SUP!

Follower here, bringing the third chapter of this story.

This is a calm entry on the story, I've left the action and fighting for the next one.

I want to point out this story was written before that Danmachi movie, so any differences regarding Artemis Familia are to be expected.

Also, I'm proud to say that I've reposted the first chapter, this time correctly edited and, I hope, without all those errors.

I wrote that first chapter and posted just for the sake of posting it, not giving it much mind, but when I read it again, I realized that I hated the way it was. So now it has less of those errors.

There are still errors though, I'm still learning, but I think they aren't as crass as they were.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

AVANTI!

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Come on, Lil'E, move it!", Welf yelled.

"Shut it! I'm going as fast as I can here!", she replied, equally as loud.

"Well, it's hardly fast enough! We've been waiting for well over thirty minutes for you!".

"Just give me a minute!".

"That's what you said seventeen minutes ago!".

"Well, you better sit down, then!".

"Why, you little...".

Hestia Familia was currently getting ready for a feast, and everyone was using their best clothes.

After the battle against Ares and his alliance, Loki had brought up the idea of a great party to celebrate both their win and also Artemis Familia, who had pretty much saved them.

Hestia thought this was a weird move from the goddess, but let it go. If one was to try and uncover every scheme of the mischievous goddess, that person would most definitely fall very short.

So, for now, she was content with just enjoying a night out with her Familia.

Also, it had been ages since she last saw Artemis, and she missed her very much.

The fact that Hestia knew Artemis had greatly shocked everyone around her.

Hestia Flashback

"You know goddess Artemis?", Bell asked, surprised.

"Know her? We were pretty much besties! We used to hang out all the time, but since she came down to form her Familia we kind of lost touch with each other", Hestia explained.

"Huh", the supporter said.

"What?".

"Nothing, it's just...from the little I saw of her and her Familia, she seemed really different from you", Lili explained.

"Well, I can see that, she has a more serious personality, but it never really bothered me. Actually, the fact that we were so different made us even closer".

Lili pondered that. People with such different characteristics usually clashed with each other, but as her history with the Hestia Familia had showed her, being different could paradoxically make them closer.

'Still, it's weird to see the two of them hanging out', the supporter thought.

"So this is your first time seeing her again since you left Tenkai?", Haruhime asked.

"Yup!".

"You must be very excited!".

"I sure as hell am! I can hardly wait to show Bell off to her! Arty always joked that I'd never be able to form a Familia as strong as hers, so today it's bragging day!", Hestia said, puffing her chest with joy.

"But didn't Artemis Familia save Bell?".

Hestia coldly glares at the Haruhime.

"Huuuh? You said something, newbie", the goddess asked, voice slightly angry.

"N-NO MISS, I MEAN LADY, I MEAN MA'AM, I MEAN...", the renart quickly denied, fearing the wrath of her goddess.

But all Hestia did was give her a small smile.

"Relax, I'm just joking", she plays it off, returning to her usual warm gaze, "but what you said is true. I'm gonna have to think of something else".

"Will the entire Artemis Familia be there? They seemed like a rather large group", Mikoto enters the conversation.

"They are not, only a few members will be going. Plus, from what I heard, most of them don't like parties and such, so they wouldn't all go anyway".

"I see".

"Will the red haired lady be there?", Bell asks suddenly.

"Red haired lady?", Hestia asks, confused.

"The one who saved me", the boy says quietly.

"I don't know, actually. Since I've never met her Familia, I wouldn't know if she was an elite member or not".

"Oh. Okay, thank you, goddess", the white haired boy says, dejected.

"So how about we do this: I'll introduce you to Artemis and we can ask her, so at the very least you can ask to send a message of thanks", his goddess said, with a smile in her face.

Bell's eyes shined, looking at Hestia in pure appreciation and gratitude.

"Thank you, goddess!".

Hestia blushed heavily, not prepared for such cuteness.

"Oh, Bell, you're more than welcome!", she said throwing herself at him.

Bell quickly opened his arms to hold the goddess, a bit stunned at the immediate action.

But before Hestia could hug him...

Lili pushed him out of the way, making him roll to the side and making her the recipient of the godly hug.

When realizing (quickly, due to the vastly different anatomy) who she had hugged, Hestia only clicked her tongue in distaste and made an annoyed face while disentangling herself from Lili.

"Lili, what was that for?", Bell asked, rubbing his head.

The sudden push had made Bell hit the wall close to them head first, and although he was fairly high leveled, the impact had still hurt.

"Not letting your opponent take the lead".

"What? What do you mean?".

"Don't worry about it".

And the conversation ended, with two grinning female adventurers, one smith looking very tired from all, a goddess and a supporter slightly glaring at each other and one particular white haired kid looking astoundingly confused.

