"Miss Eina..."
Alice looked at Eina with a strange expression.
"Yes!" Eina replied, a bright smile on her face as she looked at Alice. "What can I do for you, Miss Alice?"
"Nothing, really."
Alice stated decisively.
"Huh? Ah... I see..." Eina's expression remained calm.
But Alice got the feeling that after she said 'nothing,' Eina seemed to become a little dejected.
"More importantly, what does Apollo plan to do with me now?"
Alice asked, looking at Eina.
Since the Guild had already come knocking, and Apollo had paid that 'little' bit of compensation, it meant that the god Apollo himself knew she had soundly defeated his familia's captain.
So, what was that fellow Apollo going to do next?
Alice was rather curious about that.
Hearing Alice's question, Eina frowned. "Regarding that... Since the god Apollo has taken an interest in you, Miss Alice, he absolutely will not let this go. So, you must be very careful in the days to come."
"Of course, I'd recommend that you, Miss Alice, choose a familia to join. If it could be the Loki Familia, that would be ideal. But even if it's not Loki's, joining even the Hestia Familia would be acceptable."
Eina looked at Alice seriously.
One could tell she was genuinely considering what was best for Alice.
However, Alice just smiled faintly in response.
"Is that so? Well, if he won't let me off the hook, then I suppose I don't need to hold back either. Speaking of which, what would happen if someone were to... kill a god?"
As she said this, Alice turned a curious gaze toward Hestia.
"..."
"!!!"
Hearing Alice's words, both Eina and Hestia stared at her in shock.
"Alice-chan, you mustn't say things like that from now on, okay?" Hestia, who had been in a drunken stupor, instantly sobered up upon hearing Alice's question and began admonishing her seriously. "If you actually did such a thing, there would be no place for you in all of Orario."
But then, Hestia picked up her glass and muttered under her breath, almost as an afterthought.
"Ahem, just thinking aloud here."
"In the lower world, gods can indeed lose their lives. But when a god dies down here, they don't truly perish. They are simply sent back to Heaven."
"Killing a god in the true sense is impossible."
"Even back in ancient times, when a few gods fought and 'killed' each other, after tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years, the one who was killed would just revive, their memories stopping right at the moment they were defeated."
"Before we came down, back when we were bored in Heaven, some folks would even commit suicide. It was an easy way to burn through a few million years in an instant."
"Back then, killing yourself was considered a pretty common way to pass the time."
"So, in this world, we simply can't die."
"But now, after having tasted life in the lower world, the thing we fear most is being sent back to Heaven."
"Plus, down here, we've sealed our divine power and our aura. Our bodies are basically equivalent to ordinary humans. If we run into any accidents, it's surprisingly easy for us to... kick the bucket."
"If that fellow Apollo were to have an 'accident'—say, got crushed by a giant rock falling out of nowhere—lost his life in the mortal world, and got sent back to Heaven... he'd probably be furious out of his mind."
With that, Hestia hopped up from the sofa and scampered off towards Alice's kitchen.
"Bell-kun! Lili-kun! And my adorable little puppets! Is dinner ready yet?"
Hestia called out in a light, cheerful tone.
Watching Hestia causing a ruckus in the kitchen, Alice blinked and asked Eina with a puzzled look, "Was Hestia... hinting at something just now?"
"Heh, heheh," Eina let out a dry, forced laugh in response.
Seeing Eina's reaction, Alice shook her head and said reassuringly, "Don't worry. No matter what, I'm not going to run off and kill a god. I don't have that kind of power yet."
'So, if she did have that kind of power, she might actually do it?' Eina thought silently, stealing a glance at Alice.
Alice continued, "At most, I'd just drive all his followers away and let him experience what it's like to have his familia dissolved. It's not like there's a shortage of disbanded familias in Orario; one more, the Apollo Familia, wouldn't make much difference."
"Oh, right, Eina, would you like to stay for dinner?"
Alice looked at Eina and extended the invitation.
"Eh? Is that really okay?" Eina asked, her face lighting up with pleasant surprise.
"Of course," Alice said with a smile.
--+--
Loki Familia.
Ais and Lefiya returned to the familia headquarters together. As the two entered the dormitory, they ran into Riveria, who had been researching magic all day.
The theory Alice proposed had significant potential for development. This became abundantly clear to Riveria the moment she successfully shortened all her own chants. However, due to her specific Skill, using the shortened chant method resulted in a significant reduction in the magic's power. For Riveria, chant shortening was practically useless.
But, if chants could be shortened, then logically, they could also be lengthened.
She had spent the entire day shut in her room, researching how to add more keywords to her chants. The idea was to take an existing spell's chant, strip it down to only the essential keywords required for activation, and then insert additional keywords to enhance the spell's power.
Combined with Riveria's Skill...
[Fairy Anthem]
...which increased magic power proportionally with the length of the chant, the resulting potency would undoubtedly reach a whole new level.
Even for an elf, researching all day builds an appetite. So, as Riveria emerged from her room, she happened upon Ais and Lefiya returning.
"Ara, you're back," Riveria said, her mood quite good as she smiled at the two. "How did it go today? Did you gain any new magical insights from Alice?"
"Mm," Ais nodded, her expression calm but a faint trace of excitement visible in her eyes.
Lefiya, on the other hand, was practically bursting with excitement.
"Lady Riveria! I can now shorten my chants completely! When we were in the Dungeon, I could activate my magic with just a single phrase!"
"But the most amazing one was Alice-chan!"
"She defeated the 17th-floor boss with a single spell! It was super incredible!"
Hearing Lefiya's words, Riveria was astonished.
"...She defeated Goliath with a single spell? Please, tell me the details."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
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