"Bell, what the heck!"

Hestia shouted in surprise when she updated Bell's Falna for the day.

"What happened, Goddess?"

For in Bell's back was etched another name.

Skills:
Deep Affection
Eina Tulle
Ais Wallenstein
?
?
?
?

Philias Freese: Rapid growth. Continued affection results in continued growth. Stronger affection results in stronger growth. More affection results in more growth.

Aside from a new name in Deep Affection, Bell also got a new skill. Philias Freese. Thankfully, it had a description this time! Hmm, judging from the description, the skill was broken! Never mind the continued and stronger affection! The fact that more affection resulted in more growth meant that the more girlfriend Bell had, the stronger he would be! Add the previous two, where Bell surely wouldn't stop loving them, and the love would grow stronger over time; it was, to say the least, a recipe for disaster!

Should she show this to Bell? Hestia hesitated. While she had no intention of keeping any secret from her first child, her beloved child, she wasn't sure if showing him this would be the correct move.

Who was to say Bell wouldn't use this as a pretense to look for more girlfriends immediately?! She still hadn't coped well with Eina's existence as Bell's girlfriend! There was no way she wanted to have more and more girls clinging to Bell!

Yes, Hestia nodded to herself. It would be better if the world (read: Bell) did not know the truth.

She copied Bell's status to a sheet of paper, but she blurred out the new skill to conceal it from him. Sorry, Bell. It's for Orario's sake.

"You got a new name!" Hestia tried to sound fired up. "This Ais Wallenstein. How did you meet her! And why didn't you report anything to me!"

Bell laughed sheepishly, trying to avoid the topic. "Sorry, Goddess. It slipped my mind. The preparation to host Eina here took my mind."

Indeed. The two had just finished tidying the Church for Eina's arrival. Even though Bell cleaned his parts with a big grin, Hestia did not have the same enthusiasm that Bell had. Mostly because she was still jealous of the Half-Elf. Why did she have to host her?

Wait. Wait a minute! The wires on Hestia's brain connected as she realized something. She knew why Bell suddenly wanted to invite his current girlfriend here, specifically tonight!

"Bell! Have you talked with Eina!?" She questioned. This time, Bell's attempt at avoiding her topic wasn't even subtle anymore as he pretended not to listen to her and pointed to the ceiling.

"Ah, I haven't cleaned that part."

"Bell! Did you invite Eina here to talk about your second soulmate!?"

His scheme was found out, and Bell immediately bowed to his Goddess. "Goddess. Please help me explain to Eina about my soulmates! If it's you, I'm sure Eina would believe you!"

Hestia sighed. She should've known.

"Alright, alright. I'll help you." Bell's face rose up and formed a big smile. "But only this time!" The smile immediately turned into sad, kicked puppy eyes. It almost crumbled Hestia's resolve. Almost. But she cared for Bell too much, so she told Bell the next thing.

"Next time, it's up to you, Eina, and whoever this Ais is to explain things to your new girlfriends!"

"Yes! Thank you, Goddess Hestia! You're the best Goddess!"

"As it should be," Hestia preened.

There was a knock on the Church's door, and Bell ran to greet who was supposed to Eina. Hestia used the short time alone to think.

She hid Bell's skill from him. But if it did exactly as it described, then she was very sure that his growth would raise questions from other jealous Adventurers and their deities. What should she say to them? She honestly had no idea. A skill that translated love into excillia? Who would believe that?

...actually, it might work. The fact about Bell being powered up by the power of love sounded so ridiculous it became an acceptable answer. Yeah, they would think she was probably lying, but once they saw Bell with his girlfriends, the sight would lead them to question themselves. Was Hestia lying?

It was perfect! As expected of herself.

Soon, Bell entered the basement with his Half-Elf girlfriend in tow. Bell had a smile on his face, as usual. He was happy that Eina had come. Said girlfriend, however, looked horrified at the place she had entered. Her head paced around, trying to absorb the sight of the rundown, abandoned church that it was.

"Bell... do you really live in this kind of place?"

Somehow that statement hurt Hestia more than the fact that it was Bell's girlfriend who said it.

"Yeah! I know it's not the most amazing place, but it's home." Even Bell replied with a wince.

"...Would you like to stay with me?"

Wait, wait. Hestia needed to do something before the situation became bad enough for her!

Before she could do anything, however, she saw Bell shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Eina. While I'd really love to, if I stay with you, Goddess would be alone."

Hestia's heart melted.

Beeeeeeeellllllll!

Unbeknownst to her, the same thing happened to Eina.

Hnnnngggg!

Both women clutched their hearts, trying to keep their beating heart calm.

After a few seconds, Eina nodded while fixing the position of her glasses. "Understood. Then I would offer the same to Lady Hestia. Would you and Bell live with me? It's not a big place by any means, but it's definitely better than this... junk. Yes. This junk."

Hestia was torn. On one hand, she wanted out of this place. While she would always thank Hephaestus for her generosity, this property required a major overhaul, but Hestia was too broke to even think about fixing it! On the other hand, living with Eina meant she partially blessed their relationship. Sure, she didn't mind and accepted her as Bell's girlfriend. But blessing their relationship? Big no! She still wanted that slice of pie!

But, looking at the blushing face of her child, Hestia couldn't help but open her mouth.

