1055. Shirou Is Under Surveillance / 1056. The Deal About Shirou

"Hey! Goddess! You borrowed money from a deity before?" Bell asked in surprise.

"That sword you used, Bell, was a divine weapon crafted by Hephaestus herself. Hestia didn't tell you that," Shirou said.

"Huh? A divine artifact!" Bell exclaimed in surprise. He had always dreamed of one day being able to use the top-tier weapons from the Tower of Babel shop, but he never expected that he actually possessed one? And a divine artifact, a rare find even among top-tier weapons! Was he really using something so extraordinary?

"It's... it's okay, I'll pay it back slowly over several hundred years," Hestia comforted Bell.

"Brother... how much exactly?" An ominous premonition rose in Bell's heart.

Shirou said, "Hephaestus's fame far surpasses mine; it's two hundred million!"

"Two hundred million..."

Two hundred million!!!

Bell's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Lord Bell!"

Although the Hestia Familia won the Game War and took 80% of Apollo's wealth, their finances remained negative in the long run.

Chapter 1055 Shirou is under surveillance

Night fell in a luxurious villa, resplendent in gold, where a lively party was being held with all the gods. Apollo's figure quietly appeared there.

"Hey everyone, how have you been lately?" Apollo forced a smile as he greeted the gods he knew.

"Hey, isn't this Apollo? The way you looked when you lost the match was absolutely hilarious!"

"Hahaha~!"

The gods who were mischievous friends all burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, that's right." Apollo had come on a mission, so he could only grit his teeth and let them laugh. Only after they had finished laughing did he find an opportunity to slowly speak:

"Actually, I came here because I have some good news to share with you."

"..."

"..."

"Really?! It's really that cheap!!!" a deity exclaimed in surprise.

"When have I ever lied to you? This is a rare opportunity, and the number is limited. You can choose whether to see it or not. Otherwise, I would have found another god for such a good thing," Apollo said, shrugging.

"Yes, we will! Apollo, you are truly my lifelong friend!" The gods embraced Apollo one by one.

On the high platform, Freya, the goddess of beauty, glanced at the commotion, frowned, and thought to herself.

"Those male gods seem to be plotting something lately. Apollo lost, but instead of hiding away to avoid the limelight, he's been making frequent public appearances. That's a bit strange."

"What has Shirou been doing lately?" Freya asked.

"He's selling his forged magic swords and scabbards everywhere and making quite a bit of money," the young man in black armor replied.

"Keep an eye on him. I'll head back now; you can handle things here," Freya instructed softly.

"Yes!" the tall Beastkin man replied.

"Let's go, Berserker." Freya walked outside.

From the shadows behind the goddess emerged a towering black mountain, tall and strong, with dark skin like rock and iron, radiating an aura of madness.

He is the most powerful member of Freya Familia. Even Orario's Ota Level 7 adventurer, "The Mighty One," admits that he is no match for him.

Known as 'Berserker', he never speaks, and in battle he uses roars instead of words. No one knows his name. He simply guards the goddess's side.

Since that day, when Shirou assisted the Hestia Familia and others as an outsider in defeating the Apollo Familia, it was as if a small, weak family had defeated a large family with hundreds of members—a miracle that seemed to happen only in epic tales.

It gets your blood pumping.

This will be a hot topic of conversation in bars and on the streets in the near future.

Now, Bell, Wielf, and others are greeted warmly whenever they appear on the street.

Shirou's record of defeating seventy opponents in a single battle has made him a legendary figure.

Taking advantage of the current hype, Shirou and Amazon immediately set up a series of events selling scabbards and magic swords. The walls of the booths were covered with large screens, and special Projection equipment was connected to the recording crystal given by the god Hermes to project the video of the day's Game War.

With the amplification provided by the demonic sword and its scabbard, Shirou single-handedly took on sixty or seventy men. The edited video vividly portrays this scene.

However, Shirou's publicly announced level is only lv.2, giving people the impression that he accomplished his great feat entirely through the power of his magic sword and scabbard, which led many to mistakenly believe that perhaps they could do the same.

The scene of the demon sword being wielded creates a variety of cool effects, making the adventurers' hearts race and wishing they could take Shirou's place in the competition.

