213 Greed

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/A few days before the trap on the Dragon's Vase, somewhere on the lower floors…/

'Within a complex off-map section of the Dungeon, a group of monsters gathered together inside a hidden cavern around a burning bonfire, sitting atop several rolls of stone benches.'

"Is everyone here?" A red lizardman asked as he scratched the top of his scally head

/Step step.../

"Aside from 'him' everyone is here."

'From the dark, a gray gargoyle with bulging muscles emerged, it looked menacing.'

"Sigh, I didn't expect him to come in the first place, being as stubborn as he is." Lyd replied in a helpless tone as his tail slapped the ground

Well, he'll have another chance to watch it once we share this we the others living in the other Hidden Village.

"If that's the case, let's start this, I'm sure everyone is excited to see this!"

'Lyd turned around and climbed a makeshift wooden stand, carefully positioning a strange triangular object atop a small circular table around 2 meters above the ground.'

'It was obviously Silver's video magic tool!'

"Is it starting?"

'A gentle feminine voice echoed from the dark, and two monsters emerged from within.'

'A giant spider with a female torso atop it, an Arachne, and a woman with two wings and many colorful feathers, a Siren.'

"Have you succeeded?" Lyd asked as he turned to them

'They shook their heads.'

"That bull has more muscle in his head than brain, forget about him, I doubt he'll come." The spider lady spoke in a haughty and tired tone as she took a seat in the stone stands

"It's a shame then."

'Lyd dropped his head, but he continued to set up things.'

'On the other side opposite to the magic item laid a square white cloth, acting as a wall for the image to be projected towards.'

'This was likely the ever first movie theater made in this world… To think monsters would be the first to think about it…'

/Chatter…/

'With the Magic tool positioned and the preparations completed, the Xenos whispered to each other in expectation.'

'What were they going to see?' They wondered

'Only Lyd and the others knew...'

/Thum... Thum.../

'As they stopped talking, the ground trembled slightly as a large creature approached them.'

"Gryuu, you're here." Lyd said with a smile

"Rooar?..."

'The 10-meter-tall old dragon looked at the lizardman with an inquisitive gaze as it uttered a low-pitched growl, it may seem like just the usual gurgling a Dragon produces, but for Lyd and the others, it was a well-structured question.'

"Yes Gryuu, we're doing what I told you yesterday, hop in so we can enjoy it together."

/Nod/

'The unusually large green dragon 'sat' around the bonfire, its body too large to stay in the stone benches.'

'It moved slowly and even a bit stiffly, this wasn't a result of its size, but a result of time.'

'Gryuu was the oldest living Xenos, so old his body had started to deteriorate, something thought impossible for all monsters.'

'His body was riddled with Scars of old battles, this was a veteran amidst veterans, now retired as a gate guardian for the Hidden Village.'

'Even if his body betrays him, do not underestimate this wise dragon as he can still pack quite the punch, even for Lyd and the others that could be considered to be... At the peak of their youth.'

/Clink.../

'The magic item made a small noise as Lyd twisted one of its ends...'

"It's starting, everyone, silence for now." Ray spoke gently as she found a spot for her to sit on

/Silence/

'The Xenos went to a complete stop almost at the same time.'

'Albeit the complexity of their existence is still something widely debatable, the simplicity of their behaviors is still… In a sense, pure.'

'No one complained, no one voiced their dissatisfaction, they all sat in harmony despite their heterogeneous appearances, they all acted like family.'

/Sha sha…/

""Wow…!""

'The projector lit up, and the first image shown was the beautiful blue sky of the morning, something all Xenos somewhat desired.'

'Was this mockery to their cause, or perhaps an incentive? The answer for that was greatly individual…'

"It's beautiful..." Ray said with a slight gasp

Just like before...

'The image of the blue skies slowly shifted to the image of a large valley, the arena where the War game occurred.'

'This was nature, the beauty of the surface.'

'From there, history repeated itself under the eyes of these dreamy creatures…'

...

/THUD…/

'Until…'

/THUD…/

'Heavy footsteps echoed in the cavern, and all Xenos were drawn from the War game.'

"So you came…" Lyd said with a surprised expression as he turned his head to gaze at the newcomer

"..."

'The creature did not reply, it stood in the shadows, observing, its clear blue eyes lit up in the dark for quite the eerie scene…'

/Grunt.../

'Instead, it grunted, and that seemed to be a good enough response for him.'

