Is it Wrong to Crave Love (In A Dungeon)? Chapter 8 - Salvation

“Hestia, you’ve been more distracted than normal today. Is something wrong?”

“Right! Sorry!”

“Remember, we have a quota to make. These jagamarukun aren’t going to sell themselves.”

“Right, right, right!”

Hestia was giddy. Sure, she wasn’t selling as many jagamarukun as she would have, and her work performance was definitely going to be in the gutter in the coming days, but, for now, she was excited. Many gods always talked about how they wished they could venture into the Dungeon with their children to see their adventures and tales for themselves, and support them in more ways than merely providing shelter or resources.

Zee was the only person in Orario who could grant that direct wish.

Throughout the entire day, she hadn’t been able to sell as many jagarmarukun as she usually did, because she was distracted watching Zee. The cute little campfires he set up in the Dungeon directly channeled her authority, and as the goddess of the Hearth, she could ‘see’ through them. It took about four of them before she could properly see and hear through them, and once she had, she had conversed directly, mentally, with Zee.

His face appeared before her, in a flickering flame that only she could see, and just the sight of it brightened her day a thousand times.

“My goddess.”

“Zee.”

“My beloved goddess.”

“Zee…!”

“The connection should be stable now.”

“How are you feeling, Zee? How’s the Dungeon? Did you run into any trouble?”

“No trouble, my goddess, in fact—”

They chatted, amicably, for a long time, about the monsters, the things he saw, the people, the places, about everything and nothing in particular. Zee rambled on, and Hestia enjoyed listening to him ramble; she enjoyed hearing his voice, she enjoyed seeing his smile, she wished she were close to him in person, to enjoy feeling his warmth, and to enjoy looking into his eyes.

She kicked her legs idly as they spoke, twirled her hair about, and placed her cheeks in her palms as he narrated his encounters. Through it all, her stomach danced and swayed.

Hestia never believed she was the sort of person who could be smitten by anyone, or anything, but with Zee, it was different. She had turned down every single one in Olympus and beyond who tried to court her, but if Zee were to do the same…

“Ah, that reminds me. I’ve found an injured girl, my goddess. I… may have burned all her clothes with my magic.”

“Zee…” Hestia pouted. “Are you picking up girls in the Dungeon?”

“I am sorry, my goddess. My heart is greedy. I have your love, and yet…”

Through the connection, the flame, she saw the girl behind him. Covering herself with only his kimono, she was a prum. Hestia allowed her authority to spread further, washing over the girl.

“Can I bring her back, my goddess?”

“She belongs to another Familia, Zee. The Soma Familia.”

Zee was surprised. “You can tell her Familia, my goddess?”

Hestia could. As long as someone was within the warmth of that campfire, that home, she was near-omniscient. She saw through the protection on the girl’s back, and she could feel the lingering sense of inebriation that wafted from it. From there, it wasn’t difficult to know whose child the girl was.

It was also why she could see straight through the girl’s heart. That girl’s heart… It reminded her of—

“She’s…”

“Yes, my goddess,” Zee replied. “She reminds me of… me.”

Zee didn’t have her omniscience within the range of the campfire, but he could sense, to a large degree, people’s intents and intentions. He could empathize with them.

“Fine. You can bring her back.”

Zee blinded her with that smile of his that wanted to make her squeal.

“My love for you grows purer by the moment, my beloved goddess.”

Hestia puffed her reddening cheeks. “I wouldn’t mind if your love was a little impure…”

“I— that—”

Zee was flustered. It was that part of him that frustrated her, but that part she understood. She understood why, and it both made her happy and made her angry at the same time. She was a goddess and was not blind. She could tell how much Zee restrained himself around her.

He loved her too much, so much, he was afraid of losing her, losing the love of the one he loved most. She wanted to grab him by the face and tell him that it would never happen, that he would not lose her, but she understood that some things were not things that needed to be said, but proven, with time.

So, she would gradually warm him up to her. For now, they would take things slowly. Given how often they cuddled with each other to sleep. Hestia was certain he couldn't resist her forever.

“Remember, Zee… I’m always with you, no matter what.”

“I will, my goddess.”

“Stay safe.”

“I shall, my goddess.”

The contact had ended, but Hestia could still see the happenings on the floor. She watched as Zee spoke with the girl honestly, and almost rubbed her face as she watched him blatantly fluster her.

Rather than a twinge of jealousy, Hestia felt only pity for that poor girl about to be swept up into a storm she was not at all equipped to handle. 

The reason was that she knew Zee best, and because of Zee’s second skill.

