CHAPTER 1

PART 1

It should have been easy...

I repeated those words for myself as I ran, lost in this mysterious land. I don't know how, but I managed to arrive at a different location than the one I planned, I wanted to arrive at Orario but somehow this where I ended up at.

A dark forest filled with monsters, howls, and no one in sight, not even a road I could find.

It should have been easy, I should have arrived at Orario...

Then people would become aware of my identity... they would know that one of the three greats had descended...

They would have come knocking on my door, begging to be part of my Familia...

Then, I would have only accepted the strongest...

Then, I would one day surpass the other gods and laugh at how naive they were for even trying to compete with me...

But the reality wasn't like that, isn't it? No, I had to somehow mistake the place I had to land on... I had to fall in a dark uncomfortable place alone and in danger...

I looked behind with the corner of my eyes, but still running, I couldn't allow myself to stop even for a second.

There, four dog-headed creatures with greyish skin and fur in most of their body ran with stone axes in their hands, all of them trying to catch up to me.

Will I die? Will the life of Hades, goddess of the underworld, one of the three greats going to be so short and miserable?

Will I be forever unable to let behind a legend bigger than that of my old perverted brother?

Maybe... Just maybe... I should use my arcanum? If I'm going to be killed by those little bastards maybe I should send them to hell in the process of going back...

It isn't like I have a choice anyway, at least this way I get my revenge...

Or perhaps... I looked forward, the dense forest seemed to be opening to me, there just some meters away, it looked like a road and a plain.

"Grryyaaak!" The creature shouted.

It's getting closer... I need to decide fast, otherwise, the opportunity will disappear, should I or shouldn't I kill them?

...

"Theseus, are you sure about this road? You said four days ago that it should have taken us only three days to arrive at the closest city..."

Sighing I looked at Orion, my brother, in the eyes, it was always like that, always impatient, always asking when we'll arrive, I truly wonder, if he only stayed inside mother for 8 months... Perhaps she lied to me, and it was 7 months instead, that's the only way I could find to explain my brother's antics.

"Can you please stop bothering me already!? It isn't my fault that this map is so horrifically written." I felt like punching the map and him, but if I did it I would have to find another map...

"Please brothers, don't be like that, you know very well we shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves, mother would be sad if she knew about this." My sister Eirene spoke, she tried to put reason into our heads, but I must admit that this isn't an easy task, but even then if it wasn't for her, perhaps our travels would have been way harder.

We have been traveling for so long now... I truly wonder when we will arrive in the city of the adventurers.

It isn't only my and my siblings' dream, it was my mother's as well... She always wanted to visit Orario, unfortunately, she didn't live long enough to do it... If our father was alive back then... if grandpa wasn't such a bastard... sigh, there is no reason to keep remembering this now.

Focus on now and the future Theseus, you know that's the way to go...

"Sigh... I can't stay on this horse for much longer... My legs and my lower parts are starting to hurt, I'm feeling uncomfortable from all this travel. Why don't we camp somewhere and just go to sleep?" Orion spoke, his blue eyes wandered across the plains on the left and the dense forest on the right.

"Have you gone mad!?" I almost shouted at him, but manage to hold myself in the last moment. "Those forests are filled to the top with monsters, lay on this ground and you'll get your ass beaten by some creature!"

"Who's mad? You are the one mad!" Orion retorted and unsheathed his sword.

"What? You wanna fight? C'mon then, I'll teach you how to never forget the respect your older brother deserves!" I unsheathed my sword and looked at him with a frown.

"Will you two grow up and stop fighting already!? Don't you think you look like two silly children misbehaving?" Eirene waved the reins and made her horse stop in front of ours, blocking the road as she stared at us with her blue enraged eyes. Her long black hair partially twisted up on an elegant knot on the back of her head swayed with the slightly strong wind.

We both lowered our heads, it was difficult to argue with her because she was a woman, and she was a little similar to our mother, we made a mistake once and she became like a demon, totally not worth it...

"Fine... Let's set up camp then-"

"Wyaaagh!" Before I could finish my words the shout of a girl came out of nowhere, I could barely see her face since it was covered by the fiery blue hair that seemed to sway like flames, which sometimes seemed to become darker or brighter, she was wearing a short bright blue dress combined with a skirt under a dark blue suit jacket.

She seemed to shine as the light of the moon fell on her white skin, but what surprised me wasn't her appearance but the fact that she was being followed by a few Kobolds, what could such a girl be doing out here in the night and inside such a dangerous forest?

