Forge and Steel

**Loki Familia Residence**

"Hey, Pyrion, do you think this meeting is due to the recent movements of the dark faction?"

Walking through the halls of the Loki residence toward the meeting room, Tsubaki looked at Pyrion, who was walking alongside her and Hephaistos. There was a certain concern in her voice, though she tried to keep a casual tone.

"I guess so," Pyrion replied, adjusting his blue haori and the black vest he was wearing. "With the increase in attacks and murders, it seems like it's something we can no longer ignore. All of Orario is on high alert."

(Pyrion's clothes are the same as Benimaru's from *Fire Force*.)

"Tsk, it's really a headache," Tsubaki clicked her tongue, placing her hand on her face with irritation.

In recent days, the dark faction's activities had become much more aggressive. Their attacks were no longer confined to the dungeon; now they were directly affecting the city, spreading chaos and insecurity throughout Orario. In light of the situation's gravity, the Loki Familia had called for a meeting with all the high-level families. Although they hadn't specified the reason, Pyrion could guess they would address this issue.

"Forget it, let's leave this in the hands of the Loki and Freya families. We'll just help out wherever we can," Hephaistos, who had been listening attentively, commented from the side.

The Hephaistos Familia, being an industrial family rather than an exploration or security one, had no obligation to take the lead in the upcoming potential battle.

"I agree," Pyrion nodded in agreement with Hephaistos' words. No one knew better than him how dangerous the times ahead would be. Therefore, with his own selfish thoughts, he preferred his family to stay away from the looming chaos.

"This way, you can enter the meeting room, Hephaistos-sama," the adventurer who had been guiding them stopped in front of a sturdy door and gestured for them to enter.

**CREAK**

With a screech, the large door opened, allowing the group of three to see who had already gathered in the room. It seemed they had arrived just at the right moment—neither too late nor too early. Inside, the Loki Familia, the Astrea Familia, the Ganesha Familia, and the Demeter Familia were already present, along with a few lesser-known families.

"Hephaistos-san, welcome!" Demeter greeted enthusiastically from her seat near the door.

"Hey, Hephaistos, you're a little late," Loki said with her usual mocking smile and a mischievous tone.

"HA-HA-HA, WELCOME! I AM GANESHA!" Ganesha exclaimed with his usual energy, filling the room with his voice.

Hephaistos returned the greetings with a smile, grateful for the warmth of her companions. Without further delay, she headed to one of the empty seats at the table.

"Alright, now we just need Freya, and we can begin the meeting." With Loki's words, everyone relaxed while waiting.

However, despite the apparent calm from her goddess and Tsubaki, Pyrion felt quite uncomfortable. The reason? Since entering the room, he had noticed several resentful looks from some of the Loki Familia members.

The resentful gaze from Riveria didn't bother him much—after all, with her beautiful face, Pyrion could even say she was somewhat cute. The problem was the glare from Goddess Loki, who seemed like she wanted to tear him apart.

Pyrion's lips trembled slightly. He knew exactly where that resentment came from, but there was little he could do about it. As someone with experience from the 21st century, he understood very well that the market was governed by supply and demand.

And, to the misfortune of others in Orario, he controlled the supply on behalf of the Hephaistos Familia. So, although he felt some sympathy, giving up those profits would go against his nature as a former member of a capitalist country.

Yes, yes, call him a black-hearted blacksmith.

It would all be for the future of the Hephaistos Familia.

Pyrion continued to clean his guilty conscience, thinking to himself.

"It seems Loki is still resentful about your exorbitant prices," Hephaistos, who didn't know about her son's internal struggle, commented with a playful tone as she observed Loki's resentful gaze.

It should be noted that Hephaistos hadn't initially agreed to charge such high prices for her Familia's weapons. However, after a long financial lesson from Pyrion on how supply and demand worked and the importance of monopolies, Hephaistos had no choice but to give in.

Of course, she did make a few concessions, such as only charging high prices for first and second-level weapons, while third-class and lower weapons kept their original price.

"I think it's a fair price," Pyrion nodded firmly, not feeling ashamed.

"Forget it, I won't criticize the price," Hephaistos shrugged. "After all, it's your own hard work. Though... that 5% interest on sales... well, let's just say rumors are already circulating that we're some kind of gangsters."

"WHAT!? Who said that, Hephaistos? Just tell me their name, I'll sue them for defamation!" Pyrion exclaimed indignantly. Of course, in Orario, legal suits didn't exactly exist, so what he really wanted was to find the person who dared speak like that and give them a beating.

"I don't remember..." Hephaistos, who knew Pyrion like the back of her hand, quickly guessed his intentions. While Pyrion was kind and virtuous with his family, he tended to act like a gangster with strangers.

"Bah, don't worry, Hephaistos. I'll find the source of the rumors and bring justice," Pyrion muttered, mentally noting the "defamers" he would deal with later.

"Hey, look, there's that old bastard Goibniu." Tsubaki, who had been paying attention to the door, suddenly tugged on Pyrion's sleeve while pointing to a dwarf who was entering the room.

"WHAT!? That smelly old man dares to show his face in front of me!" Like a dog spotting a cat, Pyrion immediately became fierce at the sight of the old man.

"Let's go, Tsubaki, let's cause some trouble!" Without hesitation, Pyrion eagerly rushed toward the old man, eager to show the power of the Hephaistos Familia.

"Sure!" Tsubaki didn't hesitate. Having spent so much time with Pyrion, she naturally adopted some of his gangster behavior.

"Come here, you two!" Grabbing both troublemakers by the neck, Hephaistos shot them an angry look.

