Like I previously wrote, since English isn't my first language, expect multiple grammar errors and slight(?) cringe. I'm sorry.

I don't own Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Chapter 2 - Revelations by the Hearth

You know, sometimes it was nice to know the gods exist, it made things so much easier to put the blame on them when things went wrong.

And ooh boy, what I would willingly trade just to pin the blame upon them right now.

Trust me, the situation I currently in couldn't be explained by any means other than a "divine retribution". Perhaps the Moirai's punishment for me for gaining a second chance at life.

Standing in front of me was Hestia, an Elder Olympian and Tutelary Goddess of the Immortal Flame, a goddess of another world completely unknown to me, whose divine aura was smothering the entire room. Like the monstrous Python, it coiled around me, around my body and my neck, waiting for the exact moment I messed up to go in for the prey.

My only ally in the room (possibly in this entirely new world as well) was Bell, who was standing awkwardly behind the couch, like a little kid who got caught in two adults' fighting.

If I weren't so scared out of my mind, I'd melt at such adorable scenes.

And aah, he's just tilted his head in confusion, such an innocent little rabbit. How adorable!

No, wait. This wasn't the time and place to admire such adorableness. Now my priority was to escape this place unscathed, his innocent appearance was luring me into certain death.

How dangerous. He might not be my ally after all.

"Now, Hesiod," Hestia said, her stern voice filled with such authority that it clashed so much with her child-like appearance "Don't keep us in the dark far too long. Answer my question."

As she finished her sentence, I had to use my best effort to stop myself from doing what she just commanded me.

My fingers clutched the ragged couch, my nails pierced through the old fabric and touched the wooden frame, while my feet started to form distinctive shapes on the stone floor, barely stopping my body from kneeling down and begging her forgiveness for my insolent thoughts. My teeth bit into my lips drawing blood, yet only managed to hold the story of my life on the tip of my tongue by a noose.

Myths and legends of old flashed across my eyes, tales of the dreaded punishments the gods could possibly put out.

Arachne, Medusa, Lamia… Infamous victims of the gods who were all turned into some of the most vicious monsters of Greek Mythology. Tantalus, Erysichthon, Ixion… All of them were known for the cruel punishments they received for their crimes against the gods of Olympus. These were all lessons us demigods were taught at since our early days at Camp Half-Blood, important cautionary tales about how easy it was for the gods to damn you for eternity, especially seeing how many of them featured children of the gods - demigods - themselves.

Her divine aura became more and more terrifying now, the Python's nonexistence jaws widely opened above my head, invisible venom dropping from its fangs and fell down my head.

With every passing second, I could feel the end of my second-life became closer to its end, a small voice warning me of my possible dooms.

I remembered the tale of Loki, the Trickster God from Scandinavian mythology, who was strapped to a stone and had a serpent dripping poison on his face for eternity as a punishment for his crimes against his fellow gods. Now, I was him, Loki, and I had to word my arguments to save my life from eternal punishment.

Quickly, I mentally checked all my possible options only to discover none of them would benefit me in the end.

I could lie, but words on the street said that all gods could instantly detect when they were being lied at, and I did NOT want to know what would happen when Hestia found out.

Half-true was also an option, but I doubted gods would appreciate it by outsmarted like that. And if I recalled correctly, the last person to do so was Prometheus and he was… yeah, definitely no.

My only option left was to tell the truth.

But could this goddess be reliable enough for me to trust with this secret?

While in my original world, Hestia was known as being the most peaceful and beloved out of all Olympians, often acted as the peace-maker for her messed-up family, but I didn't know anything about this version of her. Would she be kind or would she be cruel? Was she the same godly figure as in my world or was she the cruelest amongst her siblings here? Nonetheless, this was the only option I had left.

I mean, sure, I could hit both of them and run away from here as fast as I could, but hey, why tempting fate?

Taking a deep breath, I looked the goddess in the eyes and began to tell the tale of my life.

Confused and intrigued were the only two words Hestia could use to describe her newest child's tale.

Half-god half-human offsprings, reincarnation and rebirth, an entirely new world…

All of those only existed until now only existed in the books she had read.

And for as much as she wanted to express her bewilderment at such a tale, she couldn't.

No, mustn't.

No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she didn't really trust the half-blood in front of her, that some parts of her whispering to her ears how all of it was merely a farce.

But the warning bells never rang.

