Chapter 646

"Please take care of me."

After subconsciously replying with that line, Hestia only then suddenly reacted, realizing just what had happened right now.

【No no no, just by looking at a child's soul condition, how could one possibly fully understand a child's true nature?

Choosing the first child to join my Familia, I cannot be this casual about it; he definitely doesn't know my specific situation either, which is why he said that.

And once he finds out that this deity here is a Trash Goddess with nothing to her name, facing the real situation at hand, the child before me might just leave my side……】

Hestia did not want to receive an answer of despair after just seeing hope, so she pulled her hand out from the boy's grasp.

"Broly……"

The Goddess, who had the appearance of a young girl yet possessed a bountiful bosom, addressed the boy in this manner.

"I, Hestia, am not such a casual deity; if you want to join my Familia, you must pass my interview and questioning."

【Idiot idiot idiot, will talking like this scare away the child who finally came knocking on my door? I'm clearly a Trash Goddess, what am I putting on airs for……】

After experiencing the failure of being rejected many times when inviting others, Hestia regretted it just after putting on the airs of a deity; she was worried she would scare off the child who had come to her door on his own, who might be one of a kind.

"Mhm, alright, Goddess-sama, whatever questions you have, feel free to ask."

However, Hestia's worry was clearly unnecessary; Broly merely showed a serious expression, looking like he was treating this solemnly, and readied himself to be interviewed and questioned by her.

"First, why would you want to join my Familia?"

"Eh? Goddess-sama, didn't I already answer this question just now? I said it was a fate-arranged encounter, and didn't you believe it too?"

Broly looked at her with some puzzlement, that puzzled gaze seemingly asking her if she had deity amnesia.

"Ugh……"

Hestia was at a loss for words.

Ah, the impact just now was too great, it made her forget.

"Then fine, I'll put it another way, Broly-kun, you know that wanting to become a deity's Familia member means you have to shoulder what kind of responsibility, right?"

"I know. Once a person becomes a deity's Familia member, they must shoulder the responsibility of supporting that deity, including but not limited to satisfying their own deity's bad tastes and demands."

Broly nodded.

And in fact, regarding this point, he had sufficient experience.

After all, back when he first went to the KonoSuba World, he had supported his own Goddess Master-sama.

"Then do you know that my Hestia Familia currently has no Familia base, no surplus funds for developing the Familia, no other members besides me, this deity, and furthermore has no clear goals for the Familia's future development?"

Seeing the boy answer so affirmatively, Hestia subconsciously gave a reverse questioning like the first Elf girl who refused her invitation, asking about her Familia's situation, as if wanting to display the unsightly side of her Familia, which still existed in its initial founding state, before the boy's eyes.

Hmm, in terms of operation, this Goddess didn't look like she was recruiting Familia members, but more like she wanted to shut out the boy who had voluntarily come knocking and proposed to join her Familia.

"Hestia-sama, I know all of these; I found them out from another Goddess."

Broly's answer surprised Hestia.

"Ah, since you know all that, then why……"

The words weren't finished, before being interrupted by the boy before her.

"No base means we can build one, no funds means we can earn them, no clear goals for future development means we can find them; as for no other Familia members being present, as long as Hestia-sama is there, then your Familia has full appeal to me, and what attracts me is not anything else, but precisely you yourself, Goddess Hestia."

In Orario, or rather the whole world, a saying circulates: It is difficult for mortals to lie to deities.

The reason being that deities can easily see mortals' souls, and when mortals lie, their souls will instinctively react and waver; unable to deceive or conceal the soul's instinctive reaction, deities can very easily detect a mortal's lies; even a deity lying to another deity is itself a very difficult thing.

Therefore, the boy before her who spoke the above words, whose soul did not waver in the slightest, his words were absolutely the truth — it was she herself who had attracted him!

【Ah~】

This made Hestia, one of the famed Three Great Virgin Goddesses of Heaven, instantly at a loss, feeling as if her heart had been struck by the Arrow of the God of Love.

