God's Blessing on this Wonderful Dungeon

By Icura and Special FX

~o~

Chapter 15: Eris

~o~

Eris let out a small sigh as she took off her disguise and changed back into her usual outfit. After Kazuma had asked her to look into Evilus and a few shady merchants, it wasn't prudent to go as her normal self so she brought back her other identity, Chris. Information gathering and other rogue-like activities were things that Chris excelled at since she was a veteran thief after all. Of course, to disguise herself, she had to use make-up and a wig. It was also a bit embarrassing at first to wear revealing clothes that were standard for rogues—especially since this was her real body—but it was necessary.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to show for her effort.

Information gathering was something that she was used to, but here, she didn't have her multitude of contacts or networks to work with. Without a legitimate identity or reputation, establishing any connections were difficult and painstaking. Back in Belzerg, she had increased her reputation by conquering dungeons with numerous parties. However, that wasn't a possibility here.

She obviously couldn't delve into the Dungeon and while adventuring on the surface was possible, it wouldn't amount to much to the population of a city where the Dungeon was everything to them. The fact that 'Chris' wasn't in a familia didn't help either. The thought of registering herself under Eris Familia came to mind, but with how much Kazuma and the rest were shaking up Orario, the scrutiny on any new members would be high enough that she probably wouldn't be able to keep up her cover for long.

In spite of all the difficulties though, she was determined. Sure, it would take her longer to get all the details on Evilus, but she was trying to succeed where tons of others had failed over the years. She needed to be careful and meticulous about it. Rushing forward would only cause her efforts to fall to waste and let Evilus roam freely. That wasn't something she could abide by, especially after what happened during their last expedition.

It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

As Eris began to fold up her rogue clothing on her bed, someone suddenly knocked on her door. It scared her for a second—especially since it was pretty late at night—but she had locked the door so she was able to quickly calm herself. Wondering who it was, she quickly stuffed her disguise between the mattresses of her bed before she made her way to the door. Slowly opening the door, she saw Megumin standing outside her room in her pajamas.

"Megumin…?" Eris curiously asked. "Did you need something?"

"I…I want to update my status," Megumin replied, though somewhat timidly as if realizing just how late it was. "I'm ready to pick my developmental ability."

"It can't wait for tomorrow?"

"I can't sleep," she said. "I might change my mind if I wait until morning."

In this world, the 'status' system was much different than the one that was implemented in the world under her jurisdiction. Adventurers here didn't just have skills and spells; they also had something known as 'developmental abilities'. These were special skills or abilities that had a chance of appearing after a level-up, usually because of something that they did or achieved. However, only one could be chosen for each level-up. Some adventurers could even get multiple choices while others might only get one or none at all. It all depended on their actions prior to the level-up.

In Megumin's case, after her recent level-up, two developmental ability choices had appeared.

They were Mage and Spirit Healing. Mage was an ability that improved magic power and made spells more cost efficient to use. Spirit Healing, on the other hand, was an ability that provided mana regeneration—though the locals called it mind instead of mana.

While both of them were extremely useful developmental abilities for mages, Eris was still surprised that Megumin had wanted to take some time to choose which ability she wanted. She would have thought that it would have been an obvious choice for the explosion obsessed mage to make. Still, it looked like Megumin was finally ready to commit.

"Sure," Eris said as she opened the door wide enough for the diminutive mage to slip inside. "Just take a seat on my bed, and I'll get my knife."

Initially, updating everyone's status—especially senpai's—had been a very strange experience for her, but after doing it for so long, it felt as natural as adding skill points on an adventurer's card. Megumin sat down on her bed and removed her top, exposing the Falna on her back. Eris sat on the bed, behind the girl. With a quick swipe, she unlocked the Falna and then promptly pricked her own finger with the knife, letting her ichor start to well up.

"So which ability did you decide to choose?" Eris asked as she hovered her finger over the Falna, more to confirm than anything else. Knowing Megumin, she had probably chosen—

"Spirit Healing."

Eris' finger froze, just as she had been about to draw the wrong developmental ability onto Meguin's back. Slowly, she lowered her hand. "...that's surprising. You don't want Mage?"

