Part Nine
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Busy reading a book, Hestia was startled by the sound of a rapping at the door to the church's basement. She jumped off the couch, eager to go greet Blair, before realizing it was too early for him to be home. A glance into her Menu confirmed it. He was still at the Guild, probably busy with his Advisor.
So who was at the door? There weren't many people who even knew where she lived, and fewer still she could expect to visit.
She opened the door to a familiar, handsome-faced god.
"Miach."
"Hello, Hestia," he said. "I had some time and thought I would drop by to congratulate you on starting your Familia. May I come in?"
"Of course," she replied, ushering him into the pitiable space that was her current home. "Thank you."
"So how's this child of yours?" Miach asked. "Did you get a boy or a girl?"
"Boy… a man really," Hestia corrected herself. Blair might have looked relatively young, but he was definitely a man. His excilia had that feeling, and somehow it seemed wrong to refer to him as a boy.
"He's treating you well? Nothing uncomfortable? You know how the children can be sometimes."
"No." Hestia replied. "He's been a perfect gentleman." That was only a tiny lie. It wasn't like Hestia had missed the way his eyes would occasionally wander down to her breasts. That was fine though. It never lasted long, and they were her best assets after all.
"That's good," Miach said, reaching into his bag and offering her a pair of vials. "These are a gift for you and him."
"Miach, I couldn't," Hestia protested, even though she was almost ready to snatch those potions right out of his hand. She thought she was going to throw-up when she saw Blair's state drop to "Major Injuries" earlier. But she also knew that Miach's Familia was almost as poor as her own. They had a business, but they definitely also had some kind of debt. She doubted he could afford to just hand out free potions.
"Consider it a free sample," Miach insisted. "Just keep us in mind when you want some potions."
"We will," Hestia said. She didn't have the will to resist the second offer. "We definitely will."
"Oh yes, I was talking to Takemikazuchi the other day, and he was most pleased to hear of your Familia being formed. Has he come by yet?"
"He hasn't." Takemikazuchi was one of the gods Hestia had met only after Hephaestus kicked her out. His Familia was small, just six members, but she knew that he had several members who could be achieving Level 2 in the near future. They were a real team, to hear Take tell it.
"I'm sure he'll come by soon then," Miach remarked. "Incidentally, where is your first child? I was hoping to meet him."
"He should be at the Guild still," Hestia said. "He has a meeting with his Advisor today. Probably busy talking about what he did in the Dungeon?"
"He's already been into the Dungeon then?"
"Today was his second time."
"And you met when?"
"Three days ago." It felt like a lot longer, Hestia considered. So much had happened - no - was happening, that every day somehow felt far longer.
"You didn't waste any time." Miach chuckled sadly, "I hope he's been safe? The first days for a new child are always the most dangerous."
She knew Miach had lost more than one child. His Familia used to be quite a lot bigger, a mid-rank Familia with more than one Level 2, until something happened and everyone but Miach's one current member left.
It wasn't an uncommon story. Adventurers could be fickle, Hephaestus had told her. By and large they seek after their own benefit, and unless you are willing to try and force them to stay, best to let them go.
She didn't like thinking about that. Especially not now. If Blair left her, she'd be right back at square one. No, she'd be even lower than zero, because she'd be an even bigger laughingstock of a goddess than she currently was. She could almost hear the other gods laughing about it now, 'the goddess whose first child left her after less than a week'.
No one would ever join her Familia again.
"Are you alright, Hestia? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine, Miach," Hestia said, pushing her worries aside for now. Those worries weren't reality. Blair hadn't given her even the slightest reason to think he might leave. But that didn't make them go away.
They chatted for a while, and Miach wound up leaving with a promise from her to visit their shop in the near future.
Her mind kept going back to how often Blair was getting hurt. She wished he could be safer, but there was nothing she could do but urge him to be more careful. Once he went into the Dungeon he was on his own.
Blair had left the Guild, Hestia noted, which meant he was on his way back home. She glanced around the space that currently made up their home. It was just barely big enough for two people. If she was ever going to recruit more children for her Familia, they'd have to either move elsewhere, or fix this place up a bit.
Popping up the Familia Menu, she stared at the option that had been taunting her since she first noticed it earlier today. She suspected it had shown up because of the Familia Merit Blair had earned in the Dungeon.
[A Home for a Familia]
Designate a location under your control and/or possession as your Familia's Base.
Current Location: Abandoned Church (Valid)
Reward: Unlocks [Familia Facilities]
It was just too unusual. This Game of Blair's was clearly not a creation of the Falna. It had integrated itself into the blessing she had given Blair, and clearly through it, it had touched her too. Whatever it was, she just couldn't pretend it was something of her doing. Something powerful had given this thing to her child before he met her, and whether it was benevolent or malicious she had no way of knowing.
Over the course of the last couple of days she had received a bunch of these Familia Quests. Recruit a second Familia Member, have a Familia Member enter Floor 5 of the Dungeon and return safely, raise a Familia Member to Level 2… All quests that pointed her in the direction of growing her Familia and its influence.
This must have been similar to what Blair was seeing. He had told her he got quests to do things like kill more goblins and the like. She'd have to make sure he didn't overreach himself, she could see how chasing after these Quests could blind you to the consequences of doing so. She already wanted to see many of these completed for their rewards.
After all, this system could let her help Blair, and also the rest of her Familia, even if only passively through the Blessings. And to improve them, as well as to unlock more, she needed Familia Renown and Familia Merit.
She heard the door sliding open, and Blair's voice calling out to her.
"I'm home."
"Welcome back," Hestia chirped as she came over. "How did things go?"
He held up a bag. "About 30,000 valis."
