Chapter 145: They're not going to put on some kind of bromance show right in front of me, are they?

Upon returning to Babel, Roland received the invitation to the gods' banquet.

Although the catastrophe was still ongoing—with even ordinary people forced to help sort and transport the supplies retrieved by adventurers beneath the tower—the deities remained completely unaffected, living their usual extravagant lives in the upper floors.

"Quite a few newcomers have recently reached the requirements for leveling up," said a busy Finn as he walked over, took a seat across from Roland, and drained his waterskin in a single go.

"Having survived this disaster, they certainly possess enough heroic deeds to qualify for Level 2."

Roland replied unhurriedly, "Have you found any clues regarding that fallen deity?"

"Not a trace. The burst of divine power drew every nearby zombie to the location. By the time I arrived, only hordes of the dead were wandering around the dilapidated house. It seems safe to assume there were no survivors."

Finn frowned, shaking his head with a trace of helplessness.

"Putting that aside, have you decided what to do about the banquet tonight?"

Ordinarily, the gods' banquet was an exclusive gathering restricted entirely to the deities. However, given the current extraordinary circumstances, the rules were naturally less rigid.

For the banquet following today's discussions regarding the restoration of Orario, the gods were permitted to bring a certain number of their Familia members along.

"What about you? Aren't you going to attend?"

"Spare me... You nominal leader are completely playing hands-off, while I'm the one doing all the actual heavy lifting. I have no mood to deal with those troublesome deities; I'll just let Loki take Ais instead."

Yesterday, the provisional guild established within Babel had officially granted Roland the status of leadership, giving a legitimate and formal basis to the power he already wielded.

"In the very beginning, I offered a righteous and firm refusal. I mean, how could I, a newly promoted Level 2, possibly lead the entire Orario? Actually, I told him right from the start—and I'm not being modest—that they should really find someone more capable. But in the end, their persistence was just too hard to turn down."

With every word Roland uttered, a muscle in Finn's face twitched in distortion.

"Enough, that is not the crucial point here. Have you noticed who is hosting this banquet?"

"Hmm?"

At Finn's words, Roland flipped the invitation in his hand and checked the host listed on the back.

——The Apollo Familia.

"As far as I recall, that is merely an ordinary mid-tier Familia."

"If it were in the past, certainly. Aside from a decent scale, neither the level nor the number of their adventurers was particularly remarkable. But things are completely different now."

Mentioning this particular Familia put Finn in a rather foul mood.

"Because those bastards didn't attend the festival when the disaster broke out, choosing instead to hold a banquet inside their stronghold, they suffered virtually no casualties and fled to a safe location before the outbreak could spread. But what their patron god, Apollo, has done throughout this crisis is utterly sickening."

"How so?"

Roland raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Right now, the scale of their adventurers has expanded to several hundred people. How do you think that happened? If it were merely taking in members of other Familias whose abilities had faded due to the death of their gods—given the urgency of the situation—that wouldn't be much of an issue. The real problem lies in their methods."

Finn sighed and explained, "Apollo is a thoroughly paranoid and repulsive creature. Whoever catches his eye becomes the target of his instant, aggressive courtship, and he will use any means necessary to obtain them, even intentionally picking fights with other Familias to provoke conflicts... regardless of gender. When it comes to valuable adventurers, he resorts to all sorts of coercion and plunder."

"And rumor has it that, taking advantage of this disaster, he heavily threatened adventurers who had lost their Falna, forcing them to join his ranks under the threat of feeding them to the zombies."

Roland blinked in speechless astonishment, feeling as though he had seen it all now.

The sheer variety of romantic preferences he had encountered could only be described as a tragedy; as long as love was present, he was, frankly, indifferent to race and morphology. But the impenetrable wall of gender still stretched somewhat beyond the limits of his imagination.

"Taking advantage of this catastrophe while the guild temporarily lost control, the fellow hasn't behaved himself even inside Babel, and only reined it in slightly after being severely warned by several other deities."

Finn clicked his tongue, then looked across the table at Roland.

"As your heroic deeds gradually spread, and people saw a glimmer of hope for the restoration of order, not many inside Babel cared much about the coercion exerted by the Apollo Familia anymore."

"Ever since then, the entire Apollo Familia has begun opposing the Grand Expedition plan. They're quite clever, using the banner of righteousness to demand that we first abandon the pursuit of the dungeon's mastermind and prioritize restoring the order of Orario and the world at large—protecting deities like them."

Within the current Babel, owing to Roland's reputation and status, combined with the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia—who had mysteriously aligned themselves with his side—the Grand Expedition was practically a settled matter. Yet not everyone possessed the courage to stake everything on a single throw of the dice; surviving the immediate catastrophe remained their primary necessity.

Consequently, Apollo's rhetoric was not entirely without an audience.

"I hear that Hyacinthus, the captain of the Apollo Familia, is extremely enthusiastic about this matter. He doesn't participate in combat at all, running around every day to spread Apollo's doctrines, and whenever he hears someone praising you, he gets visibly upset. From that perspective, Apollo might not even be genuinely opposed to the expedition."

Speaking of this, Finn's tone turned somewhat subtle.

"Roland, you probably don't know Hyacinthus's epithet yet, do you?"

"Although that fellow is currently a Level 3 second-class adventurer, his notoriety is, in a sense, no less impressive than ours."

"He is known as the Sun God's Favored Pet."

"What kind of favored pet?" Roland wore a thoroughly skeptical expression, questioning reality itself. "Are they going to put on some sort of boys' love show right in front of me?"

The implication of that epithet was far too blatant, making Roland profoundly uncomfortable. By comparison, titles like the Sacred Dragon Knight of Dawn sounded utterly divine.

"Haha!"

Roland's blunt remark made even Finn burst into roaring laughter.

"It shouldn't go that far at the banquet, but behind closed doors, it's genuinely possible. Because unlike the adventurers who were forced to join, Hyacinthus is truly, deeply in love with his patron god, and even takes pride in such a title."

"I've heard his jealousy is terrifyingly strong, to the point where he chases away any other members lingering around their patron deity. If he were merely acting on orders from his god, he shouldn't be letting his emotions rule him to that extent."

Finn lowered his voice and leaned in closer.

"I suspect that the reason Apollo is deliberately crossing you... might be because

——He has set his sights on you."