After the Denatus ended and they returned home, Hestia dove straight into Bell's arms.
"Bell-kun, something terrible happened!"
"???"
Catching her sudden leap, Bell frowned slightly at her abrupt words.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap, her cheeks tinting red as he settled her against him. Instead of pressing her immediately, he gently smoothed out her messy hair, waiting until she caught her breath before asking,
"Did Goddess Freya come looking for you again?"
"...Not that kind of trouble."
Her voice lowered after a brief pause, softer than before.
Though their relationship was close—and they often "exercised" together at night—this sort of unthinking tenderness still made her heart pound. It even left her words a little unsteady.
Once she finally calmed herself, Hestia straightened her thoughts and began recounting what had happened at the assembly.
"Bell-kun, Ikelos's children spread the news that he might be dead."
Hearing that, Bell understood why she had called it "something big." In its own way, it truly was.
Resting his chin on one hand, he considered her words before realizing the implication.
"So they figured it out immediately because their Falna disappeared?"
"Mm. That's the reason."
"And they didn't think it was banishment—they went straight to death?"
"Yes."
At that, Hestia's expression fell.
"It's because of our divine seals. The seals within our bodies are bound tightly to our divinity. When we expend too much power, the seal reacts and forcibly banishes us back to Tenkai.
"But in that process, the surge of divine power and the opening of the gate create a massive pillar of light that pierces the heavens. It's the clearest sign of a god's banishment from Genkai."
She sighed before continuing.
"According to our actions, and what those leftover children of Ikelos said, their Falna vanished after 11 PM. That's right when Orario's nightlife begins—but no one saw any light pillar at all. That's why they concluded Ikelos had been killed."
Because of this, even his death had been dragged into the open.
What surprised Bell more was that Ikelos's Familia members were still alive at all.
"The Dungeon sweep was thorough. I sealed that sector completely—no one could have escaped from inside."
"Then it must've been ones already outside?"
"Mm."
Hestia nodded at Bell's deduction, though her lips pressed into a tight line as she explained.
"According to Guild intelligence, those children were the ones Ikelos left above ground for procurement and communication. They never even went to the artificial floor. My guess is that Ikelos kept them outside to avoid dragging them down if something went wrong below."
Bell nodded. It was a reasonable arrangement. Keeping those above and those below completely separate cut out a lot of risks.
After all, adventurers couldn't always hold their tongues.
Especially after drinking—under the influence of alcohol and a bit of pride, even critical secrets might slip.
If the leaked intel was just about a mission, it wasn't such a big deal. Most mission details were exposed only after completion anyway.
The real danger was when someone let slip long-term secrets—like the artificial floor hidden in the Dungeon.
No one in their right mind would gamble on something like that.
So the best way to avoid relying on adventurers' restraint was to cut off the source entirely, eliminating the risk at its root.
Ikelos, you damn fool!
Hestia wanted nothing more than to curse him out—it was his reckless choices that had caused things to spiral like this.
But now there was nothing left to do.
His body was gone, his Authority reclaimed by the world, and even his soul shredded by Bell.
He was dead beyond any doubt.
"How careless of me."
Bell gave a slight shake of his head. He hadn't expected that even now Ikelos still hadn't come clean with his own Familia.
The conflict between the Guild and Evilus was already out in the open, yet Ikelos kept playing the double-faced god, hiding the truth from his children.
But if Bell put himself in Ikelos's position, he could understand. He wouldn't have told those who didn't know either.
Those who know react as those who know. Those who don't react as those who don't.
Across all of Orario, there probably weren't many like Ikelos's children—handling procurement aboveground yet completely unaware of their Familia's internal situation.
Since they didn't know, better to keep them in the dark.
"Hestia, how's the Guild handling it?"
"What else can they do? Plenty of people saw Hermes meeting with Ikelos at the end, and now they're stirring the gods to pin the blame on Hermes."
"Oh~ so Evilus just wants to force Hermes into staying quiet."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too."
Hermes might be a scoundrel, but Hestia didn't really think having a god like him running errands was such a bad thing.
"This whole matter should've been tricky for the Guild, but instead they just laid their cards on the table. They went ahead and revealed Ikelos was already dead. That was their way of shielding Hermes outright."
Bell murmured the thought to himself.
Hermes was undoubtedly a mischief-maker, always occupying that delicate middle ground. But it was exactly that position that let him gather intel from all sides. And now that the Guild had drawn him into their fold, there was no chance they'd let Hermes go.
"It's those Ikelos brats—can't leave well enough alone, always kicking up trouble."
Just mentioning Ikelos now made Hestia grit her teeth.
"Don't get too worked up. If Ikelos's Familia hadn't spoken out, I bet someone else would have. His capture was a heavy blow to Evilus. For all we know, other parts of that artificial floor are still being used by them."
A faint smile tugged at Bell's lips.
Ikelos might have fallen due to Bell's own lapse in caution, but with the way things had developed, it wasn't hard to see other gods stepping up—just to push all the blame onto Hermes.
...
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