Kept 'yall waitin'.
Next arc is postponed because the Hestia Familia needs a breather from the mess they've been put in. Crazy things are bound to happen.
And F/GO is getting Servant Coins earlier in NA! Holy shit, my QP isn't ready for this because I'm broke from skill maxing my favorite Servants. I know this will be a treat to us players to give our Servants that extra 'oomph' they deserve to have. Now I need to mine a bunch of QP and prepare as many EXP cards for 'them'...after I get Castoria to complete my Artoria collection. Admit it, there are several of you guys out there that have already gotten all the other Artorias (Alters as well). When I get Castoria, I'll temporaily switch my Support to all Artoria of each class. Takeuchi can eat his heart out because he's not the only Saberface enthusiast out there! You guys who've done the same should do it too!
Lefiya had left in the early morning. Having a small breakfast from the kitchen before dashing out of Twilight Manor at increasing speeds before anyone else woke up. Her purpose today is to visit the Hestia Familia home, the Hearthstone Manor in order to meet her idol and crush Ais Wallenstein.
The only times she got to see the Sword Princess was whenever she visited the Twilight Manor or when walking the streets of Orario and stumble upon her by chance. She never learned of the original home of the Hestia Familia so she could visit herself but also complications involving Loki she'd rather not talk about. But now, after claiming the Apollo Familia's former home, she now knew where Ais lived in.
She had made notes of when the Hestia Familia got up and prepare for the day (she paid for that information from the Hermes Familia, and her poor purse cried out from it) so she can greet Ais and hopefully hang out.
It also serves as another purpose to gauge the human known as Hakuno Kishinami who bested Ais in that match. It baffled her, it infuriated her. The sight of the young woman whom she looked up to bested by a Level 1 with only a few months of venturing into the Dungeon and to level up within that timespan compared to so many others out there.
Her notes on the Holy Witch were these tidbits she knew from facts and truths. Hakuno is a witch that can use magic without incantations, is royalty despite her plain appearance, Ais is drawn to her, is married on top of that to a powerful king, a skillful sword fighter, and has adopted an elf child that is the godchild to Riveria. Then there was the fact that Hakuno had an unknown spell that granted some sort of invulnerability to her and her allies if given to the sight of powerful attacks the Horseman launched failed to injure them was to say anything.
It infuriated her that a mere human can utilize such magic to such a degree that made elves look bad in their specialty. She and several other elven mages have felt a resentment and stinging of their pride because of the Holy Witch. Steams of anger as her face was red with it warmed the air around her as she made it to the gates of the Hearthstone Mansion and finally calmed down.
Right on cue, a few members of the Hestia Familia were heading out. One was the blonde elf Primo Kishinami, the youngest member of the entire group and Lefiya felt great concern for the elf child. Since elf children are rare, they are treasured by elven kind and are looked after with great care. From the way she was smiling and talking to others, she seemed to be doing alright if that was if she was concerned with. Not to mention Lefiya felt inferior to the elf child who laid devastation during the War Game. Her own spells paled in comparison to that one Primo used.
Next was a boy a bit younger than her, white hair, red eyes, a cherubic face. He reminded her of a rabbit…and yet he's the one who had broken records with how fast he's leveled up. Even Loki was wondering how Hestia finds such special individuals. She's seen him interact with Ais a lot whenever she's not near Hakuno and was suspicious of the boy's familiarity with the Sword Princess. Oh, she was already jealous of that boy already.
The next was the Crozzo. She had no bad blood with him, although some of the more traditional elves still hold his family with contempt due to their magic swords in the past. He was talking with Ais about something, holding pieces of a damaged weapon while Ais gave some sort of input.
Oh, she recalled such a scene before. With the Goibniu Familia, they view members of the Loki Familia as a plague due to the many wrecked weapons they've brought back to take care of. Their agonized cries were rumored to haunt the weapon Urga that Tiona uses since she is the most frequent weapon wrecker. But it seems this Crozzo is studying the fragments with keen eyes for something she could not comprehend.
Then, Ais Wallenstein herself. If anything, that new dress the Sword Princess now wore rendered Lefiya breathless. White and blue, with embroidery of wind at the dress's hems made her look like an actual princess outside of stories. She stared at Ais, completely lost in her thoughts until the call of her name snapped her back to reality.
"Lefiya?" Ais asked, getting the elf to sputter in shock and trying to regain her composure.
"A-A-Ais-san!" Lefiya stuttered out before regaining her composure. "Have you been well?" she asked, hoping she was convincing to cover up that moment.
"I have been doing quite well, what brings you here?" Ais answered with a question alongside it as the other members of the familia looked at the Thousand Elf. Their looks gave her a bit of anxiety.
"I-I just wanted to come visit you since I didn't know where you lived before! You usually visit us, so I thought it was fair that I'd visit instead." She explained.
"Hmm…that would make sense since Riveria is the one to usually visit us. I don't believe she'd say anything about where we lived with anyone since mom wanted less headaches near our home." Primo spoke up with a knowing look as the other members of the familia nodded their heads in agreement.
After the War Game, their reputation grew overnight and many requests to join their Familia or to commission Welf for his magic swords. All it took was a stern warning from Hakuno about her irritation and promise of harm if they do not leave the premises immediately.
