette' dictated that the Gods and Goddesses arranged themselves by Familia rank, with the highest ranks at the front, nearest Ouranos (or Royman, his representative) in the middle, representing the Founder (or the Guild) respectivly.

Of course, this lasted maybe one or two Donatus, before the Gods decided to sit where ever they wanted. For example, Loki, Freya, Hephaestus, Dain Cecht and Ganesha (the current top Familia), were sitting with Demeter (because Loki liked to tease the... bountiful Goddess, usually getting her attention by 'accidentally' poking her in the breast, instead of the shoulder.) Alone (Because Freya's beauty was intimidating and singular among all the Gods.) With friends (since Hephaestus saw Hestia as a little sister, as much as a friend.) With a group of like minded gods (the Gods around Dain Cecht were all wearing enough gold and jewellery to power a solar array with their reflections. Or at the very top back of the room (because Ganesha liked the way his voice carried from way up there, much to everyone's irritation.)

"Blurg... I'm already feeling exhausted..." Hestia grumbled as she found her seat next to Hephaestus, who, being one of the few Gods who lived in the tower, was one of the first to arrive.

"Hey tiny." Hephaestus greeted, giving Hestia a headpat (annoying big sister version), "Oh, brought something with you?"

"Kodori-san suggested that Hestia bring notes." Takemikazuchi said as he sat down one seat behind/between the two friends.

Sitting beside Takemikazuchi, Astraea added, "But, not one to suggest and leave it be, she also helped write the notes too."

"Even coloured the corners of the pages..." Hestia took out the bundle of paper from the leather folder, "I'm really no good at this, but she had some friends help her too, from 'back home'."

"Ahhh, yes, heard a little about them. I was never part of the calls though. Really curious on how she managed that stuff." Hephaestus nodded, looking over Hestia's shoulder as she sorted the papers, "Easy questions, mean questions, stupid questions... Huh, seems simple enough. What's this one here?" She motioned to the only page with a black corner.

"Things I should reply with, if someone asks me to do something that isn't covered by 'stupid questions'." Hestia said with a sigh, "I'm not sure I want to say any of this..."

Hephaestus read one of the lines then laughed, quickly covering her mouth to try and avoid attention, "Oh... that's precious. I'll bet Welf had a hand in writing that one." She glanced at the pages a little more, "This is actually really thorough. Her writing has improved a little too."

"Her time away has taught her a great deal." Takemikazuchi said with a smile, "Her Eastern writing is actually readable now, though, she uses some script I am unfamiliar with."

"She did say her home was more 'modern'. New words for new things?" Astraea suggested.

Things now sorted on the small desk in front of her, Hestia sighed again, "When are we starting... I just want to be done."

"Room looks about half full. Maybe another hour?" Hephaestus guessed.

(Dungeon floor 10, misty forest.)

The party, so far, had only one 'hitch' on the way here. Two, if you counted Maki needing to switch to her sword in the middle of a fight, where one more shot would have been much better. It was nothing 'bad' but certainly surprising, when a solo Hellhound attacked the party. Savage and alone, it had gone after Kaede. Bell was there in an instant, defending her from its flaming breath, before Welf could cut its head off.

But, poor Kaede had suffered a mild (still very painful) burn over her legs. Nothing a little burn ointment and a potion pill couldn't fix, and Lilly unpacked the salamander wool a bit early, so it wouldn't happen again.

"How's your legs?" Welf asked as they arrived on the tenth floor.

"Still a little tingly, but no problem moving." Kaede replied with a smile, doing a couple of short jumps in place.

"Well, if you enjoy your time with us, and become a regular member, I'm sure Ko-san would insist you dress properly for the dungeon." Haruhime said with a smile, though, she was also looking at what else the Bunny was wearing, or not wearing.

"Ehh? That would be expensive though..." Kaede mumbled, "I'm still just a rookie."

"Bah." Aisha gave her a pat on the back that nearly pushed Kaede over, "Work with us, and you'll have that money in no time. Oh, here's a chance to earn it, hush now."

The misty forest was one of those few places where monsters commonly spawned from the floor, instead of the walls, and as the party fell silent, they could hear the floors just out of sight cracking and crumbling, followed by grunts and groans of things pulling themselves out of the birthing pits. From above, they heard the ceiling too.

"Miss Maki?" Bell looked at Maki, who was looking up, the eyes of her fox mask glowing ever so slightly.

