"I know that smell…" a voice came from behind.
It was only a heartbeat after Eina put the Soma wine to her lips.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
The sound of excited footsteps drew ever closer, as if being pulled in by the smell of the alcohol.
"Hey, you… is that Soma?!"
With that, the vermillion-haired goddess, Loki, appeared from around the corner a second later.
"She has arrived," Riveria said.
"So that's what you meant by her coming here…" Eina said, her eyes wide in surprise.
"I knew it! I knew it! That's Soma, all right! Did you get me a present, Riveria? You devoted child, you!" Loki said with a smile.
Eina took a look at the glass in her hand, the source of the mellow smell around her.
Next she looked at Loki, in awe of how well Riveria's plan to summon her had worked.
"While the wine is something I purchased a long time ago, the idea to use it here was not mine," Riveria said.
"Well then, the idea must have been Ais! And here you were acting all sad since you came back from the Dungeon! It was to keep this a surprise! Geee! Aisuuu, you are so cute!" Loki squealed with glee.
Loki was ready to jump onto Ais and give her a big hug, but an intimidating glare from the depressed girl stopped her in her tracks.
Ais's eyes were saying, Touch me and I'll slice you.
"Huh…?" Loki was confused as she took a few steps backward, sweating.
"A-Aisuu… Isn't that a little too prickly, even for you?" Loki grumbled, with slightly teary eyes.
"If you want my permission, use words I can understand. More importantly, there is someone here to see you," Ais said.
'Ah, so that's how this is going to work' Eina realized.
The person who had information about the inner workings of the Soma Familia was, in fact, the goddess Loki.
By appeasing her with rare alcohol, Loki might be willing to answer a few questions.
Directly asking a god for their opinion made Eina rather uncomfortable, but she forced herself to relax.
"Huh? Who's this girl here?" Loki asked.
"This is our first meeting, Lady Loki. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Eina Tulle. I know that my being here is very unexpected…" Eina tried introducing herself, but Loki cut her off.
"No need to be so formal. You're making my neck itchy. Talk normal, got it?"
Loki waved off Eina's formality like it was too much trouble to bother with as she turned to face her.
However, the goddess stiffened when she noticed Eina's uniform and planted her gaze firmly on the half-elf.
Her thread of a right eye opened; a catlike smile popped up on her lips.
"What's this here, a Guild employee paying my familia a house call?... Old man Ouranos, claiming neutrality and all that, yet having a dagger armed and ready. Is that how this is?" Loki teased.
"N-no, it's not! I… I…" Eina tried to explain, but the right words wouldn't come out.
"This girl is my guest. I won't allow such slander," Riveria interjected, her eyes narrowed at Loki to put the mischievous goddess in her place.
"Ah, ehh. So you are Riveria's guest, my mistake, then. Sorry about that, Einy!"
'Einy'? Eina repeated the weird nickname Loki had labeled her with, but said nothing.
It was too much of a hassle to argue with a deity.
"I-I'm fine. Please pay it no mind…" Eina replied.
Feeling Riveria's scrutinizing gaze, Loki tried to pass the moment by shrugging and laughing it off.
She then plunked herself down on the sofa.
"That's enough with keeping up appearances, let's get to it. You made Riveria bring me one of my all-time favorites, which means you want something from me. Am I right?" Loki asked, putting the pieces together.
"…Well then, I'll get right to the point. If you know any details about what goes on behind the scenes at the Soma Familia, would you be willing to tell me?" Eina replied, getting straight to the point.
"Bringing Soma for that? Ha-ha. I see how it is."
Holding the bottle in one hand, Loki rudely grabbed a glass from the table and poured her own drink.
One big gulp and a long, satisfied sigh later, Loki turned her reddening face in Eina's direction. "It's not like I got a good connection with that idiot Soma. Don't know if I have the info you want... But what the heck, I'll spill the beans on anything you want. So, what'll it be?" Loki said.
"…Do you know the reason behind the strange tendencies of the members of the Soma Familia?" Eina asked.
"Hmm, right to the good stuff, eh?… But how to explain it." Loki pondered.
She swirled the wine around in her hand a few times, watching the waves wrap around the inside of the glass.
After a few moments, she downed the remainder of the wine in one big swig.
"Got it! I'll tell you a story about me and Soma. Ah, just to be clear, the wine Soma. Not that idiot god, just to be clear."
"Ah, um, okay?" Eina replied.
"Well then… you know me, I love me some wine. Going to different shops, trying and comparing all brands every day. Getting drunk off my ass, puking, passing out… living the dream in a loop until one day… I ran into this lil' beauty, Soma." Loki began, raising the wine bottle up.
Riveria was staring at Loki with her eyes half-closed, with no notion of where the goddess was going with this.
Loki, however, didn't care, and continued her story.
"One of those fated meetings, I guess you could call it? It was love at first taste! The Soma Familia made it, but I didn't care. Went around Orario, buying their wine left 'n' right… But while I was doing that, I heard something very interesting," Loki paused, pouring herself another cup.
"Something interesting…?" Eina asked.
"Can you wrap your head around this, Eina? This wine is defective, a failure."
"What!…" Eina trembled, and Loki's smile grew deeper.
