CHAPTER 2
HEY, WORLD
The stars dotting the night sky glimmered as if to guide the travelers below.
There in the darkness, one boy stood alone.
He had stopped atop a small crag a short walk from a nearby peaceful mountain village. The night wind ruffled his white hair as he remained still in front of a grave.
The wood-and-stone marker was a grave in name only. There were no remains laid beneath it. Its only purpose was to substantiate the loss of someone precious.
The boy made no move to leave the place. Any doubts or pleas for help and counsel directed at the gravestone were simply returned as self-questioning. His only source of love and protection had been torn away and it would take time for him to be able to answer his questions on his own.
As he continued to stand there, blinking his rubellite eyes, the open night sky suspended above the mountains watched over him.
Then—
“—A falling star.”
A bright flash appeared overhead.
The boy looked up with a start and saw a blue glint of light.
Trailing countless flickering motes in its wake, the dazzling pinprick streaked across the night sky, leaving a beautiful arc of light behind it.
The moment was over in seconds. The blue star disappeared somewhere to the far west of the boy’s village.
“Could that have been…a god?”
The boy’s intuition said that he might have just seen a god descending from heaven to earth.
But it would be half a year before he would set out for the Labyrinth City of Orario and receive the answer to his question.
It was gentle moment.
As the beasts and monsters scattered, the blue falling star that streaked across the sky slowed as it neared the ground.
As though intent on avoiding a flashy, troublesome arrival, the falling star—a blue sphere of light—hovered in midair before slowly coming to a soft landing. The faint outline of a person was visible for an instant before the ball of light shattered into a thousand glimmering shards.
Just as the flash faded from sight, a single girl was left in its place.
Her beautiful features put her on the indistinct threshold between “child” and “young woman.” Raven hair spilled across her back and her frame was petite, save for a surprisingly generous bust.
The girl who’d slipped from the night sky stood barefoot on the grassy plain—on the earth.
“Huh! So this is the mortal plane!”
She spoke in a clear voice while looking out across the open country with preternaturally blue eyes. The edge of a forest was faintly visible in the distance. The scent of grass was in the air. An owl hooted in the distance.
Her soft, round cheeks flushed at the flood of sensation that hit her all at once.
The girl—the goddess Hestia—composed herself and studied her surroundings for a short while longer before flinging her arms wide and shouting.
“It really is different from the heavens! It’s finally my turn to come down here…This is where my life in the mortal realm begins!” Hestia’s eyes sparkled as she peered up into the sky with a triumphant expression on her face.
Eventually, she thought to examine herself.
She had restrained her arcanum so as not to infringe on the rules that all the deities had agreed to follow during their time among the mortals. Consequently, the body she currently inhabited boasted none of her heavenly form’s omnipotence.
Her slender arms and legs were every bit as weak as they looked, but Hestia regarded them with satisfaction. At a glance, she was quite happy with how they had turned out.
“Now, then…I shouldn’t have landed too far.” Hestia scanned the area as a quiet night breeze gently played with her sable hair. She turned left and right to check the plains lit by the moon and the stars, and the moment she looked back over her shoulder, she let out an “ah” at the sight of her destination.
“There it is.”
Almost too far away to see, a lone pure-white tower reached for the night sky.
Still barefoot, Hestia set off across the plain, occasionally hitching a ride in the carts of passing merchants as she headed straight for the Labyrinth City Orario and its white tower. Even among mortals, her destination was known as the center of the world, and it occupied a special place in the hearts of the gods as well. The young goddess received directions from a friendly, devout merchant woman, and by the break of dawn, Hestia reached the walls that separated the city from the world beyond.
Despite some confusion and bewilderment at the stern warnings of the Guild’s gatekeepers that any gods or familias planning to reside in Orario would not be able to leave the city as they pleased, Hestia completed the complicated entry procedures and finally passed through the northern gates.
“That inspection sure took long enough. Don’t know why there are so many rules just to enter the city and find a place to live…but I guess that’s all part of the charm of this world!” Hestia smiled despite feeling beleaguered after the lengthy holdup at the gates. In contrast to the heavens, where everything was free and unrestricted, the mortal plane was refreshingly inconvenient and limiting.
“So this is Orario! I like the look of it!” exclaimed Hestia once she’d gone far enough to take in the sight of all the buildings lining the streets. Calling this city the center of the world wasn’t just for show. The stores and streets were enough to impress even a goddess.