Πᾶσαι Ἑστίαι.

Pásai Hestíai.

It could be read as All Hearths or All Hestia.

Any time Hestia recalled how Zee’s second skill and his magic, Invictus Vesta, were both directly named after her, there was a sense of righteous smugness that she wanted to wave in the face of everyone, but, the smugness could not compete with how her stomach did all sorts of flips and turns that had her rubbing her cheeks, blushing and giggling.

Even the Falna had acknowledged his feelings for her, and given him a skill whose sole purpose was to allow him to communicate with her, a skill which allowed him to channel her authority and invoke her presence, and a skill that allowed her to use her authority within the Dungeon whilst bypassing the need for her Arcanum.

It was all within the rules, because she was the Goddess of Homes, as well as the Goddess of the Hearth, just as Hermes was the God of Travellers, but also the God of Thieves. Many forgot that aspect of her authority, and Hestia herself would admit it was something that rarely came to mind, but Zee had not. A Goddess of Homes had the authority to set down homes and invoke strict rules and punishments for those who trespassed within those homes. Xenia, the concept of hospitality and guest rights used long, long ago in the Age of Heroes, empowered those laws and was, in fact, part and parcel of her divine authority.

It was why his little campfires, his hearths, could do what they did to heal wounds, refresh the body, and relax the mind. They were little ‘homes’ within the Dungeon. When she’d explained the skill to him, Zee called them “Bonfires” and “Sites of Grace.”

That skill, however, had a massive drawback. It would only work as long as he was in the Hestia Familia, and as long as, in his heart of hearts, he loved Hestia greater than anything, anyone else in the world.

All Hearths.

Thus, in Zee’s heart, no one could take her place.

It was for this reason that Hestia did not and could never feel jealous of any girl who drew close to him. On the contrary, she felt sad for any girl who would come to love Zee as she did, because even if Zee loved them back, they would never be the one he loved most. If Zee was forced to choose—

He would always choose her.

However, Hestia would never make him choose. She did not need to. As long as she was number one in her heart, Hestia didn’t care if there were one, or three, or even ten others fighting for second place.

The only problem is that first skill of yours, Zee…

Hestia rubbed the bridge of her nose.

She was worried because of that skill. She had run, madly, to Hephaestus, to learn how to hide the Falna, mostly because of that skill. She had not told Zee the full details of that skill. She endured Hephaestus’ teachings, going to meet her in private every night as the Goddess of Smiths drilled her on everything from Familia Management to Business Practices and Dungeon Information, leaving her groaning, hollow, empty, and soulless as she slumped away after the lectures were over.

Sometimes, she would almost doze off during the lectures, but she’d given Hephaestus permission to smack her if she did, because she had to be the best Goddess she could for her Zee. The Goddess of Smiths gladly obliged her request. Hestia felt Hephaestus enjoyed smacking her a bit too much. One of Hephaestus' children had interrupted them once while she was smacking her, and froze before hurriedly retreating.

However, Hestia did not care. She had no choice but to push herself to her limits, for Zee’s sake, and because she needed to be prepared for the fallout of that skill’s details being revealed.

Takemikazuchi… I hope he isn’t upset…

Then again, any God would feel upset if they learned of Zee’s skill. They would either go crazy to do anything to ensure he became theirs or do anything in their power to obstruct his rise.

Because that first skill of his—

Ἀγάπη Μανία.

It was blasphemy.

“Hestia! There’s a line of customers!”

“Right! Coming, coming!”

=====)+(=====

Mister is going to die.

Lilly didn't think he would survive this. The Mister said it himself that today was his first day as an adventurer, so the Mister didn't understand how adventurers thought and how they operated. Especially these adventurers, Lilly knew them, because Lilly studied them and stole from them, and when Lilly started, she always made sure her marks were the kind of terrible adventurers even other adventurers didn't like. Lilly made sure they were terrible people so Lilly's heart could gradually accept lying to them, tricking them, cheating them, and stealing from them. 

They had the advantage in numbers, and they were terrible, horrible, no-good adventurers who were going to descend on the Mister and kill him.

But…

Mister is… cool.

Lilly's heart was beating fast. Too fast. She didn't understand why, at that moment, she felt the Mister was cool. It was the first time Lilly felt someone looked cool. She had heard about how some adventurers were cool, but Lilly had never understood it until today. She never understood why there were Adventurers that other Supporters and Adventurers alike fawned over, Adventurers like the Sword Princess and the Brave.

