Chương 49: Blue Pharmacy and an Unhappy Miss Naaza

Everyone's first impression of Cael was very good. He was open, sunny, and broad-minded, and he seemed easy to get along with. Cael put the gift Rengoku brought into the basement. Inside were only some dried saury, which did indeed count as a local specialty. After that, everyone followed Cael onto Orario's streets and curiously looked around as if they were cats seeing themselves in a mirror for the first time. The style here was completely different from the country they came from.

Everything felt new, just as it had to Cael when he first arrived.

"Whoa! So many pretty ladies, and their clothes are so revealing." Zenitsu saw several boldly dressed Amazon adventurers and immediately squealed shyly, covering his face with both hands while peeking through his fingers.

"Ohhh! That person is so strong. Those muscles are huge, and he has ears like a boar. Is he a true lord of the mountains?" Inosuke saw a Boaz adventurer and shouted.

"That beautiful lady with green hair has pointed ears. So pretty."

"Wow..."

"What corner did you two country bumpkins crawl out of? Stop shouting like hicks and making everyone endure the embarrassing stares you are attracting!" Lili could not take it anymore and pointed at Zenitsu and Inosuke's noses as she scolded them in disgust. Were these really members of Hestia Familia? No, from what she had heard, they were not members yet. They were people from outside Orario. Still, the idea of a cowardly bumpkin and a shouting boar-head becoming Mr. Cael's companions was too embarrassing.

"You two brats, shut your mouths!" Tengen also could not endure it and shouted angrily.

"Your whining is too loud!"

"Ah! That scared me!"

"Yeah! You scared me too!"

"They are about the same as I was when I first arrived." Cael covered his face with one hand, then turned to the confused group.

"Do you see that tower reaching toward the sky? That is Babel. A thousand years ago, the great god Ouranos built it with human heroes to seal the great underground labyrinth."

"God Ouranos? When my eyes could still see, I read mythological books brought by foreign missionaries. Ouranos is the sky god in Greek mythology, the king of the gods. It is a pity I cannot see now. I would truly have liked to witness such a miracle." Kagaya spoke gently, a trace of regret in his voice. Cael smiled and continued.

"More than a thousand years ago, monsters crawled out of the Dungeon and threatened the world. Lamias, ogres, hydras, minotaurs, and other monsters from myth. The gods led human heroes to defeat them and drive them back into the labyrinth." Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"The heroes' blood and fire, love and hatred, drew the gods' interest. So the gods chose to seal their divine power and descend to the surface to live with the children of the lower world, sharing their love and hatred."

"Children granted a god's blessing become part of that god's Familia. Those who receive Falna can enter the Dungeon, defeat monsters, and write new heroic epics."

"By fighting monsters, people obtain great feats and constantly break through their own potential to grow stronger."

"And my goddess is Hestia, one of the Twelve Olympians in Greek myth. She has only just descended to the lower world, and I am her first Familia member. Does everyone understand now?" Cael looked toward the group, who had fallen into thought.

"I understand. As expected, the Flame Hashira's ability to explain things was lacking." Tengen folded his arms and nodded.

"I agree. Earlier, he made my head hurt, and I still did not understand," Obanai said with a nod.

"I did not understand the Flame Hashira's explanation either," Shinobu agreed. Giyu said nothing, but nodded as well.

"Everyone thought the same thing at once. Poor Mr. Rengoku." Mitsuri thought shyly to herself.

"Yes. My ability to explain is lacking. I will train it properly." Rengoku was not discouraged at all and spoke loudly with full energy.

"Wait... Is that the important part? Are we focusing on the wrong thing?" Zenitsu muttered speechlessly.

"Namu Amida Butsu. I see. How merciful the gods are." Gyomei pressed his palms together, and tears flowed from his eyes again.

"These people are so strange. A huge man who keeps crying, an expressionless man, a misty-eyed man, a man with too much energy, a scar-covered and irritable man, a man wrapped in a snake with mismatched eyes, and one man covered in a curse. No wonder Mr. Cael said they were difficult to handle. One of them would already give an ordinary person a headache." Lili followed beside Cael and frowned inwardly. She started feeling sorry for Mr. Cael.

"We are almost there. That is the home of Lord Miach's Familia." Cael looked toward an old shop not far away and smiled. Miach Familia's home was Blue Pharmacy, at the end of Adventurers Way. Miach Familia had once been a mid-tier Familia, one of Orario's two major potion sellers alongside Dian Cecht Familia. The two had been rivals. However, when Naaza Erisuis was injured in the Dungeon and lost her right hand, Miach spent nearly everything he had to create a prosthetic for her.

Because of the financial crisis, the other members left. From that point on, the once mid-tier Familia declined into a small Familia. Even the pharmacies that had once spread through Orario were reduced to one shop, and because they could not afford rent, they had moved to this worn-down place near the end of Adventurers Way, almost like a slum. Soon, everyone arrived at an old wooden storefront. The Familia emblem hanging above the shop showed healthy human limbs.

A dog-eared girl with a loyal hound-like air was minding the shop. When she saw so many people approach, her eyes brightened at once.

"What do you need? Healing Potions run from one thousand to fifty thousand, Magic recovery potions from fifteen hundred to sixty thousand, Mind recovery potions from two thousand to one hundred thousand, antidotes from three thousand to one hundred thousand, and Elixirs are six hundred thousand each."

"Hello, Miss Naaza Erisuis. I am Cael from Hestia Familia. I would like to visit Lord Miach." Cael spoke politely. Miach had helped him last time, and Cael still had not thanked him in person. That help had also saved Rengoku in a roundabout way. Gratitude was gratitude, but why were these potion prices a little higher than Dian Cecht's? Was this price gouging?

"Oh. So you are not here to buy anything." Disappointment immediately filled Naaza's eyes. Then her gaze sharpened and locked onto him.

"Cael? So you are the one. Lord Miach mentioned you." Lord Miach had given Goddess Hestia several high-grade Healing Potions for free to heal her first child. Those were worth hundreds of thousands of valis. The Familia's finances had tightened again. How frustrating.

"Uh..." Cael started sweating under her stare. Why did her expression look like he owed her money?

"Hm? Isn't this Hestia's child, Cael? Meeting you here is a surprise. Did you come to Miach's shop to buy potions? And you brought so many people. Are these Hestia's new children?" A voice came from behind him. Cael turned and saw a god dressed in white ceremonial clothing with black hair tied into angular tufts. Beside him stood Miach, the god of medicine, whose appearance and bearing were like a noble young man despite his plain clothes.

"So it is you, Hestia's child."

"Lord Takemikazuchi. Lord Miach. It is good to see you." Cael quickly turned and greeted the two gods politely.