Hestia Flashback End

"Oh man, this is gonna be a fun party. Food, friends and a bunch of people who have traveled all over and who probably have or know some interesting new designs", Welf said, getting fired up.

"Plus, so much new chatter from all over from all the gods and members!", exclaimed Lili, finally getting out of the bathroom.

"Seeing Aisha", said Haruhime.

"Seeing Takemikazuchi...a-and my whole Familia, of course", Mikoto whispered, blushing.

Hestia smiled at the readiness and happiness from everyone.

"Well, then", she turned to the door, "shall we go?".

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The castle was absolutely enormous.

It was made of the most beautiful white marble Bell had ever seen. The boy didn't doubt for a second the hypothesis of it being brought from Tenkai.

Intricate details in obsidian made the building seem even more beautiful, the colors somehow clashing while perfectly harmonized.

The doors were made from a weirdly shiny and beautiful kind of wood, having details engraved in gold.

In summary, this castle was phenomenal.

Even Hestia seemed a bit taken aback with the fanciness, having never stepped foot in this particular place for a particular reason.

'He sure went all out', she thought, hands balled into fists.

Her somber look was then severely shook when she heard a particular voice.

"Hey, Hestia. Sure has been a while, huh?", a woman said, her voice warm and friendly.

The diminute goddess turned to see a tall woman, with ginger hair and breathtaking green eyes looking at her.

The woman was wearing a green dress with white leaf like patterns on it. It was very simple and also very cheap, seeing as the material was equal to the one Hestia was using, but somehow it seemed perfect for her.

"ARTY!", Hestia yelled, glomping the taller goddess.

Artemis reciprocated the hug excitedly, wrapping her arms around Hestia and twirling her in her arms.

"How has it been, shorty?".

"It's been nice, you damn lamp post. What about you?".

"Everything just got much better", she laughed, letting go of Hestia as she spoke.

"Oh, wanna fight this early in the night?", Hestia flexes her arm, but no apparent muscles appear.

Artemis puts her arms up, feigning worry.

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of it, oh powerful miniature deity".

They both laugh heartily while Hestia Familia just watch, a satisfied smile on their faces.

Hestia keeps laughing until she catches a glimpse of Artemis' neck.

There, a silver necklace with an golden arrow glowed in the light provided by the lamps nerby.

Hestia stops laughing immediately.

'This may break our friendship, but I have to be honest' , she thinks.

Artemis seemed to notice the lack of giggles on her friends face and looked at her, seeing a pained but resolute expression.

"Hey, what's wrong, Hestia?", she asks, worried.

"Look Artemis, about Apollo...", Hestia starts.

Artemis gets serious instantly.

Apollo was Artemis' brother, and they were inseparable.

Although Apollo was a pain in the ass, Artemis still loved him dearly, with all her heart.

So when she encountered him while on one of her assignments, dirty and without a dime to his name, she was pretty pissed off at whoever did that.

"I truly am sorry for what happened, but I couldn't turn a blind eye anymore. I had no choice...no, that's not the truth, I had, but he crossed a huge line, and I don't regret my decision", Hestia spoke resolutely.

Artemis deserved the truth, even if at the cost of their friendship.

"I...I completely understand if-if you don't want to talk to me and...and hate me", she sniffed, looking down.

'Why the hell did this have to take place in one of Apollo's old houses?', she lamented.

After the win in the war game, Apollo had been stripped of everything. All his posessions, his money, his children...all gone.

Some went to join other Familias, some decided to follow their god and some, finally free from the God's grasp, went back to the life they had been so cruelly taken from.

His houses and treasures all were confiscated and later went to auction. This house was, for example, now property of the Demeter Familia.

He might've been long gone and a world away, but Hestia could swear that this looked like one big elaborate vengeance plan.

"Goddess...", Bell attempted to console her, but was stopped by Lili, her eyes conveying a clear message to the boy.

Don't interfere.

Although that wasn't something Bell was good at, he backed down. Lili was the best at understanding this tense situations, he would trust her.

She surely made the right call.

...right?

Artemis then finally moved, walking towards Hestia, making no sound.

The goddess of family merely waited, be it for a scream or a slap.

But what she felt was a hand on her head, gently stroking her hair.

"Lift your head, Hestia".

The goddess did, with a vexed face.

"I ran into Apollo and he told me all about your war game with him".

Hestia froze.

'Our friendship is over', she thought.

"And I agree with your punishment", Artemis said simply.

Hestia's shocked face was all the reaction she was able to muster, no words coming from her mouth. Seeing this, Artemis continued.