Every direction was filled with structures large and small—shops and cobbled streets, inns and bell towers, squares and spires—creating a unique atmosphere that couldn’t be found in the heavens, even among the fabled pristine gardens and sparkling waterfalls that spilled from clouds.
The sun had already climbed high into the sky.
Hestia had reached the city walls early in the day, but the delay at the gates had consumed most of the morning.
Never feeling compelled to wear shoes even back in the heavens, she let the bottoms of her soles patter against the cobblestones as she explored. Walking along one of Orario’s main avenues, Hestia beamed as she watched the vibrant throngs of demi-humans and laughing children all around her.
“Okay, I can’t just sightsee forever. First things first—it’s time to find Hephaistos. I wonder where she is…”
Hestia was counting on her friend who’d come to Orario before her to provide some assistance with establishing a foothold in the city.
She couldn’t say exactly how many centuries it had been since her dear old friend had said, “I think I’ll try my luck in Orario,” and embarked on her own journey.
Having no proper knowledge of the city—or rather, no firsthand knowledge—the effectively ignorant Hestia was just about to ask some passing children if they knew where to find Hephaistos, when—
“Huh? Aw, c’mon, don’t tell me that’s really…” came a voice from behind her.
Hestia turned to look over her shoulder only for her expression to instantly sour at the sight of her old enemy.
“Hmm?…Ugh! Loki?!”
The red-haired, red-eyed goddess rolled her eyes at the sound of her name. “Ugh, it really is Itty-Bitty! Just my luck…”
That’s my line , Hestia thought. Loki was a trickster with an unmatched reputation for mischief in the heavens. More importantly, she had been a thorn in Hestia’s side countless times.
“Lookin’ at that bumpkin outfit you got on, I figure you must’ve just arrived down here, eh? Don’t tell me you wanna set up here in Orario, shorty.”
“What if I am?!”
“Hee-hee-hee! You’ve got no clue what you’re gettin’ yourself into! Orario’s not a place where a lazy, homebody goddess like you can make it, y’know.”
“What’d you just call me?! You got some nerve!”
After enduring the patronizing suggestion that she wouldn’t cut it outside the heavens, it was all Hestia could do to hold back from flying at Loki in a rage—but then she stopped short.
A demi-human standing demurely next to Loki spoke up in a hesitant voice.
“Um, Loki? That goddess, is she…?”
“Don’t sweat it, Lefiya. This sad excuse for a goddess doesn’t need an introduction…You can just call her ‘Shortstuff’ or something.”
Loki’s insult was infuriating, but there was something else Hestia couldn’t ignore. In addition to the beautiful elf standing beside Loki, there were other lovely girls—animal people and humans, too.
It can’t be! Hestia didn’t do a very good job of hiding her shock. “L-Loki, those children, are they—?!”
“Finally noticed, eh, shrimpy? That’s right, they’re all precious members of my dear familia.”
Familia.
Children of the mortal world who’d received a god’s blessing. A deity’s followers—their faction.
Loki’s followers all carried full bags; either they were in the middle of a shopping trip or returning home from one. The girls Loki had proudly introduced shrank away, their expressions awkward and worried, but the sheer size of Loki Familia on display shook Hestia to her core.
This is Loki we’re talking about!
The walking incarnation of mischief and trouble herself!
How did she get the children of the mortal realm to (apparently) worship and follow her?!
“…H-hmph. Well, this is Loki we’re talking about, so it’s not like any familia of yours would be any good—” began Hestia in an attempt to retain what little remained of her composure.
“Ignorance really is its own punishment. Just so you know, out of all the Dungeon familias, we’re counted among the top adventuring groups in the whole city.”
“Wh-what?!” Hestia’s eyes shot open as the smug Loki looked down at her. “Liar! There’s no way a trashy goddess like you would have the strongest familia!”
“Hey! Who you callin’ trashy?!”
“If a failure of a goddess who chokes on her booze so bad she throws up is leading a top familia, I guess this world must be coming to an end!”
“You big-titted whelp, why I oughtta—!”
This flare-up was just the latest round of a never-ending quarrel that had been a constant fixture in the heavens.
As people walking along the street began to give the feuding goddesses a wide berth, the elf panicked and cried out, “Wait, Loki! Please, stop!”
But this was like the opening bell of a fight. The two deities flew at each other, hurling insults while pulling hair and pinching cheeks in an embarrassing display. When Loki’s followers finally pulled them apart, both of them were winded, their shoulders heaving as they smoothed tousled hair and caught their breath.
