After carrying the drunken Hestia back home, everyone was still worried about the information Finn had given them at the end.
"Takatsuki-kun, should we temporarily avoid entering the Dungeon for now? Until the Class Monitor returns."
Takatsuki shook his head: "It's fine, but you should try not to enter the Dungeon alone recently."
"Bronya thinks there's no need to worry, and they only want to obtain Takatsuki's power, so they won't ambush us. We should be careful not to be captured and used to threaten Takatsuki, but even if threatened, it would only make Takatsuki use that power to help them."
Bronya's idea wasn't entirely wrong, but that was because she didn't fully understand the situation in Orario. Hearing Bronya's analysis, Takatsuki said, "Bronya, the situation in Orario is actually more brutal than you think."
Dark Factions, War Games, these things that exist on the surface of Orario, Takatsuki explained them to the others as they returned.
"There's actually such an unreasonable thing? The victor can completely control the loser? That's too unreasonable!"
Dark Factions were alright; such groups of people would exist in the dark corners of any place. But War Games were unacceptable to Kiana; a game deciding the fate of others, the arrogance of the gods was fully displayed in War Games.
"After all, each god has a different attitude towards their mortal followers. Some see them as family."
Glancing at Hestia, who had already started snoring behind him, Takatsuki continued: "And some only see their Familia as tools for making money, or simply as toys."
"That's too much!"
Kiana also glanced at Hestia and finally understood why Takatsuki had brought them to this newly established Familia at that time. If it were just a small Familia, he could have just found any one.
It turned out that just like people, gods were also vastly different, and their age of hundreds of millions of years made them more willful and self-centered than ordinary mortals.
The group chatted as they returned near their base, and then they saw…
"Why are there so many people?"
Kiana looked at the many people on the street who seemed to be watching something, jumping, but unfortunately, she couldn't see inside, and Takatsuki's expression changed: "Not good!"
He threw Hestia to Kiana, and Takatsuki quickly squeezed into the crowd.
"Move aside! Move aside!"
Amidst a flurry of curses, Takatsuki saw it.
The destroyed door, and the base that had been smashed into a mess.
And Bell, who was unconscious inside, and Jerry, who had stayed behind to take care of him, were both gone.
And on the wall, someone had written a few large characters in crimson liquid.
"If you want them back, come and participate in the War Game — Apollo Familia"
Takatsuki walked to the wall and gently wiped the red words with his fingers; the already solidified liquid left no trace on his hand.
"Takatsuki!"
"Takatsuki-kun!"
The others behind him also squeezed in, one after another, and saw the words on the wall.
"This is too much!"
"Apollo Familia! I'm going to make them pay!"
Takatsuki turned his head to look at the girls; Hestia was still not awake, but he still said, "Don't worry, what's on the wall isn't blood, but war is about to begin!"
"Next, we're going to fight the Apollo Familia. Do you have confidence?"
As soon as Takatsuki finished asking, Kiana raised her hand: "I'm going to beat them to a pulp!"
Mei: "Doing such a thing is unforgivable!"
"Bronya, standing by!"
Since a War Game was decided, it required the consent of the Familia's main god.
However, Hestia was still unconscious, so Takatsuki had no choice but to rush with the others to Miach's Azure Pharmacy. The things in this stronghold were not important anyway; all the valuable items were in Takatsuki's backpack. Kiana also took out her treasured greatsword from under the bed. Unlike Mei's katana and Bronya's short sword, this greatsword was really difficult to carry around, so she had placed it under her bed. Thankfully, it hadn't been stolen.
When the group arrived at the Azure Pharmacy, the Medicine God Miach was outside, processing drying medicinal herbs.
"Oh, it's Takatsuki, and you all, you've all come. Are you here to see Fu Hua?"
Seeing Takatsuki from afar, the group ran over. God Miach initially thought they were visiting Fu Hua, but when he saw Hestia lying on Takatsuki's back, Miach's expression changed: "What happened to Hestia!?"
"Lord Miach, don't worry, Lord Hestia just drank too much."
Takatsuki quickly explained the misunderstanding: "We came to visit this time hoping Lord Miach could make some hangover medicine to help Lord Hestia sober up."
Hearing that Hestia was just drunk, Miach breathed a sigh of relief: "If she's just drunk, there's no need, is there? She'll be fine after sleeping it off."
"No, actually…"
Takatsuki explained what had just happened to Miach, and Miach's face, which had just returned to normal, turned grim again.
"Apollo, did he really do such a thing?"
Miach instinctively worried, after all, his fellow god Hestia had only just formed her Familia, but Takatsuki spoke up to comfort him: "Don't worry, Lord Miach, the Apollo Familia isn't a big problem. If he wants war, then we'll fight! I'm just worried about them harming our juniors, so please help Lord Hestia sober up, and we'll go bring our juniors back."
"I understand. Come in with me."
After following Miach into the shop, Miach quickly prepared a hangover potion and poured it down Hestia's throat.
"Ugh! It's so nasty! Blech, blech, blech!"
Hestia, who had been in a drunken stupor, suddenly woke up, sticking out her tongue repeatedly, trying to get rid of the nasty taste in her mouth.
"Lord Hestia!"
If it were normal times, Takatsuki wouldn't mind waiting, but now he had no choice but to speak up.
"Huh? Isn't this the Azure Pharmacy? Miach, why am I here?"
Hestia's attention was drawn by Takatsuki's voice, and she turned around to see Miach.
"For that question, you'd better ask Takatsuki-kun."
Miach gave a wry smile and shifted the topic to Takatsuki.
Watching Hestia look over, Takatsuki said with a somewhat serious expression: "The Apollo Familia kidnapped Bell and Jerry and demanded that we participate in a War Game."
"What!?!?"
Hestia, who had been bewildered, suddenly bristled at Takatsuki's words. Although she usually acted like a carefree child, Hestia cared deeply about her Familia. Upon hearing this, she slammed her hands down on the table: "What exactly happened!?"