Chap 132 (Alternative)

This is the alternate chapter, pretty obvious

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/Around an hour after Silver left the Manor…/

'After a long hour playing and talking a lot, their time had finally come to an end.'

'It was a shame, both of them felt that way, but they had their own responsibilities...'

"Don't forget it, okay?" Artemis said with a thin smile

"I won't, I said that 5 times already." Silver replied with a helpless smile

'He turned around and said:'

"See you soon, Artemis."

"See you…" She said as she watched him slowly vanish from her sight

"..."

There he goes…

'She let out a small sigh before raising her head and smiling.'

"It was fun… I'll be waiting for your next visit…"

Although… Next time...

'Artemis smiled playfully and left her room, she had work to do…'

…

/Fwoosh!/

'Silver reappeared in an alley like always…'

/NYA!/

'A street cat that was resting nearby suddenly jumped in shock when it saw Silver appearing like a ghost out of nowhere.'

"Haha…" Silver chuckled as he saw the cat running away

That's the normal response to have… Every once in a while, this will happen.

Better a cat than a kid taking a piss in the corner and causing a mess...

'He rested his back on the wall and thought:'

A shame our time went out so early… But I chose a bad time to visit, after all, she has work to do, she's a busy woman.

I wanted to make it a surprise like I always do, nevertheless...

"Sometimes I wonder... Perhaps I should just make it public... On another note, perhaps not..."

If I were to reveal our relationship, then I would have to do the same with Hestia... And right now isn't the time to do that...

Besides, I don't think I'm ready to face the consequences of that...

The scandal...

'Silver smiled helplessly, he had dug his own grave.'

"The only thing left to do now is to visit the Guild."

I want to know what they want from me.

Will it be something related to the Xenos, or something completely unrelated?

After all, it's not like the Guild only has one thing inside their sleeves... There are many secrets that need to be kept from the prying eyes of the public.

"I'll find out about it anyway when I go there..."

"Speaking of the Guild… I wonder if Louji is up already…"

And if so, I hope he is okay.

'Silver thought for a moment before saying:'

"It won't take too much time to just take a look... I'm not on a schedule right now anyway."

Besides, how can I lose the chance to see him wasted and make fun of him?

"I'm sure he won't drink for at least a month, so it'll be a while..."

I'll take this chance to take a few more photos... He'll be annoyed but it will be a good thing to remember every once in a while...

Much to his displeasure.

'He smiled slightly, vanishing from the alley…'

…

/A few moments later... In the Hearth Manor.../

"For the last time... No, I don't know where he is nor when he'll come, stop asking about it already." Hestia replied, annoyed

'She looked at the smiling Loki and continued:'

"Do you keep track of your children? Of course not! So stop asking the obvious and leave!"

'But Loki rolled her eyes, she rested her head on the couch and looked at the ceiling, bored.'

"..."

Dammit... I was hasty… Due to my desire to find out more about this, I ended up rushing things.

I should've sent a letter…

No… The problem isn't the fact he isn't here per se, but the fact this dunce doesn't know anything at all...

But that only makes me more curious... What could be known that he would even hide it from his own Goddess?...

Or is their relationship worse than I thought?

'Loki looked around, like her, they seemed bored... Well, only Bete...'

'From the beginning, Hestia took out a small book, it was an album filled with pictures Silver took from the Dungeon.'

'It was an odd way of seeing the Dungeon, one that very much interested everyone... Apart from Bete, who didn't care about this at all.'

'Seeing this, Loki thought:'

I should've just invited him instead…

"Oh? This one is quite good!" Tiona said as she pointed at a photo in the book

'The photo showed a group of adventurers fighting a horde of Minotaurs, it was very nitid and the angle was quite nice, they didn't know who they were, but that didn't matter.'

"When he comes back I'll ask him to take a... What's the name again? Photo, yeah, a photo of me." Tione said with a smile

"That's a good idea." Her sister said with a nod

I'll gift it to Captain hehe...