"Bats, right?" Maki asked, "Never saw them, but they were in that little book she made." Maki replied quietly, the special lenses of her mask cutting through the mist like it wasn't there, "You know, everyone should be wearing one of these. Gonna have to thank her later."

"Ahem, numbers?" Mikoto got her back on track.

"Oh, sorry. Four... five. Five bats, one... imp I think, and eight orcs? Wow those are ugly... Oh, a couple of them are picking up trees..."

"Wow, yeah, I want one of those too." Welf chuckled quietly, "Time to work. We'll cut through these then bee line to the path down."

"It's getting closer to lunch." Ouka said, getting his spear ready, "Think our four rookies can handle an orc?"

"Three?" Delly suggested, standing behind Lilly (who didn't do anything to hide her), "I think I'd be better with flying stuff, since no one else here will be in the way."

"Lilly likes this one."

"Okay, we'll separate an orc out for you." Aisha said, "Earmuffs on. Oh here." She reached into a pouch and plunked a winter hat onto Kaede's head, "I keep it for the colder floors, but you'll need this."

"Huh? Why?" the Bunny said, a little louder than she should have since her ears were now covered.

This of course, attracted the monsters, and the bats started screeching.

"I wondered why she insisted I put ear protection into my mask." Maki huffed after the fighting had stopped. She looked to Kaede, who was pulling the hat off her head while holding the bridge of her nose in that 'holding off a headache' kind of way, "You okay?"

"EVERYTHING SOUNDS LIKE I'M UNDERWATER!" She shouted, "I CAN HARDLY HEAR ANY-!"

Momiji covered her friend's mouth quickly, while everyone paused to listen if any monsters had heard them.

"Lilly has something for that." She offered Kaede a small metal vial.

"Urg bitter." Kaede said, followed by, "Oh it's better!"

"Kodori had the same issue the first time we were here." Welf chuckled, "I'm impressed, the three rookies did good work."

"Well... sort of." Chigusa said, the orc the three rookies took down vanishing as Chigusa took hold of its magic stone, "It wasn't very clean, so only the stone was salvageable."

"Eh, for a first try?" Aisha shrugged, "You'd have made a good Berbera, you know, before it all went sideways."

The orc in question had been picked apart by the two fighters. Maki and Kaede cutting and stabbing at its legs, then its arms, until finally Kaede cut its head off. Momiji's protection wasn't needed, but, picking apart the orc like that made its hide useless.

"It was pretty tough." Maki said, looking at her sword, then wiping it off and sheathing it, "I was having trouble getting through its skin."

"Your weapon needs more momentum." Bell said, very familiar with a fencer's technique, "While Miss Kaede's sword gets its power from a swing."

The others nodded, while Maki shrugged and Kaede grinned proudly, "Yeah, we aren't fighting at 'normal' levels. Just wait until you need to stab an eye or something." She gave Kaede a friendly punch to the shoulder.

"Lilly is done here!"

"Yes, it's all cleaned up." Chigusa said a moment later.

"Make sure your salamander cloaks are on properly." Bell said, "Let's go."

(The Manor)

The two Ganesha Familia guards who had arrived first to the scene of the Hearthstone Manor 'robbery' were at a bit of a loss. First, was the pile of groaning/comatose/blue bodies. Two of them had suffered very bad breaks. One was still clutching his groin in pain. Another looked like he'd lost his lunch just after landing. One was bleeding from the ears, alive but with a wicked lump on his head and eyes rolled back. And the last was suffering from extreme frostbite.

Second, were the people out to meet them. Dominating their attention (you'll understand why in a moment) was a giant metal cat... thing. They had heard this place was odd, with its gargoyle (currently only peeking its head out of the sand, grumbling at the odd long legged birds as they poked at him), or the 'girl' with the fancy tiara (with her silver hair, robin egg blue skin and cute little fangs). But now, there was the giant metal cat, and a small girl who had obviously been in combat, but didn't care that her clothes were hanging off her.

So, very pointedly NOT looking at the half naked Shinkage, they opted to pay attention to the metal cat.

"So you see officers. It was self defence." Hagane said when the guards asked 'what happened here'.

Him speaking made it easier to ignore Shinkage, "It speaks? I... you know, I'll just take your statement." One guard said.

"psst, shinkage..." Weine whispered, looking nervous, "we're supposed to wear clothes properly." It was obvious she didn't want to get near the oddly imposing presence of another Dragon, but Weine wanted to be a good girl above all else, and make sure the house rules were followed (even if clothes made her itchy.)

