(edit, years later...)

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Chapter 59

Until Haruhime had started making real motions of waking up, I kept at my translating. The chapter header of this one, was 'Metamorphic concoctions, as done by'. Who they were done by, was written in something else all together, but ignoring that, the blue afterimage had guided me three pages past that. I had just finished translating the first line, when Haruhime made her first noise past 'nom' and 'don't wanna'.

"Ko-san... what are you doing?"

"Cuddling you so I can think better?"

"Silly..." A pause, "What time is it?"

By now, I had written the first line in English, and scribbled out the Kione translation, "Time to figure out what to do with the rest of the day."

One of her hands played with my slightly regrown hair, "Make a better hair cream." She pouted at me, "And... I want to practise with you... You had seven tails."

"And you helped me beat a level five." I very carefully captured the edge of one of her ears with my lips, "Have I told you recently that I love you?"

"Maybe." She replied, "But if you keep doing that, we'll be late for morning exercises."

"And I still have to put up some sound proofing..." I stood, my tails hugging her close, yet leaving my arms free, "I have a feeling the next few days are going to be... very busy."

"Yeah..."

We had hardly started our collective morning exercises when our first visitor arrived. Eina, looking like she had just had the best sleep of her life, but also looking like she was not going to like the rest of her day, arrived just as we were starting to pair up for a spar.

"Miss Eina." Bell greeted her as Ouka led her to us. "You're... awake very early." He looked in the direction of the not quite over the wall sun.

"Because of what happened yesterday." She gave us ALL that bone chilling 'get ready for a lecture' look. "People are in a panic. I was told to go home after midnight, even though there were still citizens in the guild lobby demanding an explanation."

I shivered, counting up the hours. She started just after sun up, when the early bird adventurers, like us, were about to enter the dungeon. That meant... A sixteen hour shift? At least? "Yet, here you are." I said, "It's that bad then?"

"Yes. Though, strangely, I feel like I slept twice as long as I did." She smiled slightly, then returned to giving us all the glare. "Royman has told me to keep quiet, but since I know you're all involved, I am going to tell you too." She sighed, "Royman, by order of Ouranos, is going to put a bounty on the Xenos who made it up here. A very large one. Loki Familia is setting up a base near the site of the crater near the Daedalus district, to try and root out, and destroy them. Ganesha Familia has returned from the eighteenth, to recover." She stopped and looked at all of us, "And... Hestia Familia is being talked about like a bunch of criminals."

Bell winced, Welf growled, and most of the rest of us made a variety of unhappy faces. I had figured Bell's actions would be seen as... Less than heroic, but criminal?

"A bounty? But Lord Ouranos..." Bell didn't even bother defending his actions, we all knew why, and agreed with him.

"Lilly can guess why." Our supporter started, all eyes turning to her. "Greed. A large bounty will draw all types. Who will only work together until the bounty is in sight."

"Loki Familia is going to be a problem too..." Ouka said, tapping the butt of his spear into the ground.

I took hold of my golden tail, "I hate politics." The fuzzy appendage struggled to get out of my grasp, but Haruhime's tails swatted me instead. "No fair."

"A large bounty will certainly bring out the worst in people." Marius said, leaning on his shield, "When ever a monster was spotted near Rakia borders, we had people tripping over themselves to catch it."

"And as strong as Lido and the other Xenos are." Asuka said, "And unless Loki Famlia gets involved, no one is going to tell them if they find them."

"It's given them time. But the next trick is how to get them out of hiding and back into the dungeon." I added, "Eina?"

"Yes?"

"We are going to help them. You know that, right?" Beside me, and all around, both Familia nodded in agreement.

"I'd expect no less of you all." She smiled, shaking her head, "But, please, try not to break too many rules?"

"We left her behind." Bell said, "I left her behind." He looked down at his hands, Lilly reaching up and patting his elbow, "And we do not leave Familia behind. We must apologize in advance, Miss Eina."

