I sighed deeply as a few undead began carrying the last of our boxes. I had just bought the house and we were already moving out for a mansion. It wasn't actually so bad, I could still sell the house to make some vals back. The new mansion was nice though. Over a hundred rooms, a large communal bath divided between the men and women. Mikoto convinced Hestia to have it remodeled to one of those Japanese style bathhouses along with all the other remodeling we had done. The remodeling hadn't been too costly since I was able to get most of the material and unskilled labor, the Goibniu familia hadn't charged us an arm and a leg for their work. Just the arm. Returning to the new mansion I saw two familiar looking women outside. Two of those girls from the Apollo familia.
"Can I help you?" I asked as I watched the redheaded girl try to pry the blue haired one off of the gates.
"Ah sorry about this. Cassandra thinks she left her pillow here." Redhead sighed.
"I can check for you, it's no problem. Also I'm sorry for poisoning you in the wargame."
"It's no problem. In fact Cassandra warned us of the poison. Oh and I'm Daphne by the way." She introduced catching my attention. How in the hell had she been warned about my magic? I had literally learned it three days before the war game. The only people who knew about Cloudkill were Hestia, Bell and Lili.
"The sun will burn the rabbit and unleash a cloud of death. The rabbit returns to life and eats the sun." Cassandra explained. That was weird, sounded kind of like a prophecy. Well with magic anything was possible. For all I knew I probably had some sort of spell that could achieve a similar effect.
"Ah, well I'm going to go look for your pillow." I said before making my retreat. It hadn't taken me long to find it, most of the rooms were still unfurnished so the only rooms that did have beds and pillows were already claimed, so Cassandra's logically was the only pillow in an unclaimed room. Giving the woman her pillow back we parted ways. Once I returned to the mansion I immediately took to the baths. A bath would do nicely with how wound up I've been recently. It wasn't long before Bell and Welf joined me in the baths. It was kind of weird that we were all naked underneath our towels, but I didn't even have my eyes open as I sank in the water so it's fine.
"We were looking for you magic man." Welf said, " Thought you needed to relax so we were gonna drag you to the baths, but it looks like yer already here."
"There's too much." I whined, not even bothering to elaborate.
"True to that." Welf agreed.
"So what do we do now?" Bell joined. That was the question. As much as I forgot all of the spells available to wizards there was one necromancy spell that stood out. I would still need to access the sixth tier of magic, but if I got there soon it would theoretically put me on par with the most powerful people in Orario. But that was for later. For now we were all going to take a day off and relax before heading back into the dungeon.
"For now, we relax." I said sinking deeper into the water. minutes passed without a word as we all enjoyed the heat of the water and contemplated our futures. Despite my attempts to relax I couldn't help but to plan. I'm working with an unknown time table after all. Father could come tomorrow or in five years. The best course of action would probably still be to power level in the dungeon or fiercely study my spells. It was easier to do so now. I could roughly tell what level the spell I was deciphering based on how difficult it was, though that is thrown off slightly by necromancy spells.
I was able to rest well, but the next day I immediately began studying in the lobby. Medior sat opposite to me quilting something as I read. Pride interrupted me not long after because, apparently, there were hundreds of people on our front lawn. Leaving the mansion I was greeted by just that. At least a hundred people loitering about our lawn and Hestia standing proudly before them all shouting something about twintails being the best.
"What's going on out here?" I asked. Hestia turned around and looked at me smugly before making a grand gesture to the gathering before us.
"You see Matthew, being the super smart goddess that I am, I decided to start a recruitment drive after our wargame. All of these people you see before us are potential recruits." She beamed proudly. I had to admit. I was really impressed. To gather so many people in just one day? There were so many adventurers of all different sorts. Dwarves, amazoness, animal people, and there was even about a few elves all grouped up on the side by themselves. Though the biggest surprise would probably be Daphne and Cassandra standing in the crowd. I know they said they forgave me for the war game, but it just seemed strange to join the familia that beat you.
