Hestia

'It would certainly be strange if I started assuming things. As I recall, it won't take long for Hephaestus to decide and kick Hestia out of the house by herself, my help here is not necessary.'

Maybe she won't learn the lesson properly that way, but Haru didn't really care what happened to Hestia and her mentality. Whatever he did wouldn't change the outcome. Hestia would have been kicked out, she would have learned that working and earn enough valis to barely buy food was all she could do in the end. Above all, she would have to fight in the hope to find a member for her familia, and that will prove to be very difficult. From there, the story will repeat itself exactly as he remembered it. Bell Cranel and Hestia will meet, one needing the other to move on, they will sign their unwritten agreement, and they will surprise the Gods more than once, that was what was bound to happen.

'But that's just Hestia's point of view. Is it really worth making Hephaestus worry all the time? I may not care about Bell Cranel and Hestia's fate, but I certainly can't let her suffer like this."

Hephaestus had essentially welcomed him, given him a home where he could live comfortably, and took him as her personal apprentice, all in exchange for a simple wish that he would have to fulfil in the future. Although the latter was very difficult to achieve, in the end the ability to create tools of that quality will only be an advantage for him, so Haru was the first to be abusing of Hephaestus' kindness, at least from his point of view. Unlike Hestia however, he wanted to do his best to pay her back, along with all the other people behind his back who had provided the support necessary to let him be where he was now. Although Hestia would certainly in the span of a few months, Haru couldn't stay and observe. If he first chose to not interfere, now his expression was difficult to conceal. Before Hephaestus could answer her previous question, Haru was faster.

"Can't you see how uncomfortable Hephaestus-sama feels?"

At his words, Hestia's happy expression to her own mentioning of food was replaced by a surprised one, it wasn't Hephaestus who spoke, but Haru.

His rather angry sounding voice penetrated her ears although he wasn't shouting at all. Unable to understand what the boy was referring to, Hestia turned her eyes on him, and noticing the boy she had chosen to ignore before being the owner of that voice, she was very surprised to understand he seemed to be directing all that anger at her.

But that wasn't all. After Haru said those words, Hephaestus sprang. She was about to answer Hestia's question so that she could leave them alone, having work to do with him, but instead she heard his voice asking Hestia if she really understood how she could be feeling, and this simple action really struck within her. It was true that she had taken some of her worries out with Haru just before Hestia entered, but she certainly didn't want the situation to get any more complicated.

"..What do you intend to say?"

Before Hephaestus could end that conversation and call it a day between the two, Hestia asked Haru what he meant by his words. Normally, she wouldn't hesitate to make Haru understand not to be rude to Goddesses, but what she was asked was about Hephaestus, so before deciding how to proceed further, Hestia wanted to know.

At her words, Haru sighed. He also knew very well that no matter how much he could talk about it, a Goddess remained a Goddess, but he wasn't willing to pay any respect to Hestia if her behaviour wouldn't improve. She had to realize how uncomfortable her actions were for Hephaestus, finding herself fighting with the idea of having to kick Hestia out, so 'betraying' Hestia for her sake, Or let the latter sit freely and comfortably in her Familia doing nothing all day, which would have been bad for her anyway.

"All I had to do was look Hephaestus-sama in the eye to understand how much she could feel worried at this moment about how to deal with you. From what I could gather, all you've done staying here, was abusing of your friend's kindness and doing nothing but freeload instead of working hard to pay her back or maybe stop being a burden to her, become independent and maybe repay her back with time. If that's how you define friendship, then you really don't understand a thing about how true friendship works."

Haru hated to manipulate and be manipulated. This was one of the things he didn't tolerate, and Hestia's behaviour, though unconscious and not prominently manipulative, was nevertheless similar, which was enough to anger him. Besides, the person who was suffering from it didn't really deserve that kind of friendship. He certainly knew that Hestia wasn't afraid of what was hidden behind Hephaestus' eye, but that wasn't enough to justify her behaviour.

It was as if the room had undergone a complete change in temperature. After Haru said these words in fact, Hestia remained puzzled for a few seconds. It were the first few days since she had come to the Lower world, and one of the first humans she had met didn't seem to show her any kind of respect, which is why Haru would probably have already been erased if it wasn't that he was defending Hephaestus with his words.