The heart inside her chest accelerated its beating frequency, her whole body felt a bit hot, especially her face, with a sensation like standing before Hephaestus's furnace, roasted by the heat of the open flames.

"S-so, you mean you like me?!"

Hestia asked.

"My apologies, we are not familiar enough yet, so it cannot be called 'like' at present, but I have a natural fondness for you, I want to encounter you, get to know you, develop a further relationship with you, establish the most intimate Bond, come to like you, and make you like me."

Broly's answer surprised Hestia, but the same lack of soul wavering made Hestia feel that such serious words from the boy were the embodiment of not being glib, different from those Male Gods who often use sweet talk to deceive Goddesses.

"Hestia-sama, I wonder if you are willing to try and establish such a Bond with me?"

With all doubts eliminated, Hestia's answer was obvious.

"I am willing."

The deity with the appearance of a young girl proactively took the boy's hand, cupping the boy's palm against her own chest, looking as if she were holding some precious treasure.

And just as Broly passed the interview questioning and successfully joined the Hestia Familia, on the other side……

"So expensive!"

The white-haired boy Bell, upon entering an inn that looked pretty good and asking the lodging price, was shocked by the astonishingly high price of 1200 Valis per night.

His total assets right now were only 20,000 Valis, and this was just for lodging without food and drink; if food and drink were factored in, this bit of money would probably only last him ten days or so in Orario, this Center City of the world.

"If you think it's expensive, you can go check the cheaper inn next door."

The male staff member at the front desk responsible for registering guests, looking at the boy's somewhat hesitant appearance, spoke in a sarcastic tone.

The look in his eyes as he watched Bell was like looking at a country bumpkin from the boonies; but whether it was out of contempt for a country person, or out of hostility toward a handsome, cute boy who attracted the gaze of his crush, a female coworker, only he himself knew.

"Eh, right, I can choose a worse inn, thanks, big bro."

However, the simple and slow-witted boy did not realize the inn's male registrar's targeting; a look of sudden realization appeared on his face, and as he ran out of this nicely decorated inn, he even thanked the other party, which instead left the other party at a loss.

A feeling of bullying a kid who knows nothing; guilt, self-loathing, and the disdainful gaze of the female coworker he had a crush on.

As if arranged by fate, the boy Bell arrived at a slightly deserted street and walked into a somewhat old wooden inn.

The reason he chose here was because it didn't look that expensive, and in reality it was so; although the lodging price of 800 Valis a night was still expensive compared to other ordinary cities.

"Meals not included, you want to stay?"

"Excuse me, is this the cheapest place here?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged male human shopkeeper who was reading a newspaper raised his head to look over, and that gaze was as if he were looking at someone who had asked an idiotic question.

However, upon seeing that the person standing in front of the counter was merely a young human youth, he retracted the gaze that looked at an idiot, and merely coldly spat out a sentence: "If staying for a week, 5000 valis for you, will you stay?"

"Please help me process the check-in."

Bell dared not inquire further, because he always felt that if he asked further, he would be driven out by the other party.

He hurriedly took out his money bag, took out one-quarter of the money from inside, and placed it on the counter surface.

"Your room is the first room on the left side on the second floor."

After the middle-aged shopkeeper collected the money, he tossed him a key with a wooden plaque.

"If the key is lost, you need to compensate 1000 valis for the lock change fee, understand?"

Bell nodded repeatedly, indicating he would absolutely not lose it.

"This is the place I live now!"

Hestia brought Broly to the place she resides, a secret hidden room, located deep in an alley almost forgotten by people, in the basement of an abandoned church.

This place in the past should have been the private property of a certain goddess, this can be seen from the goddess statue at the church entrance that has collapsed by half, only the statue's face is damaged by more than half, Hestia also cannot tell which deity the other party is.

And this goddess-sama now, should have already failed in competition and returned to Heaven.

Of course, this is a more elegant way of putting it, actually she should have died in the Lower World, and is currently waiting for revival in Heaven.

