Chapter 63: Facing the Unknown Temptation, Hephaestus Initiates the Cloud-Raising Plan! (Please subscribe) (Patreon)

So why hadn't his own goddess asked about the details of that conflict? It couldn't all just be blind trust in him, could it?

Rozz felt a little puzzled about it.

But he could hardly voice that kind of question outright, so he stood quietly outside Soma Familia's Home, waiting for Lili to come back out.

There was also the matter of where the Supporter girl would end up.

He decided to take the initiative and test the waters: "Lady Hestia, once Lili leaves her Familia, could she come join ours?"

"Um..."

In theory, the answer really should have been no.

The young goddess's possessiveness flared up hard — she felt that with just the two of them, her and Rozz, in the Familia, their bond could only grow closer.

But then Hestia remembered all the help and convenience Lili had provided her child during his recent Dungeon explorations.

Somehow, she couldn't come up with a reason to refuse...

When she looked up, she didn't want to disappoint Rozz's hopes: "Of course she can, as long as Miss Lili is willing."

"Great."

He could hardly keep grinding alone in the Dungeon by himself forever, could he?

Having explored down to the 10th floor by now, without a good Supporter to guide him, Rozz already knew what it felt like to run around like a headless chicken.

Once he pushed into the Middle and Lower Floors,

there'd be no way to make it back the same day. He couldn't fight and haul all the supplies himself at the same time, could he?

Just thinking about it was exhausting.

Lili didn't keep them waiting long. When the door of Soma Familia's Home opened again, the Supporter girl came hurrying out.

Her eyes were faintly red-rimmed.

But more than that was relief — a sincere smile spreading across her young face at the thought of starting a whole new life.

Right in front of Hestia,

the girl was too shy to put all her words of thanks into speech. She simply looked at Rozz's goddess and made a request of her own: "Lady Hestia.

"Could you let me join your Familia?"

"...Alright."

Agreeing to a request like this felt a bit like inviting a wolf into the house.

But thinking of the situation Rozz faced exploring the Dungeon, having a Supporter she could trust completely wasn't such a bad thing.

And so,

the young goddess nodded lightly, not refusing. "I should tell you up front — our Familia's situation is pretty dire."

"We don't even have a Familia Home right now."

Having laid the groundwork, Hestia proposed, "If you agree, let's head back to the weapon shop. I'll grant you a new Falna."

"Thank you, Lady Hestia."

In truth, that goddess of hers didn't need to worry one bit about Rozz's safety. Did she really think this guy was some rookie Adventurer?

Don't make Sister Tsubaki laugh!

Facing down that many Adventurers in the Dungeon and pulling off such superb combat skill — he'd even sensed her presence.

If someone like that could run into trouble...

she'd never believe it. What she felt more than anything was curiosity about Rozz — and honestly, she could understand why Hestia worried about him.

After all, he was a child of her Familia.

When Tsubaki herself had first joined Hephaestus's Familia, she'd received plenty of care from her goddess too — it only made sense.

Watching Rozz, who had successfully rejoined Hestia in front of Soma Familia's Home,

Tsubaki didn't go over to greet them. Once she confirmed there was nothing to worry about, she got ready to carry the outcome back to her goddess.

"Why does it feel like..."

"our goddess cares about Rozz an awful lot too?"

But on the way back,

Tsubaki kept feeling that Hephaestus's attitude seemed a bit off. Sure, she and Hestia were close friends, but...

no matter how you sliced it, he wasn't a child of their own Familia.

Carrying her curiosity,

she returned to the branch of Hephaestus's weapon shop, and standing before her goddess's office, Tsubaki gave a brief rundown of what had happened:

"Rozz is fine.

I'd guess that whole mess wrapped up smoothly. I saw him walk right out the front gate of Soma Familia, and nobody stopped him."

"..."

After she finished explaining,

Tsubaki didn't leave right away. She pulled out the stool in front of the desk — in the end, she couldn't suppress the curiosity gnawing at her.

She weighed her words for a moment, then asked:

"Lady Hephaestus, why do I keep feeling like you're... especially attentive to Rozz? Even accounting for Lady Hestia."

"I mean..."

"you shouldn't have to go this far, should you?"

Hephaestus had known this was coming.

After all, when a Familia's goddess takes a strong interest in a member of another Familia and gets caught at it, someone with Tsubaki's personality was bound to ask outright.

It's just...

Hephaestus honestly had no idea how to answer a question like that.

She could hardly say she could see the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" panel floating over Rozz's head, and that was why she'd taken such a strong interest in her best friend's Familia member — could she?