"Of course I'm sad for my brother, but his actions are inexcusable. I admit I did hold a grudge against you for a time, but some very nice people made me realize things weren't so black and white, and that you had very much reason and validation".

"You don't need to worry, I don't want to stop being friends with you and I definitely don't hate you. In your place, I'd have probably done worse", the goddess then smiles, "so how about we break this sad atmosphere with some drinks and stories? I'm dying to tell the one about the evil snowman we went against last year".

Hestia gave the most beautiful and electrifying of smiles, her eyes still wet from tears, and excitedly moved her head up and down.

"I'd love that!".

And so the two friends entered the castle, followed by the radiating smile of the whole Hestia Familia.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Bell was very lost.

He had only got separated from Welf for what felt like a second, but he completely lost sight of everyone.

Not that they were in any danger, the boy just got very anxious at being separated from them.

He was awful at this fancy events.

He hoped being with them would help, but now he was alone.

'What do I do now?'.

What did he do last time?

He remembers eating, drinking and...

Oh, god.

Dancing with Aiz.

A part of him desperately wanted to do that again.

But another didn't have the willpower to ask her to.

The commotion in his head made him actually dizzy, and he took a step back to stabilize himself.

Unfortunately, he took this step back at the exact same time a girl was walking behind him, and he ended up stepping on her foot.

"Oh, sorry!", he said, retracting his leg immediately.

The woman, whose red eyes seemed to peer deep into Bell's soul, turned to look at him.

"It's okay, no harm done", she said simply.

Bell took this opportunity to look at the person he had run into.

The girl in front of him had mesmerizing eyes, in which Bell thought he could easily lose himself into. Her red hair seemed to be flowing, even though she was completely still.

She wore a simple red sundress and her body seemed fit, but not to the point where it appeared as it was conditioned for strength. It definitely was conditioned for stamina.

'Kind of like Aisha', he thought.

Her face had a few freckles on her cheeks, which gave the girl a jovial tone.

All in all, Bell was sure she was one the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.

'And she's not even wearing any jewelry or expensive dresses, she's just naturally gorgeous, like Ais', the boy thought.

The adventurer then realized he had been staring.

"U-uhm...what's your name?", he asked shyly, blushing.

"It's...".

"REQUIEM!", a person shouted.

Both turned to the source of the shout, seeing a man wearing a hat with a feather in it.

"God Hermes, it's an honor", she bowed.

"Come on, you don't need to be so casual, milady. Just Hermes is okay", the god said, playfulness and good will practically dripping from his words.

"Such act would be an offense".

"I don't mind. Bell here calls me by my name", he says pointing to the still blushing boy.

Requiem them looks at the boy, her eyes judging.

"W-well, yes, I do. But that's because Hermes is a friend and we've been through a lot. He helped my goddess save me when I was forced to advance to the eighteenth floor and...", Bell stutters, trying his hardest to convey to her that he's not a bad guy.

"Forced to advance?", Requiem asks, completely switching the topic.

Hermes smiles.

"Oh, I love this story. Would you mind letting me tell it, Bell?".

"N-no, not at all".

Hermes then cracks his knuckles, preparing for the tale.

"You see, Bell had just levelled up to level two and, along with his Familia, decided to venture a bit farther into the dungeon. So they started their descent, but an encounter with another party forced them to face a monster party".

"Monster party?".

"It's when there's an aglomeration of monsters together".

"Oh, as in an horde".

"Exactly. Well, after fighting and making out of the area, they had the bad luck to encounter minotaurs. At this point, only Bell here was being able to fight".

The girl looked at the boy, a new glimmer of admiration in her eyes.

She had fought a minotaur back when she was a level one, and she got her ass handed to her. To take on multiple monsters like that just when he became level two as amazing.

"So he fought them off, advancing deeper and deeper until getting close to the eighteenth floor, because it is used as a rest area. But on the seventeenth, close to the passage to his safe haven, a floor boss appeared. Bell, being tired, wounded and also carrying his friends made a break for it and was able to save all of them".

"You praise me too much. I only did what it needed to be done, nothing extraordinary" , he said, brushing off the story.

"Nonsense", the girl said, "you valiantly fought and braved the dungeon, saving your friends. I, for one, think that is quite extraordinary".

Bell blushes even more.

Hermes smiles even wider.

"Wow Bell, another girl? Quite the player, huh?", the god says quietly to the boy, giving a playful nudge in his ribs.

Bell is pretty sure he couldn't possibly blush harder than this.

"I-I-I have no idea of what you mean!", he almost yells, drawing a bit of attention to him.

"Now, there's no need to be shy, is there? You're enjoying yourself, nothing's wrong with that", the god starts, showing his tongue in juvenile manner, "even if I think you're enjoying yourself too much".