"Alright Hestia, how do you want to go about interviewing them? Or are we just accepting everyone? If we do that we'll also have to consider hiring some maids and maybe cooks." I said. Hestia just gave me a confused look.
"I thought we could just accept everyone. Can't you just use your undead for the maid and food stuff?"
"Having a zombie maid would be counter intuitive and they aren't smart enough to cook." I explained as I looked through all of the potential recruits. "So are we just taking them all or what."
"You, Bell and Lili can help interview them all."
"Hestia! Hestia!" Mikoto shouted as she burst through the door with a letter in her hands. Hestia seemed hesitant to take the letter so I grabbed it instead. Lo and behold it was the price of Bell's Hestia knife. Two hundred million. I hefty sum, but not that concerning. The terms of the debt seemed to outline that it would be payed via a deduction from Hestia's paycheck for her job in one of Hephaestus' stores. I mean I could talk to Hephaestus later about paying off the debt with familia funds, but this wasn't as big of a deal as Mikoto seemed to think it was.
"Eh." I verbally dismissed to calm Mikoto's nerves. She didn't seem to realize what the contract said and probably just focused on the big scary number so I leaned over to her and pointed out the terms of the contract. After re-reading the terms Mikoto became less tense and took a deep breath. "See, it's handled."
The Hestia familia hopefuls in our yard looked curious about our conversation, but it was none of their business. "Alright everyone please come inside and gather into four groups and wait for one of our familia heads or our goddess to address you."
With the hundred or so adventurers forming into groups I stood off to the right side, Hestia on the far left, Lili next to me and Bell between the two of them. There were some people who switched lines depending on who was at the front, but I don't supposed that would matter. One thing I did notice was that almost every single elf present was in my line. They probably took up a fourth of my group on their own. I wasn't sure why the elves would prefer me over the others, but I wasn't going to give them any special consideration.
"Okay, everyone in my group please form a line and follow me." I said as I lead the adventurers to a room that I knew at least had a desk I could use for interviews. Another reason I chose the room was because there was one of my extra undead sitting idle and it would be best to know beforehand if anyone had issues being around my undead. Once we got to the room and the adventurers were in a neat line I called the first in. An elf woman with platinum blonde hair done in a ponytail and judging from her attire and the giant stick she was holding, I immediately pegged her as a mage.
"Welcome to the Hestia familia home, I'm Matthew Mathers." I said trying to gauge her. She didn't respond immediately though it looked like she had wanted to, probably shy.
"I'm Elise Mun'nor, a mage." She responded curtly, not even meeting my eyes. It left a bad taste in my mouth for her to not even look at me when she spoke, but it was nothing to kick her out for.
"Alright, just a few questions Elise. Firstly what brings you to the Hestia familia?" I asked. I wanted to keep my questioning rather uniform so the questions I asked Elise should be repeatable for the sake of convenience.
"I wanted to become an adventurer to perfect and expand my magic." She said with much more confidence this time, actually looking me in the eyes as she talked. I know it wasn't something I could ask as a standard question, but I wanted to know what magic she had.
"And what spells do you know?" I asked and all of the sudden she suddenly became reserved and avoidant again.
"I actually can't cast any spells yet." She said with eyes scrutinizing the floor in shame. My mind screeched to a halt with that admission. So she wanted to be a magic caster, but didn't know any spells. As our familia grows and we begin making more money it would be possible to buy our members grimoires or perhaps I could write out more of my own spells. Then again spells in this world seemed to be more attuned to the individual, so if every magic caster in our familia was out slinging Fireball, that would be overly odd. Something to discuss with Bell, Lili and Hestia later I suppose.
"It will be a moment before we can get a grimoire for you, but that can be worked out later. Would you be willing to fight with martial weapons on the higher floors for the meantime?" I asked, The girl seemed shocked, but quickly nodded to my question.
