"Are you... the legendary God of the Hearth, Lady Hestia?"
Seitenshi asked somewhat hesitantly, unconsciously adopting a respectful tone.
"Mm-hmm."
Hestia nodded appreciatively, her hands on her hips.
"That's right. That's me."
However.
This hard-won display of "divine dignity" did not last more than three seconds.
Because.
Enju Aihara, who had been standing beside Kisara Tendo, suddenly stepped forward.
She leaned toward Hestia curiously and held up a hand to compare the tops of their heads.
Then.
She looked up at Haimo and said:
"Lord God."
"Lady Hestia... seems even shorter than me."
"..."
Time.
Seemed to stand still at that moment.
Hestia suddenly fell silent at those words.
"Me too! Me too!"
As it turned out.
Kohina Hiruko eagerly walked over beside Hestia, her little leather shoes tapping against the ground, and stood up straight.
-Although she was only ten.
Her long-term combat training had helped Kohina Hiruko grow quite tall.
Like Enju Aihara, she even deliberately puffed out her chest, standing a good five or six centimeters taller than Hestia.
"I'm taller than her too!"
"Lord God, is this weak-looking little squirt really a god?"
Kohina Hiruko gestured over Hestia's head.
Crack.
Hestia felt something snap inside her head.
Little squirt...
Weak-looking...
Those words stabbed straight into Hestia's heart, making her feel as though she had taken an arrow to the chest.
"Wh-who are you calling a little squirt?!"
Hestia bristled instantly.
Her affected "goddess demeanor" vanished without a trace.
She even stamped her feet in exasperation, trying to gain a little height by standing on tiptoe, making her blue ribbon bounce violently with her movements.
"I'm a god who's lived for hundreds of millions of years!"
"What would little girls barely into their teens know?!"
"It's called being compact! Compact, understand?!"
"And besides..."
"At least I'm..."
Hestia's