Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Alt POV
Across Orario was a massive estate, with the estate was a large castle made out of the purest of white and black marble, only scored with golden veins of gold that were naturally present within the marble when it was first extracted. Within the beautiful castle were treasures considered ever more beautiful than the very castle and well-cared-for estate.
The ladies of the Hera Familia, which consisted of only women to begin with.
And within Hera Familia's castle, there was a meeting between five ladies. One of which was the Sword Saintess with her elegantly sitting at the marble table that was for the leaders of the Familia to come and discuss things in large meetings that would typically decide the future of the Familia in the short future.
They were discussing something very important. The Familia's mascot Materia had been slightly healed of her terrible magical sickness. So instead of collapsing within a dozen steps. She now was collapsing after whole minutes of walking around and talking to the overjoyed members of the Hera Familia.
The Sword Saintess, Eris explained softly. "We didn't really pay attention to the man who tossed the elixer to Materia." But Hera, for all that she was beautiful, was impetuous and the patient wasn't something she could be described as.
Hera was an ethereal powerful goddess, who assumed the guise of an enchanting woman in the prime of her life, her chosen forms age gracefully nestled between the late twenties and early thirties. She had cascading waves of vibrant chestnut hair that framed her face, the liveliness and shine in her hair mirroring the sparkles within her soul-catching nut-brown eyes. Adorned in a delicate, gown, her attire gently veiled her alluring figure, teasing the beholder's imagination with subtle hints of her voluptuous allure.
Hera slapped her table with her bare palm making a loud snapping noise as she dramatically pointed at the blind swordswoman before pausing. "Wait... Why the hell am I asking you to identify someone when you are fucking blind!" Hera scolded herself as she face-palmed, while Eris merely rose an eyebrow as she retorted blandly.
"Probably because you are a hopeless goddess who needs a blind woman to help find her keys to the castle doors when she loses them after five minutes."
Eris's calm and almost gentle retort visibly made Hera cringe while the other three ladies also snorted.
But before the playing around could continue another woman, one with long silver hair and heterochromia eyes one being green and the other silver, cut through the hubbub. "Eris is blind yet see's better then the rest of us... We all know, so let's move on." She said cooly before she looked at her sister Materia who flinched under her older sister's stern gaze. "What do you remember of the man who gave you the elixer or even who he was with?" She asked.
Materia, was almost a carbon match for her older sister Alfia, besides the one detail of her having only green eyes. But even with her frail countenance she still somehow had a visibly healthy body with her matching her sister's large bust and beautiful curves. Now she was visibly looking uncomfortable as she tried to recall the image of the young man who gave her that elixer.
The very elixir that once she gave the majority to that man who was cursed and poisoned by that Zeus Familia member she truly hated for being a big bully! She kinda... Got a couple of drops of the elixir onto her hand. And the elixirs she got to treat her sickness always had the stuff added to make them taste yummy...
So she kinda licked the drops of the elixir wanting to have a taste!
At Alfia coughing impatiently to get her sister's attention Materia flinched as she was knocked out of her daydreams and she hurriedly began speaking about what she remembered. "Uhm, he had blond hair!" She started and then continued with a bit more confidence. "He was probably an adventurer as he wore an armored chest plate that I think was scale mail out of...Uhh Killer Ant I think?" She continued looking a bit unsure as she herself wasn't really an adventurer so she didn't know all the materials that came from monsters.
After Alfia pointed out what Killer Ant's scale's looked like when made from the exoskeleton she hurriedly nodded as she continued. "Yes, and he had uhm... Blue eye's." She finished as that's all she could remember but then she snapped her fingers as she recalled something else.
"Oh! He was also with a Pallum, she also had blond hair and green eyes and wore a green dress with brown leggings while she was actually armed with a weird spear that had fur or something on it while the head of the spear looked like a big fang or something." She continued and the ladies nodded with some actually valuable information.
Finally, the last woman the one sitting beside Hera, a woman that looked to be in her late twenties despite being more than three hundred years old was the level nine Empress. Her name was Albion, and she had long blond hair alike Eris, but instead of being human, she was an elf with her body having matured like wine into the perfect matronly beauty that despite looking different from Hera in all manner with Hera having taken on a human form.
People still called her a clone of Hera for she had that same grace that the 'Queen of the Divines' had, not to mention her great strength that made her almost godlike in nature to the common man and woman. When people looked up to the great heroes of Orario, they looked at the level eights and seven and strode to become mirrors or something better then than those idols... No one even dared to idolize and follow the path of the Empress as she was clearly the greatest Adventurer and none except for Alfia currently alive seemed to have the talent to reach her level.
Albion's voice was like sweet honey, or the strums of a masterly tuned harp to the ear's as she softly spoke. "We do not know this young man, nor his Familia and his history... Nor can we openly look for him due to the Zeus's annoying rats could very well make an attempt on his life to suppress him as they do to other male adventurers who don't follow in their footsteps in their foolish nonsense."
Eris tapped the nail of her finger against the marble table top getting the room's attention as she spoke. "I believe I can recall his magical signature as it was rather odd how weak his magic was, for how powerful that elixer was. I will attempt to look for him either outside the dungeon or within the first floors of the dungeon as I believe him to be a lower-level adventurer... Either way, I suggest we also send ladies to the other pharmacy and healer Familia's to see if they have anyone that fit that depiction though that may put them at risk, we are also known for constantly seeking medical care for dear Materia and Alfia here." She finished with a small smile.
Hera nodded after a moment of thought and then she clapped her hands. "Alright, this meeting is adjourned, all you girls tell the others to look for this mystery man, to learn of the source of this elixir to help Materia and Alfia with their sickness."
Hera spoke before she stood up and then swiftly left the room via door behind her throne that led to one of her many bedrooms scattered across the castle.
That left the mortal Familia members within the room and the Empress Albion the captain of the Familia gently smiled as she also elegantly stood up and she walked over to give Materia a motherly loving hug with the silver-haired girl being forcibly smothered into her large breasts as Albion carefully patted her back as she spoke consolingly.
"Do not worry little Materia, we will not give up, for you are the heart of our Familia with how adorable you are." She said dotingly.
But Eris dryly cut in. "You are smothering her to death again Albion."