[ The Mansion of House Athena ]

Hi, um. My name is Ruby Fairwright. Your totally honest and simple young proprietress of a peaceful little bookstore in the city of Anorlon.

You know, as I'm thinking back on it, I realize that my life has gotten a little more hectic as of late.

It started at the beginning of the month when I met the cutest angel in the Realm of Gods and we… became acquainted.

Then I picked a fight with a High-ranked angel, wrote a book that got surprisingly popular, got arrested by the Valkyrian guards for the first time in my life, and even visited the domain of the Goddess of Fortune.

After which I immediately get myself wrapped up in a strange plot by a group of even stranger cultists from the Chaos side who also kidnapped my ‘boyfriend’.

Ahem~!

W-what? Eden even said so himself! I-I’m technically still his one and only ‘girlfriend’! A-anyway! Those series of absurd events finally brought me to the corridor of a mansion—a domain of another goddess.

““Lady Athena!””

With a loud bang, the twins force open the double wooden door and barge inside.

—S-shouldn’t they be a little more polite? This is that being’s domain, you know? The Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and War herself!

Hold on a minute! More than that, should I really be here?

“...Ah, this is kinda awkward.”

I resign myself to fate and follow the two of them.

The moment I walk into the room that looks to be an office, I’m honestly surprised. By, um, how plain everything looks. At least when compared to the other domains I’ve been to (granted it’s just one), the difference is apparent at a glance.

The room is barely lit up, and even barer decorated. Orange sunlight shines through the pane glass windows at the far end, where in front of that sits a desk and a figure wearing a tight-fitting suit.

She has a beautiful face with short silver hair, and a pair of sharp silver eyes emanating an aura of elegance that befits a divine being. 

—Hanging from her left ear, a silver earring glistens.

Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, the Lady of War… The Last Daughter of Olympus.

I’ve read so much about her in history books. But I never thought I'd ever get the chance to physically be in her presence. And right now, I think I understand why she’s such a respected being.

Simply put—Lady Athena's just too cool!

2000 years ago, in the age of the Holy War, she and the other gods and goddesses fought alongside the Judgementor to put an end to the conflict between Chaos and Order. And as a result, she became one of—if not the most—revered Goddess in all of Astrea. Loved and worshiped by all races in the present age, and most importantly, by Eden... as well.

…..

Ah! Bad, bad Ruby! Don’t be jealous of a Goddess. And focus! There are more important things going on!

Still, though…

She doesn’t have a lot of, feminine qualities, does she? I, I mean I’m not saying that’s a flaw but—hold on… does that mean Eden prefers them like that? I-is that why—

“What is it this time?”

Interrupting my internal nonsensing, Lady Athena herself places the documents in her hands on her desk and asks the twins. While I decided to try to look as small as possible so that it would even out the playing field—I mean, to not intrude on their family business.

“Lady Athena… we, um, we...”

“We lost Eden, to a group we presumed to be Chaos angels. They took him.”

Vena and Altarin both kneel down in front of Lady Athena’s desk.

““We apologize greatly for our incompetence, and are ready to receive any punishment!””

Lady Athena observes them with narrowed eyes, silence. I unconsciously hold my breath for a second thinking that she really is going to punish them.

But then she sighs and begins saying in a lighthearted tone.

“Huaaaa~ That spoiled little brat has been deliberately causing so much ruckus lately. Is it my fault? Am I doing something wrong? Or perhaps there’s no way I could control him in the first place?”

She sounds more worried about Eden than I expected. But for some reason, the tone of her worry-ridden words kinda reminds me of my grandfather.

“Wait, you said he was taken by Chaos angels?” Lady Athena suddenly asks.

The twins both raise their heads, but it’s brother Altarin who answers.

“Yes, we did, Lady Athena. We think he was taken to a place called the Undercity. Is there a problem—”

Kccrr—! 

Lady Athena immediately springs up from her chair. Making the whole room silent with her surprising action. She stares at Altarin with widened eyes seemingly in shock before sitting back down and closing them.

“No… There’s a possibility that… But if that’s the case… Then she would… There must be something more going on.”

She touches the earring on her left hand while muttering rapidly as if she is… panicking? What could possibly make the Goddess of Wisdom panic?

“Lady Athena, is the situation much worse than we expected?”

Vena apparently also shares my doubt, standing up and walking to Lady Athena’s desk. Eventually, Lady Athena lets out another sigh.