Beyond feeling he was cool, there was something else she was feeling she couldn't place. She didn't know how to explain it. Her voice couldn't find itself. Her mouth opened, but no words could croak forth. She wanted to run and hide and bury herself in the ground. At the same time, she wanted to run towards the Mister and pound his back with her fists and call him stupid, stupid, stupid!

Lilly did neither. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. No one did.

Adventurers, Lilly had always known, were never the sort to talk things through. Whoever won was whoever had the bigger fist, and the adventurers always had the bigger fist when it came to Supporters. There were more of them, and only one of him, but none of them approached. The Mister, Moses, stood between her and twelve adventurers. The numbers were against him, the odds were against him, but it was not he who was hesitating.

The warmth of that Goddess, the feeling of that Divinity, still surrounded Lilly. Lilly could still feel it. If Lilly could feel it, then they could all still feel it.

“We only want the prum.”

“I have made myself clear,” the Mister said. “She is under the protection of the Hestia Familia.”

“Do you even know what she's done? She's a liar, a fucking thief! She stole from us and—”

“I do not care.”

Everyone was taken aback. Lilly, too, stared at the Mister.

“You… what?”

“Even if she stole from your ancestral graves and slit the throats of your dogs in your sleep, I do not care,” the Mister said. “Even if she were to be the world's greatest sinner, it would make no difference. She is under the protection of the Hestia Familia.”

The Mister slammed his staff into the ground again.

“She. Is. Mine.”

Lilly's ears burned. Her face burned. Her heart wanted to burst in her chest. She wanted to curse and scream at the Mister that Lilly didn't belong to anyone but Lilly, but the words died in her throat. She covered her face with his kimono and turned away, grasping her chest.

Mister is stupid, stupid, stupid…

Yet as stupid as Mister was, none of the adventurers had dared to take a step forward. Adventurers were the kind of people who always sought to minimize their losses and consider their profits. They were the kind of people who were strong against the weak, but weak against the strong. Feeling the remnant awe and power of a goddess, no one, not a single person, wanted to be the one to provoke it. In the end, all the adventurers there were still Level 1, and all adventurers, all people in Orario, feared and revered the gods.

The Mister made it very clear that going against him meant going against his goddess.

No one, not a single one of them, dared cast the first stone.

One of the individuals wielding a staff, with spectacles, was the first to break the silence. “Perhaps we could… come to an agreement?”

Another beside him nodded. “I didn’t sign up to piss off a goddess and an entire Familia…”

A third, with two shortswords, muttered, “Hestia Familia… I’ve never heard of it. Are they new?”

“Have to be. They’ve also got to be pretty loaded…. look at that staff. That’s not something someone in a struggling Familia can afford.”

“Wait… Hestia… I know that name,” The rotund, mustache-bearing man wielding a giant hammer, spoke up. “I heard a rumor from my uncle’s girlfriend, who works at the Hephaestus Familia. Hestia’s a goddess that’s really close to Hephaestus… they say they might even be lovers.”

The others burst into murmurs.

“What? Really?”

“Two goddesses? Lovers? You're sure?”

“I’m just saying what I heard. She says Hestia visits Hephaestus often and privately. There’s a lot of groaning and smacking being heard when she visits, and Hestia always emerges looking like she’s been through the ringer.”

Lilly threw her gaze to the Mister, her eyes going wide. The Mister’s goddess… and… Hephaestus? The Mister didn’t say a word. He just stood, silently, with his staff, as though he were an immovable statue.

“Fuck this, I’m not gonna risk pissing off the Hephaestus Familia and a whole other one just for one thieving prum,” the second man said.

“I’m with you. The math isn’t working out.”

Lilly couldn't believe her eyes, nor her ears. Of the twelve men who had arrived, six had begun backing out.

“Gather your fucking wits! All of you!”

The one front and center, the man Lilly had stabbed to get away from, the ringleader, started to snarl and bark.

“We outnumber him twelve to one,” he turned his head to the Mister. “Besides, what happens in the Dungeon stays in the Dungeon. No one's going to know, as long as you all keep your mouths shut.”

Lilly remembered him. She had chosen him as a mark because she overheard him badmouthing the Captain of his former Familia, a woman called the Banshee. She’d overheard him, and his little party wishing they could do all sorts of horrible things to her, speaking about her elven flesh as if it were meat, and grumbling to themselves about how their god was ‘hoarding’ her to himself, which was why they left. 

Lilly always picked her targets well. Sometimes too well.

“Yeah, but… his goddess—”

“The Gods aren’t allowed in the Dungeon, and they can’t use their Arcanum here anyway, or know what happens in here.”

