Chapter 444 - 444 - Hermes Familia? Easy Pickings

Asfi had no choice but to lay out the magic item's effects honestly.

What else could she do, backed into a corner like this? Would keeping quiet have kept him from knowing? Hadn't she seen his eyes? They were practically glued to the Hades Head.

Asfi could already picture the future waiting for her once they got back to the surface: more days and nights of nonstop work in the magic item workshop. And then, thinking about how it was Muddle who had suggested this brilliant plan of sneaking over to gather intelligence, her chest twisted and she shot her a hard glare.

Wonderful. They had come away worse than empty-handed. No intelligence gathered, and their own secret leaked instead.

Rotten luck.

The culprit, Muddle, blinked at her with wide, clear, stupid eyes, the picture of innocence.

"Ahem..."

Leon's smile only deepened.

"So it's called the Hades Head? Now that does please me."

The Hermes group said nothing.

Just then Jeanne, Rose, Persephone and the others finished clearing the battlefield and came over.

From the smiles on Margaret's and Kureha's faces, it was clear this Monster Party had been a rich haul.

Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand, after all. Survive a welcome that "enthusiastic" and a generous payout ought to follow. That was common sense in the Dungeon. Unless your luck was truly cursed, a Monster Party on the scale of Floor 28, hundreds of monsters and sometimes over a thousand, could not possibly leave you with nothing. If you couldn't pull decent materials or Drop Items out of a scene like that, well... you might as well switch careers and become a nice, stable School District instructor, or a teacher, or a Guild employee. At least then you'd draw a fixed salary, which beats going hungry in the Dungeon.

...

Looking over the Hermes Familia's party, Leon and the others felt something stir.

"Oh? Asfi? We haven't seen each other since the year-end meeting, it's been ages. How have you been lately? I've heard from Goddess Demeter that your patron god Hermes doesn't have much of a reputation up in Heaven, and down here he's famous as the god who lives for a laugh. It must be hard on all of you."

Rose stepped forward with a bright smile and greeted her in a tone as warm as a friend asking after her health.

Anyone who didn't know better might have thought the two of them were close. But after hearing the needling in that little speech, nobody would think so again.

"Oh dear, listen to me, running my mouth before I've thought it through. Sorry, sorry."

The corner of Asfi's eye twitched, and inwardly she couldn't help cursing that unreliable patron god of hers.

Had his reputation really spread that far?

She was finished.

Rose's gaze swept across the rest of the Hermes Familia. Some had trembling shoulders and stiff faces as they fought down laughter, some kept blank expressions and feigned composure, and some, like the guileless Muddle, were glaring at her in open indignation.

Her lips curved, and she took Asfi's hand and gently slid the knife in a little further.

"Since you've turned up on Floor 28... does that mean the Hermes Familia is on an Expedition right now too? Sorry, sorry, that's my fault for not coordinating properly. We've been run off our feet lately, the Christmas Festival and then the New Year celebration back to back, plus worrying about the new base and the Expedition, so I never noticed your Familia's Expedition notice. If we'd known we'd be overlapping with you, we'd certainly have waited a few more days before coming down."

Looking at that flawless smile on Rose's face, Asfi's eye gave another twitch.

This woman...

From what she knew, this woman was a thoroughly scheming sort, and among everyone she was acquainted with she ranked high on the list of people who were a pain to deal with. Gentle on the surface, unfathomable underneath. Absolutely the type Asfi least wanted to do business with.

Give her a simple-minded "idiot" like Alise to handle any day.

All of it flashed through her head in the space of an instant.

Asfi quickly put on a smile, first stealing a glance at Leon, whose eyes were still locked on the Hades Head in her hand, and then answered politely.

"Miss Rose, Miss Jeanne, Miss Persephone, it's been a long time!"

"Oh, and I haven't congratulated you yet on resolving this Irregular... truly astonishing strength! A Monster Party on this scale, if it had been us of the Hermes Familia, I doubt we'd have lasted a few minutes before we were wiped out."

Leon heard that and spoke up with a smile in his eyes.

"How could that be? You have the Hades Head, don't you? Its effect might not fool certain monsters with sharp senses, but for covering ground and avoiding most of the trouble, it works just fine, doesn't it?"

His gaze swept over the Hermes Familia group, his tone carrying a knowing amusement.

"Otherwise, with not a single Lv.3 in your party, how would you have made it all the way down to Floor 28?"

Called out to her face, Asfi's expression turned awkward.

"Fine... let's just say it plainly. What will it take for you to pretend you saw nothing?"

Since Leon had gone that far, Asfi understood perfectly well what he meant. Hush money, in other words.

"I think this mask would do nicely..."

"Out of the question!"

Asfi refused flatly.

The Hades Head was a core asset of the Hermes Familia, her ace in the hole. Selling it to an outsider was unthinkable.

"All right, if the mask is off the table," Leon said, not pressing, changing tack, "then surely these will do?"

He pulled a notebook from an inner pocket of his cloak, filled an entire page with dense little writing, the quill scratching away, then tore it out with a ripping sound and held it out to Asfi.

"I've made you a list. Even if the things on it aren't available on the open market, with your standing as a Master Item Maker and your connections, you should be able to get hold of them. And there are a few items on there you probably won't find on the market at all, so I'll have to trouble you to make them yourself."

Asfi took the list, glanced at it, and nearly blacked out.

"You, you you you..."

Leon grinned and raised a finger to his lips.

"Shh. I keep your secret, you act as though you saw nothing today. A fair trade, wouldn't you say?"

"Of course, I'm not asking for the things on that list for free. I'll pay market price for all of it. I'm sure the great Master Item Maker won't disappoint me. Right?"

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