Chapter 21: Loki's Invitation
When they walked out of the [Hephaestus Familia] encampment, the sky had already grown somewhat dim.
Fortunately, the encampment had been found; it was located not far from the [Loki Familia].
Even though he didn't have a single Valis on him, Shirou was able to use other means of payment.
A massive amount of jewelry and precious ornaments could be manufactured with just a single thought, effortlessly allowing the owner of that estate to hand the title deed over to Shirou.
Glancing at the dense text and stamped seal on the yellowed parchment, Shirou tossed it directly into his Reality Marble.
It felt like the Reality Marble had turned into a storage-like place under his usage. The day he felt like unfurling it on a whim, he had a feeling the enemies would be shocked by the Noble Phantasms and various miscellaneous goods piled everywhere like a mountain of garbage.
"Kami-sama, are we going home now?" Lili asked.
Shirou looked around, confirming that there were no extra matters for the moment before nodding.
"Yeah, we—"
Before Shirou could finish speaking, a somewhat noisy female voice entered his ears.
"Hey, Orihara!"
Looking in the direction of the voice, Loki, with her reddish-orange short hair, was smiling and waving at Shirou.
Not a single member of her Familia followed behind this goddess, which was very out of character for her usual style.
"Is something the matter?" Shirou looked at her in confusion.
"Hehe, it's like this, you see. I'm just on my way to a Banquet of the Gods. If you don't mind, come along too~ If everyone sees you at the banquet, they'll definitely be beyond surprised!"
Loki said with a grinning smile.
"Beyond surprised, and then swarming over one by one to ask me all sorts of weird questions like a hundred thousand whys, right?"
Shirou looked at her speechlessly.
"Come on, come on~ I guarantee everyone has completely repented, and absolutely won't come bother you this time!"
Saying that, Loki stepped forward, grabbed Shirou's left arm, and pulled him along, intending to leave.
"Wait—let go of Kami-sama!"
Loki's utterly impolite action made Lili somewhat displeased. She hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Shirou's right arm.
"Oh? Didn't notice you, little one. Your Kami-sama is just coming with me to the Banquet of the Gods, and a mere Familia member like you has no qualifications to attend. You'd better obediently go home."
Loki smiled and spoke words that dealt a critical blow to Lili.
Lili froze on the spot, and right after that, she gnashed her teeth in anger, her grip on Shirou's right arm tightening even further.
"I won't let you snatch the Kami-sama away!"
"I'm just having him attend a banquet, why are you reacting so strongly!"
Right now, both of Shirou's arms were being pulled and tugged, looking quite like a live tug-of-war match.
"...That's about enough, you two!"
Thwack! ×2
Shirou gave each of them a knock on the head, causing both of them to immediately squat down in pain while clutching a swelling bump on their heads.
"Isn't it just a banquet? Can't we just go together!"
Hearing Shirou's words, Loki frowned.
"That won't do, you know. I already said this is a Banquet of the Gods. Although there aren't any hard-and-fast rules like that, bringing a Familia along to a gathering of the deities still feels a bit strange no matter how you look at it, right?"
"Doesn't matter. Lili is a god now."
Shirou's calm words made Loki open her eyes wide in surprise.
"You... are you serious?"
Meanwhile, Shirou just gave a light chuckle: "Heh, let's go. Straight to the Banquet of the Gods."
Twilight faded, and night descended.
A bright moon floated in the sky, casting brilliant moonlight down upon the city.
In the streets and alleys of the city, the radiance of magic stone lamps and the moonlight complemented each other. There were even more people wandering the streets than during the day.
Nighttime was when the taverns and the Pleasure District flourished most.
And at this very moment, within [Babel], a banquet forbidden to mortals was taking place.
It was a special banquet belonging exclusively to the gods, one that only they could participate in.
"Hey-hey-hey, isn't that over there Takemikazuchi-kun, the representative of the broke-ass Familia!"
"Ah, isn't this Takemikazuchi, who suffers from terrible luck all year round! Why aren't you saying hello~"
"Yo-yo-yo~ Isn't this Takemikazuchi-kun! Haven't seen you in hundreds of years, how did you end up in such a state~"
"You two are quite enough!"
Compared to adventurers who even more desperately desired the unknown, it was completely normal for these gods—who came flocking upon seeing Orario, a city full of various interesting things—to swarm in.
"Waa!"
"Speaking of which, we haven't seen each other in several hundred years, right? Ever since coming to the Lower World, I've just been experiencing mortal life, and because it was so interesting, I never got around to getting in touch."
"Yeah, the last time I saw you was literally the last time!"
"Hahaha, I was just thinking that after not seeing you for so long, sure enough, you haven't changed at all!"
"Sorry to interrupt your monologue, but the venue for the 'banquet' is right here, isn't it?"
The fellows discussing topics that would definitely drop mortals' jaws in utter astonishment were precisely the deities who had descended from Heaven.
Having grown tired of the monotonous, day-in-day-out boredom of hundreds of millions of years in Heaven, the gods voluntarily sealed their divine power and came to this colorful mortal world to experience all kinds of interesting things.
Right now, they were chatting idly beneath a giant statue.
That statue was a facility of his own image built by the deity Ganesha at a massive expense.
As a side note, the entrance was located right in the center beneath his cross-legged crotch.
To mortals, it was a thoroughly bewildering behavior, but to the gods, who had already seen everything, it was endlessly interesting.
"Hahaha, what is brother Ganesha even up to?"
"Brother Ganesha really knows how to have fun!"
"As expected of you, Ganesha!"
Handsome men with peerless looks, dressed in formal attire comparable to nobility, chatted and laughed as they drilled into the entrance.
Every single one of them was a deity. Having come to the Lower World from Heaven, even though they had sealed their divine power, they still radiated a divine aura completely isolated from mortals.
They were the guests of honor at today's "Banquet of the Gods" hosted by Ganesha.
This so-called [Banquet of the Gods] was actually an opportunity for these deities who had descended to the Lower World to gather and chat once again.
In reality, this kind of divine banquet didn't have a strict limit on when it could be held; rather, whichever deity wanted to host a banquet could directly send invitations to the other deities.
Busybody deities basically wouldn't turn down any banquet.
"I am truly grateful to everyone for being able to attend today. I am Ganesha! Being able to invite all of you to this banquet moves me deeply! Of course, reminiscing is only one part; there is one more thing I'd like to ask everyone for a favor with—regarding the festival to be held three days from now, I hope to gain the assistance of everyone's [Familia]."
The interior decoration of the hall gave a calm and weighty feeling. Ganesha, dressed identically to the statue at the entrance outside, addressed the crowd.
The festival Ganesha spoke of was the "Monster Festival" held every year inside the "Arena" in the eastern part of the labyrinth city Orario.
"Everyone, for the next festival, I hope you will all come to participate!"
Ganesha concluded his banquet opening speech with his signature booming voice.
The surrounding gods were long since used to it, treating Ganesha's speech as going in one ear and out the other as they chatted and laughed amongst themselves.
Deities walked to and from across the banquet venue, conversing animatedly with old friends they hadn't seen in who knows how many hundreds of years.
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