Chapter 8

P/N let me know if there's any mistakes and I will try to fix them

CHAPTER 8

THE GREAT FAMILIA WAR

"Ahnya."

"How long are you going to stay like that?"

"...I asked how long are you gonna stay hidin' in bed!"

Runoa, calm meown."

"Don't stop me, Chloe! Lady Freya is Syr, isn't she, Ahnya?!"

"Then we've gotta go hear the full story, even it means kicking her ass!"

"We just have to help out the kid and take Syr back, right?!"

"Say something, you stupid cat!"

"Runoa, calm down."

"Get up already! If you won't, I'll make you!"

"Runoa!"

"Gh..."

.We're going."

"You can rot away there for the rest of your life!"

The door flew open.

The sound hung in the room; her resentment had taken shape. That left just two people in the room.

"Ahnya, we're going to the war game meow."

"We begged Lord Njorðr and Lady Demeter. Mei and the others converted, too."

"Lyu doesn't know...But we're going to fight, too."

Ahnya, do you not want this place to go back to how it was?"

"...Gh."

"Well, I want that back... So I'm going."

And then there was one.

The door closed. Ahnya hugged her knees and curled up in her bed.

Runoa was strong. So was Chloe.

But Ahnya fighting, that was impossible.

Her brother was scary.

Freya was scary.

She didn't even know what the girl who had saved her really was.

And she couldn't muster the courage to find the answer to that question.

Runoa was right. Ahnya was just wasting away. She was a lost kitten who couldn't do anything alone.

She hung her head in disappointment at herself.

Then-

"You."

The door flew open, and someone rough and coarse walked over to the bed.

That coarse and vulgar tone sounded so familiar. Her shoulders quivered as she buried her head between her knees.

"...Big brother...?"

The lost kitten nervously raised her head.

The giant city walls in the east are glowing a faint white.

A bead of sweat drips down my cheek as the darkness starts to give way to sunlight.

"Eeeya!"

The next instant, sweat and a few strands of hair are wiped away by an impossibly big twinblade.

Even as my eyes widen and I gasp, my arms and legs don't stop moving.

After twisting my body to the side, I kick the ground twice like I'm dancing,

using the rotation to slash with Hakugen.

"Haaah!"

It's a brute-force response that relies on the raw force of my Strength and Agility stats.

At a glance, it looks haphazard, and it's something I definitely wouldn't have been able to pull off before. But with a Level 5 status, I can combine evasion and attack into a single fluid motion.

"Don't let your status decide what you should do!"

But my outrageous reaction is instantly crushed by my opponent's even greater absurdity.

With insane visual acuity and courage and an Amazon's strength-she grabs my wrist and hurls me behind her.

"Guuuuuugh?!"

Instead of flying in an arc, I bounce against the ground like a ball.

Thrusting my free arm into the grassy field, I recover my balance and kick off the rapidly approaching wall and leap to the side. Time is of the essence because the other Amazon, whose long black hair fans out in the wind, is already slashing at me.

"Don't be so eager to go for such an obvious opening!"

"...! Ghaaaa!"

The two kukri knives flashed in succession while the big twinblade came crashing down from above.

A howl works its way up from the pit of my stomach as I meet their combined attack head-on.

It's just before dawn in Hearthstone Manor.

I can't remember anymore how many times I sparred with Ms. Tiona and Ms. Tione in the courtyard.

They burst into our home a few days ago. Just like the goddess and everyone else, I was taken aback when they announced they wanted to help me. Mr. Finn had volunteered to teach Lilly, and he was the one who suggested asking them to help me with some "fine-tuning." We've been fighting constantly since then.

For serious training, it would probably have been better to go up on the wall where I went with Ms. Aiz or else somewhere in the Dungeon, but Ms. Tione pointed out that the time spent getting ready and going back and forth would be wasted, so it was decided we'd train right here in the middle of the home.

"Here I come!"

The courtyard wasn't nearly large enough to accommodate a bunch of first- tier adventurers going wild. The lawn was completely torn up, the plants were in terrible shape, and the pole holding the magic-stone lamp was broken. And Lilly had already thundered about the repair costs, but I didn't have time to worry about that. I couldn't afford to lose focus at all.

Training or not, that's what it means to cross blades with first-tier adventurers.

"Your body first! Then your head! You'll never be able to keep up in a fight with first-tier adventurers otherwise!"

"Freya Familia's attacks will be even more intense!"

Countless scratches cover my arms and legs. I feel every impact in my bones, and everything feels numb. The rapid slashes of the knives and the heavy crush of the twinblade lay into me again and again as I focus on defense.

They keep pushing me back against the wall over and over with what can only be called a torrent of attacks.

Ninety percent of my counterattacks are instantly defeated, so scrambling away is the only way for me to survive. When I unleash a kick like a cannon shot only to have it easily parried by a deft elbow, it feels like I'm having a nightmare.

As first-tier adventurers, the Amazon sisters have far, far more experience and techniques than I do. So the result is exactly what you'd expect. I've been getting pummeled day in and day out.

"Remember your training with Aiz!"

"You have the tricks and techniques she pounded into you, don't you?! So draw them out now!"

But just as often, their words spur my heart and body onward.

-Don't let your status decide things for you.

-Don't leap at every opening.

Right, those were things she told me, too.

Now that I've made it to Level 5, I need to revive my old resolve.

Link my abilities and my techniques, combine my weapons and tricks, synchronize my spirit and body!

"Grow...Uchide no Kozuchi!"

Just then, a supporting voice reaches my bloody back.

In a corner of the courtyard, Ms. Haruhime stands up from where she has been kneeling and finishes her casting.

She's sweating just as much as I've been while focusing everything on applying her level boost.

"-Ngggh!"

Readjusting to my status that's suddenly been boosted, I launch my counterattack.

As beautiful rays of light envelop my body, I accelerate. The gleaming white and jet-black knives in my hands flash.

Using the techniques I've learned, I aim for the sides of Ms. Tione's weapons, knocking them off path to parry all of her slashes. Intentionally leaving an opening, I bait Ms. Tiona. Seizing the initiative, I swing the Hestia Knife in my right hand and put my whole weight behind it.

"Haaaaaaaaah!!!!"

Everything is riding on this attack. A single strike containing all I can muster.

Ms. Tiona's eyes widen, and she smiles as she blocks it head-on with her massive weapon before flying backward.

The impact made her adamantite weapon shudder. It's a refreshing sound that I haven't heard yet in all of our training. It feels good.

A high-pitched sound like a tuning fork rings out in the courtyard.

"Allll right!...So, how's it feel, Argonaut?"

"...Yes, it's probably fine now."

Ms. Tiona spins in the air and lands without issue a short distance away.

Breathing heavily, I return my two knives to their sheaths before opening and closing my fists over and over.

"The inconsistency I was feeling...is gone."

When we level up, there's inevitably a gap in perception between our body and our mind. The mind can't immediately adapt to the sudden changes in every aspect of our physical abilities. Maybe because I'm inexperienced and have only been an adventurer for a short time, it takes a while for me to adjust. The last time it happened was while I was fighting iguaçu during the expedition two months ago.

So the goal of the training this time isn't to practice to the very last minute. Like Mr. Finn said, this is to fine-tune my body and mind to get rid of that discrepancy.

"It took us until the very last moment but looks like it worked. You shouldn't be in trouble anymore... And you did good keeping up. I've heard about it plenty by now, but that's some amazing magic."

"Th-thank you..."

