Chapter 18: A Lunch Full of Conflict
"Are you ready to blow everyone's away?"
Shirou looked at Lili, who had her eyes wide open, and smiled.
Hearing this, Lili nodded heavily: "Mm!"
Just this morning, she was still running around frantically just to make a living, and had even experienced the despair of brushing shoulders with death. Who would have thought that fate would suddenly open a skylight for her, letting a god descend right into her life.
"Lili will stay by Kami-sama's side forever!"
The Pallum girl hugged Shirou's arm tightly, a reassuring and sweet smile on her face.
Originally, Shirou had planned to have Lili exchange the magic stones in her backpack for Valis first. After all, those were the fruits of Lili's own labor; compared to a gift from him, the rewards obtained through one's own hard work undoubtedly brought a much stronger sense of fulfillment.
Besides, with Lili's current strength, clearing the dungeon directly would be effortless, so earning money was naturally so simple there was nothing much to say about it.
As his very first familia member, Lili naturally needed her strength to be boosted significantly so that he could leave future matters in her capable hands with peace of mind.
As for any familia members who joined after her, Shirou had no intention of bestowing the same degree of divine power upon them.
Even though his divine power wouldn't be affected in the slightest even if he had tens of thousands of familia members of this caliber, Lili was someone Shirou knew and trusted extremely well, which was why he granted her that level of divine power. For subsequent members, although Shirou would still carefully select them, there had to be an order of arrival, allowing Lili—who had followed him from the very beginning—to possess absolute strength and status within the familia so that things wouldn't descend into chaos.
"Once we exchange the magic stones for Valis, we'll go scout out a residence together. You have to help me choose, too, Lili."
"Can Lili do that, too?"
A hint of joy flickered in the girl's eyes.
"Of course. You're my very first familia member now, which makes you the captain of the familia. A lot of things will be handed over to you to handle from now on, so you need to train yourself well."
Hearing Shirou's words, Lili couldn't help swallowing hard: "I'm... the captain...!"
This was a status she would never have dared to imagine in the past.
Along with the joy, it brought a profound sense of responsibility for Lili.
'I must help Kami-sama manage the familia and make it thrive!'
Lili secretly made up her mind in her heart.
Upon arriving at the courtyard, Shirou bumped into an elven woman.
Slender ears protruded from her emerald-green long hair, and this elven woman, dressed in a green robe, was wearing a friendly smile toward Shirou.
While in the dungeon, Riveria had still harbored doubts about his existence, but after Loki clarified those matters, she treated him with the same peace and respect she showed toward other gods.
"Mr. Orihara, lunch is about to begin. Would you care to join us?"
Hearing the elven woman's invitation, Shirou nodded.
"Sure."
Lili looked hesitatingly at Shirou: "Kami-sama, Lili..."
"Lili can come along, too."
Shirou smiled and stroked her head.
"Mm..."
The Pallum girl, whose hair was being petted, let out a soft murmur like a cat.
When the three of them arrived at the grand dining hall of the [Loki Familia], several members were already busy preparing breakfast—or rather, lunch—along with bowls and chopsticks.
Lunch consisted of a soup and salad made with plenty of vegetables, sandwiches stuffed with greens and salted meat, and vegetable omelets.
"It seems the massive batch of vegetables sent over by the [Demeter Familia] a few days ago still hasn't lost its momentum."
Riveria remarked with a sigh.
Exquisite tableware was laid out on a rectangular dining table. Ais had arrived there at some point as well, staring blankly at the members bustling around preparing the food.
After watching for a while, Ais stepped forward to help distribute the food.
"Waaah, Ais-san, when did you get here!"
"Thanks for the help, but we can handle it!"
While thanking her, the members also respectfully turned Ais away, keeping a polite distance from her as if treating a princess living in a royal palace.
Although they probably thought it would be disgraceful to let a high-ranking executive of the familia do menial chores... to say she wouldn't feel a tinge of loneliness over this distance—which felt slightly different from how they treated Tiona and the others—would be a lie.
Unconsciously, Ais's shoulders slumped.
"T-Tione-san... let us handle the lunch..."
"The captain's lunch is going to be made by me! Don't you dare interfere, all of you, move aside!"
Tione glared fiercely with a menacing expression at the members attempting to stop her.
Watching them interact so enthusiastically, Ais couldn't help feeling envious that Tione could converse so effortlessly with the other members.
At that moment, Ais caught sight of Riveria, alongside the red-haired youth and the Pallum girl who had arrived with them.
Recalling what that otherworldly god had said to her earlier, Ais's golden eyes fluttered slightly, and her slender, pristine fingertips nervously rubbed and twisted her clothes' hem, reflecting her conflicted inner state.
"Let's eat together."
Seeing the young girl's somewhat conflicted look, Shirou said casually and unconcernedly.
"Ah... Mm..."
After snapping out of her dazed expression, Ais nodded hurriedly.
Riveria looked at Ais's expression at that moment and couldn't help feeling a bit strange. She had a lingering sense that, mere moments apart, Ais had somehow developed a thousand intricate ties with this otherworldly god.
With that puzzlement, Riveria furrowed her brow and took her seat alongside the others.
The grand dining hall lunch thus began.
While the others reached out for the steaming soup and fluffy omelet, Finn—the [Familia] captain and a Pallum—sat at the head of the table with a wild-looking Amazonian warrior's dish consisting of an entire giant fish roasted whole.
It was the "Giant Blackfish," a fish frequently mistaken for a monster due to its massive size and bizarre, tough scales. Inhabiting the brackish lakes southwest of Orario, it was also regularly brought to the city for sale.
Looking at the whole-roasted fish that was over a meter long even before reaching maturity, Finn sat in silence, his gaze looking somewhat absent.
"This is..."
"It's something I prepared with meticulous care, Captain! Eat up!"
Tione's expression looked like that of a pangolin serving up 'chicken soup,' staring dead ahead at Finn.
While Finn was trapped in the inescapable abyss of 'chicken soup' dread, in the grand dining hall where over fifty members were dining together, the sound of conversation never ceased.
"Come to think of it, Ais, I saw you heading over to the craftsmen's side earlier, and you've been looking gloomy ever since you came back. Did something happen?" Amidst the clamor, Tiona picked up the sandwich Ais handed her and asked curiously.
"The day before yesterday, I broke my sword. The repair cost is forty million..."
When Ais brought this up, even her gaze turned somewhat dim and desolate.
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