Megumin didn't immediately respond, and since she wasn't facing her, Eris couldn't see what expression she was making on her face either.

"...in the last battle, Kazuma almost died," Megumin eventually answered in a soft tone of voice. "I couldn't do anything. If he didn't have to protect me, he wouldn't have been caught so easily. With Spirit Healing, I'll be able to get back up on my own after using Explosion."

Megumin then nodded her head, as if reaffirming her own words.

"This way, I'll still be able to put my all into every Explosion and I can take care of myself afterward. I can just pick Mage next time anyway."

"But there's no guarantee that you'll get it again…"

Developmental abilities didn't always appear after a level-up after all, and choices that were given before sometimes disappeared completely. For someone like Megumin who valued strengthening her Explosion spell over everything else, was this really alright?

"I know," Megumin quietly replied. "...but everyone's been trying their best to improve so I need to do the same."

"..."

For a few seconds, Eris was silent, but she slowly began to smile and pressed her bleeding finger against Megumin's Falna.

"Alright then. Spirit Healing, it is."

~o~

Megumin

Level 2

Strength: I-0

Endurance: I-0

Dexterity: I-0

Agility: I-0

Magic: I-0

Magic:

Explosion

Skills:

Explosion Magic Increase

High-Speed Incantation

Development Abilities:

Spirit Healing - I

~0~

The next morning, Eris woke up early and got dressed in her usual nun outfit. Whenever Kazuma and everyone were away in the dungeon, she had to find other things to do to pass the time, especially since 'Chris' was relegated to nighttime activities. It was really unfortunate that she wasn't able to join everyone on their adventures—they could have probably used a skilled rogue on their team—but those were the cards that she had been dealt. At the very least, she was able to contribute by helping Kazuma out with information gathering and updating everyone's statuses.

Though, it did leave the problem of her being completely and utterly bored for most of the time when everyone was away.

Initially, she had spent her time exploring the city. Since gods frequently wandered around the city without a care in the world, she had done the same. It was very different from her time in Belzerg where she had to disguise herself anytime she descended upon the mortal realm. She didn't need to hide her divinity here, and everyone treated her normally, even though she was a goddess.

It was honestly kind of refreshing.

Eventually, after exploring the city enough, she had stumbled upon a small orphanage hidden within the slums of the city. It was run by a kind young lady named Maria Martel who had decided to start taking care of the abandoned children of the city all by her lonesome. Seeing the amount of children that she had to look after all by herself, Eris couldn't help but start volunteering at Maria's orphanage. It wasn't like she had anything else to do anyway so she had started helping out whenever her friends were away in the Dungeon.

As Eris made her way toward Maria's orphanage, she ran into another goddess on the way there. With her regal stature and long flowing brown hair, this goddess looked every part like her namesake as the goddess of justice.

"Oh! Good morning, Eris," Astraea greeted with a kind smile. "Are you going to the orphanage as well?"

Astraea was a goddess that she had met during her time volunteering at Maria's orphanage. And just like how kind Tsukuyomi had been, Astraea was someone who helped answer any questions she had about running a familia or about how things worked in the mortal realm.

"Good morning, Astraea-senpai!" Eris responded with her own smile. "And yes, I am."

"Let's go together then," Astraea suggested as she slowed her pace so Eris could catch up.

"Sure," Eris readily agreed as she matched her strides with the taller goddess. "So, how have your children been, Astraea-senpai?"

"Quite well. Alise has been in a really good mood lately, actually," Astraea pointed out as she put a finger to her chin in thought. "Has Kazuma finally snapped out of his funk?"

"Ah, yes. After what happened, he was a little down for a while, but we all pitched in to help cheer him up."

"That's good to hear. It wouldn't do for Alise's future husband to be so depressed," Astraea replied with a playful smile. "Perhaps, we'll even have some grandchildren soon."

Eris' eyes almost bulged out of her sockets. "E-eeeehhhh!? T-that's… I-I don't think that's—"

"I'm just teasing you, Eris." Astraea giggled. "...though, if Alise was serious, I wouldn't be against it." The brown-haired goddess murmured as an afterthought as she put her hand under her chin in thought. She would be even willing to bend her rule and let him be the first male granted entry into the Stardust Garden if Alise truly desired it. That was just how important her child was to her.

