Chapter 275: Tsubaki: My suggestion is to surrender ()

Northeastern Orario.

A woman with black hair and red eyes, wearing an eyepatch on her left eye and a slender figure, walked into a huge building that looked like a volcano.

After greeting the people she met along the way, she walked deep inside to the innermost room, pushed open the door, and walked straight in.

"Good morning, Hephaestus."

Raising the small bag in her hand to gesture, Tsubaki asked.

"This is freshly bought potato maru, do you want to eat?"

"Put it on the table first."

Hephaestus, who was approving documents, looked up.

"You should have heard about what happened last night."

"Ma~ the matter made such a big noise, of course I heard."

Putting down the bag of potato maru that belonged to Hephaestus, Tsubaki replied while eating her own share.

"It was clearly just a small Familia that was just created, but it conquered two medium-sized Familias "660" overnight."

"Coming aggressively, I always feel that the other party will cause quite a stir in Orario next."

Hephaestus shook her head: "No need to feel, the stir the other party has caused is already big enough."

"Hmm? Just two Familias, it shouldn't be that much."

Swallowing the food in her mouth, Tsubaki asked curiously: "Could it be that there is something I don't know?"

"Hmm, look for yourself."

Hephaestus handed over the letter in her hand.

Although compared to forces like the Adventurer Guild and the Loki Familia that got the news first, the speed at which she got the news was a bit slow.

But compared to those who only knew a little bit and didn't know the specific process at all, Hephaestus got the whole truth.

This naturally includes the matter of Alfia and the Astraea Familia.

"People who should have died have come back to life..."

After reading the letter in her hand, Tsubaki showed an emotional look: "This is truly incredible."

"Resurrection from the dead is not the point."

Hephaestus shook her head: "The real point is how we should respond next."

"Lin Que's Familia is currently a National-type Familia and can launch attacks at will for the next month."

"With the help of Alfia and the Astraea Familia, even the Freya Familia has little chance of winning."

"If the other party launches an attack on us, we must be well prepared."

"Why don't we just surrender."

Tsubaki shrugged: "No matter how I think about it, we can't win."

"If we really face that Silent Witch, I will only be killed in one move."

"You are too negative."

Hephaestus shook her head: "At least we have to resist."

"Later, you send people to the Loki Familia, Freya Familia, and Ganesha Familia to walk around and see the other party's attitude."

"If there is a tendency to unite, we will join in and fight against Lin Que's Familia together."

"Good idea."

Tsubaki nodded and asked again: "What if Lin Que's Familia attacks before that?"

"It shouldn't be that fast."

Hephaestus replied: "It's only the second day today, even if the other party takes action..."

BOOM—!

"God Hephaestus! Captain Tsubaki! Something big is wrong!"

The room door was slammed open, and a member of the Hephaestus Familia ran in.

"People from Lin Que's Familia have attacked! They named you two to go out and welcome them!"

Hephaestus: "......"

This slap in the face came a bit too quickly, didn't it?

Although she really wanted to curse Chun for being a jinx, Hephaestus also understood that this matter couldn't be blamed on her.

After sighing in helplessness, Hephaestus took Chun directly to the entrance of their headquarters.

"You must be Lin Que."

After sizing up this man who was completely unfamiliar and whom she had never seen during the Heaven era, Hephaestus asked.

"Coming to our Familia's doorstep first thing in the morning, are you looking to place an order for some custom weapons?"

"There's no need to play dumb."

A look of mockery appeared on Lin Que's face: "You should be very clear about the purpose of my visit at this time."

"......Are you going to start a war?"

"Calling it a war isn't actually accurate."

Lin Que smiled and corrected her: "Your chances of winning are zero; that much is beyond doubt."

"There are two options currently laid out before you."

"Send someone to fight Alfia, then get defeated and surrender."

"Surrender directly and join my ranks to work for me."

"You have one minute to think it over carefully and then choose one to tell me."

"......It seems a friendly resolution is impossible."

Hephaestus began to feel a headache.

Unlike the indiscriminate attacks by the Evil Party, Lin Que was launching this attack through the legitimate method of a national-type Familia.

With so much time having passed, even if someone noticed something was wrong, it was unlikely anyone would come to help in the short term.

"Those guys at the Guild really dumped a huge problem on me."

After reaching a silent consensus with Apollo from last night, Hephaestus turned her head to look at her captain.

"Chun, what do you say?"

"It's not that we can't deal with it."

Chun replied: "We have magic swords stored in our warehouse; should we take them out to use?"

Hephaestus shook her head: "No."

"This is inside the city; if we use magic swords on a large scale, it will easily affect others."

And more importantly, the magic swords might not necessarily be effective.

Being able to stir up so much trouble, Lin Que was naturally no fool, and it was even less likely he would gamble on them not daring to use magic swords.

Swaggering over with Alfia in tow, it was obvious he had made full preparations.

"I see you're making things difficult for me."

Hearing Hephaestus's refusal, Chun couldn't help but sigh.

"Magic swords aren't allowed, and the gap in raw strength is huge."

"Why don't we just do as I said earlier and surrender directly."

"Let me think."

Hephaestus turned her head to look at the surrounding Familia members.

As a crafting-focused Familia, the Hephaestus Familia had no rigid requirements for combat strength.

Aside from Chun, who was a relatively talented captain, even Level 4s were pitifully few.

Most people's strength mainly hovered around Level 2 and Level 3.

Facing Alfia with this lineup was like throwing their lives away; it was meaningless.

"Hmm... there really isn't a good way."

Having made a decision in her heart, Hephaestus looked at Lin Que again.

"We won't fight, we surr—"

"Lord Hephaestus! Please wait!"

Just as Hephaestus was about to surrender, a chubby figure came running over from not far away, panting heavily.

"Both of you, please stop! I have something to say!"

ECHO is disabled.