“Haah, haah …Damn, I can’t move like I used to.”
“Huff, huff …A couch potato like you couldn’t cut it even back in heaven!”
Loki wiped the sweat from her chin and looked up with a nasty grin.
Hestia turned her back on Loki’s exasperated followers and looked down.
“Whatever. Go ahead and try as hard as you can. Knowing you, you’ll run from Orario with your tail between your legs after your familia doesn’t get even one child. Ha-ha-ha-ha!”
As Loki raised a raucous laugh with her familia arrayed behind her, all Hestia could do was grit her teeth as she stood alone.
“—And that’s how it went down, Hephaistos!” a red-faced Hestia explained to her friend.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! You really got trounced first thing after coming down from the heavens, didn’t you?”
They were inside a large building that resembled a volcano, located in the northern part of the city. After Loki had left the scene of their battle, Hestia had managed to find Hephaistos’s base of operations and received a warm welcome. In the goddess’s chambers, Hestia furiously recounted her spat with Loki to the eye-patch-wearing Hephaistos, whose shoulders shook with unbridled laughter.
“I’ll show that stupid Loki by making the greatest familia ever! I’m gonna make her rue the day she picked a fight with me!”
“Well, well. That’s quite a goal. You do know Loki’s crew is the top familia in the city, right?”
“Like I care!” Hestia shot back across the table.
Despite saying her aspirations were unrealistic, the amused-looking Hephaistos seemed to be regarding Hestia’s enthusiasm and energy with a certain amount of affection.
“You just got here, and you can barely tell up from down. We were friends back in the heavens, so I’ll help you out until you get on your feet. If there’s anything you need, just let me know.”
“I appreciate it, Hephaistos!”
Hestia thanked her friend even as she pictured Loki’s loathsome face. Just you wait! she thought. Familias were directly tied to a god’s status in the mortal realm, and Hestia burned with determination to assemble a massive familia so she could get some serious payback.
Just then, she heard the sound of the room’s door opening.
“Hey, boss, we bought too much at the stall. Want some? Ah, whoops, are you still talking?”
“No, it’s fine, Tsubaki.”
One of Hephaistos’s familia members, a half-dwarf woman, entered the room, carrying a large paper bag.
Hestia’s nose twitched at the tantalizing aroma of oil and salt that emanated from it, and she stared intently at the bag. “Um, Hephaistos, what’s that?”
“Street food you can find anywhere in Orario. They’re called—”
“—Jyaga Maru Kun, young goddess. Want one?” offered the half-dwarf with a smile, completing her mistress’s sentence. She, like Hephaistos, wore an eye patch.
Hephaistos smiled wryly at the scene—her follower trying to feed a deity before even bothering to introduce herself first, and her old friend regarding the potato snack with deep interest. Eventually, Hestia embraced the unknown and helped herself to some.
“—!”
Immediately after popping one into her mouth, Hestia exclaimed, “I-it’s so good…!”
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Damn right!”
Beside the cackling half-dwarf, Hestia stared wide-eyed at the potato puffs, trembling in shock. This was the moment she first experienced one of the many pleasures of the material world—the joy of good food.
And this was the beginning of her downfall.
“Pfft…hee-hee…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Three months later.
Hestia giggled, sprawled out on the sofa in Hephaistos Familia ’s guest room, where she’d been allowed to stay until she established a familia of her own. In front of her was a book and on a plate next to her was a mountain of potato puffs.
She would eat one, return to reading and then laugh. Before long, she would eat another, starting the cycle all over again.
There was no evidence that she had ever left the room or would anytime soon.
When Hephaistos stopped by the guest room, she admonished the small goddess.
“Uh, Hestia, you need to hurry up and start recruiting children for your familia. You should know that getting one established is no easy tas—”
“Yeah, I’ll start tomorrow,” said Hestia without looking up from her book.
This had been the newcomer goddess’s life for the past three months.
Starting with the potato snacks, Hestia had concerned herself with nothing save the mortal plane’s dazzling offerings of food and books. Hestia, like many deities, had fallen prey to these earthly pleasures, and in doing so, had shown her true nature.
Namely that she was deeply lazy.
Hestia had tended toward a life of idle reclusion even during her time in the heavens, but after being introduced to various earthly pleasures, she had taken her enjoyment of idleness to incredible new heights. She spent entire days cooped up in the guest room, requesting potato puffs and new reading material from the Goddess of the Forge’s followers.
