Hephaistos’s weapon shop.
After returning to her friend’s home to resume her freeloading, Hestia could hardly wait to get back to her room and examine the new feature.
[Daily Quests]
Excellent!
Just thinking about how she could participate more actively in her follower’s development filled her with nervous anticipation.
Hestia lounged lazily in an armchair.
There was no trace of the mature image she had deliberately maintained during the day.
She sat with her legs crossed, utterly unconcerned with appearances, a slipper dangling from the tips of her toes.
The arch of her foot formed a flawless curve.
Her pale skin was free of the slightest blemish, and her rounded toes looked as plump and sweet as ripe grapes.
“So…”
“What exactly are these daily quests?”
[Rhodes has only just become an adventurer and has no combat experience.
He is uncertain about his upcoming exploration of the Dungeon.]
[Quest Requirements:]
[Provide combat training for the character Rhodes.
Completing this training has a chance to increase his potential.]
“Huh?”
The daily quest’s requirements were straightforward enough.
After all, the Dungeon was dangerous.
One careless mistake could leave a novice adventurer dead at the hands of its monsters.
Hestia understood the reasoning perfectly well.
It was the actual task that gave her a headache.
When it came to being a lazy bum, she was something of an authority.
But how, exactly, was she supposed to train Rhodes in combat?
“…”
When faced with difficulties, her first instinct was to give up and coast.
But then she remembered that completing the training quest could improve Rhodes’s potential as an adventurer.
Suddenly, she felt as though she really ought to make an effort!
Of course…
That meant making an effort to find a friend who could help!
Demeter?
No, that wouldn’t work.
Her Familia specialized in agriculture.
And Hephaistos was out of the question.
She had already borrowed plenty of money from her, and she would still need to hit her up for Rhodes’s equipment later.
After thinking it over, Hestia remembered another friend she had known since her days in Heaven.
Not long ago, she had seen him working at a fried potato ball stall.
The martial god, Takemikazuchi.
As a god who presided over martial arts, surely he would have no trouble teaching Rhodes the basics of combat?
“That… should do it!”
More importantly, Hestia was sure that, given their friendship and the fact that Rhodes was her very first follower, he wouldn’t refuse.
With that thought, she sprang from the armchair.
Still wearing her slippers, she set off at once.
But just as she left her room to look for Takemikazuchi, she happened to run into Hephaistos, who had come to find her.
For all the headaches Hestia caused her, Hephaistos still made a point of calling her when it was time to eat.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“Ah…”
Hestia stopped.
But completing her daily quest was clearly more important than dinner.
“Just save me some!
I’ve got something to take care of.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m going to see Takemikazuchi!
Rhodes only just became an adventurer, right?
He doesn’t know how to fight, so I thought I’d find him a teacher for some special training.”
“It’ll definitely help when he starts exploring!”
“…”
Recruiting a follower and giving them whatever support one could manage was already enough to make a god reasonably responsible, in Hephaistos’s opinion.
Yet Hestia was going so far as to find Rhodes a martial arts instructor.
Honestly…
Wasn’t she being a little too enthusiastic?
“Hestia, do you really need to go this far…?”
“Rhodes is my only member.
If everything falls on him… I’m sure it’ll be hard.”
Her answer came without hesitation.
And when she thought of the game called Hero Nurturing Project, she lifted her head to meet her friend’s increasingly peculiar gaze.
“Besides…”
“I think Rhodes is different from other adventurers!”
“…?”
For some reason, Hephaistos found that exchange awfully familiar.
Back in Heaven, hadn’t a god pursuing Freya said something very similar?
Freya’s a good girl.
She’s different.
Could Rhodes live off someone else without a shred of guilt?
His skin wasn’t quite that thick.
After settling for fried potato balls for dinner, he washed up and lay down on the wooden bed in his dormitory room.
He thought back over everything that had happened that day.
Even now, he hadn’t adjusted to the shift from “wage slave” to “adventurer.”
Put simply, his head was still a mess.
His greatest regret?
Not catching up on DanMachi before being transported here.
Now he knew neither the important characters nor the plot.
Otherwise, armed with a viewer’s all-knowing perspective, he wouldn’t be such a disposable extra.
“Fucking hell.”
“Being an adventurer means fighting in the Dungeon, doesn’t it?
One wrong move… and some monster could kill me for good.”
Before coming here, the closest he had come to a proper battle was joining massive online dogpiles against unhinged posters.
Actual fighting?
He had no experience whatsoever.
At a stretch, he could point to the difficult action games he had played.
What a headache.
Arriving in another world with supernatural powers and becoming an adventurer hadn’t solved many of his practical problems.
Instead, he now felt stuck whichever way he turned.
Give up?
That would make all of Hestia’s help feel wasted.
More importantly, Rhodes genuinely wanted to change the way he lived in this new world.
But if he continued as an adventurer, he would have to deal with equipment, learn how to fight monsters, and figure out how to explore the Dungeon.
Those were the problems he needed to overcome.
“Well, since it’s come to this…”
“I should get some sleep first.
Worst-case scenario, I’ll see whether any beginner parties need another member.
I can learn the ropes as I go.
Things will get on track eventually.”
After a whole day of running around, exhaustion kept washing over him.
Rhodes pushed his scattered thoughts aside and soon drifted off to sleep.
He slept until his room’s door opened again and the smell of fried potato balls filled the air.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
Dawn was only just beginning to brighten the sky outside, but he could already hear adventurers’ footsteps and conversations in the corridor.
Remembering his circumstances, he supposed he had no excuse to laze around.
But just as he was about to get up, he noticed the goddess standing in his room.
She wore a white dress and held a serving of fried potato balls.
Hestia.
Her smile was as bright and energetic as ever, without any of the distance one might expect from a deity.
Almost like a pint-sized mom trying very hard to act mature.
“Good morning, Rhodes!”
“You’ve only just arrived in Orario, so I figured you wouldn’t have any combat experience.
Today, I’m taking you to see Takemikazuchi, the god of martial arts.
He’ll teach you how to fight.”
“…”
Honestly…
Calling Hestia “Mommy” yesterday was starting to seem like a remarkably sound decision.
[Affection +2]
….
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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