'Even Ais seemed to enjoy the idea, while Lefiya was happy with being together with Ais...'

'Tiona turned the page, it was a series of Photos, but not of the Dungeon anymore, but photos of the girls from the Hestia Familia, some were smiling, others were posing, they seemed used to this...'

'This was because, since their very first day in the Familia, Silver had already introduced them to this by taking a grand photo of all of them together... It was the very first image of the album.'

'While the 4 girls enjoyed the book, Hestia said:'

"Look, I'll do you a favor and tell him you all came here today, I'm sure Silver will visit you as soon as he hears about it anyway." Hestia said smugly

"..."

'Loki's eyelids twitched.'

"Besides, I wouldn't want to hold onto you for any longer, and I'm sure you're a busy person like me, so why don't we call it a day?"

/Grind.../

'The sound of Loki grinding her teeth could be faintly heard...'

'Loki frowned, after all her work… Did it come as futile? Simply because she was late?...'

'Worse, she was now being made fun of this... Loli?!'

'How frustrating.'

'But in the end, she had to accept that she had come at a bad time, so she opened her mouth and said:'

"The more I would like to argue with you…"

'But she was interrupted by Bete who finally lost his calm:'

"What a fucking waste of time." He said as he got up from the couch

"Bete…" Tiona said, trying to calm him down

"Next time, do it properly!" Bete said as he looked at Loki

'He walked to the door, saying:'

"Wasting my morning to visit a weak ass Familia that's nothing more than the shadow of a man! A bunch of morons..."

/BAM!/

'He kicked the door open, angrily storming outside… The door didn't break, but...'

"Urg… I'll pay for the door." Loki said as she face-palmed

"He has quite the short fuse..." Hestia said with a frown

'She then became a bit depressed.'

But he isn't wrong... Our Familia is nothing without him...

"Don't mind Bete, he's a nut head that went through a lot…" Loki said in a rare deep voice

"No offense taken, he may be an ass, looking constipated all the time, but at least he's honest, even if awfully so…" Someone said behind Loki

"Hahaha, I guess so… WHAT?!" She said as she turned around suddenly

"Hey." Silver said with a smile as he winked at Loki

"..."

This guy... How long had he been there...

No, how did he even...

'Not only her, but everyone turned their heads to look at Silver, who was now with his arms crossed as he looked down towards Loki.'

'Lefiya almost jumped out of her couch due to shock…'

'Tiona's eyes brightened…'

'Tione was pleasantly surprised…'

'Ais seemed just about the same, completely unaffected by his sudden appearance…'

'Although that was far from the truth as her eyes seemed a bit bigger than before, despite it all, she was shocked in her own way due to how sudden it was…'

'Loki's expression was one of curiosity, but she was pleased that he was here now.'

'And Hestia let out a sigh.'

'Before they even had the time to say anything, SIlver said once more:'

"What a surprise, I didn't expect such a reception to greet me now of all times."

"I came back home to check on a friend, only to see a few more pop up." He said honestly with a small smile

"It's nice to see you all okay… But shouldn't you all be resting after a tiring Expedition?" He asked seriously

There are a few missing... But it may be too much to expect the Top Executives to visit a minor Familia like mine.

This makes me wonder what they even want with me.

"Silver… Didn't you tell me you were only going to be back? later? As usual?" Hestia asked confused

'Silver nodded.'

"Indeed I was, however, I decided to come back to take a look at a certain friend of mine before going to the Dungeon after finishing my usual business on the surface…"

"I'm glad I did that now though, else I would've missed you all..."

/Step step step!/

"YOU!" Bete exclaimed as he came back running ferociously with his brows furrowed

"Hello." Silver replied with a thin smile as he waved at the angry werewolf

Perhaps I should've waited for him to leave... But that may have been too much as this guy would've probably been able to hear me from considerably far away, even with the sound insulation of this room.

"..."

