"Calm down, Hestia."
Haimer reached out and patted the head of this bristling loli goddess, conveniently picking up the bag of fried potato croquettes she had dropped on the ground and blowing off the dust.
"What do you mean I secretly made it big?"
"This is called accumulating strength silently to make a splash later."
"Besides..."
Haimer took a bite of the warm fried potato croquette and pointed to the group of young girls with various expressions behind him.
"Isn't this just perfect?"
"Since Hephaestus is treating us, it's just a matter of adding a few extra pairs of chopsticks."
"A... a few extra pairs of chopsticks?!"
Hestia looked at the room full of people—and those two bears—her mouth twitching wildly.
"They won't even fit at one table!"
"And..."
"These children..."
"Are they really the Familia members you recruited?"
"No matter how I look at it, they don't look like locals of Orario..."
"Don't worry about that."
"Let's get moving. Didn't you say we were almost late?"
"It wouldn't be good to keep Hephaestus waiting."
Haimer waved his hand dismissively, cutting off Hestia's interrogation.
...
And so.
After a chaotic scramble, this team with a peculiar style finally walked out of that dilapidated temple.
It was twilight in Orario, precisely the busiest time of the day.
The streets were brightly lit, with Magic Stone lamps emitting a soft glow.
"Wah... those ears! Are they real?"
Kikakujou Mary hugged her dictionary, pointing at a passing Rabbit Person girl. Her eyes widened into perfect circles, and she couldn't help but cry out in surprise.
"Shh! Don't point fingers, it's too rude!"
Although Onigawara Rin said this, her eyes couldn't help but glance at the twitching long ears of the Rabbit Person. Her hand remained on her sword hilt, seemingly overly nervous.
"Is that a beastman?"
Amou Kirukiru saw a burly, fierce-faced Boarman adventurer passing by carrying a giant axe.
"Awoooo..."
Hanasaka Warabi's large black bear, named Kyoubou, was completely driven to lose its reason by the rich aroma wafting from a roadside grilled meat stall. Drool flowed all over the ground, wetting a patch of the paving stones.
"Let's go! Kyoubou! Stop embarrassing us!"
It and the other small bear refused to budge from that spot. In the end, Hanasaka Warabi had to flush red in the face, pulling desperately on the chain. Her entire body was nearly leaning backward parallel to the ground, like a tug-of-war, before she barely managed to drag it and the cub away.
Along the way.
The girls acted like country bumpkins who had just entered the city—no, even more exaggerated than country bumpkins.
They showed immense curiosity toward every Magic Stone lamp, every passerby of a different race, and even the drainage ditches by the roadside.
That look in their eyes.
It was as pure as a child seeing the blue sky for the first time.
Hestia walked beside Haimer, watching the unworldly behavior of these girls, and the suspicion in her heart became even more certain.
She nudged Haimer with her elbow, lowered her voice, and wore a look of disdain:
"Haimer, confess honestly."
"Did you scam these children, who are rookies just arriving in Orario?"
"Look at them, they haven't even seen Demi-humans before..."
Hestia crossed her arms, looking as if she had seen through the truth.
Haimer merely shrugged and did not refute.
After all.
In a certain sense, saying they were scammed by him wasn't wrong.
Those grand promises about a "vast world" and "the feeling of being alive" did indeed have a suspicion of being empty promises.
However.
Looking at the light shimmering in the eyes of those girls ahead.
The corners of Haimer's mouth rose slightly.
Because.
They had taken the bait.
From the perspective of evolutionary theory, the creature known as humanity is itself a collection full of contradictions.
Just as humans are not born brave.
Fear of the unknown is the first line of defense carved into genes for self-preservation.
But.
As long periods of time pass.
Another deeper, more primal instinct will gain the upper hand, suppressing fear.
That is—curiosity.
Fear of the unknown makes living beings stop and confine themselves within a shell they believe to be safe.
But curiosity.
It can quickly pull humans out of their fear of the unknown and begin to greedily seek everything unknown.
It is precisely because this is deeply planted in human genes, a primal instinct older and more intense than fear.
It is a driving force more enduring than hunger.
Because the history of human migration is a history sparked by curiosity.
From the ancient times when Homo sapiens first walked out of the African continent; to the later navigators who steered sailboats charging into the ocean time and again.
Behind every adventure in human history, aside from the pressure of survival.
Is it not that primal impulse of "wanting to see what is on the other side of the mountain" or "wanting to know if there is land on the other side of the sea" at work?
Undeniably.
As the saying goes, "curiosity killed the cat."
—This spirit of courting death, which seems carved into the depths of human genes.
It has caused humans to die on the path of courting death time and again, paying a painful price.
But it is also precisely this spirit.
That allowed humans to conquer the land, conquer the sky and the ocean, and finally cast their gaze toward the stars.
"Rest assured, as long as that drive is there."
"I believe they will soon make all of Orario jaw-dropped in surprise."
"We're here."
Haimer's voice fell.
After walking for about twenty minutes.
Everyone finally stopped their steps.
They saw.
In front of their line of sight.
A magnificent building came into view.
...
The headquarters of the [Hephaestus Familia].
As soon as they stepped into this area.
A heatwave, distinctly different from the outside, rushed toward their faces.
That was not the temperature of fire, but the passion of steel and forging emitted by countless furnaces operating day and night without rest.
This was Orario's largest forging faction—the workshop and base of the [Hephaestus Familia].
The huge signboard was carved with the pattern of two crossed iron hammers.
The walls were full of hanging weapons and armor, refracting a cold and mesmerizing glint under the illumination of Magic Stone lamps.
Greatswords, battle axes, spears, rapiers...
Every piece was finely crafted, with streamlined designs and perfect weighting. Even a layman could see the extraordinariness within them at a glance.
For a group of girls who were obsessed with martial arts.
This place was simply heaven.
"That..."
Onigawara Rin's feet instantly became unable to move.
Her gaze was dead fixed on a tachi inside a display cabinet.
That blade was pitch-black throughout, with cloud-like forging marks on the edge, emitting a heart-palpitating aura of sharpness.
As a swordswoman.
Seeing a famous sword of this level was like a drunkard seeing aged fine wine; she couldn't move her eyes away at all.
However.
When Onigawara Rin swallowed her saliva and moved her gaze down, landing on the price tag below that sword.
[Famous Blade · Black Raven]
[Creator: Hephaestus Familia · High Smith]
[Price: 3,800,000 Valis]
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands..."
Onigawara Rin counted that string of zeros, her face instantly turning pale. Finally, she could only look away in despair, dryly squeezing out a sentence:
"This price is simply too outrageous!"
Although she didn't know the purchasing power of this world's currency—Valis.
But when Onigawara Rin thought of that dilapidated temple she had just left.
She immediately felt that a famous sword of this level was extremely far away from her.
However.
Haimer noticed Onigawara Rin's gaze and couldn't help but take an extra look at that famous sword.
...
"Hey, Haimer! Hestia! You guys are too slow!"
Just then.
A female voice, slightly husky but full of magnetism, came from the depths of the workshop.
Everyone looked towards the sound.
They saw.
A woman with short crimson hair striding over.
She wore a crisp white shirt and black trousers, with a black eyepatch over her right eye, but this did not diminish her beauty in the slightest; instead, it added a bit of awe-inspiring temperament.
It was the [Hephaestus Familia] Patron God—Hephaestus.
____
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