Recruitment Ceremony II part 3
Here it is, chapter.
After this, for those that are itching in their chairs, I'll be immediately updating Zero Fate, and not only that, there will be images!
Yes, I'll bringing back images, you all should see 2-3 (Image) spots throughout the chapter, so check it out if you're interested.
This will likely make the post take a bit longer, but it is what it is.
After this, I'll be updating P@treon for both Novels, thank you for your patience!
Anyway, that was all from me, enjoy the chapter.
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/Midway through the recruitment…/
"... Thank you all for being here." Silver said as he looked at a group of people
"I'm sorry Hestia can't see you out, but you know..."
"There's no need to explain yourself, we understand." Miach replied in his smooth tone of voice as he shook his head, interrupting Silver
"I know how it feels, back in the Far East, I also had to constantly deal with those annoying Clan Heads whenever they passed by our Shrines... Just thinking about it gives me a headache." Takemikazuchi added as he touched his head
'Around half an hour after the recruitment started, Silver saw himself in front of the now empty gates of the Hearth Manor.'
'By now, the 500 selected candidates were in the party Hall being interviewed by the goddesses leaving the entrance clear for him to pass through.'
'Next to him were 3 Gods and their children, together with Leto's and Artemis' children, Yilfi, the blue-haired elven girl, and Rethusa, the red-haired Human girl.'
'Both of them had accompanied their Gods in their visit, but since they were now helping Hestia in sorting through the candidates, they had nothing to do.'
'And it would be too much to have them wait multiple hours for all to be done... So they would leave first and maybe return later.'
'Demeter on the other hand came alone by surprise, so no one would be waiting for her.'
'As for the other guests...'
'Miach, the potion-making God that had taught him greatly in the past few weeks, helping him in making many of his visions a reality while also helping Silver improve his own potion-making skills...'
'Together, they had released a few big hits in the market, such as the Deodorant that was in high demand everywhere.'
'They had to be careful with their recipes, since in Orario, there were no such things as Patents, secret recipes, and methods had to be kept secure behind tight bars...'
'Though that didn't mean it was morally accepted, if someone were to do that it could result in severe conflicts, sometimes even escalating into fights between Familias.'
'Yet, even if their biggest competitor, the Dian Cetch Familia were to replicate it, Silver did not believe they would be able to improve their recipe.'
'Because he himself still had a lot in his head left to explore.'
'Next to him was Takemikazuchi, who he had been training with intensively in the past few months every time he took a break from Dungeon diving and his other responsibilities.'
'It was a good pass time, learning martial arts from him in his garden.'
'It was oddly therapeutical even... Take confirmed that Martial Arts training was a form of meditation if done right.'
'Silver couldn't really deny it, if God said so, then perhaps there was some truth to it...'
'Despite it all, albeit Silver felt that there was still a lot to learn, Take himself praised him for his progress.'
'Silver was still far from being like him, a God that despite his feeble strength no better than a Mortal, he's still capable of taking down Level 3 adventurer, perhaps even a Level 4.'
'And albeit he's usually humble, he said that he might be able to throw down a Level 5 adventurer if conditions align and he sacrifices his body for it.'
'Silver couldn't tell if he was undermining his own abilities, or if he was being serious with that statement, but he was fully aware Take would never over-glorify his own abilities.'
'He could only dream that one day, he would reach a level of mastery close to his.'
'In any case, those two were followed by Dia, a Goddess he had met for the first time today.'
'She was a beautiful goddess with a simple dress that usually walked around with half of her hair covering one of her eyes, and she was also the one that gave Emma's sister, Sophia, her blessing.'
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'She wasn't very well known because she had no Familia of her own, being mostly a Goddess tied to a mortal Family instead.'
'The Ward Family, a massive banking family that existed for generations, and incredibly wealthy also, probably way more than even the Ishtar Familia as a whole.'
'She may look humble, given the way she speaks like an older sister, constantly giving advice and being mature, but she was actually quite the affluent figure…'
'If only she ever did anything fancy as she preferred to enjoy her luxury by doing small things, such as walking in the street singing or helping the poor if she had the chance.'