"You owe me dinner, Mr. Cranelle." She said firmly. "Stay safe, all of you."

"We will try." Bell replied, absently giving Lilly's shoulder a pat.

We all watched her leave, our favourite Guild employee waving to us as she closed the gate behind her. After she vanished, we all turned to face one another.

"Is there anything we can do? Right now? To help them?" Bell asked us, before all eyes turned to me a moment later.

"What?"

"The Fox is wise." Mikoto said.

"There are two foxes here." I replied, hiding behind Haruhime, who ears only came up to my chin.

"But Ko-san is older." Her ears flicked against my throat, tickling me, "And you are the captain."

"Bell is the captain." I said.

"Miss Kodori, since you've recovered from your injuries, I return your title of Captain." Bell said formally.

"Then my first order, is for some one to ruffle his hair for me." I said, smiling as Welf got him in a headlock and Lilly messed up his hair. "Okay fine. Let's see..."

And so our morning spar was replaced with trying to figure out exactly what we could do, against the odds before us.

"Whoa sister! You okay?" Welf said as I stumbled into the workshop's forge area.

"Ha-chan beat me up." I said, sitting down heavily and spreading out my scaled coat.

"Seriously?"

"She's determined to be 'useful'. And she's been taking extra lessons from Lord Takemikazuchi, as well as learning how to use my magic. Caught me off guard with a really good throw, and it went down hill from there."

Welf laughed at me as I made a show of rubbing my backside. "Speaking of, have you figured out your new magic? I mean, if Haruhime has yours, you have hers, right?"

"Sort of. Before, I couldn't push my magic out of my body. My little foxes," I flopped one of my tails onto the workbench my coat was on, and summoned a little fox, "Were the exception, but only if their tail stayed connected to my tail."

"Yip." Said the little fox, sitting properly for a half second, then scratching behind its ear with a hind paw, the double sensation making my own ear itch.

"Yeah, I remember. And I've seen you do bits of foxes too. Like just the mouth." He shivered, "Not just your hands and feet anymore."

"Well, now..." I gave the black and gold fox a mental nudge, and it hopped off the table and trotted over to Welf, sitting again. "I can move them around a little more." The ghostly fox then bit the edge of his pant leg, and started wrestling with it. "But that's more or less it."

"More or less?" He gently booped the mini fox's nose and it let go of his pant leg.

"Well, adding a little more power to it..." The fox started to grow, until it was about the size of a large house cat. "Or a little more." Now it was around the size of a hell hound. "The biggest I've tried was able to pick some one up like a chew toy."

"Yip." The fox agreed, though its voice was still tiny.

"Well..." Welf looked at the apparition, then made a face as its ghostly tongue licked him. "Hey I'm not food!"

"Thankfully, I can't taste that." I said with a laugh, cutting the magic off and watching as the fox faded away.

"Har har." Welf replied, "But... If you can project your magic now... Maybe..." He grinned, "Want to try enchanting something without any Ko-steel?"

"After I see if my coat is salvageable." I replied, holding it up, "Dix's spear went through it like paper, and left a lot of holes."

"Damn... oh, what's that?" Welf poked his finger at one of the holes, and Dix's notebook fell out of the pocket I had it in.

I picked up the worn leather bound notebook, the edges lined with many MANY little bookmarks and dogeared pages. "This, is Dix's notebook. After Haruhime and I beat the stuffing out of him, he said I should look at it. Then Chani shot him in the heart." I shrugged, "He was bleeding out, and I wasn't about to heal him, so I wasn't too upset about it."

"That's a little cold, sister." Welf said, giving me a sideways look, "But understandable. I only managed a glance into that big warehouse room, and I saw the cages..."

"Me too... I know 'monster fetish' is a dirty word in the streets, but..." I shook my head, "Never mind, not going there."

We both nodded then looked back to the notebook in my hand, "So, what's in it?" Welf asked.