From a certain meaning, the place Hestia currently resides in, is pretty much the same situation as an ordinary person living in a graveyard.

However, the abandoned church's basement, after Hestia's round of cleaning up, now looks not bad.

"Broly, take off the clothes on your body, I'm going to give you my blessing."

This is a benefit that mortals who join a deity's familia can usually obtain.

"Do I need to take off my pants too?"

Broly very nimbly took off his upper garment, looked at his lower pants and asked the goddess-sama.

"Ah, no need, I only need you to expose your back."

Hestia hurriedly shook her head, only her gaze kept glancing at the boy's upper body with its clearly defined muscle contours.

Broly's physique is comparatively perfect, muscle lines clear and obvious, not excessively bulky but rather smoothly distributed across every part of his upper body, looking just like a sculpted work of art, displaying strength and beauty.

Hestia swallowed her saliva, her hand unconsciously reached out and touched, stroking on the clearly defined muscle line contours of her petite body.

"Didn't you say you only need the back?"

Broly looked at Hestia in puzzlement, this goddess-sama spoke of the back but her hand was touching his front body.

"Ah, I'm just checking your physical condition, if the condition isn't good then the holy scripture cannot be engraved."

Hestia found an excuse for her perverted behavior, then had Broly sit on the bed with his back facing her, while she sat behind.

The silver needle pierced the Loli Goddess's finger, the fingertip with a bead of blood touched the center of the boy's back, Hestia's divine power using blood as a medium, using the holy scripture used by gods as runes, began to engrave on Broly's back the 【Divine Blessing】 named 【Status】.

【Broly】

Level: Lv. 1

Strength: i0

Durability: i0

Dexterity: i0

Agility: i0

Magic Power: i0

【Magic】: 【】, 【】, 【】......

【Skill】: 【】, 【】, 【】......

Hmm, a status board that looks very normal, and basically all people who just received a divine blessing start from such a blank board... not really, the five basic abilities are indeed normal, but what the hell are those rows of empty slots after magic and skill, and those ellipses, meaning there are more behind?

"Goddess-sama, is it done?"

Broly felt the power on his back had already dissipated, but Hestia had no subsequent action, so he couldn't help but ask.

"It is done, but your status board seems a bit strange."

Hestia said with furrowed brows, guessing whether those empty slots meant her familia's boy could comprehend multiple magics and skills.

"What happened?"

Broly asked curiously, he doesn't have eyes on his back, cannot see his own back.

"Nothing, should be a good thing."

Hestia felt this should be related to Broly's soul that is heavy to a somewhat excessive degree.

She reached out and touched Broly's back, the status board with the Goddess of the Hearth's unique flame mark gradually hid away.

"Next, I'll explain about status to you, status has ten levels S, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I to represent the height of ability.

Only the five basic abilities that reflect base status will produce a linkage effect of ability level rise along with proficiency rise, 0~99 is i, 100~199 is h, from i to s can all be inferred this way.

And proficiency only rises when that ability domain is used beyond its limits, an analogy would be like you lifting weights, originally only able to lift 100 jin heavy object, but after persistent physical training, suddenly lifting a 101 jin heavy object, proficiency can then obtain a rise.

Simultaneously, you can also rely on subjugating the Dungeon's monsters, and battling with others, to obtain excelia that raises ability proficiency.

But this thing called excelia, only when the battle target's power is equal to or higher than one's own can it be obtained, thereby making its value have an obvious rise.

In other words, no matter how many monsters or people weaker than yourself you battle with, it is impossible to convert the battle results into status.

The Divine Blessing, roughly speaking, is such a situation, it cannot make a person ascend to heaven in one step, yet it can record all of a person's experiences, and convert them into excelia, then in turn convert them into raising the blessed one's various abilities, that is, strength."

"I see."

Broly nodded.

"However, Goddess-sama, if I am originally very strong and cannot find an opponent, wouldn't that mean I cannot raise the so-called status?"

But he was somewhat Curious about this point, and asked about it.

(Chapter End)