CHAPTER 203(Awkward Family Dinner)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

---Babel Floor 73, The Midas Touch...

"They're late..." Hephaestus points out.

Sitting at a round hardwood table with a glass layered top, the solid gold pattern inlaid in the wood spiraling and curving in a beautiful eye-catching pattern. Hephaestus wore her favorite red dress with the back exposed, sitting beside her was Welf, wearing his formal pants and jacket, all black with a red undershirt.

Opposite them were Thalie and Mikoto. Thalie wearing a golden dress as always while Mikoto had a matching purple dress. Beside Thalie was Tsubaki, wearing a red and gold dress, currently trying to discretely stuff bread rolls into her purse from the basket on the table.

Around this small group was a massive open room of distinguished guests, ambassadors and political leaders, gods, and nobles. But no adventurers, the only adventurers that have been here in the past year are currently at this table.

"They probably slept in, they'll be here soon," Welf says.

"It's sundown already, how could they possibly sleep in more?" Hephaestus asks.

"Yang is a horny teenager," Thalie points out, noticing some of the surrounding guests a few tables away sneaking glances at her metal jaw. "And Freya is somehow worse than him...atleast when it comes to him, can't imagine they did anything out of their bed after we spent so long in the dungeon."

"You know, I figured you'd understand better than most," Tsubaki gives Hephaestus a knowing grin. "You never even went to your office today, probably didn't get out of bed either..." she glances between the goddess and Welf.

"W-what matters is we made it here on time," Hephaestus points out, completely red in the face.

"Oh my, didn't even deny it, never took you for the bold type," Tsubaki coos.

Mikoto nervously fiddles with her hands on her lap as she stares down at the table, a powerful blush on her pale cheeks. "S-should we really be talking about this? A-at the table I mean."

"Huh," Hephaestus quirks a brow at Mikoto, "never took you for a prude considering what you used to wear, the thigh-high red boots and what's basically a miniskirt."

"That was traditional!" Mikoto yells out, the entire room freezes and looks over to their table causing the girl to try and fold in on herself and hide.

A few minutes later another hush befalls the room, all the men aside from Welf instinctively turn their heads as goddess Freya enters. Wearing a white gown, high cut to not give anyone a good idea of what hides beneath her clothes and with her Ring of Freya, the message ring she uses to contact Yang, on her wedding ring finger as usual.

A step behind her as they follow their server is Yang Shen, wearing a black formal jacket and pants combo with a blue undershirt and his blue Zinogre Coat atop it all, a look of annoyance on his face directed to all then staring men, only beaten by the upset looks of their dates who were currently being quite boldly ignored.

Taking their seats and ordering drinks everyone settles into casual conversation.

"What took you two so long?" Hephaestus asks.

"We aren't that late," Freya points out. "We were just getting dressed when I put on a certain black dress, then the next thing I know we had to get back into the shower and get dressed all over again," she gives Hephaestus a teasing grin. "I'm sure you know how it is..."

"Heh, yeah she does!" Welf gives a proud smile much to Hephaestus's annoyance.

A moment later their drinks arrive. Welf has a pint of fire-ale as usual while most of the ladies have a large glass of wine.

What causes most of the table to give a confused look however is when Freya actually collects a glass of fruit punch, just like Yang.

"I think I'm already drunk, I'm seeing things," Hephaestus says.

"Yeah, me too," Tsubaki rubs her eyes for dramatic effect. "Is she actually drinking something that isn't wine?"

"I can drink things that aren't wine," Freya bites back. "I'm just in the mood for something fruity, is that so wrong?"

Hephaestus and Tsubaki look at each other for a moment before Hephaestus speaks, "Freya, I've known you literally forever. You always drink wine, it's like water for you."

"Well, things change, alright?" Freya says.

"Maybe she's pregnant," Mikoto blurts out.

"Gods can't get pregnant!" Freya says with a bit more venom than intended, an impulsive snap that caused everyone to give her strange looks. "I mean...I assumed everyone knew that already, sorry. But no, gods can't reproduce, we're all sterile. It's one of the terms we accept to descend from heaven...believe me if we could have children there would be a kingdom built just for Zeus's bastards," she grumbles out before taking a sip of her drink.