Bell is now hiding his face in his hands.

'Maybe I went a bit too far?', the god wonders.

"Excuse me, God Hermes, but what do you mean?", Requiem asks, her face clearly confused.

'Oh Bell, I was just about to go away, but how can I not take advantage of this opportunity?'.

"Well, I'll let Bell here explain everything to you", Hermes joyfully states, clasping a hand in Bell's shoulder.

And so the god walked away, a satisfied smile in his face while the boy could only continue hide his face in his hands.

The girl turns to him.

"So, what did god Hermes mean, Bell?".

Bell only response was to try and hide deeper into his hands, puzzling the girl.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Aiz!".

"Tiona", the blonde says, seeing her friend.

"Quite a party, huh? So many people around!", the younger Amazon says, her smile as big as can be.

"Yes, there are".

"I was just talking to a girl from that new Familia and let me tell you, they're an interesting bunch".

"New Familia? You mean Artemis'?", Aiz asks, suddenly more interested.

It's not that Aiz didn't like talking with Tiona, but she was a bit too hyper at times, and the blonde wasn't able to follow her endless energy.

"Yes, exactly. So, I was walking down the ballroom, right? And suddenly I saw an elf".

Tiona flashback

The younger Amazon was walking through the crowd, trying to find some snacks when she saw a figure all too familiar to her.

'Wow, is that Riveria?'.

Tiona hadn't seen the elf today, so she jumped at her and put her hand on her shoulder

"What's up, Riveria?", she greeted, bubbly as always.

"I'm sorry, I think you have me confused with someone else", a different voice than she expected said.

Tiona quickly took her hand away, knowing how elves hated contact.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry! I thought you were my friend and...", she started to apologize, red hue on her cheeks.

"Relax, it's fine. Does that mean your friend is an elf as well?", the woman asked.

"Yes, a high elf at that!", the younger Amazon puffs her chest with pride for her friend.

The elf gets interested at hearing that.

"Really? I haven't met many of my kind in Familias. I'd love meeting her sometime".

"We should totally do that! I'll see if I can find her!", Tiona says, her hyper attitude back full force.

The elf smiles.

"Thank you, I'll be waiting, miss...".

"Tiona! And you are...?".

"Faye".

"I don't remember seeing you around, Faye. Are you a new adventurer?".

"No, I'm hardly a newcomer", she laughs, "I'm from Artemis Familia, so we hardly swing by Orario".

"Cool, you're from that new Familia! You guys were amazing!", Tiona gushed.

"Thank you, but we were only able to help because you valiantly held them and defeated their strongest members. Since we don't go to the dungeon, our levels are way lower than yours".

"They can't be much lower, you were all so perfect at handling them".

"Oh, but we are. Our strongest members are level three's. And I don't think we were perfect, we just had the surprise and stealth factors with us. If it weren't for Loki Familia's disposing of their level six, we wouldn't be of much help".

"Level three? You guys don't have access to the dungeon and are still level three? That's amazing!".

Faye gently smiles at the girl.

Tiona then remembers.

"Oh, right, I have to find Riveria!".

"I'll be waiting", Faye says, giggling.

Tiona Flashback End

"She was sooo cool! The way she was composed and her eyes and...", Tione chatted away.

Aiz was only listening, trying to keep up with her friend.

She had been interested in this new Familia, since she never heard of them and, from what she'd seen, they looked really strong.

Being level three without using the Dungeon was something extremely amazing. There were no infinite monster respawns on the surface, only escapees.

Artemis Familia, if they were to stay at Orario, would easily rise to be a top guild in no time.

That was her point of view, at least.

"So now I'm trying to find Riveria! Have you seen her somewhere?".

"She stayed at the guild. She said she was finishing on reading a book and would come if she ended it early".

"Oh, come on! Everyone knows that when she says that, she's not coming!", Tiona threw her hands up, disbelief that her Familia fell for that.

Loki Familia didn't actually fell for it, though, they just let her to it.

Riveria wasn't the most social member of their Familia, even though she often went out to eat with them.

"Well, how about you tell Riveria when we get home?", Aiz said, trying to help.

"I guess there's no other option, but still. This sucks!".

The Amazon started pouting, angry.

"How about we go tell Faye together, then? And then we can see if she wants to visit", Aiz said, not liking the look on her friends face.

Tiona stops pouting immediately.

"Really?", she asks, eyes hopeful.

Aiz only nods.

"All right! Let's go", she says, practically running back to the elf.

The blonde smiles and follows.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"What a party!", Loki exclaimed to no one in particular.

The goddess, face red from the wine, seemed to be having a great time.

