Sylphid's Happiness Revisited

Interlude Chapter 1

The entirety of the Hestia Familia, besides Bell, sat around the main dining table. It was large enough to hold forty people, but now it only held five. It was quiet as they ate the morning breakfast that Mikoto and Haruhime had prepared.

Hestia and Lili looked like they hadn't slept at all, worried and angry that Bell had taken off with Ryu and didn't at least tell them. If it wasn't for the letter from Ouranos, Hestia would've banned Bell from leaving the home for a week. Not that she would've truly enforced it on her captain. She knew she had made several rules for the familia based on her emotions, for example not allowing any physical contact between different sexes when she saw Bell helping Haruhime with the laundry.

She never really enforced any of those rules, but Bell would hear all about it when they got back. Hestia sighed and looked at the rest of the table. "Well, what are the plans for today? I'm guessing they'll be gone for at least three days."

Lili's mood seemed to drop even further when Hestia spoke, "Lili thinks we should head into the dungeon to gain some money. We will need to pay the fine the guild levied against us. We have enough to pay for it now, but it will be... uncomfortable on our finances." While Lili was the unofficial accountant for the Familia, everybody knew the generals about the numbers.

"I agree. Plus, it will give us some time to stretch after our time recovering from the expedition." Welf spoke up, surprising everyone.

"What? You don't want to stay cooped up in the forge? You just learned how to make the swords and isn't Master Bell's armor almost done." Lili spoke, not having expected this.

Welf locked eyes with her, "Yes, and Yes, but Bell isn't here to help me put the finishing touches on the armor. As for the swords... well as much as I dislike them, they are going to be expensive to make. Remember what I had to use to make the one in the dungeon? That was Adamantine, I don't think I'm going to be able to get a massive amount of the metal. Maybe others like Mythril will work, but those are almost just as expensive."

Lili nearly fainted at the thought of the financial burden making the new series of unbreakable magic swords with cost. Especially because they are not going to sell them, it would be too dangerous to allow one of those wild into the world.

"Alright then, you make good points. Let's head into the dungeon." Mikoto spoke, looking at the others. "Do we want to invite our allies to explore with us?"

Lili thought for a second, as she was essentially third in command after Bell and Welf. "... No, let's not. Sure, we won't make as much progress, but we would have to split everything up evenly through the Familia's. Otherwise, it wouldn't feel... fair."

Haruhime, the almost always upbeat soul of the Familia smiled, "Alright then consider that it's only a bit after 7 do we want to go and find a quest or something from the guild before heading into the dungeon?"

"Very well." Welf stood and stretched out his shoulders, "Meet at the front door in fifteen minutes." He said marching off towards the equipment shed attached to the smithy.

"Come on, Haruhime. Let's go get ready." Mikoto stated, moving out of the room and headed for their room.

Lili looked at Hestia as they were the only two in the room now. "Lady Hestia, what are you planning on doing? I believe you have today off right?"

Hestia nodded, then sighed again. "Yes, that's correct, I was debating on bothi... talking to Miach. That or starting to work on some of the paperwork I've been avoiding."

Lili understood the stack of papers was almost a foot and a half tall. "Lili would advise you to go through the paperwork before it grows too tall. Then bothering Miach this afternoon that way you have something to look forward to while working."