Due to Wiene's presence, Charles and Stella had to cut their expedition short. Bringing Wiene with them, they returned to the Hephaestus Familia's headquarters. Stella took Wiene to her room, while Charles retreated to his own.
Charles hadn't yet decided what to do about Wiene.
Letting her return to her kind, as in the original story, wasn't necessarily a bad option.
But Charles felt that, with him around, Wiene could have better choices.
She didn't need to be trapped in the Dungeon. She could bask in the sunlight aboveground, see the vast world.
Because he was here—no one could hurt her.
His only concern was that sheltering Wiene might bring trouble to the Hephaestus Familia.
Since the gods descended to the lower world, only by entering the Dungeon could they interact with monsters.
And adventurers, in pursuit of fame and fortune, dove into the Dungeon to slay those monsters. Dying to a monster's claws wasn't something one could complain about.
But humans weren't purely rational. Especially after losing a loved one, they naturally projected hatred onto monsters.
The age of monster rampages had long since passed, but fear and hatred of them had been passed down through generations.
If people learned that Charles was harboring a monster, he would be surrounded by enemies. Hephaestus' position would become quite difficult.
Charles sighed. It seemed he'd have to speak with Hephaestus about it first—to give her time to prepare.
Unfortunately, the other path he'd been working on still lacked direction. If it were complete, all of this could be resolved more easily.
Thinking of that, Charles retrieved a notebook from his ring—a journal of magical research focused on reviving Igneel.
This was the "other path" he had in mind: to apply part of this research to Wiene. If it succeeded, she would have a new life—at the very least, no longer ostracized for her appearance.
After studying in so many worlds, the theoretical aspects of the research were quite complete.
But unfortunately, Charles had never tested it. Whether it could actually be realized was still unknown.
That was what troubled him most. Not just for Wiene—reviving Igneel wouldn't be possible through theory alone.
Yet experimentation was not so easily done. For one, Charles lacked the skill for practical testing. More importantly, he lacked test subjects.
Charles would never stoop to experimenting on others without consent. Any technique developed through such means would never be worthy of reviving Igneel.
Putting the notebook away, Charles sighed again. Every problem had a solution—he just needed to focus on the one before him.
With that thought, he lay down on his bed.
The next morning, before he could even approach Hephaestus, she came looking for him.
Staring straight into his eyes, she said, "What exactly happened yesterday?"
Sensing something off, Charles replied, "I should be asking you that, Lady Hephaestus. What happened to make you so serious?"
She sighed and said, "You really don't know? Yesterday, members of the Icarus Familia were going around saying you stole their prey."
"That's not a small thing. Violating Guild regulations openly could cause serious trouble."
Charles truly hadn't expected the Icarus Familia, who were involved in illegal poaching, to have the gall to stir up trouble publicly.
Still, it wasn't a dire situation—not unless Wiene's existence was exposed. That would be the real disaster.
Charles was confident they hadn't seen him take Wiene, but he couldn't rule out that they might suspect it.
He looked at Hephaestus and said, "Lady Hephaestus, please calm down. There's more I need to tell you about this."
…
In Stella's room, Hephaestus sat on a chair, her expression weary as she stared at the three before her. Her seriousness made Wiene shrink behind Stella in fear.
"So, you found an intelligent monster in the Dungeon, rescued her from the Icarus Familia, and then brought her to the surface!"
Charles said with a grin, "As expected of you, Lady Hephaestus. You understood it all so quickly."
"Don't give me that crap!"
Hephaestus looked ready to hurl her teacup at his face.
"Why didn't you come talk to me about something this important sooner!?"
Charles scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Well, we came back pretty late, and I didn't want to disturb your rest…"
Hephaestus sighed for what must've been the hundredth time that day. She didn't even have the energy to get angry anymore.
"So based on your theory, Ouranos knows about these sentient monsters?"
Charles nodded. "Rather than thinking Wiene is an exception, I believe intelligent monsters aren't unique.
With Ouranos guarding the Dungeon, he couldn't possibly be unaware of its abnormalities. That also explains why we've never heard anything about this before."
Hephaestus was familiar with that god's ways, and it did make sense.
She asked, "So what are you planning to do next? You realize that child is still a monster. There's no place for her in Orario.
If she's exposed, even you will be in danger."
Charles smiled and patted Wiene's head. "I've already considered that. But if this child has feelings and a soul like ours, then I can't just abandon her."
Hephaestus' expression softened. "If you're saying that, I won't argue anymore.
If anyone wants to cause trouble, let them try."
Her meaning was perfectly clear: once again, she would support Charles like she always had.
Charles was genuinely touched. "Don't worry. I won't let it get to that point."
Hephaestus suddenly furrowed her brows. "Then the immediate problem is how to deal with the Icarus Familia.
If what you say is true, and they're really poaching, then things might actually be simpler."
Charles nodded. "All we need is evidence. Once we have that, they'll be too busy cleaning up their own mess to bother us.
When we raided the dark factions before, we didn't manage to catch them in the act. Otherwise, I'd have dealt with them already."
Everyone knew—though it wasn't spoken aloud—that the Icarus Familia had ties to the dark factions.
Especially after the Fallen Spirit incident, it had become clear that the dark factions were using the artificial labyrinth for their activities.
And the Icarus Familia's most notorious adventurer, Dix, was a descendant of Daedalus, the one who had created those labyrinths.
Unfortunately, they'd never found hard proof linking the Familia to the dark factions' actions.
But now that they'd come at Charles directly, he had every reason to strike back.
All he had to do was find the transfer point where the Icarus Familia moved monsters and expose their crimes—then take them down completely.
Seeing that Charles already had a plan, Hephaestus didn't say any more. Charles' past actions had earned her full trust.
The Daedalus Eye, the key to the artificial labyrinth recovered from the dark factions, was stored in Charles' workshop. He intended to retrieve it and begin a thorough search.
But just as he stepped out of the mansion, a figure appeared around the corner.
It was a young man who looked extremely frail, his back hunched, his posture sluggish. Yet his face wore an unsettling grin that instantly made people uncomfortable.
Charles could clearly sense the divine aura around him. Despite appearances, this was undeniably a genuine god.
"Lord Icarus," Charles said without hesitation, "to what do I owe the pleasure?" He had already guessed why this person had shown up.
(End of Chapter)
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