Less than a minute everyone fled for their lives the second the black mana started seeping out of her body. She made it clear that she hates being bothered by so many people due to her and her familia's rising reputation. A habit all witches have when it comes to people, which is why they'd live in seclusion most of the time, minus one that owns a shop of magical items here in Orario.
"…speaking of which, where is she?" Lefiya noted, as the Holy Witch wasn't among their numbers.
"Ah, Captain is resting. She was still recovering from her previous injuries before the War Game and the fight during it had strained her. Amid-san wasn't happy with her and was given strict orders to stay in bed for a few weeks." Bell answered.
Given how Nero and Gilgamesh were spoiling her to kingdom come, everyone agreed she'd be fine, and Hestia was taking the chance to bond with her first child whenever she's not at her part-time jobs.
"I see." Lefiya noted dryly, knowing that Amid is quite the consummate professional when it comes to healing. If anything, even the high leveled adventurers are rendered defenseless against the words of Dea Saint when it comes to the threat of being permanently crippled and their adventuring days over being mentioned.
"We should get going, we still have to finish off the First Floor's maps and the monster catalog for the Guild." Bell spoke up as the rest of the Hestia Familia nodded in agreement.
"Wait! Mind if I join to?" Lefiya asked suddenly, determined to be by Ais' side for the day.
"Well…" Bell began, looking at Primo and Ais respectively. The former due to their shared connection with Riveria and the latter especially since they were both part of the Loki Familia before Ais converted.
"I do want to see what my godmother's student is like in combat…" Primo began as she gave Lefiya a look over and gazing at the fellow elf's staff with an observant eye. She knows that staff was of good quality already in terms of channeling magic compared to her Oaken Staff for beginning mages.
"Lefiya can fire barrages of magic from the distant, helpful in observing the battlefield for moments of weakness in the enemy." Ais offered her own basic tactical knowledge of Lefiya's strengths.
"Lili thinks that having another long-ranged fighter would be helpful in the long-run, especially since it's the First Floor." The pallum supporter added as Bell cupped his chin in thought.
The boy was doing a visual of strategics in his head, one that he studied with Eina's classes as he knew Primo and Lefiya were the only two mages in their current group of frontliners while Lili was mid-range with her mini crossbow. Plus, it was the First Floor and last time they went in was before the whole incident with War and Apollo. The intel they acquired was good and held promise of good experience for their familia now; especially since the Loki Familia had recently cleared the Third Floor and were preparing for confronting the Black Goliath, an Enhanced Species Monster Rex he'd never heard of.
"Okay, she can come along then. But aren't the Loki Familia doing any expeditions soon?" Bell asked.
"Unfortunately, no. Ever since our defeat by that Horseman and the damages to our equipment, we're all trying to pay for repairs." Lefiya answered him. It was even worse because the other floors that the Dungeon originally had were unavailable due to the metamorphosis it went through. So, the better selling magic stones were gone unless they went deeper in, which is currently impossible due to damaged gear, low funds, an Enhanced Monster Rex, and wounded pride for several adventurers.
"Everyone is having it rough after that mess." Welf sighed, scratching the back of his head in annoyance. That entire mess was still lingering over all Orario with how the two strongest familia in the city were bested by one creature from the Dungeon. It was rather horrifying to think that it was only thanks to Hakuno, and the Hestia Familia (plus Hyakinthos) bested the damn thing with additional help from Nero, Gilgamesh and Morgan.
Plus, Welf wanted to ask about that strange sword Hakuno wielded and lent to Bell. His blood was ignited by the sight of it and couldn't help but wonder why.
*Hearthstone Mansion*
"Thank you for the tea, Goddess." BB politely and respectfully thanked Hestia as she sat in her seat in Hestia's office while the petite goddess looked at her with wary eyes. "I know you didn't invite me just to say hi. What can I do for you?" the AI asked.
"I wish to know more about my daughter's past, because I know that skill of hers that I shared with you holds significant importance that only someone she knows would understand." Hestia told her as BB winced in recollection of Memoria Freeze and the description of it.
"…You wish to know about Senpai's past?" BB asked while Hestia folded her arms and stared at her. This caused BB to sigh as she realized the goddess in front of her won't budge until she got answers about the girl named Hakuno Kishinami.
"I know she comes from a different timeline, given how she mentioned Pan Human History back in Denatus and her unusual magic. I'm not sure how or why she was sent here, but I need to know, what has made my daughter become the way she is. She's suffered enough pain when we first met, and I don't know how to heal it unless I know more about her." The goddess of the hearth admitted lowering her head in shame and depression as BB bit her lip in contemplation.
"…Oh fine!" BB pouted, "Because she seems happier here than back on that space rock, I can share some things about her so you can make sure she's happy during her time here." She told her as Hestia looked up, hope blooming behind those blue eyes. BB wanted nothing more than to not be stared at with those kinds of eyes. The only one she'd allow to stare at her with those kinds of eyes were her Senpai and no one else.
"Let me begin with where it all began, in a place called the Moon Cell Automaton and the Abyssal Cyber Paradise known as SERAPH. There, a war for the Holy Grail began and interventions from other worlds brought the girl Hakuno Kishinami to a new path she could never walk before." BB began, regaling the tale of Hakuno Kishinami, the Last Master of the Moon and its Inheritor to the goddess in front of her.