'In a sense, Silver could understand how a Goddess like her was a friend of Hestia, albeit that was likely a fact given they were from the same area within Heaven.'
'As from Silver's perspective, from the depths of his memories, Dia was another name for the Goddess Hebe, who didn't seem to exist even when Silver asked Hestia about it.'
'On that note, she said Hebe used to be a nickname Dia used to be known for… But that was long, long ago... So long in fact Hestia barely remembered.'
'They say Gods rarely ever change, especially in Heaven, but in truth, they do, it's just that it takes way too long for anything substantial to happen… So long that by the time they do realize they changed, they wouldn't even be able to remember how they used to be.'
'As Gods themselves rarely count time, it would've taken Eras from them to show even the slightest of a change.'
'Hestia was once known as a strict woman whose temper was fiercer than fire and more ruthless towards perversion then even Artemis, given what she used to do…'
'But she ended up becoming a Neet of some sort when the flame of Heaven was stolen and sent into the mortal plane by Prometheus long... Long ago...'
'And Freya was also once known as a Goddess of Purity that stood within her garden all the time doing who knew what… That is, until she grew bored of it and decided to try something… More exciting.'
'Eventually growing entranced with the feeling that came with it, and from Loki's own words... "Addicted".'
'Gods change, it just takes an unreal amount of time…'
'As such, meeting Dia came as a surprise, but not a bad one.'
'She even brought Sophia with her, which allowed him to grow a bit closer to her, but that's it.'
'Take and Miach also brought their own children, including Leto and Artemis, but since today is only about interviews conducted by the Goddesses, they only passed by to greet everyone and congratulate them for their progress.'
'There wasn't much for them to do after that, and since everyone was busy doing something, they couldn't stay here either to talk and chat.'
'It's not like these Familias are only tied to the Hestia Familia through him and Hestia, after getting to know each other over these past few months, relationships between them started to form.'
'Some good, some bad... That was the natural way of things.'
'That was why Silver was here, seeing them off.'
'It was never bad to know new people, after all, even the Loki Familia had little to no alliances.'
'Even if these Familias had few Level 3 adventurers of their own, one day, they would.'
'And albeit he would never admit it, having a connection with the Ward Family might come in handy as money held quite a bit of power in the world...'
…
/A few minutes of talking later.../
"... Visit us again soon." Silver said with a smile as everyone departed on their ways
/Exhale.../
… Phew.
'As everyone left, Silver's expression relaxed as he exhaled slightly.'
Dealing with one of them on their own is fine, but when you have a group of 3 or more Gods all talking with you at the same time together with their children it can get quite overwhelming.
In any case, I'm glad they visited.
That shows they care, at least they didn't seem too bothered to be here... Or have any second intentions.
Apart from Sophia, though I guess that's her personality given what I learned from her sister.
I expected Miach as we grew quite close with all of our experiments, and Takemikazuchi has also grown quite close to me since he, despite not showing it very much, needs me to help his children grow.
He came here to send money back to his Shrine where other Gods live with many orphans, and I'm sure he doesn't feel well by dragging his children around to fight in one of the most dangerous places in the world...
No… I'm sure he feels tense all the time.
So by having me train with them and guide them a little, at the very least, he can let go of some of the weight on his shoulders.
As he must feel quite stressed.
Well… Gods are actually pretty terrible at relaxing.
Since their way of thinking normally goes many steps ahead of what mortals can tolerate, they usually find themselves trapped in their own thoughts…
In simple terms, they are overthinking all the time.
Of course, Gods are different from each other, treating and seeing their children and their surroundings in a different way, dealing with grief and partying in their own ways…
But that doesn't change the fact they see things from a different perspective.
At least Miach and Dia don't have to deal with this, but they obviously have their own worries to think about.
Take on the other hand simply wants his children to be safe and grow healthy and strong, that's one of the reasons he accepted to train me.
One because he is kind, the other because by building a connection with me, it is expected his children will be safer if the situation does ever arrive.
I never thought of them as tools for me to grow stronger, however.