No, that wasn't it.

As a goddess devoted to pure love, Hephaestus absolutely couldn't allow such a thing to happen. If this ever got back to Hestia,

how would she ever face her again!

Noticing the expectant look in her vice-captain Tsubaki's eyes, the red-haired goddess turned her head aside. "This... I really don't know how to explain it to you."

"All in all,"

"you could say Rozz is a very talented rookie Adventurer, and that because of him, Hestia is starting to change."

"..."

That was a lie.

As Hephaestus answered, her eyes shifted evasively — if a fellow god had been sitting across from her, they'd surely have seen right through it...

But there was nothing else to do.

The chance to personally raise a "future hero" held an almost fatal allure for her.

The reason she hadn't gone through with it...

was purely that she felt it would be a betrayal of Hestia — like stealing away a lover, snatching the child Hestia had poured her whole heart into.

So she'd kept her meetings with Rozz to a minimum.

At least that way the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" wouldn't pop up to tempt her — though Hephaestus knew perfectly well she was only fooling herself.

"Really?"

"Since when did you get so gossipy, Tsubaki? ...Instead of worrying about Rozz's business, I think we should be thinking about material procurement."

The red-haired goddess frowned slightly, bluntly steering the conversation elsewhere.

At that,

Tsubaki didn't press further. After all these years together, she could tell her goddess didn't want to dig into this any deeper.

Just then,

a familiar commotion rose up in the shop again, and the moment she heard that voice, Hephaestus already felt the headache coming.

"Um..."

"Could I borrow your office? I want to grant a Falna to my new Familia member. It'll be quick — after all, we haven't moved into our new Familia Home yet.

"

She was really treating the place like her own home!

But Hephaestus figured that, whatever else, it was Hestia recruiting a new Familia member, so she'd give her friend a little face.

She handed Tsubaki the documents she'd just drawn up.

After going over the details of the material procurement, the red-haired goddess took her Familia member and cleared out of the office, leaving it for Hestia to use.

Looking at her best friend standing in the doorway, and the Supporter girl at her side,

"Better make it quick."

When Hephaestus glanced behind her friend and didn't find Rozz's familiar figure there, she frowned slightly, then quietly let out a breath of relief.

Yet inexplicably,

she felt a hollow emptiness inside...

The red-haired goddess added, sounding helpless, "I'll give you those two days off I owe you today. Get yourself moved into your new Familia Home soon."

"You can't just keep using my place every single day!"

"Hehe~ You're the best!"

She didn't seem to find any of this embarrassing at all.

Looking at it another way...

wasn't it also useful, as a goddess, to know Orario's biggest weapon supplier and keep good diplomatic relations with her?

Hestia smiled and thanked her, then said to Lili, "Come with me.

"Okay."

"..."

After lending out the office, the red-haired goddess made her way to the front hall of the weapon shop, thinking to wait outside for a bit.

Right then—

Hephaestus spotted a familiar figure lingering by the shop window. That black hair was far too conspicuous to miss.

Of course,

the more important reason was that "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" hovering over Rozz's head, tempting her to explore it.

She murmured softly:

"Well, isn't this just... speak of the devil.

"

Noticing footsteps approaching from behind, Rozz pulled his gaze from the katana in the window and turned to look.

That's when he saw her — a woman with striking height and rich, red hair.

She was genuinely beautiful, a completely different type from Hestia. If Hestia was the mom who combined childlike innocence with maternal warmth,

then...

Hephaestus

was absolutely the stern, cold-faced mom — seemingly indifferent, yet always ready to offer crucial help when it mattered.

That conclusion

Rozz had reached from watching how Hestia interacted with her, even though he'd met this goddess fewer than three times in total.

But he knew,

the Adventurer's gear he wore now definitely had this goddess to thank for it. In every sense, he owed her his gratitude.

Rozz looked at the striking goddess before him.

The black eyepatch over her right eye only sharpened her near-perfect presence, to say nothing of her figure.

She had her own charms, quite distinct from his own goddess.

"Hephaestus."

With a sincere expression, he said to her, "Thank you for your help these past few days — being able to explore the Dungeon this smoothly is thanks to you.

"If it weren't for the weapon you sponsored, I doubt things would have gone this well."

It really was true — no comparison, no pain!!

Hephaestus couldn't fathom it — why did her scatterbrained friend get the dumb luck to end up with a Familia member as mature as Rozz?