Hestia's breath caught in her throat. That was a lot of money. How long would it take her to earn that much at the snack stand? Much too long. Still, it was just a distraction.
"What happened down there? You got seriously hurt."
As her child relayed the story of his near-deadly encounter with the Dungeon, Hestia knew she didn't want him to go again tomorrow.
"I don't want you to go tomorrow," she said. "If… if you didn't have your Skill, you wouldn't have made it at all."
"I know." Too flippant.
"You would have died." Hestia repeated. "Yesterday you were half-depressed over how dangerous the Dungeon was, and today you're too cavalier. Stop and think for a minute!"
He looked confused, his brow wrinkling a bit as he seemed to consider her words.
"I don't want to see you get injured anymore."
"How can I promise that?" Blair asked. "The Dungeon isn't safe."
"But you shouldn't be so okay with it!" Hestia snapped. "How many times did you get injured today? Not counting the mess with the Dungeon Spawns? I'll tell you, it 4 times. 4 times you took an injury severe enough to register in my menu. Just because you have that healing magic doesn't mean you can be so blase about getting injured."
"As long as I can still win, I can just heal," Hestia quoted. "Is that what you were thinking?"
"I-" Blair stammered a bit. "I'm not sure."
Hestia reached up and pulled him down to her level, hugging his head to her chest, and ignored the way her heart beat a little faster when his face touched her breasts.
"I just don't want you to get hurt because you took an unnecessary risk." she said. "Okay?"
"Okay," he said. "I will try harder not to."
She released him and was pleased to see the way his cheeks were flushed. He was usually so composed.
"Good. Also, I wanted your opinion on something…"
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I tried my best to focus on Hestia's explanation of this Familia Base situation, but it was hard to focus. My cheek was still warm, and all I could focus on was the feeling of it pressed against Hestia's bountiful chest.
I know she was scolding me, but it is hard to feel punished or guilty when the overriding thoughts in your head are "titties warm" and "dick hard".
"I think you should go ahead and make this our Base," I replied once I got my head out of the clouds, or more accurately: titties off the brain. "You were given this place by Hephaestus right? So we already own it. It'll take some fixing, but I think we can do it. And besides, if we need more space for some reason, I can't imagine the property around here would be too difficult to purchase."
"If you agree," Hestia said. "Then I'll do it."
[Familia Update]
Familia Base designated: Abandoned Church
"I'll explore it in a bit," Hestia said to me then. "First, let's get your Update done."
I stripped off my shirt and lay down on the bed as usual. Hestia's warmth slid over me and settled down on my ass as she dropped a single drop of her godly ichor onto my back.
Blair
Level 1
Strength I-44 -> H-111
Endurance I-32 -> H-141
Dexterity I-40 -> H-100
Agility I-61 -> H-143
Magic I-29 -> I-70
That's ridiculous. That's the only way I can put it as I see my status update. I gained 109 points of Endurance. True, I got my ass handed to me today, but still. It's hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure all of my stats, except for maybe Agility, are higher than Bell's were after the Minotaur encounter.
My own miniature Liaris Freese indeed. Blank Slate says it will slow down as my stats rise, but I have no clue by how much. I have several Ability Chapters in my Inventory waiting to be used, but now that I check them, I can see that my Strength Chapters are no longer worth 10 points, but are instead worth 9.
Assuming that the decrease remains the same at each rank, the Chapters would be worth all of 1 point once I hit S-Rank in a stat. What they would be worth after that, I have no idea. Hell, I have no idea if I even can break the S-Rank barrier like Bell, but given I'm a Gamer, I would wager yes.
"So fast," Hestia whispered as she wrote my Falna.
I chuckled. "Actually I have something else I want your opinion on. I got an interesting Quest Reward today."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I can upgrade one of my classes now, make it better than it was. What do you think? Should I improve my Healer Class, or Adventurer?"
It's a tough choice. On the one hand, Adventurer is the Class I most want to be in as much as possible. On the other hand, Healer is my safety net. Though maybe Hestia is right and relying to much on the healing it offers will only result in me taking dumb risks.
"Adventurer," Hestia finally decided as she finished obscuring my Status. "I think you should use it on Adventurer. Since it's the one you want to use most, making your primary option better should be done first, even though you'll lose access to it once you get to Level 2."
"I was leaning towards that myself," I agreed. It was tough though. But using my first one on Adventurer is probably the right choice, definitely in the short term at least.
[Class Update]
Class Augment
Upgrade Adventurer to Adventurer (D)?
Basic Classes may only be upgraded to A Rank
[Class Update]
Adventurer [Basic] (D) Level 1
Strength +5% -> +6%
Endurance +5% -> +6%
Dexterity +5% -> +6%
Agility +5% -> +6%
Magic +5% -> +6%
Skills:
Blank Slate: Fast growth while stats are low. Effect reduces as stats rise.
+Danger Sense: A sixth sense that warns of dangerous situations and areas. Sensitivity and range is relative to the threat.
Other:
Increased Drop Rate for Ability Pages.
I was a bit disappointed I didn't get some kind of Magic so I could get that sweet, sweet Blank Slate boost for my Magic stat, but Danger Sense is good too. Quite the coincidence actually, that it would be my new Skill.
I need more Class Augments. That's what I know now. Killing 100 Goblins and 100 Kobolds should each give me a Class Augment. I'm actually eager to see what getting a class all the way up to A Rank is like.
It made me a bit sad I had already promised Hestia I wouldn't go into the Dungeon tomorrow. But I did need to get some new gear, and definitely some new clothes. My current ones are half-destroyed.
I could wait a day, I told myself. No matter how tempting those sweet sweet Quest rewards were.