No matter how Hestia knocked on the door outside, acted cute, or even threw a tantrum and rolled around on the floor,
there wasn't the slightest response from inside.
It was as though her closest friend, who had always treated her so well, had suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.
"This is too much!"
Hestia pounded the table indignantly.
"Even Tsubaki isn't here! Not a single person in the entire Familia will pay attention to me!"
"I'm a noble goddess, you know!"
Grrr...
Her stomach growled loudly again.
Then,
footsteps suddenly sounded at the entrance.
Hestia laboriously shifted her big blue eyes, which had already lost their sparkle.
When she saw who it was,
"Haimo!!!"
A piercing wail instantly rang through the entire hall!
Hestia launched herself out of her chair and scrambled toward him.
"Boo-hoo... you're finally back!"
"If you hadn't come back, Hephaestus would've starved me to death here!"
Without caring whether anyone else was around, Hestia threw her arms around Haimo's waist. She rubbed her still baby-round face against him, tears and snot flowing on command.
"That heartless Hephaestus!"
"She actually had someone lock the workshop doors! She won't see anyone!"
"And that isn't even the worst of it!"
"The worst part is!"
Hestia looked up, her big, tearful eyes brimming with accusation.
"When I woke up, I'd already missed mealtime at the workshop cafeteria!"
"They actually told me there weren't any leftovers! Not even a steamed bun!"
"Boo-hoo... I want Fried Potato Balls... I want a red bean and cream crepe..."
"But I don't have a single coin left..."
Standing beside them in full gear, Shakti watched the scene, a crack appearing in her stern expression.
She had heard plenty about this goddess before.
But seeing really was believing.
"..."
Still, there was no helping it.
After all, Hestia had been freeloading off Hephaestus for so long that laziness and gluttony had become second nature to her.
Just like a lone wolf that had once hunted by itself in the wilderness,
it took humans only one winter to tame it into a husky that wagged its tail and begged for affection.
With a headache coming on, Haimo reached out, pressed his hand against the face still rubbing against his waist, and firmly pushed it away.
"All right, all right. You're about to get snot on me."
"These clothes are new. If you get them dirty, I'll take you as payment."
"Haimo!"
Unfortunately,
that tactic didn't work at all.
Not only did Hestia refuse to let go, she pushed her luck even further.
Her short legs kicked twice in the air, and she actually climbed a little higher like a koala, clamping tightly around his waist.
"Lend me some money! Please!"
"Just a little! Even enough for one Fried Potato Ball would be fine!"
"Once I have a Familia, I'll pay you back several times over! Ten times! No, twenty!"
"..."
Seeing her like this,
Haimo completely abandoned any thought of reasoning with her.
Talking about dignity with a ravenous Poor Goddess was like talking to a brick wall.
"Phew..."
In the end,
Haimo sighed helplessly, reached behind himself, and grabbed the back collar of Hestia's white dress, which was a little old but still reasonably clean.
Then,
he flexed his arm.
"Up you go."
As though picking up a stray cat throwing a tantrum, he lifted her straight off his body and left her dangling in midair.
"Let go! Put me down!"
Her feet left the ground.
Gravity might have arrived late, but it never failed to show up.
Hestia flailed her limbs uselessly in the air, her two signature black pigtails swinging with every movement.
"Stop yelling. You're going to deafen me."
Haimo held Hestia in front of him, making her look him in the eye.
"Hephaestus shut herself away for something important."
"As her best friend, all you do is freeload here, sleeping and eating. And you still have the nerve to complain that she won't cook for you?"
"Besides."
"Since you're awake, that saves me the trouble of finding you."
"There's something I need to tell you."
"Wh-what is it?"
At those words,
Hestia, who had still been flailing wildly, froze.
She sniffled, her blue eyes instantly filling with wariness as she stared fixedly at Haimo.
"As long as you aren't asking to borrow money!"
"I'm genuinely broke right now! I'm so penniless, my pockets are cleaner than my face!"
"If you dare go after my secret savings, I'll bite you to death!"
"..."
What did you call this?
Judging an honorable man by your own petty standards.
Did I look like someone who would rob a beggar?
Haimo couldn't help rolling his eyes hard.
"Relax. I'm not asking to borrow money, and I'm not asking you for food."
"I just wanted to tell you."
"I'm planning to move out of the little two-story house I was living in."
With that,
Haimo released his grip and set the flailing goddess back on the ground.
"Since I'm moving out, the place will be sitting empty anyway."
"If Hephaestus ever kicks you out someday,"
"you can live there."
"It's a little run-down, but at least it'll keep the wind and rain off you."
"Well? Pretty decent of me, right?"
After Haimo finished,
he had expected,
by any normal logic, that even if she wasn't grateful, she would at least be a little touched.
After all,
in Orario, where every inch of land cost a fortune, he was offering her a place to live for free.
Even if it was a shabby little two-story house, and even if he was only offering the right to live there,
for a Poor Goddess who was penniless and couldn't even afford Fried Potato Balls, it absolutely counted as a lifeline in her hour of need.
It was like handing half a steamed bun to someone on the verge of starvation.
Surely that deserved at least a "Bless you, kind soul," didn't it?
Instead,
after hearing him out, Hestia shook her little head like a rattle, looking utterly unconvinced.
"Oh, please, Haimo~"
"What kind of joke is that?"
Hestia planted both hands on her hips, her face brimming with inexplicable confidence.
"Hephaestus and I are practically sisters!"
"We've been friends for hundreds of millions of years!"
"How could she possibly kick me out~?"
"Sure, she locked the door today."
"But that's because she's busy working. I can understand that."
"Once she's finished,"
"all I have to do is wheedle a little, act cute, and squeeze out a couple of tears, and she'll definitely soften up~"
"Hehe~"
As she spoke,
Hestia smugly raised her chin, held out a finger, and wagged it in front of Haimo.
"Then she'll be putty in my hands~"
"Forget just living here. She'll even have someone bring me the red bean and cream crepes I want!"
"So."
"Keep that shabby house of yours and let it gather dust~ This goddess doesn't want it!"