She was dancing, she was partying and she even scored a dance with Lefiya!

Ok, not so much a dance. It was more Loki flailing Lefiya's arms around and singing offbeat.

'Still counts', she thought, smiling again at the memory.

But perhaps most importantly, she got the Intel she had wanted.

'Suggesting this was one hell of an idea', she complimented herself.

The moment Artemis Familia appeared, she got interested.

There wasn't much info about them, and who knows how many adventurers one might enlist in a period of years.

And the moment they won the battle for Orario, Loki got attentive.

This was no run of the mill, pushover outdoor Familia. They were good.

And if their methods were any indication, they were better than she had anticipated.

To have a plan go so smoothly, there were only two explanations.

One: they've done this before. Possible, but unlikely. Such a massive incursion needed lots of training, and Loki doubted they had toppled that many kingdoms without this information getting to her.

Two: they never done this before, and they were absolutely phenomenal at it. This was the hypothesis Loki was working with.

It had a bigger margin of error, but it made more sense.

Loki absentmindedly looked at nowhere in particular, festive eyes dropping to a bare, calculating look.

As great as this party was, Loki wasn't in the mood for it. Even she had days which she would rather stay home.

But gathering Intel took priority, so here she was, smiling and laughing away in a mostly perfect façade.

Mostly.

"My, what's with that look, Loki?", a velvety voice asked, pulling her back to reality.

Loki mentally berated herself for the slip.

"You know, Freya, sometimes a girl can only drink so much before her stomach starts to rebel", she joked.

"Oh, so that's why you were looking so disdainfully at the candelabra?".

Loki's smile widened.

"Of course, what else could it be?".

Freya only smiles, and Loki looks at her.

She was, quite possibly, the most beautiful being on Genkai and Tenkai. But for all her beauty, she had quite a nasty side.

She played and broke everyone.

She sauntered towards all, like a gentle wind, and then went away, leaving all gasping for air.

In a manner of minutes, Freya became oxygen. She became her targets reason for living.

She was everything.

And then, when she inevitably left, there was nothing.

Loki was always more in guard with her around.

Hermes was one thing, he was dark but he chose his battles.

Freya didn't need to choose her battles. The only Familia in the world that rivalled hers was Loki's very own, and even then it would be anybody's guess who would win.

No, Freya didn't choose.

Freya seeked conflict.

"So many new faces around", the goddess of beauty spoke.

"Yeah, Artemis sure has lots of children under her".

"Some great ones to boot".

Loki became interested.

"Like who?", she asked, mischievously.

Freya smiles sweetly, and Loki swears she heard about seven people fall down behind her, dazzled by the goddess.

"Well, I'm sure you already know", Freya counters, even more mischief in her voice.

"Humor me".

"There's two: the high elf and the captain. The elf apparently is immensely skilled with both magic and long range weapons, and the captain...just was a certain glow to her", Freya said, licking her lips.

Loki only nodded. Those were her picks as well.

Artemis had a pretty common Familia, nothing out of the ordinary for the majority of her children. But those two were severe exceptions.

"You'll try to snatch any of them?", Loki asks, half-joking.

"I would never do such a thing", Freya defends, gasping lightly.

"Right, my mistake", Loki scoffs.

The silver haired goddess turns to leave, giving Loki a few last words.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing you another time, Loki", she says, for once without a smile on her face, just completely serious.

"So will I, Freya", she responds equally serious.

Yes, if their Familias ever were to clash, it was anybody's guess who would win.

So for now, they both stood down.

'There will be a time and a place for that...', thinks Freya.

'...but not tonight', Loki thinks, unknowingly completing the other goddess train of thought.

And so both walk in different directions, their original masks back.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"The time you were all waiting for is finally here! Let's start the prize draw!", the presenter bellowed, "And in case you forgot, I am Ganesha!".

This was a very common activity amongst most deities. They loved winning and prizes, so this was perfect.

And since the god of the masses was a natural born entertainer, Ganesha was almost always in charge of running the show.

Here's how the draw worked: the moment everyone arrived, they also bought a number of tickets. Those could be individual or in the name of their Familias. It was also possible to buy more as the night went on.

The draw would be conducted from an enormous cauldron, big enough to put a medium sized ship to shame. Inside it, all the names of the individuals or groups that bought tickets were stored.

The tickets would be taken by an invention made by Asfi, which consisted in a extendable, malleable pole with two pincers at it's end.

Basically, a normal crane game.

Except that the crane had been made to only pick one ticket, so it would never bring more. Also, it automatically and randomly searched and picked the tickets in different areas than the ones it went before, making sure that no area was missed.

So, an upgraded crane game.