"Look, this is Silver-Chi, the one we talked about before." Lyd said as he pointed up

"..."

'The creature raised its head, staring at the projector with interest, it had never seen something like that before.'

'It found it odd and unusual, it was yet again amazed at the creativity of those up above.'

'It was observant, it was learning, understanding, it did not take long for it to understand what was happening, the source of the image, the magic tool…'

'It had a large interest in the above-ground world, how it looked, how it smelled, what sorts of creatures habituated it...'

'How strong they were...'

"!!!"

/GROWL!/

'However, it suddenly grew restless!'

'It growled loudly as it looked at the person that appeared in the projector, a silver-eyed boy holding a weapon as his body burst into flames.'

"..."

/Inhale!/

/Exhale…/

'It breathed in and out, its breath creating powerful air currents, blowing some of the smaller monsters, like a small rabbit, rolling away like small furry balls…'

"... Silver…"

'The creature… Minotaur, spoke in a strong and concessive tone.'

"That is his name."

I've found you.

'Its singular horn flashed momentarily.'

...

/CLANG!/

'The fight in the projector continued, displaying Silver's intense fight as he sacrificed his body for his dream.'

'It was such an intense battle it left the Xenos baffled… Including Lyd and Gros.'

"I've trained intensely in the past few months, even then, his growth stumps mine." Lyd spoke with some excitement

I'm slowly breaching into a new stage, but growth seems night impossible.

Even then, I have changed, Gros too, Ray as well.

I don't think it's enough for the classification of a Level 6 adventurer, but it's close enough.

Gryuu is living proof that it's possible to overcome one's body, I just need to persevere.

More and more... Until...

"..."

'The Minotaur observed the rest of the fight with an intense gaze, its emotions concealed behind its cold expression.'

'Once the fight ended with a last swing of his enemy's broken weapon, the Minotaur…'

/Grin…/

'Smiled.'

/Clench…/

'It turned around, grabbing something in the dark as it left.'

"Are you leaving already?" Ray asked out loud

"Yes." The minotaur replied as it stopped

"Are you going to train again?"

"... I'll be back soon." He replied coldly

/Thud… Thud…/

'His steps were heavy, and the faint coldness in the air brought chills to some of the weaker Xenos despite their proximity to the fire.'

/Grunt.../

'Seeing this from the corner of his eyes, the Minotaur grunted in dissatisfaction.'

'Some of them may not know, but the Minotaur was fully aware of this, and one of the reasons it was always training far away was because it couldn't bear to inconvenience the lives of others with its own condition.'

'Those that helped him and gave him a place to be, that taught him about the world and what he should strive towards.'

'So he came and went, like the spring… But colder.'

'It may be more accurate to call him winter, fierce and cold, yet hidden inside, there was warmth inside.'

…

/SLAP!/

'On the surface, inside an Office, a man with light gray hair slapped the faces of 2 adventurers with a fierce expression.'

(Image?)

"Have you started to realize what you've done?!"

"I told you to do what you wished, that I don't care of the means you use to gather money, but I never thought you would throw away reason and go mess with the Hestia Familia!"

"Do you two even understand what's at stake here?!"

"...!"

"..."

'The two adventurers kept silent as they stared at the ground, their faces bleeding slightly from the slap.'

"Sigh!"

'This man was Zanis Lustra, the current Captain of the Soma Familia.'

Dammit, these idiots really have no idea of what they're doing, they're just addicts that will do anything to have a sip of that accursed wine.

'Holding his chin as he went into deep thought, Zanis frowned.'

Albeit this makes things simpler, the problems of having incompetent subordinates start to show themselves when they commit such nonsensical mistakes.

Keeping a balance between usefulness and control is a tad too hard...

But… First, I need to calm down, staining my standing any further won't accomplish anything.

"Look, a mistake is a mistake, and the punishment was already given, hopefully, this is enough to get the idea across… Am I, right?"

I need to send them away before I lose the last of my composure... Useless idiots.

""Yes sir!""

"Good, then get outside, clean your faces, put on some good clothes, and gather everything you stole, we'll wait for them to arrive and properly apologize." Zanis spoke as he turned to his office table, grabbing a small sword

"B-But sir..."

"What...!... What is it?"

"W-Well... Would they even know it's us? Couldn't we..."

'Zanis' expression went dark.'