Ms. Tione even complimented Ms. Haruhime, whose eyes are still spinning. She looks like she might collapse at any moment. Ms. Haruhime has also leveled up, and since a few days ago, she's been helping with my tuning.

In her case, rather than becoming physically stronger, her level boost has become even more formidable. Now that she's Level 2, it lasts for twenty minutes instead of fifteen, the cooldown has gone from ten minutes to nine, and naturally, the maximum number of tails she can muster has increased from five to six.

There's no doubt Ms. Haruhime's power is going to be key in the war game.

Lilly's eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep when she asked Ms. Haruhime to test it to her limits. This way, we won't have to worry about using it without

practice during the main event.

Plus, it's good that I got to experience pseudo-Level 6 movements...

Combine the level boost with the mental gap I already have from leveling up and I really might have ended up rampaging like a bull.

It's a bit of an odd comparison, but the power output almost feels like transforming into a dragon. Thanks to Ms. Tione and Ms. Tiona, I'm able to control it now.

Considering this was also practice fighting against first-tier adventurers, this fine-tuning session is something that could only have been done with Level 6s like them. I can't begin to thank them enough.

"It would have been good if Aiz could have trained you all, too, so...sorry."

"No, I heard there are reasons, and I'm sure she is cheering us on."

I shake my head. I don't know the details, but...the things she taught me are still firmly rooted in my heart. Now, and even during all the fighting in that field, everything she has done for me is a huge help.

I will face the war today together with her teachings.

"...The sun is..."

Ms. Haruhime looks up.

Even in the courtyard, surrounded by the walls of the manor on all sides, it's still clear the sun has started peeking over the horizon.

The sky is bright red. So red it almost looks like twilight.

This is the third day of our training and the day of the war game.

My heart quietly but suddenly starts to race as I prepare to meet the fateful

day.

"Argonaut..."

As I peer up at the sky nervously, I realize Ms. Tione and Ms. Tiona have walked over and are smiling at Ms. Haruhime and me.

"Do your best!"

"Go kick Freya Familia's ass!"

Ms. Haruhime and I look at each other, feeling just a little bit relieved by their glowing smiles and rough and wild encouragement.

Nodding, we smile back for Goddess and Lilly and everyone else, too.

""We will!""

It was a track left by the giant called history.

Rows and rows of large, crumbling pillars in lines.

Countless paving stones faded of color extended all around.

Broken arches leaning but still standing after many, many long years.

A large mausoleum, several structures that were believed to be residences for religious figures, bare ground and massive boulders, green encroaching everywhere, even now in the process of becoming part of nature. It was a majestic, sublime scene, but at the same time, it was one of immense solitude.

And what was most notable was that all the ruins were on top of a lake.

This island floated atop beautiful emerald-green water-water cupped by a giant caldera surrounded by a foreboding ring of mountains.

These were the Orza city ruins.

It was the name of a massive complex of ruins in a caldera lake to the northwest of Orario, at the western end of the Beor Mountains. And this was the battlefield where the war game would be carried out.

The history of these ruins stretched back over 2,000 years. It was originally a fortress city carved out of the land to stem the tide of monsters pouring from the massive rift in the ground.

In addition to ensuring they did not have to worry about water, the caldera formed a natural moat that frustrated the monsters' assaults. With the steady work of half-elves and half-dwarves, the islands grew to be a self-sufficient city, and it apparently stood proudly until the day an especially large monster attacked it from the sky.

The warped, elliptical island that had now fallen into ruins was still surrounded by the remnants of ramparts and towers. Scattered across the rugged and undulating landscape were great many leaning structures and many more completely broken skeletons of buildings, making it clear this place had been

abandoned long ago. And among them was one particularly large temple on the western edge of the island.

In ancient times, before deities descended to the mortal realm, people exposed to the menace of monsters worshipped imagined deities, praying for salvation. Orza was believed to have a deep connection with spirits, and that large temple was generally known as the house of the gods. Inside, several statues of deities were enshrined.

It was believed that a goddess of beauty was one of the deities worshipped there.

"-The breeze is cold, there are scattered clouds here and there, but as you can see, it is a beautiful day! Perfect weather for fighting, even on the battleground in the mountains where the weather can shift so quickly! I will be your host and commentator for the war game again this time! Ganesha Familia's Fire Inferno Flame, the fire spitting flame magic, Ibly Archer!"

"I am Ganeshaaaaa!"

"And I'm joined by Lord Ganesha!"

In distant Orario, the Orza ruins were visible in the reflection of mirrors. Divine mirrors had already been set up all around the city, and a live commentary was being run by Ganesha Familia.

But in contrast to the feverish excitement that accompanied the war game with Apollo Familia five months ago, the city was quiet. The adventurers in taverns, the people looking up at the mirrors set up on the main streets, and even the deities gathered in Babel all looked nervous in the final moments before the battle began.

"Now, then! This is a new experience for Orario-The Great Familia War! A clash between Freya Familia, hailed as the city's strongest, and a coalition of familias led by Hestia Familia! And the aim of the game this time is a variation of Hide! And! Seeeeeeeek!!!"

The annoying commentators were the only ones fired up.

In front of Guild Headquarters, Ibly was screaming into the magic-stone microphone.

"Allow me to breeze through the rules! Victory goes to the side that finds the other side's deity first! Every familia taking part will hide its patron deity somewhere in the Orza ruins, and the followers will race to find them! Quite literally hide-and-seek!"

"Is that...Ganesha?!"

"That's exactly right, Lord Ganesha! Of course it is not just a simple hide- and-seek, either, though! If enemy familia members run into one another they can get in their way and fight a full-on battle royale! Rivers of blood and graveyards of weapons will surely spring up as they try to protect and find the deities!"

That wasn't just metaphorical, either.

All told, forty-seven familias were taking part, and more than eight hundred followers would be fighting in this war, so no matter what the rules might be, a battle where blood would be washed away with more blood was what awaited them.

Hearing Ibly's explanation, the people of the city all gulped.

"Buuuuut! While Freya Familia will have to find every last one of the coalition gods and goddesses, the coalition need only find Goddess Freya to win! That has to be a pretty big advantage for the coalition! It almost feels unfair! What do you think, Lord Ganesha?!"

"Even that's not enough of a handicap."

"Is that a serious answer from Lord Ganesha?!"

The live commentary and the mood of the city were at complete odds with each other as they echoed through the streets. Meanwhile, those left behind in the city...

"Bell..."

"Eina..."

In the Guild Headquarters, where a mirror was hanging near the ceiling, Eina could do nothing but pray for Bell's safety, wishing she could do more, while her colleague Misha gently held her.

"With rules like this, they had to ban me specifically since not only could I fly around and locate Goddess Freya, I could even end it immediately with a surprise attack... Was that it?"

"Thought it was your Talaria more precisely. Some people knew there was a magic item that allowed its user to fly through the sky, but with you carrying Hestia and charging into Lady Freya's home like that, it has definitely become common knowledge... You still haven't accepted it?"

"...Making a fuss about it now wouldn't help. Other than Talaria, which was banned, I've already shared all my magical items with them...There is nothing to do but believe in him. In them."

On the thirtieth floor of Babel, where various deities had gathered, Asfi grimaced as Hermes shrugged in resignation.

"Aiz, it might be hard...but do you want to watch together?"

"...Yes..."

In Loki Familia's home, Aiz held Tiona's hand and finally looked up, stepping into the parlor.

Tione sat on the couch while Gareth crossed his boulder-like arms and Riveria kept one eye closed. Finn just licked his finger. They were all watching the mirror that Loki had set there.