Shinkage looked at Weine, who 'eep'ed, but shrugged, "Very well. I will have to borrow something however..." She sighed, giving the giant cat a pat on the side, then followed Weine into the Manor.

"The first came over the back wall, by our pool." Hagane pointed his long spiked tail at the one with the massive concussion, "The second tried for our workshop." The one who's teeth were chattering, "The rest came in through the front, and met with Shinkage, the one who you weren't looking at."

"And you detected them how?"

"Yip!" A ghostly black fox said suddenly, making the two of them jump.

"We have guard foxes. They are very handy."

"I see..." they looked at the pile of bodies, then down the street where another set of four guards were approaching, "Did they mention anything?"

"Aside from mentioning a fire, turning off the water, and saying they would make Shinkage cry? No. They did know that almost everyone would be away today, and did not expect her to put up much resistance."

"Very well, I will report this, and increase the patrols near by." He said, the other four arriving, one of them stopping with a look of horror on his face and kneeling to use some healing magic on the guy with the bleeding ears. "If we find out what Familia they are from, we will report it to your captain."

"The captain is in the dungeon. While Kodori, Bell, Aisha, Mikoto, and the three Gods, are out of this house, Shinkage is in charge." He listed the 'order of rank' in the house.

"Shinkage being... The girl? Really?"

Hagane looked at the pile of ruffians, "Yes really."

(Kodori)

Once again, I was getting more looks. To get to the tower, I needed to use the main streets, so I was subjected to the stares of 'the people'. After 'lunch' and a change of wrap, all but two of my children had curled up in an adorable communal bundle in the darkest part of the rolling crib, while Kei and Toshi clung to the side, looking over with eyes wide and ears twitching.

It made me want to turn around, go home, and just cuddle them all to bits. But, I still had work to do. So, I endured the looks from the people, be it in awe, fear, or otherwise, and headed to the tower.

I was at the base of the tower, with its fancy doors leading to the Gods Domain, or the Dungeon. Floor Zero.

And I couldn't enter. I felt... fear. A cold, bottomless pit of fear as I got within spitting distance of the nice line of double doors that led inside. It felt like that chill had frozen my boots to the ground, and I just couldn't move forward. I knew why. It was obvious. The last time I was in here, I ended up missing for almost nine months. Nearly died a half dozen times. Had to do some very questionable things. And here I was, about to enter this place again. Sure, I was going 'up' not 'down', but it still meant being near that place that took me away from my family.

But... the only way forward, for my Family, was through here. It wasn't for me. It was for them. And if my new life had taught me anything, I wasn't living for 'just me' anymore.

So, I looked down at my children, and picked up the only one who was awake, "O-ma needs a hug, is that okay Yumi?"

The reply was a happy bubbly noise, that ended with her trying to bite my nose. I took it as a yes.

"Now lets see if we can skip the stairs... I was sure they had a ramp or something up the first few floors..."

"No you may not have my eyepatch." Tsubaki, the Cyclops, captain of Hephaestus Familia said sternly.

Yumi of course ignored her, but settled for holding her nose instead once her little hand found it.

"See? Not scary at all." I said to Yuki, who looked at her sister, then Tsubaki, and hid her face against my shoulder. "Manage to figure out my designs?" I asked.

We were in Hephaestus's office, with her paperwork heavy desk at one end, and neat forge/anvil setup at the other. The fire was just barely lit, but since no one was here working, and it wasn't cold, it didn't need to be.

"Yeah mostly." She said, "We're all pretty good at this kind of thing, but even then, I get the feeling you really simplified these from something else."

She struck me as the same type as Welf, straightforward and preferring honesty over all else. So, I gave it to her straight. "Yes. We don't have some of the things here, as I did there. So, I had to make allowances."

I'd been on the money, and she nodded, her expression unchanging, "Huh, well, aside from a little trouble keeping it all water tight, the first attempt is done." She turned to look at Yumi, "I'mma eat your hand if you keep trying to stick it up my nose."

Yumi's tail swished back and forth, but her hands tried to hug Tsubaki instead.

"Well, Miach Familia will be around soon, tomorrow probably, with the solution to that. Basically a gunk you apply to all the pipe joints. But cleaner than boat soup, and won't break down with the heat once it sets."

"Cutting Dain Cecht out then?"

"Yes."

"Good. His Familia is a reasonable bunch, but His policies tend to ruin any potential competition."

"I figured as much. But, he's going to end up helping us, even as he tries not to. Were there any other problems?"

