Chapter 645: Please Take Care of Me, My God!

After parting ways with Bell, Broly walked alone down the lively street filled with all sorts of passersby, pondering how to determine whether there existed a capture target recognized by the Crystal Palace in this bustling Dungeon City.

【If there's an Adventurer's Guild, then as expected I should spend money to post a quest, gather the women of this city, and have them meet me; although there might be oversights, this is clearly much more efficient.】

The only problem was that he didn't have all that much money on him right now; the Flying Dragons he'd killed a couple days ago had been exchanged by the caravan entirely into this world's currency, but since they were naturally bred monsters in the wild, those Flying Dragons weren't high level, and the quality of their magic crystals and dropped dragon teeth was inferior to what the Dungeon produced, so he only had a mere 550,000 valis.

"Hello, please give me one fried potato ball."

"Alright, customer, I wonder what flavor you'd like?"

"Give me one of every flavor."

"I have eight flavors total; for eight fried potato balls, I'll call it 2,000 valis."

Broly stopped at a fried potato ball stall and bought a full bucket of all flavors.

And judging from the selling price, this 550,000 valis would probably only cover his food expenses for a few days.

"Ah~"

【The soft red bean paste flavor potato ball, the taste really isn't bad.】

Broly chewed on the steaming hot fried potato ball in his hand while commenting in his mind.

【If I'd known Leka Star would be attacked by star pirates, I wouldn't have sold off the Asura Kingdom gold coins and pile of gems so cheaply.】

The people of this world wear gold and silver, even the currency is gold, silver, and copper; those things should have value in this world.

However, since there are monsters that can be hunted in this world, Broly wasn't too worried about whether he could make money.

It's just that the Crystal Palace doesn't have any items that can be directly exchanged for money, so he can't directly recharge the New World universal currency through pay-to-win.

"Hey, young man eating fried potato balls over there, any interest in becoming my familia member?"

Just as Broly was eating fried potato balls and observing the women passing by, a woman with a presence far stronger than an ordinary person walked up and struck up a conversation with him.

And the words she spoke proved her identity; she was a deity who had come to the Lower World to enjoy mortal entertainment.

More precisely, a Goddess; she looked very pretty, but the Crystal Palace had no reaction whatsoever, clearly she was not a capture target.

Deities possess a unique perspective; they can easily see through the nature that mortals possess, or rather, the color of a mortal's soul.

And among the colorful crowds on the lively street, suddenly encountering an individual whose soul looked like a heavy block of shadow, and who emitted no divine presence nor showed any signs of concealment, naturally aroused the curiosity of the passerby deity.

The deities of this world recruit familia members quite haphazardly; they might only need a reason that interests them, or finding someone pleasing to the eye, to make these existences that transcend the mundane extend goodwill and offer their olive branch to a mortal.

Of course, for the mortal on the receiving end of that olive branch, the deity's goodwill might also be malice that cannot be refused.

"I might become someone else's familia member, but clearly you are not the one I want to encounter."

In Bell's introduction, becoming a deity's familia member equaled becoming the deity's family, and the only ones who could become family in Broly's mind were wives, so a deity not recognized by the Crystal Palace as a capture target could never recruit Broly, who had come to this other world to search for and capture his target, into their familia.

"Don't say that now, whether you're a Pallum or a Beastman, young man, my familia in Orario may not be ranked very high, but we have our own familia base and three Level 2 adventurer members.

You should be here in Orario to become an adventurer, right? If a rookie joins a familia with capital, their safety can be guaranteed accordingly.

Of course, you might be thinking of joining a high-ranked familia, but the main gods of high-ranked familias aren't that easy to meet, and even if you meet them, they usually won't accept people who actively request to join their familia..."

Just as the unknown passerby Goddess finished speaking, a group of Goddesses who had just finished bathing at the public bath and were preparing to go shopping walked around the street corner; seeing their companion hitting on a mortal, they cast curious gazes, and quickly noticed the abnormality on Broly as well.

Just as Broly was being pestered by a group of passerby Goddesses, Hestia, this Hearth Goddess who had descended to the mortal world just half a year ago, was experiencing being driven out of her base by a divine friend (Hephaestus) — it had already been over two months since then — and for the forty-first time personally recruiting an unaligned child she had taken a liking to, only to have the recruited child politely refuse her request to become the first member of the Hestia Familia she was preparing to establish.

And right when she was dejected, she just had to run into Loki, who was welcoming her familia children returning from a Dungeon expedition, that flat-chested Goddess she had always been at odds with, parading down the lively street with her familia in a disgusting display of showing off.

"Oh my, if it isn't the little shorty; heard you were a shut-in and got kicked out of your base by Hephaestus because she couldn't stand it.

