"e to think of it, how did you know who those people were, Draii?" Dimitra asked curiously as the group walked home.

  "Oh, that's easy. They are quite popur in this city," Draco replied.

  ''t say I know them from a series in my old world. Barely even reized them at first until I heard the name Alise,' Draco thought.

  "Hmm, who knows which irls you know that we aren't aware about?" Cir ented, joining the versation.

  "Well, if you all talked with people more often, you would know a lot about what's going on iy," Draco replied.

  It was true, the Astraea familia was well-known amongst the on popubsp;

  Thinking about it, Draco realized that he and his siblings only had a small group of people they ied with.

  Besides their goddess Bahamut, the nekomata inn keeper's daughter, Rose, their guild advisor, and themselves, there was little to no iion with anyone else.

  'It seems like we are a bit withdrawn. Is this perhaps an effect of isotion, trauma from the bck dragon, or something else?' he wondered.

  'Iion and positive as are the key to gaining friends and allies, but are we making an effort to do so? If we didn't meet the Astraea familia tally today, when would I have made the effort to ect with them?' Draco pondered, his mood turning a bit sour.

  "Hmm," Draco got so his senses as something had touched his lips. Instinctively, he licked his lips and tasted something sweet.

  Looking to the source, he saw Eleni's hand stretched out to his mouth.

  She was attempting to stuff some sweet Dango in his mouth.

  Dango’s were a kind of dumpling made with rice flour, they usually had a soft and chewy texture, ing in round shapes and covered in a sweet sauce.

  Eleni, seeing his expression, immediately knew what he wao ask, "You had that plicated look on your face again, so have some of this and cheer up." she said.

  "Thank you," Draco accepted her gift with a smile.

  "Hmm," she replied with a smile too.

  'Yeah, we should take things oep at a time,' Draco thought, his mood lifting ever so slightly.

  "No fair, Eleni, let me have some," Nikoos asked.

  "Wait, when did she have the time to buy those? I retty sure she had been walking with us the whole time," Dimitra muttered.

  "No, buy some with your own money," Eleed Nikoos.

  Michalis, using the ce that she was distracted, tried to take a quick bite with his mouth.

  Smack!

  As if she had a sixth sense, Eleni smacked Michalis on the face, the sticky Dango sauce spilling on his face.

  "Pfff," Vasiliki tried holding herself from ughing at Michalis, while Vasileios had at some point broken off from the group to buy some meat skewers from a shop they had just passed.

  'Sigh, still as chaotic as always,' Draco thought, watg the events unfold.

  "e to think of it, we didn't get to really beat up that Elias guy for framing us," Nikoos said.

  "Yeah, I should have at least gotten to freeze a finger or two and taken them as a trophy," Vasiliki added.

  "Well, at least Draii broke one of his arms," Nikoos replied.

  ‘Is this a normal versation’ Draco wondered.

  "E, gross, you're actually lig that?" Vasiliki suddenly excimed, drawing everyone's attention.

  Draco turo see Michalis lig the Dango sauce off his face, much to the disgust of Vasiliki.

  "What? It's a waste to let it go to just wipe it off," Michalis defended himself.

  "You're unbelievable," Vasiliki sighed, shaking her head.

  Vasiliki's brow furrowed as she expined, "You do realize that all the sweat and dirt from the dungeon is caked onto your skin, so you're essentially mixing that into the saud then lig it up." She shook her head once again disapprovingly.

  Michalis paused to look at his fingers, sidering Vasiliki's words.

  "When you put it like that, it certainly expins the extra salty fvor I was deteg. But surely it 't be that bad, right?" he muttered, a hints of creeping into his voice.

  Vasileios, who had just returned from purchasing some meat skewers, chimed in.

  "I'm going to have to side with Vasiliki on this one, bro." he said, while taking a bite of the savory meat, eyeing Michalis with a mixture of empathy and reproach.

  Cir, the exge, added her own assessment.

  "You really should pay closer attention to your personal hygiene, Michalis. For your own sake, and that of those around you." she said.

  Michalis let out a soft "Oh," his expression a blend of varyiions.