"Not problems. But I've gotta ask, who came up with the name 'screw' for a rotating wedge? Or 'nuts' for a fastener on the other side of a 'screw'. Had to have been a guy." We laughed, because I knew she was right, "I mean, I get 'wrench' and 'screwdriver', but still, silly names."

"Well, what would YOU call it, when you take something long and pointy, and fit it into an appropriately sized hole?" I asked, smiling, making the (in)appropriate 'finger into hole' motion with my two hands.

Her laughter stopped cold, then she looked at me, "You're right. Those are perfect names, aren't they?"

"How are some of the other things? I'm guessing you've already figured out screws, nuts, wrenches and screwdrivers."

"Yeah, they are no good for precise work, but for what you want? No problem. Mass production is out of the question, but with those blast furnaces, we can melt all kinds of metal quickly. So long as we don't want to trust it in the dungeon, at all, this 'cast iron' stuff is reasonably decent." She put Yumi, now sleeping, into the rolling crib carefully, "Some of the other stuff... a 'telegraph'? That thing you needed all that wire for. And this 'railway' idea of yours... These are massive projects."

"The telegraph is a simpler idea. Thankfully, we don't use copper for much around here, so its fairly abundant. The railway is, if nothing goes wrong, something I'd like to take my children on, when they grow up." I smiled, setting Yuki down as well. "I want to show the Guild, the one who holds all the paperwork, that it works first."

"Still... We might have the wire, or can have it easily enough. But getting that much sap from the Amazon Jungle... That's going to be a real bottleneck."

"Once trade really starts going, we'll ask the next caravan to bring as much as they can. And I will work with Nazza on making an alternative in the mean time." I replied with a nod.

One of the 'big issues' I could see happening, was because I didn't want to 'invent' plastic. The most abundant waste product in modern day. There were other ways, like rubber sap, but it was in limited supply. The other ways were things like tar, but that would melt off in a heat wave, or crumble in the cold. There were other things I might try... But they were even more primitive. Like using bamboo 'pipes' to hold the wire. Sure, that MIGHT work in a city, but from Orario to Rakia? That was a good week away on a wagon.

"Well, once you figure it out, let us know." She grinned, "You've got a lot of us trying to be more creative, with these new ideas."

"Good. Hm, you know, I think I'm done for the day... Hope nothing has gone wrong at home." I patted my Fenrir coat, feeling the Tarot I had in an inside pocket, "Or in the dungeon."

"Well, if you come by tomorrow, we should be ready for a test run of your... 'pressure chamber'. So look forward to that at least."

"I will, thank you. Oh, is that other thing done?" I asked.

"Other... oh! Yes, it was a simple thing to make. It should have been delivered by now." She nodded, opening the door for me, "See you tomorrow, though, you might want to leave them at home. There's going to be a lot of noise. Nothing we can do about that, except turn everything off."

"I know. I know you're doing a lot for this, but I won't ask you to put everything down for me. I just have to make sure they are protected first."

(Hestia)

"Thank you all for coming." Royman started, standing before a magic window that was showing Ouranos, still sitting in his Chamber of Prayer in his eternal effort to calm the dungeon. "Now that the situation in the dungeon has truly calmed, we have called you all back again to try and settle a few matters, and move forward as the Centre of the World." That being the 'nickname' for Orario, "Also, to catch up on a few things we haven't been doing."

There were a few happy mumbles of 'nicknames!' Since yes, during the crisis, there were no Donatis, since the tower was all but evacuated of Gods, and that meant there was almost three seasons for new adventurers to hit level two, and thus gain a nickname.

Ouranos spoke before the excitement grew in volume, "Thank you, one and all, for helping the city. For those who answered my call, be it your first time here, or returning from far off lands, I hope you find the city a welcoming place, and that you continue your efforts."

Even the Gods would give a round of applause for that, no matter who their rival was.

Royman took over again as the noise faded, "As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Kodori, of Hestia Familia, has recovered from her time away."

"Hard to miss!" Someone said, "All those tails... so fluffy..." Then someone else said, "And those darling children! I just wanted to hug them to bits!"

"A-hem." Royman soldiered on, "So we will start there. Lady Hestia?"

Hestia looked at the first page of the little pile. She didn't read the first line out loud (You can do this Lady Hestia! (followed by a little heart and fox head)), and read the second line instead. "Kodori has reached level six, in her time away from home."

Of course, reaching level six in less than three years was not just unheard of, but impossible to fathom... She had to be cheating! There was no way!

