Orario, the Labyrinth City.
Inside a branch of Hephaistos’s weapon shop on Adventurers’ Way, a woman in a white shirt and black trousers frowned down at an unconscious young man.
Her short, wine-red hair was gathered into a low ponytail, and her striking features possessed a mature, almost dashing charm.
She was Hephaistos.
Eventually, she turned her exasperated gaze toward the dear friend who so frequently gave her headaches.
“Hestia.”
“I thought I made myself perfectly clear.
Letting you stay here was already as far as I was willing to go.
So who, exactly, is this?”
“…”
The young woman called Hestia, her silky black hair tied into twin tails, blinked reflexively under the questioning.
Her voluptuous figure was quite at odds with her youthful face.
When she suddenly stood, her curves swayed slightly.
Fortunately, the blue ribbon beneath her bust kept her generous assets from threatening to spill out.
Hestia lifted her head.
Unfortunately, remembering that she was currently living here as a freeloader did little for her confidence.
“Well, it’s a long story.”
“You told me to find something to do in Orario, right?
So I… thought I might try recruiting some members for my Familia!”
“And then…”
“I found him unconscious in an alley…”
At least she wasn’t spending every day lying around the house and freeloading.
Hephaistos was honestly rather pleased about that, though her expression remained stern.
“So you brought him back?”
“Exactly!”
“Did it occur to you that he might already belong to another Familia in Orario?”
Apparently, it had not.
Hestia glanced at the young man’s handsome face before answering earnestly.
“Well… I think meeting someone like this has to mean something.
If he’s another god’s child, then I’ll just consider it my good deed for the day!”
“And if he doesn’t have a Familia…”
“If he wants to become an adventurer, I can try inviting him once he wakes up!”
The indistinct murmur of conversation kept slipping into Rhodes’s ears, gradually drawing his drifting consciousness back into his body.
Still dazed, he slowly opened his eyes.
The dim yellow light overhead seemed painfully bright, and an unfamiliar, difficult-to-describe fragrance hung in the air.
More importantly, he did not recognize the room at all.
“Did I…”
“Did my roommates bring me to the hospital after I jerked myself unconscious last night?”
The possibility sent a chill down his spine.
His browser history.
The dating sims in his Steam library that catered to his very particular tastes.
If anyone saw those, he would never live it down!
But when he bolted upright like a dying man suddenly rising from his sickbed, he found furnishings that looked nothing like a hospital room—and two women with distinctly different appearances.
Rhodes stared blankly.
His head was buzzing.
“What the fuck…”
“Where the hell did they bring me?
Am I even still in China?!”
“…”
Noticing the bewilderment on the black-haired young man’s face, Hestia straightened in her seat and made her voice as gentle as possible.
“Um…”
“Are you feeling all right?
This is Hephaistos’s weapon shop.
I found you unconscious in an alley, so I brought you here.”
“…”
Following the voice, Rhodes turned toward the black-haired woman with twin tails.
That face looked awfully familiar.
And awfully pretty.
Her almost impossibly youthful features seemed like a miracle of creation, a beauty he could hardly put into words.
Silky black hair fell in long twin tails, while her baby-faced appearance contrasted with a figure that defied all common sense.
In other words:
A baby face and a massive bust.
“Why does this feel… like a dream?”
Long-buried memories were coming back to assault him.
Under Hestia’s startled gaze, Rhodes promptly pinched himself several times, hard enough for the pain to register.
At last, he confirmed it.
That utterly overused webnovel trope from his previous life—getting transported to another world—had finally happened to him.
“Is this for real?”
Rhodes knew of DanMachi.
The problem was that he hated being left hanging between episodes, so he had planned to wait until it was finished and binge the whole thing.
Before coming here, he had watched the first episode to confirm that the series was to his taste, then left it gathering dust on his watchlist.
Judging by his current circumstances, he probably wasn’t going to get the chance to catch up.
The good news?
Because he had checked out the opening episode, he at least understood the basic premise behind the adventurers.
Put simply, gods had come to Orario in search of entertainment.
They granted humans blessings called Falna, allowing them to become adventurers and delve into the seemingly bottomless Dungeon.
As for the actual plot?
He was completely in the dark.
Still, that wasn’t the important part.
What mattered was that this was another world where supernatural powers existed.
As an ordinary wage slave from a peaceful modern society, Rhodes had fantasized about acquiring extraordinary abilities before.
Usually so he could beat the crap out of the bald boss who singled him out and made him work on his days off.
Now that he had actually arrived in another world, the thought that he might obtain such power…
He had to admit it.
His excitement outweighed his fear of the unfamiliar.
“…”
Gathering his scattered thoughts, Rhodes finally came to terms with his situation and looked at the concerned goddess sitting opposite him.
He hadn’t forgotten to thank the person who had brought him here.
“Thank you… I think I’m feeling all right.”
“That’s good.”
But now that the crucial moment had arrived, Hestia found herself unable to deliver the speech she had prepared.
Instead, she kept making frantic faces at her friend beside her.
Helping her recruit a Familia member might very well be the turning point that finally cured Hestia of her freeloading ways.
With that in mind, Hephaistos knitted her brows slightly.
“Would you like us to contact your Familia and have one of your companions come pick you up?”
“No need…”
Rhodes couldn’t remember the identity of the woman with short, wine-red hair and an eyepatch over her right eye.
Given her connection to Hestia, though, she was probably another goddess.
And the first step toward becoming an adventurer was joining a Familia established by a god.
He answered honestly.
“To be precise… I’d really like to become an adventurer.
But I only just arrived in Orario, and I haven’t found a suitable Familia yet.”
“…Really?!”
As a goddess, Hestia could distinguish truth from lies.
Once she confirmed that he was telling the truth, the wheels in her head began turning.
She didn’t even know his name yet.
But she had finally decided to start building her Familia, gone to the Guild to put up a recruitment notice, and happened to find him on that very same day.
This has to be fate!
Rhodes’s handsome face was reflected in eyes as clear and blue as a tranquil lake.
Hestia cleared her throat.
“Um…”
“What’s your name?”
“Rhodes.”
She committed the name firmly to memory.
Then she stood and placed her hands on her hips, though the hope in her eyes was accompanied by an even greater fear of rejection.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“My name is Hestia.
For now, I suppose… you could call me a goddess.
Would you consider… joining my Familia?”
….
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….
I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length.
If you’re following a particular series, please wait your turn a little If there’s a particular novel you’re enjoying on Patron, please give it a ‘like’ so I know to focus on it