The Journey to the Other World Starting from Douluo.

Chapter 665 The Art of Disguise

'Oh? An unfamiliar deity?'

'Interesting, it seems yet another deity has disguised themselves and descended to the mortal realm!'

'If I didn't have something really important to do right now, I would definitely expose your true colors...'

Hermes squinted, pondering to himself.

A deity disguised himself and secretly descended to the mortal realm.

This statement may sound like a fantasy, but it's not unprecedented in the realm of gods. In fact, rather...

This situation is quite common!

Although the divine realm of the DanMachi world is vast and contains many gods, the number of gods has remained largely unchanged because they are all formed from the condensation of rules and are immortal.

There are only so many gods, so after hundreds of millions of years of interaction, even people who are not very familiar with each other have met many times!
Therefore, while the gods may not know the other gods inside and out, they can be said to have a very good understanding of them.

It is precisely for this reason that some gods in the divine realm have suffered quite a bit after descending to the mortal world.

After all, once your weaknesses and strengths are fully known to your opponent, it becomes very easy for them to scheme against you.

Therefore, there are examples of deities who suffered hardship, were ostracized by other clans, and were forced to return to the heavenly realm.

Later, many gods with many enemies would disguise themselves before descending to the mortal realm to avoid such a thing from happening again.

The purpose was to confuse and mislead other gods, thereby buying enough time for their own people to develop.

Because the gods' powers were sealed after they descended to the mortal realm, the gods in the mortal realm were unable to see the true faces of these disguised deities.

It is precisely because of this that this seemingly boring and flawed policy has unexpectedly achieved great success in the lower realm!

Many clan deities who misjudged their opponents' identities were killed and suffered greatly when they plotted against these disguised deities.

However, despite the setback, the gods were not angry. Instead, they became very interested in this kind of exploration, puzzle-solving, and hide-and-seek-like "game".

After all, personally uncovering those masks and exploring the secrets hidden beneath them is a very rewarding game for the gods.

And so, a tug-of-war between the gods of the lower realm and the gods of the upper realm who disguised themselves as gods of the lower realm began!
In this battle without the smoke of gunpowder, a group of "fun gods" quickly emerged who took pleasure in exposing and deciphering the true nature of the gods of the lower realm.

Hermes, the infamous god of fun, was one of these gods.

Therefore, Hermes was very interested in finding out which god was hidden behind the mask of Wu Tong, this god friend who was "pretending to descend to the mortal realm".

However, although he was very interested in this matter, his own affairs were also important, and he didn't have enough time.

Therefore, Hermes could only suppress his curiosity for the time being and wait until he returned before investigating Wu Tong's true identity!

"Just you wait. When I get back, I'll definitely find out who you are!"

Hermes took a deep look at Wu Tong's departing figure, then turned and walked towards the location of the Hermes Familia.

He needed to resolve his own affairs quickly, because if he returned too late, Wu Tong's true identity might be exposed by other gods!

If that's the case, then he'll lose this long-awaited fun!

Thinking of this, Hermes' expression hardened, and he quickened his pace.

Wu Tong was unaware of Hermes' thoughts, but even if he had, he probably wouldn't have cared.

After all, Wu Tong is not a god in this world, and no matter how much Hermes investigates, he will never be able to figure it out.

……

Soon, Wu Tong and Xiao Mai arrived at the Hestia Familia's residence.

After greeting Kitagawa Kaimu, who was standing guard outside the door, and asking for directions, the two followed Kitagawa Kaimu's directions and went straight to the outside of the reception room.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Just as Wu Tong reached the door, before even entering, he heard a burst of arrogant laughter coming from inside.

Along with the laughter came a series of words, either arguing or warnings, such as "I wasn't prepared just now," "Let's play another round if you dare," and "Don't go too far, you little dwarf."

However, for some reason, these words seemed to subtly reveal a deep-seated lack of confidence...

Wu Tong chuckled and shook his head, then reached out and opened the door:
"Hestia, I'm back!"

"Wu Tong? You're done shopping? Welcome back!"

Inside the room, after Hermes left, Hestia resumed her battle with Loki. Upon seeing Wu Tong, she immediately rushed to greet him with delight!
However, Hestia's surprise had absolutely nothing to do with any anticipation.

Hestia's surprise stemmed entirely from her desire to share Loki's embarrassing situation with someone.

Upon reaching Wu Tong, Hestia grabbed his arm, pulled him close, and began chattering away, recounting what had just happened:

"Wu Tong, you have no idea how pathetic Loki was just now..."

"Wait a moment!"

Hestia was just about to explain what had just happened to Wu Tong when she was interrupted by a sudden voice before she could say more than a few words!

After being interrupted, Hestia immediately turned her head with displeasure, wanting to see who dared to interrupt her.

When Hestia saw who was stopping her, her displeasure vanished instantly, replaced by a playful smile.

Because the person who stopped her was none other than Loki, the very person she had just been talking about!
At this moment, Loki was reaching out his hand to Hestia with a face full of shame and indignation, trying to stop Hestia from continuing.

After all, what just happened was embarrassing enough. Just the people present knew about it, and Loki was already feeling ashamed and furious. If other people found out, wouldn't she have no shame at all?
So when Hestia was about to tell Wu Tong, Loki planned to stop Hestia's revelation!

"Wait a minute? You must be joking, right? Why should I listen to you?"

