15 The City(4/4)

Ethan and Hestia, now heading for the Hostess of Fertility, were happily talking to each other specially about Ethan himself but, as he knew her personality like he knew her from years, simply answered her questions, as the same critical ones, he simply stated that he couldn't answer that type of questions in public, even if he had at his arsenal Light, that could probably use some of his SP to nullify the sound in the prospective of others, seeing two people that were "talking" without actually talk, would have made suspicious the entire crowd of people in their way.

So, after a bit of walk, they finally were at the entry of the Hostess of Fertility.

After he entered, Ethan finally saw what he wanted to see. He saw a girl with a green above the knee dress in long puffed sleeves and a white collar, white apron, headband, a small orange bow under the collar and Black leggings, defined as the uniform of the Hostess of Fertility.

The owner of the dress however was someone Ethan truly wished to see, as she looked at him with small intrigue on her face and immediately said

"Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility Hestia-sama...ooh? And who is he? Is he a new member of your familia?"

At this display of "interest" clearly showed on the girl's face, she immediately furrowed her brows as she "stated"

"He isn't someone from my familia, but he is someone i care about so stay away from him!"

As she was in "angry" mode, Ethan smiled at her reaction and decided to ignore her for the time being as he smiled back at her, he immediately recognized her as she was another one of the Danmachi-girls he wanted to see, Syr. A girl that enjoyed teasing but was weak when it comes to someone teasing her. So, with a knowing smile on his face, he directed his eyes on hers, an action that caused her to flinch.

"I'm not someone of her familia, because i already had an appointment with Loki, so i couldn't just enter her familia like this… but if i hadn't previously chose the Loki Familia, i would've absolutely join her, as for my name, I'm Ethan miss, and your name is...?"

Though she was trying to reason why the boy in front of her would look at her like he knew her for years, Syr was more perturbed by his answer as, if he wasn't someone from her familia, it was exciting for her that a goddess like Hestia that, even for 500 million years ignored all the man that tried to get her, instantly decided to trust this boy in front of her.

She decided to put it in the back of her mind for the time being as she simply resumed her semi-formal attitude.

"My name is Syr, nice to meet you Ethan ~ Please, take a seat, I will bring the menu so you can choose what to order."

At her professional talk, Ethan simply sat on a table with Hestia as the latter was showing him an almost "angry" expression.

"Why you think about another woman right in front of me now?"

At this show of jealousy, the expression of Ethan softened a bit as he took her hand and, with the same "amorous" smile from 40 minutes ago, he simply said

"Hestia, you need to know that i never felt love for someone, because all the people who were with me were only searching for their own interests and, since others were even worse than that, i had never seen "real" people; with the opportunity to be here, i want to know more and more of them, you need to understand that i have a weakness towards people who are honestly Interested in me. Although i wouldn't carelessly try to talk to everyone, some of the more interesting people gather my interest as a reply"

Hestia, who didn't expected a so-complicated reason, decided to restrain herself a bit, even if she wasn't that perturbed by his words, she realized that her own hand was intertwined with his as she bashfully tried to retract her hand.

Seeing this, Ethan decided to not tease her so much and just let her hand go. At this display of "affection" the reply of Hestia was only a blush as they awaited for Syr, the latter was immediately seen peeking from the kitchen by Ethan while sending her another knowing smile that, this time, caused a smile on her own.

After the awkward moment between Syr and Ethan, she decided it was the moment to come and ask for their orders. So, with light steps, Syr went to the side of Ethan as she asked

"What do you want to order? If you don't know the menu, i would recommend you to try the specialty that Mama Mia has prepared, it's the most delicious thing you could eat, trust me"

As she said so, Ethan nodded his head with the same smile he had from the start of her small talk, so, after Hestia had confirmed she wanted the same as Ethan, he saw her go to the kitchen to inform the chef of their choices.

---

After eating the special menu of Mama Mia, Ethan felt satisfied by the abnormally good quality of the food, something that even his [Earnest Volcano's meat] wasn't that delicious, but he decided to let the matter lay, because now he knew why even in the anime everyone decided to come here to eat.

He went to pay the bill of the amount of 4300 valis and, as Hestia wanted to go home, he decided to go buy a room in an Inn for the night.

