Chapter 73 - 73 A new day and new members

"I want to see the leader of the Werewolf clan first." I say to the Eagle beastman as we walk down to the gate.

"Yes Master. I'll let him know." He says and immediately runs off.

"Are you going to let them all in?" Alice asks.

"I think the Werewolves should all be allowed to stay here, but whether or not they can join the Familia is a different story.

Hephaestus told me that every God has his or her own requirements for admission into their Familia.

I decided on mine a while ago."

"What is it?" Alice asks curiously.

"Watch and you'll understand."

The beastman returns with a muscular middle-aged man with silver hair, wolf ears and a tail.

As soon as they come before me, the man kneels. "It's an honor to meet you Lord Fenrir. My name is Alphe Loga. I'm the chief of my werewolf clan."

"I take it you wish to join my Familia?"

"Yes Lord Fenrir. We've traveled a long way just for the chance you might be willing to accept us."

"All Werewolves will be allowed to stay on my land if they want. But if they want to join the Familia they'll have to come meet me first. One by one.

Let's start with you. Give me your hand."

He stands up and immediately reaches out for my hand.

I don't look at all his memories, I merely want to see six specific things.

Three things he's proud of and three things he's ashamed of.

If I like what I see, he's in. If I don't, then he's out.

After about three seconds I know all I need to know. "Welcome to the Fenrir Familia."

"Huh? Really?! Haha! Yes! Thank you. You won't regret this." He says happily. He walks out to send in the next Werewolf.

"You watched his memories."

"I only watched three things he's proud of and three things he's ashamed of. I didn't look at everything."

'Just like that... we've become one of the five biggest Familias in Orario.'

Right now they're all standing in front of the mansion ready to hear me out.

"Alright everyone. Over the next few days I will be giving you all a falna.

This is my wife, Alice." I say as I put my arm around her. "She's also the captain of the Familia.

And this is Luna. She's the vice-captain..."

---

After a welcome speech and a warning to stay away from the Titan habitats, I spent the whole night updating the falnas of Luna and her kids and helping everyone set up the temporary encampment.

Until we expand the mansion, it can only house about fifty people. Alice and I decided I'm going to be building an underground expansion.

It will have a full training facility, living quarters for up to five hundred people, a large swimming pool, a bathhouse, weapons forges, an armory, there will even be classrooms for the children.

I also make a sewage system along with a sewage treatment plant that safely converts waste into compost.

Once the basic structure has been made, I create SpaceGodzilla's cosmic crystals all over the place, connected through highly conductive crystalline wires I embedded in the walls.

They're all connected to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the mansion, where I make one large crystal about four meters high and two meters wide that will power all the lights throughout the facility, as well as the sewage system.

I fill it with magic and every light turns on.

"Ha! It works. On my first try."

"How will they turn off the lights to go to sleep?" Alice points out.

"Right, I forgot. Hmm, what if... yes, that might work."

Using my control over the crystals, I connect to all of them and carve a set of runes into them.

"So? What did you do?" Alice asks.

"Lights off." Immediately the crystals stop glowing.

"Lights on." They immediately start glowing again.

"Okay, that is pretty cool." Alice says as she touches one of the crystals on the wall. "I came down here to tell you I'm going to the dungeon along with Luna and the kids."

"Okay, be careful this time. The 18th floor is a safety point. That means no monsters. There is a town there called Rivira. You can rest there if you need it.

With your current stats you'll reach it easily but do not go beyond the 24th floor. Not until you reach level 3."

"Alright, I'll see you tonight." Alice says as she walks out.

"Have fun."

'This cosmic crystal is really great stuff. It's incredibly strong, conductive and it can even store any kind of energy inside.

Let's try something fun.'

I make a large crystal about seven meters tall. I compress it into the shape I have in mind and put some finishing touches on it.

I quickly make a golden scabbard with cosmic crystal inlays and hang the blade on my belt.

