The traveler's inn, home of Hermes Familia.
It was the main office. There were three people present inside the office: the first was Asfi, the Vice-Captain of the Famiiia and de facto leader as well. who had just gotten her status updated, and the second was Lydia, the 'Real' Captain of the familia, who was staring intently at the status sheet in Asfi's hands, and the last one was Hemes, the patron god himself.
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STATUS
Lv. 4
STRENGTH E495
DEFENSE E436
DEXTERITY D546
AGILITY D507
MAGIC I66
Mystery D
Mixing E
Metalworking E
MAGIC
KALOV ARGOL
Wide-Range Attack Spell.
Water element.
SKILL
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All three of them were staring at Asfi's status sheet for the past couple of weeks. Asfi was gaining strength at an incredible pace. And have become a Level 4 in this short time.
"Yaaaa! Asfi, Mind telling us now why you're getting so strong so quickly?" Hermes lifted his eyes from the status sheet and looked at Asfi.
"I have already told you a million times, I don't know the reason." Asfi had gotten tired of answering that question.
"But still, there must be something that is making you grow stronger so fast. At first it was about 2 to 3 times your usual speed, but after some time the speed at which you stats increase grows to 4, sometimes even 5 times the normal." Lydia, for once, was in a serious mood.
"It's most likely the work of a skill," Hermes concluded.
"But as you can see, I don't have any skill like that." Asfi showed the status sheet.
"Not your own skill, Asfi, but of someone else." Said Hermes, looking at both Lydia and Asfi. "My guess is that it's somehow related to Arin. Since these changes started occurring around the time he joined Loki Familia." He presented his theory.
To be honest, Asfi has concluded the same. Just then, Lydia stood up abruptly, surprising Asfi and Hermes both. "I know!" her voice dripping with excitement. Both Hermes and Asfi turn their whole attention to what Lydia might have suspected.
"It must be the power of love!" Her words made both of them sigh.
I wish she had used some points on her brain and not just on her beauty. Thought Asfi was looking at her, the overly excited Captain. When Hermes spoke up.
"No… I don't think it's because of that." Hermes said dryly, but the next line he said with renewed vigor."But still, it's true that Arin is indeed pining for Asfi and wants to take her away. We can't allow that, Lydia!"
Lydia spoke in support of Hermes, clinging to Asfi. "Yes! Yes! I am not giving my Asfi-chan to Arin, even if he saved my ass a few times, this and that are different; if he wants Asfi-chan, he has to go through me!"
"Yes! Yes! If Asfi is not here anymore, then how are we going to slack–I mean, who is going to look after our Familia?" Hermes hurriedly corrected himself.
Hearing their talks, Asfi merely sighed, Lydia still clinging to her, as Asfi remembered. Arin words.
*It was the rest time after they had just completed a magic item blueprint, and they were chatting casually, though it's more like Asfi complaining about how much work she had to do because both Hermes and Lydia were slacking off too much lately. Arin heard her vent everything, and when she finished her story, he spoke up, his voice unusually serious.
"Asfi, you should speak up against them when you feel like things are being unfair to you. Because if you keep doing as you are told, then what will be the difference between you now and the princess you were before, locked in the palace, not being able to do what you want to do?"
He paused, letting his word sink in her mind. And continued.
"While I don't think they are cruel enough that they will make you do all the work that you clearly can't or don't want to do, but they might not know it, push the task on you. So you need to clearly say that you don't want to do it. And if someone still tries to force you to do it, let me know and I will burn them to a crisp, no matter if they are mortal or gods,"*
She clearly remembers everything he said, and the cruel smile he showed at the end told Asfi that he was very serious about his threat. And the last incident, where Arin killed the gods and became a god killer, solidified it in Asfi's heart that he truly won't stand anyone forcing her to do something god or otherwise.
While Asfi was not weak by any means, both physically and mentally, having a person who supports her unconditionally gives her a strong push to speak up against these two idiots.
Asfi stood up from her place, releasing herself from Lydia's arms. "Both of you, Enough with the joke, we have a city to rebuild and need all the manpower we have, and that includes both of you, too," Asfi said. Both Lydia and Hermes were slightly stunned at her.
"Lydia, you go and direct our members to help out with the northern district. There is a lack of manpower there, and Hermes doesn't try to run away now. There is a lot of paperwork piling up. Go and sort through it." She called out to both of them, grabbing Hermes by his collar as he tried to sneak away.
"EHHH!!" Both Lydia and Hermes whined.
Asfi started to get annoyed at them, since it was she who was taking care of everything, and both Hermes and Lydia were trying hard to come up with excuses to skip work or were doing the bare minimum.
"Don't 'Ehhh' me and get to work!"
"YES, MAM!!" Seeing that Asfi had started to get angry, both of them saluted and hurried out of the room.
"Haaa… they are such a handful." She muttered to herself.
But you were right, Arin. I need to speak up more; otherwise, as you said, there will be no point in me running away from that prison called 'castle'.
She thought of the boy who made her realize that, despite running away from the place where people tried to chain her down, a part of her was still caged. She decided to be more vocal about her likes and dislikes from now on.
As she thought about the likes, she remembered Lydia's words.
"Power of love?" She questioned, "That's so stupid." While she was aware that Arin's feelings for her and the other three girls ran deep, because if they didn't, then he wouldn't have despaired that much, when it was decided that he couldn't interact with them for a week.
