Foreword: Yay! FFN is back on! Here's the update!

Thankfully, Lefiya Viridis and Filvis Challia are willing to work together.

Both of us remained locked in position for a few seconds, blades pressed against one another. I stared at Challia's face from beneath the brim of my hood, but the elf's facial expression was blank, eyes narrowed in concentration as she pushed against my blade, even though it didn't budge at all as I maintained its position.

I broke the stalemate by pulling my sword backwards a fraction of a centimeter, and Challia's eyes widened with surprise as she leaned forward just enough to catch her off-guard before I shoved my blade forward, forcing her back. She instantly jumped backwards a few more steps out of my range, giving me a few seconds to reach up with my free hand and throw the hood of my cloak back before she lunged in and I deflected her thrust off to my side, retreating as I did so to put more space between us.

The only real question was what I should say. Would Challia even recognize me? She probably didn't know my name, and I was wearing a cloak in the dark, which unfortunately marked me as suspicious. Saying something like "It's me! Remember me?" was just asking to get stabbed, because that clarified nothing and made me seem like I knew her more than I actually did.

That was why, rather than anything personal, the first words out of my mouth instead focused on my organizational affiliation. "I'm from Hermes Familia." At my words, Challia stiffened, but I didn't stop. I needed to convince her that I was on her side before she decided my words were a trick of some kind and continued attacking. "We met before at Twilight Manor, a few days ago. Our gods decided to begin working together at that time."

There was a long moment of silence after my words as Challia stared at me, her red eyes piercing through the air as her weapon continued to point at me. I stared right back at her, though I silently prepared to deflect another attack–now would be the perfect time to catch me by surprise if she chose to keep fighting.

"I…" She opened her mouth to respond, but her words trailed off as the sounds of panting and unsteady footsteps echoed from around the corner, and both of us turned to see a 3rd person round the corner.

"Filvis-san… wait… up… please…" Lefiya Viridis wobbled to a halt as she stared at the two of us, hands planted on her knees as she desperately tried to catch her breath. "Wait… I know you!" Her face lit up in recognition.

Rare as it was, I felt a bit of hope spark to life in my chest. Someone knowing me? Maybe I underestimated you, Viridis. Perhaps you do have eyeballs for people other than your idol Wallenstein–"Hikitani-san, right?"

The newfound hope inside me was immediately extinguished, and I resigned myself to my fate. Hikigaya? Who was that, anyways? "Yo, Viridis."

It wasn't really surprising, after all–the fact that Viridis and Challia were working together, that was. Not the fact that Viridis didn't remember my name. I didn't care about that. Moving on.

There was another moment of silence as we stared at one another. I was waiting for either of them to say something or to make a move, but this was only getting more and more awkward. If I had to make a comparison, it would be like if you were running into a friend of a friend while on the train, only for the 2 of you to realize that you didn't really have anything to talk about, so you both decided to just awkwardly stand there instead. Fortunately, as the experienced loner I was, I knew how to make an exit without causing any more problems.

"Well, it was good seeing you. Have a nice day." With that, I turned around and began walking away from both of them.

"W-wait, just hold on a second!" Viridis tripped over her words as she scrambled to respond. "We're all working on the same side, aren't we?! Why don't you come back with us? We can try to share information and work together!"

I turned around and looked at her, weighing the pros and cons of either option in my head.

As things stood, my investigation was basically over. Ishtar Familia would deal with the Violas, Njord and Murdock and Rubart would go on with their lives, and I would take my information to Hermes. I didn't need to draw any unnecessary attention, not when everything would solve itself.

There was only one problem with that, and that was the two elves standing in front of me. If I withheld information from them, then that might lead to problems later on if such a situation came to light. Loki and Dionysus wouldn't hesitate to use that against Hermes somehow, which would only cause more problems in this already-shaky alliance between the 3 of them.

If I gave them the information, though, that presented a problem in and of itself, because neither Challia nor Viridis seemed to be the type to let things slide. Convincing them not to act on the information I'd give them would be problematic in and of itself.

