Hestia: There's a Cow! / A Hestia Familia That Has Absolutely Nothing to Do with Hestia Herself

Since neither An Xiu nor Seele had ever received Grace from any God, the natives of this world did not consider them completely powerless, but they definitely belonged to the weaker category.

An Xiu did not care much about that, as long as no one came looking to provoke him because of it.

An Xiu and Seele arrived at a Pawnshop, where they exchanged several gold pieces generously sponsored by Makima for some Valis, this world's currency. They then went to an inn and rented a room.

Inside the inn room, An Xiu opened the System Panel again and silently recited in his mind.

"System, Materialize Clone."

"Ding! Points deducted. Materializing clone..."

Five hundred thousand points, along with Sakura's Magic Talent stored in the system space, vanished in an instant.

As a burst of white light emerged, a young girl slowly appeared before An Xiu and Seele. Her face still carried a trace of childishness, and she had short chestnut hair and wore a black-and-white short skirt.

"An Xiu-ge."

Once the light faded, the materialized girl immediately looked at An Xiu before her. A sweet smile appeared on her face as she greeted him.

"Welcome, Sakura."

An Xiu reached out and stroked Sakura's soft hair. After thinking for a moment, he extended his other hand and rubbed Seele's little head as well.

With a cute girl in each hand, An Xiu felt his mood settle considerably.

Still, there was serious business to handle.

"Next, we need to find a God and receive Grace."

Even if Sakura did not deliberately train, her innate magic power would continue growing on its own. But actively training and stimulating her magic would certainly allow it to grow faster, and becoming an Adventurer was a good option.

Moreover, if An Xiu wanted Sakura to help him analyze the Favor System, she needed to come into close contact with Grace and experience the process of receiving it firsthand.

The only issue was that they needed to carefully consider which God to choose.

The first and most important point was that the God could not have poor character. They could not be some God without any moral bottom line; they had to possess extremely high ethical standards.

Second, the Familia could not be too powerful. Although An Xiu did not intend to receive Grace himself, with Seele around, Sakura and Seele had no need for help from senior Familia members. It would be best if they joined a relatively weak Familia where they could easily gain a voice, making it convenient to seize the initiative once Sakura had analyzed the Favor System.

Finally, there was the issue of gender. Even if it was only for the sake of analyzing Grace, only a female God could be allowed to grant Grace to Sakura and Seele. Male Gods could stay as far away as possible.

Taking all of that into account, there happened to be a God in Orario who perfectly met every condition—and she was also the female lead of DanMachi, the Blue Ribbon Goddess Hestia.

In terms of character and morals, Hestia had been kicked out after freeloading in a friend's Familia in the original story. However, both her moral standards and her care for her Familia placed her among the very best of all Gods.

At the same time, because she had descended to the lower world relatively late, if the plot had not begun yet, Hestia's Familia should currently still have no members at all.

Combined with the fact that she was a goddess, all the conditions made An Xiu immediately lock onto his target. He promptly left the inn with Sakura and Seele.

Finding Hestia was not difficult. Even without activating his perception, he would most likely encounter her by wandering around several of Orario's more famous Snack Streets.

And just as An Xiu expected, after passing through several streets near the Snack Streets, they had not even needed to search carefully before the Blue Ribbon Goddess spotted them first.

"What... is that?"

After finishing a day's work, Hestia had been dragging her exhausted body down the street while constantly pondering how she could find a child willing to join her Familia.

Because she had come to Orario immediately after descending to the lower world without making proper preparations, Hestia's Familia remained at zero members even now. No child of the lower world was willing to join a Familia starting from nothing, especially when Hestia, its chief goddess, had no special talents whatsoever.

After freeloading for several months and getting thrown out by a friend who had finally reached her limit, Hestia could only work to support herself while fantasizing about meeting someone willing to join her Familia and support each other with her. No—even if she had to work and support the household herself, that would be fine. As long as they were willing to join her Familia and become her family, that was enough. They did not need to be especially talented or work especially hard. Even living an ordinary life together while working day after day would make Hestia feel happy.

In that state of mind, Hestia happened to see An Xiu, Seele, and Sakura walking toward her from across the street.

At a single glance, she could no longer look away.

Of the three, there were two whom even she, a God, could not see through. The only one she could barely perceive gave her the sensation that her body housed authority comparable to that of a God.

How was that possible?!

Hestia rubbed her eyes in disbelief, repeatedly confirming that she had not seen wrong.