Although Loki interrupted her, Hestia didn't take Loki's attempt to stop her seriously at all.

She had finally defeated her arch-rival Loki, and she hadn't even had enough time to show off, so why did she have to stop?

Hearing Hestia's words, Loki remained calm, narrowed his eyes, and threatened:
"Shorty, you've probably forgotten that I have a lot of dirt on you from the past. If you keep going, I'm going to spread it all!"

"???"

"!!!"

Upon hearing this, Hestia blinked in confusion for a moment, then her pupils widened suddenly as if she had thought of something: "You're not talking about those things, are you?"

After receiving Loki's affirmative nod, Hestia immediately dared not make any rash moves.

"You're not keeping your word! You clearly promised me you wouldn't tell anyone!"

Loki showed no reaction to Hestia's accusations, only coldly mocking, "Ha, an agreement? What agreement? I'm barely able to protect myself, how can I care about an agreement with you?"

"If you dare to continue spreading what just happened, I'll spread your dirty secrets too."

"If you want to continue, then we can all die together (become extinct). Anyway, I don't have as many scandals as you!"

Loki: I guarantee that our destruction will be mutually assured!
"..."

When Hestia heard Loki's threat, she desperately wanted to disregard her pride and expose the whole thing, so that they could both perish.

However, after much deliberation, Hestia ultimately chose to settle the matter peacefully.

After all, Loki may be shameless, but she still has her pride. If her scandals were exposed, although they wouldn't affect her life, the damage to her social standing would be immeasurable.

"Tsk...you got a bargain!"

"Hmm, that's more like it!"

Although Hestia clicked her tongue, Loki didn't seem to care and instead smiled.

Because she already understood Hestia's choice from her answer.

And so, this little incident came to an end.

After resolving his own social problems

Loki turned to look at Wu Tong, whose arm was being held by Hestia, and a mischievous smile appeared on his face:

"I wonder who this young man is... wait, no, are you a god?"

They shifted their attention away from Hestia, preparing to meet her lover and tease her.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the "person" in front of them was not an ordinary person, but a deity!
"Ok!"

Wu Tong nodded, then extended his hand to Loki and said:
"Hello, Goddess Loki, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Oh? Nice to meet you...?"

Like Hermes, Loki originally thought Wu Tong was a god who had recently descended to Earth in disguise.

Upon hearing this, Loki immediately refuted her guess.

As the god of trickery and lies, lying is one of Loki's divine powers, so Loki's control over lies far surpasses that of other gods.

This means that Loki, who possesses the divine power of lies, can easily sense whether others are lying.

Just now, Loki sensed the seriousness in Wu Tong's words.

This means that, in Loki's eyes, Wu Tong genuinely believed that this was the first time he had met Loki.

That's going to be interesting!

They've known each other in the Heavenly Realm for so long, yet when they finally met, he suddenly said it was their first time meeting so sincerely. There must be some secret he doesn't know...

While Loki was deep in thought, Hestia keenly sensed that something was wrong with him.

Thinking back on Loki and Wu Tong's conversation, Hestia recalled it and immediately noticed the mistake in Wu Tong's words, rolling her eyes at him fiercely.

Hestia then immediately began preparing remedial measures.

Although she didn't get along with Loki, Hestia never doubted Loki's intelligence.

After all, being able to become the god of lies and trickery is itself an affirmation of Loki's intelligence.

Therefore, Hestia was genuinely afraid that Loki might deduce a clue from a minor slip in Wu Tong's words.

If Wu Tong's background is really exposed, then she can forget about ever having a peaceful life again.

After all, the gods in the DanMachi world are incredibly obsessed with the unknown and miracles!
The thought of her hiding and being chased by a large group of perverted men and women sent a chill down Hestia's spine.

No, I absolutely don't want this kind of future!

Hestia immediately interrupted, "Loki, you haven't said what you're here for yet?"

"Are you going to talk or not? If not, I'm leaving. I'm so sleepy today, and I still have to argue with you online. Seriously..."

Hestia's voice immediately pulled Loki out of his reverie.

Loki wasn't annoyed by the interruption, but instead gave Wu Tong and Hestia a meaningful look.

If Hestia hadn't interrupted her, Loki would only have been 30% certain that Wu Tong was problematic.

But she was interrupted by Hestia when she was only halfway through her thought, which clearly showed that they had something to hide and were doing it on purpose.

Therefore, Hestia's unusual behavior directly pushed the probability of this guess to eighty percent!

Although Loki knew that something was wrong between Hestia and Wu Tong, he didn't think about it any further.

There are two main reasons:
Firstly, there is simply too little information available, making it difficult for her to deduce the two men's intentions from these fragmented and subtle pieces of information.

So instead of wasting time and effort, it's better to let things take their natural course, secretly gather more information, and then organize and deduce what's valuable and what's not after gathering a certain amount of information...

The second point, of course, is the purpose of her visit to Hestia today.

We can think about Wu Tong and Hestia later; they're here anyway, they can't run away.

But if she doesn't tell anyone about her situation, she's afraid she might never be able to tell anyone later.

After all, Loki knew Hestia's personality well, and he had no doubt that if he didn't reply to Hestia...

Hestia, having been threatened and speculated about by him, would definitely abandon him as a guest and go straight to sleep!
With that thought in mind, Loki stopped dwelling on those other things, shook his head, and replied with a smile:
"Tell me, I'll tell you right away, don't rush me!"

(End of this chapter)