Chapter 67: Hephaestus: I just made the mistake that every woman makes! (Patreon)

As for her own image—

Hestia didn't particularly care about that. Back in the heavens, aside from the free food and drink at the gods' banquets, she'd been practically invisible anyway.

After coming to Orario, that status hadn't changed one bit either. The only people she could really talk to were friends she'd been close with back in the heavens.

But after meeting Rozz — especially after spending this time together — a man like him, mature and steady, so considerate of her...

The girl found it hard not to fall for him.

Not to mention—

Rozz's talent hadn't even fully shown itself yet, and already some flat-chested goddess with zero feminine charm was scheming to get her hands on him.

If he ever broke through to Lv2, and shattered the world record set by the "Sword Princess" Ais Wallenstein, just how crazy would all the bored, idle gods of Orario get?

She didn't even dare imagine the scene!

So—

Hestia figured that if she liked him, she had to act on it. Relying on their Familia bond alone just felt too fragile.

'Marriage.'

She had to lock it down!

After enough mental preparation, she went to consult Hephaestus, expecting her best friend's enthusiastic support.

What she got instead was a flat refusal.

The young goddess looked up at her friend sitting across from her, whose attitude seemed off, and frowned. "Hephaestus, why not?"

"It's just... I don't know how to put this..."

She could hardly confess that she'd betrayed Hestia behind her back, secretly activating the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" on Rozz. That was crossing a serious line.

"Playing away."

Crude as the term was, it fit the situation perfectly.

After all, in the Labyrinth City, when a god got secretly close to another Familia's core member, it ultimately meant they wanted to poach them.

Hephaestus had no such intention.

But she had to prepare for the worst. If Hestia found out by accident, wouldn't she lose even a troublesome friend like her?

No, that wouldn't do...

Since gods couldn't lie,

she racked her brain and tried to steer the conversation toward objective reasoning instead. "Do you really think... a god and a Familia member can have a future together?"

"If we both want it, why can't we have a future?"

"Plenty of gods got so bored back in the heavens they killed themselves, didn't they? Isn't that exactly because a god's lifespan is endless, and they're looking for some kind of thrill?"

"But..."

It really was a very real problem.

Even with the harsh truth staring her in the face, Hestia refused to let go of the idea. "Gods grant Adventurers a Falna, and the path they carve out..."

"...doesn't that path lead them to become demigods in the end?"

"And if worst comes to worst, I'll just wait in Orario for Rozz's reincarnation. Either way, I can pick up where we left off with him!"

Hearing this, Hephaestus could clearly feel just how stubbornly set on this her friend was — there was no chance of talking her out of it.

Given Hestia's personality, trying would only backfire.

For once, she found herself with a headache. The brand-new unknowns brought by the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" now lay fully exposed before her.

Watching a hero's birth with her own eyes...

If she hadn't activated the Cloud-Raising Plan back then, learning about Hestia's love-struck notions, she'd have thought that no matter what, she had to hold the moral line.

But now the situation was completely different.

Rozz's Adventurer Potential surpassed even that of Alfia, and even his talent in magic was already starting to take shape.

Hmm...

There was also the "Dream Training Plan" about to begin in a whole new stage — as a goddess, she was about to formally start training Rozz herself.

Who could possibly resist that?

Hephaestus knew that to unlock a whole new Affection stage with Rozz, she'd have to max out his Affection toward her first.

Daily care, help with his exploration...

If Hestia really went and married Rozz, wouldn't she end up as nothing but the silent gold-farmer, the third wheel who never even got a scene?

And to be realistic about it—

If the Goddess of Beauty Freya ever found out how special Rozz was, Hephaestus didn't even dare imagine what forceful measures that madwoman might resort to!

Absolutely not allowed...

Hephaestus stopped trying to talk her out of it and shifted her approach instead. "If you're set on this... then I suppose there's nothing wrong with it."

"Just... sometimes you need to think about what Rozz wants, too."

"Heheh!"

Satisfied with the answer,

the young goddess's slightly childish face lit up with a bright smile. With her best friend's support, she felt even more motivated to win him over.

Win Rozz over?

Hestia was sure she'd manage it just fine. Now that she'd moved into the Familia Home, she could smoothly start a cohabiting life of close contact with him.

