Chapter 026: Then, Hestia Actively Extended an Invitation to Cohabit! (Please Keep Reading) (Patreon)

[There's a panel — will you choose, or not?]

This really does call for a choice...

Especially when an "unknown" variable appears before a god who has lived through such an immensely long span of time, Loki has no other choice.

None of the other Adventurers have this translucent Hero Cloud-Raising Plan screen floating over their heads — yet somehow this guy has to be the special one!

Even if... this guy is a member of Hestia's Familia — and Loki knows perfectly well that poaching another Familia's member is a rotten thing to do — she just can't help herself.

"Hmm..."

"It's just a chat. That's not really cheating, is it?"

When she ran into Rozz again, Loki found herself thinking exactly that — especially once she saw the Hero Cloud-Raising Plan hovering over the black-haired boy's head once more, and her feelings simply refused to be reined in.

[This character is eligible to activate the Hero Cloud-Raising Plan.]

[Forming a bond will unlock the cloud-raising panel — raise intimacy, issue quests... customize your very own cloud-raised hero.]

Honestly, she didn't really believe that this new member of Hestia's Familia standing before her would show any heroic potential anytime soon.

And even if he did, could he possibly measure up to her own precious Ais?

Absolutely not!

But the mystery that translucent panel represented alone gave Loki every reason she needed — no matter what — to make contact with Rozz.

"Oi~"

"If I remember right, you're the one Hestia recruited into her Familia, aren't you?"

"..."

Judging people by their looks really was... a lousy thing to do, but Rozz genuinely wondered whether the author of the original DanMachi had some sort of twisted sense of humor.

Drawing a man and then insisting it was a woman.

He stared at the god in front of him — the one with a habit of narrowing her eyes, her vermilion hair pulled into a high ponytail, without a single feminine feature to be found. So — what could she possibly want with him?

"That's right."

Loki waved a hand like a beckoning cat and went on, "Don't be so tense. Your goddess and I are basically friends."

"Besides, I'm not some bad person!"

"..."

Rozz doubted that deeply. He didn't bother taking the bait — after all, crazy people never think they're the crazy ones, and the same logic applied to bad people.

Two parallel lines with no intersection at all.

She'd come at him out of nowhere; if he didn't stay on guard, he might get sold off without even knowing it — and end up helping her count the money afterward.

"..."

Don't look at me like I'm some kind of pest! I finally worked up the nerve to strike up a conversation, and you're making me lose this badly...

I've been utterly demolished!!

Loki scratched her head, forcing herself to say something she didn't quite mean: "As for me, you can call me Loki."

"Here in Orario~"

"My Familia's doing decently enough. If you ever run into trouble exploring the Dungeon, come find me at the Twilight Manor on North Main Street."

"Hmm..."

"That's about it, I guess."

Mostly, she wasn't sure how to go about forming a bond with this kid from Hestia's Familia — what if she came on too strong?

If this guy went and told that little shorty about it, wouldn't she lose face?

Once she'd said her piece, Loki made no further attempt to stop Rozz from moving on. She clasped her hands behind her back and sauntered off like a street loafer.

"..."

Especially after learning her divine name, Rozz couldn't help thinking of the villainous Loki from the Marvel movies back in his old life.

Somehow, it felt like she was up to no good.

He didn't dwell on it much. With everything settled for now, all that was left was to head back to his room and get some proper rest.

Exploration.

That remained the main theme going forward — pushing his stats as high as possible to prepare for the crisis the Soma Familia might bring down on him at any moment.

Training his combat skills with Takemikazuchi, the God of Martial Arts, needed to go on the agenda too.

After Rozz got back to the communal dormitory, he'd just settled in to rest briefly, planning to head out for a meal with Hestia once she returned.

Just then, the room's wooden door quietly swung open, and the sight that greeted him was, naturally, the beautiful young goddess — still in her weapon-shop uniform, not even having changed out of it.

Rozz looked at the goddess standing in the doorway, panting hard as if she'd just sprinted the whole way, her chest heaving with every breath, and couldn't help feeling curious.

"Lady Hestia, what brings you here all of a sudden?"

"Whew~"

"I was almost done with my shift at the weapon shop, so I... I thought I'd come keep you company. You don't really have any other friends here in Orario."

"I was worried you'd get bored..."

That was a lie.

But there was no rule against gods lying — especially not after she'd seen the contents of the Exploration Log, which had left Hestia unable to sit still.

Damn it, this Loki seemed... normal enough, so why was she always scheming to sneak in and poach from other Familias?

But deep down, the young goddess knew she couldn't stay glued to Rozz's side every moment, and as his monstrous talent kept becoming more apparent, situations like this one would only keep piling up!

So... Hestia realized she needed to give Rozz a preemptive warning. She sat on the edge of the bed and gently offered her lap as a pillow.

Her slender, pale fingers gently massaged his temples.

"Rozz..."

"Did anything happen on your way back to the dorm just now?" she asked, feigning casualness.

As if worried the question was too vague, Hestia pressed further: "I mean... did you run into some strange redheaded woman on your way back, flat-chested as an airport runway?"

"..."

Who on earth could that be?

This was such a hard guess...

Rozz, enjoying the beautiful goddess's gentle lap pillow, didn't hide anything. "Actually, yeah. She said... her name was Loki, I think."

"She told me I could come find her if I ever ran into trouble."

"Heh heh..."

Because the goddess's chest was so magnificently disproportionate to the rest of her petite frame, Rozz couldn't actually see Hestia's expression at that moment.

But he could tell from her tone that her mood wasn't great.

"But I turned her down."

Thinking back over everything that had happened lately, Rozz felt he needed to do something about it. He reached up, took hold of the hand Hestia was using to massage his temples, and spoke earnestly.

"I think that now that I'm a member of Lady Hestia's Familia, I should avoid getting too close to gods I don't even know."

"!!"

The reason she'd asked Hephaestus for time off to come here was simple enough — deep down, Hestia couldn't help feeling anxious, caught between hope and fear.

Compared to other Familias, her own really didn't have much to offer — no real support for Dungeon exploration, nothing to give but worthless tenderness.

Was a bond built on that really strong enough to last?

If Rozz really did get poached away...

Honestly, even Hestia herself believed that with his talent, he'd surely find a better stage among one of Orario's stronger Familias.

But right now— Rozz gave her, in his own way, the very answer the young goddess had been longing for. Feeling the warmth radiating from his hand, she lowered her head.

When their eyes met, Hestia felt her cheeks warm slightly. But even so, she went ahead and put her true feelings into words completely.

"Rozz."

"What if I moved in and lived with you?"