The war game was about to begin.

"It's so big..."

I mutter to myself as I stare out at the ruins that I couldn't completely take in even with an upper-class adventurer's vision.

"The eastern side is our coalition's camp...and Freya Familia is in the west?"

"That's right...the biggest structure is in the center. That's supposed to be the boundary..."

Ms. Nahza holds her longbow at the ready as she explains the layout, since I've only just arrived.

We're on one of the surrounding mountains, which gives us vantage point from where we can see the whole of the island. The view of the caldera lake from the cliff top is beautiful. If I had come for any other reason, I'm sure I would have been stunned by the way the lake mirrored the heavens above.

This is the second time I've been to the Beor Mountains. This caldera is on the opposite end of the mountain range in relation to Edas Village, where the goddess and Ms. Aiz and I got lost during Rakia's invasion.

I never would have imagined such a beautiful sight is only a couple hours away even if I'm carrying Ms. Haruhime-which wasn't any trouble at all for an upper-class adventurer.

"Freya Familia has been in the ruins since this morning...Lady Freya is hidden somewhere in the western side, I'm sure..."

Following Ms. Nahza's finger, I spot the ruins of a half-destroyed giant temple.

The area for the coalition to hide our deities is on the eastern half, while Freya Familia holds the western half. As long as they're inside those regions, it's fair game to hide the gods and goddesses anywhere we like. They could be in one of the towers on the outer edge or right in the center. The ruins are big enough to contain a whole district of Orario, so finding a single deity will be difficult.

"But to have a war game in such a massive ruin complex..." Mr. Ouka commented.

"Considering there are almost fifty familias taking part, it's reasonable enough..." Ms. Nahza holds down her hair being rustled by the breeze.

I don't want to just steal his words, but the city ruins atop the giant lake really do look almost like a completely different world. We're about to turn what used to be a fortress city into a battlefield to settle things with the most powerful opponents there are.

"...Thank you. This is enough for me. Let's go back."

Controlling my nerves, I turn back with the both of them. We descend the long, precipitous slant, back to the field camp.

The Orza ruins are near the southern end of the caldera, and on the southern end of the island is the only bridge. The mountain side of that bridge is where the coalition's base camp has been set up.

While Ms. Haruhime and I trained until the very last moment, most of the other coalition adventurers came to the group of tents set up by the Guild and Ganesha Familia the day before Freya Familia had apparently crossed over the caldera lake on a raft from the north.

Once the war game starts, this base camp will be the evacuation point where injured adventurers who drop out of the fighting will be taken for treatment, which is why Dian Cecht Familia members can be found all around the camp.

"I feel like I don't have enough items... Hey, anyone got some spares?!"

"Miach Familia has them! Go talk to Lord Miach and pick up what you need!"

"Having Crozzo magic swords and even swords from Hephaistos's shop to pick from is like a dream come true...but I still can't calm down."

The camp is buzzing with excitement and nerves.

A beast person carefully inspects their weapons, and a dwarf is having a comrade help to put on heavy armor. I watch these scenes unfold as the battle draws near-when a couple of voices call out to me.

""Bell Cranell!""

"Ah...Mr. Luvis, Mr. Dormul!"

Turning around, I see a familiar pair running over to me Modi Familia's Mr. Luvis and Magni Familia's Mr. Dormul. The elf and dwarf from during the expedition who we helped fight a moss huge.

"Are you going to fight with us...?"

"Of course. The life I should have lost along with my right arm, I owe it to you. If I don't repay that debt now, then when?"

Mr. Luvis has a bow and a quiver of arrows ready as he touches his right arm.

It's covered by his battle gear and a glove, but if I looked underneath, I'm sure I'd see a silver prosthetic just like Ms. Nahza's. Even though he has lost his arm, he still has a neat smile befitting an elf. "The time to fulfill my pledge has come. Let us fight together, comrade of the elves."

-I swear on the name of Luvis Lilix that one day I will repay this enormous debt.

I remember the promise he made when we were in Rivira after we defeated the moss huge. Behind him, Ms. Lana is wearing the same sort of smile as she stands firmly on her prosthetic leg.

"What are ya talking about, comrade of the elves! Then us and Hestia Familia are dwarven brothers!"

Mr. Dormul delivers his retort in a booming voice. Ignoring Mr. Luvis's reproachful gaze, he pounds his broad chest.

"We haven't forgotten, either. It's a crazy opponent...but for you, we'll fight to the end, brother."

I'm at a loss for words as Mr. Dormul and his dwarf comrades beam at me with warm smiles.

Though I met them both in a strange way through Ms. Eina, we helped one another in the Dungeon, and now we're standing shoulder to shoulder. It would be easy to call it an odd bond. But the connections that brought these elves and dwarves to come to our aid is making me feel so warm inside my chest, and I'm truly grateful to them from the bottom of my heart.

"Yes! Thank you so-"

"Hey! Don't forget we came, too, Rabbit Foot!"

"-Geh?!"

Out of nowhere, a thick arm wraps around my neck. Coughing as everyone else looks on in shock, I frantically turn around and see an adventurer flashing a crooked grin.

"M-Mr. Mord?! You all came, too?!"

"Damn straight! If we win this, we'll get every last bit of treasure Freya Familia has tucked away! We're gonna break the bank at the casino!"

I can't help but smile that even at a time like this, Mr. Mord is the same as

always.

A few steps away, Mr. Gyle and Mr. Scott were just shaking their heads though... What could that be about?

"...Looks like you're good and ready."

Letting me go, Mr. Mord looks me up and down.

I'm wearing the sixth iteration of the armor Welf made for me and a new set of anti-detection battle gear. My weapons are the trusty Hestia Knife and Hakugen. And I have a Goliath Scarf around my neck.

My equipment also includes three dual potions and one of Ms. Nahza's precious newly developed elixirs.

Looking down at the gear I've put on before going to survey the battlefield again, I nod firmly.

"Let's win this, Rabbit Foot."

Yes, Mr. Mord!"

He flashes an adventurer's smile instead of his usual thuggish one, and I can't help but smile back.

"Would all of the deities and children please come here! It's time for the final briefing!"

As everyone steels themselves for the coming battle, Lady Hestia's voice rings out from the center of the camp.

Ms. Nahza and Mr. Ouka, Mr. Luvis and Mr. Dormul, and Mr. Mord all nod to one another and start moving.

Only two hours to go before the war game begins.

We're just waiting for the signal from Ganesha Familia in the final intermission right before stepping out on the stage. In front of the tent at the center of the camp, Lady Hestia has gathered everyone's attention. The other deities and the captains of the various familias were arranged at the front of the group while Welf, Ms. Aisha, and dozens and dozens of adventurers, smiths, and the Berbera formed a half-circle around her.

"First of all, every god and goddess needs to take one of the flowers laid out here. Put it on your chest and don't try to hide it! This is an official notice from Ganesha Familia!"

The deities all do as Lady Hestia asks.

Lord Takemikazuchi chooses a purple chrysanthemum.

Lord Miach a coleus leaf and flower.

Lady Hephaistos grabs a rainbow iris.

Lord Modi and Lord Magni are crying weakly that everything is over. But they and the goddesses who hold a grudge against the goddess of beauty all put flowers on their chests as well.

"The rules were settled in detail at Denatus, and I'm sure the deities already know, but...if your flower is stolen by one of Freya's children or if you lose it, you are removed from the game, so be careful!"

"So even if a god is found, that's not the end, and as long as they hold on to their flower, the game's not over... Is that how it works?"