How is it? Not a single child by your side; could it be that even now you still haven't found a child willing to become your familia member and support you, this shut-in Goddess?"

Mocking words spilled from the mouth of the red-haired, single-ponytailed Loki; Hestia's face flushed bright red.

"Hah, how could I not find one? It's just that my standards for choosing children are higher; I'd rather have none than settle for less."

The broad-minded yet loli-appearing young Goddess, Hestia, argued back in a loud voice.

"Well, I still need to take the kids to celebrate, so I won't waste time here with you; anyway, you shut-in, you better work hard and don't let yourself be forced to leave Orario because you can't make a living, otherwise my daily entertainment will be reduced~"

Leaving those words, Loki left with her familia.

"What's with that, just because she descended earlier than me and recruited some decent kids as familia members, she gets complacent!

Blech, sooner or later I'll recruit a kid countless times better than yours, as a member of my Hestia Familia!"

The loli Goddess stuck out her tongue and made faces behind her back, fully displaying a mentality matching her apparent age, even though as a deity she had already lived in the Heavens for over a hundred million years.

And after Loki Familia and the others left, the momentum Hestia had worked up fell back down again; big talk was big talk, but in actual realization, she who had already experienced many failed attempts at recruiting children into her familia understood how difficult achieving this would be.

No familia base, no familia development funds, not even a future development policy for the familia; a "three-no" familia like this trying to get started in Orario, this Dungeon City where a vast number of deity familias gather, is simply Hell-difficulty.

The only thing she can offer is the divine blessing a deity bestows on children who join her familia, but every single deity has that.

And the children who come to Orario wanting to become adventurers, after becoming adventurers, must also stake their lives fighting monsters in the Dungeon; why wouldn't they choose to join a powerful familia with greater strength, more funds, and deeper foundations?

【Perhaps, I should lower my standards for choosing children?】

Hestia thought; although every deity has the ability to bestow blessings on mortals, deities do not bestow blessings on just anyone.

Therefore, for those who seek to join a familia but cannot, a single deity's divine blessing is still very precious.

If she were willing to lower her standards for familia members, she might quickly gather a mixed bag of a familia.

【But, would doing that really be okay?】

The moment this thought surfaced, Hestia gave a negative answer.

If a child's and a deity's natures clash, conflict is practically inevitable.

Rather than letting troublesome things happen in the future, it's better to cut off the possibility of that happening from the start.

Hestia rallied her spirits; she decided to continue searching for children with compatible natures.

Quality over quantity; no matter how strapped she was, she would not recruit children whose natures clashed with her own.

Of course, this might be because that divine friend (Hephaestus) who always says "this is the last time I help you" but then helplessly chooses to keep helping you every time you ask, is backing her up from behind, giving her the confidence!

【Hmm, feel like I wouldn't get along with that child, that child's nature is bad...】

Hestia walked along, observing the crowds coming and going around her, searching among them for a child suitable to become her familia member.

She soon arrived at the stall selling fried potato balls; the taste reminded her of her part-time job, but because she didn't know how to light the fire, she accidentally blew up the fried potato ball shop, leaving her with a huge debt — fortunately no one was hurt that time.

Thinking thus, Hestia bought a portion of plain fried potato balls, then noticed the crowd gathering ahead — or rather, a gathering of gods.

【Eh, that child, what's with that soul heavy as a shadow block?】

Hestia widened her eyes, her mysterious pale-blue pupils fixed on the boy's back, as if wanting to see through his true nature.

【Loneliness, weakness, emptiness, lack of security, like a child with nowhere to return, yet also somewhat contradictory — satisfaction, fortitude, considerable confidence in himself...】

The state of the boy's soul ahead troubled Hestia; he was like a composite of contradictions.

【Perhaps that child has a split personality?!】

Hestia guessed; judging from the soul's condition, he was actually a suitable child.

The premise being that there weren't so many other goddesses surrounding him.

Knowing her own Hestia Familia had no start, it had no competitiveness against those goddesses' familias long rooted in Orario, so this little goddess didn't step forward to humiliate herself.

The first elf girl who refused her, looking at this god as if looking at waste paper — she didn't want to go through that again.

Gods have self-awareness; lacking ability yet wanting to pursue a child with obviously great potential is the equivalent of the mortal saying about a toad wanting to eat swan meat.

"Ah, where is the child suited for me?"

Hestia silently turned in another direction; right now she didn't really want to run into other gods from Heaven, because whether meeting gods she got along with or gods she didn't, it would only make her feel awkward.

"Eh, isn't that Hestia?"

Among the goddesses, Demeter, goddess of agriculture, with sharper eyes, spotted Hestia.

