Chapter 45: Joining Forces with Loki!
Loki's room was at the highest point of the Loki Familia's territory. Although it looked very luxurious from the outside, once inside, it was nothing but a messy pile of trash and a strong smell of alcohol.
Although it was completely devoid of any divine aura, Shirou, having grown accustomed to the presence of the goddess Hestia, wasn't particularly surprised by the unique personalities of gods.
"Thank you very much, Goddess Loki, for agreeing to meet me."
Because he needed a favor, Shirou began with polite words.
"It's nothing. I've always been interested in you," Loki smiled. "Even if you hadn't come to find me, I would probably have come to find you one day."
"What value is there in seeking out someone like me?" Shirou asked, feigning indifference, unwilling to reveal his true strength.
Loki didn't press for information and smiled as she replied, "In terms of ability, you're just a level 1 brat, so you don't have much value, but your cooking skills are quite good. I really want you to be our Familia's exclusive chef."
"Not that great, huh?" Shirou said.
"No, no, your cooking was good enough to win Ais's approval. You don't know how happy Ais was when she came back after eating your food — she might have even given herself to you... Just kidding, Ais's body belongs to me!" Loki joked to herself. "So, how about it? Interested in becoming the chef for my Familia?"
"Uh, well..." Shirou hesitated.
Faced with Loki's smiling gaze, he realized she already knew his true thoughts and was just playing along with some nonsense.
After all, she was the god in charge of "trickery," so it made sense she could see through him.
Shirou stopped with the empty pleasantries and got straight to the point.
"Goddess Loki, do you like to drink?"
"Drink?" Loki was surprised by the topic and hesitated a moment. "Of course, I love it. Alcohol and women are my only two pleasures in this world."
"Alcohol and women... that's quite an old man's hobby," Shirou said.
"Haha, Emiya, don't tell me you don't like those things. No man doesn't like those two!"
"Let's just say I do," Shirou said, not wanting to get into a boring conversation like salarymen at a bar.
"Anyway, since you like drinking, I guess you've tried the Soma Familia's divine wine, right?"
"Soma's divine wine...?"
Hearing Shirou mention the name, Loki's normally squinting eyes opened for just a brief moment.
But it was only a moment.
The next second, she smiled as if nothing had happened and said:
"Of course. Whether in the heavens or the lower world, my favorite drink is divine wine. One sip can send you flying to the skies. How about we get drunk now? I have some Soma wine right here in this cabinet."
"No thanks."
"What? I'm usually so stingy that I don't even treat anyone to a drink. Only very rarely do I secretly take a sip. Are you really going to give me no face?"
Loki looked at Shirou with a certain forcefulness.
Faced with such a strong attitude from a god, Shirou reluctantly agreed to drink a little with her.
"That's great! You're just the kind of person I want. Our Familia is full of idiots who only care about getting stronger and don't appreciate the beauty of drinking," Loki laughed and poured a cup for Shirou. "Here, drink up. This is premium stuff you can't find on the market!"
"..."
Faced with Loki's unusually sincere attitude, Shirou sensed a hidden meaning beneath her words.
He took the cup she handed without hesitation and drank.
The moment the wine slid down his throat, he felt an almost magical sensation pass through him. But since it was relatively faint, his spirit quickly suppressed it.
"Ah, I see, I see,"
Seeing Shirou's reaction, Loki was satisfied and clapped her hands in praise.
"This is truly unusual. I rarely let outsiders drink Soma's wine, but I've seen some reactions from those who did — they usually go completely crazy after one sip and only want to drink more. Someone like you, who has no reaction, is almost unheard of among humans."
"So you do know about Soma's divine wine."
"Well, after all, I was the first to discover it," Loki smiled, starting to reminisce.
"Let me tell you a bit about the past. I was once a god who loved alcohol to the extreme. Even when I came to Orario and even when I was in the heavens, I was addicted to fine wine. But you know the lower world — it lacks divine wine comparable to the heavens, which disappointed me greatly."
"At that time, I kept searching for fine wine, drinking one place after another every day. Every time I drank, I compared various wines. Most were under 60 points — failing grades. Only a rare few, like those brewed by elves, were passable. I was living in this constant search but also constant disappointment... until one day, I finally came across Soma's divine wine."
"That's what you call fate, huh? One sip and I was hooked! No matter which Familia made it, I bought all the Soma's wine in Orario like a fanatical fan... Then, at that moment, I heard something interesting."
"Interesting?"
Hearing this, Shirou couldn't help but ask.
Loki seemed pleased with the question, sipping her drink and smiling.
"I heard that the Soma divine wine sold to outsiders is actually a failed product."
"Failed product?"
"Yes. You just tasted it yourself. It's delicious, but it's not enough to drive someone insane. According to my tests, those who drink the externally sold Soma wine sober up after a few hours."
"Tests... So you really investigated it."
"Of course! It's my favorite drink. How could I not care? I also heard rumors that inside the Soma Familia, there is a true divine wine — the completed product! So I broke into the Soma Familia and desperately tried to find that divine wine."
