Chapter 72: The Shocked Hephaestus
After Lili left the Soma Familia, the divine blood left behind wasn't retrieved. Hestia only needed to use her own divine blood to cover it and report the adventurer's information to the Guild.
She had already guessed that the Soma Familia destruction incident was definitely inextricably linked to Lili. Normally, she would have to consider it carefully.
Now, there was no choice.
The compulsory expedition would begin in three days. Knowing the process was full of danger, yet she proactively applied to join the Familia – this point was very commendable.
Other flaws could be indirectly overlooked.
Hestia didn't perform the divine blood covering and simultaneous status update perfunctorily. When getting along with her dependant, she preferred to use a family-like approach.
Liam was an exception.
After finishing these things, Hestia sat on the sofa, restless. Having just become an adventurer not long ago, he now had to undertake a Familia expedition.
What help could she provide?
Among the gods she was familiar with in Orario, Hephaestus was mainly business-oriented. Even if she had the heart to help, she had to consider the wishes of her members.
Thinking of this, she inexplicably thought of another god who also worked part-time at the "fried potato ball branch."
A fellow as poor as herself, but among the few Far Eastern children in her Familia, two of them were Lv2 adventurers.
Hestia seemed to have found the key to breaking the deadlock. She patted her chest and said with conviction, "Liam-kun, you absolutely cannot be willful about the Familia expedition!"
"There are still three days. Leave the matter of companions and such to me."
"Alright."
The expedition goal set by the Adventurer's Guild was to reach the end of the middle levels, which was the starting point of the lower levels, the "New World."
For such floors, only Ais Wallenstein could make a round trip in a day.
Liam didn't think he could achieve that with his current strength, but seeing Hestia's guaranteed appearance, he had a guess in his heart.
Takemikazuchi, who was also a poor god.
As long as he didn't pull off an operation like the "Monster Gifting," if he could really get assistance, he certainly wouldn't mind; the process would be much easier.
Regarding weapons and equipment, the estimated round-trip time was 10 days.
He probably wouldn't need to repair them in advance; the durability of the Second-Grade armaments could support the round trip. The key was that he couldn't update his ability scores during this period.
Liam gathered his thoughts and finally said with a smile, "Then for the next two days, I'll go to the Dungeon first to continue improving my ability scores."
Although he really wanted to respect Teacher 2.5, the disrupted plan was inexplicably fitting.
"Not a moment of joy for leveling up, and next I have to face a highly dangerous Familia expedition."
"As for you."
Noticing Lili's expectant gaze, he thought for a moment and finally made arrangements, "Gather as much information as possible on all the floor monsters."
"No problem!"
Lili answered decisively. Her gaze swept over this somewhat dilapidated Familia home. The idea of moving in completely vanished. The house she rented herself.
She felt it was quite nice?
"Then I'll head back first. These few days I'll go to the Adventurer's Guild to organize information and purchase weapons, so I temporarily won't be able to explore the Dungeon with you."
"Alright."
After two consecutive days of Dungeon exploration, the physical fatigue didn't disappear just because he had sublimated his level. After a simple wash-up, hunger swept over him.
He changed into a clean set of clothes. Just as he was about to invite Hestia for dinner.
Liam didn't see her figure. He guessed she had gone out to handle matters related to the Familia expedition, and Lili had also returned to her own house.
A celebration could wait until after the expedition.
After purchasing the second weapon, his assets had shrunk significantly. A normal meal to fill his stomach was certainly not a problem, so the primary target was clear.
"The Hostess of Fertility."
After leveling up, the compulsory Familia expedition hadn't disrupted Liam's plans. His ability scores and Sword Soul class experience points could be improved simultaneously.
"Being busy is good..."
The facts were not outside of Liam's speculation. After leaving the abandoned church, Hestia first sought out Hephaestus to ask for countermeasures.
She was on good terms with Takemikazuchi as a fellow god. But since it involved matters of a Familia expedition, it was absolutely impossible to get help for free. She could only spend money to hire help.
Where would the money come from?
Of course, she would ask whoever had money!
Looking at her close friend Hephaestus sitting on the chair, this concerned Liam's safety. Hestia didn't hesitate at all.
She decisively offered her most sincere plea.
Dogeza.
Facing her close friend's confused and complicated gaze, Hestia pleaded, "Hephaestus, right now only you can help me."
"."
It always felt like being on good terms with this Hestia fellow would inevitably lead to trouble.
Hephaestus's expression was rather strange. She placed the glass of red wine on the table. It couldn't be that she wanted to buy a weapon on credit again like last time, right?
Buying a not-so-valuable weapon on credit only resulted in her nagging him all night.
This matter was definitely more serious!
She shook her head and sighed, but then asked helplessly, "Speak. What do you want me to do for your Liam-kun this time?"
"Borrow money."
"I need a lot of money. Because of a certain matter, the Adventurer's Guild has issued a compulsory expedition order. I'm not at ease letting Liam-kun go."
"So I want to borrow some money to hire adventurers from other Familias." Her close friend didn't refuse, which meant there was room for discussion.
To avoid exhausting Hephaestus's patience, Hestia decisively stated her request.
And after hearing the specific reason, Hephaestus's brow furrowed tightly. She knew the current state of this one's Familia. The Liam who was regarded as a treasure.
Indeed possessed extremely strong talent, otherwise, she wouldn't be nagging every time they met.
She just couldn't figure out why the Adventurer's Guild would actually issue a compulsory Familia expedition to the Hestia Familia, which was in its initial startup phase!
"Compulsory Familia Expedition?"
She sat up a little straighter and looked at Hestia, who was performing a dogeza, and asked, "Tell me, what was the cause..."
"...Mm."
"The Soma Familia destruction incident."
"?"
"This matter is a bit complicated to explain. If you really want to know, shall we talk somewhere else?" Hestia looked up.
Mainly because maintaining the "dogeza" posture felt strange.
Hearing the reason, Hephaestus stiffened for a moment, but it undoubtedly piqued her curiosity. Although the Soma Familia's strength wasn't strong.
No matter what, the reason for its destruction couldn't possibly be related to Liam, right?
It was just that after listening to Hestia explain the whole story clearly, the confusion on her face didn't disappear; instead, it was more disbelief.
"According to you..."
"Before Liam even sublimated his adventurer level, he directly destroyed the Soma Familia. And taking advantage of the Ganesha Familia and Adventurer's Guild's investigation time."
"He underwent two days of high-intensity training, improved his ability scores, and then underwent level sublimation..."
Hestia nodded without much thought.
"Forcing Ouranos to make a choice, letting the Ganesha Familia handle the incident, and the price is the compulsory Familia expedition you mentioned?"
As she spoke to the end, she didn't even notice her tone speeding up. She looked at Hestia with a complicated expression, "Are you sure you're not joking with me?"
"No matter how unreliable my character is, I couldn't possibly do something like that!"
"."
Receiving confirmation, Hephaestus opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. Since things had been explained to this extent, refusing would be very impolite.
Unable to calm the shock brought by the incident for a short time, she finally couldn't help but click her tongue, "If it's really as you say, then your Liam no longer belongs in the category of a genius…"
"He is a monster, through and through!!"
(End of this chapter)
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