"Hey, Hephaistos, I'm just going to talk about blacksmithing with the old man, I swear I won't kick him again," Pyrion protested, looking innocently at his goddess.

"Yes, Hephaistos, we'll just share blacksmithing experiences," Tsubaki also played along with the act.

"Ha-ha, yeah, sure, you think I don't know you two," Hephaistos replied with a half-smile, her gaze full of mockery. After all, she had raised them both, and it was impossible not to know that they were just looking for trouble.

The little commotion caught the attention of the others, who, after a quick glance, quickly understood the cause.

It was well known in Orario that the Hephaistos and Goibniu families were like oil and water, always in constant competition for the title of the best blacksmithing family.

The relationship between Goibniu and Pyrion was even worse. Since Pyrion had gone to cause trouble in the Goibniu Familia, challenging their blacksmiths and crushing them decisively, God Goibniu had held a grudge. Unwilling to swallow his anger, Goibniu had challenged Pyrion the next day, humiliating him in the competition.

From there, the competition repeated over and over, with Pyrion always losing. Filled with frustration, he decided to take Tsubaki and bring her to the Goibniu Familia so that she could defeat all their blacksmiths at once.

Since then, a strong rivalry between both families had formed, mostly fueled by Pyrion and Goibniu.

Goibniu, who had also heard the noise, turned to see what was going on, quickly spotting Pyrion's fierce face. Immediately, Goibniu's face also turned fierce, and raising his middle finger, he made a universal gesture.

"Damn dwarf, do it in front of me if you have the guts," Pyrion growled, veins bulging from his forehead. If it weren't for Hephaistos's strong hands holding him back, he would have rushed to cause trouble.

(If you think it's strange for a mortal to hit a god in *Danmachi*, remember scenes like Riveria constantly hitting Loki or Alfia also beating up Zeus.)

After making his universal gesture, Goibniu didn't continue causing trouble. After all, the other party was stronger, and he didn't want to get kicked again.

"Fufufu, Goibniu and Pyrion-chan have such a good relationship," commented Demeter, laughing sensually as her large chest bounced, enjoying the scene.

"Well, although they sometimes take things to the extreme, you can see that they respect each other as blacksmiths," the elegant and beautiful Goddess of Justice, Astrea, nodded in agreement with Demeter's words with a smile.

After a few more insults, Pyrion sat back in his seat with a grumpy face, rubbing his arm that seemed to have the mark of a pinch.

"Really, you two can't behave," Hephaistos lamented his complicated situation, holding a hand to his forehead.

"It's all that old man's fault, he clearly started it," Tsubaki weakly complained, rubbing her arm where she'd also been pinched.

"Hmph." With a sigh, Hephaistos ended the topic.

"Jajaja, Pyrion-san, still can't let go of your grudge with the god Goibniu?" A beautiful girl with blue hair approached Pyrion, laughing playfully.

"Hey, Shakti, you know... old and new grudges," Pyrion replied with a resentful face, greeting Shakti casually.

"Hehe, I guess I understand," she said with a smile, showing a calm expression.

"By the way... I heard your gendarmerie has been having trouble, is that true?" Changing the subject, Pyrion asked Shakti, the captain of the Ganesha familia, with interest.

"Don't even get me started," Shakti responded with clear resentment. "Those damn lunatics from the dark faction have made my job twice as hard." Her expression darkened at the mention of the dark faction, and Pyrion could clearly see the irritation on her face.

"Sounds tough," Pyrion commented, nodding in understanding.

"Before, they were just limited to the dungeon, so we only had to monitor the entrances and exits," Shakti explained, rubbing her temple with one hand, clearly stressed. "But now they've started attacking some establishments and even tried to sabotage our security stations."

"They've even attacked you directly?" Pyrion, visibly surprised, furrowed his brow. He had thought that things with the dark faction were just beginning to heat up, but it seemed the situation had escalated much more quickly than he'd imagined.

"That's right, I hope we can reach a consensus on these people today, I feel like if we keep ignoring it, a great disaster could fall on Orario," Shakti said seriously, voicing her concerns.

"Don't worry, we'll do what we can to help," Pyrion said, gently patting Shakti's shoulder to console her.

"Eh? Oh, hehe, I appreciate your help," Shakti said, her tone lightening slightly. However, Pyrion's soft voice and the touch on her shoulder made her blush slightly.

"The Freya familia is here!"

The adventurer's announcement cut through the awkward moment between Shakti and Pyrion, and with that, the powerful Freya familia made their entrance.

With the natural nobility and sensuality that radiated from her as the goddess of beauty, Freya walked confidently, her beautiful smile instantly capturing the attention of many men in the room. Behind her, the imposing figure of Ottar followed closely.

"It's about time you arrived, Freya," Loki said with an unpleasant look, her tone filled with complaints as Freya took a seat at the main table.

"Fufu, sorry, dear Loki. Something important delayed me," Freya responded with a superficial smile, paying little attention to Loki's obvious reproach.

"Hmph, forget it... well, now that we're all here, let's start this meeting!" Though clearly annoyed by Freya's attitude, Loki didn't lose her composure and quickly began the meeting, her voice firm and decisive.

...

Some have asked me how I plan to handle romance in this work, and honestly, I'm still not sure. However, unlike my previous work, I'm not opposed to the idea of a harem here. So, if you all want it, I can implement it. But let me say that, at most, I would include 3 women in the harem.

Here are some of my possible options:

- Riveria

- Shakti

- Ryu

- Tiona

- Tione

- Asfi