"Dunno..." Picking a primitive stick-um at random, I carefully thumbed open the book. "Um..."

My golden tail was flicking against the back of my head repeatedly, until Welf distracted it with a hand. "That's... The dungeon, right? What's this around it?"

On the page was a diagram. At the top, looked to be 'ground level', with the bottom of Babel just visible. Under that, done in black, was a pyramid like drawing, done in lines. Representing floors, if I had to guess. Next to that, on either side, done in red was a mirror of those floors. There was a little note, done in a neat hand, that said 'Gnossis'.

"That's... Insane! Crazy..." I flipped back a page, squinting at the horrible writing and reading it aloud, "Gnossis, the mirror of the dungeon." I flipped back to the drawing, "That's what he meant."

"Is that... That is what he was doing? Building a dungeon, around the dungeon?" Welf scratched his head, "But... Why?"

"I can think of a thousand reasons. But... This would take hundreds of years." I leaned back in the chain, closing the book and shaking my head, "Daedalus... Just as crazy as the stories I've heard."

"You've heard of him? But you're not from around here." Welf took the book from my hand, cracking it open again, "That's always puzzled me. I don't mean to pry, sister, but..."

"The stories here, and where I'm from have... a lot in common. Some big differences, here and there, but..." I waved at the book, "For example, where I'm from, Daedalus was indeed a scholar, but not so much insane as... progressive." I leaned forward again, rubbing my temples, "Remember the war game? Icarus, was one of his students. Who made wings of wax, and flew too close to the sun, melting the wings and falling into the sea."

"That's the same story here." Welf nodded, "Holy... Reading the metals and other materials... No wonder they needed money so bad." He got a pencil and started writing down something, "Oh, I haven't seen this... Orichalcum... Wonder if Tsubaki knows it..."

"Astronomy, medicine, alchemy, Daedalus was seen as a madman, who couldn't contain his curiosity. A lot of his experiments, and the results, were seen as black magic, when it was really just science." I explained, turning back to my poor coat and laying it out again, "I think I should show that to Royman, or maybe ask to see Ouranos... I mean, He is supposed to oversee the entire dungeon, right?"

"What about Hermes?" Welf asked, "This looks like something he'd be interested in."

"Oh... Guess I forgot about that at the meeting." I began emptying the coat pockets, "Hermes was still watching our place while we went out, and did nothing to stop Ikelos Familia from kidnapping Wiene." Welf looked up from the book, looking at me like I'd grown a second head, "After finding that out, I want nothing to do with Him. Told Him to..." I looked back at my golden tail, "Yeah..."

"That..." Welf then proceeded to swear like a sailor going sober, until my golden tail swatted him. "Hey ow. No fair."

"Yeah... I plan on spreading that around to a few select people. Maybe after her year is up, we can get Aisha to join us." I grinned, "Keep Ha-chan from beating me up."

"She'd help her beat you up."

"That's okay too."

"Way too much woman for me." He chuckled, "Oh... Is that..." He noticed Wiene's prosperity stone, the viouvre tear, sitting in the pile I'd made.

"Yeah... Dix pulled it off her head. And she couldn't resist changing into a full dragon." I held it carefully between thumb and forefinger, "I have a few ideas for it, but... I almost want to throw it away."

"Like what? And no, please don't throw it away."

"Well, I could, very quietly, give it to Lady Hephaestus, to put against Lady Hestia's debt." I said, carefully putting the stone into a gem pouch. "And then not actually TELL Lady Hestia." I grinned, and we shared a laugh.

"I'd be okay with that plan." Welf said after a moment, "I mean... Yeah, thinking about it, I can see why you'd want to throw it away... Poor fireball..."

"Yeah... Anyhow, lets get some work done before lunch. Not every day we get to save a race of people."

We shared a fist bump, then got to work.

Welf begged off actually showing up for lunch, but I made sure he at least got some brought to him. Lilly, Mikoto, and Marius were all in the kitchen, putting together some care packages for the Xenos.