If Hestia was puzzled however, Hephaestus was more than shocked. Of course, she couldn't deny that Haru's words were partly true, but saying it so exaggeratedly seemed to devalue their friendship completely, something that neither of the two Goddesses liked very much, but before they could say anything, Haru added

"...But that doesn't mean you can't change. I'll tell you from someone who has been wrong in the past with his friendships, try to understand what Hephaestus-sama is worried about and discuss it with her as thoroughly as possible. If you're her real friend, you should at least do that much, don't you think?"(A/N: Haru is referring to people in his middle-school, it's basically something you don't need to know about, but if you really want to I can say before his famous high school blow up, Haru wasn't exactly as you would describe him now.)

Recognizing he had taken the matter a bit too subjectively, Haru apologized to Hestia mentally. If deemed necessary he would have even apologized now, but he had to be sure he changed her mind in the process. Haru was convinced that Hephaestus deserved a true friendship, and even though Hestia was wrong, she was certainly a true friend to Hephaestus.

His words reached her this time. Even if he had been very rude to Hestia, the latter could only look down. She couldn't deny that Haru's words were true, and looking at Hephaestus out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that the latter was looking towards the floor in the same way, there was no doubt that Haru's words had foundations of truth.

Realizing it was time to leave them alone, Haru went to the door without hesitation, and in his way, he had the opportunity to meet Hestia's blue eyes, and could see how she was glaring at him.

"..I won't thank you for this."

Hestia's words made him smile once again.

"I don't need your gratitude, now go talk to your friend properly, Hestia-sama~"

Emphasizing her name properly with due respect, yet teasingly, Haru heard Hestia emit an 'hmph' before looking elsewhere with her arms to her chest.

With Hephaestus watching the whole scene unfolding before her, she wanted to tell Haru to stay or at least to talk about it more appropriately because everything was happening so fast she couldn't mentally follow what was happening, yet Hephaestus missed the opportunity to do this as before her voice came out her throat, Haru was already gone.

"I really hate to agree with that person, but I can't deny my behaviour towards Hephaestus wasn't the best..."

Although had troubles in understanding this since normally everything was granted to her in heaven, here things worked differently. Or at least, even here she could have been idle and do whatever she wanted, but this wasn't correct towards Hephaestus since theoretically even if she had assumed this was the least she could do for her as if she had the same house she wouldn't have any problem hosting Hephaestus as long as she wanted, She had understood this caused problems and soon she had become a burden that, as Haru had specified, did nothing but worry Hephaestus over what to do with her, because she considered their friendship to have immeasurable value.

Hearing Hestia mumble these words, Hephaestus was surprised. The reason for her concerns was slightly different from how Hestia and Haru had painted it, or at least according to her perspective, but she had understood after adding the last words what Haru really wanted to achieve. His goal was to make Hestia think at any cost.

However, the fact he had used a language certainly rude and not suited to the environment he was in remained an issue that Hephaestus had to bring up in their next meeting. In fact, if Haru would be angered and started to be rough with the Goddesses and the Gods just because he didn't like how they acted, thus responded in a bad way, Hephaestus knew that not everyone was as kind as Hestia, who had tried to listen to his words first, and then decide how to deal with him.

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Upon leaving the room, Haru headed to what was the exit sighing. He didn't know how much he could affect Hestia's mentality and if he could eventually change it, but he hoped his help would at least make the two goddesses understand that friendship wasn't based on one of the two sides that gave and the other that received incessantly. In order to have a true friendship, it must be well-kept and if there are parts that damage one of the two, it must be resolved, together.

'Now it only remains to wait for the results of their conversation.. Since I now have some free time, exploring the Dungeon doesn't sound so bad as an idea to pass time.'

Since he could now officially enter the Dungeon, Haru was curious to try. Leaving Hephaestus' private chambers, he went home to take his armor and sword, and once he had done so, he came down from the tower of Babel, since the entrance of the Dungeon was at the bottom...

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(I thought the conversation wouldn't have lasted this much in the original version of it in my head, which is why I said the next chapter would've been about the Dungeon, sorry if I raised your expectation for nothing, but you have only to wait some more hours for the next chapter, so I guess it's fine.)