Shirou had planned this from the beginning. Now, he's teaming up with Amazon for a limited-time discount sale, taking advantage of the hype to sell off all the magic swords he's stockpiled.

Having recovered some of his strength, Shirou can now use Unlimited Blade Works, increasing his forging speed by dozens of times. He can produce more than a dozen of the same type of weapon at the same time, so there's no worry about insufficient supply.

The reason Amazon chose to concentrate its advertising and sales efforts in one place was because too much stock was released at once, causing a market collapse.

Even so, adventurers living far away still came here in droves, wanting to buy the magic sword.

Shirou contacted the guild's banking department again, asking them to provide loan services for outstanding adventurers. This way, even those who were short of money could grit their teeth and buy a set of weapons in advance.

Consume and enjoy as early as possible; enhancing your strength is your greatest asset.

However, Amazon employees have already set off for nearby major cities and kingdoms to sell large quantities of weapons to armed forces and armies there; this is the real business.

Once one faction purchases a large number of magic swords, neighboring factions will have no choice but to also spend money to buy weapons; otherwise, if their strength falls behind, their territory may be lost.

This is also the most popular way for arms dealers to make money.

Shirou anticipates that a large sum of money will soon be transported back from abroad, allowing him to proceed with the next phase of his plan.

Inside the booth, attractive Amazon staff greeted customers who had purchased their gear.

"Thank you for your patronage, sir. The total is 24,320,000 Fali." The young lady handed the adventurer a small pink slip of paper while he paid.

"Okay, okay." The adventurer held his newly purchased weapon, and seeing the girl's admiring gaze, he felt elated, as if he had bought a divine artifact. This money was well spent.

"Welcome back again!" The young ladies waved goodbye to the happy guests.

The adventurers, thrilled with their new weapons, eagerly awaited their arrival in the dungeon to showcase their power and might.

Unbeknownst to anyone, 500 meters away, a tall, thin cat-man and four men from the Little Folk were monitoring every move, coldly observing everything that was happening.

These men had eyes as sharp as hawks', and they were the most loyal warriors of the Freya women.

The cat-person male is Allen, the vice-captain of Freya Familia, level 6. The four-person squad of the Little Folk consists of four level 5 members. Because they are quadruplets, their combined combat strength is no less than that of a level 6 individual.

They didn't actually like Shirou, because he was taking away the goddess's attention.

At first, Shirou was completely unremarkable, but now he's actually quite something.

The goddess became extremely excited when she first saw him.

The goddess approached the boy, wanting him to come and live with her in the clan, but the boy, ungrateful as ever, refused.

The goddess generously forgave this boy, yet he's causing so much trouble and making her worry.

"Don't give me the chance! Otherwise, I'll teach you a lesson!" The cat-man grinned, revealing his sharp teeth, and said viciously.

Chapter 1056 The Deal with Shirou

Behind the weapons display stand, Penthesilea was holding transaction records and flashing a bright smile at Shirou.

"Amazon's earnings report this quarter will show an amazing increase. The stock price will continue to rise, right? Thanks to you, Shirou," Penthesilea said happily, adjusting his glasses.

"No, it's me who's in it. Thanks to your help, my weapons were able to sell so quickly," Shirou said to the girl.

"No, no. By the way... do you have time tonight?" Penthesilea asked, a strange light flashing in her beautiful eyes.

Shirou looked enlightened and nodded.

"Ah, yes! We really should celebrate! I have to forge weapons, so I won't be able to go, but all the expenses are on me! You have fun with the others."

Shirou then turned to the staff inside the convention center and shouted, "Thank you all for your hard work! Tonight's drinks are on me! Drink up!"

"Oh, oh, oh!"

"Shirou, you're so generous!"

"If it weren't for the fact that our eldest sister took a liking to you first, I would have brought you home no matter what!"

The Amazon women raised their hands and cheered.

Penthesilea broke a pen in half and escaped again.

"Well then, I'll be going now. Thanks for your hard work, everyone." Shirou said goodbye to his employees and walked outside alone.

"Ah..." Penthesilea could only watch helplessly as he left.

"Hey! Did Shirou get away?"

"Boss! You can't go on like this! At a time like this, even if you have to Hegemon-King, you have to take him down."