"You actually went into the Soma Familia?"
Shirou was surprised.
"I had no other goal — just to get a sip of the wine," Loki said with obsession written all over her face. "No matter what, I wanted to try the true divine wine that could drive mortals insane!"
"..."
Well, that's god's thinking for you. Shirou didn't have the courage to drink suspicious wine, but only a carefree god like Loki would do such a thing.
"I went to the Soma Familia's main base and shouted, 'Soma! It's me, marry me!' But no one paid any attention. So lonely..." Loki continued with words that stunned Shirou. "So I stormed
into their base. But I found no divine wine anywhere and didn't even meet a single member, only Soma himself."
"You met Soma?"
"Yes, I asked him for the wine, but that idiot didn't even acknowledge me. It was as if I was less than fertilizer in his eyes. He didn't give me a drop and just kicked me out. So annoying." Loki quietly finished her story and looked at Shirou. "But I didn't give up. I kept digging around and finally got some information about the divine wine."
"First of all, making wine is costly, especially top-grade divine wine. The cost is unbelievably high. Soma himself isn't good at running the Familia, and if he continues like this, he'll go bankrupt. So he thought of a method: to reward Familia members with divine wine, encouraging them to work harder."
"The divine wine mentioned here isn't the stuff I gave you earlier but the true completed divine wine. Even a man like you, Emiya, would lose yourself after just one sip."
Shirou didn't comment on Loki's evaluation.
He had never tasted the true divine wine and couldn't judge.
He tentatively said, "So the addictive one isn't the Soma wine sold externally but a special divine wine that only circulates within the Soma Familia."
"Heh, you're really here for the divine wine," Loki said, seeing through Shirou's thoughts. "But I guess you're not here to drink it, but for another reason."
Knowing the conversation was getting to the important part, Shirou's tone turned serious.
To show Loki his determination, Shirou took a sip from the table's cup.
Feeling the power of the Soma wine firsthand, he could only imagine how terrifying the true divine wine must be.
So he spoke:
"My goal is to eliminate Soma's divine wine and make this demonic thing disappear from this city."
"Huh?"
Loki was surprised by Shirou's words.
But she didn't deny them, as if she believed Shirou really had the ability.
"You're an interesting kid, getting more interesting by the minute," Loki laughed heartily. "I won't ask why you want to do this. Do you really think you can?"
"Normally, no, because there's no evidence."
"Smart."
Loki nodded approvingly at Shirou's attitude. "Because of the wine, the Soma Familia members are completely abnormal. Their heads only think about money, making communication impossible.
They don't even admit the wine affects them and commit all kinds of crimes to make money, even forcing ordinary people to drink diluted divine wine and seizing their entire wealth.
These are crimes, but it's impossible to prove that Soma Familia members committed them because of the wine. So even gods like me and Freya, who maintain order in Orario, can't intervene."
Shirou silently added, "Even if all the criminal Soma Familia members were taken down, as long as the wine exists, new members would appear. It would be only a tempOrario fix."
"You kid, setting aside whether you really are level 1, I want you now."
Loki opened her eyes wide, shining brightly at Shirou for the first time.
"We have a bet, don't we?"
"Heh, right. Five years isn't long for gods."
Loki's eyes narrowed slightly. She seemed to have no doubt Shirou would join the Loki Familia, thinking it was inevitable.
Shirou didn't confirm or deny and continued, "As it stands, there's no way for to ban Soma's divine wine?"
"Exactly. It's not just humans — many gods in Orario are also captives of that wine," Loki said quietly. "I heard several gods secretly accepted bribes from the Soma Familia and drank that divine wine. Damn it, why don't they test that wine on me?!"
Loki looked like she'd die happy if she could just drink it.
But Shirou clearly understood why the Soma Familia wouldn't let Loki have any.
They probably feared her, knowing she couldn't be enslaved by the wine. No matter how wild she seemed, she was ultimately a god of order.
If she got the chance, she'd definitely eliminate the harmful Soma divine wine.
This must be a strategy devised by some strategist inside the Soma Familia, not just Soma's personal obsession with brewing.
Shirou thought so and asked Loki:
"If I said I have a way to directly defeat Soma and make him stop producing divine wine in the future?"
He dropped a crucial piece.
"..."
Loki's expression instantly turned serious like never before. The atmosphere in the room grew tense.
"What do you mean?" Loki looked at Shirou as if saying, "If you're joking, don't expect to leave here alive."
Shirou remained calm and explained:
"Literally, I have a plan to directly defeat Soma's divine wine. If you, Goddess Loki, cooperate, I can make Soma stop making divine wine forever, or at least stop selling it externally."
"You're not joking, right?"
"If I fail, I'll join the Loki Familia outright."
"OK!"
Hearing Shirou's terms, Loki seemed worried he'd take back his words and eagerly agreed.
Shirou hadn't expected Loki to be so invested, but he relaxed.
With Loki's approval, there was only one thing left to do: confront the god of brewing, Soma, head-on!