"A good field ration." Marius started, "Starts with size. An army runs on its stomach, but if it's carrying too much, it can't run at all." I heard him say as I entered the kitchen, "The less water, the better. If it needs water, then we use a cook pot. One person can carry ten people's water, while each person can carry their own food for ten days."

"Lilly thinks it tastes terrible." She offered me something that looked like a salad that had been compressed into a cookie. There was a Lilly sized nibble out of it, but I accepted it anyhow.

"She's right, this doesn't taste very good." I said, "I've had worse. But..."

"We used to eat almost nothing but rice, back at the orphanage." Mikoto said, "But, rice can go with anything."

"Salt won't save the taste on this." I replied, nibbling again, "What about dried meat?"

"Ouka and Asuka are working on that." Marius said, "Since our own supply for the dungeon was rather low to start..."

"Mister Bell and Lady Hestia went shopping." Lilly added, "Though... People on the street started to boo them as soon as they left."

"People's opinion can change quickly. He was fighting for a monster, or, in some people's eyes, for the monster's item." I said with a frown, "But, that won't stop him." I managed to finish the vegetable cookie, "Well, it tastes terrible, but sits well." I tried to think of what passed for 'rations' back home, but I'd never done any service in the military, and oatmeal was the food of choice fora boyscout breakfast. I had no clue how to make a 'calorie mate' or the like either. "When we know a little more about what they have, and what they eat... Keep it simple. They might not even have water, or a way to boil it if they do have it."

The three nodded at me, and I felt a little tap on the side of my foot. Looking down, I spotted Chime, who gave my foot a second headbutt.

"Oh... Did you want to try the vegetable cookie too?" I asked, picking up the micro rabbit and petting her, "If you like it, I'm sure at least one other Xenos will too."

"Ah good." Mikoto said, holding out a bit of green cookie, "We didn't manage a count of who made it out."

"I did see a very large needle rabbit." I said, watching Chime slowly devour the compressed salad. "Make a batch of these. Rabbit approved."

"Miss Kodori?" Bell entered the workshop, worry all over his face. "Oh? What are you making?"

I was currently mixing up the promised hair cream, but had a half dozen other potions brewing as well. "Mostly healing potions and the like. Our supply is low, the Xenos might have wounded, and they are always good to have around. Shopping trip not exactly what you planned?"

"No..." Bell sat down on the chair next to me after I gave it a pat. "You know how I've always wanted to be a hero. My grandfather told all kinds of stories to me, each one of them great in their own way."

"My dad did that too, mostly... Though once I knew how to read, I just read them myself."

"You had books? My little village wasn't very wealthy. Most of the paper went to other things, and books were expensive." Bell scratched the back of his head, then cleared his throat when I made a 'go ahead' motion, "So... How does a hero know what to do? I mean... You and I, our Familia, Takemikazuchi Familia. After the war game, and all of the things we've done so far. Everyone was happy with us. Two small Familia, doing well."

"Here's a saying from back where I'm from." I interrupted, "When I'm good, no one remembers. When I'm bad, no one forgets." I gave his shoulder a light punch, "I'll be the bad guy for the moment. People, when you get a bunch of them together, are like children. No matter how young or old they actually are."

He looked shocked, both my tone and words were cold, but I continued, "Think about it. We do well, everyone is happy. Do good deeds, help people build, be polite. You know, things a good person would do. Or even any decent person."

I gave the mixture I was working on a sniff, coughed, "Urg, hope this works..." I moved it over for Bell to sniff, and he covered his nose before it even got close to him, "Anyhow. Then you do something bad. Anything bad. Lie, cheat, steal, kick a puppy, whatever. All eyes are on you, so everyone sees it. Impressionable, like children. That, is where our two Familia are right now."

"But... Isn't a hero supposed to be loved by the people? Or even just liked?" Bell offered me a cloth to clean my hands.