"Yes, that's right, Mord! All of you children are aiming for Freya's flower, and her children are after our flowers! However, if a deity's flower is taken, their entire familia will be out of the war game, so all of you deities be sure to run or fight to the very end!"

Lady Hestia puts a red freesia on her own chest.

It's taboo for mortals to hurt or kill deities. I heard that the flower-stealing rule is meant to neatly sidestep that issue. We're of course forbidden to attack deities directly. If, by chance, a magic barrage hits a deity and they're accidently sent back to heaven, the offending side that's responsible for the attack would be immediately disqualified. This was decided to avoid any extreme strategies like blowing up the entire ruins the moment the war game started.

Freya Familia will be hunting for all of our deities' flowers.

As for us...stealing away Lady Freya's flower is our ultimate goal.

"I didn't get to confirm at Denatus, but how much are we allowed to resist? Am I allowed to fight Freya's children directly?"

"Using divine authority is banned, and Freya's charm is obviously out, too,

but..."

"...Where does that put Take?"

When Lord Takemikazuchi asks his question, Lady Hephaistos didn't have an answer, and it seems like Lady Hestia doesn't, either.

All of the deities preside over something...and in Lord Takemikazuchi's case, it's war and martial arts. It could be argued that him resisting would be an extension of those things, so it isn't really clear whether it should be forbidden, and if it is, how much...Basically, it's a blurry line.

"...Just for argument's sake, if you were up against Freya's kids, how many could you fight?"

"Against second-tier adventurers, I could handle twenty of them. And against a first-tier adventurer, I should be able to take at least one."

"""Then go out and fight on the front lines.""" Hearing his calm answer to Lady Hestia's question, Lord Modi and the other male gods all grumbled together.

While all of our expressions went stiff, Ms. Mikoto and Mr. Ouka and the rest of his familia puffed out their chest in pride.

"W-well, why don't you resist, but don't go so far that it gets ruled as foul play... The most important thing is how we deploy our forces and how the deities are hidden."

Pulling herself together, Lady Hestia turns around to address the crowd. The commander of the operation is on the wooden box behind her, staring down at the parchment spread across the giant table.

-Hestia Familia stands at the head of the coalition, so naturally the brains of the operation has to be one of her followers.

There was more than a little resistance when the commander was first announced, but no one's complaining anymore.

She keeps staring at the map of the ruins with a tranquil expression that's like the calm water's surface-like a certain hero of her race.

Long before I arrived, Lilly was looking out over the battlefield, drawing up plans.

"...The deployment...will be left to all of you."

After finally collecting her thoughts, or maybe because the time is up, Lilly looks up with a resolute look, having cast aside her doubts as everyone focuses on her. "If Lilly decides everyone's positions, that makes the formation predictable. The enemy would be able to figure out where all of the deities are hidden. So Lilly would rather remove your hiding spots from the plans entirely."

"... Yeah, got it, supporter."

No one here thinks she's shirking her responsibility. She clearly grasps the difference in ability between our side and our opponents', and she's taking the all-knowing deities into consideration as best she can.

Some unknown male god whistles while looking at the prum girl standing next to Lady Hestia.

"Everyone, let me say this first. The enemy's commander is shrewd. He is far more capable than Lilly. If we prepare ten plans, he will crush nine of them and use the last one as a trap to corner us."

Lilly looks out at the gathered adventurers as she speaks the unvarnished truth.

The enemy's commander is almost guaranteed to be Hildsleif the white elf I call my master, Hedin Selrand. I know painfully well just how intelligent, logical, and merciless he can be.

"It goes without saying, but we are facing einherjar. Even with the numbers

we have, if we faced them head-on, they would crush us. That is our enemy. That is Freya Familia."

As she watches Lilly share her analysis, her inner thoughts, and a moment of weakness, Ms. Daphne murmurs "Lilliluka..." in concern.

"Put bluntly, if the situation were any different, Lilly would want to run away right this instant." For just a moment, Lilly averts her eyes, looking faint, almost ephemeral. "But-Lilly wants to win."

Then the next moment, she looks up with a breathtakingly powerful light in her eyes.

"Lilly wants to pummel Lady Freya for the unforgivable things she did...and more than anything, Lilly doesn't want to be separated from Mr. Bell! We will never hand over the people precious to us!"

A sudden passion fills her voice. Ms. Mikoto's and Ms. Haruhime's eyes widen, and Welf breaks into a smile.

Ms. Daphne and Ms. Cassandra are caught by surprise, while Ms. Aisha and Mr. Mord grin ferociously. Mr. Ouka and Ms. Chigusa nod. Ms. Nahza's and Mr. Luvis's and Mr. Dormul's eyes grow sharpeг.

"Adventurers, lend Lilly your strength! And Lilly will guide you to victory!"

She said it.

That word.

There's no going back. Now we have to go out and bring back victory.

The adventurers explode.

 "Uoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

They raise their weapons and roar as one.

Their shouts echo across the sky, aimed at a single girl. Lady Hestia's so taken aback she almost falls over.

"All right! Let's do this!"

"If that prum kid's gonna say that much, then we got no choice!"

"Anything less would bring shame on Amazons everywhere!"

The morale of the adventurers who were struggling with unease, anxiety, and fear has been completely replaced by a ferocious determination to fight.

"You're a good woman, Lilly! I'm sorry for laughing and calling you stumpy!"

"At the next naming ceremony, we should give her the title My Little Lover!"

"I have to show sweet Lilly my good side, too!"

It isn't just the followers. The male gods who are notoriously fickle suddenly sound like they're raring to go, too.

I can't help being stunned by the sudden frenzy that's consumed the camp...

But that lasts only for a brief moment. I suddenly realize my cheeks are flushed, and I'm grinning from ear to ear.

"Looks like she stole your thunder, Mr. Supreme Commander," Ms. Nahza whispers teasingly.

"Ah-ha-ha... But still, I think this is fine."

I laugh awkwardly.

I'm not the right person to give everyone rousing encouragement. It might be a bit disgraceful as a captain, but...I'm happy. More than I can begin to put into words. I'm just so glad.

The person I consider my partner for my first party, the supporter who so hated adventurers she's become someone who can move this many people's hearts and inspire their cheers.

-She really is just like Braver.

That's the first thought that comes to mind. Even though I'm hardly qualified to make that comparison, I'm still really proud of her.

"Ah, Mr. Bell..."

As the fired-up adventurers pour out of the tent, rushing to finish last-minute preparations, I walk over to Lilly and Goddess. With her first job over, Lilly heaves a big sigh and starts blushing when she sees me coming.

"You were amazing, Lilly. Really... It was like seeing Mr. Finn up there."

"It was all Mr. Finn's suggestion. 'Take advantage of your cute appearance and after acting sweet, fire them all up with a bold declaration.' ...He said that would be the best approach for adventurers." Lilly looks embarrassed after revealing her trick. "The name Braver does not fit how cunning he is."

For some reason, that's funny to me. But at the same time, Lilly seems larger now somehow.

The way she is now, I think I can tell her...

There's something I've been thinking this whole time.

Not quite something out of place. It might even just be a wildly overblown idea. But there's a possibility that's been nagging at me.

"Hey, Lilly...could you hear me out?"

The white clouds sail eastward in the wide expanse of the blue sky.

All of the deities and other adventurers have left the central tent.

The only ones left are Welf, the rest of our familia, plus Ms. Aisha, and the people from the expedition. When she heard what I said, though, an uncomfortable look came over Lilly's face.

