The agreement for the Hestia Familia and the Apollo Familia to engage in a War Game was thus easily settled.
After agreeing to the War Game, Apollo naturally had no reason to continue kidnapping members of the Hestia Familia. Ultimately, he had no reason to kidnap them in the first place; this act, while not a serious crime in Orario, would still lead to gossip and ostracism from other gods. However, he somehow had the audacity to do this.
"Thank you for your help, Lady Loki."
Looking at the injured Jerry and the still unconscious Bell, Takatsuki expressed his gratitude to Loki amidst Hestia's shouts of why she should thank her. He could clearly see that if Loki hadn't been on the scene immediately to stall Apollo, Bell would have already suffered a terrible fate.
"No problem, no problem." Loki waved her hand seemingly casually: "After all, our two Familias are somewhat cooperative, and our Familia being able to know about this immediately wasn't due to our own intelligence network."
"Oh? Then how did Lady Loki know?"
"Well, you'll have to figure that out yourself. After all, even for our Familia, there are some things that are better left unsaid. Keep up the good work, young man, I'm looking forward to your performance."
Loki waved her hand and left, but her last words undoubtedly hinted that there was a mastermind behind this strange incident.
Takatsuki, who roughly understood the DanMachi plot, had actually been suspicious for a long time. After all, in the original work, the Apollo Familia incident first involved causing trouble in the tavern, then making the Hestia Familia members strike first, and then fabricating false evidence to attack from a moral high ground.
But this time, the Apollo Familia completely disregarded their reputation in Orario and directly initiated the threat. Even if they won the War Game, they would face numerous penalties from the Guild, which were only temporarily shelved for now.
Therefore, it was highly likely that they had someone backing them.
Is it Freya?
Subtly looking in the direction of the Babel, Takatsuki couldn't jump to conclusions.
"Takatsuki-kun, let's go."
Hestia's voice came from afar, and Takatsuki returned to the group, leaving together.
Their original stronghold had been destroyed, and since they had already agreed to a War Game with the Apollo Familia, they didn't bother going back to stay there.
Everyone just rented a few rooms at an inn in Orario for the night, and Bell, who hadn't woken up yet, was placed with Jerry.
Fortunately, Jerry's injuries were fine; as a puppet, he could automatically recover as long as the magic stone energy in his body wasn't depleted.
"Everyone, the temporary Denatus will decide the War Game's contents tomorrow. Do you have confidence?"
Though full of momentum when declaring war, Hestia was now feeling a bit unconfident again.
"Don't worry, Lady Hestia! I've already found out that their highest level is only LV3, which is the level of a B-rank Valkyrie. This Miss can easily beat them to a pulp."
Kiana's words didn't reassure Hestia, as Kiana had made many big claims before, so Hestia turned her gaze to Takatsuki.
With Fu Hua not present, the most reliable members of the Familia were Takatsuki and Mei.
"Don't worry. Not only am I currently LV3, the same level as their captain, but even if I were LV1, they wouldn't be my opponents. For now, I just hope there aren't any strange game contents."
"Don't worry! I will definitely strive for a project that is beneficial to us. Also, a reminder, Takatsuki, we need to report our levels tomorrow, otherwise, the other side might accuse us of concealing our levels."
Takatsuki nodded. Orario had its rules, and one of them was not to conceal one's level. Other ability values and skills didn't need to be disclosed; only timely level reporting was required.
"Tomorrow, the Denatus will decide the War Game's contents. We happen to have two grimoires provided by the Loki Familia here, which have a high chance of awakening magic. Let's distribute them to enhance our strength."
Takatsuki took out two grimoires from his backpack and placed them on the table in front of him, looking at the girls beside him: "Who wants to learn? With grimoires, the first one has a very high chance of awakening magic, but it becomes much harder to awaken magic with subsequent grimoires. So, it's best for one per person. Who wants them?"
After Takatsuki finished speaking, he looked at the others and found that no one spoke.
"What's wrong? Don't you want them?"
Finally, Mei spoke first: "Takatsuki-kun, I think you should use these two grimoires. After all, they are the Loki Familia's reward to you, and it's more important to improve your strength now."
Looking around at the others, Kiana also nodded: "This Miss thinks so too."
"Bronya has already received enough from you, Takatsuki."
Indeed, the three girls in front of him all had things given by Takatsuki. While weapons and equipment were one thing, each of them had also been granted a miraculous power: Stand.
This was much more powerful than any magic.
Seeing Takatsuki still hesitating, Hestia said: "Takatsuki-kun, just use them yourself. We can buy more grimoires later. Once you become stronger, earning money will be easy."
It sounded easy, but grimoires were not just expensive; they were also priceless, usually appearing directly at auctions with starting bids of over one hundred million Valis.
"In that case, I'll use them."
The brief Familia meeting ended, and Takatsuki directly opened a grimoire in front of everyone. Although grimoires were consumables, their contents were genuine and substantial.
It directly pointed to the origin of magic, and during the reading process, the words in the book themselves generated power, stimulating Takatsuki's spiritual energy.
Magic, in some ways similar to Blessings, is determined by the holder's mental state and subconscious.
Many powers in the DanMachi world are overly idealistic, like 'form follows mind,' which is roughly the situation here.
The power of the grimoire easily captivated the reader, and coupled with the reader's lack of resistance and full acceptance of this power.
After reading two grimoires consecutively, Takatsuki only felt his head heavy and dizzy, as if something was on the verge of emerging, but he couldn't quite grasp it.
When Takatsuki woke up again, he found himself lying on the bed, with four people surrounding him.
"He's awake! Quick, quick, update his Falna, see what magic he awakened!"
Evidently, during the time Takatsuki was unconscious after reading the books, the others had moved him to the bed and had been waiting for him to wake up.
Still groggy, Takatsuki was pulled up by several people as soon as he woke up. Hestia sat behind Takatsuki, rolled up his shirt, and applied the divine blood to his back.