"Hey! Hephaestus, you! Are you trying to steal our adorable little Alice from me?!"
Hearing Hephaestus's words, Loki immediately panicked.
Hephaestus, on the other hand, crossed her arms and stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "Well, of course I am. I got the intel from Hermes. Forget about Alice's craftsmanship for a moment."
"Just the fact that Alice-chan has been diving into the Dungeon to gather materials without even joining a Familia proves she's at least Level 3 in terms of strength. What god wouldn't want a kid with that much potential once they found out?"
"Dammit!!" Loki grabbed her head, frantically ruffling her own hair. "But! Hephaestus, you have no idea what Alice-chan really is! Your Familia's strength is nowhere near enough to protect her!"
"My Familia might not have a Level 7 adventurer, but we have plenty of Level 5s and 6s. Whether it's Ais, the Tione sisters, or even Riveria—they can all provide close protection for you, Alice. So come on, join the Loki Familia!"
Loki directly grabbed Alice's hand and proclaimed loudly.
Watching Loki's antics, Hephaestus raised an eyebrow. "What Alice really is?"
Hearing that, Hephaestus turned her full attention to Alice this time, and a fervent gleam instantly appeared in her visible left eye.
"I see... So that's how it is. She truly is... an impeccable, irresistible masterpiece."
"Alice," Hephaestus said, looking at her seriously now. "As Loki said, my Familia isn't particularly strong in terms of combat prowess. However, even the Loki and Freya Familias wouldn't dare to cross us."
"In terms of safety, if you join my Familia, I will protect you with everything I've got. I could even have Ottar, the 'Mighty' of Freya's household, come guard you personally."
"And when it comes to materials and wealth—well, I've yet to hear of any Familia richer than Hephaestus's."
Hephaestus spoke with absolute confidence regarding money and resources.
"Crap..." Hearing Hephaestus's words, Loki lowered her head in defeat.
It was just as Hephaestus said.
Among the Familias in Orario, if you had to name the safest ones to belong to, it would undoubtedly be the Hephaestus and Goibniu Familias.
More than ninety percent of the people living in Orario were adventurers.
And what was the most important thing for an adventurer?
Without a doubt, every single one of them would say—equipment.
A good piece of gear could provide solid defense and attack power while exploring the Dungeon.
Shoddy equipment, on the other hand, could cost an adventurer their life.
That's why the Hephaestus Familia was someone no adventurer wanted to mess with, no matter the circumstances.
After all, if you offended them, they might just mention it to their seniors back home.
They wouldn't even need to complain to their goddess.
If the captain of the Hephaestus Familia simply put out the word that your Familia was banned from purchasing equipment, that alone would be enough to ruin your day.
Sure, there was still the Goibniu Familia, so Hephaestus couldn't exactly monopolize the market, and you could still buy from Goibniu. Your Familia might even forgive you.
But plenty of adventurers would still come after you and your Familia just to curry favor with Hephaestus. This kind of thing, while rare on the surface, happened more often behind the scenes than people realized.
Therefore, every adventurer in Orario made sure to avoid making enemies of either the Hephaestus or Goibniu Familias.
Without a doubt, with the Hephaestus Familia as her backer, Alice would be virtually untouchable in Orario.
However, there was one problem with that.
The ones who would come after Alice wouldn't be adventurers from Orario. Though she didn't fully understand her own nature, Alice was acutely aware of her own... uniqueness.
Under normal circumstances, no adventurer from any Familia would target her.
Those who would target her would undoubtedly be gods. And against gods, the deterrence of the Hephaestus Familia wouldn't count for much.
The captain of the Hephaestus Familia was only Level 5.
That was far inferior to the Loki Familia's roster full of Level 6s.
So, if she had to choose which Familia to join, the answer was already pretty clear for Alice.
However...
"Could I... maybe not join either for now..?" Alice asked in a small voice.
To be honest, the idea of joining a Familia and having to interact with a large group of strangers felt overwhelmingly difficult for Alice right now.
Hearing Alice's refusal, Loki breathed a sigh of relief.
She genuinely liked Alice. If Alice had chosen to join the Hephaestus Familia, she wouldn't have said anything—it was Alice's choice, after all—but she would have been deeply disappointed.
A child like this was even rarer than Ais.
She was desperately curious to see what amazing things Alice would accomplish in the future.
Hephaestus, meanwhile, looked at Alice with some surprise. She wasn't as crestfallen as Loki, but a puppeteer capable of creating conscious automatons was someone who deeply intrigued her.
"Could you tell me why?" Hephaestus, like Loki, wouldn't protest Alice's decision to decline her offer.
But she was very interested in the reason behind it.
"Shoo, shoo!" Seeing that Hephaestus seemed ready to ask more questions and try to persuade her, Loki started shooing her away from behind Alice. "Our Alice already said she doesn't want to join a Familia right now, so you can leave now."
'Since when did I become yours...?'
Alice wondered inwardly, though her expression remained unchanged.
"Sorry, I misspoke. If I were to join a Familia, I'd choose the Loki Familia."
Alice scratched her cheek slightly, a faint blush coloring her pretty face. "I'm more familiar with the members of the Loki Familia. The Hephaestus Familia is still... very unfamiliar to me."
"I see." Hephaestus saw right through Alice's half-truth. Joining the Loki Familia wasn't just because she knew people there.
Maybe that was part of it, but it certainly wasn't the main reason.
'Was it because I failed to recognize her true nature immediately?'
Hephaestus shot a glance at Loki, a flicker of understanding in her eyes. When it came to judging people's character, she really was a step below Loki. After all, her primary focus had always been on talent in forging.
Then, Hephaestus smiled and said to Loki, "Well then, Loki, congratulations. You've gained quite the exceptional member."
And Loki's reaction to finally getting Alice's ambiguous answer was simple.
"YESSS!!!"
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.