But, something that surprised him, Hestia told him it was fine for him to come with her and rest in the church and, the thought of her against him excited him a great deal, he decided to accept her offer, because even if the church was an abandoned place, it is filled with the warmth of Hestia's Divinity, so he believed it was the best place to feel something similar to a real "family".

Hestia, though she casually asked him to come with her own home, wasn't that casual about let him sleep with her as, even if she knows he is truly a kind person, she wanted to avoid misunderstandings as she said

"Know that, i invited you but i don't want to--"

Before she was even able to continue, Ethan silenced her with his finger on her mouth, as he passed his other hand on her ponytail's right twin as he said

"I know, i too don't want to do "that" and i understand you kept your virginity for a monstrous amount of time so, even if i wanted to, i would just wash this thought out of my mind as, right now, i wish to see you as family other than anything else…"

As this words left his mouth, he took her in his embrace and started to lightly stroking her back.

Hestia, felt confused by his continue show of "affection" not only in public, but without even a normal "reason" but, she decided there was something more about him. Instead of question him about his actions, she decided to play along because she felt he purely wanted to keep her in his embrace without pervert thoughts, something surprising for her as she even thought she simply lacked appeal but, as if he was reading her mind, he simply said

"You are beautiful..."

She was left in a black-out, with a face so red that you could mistake it for a tomato if you weren't looking at her deep blue eyes. He continued to stroke her back for what it felt like hours, but he ultimately decided to stop teasing her as he was developing something strange about teasing the girls he knew about. He knew that she was weak about compliments, so he decided to tease her a bit but, after her completely break-out, he decided to stop.

Stroking her back, he didn't break the embrace, with a light touch on her shoulder, she awoke from her black-out.

"C-C-Can we go home now?"

He immediately understood the situation and, feeling a little guilty, he released her waist, previously embraced by his hand, and asked in a guilty tone

"Are you sure i don't need to go to an Inn?"

Hestia, with her blushing that hadn't faded from her face from the start, decided it wasn't a good idea to left him on his own because, as he was acting so easily with her, there was nothing that could prevent him from not doing "anything strange" to other girls.

"N-no, it's better if you stay with me for now, that personality of yours is dangerous."

Ethan, was a little confused by her words as, even if his personality wasn't that normal, he wasn't either too strange, at least from his own perspective, so he decided to ask another time because now he only wanted to sleep for good, now that he hadn't the possibility to train for a bit, he wanted to get his frustration back in his mind but, as the thought was something he couldn't let so easily lay in the back on his mind, he started to absentmindedly holding hands with Hestia when they were heading to the Church.

This left Hestia speechless because she clearly saw the frustration in Ethan's eyes and, as she wanted to truly help him right now, she decided it was better to proactively comfort him as, even if she herself was very aware of the warmth he felt in a few hours because of him, she actually hadn't "rewarded" him properly, so she took a more aggressive role.

After arriving in the Church, Ethan sat on the sofa, ready to sleep on it but, something "abnormal" happened as Hestia asked, strangely in a firm tone

"Come with me, we will sleep on the bed."

At her own words, Hestia remained in a light mood, even if her heart was racing, she decided to actively ignore it for the time being as she saw Ethan genuinely surprised but, with a hint of teasing, he got up and followed her without uttering a word.

In front of the bed, a rather awkward situation was occurring as neither Hestia and Ethan intended to sit first but, because things could get even more awkward than they already were, Hestia decided to give up and, with a large blush on her face, she sat down on the bed, arms spread at their extreme as she said

"Come"

Ethan, blushed at the strangely double meaning she created but, trying to not mind his own thoughts, he decided to follow her and embraced her as she embraced him and, as he was with his face between her breasts, she started to cuddle him gently, this made Ethan feel so much warmth radiating from her and himself that he felt nothing could be better than this.

In an instant, he started to get sleepy and, in the end, he fell asleep in her embrace. At this display, Hestia softly laughed as she started to caress his head as she muttered

"I wished you were my first familia member."

---

(I have a discord server. https://discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)

(Alternate titles: "Author-san, made a semi-promise so here we go, second chap of the day", "Poor Bell, He won't get Hestia's Heart this time around", "We all understood the hidden meaning of Hestia's Come.")