A new chapter is up.
Come in, get comfortable, and let’s see what kind of trouble waits this time ❤️ ✦ “Hestia, I’m getting ready to…” Nolan was thinking about going home for a while.
If he went back, he might be able to arrange a batch of supplies.
But before he could finish speaking, Hestia looked up.
“You are going home?” She seemed to sense at once that Nolan was preparing to return to his own world.
She also sensed that he was planning to go alone.
Hestia immediately pretended to be fragile.
Her whole body sagged against the sofa.
“Are you going to abandon me too?” “I have nothing in Orario.
What I eat, where I live, what I use, all of it is only because Hephaestus is helping me as an old friend.” “Uu, uu, uu.” Hestia put on a pitiful face.
To Hephaestus, that mournful expression was not misery.
It was an act.
No, not just an act.
She was weaponizing pity.
This goddess had spent all this time eating and drinking well inside Hephaestus’s Familia.
She was almost a professional freeloader.
Now she had contracted an otherworlder who could travel between two worlds, then immediately turned around and put Hephaestus on the spot.
Hephaestus thought Nolan would recognize that Hestia was pretending.
Then she looked over and saw Nolan thinking seriously.
‘Hey.
You actually believe her?’ ‘She is acting.’ Hephaestus wanted to stop him.
But Nolan had understood something else.
“Actually, according to the original timeline, Hestia, you are almost at the point where Hephaestus kicks you out.” “Considering Hephaestus’s current situation, the money spent on this place comes from her Familia.
To avoid burdening them, she would probably send you out and make you stand on your own.” Hestia knew this was the path her life originally took.
And at that exact moment, her heart brightened.
‘Is he worried that I will soon have nowhere to live?’ ‘That means he can bring me home with him.’ If Nolan was willing to take her home, Hestia was very happy to accept.
This opening was excellent.
But before Hestia could speak, Hephaestus cut in.
“It is fine.
Hestia can keep living here for a while.
I can afford a couple of extra meals.” Hephaestus immediately undercut her performance.
She did have the thought Nolan mentioned.
But now, if she watched Hestia follow one of her children to another world, and she knew about it but had to witness it herself, it would hurt.
Rather than suffer alone, she would keep Hestia here first.
‘If I cannot go, neither can you.’ Hestia stared at her old friend in shock.
‘Wait.
Hephaestus, what are you doing?’ ‘Oh no.
She is not going to stop me, is she?’ ‘No.
Absolutely not.’ If she stayed behind now, it would feel a hundred times worse than dying.
Since Hephaestus was going to kick her out anyway, Hestia was perfectly willing to leave.
“I already have a Familia now.
It would be embarrassing to keep troubling you.” Hestia smiled as if she were terribly sorry.
Only her smiling eyes carried a direct accusation.
“It is fine.
Think of it as keeping me company.” Hephaestus smiled back and pressed a hand onto her friend’s shoulder.
She countered.
Hestia looked down at that hand.
“Come on.
My child has his own income now.
He cannot stay here forever, can he?” The smile on Hestia’s face was beginning to show teeth.
How could she not understand?
Her old friend was trying to keep her from going to another world.
Hestia clamped her hand over Hephaestus’s and tried to pry that damned hand off her shoulder.
“Hephaestus, thank you very much for taking care of me all this time.” She absolutely had to go to the other world.
Maybe she would even build a base there in the future.
Hephaestus looked at Hestia, who was about to abandon her and flee to another world, and felt furious.
But what could she do?
She could hardly stop her friend from running toward a better life.
‘I am so angry.
What am I supposed to do?’ ‘I cannot stop her at all.’ Hephaestus fumed silently.
If she had known this would happen, she would never have brought Hestia here.
She would have let her spend a lifetime as a shut-in.
Nolan, who had been watching from the side, finally realized the tension between the two goddesses was getting a little too sharp.
This feeling was painfully familiar.
Watching a friend suffer was one thing.
Watching that same friend suddenly get a better life was another.
Gods comparing themselves to gods could make even gods angry.
“Cough, cough.” Nolan quickly cleared his throat.
He had originally planned to go back alone, but he could not truly leave Hestia behind in this world.
Then he suddenly realized something.
Hestia was a god.
Even if she was a counterpart from another world, her power could easily crush the military strength of a nation.
This was not a joking matter.
“Do not cause trouble in my world.” Nolan started to set a restriction.
The words had barely left his mouth before he changed his mind.
“Forget it.
No restrictions.
Act according to your own judgment.
Anyone who manages to make you that angry probably deserves to die.” Why bother restraining her?
In a purely physical world, the existence of a powerful god gave Nolan a tremendous sense of safety.
If that was the case, restrictions were a joke.
Rather than exhaust himself worrying, he might as well let Hestia follow her own conscience.
If Hestia were an evil god, Nolan would never dare bring her home.
But Hestia was a kind goddess.
With her there, she would not act lightly unless she truly encountered something that angered her.
And if someone could genuinely provoke Hestia, then letting her handle it was fine.
“Really?” Hestia had not expected Nolan to be willing to take her home.
Her face lit up immediately.
Especially because Nolan had started by trying to restrain her, then changed his mind and decided to trust her completely.
That level of indulgence was simply perfect.
“Wonderful!” Hestia turned into a living accessory, wrapping her entire body around Nolan and practically straddling him in her eagerness to cuddle closer.
They had only just met, yet he was already giving her this much freedom.
He really was a good child.
Only Hephaestus stood nearby with a complicated mix of sourness, helplessness, and happiness that Nolan was willing to consider Hestia’s feelings.
Through that feeling, she realized Nolan was not the kind of person who liked to restrain others.
‘Why do I not have a child like this?’ She sighed.
‘Still, if I remember correctly, Nolan did say I was beautiful.’ Hephaestus remembered the praise Nolan had given her earlier.
It was the first time Nolan had called her beautiful.
Or perhaps, in the Lower World, it was the first time anyone had ever said she was beautiful.
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS AuroraVale Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you a little deeper into the story.
Stay close, because things are only getting more interesting.