Chapter 76 - Denatus(2/?)

Finally, seeing the figure of Hephaestus talking with a small group of Goddesses, Hestia smiled while running towards her.

Hearing her name being called from the distance, Hephaestus turned her head to look at the owner of the voice she knew well.

Jumping on her, Hestia called her name another time. The happiness with which she repeated her name led Hephaestus to return the embrace.

"Hephaestus!"

Seeing this, the few Goddesses that were talking with her for benefits of their own familia, looked away before deciding it was better to approach her another time. Glaring at them with the corner of her eye, Hestia added

"These three only wanted benefits, they didn't talk to you for a normal chat!"

Her friend's words made her smile. Placing her on the ground, she pat her head while replying

"Yes, I knew that as well."

"Then why? I am here if you want someone to talk with! You don't need people who want you close for what you have instead of who you are!"

Nodding, Hephaestus' smile widened upon hearing her words. Seeing her smile, Hestia was even more confused while she added

"the Goddesses I was speaking to have production families, and I was looking for an agreement with them to allow members of my familia to be supplied with raw materials. There is no shortage at present, but it is better to plan for the future rather than to remain stalled.."

With a surprised expression, she turned to look at them as she felt extremely guilty.

"I just ruined your contracts..? Sorry..Hephaestus.. I didn't know.."

Shaking her head, her smile didn't fade even for a moment.

"You don't have to worry, Hestia. I know you tried to defend me, in fact, I am grateful to you, only next time pay more attention. the only friend I have is you, if there will ever be others I will let you know."

Looking down, Hestia felt frustrated but, Hephaestus' words comforted her a little. Hugging her, she replied with a 'Nn' while she returned her hug swiftly before making Hestia release her.

"Talking about other things, how's your life? Did you manage to find some members for your family?"

Her question made her flinch slightly but, remembering she actually had a member in the familia, she closed her eyes with a proud smile on her face. With a 'Hehe' she answered her question with 'pride'.

"I managed to obtain my first member. She's a pallum..."

Even though the way she said it confused her, she saw that, from her expression, there was something more that she hadn't added. Deciding it was her choice to tell her or not, Hephaestus congratulated her clapping her hands slowly

"Wonderful! So, is she venturing into the dungeon? or is she particularly skilled in any field?"

The rather innocent questions from Hephaestus made Hestia's brow twitch slightly before she answered, trying not to make her prideful tone falling.

"I-I mean, she's venturing into the dungeon! But as you know, the guild has forbidden entry to all low-level ones without high-level escorts, so she can't enter at the moment"

Nodding, Hephaestus understood she was telling the truth. Patting her head, she was even more curious to know what kind of person joined her familia.

"Then? Tell me, how did you recruit her? Did you offer her anything in particular? Did you cheat her?"

Asking the last question sarcastically, her smile didn't fade but, seeing she looked away while she was a little tense about revealing the information, Hephaestus turned serious while adding

".. You didn't cheat her in joining your familia, right? she entered of her own accord .. right?"

"Obviously! I'm not that kind of person! But, she joined me because someone...helped me.."

Her friend's words made her think..

'Someone helped her? Hestia?'

Staring at her with a doubtful expression, she just replied

"Are you sure that person is trustworthy?..they're not taking advantage of you, are they?"

Her serious, slightly angry tone made her blush slightly while looking down before replying in a muffled tone.

"I..he is a good person.."

Seeing her friend in this state, Hephaestus' brow twitched as she was even more doubtful. Deciding to ask more questions, Hestia spilled all she knew about the 'person' who helped her.

Bringing a hand on her forehead while closing her eye, she said in 'desperation'

"Let's make a small recap. The person that helped you, is a human, that came to you saying he saw how you struggled to find a familia member but nobody wanted to help you. A few days after this, he brought to you a pallum, and he said that he will train her..."

Nodding, Hestia didn't add anything more while Hephaestus sighed.

"How did you trust him so easily? Hestia, you really should stop. I can understand that he's not one of those people, but what would you have done if instead he somehow managed to trick you? One of the main things we know and have observed throughout our time has been just how humans betray each other. My question is, how did you trust him so easily...?"

Even though her words were somehow trying to scold her, Hephaestus knew it was necessary.

"I.. I just felt all he said was the absolute truth..seeing his gentle expression and the way he treated me made me think..that someone finally acknowledged that I wasn't just the lazy Goddess everyone 'believes' me to be. I'm certainly not interested in the opinions of others. It's just that hearing it after all these millions of years has had a big effect on me..."

Her words made Hephaestus think. Remembering that she also trusted only Hestia for a similar reason, made her sigh. Seeing her in tears that were threatening to flow. She immediately apologized to Hestia.

"I didn't want to talk about him.. I was talking in general, but I will trust your judgment. The only thing I ask is, please, don't go near strange people or anything like that...this world isn't so kind to let you be carefree."

Wiping away the tears, she understood that as well. With the misunderstanding being cleared, Hephaestus took this opportunity to smirk.

"A person that helped you...and it's a male! Isn't it that one of the 3 v.i.r.g.i.n Goddesses will soon lose her title?"

Whispering the last part in her ear, she saw as Hestia blushed rather heavily while her ponytails twitched, as if they had their own will.

