Driven by that stubborn curiosity, Hephaestus entered the Twilight Manor alone.
Gods couldn't always suppress their urge to probe the unknown—especially when the "unknown" was sitting right in front of them, taunting restraint.
"It's been a while," she murmured.
Stepping into Loki's home, Hephaestus glanced around. She hadn't visited much since the great conflicts of a few years ago. They hadn't met one-on-one in ages. And yet, here she was—because of a single nagging guess.
"Hephaestus-sama."
"Is Loki in?"
Meeting one of Loki's children in the corridor, Hephaestus skipped pleasantries and went straight to the point.
"Loki-sama and Astraea-sama are in the tearoom."
Astraea too? Of course. Hephaestus already knew how closely Loki and Astraea had been moving of late, a closeness that seemed to trace back to the Loki Familia's post-expedition return—and, by extension, to Astraea's child.
"Got it," Hephaestus said with a small nod.
She knew perfectly well where the tearoom was and didn't need an escort. At the door of a sunlit room on the first floor, she pushed it open.
Click.
The sudden wash of light made her eyes blink. When her vision adjusted, she saw Loki and Astraea seated face-to-face. Three cups were set on the table; steam still curled from the third.
"So… you dropped something on my desk just to hook my curiosity? Since when did you pick up that kind of nasty habit, Loki?"
Hephaestus walked in and, without circling the subject, fired straight at the business of the items left in her office—her tone thick with displeasure.
She had reason enough to complain. If it hadn't been Loki, she would've had to wonder whether a dark faction had set its sights on her.
Loki received the brunt of that irritation with an apologetic smile, a touch ingratiating around the edges.
"Sorry, Hephaestus. My child is the cautious sort. He usually hides in the shadows and lets puppets handle errands outside. Sometimes the way he does things… well, he overdoes careful."
"I'll accept the apology," Hephaestus said. "But since I'm already here, are you still planning to keep your child lurking in the back?"
Loki nodded, unbothered. "Tsunayoshi."
A white, translucent barrier peeled open like a curtain, revealing a boy—young, unfamiliar, clearly new.
Hephaestus rubbed her chin. "So Ishtar's intel was true. I thought it might be bait you tossed out yourself."
You couldn't entirely blame her. Ishtar snooping openly into Loki's affairs made no sense on its face. With how shrewd Loki was, how could she possibly trip the exact same trap twice? It all looked like a pit waiting to be stepped into.
Hephaestus didn't know how Loki had convinced Ishtar that her "findings" were solid. But knowing Loki, any intel Ishtar got her hands on had been filtered in advance—the part Loki wanted her to know.
"Puppets. Space," Hephaestus exhaled. "You really are willing to scatter your child's information like chum."
If it were her, she'd lock a kid like this in the back room and treasure him. Flaunting such abilities was just inviting trouble.
"It's not without reason," Loki replied with a laugh. "His power really is absurd—unprecedented not only in Orario, I'd wager not in this entire world."
"And because that power is too excessive, I need to dim the rest of him," Loki continued. "I pull a slice of his strength into the open and let it serve as the lure—the piece everyone thinks they understand—so it hides what must stay hidden."
Is that all?
Hephaestus gave Tsunayoshi a longer look. If what Loki said was true—if this boy's abilities ran much deeper than Ishtar's intelligence suggested—then she could understand the strategy. Reveal one corner to cover the whole tapestry.
But what exactly was under the cover that warranted such complexity?
Curiosity pricked at her, but she pushed it down for now and drew the red cloth and the ring from her coat.
"Since you've already hooked me," she said, "you can tell me what this fabric and this ring are made of, right?"
"Sure. But sit first," Loki said, smile growing sunnier by the second. "Then we can really talk."
What is this?
Hephaestus felt a ripple of wrongness. It suddenly seemed like she'd walked into Loki's script. Even so, curiosity tugged her chair out from under her feet, and she sat.
Fifteen minutes later, Hephaestus raised a hand and covered her face.
"…I shouldn't have sat down."
Now that she knew the whole story, regret settled like iron. She'd learned too much. Why was she so damned susceptible to curiosity? How was she supposed to back out now?
Loki, for her part, burst into un-goddesslike laughter and thumped Hephaestus on the shoulder.
"It's fine! Just say I strong-armed you into the team. Besides—it's not like there's nothing in it for you."
"Tsunayoshi can do a lot of impossible things," Loki added. "If you invest in him, he can make a lot of things appear right in front of you."
Hephaestus slapped Loki's hand away with a scowl. Drag her into the mess like this, then try to sell her on the perks?
But in the end, she sighed.
"Forget it. As you said, there are some things I can't avoid. If the world really is marching toward its end, I won't be able to hammer away in peace anyway."
She turned, still incredulous, to stare at Tsunayoshi.
"Your child's power… to be honest, it shocks me more than the prospect of the world ending."
To imagine something and bring forth all manner of monsters—each with freely defined traits? That was beyond outrageous.
(End of Chapter)
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