While it was true she had only descended down to the Lower World for a short while, barely a year and taking advantages of her friend's hospitality for the majority of it, and that she still didn't understand what divine abilities she could use in this new world without breaking the rules, she knew enough to know the young boy wasn't lying.

All of his words were true, her divinity checked it and the Falna didn't lie - It never will.

All of this information, she already knew from reading his Falna, from reading his soul, but to hear about it herself was an entirely different thing.

In fact, hearing it from her new child's mouth more-or-less increased her trust toward him.

No matter how much he tried to lie or outsmart her, she would always know. As if a half-mortal would be able to lie a goddess who had dealt with Trickster Gods for eons before descending. His lies would be nothing more than baby talks in comparison with the trickery Hermes and Loki once told her on a daily-basis (even then, she already got used to it and picked through their lies as easy as breathing, not that they ever found out about it), but then again, all mortal lies were.

And based on his nearly perfect expression alone, she could tell that he had thought of but decided not to go that route. And it was a good thing for both of them.

For him, it was for his fear of the gods.

She read from his soul how terrifying the gods were in his world. Beings born of ichor and nectar, their excellences bursting from their fingertips, with their desire for fame manifested by proving to the world what they could mar: destroying cities, starting wars, breeding plagues and monsters. Divinities who could gladly set the world ablaze just to satisfy their sadistic whims, to gain more followers and offerings and sacrifices, to see the smoke and savor delicately rising from their altars, leaving behind only ash and their devotees' dreams left uncared.

They were so different, yet so similar to the gods she knew. Both of whom were deathless, yet with the legends she saw from his world, it appeared that they were closer to death than anything, for the gods were unchanging and held nothing within their perfectly sculpted hands.

While his gods pleased their desire for reverence through the fear of mortals, hers pleased their desire through the manipulation of mortals, using them as puppets for their eternal game.

For her, it was a relief.

Hesiod's perception of the gods as powerful rulers of the universe wasn't wrong per se, as all deities were, in a sense, rulers of their respective domain. And yet, here they were, barely stronger than the average mortals, with only enough power to differentiate them from regular inhabitants of this world. They couldn't flaunt their powers, their authorities, to demonstrate their rightful claims over the cosmos anymore, and truly, it was humiliating for them, for her. It was an untold truth amongst the divinities, that they despised being so useless that they had to rely on their children just to make ends meet, to protect themselves from danger.

It was supposed to be the other way around, dammit.

There was nothing Hestia could do to protect Bell and herself if Hesiod ever desired to betray them, and as much as his Falna said the opposite, she couldn't help but worry. How could a beginner adventurer and a powerless goddess do anything against a powerful demigod? Now the reason he hadn't done anything to them was because of his fear of the gods, and Hestia knew how easy it was for fear to turn into motivation and retaliation, and she did NOT want to be on the receiving end of someone who could weave magic as easy as breathing.

It was too much of a risk she wasn't willing to take.

Yet despite that, lying to him and playing this farce too long will only bring worse consequences.

Hestia sighed mentally, her outside appearance was still stoic as she heard Hesiod recounted his life much to Bell's amazement.

'Well, might as well end this stupid misunderstanding from the get-go, I guess.'

"Aaand that, basically the story of my life," I finished my story.

Instead of the rain of light and fire that I was expecting, the only thing I could feel directing toward me was Bell's look of admiration and Hestia's statue-like face.

"By the gods, you're so cool, Mr. Hesiod!" Bell exclaimed, his eyes filled with naïve admiration "Your life is just like that of the heroes' from fairy tales."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his words, remembering how I once held the same childish dreams.

"Ahem," Hestia's cough quickly snapped me out of my wistful thinking, dropping me back to the harsh reality I was currently in.

Her eyes were as cold as Stygian Iron, the infamous metal of the Underworld that only the gods and the royal children of Hades were permitted to use, said to be colder than even the coldest of ice and as deadly as a swing from Thanatos' scythe itself. Yet, deep inside her eyes were flames, immortal and eternal fire that wouldn't hesitate to latch out and destroy anyone and anything that could potentially threaten those she held dear, someone like me right now.

"Well Hesiod, it is quite a grand tale you just told us right now," she said, her voice stern and cold "Perhaps too fantastic and outlandish to even consider a possible truth, one may say."

At her words, my chances of survival almost crumbled down immediately, my hope began to fly away as fast as a hummingbird.

'So this it is,' I wondered 'So I will finally meet my end here, in a strange and distant world with no chance of escape, under the fury of a god.'