Gods sure were beyond human comprehension.

"First, we will be giving away a full expenses paid vacation for an entire Familia to whatever place in the world they want!".

"Please be me, please be me, please be me...", Hestia kept murmuring to herself.

The diminute goddess had blown all her money in tickets, hoping for at least one big prize.

"Let's see if your lottery curse is still kicking, shall we?", joked Artemis.

Hestia's lottery curse was a term invented by Artemis herself. Back in Tenkai, both of them often took part in giveaways and every sort of game which had some kind of reward, mostly because Hestia loved them.

But, as it turned out, the goddess was very unlucky. It wasn't uncommon for Artemis to buy a single ticket and get the biggest reward while Hestia got nothing even though she had a bucket full of tickets.

The pincer drops a ticket on Ganesha's hand.

"And the winner is...Goibniu Familia! Congratulations!".

"Dammit!", Hestia exclaimed.

"So far, everything is just as usual", Artemis giggled.

"Arty, you're so mean", the other goddess sobbed.

"Sorry, sorry".

In another corner of the ballroom, Welf and Lili were also expectantly waiting for the next prize.

"Shoot, I was so close!", the redhead lamented.

"How do you even know that? The sorting is made by name, not numbers. Your name could be in the other side of the cauldron for all we know", she responded.

"I just know it, okay? I can feel my paper there, just begging to be caught!".

"It better beg a bit louder, otherwise you'll get nothing tonight".

Welf glares.

"I sure as hell am gonna win something tonight".

Lili smirks.

"Wanna bet?".

Welf smiles, challenging.

"Oh, yes I most certainly do. If I get something, you'll do my chores for a month".

"If you don't, you have to do my chores...and Bell's for a month".

"Why Bell's as well?".

"Well, it doesn't matter how many there are if you're gonna win, does it?", she says, blushing a bit.

Welf goes back to glare at her.

"You're evil, Prum".

"Does that mean you're ckickening...I'm sorry, backing out?", she says, in a sickly sweet voice.

"Hell no! I accept your terms!".

'Too easy', Lili thinks.

"And now, we will be seeing who's going to win a new, rare piece of minotaur horn!", the god of the masses said, and the crane went inside the cauldron.

"Can you feel fate working, Lil'E? I've made weapons from that! It's as good as mine!".

The crane gets back at place and drops a new ticket onto the waiting hand of Ganesha.

"And the winner is...Takemikazuchi! Congratulations!".

The god bashfully accepted the reward as every member of his Familia and Hestia Familia's Mikoto embraced him.

"Dammit!", Welf cursed.

"Better start stretching, buddy. Doing a three person worth of chores sure hurts your back".

Welf only grumbles under his breath.

Close by to the both of them, a certain Elf was almost running out of patience.

'This is it. The all expenses paid two person trip to the beach!', she smiles, eyeing a certain blonde, 'if I win it, then I can take Aiz and we'll become even closer!'.

"Wow, Lefiya sure looks pumped", Tione says, eyeing the elf.

"Well, she was really looking forward to this", Finn said.

"And the winner for the two person trip to the beach is...".

'ME! SAY MY NAME!'.

"Tione, from Loki Familia!".

Tione blinks twice, and then turns to Finn, smiling deviously.

"Oh captaaain..." she purred, and Finn could only sweat nervously.

Behind them, an elf was now on the ground.

"Dammit!", she cursed.

Aiz only looked at her, curious as to why she wanted that so much.

'Maybe she likes the beach', she rationalized.

The elf continued on the ground for another ten minutes.

The night went on, prizes after prizes being sorted and given away.

To Hestia's chagrin, she did not win a single one.

To Artemis' happiness, she did. The goddess won a nice pair of gold earrings.

She tried offering them to Hestia, but the goddess was adamant on only wanting her own prizes, not anyone else's.

Welf was the same, only a small discussion had happened.

Hephaestus had won a better than average whetstone and, since she had loads of those, decided to give it away to Welf.

The blacksmith had thrown his win on Lili, but she defended herself saying that he didn't win this, the red haired goddess did and then gave it him.

An argument had broke out and now they were currently fighting about who won and who lost the bet.

Lefiya had recovered after Aiz proposed for them to go to the beach.

The elf was ecstatic when the heard of this.

She was less ecstatic when she heard her whole Familia was coming with.

Laughter and joy seemed to echo on the great ballroom.

"And now, to finish up the night", Ganesha bellowed, "we have our last items".

"This are two equal daggers with completely different properties. One is a Durandal weapon made by our favorite Cyclops, Tsubaki", at this the Smith, wearing her famous eye patch and a red dress, waved to everyone, "and the other is yet another item made by Hermes Familia's own Perseus", and, like Tsubaki, Asfi, who was wearing a blue dress, also politely waved at the crowd.