Eris gulped in response. It looked like Darkness was getting even more rivals now…

"Oh, and congratulations on your children's level-ups by the way," Astraea said as she turned the corner toward the run-down path that led to the orphanage. "That's a new record, you know."

"Really?"

"Indeed. You'll need to be careful at the upcoming Denatus," Astraea warned. "Some of the other gods may cause trouble out of jealousy."

"Huh…?" Eris blinked in confusion. "Should I be worried…?"

"You should. They'll definitely try to give your children horrible titles," Astraea replied with a look of complete seriousness. "I'll try my best to intervene, but since your familia is new, I might not be able to save all of your children from their fates."

Eris blinked again.

A terrible title? That was it? With how serious Astraea had looked, she had been expecting something far worse. Like all of the other gods bullying her or something. That would have been terrible.

As the pair of goddesses continued along the beaten down path, it wasn't long before they spotted Maria's orphanage. There were children playing around outside the orphanage, kicking a ball around in what looked like some kind of game. Standing off to the side, watching them with a smile, was Maria and a familiar looking gray-haired girl in a white dress.

Eris wasn't sure, but she felt like she had seen that other girl before.

"Oh! Good morning, Lady Astraea, Lady Eris," Maria greeted them as they approached. "Thank you again for volunteering your time."

"There's no need for thanks, Maria," Astraea said with a smile. "We wanted to help."

"Nonetheless, you two have my profound gratitude," Maria replied before she turned to her side. "And this is Syr Flova. She stopped by earlier this morning to donate some food and volunteer as well."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Astraea, Lady Eris," Syr replied with a light bow.

"Raise your head, child," Astraea answered with a kind smile. "There's no need for that."

"It's nice to meet you too, Syr," Eris replied with a smile of her own.

The gray-haired girl raised her head. "I've wanted to meet you for a while now, Lady Eris. Ever since I heard all the amazing stories about your familia!"

"O-oh, really?" Eris replied with a light blush on her face, surprised by the sudden praise.

"Yes!" Syr answered with a beaming smile. "I'm especially a big fan of Aqua! Can you tell me more about her?"

~o~

The day of the Denatus approached far quicker than Eris would have liked.

For an important day like this one, she had to get her usual robes cleaned thoroughly and professionally. The norm that Astraea had told her was to wear something expensive and tasteful even though there wasn't actually a dress code for this event. However, spending money she didn't earn didn't sit right with her. Instead, she quickly latched on to the justice goddess' suggestion that her current clothing were exotic enough.

Still, in spite of that, she could still feel apprehension and worry about joining a gathering filled with gods and goddesses. After all, she didn't exactly belong in this world. Thankfully, their heavens were just as huge as the ones in her own universe. Even better was the fact that they couldn't go back up there and check.

Breathing out her breath, Eris calmed her thoughts before heading into the Tower of Babel.

Stepping in through the main entrance—the adventurers and guards stepping aside to make way for her—she couldn't help but notice the cleanliness of the place despite the fact that the floor should have been dirtier, considering that adventurers were constantly going down in and out of the Dungeon. The main lobby actually looked similar to the lobby of the Pantheon in its extravagance and display.

This was her first time being in Babel Tower.

Despite Kazuma and the rest visiting every now and then—not as often as other adventurers since they could skip the process with [Teleport]—Eris had never explored it. This was mostly her own fault. That was because the entrance to the Dungeon would be close enough that even she would feel tempted to take a peek inside. After all, it was a massive and deep dungeon filled with exotic sights and priceless treasure. It would be all too easy to simply dress up as Chris, hide her divinity, and sneak into the Dungeon, especially with her skill level.

However, there were some very important reasons that gods and goddesses didn't do that.

While mortal souls would ascend to the afterlife after being killed in the Dungeon, a divine soul wouldn't be able to escape. Astraea had told her that they would be captured by the Dungeon, though she didn't know through what method or why. There were some speculations, but there was no denying that if the Dungeon detected any sign of divinity, it would go all-out to kill them. Even if she could join her familia and delve into the Dungeon, it didn't mean that she should.

