AN: Hello, hello! It's me again coming to you with another chapter! Before we begin, I would like to thank all of you who are reading this for the support. It's really encouraging to see people enjoying the story I'm putting out there. Other than that, no craziness this time, so without further ado, let's get this chapter started!
Hestia POV:
As we were dragged into the house Alise shouted, "Astrea! I'm home! I brought company!"
We went into the living room of the house to see Astrea and a woman in a kimono sitting across from each other on couches drinking tea.
"Ah, Alise, welcome home." Astrea responded, "Please, have a seat, as you might have noticed I have company of my own. I would like to introduce you."
At Astrea's bequest, Alise took a seat next to Astrea — Bell still in her arms — and I followed, taking a seat next to the woman in the kimono. Astrea, upon seeing Bell in Alise's arms, looked a bit perplexed, but seemed to decide that figuring that out could wait for the moment.
"Hello Hestia, it's good to see you again. It's been quite some time since we last saw each other. You're down here much sooner than expected."
"Yea, it's been a long time Astrea. We can catch up in a little bit though," I gestured to the kimono-clad girl, "Who's this?"
"Of course, we'll catch up later. Alise. Hestia. Let me introduce you to Kaguya. She's the newest member to our Familia."
Upon hearing this Alise immediately shot up and grabbed one of Kaguya's hands with her free hand — déjà vu much? — and introduced herself, "Heya! I'm Alise, nice to meet 'cha!"
After taking a moment to recover from the abruptness of Alise's introduction Kaguya finally responded, "Yes, it's nice to meet you." She replied, seeming unsure of the truth of that statement. "As you might have heard I am Kaguya, I'm from the Far East. It's a pleasure to meet you Alise, Kami-Hestia. Although Alise, might I inquire as to who that child is that you're holding?"
"Yes, I would like to know that as well, Alise," Astrea spoke up. "surely you didn't just find such a young child in the streets."
"Well, I'm glad you two decided to ask! This little cutie here is Bell! He's my new little brother! Isn't he just adorable!"
WHAAAAT?! Did she just claim Bell as her own little brother?! I get that she thinks he's adorable — and he is adorable, but that's not the point! — to claim him as her little brother is going a bit too far. The worst part is she's being completely serious! She means it one hundred percent! Alise Lovell is fully intent on becoming Bell's big sister.
But then again…. Would it really be so bad for Bell to have an older sister figure in his life? Especially one who seemed so — honest. And, well, something tells me I couldn't stop Alise from becoming a big sister to Bell if I tried.
After gathering my thoughts for a moment I finally spoke, "Alise…."
"Yes, Miss Hestia?"
"You're lucky I already like you…." I blew out a sigh. "This child is Bell Cranel, and he's my ward," I stated before taking a moment to look at Alise, "and apparently now her younger brother."
Upon hearing recognition of her proclamation from me, I saw Alise's eyes light up further with a blinding joy.
"Hmm hm Hmmm!" Alice hummed with excitement. "You hear that, little brother?! I am now mother approved by our mother as your big sister! Isn't that wonderful! Thanks mom! Anyways, other mom," she stated looking at Astrea, "mom and little bro just got here in the city and need a place to stay, sooooo, I thought we could let them stay here for a while."
…
…
"Alise dear," Astrea finally spoke up after a long pause, "that's fine and all, but…. Why is it that I am 'other' mom? Wouldn't it be far more appropriate for you to refer to me as mother?"
…
"GAH! You're absolutely right, mother! That would be far more appropriate! Well mother dearest, I'm off to show sister dearest the rest of the house and her room!" Making this proclamation she stood up returning Bell to my arms, finally, and took Kaguya's hands. "I'll be back for Bell! Look after him while I'm gone!" And with that she took off, a muttering Kaguya in tow behind her.
"What have I gotten myself into…."
"Well Hestia, after they come back what do you say to leaving Bell in Alice's care for a while so we can go out to eat and catch up?"
"That sounds absolutely delightful, Astrea."
After leaving Bell in Alice's care, we set out to go find a place to eat. After wandering through town for a bit we came to Main Street, where we saw a man get thrown out of a pub a couple meders ahead of us.
"And stay out! Ain't nobody allowed to touch my girls!" Standing in the doorway of the pub was a six foot tall human woman. Wait, that's not right, she's a dwarf?!
I looked at the sign of the restaurant she was at, "The Hostess of Fertility. Huh." I mumbled to myself.
"Bwahah! That's right you two! This is my pub, the finest there is in this whole city! Now why don't you two goddesses come on in and I'll get cha' seated."
"Umm…" I look at Astrea hesitantly just to see her shrug with a, 'why not?' look. "Sure!"