"This dagger is made of a material that will only withstand three blows before breaking completely. In other words, it's a joke weapon!", Ganesha bellowed, and everyone laughed at this.

Now, this was of course a horrible giveaway.

But gods loved seeing someone getting the shorter end of a stick, so it was, in parts, even more welcome than all the good prizes.

"Since this is a pair of weapons, we thought it would be funnier to give this to two different people. Without telling them which is which, of course", Ganesha said, "naturally, because of the nature of one of those blades, we highly recommend bringing a secondary weapon if one is to take this weapon to the dungeon".

The gods whistled at that first part, not really caring for the second.

"Also, for this one, the crane will be picking two tickets!", and the crane went and burrowed itself under the pile of tickets, twisting and turning for a few seconds.

This fired up the crowd a bit more. This was the last chance to win something here.

The crane exits the cauldron, and drops the last two tickets.

"And so, let's start! The first winner is...Requiem, from Artemis Familia! She only got one ticket, ladies and gents, and yet she has got it!".

The red haired walked up to the podium and, after bowing to the god and to the spectators, stood in a place near one of the boxes.

"And for the second weapon, the winner is...".

Most gods had stopped listening at this point, choosing to look at the beautiful adventurer on the podium.

Some of them started to think of ways to make her switch to their Familias

One pointed look from Artemis was all it took to take this idea out of their minds.

"My, my, that's a surprise! The boy who also only bought one ticket lucked out, folks! Bell Crannel, from Hestia Familia, is the winner of the second weapon".

The white haired boy walked to the podium, red with embarrassment from all the eyes on him.

He greeted the red haired girl again.

"Hey there".

"Hello. Seems like we both won in the end".

"Y-yeah, seems so".

Ganesha looks towards both of them.

"You may now choose your boxes!".

"Would you like to choose first?", she offered.

"No no no, you were called first, you should be the one to choose first".

Requiem smiles slightly.

"Well then, I choose the one on the left", she says, grabbing it.

"Then I'll get the one on the right", he gets his box.

"Aren't they cute, everyone?", Ganesha says, earning laughs and whistles from all the ballroom.

Bell was severely red, again.

Requiem had a small blush.

Hestia and Lili were not amused.

'Not another one', they lowered their heads.

Aiz only applauded, not hearing the god's little joke.

And so the evening ended.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Outside the ballroom, in a lovely balcony, a silhouette stood alone, basked in moonlight.

This little spot was quite a catch for the person. Here, she could be at her own without anyone getting too close or too noisy in her conversations.

Yes, Loki sure loved it.

"So, Hermes, did you get the info I asked for?", she asked aloud, not even looking towards the deity who was just going through the door.

Also, this place was amazing for secluded conversations, especially since the lottery was just ending, so everyone who didn't win were even more attentive than before, meaning they wouldn't realize two very mischievous gods were missing.

"Of course, Loki, what do you think of me?", the man, responded, and if the goddess heard a bit of anger in his statement, she overlooked it.

'Never bite into Hermes's bait', she reminded herself.

Turning towards the god, she smiled slightly.

"Then...is she really what we thought she was?", Loki asked, curious.

During the siege of Orario, a little Intel happened to fall into Loki's lap, and being the always curious deity she was, Hermes's services were quickly enlisted.

Hermes waits no time to answer.

"It appears so".

Loki smiles maliciously.

"Seems like our little Requiem has been keeping one big secret".

Hermes smiles just as maliciously.

"This got a lot more interesting".

Both gods then look at the red haired girl, who was lifting a small box and had a small blush on her face.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

On the way out, Bell was chatting happily with his Familia, his prize safely secured in his left hand.

"Good on you to win something, Bell! You're the ONLY ONE who did!", Lili says, disdainfully eyeing a certain red haired smith.

"I told you, it counts!", Welf shot back.

"And I told you, it doesn't!".

Hestia only laughed, and Haruhime and Mikoto were chatting to themselves at this point.

They walked for a bit until they saw three figures at the mansion's entrance.

"Arty!", Hestia shouted, and all three figures turned to see them.

One of those had a box identical to Bell's on her right hand.

"So they are Artemis Familia, huh?".

"Well, two of them, at least".

"Hey, Hestia. Hello everyone", the goddess greeted.

Everyone bowed to Artemis.

"So, fun night, huh?".

"It sure was. I'd like to do that again sometime".

"Well, stick around for some time and we will".

"I mean, I have to be here for a while longer because we're running out of weapons and we're also waiting for a portion of our Familia to get here, so sure!".

"Awesome!".