"Hestia, I heard she's looking for a child to form a familia, so why did she just leave?"

Beside her, a goddess heard this, and looking at Hestia's departing back, also grew curious.

Only because, right before them now, there was a child who looked very promising.

"Hestia?"

Broly followed the surrounding goddesses' gazes, turned his head and looked back.

【New capture target discovered: Hestia, current Happiness Value 0】

The next moment, the Crystal Palace's prompt message appeared.

"Huh?!"

Broly suddenly felt that maintaining politeness was a very necessary thing.

If he had just now found them annoying and shaken off these goddesses entangling him, he might not have encountered a new capture target.

"Various goddesses, thank you for your appreciation, but I want to become Lady Hestia's familia member, yet I don't know if you could tell me Lady Hestia's information?"

Broly pointed at the retreating back of the loli goddess behind him, and began inquiring for intelligence from the big-sister-type goddesses before him.

"Eh?!"

The surrounding goddesses were somewhat surprised; they hadn't expected the boy who had aroused their interest and invited to join their familias to decline their invitations, yet want to become Hestia's familia member.

"Broly little brother, so you like Hestia's type?"

"Can't say I like her yet, just that I'm certain the goddess I want to encounter right now is her."

Broly gave an honest answer.

"Telling you Hestia's information so you can win her over is fine, but how will you repay us?"

Demeter asked with a smile; her relationship with Hestia was pretty good, and since the boy intended to join Hestia's familia, she didn't mind pushing the boat along the current.

It's just that she rather liked teasing children, and the boy before her was young, just right for teasing.

Worth mentioning, eight years ago this goddess, together with another goddess friend (Hephaestus), teased the little Sword Princess who had just joined the Loki Familia.

And this matter, even to this day, is occasionally brought up, like when discussing certain famous figures and saying, "I flicked that person's little bird when they were young," words to that effect.

Perhaps the boy might also become a famous figure among adventurers someday, like the Loki Familia's regiment captain, the Pallum hero Finn Deimne.

"If you can tell me information about Lady Hestia, that'll count as me owing you a favor; as long as it's something I can do and not too excessive, wishes of that sort, I can help you fulfill."

Broly's solemn promise left the surrounding goddesses somewhat dumbfounded; a boy who wasn't even an adventurer saying he'd help fulfill their wishes — this situation was rare, but also very interesting.

Demeter and the goddesses chattered back and forth, selling Hestia clean: "Although I feel Hestia's current situation probably wouldn't refuse you coming to her door to become a familia member, if she really does refuse you, or if you feel dragged down by her and can't survive in Orario, you can come find us."

"Looking forward to your growth, waiting for the day your promise to us bears abundant fruit."

This is probably the agriculture goddess's blessing.

Broly waved goodbye to these warm-hearted goddesses, then following the divine breath he had secretly memorized, chased toward Hestia's direction.

Broly soon arrived at a small alley, and Hestia was once again experiencing a failed attempt to recruit someone into her familia.

Well known, in this Orario — no, in this Lower World, there exist some gods so utterly useless it defies mortal imagination; not being deceived by their flowery words is the general view.

Hestia was thoroughly heartsick, because she didn't even have anything to present her faction's vision (familia's future); her treatment was basically the same as the general view's — treated as useless, only knowing flowery words to deceive mortals — making it hard to gain faith, no, it should be said, trust.

Hestia once again deeply realized how hard it is for a great god to live in the Lower World after losing the use of divine power; probably tonight she'd have to run to Hephaestus to request help again, because her money was almost gone.

The loli goddess sat on a wooden crate in the alley swinging her legs, feeling lost about her future life as a god in Orario, and just at this moment of bewilderment, a voice came from beside her: "Lady Goddess, are you looking for someone to become your familia member? I happen to be preparing to join a familia as well; may I join yours?"

Hestia felt she was having auditory hallucinations, but when she saw the boy who had been popular with a group of goddesses on the road earlier appear beside her legs, standing in the alley, she felt she shouldn't be having visual hallucinations after auditory ones.

"Is what you say true? Ah, no, a popular child like you, why would you want to join my familia?"

Happiness came too suddenly; Hestia somewhat couldn't believe it, and subconsciously asked the reason he wanted to join her familia.

"If I say this is a fated encounter, I wonder if you'd believe it?"

"Ugh, I believe it."

"Then, Lady Goddess, may I be favored by you?"

Broly made a gesture inviting a shared dance toward the loli goddess on the crate.

Hestia was somewhat dazed, and placed her hand into the boy's hand.

"I'm called Broly."

"Hestia."

"Please take care of me, my God."

(Chapter End)