Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

She heard the sound of arguing about something.

Turning her gaze, she saw two men huddled together in a corner of the long queue waiting to enter Orario's gates, heading in the opposite direction from Hestia and her companions who had just left the city. Both were quite tall, their travel attire's hoods pulled low. Besides them, there were several other people dressed similarly in the queue behind them, all looking tense and silent for some reason.

Judging from the expressions of the merchants around them, they seemed quite annoyed by their bickering. The orc colleague muttered, "There are always weirdos like that everywhere you go." Hestia also looked surprised.

Soon, just as Hestia was about to brush past them and walk away.

""Um?""

She made eye contact with one of the men who were arguing.

Lion-like blond hair and somewhat familiar red eyes peeked out from under the hoodie.

A sense of déjà vu washed over Hestia, causing her to stop in her tracks. The other person, too, stopped, mouth agape.

After a three-second freeze—

"—Ares!?"

"—Hestia!?"

The goddess and the god pointed at each other and shouted at the same time.

Hestia was surprised because she encountered the enemy leader who was attacking the city, while Ares was surprised because he unexpectedly ran into the prey he wanted to capture.

Hestia was still in shock when Ares raised a pair of red eyes.

He kicked the ground and launched an attack.

"Got it!"

“Guaaaaaaaa!?”

Ares lunged forward with all his might, crashing violently into Hestia.

The little girl goddess's body was brutally grabbed and hugged, her eyes widening in shock as she was knocked out of the group of her fellow workers.

She and the other person rolled down on the grassland, and Ares, quick-witted and agile, hoisted her onto his shoulder.

"Hahahaha!? Did you see that, Marius!? I've captured my target beautifully!?"

"W-Really...?!"

The person he was arguing with, Marius, took off his hoodie.

"Goo~!" Seeing the young goddess half-conscious on Ares's shoulder, he forcefully shook off his wavering emotions and raised his head.

"Everyone, retreat at full speed!"

At a command, a group of people dressed similarly for travel pushed aside the long queue and began their journey.

The scene descended into chaos. The guards, noticing the commotion, rushed over, but Marius and his men drew their swords and charged at them, outnumbering the guards and cutting them down.

In an instant, a loud scream rang out.

"Objective achieved! Retreat! Retreat!!"

Ares grabbed Hestia and ran away in a flash.

His comrades—the kingdom's soldiers—quickly followed the chief god in his escape.

"H-Hestia, little sister!?"

As the soldiers mounted the horses that had been prepared and rode away, the screams of his colleagues echoed all around.

*

"Where have you gone, Hermes?!"

A beautiful woman with aqua blue hair was cursing at Hermes, who was with us.

After talking for a long time, I decided to go and find the gods again. The gods Mihe and Hermes said they were willing to help me. Although I felt bad about it, I had no reason to refuse, so I went with the two gods... Then, Hermes's attendant, Miss Asphie, appeared, breathless.

She was dumped by the suffocating god, and, clutching her silver-rimmed glasses, she was furious.

"You're the one who told me to come along, and then you ran off on your own...!?"

"No, it's because... you love to ramble on..."

"What did you say?!"

"Oh, I was just talking nonsense, I'm sorry!"

Pressed by the furious faction leader, Hermes, sweating profusely, apologized profusely.

Soon, Miss Asphie, who had been scolding the chief god so badly, finally noticed our presence, panting heavily. "Please excuse my poor appearance..." Seeing her dejected look, both Mihe and I smiled wryly.

Miss Asif adjusted her glasses and turned her blue eyes toward us.

"So, what are you two doing with this troublesome god?"

"Uh, it's like this..."

I was sweating as I spoke about the current situation—the next second—while her merciless manner of speaking made me sweat.

Several hurried footsteps came from behind.

“—Huh?”

My gaze shifted in that direction, and then my eyes widened.

A group of demi-humans ran along the road, the sounds of weapons and armor clashing against each other filling the air.

I spotted the blonde, golden-eyed female swordsman within the group.

"Miss Ais!?"

"you……"

Hearing my scream, the sword-wielding adventurer, Miss Ais, also reacted.

She stopped, her eyes widening slightly. She was wearing silver breastplates, gauntlets, and shoulder armor. The members of Loki's Familia who were traveling with her were dressed similarly.

Seeing the fully armed adventurers running relentlessly through the streets and the tense atmosphere, just as Mihe, Hermes, Miss Asphie, and I all sensed a certain danger...

Miss Ais, who was staring intently at my face, opened her lips.

"Come on in too."

"The little dwarf has been kidnapped!?"

Oralley North Gate.

Loki's voice rang out in the plaza in front of the massive city wall gate.

Besides her, her retinue of the dwarf Finn, as well as other gods and members of the fold, were gathered around her.

"Yeah!? Hestia was kidnapped by a weird god...!?"

"A group suspected to be soldiers from the Kingdom of Lachia later scattered and fled in all directions!?"

The orc woman and the guild staff guarded the gate, losing their composure as they explained the situation.

The commotion at the North Gate had occurred a few tens of minutes earlier. In response, the guild's guards dispersed from the gate into the city, while the guild headquarters, needless to say, also relayed the news to the powerful factions' leaders and members. Because so little time had passed, only Loki and Finn could be considered major figures and adventurers in the city at the scene.

