Daily Life
Thud- Thud-
Every footstep radiated an oppressive pressure, as if the whole of Orario trembled with it.
The Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia.
The standoff between the two factions hailed as the Twin Pillars of Orario was nothing short of a war!
And yet, amid that murderous confrontation, the people went about their ordinary days — hanging laundry, minding their shops — nerves stretched taut all the same.
Then, from each of the two facing factions, a single champion stepped forward to attempt negotiations.
For the Hera Familia, naturally, it was Alfia who was chosen.
And for the Zeus Familia, just as naturally, it was Zard who got picked.
"No! No, no! I don't want to go!"
"Not happening. I'm not trading places. Not a chance. Go back."
One side radiated ferocious killing intent; the other, utterly crushed beneath that pressure, stood his ground regardless — and so the confrontation was made.
It looked for all the world like the match had already been decided, but Zard was, after all, a hero of Level 7 — one of the precious few who could stand against even Alfia without flinching.
Of course, Zard would much rather their captain Maxim had come out instead, but that was impossible — the Empress would never have let it slide. So this was the result, whether he liked it or not.
And so, at the end of that suffocating standoff, it was naturally Alfia who broke the silence first.
"So."
One word, and tension flooded the battlefield.
Her own Hera Familia comrades swallowed hard, while on the opposite side the Zeus Familia began producing members who collapsed in tears.
And Zard, taking that killing intent head-on, was trying to remember what kind of meat he'd eaten that morning.
Ah, what meat was it today? Middle Floors monster meat, I think. If I'd known this was coming, I'd have prepared deep-floor meat instead. Of all people, I had to square off against Alfia. I had a feeling it'd come to this — I just prayed it wouldn't. That dog of a god. Someday, I swear, I'm going to tear that bastard apart and eat him.
Thus, aiming the killing intent he couldn't direct at the woman before him at his own patron deity instead — Zeus was currently picking his nose — Zard broke into a cold sweat and watched Alfia's every move.
Her magic could only be called a divine gift. The moment he let his guard down, even once, would mean annihilation.
In a situation literally bone-chilling — her magic pressure was making his flesh actually tremble — her lips finally parted.
"Where is my little sister?"
There it was.
He swallowed hard. One wrong word here and it was over. Caution upon caution upon caution — that was the only way to survive!
"Alfia, about that—"
"Why is your answer not immediate?"
"W-wait, just let me explain—"
"Silence, you garbage."
Magic power came pouring out of her body in an instant.
He had no idea how that sickly frame of hers could spew such a monstrous aura, but that was absolutely not what mattered right now.
What mattered right now was one thing and one thing only — surviving!
"Meteria is—!"
Cut. Just as suddenly as it had surged up, her magic power winked out.
"Meteria is... currently being searched for."
"...Being searched for?"
"It's the truth! We're in a real bind too — Cranel up and vanished on us out of nowhere!"
"I see. Understood."
At her words, Zard allowed himself to relax. Even the great Alfia had her share of human feelings after all—
"Vermin like you truly ought to be exterminated."
"No, wait—!"
He didn't.
The retainer of the Hyper Ultra Hysteric Goddess (the Ultra-Cruel Destructive Impulse) was every bit a hyper ultra hysteric herself.
No — if anything, the goddess merely threw tantrums, whereas her sister casually hurled spells at every single word. Hers was the worse quality by far.
He spun around desperately, looking for backup, but all he got in return was merciless averted gazes.
Be steadfast, Zard!
"[Gospel]."
A colossal blast roared out across the heart of Orario.
"Oh? I think I can hear my sister tearing up the city from somewhere over there?"
"Then perhaps you should go talk her down yourself?"
"Don't be absurd! How could I ever send Meteria somewhere so dangerous? Meteria is mine and... mine and... um... what do you call it..."
"Don't chicken out halfway through..."
A man who had spoken so boldly, only to blush crimson the instant he actually tried to say it.
It felt like watching my old self, and for some reason I ended up feeling embarrassed too.
To borrow the gods' expression, it was like cracking open the notebook of your most cringe-worthy past. Anyway. That was the feeling.
Watching him, Meteria wore an indescribable expression — as if he were both adorable and pitiable and mortifying all at once. Clearly this man was no ordinary romantic either.
'If someone asked me why I love a man like this... that'd be rude, wouldn't it?'
After all, someone had once loved even a creature like me. Best to believe that a woman's capacity for embrace is every bit that vast.
"So what will you do? It seems to be quite nearby."
Even the magic pressure I could sense was extraordinary — it looked like a battle between adventurers of considerable Level. Left alone, it was obvious this place would be swept up in it any moment.
At my words, the two of them began to worry — but their expressions couldn't have been more different.
If I had to put it into words, Meteria looked like a little child caught playing with bad friends behind her parents' backs, while the man wore the face of a condemned man tightrope-walking over molten lava.
The temperature gap between them was so extreme I had no way of knowing whether the situation was actually serious or not. I mean, judging by the pressure in the air, it was definitely a huge problem!
"Um... Lord Vesta? I know it's shameless to ask a favor of someone I've only just met, but might I ask one thing of you?"
"I'm hardly in a position to refuse, seeing as I'm the one borrowing this place... what is this favor?"
"We'd like you to buy us time while we make our escape! You seem awfully strong, Lord Vesta, so I think you could manage it."