There was no way some other wicked woman would steal her house!

She didn't linger in the office any longer, her eyes full of gratitude. "With your encouragement, I know I'll succeed."

"Heh heh..."

Watching Hestia's back as she left,

the red-haired goddess lying on the couch let a trace of exhaustion show on her delicate face — this whole thing really was a headache.

The former was her friend.

The latter was Rozz, who'd brought a whole new "unknown" into her life, along with the possibility of personally raising a hero.

"This girl..."

"I have no idea what's gotten into her all of a sudden!"

So,

faced with the guilt of betraying her friend and all her worries about being found out, Hephaestus decisively chose to enjoy herself now and worry later!

The office fell quiet again.

She opened the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" once more. In the brief time they'd spent talking, Rozz's Exploration Log had already updated again.

"Hmm..."

"I'm just making the same mistake every woman makes. Besides, you two aren't even married yet — why should I be the other woman?"

The red-haired goddess shook her head, murmuring softly to herself.

But the moment Hephaestus saw what came next in Rozz's exploration, her lazy half-reclined posture snapped taut.

After an intense Dungeon expedition, Rozz had mastered the "Mana Burst" Skill, and his combat experience had grown.

[Stamina -30.]

[Having explored the 12th Floor region for the first time, once he'd familiarized himself with the local monsters, he threw himself back into intense combat training.]

[And on the 12th Floor,]

[Rozz, his body starting to feel the strain, and the Supporter girl encountered the rare-species Infant Dragon — the floor's de facto boss.]

...?

A Infant Dragon.

As a goddess of a smithing Familia, Hephaestus had never seen this monster before, but she knew its materials were extremely valuable.

Even if a request were posted at the Adventurer Guild,

gathering the materials would take time, and to even accept the request in the first place, you'd need at least Lv2-level strength.

Thinking about this,

Hephaestus's mouth twitched despite herself. She couldn't decide whether to call Rozz lucky or unlucky.

"What is going on?"

He'd faced down nearly ten Lv2 Adventurers at once — sure, it was only a Dream Training simulation, but Rozz did have a kill on his record.

Zanis, of Soma Familia.

She wasn't really worried Rozz, with his Hero's Potential, would fall here — but she still had to account for the Adventurer's actual condition.

[Character: Rozz]

[Level: Lv1]

[Mood: 55↓100 (Anxious)]

[Stamina: 30↓100 (Exhausted)]

[Health: 96/100 (Excellent)]

[After an intense Dungeon expedition testing his Skill's effects, Rozz was now facing the greatest threat of his Adventurer career yet.]

Hephaestus stared at the character status window, brow furrowed, her own mood tensing up despite herself.

So,

would it still be in time if she sent Tsubaki into the Dungeon right now to fish him out?

"Mana Burst."

Rozz couldn't really say whether it measured up to the real deal from the TYPE-MOON series, but in Dungeon exploration, the effect was genuinely useful.

It boosted every stat across the board, and even stacked a reinforcement buff onto his weapon.

The most obvious change was that with a weapon of the same sharpness, dealing with Killer Ants became many times easier.

The blade could cleave through solid armor plating with ease, ending fights in a clean, instant kill.

"How should I put it?"

"Keeping 'Mana Burst' active gives my strength a solid boost, but it also burns through my Stamina noticeably faster."

That was the impression Rozz came away with after this intense expedition, as he looked out over the 12th Floor, still surrounded by the familiar cave-tunnel environment.

Only, compared to the floors before it, the tunnels here were much wider.

"So this is the 12th Floor."

"It's also the end of the Upper Floors. Go any deeper and you're in the Middle Floors, where the difficulty jumps up a lot."

As his Supporter, Lili was also exploring this region for the first time. She looked up. "At the very least, there's no exploring it before you're Lv2."

"Then let's have a look around this area."

Rozz had no objections.

With no outside pressure bearing down on him for now, he was more than content to ease off the pace and steadily build up his strength.

He decided not to overthink it. "What kinds of monsters are around here?"

"Silverback, Hard Armored, and if you're unlucky... there's a real chance of running into a rare-species Infant Dragon here."

"A rare-species wyrmling?!"