“You felt that presence, the same as I did. If his goddess’ authority is of Homes and Hearths, she is already aware of us,” the bespectacled one said. “You would consider it folly to try and challenge Lord Dionysus in winemaking, do you want to challenge a Goddess of the Home by breaking the rules of entering her Home?”

“I thought you were smart four-eyes. Can't you tell he's bluffing? If he had the power to take us all out, he already would. This is the fucking Dungeon. No one bothers with words here when you can just do whatever you want and get rid of witnesses. If one of you cowards would step forward, you’d see that.”

“Why don’t you do it?” the bespectacled one scoffed. “If you’re so certain.”

The others began mumbling and grumbling in agreement and discontent. The ringleader turned to him and snarled. “What are you trying to say? You think I’m scared? Me?”

The ringleader threw his head back and laughed. “Looks like our alliance has made you forget your place.”

“You— what do you think you’re doing?!”

The ringleader grabbed the bespectacled man by the neck with a single hand. Without another word, he threw him forward, sending him careening with the force that made Lilly’s heart drop. It was a display of strength that would only be capable for an adventurer who likely had a B, if not an A, in Strength on his status. An adventurer very, very close to reaching Level 2.

The bespectacled man flew through the barrier and landed with a hard thud, rolling until he stopped at the Mister’s feet. The Mister looked down at him, and he looked up, towards the others, and smiled.

“If evil casts out evil, its end has come; for a house divided upon itself cannot stand.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re on about, but I can see you’re full of shit.”

The ringleader laughed as he began walking forward.

“Moses, was it? Did you use to do theater before you became an adventurer or something? The light show, the aura, the weird campfire, the whole speech… was that practiced? It’s good. You almost had me. You’d make one hell of a conman. Say, why don’t you join us, instead of defending the prum?”

“This is no con, and I have no interest in your offer.”

The ringleader’s features contorted; he glared as he kept marching. “Off with it. Four-eyes over there—”

“Has no intent to do harm, to kill, or steal, or destroy,” the Mister shrugged. “My goddess has no reason to refuse a person seeking refuge. You, however, are a different case. Do you have any loved ones who will miss you?”

“What?”

“For their sake, I would advise you not to approach any further.”

The ringleader continued marching forward. “You think I'm scared of you?”

“If you were to die…” the Mister shook his head. “My goddess and I would feel pity for those who invested their love in you. Pity for the mother and father who would grieve their lost son. For your life, even as detestable as it is, is still a life someone loved.”

“Fuck you,” he stepped through the shimmering dome. “Fuck your pity, and fuck your—”

There was a flash of white, a burst of flame, and then where he stood, there was nothing.

No soot. No ash. No dust. Not even his weapons. Flesh and bone and silk and garment, wood and steel and leather and hair—

Gone.

Nothing remained.

Only silence.

Complete, utter, deafening silence.

Lilly’s thoughts were in disarray. Her eyes were wide, so wide, she felt a sliver of pain, before the warmth of the campfire washed over it, and embraced her again. Her heart was loud. A ceaseless barrage of thump, thump, thump completely muted the world around her.

“What—” the mustache-bearing man stammered. “W-w-what was that?”

“Divine Retribution.”

The Mister, no, she could not call him just the Mister anymore. Moses stepped forward, speaking calmly. 

“D-d-divine…?”

“Fear not, my goddess, even in her wrath, is extremely kind.”

Moses shook his head.

“He did not feel a thing.”

The silence stretched. The bespectacled man in front of Moses was trembling like a leaf. Slowly, Moses placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Do you happen to have a spare cloak on you? Or a set of clothes? Lilly needs one.”

“I— y-y-y-yes.”

“Thank you.”

Moses lightly patted him three times on the shoulder. With each pat, the man flinched.

“As long as you have no malicious intent, to harm, to kill, to steal, or to destroy, you are safe under the light of the campfires I shall set up throughout the Dungeon. It carries the authority of my goddess. Your wounds will be healed, your spirits uplifted, your concerns and troubles melted, and your blades sharpened. It is henceforth, now, and forever, your home away from home.”

Moses turned to the others.

“The Hestia Familia offers its warmth and love to all those in need. Abide by the commandments of my goddess, uphold the laws of xenia, and you’ll bathe in warmth of unconditional love. Transgress against them and for that cardinal sin…”

Moses turned to the place where the ringleader once stood. 

No one could misconstrue his glance.

“Go. Spread the word. The Dungeon, this abyss of darkness and sorrow, will see for the first time the brilliance of salvation. Let all who have ears, hear, and let every mouth open up and rejoice. For from today—”

Moses struck his staff down.

“Hestia Is With You.”