Chapter 2: Hero Cloud-Raising Project (Patreon)

"Have you considered... joining my Familia?"

Rozz had to admit — this was, without question, the best news he'd heard since figuring out he'd transmigrated into the world of DanMachi.

Adventurer.

If he wanted to avoid getting kicked to death on the side of the road in a fantasy world full of magic and superhuman powers, becoming an Adventurer was clearly the answer.

But how to actually become one — now that was the real question!

Put simply, a Familia with good conditions was basically like having a veteran player carry you through a new game.

The opposite case was like those FGO diehards who talk newbies into pulling for Aoko — rotten to the core.

But a Familia that was both powerful overall and had great conditions was like the big tech companies of his past life: clearing the bar just to get in was brutally hard.

Now, though, faced with Hestia's invitation, Rozz couldn't think of a reason to refuse. At the very least, it was the option best suited to his current situation.

A cheat ability? Ever since he'd transmigrated, he hadn't heard so much as a single pleasant system notification chime — he couldn't even manage something as basic as taking out a loan for talent points.

Rozz looked at the childlike-looking, beautiful goddess who'd brought him back here out of pure kindness, his face full of curiosity. "Is that really okay?"

"Of course."

Hestia had even braced herself for rejection — she hadn't expected him to agree so quickly. But after a moment of clearer thinking, she suddenly hesitated.

Because — the girl realized she'd only acted on impulse when she decided to recruit for her Familia, and hadn't prepared anything at all regarding a base or a growth plan.

"It's just..."

"I think I should be upfront with you — my Familia doesn't have any other members yet, and things are pretty rough on every front."

"Are you sure you've really thought this through?"

"..."

As if the Familias with good conditions would ever have taken him anyway.

Rozz honestly wanted to point that out. The whole theme here was two kindred spirits meeting in a lousy backwater, a pair of misfits amid barren mountains and foul water — but as long as he could become an Adventurer, he'd be plenty satisfied.

"Of course."

"Compared to other Adventurers, I don't think I have a better option. A way to become one is right in front of me, right now."

"I have to consider..."

"...whether this might be the only chance I get in this life!"

"..."

From what he'd said, Hestia could feel the sincerity in Rozz's attitude — it was just that the truth of it stung a little to hear.

But no matter how you looked at it, recruiting the very first member of her Familia was definitely a good start!

She nodded gently and looked to her close friend Hephaestus beside her. "Um... could I borrow your office to grant Rozz the Falna?"

"Ugh..."

"Rozz, next you'll need to take off your shirt and lie face-down on the couch, okay?"

Hestia set the silver needle and the parchment needed for granting the Falna down on the table, explaining to the black-haired boy in front of her.

Granting the Falna meant dripping divine blood onto a follower's back, bestowing on them the power to grow stronger, without limit.

The "Vessel" an Adventurer possessed represented a follower's potential. In truth, before receiving the Falna, even a god had no way of knowing what talent a child held.

A rare few gods would even lose interest the moment they learned a member was ordinary, treating them as a fringe figure in the Familia and gradually forgetting about them.

She definitely wasn't going to be like that!

When she'd first thought of building a Familia, urged on by her close friend, Hestia had decided the atmosphere should be that of a warm, cozy family.

Even so, now that she actually faced the important moment of granting the Falna, she found it hard not to feel some anticipation about what talent her new member, Rozz, might have.

"Here I go..."

The girl goddess sat on the edge of the couch. She winced slightly as the silver needle pricked her finger, but still squeezed out the deep-red divine blood, drop by drop.

In that instant, a soft white light rose slowly from Rozz's back, accompanied by an obscure, archaic divine script.

Once the script gradually coalesced into a stat panel, Hestia picked up the parchment beside her and made a rubbing of the values.

She didn't forget to explain: "Rozz... every Adventurer starts with all stats at zero."

"To raise your stats, you have to go into the Dungeon and fight the monsters there. Then your stats update and improve."

"Okay."

Rozz didn't feel much else during the process of receiving the Falna. If anything, he was mostly full of anticipation for the future.

But even more than that, he felt nervous.

Rozz

Level: Lv1

Strength: I0

Endurance: I0

Dexterity: I0

Agility: I0

Magic: I0

Hestia, harboring thoughts of a "gacha pull," lowered her eyes and focused on the parchment engraved with the stat values.

Perfectly ordinary starting stats.

And by Orario's definition of a "genius" Adventurer, the stage right after receiving the Falna really couldn't reveal someone's ultimate potential.

But anyone who mastered a Skill the very moment they became an Adventurer was undoubtedly a genius!

"Hmm..."

Recalling Rozz's brutally realistic, rather stinging words from earlier, Hestia felt it was necessary to offer him a bit of emotional support.

She tried, in her most divine tone, to reassure him. "I think..."

"...you shouldn't hold such a pessimistic view. An Adventurer's talent can only be proven through hard work."

"I'll do my best."

Reaching for the stars without a foundation was clearly not the way to go.

Besides — being able to say a complete goodbye to his corporate-drone life from his past world, and start a brand-new life as an Adventurer he'd never even imagined, Rozz was already plenty satisfied with that.

After taking the parchment, he nodded earnestly. Especially once he confirmed that, even after becoming an Adventurer, the standard-issue transmigrator's cheat system still hadn't shown up — he understood clearly that how far he could go in the future would depend entirely on effort and sweat!

Still, when Hestia handed the parchment to her new follower Rozz, meaning to offer him whatever help she could from a goddess's perspective, she looked at the translucent light-screen floating above his head.

The girl fell into a brief silence. This translucent screen was something she'd never seen before in all her long life as a goddess.

"Welcome to the 'Hero Cloud-Raising Plan'"

So... what exactly did "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" mean?

Unable to use divine power within Orario, Hestia had no way to decipher this translucent screen, which resembled the Falna panel. She could only try to understand it by its literal meaning.

"Hero"

That part was easy enough to grasp — Orario needed a hero to deal with the last, and most difficult, remaining task: the Black Dragon subjugation plan.

Cloud-Raising Plan...

As she thought it through, the girl goddess's pupils shrank slightly. Did this mean she could raise her follower Rozz into a future hero?!

Filled with anticipation, Hestia carefully studied the information the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" provided.

"Character: Rozz"

"Level: Lv1"

Strength Potential: C

Endurance Potential: D

Dexterity Potential: C

Agility Potential: D

Magic Potential: D

Overall Assessment: This is an unpolished jade — but calling it a "future hero's seed" would be a bit premature.

Note: The player can raise this character's final growth potential by issuing stage-based quests and setting growth plans, reaching toward a distant future.

"?"

Looking at the information panel the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" had opened, Hestia raised her head, her gaze settling on the handsome young face before her.

Hmm...

She suddenly realized — it seemed like she'd struck gold today, just by stepping outside?!