Mikoto quietly looks down at the table waiting for the awkward silence to pass while Hephaestus, Tsubaki, and Thalie, share a knowing look as nobody else knew about the potion and how she used it to fix that problem.

"Oh, time to order," Yang says, happily breaking the silence as their server makes his way to the table.

After ordering their meals Yang can't help but realize that there wasn't anything even resembling prices on it.

"So what makes this place so special?" He asks the table, hoping for them to fill in the blanks.

"The food, it has the best food in the world," Hephaestus says flatly. "It's literally almost divine."

"A god makes it?" Yang asks, the entire table now focuses on this conversation.

"Not exactly," Hephaestus says. "Their familia runs this place, the head chef has a Divine Trait which is what makes all the food impossibly good."

"Divine Gift?" Yang asks.

"Like what Welf has," Freya says.

"What I have?"

"Yes," she looks to Welf. "As the god of crafting, Hephaestus has the Gift of Appraisal, it allows her to see the intent and purpose of items. Combined with her Divine Trait as the chief god of the creation domain which allows her to better create anything she wants, all members of her familia from level two onward receive a silent boost to anything they make and leave her Familia sigil carved into."

"So that's why you taught us to do that," Welf now realizes, "I thought it was for branding purposes..."

"It was both," Tsubaki says. "We usually don't publicize this because it makes people sloppy if they think the boost will cover mistakes."

"Since when does Hephaestus control the entire domain of creation?" Yang asks, "I thought you were the god of crafting not creation."

"Since Brahma, the world forger, wanted to retire and passed it all to me," Hephaestus says. "Now I'm stuck with this shit job. But as long as I'm not in heaven I don't have any responsibilities, so this is fine I suppose."

'If she's the new goddess of creation then doesn't that mean---' Yang's thoughts were interrupted by Mikoto.

"Do other gods pass on Divine Traits too?" the girls asked.

"It's extremely rare for a god who isn't the head of their respective domain to do so," Freya explains. "The only one that I know of is Loki, her Trickster's Intuition was passed onto her first child, Finn. Finn barely has anything compared to Loki's, it's why she rarely opens her eyes, sometimes it can be overwhelming without her divinity to balance it, but combined with his genius it makes him quite the leader."

"Doesn't make him less annoying," Yang points out.

"He means well...usually," Freya says.

'What about you Lady Freya?" Mikoto asks.

"Me? Oh, I um..."

"Go ahead," Yang gives her a mischievous smirk," tell her about your stalker ability."

"Stalker ability?" Mikoto asks.

"It's not a stalker ability?" Freya says with straining restraint. "I told you to stop calling it that."

"It's a stalker ability," Yang casually says as he turns to Mikoto. "Freya can see souls, that includes seeing them through solid objects, like from the top of Babel all the way to floor eighteen of the dungeon. Helps her see what kind of person someone is and gives a vague idea of how powerful an adventurer is, makes recruiting a lot easier for her, and stalking," he says.

"It's not for stalking..."

"You used it to stalk me before we were together and when I'm in Orario sometimes I can just feel you watching me, seems like a creepy stalker ability to me."

At his rebuttal Freya pouts and looks away from him, muttering under her breathe, "it's not creepy..."

"It is creepy," Tsubaki says, "you're creepy Freya, and Yang is a dumbass for knowingly dating his creepy stalker, now I see our food coming so let's eat..."

As the food arrives the first half of their meal is enjoyed in appreciative silence. Yang's plate had two steaks stacked atop each other, drizzled lightly in sauce with a large mound of mashed potatoes perfectly seasoned off to the side as well as other sides. He could feel the steak melt in his mouth and the perfect blend of flavors hit his taste buds, the only word allowed to come to his mind being 'divine' in the face of such perfect food, a perfected art form.

"This is unfair," Yang says. "How am I supposed to go back to regular food after this, Freya and I can't cook..."

