Fairy Tail: Igneel's eldest son in Anime Multiverse

Charles had no idea how much Hephaestus expected of him—his mind was already focused on what needed to be done next.

He pulled over his backpack and said to Hephaestus, "Since we've decided to keep my level hidden for now, I'll have to ask you to handle these things for me."

Hephaestus already knew Charles had gone deep into the lower floors this time, so she understood why he couldn't handle his spoils himself.

An LV1 adventurer showing up at the exchange with a mountain of LV3 and LV4 magic stones? That was suspicious no matter how you spun it.

Still, even expecting a lot, Hephaestus was stunned by what she saw. Then she quickly picked up on something strange.

"There are way too many materials from enhanced variants here. What—did you just happen to run into a ton of rare monsters on your way down?"

Charles replied, "Ah… I forgot to mention. I ran into Jura from the Rudra Familia on the 27th floor. All these magic stones and drops are from the monsters he brought with him."

Hephaestus furrowed her brow. "Rudra Familia? You encountered the Dark Faction?"

Charles then recounted how he met Jura and everything that happened afterward.

As she listened, Hephaestus sank into thought. Since five years ago, when the Ryuu Lion went on her rampage, the Dark Faction had completely disappeared from sight.

She hadn't expected to hear about those lunatics again—and certainly not from Charles, and not in the Dungeon of all places.

What troubled her wasn't whether or not Charles was telling the truth—gods always trusted their own children.

And even if it was Jura, if he crossed Charles, she had no doubt what the outcome would be.

What concerned her was *why* Jura was in the Dungeon.

Everyone knew the only way into the Dungeon was through the Babel Tower—which was under the strict control of the Guild.

After the "Nightmare of the 27th Floor" six years ago and the "Catastrophe Revival" five years ago, the Guild had become even more vigilant against the Dark Faction.

The first event cost the lives of many elite adventurers. The second wiped out the Astrea Familia.

The Guild, tasked with maintaining Orario's stability, couldn't afford to suffer those kinds of losses again.

Someone like Jura—an infamous member of the Dark Faction—should've been completely barred from entering Babel.

Which meant the only explanation for his presence in the Dungeon was that he had been living down there during his five-year disappearance.

Sure, surviving on the safe floors was possible. But Hephaestus knew the Dark Faction well—there was no way they were just hiding quietly. They had to be scheming something.

Any operation would need manpower and resources. They couldn't possibly stay underground forever—there was no way to hide, and they couldn't push their plans forward.

Her thoughts were all tangled up in a knot.

Charles picked up on her concerns and offered, "Maybe… there's another entrance to the Dungeon?"

"Impossible!" Hephaestus started to retort, but then turned to Charles with suspicion. "Wait—did you find something?"

Charles nodded and pulled Jura's whip from his backpack.

"This is a magical tool Jura was using. There aren't many people in Orario who can make something like this. I heard the descendants of Daedalus also possess \[Mystery]."

Hephaestus's wisdom and insight were unmatched. The moment Charles finished speaking, she linked it all together.

*The underground labyrinth.*

That was what Charles's hint had made her realize.

More precisely—it was the man-made labyrinth known as *Knossos*.

A thousand years ago, the gods descended from the heavens and bestowed blessings upon mortals. One of their greatest works was the miraculous Babel Tower.

The one who designed and built Babel was Daedalus, a member of Uranus's Familia.

Not just Babel—Daedalus designed Orario's city layout and sewer systems. The maze-like Daedalus Street in Orario was named in his honor.

But Daedalus had gone mad after glimpsing *true* miracles—namely, the Dungeon itself.

He became obsessed with building a structure that rivaled the Dungeon.

Because the Dungeon's layout was conical, Daedalus planned to construct a labyrinth shaped like a lid that would connect with the Dungeon and eliminate its floor-based limitations.

But unlike the self-repairing Dungeon, man-made structures eventually decay.

To make a labyrinth like the Dungeon, one would need materials with "unbreakable" properties—namely, Orichalcum.

In fantasy novels, this metal is better known as "mountain copper," and is considered as rare and valuable as adamantite and mithril.

Ais's Desperate Sword was made of this material—and even that slender rapier was worth 96 million valis.

And Daedalus wanted to build an entire labyrinth out of it? Impossible.

But now that Charles had dropped the hint, Hephaestus realized—Knossos *wasn't* impossible.

Back then, when Daedalus proposed the idea, the gods had admired the ambition, even though they dismissed it as unfeasible.

But if the Daedalus family had never given up on the plan, then even if they couldn't finish the *entire* thing, they *might* still have opened up another exit connecting to the Dungeon.

Hephaestus only knew of one Daedalus descendant: the Icarus Familia's "Berserker," Dix Perdix. She didn't know he possessed \[Mystery].

She had no idea that Charles was referring to someone else entirely, nor where Charles got this information—but she didn't question it. Mortals couldn't lie in front of gods, and she trusted Charles's intel.

Even so, she now found herself doubting the Icarus Familia's allegiance.

As mentioned before, not all gods behind the Dark Faction were "evil." But Icarus's actions were definitely suspicious.

The Dark Faction didn't have the means to raise funds on their own. They had to be working with certain Familia or merchants.

And the Icarus Familia was likely one of them.

Following that logic, perhaps other organizations running illegal operations—like the Ishtar Familia in the Pleasure District—were involved too.

The more she thought about it, the more complicated it seemed.

Hephaestus sighed. Her Familia's job was just to craft gear for adventurers—how had she ended up involved in all this mess?

She glanced at Charles and knew this wasn't his fault.

Could they just pretend none of this had happened? That would certainly avoid a lot of headaches.

But the thought of the Dark Faction scheming once more made it impossible for Hephaestus to sit by and do nothing.

With that in mind, she stood up and declared, "This isn't our problem to solve. Let's leave it to those *who are supposed* to handle it. I'll negotiate with the other Familia—just focus on getting your forge ready.

Oh, and your dagger and curved blade have both been sold. Sort through the rest of your sellables—I'll have other members of the Familia take them to the exchange. You'll get the money later."

With that, Hephaestus turned and left—presumably to consult with the other gods.

Charles had no objection to her decision. His goddess had, as always, thoughtfully taken care of everything.

After tidying up a bit, he sat down at his desk and began refining the blueprints for his forge.

Judging by the look on his face, unmasking the Dark Faction and dragging down the Icarus Familia in the process didn't even register as a big deal to him.

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