Loki and Freya made only a brief stop at the tavern before returning to their own familias.
With Evilus wiped out, Loki Familia had entered a temporary lull. Everyone was free to act on their own, which was why most of the members were currently focusing on personal training.
But not everyone was training—Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, for example, were exceptions.
As soon as she returned, Loki went straight to find Finn.
"Finn!"
She barged in the way she always did.
Inside, Loki saw Finn sitting on Tione's lap while handling documents.
"Oh-ho~ You two really aren't bothering to hide it anymore."
Loki, who originally had other things to say, couldn't resist teasing him first.
Serious matters could be discussed anytime, but scenes like this were rare.
Finn's face twitched slightly. He put down the papers and rested his chin on his interlaced fingers.
"Loki, what do you think about Zeus and Hera coming back?"
"Well~ their return serves their own purposes."
"Purposes?"
Seeing the slight curl at Loki's lips, Finn gave up trying to guess. Whatever the true reason was, it clearly wasn't something he could deduce from current information.
"Then is this purpose related to us? Or unrelated?"
"Hmm… I'd say it's related."
Related.
Finn had no choice but to think deeper.
If Zeus and Hera's return had a connection to their familia, then only one person fit that implication.
'So, Zeus and Hera's return is connected to Bell?'
After they cleared that mission and came back, Finn had questioned the gatekeepers who witnessed the entire event through projection. That was how he learned about the earth-shattering secrets Bell had revealed over there.
And those revelations truly couldn't be casually spoken of. They were simply too shocking.
Before, the biggest problems had always been the gods themselves. But now Finn knew that above the gods existed "The World," the one who created them—and that whether this world continued or not depended entirely on her whim.
The gods' issues used to be the greatest threat, but now they weren't even close.
Whether the world would reboot or not was the real question they had to consider.
'Bell knowing this makes him extraordinary.'
Finn had no doubts about that.
No one—absolutely no one—had ever known the world was rebooted. Not even the gods.
Finn had once asked Loki, and her response was: "Reboot? How the hell would we know!"
Loki's answer made it clear that even the gods were ignorant of the world's resets.
Finn understood—no one in the world could possibly know such a secret.
So the one who did know was undeniably the most extraordinary person in existence.
And without question, Bell was that extraordinary person.
With that understanding, Finn could finally make sense of all the oddities Bell had shown earlier.
And combined with what Loki had revealed about Bell's hidden identity, the answer practically presented itself.
Now that he had a direction, what Finn needed next was Loki's opinion.
"Loki, what do you think?"
"Me?"
Loki pointed at herself, then casually spread her hands.
"The choice is yours, not mine."
Finn shook his head.
"Loki, you are the center of this familia. Whatever decisions we make must be aligned with your will."
"Our connection with the Hestia Familia began because of you."
"So your stance now is crucial for determining the future direction of our familia."
His words were perfectly logical, yet Loki stared at him in astonishment.
"That doesn't sound like something you would say."
Loki admired her children, but she also knew every one of them was fiercely ambitious.
Still, that ambition wasn't harmful to the familia's growth. In fact, Loki enjoyed seeing her children show it.
Finn's ambition was to restore the Pallum race to the heights of their golden age—to make them one of the world's leading forces again, not just convenient supporters.
Because of that ambition, Finn had once made a condition: Loki must not interfere arbitrarily in the familia's direction.
Loki had agreed, because she saw value in that ambition. She wanted to see how far Finn could take it. Since then, she hadn't taken the lead in guiding the familia.
Yet now, this very ambitious child was openly saying the familia's center should follow her will. That was… contradictory.
To Loki's doubt, Finn responded calmly, exposing his goal with a single sentence.
"Because only your decision at this moment can guide the familia onto the correct path."
As always, it came down to benefit.
From Finn's perspective, Loki clearly knew something they didn't—just like during that cooperation with Bell.
That entire event had been a trial Bell set for the familia.
Bell handled every troublesome threat himself, even slaying the god involved.
So Finn had every reason to believe Loki already understood what lay ahead.
And if Loki already knew which path was the right one, why should he waste time guessing?
Just as Finn had said—he needed to know Loki's direction before he could make the right decisions in the future.
Good. This was the Finn she knew. Moments ago, Loki felt something was off about him, but now… yes, this was the normal Finn.
Loki stared at Finn for a moment, then closed her eyes, trying to suppress the urge to complain.
"I thought you'd suddenly mutated."
Finn gave her a helpless look at the blatant insult.
"Loki, even if some of my thoughts lean toward practicality, you don't have to call it a mutation, do you?"
Loki chuckled and waved a hand.
"I didn't say being practical was bad. Sometimes a little pragmatism is useful. Besides, if the children of the Genkai didn't even have desires, that would be the real problem."
Loki knew Finn's thoughts could be pragmatic, but she also trusted him to control that aspect—just as he always had.
Finn shook his head slightly. He'd always known his goddess wasn't foolish. She was exceptionally sharp.
And because she was so sharp, Loki Familia had grown to its current height.
For that, Finn was grateful—grateful for Loki's trust and guidance.
"So then, Loki—what is your stance?"
Loki gave a small smile, then her expression grew serious. An overwhelming presence, surpassing that of normal gods, radiated from her.
"My stance? Isn't it obvious?"
"I, Loki, will protect him."
...
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