"Don't you two buy most of your meals anyway," Tsubaki points out, "but yeah the first week or two after eating here is rough."

"Huh, you've eaten here before?" Yang asks.

"Yeah once when I hit level five, but it's not in my budget to make it a regular thing," she explains.

"How? You're like the third-best smith in the world, fourth is we count Goibniu but he mostly does repairs for his adventurers," Yang points out.

"That's not how it works for us," Hephaestus cuts into the conversation. "Most high smiths aren't like Welf who can just go get materials on their own. And most of those materials aren't coming from in the dungeon when we do research and development. Every ten weapons Tsubaki makes and sells earns her maybe the cost of one in her pocket, after the cut for the familia plus the material cost and the amount of money that goes into importing new materials for her to practice on. Even I can't afford to come here more than twice a year because I have those same costs, but unlike mortals can't even sell most of my work because it would undercut everyone else with how unfair it would be, it's the same reason Goibniu only does repairs."

"Ahhh, so that explains why Tsubabki's here when she's normally busy at this time and can't celebrate with us, because I'm paying," Yang says.

"Hell yeah," she says. "You're like the only adventurers that are actually living up to the propaganda the guild sells. All the 'Enter the dungeon, fight monsters, get rich' crap that gets people killed, but because you can go so far into the dungeon consistently, have your own high smith so you save a lot if not everything on labor and materials, and have your Inventory magic for bigger hauls, you guys can actually afford to live like royalty."

"That explains why the menu had no prices," Thalie says. "It's either you can afford it or you can't."

"With the cost of having a literal Divine Trait used to make your food as well as how rare some ingredients are, the price is high but people are willing to pay it," Hephaestus says, "five million Valis a plate."

"ACH!" Mikoto almost chokes on her wine, raising a tissue to stop herself from making a mess of her dress. "That's insane, who even needs that much money...for that much money the shrine back home would be fed for...for a very long time," she says.

"Shrine?" Yang asks.

"Yes, the shrine I grew up at," Mikoto says. "In The Far East because of all the clan wars, diseases and natural disasters food isn't always available and many children are either abandoned or orphaned, Lord Take was the head of a shrine that helped children like that, children like me. We came to Orario not only because Ouka was ready to level up but because we can send more money and supplies back home this way."

"Oh, didn't know that," Yang says. "I gave Tibor a lot to start his own business before our expedition so if money is the problem I could just---"

"No, you won't," Thalie aggressively cuts him off, knowing exactly what he was about to do.

Mikoto looks between Yang and Thalie in genuine confusion before addressing the woman, "b-but, why? He can help them."

"That's not his job," Thalie says, her gaze stern as she stares a hole through her daughter. "Yang already takes care of all the needy kids in Orario, if you want to help the people in your home then figure it out yourself, they'll be good motivation for you seeing as they won't have someone to rescue them as I did for you. So you'll need to help them yourself, be a great adventurer, and just make the money yourself."

Even as Thalie spoke Mikoto's mind was stuck on one small statement that meant so much to her, "what do you mean you rescued me?"

"Excuse me?" Thalie asks.

"What do you mean you rescued me? I was fine before you came along, before I moved into Babel with you. I was fine with Lord Take, I didn't need rescuing," Mikoto says.

"Ha, you still can't even see it," Thalie shakes her head at the girl. "I rescued you from a life of pathetic mediocrity like those losers in your familia."

"Thalie!" Hephaestus snaps at the woman, but Mikoto and Thalie were too focused on each other to care about anyone else.

"Those 'losers' are my friends," Mikoto points out.

"Unfortunately, yes they are," Thalie says. "But by the time I'm done with you, they won't be able to drag you down anymore. You're better than them Mikoto, Take was just too busy coddling you for you to realize it."

"I grew up with them, you want me to get rid of them? To stop adventuring with them?"

"..." Thalie doesn't even respond, only giving Mikoto a bored look.

"You, YOU, UGH!" Mikoto abruptly gets up and storms away from the table, many heads turn her way as she makes a dramatic exit.