"Since you said it, I don't really want to doubt it, but...Lilly just cannot accept it. The possibility of something like that happening seems impossibly low."

"Yeah, that's fine. I think you're right. But could you just tuck the thought away in the back of your mind for me?"

When I ask that, Lilly smiles and nods.

Maybe I shouldn't have said something so strange and bothered the commander who's in charge of running the whole battle. Honestly that is exactly what I've been thinking and why I hadn't thought of saying it sooner.

But seeing how much she's grown, I decided to trust Lilly.

"Uh, ummm...could I talk to you...just a bit...?"

Ms. Cassandra clutches her rod as she nervously makes a request.

"What is it, Cassandra? This isn't about some new dream or something, is it?"

"Ugggh, Daph...even though you believed me in the lower levels...you still won't accept my dreams." She holds back the tears and fidgets awkwardly under Ms. Daphne's glare. As everyone looks at her, she starts getting nervous, so I lend her a hand.

"Umm, did you see another dream?"

"Y-yes..."

"What sort of dream was it?"

"I-I don't really want to say...or rather, there's no way to escape it...All sorts of things happened on twilight-colored ground...fairies and prums...and a boar and a chariot..."

That...actually makes me really want to know...

I start sweating when I see her turning pale and struggling to put what she saw into words. Her eyes dart back and forth before she finally seems to make up her mind.

"But a wind was blowing."

When she says that, what I feel isn't doubt but surprise.

"A...a wind...?"

"What's that supposed to do?"

"I-I don't know, but...still...a wind was blowing."

Ms. Haruhime cocks her head, and Ms. Aisha is wearing a dubious look, but Ms. Cassandra just repeats herself.

I peer up at the sky as Ms. Daphne and the others sigh exasperatedly.

"The wind...huh..."

A light breeze pulls the clouds along the sunny sky..

"The bridge is lowering! The familia coalition is to deploy in its designated region!"

One hour before the start.

With the order of Ganesha Familia's captain, Shakti, the bridge to the Orza ruins was opened up.

Seeing that, the coalition adventures on tenterhooks in the camp rushed out onto the bridge.

Dwarves with war hammers, elven mages with staves, smiths with magic swords, Berbera, who answered Aisha's call, all rushed to the points Lilly had designated for them.

"What a surprise, seeing you here, Bors."

"Who asked you, Cyclops! When the time comes, I can get off my ass! ...No, that's a lie. The truth is even if it killed me, I didn't want to come...!"

Bors was carrying a big ax as he started to fire back nonchalantly only to turn pale and almost start sniffling.

"I had planned to hide out in Rivira! But my stupid goddess joined up, wanting to put Freya in her place...! She dragged me all the way out here!"

"Ohhh? Is that really the only reason?"

"...Nope. If it wasn't for Rabbit Foot and Gale Wind, I would have bitten the dust already. I'm payin' my debt before the interest grows. That's how we do it in Rivira."

The head of Rivira, who got mixed up with Juggernaut along with Bell and Lyu, made his excuse.

The wide, stone bridge rumbled with the sound of hundreds of adventurers running in long strides across it.

"Ha-ha-ha! I see, I see. Then be sure to prove your manhood!"

"Damn straight! Now that I'm here, I'm gonna win and claim my share of the money and fame! And brag in front of all the cowards who didn't come to fight!"

Tsubaki laughed at Bors's desperate last shout, and then they reached the end

of the bridge and headed off in different directions. The rest of the adventurers followed their leads and began to scatter.

There were no parting words. They knew the enemy they were facing wasn't going to give them the time for heartfelt farewells.

"Ruins in the depths of the forest, basements there are too many places to hide. I'm honestly a little worried about being found at all. Not being found during hide-and-seek is as lonely as the setting sun..."

The deities crossed the bridge as well and began looking for places to hide in their designated eastern half of the island.

"Quit the stupid crap and just hurry; pick your hiding spots already. It won't be funny if you get caught before your children even get to do anything," Hephaistos chided Hestia, who puffed out her chest.

"I-I know! I was treated as a rare character up in the heavens, but I happened to be a master at hide-and-seek!"

"That's the first I'm hearing about it..." Takemikazuchi glanced dubiously at her.

"Did you mean to say you couldn't be found because you just holed up inside the temple?" Miach hit the nail on the head.

The coalition deities were moving with small security details while taking one another's movements into consideration when deciding where to hide.

"All adventurers and deities have crossed the bridge!"

"All right, seal the bridge! Ilta, you all watch the area along the cliff like we planned!"

After the deities finished crossing the bridge, Ganesha Familia sealed the way again.

The Orza ruins were located on a giant island at the southern end of a caldera lake. It was impossible to reach it without crossing the bridge on its south side, and there were guards posted around the cliffs at regular intervals to prevent anyone trying to swim across. So even if outside forces or monsters appeared, they would have to get through Ganesha Familia's Level 4 and Level 5 adventurers before making it to the ruins.

Their rock-solid perimeter wouldn't come down until the flowers of the familias fighting in the great familia war were all accounted for.

"Lady Freya."

Inside Freya Familia's camp in the western ruins, their patron goddess was sitting on a stone throne as Ottar approached after finishing his preparations.

"What is it, Ottar?"

"The flower from the Guild has finally arrived. Please set it upon your chest."

It was a small bunch of petals.

This was the flag and key to victory in this war game.

The flower she was presented was a lilac.

"...How ironic..."

Seeing the beautiful purple flower, Freya wore a smile that was almost self- deprecating.

"...? Is there a problem, Milady?"

"No, nothing."

Freya took the flower and put it on her chest.

She wasn't wearing her usual dress that resembled a black flame.

She was wearing a stylish, modest white dress that resembled a bridal gown.

Adorned in formal white dress, the goddess made a break with all of her lingering attachment and announced to her boar attendant-

"Win, Ottar."

"Yes, Milady."

"I will get my hands on Bell. This is the only way left."

"...Yes, Milady."

The warrior simply nodded. He would do that as many times as needed.

All for the sake of his master's divine will.

A pair of coral-red eyes looked in their direction.

Hedin's long blond hair rustled in the wind as he peered at the goddess without any change of expression.

"What are you doing standing there, fly?"

"...Silence, ignorant cat. I was merely affirming my loyalty."

Hedin turned away without even a glance at the cat wearing a silver pauldron on one shoulder with a hanging cape attached.

Turning away from his master, he adjusted the position of his glasses with one hand and addressed those below him.

"My loyalty is all for Milady. Followers of the sublime goddess, obey my voice and become her arms and legs."

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

As he stood atop the massive building, the einherjar roared back.

"Keh...keh-keh...the time has come. Ragnarök...i-is beginning..."

The dark elf hugged his pitch-black sword in its scabbard as he muttered timidly.

"Is it time?"

"It is."

"Now?"

"Now."

The four prums lowered their sand-colored helms.

"Let's get this over with. We're not doing anything different this time. Run them down."

The cat person readied his silver spear and clad himself in an unalloyed killing spirit.

"Once the battle has begun, you will support me, Rona, Ilda. If any barbarians appear that would harm the goddess, I will not be accommodating."

""Yes, ma'am!""

The healers and herbalists known as the Andhrímnir snapped to attention in fear of the girl sitting atop the rubble with closed eyes.

"...Come, favored one of the goddess."

The boaz warrior moved away from the goddess's side, interested only in one single boy.

"It's starting, Bell."

"Yes...!"

