"Chapter 5: Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth, or How to Meet a Loli Goddess"

Leaving the "Hostess of Fertility" and using search magic to find the loli goddess, I discovered that she was in a small, abandoned church on the outskirts of the city. Setting my goal, I headed towards the small church. I didn't even notice how the day flew by — it was already evening, and the streets of the city were filled with adventurers who had apparently just returned from the dungeon and decided to celebrate a successful raid. Some were having fun, others were sad. Walking through the evening streets of Orario, I observed many people and realized that this was not an anime world, but a real one. Here, people live their lives: they rejoice, they grieve, they go on adventures, they start families. They are all living people with their own lives.

As I moved further away from the bustling streets, humming a melody that just popped into my head, I approached the church. Anticipating the meeting with the best goddess, Hestia (or as she's affectionately called, Bestia), I wondered if she would be afraid of me when she saw my race and my status. After all, the magic I possess doesn't even exist in this world. For example, magic that can influence time or resurrection magic. I hope it doesn't show up in my status. Lost in my own thoughts, I didn't notice that I had already reached my destination. Hesitating for just a moment, I decided to enter.

"Is anyone here?" I called out as I entered the church and immediately heard a noise, as if someone was rushing. In an instant, I saw a black-haired rocket shoot out and stand before me so quickly that I was surprised. There, in front of me, stood the goddess Hestia, looking at me with curious eyes, trying to understand why I had come. In her beautiful blue eyes, there was confusion and a small glimmer of hope — she thought I had come to join her family.

"Did you come to join my family, stranger-kun?" she asked hopefully, her eyes beginning to sparkle with anticipation.

"Well, I recently arrived in the city, and after visiting the guild, I was told that I need to be part of a god's family to be able to visit the dungeon. When I learned this, I asked the secretary for a registry of gods to understand which family would be worth joining," I replied to the goddess, who grew more excited with every word I said. She probably began to guess that I had come here to become part of her family.

"But why my family? Unlike other gods, I can't give a worthy blessing that would help enhance an adventurer's combat power," she said in a sad tone. It seemed she had recently left Hephaestus and had already tried to invite someone to her family but was rejected. This sad look made me feel that I had to protect her and make her family powerful so she would never be sad again. There it was, my first goal in this world — to make Hestia's family powerful so she could be proud and boast to her fellow gods.

"When I was looking through the registry, I saw many gods and what blessings they give, but yours is the best for me. After all, there's nothing better than a place you can return to where you are always awaited. In this world, I don't have a place I could call home, and no people who would wait for me," I replied with a smile on my face. I let her know that her blessing was no less valuable than those of other gods, and only fools wouldn't understand that.

Hearing the first part, Hestia was so excited that her pigtails started spinning, and I began to think she might take off and reach the realm of the gods on her own. But when she heard the second part, she became sad, and it was clear from her eyes that she was trying to find the right words to cheer me up.

"Don't be sad, stranger-kun. I'll be your family and help you become the best adventurer. I'll give you a home you can return to," she began to say, her pigtails still bouncing with her, trying to make me feel better.

"Thank you for trying to cheer me up, Hestia, but I'm not sad. Sooner or later, I'll find a place to call home. But thank you anyway," I said to her with a smile.

"And you don't need to call me 'stranger'; it makes me feel uncomfortable when someone with your appearance calls me that. My name is Alexander Voldigoad, or you can call me Alex, whatever suits you. After all, we're about to become family," I continued, not forgetting to introduce myself. When a girl who looks like Hestia calls you 'stranger,' it sounds very strange.

"Then welcome to my family, Alex-kun. Now come on, I'll give you my blessing," Hestia said, pulling me into the church basement where her living quarters were.

When we descended into the basement, she started trying to pull off my cloak and the shirt underneath.

"Hestia, stop!" I shouted, and her hands immediately stopped trying to strip me of my upper clothes.

"Can you explain what this blessing you want to give me is, instead of trying to undress me right after bringing me to the basement?" I asked, adjusting the clothes she had almost torn off.

"Alright, and don't say such silly things, as if I'm some bad woman," Hestia pouted, her cheeks turning a bit red and puffing up like a hamster. "The blessing that gods give their children is called 'Falna.' It's what allows adventurers to accumulate experience and become stronger. Once a family member receives Falna, a family insignia appears on their back, and the god who bestowed it can display the status, allowing you to see how much stronger you've become. When an adventurer reaches a certain threshold in their status, they can level up. If you have more questions, ask them quickly and stop wasting time. I need to give you Falna, and we need to celebrate because I finally have my first family member," Hestia said happily, her pigtails still spinning. I began to think that these pigtails had a life of their own, like an animal's tail.

"Then one last question: how does the Falna of gods affect the status of a family member?" I asked, because I wasn't sure about my theory. If I understand correctly, depending on the domain of the god, the family member receives a boost to the corresponding skills, and certain parts of the status increase faster.

Hestia thought for a moment and replied, "It all depends on the god who grants the Falna. Take my friend Hephaestus, for example. If she grants Falna to a mortal, the skills needed for smithing will develop faster. Now do you understand? If you do, then take off your top, and I'll grant you Falna," Hestia said. It seemed she could no longer wait to have her first family member.

As Hestia requested, I took off my top and lay down on the couch. If you could call it a couch, it was essentially a frame of boards with a mattress on top. As I lay there, I thought it might collapse under my weight, and that was before Hestia climbed on.

While our main character lay on the couch with his back to Hestia, she climbed on it to perform the Falna granting ritual. The ritual is quite simple: the god granting the Falna needs to just drop their blood on the adventurer's back and recite the incantation to activate the ritual. And voila, you become a member of the god's family. While Alex fought off sleepiness, Hestia completed the ritual and decided to check the status of her new family member.

When Hestia saw the status, she couldn't understand what she was seeing. At first, she thought the ritual had failed, but then she checked the other parts and realized it had worked. So why was there such an anomaly in her new family member's status? She couldn't figure it out, having never encountered anything like this before. Setting aside the part with the stats that weren't displayed, she decided to look at the other elements, and what she saw surprised and even scared her. She had never seen skills like these, even among the gods. And when she saw Alex's title, she was completely stunned, then jumped up and started shaking Alex, demanding explanations about his status, what these skills were, and what the title "Demon King from Another World" meant.

I woke up to Hestia shaking me, demanding answers and thrusting a piece of paper in my face. Seeing my blank look, she started explaining why she was acting this way, as the status displayed on the sheet was not what she expected to see. Taking the sheet from her, I decided to look at my status and understand why she was so worried. What I saw surprised me a bit. In the part where the numerical value of the stat points should be, there were no numbers, only letters, and in all the categories, it was marked as SSS. It seemed that this was the maximum the status could display. If I understood correctly, even if I advanced to level 2, my stats would remain at SSS rank. However, the status board could display my skills and even the proficiency levels of Yamato and Beowulf. In the title section, it was recorded as "Demon King from Another World," and so much for my secrecy.

Deciding to tell Hestia a half-truth, I explained that I had once woken up in the forest without memories, and all I had with me was a sword and battle gauntlets. Summoning Beowulf, I continued the explanation, adding the element of awakening in the forest, further traveling, and arriving in Orario. After spending a few hours telling my story, I asked Hestia if the entire status needed to be provided or just the level and proof that I had become a member of her family. I didn't want the gods interfering with my enjoyment of adventures for now. Hestia assured me that my status was strictly confidential and that I didn't need to worry. With a laugh, I said that we now had a little secret.

After laughing for a while longer, we calmed down and started sharing stories of our lives until we fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up on the broken couch with the feeling that someone was lying on top of me...

To be continued...