As I'm done creating our base for today, I go upstairs. In the living room I see Lagertha and Kwenthrith playing with two werewolf toddlers.

"Good morning Lord Fenrir." Alphe says as soon as he walks into the room. "These are my two children. My son Bete and my daughter Luna."

"Hello Bete, Luna. Guess now we have two Lunas in the Familia and they're both Werewolves."

I hand Alphe a bag filled with Valis. "Alice and Luna are both off to the dungeon and I have to go to Orario as well.

I want you to ask around what people need, gather a few people who have experience in trading, and I want you to use this money to buy the necessities.

Over the next few weeks we'll become completely self-sufficient but for now we need to get supplies from town."

"Yes, sir!" Alphe says and immediately goes to work.

"Huginn, Muninn." As I call out, the two ravens come flying in through an open window and perch on my shoulders.

Just like the wolves he gains the same ability. Shapeshifting.

I do the same with Muninn and seconds later, two men in their late twenties are standing before me looking like exact copies of each other.

I go outside and give Sleipnir a falna as well.

"Thank you my Lord." Sleipnir says as she kneels along with the two ravens.

"I need to go into town. Mind giving me a lift?"

She immediately turns back into a large, black, winged horse with a flaming mane, tail and eyes.

I get on her back and look to Huginn and Muninn. "Practice using your new form. Once you're used to it in a few days, you can join my wife and the wolves in the dungeon."

Sleipnir runs and spreads her wings. Once she's running fast enough, she jumps off into the air and starts flapping her wings to gain altitude.

A few minutes later she lands in front of Babel. I enter the tower and go up to the eighth floor.

*Knock knock*

I knock on the door to Hephaestus' workshop.

"Come in."

I enter and notice she's not alone. There's a beautiful woman with long silver hair. She wears a revealing skin-tight dress and two flower like ornaments in her hair.

'Freya.'

"Just have it done by next week." Freya says as she turns around and starts walking my way.

"I don't believe I've had the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. I am Freya, Goddess of Beauty." As she introduces herself I feel a short, almost imperceptible stream of energy pass around my head. She holds out her hand, with her palm facing down, clearly expecting me to kiss her hand.

I grab her hand with mine and give her a firm handshake. "Hi, I'm Fenrir, God of Beasts. Nice to meet you."

A little fl.u.s.tered she takes her hand back and walks out of the room.

"Oh, and Freya?" As I call her, she stops and turns. "You get to try and charm me once. If you ever try that again I will eat you. And not in the fun way."

Freya quickly storms off as the doors close behind her.

"Haha! That was amazing. I've never seen anyone unfazed by her charm before." Hephaestus says as she stands up and walks over to her bookcase.

She takes an empty grimoire and fills it with knowledge. She then hands it to me. "Here you go."

"Thank you." I say as I take the grimoire. I sink my fangs into it and devour it.

"You got taller and more buff."

"Thanks, I've been working out.

I'll see you tomorrow."

I go back outside, not feeling like explaining everything. When I get to the ground floor I notice a small crowd has gathered around Sleipnir.

"Let me through." I say as I push a few people aside.

I get to sleipnir and see that there's a party of adventurers lying unconscious on the ground.

"What happened?"

"They thought I was a monster that escaped from the dungeon and tried to kill me so I kicked them in the head."

"Hah! Nice."

I look down at the unconscious adventurers. Judging by the emblem they wear, they're from the Apollo Familia.

"Alright let's go."

I stand on the back of one of the adventurers and get on Sleipnir.

"Hold on. Tamed monsters are required to be identifiable through the use of a collar."

A girl in her late teens says matter of factly as she makes her way through the crowd.

"She's not a monster. And I'm absolutely not going to put a collar on her.

Let's go."

"Hey, I wasn't done! You can't just..." Sleipnir flies off as the girl keeps trying to berate me.

'Must be one of Astrea's children.'