"Fine. But no being frisky in my presence! Either do it when I'm out or inform me if you want to do it!"

At her mention of illicit acts, the two blushed so hard steam could be seen coming out of their head. Bell because he remembered Hestia's lesson about how a proper relationship should be, while Eina because of what she was about to do this afternoon.

"G-Goddess!"

"L-Lady Hestia!"

For that instant, their coordination surpassed any Adventurers.

Seeing the two being that red, Hestia couldn't help but chuckle.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop. Please take a seat, Miss Advisor."

Eina mumbled thanks before she sat down on the torn sofa. "So what are we going to talk about, Lady Hestia? Bell said it is important for the future of our relationship."

Eina inquired, wanting to sate her curiosity. Hestia looked at how giddy she was at the word 'future,' and she immediately glared at Bell. What sort of thought did he put on Eina's mind regarding this talk!? Could it be that Half-Elf was thinking about marriage!? Marriage with Bell? This soon? No way! Definitely no way!

"Goddess..." Bell trailed off, expecting her to start the explanation.

"Miss Advisor. I will start by saying that please don't interrupt my explanation. That goes for you, too, Bell. After that, I promise to hear your response. Is that understood?" She saw Eina nodding at her, so she continued. "First thing first, I have a copy of Bell's status here. Please take a look."

Hestia handed Eina the status sheet she used to show Bell Ais' name. However, to Eina's credit, she did not immediately take the paper off Hestia's hand and instead shook her head. "It's better to keep it secret from me. I trust Bell's judgment when he says he's ready for any floor."

Hestia sighed. "It's not about that, Miss Advisor. Please take a look at Bell's skill."

She forcefully handed the Half-Elf the paper and pointed at the skill section.

"Bell has a skill called Deep Affection, which lists the name of his soulmates. Yes. Soulmates. You are among them, but so does nine other girls," Hestia started, gauging Eina's reaction. So far, the girl did not look annoyed or surprised. She was surprisingly calm. "Today, Bell found out that he has another soulmate. One Ais Wallenstein."

Eina's eyes narrowed, and she glanced at Bell, who looked down and avoided Eina's eyes. Man up, Bell! Hestia screamed in her mind.

"Now, that's the gist of it. Anything that the two of you talk about, you can do on your own. It's outside of my jurisdiction as Bell's Goddess. I'll go somewhere."

Hestia left the room and went outside. She needed a drink! Maybe Hephaestus had one?

Once Hestia left the room completely, both Bell and Eina went silent.

"Um... sorry!" Bell bowed towards the Half-Elf. "Even though you're my girlfriend, I didn't say anything to you about my skill."

"I..." Eina frowned. "I can't exactly say that it's okay, Bell, but I won't judge before I fully hear your explanation. I need to know. How did this happen?"

Bell then told Eina about his encounter with the Spirit of Love one year ago. How he freed it from a seal, and it granted him ten soulmates. Once his soulmates meet him, they wouldn't be able to love anyone ever again.

"You're the first one I met, Eina. I showered you with my love hoping that my skills did not pick any other girls before we established a strong bond at the least. But the situation says otherwise," Bell winced. "Also, because I'm afraid that you won't accept me if I say I'll have more girlfriends in the future."

Standing up from his bow, Bell looked Eina in the eyes. "I-If you don't want for us to continue, I will accept-Ghah! Cough, cough" Bell coughed up blood, kneeling on the ground.

"Bell!"

"I-I'm sorry. It's just... Imagining a life without you hurts me," Bell replied, wiping his mouth.

"Oh, Bell..." Eina sighed happily. "I won't leave you just because of this. But we have to discuss the future of our relationship. Agreed?" Eina helped Bell stand up and guided him to sit beside her.

"Thank you, Eina. I love you."

Hnnnnggg!

"I love you too, Bell!"

"Eina..."

"Bell..."

Their face got closer to each other. Slowly, their lips touched. Each of them savored the taste of the other's kiss. They had done this many times before, but each kiss was still special to Bell.

Twenty seconds passed before the two broke the kiss. Gasping for breath, Bell gave a smile to Eina.

"So, do I have permission to ask Miss Wallenstein out?"

Eina sighed. "You have. But I don't think asking the Sword Princess is that easy. She's known to have rejected over one thousand confessions," she revealed trivia to Bell.

"I don't know," Bell shrugged. "If we take you as an example, I think she'd fall in love with me too. But that's just me hoping the best for the situation."

"Okay," Eina accepted. She grasped Bell's hand in her own and stared at him. "Whatever you do, I'll be beside you."

Bell just replied with a tightened grip on his hand.

Loki stared at the new thing written on Ais' back. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. Sure, with several prods, Ais told her about what happened in the Dungeon with her new acquaintance. But when Ais entered her room to update her Falna, she had never expected this to happen.

Skills:
Deep Affection
Bell Cranel

So, Loki did the next best thing and shriek.

It is said that her shriek spooked most of the Twilight Manor residents. But that was a story for another time.

"We're meeting this Bell Cranel from Itty Bitty Familia first thing tomorrow!"

Ais blinked before the weight of what Loki said registered in her mind. "You remember Bell's name."

"How could I not!?" Loki retorted incredulously.

Meanwhile, Ais was just happy that she would meet Bell sooner than expected.

There you go. The talk with Eina went well. Sorry, Eina, it's not about marriage.