To prevent that temptation, Eris had always simply stayed away from Babel Tower. However, now that she was here, just steps away from the stairway that led down to the dark reaches of the Dungeon, she could honestly say that…

It didn't feel like anything special. Looking at the large stairs where adventurers were, even now, heading down or returning up, it didn't elicit as much desire as she had previously feared. In fact, it was like staring at a normal stairway which was, oddly enough, anticlimactic. Her imagination really didn't align with reality in this case.

Of course, while she was stuck in her thoughts, the world around her didn't stop moving. With her being somewhat of a spectacle, it wasn't long before one of the staff members came up to her.

"You must be here for the Denatus. Please, come this way." The Guild attendant—a cute sheep girl—stepped to the side and motioned to an open elevator. "This will take you to the thirtieth floor."

After thanking the attendant and stepping into the elevator, Eris only then noticed that the girl didn't follow her in when the doors closed. However, in spite of that, the elevator began moving on its own, as if it was already set to do so. When she thought about it, as the elevator headed upward, it seemed reasonable enough. They probably didn't want anyone to have easy access to a place where there would be a large gathering of the gods.

Even though it was taboo for a mortal to slay a god in this world, it wasn't the same as in the world that she had governed. Here, it was less permanent with the god being sent back to the heavens. The punishment for the mortals would come after they die, with their souls being found and captured by that vengeful god. What came afterward would depend on that particular god's temperament, though she would imagine that eternal torment wouldn't be off the table for most of them.

Since it took a long while before the elevator finally reached its destination, Eris had time to contemplate and calm herself down. When the doors finally opened, she saw a large, circular room that encompassed the entire circumference of the tower, held up by numerous pillars. The walls had been replaced with reinforced glass, allowing the natural sunlight to filter in and affording its occupants a view of the city and the landscape below.

It was honestly quite a beautiful view.

There was a large, round table in the center with many chairs, but very few of them were occupied. Most of the gods and goddesses were standing about in the large room, chatting with each other. However, more than a few pairs of eyes turned her way when the elevator opened, staring at her as if she was an exotic animal. Some of them even nudged their conversation partners and started whispering, causing more eyes to focus on her.

It was hard to ignore them, but it wasn't like Eris could do anything else as she stepped out into the room with the elevator doors closing behind her, sealing the way out. If Aqua-senpai was here, the more senior goddess wouldn't have been bothered at all. In fact, she probably would be happy with all the attention. It almost made her wish that they had switched places, but losing her divinity would be…

Well, she supposed it wouldn't be too bad…

In the crowd that had to contain at least thirty or more deities, there were fortunately a few familiar faces that she recognized.

"Eris, over here!"

In the fairly loud room, Astraea had to practically shout to be heard over all the chatter and background noise. Unfortunately, that had the effect of turning even more heads her way since many of them recognized Eris' name rather than her appearance. Without any other alternative, she shuffled over awkwardly—under the many burning gazes—over to where the justice goddess was talking to a couple of other goddesses.

Or at least, Eris was going to before she heard a series of loud clapping that pierced through the cacophony of noise and chatter.

"Alright, we're starting!"

Eris didn't see who had said that, but everyone had taken that as their cue to start making their way to their seats. While she was floundering, Astraea quickly came to her side and led her by the hand to some nearby seats. However, that probably wasn't necessary; even when everyone had finally sat down, there were still plenty of empty seats, showing that this gathering room could have hosted a far larger number of people than the ones attending today.

Noticing Eris' glances at the empty seats, Astraea explained, "Attendance is voluntary, but only gods with at least a level two adventurer in their familia are allowed in."

It took a couple more minutes before the rest of the gods finally sat down. When they did, one of them rose up from his seat, catching everyone's attention. Unlike most of them, he had an older appearance, looking around his fifties with a gray beard that extended from his hairline to his chin, such that it looked like a lion's mane. Wearing a white robe with golden trimmings, he gave off an entirely confident—bordering on arrogant—bearing.

"I'll be the host for the Denatus this time."

There were instantly a variety of mutterings and whispers that sprang up.

"Dian Cecht? That miserly guy is going to be the host?"

"Nobody else wants to do it. Besides, he has time; all his familia does all day is make potions."

"He never wanted to do it before."