Though it's also true I grew closer to them with that and Haruhime on my mind...
"Cough... The sun's killing me." He said as he looked up
'He looked around and eventually made his way back inside.'
... Speaking of her, she has grown quite proficient in the months she's been with us.
Her stats are almost surpassing the I grade, while her magic has already reached C.
Hestia even said she was getting close to a Level Up, she may only need a great deed to rise past the barrier.
But honestly speaking, I have no intention of having her Level up yet, even if her deed is accomplished.
She's not ready yet as her mentality is too soft, and she's not yet mature enough for the responsibilities.
Most importantly, she can still raise her Stats further.
Albeit her growth in all other Stats are unusually slow, they're still rising.
I would say that's due to her upbringing as a person, and also due to her constitution due to her inheritance over the generations.
Her body is fragile and no amount of training is going to make it a warrior's.
But I can at least make her akin to a Mage's body.
Since, if her Stats are not within a certain margin, then she may not even be able to react when she reaches the lower floors.
It has to be within a certain stage, or else she'll truly be cursed to be at the backlines and do nothing but chant.
Which isn't entirely bad, but even mages can run and reposition, at least they should.
When I first met Haruhime, she barely even raised any resistance when I 'kidnapped' her.
Aside from that, I'm interested to see how much her Magic will grow, I would say she can still push it past B, but beyond A might be hard.
She has definitely mastered some degree of quick chanting, but it'll take quite a bit of time before she can master concurrent chanting.
And until she has grown a bit more, I won't be giving her a Grimoire.
I still have a few left to hand over, one of them is bound to be effective on her.
Until then, she won't be able to train Chant Connection, unlike Cassandra who has achieved quite some progress in that regard, even if negligible, but that's for later.
On that line of thought, there is a woman I think about from time to time.
I wonder what happened to Aisha…
She kind of vanished after the War game, with many Familias interested in her outcome.
But I have an inkling of suspicion as to where she went…
Obviously, looking at her abilities, she had nearly endless choices.
For once I thought she might've joined the Loki Familia, she would've fitted rather well in there…
Or perhaps not…
Either way, she's been rather silent recently and Haruhime has started to ask me how she's doing since I'm her only reliable way of contacting her when she's not around.
Sigh... The problems of a society that has little to no ways of long-distance communication…
Once this is done, if she doesn't make an appearance by then, I'll be forced to go after her.
I have nothing against Aisha, and albeit my relationship with her only goes to Haruhime, I wouldn't feel exactly good if something bad ended up happening to her.
She's not someone I would like to see suffering, neither is she a girl that deserves it.
I would prefer if she grew stronger and became an ally... Even though I would also like if she stood far away from my Familia members...
'As he thought of this, opened the doors to the Manor, making his way back to the main Hall.'
'Albeit he had no real task, he could give everyone a hand and severely unburden their minds.'
'Even if they wanted to stand for themselves, he was still, at the end of the day, their Captain.'
…
/Later…/
/Exhale.../
"Yawn… Was that the last batch?" Hestia asked as she looked at Artemis, yawning in the process due to her tiredness
"Yup." She replied as she adjusted her office glasses
Exactly 500 people, of which, 73 passed to the next phase.
A bit more than I expected, at this rate, they'll have over 200 people to evaluate in total.
I wonder how many will Hestia accept, all of these candidates are quite good...
"..."
'Meanwhile, Hestia looked at her with a confused expression, why was Artemis using glasses again?'
'Actually, why was she wearing those secretary clothes?'
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'But before she could continue with her thoughts, she was interrupted:'
"You're truly famous Hestia, having so many people apply." Leto said on the side as she clapped her hands
"I still can't believe the number, it still feels like yesterday when I came here to help you sort through applicants as well." Demeter added with a gentle smile as she thought of the past
'Hestia was so confused back then... And nervous.'
'That nervousness of hers ended up with her sending back many good children... A pity.'
"Haha… Thank you all for being here, it would've taken a few times longer if I was here by myself…" Hestia said as she looked at the pile on the side, shivers running through her spine as she did so
Silver can't really help me either... No, I won't let him.