Half an hour later I walk out of Hecate's home with new magic and about a dozen grimoires I bought for my Familia members.

"Sleipnir, let's go back to the mansion."

As we're flying back, I notice a part of Orario that practically looks like a slum, centered around an old church.

"Land there."

As Sleipnir lands next to the church I notice a lot of children around.

'This must be the orphanage.'

Sleipnir immediately draws a lot of attention from the children.

At first they're a little afraid but as soon as she draws back her flames and turns into a normal black, winged horse, a few of the older ones approach her.

"She's so pretty."

As Sleipnir is enjoying the attention, I enter the church and immediately notice the dilapidated state it's in.

"Hello, sir. Can I help you?" A beautiful young woman says as she walks towards me.

She's very skinny, clearly from malnutrition. She has rough calluses on her hands and seems a little sleep-deprived.

"I think I should be the one asking you that question.

My name is Fenrir. And you must be Maria?"

"Yes, I am. I'm the caretaker of this orphanage." She takes on a thoughtful expression as she crosses her arms and rubs her chin. "Fenrir. Fenrir. Where have I heard that name." She wonders out loud. "Ah! Are you the God who appeared a month ago?"

"Yes, I am."

"Please wait right here." She says as she immediately runs off to the back of the church.

She returns a minute later with two children both about seven or eight years old and a toddler.

The two children are a boy and a girl. The girl is a black haired cat person and the boy is a brown haired Weretiger.

The toddler Maria is holding is a cow person. A little girl with tiny little horns on her head.

"Hello Lord Fenrir. My name is Anakitty." The girl says as she does a cute little curtsy.

"My name is Falgar." The boy says as he presses his fist to his c.h.e.s.t and lowers his head.

"And this little one is Iris." Maria says as she rubs her finger on the little girl's belly, making her laugh.

"A month ago something strange happened. All three of them started crying out of happiness, but for no apparent reason. We didn't figure out what happened until the next day. It was because of you.

And now here you are. It must be providence, or fate that brought you here."

"No, more like a flying horse. But what's your point?"

"You're here to take them."

"I'm what now?" I say as I look at the children one by one, all three with hopeful little expressions on their little faces.

"I-I can't just. I-I mean. Isn't it a little... uhm.

Ah damn it."

'Children... my kryptonite.'

A few minutes later I'm standing outside with a toddler sleeping in my arms with her little arms wrapped around my neck, a little cat girl holding my free hand and a Weretiger walking besides me.

-----

Later that day.

Alice and the wolves come back from the dungeon, looking a little disheveled.

"What happened to you guys?" I ask.

"A party of adventurers did a pass parade." Alice says, looking tired. "We had to take on a group of over 80 Silverbacks, Imps and Orcs."

"Did they wear some kind of insignia on their clothes? Or did they have any other identifiable traits?"

"Uhm, yeah actually. I think they had a sun with a bow and arrow on their c.h.e.s.t." Luna says.

"That's the Apollo Familia. I also had a run-in with them earlier today. Some of them tried to kill Sleipnir."

"Fenris?"

"Yes?"

"Whose kids are they?" Alice asks pointing to the three kids from the orphanage.

"Aren't they adorable?" I say as I wrap an arm around her waist.

"Yeah, they are. But that's not an answer. Whose children are they?"

"Well... I suppose they're kind of... ours?" I say a bit awkwardly. "I can explain though."

"Relax. I'm not angry or anything." Alice says.

"You're not?"

"Of course not." Alice says as she wraps her arms around my waist. "I know why you keep bringing home children.

You never had much of a childhood yourself. Your father trained you from the age of five to be a killer. He made you kill when you were only seven.

Your childhood innocence was taken from you so now you want to protect it in children you see who are suffering in one way or another."

"Y-You." Sniff. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now, I believe you have a lot of falnas to give." Alice says as she drags me towards the door.

She opens it and all 180 members are standing outside, ready to get their falna.

"Oh, crap."