Awfully strong, huh... first time I've ever heard that one in my life.
I was a man, and an adventurer. Of course some measure of that pride existed within me too.
Subjectively and objectively alike, I was strong. That was an undeniable fact.
But...
'If this really is the past...'
Waiting over there were the Colossus and the Empress.
The Empress — the only being in all of history, past or future, to achieve the feat of Level 9.
And the Colossus — the man who boldly claimed the title of world's strongest, outright surpassing even her.
No matter how I turned it over in my head, these were not opponents one could simply brush aside. Facing the two of them at once went beyond reckless and bordered on the impossible.
Honestly, I'd never fought them, so I couldn't say for certain — but at the very least, they were absolutely not the kind of people to whom you could casually say, just stall them a little.
"Oh, it's fine! The captain and Mister Maxim probably won't step in."
"...That's a remarkably confident statement. Do you have some basis for it?"
"Well, every time something like this happens, those two don't step in!"
Watching Meteria answer with a bright, guileless hehe of a laugh, the crank handle inside me went clean missing.
No, wait. This chaos of hers had happened often enough that she could cite probability and statistical data as evidence? And the person who knew that was saying it with a face this pure?
The man beside her blushed at Meteria's sunny smile and grinned along with her, but to my eyes, Meteria looked like an entirely different person.
I'd taken her for an innocent, warm-hearted country girl — but Meteria, too, was Hera Familia (Crazy Psycho) through and through.
WHAM-
A heavy sound slammed into Zard's body.
His arm broke.
WHAM-!
An even heavier impact struck home. Which bone was it this time?
"Zard-! Hang in there! I believe in youuu!"
"You bastards! Stop just watching and helppp meee!"
His pathetic, desperate screams were pitifully swallowed by the booming din.
Alfia of the Silence.
The continuous bombardment of the Hera Familia's finest archmage — locked in a private duel for the top spot within her own Familia — reduced even a powerhouse like Zard to a rag in mere moments!
Nothing short of a calamity. Nothing short of the Hera Familia.
The Hera Familia watched their comrade's rampage unfold; the Zeus Familia munched on popcorn at the spectacle.
In all that space, Zard alone was living through hell.
No — actually, maybe not.
"Haa..."
The bombardment abruptly stopped.
Now!
The moment Zard had been waiting for had finally come.
Alfia was born frail.
Meteria was as well, but Alfia suffered all the more for it because of the palna.
Ironically, it was also thanks to the palna that she could endure as long as she did — but regardless, her greatest weakness was a prolonged battle.
The woman struggled with even the effort of keeping her eyes open. Drag things out long enough, and she would simply drop.
Of course, that was a gambit only a hero of Zard's caliber could ever hope to attempt.
Gritting his creaking, battered frame, he forced himself upright.
He could not attack Alfia. Partly because Alfia herself was stronger than him — but mostly because if his blow left so much as a scratch on her, the goddess who doted shamelessly on her own retainer might very well flip out and attack in turn.
And that would mean an actual war between factions. That, above all, could never be allowed to happen.
"Alfia. You seem worn out by now, so how about we wrap this—"
Up. He'd been about to say up.
"...What are you drinking?"
"Can't you tell by looking? Elixir."
He could tell she was drinking an elixir.
He'd merely been curious why she was drinking one.
Normally she wrapped things up at this point, so it had never occurred to him she might push further — and that carelessness cost him.
And in a battle between the strong, a single instant of carelessness leads straight to the worst possible outcome.
"[Gospel]."
BOOOM-!
As if she'd been waiting for precisely this moment, the witch's bombardment swept away everything in a heartbeat — Zard, and the Zeus Familia far in the distance along with him.
The battlefield plunged into utter chaos in an instant, and just as the clash threatened to spiral into a full faction-scale war—
"Big Sis-!"
At the crisp voice ringing out from far away, Alfia's body froze solid as stone.
Screech- Her head creaked around like a rusted tin doll.
One of her eyes — normally shut, since even opening them was an ordeal — slid halfway open, laying bare the scene before her in merciless detail.
Far away, she could see her little sister. That part meant nothing.
Yes, she would scold her later — but for her sister's sake, there was nothing Alfia couldn't forgive.
No. It was the man beside her — the one supporting her sister's head and legs, holding her in what one might call a princess carry — that entered her sight.
Dull hair. Plain looks. And yet, striking through it all, a pair of crimson eyes.
A revolting worm who had dared lay filthy hands upon her one and only treasure.
Normally, merely being near Meteria was more than enough to make her unbearably uncomfortable — and now, seeing this—
Snip.
Something finally snapped.
The witch's killing intent swallowed all of Orario!
The worm's (Cranel's) face went several shades blacker!
Thus the pair stood on the verge of being annihilated (Gospeled) by the witch — precisely, that is, only he — but just before the witch's guillotine came down, a new gate-crasher stepped onto the stage.
"...Who the hell are you?"
Even at this sudden newcomer's arrival, Alfia — her last thread of reason severed — did not stop.
But the others were different.
"Did you see that?"
"Saw it, aye?"
To the question from his own patron deity, one answered with a guarded shake of the head from the goddess's side — and one answered with a guarded nod, unlike the goddess's retainer.
A new interloper whom the two strongest retainers each faction boasted were both warily watching.
And for the first time, the eyes of the long-bored god and goddess alike began to shine.