This is something only a Goddess like me can do!
'Cough... Exceptions do happen from time to time though...' She thought as she remembered the time Silver recommended Cassandra and Daphne
'Only now after so long does she truly realize their worth to the Familia as a whole, albeit she never saw them in only that way, to begin with.'
"No worries Hestia, it was somewhat fun, seeing all of these exotic children telling us their dreams and aspirations…" Leto said as she looked at the papers
"It's only a shame we have to turn some of those down, even if they're eager to embark on their journey." She said in a disappointed tone as she shook her head
"Not all of them are ready to walk down such a path."
"Some could not be suitable to be with Hestia, while a few others would be better off seeking another journey, somewhere else." Artemis added as she took her glasses off
I should've used those fake glasses, why did I buy these ones?...
My eyes hurt...
"On that note, why don't you recruit some of them, Leto? Some of these children would likely fit with yours." Demeter said as she turned her head
"Ara? Well… They surely would, but it's not yet time." She replied as she looked away, reveling in her own thoughts
"How come? You've been with only a small group ever since you descended, don't you think it's time to grow a bit?" Hestia said as she stretched her back
"Look at me, even though I have a Familia with over 40 children, and albeit I'm a little tired from time to time, it wouldn't be hard for you to manage 10."
'But Leto shook her head.'
"That's not the issue..."
"What they need now is each other, once the time comes they can't move forward on their own, then I'll introduce them to the people that will help them on their way forward."
"It would be too much of me to push new things into their lives in such a sensitive period of their growth."
"It may be even intrusive, as they built what is now the Leto Familia, and I don't wish to break the adventure they're building together."
"We may be small, but I have confidence they have what it takes to achieve great things." Leto said with a wide smile as she looked away
""...""
'The Goddesses all nodded at the same time since they all thought the same for their own children, even if in their own ways.'
'After all, Demeter wasn't a Goddess that had a lot of action in the Dungeon, yet she still desired for her children to go after whatever they desired and that they achieved success in it.'
'Artemis also wished their children strived for their own justice and goals, that they grew and learned more, especially now that she herself was starting to realize what it meant to do so.'
'Seeing that things were about to end, Hestia raised her hand to grab her cup of water…'
'She had worked hard, several hours sitting on her chair, going after a hundred different rolls of people.'
'Many questions were asked, so much so she could still feel them at the tip of her tongue, ready to burst whenever she wanted to say something.'
'She deserved some rest.'
"Since we're on the topic of our children… Spill it out Hestia, how far have you gone with your Captain?" Leto asked all of a sudden as she touched her right cheek with a small smile
"PFFFFFFFFT!"
"Ara ma…"
"..."
'Hestia immediately spilled all of the water on her mouth out in a grand waterfall, but thankfully, Artemis was fast enough to pull the stack of papers out of harm's way while Demeter smiled teasingly on the side.'
'After checking the papers were okay, Artemis let out a sigh of relief as she looked at Hestia sneakingly...'
'She wouldn't admit it, but she was also kind of interested.'
'They had talked about this from time to time, but every time she tried to go into the topic, Hestia would always go somewhere else...'
'It was a shame, but Artemis was unaware of the secret Social techniques to loosen people up, such as the classic wine bottle, that was a timeless piece...'
"Wh-Wh-Where did that c-come from?!" Hestia exclaimed as she cleaned her face
My Arcanum almost came out...
"Hestia… Do you really think no one would've noticed it by now?" Leto continued as she smiled sweetly
"Wh-Wh-What do you mean?!" Hestia retorted as her eyes trembled
I-Impossible...
"Still denying it? Well, why not talk a little bit about it?..."
"Everyone's been speculating about your relationship with him you know? Since you're being oddly silent about it."
"Several dates here and there, being in romantic places, buying clothes together, feeding each other sweets~…"
"?!"
H-How do they know about those?!
I... I swear I never saw anyone whenever I fed him food!
He never complained either!
Wait... It's impossible for him to not have realized that there were others... Unless...