After hearing our response she gestures towards us to come over to her and follow. As we started to do so it hit me, how did she hear what I said anyways? If she was a beast human that I could understand, but a dwarf, hearing me mutter from that distance just made no sense. Regardless, Astrea didn't seem fazed by any of this so it was probably fine. That didn't stop me from being curious about it though.
"Excuse me, miss?"
"Yeah, little Goddess?" She replied as she led us inside, plucking up some menus from the front as she led us to some seats at the bar before proceeding to head behind it herself..
"How did you hear me from all the way where you were?"
"Right, you're new to Gekai so you wouldn't know. Miss Mia here was a high level adventurer with Freya's familia, as such she has better senses than the average person. By the way, I had heard the rumors that you had retired recently to open a pub. But I had never expected them to be true, much less to find that very pub on Main Street."
"Ye', those rumors are true alright. I started to leave that goddess and open this place up just a few weeks ago. Still have some duties in the Familia while me and Freya work out the finer details, so I can't keep this place up and running like I would like to yet," She says gesturing to the currently mostly empty pub and her singular light gray haired waitress, "but I should be able to run this place full time how I like soon. I can put that brat in charge of the familia and finally take my leave. But anyways, what would you two like to order?"
I made a quick scan of the menu before settling on an item, "I'll take the House Salad."
"And I'll do… the daily special."
"Alrighty! Coming right up!" She said before heading off to the kitchen with the orders.
"So Hestia, last I checked you still had about 14 years before it was your time to descend, what got you down here early?"
"Don't know honestly. I just know last month it was decided I was gonna be let down earlier than expected for some reason. Didn't tell me why though, that doesn't mean I don't have my suspicions though. How about you, Astrea, how's it been in the city so far?"
"Not bad thankfully. It certainly helps that Hera helped me get set up with a place to stay here saying, and I quote, 'I would rather help out someone I actually like than let that Guild Pig do whatever he wants with the Valis he's about to confiscate.' And maybe not the most noble of motives, I'm not really in a position to complain about it."
"Yeah, that certainly sounds like Hera alright. Always complaining about something or another. As for me, I still need a place to stay and a job. Normally I would try to start a familia, but with Bell in my care currently, I don't think it would be a good idea to start one yet."
"That makes sense, especially the way the city is headed from the looks of it."
"What do you mean by that?"
"We're headed for dark times." Mia responded, coming back in with our orders. "I don't think a lot of people see it yet, but they're coming."
"What makes you say that?"
"Zeus and Hera being exiled. You can't just kick out the two most powerful familias and not expect anything to change. So you and Goddess Astrea are right, starting a new familia right now would be a bad idea. You'll probably be dragged into fighting whether you like it or not. Might be safer for you to take this child of yours and leave the city entirely."
"I see your reasoning, but unfortunately that's not an option for me." I said with a shrug, "Also, I don't have the money to move even if I wanted to. I don't have a job to earn any, I just got here after all."
"Well, if you need a job, why not work here?" A voice said from behind me.
"Huh?" I turned around to see who was addressing me. It was the light gray haired waitress I had seen earlier.
"That isn't your decision to make, Syr." Mia retorted to the waitress.
"True, but don't you still need more staff? After all, you still don't have anyone to run the kitchen. Or if she can't cook someone to run the bar so you can work the kitchen. Worst-case scenario she can be a waitress."
"Syr, step aside and we'll talk about it." And with that she dragged Syr to the corner.
"By the way Hestia, you're welcome to stay with me and my familia. I just request you help cover expenses once you get a job."
"Of course, Astrea." And with that we started to eat while the two had their discussion.
After finishing the very excellent meal that had been served to us, the two of them came back from their discussion and Mia addressed me, "Hestia. Tomorrow, 6 AM on the dot. Be here. We'll see what you can do in the kitchen, that is, if you want the job of course."
AN: Well this chapter took me a lot longer than I expected to write, hopefully the length will make up for that. Anyways, onto the questions!
Bacelisbest: Yeah, I realized that myself. At first I was gonna just kinda handwave it away, but after further thought I am gonna go back and make Alise a fresh adventurer. So if you see that chapter get updated that's why. So I will be changing her to a fresh level one instead of one about to level up. Which seems to be about on track, so her initial growth might be a bit slower than in canon, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
haziqsaffari2: Welp, another chapter of me actually not answering the question in chapter. So I'm just going to do it now. No, the reason is that currently as a child, Bell having a pure soul isn't that exciting or rare (I do believe it is canon that a child's soul is clear like his as it hasn't been changed by the world yet). So for now, Freya will leave him alone. At least until he becomes an adventurer….
alex882 & haziqsaffari2: Yes, they will be staying at the Stardust gardens. Originally I had planned for them to stay at the Hostess, but I ended up liking Alise a lot more than expected while writing her, so I want her to play a more active part in the story. Also, I feel letting Hestia stay is more in tune with Astrea's character.