Meanwhile-

The redheaded teen and white-haired boy clenched their fists as they heard the warrior cry echoing from the west.

"And with that! The war game starts noooooo000000000000ooow!!!"

The two hands on the clock aligned pointing straight up.

In the distant Labyrinth City, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the battle.

VS. Freya Familia. Hide-and-seek.

Victory condition: collect the divine flowers.

The curtain rose on the biggest war game in all of history.

The Orza ruins were certainly big enough to be compared to most cities.

The total area of the massive ruins in the middle of the caldera lake would contain almost an entire district of Orario. Meaning even with almost fifty familias milling around, there was plenty of room to spread out.

The one to offer this location as a possible battleground when the Guild asked for suggestions was Hermes Familia. A neutral faction whose patron god made a hobby of visiting various ruins, doing fieldwork, gathering information and treasures from the olden times. All sorts of artifacts from the ancient era had already been retrieved from Orza, and the ruins were an empty husk at this point, which was part of what made it ideal for the familia war.

Bathed in sunlight, there were half-broken pillars and walls forming forests of shadows. The statues of imaginary, unspeaking deities, missing parts of their faces and arms, watched on silently. The ruins of a great bath missing not only a roof but even walls had been filled with the rains stored for years on end and had been transformed into a large, tranquil pond.

Scattered here and there around the ruins were white and gray rune stones with spear-wielding gods and giant wolves engraved in them. The stones would have had cultural value, but they had been shattered by monsters long ago and could no longer be deciphered. All the valuable burial goods in various graves had already been stolen by grave robbers.

It was a symbol of decline and destruction.

The sublime majesty of history and the emptiness of an age forgotten to the

past.

The adventurers gave the scene one glance before immediately looking away.

The city that had once boasted such glory only to fall to destruction was going to experience another massive change today.

"Any enemy presence?"

"None. They don't seem to have approached the boundary between east and west yet."

"Then report back to base! We're moving!"

The adventurers of the coalition were constantly on the move.

Modi Familia's elves, led by Luvis, and a party of beast people, and many, many more scouts flooded the ruins.

"No enemies detected in the southeast, Lady Lilly. It appears they have not yet arrived at the eastern region."

"Roger, Ms. Mikoto. Leave the rest to the garrison and proceed west. From there, investigate the forward ruins. Were it Lilly, that would be the first place to assign troops."

"Understood!"

Lilly gave her orders to the crystal that echoed with Mikoto's voice.

Her location was approximately the center of the eastern region that was the coalition's side of the island.

Lilly had set up a headquarters of sorts in the ruins of a marketplace surrounded by the bases of various broken columns.

There were crystals-oculi spread across the stump-sized pillar bases.

By chance, it resembled the command base Hestia had set up on the roof of the tower during the skirmish in Daedalus. Spreading out map of the ruins, Lilly received reports from various units via the oculi and then proceeded to hand down clear and quick directions.

"L-Lilly...the reports have been coming nonstop for a while now. Are you going to be all right?"

"Everyone else is fighting the monster that is Freya Familia. Lilly can't fight, so she can't afford to complain over something like this!"

The headquarters guard Chigusa was taken aback by how many oculi were glowing with constant transmissions from adventurers, but Lilly didn't even look up as she focused on making notes.

They were calling it headquarters, but the two of them were the only ones there.

The coalition needed to protect the deities hiding around the ruins, too, so they couldn't afford to spare more manpower to protect Lilly. If she fell, the chain of command ran to Aisha, Daphne, and then Tsubaki. Losing her wouldn't be the end for the coalition. The thing they most needed to avoid was failing to discover the enemy's strategy because of an excess of caution.

With her silence, Lilly made it clear to Chigusa that they couldn't afford to get their priorities flipped.

But-

"Hey, prum! There aren't any enemies in the central area! What now?!"

"Li'l E, there aren't any enemies coming from the north. I don't think we need to be worried about getting outflanked for now."

"We're at the front line and going to cross into enemy territory! Okay?!"

"Commander! Give us some orders!"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can act tough all I want, but this is more information than I can handle!

She had spoken as if it was her duty that she had to do, but what she really felt was different. Bors's husky voice, Welf, an Amazon, an elf all the oculi were blinking and making shrill sounds, and she wanted to just throw them away. She started feeling a powerful grudge against Braver for just smiling and saying, "If it's you, you'll manage," and ordering her to orchestrate and command a massive multifront operation.

But I have to...! With as weak as I am, this is the only way to help Mr. Bell and everyone else! I can't just rely on Ms. Daphne's strength!

Daphne, who had reached Level 3 with her exploits on the expedition, was a valuable fighter in the coalition.

They couldn't afford to have her serving as Lilly's lieutenant.

She had been entrusted with command, so she didn't have the option to rely on anyone else.

She gave orders to all of the adventurers as her eyes grew bloodshot, sweat formed on her brow, and her face twisted so much Chigusa started getting scared. And then she scrawled the new information down on a parchment different from the map.

"Repeat, all scouts should prioritize finding the enemy forces and Lady Freya! Avoid combat if at all possible! Gathering information is the number one priority!"

Picking up a fist-sized oculus, she deftly issued critical commands.

Lilly was focusing heavily on offense in this battle.

As proof, the ratio between scouts out looking for the enemy and defenders was 70/30.

Put bluntly, they couldn't defend against Freya Familia's attack.

Loki Familia's Finn made clear that a rush by Ottar, the first-tier adventurers, and the einherjar was something that absolutely had to be avoided. No matter how many adventurers banded together, they would be crushed by any serious attack.

That meant a defensive battle was as good as defeat.

Understanding that, the strongest defense Lilly had was offense she wanted to seize the initiative and put the enemy off-balance to avoid her forces finding themselves on the back foot.

I need more information! The enemy's approach! Positioning! Numbers! If Lady Freya has been carefully hidden, we'll have to calculate it backward from the enemy's deployment! No matter how many traps might be set along the way in that!

She wouldn't say it out loud, but Lilly didn't mind if the scouts were wiped out.

Put another way, she was resolved that they couldn't do this without accepting some sacrifices. Because contact with the enemy was functionally equivalent to complete annihilation. Even between forces of equal level, the base strength of the alliance adventurers and Freya Familia was just too different.

If they were noticed, the scouts would absolutely get devastated.

One of the garrison squads in the central region of the ruins, away from the market-

"Eh?! Then Lilly's treating all of the scouts like sacrificial pawns...?"

"More like whatever move she might make, it will end up that way. It would be the same even if I were commanding."

Daphne covered one of her ears in annoyance as she explained the situation to Cassandra.

"To win in this game, both sides have to dedicate a massive portion of their forces to scouting. They have to find all of our deities in this enormous battlefield somehow, just like we have to find Lady Freya."

She decided not to mention that Freya Familia, as long as they had enough time, had the option of just defeating every single follower on the coalition's side.

"If we know where their goddess is, then no matter how furious an attack. they launch, we can counterattack. The more people they send out to attack us, the weaker the defenses around Lady Freya will become."

"Ummm...so then since they have to find all of our deities to attack, they will have to spread out their forces...and that's the opening that Lilly is aiming for?"

"Exactly."

Glancing at the oculus at her hip, Daphne was thinking about what Lilly was going through at the moment while carefully choosing her words.

"If she tries to limit the damage to her allies, we will never be able to win this fight."

In one of the scouting squads-

"So we're letting them graze our flesh to smash their bones?"

"Yes. That is what Lady Lilly said. Honestly, it's not just us scouts, either; even Lord Takemikazuchi and the other deities are lures, too..."

