His energy stat had dropped to 3.
Hestia could hardly imagine how much effort Renn had put into today’s Dungeon exploration.
Yes.
It was far more exhausting than training with Takemikazuchi!
If it had been her…
working a part-time job to that point, she wouldn’t have had the strength to greet anyone cheerfully, let alone talk.
As for the exploration feedback from the Hero Raising Plan.
To Hestia, none of that mattered as much as Renn’s condition.
“Um…
Renn, can you still make it back to the dormitory?”
“If you can’t, then…”
“I’m fine.”
Renn checked how his body felt.
The fatigue was unavoidable, but he wasn’t at the point of needing someone to hold him up.
He rolled his shoulders, and the ache in his muscles hit him right away.
“Then let’s head back!”
Pressing close to him hadn’t restored his energy.
Her guess was that Renn’s fatigue was simply too high right now, and if she offered him a lap pillow…
maybe that would ease it properly.
The young goddess took his hand.
“Once you’ve rested a bit, we’ll go eat!”
“Sure.”
Renn had no objections.
By the rules of this world, stat increases weren’t applied in real time.
A god had to update them.
So how much had his status risen from today’s Dungeon exploration?
The two of them walked side by side down Adventurer Street.
The street was livelier in the evening than during the day, with adventurers who’d finished exploring heading to the taverns in groups to celebrate.
Hestia believed conversation was the bridge to a closer relationship.
She tilted her head up, a smile on her slightly childish face.
“Renn, did anything interesting happen today?”
“…”
“Well…
Lady Hestia, while I was exploring the Dungeon today, I actually did run into a pretty interesting supporter.”
He thought of the little girl called Lili.
Renn found the whole thing rather interesting.
“If she hadn’t warned me, I probably would’ve wasted a lot of time.”
“A supporter?”
Hestia frowned slightly.
The profession was common enough in Orario, but the vast majority of adventurers wouldn’t hire a stranger.
Because most proper Familias had their own supporters.
The ones soliciting work on the street came from the worse sort of Familia.
And most importantly, some of the more extreme supporters would pocket magic stones and drop items once the exploration was over, while the adventurer wasn’t paying attention, just to pad their own take.
“Right.”
“I didn’t have much money on me at the time, so I didn’t hire her.
But she still gave me some information on the starting floor.”
“You did the right thing.”
“You’ve only just become an adventurer, and there’s a lot you don’t know yet.
It really does make you an easy target for supporters.
Just be careful from now on.”
“I will.”
Renn nodded.
Honestly, Lili hadn’t given him a particularly bad impression today.
She’d even warned him about something.
But it was still worth staying cautious.
They were back at the dormitory soon enough.
Hestia pushed the door open like she’d done it a hundred times and gestured for Renn to take off his shirt and lie face down on the bed.
That was how updating a status worked.
“Here we go~”
The young goddess sat on the edge of the bed, pricked her finger with a silver needle, and squeezed out a drop of crimson divine blood onto the Falna on Renn’s back.
Soft white light welled up.
The current numbers overwrote the old ones, and Hestia picked up a sheet of parchment to take the imprint.
But when she lowered her eyes and saw the values on the parchment, her hands tightened around it.
…
Renn
Level: Lv1
Strength: I0→H103
Endurance: I0→I83
Dexterity: I0→H112
Agility: I0→I93
Magic: I0→I0
…
“This…”
“This can’t be right, can it?”
Hestia stared at the numbers printed on the parchment, then rubbed her eyes in a daze, in case exhaustion was making her see things.
When her gaze swept over it again, her head was buzzing.
Renn might be her first Familia member, but that didn’t mean she was clueless.
She knew the basics.
A new adventurer’s first Dungeon exploration usually raised their stats by twenty or thirty points, and that was already considered decent.
But for someone like Renn…
Even counting generously, adding Takemikazuchi’s training to the Dungeon exploration, only two days had passed in total.
And his stats had risen to an average of H rank!
“…”
Had she really struck gold?
Hestia thought back to what the Hero Raising Plan panel had shown her, the future potential that would rank him among the best even in Orario.
Completing daily exploration quests seemed to raise that potential.
She lifted her head and looked at the translucent panel hovering above Renn, and the details appeared in front of her.
…
[Character: Renn]
Strength Potential: C+
Endurance Potential: C
Dexterity Potential: C+
Agility Potential: C
Magic Potential: D
…
Today’s Dungeon exploration had raised his potential in every area by a full grade, leaving aside his aptitude for magic.
As for the plus sign.
It probably meant that stat could reach the higher end of the C range.
So…
As long as I keep completing the daily quests and raising Renn, his potential in every area could reach S rank.
Maybe even higher?!
Hestia stared blankly at the translucent panel, and deep down, a bolder idea than she’d ever had before began to take shape.
It was only a guess.
But it was enough to set her blood racing.
“Lady Hestia?”
Renn noticed the young goddess staring at him in a daze, and frowned slightly.
“Is there…
something wrong with my status?”
“Or maybe I’m just not cut out to be an adventurer…”
“…”
Hearing Renn doubt himself, Hestia snapped out of it and shook her head quickly.
Her Familia member was far too modest.
And some of that was definitely her fault as his goddess.
Because with the Hero Raising Plan, she could already picture the bright future Renn would have if the other gods took him on and raised him properly.
Her tone left no room for argument.
“Renn.”
“If you weren’t in my Familia…
you’d definitely be growing faster than this.
I want you to have confidence in your talent.”
“I will.”
But then he noticed the guilt in Hestia’s eyes.
Renn thought about these past two days, and the way she’d looked after him down to the smallest detail, and suddenly felt he needed to say something.
He stopped lying on the wooden bed.
“Um…”
“I think there’s something wrong with what you just said, Lady Hestia.
If I weren’t in your Familia, I doubt I’d ever have met…”
“A goddess as kind and beautiful as you.”
“!!”
As a goddess, Hestia could feel the truth in those words, especially the fact that they came straight from Renn’s heart.
Her pale cheeks felt like they were burning, and her heartbeat quickened.
“Then it’s settled, Renn.
Be in my Familia…
for the rest of your life.
No wait, the next life too, and the one after that.”
“Having you here…
is my good fortune as a goddess too!!”