I closed my eyes and bit my lips, waiting for the inevitable.

It never came.

The only thing I could hear of was someone's tired sigh as if they really wished they were literally anywhere else but the situation they were in.

"Open up your eyes Hesiod. I'm not going to hurt you or anything." Hestia said, I could clearly note the disappearance of the cold fury it once possessed.

As my eyes became opened, the first thing that caught my eyes was the look in the goddess' eyes, one that contained both amusement and tiresome which we campers usually received from Chiron (and occasionally Mr. D. I knew he actually cared about us).

"As much as your tale sounds so outlandish to be true, I believe you," she said, and as if it was magic (possible actual magic for me), my body less tense and I let out a breath I never knew I held.

"In actuality, I'm quite impressed to see you're brave enough to tell the truth willingly," she jokingly said, "It's nice to know what I learned of you isn't so wrong after all."

Wait, she learned what now?

"What? You actually think I was joking when I said the Falna I gave you tell me all?" Mirth appeared in Hestia's voice, one so familiar like how a parent would gleefully chastise their child for their mischievous behavior "When I said I see all of your histories, I meant all of it. From your memories to your dreams to your ideas, I have seen all of them, each more meticulously than the last. Do you truly think for a second that I really required you to tell your own life story so that I could extract a single truth out of it?"

Dread filled my body as I digested the truth she just revealed.

Did… did everything I just did was for nothing?

"No, not really. I mean, Bell did have a lot of enjoyment hearing about your story." As if on cue, the rabbit-like kid nodded his head non-stop, clearly in agreement with what his goddess just said.

Seriously, did I just say my thoughts out loud again? I really need to control myself before my big mouth could kill me.

"Then, why do you want me to do it then?" I wondered "Why do you want me to tell you everything you already know when you've clearly known more things about me than I know about myself?"

"Oh, mere a test of sorts," she said, her eyes not meeting mine. Wait, was she trying to hide something? "I just need you to confirm everything to me again. You know, honesty and all of that virtuous stuff you mortals tend to value or something."

Suddenly, she froze before looking at me with interest, reminding me of a sister who just found dirt on her brother.

"Besides, it does confirm something for me, you're scared of me, aren't you?" she gleefully said "Honestly, out of all the gods you could fear, you will be afraid of little old me? How rude, I might even turn you into some kind of lizard for that offense alone."

At the sight of my paled face, Bell quickly chimed in "Eh, Hesiod-senpai (seriously, we are using japanese honorifics here? what kind of world is this place? some kind of anime?), you do know that the gods couldn't use their divine powers here, do you?"

Ehh, what?

"Bell-kun! I'm teasing him, why are you keep stopping me from having fun?" Hestia pouted, while Bell had the audacity to smile at her like he did no wrong "Now that the truth is revealed, I'm entirely powerless. Yay."

Never had I ever heard a yay as unenthusiastic as this, and I lived many summers with several Hypnos kids..

"Powerless? I thought the gods were supposed to be all powerful and rulers of the cosmos and such?"

"Yeah, we still are powerful. We just… don't use them as much as before. Being broken and left out the fun in the game and everything."

"The game?"

"The Lower World," she explained "Long story short, I believed you already knew the basics of it already, we gods are bored of staying in Heaven and descended onto the Lower World, Earth, Midgard, or whatever to seek enjoyment in mortal pleasure. Eventually, we love it so much that we desire to lock our powers away and live among you mortals, enjoying both your happiness and suffering to forget the boringness that is the Higher World."

Huh, people right. Something was crazy to hear in person than through the grapevine.

Then again, hearing the gods abandoned their godly duties just to seek personal enjoyment didn't seem out of place for me. Goodness knew how often my world's Olympians tend to do so.

"To make sure other gods don't 'cheat', every single one of us gods swore not to use our divinity unless we want a permanent no-return trip back to Heaven. So that means, Hesiod, no smiting, no cursing, no raping people in the form of animals, etc. seriously, how messed up are your world's versions of us Olympians?"

I happened to turn deaf at her last question before I realized what Hestia just admitted.

"So, let me get this straight. You can't smite us?"

"No."

"You can't curse us?"

"Nope."

"You can't turn us into some monster or animal?"

"いいえ (Īe)."

"You can't supernaturally cause us harm?"

"Οχι (Ochi)."

"You can't make our life horrible for eternity?"

"For the majority, not really."