"Maybe he's trying to gain more influence. I heard he was recently trying to put Miach out of business, but there was pushback from some other gods."

"Oh my. Miach is much more handsome, kind, and generous. Does this bossy old man think he can compete?"

"Yeah, I get free potions from Miach all the time, and he never tries to overcharge me like Dian Cecht does."

"SHUT IT!" Dian Cecht slammed his palms down on the table. Instantly, the room quieted, though it wasn't out of fear. "The meeting is starting so seal your mouths unless you have news! Now, out with it!"

"Oh, oh, I got news!" Loki raised her hand and wildly waved it around.

"Yes?" Dian Cecht asked impatiently with narrowed eyes.

"Evilus is getting bolder."

The atmosphere of the room drained in an instant.

If this was a few years ago when Zeus and Hera Familia were still around, they would have just laughed it off. However, even in the past few years, the attacks had been ramping up significantly, such that all of them had or knew children who had been caught up in such events. There were more than a few gods who could no longer attend the Denatus because their children had been killed. Though for many of those cases, it was mostly speculation since it happened in the Dungeon with no eyewitnesses. Still, the specter of suspicion made many of these gods lay the blame on Evilus, even if it might not be the truth.

"Didn't Evilus attack a couple of familias recently in the Dungeon?"

"Old news unless you've been living under a rock."

"Eh? I didn't hear about this!"

"Well, it all started when—"

"Talk about it on your own time! Some of us want to get to the fun part!"

Eris blinked, taken aback by the sudden chaos as a bunch of different gods and goddesses all spoke up at once. She glanced over to Astraea.

"...does this happen a lot?"

"All the time," Astraea replied with a light chuckle as she scratched the side of her face sheepishly, as if the justice goddess was feeling second-hand embarrassment. "In fact, I would say this is normal."

"Oh, can I say something too?" A short goddess with purple hair raised her hand. "I heard Hermes' kid is working on a new secret product!"

"Whaaaat? Hey Hermes, spill it! Whatcha working on?"

Hermes just smiled in response. "No comment."

"Oh, come on! Did your Asfi make something again?"

"Give us a hint. Just one little hint!"

"I suppose I could," Hermes said mischievously before turning to face another god. "But did you hear that Rakia wants to invade again?"

"Don't change the subject!"

"Doesn't Ares ever get tired?"

"You would think that after losing so many times, he would simply give up."

"He wouldn't be so dumb if he did."

"Ah, Hermes successfully changed the subject again…"

"Did you know that there's a new painter in town? A really amazing artist!"

"Oh, I heard about that! Nobody knows who it is, but apparently, someone saw Riveria pulling some canvases out of a dumpster. Do you know anything about that, Loki?"

"Eh? Now that ya mention it, she did bring home some fancy artwork. Kinda weird ones though."

"Weird?"

"All of them had Kazuma on it."

"Kazuma? From Eris Familia?"

"Yeah, that guy."

"Ooooooh! So even our elven princess has fallen!"

"...don't even make a joke about that or I'll kill you."

"I'm sorry!"

Eris could barely even keep up with the high speed conversations much less participate.

By the time she thought about opening her mouth, the topic had already changed. Like right now, they had moved on to Modi and Magni having some kind of rivalry, each of them speed recruiting elves and dwarves respectively while proclaiming the other inferior. How it got here, she wasn't quite sure. Thankfully, despite the topic of Kazuma and the others popping up here and there, nobody really directed any questions her way.

Dian Cecht clapped his hands loudly.

"Alright, it seems like you're all now diving into trash rumors so let's move on. It's time for the naming ceremony."

"Oooooooh!" Excited exclamations erupted from the many seated gods and goddesses. After all, this was the main event of the Denatus.

"You've all received the relevant information so let's begin. First up is an adventurer from Loki Familia," Dian Cecht stated. "Ais Wallenstein."

"That little shorty? How did she do that?" A blue-haired goddess flipped through the packet of papers in front of her, skimming through it quickly. "Huh. Took on a Black Wyvern by herself."

"What about the 'Little One'?"

"Daughter of ours!"

"She always comes back bloody with a broken sword. Let's call her 'The Shattered'!"

"Always breaking her swords? Not very skilled, is she?"