Ouka and Mikoto were running through the woods as they spoke.

"-And as our flesh is carved away, we will have no choice but to strike the opponent's heart."

"-No matter how much it might hurt."

Right after they found out the format of the war game, Lilly had said as much to Hestia Familia. She didn't need Finn to tell her that much. She could recognize the flow of the strategic front.

Ouka looked amazed while Mikoto just looked forward.

"We must bring down Lady Freya before our last deity is defeated even if we fall in the process. That is what is expected of us."

"Of course, some of us are more important than the others when it comes to the master plan."

Tsubaki chuckled at Aisha's comment.

"In that sense, she's nasty like Finn. Or I guess I should say, determined."

There was a limit to the number of oculi available. It was clear that Lilly had

been selective about which groups were given a communication device: Aisha and Tsubaki's group, Daphne and Cassandra's, Mikoto's, and so on.

Their force was large enough to be worthy of being called a coalition. Whether intentionally or unconsciously, there were sure to be adventurers who didn't listen to Lilly's orders. The most obvious were members of familias in the Goddess Alliance who were after Freya for personal reasons.

Taking that into consideration, Lilly assigned the oculi to people she could trust, particularly people like Aisha and Tsubaki, who could be trump cards or might have a key role in the chain of command.

"So we command-well, watch all the squadrons we can see and report back to the shrimp. Basically like field officers."

"I'm not great at directing others. I'll handle the vanguard and you can take care of the troublesome stuff, Antianeira!"

"There's just two of us Level Fives here, so you're gonna have to do some work too, Cyclops... You're a familia captain, aren't you?"

With a little sigh at Tsubaki's irresponsibility, she looked back at the smiths ready to deploy behind them. After confirming the readiness of the artillery unit armed with a massive loadout of magic swords, Aisha spoke into the oculus in her hands.

"There are no movements in the center of the battlefield, Shrimp...It's quiet. Too quiet..."

No unit has noticed any enemy movements...?

In headquarters.

After taking Aisha's report, she slipped into deep thought as Chigusa watched.

Are they waiting to see our positioning?...But even knowing that, we have no choice but to start feeling them out!

Feeling something off, Lilly gave another round of orders for the scouts to push into the enemy's territory.

We pilfered as many oculi as we could from Fels, so we should have a clear advantage in communication! Meanwhile, the farther Freya Familia gets from Mr. Hedin, the more their communication will suffer! That applies even to first- tier adventurers!

That would create an opening that they would surely be able to strike at. That was what she believed. Or rather, that was what she was praying would be true.

Even if they were using magic-stone signal lights, they wouldn't be able to maintain full reciprocal communication, and in some areas of the island, they wouldn't even be able to communicate at all. For hide-and-seek, the oculi were so valuable they were practically cheating.

Taken to the extreme, this hide-and-seek game is a war for information! No matter how many local losses might pile up, winning on the real battlefield is all that is needed!

The farther Freya Familia's members got from Hedin, even if they were acting on their own judgment, the more people the coalition would have to rely on. If they could use the time that the sacrificial units managed to gain to array

their forces and attack Freya's hiding place, they had a chance of winning. Depending on how they're positioned, we can deploy our artillery units armed with Crozzo magic swords, Ms. Haruhime, and our trump card, Mr. Bell. There won't be any holding back! Time is against us! We have to steal Lady Freya's flower before we lose all forty-six of our deities...!

She clenched her hands as a disgusting sweat formed in her palms.

As Daphne and the others understood, her strategy would require massive sacrifices.

But even so, Lilly needed a precise understanding of the state of the board.

Which squares had pawns; where was the queen hiding?

Where was the rook that could smash through everything?

Where were the black and white bishops that could unleash a long-range barrage?

Where were the knights that could disrupt everything with their characteristic movement and teamwork?

Where was the strongest king, the queen's ultimate defense?

She needed to know all of that as soon as possible to really grasp the board. If the scouts were taken out, so long as they left the information they had gleaned behind, that was worth a mountain of gold. It could even be the key to victory.

So Lilly assumed the role of a ruthless commander, quashing the guilt in her heart.

When it came to a commander's callousness, she couldn't see herself being a match for Finn, no matter how much she might grow.

"All clear in the north."

"No enemies sighted in the south."

"We're pushing forward!"

As the unease welled inside her, the battlefield was quiet.

At the very least, it couldn't be anything other than quiet on the coalition's side.

To find Freya as soon as possible or to catch any enemy squads aiming for their deities, they had an enormous number of scouts out patrolling or else lying in wait in each sector.

When would the silence break?

As commander of the whole operation, Lilly felt her heart grow louder and louder as time passed.

So she waited attentively.

For the moment her allies got some information.

For the moment they were sacrificed.

Waited, waited, and waited. Until...

"....Gh?"

That was when she noticed something was off.

It was too quiet.

Far too quiet.

"L-Lilliluka Erde...we've pushed halfway into the enemy's territory."

As if confirming her suspicion, she received a stunning report from Luvis.

Half of the enemy's territory.

In other words, the coalition had a dragnet spread across three quarters of the entire island.

And yet they not only hadn't met the enemy, they hadn't even seen any trace of them.

It was strange. Disturbingly so.

Had the enemy even deployed any adventurers on the island?

Did Hedin really understand they were supposed to be playing hide-and- seek?

"Lady Lilly...w-we cannot find the enemy..."

"Hey, Li'l E, what's going on?! There hasn't been a single fight yet!"

"There's no way they're just hiding. We have a net up using Asfi's magic

items. Even if they went invisible and erased any scents, there is still no way they could have slipped through undetected."

Lilly's thoughts wavered from doubt and unease as the oculi lit up with a symphony of bewildered voices.

No enemies? That's impossible.

But even if it should have been impossible, the current situation was running counter to all of Lilly's predictions. The possibility that they were somehow slipping through using incredible stealth could be ruled out, based on Aisha's report.

What is this feeling? This cold feeling.

Am I already caught in the enemy's trap?

Countless worries flitted through her mind, eating away at her heart, but she just barely managed to swallow them down with an iron will.

The island's western side...are they inviting us into their territory? But what are they planning? Are they trying to stretch our lines to separate us from our deities? Or is there some trap set to annihilate our forces in the field? Or...?

Her hand trembled as she scrawled notes on the parchment, updating the information, and then tried to read the board in front of her.

Her brain proposed countless possibilities, and she examined every factor she could think of as the doubt seared her mind.

Should they keep pushing west? Or should she stop the scouts for the time being?

But what would change by waiting?

Without information, they couldn't launch a preemptive attack or respond to an enemy assault.

Lilly's thoughts stalled in the face of an intractable situation-just then.

"E-enemy sighted! Enemy sighted

"!!!"

One of the oculi lit up.

The voice was Luvis.

Modi Familia's four-man cell had pushed the farthest forward.

Lilly shuddered, and she leaped to grab the crystal.

"Where?!"

"In the west! The westernmost edge of the island!"

-The western edge?!

Lilly couldn't believe her ears.

"How many?! In what scale?!"

She restrained the urge to ask him if he was sure, but she reflexively raised her voice in a shout, forgetting that they were trying to hide themselves.

But there was no reply, no matter how long she waited.

Instead, she just heard a gasp through the crystal.

As she grew more baffled, Luvis finally spoke.

"...All of them..."

"...What?"

The elf's voice quavered as time froze for the prum.

"All of Freya Familia."

"...What the hell is this...'

Mord froze at the scene unfolding before him.