"Very well, and our familia has secrets best not shared with others. Can you be trusted not to share sensitive information?" Rather than verbally respond to my question Elise fervently nodded. It may have been a mean thought, but I doubted she even talked to anyone to spill secrets. She didn't seem like a bad fit and Hestia said she wanted to accept everyone so I had no reason to turn Elise away. She didn't even look uncomfortable in the presence of my undead.
"Alright, please head to the lobby and wait." I told the elf as the two of us began to leave the room. She headed back for the lobby as I called the next person in. A gruff looking dwarf. As I interviewed the dwarf I found that he also had an interest in magic despite his rugged appearance. He apparently had a spell that allowed him to spread any condition he had to others around him, something he would use to spread intoxication throughout bars until he was kicked out of just about every bar in Orario. A fun spell, but it could also be useful if he cast it while applying a mana or health potion. After a few questions Gunther was directed to the lobby.
This process repeated for another twenty-seven people. About seven elves, ten humans, three amazoness, five various animal people and two more dwarves. In the end I only ended up rejecting two of them. One human who seemed a little bit too interested in how I poisoned the Apollo familia and an amazoness who just seemed very... ingenuine with her answers and was giving me a look that was rather uncomfortable. When I was wrapping it up and about to leave for the lobby however, I realized that I had missed a person. A blonde human with blue-green eyes.
Instinctually I felt unnerved by the man. Not to be prejudice, but blonde hair and green eyes weren't exactly common in Orario and the only other person with blonde hair and green eyes I knew was my father. I wasn't exactly trying to hide my discomfort and this guy could tell. None the less he flashed me with a bright smile unbefitting of the situation.
"You're confused again huh? That's a shame." The man said before turning around and waving as he began to walk off.
"Hey wait!" I called out. To my surprise the man actually stopped and turned around.
"What's my name Matthew?" He asked. I didn't know. He looked familiar, and with his appearance I could guess he was my brother, but I had absolutely no idea what his name was. "You don't know huh?"
"Are you here to collect me?" I asked worriedly. I didn't have any weapons on me so if it came to a fight it would just be my magical might against his, and father seemed confident I would lose.
"Collect you?" He asked looking confused for a moment before realization struck his face, "Oh no, not yet at least. I just wanted to check up on my little brother. Unfortunately you're confused again, so you're just going to ramble on about your games again."
"Games?" I said befuddled. Was he referencing DnD? I'm at least sixty percent sure he wasn't supposed to exist, how did he know about DnD?
"Yeah you used to go on about it all the time at first, about how we weren't real and how we were a part of your game. Your confusion probably has something with how you were made." He said casually causing my mind to race. Made? What in the hell did that mean? And he talked about how I had spoken to him before, specifically about how he isn't supposed to be real. I didn't remember any of it.
No, that had to have been to throw me off guard and reduce my spellcasting ability. Quickly looking around I saw nothing out of place in the manor, no other people where they shouldn't be and no signs of magic in the immediate area. He confirmed he was my brother, so there was no need to feel guilt in killing him. All I needed to do was cast a spell that preferably wouldn't cause too much damage to the manor.
"Blight!"
"Counterspell." He casually dismissed as the spell fizzled out of my hands. I may have forgotten he would have access to that spell as well. Shit.
Well two could play at that game. Unless he joined a familia and received a falna then I should be much stronger than him physically. Even if he was blessed by a God I doubted he was able to level up so quickly. And so I charged him.
"Hold Person." He said surprised by my sudden movement, but I was ready.
"Counterspell!" I yelled as I continued my charge. Tackling the man I grabbed one of his arms, forcing it behind his back, "What is father planning?"
"You'll be told once he calls for you." He said with a huff, "There really is no point talking to you when you're like this."
"Tell me." I growled.
"Like I said, father will tell you. Just be patient." He said. This asshole. Pulling his arm up behind him and watching him wince I asked again very nicely. And by nicely I mean that I nearly broke his arm when he refused to say.
"Alright alright! Father is..." He began just before I felt metal begin to push against my neck. "I hate when you get like this Matthew."