The short-haired blue-haired girl truly carried an aura of life and death whose rank was comparable to divine authority. As for the chestnut-haired girl and the sole male, she could not see through either of them, but the feelings they gave her were completely different.

The chestnut-haired girl made her feel as though a child of the lower world were facing a vast starry sky. Even as a God, she could not glimpse the whole picture, and looking deeper only gave her the illusion that she was incredibly small.

As for the sole male, he seemed to be completely shrouded in an impenetrable mist, leaving her no room to peer through at all.

I care so much. I want these three children to become my family so badly...

Hestia swallowed with difficulty, her feet uncontrollably carrying her toward the three of them.

Hestia: There's a NTR?!

"Please wait, you three!"

Driven by the longing in her heart, Hestia's steps carried her uncontrollably before An Xiu's group, and she called out to stop them.

An Xiu was not surprised in the slightest. Although he did not know what he looked like in the eyes of the Gods of DanMachi, Seele's and Sakura's talents were unquestionably the kind that any God with even a little discernment would be attracted to.

With such talent, plus their deliberate baiting, there was no way Hestia could resist.

"Um, you three children look like you don't have a Familia yet. Would you like to join mine?"

After stopping before them, Hestia fidgeted for a moment before finally speaking.

Having been in the lower world for so long, she knew her conditions were somewhat shabby. But the three children before her were simply too extraordinary—so extraordinary that she wanted to invite them no matter what.

Yet to Hestia's surprise, An Xiu, standing across from her, simply nodded at her invitation.

"Sure. I personally have no intention of joining a Familia, but Sakura and Seele can join yours."

"Y-you agreed that easily? Don't you need to think it over a little more?"

The happiness had come too suddenly, leaving Hestia unable to believe it.

Every child of the lower world she had invited before had first asked about the size of her Familia, its home base, and what support and help she could offer new members. Then, after hearing her answers, they had decisively refused and left.

Yet now, after inviting three children who clearly possessed extraordinary talent, they had agreed without even asking a single question?

Although An Xiu had said that he would not join the Familia, gaining two members at once was already dreamlike enough for Hestia.

"When we look for a Familia, we mainly consider the god's character. The other conditions are unimportant. According to the information we gathered, goddess Hestia, your character should rank among the very best of all gods."

An Xiu answered.

"Oh~ So you investigated beforehand. You have pretty good judgment."

Hearing An Xiu's answer, Hestia proudly thrust out her ample chest, a smug smile appearing on her face.

"That's right. I don't know where you got your information, but I, Hestia, have been recognized by all Gods as exceptionally well-behaved since my time in the Heavenly Realm. Forget Loki and Freya—even compared to Astrea and Artemis, I am no less impressive!"

An Xiu had no interest in discussing whether Hestia had better character than the goddess of Justice Astrea or the Moon goddess Artemis. Seeing that Hestia had not noticed any problem with his words and had so easily believed them, he patted Sakura and Seele beside him.

"Then according to the usual process, the next step is receiving God's Blessing, right? I'm quite curious about it, so could I trouble goddess Hestia to hurry it along?"

"No problem. Let's find a place right away. Once I grant them God's Blessing, these two children will both be members of my Hestia Familia!"

Hestia was clearly just as impatient to grant God's Blessing. At An Xiu's suggestion, they immediately returned to the inn room An Xiu and Seele had rented earlier.

Inside the room, Hestia sat at the edge of the bed and pricked her finger. She then looked at Seele and Sakura beside An Xiu.

"So, which of you wants to go first?"

Neither girl answered. Instead, An Xiu replied.

"Let Sakura go first."

At that, Sakura obediently nodded and stepped before Hestia.

"Just as An Xiu-ge said, I'll be in your care, Sister Hestia."

"It's no trouble, no trouble at all."

Hestia shook her head repeatedly, then motioned for Sakura to lie face down on the inn bed.

"Next, just take off your top and expose your back. Also..."

Hestia turned to look at An Xiu behind her, and the meaning in her eyes was obvious.

The next part involved undressing. As the only male in the room, should he not excuse himself?

Unfortunately, An Xiu remained completely unmoved by Hestia's hint.

What a joke. He would not leave even if there were no such step, much less now. All of his clones were one with him, so why would he need to avoid the room just because one of them was taking off her clothes?

"Sister Hestia, An Xiu-ge is Sakura's family, so it's fine."

Sakura, who had already removed her top and exposed her fair, tender back, lay on the bed and softly spoke at the right moment.

"But Grace information is very private..."

