Danmachi - Card Wizard

Chapter 35 - Ch.35 Denatus (2/2)

After a quick talk with Ouranos, who would be presiding over the Denatus and receiving his support, Loki determined that there would be no problem promoting the cards sold by Aidan.

"Loki." Said a goddess wearing a long red dress and an eye patch on her eye.

"Hum? Hephaestus? What can I do for you?" She asked with a joyful tone.

"Before coming here, Tsubaki and I talked. It seems that two young members of your familia came into my familia's district searching for a new sword and-". Started Hephaestus only to be interrupted by Loki as the Denatus would soon begin.

"Get to the point. We don't have much time left."

"I'd like to examine and research the sword of the boy named Aidan from your familia." Answered the goddess, to the point.

With a frown on her face, Loki immediately shook her head. "No, can't do. I'm not the owner of the sword, and I'm not about to force a member of my familia to go against his wishes."

"Then can you arrange a meeting with him for me?" Asked the goddess back as she showed clear signs of frustration since her divinity was pushing her to follow this lead towards a new form of blacksmithing.

"I can." Answered the Loki familia goddess. "However, you better be prepared to pay the price if he accepts because I'll get as many benefits for them as possible." She continued with a grin.

"Alright." Finished the blacksmithing goddess, relieved that the trickster relented.

"Welcome." A booming voice resounded across the room as all the conversations stopped and focused on the voice owner.

"Please take your seat. The denatus will soon start." Added the loud voice as the first god who descended from Heaven closed his eyes after finishing speaking.

A few minutes later, after all the gods and goddesses were seated correctly, Ouranos opened his eyes again.

"For the first order of business. Ganesha." Said the god as all eyes turned towards the god of the masses.

"I am Ganesha." Said the masked god as he looked at the others in the room. "As you all know, the MonsterFilia will happen tomorrow. I want to ask everyone to support this yearly event." Said the man while doing various weird poses. "I am Ganesha!" He finished by shouting his name yet again.

With polite applause, the god once again sat down as Ouranos once again started speaking. "We will next start with the alias ceremony for the 124 adventurers who ranked up to level 2, 41 adventurers who ranked up to level 3 and 2 adventurers who ranked to 4. Finally, we will finish with the business proposal of Loki." He said while reading down the file he had in his hand while the more prominent god and goddesses gave a curious look at Loki, who only smiled mischievously.

"Alright, the first level 2 adventurer-". Started one of the gods as they spent the new few hours deciding the name of the newly promoted adventurers.

Of course, the gods enjoyed bullying the weaker familia's by giving chuunibyou names to the adventurers who would find them interesting one way or another. However, this process didn't happen in the bigger and more powerful familia's as they all accepted the name prepared by the adventurer's god or goddess.

Finally, a few hours after the beginning of the alias giving ceremony, they turned to the last important point of the meeting: Loki's business proposal.

"Alright, Loki. The stage is yours." Said the god presiding over the meeting.

"Well, hello to everyone." She said with a calm smile on her face as she looked over the assembly.

"Today, I'm here to promote a new product of our familia." She said as she got some reaction from a few gods, although most stayed uninterested.

"With the help of one of my children, we managed to create magical cards that can give great support to adventurers in the dungeon, and we are ready to sell them." She said as she continued to explain the various cards to be sold and their uses.

By the time she was done, five minutes had passed, and all the previously disinterested gods had a sharp look on their faces as they eyed Loki, who kept a sly smile on her face.

As she kept silent, most gods regrouped with their allies and started a vehement discussion as they all kept an eye on Loki.

As Loki looked at them with a smile on her face, she was keeping track of the emotions they showed. She found traces of greed, killing intent, interest, happiness and even love, which made her shudder as she looked at the greasy and disgusting old god licking his lips while looking at her like a piece of meat.

However, before the gods could develop some more plans to either kill off or capture the adventurer who gave such a good deal to the Loki familia, the trickster goddess spoke once more. "You don't have to worry about not having enough. My child has already prepared a lot of them, and we have enough for everyone." She smiled as she noticed the gods who sported greed to retract their intention as they understood that even if they kidnapped the member of the familia, it wouldn't stop the Loki familia from selling the cards. However, if they did kidnap him, they would have the entire familia on their back which was not a good deal.

"What if the creator of the item dies? Will his cards cease to function?" Asked a grim-looking god who looked at Loki with a grin.

"No, even if my child died, the cards would still work perfectly fine." She answered before turning to the god with a gleam in her eye. "However, if you are thinking of killing him, we will immediately start a war game." She said with a dangerous look.

Just as it was going to escalate, Astraea, the goddess of justice, stood up as everyone in the hall turned to look at her. "Killing mortals by your hand will give me the authority to send you back to heaven. If you were to send someone to kill him, I would gain the authority to arrest him and have you kicked out of Orario along with the disbanding of your familia." She said with a severe tone.

The goddess of justice, Astraea, had a respected status in the gods who descended from heaven since she was the only one along with Ouranos who kept a part of her powers. In Ouranos's case, he had to use his power to keep the dungeon sealed. However, she was allowed to keep her powers due to her divinity of justice which would keep her from abusing her power and keep justice as much as possible in the lower world. Due to this, she was one of the few allowed to send the gods back to heaven without any punishment.

"My familia, along with the guild, is one of the partners of the Loki familia in this business deal. It is my greatest hope that with these new items, adventurers will have a higher survival chance.

My familia will not play favouritism. However, we will keep an eye on the business to ensure that unlawful deals are not present in this endeavour and that no assassinations are made against the creator of these cards. These new items will give the adventurers new hope in becoming stronger and help the familia's in exploring more of the dungeon." She finished as she looked at every god and goddess in the room who was thoughtful at her words.

"The guild will also be responsible for the selling of the cards. My men will place a counter near the entrance of the dungeon for the adventurers. As you all know, since Zeus's familia explored the 59th floor, no other familia have been able even to reach it. I do hope that with these cards, familia's will be able to grow stronger and surpass the previous set record." Said Ouranos, who had been silent ever since he told the order of business for this Denatus.

"This is the end of the Denatus, you may all either enjoy the food, or you can leave, have a good evening." Finished the god presiding over the meeting as some gods left the meeting hall, but most stayed back and discussed with each other.

"Loki." Said Hephaestus as she approached her.

"Yes?" Asked the trickster goddess without rudeness since she had a good relationship with the blacksmithing goddess.

"Is the creator of the cards the same one with the sword I was talking about?" She asked in curiosity as her instinct told her that they were the same.

"Yes, he's called Aidan." She answered back to the one-eyed goddess.

"I see. In that case, I really can't wait to meet him." She finished with a smile of interest as she turned around and left the room.