Within the Loki Familia's main deity chamber, two figures suddenly appeared out of thin air.
They landed without a sound and instinctively checked their surroundings. Only after confirming that no one else was present did they finally lower their guard.
Once she relaxed, Ais immediately recognized the room.
"This is… Loki's room."
Despite being the Familia God's quarters, the place didn't look luxurious at all.
This was exactly how Loki wanted it. As she once said, "Why the hell would my room need to be fancy? Am I supposed to be like that bitch Ishtar, decorating it just to show off?"
The wording was a bit aggressive, but it perfectly matched Loki's personality.
Ais, who had lived here since childhood, knew this very well.
Whenever Loki was in her room, she always seemed to be plotting something excessive.
"Oh—oh…"
Ais gave the air a casual sniff. The scent in the room had almost completely faded. No one had been here for at least three days.
"Loki isn't in her room? Where did she go?"
"Ah, Loki-sama should be at my place."
Ais froze for a moment, then slowly turned around with a puzzled, slightly strange expression.
"Teacher… Loki is at your house?"
Bell nodded lightly.
"That whole operation exposed my cooperation with the Loki Familia. I was worried that Loki-sama would be bothered by other gods and end up spilling things about me, so I arranged for her to stay at my place."
Ais nodded. Bell's previous exposure had been serious enough that the gods might fix their attention on Loki Familia.
"And not just Loki-sama. Hephaestus, Freya-sama, Artemis—those three as well. They're the gods I interact with most often. Considering safety, I brought them all over together."
Bell neatly concealed the true nature of his relationship with those goddesses. Compared to that, "taking refuge" was a far easier explanation to accept.
And indeed, Ais accepted it instantly.
"Teacher, then why don't we go straight to your house?"
Her completely oblivious question made Bell wonder if Ais's brain had genuinely taken on water during training.
"Ais… you've been away from home for three months. Shouldn't you at least let your family know you're back and safe?"
"…Oh!"
Her blank eyes took a few seconds before brightening with excitement.
"Then, Teacher, I'm going to find Riveria!"
"Mm. Go ahead. I'll head home first and check on the goddesses, then bring Loki-sama back later."
"Okay."
Bell disappeared from the room without a trace.
Ais didn't mind it at all. Out of everyone, she knew best how Bell used that disappearing method.
Now that she had free time, she planned to go find Riveria and tell her everything she'd experienced in the past three months.
Caution.
That was one of the most important things Ais had learned from Bell.
In the Deep Floors—deep within the deep—the mindset of caution was essential. A single careless mistake could leave you with a hole through your body. Ever since learning about the disgusting assassin-type monsters known as Frost Lizardmen, she had learned how to hide her presence and how to detect those creatures in a world of white.
Carefully, she released controlled wind into the familia, letting it spread quickly. Through the information carried by the wind, she sought the person she wanted to find.
"Found her."
A blue wind wrapped around Ais in an instant. The slowly rotating air formed a small, light-distorting barrier that peeled her presence away from the surroundings, making her invisible to ordinary eyes.
It looked very much like one of Bell's techniques.
And indeed, it was a method Bell had taught her for concealing herself.
Of course, it wasn't Bell's own invention—it was copied from the "Invisible Air," using a similar application of wind. The effect was impressive, though still nowhere near as absolute as Bell's "Hide." And no matter how little magic the "Invisible Air" used, some mana would always leak out, making it conspicuous to mages with sharp magical sensing.
So Bell had given Ais one piece of advice:
"A single drop of water is hidden best when it's in the ocean."
Using that as her foundation, she created a method where she would first spread wind across the entire area she intended to move through. That way, no one would notice Ais hidden within the flow.
The only downside was that this method cost more mana than the "Invisible Air," though its other drawbacks weren't significant.
Ais mastered the technique, though for now she only spread wind within a three-meter radius around herself.
Within that radius, even if someone cast an area-effect spell targeting her, the mana expenditure remained manageable.
And she could always expand the range by increasing her output.
Even if it cost more mana, as long as it prevented others from locking onto her position, it was worth it.
Once everything was prepared, Ais headed directly toward where Riveria was.
...
At the same time, in Finn's office, the Three Pillars had gathered once again.
"Loki hasn't said anything either?"
Finn's question earned him odd looks from both Gareth and Riveria.
"...Finn, stop covering for Loki. That woman has vanished for three months since Ais left. Who exactly do you think she's hiding from?"
Riveria laid the subject bare without hesitation.
"Well, Bell probably talked to her, and she let herself get dragged along," Gareth muttered, giving Loki at least a bit of face.
But Riveria wasn't about to offer the same courtesy.
"Gareth, do you honestly think Loki can be 'dragged along' by anyone? If she didn't want to leave, would she disappear for three months without so much as a shadow?"
After Ais left with Bell, Loki had immediately vanished from her room.
This didn't cause any internal unrest—the Three Pillars all knew exactly where that unreliable deity had gone, and they knew perfectly well why she was hiding.
Truthfully, Loki disappearing wasn't a bad thing. Three months ago, gods from every major familia had started visiting Loki. As long as she didn't show her face, it meant she truly wasn't there.
And as for where she'd gone? How would the children of her familia know?
This excuse had successfully brushed off probing gods and familias.
But now even Ais had been taken along, which meant Loki had definitely agreed to it. Otherwise, would Bell really drag Ais off for three months without returning?
Finn shot Gareth a pointed look.
'Riveria's temper is getting worse by the day. What are we supposed to do? We're running out of options.'
Gareth's expression said he had no solution at all.
'If you have no idea, what am I supposed to do?'
In truth, neither of them were worried about Ais being taken away. Ais sought strength above all else, and Bell was the best helper she could have right now—far better than anything they could offer.
Their only real problem was how to handle Riveria.
Since Ais's departure, she had become the biggest issue they faced.
...
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