The Guild was not ready.
To be fair, no one is ever ready. Especially when Hel was involved.
The receptionist at the front desk took one look at the trio and immediately straightened like she was about to be inspected by the gods themselves.
…Which she was.
“W-Welcome to the Guild,” she squeaked. “How may we assist you today?”
Hel stepped forward with the regal calm of someone asking for extra napkins.
“I require land,” she said.
The receptionist blinked. “L-Land…?”
“For my familia headquarters,” Hel clarified. “Also a workshop. Preferably a full forge layout with high-grade isolation wards and a hazardous-material zone.”
The receptionist’s quill stopped mid-scratch.
“…Wards?” she echoed slowly. “What are those?”
Hel blinked once, as if she’d forgotten other people did not simply know these things.
“Magical reinforcement barriers,” she explained. “Danger-containment fields. Structural stabilizers. Noise dampeners. Heat-redirecting circuits. Anti-explosion buffers.” She gestured casually toward Ruby. “She requires them.”
Ruby smiled nervously. “I don’t mean to explode things. It just kind of… happens.”
“Those sound like very advanced magic Hel… Can you tell me more about them?” Hepestatus states
Hel turned her head toward Hephaestus, giving the goddess a calm, almost instructional look — the exact expression of a teacher deciding how much reality a student could survive in one sitting.
“They are standard,” Hel said simply.
“Standard for where?” Hephaestus demanded, gesturing incredulously. “Because nothing you just listed exists in Orario.”
Hel considered this for half a heartbeat.
“Huh, i guess they might not be here. Huh, Ill have to introduce them eventually then.” Hel states
Hel said it with the casual tone of someone announcing she might try a new soup recipe one of these days.
The entire guild front desk went still.
Hephaestus stared at her as if Hel had just threatened to reinvent metallurgy from the ground up.
Hestia made a soft, wheezing noise in the background.
Ruby raised her hand very timidly. “…Um… Hel? What does ‘eventually’ mean?”
“After the paperwork, an we get the forge an the house set up. How would you like to be the first ever runesmith?” Hel asks causing Hepheastus to let out a whine.
The receptionist, who was now three seconds from a stress-induced coma, forced a shaky smile.
“W-Well! Ahaha… m-maybe we should just… um… look at available properties first…?”
Hel nodded serenely. “Yes. Bring me the listings.”
The receptionist scrambled into action like her life depended on it. Within moments she returned with a thick binder labeled PROPERTY OPTIONS – ORARIO (Updated Weekly) and slapped it onto the counter with the reverence of presenting a holy text.
“O-Okay! Here we have the available buildings for purchase or renovation,” she said, flipping it open. “Most familias start small, so there are modest homes, refurbished storefront properties, and several mixed-use plots—”
Hel leaned forward. “Show me the ones with the most space.”
The receptionist blinked. “…Space?”
“Yes,” Hel said. “Large yards. Structural freedom. Ideally something far from residential areas.”
Ruby waved her hands frantically. “I’m not that dangerous!”
The receptionist did not look convinced. She began flipping through listings faster, visibly sweating.
“W-We have several unused lots at the edge of the city! They’re very affordable because they’re… um… extremely far from everything!”
Hel shook her head. “Too far. Ruby needs regular access to the dungeon, the guild, and normal social stimuli.”
Ruby blinked. “I do?”
“Yes,” Hel replied, as if this were obvious. “Otherwise you will become feral.”
Ruby sputtered. “I— I’m not—”
The receptionist jumped ahead, eager to escape this topic.
“W-We also have some properties closer in! Ah— here!” She pointed frantically at a cluster on the map. “Three adjacent buildings for sale near the Hostess of Fertility!”
Hestia leaned forward. “Oh, those! They’ve been empty for ages. Good structures, lots of room, decent location!”
Hephaestus crossed her arms. “They’d have to come down and you would need a new building built.”
Ruby perked up. “Close to the Hostess? That means food!”
Hel nodded approvingly.
“I will take them.”
The receptionist froze mid-blink. “…All three?”
“Yes. I require a headquarters, a forge, and overflow space.” Hel said it like she was listing groceries.
The receptionist swallowed hard. “A-All three buildings together come to—”
Hel reached into her side pouch, an pulled out a sac that was much bigger than said pouch.
The sack hit the counter with a metallic CLANNNNG, the kind of sound usually associated with someone dropping a fully armored dwarf.
The receptionist flinched hard enough to knock over her ink pot.
Hephaestus leaned over instinctively.
Hestia leaned over nosily.
Ruby leaned over because everyone else did.
The receptionist opened the sack…
…and immediately stopped breathing.
Not figuratively. Literal, spiritual freeze-frame.
Because inside was nothing but gold bars.
“Do you… do you even want to hear the price?”
“No,” Hel said. “But you will give me a receipt.”
The poor woman nodded with such frantic obedience she nearly sprained her neck.
She fumbled through papers with trembling fingers.
“T-The three buildings are yours, Lady Hel. We’ll file the transfer immediately, a-and the deed will be delivered by courier. Please don’t— I mean, thank you for your patronage.”
Ruby leaned toward Hel and whispered, “Um… we could’ve haggled…”
Hel shook her head.
“No. The quicker it’s done, the quicker you can have a safe workspace. And the quicker I can move out of my parent’s place…”
Hestia blinked. “…You mean Loki?”
Hel sighed with the bone-deep exhaustion of someone who had lived through every one of Loki’s shenanigans twice.
“Yes. Loki. My parent.”
A beat.
“I love her. I do. But, I can tell she still is kinda scared of the prophecy acting up again. An I will indirectly kill her familia this time.”
“I am the goddess of death, I am a child of Loki. I was one of the few responsible for Ragnarok, I mean it ended after Fen and Granpa died. An luckiley we didnt create the dungeon that was the greeks.”