But still, she did not believe that someone could love someone so much that they started affecting someone else's status like that. That too, loving four women at once.
If it were someone else who said that they love multiple people at once, she would have scoffed at them and called them a liar and a playboy, but she had seen with her own eyes that Arin truly cared for them.
She remembers it like it was yesterday, when she was fighting with Olivas and was badly hurt as a result, and when Arin held her close and tended to her, how his arms trembled, how his voice became hoarse, how his expression was twisted, like he was the one who was injured and not her, how he held back the tears that threatened to spill form his eyes.
She remembers everything.
Besides, it's not like Polygamy is illegal, just most people prefer a monogamous relationship over it.
Her eyes widen at the prospect that she was considering that option.
NO! NO! Am I crazy? Why would I even consider it?
It's not like I like him or anything…
.
.
.
.
No, that's a lie.
I do like him.
But!
I don't love him enough that I would be ready to share him yet!
She declared to no one but herself, without noticing that she used the word 'Yet'.
Haa… I should go and do some work. That will help me take my mind off him.
She walked towards her workshop and immersed herself in work to forget about Arin's absence.
For a while, she worked on the item and then…
"Arin, can you pass me ... oh…" her hands froze mid air, her finger grasping empty air.
The workshop felt unnaturally quiet before she would have rather appreciated the silence, but now it just feels unsettling not to see Arin roaming around the workshop, his humming of songs when he concentrates, when he helps Asfi with item creation, and organizing the workshop.
"Get it together, Asfi." She reached for the tool herself and returned back to work.
The magic item she was working on—a communication device that could reach longer distances—seemed to mock her with its incomplete state. She'd been planning to show it to Arin when it was finished, had even been imagining the way his eyes would light up with that mixture of admiration and curiosity he always got when she explained her work.
But for some reason, she was unable to concentrate.
Am I missing him that much? "There is no way. Right?" She again tried to work, but her thoughts went back to how Arin might be doing. She heard reports regarding him that were mildly concerning.
About him trying to constantly make himself busy. And doing work like a golem with dead eyes.
Ugh… c'mon Asfi, it's already the fourth day, it's just three more days and he will be back with that cheeky smile on his face.
She tried to console herself and attempted to seriously do some work. Or else she will be regarded as a hypocrite by Hermes and Lydia for making them do work while she herself slacked off.
"Yeah, I need to set a good example as his teacher. I will complete this magic item and surprise him.
She decided to put all her thoughts aside and focus on her work. But it seemed fate had decided that it wouldn't allow her to work today as she heard a knock on her door.
"Asfi-chan?" Lydia's voice came through, unusually subdued. "Can I come in?"
"The northern district work is finished already?" Asfi asked, not looking up from her workbench.
"Well... about that..." Lydia entered, looking sheepish. "I may have gotten a little too enthusiastic directing the work crews and accidentally organized everything so efficiently that we finished three hours ahead of schedule."
Despite herself, Asfi felt a small smile tug at her lips. "That's impressive. See, you can do the work, but you are just too lazy to put effort into it."
Lydia beamed at the praise, then her expression grew more serious as she approached the workbench. "You've been thinking about him, haven't you?"
Asfi's hands stilled on her tools. There was no point in pretending she didn't know who Lydia meant.
Asfi admitted quietly. "I just didn't realize how much I'd gotten used to... having someone to work with."
Lydia perched on the edge of the workbench, studying Asfi's face carefully. "You know, for someone who claims not to love him 'yet,' you sure seem to miss him an awful lot."
"I never said—" Asfi started to protest, then caught herself. She had said that, hadn't she? In the privacy of her own thoughts, but somehow, Lydia always seemed to read her like an open book.
"It's okay to admit it, you know," Lydia said gently, her usual playful demeanor replaced by something more sincere. "Despite my outburst earlier, I am still very happy you found someone like that. And Arin is a good person; he will certainly take good care of you."
"I know that, but that's not the problem, you know." Asfi decided to share her worries, though she is certain she is just giving Lydia some material to tease her with.
"Oh, I know, but again. You don't have to rush anything. You have a lot of time, think deeply, and make a decision you won't regret." As Lydia completed her sentence, a familiar mischievous smile crept up on her face. "But I must say, you sure are missing him a lot, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about? I am just used to someone helping me with my work," said Asfi, clearly understanding that now Lydia will start to tease her, and so she made a decision. "Anyway, if the work on the northern district is complete, then go and help out on the southern one."
"Eh? Asfi, but I just returned from work, though?"
"And? There are a lot of people working day and night, now stop complaining and get back to work!"
"Tha-Taht's tyranny, Asfi-chan, you are a big meany." Lydia started whining like a kid, puffing her cheeks.
"I don't care. Now get out!" Asfi said strongly this time.
"Waaaaa…! Hermes, Asfi-chan became a big bad bully." She could hear Lydia's voice.
"Haa… that was close." Asfi knew for sure that if Lydia started teasing her once, then she was not going to stop anytime soon. She settled on her chair, trying to work on the magic tool for the nth time. But Lydia's next word made her stop working again.
"And Asfi is madly in love with Arin!!"
"Wha!" Asfi's face turned red as she ran after Lydia to shut her mouth. On that day, Asfi was not able to work at all, forcing her to do an all-nighter the next day to complete her project.
Among all the teasing she suffered from Hermes and Lydia, Asfi sincerely wished only one thing from the bottom of her heart. And that was…
Arin! Please come back quickly!