Day after day, Hephaistos would come to warn her, only to have Hestia reply with assurances that she would “start tomorrow.” Once tomorrow came, Hestia would forget all about forming her own familia…until finally, Hephaistos’s reserve of patience for the idle, self-indulgent Hestia ran dry.
“Get oooouuuuut!!!”
“Bwuh?!”
Hephaistos dragged Hestia out of her home and kicked her to the curb, where Hestia collapsed awkwardly.
“Wh-what’re you doing, Hephaistos?!” Hestia began to protest, looking up—only to be greeted by the sight of a crimson-haired, crimson-eyed goddess of fury, arms crossed and legs set in a wide, intimidating stance.
“I’ve extended you the generosity of letting you stay here, and yet day after day you do nothing but slack off…”
“H-Hephaistos…?”
“It was my mistake to indulge you like this. You should get a taste of how harsh this world can be. And don’t darken my doorstep again!” After the enraged Hephaistos had thoroughly terrified Hestia, she slammed shut the gate to her home.
Cast out of her host’s splendid abode in such a sorry state, the young goddess wobbled unsteadily to her feet.
“What’s her problem? I was just taking some time to enjoy myself a little. It was barely three months!” Hestia grumbled. As a deity who still viewed everything through the lens of someone who would live forever, she did not understand.
Or to be more accurate, reality had not sunk in yet for her—that she no longer lived in the heavens but in the world below.
“Well, whatever. I’ll throw together a familia and find a place to live in a snap. After all, this is to get back at Loki!” As she finally remembered her original goal, Hestia began to walk away from the home of Hephaistos Familia . Her destination was a large avenue where humans and demi-humans thronged.
“When it comes to who I want in my familia…I definitely want children aiming to become adventurers. This is the Labyrinth City, after all!” said Hestia as she stood at the edge of the wide street.
Even the lazy Hestia grasped that finances were the chief priority in the world of humans. She scanned the passing traffic for children who seemed like they hadn’t been recruited by other gods yet.
I don’t think I’d get along with this child…there’s a nasty one…and that one’s too young… Hestia’s divine blue eyes studied the children passing by—Amazons, animal people, prums, and more. Despite her flaws, Hestia was still a divine being who could sense the inner nature of mortals. If she exchanged a few words with them, she could gain a solid grasp of their personality. “A mortal can never deceive a god” was a well-known saying by residents of both worlds.
As she continued to watch for a likely candidate, Hestia’s eyes lingered on a certain elf girl. “Found one!” said Hestia as she approached her.
The girl wore lightweight gear and was conspicuously outfitted with a bow and quiver. She looked every bit like someone who wanted to make their living as an adventurer.
Hestia called out in a chummy voice. “Greetings, elf lass! From the look about you, I’d wager you haven’t entered a contract with a god yet. Care to join my familia?” Standing up straight and proud so as not to tarnish her heavenly gravitas, she hailed the elf with energy and good cheer.
The elf looked up and down at the shorter Hestia, carefully appraising her.
“Pardon me, Goddess, but may I ask your name?”
“It’s Hestia!”
“Hestia Famila …I don’t believe I’ve heard of it. If it’s a new faction, where are you based out of? How many members do you currently have? What is the pay range?”
“Huh? Wha—?” Hestia flinched at the elf’s flood of questions.
Perhaps discerning something from Hestia’s complete inability to answer, the elf warily narrowed her eyes, the expression on her frigidly beautiful features shifting.
“What is your familia’s operating model?”
“Uh, well…I—I was thinking it’d be nice to make some money in the Dungeon…”
Spearing the goddess with a freezing gaze, the elf halted Hestia’s weak attempt to obscure the fact that she had no plan whatsoever.
Without so much as a word of parting, the elf turned her back on the crestfallen deity. The child’s form quickly receded, as though declaring her time had been wasted.
“She…she looked at me like I was garbage !” Hestia was stunned. No goddess deserved such treatment, and yet—!
As a recent arrival in this world, Hestia had no way of knowing that Dungeon-oriented familias generally made their preparations outside the city before entering Orario proper. It was difficult to make a living on expeditions into the Dungeon without preparing a certain amount of personnel and funding in advance. If nothing else, it was apparent to everyone else that Hestia Familia faced a difficult path.
Aspiring adventurers regularly put their lives on the line. It was obvious that they would favor richer familias that could provide at least some measure of support and comfort.