“Worse, worse than any other time. Because the Undercity is that being’s domain. One of the few Chaos Gods and Goddesses who have taken a permanent residence in the Realm of Gods.”

“You don’t mean, her?” Brother Altarin asks.

“Unfortunately, yes, I do mean her…” Lady Athena says, almost exasperatedly. “Lucianna, the Goddess of Lust.”

—Huh... I don’t know why exactly, but for some reason, something makes a lot of sense.

“But does that really mean that Eden’s in trouble? These Chaos angels and goddesses can’t really be as bad as the Devils and Demons from the Abyss, can they?” asks Vena.

“Not necessarily, but this situation is more problematic than that.”

Lady Athena puts up one finger.

“One, even if Lucianna is a Chaos goddess, she’s still rather reclusive and definitely wouldn’t do something like kidnapping. So who did? There’s a third party involved that we aren’t aware of—one that doesn’t respect the rules of the Realm of Gods.”

“Now that I think back on it, those guys who took Eden seemed to be talking about their ‘Master’. Master must be male, wouldn’t it?” says Brother Altarin as he pinches his chin.

Lady Athena brings up her second finger.

“Two, due to a special circumstance, the domain of the Undercity is out of the Judgementor’s jurisdiction. That means the Valkyrian guards don’t have authority there either, and the residents of the Undercity also prefer it to stay that way.”

“Chaos breeds. In the Abyss everything is miserable but everyone who lives there revels in that misery. I could never understand them,” Vena shakes her head in bemusement. As expected of a closed-minded High-ranked angel.

“And three...”

Lady Athena pauses, looking a bit hesitant as she glances between the two of them. But then decides to continue anyway.

“Most Chaos-aligned beings have a naturally condescending outlook toward other mortal races. And Lucianna is notorious for hating humans in particular.”

Hearing that, the twins look equally as confused as I am. Because what does that have to do with anything? Humans can’t be in the Realm of Gods, after all.

“I’ve been hiding it from you two for a while but… I think this is about time to reveal it.”

Lady Athena takes a deep breath, and says to the two of them.

“Eden, is a human.”

…..

Huh? I see... So Eden is a human. That would explain a lot of why—wait, Eden is a WHAT?

“EEeeeEeeEehHhh—!?”

I quickly cover my mouth with both my hands when my scream attracts the eyes of everyone in the room.

—E-Eden is a human, r-really?! There’s no way that’s—! I feel like I’ve just heard something I shouldn’t have! M-maybe, I really shouldn’t be here!

“Lady Athena… i-is that true?”

Vena looks absolutely horrified as she puts one hand over her chest.

"I'm sorry for hiding it from you two for so long," Lady Athena apologizes. 

On the other side, brother Altarin recovers from his shocked stupor and begins to say in a voice that’s obviously suppressing a yell.

"...Lady Athena, the Divine Pledge doesn’t allow us to directly interact with all mortals. You do realize what would happen if this becomes known.”

“I know...” Lady Athena returns him a gentle smile. “But both of you must remember what Eden was like three years ago… I couldn’t just leave him like that, could I?”

—What Eden... was like? 3 years ago, he was in such a condition that the Goddess of Wisdom herself would ignore the Divine Pledge to take him in? What has he experienced in the end?

Vena and Altarin exchange brief eye contact, but that brief moment is enough for them to come to some sort of understanding.

They both close their eyes, breathe in deeply, and simultaneously let out huge sighs.

“We understand, Lady Athena. We respect your decision and won’t ask any more questions,” Altarin says.

“Eden’s still our precious little brother so we won’t treat him differently even if he's a human. But we shall be more discreet in our behavior from now on.” 

Vena then turns to me with an ice-cold gaze.

“And you as well red-eye thief, I completely forgot that you exist.”

With my hands still blocking my mouth, I shake my head rapidly. Wordlessly telling her that I-I will definitely not tell anyone!

“Good. If you ever think about telling anyone, you’ll be dead before you know it.”

I shake my head more frantically to reassure her.

Brother Altarin also looks at me with trusting eyes then turns back to talk to lady Athena regarding a more pressing matter, Eden's current whereabouts.

“So is there a way to track Eden? We haven’t put a tracking device on him ever since he was allowed to play outside. And something tells me this ‘Undercity’ isn’t somewhere we can just stumble upon.”

Lady Athena touches her earring again.

“I’m more worried about this mysterious third party. It takes quite a bit of foolhardy and recklessness to openly ignore the order of Anorlon. So there’s a possibility that they’re quite dangerous.”