PART 2

People! There are some people here! I'm saved! Saved!

How lucky of me! Destiny, it must be, how else would I have managed to arrive here? It's always like that, isn't it? I just wished fate would help me sooner than later.

"Please help me, mortals! The monsters are after me!"

The trio looked at me, their faces were stunned, they were definitely surprised by my sudden appearance, hopefully, those three aren't pushovers, I don't want to make someone met the unavoidable end sooner.

"Everyone, prepare!" The tallest of the trio, a boy with green eyes, long raven hair tied in three long braids shouted. He like the others next to him wore a gambeson coupled with splinted greaves, they also carried a sword and a buckler.

I ran behind them as they jumped out of the horses with weapons ready in hand. I was honestly very surprised seeing how they moved and communicated with each other.

It looked like a single look over the shoulders was enough to transmit a message as they separated, getting away a few feet from each other.

The monsters that were hunting me down appeared just a few seconds later and met the trio who was already prepared. The taller boy didn't waste time and instantly stepped forward waving the sword with both hands and directly beheaded the first monster.

However, it looked like he was being impatient, the dog-headed creature next to the one who was killed waved its ax towards him horizontally.

"GRRYAAAAH!" Surprisingly, the boy kept both hands together, the buckler protected the hand that held the sword when he brought them both to the left, defending the attack and with a single swirling stroke, he cut off the creature's hand, making it cry in pain.

It was all so fast and precise, I couldn't help but look at their faces once again, despite how well defined and geometrical their faces were, giving off a mature feeling, I could tell that they were still fairly young. They could be 14 or maybe 16 years old...

What kind of life such kids would need to have to acquire such experience in combat?

As pity took hold of my heart, I barely had time to catch the smaller boy on the left parrying the monster's blow and hitting its head with the small shield.

Having been caught off guard it lost its balance and fell on its back, what came next was a piercing blow directly to the heart.

The girl didn't lose in physical strength nor agility, she quickly finished her opponent with a single motion that combined a parry against a vertical attack and a piercing blow directly to the head.

The taller boy also finished his job and killed the last of the creatures as it didn't have any means to protect itself or attack once its hand was chopped off and the ax fell on the ground.

What happened next was that their bodies exploded in a small puff of light, only leaving behind small magic stones.

The taller boy sighed and crouched to collect the stone and the only ax that remained since the others also exploded.

"Haha, with this we have another bag full of stones, how much do you think we can get with them?" The smaller boy grinned as his shining blue eyes fell on the stone in his hand. His other hand scratched the back of his black short-haired head.

"I hope you didn't forget that this will become our funding when we arrive, if you end up spending it all, don't come crying to me asking for money." The taller boy frowned as he walked past me and stored the two stones.

"How many times do I have to ask you to behave better? Are you two secretly in love? I can't find any other way to explain your behavior." The girl shook her head and spoke with disappointment in her voice.

"Hey! Stop trying to make fun of me, brother is the one who keeps annoying me with all his rules, reminders, etc."

"If I didn't do it, you wouldn't even find your own head in the morning." The taller boy said as he turned to look at me.

At that moment it was like they finally took notice of my presence, family infighting only kept me out of the light for so long.

I looked at the boy in the eyes and he also looked at me, with both evaluated each other from head to toe.

"Hey miss, what were you doing in the forest? Don't you know it's dangerous to wander around those places?" He asked me with a frown, was he annoyed at me?

"First of all, I'm not just a miss, I'm a goddess, so you must address me with the proper honorific, Sama, second, I wasn't there on purpose..." I gulped and blushed slightly, so embarrassing... "Sigh... It was an accident, okay?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Well, you don't have to explain yourself, just don't go around trying to die, you might not be so lucky to meet-"

The boy suddenly stopped, his face became pale as he looked at me with wide eyes.

Could he have caught the flu or something? What is going on?

"What did you said again? I think I might have misheard..."

"About what exactly?" I tilted my head to the side, what could I have said that made him stunned?

"Are... are you... what did you said that you are?" He blinked and held my shoulders, his hands were shaking as he sweated.

"Eh? Oh! I'm a goddess!" I smiled, so that's why he was shocked huh? Honestly, I'm very surprised, to think that without the blessing of a god, those kids were so powerful...

The other two were already stunned after hearing me the first time, now the colors seemed to have fled from their faces.

In an instant, they gathered together and kneeled before me, with hope in the eyes they shouted in unison. "Will you accept us in your Familia, goddess-Sama?"