"Sure." I knew which problem I would rather deal with, though. It was easier to deal with 2 elves than it was to deal with 2 gods. "Lead the way, Viridis."

"Really?!" Viridis brightened up visibly. "That's great! Then… would you like to come with us back to our room? We can talk about it more there!" It might've been my lack of a response as I processed the elf's words in my brain, but Viridis's enthusiasm quickly faded as I continued staring at her, and she began to fidget nervously. "Th-that is, not to be overly presumptuous or anything…" Oi. Don't say things like that, Viridis. You'll end up devastating innocent hearts with your lewd elven nature if you're not careful. It's only because I'm me that I managed to avoid a fate worse than death there, alright?

I responded by gesturing at her to lead the way, cutting our impromptu comedy routine short, and with a nod, she began leading me towards her and Challia's current base of operations. They were currently staying at a resort called the Fisher King, and from the looks of it, the place was of a much better quality than the standard inn that I was staying at. It wasn't long before I found myself taking a seat at a table inside of the 2-room suite that Viridis and Challia were apparently sharing.

From what Viridis told me, they hadn't had much success. The two of them had arrived in the afternoon, and while many people knew about the Violas that had attacked at the docks, they neither knew about the monsters nor their origins. Murdock had stonewalled them at the mansion doors after an official inquiry to see him under Loki Familia's name, and Njord Familia had no leads to speak of. The Guild, on the other hand, had dispatched some people of its own, but hadn't found anything at all to help out with Viridis and Challia's investigation yet–and from what Rubart had said, probably wouldn't find anything at all.

"So. Talk. What information have you gathered in regards to the situation within Meren?" Challia's tone was clipped as she got straight to the point, glaring at me as she breathed in deeply. I could tell that her patience was wearing thin, so I immediately got to the point.

"The one behind this is Ishtar Familia." Both of the elves stiffened visibly at my words. "I'm not sure exactly of the details, but Murdock, Njord, and Rubart are all involved in covering up the situation while Ishtar Familia deals with the Violas behind the scenes."

"Rubart… as in Rubart Ryan, the Branch Manager of the Guild here?!" So that was his position in the Guild. It was somewhat surprising to hear, but it made sense, since he had been working with Meren's governor and the literal god of a familia. It wouldn't have made sense if he had just been in some random low-ranking position.

I nodded in response to Viridis's surprise. "That's probably him. The 3 of them are working under Ishtar Familia, working to smuggle something of the familia's through the city and out overseas. The only things we're missing now are motive-related." I ticked off what we needed to find on my fingers. "We need to figure out what their relations to the Violas are, since it's fairly obvious that they've been here for a while, why the 3 of them were working with Ishtar, and why Ishtar was even involved in the situation to begin with."

"That won't be a problem." Challia stood up from her seat, one hand going to the sword at her waist. I could see where she was going with this. Unfortunately for her, that was the exact problem I had been hoping to avoid.

At least it wasn't Lyon that was here. Challia was at least attempting to respect the alliance between our gods, but knowing Lyon, she probably would've already jumped out the window into the night to confront the 3 as soon as I finished talking.

That didn't mean that Challia wouldn't immediately push for a plan of action that involved exposing everyone at swordpoint, though. I had to dissuade her from this line of thinking as soon as possible.

"I don't know about you, but I have no interest in fighting the Berbera." My words made Challia freeze. "Right now, the only advantage we have is the element of surprise. If you start going around the city and threatening its leaders for information at swordpoint, that'll alert the Berbera that're already here, not to mention Ishtar Familia itself–which is the last possible thing we want to do right now."

There was a moment as the black-haired elf processed my words, before she gave a stiff nod and sat back down in her seat. Crisis averted, at least for now.

"Do you have a plan, Hikigaya-san?" Viridis's eyes turned from Challia to me. Did I?

I knew what we needed to do. Right now, what was important was finding out why Murdock, Njord, and Rubart had gotten involved with the Violas to begin with, as well as Ishtar's involvement with the Violas. It was unlikely that they'd left any records lying around, which meant that the only way to find out would be–as Challia suggested–through direct confrontation.