  Draco couldn't help but chuckle at the se.

  Despite the occasional chaos and tensions within their group, there was a sense of camaraderie and fort that he couldn't help but appreciate.

  "Anyway, what did you all think about the Astraea familia?" Draco asked, steering the versation in a more meaningful dire.

  "They seem like a pretty close-knit group, just like us," Dimitra ented.

  "I wonder what kind of advehey've been on." she added.

  “Crazy girls who jump into clusions quickly” Vasiliki said.

  “iving Vixens” Cir replied coldly.

  ‘Oh, was not expeg that’ Draco thought.

  “Well they are kind of cute, especially the oh red hair. There is something about her” Nikoos ehoughtfully.

  “Did you fall for her or something” Vasileios asked.

  “No nothing like that. I just found her iing” Nikoos replied.

  “Hehehehe, are you perhaps into red hea……” Michalis was about to begin his nonsense, but quickly kept quiet after getting a warning gre from Draco.

  "From what I gathered, they're quite known iy for their heroic deeds" Draco expined.

  "It's admirable, really. They just tend to see the world as purely bd white" he added.

  “You say that with such certainty. It’s almost a bit too muformation about them” Cir said, her brows ched in suspi.

  “Ah, it’s just my personal impression of them” Draco hastily replied.

  ‘I should probably stop funting my knowledge around’ he thought.

  ……………………………………………………………

  Before they k, the Bahamut familia had already arrived home, cutting short the versation Draco was having.

  Everyone quickly rushed to their respective assigned homes, eager to freshen up and shed their dungeon gear.

  Bahamut was surprised to see the childreurn so early.

  Typically, they would not arrive until te in the evening after a hard day's work in the depths of the dungeon.

  “We’re home” Drad Cir greeted.

  "Wele back, but why are both back so early? Did something happen?" she inquired, her brow furrowed with .

  Draco, dropping his heavy dungeon bag onto the floor, let out a weary sigh.

  "It's a long story," he replied, his tone ced with a hint of exhaustion.

  Bahamut's instincts kicked in, and she offered a listening ear.

  "Well, I've got time. I listen to what happened." she offered.

  Draced around at Cir, who shared his desire to up first.

  " we freshen up first?" he asked.

  "Of course, go ahead," Bahamut responded with a gentle nod, uanding the need for a moment of respite after a tiring day.

  Bahamut had a lot of free time now that she wasn't w anymore.

  In the past, she had worked at some of the northwestern Hephaestus familia stores to make a living.

  But now, all of her expenses were paid by the children of her familia, leaving her with an abundance of free time at home.

  She spent this newfound free time reading various books and literature of the mortal world to kill time.

  So while her children were freshening up, she simply went back to reading.

  Soon, all the familia members had all refreshed themselves and gathered around in Bahamut's house, ready to ret the day's events.

  With the remainder of the day free, they settled in, the atmosphere rexed as they prepared to share the events of the day.

  Vasiliki, the you of the group, wasted no time in diving into Bahamut's arms, her eyes glistening with feigears.

  "Listen to this, Bahamut-," she began, her voice ced with a dramatic fir.

  "We got bullied by some mean girls in the duoday." she said.

  As Vasiliki narrated the unfoldis, Bahamut listened ily, her expression shifting from surprise to a ptive frown.

  "I see, the goddess Astraea, huh?" she murmured, her fiips tapping against her .

  "Are you perhaps close to her?" Draquired.

  He reasohat if she did, then it was a ce for them to form stroies with the Astraea familia.

  Bahamut's gaze met Draco's, a flicker of uanding passing through her eyes.

  "Hmm, a bit," she replied.

  "We've met up a few times in the upper world, so she's kind of an old friend of mine." she added.

  The familia members leaned in, eager to learn more about this e.

  Sensing their curiosity, Bahamut tinued, "Astraea is a powerful goddess, known for her purity, strong sense of justid her desire to protect the i. She had bee a somewhat frequent visitor to my temple, after we first met at a party. As a fellow goddess of justice, we had quite a bit to talk about," she said in a fond tone.