"T-There isn't anything like that..! I mean..at the moment.."

Getting fl.u.s.tered, she leaked out what she really thought for a second, but that was enough for Hephaestus' smirk to widen. Placing a hand on her mouth, she added

"Ohhh... I see, 'at the moment'.."

Even though Hestia was ready to argue or at least explain what she meant, she was interrupted from the appearance of a God with white hair and blue eyes. Immediately recognizing who the person was, the whole atmosphere that was created before the Denatus disappear. With the only thing left was silence while the God walked, with slow but firm steps, towards the throne.

Arrived at his destination, the God in question sat down while observing all the Gods, one by one. As if they recovered from a long sleep, all the gods began to take their seats while the few Gods who were allowed to sit in the centre headed there, including Loki.

Seeing this, The God nodded and, after he saw that everyone was ready to start, he announced the start of the Denatus itself.

Being the only one with the authority to do so, no one questioned his statement while he added

"I want to start with the situation that I imagine all of you are aware of. The dungeon had a small period where most of the monsters that were found were variants, or monsters from other floors. Do any of you know the cause of this?"

Emanating his divinity across the room, all the gods felt enormously disturbed by his power. Even though there were minorities that didn't felt the same quantity of 'weight' on them, nobody had a real reason to lie, which the God knew as well. Seeing that no one was aware of the reason, as he thought, the God dispersed his divinity while most began to breathe, as if they were prevented from doing so first.

Sighing, he added

"The only thing we can do is send adventurers to find and give us answers. I know that an expedition has been programmed precisely for this, I expect all the gods to collaborate with each other. The situation is not currently serious, but I would not want our carelessness to generate a tragedy in the future."

His words, combined with his power which, although not manifested, was clearly visible to all the gods in the room, only made them nod in approval.

Deciding to move on to other topics since there was not much to say about this, Ouranos passed the word to the gods who, slowly, began to discuss among themselves on various issues.

Having her close, Hephaestus knew she had to return to her contracts, otherwise she would lose them.

"I'm sorry, Hestia, I need to finalize those contracts I was talking about. But our discussion isn't over. I would be curious to see for myself the person who managed to help you a lot during this period.."

Sighing, Hestia smiled.

"Don't worry, Hephaestus, I'll bring him with me someday. Now go, I don't think they will wait for you for long."

Understanding that as well, she waved her hand as a gesture of goodbye as he hurried back to them. Waving her hand, Hestia knew that she had nothing to do now, mainly because her familia was completely still at the moment, so the best thing she could do was keep silent...

"Hestia.. I hadn't seen you before, where were you?"

Hearing the well known voice, she sighed without looking at her.

"What do you want, Freya?"

Her irritated response made Freya bring a hand over her mouth as her smile widened. Closing her eyes, she added

"Oh my~ did I do something to deserve this irritated response?"

Clenching her first, Hestia tried to keep her calm as she didn't want to bring all the attention on her..

"Yes, you should know why.."

Her reply made her chuckle in amus.e.m.e.nt before she added, this time in a slightly serious tone

"And so you are connected to him... I see"

With her smile fading, she knew she had nothing against Hestia to make her spill information about Ethan, but an attempt never hurt.

Placing a hand on her chin, she made her look at her with a smile.

"Your dress...makes you look really, really beautiful. Hestia, why don't you tell me what you know about him? I promise to never hurt him if you do so.."

Her words made her flinch slightly but, before she could smirk in amus.e.m.e.nt, Hestia moved Freya's hand away.

"I promised to him to never tell something about him to others. I can't betray his trust for such a stupid reason. If you wanted to hurt him, you wouldn't send Ottar to save him in the first place."

Hearing her, her 'amused' expression dropped as she knew that Hestia, as well as Loki, seemed to be tied in the chains that Ethan had assembled very calmly.

'This boy..is even more then what I previously thought...'

Deciding to 'retreat' for now, she looked away before adding

"I see...I have to go now, but I hope to see you again soon"

With a 'hmph', Hestia looked away again while Freya decided it was better act through Loki than through Hestia. With this belief, her smile returned as the various Gods in the room saw everything from the distance.

Even though they couldn't hear their words, the only fact they knew was that Freya was planning something...

"I bet she is planning to obtain someone that is connected with Loki and Hestia"

"Loki and Hestia? Is there someone who is connected with the latter? For me she wanted to tease her..while the former has the interesting member..."

"You are actually true. Didn't you two see the event? I bet it's the boy that fought in the Arena."

The God's words lit a light bulb that until then they were trying to ignore.

"Right! His name is Ethan, his powress is a fact..."

Thinking the whole situation was interesting, the Gods were happily talking about him while Hestia mulled over the fact that maybe Freya was already aware of everything about Ethan

'I will never, never let you approach him...'

With this, she pouted while the first day of the Denatus ended without other noteworthy turns.

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(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can join the Qienta Familia! play a lot of fun games, but, obviously, that's not all, I post there images regarding things you may see in the story, such as the [Twin's Digimon] and [The Devoted Heart].)

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(Alternate Titles: "Hestia vs Freya...Hestia won!", "Yes, Hephaestus is Bae", "Ethan: *sneeze* Oh, someone's talking about me?")