"Then why did I just tell you everything like a trained dog?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

…

…

…

Dear gods, I truly fucked myself, didn't I?

"Perhaps, my new child. Perhaps." Hestia calmly said though I could tell she was trying to hold her laugh in "But hey, at least you are true to yourself."

"Y-Yeah, Hesiod-senpai. We promise we won't tell this to anyone else, trust me. I swear it."

Ehh, I was right. Bell was my only ally in this world, even the powerless goddess was mean to me now.

Ahh, come here my little rabbit, and let big brother Hesiod give you a hug now.

"S-Senpai… I couldn't breathe…"

"Dammit, Armistead! You're choking him!"

After spending nearly half an hour or so trying to pull me away from Bell (hah, pay back), the three of us finally settled down to discuss the current event.

"Hesiod-senpai, I'm going to be frank here," Bell said, his face still a slight red with exhaustion from being nearly-choked to death "Our Familia, the Hestia Familia, is one of the Familia in the bottom of the Familia hierarchy, if not the lowest of low, no matter what Lady Hestia might make you believe…"

"HEY!"

"… so we won't have any benefit for you. In fact, ever since the Familia had been established 'till this day, most of the time we have to eat leftovers from Lady Hestia's workplace just to survive. Therefore, we will understand if you want to be exchanged to another Familia more fitting for you."

The room became quiet with his words.

The young boy who had been quietly listening to me and Hestia's conversation, only putting in random comments from time to time, enough to make me forget he was in the room occasionally.

It was the truth, all three of us knew it.

A crude and harsh truth, yes, but it was the truth nonetheless.

All of us know that I should be in a bigger and more influential Familia, to have better equipment to dive into the dungeon, and high-quality ingredients to better hone my craft.

Throughout my journey across the streets of Orario, I had heard about many Familia, many of which were led by gods I knew from my old world to have close connections to the domain of magic and sorcery.

The Freya Familia of the Fair-skinned Goddess of Seidr Magic - The fabled magic of the Elves from Norse Mythology.

The Thoth Familia of the Ibis-headed God of Ancient Hieroglyphs - The Egyptian deity who holds patronage over the Magicians of the House of Life.

The Demeter Familia of the Bountiful Goddess of the Eleusis Mysteries - One of the oldest cults of Ancient Greece, devoted followers of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, the latter of which ruled over us of the chthonic world beneath the earth.

While there were many more Familia affiliated to many more gods, these three were the most notable to me, the Familia of powerful Gods of Magic.

If I joined one of these Familia, my sorcery art, my pharmakeia, would bloom beyond anything the people in this world had ever seen.

But then again, they were all large and influential Familia…

"Sorry to burst your bubble kid, but that's a no from me."

"W-What?!"

"Whhhaaaaatttttt?!"

Both of them shouted simultaneously, leaving behind a soft ringing in my ears.

Honestly, no divinities my ass. No way a mortal voice could leave a ringing like this.

"How can you not leave the Familia, senpai? Don't you know how restricted you will be if you stay here?"

"Yeah, Bell is right. As much as I hate to admit it, you will grow more easily in any Familia other than mine. Why not join other bigger and better Familia like that of Freya or Hephaestus or Flat-chested or…"

Raising up my hand, I stopped the two rambling kids in front of me (yes, I knew Hestia was thousands of years old, possibly even older, but if she decided to stay as a child, I will treat her as a child).

"Look, I have made my choice and I'm not going to change it for reasons such as easier access to equipment and ritual ingredients," I calmly said as I look straight in their eyes "I'm gonna be a member of the Hestia Familia and there's nothing the two of you could do to change my mind."

Suddenly, the two jumped upon me, tears filled their eyes as they ugly-cried into my shoulders while saying how happy they were and how dumb I was, staining my chiton and himation with their tears and… ugh, snot.

Yep, it was time for this outfit to burn.

To be honest, I didn't know if I wanted to tell them the real reasons behind my choice or not.

The biggest one was obvious, the two of them already know about my past life and the world I came from. If I did leave the Familia and joined another one, who knew who or what was going to kidnap them to just and find how I was able to become so unnaturally powerful. Having traveled into the Underworld multiple times, I had undoubtedly seen the Field of Punishments more often than any mortal should ever see. I had witnessed how the sinners were punished there, had witnessed the crimes they committed, and how horrible they were to be damned there.