“W-well, who cares! I’ve just gotten started—I’m sure if I keep inviting people, someone will want to join!”
On the contrary, the notion that a lone goddess would be able to secure recruits and everything else she might need within the city was absurd. For the children, it was obvious that there was nothing to be gained from serving under Hestia other than suffering.
The truth was that here in Orario—and generally anywhere in the mortal realm—it was universally known that worthless, feckless gods could be found all over, and it was common sense to avoid getting involved with them.
With a familia that was nothing but talk, lacking both plans and money, the young goddess had naturally been lumped in with that merry band.
In a word, she was untrustworthy.
She continued to approach children with her invitations until the sun went down—and was turned down by every single person she encountered.
“H-how did I not get even a single yes?! Is this what life in the mortal realm means?!”
Gaining the faith—or rather, the trust—of another was a difficult thing.
For the first time, Hestia experienced how merciless this new world could be.
“Waah, Hephaistooos…”
“Hestia…It hasn’t even been a full day since I kicked you out.”
After spending a single night on the streets, Hestia decided she had no choice but to return, crying, to her friend. After undergoing her baptism of reality, Hestia threw away her pride and groveled before Hephaistos—and in the days that followed, continued to scrounge for any generosity Hephaistos might spare.
“Hephaistooos…”
Sometimes she would plead that she had no money.
“Hephaistoooos…”
Sometimes she would say it was impossible to find a job.
“Hephaistooooos…”
Sometimes she would appear there soaking wet and head drooping, begging for shelter from the rain.
Hestia, who had realized that she was helpless without her arcanum, had become a magnificent headache for Hephaistos.
She couldn’t continue coddling her old friend, but neither should she let her fall by the wayside. At her wit’s end, the scarlet-haired, scarlet-eyed goddess heaved a deep sigh.
“This is a onetime thing, got it?”
And then, fully aware that she was being too lenient yet again, she gave Hestia a place to live.
In the basement of a shabby old church at the end of a forgotten, lonely alleyway, there was a small hidden room.
“Th-thank you, Hephaistos…!”
“This is seriously your last chance, okay? I mean it. I gave you a lead on a part-time job, too, so after this you’re on your own.”
There in front of the church that her dear, generous friend had led her to, Hestia nodded. “All right!”
Once Hephaistos turned and left with an exhausted sigh, Hestia ventured down into her new home—the basement of a half- ruined church.
“Ugh, what’d Hephaistos hoist onto me…?” Hestia grumbled, looking at the state of the hideaway. It couldn’t even be compared to the quarters she’d been provided before.
Paint was peeling off the walls, and cracks were beginning to show underneath. A lone magic-stone lantern hung from the ceiling.
A few basic furnishings like a bed and sofa had been brought down, perhaps because Hephaistos was sympathetic even then, but they were clearly well-used.
“No, no, I need all the help I can get…Just need to make myself at home!” Hestia shouted, mostly to convince herself, as she started cleaning the room.
She checked for magic-stone items, beginning with the faucet, and arranged everything to best accommodate her small frame. By the time she finished, night was beginning to fall outside. Hestia stood in the center of the room and regarded her handiwork as she caught her breath.
“…It’s kinda empty.”
The words fell unbidden from her delicate lips.
The room was cramped and should have felt almost claustrophobic, but Hestia couldn’t help thinking there was too much space for just one person.
“I was used to being alone in the heavens, but…Loki’s and Hephaistos’s places seem so lively and fun.” She remembered the faces of the children, the members of those familias.
Though Loki’s children treated her like a great nuisance, their happy expressions revealed their affection for one another. Meanwhile, Hephaistos’s familia obviously adored her, and she always had a smile ready for them. And many of the other gods and goddesses Hestia had encountered so far seemed happy, too. Somehow fulfilled.
She’d never seen any deities look like that in the heavens.
“…Damn it, I’m not lonely!”
Even Hestia could tell how empty those words were as they echoed off the walls in the cold basement.
She went still for a while. Then she extinguished the magic light and climbed into bed.
“I wonder what the children of my familia will be like…”
What sort of child would take her hand?
Hestia undid the plain thread that held back her hair and lay down on the bed, her thoughts still swirling. Loneliness and uncertainty resided within her, but there was also a bit of anticipation. Anybody living in the material world would have instantly recognized how Hestia felt as she mulled over what tomorrow might bring. Those emotions were mixed and indistinct even as they urged her on into the future.
