Blue Deal

"So, what do you want to call it?" They had already settled everything with the contract and signed. The payment was also made at the guild, with Rose as a witness, as the contract was signed. The estate was now fully theirs.

"Hmm, I thought about it and decided on the 'Styx Manor'." Hecate answered thoughtfully. They were currently on their way back. Hecate was going to the inn to terminate their stay there and start packing. Cassian meanwhile was heading to his forge.

He planned to commission the Goibniu familia, to construct a nice smithy for him within their new estate later, but for now contented himself with his current one.

"Styx? Isn't that the river of souls? It's real?"

"It is. The river flows into Tenkai, where it carries the souls of the deceased to be processed by the gods. Afterward, it carries the now pure souls into Genkai to be reincarnated. However, all of this is knowledge not shared with the mortals by the gods, so care to explain how in the world you know that?" Hecate turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Ahh, oops Hahah, I wasn't supposed to know that?"

"No. After all, gods do have to keep some secrets to ourselves to maintain the mystery of Tenkai. So how do you know about it?"

"Read it on the internet."

"Internet? What's that?"

"Ah ah ah, not telling. After all, mortals do have to keep some secrets to ourselves to maintain the mystery of Genkai." Cassian responded playfully. Honestly, he didn't care about hiding his otherworldly nature from Hecate. He explicitly trusted her already, and considering he has Elder Blood, she'll eventually find out about the existence of other universes anyway. But he wanted a more dramatic reveal.

"Tch, touche." Annoyed at him throwing her words back at her, Hecate grumbled.

"Anyway, we're at a junction so we should part ways here." Cassian pointed to the forking road.

"Mmh, fine. What are your plans today." Hecate was still curious about how he came onto that knowledge but decided to let it go. After all, just as Cassian fully trusted her, her trust in him was just as strong.

"Rose said that she was talking to someone and would most likely get us supporters tomorrow, so dungeon is postponed till that. Right now, I'm going to finish the war axe for Ouka as part of my deal with Takemikazuchi. Then I'll visit the Blue Pharmacy again to establish a deal contract with them, for a lot of potions. Then I'll drop off the katana and axe at Takemikazuchi's and head back to the inn."

"I see. I'm still surprised you just randomly approached Takemikazuchi like that and asked for training."

"Was I wrong for that?"

"Not wrong per se. It's just that most people are a bit more reserved when dealing with other familia, children, or gods. Even inter-familia friendships and dating are somewhat rare due to the conflict of interest and problems they can cause. I was simply surprised when you did not care for any of that.

"Honestly, I just saw something that could benefit me a lot while barely posing any risks and went for it. I don't see why inter-familia relations need to be so reserved, when working together could yield a lot more positive results. Including allies in your time of need."

"I can see where you're coming from. Not being isolated and having allies to depend on can be helpful. And you chose well. Most gods of war are asshats. Ares being the prime example. Takemikazuchi is one of the few among them who is genuinely a good person. His personality is so kind that I would have a hard time believing him to be a war god if I didn't know for sure."

"Maybe it's because his war domain leans more towards martial arts and capabilities rather than waging war itself?"

"Hmm, I haven't thought about it in that way. You could be right. Regardless, I'll be packing our stuff. Tomorrow evening when you get back from the dungeon, we'll move to the Styx Manor."

"Got it. See you later then."

--- Blue Pharmacy ---

Walking into the shop, Cassian saw Naaza dozing off at the counter. It was already evening, so it was unlikely they would receive more customers, so she could finally get some shuteye before having to start scrounging up materials to make more potions.

At the other side of the room, was a man with long flowing blue hair. That hair was lustrous enough to be the envy of women and men alike. Probably one of the reasons the owner of that hair was a natural gigolo. He was currently grinding some herbs in a mortar, making an effort to not be loud and wake up his sleeping captain. He knew better than anyone just how tired she was.

This man was Miach, the God of Medicine.

He looked up as he heard the door's chime, which also roused Naaza from her sleep, as she blearily opened her eyes and looked towards the door. As soon as she saw who it was, she quickly perked up as sleepiness left her.

"It's you! Ah, greetings customer, it is nice to have you again." She even smiled slightly which made Miach double take from surprise. Naaza was always monotone with customers, so seeing her smile at one was surprising and made Miach pay more attention to the young man who just walked into their store.

"Miss Naaza, hi. How have you been?" Cassian greeted her with a smile.

"Oh, good, I've been good. Ah, this is Miach, my familia god." The now-introduced Miach stepped forward and greeted him with a smile. Naaza on the other hand became a bit embarrassed. She was going to introduce the elf but belatedly realized that she didn't know his name.

"Hello, I'm Miach as my dear Naaza told you already. And you are…" Leaving the end part open, for Cassian to pick up.

"Cassian, Cassian Suncrest. I'm an adventurer of the Hecate familia."

"Hecate familia? She started a familia?" Miach's eyes widened a bit in surprise.