But violence wasn't going to get us anywhere. We wanted to avoid a fight with the Berbera in Meren at all costs, and Challia's suggestion would lead us directly to a confrontation with them, whether we got the information or not.

What we needed to do was to get them to talk without exposing the fact that we did to Ishtar Familia. If we could prove that there was something suspicious going on, all we needed to do would be to leverage that information to our advantage and force any one of the three to sell out their compatriots without revealing anything to the others.

In other words–blackmail.

–"I'll start getting rid of the documents at the Guild Office tomorrow. Had 2 adventurers from Orario come in, asking all sorts of questions about the Violas today. I managed to stall them, but they'll probably come back around tomorrow, and I don't think I can hold out forever."

Rubart's words floated to the front of my thoughts. With how much I had overheard, he seemed like the best lead, especially since I had a time and a place where I could find incriminating evidence. Even if that somehow didn't work out, I still had Murdock's estate to work with, and barring that, Njord Familia's base–though the last one was the most unlikely.

There was one more thing about the Guild, however, that made things even easier. With Rubart's attention already focused on Challia and Virids, who were now in the know, that left me free to act in the background. It wouldn't be hard to send them in and draw Rubart away while I got the documents in question.

"Hikigaya-san? That look on your face is scaring me a little…" Viridis's whisper startled me out of my thoughts. I hadn't changed my expression in the time I had been thinking, though. "So? Did you have a plan in mind?"

I guess I did. When I finished explaining my plan, however, the reactions were… less than enthusiastic.

"This is a terrible plan." Challia didn't bother mincing her words at all. "The chances of success on this are close to zero. How is this any better than what I previously suggested?" Next to her, Viridis looked a bit torn between coming to my defense and not saying anything at all.

To be fair, they didn't know about the Ordinary, and it wasn't like I was going to tell them. "I just need you to make enough noise to draw the attention of everyone in the Guild and keep them occupied. Then, you can leave the rest to me." Despite my words, Challia still didn't look very convinced. "Look, if this doesn't work out, we still have the chance to try something else, or come back to search at a different time. But our best shot at getting that evidence is probably tomorrow at the Guild."

"It's okay, Filvis-san! I'm sure this plan will work!" Viridis tried to put on an enthusiastic smile as she jumped into the conversation, but I could see the doubt etched on her face. "As long as we work together as a team and trust one another, we can do this!"

Bad choice of words, Viridis. I watched as Challia abruptly stiffened before forcefully getting up from her chair. "Do what you want. If things are finished, I shall retire to my room for the time being."

With that, she turned around and headed down the suite's hallway, ignoring Viridis's cry of "Filvis-san?!" as she stood up and attempted to follow Challia before the sharp click of a door closing echoed out.

It wasn't long before Viridis came back to the table and sat back down, looking as if Challia had just stabbed her in the gut. I did my best to ignore the thick silence that had fallen over the room in favor of getting up myself.

"I'll head back for now. See you here tomorrow, then." The only response I received to that was a small nod.

As I left the hotel's suite and softly closed the door behind me, an urge to look backwards welled up inside of my body. I was sure that if I did, I would see Viridis, sitting alone at the table silently, that same hurt and puzzled expression still on her face.

Despite that, I kept my eyes facing forward as I continued to walk away from Challia and Viridis's suite. It wasn't as if I didn't understand either of them. It just wasn't my business. I had no right to interfere with the relationship between the two of them. Even if I did, I would probably make a mess of it, anyways.

And yet, somehow, even as I finally made my way back to the inn, got into bed, and closed my eyes, that urge hadn't faded away.

Afterword: Sorry for the one week lateness, I was completely busy and had no access to a computer at that time. This chapter also (like before) isn't a lot, so double apologies. But I hope you enjoyed. Remember to leave a review and tell me what you liked, what you think could be improved on, etc.

Thanks for reading! See you soon!