Hermes’ Negotiation

"Bell!" Naaza sighed in relief when she saw her fellow Familia member is safe and sound.

"Naaza-san. Did you come to save us?" Bell asked.

Naaza nodded and a hooded and masked Elf approached him, "Cranel-san, are you injured?"

Bell was about to ask who she is as her voice was very familiar when the Elf pulled down her mask and showed her face, "Eh...? R-Ryuu-san!? Why are you here too?"

Ryuu put back her mask before replying, "A certain Deity was rather insistent that I accept a quest." She pointed towards the man who was emitting a very small amount of Divinity compared to a normal Deity, "He wanted me to join the search to find you."

Fixing his appearance, Hermes introduced himself to Bell, "Hi there~! The name's Hermes. It's nice to make your acquaintance. So you're Bell Cranel?"

"Y-yes!" Bell answered.

'So this is Zeus' kid. At first glance, he's pretty normal and naive.' Hermes thought as he continued, "Ahh... I've been looking for you."

"Um, Hermes-sama, thank you for coming to save us!"

Waving his hand, Hermes replied, "All I did was help out my good friend Miach~." He then pointed towards their entire party, "You should be thanking them instead. It's all thanks to them that we managed to make it this far."

Bell, Lily, and Welf finally noticed three familiar faces, "!"

With a cold face, Welf called out to Bell, "...Hey, Bell."

"Y-yeah..." Even the usually bright Bell couldn't smile after seeing the people who caused this incident.

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.

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While Bell and his party were settling their grudges on the Takemikazuchi Familia, Hermes and Asfi were invited to the largest tent of the Loki Familia to meet Finn, Riveria, Gareth, and the rest of the executives, "Haha... Surprising isn't it? The Loki Familia saving Bell-kun of all people~!"

With a difficult face, Tione muttered, "It's not uncommon for rescue missions to come by, but..."

"It's my first time that I've seen a God come along, too." Gareth finished her words.

Ignoring them, Finn addressed Hermes, "Pardon me, Lord Hermes, let me wrap my head around this, but you came all the way down here to the 18th floor to save Bell Cranel and his party? Is that correct?"

With a smile, Hermes took out a parchment and passed it to Finn, "Absolutely, Braver. As a part of a request from Miach, I even have the official request form here, see?"

Finn checked the parchment and figured that it was real before passing it back to Hermes.

While receiving it back, Hermes continued to speak, "We'd like permission to stay here. Also, we were hoping to join you on your return to the surface. Those are our requests."

"Extra securities?" Finn muttered.

"You would be really helping us out. We were in such a hurry to get down here and forgot to bring camping provisions. Of course, we could always stay in that cesspool they call 'Rogue Town'..." Of course, that was a lie. Hermes urged everyone to hurry up without preparing for provisions as he already predicted from the start that the Loki Familia would take care of Bell's party since it matched their schedule of going up. With this, they would have a legitimate reason to request for assistance.

He believed that they would be taken care of, not because of Bell, but because of Welf, who was a member of the Hephaestus Familia. With Tsubaki accompanying them, it was almost a hundred percent sure that they would be taken in.

"Argonaut-kun and his friends would surely have a terrible time there..." Tiona muttered after hearing the 'Rouge Town' from Hermes.

"Quiet!" Her sister, however, immediately reprimanded her.

Pretending that he didn't hear that, Hermes continued, "Food-wise, we'll figure something for ourselves. If our presence should lead to incurred expenses, my Familia will foot the bill upon arrival to the surface. I could even throw in some gifts too."

"You're bein' rather generous... For a man merely carrying out a request." Gareth replied.

Smirking, Hermes replied, "Haha, well, Hephaestus also came to me to help out her Welf-kun, you know?"

After those words, Finn resigned the thought of refusing their request. Using his true motives with light sincerity, he made it difficult for them to refuse. Hermes knew that the Loki Familia couldn't possibly abandon a member of an allied Familia.

If it was just a normal expedition, Finn would have no problems accepting their request, however, due to the sensitive information that they carry, they were very vulnerable to a God's questioning due to their abilities to see through lies. As such, he really didn't want to take the risk of staying near him.

"I know you must be tired after your expedition, but I hope you'll consider my offer." Hermes continued with a smile.

Sighing, Finn replied, "Lord Hermes, haggling is not necessary. Your needs will be accommodated."

"Oh, you're too kind~! You have my utmost thanks." Hermes then feigned a cough, "Ehem, oh dear, I may be a bit late, but congrats~! I assume the expedition went well?"

"Thank you. We had no casualties."

"Well, that's great! That's Loki Familia for ya~!" However, Hermes' next question was what they didn't want to be asked the most, "However, I do wonder... What you might have found on the 59th floor, hm?"

Everyone made a difficult face while Finn only smiled as he stared at him. But instead of Finn, Riveria was the one who answered Hermes, "We are followers of Loki. We have no duty to disclose Familia matters to Gods with questionable intentions."

Hermes looked around him before smiling and taking a step back. It was enough for him to confirm that indeed something surprising was on the 59th floor. He could try to gather more information later from the other members. He had, after all, bought valuable time with them and he wouldn't waste this chance, "Right you are! I do apologize. It's simply that you're the first ones to venture there since Zeus' Party so long ago. A bit curious I'll admit."

While everyone from the Loki Familia stared at him, Hermes continued, "Actually, did I mention that Dionysus, Loki, and I made an alliance? A so-called connection between victims. To take a stand against those vibrantly colored monsters and the remnants of Evilus."

"I'm afraid we'll have to confirm this with our own Goddess before we fully believe you, Lord Hermes," Finn replied.

"You're right. In that case, feel free to ignore what I'm about to tell you now." Hermes continued with a large grin, "Braver, Finn Deimne. You may have already noticed, but there is in fact another entrance into the Dungeon besides the one found in Babel. We plan for you all to begin a thorough investigation once you return to the surface."

Hermes then left with Asfi after saying those words.

"B-boss..." Raul called out to Finn after confirming that Hermes really left.

Sighing, Finn answered, "I suspected something like this... It seems that we're not going to be getting much rest once we return home." Finn's eyes' then changed as he added, "It seems that the Hestia Familia will have to do some work for us soon, as we have agreed earlier."

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Editors

Alexander

Ja A

28th00: I still find it funny that Hermes is lowkey terrified of Kisuke. Being a god is not very important if you become classified as an enemy, where there's a will, there is a way! To perma-kill a God that is, not just their avatar.

Goyya: Permakill is possible, however, Kisuke still doesn't know what that entails so he can't do that.