'Time seemed to stop, Bete and Silver, staring at each other…'

'The more Bete looked at him, the angrier he became…'

'Not even for a single moment had he forgotten the shame of that day in the bar… The day they first met.'

'It was all due to a small mistake, he underestimated Silver because of his new adventurer status, and due to that, it all came crashing down.'

'He felt a strange feeling rise in his body, he was confused at first, but his instincts told him it was... Certainly not good…'

'It may have been due to the little alcohol he drank, causing him to lose his already short calm and act even more impulsive, or simply due to him being comfortable in the pub…'

'Perhaps he wanted to show off, and show his superiority, although that in itself is unlikely as Bete himself, despite how he looked, wasn't arrogant.'

'From his perspective, acting arrogant was a waste of the time he could spend training.'

'But that day... The next thing he realized after that strange feeling took over his body was the coldness that shook his entire body...'

'It wasn't cold per se, it was just cold in places it shouldn't...'

'That day he looked down to see that he was naked, and around to notice that he was in the safety room… Very far from the pub...'

'He couldn't escape, nor were there extra clothes for him to wear… So he was forced to wait until Loki came to rescue him…'

'So close to his own room, yet so far.'

'It didn't take much to realize someone had transported him there, much to his confusion and disbelief, although that would become clearer in the future after Finn and the others explained what had happened to him...'

'The feeling of running around the manor with a silver cup to hide his genitalia was… Something he could never forget.'

'The gazes of the people and their chuckles, their...'

'Many times had he wanted to come and beat Silver up for what he did, it didn't matter to him who was right and wrong, the only thing that mattered to him was his vengeance…'

'So he raised his fist and forgot about everything else!'

'Not even leaving an after image behind, Bete took his fist from his up and into Silver's chin, several times faster than the eye could blink!'

/THUD!/

"?! What?..." Bete said angrily

'Something unbelievable happened… His fist was actually grabbed by Silver!'

'And he looked oddly calm about it!'

'This wasn't just any fist... It was the punch of a Level 5… And it was stopped by a Level 2?!'

'Even though he was enraged, Bete was still rational, he would never use all of his strength since that would kill Silver, at least from his perspective.'

'So he used just a portion of it, but even so… The strength behind his fist was enough to send a Level 3 flying, and to knock down a Level 4.'

'Its speed was faster than what a Level 3 was supposed to be able to react to unless they were a speed-type adventurer...'

"Wow there friend, a door wasn't enough, now you want to break my nose too?" Silver asked sarcastically

"Son of a bitch…"

"Oi oi, insulting my mother? Is that necessary? Sit down and have a snack, that'll calm you down..." Silver asked as he raised his right eyebrow

For the more I would like to insult him, it's best not to provoke him…

The furniture in this room is quite expensive and even though I doubt he would lose it and lash out at me, the chance of something breaking is high… Better not risk it.

"..."

'Bete didn't believe it, so this time, he took a step back and spun quickly while kicking at Silver!'

/Fwosh!/

'But Silver simply moved his head to the side, looking at Bete with a smile.'

"Calm... Down..." Silver repeated slowly, this time, in a deeper tone

"Ha!"

'Bete's confused expression turned into a twisted smile as he looked at Silver, because it was clear to him what he meant...'

"Are you threatening me?"

'Silver rolled his eyes.'

"Take it as you wish."

Level 5... They must think I'm insane... And in a certain way, even I think it's rash.

But... If he comes at me without a plan, I can guarantee that even if I lose, he won't find it fulfilling in the least.

For a prideful person like him, what's the point of winning a fight against a Level 2 after struggling? It would do little to enforce his point, the contrary would happen, and he would feel deeply humiliated...

"..."

'Surprisingly enough, Bete smile grew as he said:'

"You do have some balls, not gonna lie..."

/Crack!/

'He clenched his fist, causing an airwave across the room.'

"But do you have what it takes to back that off?"

'It was safe to say that Bete was getting angry…'

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Notes