Takemikazuchi put a hand on Hestia's shoulder, and she read the next line, having to shout over the noise, "The Guild knows all they need to know about it! I won't comment further!"

Hestia, being unusually assertive, killed a lot of the noise. Calmer now, Hestia repeated herself, then looked to Royman.

"Yes. Lady Hestia, and Kodori Haruhime, have both answered all they need to in regards to this. All I am able to say on the matter, is that Kodori has done things even the Gods would admit were great deeds, and earned the power she has." Royman picked up on Hestia's look flawlessly, becoming the right shield for the right question.

"What about those people she brought back? Did they become adventurers too?" Someone asked.

Hestia flipped the page over, scanned it, then said, "I added one of her friends to my own Familia, a Renard by the name Maki Hatsu." She glanced over her shoulder to Astraea.

"Yes, and I added Delly to my Familia. An Air Spirit." Astraea said with a smile.

This had the effect of pulling a little attention away from Hestia. Renard were rare, sure, but a spirit? They almost never became adventurers, but they tended to be very good at it. Again, a subtle deflection to the proper person.

"My Familia saw those two giants in the dungeon again! What about them?" A random voice asked.

Again, another page flip, "Ah, they are just enjoying their time in the dungeon. Unless you bother them, they will treat you with the respect you deserve." A nice way of saying 'leave them alone, or not, at your peril'.

"We've had a few reports about them." Royman said, "They've occasionally offered aid to parties in need, and even helped the town on the eighteenth floor with defence."

No more questions were directed at her for a short while, and it became more of a 'how is everyone doing'. Familia who needed to recover after losing people or money. Other Familia offering 'mercenaries' to smaller Familia, or reminding them of debts. Petty bickering. Not so petty bickering. This is why the Gods who hated the Donatis, hated it. All this annoying squabbling, that didn't have anything to do with them. Like Hestia. Her Familia was far too small to be involved in this...

Except now it wasn't. She almost missed it when someone yelled out, about two hours into this verbal skirmish, "If you're in such difficult times, why not ask Hestia Familia for help!"

Hestia blinked in surprise at the sudden question, but again, with that comforting pat on the shoulder from Takemikazuchi, she flipped over to the first page with the red corner. The room fell into a heavy silence as she glanced over the lines, found what she was looking for, and said, "The Hestia Alliance, before, and during the crisis has less than a dozen members total. Even with so few members, we help Ganesha Familia rebuild homes, fill out item gathering quests, and do as much good as we can in the city. To expect more aid from us, when two of our members also put their lives in danger to repair the damage done to the dungeon, so that peace would return to the city, is very selfish."

As much as she said those lines with a little waiver in her voice, she did cross her arms and look grumpy at the rest of the room.

For the first time so far, Freya spoke, "And how do we know your dear Fox didn't plan all this? Very convenient if you ask me, to be sent away as we-"

Real anger entered Hestia's voice, as she turned to the only black marked page and said, "To even suggest that a mother of only a single season, would stage something like this, that would put her, and her children in danger, and separate them for nearly three seasons, is very stupid."

Freya looked furious, but before she could reply, Ganesha spoke up GRANDLY (because that was the only way he spoke at a Donatis), "We were VERY FORTUNATE that Miss Fox was UNFORTUNATE enough to get stolen too!" This of course drew all eyes to him, along with a few mumbles, "YES I AM GANESHA!" He spread his arms wide, as if asking for applause from a stadium crowd.

"Order." Ouranous said, the single word silencing those mumbles. It was common to have arguments like this, but once the noise level reached a certain point, no one could really argue.

"Was it her idea to bring in Rakia?" Someone asked, "We didn't need them to help!" Another called out.

Hestia flipped back to a green page, "Orario needed extra hands, so Kodori called in a favour." At the end of this line, there was a 'give Loki a look' in brackets. So she did.

"Yeah! That's why the Fox even bothered with that prince guy, Marius." There were mumbles of 'The Rakia Man' his nickname since he did spend long enough in Orario to earn one, "If you were wondering, because of her, Mr. Rakia is King Marius now, and if you couldn't guess, that's where a lot of that nice red and white stone came from for the rebuilding efforts."

"Iron too." A weathered, wiry old man, with a receding hairline, long grey hair and a silver beard said. This was Goibniu, the God who's Familia rivalled Hephaestus Familia for weapon craft. Even here, he wore no shirt over his leathery skin, and while old looking, he had the build of a man in his prime. "It was the right call to make. Without that extra iron, we'd have had nothing to fix your weapons with."

