Chapter 65: 3996! (Patreon)

In the morning, the brown-haired goddess woke in her bed.

"Day four since Renan left. I miss him."

Astraea pouted, her face full of the wistful resentment of a wife whose "husband" had gone out and not come home.

Since meeting the boy, this was the first time they had been apart this long.

For a goddess whose heart had already begun to stir, it was little short of torture.

Hoping to catch sight of him, Astraea had spent these days opening her window every morning when she woke, again after her nap, and again before bed, and looking across at the villa next door.

But under the influence of the rune barrier, the detached villa in the distance looked like most of the other buildings in Orario. There was nothing unusual about its exterior.

The only thing even slightly odd was that its front door and windows had all been locked from the inside.

That wasn't a real problem, though. Even when Renan was home, he only opened the bedroom and workshop windows for fresh air.

And Orario was never short of eccentric gods and adventurers.

After rolling around in bed a couple more times, hugging her blanket, Astraea got up as she had the past few days and drew back the curtains.

Then…

"Hm?!"

In the goddess's senses, the villa nearby, which had been empty and tinged with a faint deathly stillness, had just undergone some subtle change.

It was no longer cut off from Orario. It had merged with the Labyrinth City once more.

That wasn't all. The window of Renan's bedroom on the second floor had been opened again.

As if he had noticed the gaze from the Star Hall, the black-haired boy sitting cross-legged on the bed calmly opened his eyes, turned his head, and nodded once toward the brown-haired goddess across the distance.

Almost at the same instant, a telepathic voice rang out deep in her mind:

[Lady Astraea, good morning. And, I'm back.]

"!!!"

As a transcendent being who had existed for over a hundred million years, Astraea had seen a great deal.

Once the initial shock passed, she realized at once that the voice she had just "heard" came from the house across the way, and that it was most likely an ability Renan had newly gained through [Rabble].

The corners of her lips curled upward, and she answered in a gentle tone, "Mm. Welcome home."

…

Half an hour later, Astraea, now in a dress that showed off her figure, welcomed Renan into the Star Hall.

The moment the villa's front door closed, the brown-haired goddess stopped holding back. She seized the boy's arm and said, in a voice full of eagerness, "Come on, let's update your Falna right now."

That was exactly why Renan had come, so naturally he didn't refuse.

Then.

With a few quick motions, she pulled off the boy's shirt and used her divine blood to manifest the information of his Falna. And the goddess fell into a dumbfounded daze, her worldview shattered.

She reached out, and her index finger lightly brushed the numbers beside the five basic stats: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic.

Yet no matter how you looked at it, the expression on her face was blank.

"3996…"

The goddess's murmur came from behind him, puzzling Renan as he waited for her to proceed.

He was no fool, though. Combined with his chance at Mt. Moon in the Pokémon timeline, where his psychic power had advanced to Gym-class, it took only a moment's thought for him to realize that the number she was muttering was most likely his current five stats.

As for why it was 3996…

Renan narrowed his eyes. He clearly already had the answer.

Counting his body in the DanMachi world, he now had physical forms in four worlds.

Setting aside Bell Cranel, the cheat-level protagonist of the anime, the limit an ordinary person could normally train a stat to was S999.

The potential of himself across four worlds, added together, naturally came to 3996.

As always, there were no stupid gods in the DanMachi world.

What's more, through their time together, Astraea had long since vaguely guessed at the nature of Renan's core skill, [Rabble].

After a moment of silence, she suddenly asked, "You've already shared in the strength of yourselves from three timelines?"

Renan froze when he heard that, but he didn't deny it. He had never underestimated the wisdom and insight of the gods of the DanMachi world.

"Yes. So all five of my stats are at 3996 now?"

Astraea gave a soft "Mm," then abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know what would happen across all of Orario if your Falna got out?"

'Of course. The gods would go completely insane and stop at nothing to fight over me.'

Renan grumbled to himself, but what he said aloud was, "I won't let it get out."

Astraea curled her lip. "Hard to say. I'm the one helping you update your Falna now, but your patron god is still Soma, and he…"

The goddess didn't finish. Soma and she were both among the gods, and speaking ill of him behind his back didn't suit Astraea's character.

But Renan was no dunce either, and he understood at once what the person behind him meant.

Even if Astraea went straight to Soma afterward to settle his conversion to her Familia, Soma would have to work on the Falna during the process, and his information would inevitably be exposed to that lunatic.

Going by what Renan knew of Soma, he had never been the kind of patron god who kept his members' information secret.

At the very least, in the anime, when Zanis asked about Liliruca's Falna, the guy told the truth, which led to the whole chain of events that followed.

So in a sense, Soma knowing meant Zanis knowing, and Zanis knowing meant most of the gods in Orario would know.

But…

To be honest, Renan wasn't all that worried about such a future.

"I came today precisely to use Lady Astraea's divine blood to finish upgrading my Falna."

"Once I advance, the sacred script on my back that would send the gods into a frenzy will go back to normal. The rest of my skills and magic will still draw plenty of prying eyes, but… well, I didn't come back from this trip empty-handed."

The Memory Charm and the Confundus Charm from the Harry Potter world, the hypnosis from the Pokémon world.

Pick any one of those methods, and he could make himself a person who had never existed in the Soma Familia.

It was only because nobody from Soma's side had come to bother him so far that Renan hadn't bothered with the extra step.

But if something he didn't want to see did happen, he certainly wouldn't hold back.

Hearing the boy's firm reply, Astraea couldn't help glancing at his back again, her gaze settling on the brand-new magic name that had once read Mind Magic and now read Mind Magic (Psychic/Fairy-type Enhancement).

About five seconds passed. Maybe she had made up her mind, or maybe she simply had no choice but to let things take their course. The brown-haired goddess sighed softly, then extended her right arm and drew her index finger lightly down Renan's spine.

"Then shall I level you up?"