Noticing the confusion in his eyes, and remembering he'd only just arrived in Orario, Lili wasn't particularly surprised.

She said lightly,

"Every floor has its own floor boss. Take Goliath, the boss of the 17th Floor in the Middle Floors — its strength is around Lv4."

"A rare-species Infant Dragon would count as a de facto boss even in the Upper Floors."

Thanks to Lili's explanation, Rozz got a basic grasp of the monsters on this floor. Exploring the Dungeon meant always preparing for the worst.

If a Wyrmling really did show up,

whether he could beat it in his current state was still very much an open question!

"Then let's keep exploring here."

"I doubt we'll actually run into a rare-species Wyrmling. Once we've explored this floor thoroughly, we'll head back to Orario."

He made the call without hesitation.

Lili, as his Supporter, had no objections — largely because of just how absurd Rozz's strength was.

Through these past few days together,

the most obvious thing the girl had noticed was that Rozz seemed like an entirely different person when exploring the Dungeon versus after returning to Orario.

In other words,

most Adventurers grew steadily more worn down through exploring and fighting, yet Rozz seemed to defy that logic entirely.

He acted as if he couldn't feel fatigue at all...

But once back in Orario, he'd suddenly seem drained to the last drop of Stamina — if Hestia hadn't come to pick him up, he'd have barely made it home!

"Hmm..."

"So does that mean I might get the chance to loot his corpse?"

Only...

even the Supporter girl herself hadn't noticed that more than a decade of suppressed emotion was slowly unraveling during her time alone with Rozz.

Commonly known as: flaunting one's repression!

Just as Lili had said,

the monsters commonly found on the 12th Floor were mostly Silverbacks and Hard Armoreds, and their looks matched their names well enough.

The former were apes with silver fur covering their backs; the latter were heavy-built pangolins.

Even surrounded by several monsters at once, Rozz relied on combat instincts honed into muscle memory, along with his Skill's enhancement effects,

and simply barreled straight through them.

Throughout the exploration, nearly every monster he ran into got casually kicked to death, with no way to fight back at all.

If he didn't have to worry about the Stamina cost of the trip back to Orario,

honestly, Rozz genuinely wanted to go take a look at the 13th Floor, "The First Death Line." After a sweeping strike of his blade finished off a Silverback in front of him,

he took stock of his condition and turned to look at Lili beside him.

"Lili."

"Why don't we call it here for today?"

"No problem."

Lili had no objections to the suggestion. She gathered up the Magic Stones and materials scattered on the ground, then fell in beside him.

Earlier, while he'd been developing his magic,

Rozz had explained how to use "Mana Burst," and she'd committed it firmly to memory, meaning to try it herself once they got back to Orario.

If she could actually manage it...

setting aside self-preservation in a Dungeon crisis, what she really wanted was to be more useful to Rozz on future expeditions.

"I did a rough estimate — today's take should be about 20,000 valis or so."

"Sounds good."

Hearing the rough figure,

Rozz wasn't particularly surprised. It seemed fair enough — as monsters grew stronger, gathering their materials naturally got harder too.

And since it had come up,

he realized they'd never actually settled how to split the earnings. "How do Adventurers and Supporters usually divide the profits?"

"You've got to eat and pay rent here in Orario too — you can't just go without some way to earn money..."

Considering Hestia Familia's and Rozz's financial situation,

Lili hadn't even thought about splitting the earnings. Back when she'd worked herself to the bone as a Supporter, it had all been to escape Soma Familia.

Even after other Adventurers had fleeced her along the way, setting those losses aside, she still had close to 300,000 valis saved up.

She knew Rozz was thinking of her.

The Supporter girl felt a warm rush of joy. She hummed lightly, "I've still got money. Let's talk about it once the Familia's finances are in better shape."

Just then,

from the vast, empty cavern hall up ahead came the rough breathing of some monster, as if it had sensed Adventurers approaching.

Hidden there in the darkness,

the rare-species Infant Dragon, officially designated by the Adventurer Guild as the Upper Floors' de facto Boss, slowly opened its blood-red eyes.

And guided by the Dungeon's endless malice...

the enormous wyrmling began advancing toward where Rozz and Lili stood, intent on tearing the human Adventurers before it to shreds.