Loki, who had been urgently summoned, looked up at the sky to suppress his headache as he watched the merchants and travelers trying to enter and leave the city making a ruckus.

"Finn~"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't have predicted God's actions..."

Loki gave Finn a disapproving look, standing beside him with one hand on the corner of his eye.

The out-of-control actions of Ares and Hestia, two gods whose wisdom surpasses that of humans... should be described as comedic, leaving the [Hero] completely bewildered and showing intense weariness on his face.

"So... how did that little dwarf manage to evade questioning? Tell me, Ganesha!"

"...I...I am Ganesha, that's true, isn't it?"

"Hey, where did your usual energy go?"

Ganesha cowered and adopted a hesitant posture after being glared at fiercely by Loki.

The male god, who usually talks a lot, stammered out the good deed he had just done.

"So, you were being an idiot and let them leave?"

"Ah, yes."

"You perverted masked man! Haven't you played enough jokes on me with your face already, you big idiot!"

"...Because I am Ganesha!!"

"Don't try to be shameless with me!"

"Just wait until the guild gives you a good beating!" Loki said this to him. "No—!?" Ganesha covered his head with his hands. His guild members, guards, and gatekeepers all gave him looks that said, "Didn't we already say that?"

"That busty girl who makes potato balls, she's caused me all this trouble for no reason..."

After glancing at the wounded guards and other injured people lying in the square, Loki glared at the sky and complained.

"Take the little dwarf away... Is Kingdom Lachia's goal once again 'The Demon Sword of Crozzo'?"

"Most likely, they're offering the main god as a divine hostage, demanding either Welf Crozo himself or the 'Demon Sword' in exchange... Even if Orario doesn't agree, it will definitely cause internal strife."

Orario is not united. For example, even if the guilds and many factions reject the kingdom's offers, the gods and their [familias] who are closely associated with the goddess Hestia—in this case, the most troublesome being the Hephaestus Familia, the city's premier forging faction—will protest, causing internal divisions. The worst-case scenario might expose weaknesses, giving other countries, cities, and factions outside the kingdom an opportunity to exploit the situation.

If we lose to such foolish tactics, our reputation will be ruined. Finn sighed and thought.

"We must retrieve the goddess Hestia before the enemy returns home, or the situation will become very dire."

"Ugh! Damn it! Why do I have to go through all this trouble because of that little dwarf?!"

Upon hearing Finn's nonchalant, narrowed-eyed words, Loki frantically scratched his head with one hand.

Some people pursed their lips into a "ㄟ" shape because of the seriousness of the matter, while others laughed and enjoyed the situation. The people gathered in the square in front of the gate reacted in different ways and quickly began to discuss.

"Loki, Finn."

"Oh, Ais, you're here! Where are Riveria and Tiona?"

"Only I came, and then..."

All of Aisby's Level 1 adventurers who had left headquarters arrived first. Behind her, besides the lower-ranking members of the Familia, were Hermes, Asif, Mihe, and Bell.

As if guided by Ais's gaze as she turned her head, Bell, whose expression had changed drastically, came before Loki and the others.

"Excuse me! I heard the gods were taken away...!?"

"...Let me explain briefly, Bell Craney, listen carefully."

The boy had already heard from Ais about the kidnapping of the main god on the way, and Finn then told him the general situation. After hearing the whole story, Bell's face turned ashen.

"Where are the immortals?!"

"I don't know. The tricky part is that the enemy has set up several troops in the north, west, and east directions, and we haven't even sent out tracking teams yet."

When Bell leaned forward to question him, Finn calmly replied that the enemy was scattered everywhere and he didn't know where the team that had kidnapped Hestia had gone.

"It's pathetic to say," he began, before continuing his explanation.

He said that Orario's faction was restricted from entering and leaving cities, while the Kingdom had accumulated information during its six invasions and was far more knowledgeable about the geography around cities than they were.

The kingdom knows all the escape routes, such as paths to cities, mountain valleys, or secret shortcuts to return to the kingdom the fastest way. It is extremely difficult to capture the main force from their multiple forces.

Bell's expression grew increasingly grim as he listened, at which point Hermes, who was listening nearby, leaned his shoulder against Mih.

He whispered to Mih, "Contact Lily and the others." Mih nodded and walked toward the "Stovehouse."

"Loki, Finn, I'm going after them."

The sudden turn of events threw Bell into confusion, and Ais, who had been observing him from the side, stepped forward.

Hearing the usually taciturn Sword Maiden make such a request, not only the main god and the guild leader, but also people from other factions were surprised.

"Wait, Ais. We don't need to make this special trip just for the little guy, and besides, it would mean checking all the troops..."

"But someone has to go after them."

“Ugh…”

"Besides, I'm the fastest runner among everyone."

Loki tried to stop Ais, but she calmly persuaded him with her sharp, sword-like criticism.

Even compared to the commander, running at full speed is still faster. Hearing this from one of the city's strongest warriors, a Level 1 adventurer, no one could disagree.

As for Bale...