D-Don't tell me... Why... Why did he let me do those embarrassing things if there were people watching?!
'Hestia started to create many situations in her head, perhaps some were right, perhaps none were, it was impossible to tell.'
'Demeter thought it was cute to see Hestia's eyes wander around in desperation, she was so obvious...'
"It's almost confirmed at this point, you don't even hide it that well, the way you speak about it him and defend him whenever he's the topic of the conversation…"
"Many were surprised at your aggressive stance in every Denatus, did you know that? They even affirmed that the 'Goddess of Fire' was back and she wouldn't let anyone steal her fire now."
"..."
Wh... Whhhhaaa?!
Am I that obvious?... Wait! That's not the problem here!
"We thought it was because he was your first child, but now that you have so many, the discrepancy is obvious, hm?"
"The only thing that has gone through the minds of the others is just… How far?~"
""...""
'The other two Goddesses looked at Hestia, all very much curious.'
'Even Artemis, who looked away most of the time was oddly silent… Leto found her behavior to be super cute, although she didn't say anything nor did she point her behavior out.'
'Neither did Demeter.'
'What they didn't know was that Artemis was trying her hardest to keep a straight face...'
'Because just like Hestia, she had also done her fair share of... Embarrassing things with Silver.'
'To summarize, she loved to lay in his lap as he fed her grapes, especially out in the open.'
'They usually relaxed by the ruins where it was the most calm.'
'If someone were to have seen her like that... Her dignity...'
'She had the urge to throw herself in a hole just thinking about it!!'
"W-W-We are not like that…" Hestia stuttered as she looked away in shame
"Is that so? How unfortunate…"
"In that case, I'll tell the others he's free for the taking, he has quite a few admirers you see." Leto said with a teasing expression
"My... I'm sure they'll all..." Demeter added as she threw wood into the fire
/Slam!/
"Who?!" Hestia said authoritatively as she slammed her hand on the table, her face cold and heavy
Who dares?!
""...""
'But seeing that she'd been had, Hestia quickly got up from her seat, exclaiming:'
"I-Its not like that!!"
'And then she bolted outside, screaming something like: "You're meanies!" like a child that had been bullied.'
"My… She's really cute." Demeter said as she saw her run away
"It seems she's under quite the spell… The mortal world is surely full of wonders." Leto said as she also got up
She's much livelier compared to her time in Heaven, it's such a blessing to see her this happy...
And also to us, since most of us considered her to be a lost cause.
Because even if she fell in love...
'Leto stopped thinking, not because she didn't want to, but out of respect for Hestia.'
'Because it would be best to face the current Hestia rather than her past self.'
"..."
"Artemis? Is something wrong?"
"Eh?... N-No, I was just thinking about some things…"
"Oh? Are you also curious about Hestia's love life? I thought you hated such things?"
"I-I… Do… I was just thinking about it, that's all." Artemis replied as her lips trembled
""...""
'Demeter and Leto looked at each other for a moment, a lot seemed to be exchanged with one gaze.'
'And seeing the situation she had caused, Artemis also excused herself as she turned around and left in hurried steps.'
"Oh my… It seems the Spell ended up affecting some of the bystanders…" Leto said with a sweet smile as she looked at Demeter
"Ara, you talk as if you were immune to it." Demeter said as she also got up from her seat as well
"My… You're making me blush." Leto replied as she moved from one side to the other, slightly embarrassed as her dress moved in the wind
'Demeter exhaled slightly, it seemed things would get heated soon… If they haven't already.'
'As she grabbed the pile of papers, she looked at the first few pages, all people that had been approved to pass the first stage.'
'They'll fit right in.' She thought to herself as she left the room, followed by Leto who had already recovered from her previous embarrassment
'The first day of the Recruitment was almost over, two more to go.'
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Notes
I'll try to make images more frequent every chapter from now on, and if anyone wants an image, now's the best part to tell me what you want to see!
I normally would love to try and make images for every character's outfit every chapter, but that's impossible, but I can try to make them if someone is particularly interested in it.
Peace!
PS: Here is Hestia Dress image from last chap:
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