Chapter 18: Hephaestus's Gaze Sharpened (Part 2) (Patreon)

Of course, Hephaestus was still a god on the side of order.

Until she knew the boy's true circumstances, she wasn't about to do anything rash.

Still, a few questions were unavoidable.

Renan had no idea what the 'God of the Forge' beside him was thinking. After confirming that the carving knife Tsubaki had made met the requirements he'd given her yesterday, he took the 2 million Valis he'd prepared in advance out of his backpack and set them on the counter.

"The carving knife is excellent. I like it a lot. Here's the remaining balance."

"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave for now."

With that, Renan waved to Tsubaki, bowed respectfully to Hephaestus beside her, and turned to leave the shop.

But the next second—

"Young man, would you mind waiting a moment?"

Hephaestus, who hadn't said a word until then, suddenly called out to the black-haired boy, who had already taken a step forward.

Renan froze, drew his foot back, and looked over at her.

Hephaestus rose from her seat and walked over to him at an unhurried pace. Some unreadable emotion seemed to flicker in her left eye, the one the mask didn't cover. "Little one, may I ask your name and which Familia you belong to?"

Renan was a little surprised, but he didn't refuse. He pressed his right hand to his chest and bowed slightly. "Forgive my rudeness, Lady Hephaestus. My name is Renan, and I'm a member of the Soma Familia."

"The Soma Familia?!" Hephaestus took it in stride, but Tsubaki beside her couldn't help crying out. "Since when does the Soma Familia have a Lv3?!"

"Uh..." Renan scratched his cheek, his tone awkward. "There's been a misunderstanding, Manager. I'm Lv1."

Tsubaki plainly didn't believe him and opened her mouth to argue.

But Hephaestus raised a hand and stopped her first. "This child is telling the truth."

The gods of the DanMachi world could see through other people's lies.

So, under normal circumstances, Renan didn't choose to lie when a god questioned him unless he had to.

But precisely because of that, the god and the 'girl' present reacted so strongly to his answer.

Hephaestus most of all.

"A Lv1 adventurer with Lv3 strength..." the red-haired goddess murmured under her breath. A sharp glint flashed through her uncovered left eye.

The gods of the DanMachi world were extremely self-centered.

In practice, that meant every one of them was a person of action who didn't think much before acting.

Like right now.

Hephaestus seemed to have made up her mind. She raised her right arm, sheathed in a black leather glove, and planted it squarely on his shoulder. "Young Renan, would you be interested in transferring to my Familia?"

"If you agree, I'll personally cover all your equipment from here on. And when you go after a feat to level up, I can have Tsubaki go along with you."

In some respects, the terms Hephaestus offered were already excellent.

A few days ago, before Renan had awakened the [Rabble] skill, or before he'd joined a Familia at all, he swore he would have snapped his cane in two on the spot and pledged his loyalty without another word after hearing that.

But unfortunately...

"Lady Hephaestus, I don't intend to leave the Soma Familia."

Standing before the red-haired goddess, the boy shook his head firmly.

Hephaestus clearly had no plans to give up. She kept coaxing. "Soma is no good patron god. The only reason that fellow came down to the lower world and founded a Familia was to brew more new varieties of divine wine."

The relationship between gods and adventurers could be summed up by an old saying Renan had read in his previous life.

— If the ruler treats his ministers as his hands and feet, the ministers will treat him as their heart and belly; if the ruler treats his ministers as dogs and horses, the ministers will treat him as a stranger; if the ruler treats his ministers as dirt and weeds, the ministers will treat him as a bandit and an enemy.

In Orario, Soma had never been a good choice. He was far too selfish, wanting only to take and never willing to give.

As for character, he was only a tiny bit better than the evil gods who brought harm to low- and mid-tier adventurers and ordinary civilians.

So any adventurer with ideals and ambition would never consider joining the Soma Familia.

Even those who ended up as members for one reason or another would, once their strength grew, try everything to convert and leave.

— It was precisely because so many talented adventurers had left the Familia in the past that Soma had thought of bringing out the divine wine. On the surface it was a 'reward' for the adventurers in his Familia. As for the truth, well~ those who know, know.

Naturally, Renan didn't like Soma either. He loathed him, in fact.

But in the future, he planned to fully decipher the Falna and break out of the vicious circle in which adventurers could only grow stronger with a god's help.

Put modestly, once word of it got around, it would surely pique the curiosity of the gods of Orario, and indeed of the entire DanMachi world.

Put grandly, it could be considered a taboo on par with killing a god. After all, the reason gods held a status far above humans in the lower world was not only that they were powerful in their own right, but also that they could grant adventurers the Falna, which in theory allowed limitless growth.

From that standpoint, the Soma Familia, which had barely a handful of Lv2s, had instead become Renan's best umbrella of protection for now.

At the very least, when that day finally came, he could strike down Zanis and the rest without a flicker of hesitation or scruple, and even send Soma back to Heaven along with them!

But if it were the Hephaestus Familia...

As one of Orario's top factions, it had no shortage of eyes trained on it.

If he joined, Renan had no doubt that whatever he did on the first day, news of it would be known to half of Orario by the second.

Besides, if he really did choose to switch Familias, he'd lean toward the Astraea Familia, which took the elite path and was tied to him by shared interests.

Of course, what he thought in his head was one thing. In reality, Renan still had to play the loyal retainer.

After hearing the red-haired goddess out, he didn't hesitate for even half a second before snapping back at once, loudly. "Lady Hephaestus, I won't allow you to talk about Lord Soma like that! If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be an adventurer now!"

As he spoke, an angry look appeared on his face right on cue.

Hephaestus: "..."

As a god, she could of course tell that at least thirty percent, no, fifty percent of what he'd said was a lie.

But precisely because of that, the red-haired goddess was a little puzzled.

"You..." She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.

But Renan had no intention of continuing the standoff with her.

With a small trick of leverage, he slipped out of the goddess's grip. "Lady Hephaestus, and Manager, I've taken up quite a bit of your time today. Please allow me to take my leave."

The instant his words fell, he started from zero frames and a Thunderclap and Flash carried him to the entrance of the weapon shop. He pushed open the door and vanished quickly into the crowd on the street...