"Makes you wonder, don't it? A failure that's this good? What about the successes, huh? I had to know. Found my way to the Soma Familia's home base by myself."
Eina was shocked, and Riveria looked down on Loki with disgust.
While the two gods weren't exactly enemies, a god going directly into another's territory without being invited was almost an open invitation for an attack.
Even the gods had manners…..definitely, not all gods….but some did.
While part of this was to protect personal information, there was no reason for a member of one familia to go waltzing into another's home.
"Went up to the porch, yelling, 'SOMA! Marry me! I'm begging you!' But I was ignored, to the point of getting lonely… I was getting ticked off, so I went inside without asking."
Eina rubbed her fingers up and down her temples as though she had a bad headache.
However, the Soma Familia's lack of resistance to an intruder added to her curiosity about the members themselves.
"Place was totally silent. Not a single child anywhere. This is their home, you know? Why'd everyone be out at the same time? I could tell something wasn't right, and it gave me the chills… But I ignored it and perked up a bit. Went snooping around the whole place," Loki confessed.
"I implore you, Loki. Do not reveal any more embarrassing information," Riveria pleaded, feeling a headache rising.
"Ge-hee-hee, you're no fun, Riveria. Anyway, couldn't find the real Soma anywhere. Finally got to the point of getting fed up with it, turned to go home… and there he was, that idiot himself."
Loki lowered her head as if remembering every detail of that meeting.
Her smile vanished.
"I let out a big, friendly 'Hey, there!' and that idiot responded with only, 'Welcome.' Nothing else. It was our first time meeting, you know? Hardly ever looked at me, either, just stood there with a hoe in his hand. Was tending to his garden. Only heard about this later, but he grows all the ingredients for his wine. Ah, nothing too alarming goes in, though." Loki added, but it didn't sound very reassuring.
Loki continued to refill and drink her wine even while telling her story.
Her bright pink cheeks were getting redder by the minute.
The tone of her voice went up.
"This Soma god… really pissed me off."
"Huh?"
"Tried talking about everything, but all he did was answer 'yeah' or 'hmm' and kept on hoeing… He was implying that his shit-filled garden fertilizer was above me."
Just talking about this memory made Loki's gaze grow more and more serious.
Eina was damp with sweat.
"That god was nothing more than an indecisive, pitiful coward. But he acted like I was some dumb scarecrow and ignored me… Making me sick just thinking about it!"
"On top o' that, Einy, on top o' that!" Loki's words slurred.
"Overlooking all of that, all of his rudeness and whatnot, I still asked to taste the real 'Soma,' being real polite and everything! Even bowed to him! Me! What do you think that idiot's answer was?"
Since Loki hadn't sensed any kind of hard feelings from Soma, she thought there was a chance she could try the good stuff... if not a full bottle, then at least a cup or two.
However, Soma finally stopped working, turned to Loki for the first time, and said, "I refuse." Apparently, that was the first time he had shown any kind of emotion.
"Geeyahh! He's supposed to be on my side, but that kind of tone pissed me off more than ever!" Loki yelled, flailing her arms around in a tantrum.
"Loki, get a hold of yourself. Stop going off on tangents and get to the point," Riveria scolded.
"Hee-hee-hee."
Loki took a few quick, deep breaths to calm down before her face relaxed.
She sank back into the sofa.
"Sorry, sorry. Beating 'round the bush a bit, but I asked that idiot about his Familia. When I asked, what he said made me sick, that idiot. He's got absolutely no clue how to run a Familia, no sense at all. Like his heart wasn't in it from the start."
'His heart wasn't in it from the start…? Well then, what was his goal?'
Eina had a new train of thought take off in her mind.
"Eina, don't be thinking too hard on it. The god known as Soma has only one thing in his skull: his hobby. Plenty of those types, right? Their head's so far in the clouds, they can't see nothing else. That idiot is case number one, the ultimate example. Not barbaric or evil, just purely living for his craft. A god of pure amusement. Guess you could say he's the wise old hermit of the gods... ha-ha!" Loki joked.
There were many strange and unusual personalities among the gods, but Soma was weird even among them.
At least that was the impression Eina was picking up from Loki.
"Now, the problem is that wine, Soma. That idiot made his Familia for one reason only: his hobby. But they weren't bringing in enough money. Not enough to support his pastime, anyway….. making wine's expensive, yeah? Couldn't keep it going. What little brain he had told him to give them a prize. Something really special...… a trigger to get them to work harder."
"Don't tell me…" Eina muttered.
"Yep, that Soma. The good stuff, yeah?"
A drop of wine from her last swig started to roll down Loki's cheek.
She licked it up a second later.
"Eina, you drank the failure, so you probably know, but the real stuff isn't playing around. It takes you. Not talking about getting hammered out of your mind, now. The deepest part of your soul, the spirit, gets taken. Like it takes hold of the mind and body, like they're not your own."
Whoosh!
A sudden chill ran through Eina.
She thought back to the warm, elated feeling she had gotten from drinking the failure before.
Her senses had been swept away by the wine, in a good way.
Her spirits had been lifted.
Something even more euphoric than that?
Goosebumps quietly erupted on her skin beneath her uniform.