The wine Eina brought was an incredibly precious divine brew, even if it was just an unfinished, semi-completed version. If sold, it could still fetch a price well over a million Valis.
With Alice's permission, Hestia poured herself a full cup and downed it in one go.
"Mmmphhh~~~~ So good~~~~" Under the influence of the divine wine, Hestia's pretty face flushed an adorable shade of red.
The taste of the divine wine, even as a semi-finished product, was exceptionally delicious.
As a goddess, Hestia was captivated by the flavor, though she snapped out of it almost instantly, pouring herself another cup and draining it just as quickly.
The amount of this divine wine, even in its unfinished state, wasn't large. The bottle Eina brought was only a small one. With those two gulps, Hestia had basically consumed a third of it—roughly equivalent to three hundred thousand Valis.
But as mentioned before, Hestia's drinking spree was something Alice had allowed. After all, of everyone present, Hestia was probably the only one who could actually handle this divine wine.
The divine brew crafted by the god Soma had extremely potent effects. For ordinary people, Soma's wine was practically poison; a single sip could make one utterly infatuated and willing to give up everything.
Both Bell and Lili were Level 1 adventurers and had no resistance to the divine wine. The same went for Eina herself.
As for Alice...
The effects of the divine wine would likely work on her even better than on a regular person. Alice was the type who could get drunk on a single mug of ale—ordinary liquor knocked her out after just one cup. Let alone a semi-finished divine brew.
So, having no interest in the divine wine—or indeed, in any alcohol—Alice had permitted Hestia to drink it all.
The first and second cups, Hestia chugged straight down. By the third cup, she finally started to slow down and savor it.
Watching Hestia act like a total lush, Alice slowly averted her gaze and made a firm decision: she would never, ever touch anything alcoholic again. If even a goddess could turn out like this after drinking, what hope did she have?
"So, Miss Eina, did you come all this way just to deliver the wine?" Alice turned to Eina, who was holding a teacup and blowing on it to cool it down. "By the way, who sent this divine wine?"
Alice believed that as a Guild employee, Eina probably had the connections and funds to purchase divine wine, but there was no reason for her to specially buy it and deliver it personally.
"Just Eina is fine, Miss Alice."
Eina set her teacup down and looked at Alice. "I came today primarily on behalf of the Guild to apologize to you."
As she spoke, Eina stood up and gave Alice a deep, formal bow.
"I'm sorry. The fact that an adventurer in Orario attacked an ordinary person not affiliated with a Familia is a failure on the Adventurer Guild's part to maintain proper oversight."
Seeing Eina's action, Alice understood.
"I see. This is about my incident with the Apollo Familia, then."
The Adventurer Guild did indeed have a responsibility to supervise all Familias. But this wasn't an absolute duty; more often than not, the Guild simply provided services for adventurers. Maintaining peace throughout Orario wasn't really the Guild's concern.
The fact that Alice had fought Hyakinthos of the Apollo Familia on the streets during the day—no matter how you looked at it, the Apollo Familia was in the wrong for attacking an 'ordinary person' not in a Familia.
Attacking ordinary people, or even targeting weaker Familias, would undoubtedly incur punishment from the Adventurer Guild.
But as had been said before, such punishments didn't mean much to Familias with some substantial strength.
The Apollo Familia's power, while not on par with the Loki Familia's, was still considered quite formidable among second-tier Familias. The Guild's punishment would ultimately just be a minor fine.
"So, this divine wine is the punishment for the Apollo Familia?" Alice glanced at the bottle, now half-empty thanks to Hestia, and raised an eyebrow. "What a 'bargain' of a punishment."
Even if this divine wine could sell for over a million, so what? Alice didn't have much money herself; the funds she currently had, even if they exceeded a million, had all come from Lili. But if Alice really wanted to earn money, she didn't think she'd be incapable of making several million, or even tens of millions.
The deeper levels of the Dungeon yielded both drop items and magic stones that increased in value the further down you went. According to Lefiya, the small fist-sized bag of magic stones Alice, Ais, and Lefiya had collected on the 16th floor today could sell for six or seven hundred thousand Valis.
If you went even deeper, to the 20th or 30th floors, a small bag of magic stones could easily fetch over a million.
And given that Alice had single-handedly defeated the Goliath, it was fair to say she already possessed the strength to venture into the 20th or 30th-floor labyrinths. So while Soma's divine wine was expensive, to the current Alice, it wasn't really a big deal.
"Regarding that, if you have any dissatisfaction, Miss Alice, you can tell me directly. I will do my best to meet your requests."
Eina felt rather helpless about the Guild's inadequate punitive measures; there was little she could do about it. It was truly unpleasant that the other side could attack a girl not in a Familia and essentially get away with just a bottle of divine wine.
"To be honest, it's rare in Orario for a Familia to directly attack members of another Familia, but the Apollo Familia is an exception." Eina's tone was full of resignation. "Their patron god, Apollo, is a deity with a truly foul character. Whomever he takes a liking to, he must obtain by any means necessary."
Because of the god Apollo's preferences, the members of his Familia often used underhanded tactics to force children of other gods to join his Familia. They had even pressured several weaker Familias into disbanding.
"Such unjust methods should, in principle, be punished by us, the Adventurer's Guild. But unfortunately, the Guild's patron deity, Ouranos, has no interest in these matters and will not interfere in the affairs of other Familias. As Guild staff, we lack truly effective means to stop this behavior."
"So, if you are unhappy with the Guild's handling of the matter, Miss Alice, I can apologize to you and do my utmost to meet your demands."
Eina looked at Alice with hopeful expectation.
Seeing the look in Eina's eyes, Alice felt a faint, inexplicable twinge of something strange.
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