Her mind still full of such thoughts, the goddess Hestia closed her eyes.
After that, Hestia’s struggle began—this was the true beginning of her life in the mortal realm.
Self-sufficiency was a basic requirement of life here. She had to be able to feed herself through her own efforts.
Every attempt to scout a familia member who would help support her had failed, and her days had been dominated by a chain of setbacks and defeats.
With her omnipotent arcanum sealed away, Hestia’s life was full of hardship and her mind was completely occupied by what Hephaistos had referred to as the harshness of the material world.
This world also had amusements. It had novelties. It had delights. But above all, Hestia was learning firsthand that it could also be painfully uncaring. When she’d made a mistake with the cooking equipment at the Jyaga Maru Kun stall where she worked, it ended with the whole place burning to the ground. After becoming saddled with a heavy debt for her disastrous error, she actually broke down into tears.
But even amid such tribulations, there were moments of good fortune.
“Hestia! Working hard as ever, aren’t you? Know what, have this potion.”
“Ooh! Thank you, as always, Miach!”
“There you go again, Lord Miach, giving away our potions…! As if there’s any point in giving them to a familia with no adventurers!”
Miach was well-known as a soft touch among the gods who led business-oriented familias. Accompanying him was Nahza, a chienthrope. Hestia had never met Miach before descending from the heavens, but as a fellow member of the impoverished class, he and his familia had helped her many times.
“You’re Hestia? Wait, if you’re here, that must mean…”
“Is that you, Také? Those clothes, don’t tell me—”
““Jyaga Maru Kun?!””
Renewing her friendship with Takemikazuchi, a god she’d known since her days in the heavens, and finding out that he, too, was toiling under the same potato snack business in order to stave off poverty also helped lift Hestia’s spirits. Her other coworkers doted and fussed over her as well, thanks to her childlike appearance.
Before long, half a year had passed since her arrival in Orario.
Then, one clear day three months after Hephaistos had cast her out…
“Turned down again…”
Hestia’s fiftieth familia invitation that day had been refused. Her shoulders drooped.
She had no idea how many children she’d approached since she’d come to Orario. When Loki would stop by her Jyaga Maru Kun stall just to make fun of her, Hestia had no way to fight back.
Hestia dragged herself home, ruminating on another fruitless day—when her eyes fell upon a certain boy.
(A human child, huh…? He looks even worse off than I am, and that’s saying something…)
His shoulders were slack like hers, and he also trudged listlessly down the street. His hair was pure white, like a rabbit’s, or perhaps like freshly fallen snow. His eyes were a vivid rubellite, and he had a slender build.
Watching him from behind, Hestia found herself strangely drawn to the boy and decided to follow him. It was true that Hestia felt a certain kinship with anyone who struggled as much as she did, but it was the sadness she sensed in his expression that she couldn’t leave alone.
She pattered after him, staying out of sight. Her clumsy attempt at stealth earned her judgmental gazes from other pedestrians on the street, but she managed to gather that the boy was looking for a familia to join. She watched as he went from one familia’s home to another, knocking on their gates only to be immediately turned away. The boy seemed to be an aspiring adventurer, but his obviously rustic appearance meant he was bound to be rejected immediately without even being allowed to meet the familia’s god.
As Hestia registered all this, she wondered, Is this my chance…?
She couldn’t help but hope that he was someone who might accept an invitation into her familia.
Even from a distance, Hestia liked what she saw. He seemed unsophisticated, shy, and above all—pure of heart. She got the sense that his soul was as unblemished as his hair.
Unable to keep her cool, Hestia crept closer with some rather unseemly skittering.
“Still, I have to say…” As she continued watching the boy from behind as he mingled with the crowd, Hestia found it a rather lonely sight.
Hestia, on the other hand, was brimming with anticipation and anxiety at the prospect of finally recruiting a follower.
He was truly a child, fundamentally unlike a deity like her, who would live forever.
She watched the forlorn boy closely as he searched for a place to belong.
As if I could just abandon him when he’s making that kind of face!
Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, patron deity of the light that protected the home. The eternal flame that offered salvation to supplicants and welcomed lost, hurt children.
And with an undoubtedly lost child right before her eyes, Hestia raised her voice.
“Heeey! You there!”
Those unremarkable words would set everything in motion.
But the goddess was still unaware. There was no way to foresee how that boy would change her life forever.
She didn’t know—yet .
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