"Ungrateful brat," Thalie mutters as she turns back to her food to continue eating, only to pause as she sees the rest of the table awkwardly waiting for the mood to settle. "What?" she asks a bit more harshly than intended.

Not quite sure what to say everyone just glanced around the table before Yang speaks up, "nothing, nothing at all, Adrestria."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me, you're treating Mikoto like I'd imagine Adrestria would have, cut off all friends and focus on yourself and becoming perfect, ring any bells?"

"It's not like that," she says, actually furrowing her brows as she looks across the table to him. "I just want her to be her best self, those losers won't amount to anything in life, they'll hold her back."

"And Adrestria wanted you to just be your best self, and cut off anything she deemed unnecessary. Is that what you want for Mikoto?"

Hearing his words Thalie leans back and takes a deep breath. Taking a sip of her wine she relaxes slightly before speaking," no, I don't want her to be a weapon like me...I just want her to be the best Mikoto she can be, but sometimes it's so...natural, to fall back into that old design she built me for...it's hard trying not the be her monster," she says in a quiet voice.

"Yeah, we know that, maybe you should go tell Mikoto that before she gets too far away," Yang suggests.

Without another word Thalie races off after her daughter, leaving the table in a much more relaxed mood than they were during that awkward mother-daughter fight.

"So...should we order dessert for when they come back?" Welf asks.

"Core-Tree-Tarts," Freya blurts out. "It's the best dessert in the world and is only served here. Cost a bit more even by their standards but it's certainly worth it."

"You had it before?" Welf asks.

"Once almost ten years ago, after Rakia had that auction for the war spoils in their last crusade," she says, so lost in the memory of the incredible dessert that she missed the subtle and nervous glances Hephaestus, Tsubaki, and Yang shot Welf's direction. Knowing this is a sour topic for him. "The Core Tree is the main tree of any Elven forest, all that protective magic flowing through it makes the sap impossibly sweet, when Rakia burnt those two forests down they collected a few dozen barrels of that sap and I managed to get a vial, I'm hoping to get more after the crusade in a few months," she says.

Her ending words got both Yang and Welf to snap their heads in her direction," what crusade?" Welf asks.

"Oh, didn't you hear...well I suppose you wouldn't know since you only got out of the dungeon yesterday. Rakia declared war on the remaining Elven forests instead of anyone else. Orario won't get involved as always, nothing to be concerned about," she says.

As the news sinks in, knowing that the swords he left in Rakia were about to be used Welf retreats into himself, blankly staring down at his now empty plate.

"Did I say something wrong?" Freya asks, now concerned as she sees Welf's troubled state.

"No, this was probably gonna happen no matter how he got the news," Hephaestus says.

"What do you mean Orario won't get involved?" Yang asks.

"Huh, why would we get involved?" Freya asks.

"Not us personally, I'm not gonna fight a war unless I absolutely have to, but Loki atleast. Riveria is a princess of the Elves and Loki has a large squad of Elves, plus other Elves in Orario. Why won't they go help?"

"They can't," Tsubaki said. "If they want to help then their Falna has to be removed as to not implicate Orario or else their entire familia could be expelled to prevent an international issue. Orario has to remain neutral unless we are given an official contract, but Elves would rather die than ask for help from what they deem 'lower' races, which Rakia is betting on. Their Elven pride is going to kill them this time."

Yang sighs deeply, "so involvement at this point has to be through a mercenary contract. But the contract would either be from the violently racist Rakians, or the quietly racist secluded Elven forests, two disgusting choices. But whatever, not our problem..." Yang says as he sees Mikoto and Thalie returning, Mikoto having subtle but evident watermarks on her face from small tears.

As they take their seats Thalie gives everyone a nod signaling that everything was alright now.

"Right, so unless anyone else wants to say something stupid, dessert time?" Yang asks.

As if taking the question seriously, Welf, of all people, speaks up.

"I'd like to enter the war against Rakia..."

END CHAPTER---

And into the second half of this volume we go :)