Hestia practically overheated. "August, how the hell am I ranked 9th??"
She flat-out refused to believe it.
How was she possibly in ninth place? It made no sense. She had the looks. She had the determination. So why was her popularity ranking scraping the bottom of the barrel?
"Because you aren't the main heroine," August replied bluntly. "In the primary timeline, the title of the main heroine belongs to Ais Wallenstein of the Loki Familia. In the alternate timeline, the lead female role goes to Ryu Lion of the Astrea Familia."
"Now, if we are strictly talking about Goddesses who hold genuine romantic affinity—you only rank 3rd in that category."
"1st place goes to Freya."
"2nd place is the Goddess of the Moon, Artemis."
"And then it's you in 3rd."
The moment those words left his mouth—
Hephaestus laughed even louder. "Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
She was seriously going to die of laughter. Sure, she had just missed out on recruiting an otherworldly traveler, but the sheer entertainment of this gossip was worth its weight in gold. It was just too funny.
"And mind you, you only got that spot because Hephaestus and Miach vouched for you," August added, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Oh? I did that? Well, it certainly sounds like something I would do." Hephaestus hadn't expected to be part of the story, but thinking about it, she naturally would have offered advice on a Mortal-Goddess romance—especially for her closest friend.
Miach was also one of Hestia's close friends, so it made perfect sense that they would all try to counsel her through those kinds of issues. Yet even with all that wing-manning, she was still barely clinging to 9th place.
"Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Why is my life so miserable??" Hestia felt completely numb.
As the very first female lead to be introduced, only to completely lose her place as the main heroine, this was nothing short of a disgrace to her dignity as a Goddess.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Hestia refused to accept defeat. As the first heroine to appear, how could she possibly lose like this? Wasn't this basically proof that she was destined to become the ultimate losing heroine?
"You already have a hero. What more could you possibly want?" Hephaestus said, trying to console her overly dramatic friend. "If you can't hold onto the heroine spot, then you just can't."
Stumbling into a destined hero was already the ultimate stroke of luck. Wanting to monopolize the main heroine spot on top of that was simply greedy. And greed, especially when taken that far, was never a good look.
"Alright, that's enough already." Hephaestus nudged her with an elbow. "You need to answer August's question. If you choose him now, you really might lose out on the chance to recruit that hero."
Hephaestus fully grasped the weight of the term "Hero" in this context.
This was likely a mortal deliberately groomed by a major god and sent to Orario for a specific, predetermined purpose. And given what that implied, the one pulling the strings behind the scenes had to be someone she knew all too well.
A single name immediately surfaced in Hephaestus's mind.
If anyone had both the free time and the nerve to secretly groom a true hero, it had to be that old geezer, or that old hag. If there was a specific target in play, then his encounter with Hestia had likely been meant to happen from the very beginning. It was not chance. Someone had been quietly guiding them toward each other all along.
If Hestia rushed into a contract with this otherworldly traveler, there was a very real chance she would disrupt that fate and lose her destined hero entirely.
"Urgh..." Hestia groaned, her face twisting in a deep moral conflict.
Even though her intuition told her that this hero was somehow intrinsically tied to her destiny, there was a traveler right in front of her—one with incredible, unique powers—practically begging to join her.
"This is such a hard choice..."
Suddenly, a thought struck Hestia. "Um, excuse me, but is that hero already in the city right now??"
She sought clarification, needing to know if this supposedly legendary existence had already set foot in Orario.
"He is..." August did some quick mental math. "In fact, there is a very high chance he is wandering around right now, trying to take the entrance exams for various Familias."
Given that Hestia was still freeloading off Hephaestus, the original protagonist—Bell Cranel—was almost certainly getting rejected from Familia after Familia at this exact moment in the timeline.
"Ah." Hestia realized what that meant—the hero was currently enduring the trials to join other factions. That meant he was already here, looking for a home, and she was likely going to be his absolute last resort.
"Then I choose you!!" After mulling it over for a brief moment, Hestia voiced her final decision.
Deep down, the idea of a destined hero naturally made her heart flutter. But the mortal standing before her was not some fated hero, and yet he had still gone out of his way to find her.
If she accepted the exclusive, future-seeing knowledge this traveler offered, only to cast him aside for that destined hero later, she would feel like a truly underhanded goddess.
It was a choice between the two.
If she chose the traveler, she couldn't choose the hero. And if she chose the hero, Hestia wouldn't be able to live with her own guilty conscience.
"Are you sure you don't want him?" August knew exactly how to poke at her established character traits. "That boy is the direct reincarnation of the hero Argonaut—the very one you've been obsessing over."
The Reincarnation of Argonaut.
In every single lifetime, a Goddess had stepped forward to offer him her divine protection. Countless Gods in the Heaven had been keeping a close eye out for this hero's return, and Hestia was undeniably one of them.
In fact, one of the primary reasons she had descended to the lower world in the first place was because she sensed his soul had finally reincarnated.
"URGH!"
"Stop talking right now!!"
"If you say one more word, I'm going to cave!" Hestia could feel her resolve cracking—she was already severely tempted.
This was the legendary Argonaut they were talking about. The whole reason she came down here was essentially to wait for him.
"Quickly. Let's go make the contract." Hestia was already losing the battle against her own desires. She had to drag August away and complete the Falna immediately, or what little self-control she had left was going to shatter completely.
When Hephaestus heard the word 'Hero' paired with 'Reincarnation of Argonaut,' she couldn't deny that even her own interest was thoroughly piqued.
"Hey kid, what's the actual name of this hero?"
A new opportunistic plan had just formed in Hephaestus's mind. She might have lost out on the otherworldly traveler, but she would gladly snatch up the hero without a second thought.
After all, if he was currently taking Familia entrance exams... That meant he was a total rookie. A fresh rookie with a little bit of guidance could be easily scooped up, and securing a hero of that caliber would send her Familia's reputation skyrocketing.
August opened his mouth, fully prepared to drop Bell's name.
"NO WAY!" Hestia exploded before he could even utter a syllable. "Information this crucial requires a transaction!"
Even if she couldn't have him, she was going to sell this intel for the highest possible price. The identity of a destined hero—especially the rumored reincarnation of Argonaut—was a goldmine of sellable information.
"Hey, hey, hey. Hestia, now you're just being unreasonable." Hephaestus watched Hestia bristle like a defensive cat, thinking her friend was being incredibly stingy.
But then it dawned on her.
"Oh, I see. It looks like someone is going to need some starting capital to get their brand new Familia off the ground."
"Fine. As long as the intel is accurate, I will pay." Hephaestus figured that if she didn't shell out some actual Valis to buy the information, her stubborn friend would take the secret to her grave.
Building a Familia from scratch was no easy task. And you could never escape the cold, hard reality of needing money to do it.
Seeing the Goddess of Forging yield, Hestia let out a long, quiet sigh of relief.
"Alright, August. Let's go form our contract."
Keep the chapters coming. Support the story with Power Stones!