Hestia looked to Goibniu, the unexpected words helping her case. He noticed her look of thanks, but just waved it off, crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and went back to looking grumpy. (For those who knew Goibiu, this was his default look.)

"I'm curious, what of these strange things from that book?" Another asked.

Hestia looked at the green page, flipped it over, found what she was looking for and said, "Hopefully the guild didn't charge too much for the book." Hestia looked puzzled, since this wasn't nearly as detailed as the other answers.

Royman picked up flawlessly though, "We believe we charged fair price for it. Paper and labour. As for its contents, there is nothing outright dangerous within. This of course does not include the actual dangerous things, but I've read the book myself, and there are clear warnings after each topic title."

Hestia smiled and blushed slightly, since she knew why the warning was there, and not at the end, since that was why Haruhime and Kodori occasionally had a repeat of their honeymoon.

Dain Cecht spoke next, "I picked up a copy of that book too you know." He said boastfully, "Even helped supply the paper, at cost mind you!" He added before anyone could groan at why the book might be so expensive, "But I can tell you, she didn't include all her little inventions in it. Oh no, she gave certain Familia a little something special."

The room started to murmur, as he pulled a fist sized ruby, perfectly cut and framed in gold, from under his white and gold trimmed robe. Even in the bright lighting of the room, it still sparkled brilliantly. Something like this would be worth a small castle.

He waited for the room to quiet down, giving Hestia what could only be a smug look, "You see, when that Fox of Hestia's recovered from her little quest, she got all but one of the top Familia together for a meeting, and tried to bribe them with little things like this."

Hestia calmly flipped over to the black page, but didn't say anything.

"Yes! She said she could make more of these!" He held the ruby by the nice gold chain, "That she could start mass production of potions. That with a little help from other Familia, she could make things that could only be found in the dungeon! It could destabilize our entire economy! Make dungeon Familia redundant!" He had all eyes on him now, as he stood and played the crowd, "With that book too! We would see a reduction in trade, since Familia from outside the city could make things that could only be found here! Alternatives for magic stone? Alternate ways to work metal that anyone can do? She would cheapen the efforts of our Children, who risk their lives in the dungeon to bring back these things!" He pointed at Hestia, "And its obvious that she is the real one in control of that little Alliance! Hestia can't even answer for herself!"

The room went pin-drop silent, both Freya and Dain Cecht, as well as some others, smiling in victory. But, with an icy calm that you would almost never see in the emotional Goddess of Hearth and Family, Hestia picked up the first page, one marked in green, and said, "I have not been among the children long." She took a breath, and gave Takemikazuchi's hand a pat but then brushed it off her shoulder, "So, my grip on politics is weak. But, that's why we have Familia. They help us enjoy are time down here, among them. They bring in money, food, and other things that we desire so that we can live, learn and experience life among them. So yes, she did help me." She waved the stack of papers, careful not to lose any of them, "Because she knows I hate politics. Because she knows I won't have all the answers you want, in light of recent events. And ultimately, because I asked for her help. Because her help here, will hopefully end this meeting faster, so I can go back to the things I enjoy doing." She glared at Dain Cecht, and spoke words that weren't written down, "And let me tell you, being anywhere but here would be more fun."

There was a bit of laughter, mostly from those other Gods who also hated politics, but also from those who really didn't like the money hungry God. There were even a few mumbles of 'Oh, she's going back to that page again?' 'What's she gonna say now?'

Because yes, Hestia did turn back to that black marked page again, "As for your first -accusation- Dain Cecht." Hestia looked at Loki, deflecting the question to the proper target. "Loki?"

"Yeah, have you really looked at that list of things? Sure, you could dig a hole someplace, or go out and find random monster nests that still exist above ground, but unless you are an actual alchemist who can make do with inferior stuff, we're still going to need dungeon teams to bring up the materials."

Hestia then looked to Hephaestus.

"Sure, we could make gems like that. Lots of them. But aside from being pretty, they are mostly useful for weapon making for magic users. And aside from you," She motioned towards the overly sparkly Dain Cecht, "And maybe Ganesha-"

"I AM GANESHA!"

"No one would wear something so... gaudy." Hephaestus finished as if Ganesha hadn't spoken.

Except now he did, loud and proud (as always), "THE PEOPLE of the CITY aren't all ADVENTURERS! I AM GANESHA! And I always think of the PEOPLE who can't afford medicine!"