"Are you insinuating we brush over this fact and push the blame onto someone else?"

"..."

"Look, I understand your... Ideas. But this would only work on a smaller Familia without the means to trace their lost items."

'He raised the sword and pointed it at them, making them flinch.'

"With their resources, tracking this won't be a problem at all, and if that's the case, we can't even make use of it, as such, we would be forced to lock it away forever, turning all of your actions a meaningless endeavor that only brought trouble to us."

"As such... Even if they don't come on their own, I'll make sure to go after them and apologize... So... If that answered your questions... Get to it!"

Albeit it would be disappointing if they did not come after us.

""Understood!!""

/Clack!/

'As they rushed outside, closing the door shut, Zanis observed the weapon in his hand.'

This single weapon costs over 2 million Valis, and it has the Hephaestus Familia emblem on it... I can't even begin to imagine the total cost of all of their gear combined.

As expected, the rumors of the smithing Familia being their backer weren't merely words.

Even if I wanted to, this can't even be sold, even in the black market, not one would be insane enough to draw such unwanted attention to themselves!

And were I to try to apologize... What can I do if they were to demand something extreme? There isn't anything we can do now aside from using the Guild itself as a barrier...

But once again, these idiots have been causing trouble all around.

I care little for the reputation of the Familia as long as its profitable, but this working environment has led us to this situation.

What do I do?

'Zanis walked around the room in circles, thinking and thinking...'

"Is that really all I have?" He asked himself as he looked at the window, his expression fierce

The only card we have is… Yes, the inner competition between Familias.

If the Hestia Familia starts to put pressure and 'bully' the weaker Familias like ours, their own prestige they've built will diminish, and other Familias might try and push them back for their own sake, since they never know who would be next.

So if the Hestia Familia has anything else going to them apart from having a strong Captain, they'll realize the inner politics and move accordingly.

The best outcome would be to have this end quickly and nicely… Pay them a fee for our mistakes and an apology, ideally as best and as cleanly as possible.

"The problem is what they did... They have every reason for being rough..."

So be it, if they decide to put those two in bed for an entire year, I'll have to accept it.

It would be extreme to lose two of our Level 2 adventurers, especially when they could grow to become Level 3...

But if it's for the greater good of the plan, then they ought to rake in the consequences of their own actions!

My control over the Familia is at its best, but some have started to show resistance and dissatisfaction, it took me years of effort to be here, I can't let something destabilize it now of all times!

My sight is on the future!

'Zanis was a greedy, cruel, and sinister man.'

'At the sight of his God's incompetence in managing a Familia and understanding Human emotion, he took over his role as the leading figure of the Familia and has been controlling it ever since.'

'This has been going on for nearly 2 decades.'

'However, instead of managing them and helping them recuperate from their addiction and withstand the allure of the Divine Wine, helping them be children of the God of Wines in moderation... He aggravated it for his own means.'

'Years of preparation under the tired and emotionless eyes of his God that had given up hope... He controlled and manipulated, forced and guided the people of the Soma Familia to do his bidding, shoving them further and further down into the path of alcoholism.'

'For now, the world only sees the Soma Familia as a prestigious Winemaking one, with only a few rumors here and there about their strange antics and greediness, but on the inside, most of them are already drug addicts that will do anything for money.'

'With the help of the Divine wine and their addiction, as the Captain of the Familia, he controls who can have it, who has access to it, and who can drink the better products.'

'Zanis has been in control for almost a generation to pass, if it wasn't for some stubborn people that still haven't given in, his position would almost be the same as Soma's... If it isn't already.'

'But as long as they stay outside of his business, doing what they are supposed to do, then he won't care.'

'For them, who is Soma if not a pathetic recluse that stays all of his day brewing wine without a goal in sight?'

'All of this was Zanis' great plan of making use of this money-making machine to grow in power, influence, and wealth, obviously at the cost of others.'

'With the Hestia Familia being brought into this, Zanis started to fear the possibility of his scheme being brought into the light, though at the same time, he placed his bets on the simple nature of men, the one where they each cared for their own toes.'

'A Familia won't care about another's internal problems, and as such, he prepared to give them whatever they wished and expected that, once they got what they wanted, they would leave regardless of what they saw or realized.'

'Indeed, he was ready to sacrifice his subordinates for that.'

'However, this didn't remove the possibility of them being reported to the Guild.'

'He had to prepare for any occurrences though.'

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