I had seen some of the worst parts of humanity and how many wouldn't have any hesitation before killing others just for a taste of power. Especially when these people were powerful adventurers that had been blessed by some amoral deities themselves.

While I trusted Bell and Hestia not to expose my secrets to anyone else, a small voice in my head reminded me that I couldn't truly trust the people around them so easily.

For all how eerily-observant they could be at times, they were truly pure to a point of absurdity. I knew how easy it was for others to exploit them, cracking down their walls to pry my secrets from their cold, dead bodies with a cheery smile on their mouth.

I couldn't let it happen. My consciousness wouldn't allow it.

The second reason was much easier to explain - It was purely fear.

I had read many tales and legends and mythology, enough to know how cruel some of the gods may be.

While I couldn't say that for the gods from other mythology, the Greek gods had been known for being cruel and Greek mythology, as my friend say it 'the breeding ground of incest, homosexuality, depravity, and petty acts of vengeance'. And by the gods, if that wasn't true.

Out of the Greek gods, my gods, the most benevolent gods were Hades and Hestia, the latter of which was now my patron.

The other gods, especially Zeus and his siblings and his consorts and the children he bred, were exceptionally cruel, even if the majority of them had grown "nicer" in the modern years. Despite this, at their core, they were still the same terrifying beings who preyed upon the weak and defenseless so that their altars forever filled with offerings while their temples filled with prayers.

For all I knew, I might be their favorite plaything today, yet still managed to become a mere servant or bed-slave the following morning, depending on the god's current mood.

Whether the gods from this world were like the gods from my old world or not, it might be better safe and sorry to be a part of the Familia, being a champion of Hestia herself.

Now I just hoped this decision wouldn't bite me in the ass later on.

After several minutes of non-stop crying, my thoughts of burning the clothes away became greater and greater, Bell finally stood up and put his left hand on my shoulder, his right hand on his heart.

"I-If that was your choice then as the Captain and the first member, I welcome you, Hesiod Armostead, to the Hestia Familia." He said, his voice started to calm down, and grew more confident "So please, as someone with more experience, do try your best to take care of us, okay?"

Bell smiled at me, a bright and radiant smile more brilliant than the sun itself.

At that moment, I remembered something that had been said to be before, when I was still a young teenager myself.

It was with my ex-boyfriend, a son of Nemesis named Ethan, who first told me about this strange belief. He said that demigods affiliated with the underworld like me, like us, were naturally attracted to those with a pure soul, the clearer the soul the more attractive they were to us. At first, I thought he was just trying to flirt with me, but now I started to believe it.

The boy was pure, purer than the people I knew, even purer than many children and babies that I had encountered before. His soul was almost transparent, as clear as crystal while shining a sheer white aura around it, symbolizing his innocent nature. I swore, if any god or spirit of the dead witnessed his soul, they would undoubtedly be obsessed with him, possibly even to the point they would follow him even after his death, stalking him like how the Silent One had stalked the Dread Queen on the fields of Eleusis.

Wait, did this mean I would have to protect his chastity now?

How troublesome.

"Yeah, Hesiod. Since you are now a member of our Familia, let us have a potato feast right now!" As she finished, she ran into the small kitchen and took out a small paper bag. When she poured it into the big wooden bowl, it appeared to be filled with potato croquettes, somehow still steaming hot despite having been inside the cupboard for at least three hours now.

"So that is what you mean by leftovers, huh," I mumbled out loud, making Bell blushed a little bit in embarrassment.

"Come on, you two," Hestia excitedly said, pointing her finger at us in a prideful manner "I'm not going to let you have any sleep tonight."

… Somehow that innocent remark sounded so wrong for me.

Oh well, I couldn't look back now.

Better cross my fingers and hope for Tyche's blessing now.

Well, this chapter takes longer than I expected. I have around 3 hours to study for an important test, yet somehow I chose to finish this chapter instead. But hey, at least it is an English test.

This story started in Vol. 1 of the Light Novel/Episode 1 of the Anime. Hesiod arrived around the same time the Minotaurs broke loose and due to his appearance, Bell wasn't able to tell Hestia about the Minotaur fully, only that he was attacked by a monster in the Dungeon. He still got the Liaris Freese Skill and a crush on Ais though.

BTW, do you think it is possible for Hesiod to create Ambrosia and Nectar, or at least some weakened/non-divine version of them, through his Mystery Skill?

Well, that's all.

Thanks for reading - Cảm ơn mọi người nhiều! φ(．．;)