Chapter 837 A Secret Denatus
"Good evening, everyone! I hope I didn't make you wait for too long!" With flowing long fiery pink hair, Astarte came walking through the door of the secret room within the Poseidon Familia's manor with her Captain, Carys, a Sheep person.
The newcomers heard a sigh from one of today's attendees, "Haahh... It's the time when most people are asleep but you're still as energetic as ever. Please keep your voice down since it's already more quiet than usual."
The room wasn't very big. but it was well lit by glowing orbs. Within it, there was nothing except for a single round table and six chairs surrounding it. Three of those six chairs were already occupied and the one who'd spoken just now was taking one seat, a Deity with long blue curly hair and golden eyes, Amphitrite.
Astarte just shrugged her shoulders and went to sit down on a free chair, "It's been a while since I've seen you, but I see that you still hate any sort of festivities."
"I don't hate the festivities. I just don't like the noise that accompanies them."
"That means hating festivities since it's all about noise created through various emotions." Astarte then scanned the surroundings with her sharp eyes and confirmed the other people present. The other two occupying the seats are both white-haired middle-aged men, both of which are hiding their identity as a Deity by covering their aura and casually sipping on their liquor, Poseidon and Zeus.
"Poseidon aside, I didn't think you'd show yourself here, Zeus."
Zeus chuckled and replied, "Why not? I can be anywhere I want to be. I'm a free man."
Astarte smirked at him and said, "A free man? I bet it took all you had just to sneak away from Hera's side. I wonder what would happen if the news of you coming here were to spread?"
Zeus almost choked on his liquor, "...Please don't do that. I'm not even making a move on anyone."
Astarte snickered at him but didn't say anything else and continued to look around. Except for Zeus, Poseidon and Amphitrite also brought in their Captains, Arch and Lelalia.
In an attempt to shake off the awkward feeling he was experiencing, Zeus asked, "I heard Hestia and Artemis were also coming. Where are they?" But instead of their presence, Zeus is actually more interested in their children ever since hearing about them through Hermes, 'A group of Adventurers with enough power to contend against the strongest suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No matter how you spin it, this is strange.'
But due to his erratic movements and his distance from Orario, Zeus hadn't received any further news regarding them, so he didn't know about these people spreading a new school of power and those within Orario are already beyond his imagination. If he knew this, he would have returned to where Hera is and prepared for the 'menace's' inevitable awakening and still searching for the 'Hero'.
But before Astarte could answer, the door opened once again, showing the last two, Hestia and Artemis, "Heya~! Have you been well?" The former ran in and took her seat while the latter just silently entered the chamber and followed suit.
Hestia gave her greeting to everyone in the room and saw that Amphitrite was staring at her intently, "What?"
"...I find it strange to see you outside of your temple. Are you really the Hestia that shut herself for thousands of years at a time to mope around?"
"Are you picking a fight!?"
"Ufufufu. But it looks like you're a lot more lively than before. We're supposed to be unchanging Gods yet here you are, proving us wrong."
"It's not just her." Astarte suddenly interjected, "You might not believe it but Artemis here got herself a man."
Not just Amphitrite but also Poseidon and Zeus had their eyes wide open and looked at Artemis, now with slightly blushing cheeks, "...Seriously?" Poseidon couldn't help but ask and also shudder at how this alleged man was able to tame this tigress. He didn't know it was just by chance and it wasn't really that hard.
With her grin growing bigger, Astarte added, "But that's not all~ Artemis' man is also Hestia's guy~!"
The three Deities then turned their heads towards Hestia who now also had a similarly blushing face. However, that changed when she heard their responses, "Oh... Well... If it's the guy that caught Artemis' eyes, then I'm not really surprised." Zeus commented.
"Compared to getting Artemis' favor, Hestia's isn't as impressive," Poseidon added.
"Now I'm concerned with this young man. Is it alright for him to take Hestia even as a bonus?" Amphitrite finished it off.
Slamming the table in front of her, Hestia stood up with a big vein popping out of her forehead, "Yosh! Let's go to war! I'll send each and every one of you back to Heaven!"
The escorts, on the other hand, don't know what to do. This was supposed to be a meeting of great importance but it looked like just a bunch of friends coming together for the first time in a long time and starting to gossip.
Thankfully, the meeting started for real just after an hour of them messing around.
"And? What do you want from us, Hestia, Artemis?" Poseidon asked, "I hope you're not here to leech from us."
Hestia couldn't really get angry at his words since she had indeed leeched off some Deities in the past and it was a well-documented case.
"Of course not. We're just here to inform you of something concerning."
.
.
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It had been half an hour since Hestia and Artemis left the secret room, but the room was still covered with silence except for the periodic clash of utensils. Not being able to take the silence anymore, Carys asked her Familia's Goddess, "Astarte-sama, could you tell me what's going on? We knew that the Aruna Familia was planning something big but the atmosphere suddenly changed when Hestia-sama mentioned the barrier deep within their base. What does it mean if the barrier has some Divine Power mixed in it."
Devoid of her previous cheerful demeanor, Astarte answered, "Depending on how long this has been going on, it may mean that a Deity was using his or her power in the Lower World without being punished for it."
"But we couldn't just trust their information, could we?" Arch offered his thoughts, "In the first place, even if they are successful in infiltrating the place without getting caught, is it possible to differentiate Divine Power from Magic Power?"
Poseidon placed down his glass and answered, "It's quite easy honestly." He then looked towards his Captain and the air around him suddenly became heavier as his hair raised up and his eyes became golden. Poseidon released his Divine Aura before cutting it off immediately.
Arch, Lelalia, and Carys all swallowed a mouthful of saliva while cold sweat drenched their backs, "I- I see... If that's how it is."
"Then shouldn't we arrange a raid and uncover the truth as soon as possible?" Lelalia suggested with a grave expression.
This time, it was Amphitrite who answered her, "It's not that easy and simple. If this really involved a Deity being able to use his or her power in the Lower World without any repercussions, then it shouldn't be as obvious as this. Although it's just their children who were able to successfully get this information, it doesn't change the fact that there was obviously something going on in there before all of this."
"Worst case scenario, this is just a big decoy and what they wanted to do was already achieved long ago or being done in a different location. And even though a raid might do something, it could backfire at us since we don't know for how long this has been going on nor do we know how many Deities are actually involved in this. Maybe they are just waiting for you to fall for it and annihilate you all in one go." Zeus added while clicking his tongue, "Did those bastards grow tired of waiting and decide to be the 'Heroes' themselves?"
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