Hecate was famous among gods as one of the developers of Falna. And her fame was elevated by the fact that she refused to start a familia. There were a number of gods who did not have a familia, however, most of them were like that involuntarily, since they wanted to start one but couldn't find members for it. Most of these gods were fools who tried to start the game in the highest-level area like Orario as a beginner and thus suffered due to being overshadowed. Hestia would be one such fool in the future.

Hecate on the other hand was swarmed by people wishing to join her familia, elves being the most frequent aspirants, but she was uninterested in all of them and didn't start a familia. This gave her a sort of infamy among the gods, especially those who struggled themselves and were jealous of her not even having to lift a finger to attract people.

"She did yes. There are three of us at the moment and I'm the captain."

"I'm glad to hear that. I wish her all the luck." Miach wasn't particularly close to her, but his friendly personality meant he had a positive disposition towards pretty much everyone by default.

"Miach, he's the one I told you about. The one that bought 40 potions." Naaza pitched in.

"Is that so? That is surprising, considering you are part of a newly minted familia." Miach was indeed surprised. 'New familia, barely ever have that kind of funds. Was Hecate rich? Or is he?'

"We got lucky, so we're earning quite a good amount in the dungeon. That's why I'm here at the moment."

"You wish to buy more potions? But the last batch you bought was only a couple of days ago!" Now this truly confused Miach. What in the world did he do to those potions? 'Was he robbed?'

Just as he was starting to feel pity towards this newbie adventurer, Cassian answered. "Used almost all of them, so I want to buy more. I was quite satisfied with the potion quality. Much better than the last place I bought potions at."

"T-Thank you for the praise… If you don't mind me inquiring, how exactly did you use them? There's only so many potions one can consume in a day."

"I… have a skill that allows me to tolerate potions quite a bit more than other people, so I take advantage of it. I'm the vanguard of my party so I get injured a lot."

"Oh, I see, I thought you were a new adventurer since you were part of a newly minted familia, but turns out you were a higher leveled one." Miach started nodding while holding his chin as he had figured everything out.

"No, I'm level 1, been an adventurer for only about a month now."

"You have a skill at level one?!" Naaza pitched in with a bit of a freak-out in her voice.

"Yep." The casual answer made Naaza sulk a bit. She was level 2 and didn't have a skill, while a month-old, level 1 did. It was depressing.

"Hahaha, it seems Hecate got quite lucky, managing to score an adventurer like you. What do you wish to purchase?" Miach laughed jovially.

"Triple the amount of my last purchase. I use up a lot of potions on every dive. So, I'll be making this purchase on a regular basis. Can your store keep up with it? I would like to establish an exclusive contract."

""T-Triple?!"" Miach and Naaza exclaimed in shock together. Triple the amount? That means 30 high-class potions and 90 middle-class ones. And on a regular basis? Their eyes started shining.

Miach regained his composure and coughed in his fist. "Uhm, tha- that's quite a lot. How often will this be?"

"Hmm, I don't go down to the dungeon every day all the time, so… Every two days? I might take bigger breaks from time to time due to various reasons, but that should be the norm."

"Yes, yes, we can certainly keep up. It would be a bit hard if it was every day, but that should be possible. If you could notify us when you take a bigger break from the dungeon, it would be ideal, since we don't want to overproduce potions and then have them expire." Miach ran calculations in his head. If both he and Naaza worked together, they could manage. Especially since with the higher income, they would not have to waste hours going through ingredient markets looking for the cheapest prices every other day.

"Naturally. If I'm not planning on buying potions for a scheduled date I'll notify you." Cassian could see it in their eyes. Happiness. They were a lot more lively and cheerful than before. It was understandable. They were saddled with a heavy debt and didn't have the opportunity to make money and pay it back. Now however they were looking at a deal that could make them dozens of millions of Valis as long as it lasted for some time.

"Then we have no problem. As for the price, it's only right to sell it to you at a discount price since you are buying in bulk in light of an exclusive contract. Let's say-"

"No need."

"Pardon?" Both Miach and Naaza stopped running calculations and looked up at him.

"There's no need for a discount price. I'll buy them at market price."

"Wh-what? No, why would you?" It was only natural to buy at a discount price. That was literally the whole point of exclusive contracts. The seller procured a loyal, regular customer who only bought certain items from them, while the buyer, a ready supplier at all times and purchased bulk supplies at a lower price.

"No offense, but you clearly are in need of funds. My familia is in a pretty good spot financially, so we don't have to be… cautious about prices." Cassian really didn't want to give the impression of mocking or ridiculing them, so he kept his expression as polite as he could.

"No, I can't accept that! You are already helping us a lot with this exclusive contract, but-" "Miach!"

His tirade was interrupted by Naaza as she clutched his arm and looked at him pleadingly. Miach's heart ached when he saw that. He knew just how overworked and stressed she was due to their familia situation. Was he really willing to subject her to more of it?

"Lord Miach, please don't make a big deal of it. It's not like this is a charity or anything. I'm simply purchasing items at a market price, nothing more."

"Y-You… Okay, we will accept. Thank you, truly." Miach bowed his head deeply and thanked him from the bottom of his heart. "However, I can only accept this kindness until our situation improves."

"That is fine by me, it is a deal then." Cassian raised his hand and Miach shook it with a happy smile.