Hestia was still somewhat hesitant. After all, An Xiu was the only one among the three children present who was not joining her Familia. Naturally, she favored and cared more about Sakura and Seele by comparison.

The Blessing Panel essentially represented all of a retainer's abilities and information. In principle, it was information that no one besides the chief God should be allowed to see. Spying on another Familia's Blessing Panels could even cause two Familias to become enemies.

However, Sakura's attitude was firm.

"I trust An Xiu-ge."

"Fine, fine. I really can't win against you."

Seeing this, Hestia, who knew that the three truly shared a deep bond, stopped trying to persuade her. Raising her hand, she began engraving God's Blessing onto Sakura's back.

What Hestia did not know was that while she engraved the Blessing, Sakura, who appeared to be honestly lying on the bed, was simultaneously sensing its principles and power. At an astonishing speed, she began learning and analyzing it.

After all, in the original story, Sakura had surpassed Clow Reed, the strongest magician, within two years solely through the portion of magic she had gained by collecting the Clow Cards and her own later insights, all while completely unaware of and unable to properly use her own talent.

But now, Sakura possessed all of An Xiu's memories. Not only did she have a concrete understanding of her talent from the very beginning, but she was also actively developing and making use of it.

For example, at this very moment, Hestia had only completed half of the engraving for God's Blessing when Sakura, without Hestia's knowledge, had already deduced and perfected every principle and step of the entire process through her own reasoning, successfully mastering it.

Then, Hestia discovered in horror that the Blessing she had engraved onto Sakura suddenly severed its connection with her. Before her eyes, which looked as though she had seen a ghost, it completed itself.

The Blessing was still the Blessing Hestia had granted, but aside from resembling her Blessing, it no longer had any connection to Hestia whatsoever.

Strictly speaking, this was a Blessing wearing the outer shell of Hestia's Blessing while fundamentally belonging to Sakura. In other words, it was a Blessing Sakura had granted to herself.

Faced with this situation, Hestia did not understand what had happened at all. She only knew that her Blessing seemed to have slipped out of her control without her realizing it. Clutching her face, she let out a somewhat broken cry.

"There's a NTR?!"

The Hestia Familia That Had Nothing to Do with Hestia Herself

In a room at an inn in the Dungeon City of Orario.

Hestia silently looked at Sakura, who had already risen from the bed with an embarrassed expression, then at An Xiu and Seele, who stood nearby without the slightest surprise, merely watching quietly.

"So Sakura means that during the process of my granting Grace, you learned, analyzed, understood, and mastered the principles of Grace, then took over my Grace, completed it yourself, and granted it to yourself?"

"I'm sorry, Sister Hestia."

Sakura apologized with a guilt-ridden face.

However, Hestia was not angry. She only felt that the whole thing was absurd.

The Favor System was the core of the Gods' game in the lower world. After thousands of years of improvement by the Gods, it had long since become incomparably refined. Let alone a child from the lower world, even the Gods themselves would not dare claim that they could analyze the principles of Grace from scratch and learn them without using divine power. This was far more complicated than simply knowing how to use it.

Yet now, Sakura had deduced the following steps through analysis before Hestia had even finished engraving the Blessing Panel. She had completely mastered it and even forcibly stole the half-completed Grace that Hestia had been engraving right out of Hestia's hands.

Absurd. Even Hestia, a God herself, found it utterly absurd.

"This should have been your true goal, right? You wanted Grace because you wanted to establish your own Familia like a God?"

"That was indeed my goal, but we have no intention of using Grace to establish a Familia in this world."

An Xiu shook his head as he answered.

"You want to control the power of Grace despite not planning to establish a Familia. Children of the lower world really are hard to understand."

As a benevolent goddess, Hestia did not dwell on having her Grace stolen for long. There was only one thing she cared about now.

"Does Sakura still count as a member of my Familia?"

At that, Sakura, kneeling on the bed, nodded.

"The Familia crest on Sakura's body is still Sister Hestia's Familia crest. In the eyes of other Gods, Sakura is still a member of Sister Hestia's Familia."

Although the Familia crest had now completely severed its connection to Hestia, and Hestia no longer needed to fulfill any of her duties as a chief God, kindhearted Sakura still chose to acknowledge this relationship.

As compensation for Hestia, Sakura would still call herself a member of the Hestia Familia in this world.

"An angel! Sakura, you really are an angel!"

Upon hearing Sakura's answer, Hestia immediately and excitedly embraced Sakura, who was kneeling on the inn bed, and spoke with a deeply moved expression.