There were a few affirmative noises among the Gods, mostly from those who didn't look well off. Hestia was about to say something, but then someone unexpected spoke up, "My Familia, and myself especially, truly appreciate the simpler, less expensive medicines and methods the Demon Fox has shared with us." It was Apollo, "All things considered, I... we, are not as prominent as we once were, and we cannot afford the more expensive equipment, or even the potions we need to survive in the dungeon."

This turned the tide against Dain Cecht, who looked like someone had just kicked his favourite pet as people started to call him names like 'money grubbing bastard'.

This devolved to a spat between 'haves' and 'have less', and it was clear that little else would get done today. However, being close to dinner time, Ouranos spoke again, "Enough." The room quieted down, "We will resume tomorrow."

Like a flipped switch, the room started to empty as the Gods and Goddesses made their way to the real reason why most of them showed up, the food, and to be social without the political garbage in the way.

(Kodori)

"Who's a happy baby?" I asked, getting no reply, though that might have been because they were looking like it was nap time, "Uh oh. No one's happy?" I rounded the corner in front of the Manor, seeing a pair of Ganesha guards at our gate, standing there, spears in hand and being... well... guards. "Gentlemen." I greeted, making them snap to attention.

"Lady Kodori!" One said, almost jumping backwards when I squinted at him, "Pardon." He said much quieter, glancing down at the children, some of whom were yawning, even while they looked at the two new people, "There was a small incident today, a little before noon."

I was a little sad, but I'd figured it would happen, "And you're just keeping watch then?"

"We are, yes." He replied, then asked, a little nervously, "Did you know that giant metal cat can talk?"

"Hagane?" I looked down at the children, "He's asking a silly question, isn't he?" I looked back at the guard with a smile, "Do you know who?"

"Ah, no. They wore no markings, and would not speak of who their Familia is. We've put those who were not in danger into prison, and the ones who were into our secure medical facility." He replied smartly, glancing down at the crib as well, and offering his hand to Tatsuko, who was making a 'I want that' face at him.

I smiled as she settled for gripping his finger, instead of demanding more, like his dagger or belt buckle or something shiny, "Injuries?"

"Um, well, one may never be able to have children." He looked VERY uncomfortable for a moment, but I motioned for him to go on, "Another suffered a very bad bump on the head. And a third had a severe case of chilblains." The old word for frostbite.

I nodded, "Well, I may visit your prison tomorrow. Please, make sure they don't go anywhere." I asked nicely, "And did either of you want tea? I'm staying home for the evening, and I don't want your efforts to go without a thank you."

The other guard replied, "Actually, we've been offered tea already. The cups are just inside the gate."

"Yes, um, the girl with silver hair asked a short while ago. Weine?" He looked to his partner, who nodded.

"Ah, such a good girl for being so thoughtful." I looked down at the children, "Should we go thank her?"

Again, I got more yawns and vacant looks. It had been a long day out for them, even though it was in such a small space, they'd seen quite a lot of the city.

"Welcome home, Ma'am." The first guard said, pushing open the gate for me helpfully, "We can continue to guard, if you wanted?"

"Come back tomorrow, after breakfast, if you want." I said, walking past them, ghostly foxes meeting me as I passed the threshold. They rolled and played around my legs for a moment, before jumping into my tails and vanishing, only to appear again a moment later, once again under my direct control, "But please, return home for the evening. We will be fine."

I made sure to say this with confidence, but also a clear dismissal. They both took the hint, and the first guard pulled the gate closed for me, and they left with a bow and wave.

Floor 18

"Well kiddo?" Welf asked Maki as they set up camp for dinner. "What do you think so far?"

They had set up a simple camp a little ways from town, mostly because sleeping in one of Rivira's inns was VERY pricey, and usually only done when someone needed to recover from an injury, or wanted a little privacy for other high effort activities.

The other reason, was that Welf had set up his little mini forge. Thanks to Lilly's insane ability to carry all the things, he could bring a small anvil (about the size of someone's foot), mini furnace (as big as two loaves of bread stacked on top of each other) and the magic stone heat source (powered by stones they'd gotten on the way here). It was here that he would do weapon maintenance, minor armour repair, or break down monster drops a little to save space (like minotaur horn, where the 'useful' part was about 1/5 the size of the actual horn).

And, being at least familiar with making things, Maki's attention was pulled over to him, instead of helping Mikoto peel vegetables.

"It's exactly like she said." Maki replied, motioning to the forest of trees, then above to the still broken 'sun crystal' at the top of the huge open space of the eighteenth floor. "Too perfect."

Welf laughed, "But?"