"From a storybook? Sure." I sighed, "But no one realizes that a 'hero' is also a 'person'. Forget public opinion, Bell." I looked at him seriously, "The lesson here is, sometimes following the rules is the wrong thing to do."

"But..."

"Bell."

"Yes, Miss Kodori?"

"Did you do the right thing?"

"Yes."

"Do you regret helping the Xenos? Or saving Wiene?"

"No."

"If you knew that the people of the city would frown on you doing the right thing would make you unpopular, would you do it differently?"

"No."

"Even though you broke..." I was about to count out how many rules we had broken since Bell first showed me Wiene, but wow... "A lot of rules."

"No."

"Then, you're already a hero. Public opinion of that fact doesn't matter. So, how did shopping go anyhow?" I crossed my arms and looked at him until he nodded.

"We got everything... Though we had to visit the Hostess of Fertility, and ask Mama Mia for help with some of the food... No one would sell to Lady Hestia and I for a reasonable price." He paused, "Miss Aisha and Miss Ryuu were there too... They might come by later."

"Any noises from the occulus?" I could tell my tails were excited about seeing the two unofficial Familia members, but I tried not to show it on my face... Being a professional big sister is hard.

"No. Lady Hestia has it right now. She's... Been kind of upset about all of this. Even though Miss Wiene is okay now." He sighed, "I am too, honestly, but, you told me, not 'what if' but 'what now'."

"Good. I have to talk with Her later too. Oh... I was wondering, did you want to play a little joke on Lady Hestia?" I reached into the gem pouch I'd hung around my neck, tactfully not showing poor Bell any more than I had to. "Just a... very quiet thank you, that she doesn't need to know about."

"Mikoto?" I made sure to actually make a little nose while I approached her. I'd noticed that almost everyone was walking around armed. It didn't mean much to me, a bare hand fighter, but after the break in and kidnapping, as well as the city, literally overnight, turning a cold shoulder to us... Our laid back Familia wasn't taking any chances anymore.

It made me a little sad, really.

"Kodori-dono." She took her hand off the pommel of her katana, and went back to tending the soup pot. "I was just boiling down some more food, hoping to make it a little more... edible."

"Good idea." I stood beside her and observed. Smelled like boiled chicken bones and vegetables. "Marius and Lilly off to do something else?"

"Lilly-chan and Marius-san went to sort equipment, and see what needs replacing." She tested the soup, motioning for me to try as well. "A little longer?"

"Just a little. If they have water, they can add some to this and stretch it out a little more. If they have heat, and add rice... Hm, you're good at this." I smiled and resisted the mighty temptation to tell her she'd be a good wife some day. "Since you're Hestia Familia, I have to ask you something."

She looked at me weirdly. Understandable, since she was only with Hestia Familia for the year, to help us with the war game. We all knew and understood she'd switch back. "Something that only concerns Lady Hestia then?"

"Yes." I leaned a little closer, tugging the gem pouch from its hiding spot, "Wiene lost it, and changed into a dragon. But, I was thinking of putting it towards Lady Hestia's debt with Hephaestus."

She was silent, her eyes unfocused, "Kodori-dono... That is..."

"I know. I honestly kind of want to throw it away. But, since Welf and I don't know how to use it for making an item or something, it is only good to us for the money." I explained, "But, the catch is... I have to get all of us to agree. And... Not tell Lady Hestia."

"You would pay Her debt, but let Her keep working?"

"Helps get her out of the house, instead of sitting at home and snacking all day."

"True."

"Your answer?"

"I will keep it in strictest confidence."

"Good. Thank you."

"One point however..."

"Hm?"

"How will you ask Wiene-chan?"

"Directly. As soon as I can." I replied seriously. "We will rescue them."

"We must."

"Now I just have to ask Lilly... And Ha-chan..."

"Hime-chan would set herself on fire if you asked."

"I'm fireproof so others don't have to be." I replied, shocked, though we both laughed quietly.