"I told you this wouldn't work out. We need to get back." A very familiar voice said from behind me as the blade pushed further into my neck. Slowly I let go of my brother as the blade began to draw blood.
"Ah damn. Don't kill him. Let's just get out of here for now." He said.
"I don't understand why you two are so insistent on letting him live. We could just kill him right now. It would be easy." The assassin said from behind me.
"No, we're not killing him just because he's confused. Let's just go. Teleport." He said before shimmering out of existence.
Without the feeling of metal against my neck I quickly turned around to see... nothing. The assassin was gone as well. Well fuck. Teleport. I didn't remember the exact remember the mechanics of the spell, but the name didn't leave much to the imagination. Quickly leaving the hallway I made way for the lobby where Hestia and Bell ought to have been. Bursting into the room I saw Bell in the main room talking to all the new recruits with Hestia nowhere I'm sight.
"Bell where's Hestia?" I asked slightly huffing slightly. The other recruits looked slightly disturbed by my disheveled appearance and more likely the small trail of blood on my neck. Bell for his part immediately bit down his confusion and concern and pointed me to Hestia who was just two rooms down applying a falna to one of the new recruits.
Not even concerned about the newbie's privacy I burst into the room to make sure Hestia was safe. Hestia was sitting on top of a now shirtless Elise. Ignoring the red faced elf I addressed Hestia, "Come see me when you're done. It's important."
With that I quickly left the room with the half naked elf only to see Lili looking up at me with a pout. "Is there a reason you barged into the room with a half naked woman?"
"We're going to talk about it once Hestia is done." I said simply.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly taking my hand. I hadn't realized it until now, but my heart was beating way too fast. I took a moment to calm myself before smiling back to her and taking her hand.
"I'll be alright. I just ran into my brother." I said. It was scary, but they weren't going to hurt me for now at least. However meeting them just gave me more questions then they answered. Lili reached around me for a comforting hug rather than to express worry and it was deeply comforting. Worrying about them would do me no good.
Author again. Don't fret about new people joining the familia. They're background characters, maybe I'll use Daphne and Cassandra, but if so they'll be minor characters. I just don't think it would make sense for the whole thing about everyone leaving Hestia when they find out about her debt when Matthew is around.
Other than that I have some news. New job confirmed and the schedule will take some time getting used to. That on It's own isn't too bad, but on top of that I'm worried my laptop will die soon. Its reeeally old. If that happens my update schedule will nosedive. so just a heads up, if I don't update for a month or two then my laptop is probably dead.
The Qrow: Before I respond to your points I just want to say that I really appreciate your review. You can't fix what you're doing wrong if you don't know what you're doing wrong lol.
-So as to the first point, you're absolutely right. I should have given more justification for Matthew to join the Hestia familia, or even a familia at all, and if I were to go back and alter how I've written the story then I absolutely would give it at least another chapter on that. I was just excited to write and jumped into the story without giving that much thought.
-The murder thing yeah. That was also a flaw on my part. I did have a reason for it, but the problem is that I haven't really expanded on it. It doesn't really matter if I have a reason for it if that reason doesn't show up until the end does it? Maybe not giving it all away, but at least expanding on it. That's definitely something I'll keep in mind for my next stories.
-For the third point I'm going to be honest, looking back on it, that was pretty dumb. My reason was that the gods knew the dungeon was alive, but they didn't know that it was 'aware' if that makes sense. It's not a good justification and that's something I would change if I went back.
-And for the fourth thing there is a reason he didn't want Loki's help. At this point in the story the only people who really know how strong the spellbook is would be Bell, Lili and Hestia where as everyone else would think of it as a grimoire they couldn't use. At that moment he didn't trust Loki with his most precious thing. You can still think that's not a good enough reason, but that's why I did it that way.
-For your second review I can see where you're coming from, but I figured that one of Bell's main strengths is his heroism and that could substitute his affection for Ais. And it's funny you mention a story with Bell not having a cheat exp skill because that may or may not be another story I was cooking up for after this one is finished.