If Hestia, after troubling her for a favor,

could show such genuine gratitude, then at least it meant she wasn't just some mom cleaning up after her messy friend's messes.

The red-haired goddess reached up and tucked a lock of hair that had fallen across her cheek behind her ear.

A warm, knowing smile rose on Hephaestus's beautiful face. She shook her head lightly. "Don't worry about it.

"After all,

you're a member of Hestia's Familia — it's only natural I'd look after you a bit."

As if remembering something, the red-haired goddess reminded him, "Weapons need regular maintenance. That Adventurer's Shortsword of yours...

"If its edge starts to dull,

you can go to the Valka's Workshop and find Tsubaki — she'll handle the routine care. As for the rest... don't worry about the cost."

"Thanks."

Actually, most of the gods in Orario were fairly easy to get along with.

Rozz found himself reflecting on that — but then he remembered that evening he'd run into that gender-ambiguous street-wandering goddess, Loki.

Suddenly he felt

his conclusion had been a bit hasty — after all, what kind of goddess just came out with lines like "my place is huge, wanna come take a look?", straight out of some creep's playbook?

Gathering his thoughts,

he looked at Hephaestus and said, "I'm just browsing. Hoping to save up some money later and get a better set of gear."

"Mm..."

Rozz really was just browsing, but that "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" hovering over his head kept tempting her!

Hephaestus really wanted to say something about that. Just as she tried to distract herself, the translucent screen appeared before her eyes again.

...

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

Through recent Dungeon exploration, this character has not simply drifted along with the rules of Orario's dark forest.

Instead, amid hardship, he has begun to show the Potential to become a hero."

...

Even more—!!

Compared to the brief introduction before, even Rozz's recent explorations across Orario had now been summarized with precision.

With...

an initial glimpse of the Potential to become a hero.

In Hephaestus's eyes, her best friend's help must surely have played a part in that — but just how far had Rozz actually grown?

Curiosity.

The red-haired goddess felt a craving unlike anything before, surpassing even her thirst for "unknown" weapons — she wanted to see it with her own eyes.

just how far this child could go...

"What if..."

"I just try out the 'Hero Cloud-Raising Plan'? It's not like I'm asking Rozz to abandon Hestia and come join my Familia."

"This way... it shouldn't count as stealing him away, right?"

Once she'd worked that out,

Hephaestus suddenly decided she shouldn't be resisting this so hard. Besides, her best friend had no idea she even had a Cloud-Raising panel.

Knowing her own personality,

she'd never go around broadcasting the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" to anyone else anyway — no need to invite other divine rivals.

And the most important thing was—

even if she was 99% in the wrong, didn't Hestia bear some of the blame too?

If Hestia hadn't kept parading Rozz around in front of her all the time, she'd never even see the Hero Cloud-Raising Plan, and she'd surely have been able to resist!

"Right."

"I'm just curious, just having a little look. Who says activating the 'Hero Cloud-Raising Plan' means I can't just keep watching as a bystander..."

"No problem at all!"

Having fully talked herself into it,

Hephaestus studied the black-haired boy standing before the shop's display case, and resolutely gave in to the temptation of the "unknown."

[Welcome to the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan"]

Compared to a simple information prompt,

once the red-haired goddess activated Rozz's "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan," her most immediate impression was that far more features had opened up.

The most conspicuous of all,

was undoubtedly the "Character Potential" panel. Put simply, it wasn't hard to understand — it represented an Adventurer's innate talent.

"So..."

"just how absurd is the talent of a Rozz who's already shown the Potential to become a hero?"

Filled with anticipation,

Hephaestus browsed through the newly unlocked features of the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan," and a set of figures appeared before her eyes.

[Character: Rozz]

Strength Potential: SS

Endurance Potential: S+

Dexterity Potential: SS

Agility Potential: S+

Magic Potential: S+

Overall Assessment: The seed of a hero has already begun to take shape, though it still needs time to grow. Perhaps Rozz's ceiling could climb even higher.

Special quests may be used to raise this character's final Potential.

"...?"

If Hephaestus's memory served her, the only one who'd ever broken through the limits of the Falna system was that one from Hera Familia.

The one known as the talent monster — "Silence" Alfia.

She lifted her vermilion eyes to gaze at Rozz's retreating figure, the shock deep inside her swelling now to an intensity she'd never felt before.

Honestly...

faced with talent this far beyond common sense, the red-haired goddess suddenly felt her guilt toward Hestia fading away.

"Sorry..."

"I think, as a goddess, no one... could resist a temptation like this. Even if she found out, Hestia would... understand me, right?"