"Doesn't that mean she's always handling a lot of swords? 'Sword Princess'."

"That's the one!"

There was a burst of laughter and applause. Throughout this, Loki didn't say a single thing. It seemed like she was satisfied with the title. After Dian Cecht noted down the name, the congregation moved on to the next one.

"Megumin of Eris Familia."

"Oooooh, the new record-holders… Hmm."

"That's a weird name already. A title can't be weirder than that, can it?"

"Isn't she the one who beat art-collector Riveria in a magic contest?"

"Yep, that's her. She loves blowing things up."

"The Explosion Whisperer?"

"Whisperer? Have you not heard her talk? She's always shouting it!"

"Also, explosion in the title? Isn't that a little too on the nose?"

"She won the contest, didn't she? 'The Prodigious Mage'."

"Magic Sprout!"

"Harbinger of Destruction!"

"Delusion's Pallum!"

"Where did that last one come from? She's taller than a pallum."

"Scarlet Red."

"One-cast Girl!"

"Naive, naive. Too Naive! It should be…" There was a dramatic pause as the god smirked. "'The Witch of Blazing Annihilation'!"

"That's it!"

"That's the one!"

"Ooooooh!"

"She really does look like a witch with that hat!"

"Okay, it's settled."

Eris blinked while Dian Cecht was writing down the new title. Honestly, while it was a bit of a mouthful, Megumin and the Crimson Demons usually liked crazy titles like that so she would probably enjoy it. Although, with the pitying looks that Astraea and some of the other gods were giving her, maybe it actually was that bad?

Should she try to object…?

"Next up is Darkness from Eris Familia."

"She's kind of boring, isn't she?"

"If you're comparing her to the mage, sure, but she did hold off a level three for a long time."

"Oh! She did do that!"

"What kind of name is Darkness anyway? That's edgier than most of our titles."

"Darkness Overwhelming!"

"Why are you including her name in the title? Do you not have any dignity?!"

"Unyielding Knight!"

"Unbreakable?"

"Iron Maiden!"

"The Dark Knight."

"Those are okay, but they're missing something…"

"You're right. It's not funny enough."

"She always calls herself a Crusader. What about 'The Last Crusader'?

"It's hard coming up with a title for her because there's almost nothing about her. Even her figure is always covered up by her armor."

"How about 'The Icon of Muscle'?"

"Her muscles did seem pretty solid, but that name is a bit too much. Let's just go with the previous one, 'The Last Crusader'."

"Agreed…"

"Yeah, I give up."

"Difficulty level S..."

While Dian Cecht quickly wrote it down, Eris noticed that Astraea was giving her a pleasant smile, as if the other goddess was happy for her, though she wasn't quite sure why. It seemed like a pretty plain title, all in all.

"Aqua of Eris Familia."

"Just how many from Eris Familia are going to come up?"

"You haven't heard? Their whole familia leveled up."

"Are you serious?!"

"They did defeat a much stronger Evilus Familia after all so it's to be expected."

"It's just one more after this one anyway."

"Aqua… Aqua… She's the healer, right?"

"Oh, the one who always puts on a show at the tavern? What about 'Party Tricks'?"

"Heavenly Entertainer!"

"Didn't she design that citadel they live in? 'Construction Saint'!"

"Isn't she way too beautiful to be a mortal? She should be, 'Bride of the Gods'!"

"Ooooooooooh!" A group of male gods suddenly yelled as they stood up and raised their fists in the air. "Bride of the Gods!"

"E-eehhh?" Eris squeaked out with a flustered expression on her face.

She couldn't let them give senpai a title like that, could she? She needed to object—

"Denied!" Loki shouted as she crossed her hands in an 'X', quieting the mob. "Pick a better title."

"I object as well." Hephaestus raised her hand.

Eris blinked at the sudden interruption. When she looked over at Loki, the red-haired goddess simply smirked at her like usual. Turning her attention to Hephaestus next, the eye-patch wearing goddess just nodded in response.

"Hey, why's Loki going to bat for Eris' kid?"

"Isn't that Aqua kid her new drinking buddy? I always see them together at Mia's place."

"Ah, that explains it. Nothing stronger than a friendship born from booze."