Hestia then remembers something.

"Bell, why don't you ask Artemis now?", Hestia said.

"Huh?".

"You know, for the rescuing. You said you wanted to ask about the red haired lady".

"...".

'I totally forgot!', he berated himself.

"Don't tell me you forgot, Bell? You said that right before we left the manor!", Welf joked.

"I-I-I...", Bell stutters.

Everyone laughs.

"It's alright Bell, no harm done", Artemis says, still giggling, "so how about you do it now?".

"Thank you", he says, and then starts, "goddess Artemis, I'd like to thank a member of your Familia who saved me and my friends. All I remember is that she had red hair. Can you perhaps pass this message for me?".

"Red hair? The only one with red hair that was with us...".

"Is her", Faye points at Requiem.

Everyone from Hestia's Familia sweatdrops.

'She was with you on the stage and you still didn't know it was her?', was the general thought.

Requiem, though, has a puzzled look on her face.

"I don't think it's me, I don't remember saving anyone with white hair".

"Well, Bell's hair was really red from all the blood, so perhaps you didn't notice?", Haruhime said.

"Well, now that you said that, other than the hair, there was a person that really sounded and looked like him".

Now it was time for Artemis and Faye to laugh.

'They are too adorable'.

The boy smiles and turns to Requiem.

"Requiem, thank you so much for saving me and my friends! I am in your debt! If there's anything I can do for you, please, do not hesitate to tell me!", he said, a little too loudly.

Artemis looks at Bell, slightly puzzled.

'Requiem?', she wonders.

"Anything?", she asks.

"Yes!".

"Then, would you take me to the dungeon with you next time?".

"Now, now...", Artemis starts, before being cut off.

"I accept!", Bell's says.

"Really?", the girls asks back, a small glimmer in her eyes.

"Sure, we'll be going to the dungeon in two days, so if goddess Artemis allows it, then you're more than welcome to join in!", he smiles.

The girl turns to her goddess.

"My lady, can I?".

"I don't know...", Artemis said, "I don't want to inconvenience them".

"It'll be no inconvenience whatsoever, Arty", Hestia said, "plus, we'll get to hang out together!".

"I'd very much like to hang out, Hestia, but...".

"Hmm, goddess Artemis", Bell speaks, drawing everyone's attention, "I promise that, this time, I'll be the one to protect her, so please, allow Requiem to go with us!".

Artemis smiles at this.

"Well, if you're gonna propose like that, then I guess I can't say no, right?".

Requiem smiles wide.

"Yes, I knew that you were cool deep down, Arty!", Hestia jumped, excited.

She didn't like the way Bell proposed, but that was Bell in a nutshell. He had a way of saying the right thing the wrong way.

"What do you mean, deep down?", she says to herself.

Bell approaches the girl.

"We'll see each other on the entrance to the dungeon the day after tomorrow, at six in the morning, ok?".

She smiles.

"Okay, I'll be ready".

And so the Hestia Familia left, leaving Artemis, Requiem and Faye at the mansion's door while they waited for their carriage back.

"Hey", Artemis says, poking Requiem in the cheek.

"Yes, my lady?".

"Why did Hestia's boy called you Requiem?".

"Now that you mention it, that was the name in which you were called when you won that", Faye pointed to the box in her hand, "why did you ask them to call you that?".

"Well, for the prize, I didn't get to write my name, goddess Loki wrote it for me", she says, holding one of her fingers up, "and when I was about to say it to Bell, god Hermes called me Requiem and I assume Bell just thought that was my name".

"That's...odd, don't you think, goddess?", Faye said, suspicious.

Artemis nodded.

"It sure is", the goddess agreed.

They stood silent for a bit before Faye spoke again.

"But good on you, Red! Bell said that he would protect you!", she said, sweetly.

Requiem sighed.

"First, stop calling me that. Second, I don't need protection. I'm our Familia's captain, after all", she said matter of factly.

"Yeah, but that was pretty bold", Faye said, a small smile on her lips, "not many people go around saying they will protect a level three".

Requiem huffed, but had a bit of red on her cheeks.

Their carriage finally arrived and the matter was dropped, but Artemis kept that bit of info she learned on her mind.

'They purposefully covered her name for the public', Artemis thought, 'what cold their intentions possibly be?'.

Artemis knew of those two gods knack for trickery and deception from Tenkai.

But for the life of her, she couldn't understand what they found in her child's name that was so important. So much so that no one else should know it.

'Maybe I'll pay Loki a visit', Artemis thought.

The goddess didn't like this scenario in which someone appeared to know more than her about one member of her Familia. Her captain, no less.

With her head full, she looked up at the moon.

'This is gonna be a stressful week'.