Chapter 61: Baste

Prytaneum

Baste​

Walking into the mansion was like walking into a sauna, at least for me. The moment I walked through the doors, I felt an almost suffocating warmth in the air, like an elevator crammed full of too many bodies, even though the hall was more than wide enough for everyone inside of it. There was a current in the room that was almost electric and it resounded with me oddly, as if making the now-hidden Status on my back shake.

There were a lot of powerful people in the room. There were smaller Familias there, of course, some with adventurers that were probably only Level 1—but then there were others. Level 4s, Level 5s, even what I guessed had to be Level 6s, people with enough presence to my senses that they felt like someone had just blown up a depth charge while I was swimming by, and there were so many of them. And for each adventurer, there was a god, each stunning in their own right. A part of that, I could admit, was physical, but most of it went beyond that, into the same Aura that surrounded Hestia and made it immediately obvious that she was a goddess. Every deity in the room stood out sharply as one, enough so that it seemed to pound against my senses. It was a reminder, I suppose, of the power each god was holding in check while in this world, for the sake of not incinerating cities and such.

Looking past the metaphorical neon signs that hung around them, however, I recognized only a few and most of them by reputation. I caught sight of Hephaestus quickly, spotting her brightly red hair and dress in the crowd, and saw her turn our way in turn. Beside her was the Captain of her Familia, Tsubaki Collbrande, who I belatedly realized had an eyepatch on the opposite side of her face than her goddess. Relatively nearby, I saw Loki looking around with squinted eyes, standing beside a composed looking Aiz and watching the festivities. The exuberant man with the elephant mask could only have been Ganesha, who Hestia had said was a good guy; I believed her, but I still looked him and the woman beside him over. Admittedly, part of that was just because I was letting my eyes linger on the woman's beautiful blue hair; she must have been Shakti Varma, Ganesha's Captain.

Nearby, there was another woman with blue hair, standing beside a blonde god with a cowboy hat—and in this case, I recognized the girl before the god. She was the woman Ryuu had told me about, Asfi Al Andromeda, who'd been given the name 'Perseus' because of the number of magical items she wielded. She was my senior in the arts of Mystery and supposedly a skilled Level 3 adventurer. I say supposedly, because I could tell that was bullshit just from the distant grating of her power against my mind, but what did I care, really? Given she was the head of the Hermes Familia, though, the guy beside her must have been Hermes, who followed the trend of being different than I remembered. Somewhat disconcertingly, however, his now blonde hair brought back memories of Luke and I looked away before I could get upset, whether at his traitorous, one-time son or at the god himself. Hermes and I hadn't really parted on good terms the last time we met, when he'd refused to listen when we told him about the attack on Olympus—and look how that turned out. I'd seen what happened between him and Luke, as well as to Luke's mother, but…even knowing that, if he'd just listened…

But he probably didn't remember Luke or I anymore, to say nothing of the battle, and he was logically one of the better people to start asking questions to. Even so, I couldn't help but feel reluctant as I continued looking around. I wasn't lucky enough to see any truly familiar faces, not that I'd expected to be; if there were any demigods hidden among the crowd, I didn't see or recognize them. Instead, I just found a few other gods I'd heard words of warning about; a goddess named Ishtar and a god named Ikelos. Ishtar apparently controlled the red light district and I could admit that she was almost unbelievably attractive, with dark skin and curves that she was doing next to nothing to hide—none of which changed how she apparently treated people, including those from her own Familia. I knew enough not to get drawn in, even if it was a little hard not to look; I was pretty sure she and I would be enemies sooner or later, even if by some miracle she wasn't plotting against me now.

Ikelos, however, I'd heard about from Ryuu, as he was the god of a Familia that had apparently been thought to have ties to Evilus and yet didn't get wiped out by way of enraged elf. She hadn't explained exactly how that happened, which was a bit worrying in its own right, but had told me to be on guard. I would have been even if she hadn't said a word; the name was familiar. If I remembered correctly, he was one of the gods of dreams; specifically, of prophetic dreams and nightmares.

I was familiar with both. I was also familiar with his siblings, Sleep, Death, Old Age, Doom, Destruction, and all sorts of other fun things. As the son of a Greek God, I really had no leg to stand on when it came to pointing fingers about bad eggs in someone's family—especially since I assumed we were probably related somehow—but that seemed like a bunch to be wary of. I didn't know enough about either of them to guess who their guests were, but I still watched them carefully.

Having finished my cursory glance of the room, I promptly began checking people for weapon. No one was supposed to bring any, but I had, and I'd eat this goddamn tie if I was the only one. A room full of adventurers seemed a lot like a room full of demigods—everyone came dressed to kill, in case they needed to. Some people were hiding it better than others, of course; while one man's suit was stretched a bit too tight around his ribs, indicating a hidden knife or something similar, the woman chatting with him went for a more fashionable approach, with a pearl necklace strung with garrote wire instead of whatever people normally strung pearl necklaces with. There were even people in the room who didn't appear to be armed at all, who were either somewhat naïve or very dangerous, depending on whether they were actually prepared or not.

And while I was doing all that, Hestia was having a conversation with people, like a normal woman.

"Hephaestus!" Hestia said, nearly vibrating in place as she turned away from Take and began to walk towards her best friend, apparently delighted to see her despite it having only been a few days. "You made it after all!"

"Work was a bit busy, but I managed," Hephaestus said, single eye looking down at Hestia. "Which is what I hope you've been doing, Hestia."

"Hephaestus," She replied, tone scolding. "We're at a party—don't bring work into this!"

She didn't answer the question, I thought, though I knew Hestia worked hard.

"Mm…" Hephaestus said, watching her. After a moment, she closed her eye in what appeared to be consent, sighing. "Very well. That's a nice dress, Hestia."

"Isn't it?" Hestia replied unabashedly, doing her best to twirl without actually turning in a circle. It was impressive to watch, honestly. "Percy made it for me!"

A few eyes turned my way at Hestia's proud boast, but I returned them with complete and utter indifference, having already decided that one of my best defenses on the social battlefield was probably going to be the fact that I just didn't give a damn what most of them thought. Hestia and Tsubaki looked interested, too, but more in the dress than me, and in that clinical, professional sort of way, like they were judging my school science product. Hopefully, it wouldn't go like my actually school science project, which had almost gotten ne expelled, which seemed kind of unfair; my papier-mâché volcano had actually exploded.

"Impressive," Hephaestus said after a moment, though I wasn't sure if she meant it or was just growing bored. "Wayland told me that you and Welf have both been working hard this weak."

"Uh," I said, blinking as I realized we were suddenly talking about me again. After a moment, though, I recovered and nodded. "Yeah, kind of. Did you get a chance to look at any of it?"

She nodded.

"I've been keeping an eye on you both," She said. "I've even taken a personal interest in several things that passed inspection today. Its good work."

"Thanks," I said. "I was thinking—"

"Yo," A voice interrupted. "If it isn't the brat and her puppy."

"Loki," Hestia growled, expression flipping like a switch as she turned towards the source. "What do you want?"

"Eh?" Loki asked, an eye opening just enough to look at Hestia with a sneer. "Do I need a reason to be over here? It's a party, itty-bitty; I'm just seeing what all the fuss was about. Nothing all that impressive, I see."

"You'd know all about not being impressive, wouldn't you?" Hestia snapped, lower her gaze towards Loki's chest meaningfully. The other goddess immediately flushed in anger and I was brief worried they might actually attack each other.

Also, confused. Taking a moment, I looked around, glancing over the heads of everyone around me and then sighing.

Seriously, how am I a puppy?