“Um, hello, lady Athena.” I meekly raise my hands and call out to the silver-haired goddess. “I’ve heard from Captain Tamaria that these kidnappings are somehow related to a book published by Undercity Anorlon Times Magazine… So if we look into that maybe we could find some clues. B-but that’s just my guess, so I don’t really know whether or not it’s relevant.”

—I’m really just guessing here, so please stop looking at me with those serious eyes!

“Well, Altarin?”

Lady Athena quirks her beautiful eyebrow at the white-haired man in the butler uniform, who laughs nervously in response.

“Ahahaha~ I’m afraid I’m no longer in possession of such an object, Lady Athena. After all, you personally ordered me to burn all of it and I couldn’t have gone against your order.”

“You’ve gone back and bought more. Everyone knows that.”

“Ahahaha…”

Brother Altarin’s dry laughter stops, and he pulls out a copy of the book ‘How to make a girl’s heart yours by Mister Casandro Casanova.’ that he carries with him (for some reason).

He presents it to lady Athena and pleads pitifully, “Please don’t make me burn this one too… it’s the last they have.”

“While I take a look at this, both of you are going to investigate the city. Try to find the last place where Eden was seen. You know how he is. They’re bound to be someone who notices him.”

Brother Altarin opens his mouth as if trying to protest but Vena pinches his side before he could, shutting him up and forcing him to bow with her.

““Your will shall be done.””

Lady Athena taps the side of her temple lightly and tells them, “I’ll also look into things on this side. So keep in touch.”

Receiving their command, the twins nod again and begin to leave. But wait a minute, what about me? What should I do to help?

“Um, is there anything I can help with?” I awkwardly speak up again.

“This is a family matter, outsiders should just leave,” says Vena while making vivid hand signs to accompany her point, like crossing her thumb across her neck.

“Don’t you have a bookstore to run, Miss Fairwright? Besides, this will definitely turn out to be quite dangerous,” brother Altarin kindly reminds me.

“But, I’m still worried about Eden...”

Even if I can’t do anything, I still want to help him…

“You’re Ruby Fairwright, right? Eden’s supposed new ‘girlfriend’?”

I instinctively shudder when a voice calls my name directly and turns to face lady Athena who’s looking at me with an indiscernible smile.

“Uh, um. I, I can explain why it became that way please, it's just a misunderstanding!” I panic and start waving my hands wildly in front of me.

“Not that, I don’t really mind it.”

“Eh? You don't? Then, uh, what are you calling me for?”

Lady Athena stares at the confused me and says in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Eden is not as defenseless as you think.”

“He... isn’t?”

“Yes, he may be human, weak, naive, sometimes even a little stupid—honestly aside from his looks there’s very little upsides.”

“T-that’s a bit harsh, Lady Athena. Eden himself has a lot of upsides, for example…”

.....

—Uh, why can't I think of anything?

In front of me, Lady Athena reveals a small smile, her sharp silver eyes narrowed in amusement. The earring on her left ear glistens in the dimly lit room yet again.

“But if there’s anything you can rely on to be completely unpredictable in this realm—there’s the future, the hearts, and then there’s Eden.”

—————……….

[ Anorlon’s Undercity ]

…..

A narrow street littered with trash, broken neon signs, dirty and equally as broken left behind food carts.

Nearby one of those food carts was the sad and truly tragic wreckage of Liza, a van whose owners drove headfirst into the aforementioned food cart, shattering its windshield and sending the fragments of broken glass scattered all over the street while damaging its engine beyond repair.

But to anyone laying their eyes on this scene, that van wreckage wouldn’t be the thing that was attracting their focus.

Beside it, a three-headed beast, mouths fuming with fire, overcast a great shadow on a small figure that was standing before it. A figure that appeared tremendously insignificant in contrast to the beast's enormous size.

But instead of being scared, or trying to run away from the horrifying monster. Eden simply stopped, considered for a moment, took off the hat he was wearing—and threw it as far as he could.

“Fetch,” Eden said.

The beast complied and immediately turned around to chase after the flying round hat.

It caught the hat out of the air and then rushed back to present it to Eden.

“Hong~ Hong~ Hong~”

Eden took the hat and patted one of the beast’s heads.

“Good job… Bery.”

“““Hong~!”””

All three of its heads barked delightfully as it continued to rub against Eden’s small hand.

““““...””””

At the nearby corner of a concrete building.

The four adventurers’ jaws dropped to the ground.

—————……….