"Lilly-chan... I'm not sure."

"Yes." Lilly replied, while Marius's eyes were (somehow, very politely) bugging out of his head.

"That... Was much easier than I thought it would be." I admitted.

"Me too." Marius said, "Ow."

Lilly kicked him in the shin, though by the look on her face it looked like it hurt her more than him. "Lilly thinks that it would be the best surprise. And... Lilly doesn't want to spend something that cost a friend her life, on herself."

"Best supporter." I said, patting her head, then just giving her a hug.

"Heehee." She replied, "Speaking of spending... Lilly found swimsuits for us."

"Oh?" I paused, squinting at her, "If you got me something a size too small, I will tickle you."

"Um..."

"Can you see still?" Haruhime asked me, as I sat in our 'magic training' room, a thin thread of magic stretching from me, out the door, down the hall, through the back door, and to the pool, which was now full of water. Haruhime herself was with the fox at the end of the thread, her soft featured face filling the mini-fox's field of view.

"Yes." I replied, the fox relaying the message, though it sounded like 'Yis'.

"Is it hard to maintain?" She asked, petting the ghostly fox on the back.

"The mouth isn't made for talking... Can you understand me?"

"Sort of. Like you are talking with your mouth full."

"As it is, I am not using any more magic, than what I used to make it. It is like... It is reserved for the fox, and I won't recover it until I dispel it." It really felt like losing a tail, except it was still attached.

"How about a second one?"

"Trying now."

It wasn't hard to make a second fox. I simply told one of my tails to let out a little more power, and there it was. The instant I did though, I was suddenly looking through two pairs of eyes, at two very different things.

"Are you okay? Your fox just fell over." Haruhime said worriedly.

"Too many eyes." I replied, though now both foxes were saying it. "Hold on..."

I closed the eyes of the fox at my feet, then opened the eyes of the one next to Haruhime. She was right, that fox had fallen over. "Oh! Better?" She asked, picking up the manifested critter.

"Just don't shake me? It feels like I am in three places at once. It's disorienting. Just hold that one there, talk about the weather or something. I'm going to send the second one to the front yard."

"Okay."

Again, my magic went into 'reserve' as the second fox trotted its way out the door, down the hall, through the living room, and past Chigusa, who was reading another book. I told the fox to hop onto the couch, and sit next to her.

"Kodori-san?" Chigusa asked.

"Yes."

"Yes what?" Haruhime asked.

"Sorry, trying to talk to Chigusa... This is hard."

"But you are talking to me."

In the magic room, I broke my meditative posture to give myself a facepalm.

"Miss Kodori?" It was late evening now, just before dinner. My magic reserves were almost gone, but not because I'd used them, but because I had all five tails controlling a separate fox. Haruhime was holding one in her lap and reading next to Chigusa, who also had one. Hestia had one in her room. Ouka had one at his feet, helping him stand guard at the front gate, Welf had the forth, who had to keep telling it to stop nibbling his pant leg when ever I took my attention away from it. And Bell was talking to the last one, who was playing with Chime.

It was tricky, but I managed to tell the other four to 'sleep' while Bell knelt down and scooped up both Chime and my fifth fox.

"Yes. I'm working on this new... trick of mine." I replied. "Just a moment..." I spoke through number four's mouth, "Welf, dinner is soon."

"Thank's sister. And you can't chew on my boot either."

Switching back, "Yes Bell?"

"You have a letter. Ouka tried to get the fox by him to wake up, but..."

"Have you ever tried to listen to a bunch of different conversations at once?"

"I have faith in you, Miss Kodori." Bell replied.

"Best little brother. So, letter?"

"Ganesha Familia sent it. It's a... well... Very obscure letter asking you to visit." He held up the letter to the fox, and I could make out a half dozen I AM GENESHA's written among the neat, otherwise normal, letters.

"I was planning on going soon anyhow. Tomorrow is a good a time as any."