"That's right, good men are in high demand!"

The Amazon spoke to their leader.

Shirou stopped after walking through a small alley.

Then a luxurious yet understated wooden carriage stopped in front of him. The door opened, and Apollo, along with several frivolous gods, leaned out, drunkenly laughing, and said:

"Let's go, Shirou-kun! Let's go to a men's party!!"

Shirou chuckled and jumped into the car.

The carriage headed towards a nighttime celebration of divine revelry.

On the other side...

Ota, who had gone out to gather information, reported to Freya that Apollo was secretly winning over other gods to pave the way for Shirou's future plans.

"As expected, Shirou, you haven't given up on that dangerous plan yet!" Freya bit her finger.

"No! I can't let him take the risk. Even if it really is Surtr, we can have the gods join forces to destroy it, not send him on his own."

"Allen! Take some men and bring Shirou back! Even if it's a bit rough, it doesn't matter!" Freya waved her hand and said to her vice-captain.

"Yes! As you wish." The cat-man youth Allen, lowered his head, smiled, and agreed.

For the past few nights, Shirou has been attending parties hosted by the gods, introduced by Apollo. Because of his previous impressive performance, the gods are quite interested in Shirou. The Demon Sword and its scabbard have become highly sought-after weapons in Orario, coveted by various factions.

Shirou assured the gods that he could provide them with long-term weapons supply contracts, and that he could cooperate with the guild to secure loans for them.

For some families facing difficulties in development, support and assistance can be provided. First, excellent equipment can be provided, and then the money for the equipment can be repaid once the families are able to stand on their own.

Shirou smiled innocently and said, "If it were a simple transaction, we could only go by market price. However, since you are all esteemed Goddess, I would like to sign exclusive weapon supply contracts with your families. I believe that establishing a close cooperative relationship would be of great benefit to both of us."

Of course, I'll also offer discounts. If you sign a long-term contract of 50 years or more, I can provide even greater savings. 50 years is 25% off, 60 years is 30% off, and so on, up to 100 years, where it's 50% off. Payment can be made monthly."

"My Apollo Familia also signed a 100-year contract with Shirou-kun. Now that the Familia is equipped with new weapons, our combat strength has not decreased but has actually increased considerably," Apollo said, raising his wine glass with a smile.

"Alright! My Takemikazuchi Familia will sign a 100-year contract with Shirou-kun!" Take Mikazuchi shouted loudly.

"Shirou-kun, given our relationship, you must prioritize providing weapons to my clan," Hermes said.

"What! Hermes! How cunning! Is he also the chief god who carries on human faith?" A deity exclaimed urgently, scolding Hermes, then turned to Shirou and said, "I'll sign now, Shirou-kun. Remember to give me priority."

"Damn it! They actually pulled this trick!"

"Wait! I want one too!"

"I want one too!"

"Please rest assured, everyone. My store will be expanding, and we'll be operating in partnership with Amazon. It will definitely be able to meet the needs of all our members."

"I see, then that's it."

"It's so cheap, let's sign up for a long-term contract."

The gods naturally wouldn't miss such a good opportunity, and they all vied to sign a contract with Shirou.

"Yes, I understand. Please sign here and leave your fingerprint. Leave the rest to me. You just need to go to the guild for final confirmation later." Shirou said to the gods with a friendly smile.

"May our families have a bright future! Cheers!"

Cheers!

The gods, who were drunk, did not realize that although the contract stated that Shirou would provide them with weapons, it did not specify the quantity to be provided each time, nor did it stipulate that Shirou had the right to interpret all the terms.

However, if they try to bypass Shirou and buy weapons from other brands, they will be forced to pay Shirou a lump sum equivalent to one hundred years' worth of money if caught. If they cannot pay, their families will have to work for Shirou until the debt is paid off.

In this way, Shirou had won over these gods to his side. If they didn't want Shirou to cut off their supplies, they had to help Shirou. Otherwise, Shirou could find an excuse to stop supplying weapons at any time, while they wouldn't lose a single penny of the loan they had from the guild.

On the other hand, Ishtar also helped Shirou arrange meetings with the goddesses. Then Shirou would take time during the day to visit them.