There was actually no doubt about whether a Herrscher could be taught to be a good person, as there were indeed examples.
It was just that there wasn't a good answer on how to do it.
Before they could discuss it further, the Hestia Familia welcomed their first guests.
"There's a celebration banquet at the Hostess of Fertility tonight. Are you coming?"
Looking at Ais, who stood at the door with a blank expression, Takatsuki rolled his eyes.
"Why did you come alone?"
Ais still had a completely expressionless face: "Loki said to invite partners, so I came voluntarily."
"A celebration banquet, huh."
He looked back at the food that was already prepared and Bell, who was still unconscious.
"I'm sorry, Ais. As you saw earlier, Bell is temporarily unable to move, and some people are also temporarily absent. I won't be attending tonight's celebration banquet, I apologize."
"Why? Teacher can go alone."
If anyone else had said that, it would probably have made people angry by now. But looking at the beautiful girl in front of him, and knowing that she had no ill intentions, Takatsuki understood that she was simply naive and… had extremely low emotional intelligence.
"No, no, no, that's just not possible, is it? Take today's the Loki Familia celebration banquet, for example. If I were to invite you to our Familia's gathering now, and you could only choose one of the two Familia gatherings to attend, Ais, you would definitely go to your own Familia's celebration banquet, right? Similarly, today is my first day back, so I want to spend it with my companions."
Takatsuki thought for a moment and used an analogy that Ais could understand.
But he overestimated Ais's willfulness, or rather, her independent nature. After Takatsuki finished speaking, Ais directly took a step forward.
"???"
Seeing Ais walk in, Takatsuki subconsciously took a step back before realizing: "What are you doing?"
"Didn't Teacher invite me to the gathering?"
"When did I… Ah…"
It was well-known that Ais lacked common sense and had certain issues with comprehension. Takatsuki, who habitually used examples to explain things, fell into this trap.
The person was already inside, and after several attempts to explain, it still wasn't clear. Takatsuki also couldn't just directly kick her out.
"Huh? Aren't you Loki's Sword Princess, Miss Wallenstein?"
This was Hestia's reaction after coming out of the room and seeing Ais.
"Good evening, Lady Hestia. Teacher invited me."
Although she lacked common sense and was severely lacking in certain social graces, Riveria's education of Ais had been successful. At least, her basic manners towards outsiders were sufficient.
"Teacher?"
Kiana, sitting sideways on a chair, pointed at Takatsuki and pouted: "It's Takatsuki. His apprentice he took in the Dungeon. He already has so many beautiful girls at home, yet he's still flirting outside."
"That's rude, Kiana."
Mei, carrying a plate, walked out and scolded her, then said to Ais: "Welcome, Ais-san. Please make yourself comfortable. Dinner will be ready soon."
"Excuse me for intruding."
Hearing Mei's invitation, Ais directly sat down in an empty seat nearby. Hestia, who had originally intended to say something, didn't continue and instead said: "You all returned from an expedition today, aren't you preparing a celebration banquet? You actually ran over to our place."
Takatsuki was somewhat surprised by Hestia's attitude, but on second thought, it was normal.
In the original story, Hestia interacted with Ais because Bell was infatuated with Ais, so Hestia was jealous and deliberately had a bad attitude towards Ais, even calling her by the wrong name. But the most serious it got was just that.
Although Hestia often acted like a child, she still knew her limits.
"Everyone is having a victory banquet at the Hostess of Fertility."
"?"
Hestia was stunned: "Then why did you…"
Before she could figure it out, the door outside was knocked again.
Bronya, who was near the door, opened it and saw two elves standing outside; it was Riveria and her successor, Lefiya.
"Ah! Ais is indeed here."
As soon as Lefiya opened the door, she saw Ais, and Riveria also asked Ais, "Ais, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you to invite the Hestia Familia?"
"Because my teacher invited me to a meal."
"…"
Riveria did not blame Takatsuki when she heard Ais's words; instead, she apologized to Takatsuki, saying, "I'm sorry, Ais lacks common sense."
Clearly, even without knowing the situation, Riveria understood Ais a bit too well.
"It's fine, it's fine. My expression here also had some issues."
After apologizing, Riveria then learned the full story from Takatsuki, and Hestia, standing by, also understood why the Loki Familia's treasure had come to her place.
"So that's how it is. As my Takatsuki said, we can't attend this invitation. Please tell that fellow Loki for me."
Hearing Hestia's words, Riveria nodded: "Understood. I will relay it to god Loki. Then, we will take our leave."
Although in terms of strength, Riveria was not as great as Ais, she still forcibly pulled Ais away.
"Alright! The outsiders have left, let's continue!"
…
On the other side, Loki was very disappointed after hearing that the Hestia Familia could not come.
"What? I wanted to show off our gains to that shorty. If she knew we earned so many times more than her, she'd probably die of anger."
Finn chuckled awkwardly beside her: "Lady Loki, isn't that inappropriate? After all, we still took advantage. It wouldn't be good if we strained relations between the two sides."
"It's fine, it's fine. That shorty and I didn't get along even in the heavens, so this little bit won't make a difference."
Hearing Loki's words, Finn smiled without answering, but after reminding Loki, he also started to worry a bit. In the previous transaction, he could say he had taken advantage of Takatsuki.
The agreement was that after recovering the expedition costs through the spatial passage, the remaining share would be split equally between the two sides.
Here, he played a trick: they only calculated the amount earned through the spatial passage and did not include the materials the Loki Familia brought back themselves.
So, the Loki Familia could be said to have earned double the money.
"Originally, I just wanted to test them, but I didn't expect them to agree directly. If they find out later, it will be a bit disadvantageous. Let's give them a bit more when calculating costs and settling payments. The other party's ability is too advanced for Orario; it's better not to antagonize them."
While Finn was pondering how to compensate for his mistake, Takatsuki also mentioned this at the dinner table.
"Ah ah ah!! So that flat-chested woman earned several times more than us!?"
Hestia immediately bristled, and Takatsuki quickly comforted her: "It's fine, it's fine, Hestia. I already thought of this. Since Finn was the implementer of the plan, he must also know he took advantage of us. Compared to some Valis, a debt of gratitude is more expensive. Unless he intends to completely antagonize us, he won't pretend this never happened."
That's right, Takatsuki wasn't unaware of the trap in the contract; he did it on purpose. First, he could ensure that the money earned through [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart]" exceeded the cost of the Loki Familia's expedition, or rather, if it didn't exceed it, he would be even happier.
That way, he could more openly cause trouble for the Loki Familia.
And he really didn't care.
On one hand, he could simply sell some of the materials he collected for money, which would be enough. Unlike the Loki Familia, which has huge operating costs, his expeditions basically only cost a few potions.
On the other hand, he believed the other party wasn't stupid.
"You're right, then I won't bother with it! If that flat-chested woman dares to show off in front of me, I'll headbutt her to death!"