"If Loki's backing her, we can't have too much fun with this one, huh? Laaaame."

"What about Hephaestus? Why is she backing her?"

"Didn't you hear? Aqua healed her kid's eye."

"Wait, what? You mean 'Cyclops'? We have to change her title then! It doesn't fit anymore!"

"You're right!"

"I have a suggestion." A sultry voice cut through all the discussion, silencing the crowd. "For all of her miraculous deeds so far, how about, 'Lady of Miracles'?"

"If Lady Freya says so, I agree!"

"Me too!"

A bunch of other gods suddenly clamored their approval for Aqua's new title. Dian Cecht seemed to take that as the final decision and began to write down the name on his parchment. 'Lady of Miracles' definitely sounded like senpai, so Eris was satisfied with it. Senpai might have her faults, but she really could be incredible when she wanted to be.

"And now, the final one!" Dian Cecht announced. "Kazuma, from Eris Familia."

"That's their captain, right? He looks so plain compared to the rest of his familia."

"You fool, he's the one with the super rare teleport spell!"

"That's him?! A real SSR has appeared!"

"A teleporting ranger…? He should be the 'Vanishing Arrow'!"

"Isn't he the only guy in a familia full of beauties?"

"Damn it, I wish that was me! He should be 'Lucky Bastard' instead!"

"Hasn't he been seen cozying up with Hephaestus' kid as well?"

"What? I heard that he was together with Astraea's Alise!"

"Even our elven princess wasn't enough! Didn't he even set his sights on our new sword princess?"

"That lucky bastard!" the group of male gods all shouted at once. Some of them even had tears in their eyes.

"So, 'Lucky Bastard' then?" Dian Cecht dryly asked.

Eris couldn't let them give Kazuma a title like that! It was way too mean! She needed to say something before—

"Objection!" Astraea shouted as she stood up from her seat. "I won't stand by and allow you all to give him a title like that."

"Oh?" Hermes looked up with interest. "So he even managed to catch our Lady of Justice's eyes, has he?"

"I haven't met him personally, but my Alise has told me great things about him," Astraea simply replied. "And I believe some of his heroic deeds speak for themselves."

"Hmm…a suggestion then," Hermes said with a glint in his eyes. "How about… 'Hero of Justice'?"

"I agree!" One of the gods stood up from his seat. "Every story I hear about him oozes justice. Especially the story of him stealing Eris' panties!"

Eris turned bright red as all of the men in the room suddenly erupted into cheers and gasps of astonishment. She glanced to the side, only to spot Astraea staring at her with a horrified look.

"T-this…" Astraea fumbled her words. "It can't be true, can it?"

Eris bowed her head in embarrassment.

"...it's true." Why did she tell Loki that story? She knew she shouldn't have drank any alcohol that night!

"Oooooooh!"

"A gifted child appears!"

"Our hope for the future!"

"The second-coming of Zeus!"

"The savior who will defeat the One-Eyed Black Dragon has finally come!"

The gods all rose in rambunctious cheers and applause while the goddesses looked on with flat and cold expressions.

"Are there any objections to this title?" Dian Cecht asked when the noise began quieting down.

"While I approve of the title," Astraea began with a conflicted expression. "I do not think that you're all agreeing to it for the right reasons."

"No," Apollo—god of the sun—said with a serious look. "The reason is not wrong."

"How so?" Astraea challenged. "Please, explain."

"It is simple. Flat is justice," he replied with a completely stoic expression. "Eris is flat. Therefore, Kazuma is a hero of justice!"

The room then erupted into ear-bleedingly loud cheers, almost exclusively from the men. The women's expressions seemed to only darken even further while Eris was covering her face with her hands from sheer embarrassment.

Dian Cecht—the god universally considered to be miserly—nodded his head proudly, as if the mortal's achievement was his own. He wrote down Kazuma's title as 'Hero of Justice', not even waiting for the discussion to finish. From then on, he refused to listen to any more arguments against the title.

After an hour, the Denatus finally ended with half of its patrons—mainly all the goddesses—walking out in disgust.

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Icura: The Symbol of Justice has finally appeared.

Special FX: Yorokobe shounen, the chuuni has arrived.