"Oy, what..."

"Wh-what are they...?"

Welf holding his magic sword and Dormul holding his shield both murmured in shock.

"...Are they crazy...?"

Bors broke into a cold sweat as his uncovered right eye widened.

"They deployed their entire force on the western edge of the island?! Is this a joke?!"

And Daphne, who had theory-crafted dozens of anticipated enemy deployments herself, couldn't hide her shock.

Freya Familia had set up their headquarters at the edge of the precipitous cliff on the westernmost edge of the island, with the waters of the lake at their back.

It was an area where the ruins of temples littered the ground. There were 150 warriors. They were all wearing the familia honors attire, their uniform beneath their armor, arrayed like an iron wall.

They showed no sign of moving, and there was no trace of any spells being readied. None of them so much as twitched.

They had arrayed themselves on the western edge of the ruins like an army prepared to defend their goddess's castle to the last.

"Where's Lady Freya?! Is she really in the enemy's camp?!"

In the ruins of a market to the east, Lilly screamed into an oculus as her disbelief showed on her face.

Shock and agitation, confusion and irritation, and more than anything, apprehension.

She was praying that this was just a trap or an empty nest as she repeatedly sought confirmation.

"W-wait! ...No, she's there! Goddess Freya is inside the camp, too! Inside the temple farthest to the back of the camp with its back to the lake!"

In the southwest of the ruins, Luvis had climbed to the top of the tallest tower on the island and shouted back into the oculus, unable to keep his calm.

Squinting his eyes that were fittingly sharp for an elven archer, he could see through the broken roof of the largest temple the house of the gods and inside, he spotted the goddess herself.

She was sitting on a throne that had been prepared for her, not doing anything. Just casually propping her head up. She suddenly looked up, her silver eyes clearly looking back at him. Luvis turned deathly pale.

"Is there a detachment?! Is this massive fortress a decoy while the monsters hit us in the back?!"

"...No, they're all there. At the very least, their core force is inside the camp. Vana Freya, Bringar, Dáinsleif, Hildsleif...and Ottar, too."

A giant mausoleum sat in the center of the western ruins.

Aisha had moved to the roof of this mausoleum and couldn't hide her shock.

Tsubaki looked like she had just swallowed a bitter pill as she stared at the details of Freya Familia's formation.

"That's why we couldn't find any trace of them..."

From the start of the war game to now, they hadn't moved one step from their base.

It wasn't just Tsubaki and Aisha, either. More and more reports came in from the scouts who had pushed into the western half of the ruins only to be left speechless.

"A bear-in-the-hole castle...?"

Mikoto was bewildered as she looked at it.

The enemy formation she saw reminded her of a strategy used in a Far Eastern board game. A castle-like formation that surrounded and protected the king with every single piece on the board.

"They're literally fighting with their back against the water...!"

Far away from them on the eastern end of the island, Takemikazuchi groaned as he saw the scene reflected in the oculus that Hestia was holding.

The enemy had cut off their own retreat and forsaken all tricks. They intended to face down the coalition head-on.

Meanwhile, inside Orario...

"Eh? Ehhh? What do you mean?!"

"They're ignoring the rules...!"

Tiona couldn't follow what was happening, and Aiz gasped.

"So that is what he went with."

Meanwhile, in the same room, Finn narrowed his blue eyes.

"Lord Hermes, this is...!"

"It's not like they've broken any rules. They just ignored the standard approach for the game."

As confusion spread across the city, inside Babel, Hermes calmly explained for Asfi, having seen through the strategy.

"It's a plan we can't possibly copy. Something only they could pull off..."

Back on the island, Hestia tensed as she clenched the oculus in her right hand.

"Gh...! Master...!"

And the news also reached Bell, who was acting alone to avoid being noticed by the enemy or his allies. His mind turned to the person who had surely planned this.

"Why should we go along with pointless rules?"

As the surprise of their deployment rumbled across the battlefield and over the mountains into Orario itself, Hedin haughtily spoke from his place in Freya Familia's formation.

Standing atop the temple where he could look out at all of his forces, he adjusted his glasses with his right hand.

"Inside the range of my voice, the warriors are as freely controlled as my arms and legs. This method is the most efficient. This formation is the strongest."

His beautiful golden hair blew in the breeze as he made his declaration.

The silent second-tier and lower einherjar went without saying, but even the first-tier adventurers, while they scoffed some and looked unhappy about it, gave their silent assent, too.

"Respond quickly. You have only two options."

Hedin's strategy was exceedingly simple.

He concentrated his forces into a single point abandoning any thoughts of hiding or seeking.

As Hestia realized, this was a strategy that was possible only because it was them.

If the coalition tried it, they would just be trampled by overwhelming force.

It was because they could bring a heavy-weight prizefighter's force to bear that they could turn hide-and-seek into a battle royale.

He's a demon...

Lilly turned pale.

Leaving the market in the east with Chigusa, she rushed to the massive mausoleum where Aisha's group was waiting. When she saw the enemy layout for herself, she felt her heart freeze.

She had been too naive.

Even though Finn had shared so much information with her, she hadn't been cognizant enough of it. Of just how much Hedin Selrand loathed inefficiency and just how ruthless an elf he was. She was reminded again of just how far beyond her he was as a commander.

He has no intention of any dialogue with me. He isn't going to play chess! He doesn't care about turn order or rules, he's just telling me to draw my sword!

He had as good as stabbed a knife down into the board and was telling her to pick it up and fight him.

Ordinarily, anyone would get caught up in the concept of hide-and-seek.

Where to search.

Where to hide their deity.

Where to spring ambushes.

How to build a strategy to account for all of the possible choices.

But Hedin had transformed what was a troublesome competition for his side into a more convenient contest of strength. By not scattering his forces, he had completely nullified Lilly's plan to sacrifice numbers to create an opening. There wouldn't be any great search for deities. From the moment Freya Familia chose a fortress strategy, the coalition was left with only two options.

Charge into it or not.

He's...a demon...!

The thought echoed in her head as her mind raced.

It was the worst sort of choice.

There was no other option. At the very least, Lilly couldn't think of another one.

She recognized she was being forced to choose between two options that were both convenient for the enemy.

"Hey, what do we do, commander?!"

She could hear Mord's and Bors's nervous voices ringing from the oculus.

She couldn't choose a prolonged fight.

Freya Familia's entire force was gathered in one place. And their fundamental strength was on a different level anyway. Sporadic attacks would just be driven back, and the casualties on the coalition's side would only grow.

And if they just kept staring at each other, they would be hit by a crushing attack the moment their focus wavered.

They were far weaker in strength, so at a fundamental level, they couldn't afford to be put on the defensive. And when it came to the question of provisions, the coalition, with its significant numerical advantage, was going to run out of supplies first.

A drawn-out fight was meaningless. Meaningless!

They had no path forward that didn't involve a decisive battle then and there, just like the enemy wanted!!!

"Lilly..."

"Lady Lilly..."

Chigusa, who was her guard, and Haruhime's squad, which had come running over to the mausoleum, both noticed the heavy sweat on Lilly's brow.

Not good, I can't let them see me sweat. If they do, there will be no calming the panic.

Aisha and Tsubaki, who had waited for her to arrive, and Daphne as well, all watched quietly as she stood frozen in a maze of shock, not saying a word.

A head-on fight with Freya Familia was hopeless, but did they have any choice but to face it?

Only a failure of a commander would make that choice. Was there not any other path? What would Finn say if he were there?

Would she really have to send her comrades into what was certain defeat...?