Astraea Familia

April carefully laid Liz on her bed before facing Yoruichi with an almost tearful face, "Thank you very much! If it wasn't for you, Liz would have died and I wouldn't know what to do!"

Astraea also approached Yoruichi and expressed her gratitude, "Thank you for saving my child. At least please tell me how much that Elixir cost. I'll be sure to pay it back one day."

Hearing that, Yoruichi immediately shook her head, "Please don't think about it. That Elixir was not much for us. If it was able to help the child of our benefactor, then all the more reason not to ask for anything in return."

While April's eyes widened, Astraea's face became filled with hesitation, "But I've never done anything for you aside from offering a place to stay. This isn't even our place."

Chuckling, Yoruichi replied with a small smile, "That may be the case. However, in certain situations, I greatly appreciate small gestures of kindness without any trace of malintent or calculating moves. In this case, you offered us what we really needed and even offered potions. Although the cheap ones, it's also all that you had. So wouldn't it just be fair to offer something of similar value from my perspective?"

Smiling wryly, Astraea asked, "So you're saying that Elixir is of the same value as our potions?"

Yoruichi answered with a big grin on her face, "Correct~!"

"It's really hard to accept that."

Touching her chin, Yoruichi thought of something before continuing, "Then how about this, in exchange for that Elixir, we made a good friend like Astraea-sama. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll get along really well with our Goddess."

"Your Goddess? Who is it?"

"Hestia-sama."

Astraea's expression instantly changed from a complicated to a shocked one, "Hestia!? That shut-in actually decided to descend, leaving the comfort of her Hearth!?"

"Oh~ So you actually do know her~ But please don't worry. She hasn't actually changed and is still just a lazy bum."

At that moment, Yoruichi was the first one to hear screams of fear getting near and looked towards that direction, "Looks like they're here."

Astraea and April became confused but soon enough, they also heard the screams and it was from familiar voices. Running out of their lodging, Astraea and April saw a small dot in the sky before it became bigger, forming a silhouette of a person dragging two other people. "...Are those Mildred and Cecil?", asked April.

The screams became even louder and worse as they approached the ground. Even April and Astraea became pale at the rate they were descending at. But before they hit the ground, multiple shockwaves exploded out from under them, slowing their descent considerably, and they were able to land softly.

Releasing their collars, Kuroka greeted them, "We're back, nyaa~!"

Meanwhile, the tall and slightly tanned Half Dwarf woman with dark red hair called Mildred, and the black-haired Human woman, Cecil, were wheezing on all fours on the ground. "...I thought I was going to die...", muttered the former with a muffled voice.

After taking several deep breaths, Cecil looked up and saw two familiar faces which reminded her of the fate of their youngest member. Hurriedly standing up, Cecil grabbed April's shoulders in panic, "April! Where's Liz!? What happened to Liz!?"

Mildred also hurriedly stood up when she heard that, "Right! Where's Liz!?"

"Calm down, you two. She's already safe and resting.", answered Astraea while stepping up and patting their shoulders to calm them down.

"R-really?"

"Yes. She's currently inside."

Mildred and Cecil then immediately went inside their temporary lodging and saw a peacefully sleeping Pallum. Cecil slowly and quietly approached Liz while trying to muffle her sobbing sound, "...Thank goodness..." Crouching to her side, Cecil gently held her hand as tears of relief fell down.

Mildred, on the other hand, stayed back while wiping the tears that were about to fall from her eyes. She then faced Astraea and asked, "Astraea-sama... How... I mean I was not optimistic of her survival, even after luring the monsters away."

April immediately pointed towards Yoruichi, "This lady here saved Liz! She's..." However, she realized in that moment that she didn't even know her name and turned to Astraea.

Astraea's face blushed a little in embarrassment as she also realized that she hadn't even heard of their names.

Yoruichi giggled at her reaction and proceeded to introduce herself, "My name's Yoruichi Shihouin."

Kuroka also raised her hand and added, "And I'm Kuroka Toujou, nyaa~! Nice to meet you!"

Mildred offered her hand and introduced herself, "I'm Mildred, the Captain of the Astraea Familia. Nice to meet you too and may I ask how you saved my precious friend?"

Yoruichi grabbed her hand with a grin and said, "Nothing complicated. Just with an Elixir."

Hearing, that, Mildred froze with the corners of her mouth twitching, "E-Elixir you say... How much was it?"

"Its quality was top-notch even compared to those circulated in the market so its estimated value was around 700,000 Valis."

Mildred wiped her forehead now being covered by cold sweat, "7-700,000 you say... We'll be sure to pay you back, but please give us time."

"You're charging them, nyaa?", Kuroka asked Yoruichi.

Yoruichi separated her hand from Mildred before saying, "Of course not~ I just wanted to see what kind of expression they'd make."

"I almost forgot... You're cut from the same cloth as that guy, nyaa..."

That said, Mildred could only slack her jaw at Yoruichi's words, "Y-you're not going to charge us!? I'm very thankful, but why?"

"I already explained it to Astraea-sama, but to put it in simpler terms, she helped us out and it's only right that we help her out, too. Aside from that, it also looks like she's a friend of Hestia-sama."

"T-that's true... Aside from Artemis and Hephaestus, I'm one of Hestia's few close friends.", Astraea confirmed her words.

Yoruichi then shrugged her shoulders, "Then all the more reason we shouldn't ask for anything back."

"But..."

"You see, that Elixir came from that guy.", Yoruichi pointed towards the unconscious Kisuke, "He tends to spoil Hestia-sama a bit too much, and if that guy were to know that you're close friends with our Goddess, he might just give you a case containing a dozen of those Elixirs as a 'Thank you' gift."

"Please don't. We wouldn't be able to accept that.", Astraea immediately retorted.

"In other words, that guy's pretty well off so you don't really have to sweat it."

"Allow me to express my sincerest gratitude. Thank you. If not for you, Liz might have already left this world. However, we'll still return this great favor someday. Please don't reject that or we might not be able to properly sleep.", Mildred bowed her head to Yoruichi before turning to Kuroka, "To you too, Kuroka Toujou. Thank you very much for saving us from danger."

"Fine. If we need something in the future, we'll be sure to ask you. Of course, it'll only be reasonable requests that you may or may not accept so you don't have to worry.", was how Yoruichi settled things.

"It's fine, nyaa~! Happy to help~!"

With everything seeming to be finally settled, April raised her hand to attract their attention, "By the way, I'm April! It's very nice to meet you!"

Immediately after, Cecil's voice also rang out, "And I'm Cecil, the Vice-Captain of the Astraea Familia. It's a pleasure to meet you and thank you very much for saving our Liz.", she said while wiping her tears away, "Yoruichi-san and Kuroka-san... I heard about you the last time I went to Pandemonium. You're the famous rogue Mercenaries that appeared out of nowhere and laid waste to the unreasonable members of the Aruna Familia."