"Heh..." He laughed nervously, "Good luck? Let me put you down... Play nice now." He told Chime and the fox.

"Thanks Bell. See you at dinner."

Another quiet dinner. It wasn't like I expected things to be festive, or even cheerful, but...

"How ready are we?" I asked, trying to get some kind of response from the table.

"Working on non-lethal magic sword is... surprisingly hard. But I haven't had any problems thinking of what to make." Welf replied after his mouthful. "So are these biscuits."

"Ration prep is going well, if a little plain." Marius said, "We have enough hard rations for weeks, suitable for us, or most Xenos."

"We still haven't heard from them." Hestia said quietly, the little green sphere sitting on a stand next to her plate.

"We have some armour and weapon repairs to do." Bell said, "I've been helping Lilly and Marius with that. What happened to your other gauntlet, Miss Kodori?"

I had been thinking about how exactly to answer this, and not sound like a bully, or a straight up murderer. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a better way to say it than, "I used two of my spells, and cut through someone with my fist."

There was a moment of stunned silence, "But, you've done that before..." Ouka said, scratching his head.

"Not like this." I replied, "When I was rescuing Chani, I wasn't paying attention to levels. Or subduing my opponent. I very deliberately killed someone, who on a normal day couldn't have hurt me, with what was basically maximum force."

And so my effort to bring the mood up failed.

So I abandoned the idea, and told them about Hermes. More or less word for word what I had told Welf. Takemikazuchi, in a rare case of 'not calm', actually had the start of an angry look on his face, right out of a Japanese novel of an Oni. He managed to tone it down to 'perturbed', but the instant of menace from him actually caused Chime to hide behind Marius's mug. Hestia was more vocal about it, not quite swearing in that 'innocent Goddess' way she had.

The rest of the table waited respectfully for Her to finish before a nervously laughing Bell put a hand on her arm and said, "Why would He do that? He's helped us before, but..."

"Fun." Lilly said. "Lilly thinks Hermes just wants to have fun, and doesn't care about the details."

"Or the victims." Ouka growled, looking to Asuka, who was quietly studying her soup in what was either anger or shame.

"Even knowing this, what can we do?" Mikoto asked.

"A few things come to mind." I said, "And I plan on doing a few of them as soon as possible."

"I can't wait to hear the list." Welf said, already knowing at least one of the things I was going to do.

"First, is tell a few people close to us. Aisha, for one, rather, especially." I said, putting my hand over Haruhime's, "She's a good friend, has helped us all out in the past, and the sooner she knows, the sooner she can protect herself from 'having an accident' that gets her killed 'for the greater good'."

There were a few nods, a couple of mug taps, and Haruhime gave me her smile. "But also, a few other people, Ryuu, the girls at the Hostess of Fertility as well. Eina, since she is head of her department, and a trusted friend."

"What about other Gods?" Hestia asked, "Would that be wise?"

"If you don't tell Lady Hephaestus, I will, sister." Welf offered. "I'd have no problem bearing that news."

"Thank you." I said to him, "Though I might have to chat with her soon anyhow." Welf smiled and nodded, "Ganesha as well I think. If I haven't mentioned, He's actually quite smart, and hides behind the 'mask' only so others think He's simple. I'm going to need to visit Him soon too."

"Anyone else?" Bell asked, "I mean... Maybe Nazza should know?"

"Anyone we know, who might be used as a potential pawn against us. As captain, I declare Hermes untrustworthy. Suspect everything he does, and keep alert for double talk."

"What about Asfi?" Haruhime asked, looking up at me, "I know she is His captain, but..."

"I hope that one day, there will be an order Hermes gives, and she refuses. But, even though we cannot trust Him, our two Familia must also keep up our own moral code." I grinned, "So, if he asks one of us to do something, be polite when you tell him to jump off the wall."

Notes!

A little gloom and doom here, but to be expected? More excitement planned for the next chapter, I think? Maybe? And Kodori's epic side quest continues in the background. :)