"It's still really amazing." Maki grinned, "She also said these cloaks were itchy." She shrugged her shoulders, the salamander wool cloak shifting a little, "And I would rather itchy, than burnt."

"Yeah, well, we aren't all fireproof like she is." Welf held out a hand, and Maki handed him her sword, "I'm really jealous, I gotta admit. Being able to just... handle metal with your bare hands? The things I could do, if I could do that!"

"It's funny you say that." Maki gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder, "She's jealous of your ability to just 'know' what to do with stuff." He looked at her with a curious expression, "Yeah! She told me about it once. She has to either watch or ask what you do, or study the crap out of it, before she can really do something with all these weird things."

"Huh... I dunno, I just seem to know? I mean, my father, grandfather blah blah were all smiths. Maybe that's why?"

"Well, I think you're both really impressive. And work well together. That makes me jealous, since about all I know how to do is fiddle with the softer metals, and put a passable edge on something." Maki watched Welf as he gave her 'spell sword' (name subject to change, or patent pending) a couple of quick brushes with a whetstone, then handed it back to her.

"Well, once this political garbage stops flying around, I'm going to pull you both into the shop and see what bad habits I need to break you out of."

"I'm looking forward to that." Maki laughed, "I'll go tell the others your all set up."

"Thanks."

"Hello Ko-san, oh, are you helping O-ma Toshi?" Haruhime was just a little away from the others, still within sight, but just out of casual hearing, looking through the Occulus.

"A-ma!" Toshi replied, the image going dark as a little hand tried to grab (and probably try and eat) the other half of the Occulus.

"Now now, if you did that we couldn't see her right now." Kodori said, moving her hand away, then distracting Toshi with ear nibbles, little kisses and then offering him one of her tails to drool on. "Hello Ha-chan." she continued once the child had been distracted, "Just waiting for dinner to start over here."

"We just got our camp set up." Haruhime nodded, "How was your day? No problems I hope?"

"Nothing we didn't expect." Kodori smiled grimly, "I will have a little follow up to do tomorrow, maybe a bit of paperwork for Shinkage getting a little rough..."

"Maybe? She didn't..." Haruhime's eyes went a little wide.

"No no. Just a little rough." Kodori assured, "No fatalities. I also visited Nazza, the Hostess, and talked with the Hephaestus Familia captain. Everything is going to plan. As wellllllll." The view shifted a little, "They put together the 'ice box'!"

Haruhime had a very small 'squee!' moment, "Your iced cream was VERY popular. I look forward to more."

"Oh! Talking to the Boss?" Delly said from behind Haruhime, "Let me guess, it's about the ice cream?"

"Oh hey Delly." Kodori said through the occulus, "Still alive and well? Maki?"

Delly struck a pose, but Haruhime was the one to reply, "You've taken all the fun out of teaching them, Ko-san." She smiled though, "At least, Aisha thinks so."

The three of them laughed a little at that, and from another part of the camp Aisha said, "You're talking about me, aren't you!?"

"Everything going to plan on your side then?" Kodori asked.

"Yes. We plan to have dinner, and do a little peek into the next floor, then return here to rest. Then tomorrow, we will try for the waterfall." Haruhime nodded, "I think we can do it too. With Bell-san and Aisha, we should have no trouble."

"Good." Kodori did look a little worried, but still managed a smile, "Take care of yourself, and make sure the others do too. Remember, if you need help..." She trailed off.

"I know, Ko-san." Haruhime giggled, a similar 'fu-fu', like Akeno, "Since I am your boss, after all."

"How are the other two holding up?"

"They are having a little trouble, but they are quite reliable. We will watch out for them. Especially since Kaede-chan wants you to make her some proper armour. Momiji-chan as well."

"I'll think of some designs over dinner then. Good night my love. A thousand years."

"A thousand years." Haruhime repeated, "Bye bye Toshi, be good."

Toshi made an attempt at a word or two, but really just got drool on everything nearby before the stone went dark.

"Well, Delly-chan? Shall we have dinner?" Haruhime asked.

NOTES

So yeah, some more 'what's happening' going on for all involved. Freya may or may not be getting the idea she's playing in the wrong pool, while the defences of the Manor are tested, and the rookies are trying to keep up with the more experienced members of the alliance.

See you all in SIX days (December has 31, so I get a day off). And happy new year! (Party responsibly).

Daeore on Ko-fi, if you want to toss a coin to your writer.

Daeore on Inkitt, if you want to read my book 'Were Too?'