Hestia, Recently Descended Goddess of Hearth and Home, Jagamarukun Saleswoman
…I had their forces lying in wait utterly destroyed, and counted their number as ghosts. I shattered their arms of steel and bodies of flesh. The devouring light washed over me and past me, and I remain. My body burneth with the terrible heat of ideal forms, shapes man was never meant to wield. I destroyed the arm of my enemy, the legs of my enemy, the arm of my enemy, the breast of my enemy. I took from their corpses their arms and treasures as my own, and their ally I hauled away as prisoner of war…
The memory of the Falna echoed in her mind, bringing her from her dreams in a quiet world. The only sounds being the distant crackling of burning logs, and Bell-kun's cute snoring in the distance.
She wasn't quite sure when she woke up, half sleepwalking through getting through her morning routine. Taking off her nightgown, putting on her dress which looked nothing like a potato sack, then blearily making her way in front of the hearth to check on how it was doing.
The fire was crackling merrily, old warm coals burning newly added firewood and creating a cozy orange glow over the inner chamber of the church. She basked in it for a time, sleepily poking at the wood with her poker and making adjustments to ensure a long term and reasonably subdued burn. It wouldn't do for it to go out while she was at work, and she had to work because otherwise they wouldn't have eno…
…enough valis to stay here…
Slowly she came to full wakefulness, staring into the cute lil fireplace with a look of consideration. They didn't really have many valis problems anymore, did they?
She turned her gaze around the rest of the room briefly, the church had been partially repaired, the gaps in the walls fixed up. It was definitely a fixer-upper, but they had room to expand into the basement and the second levels. The next thing to do would probably be re-insulating the interior and exterior. Then they needed to buy some proper furniture and clean up the rafters.
After the interior was sorted, the exterior could be cleaned up. She could have a little garden out back to grow some of her own food. She'd need it to keep up with a bigger familia. Adam was bad enough with how much he ate, and they got more members already, so she'd need a bigger pot and more ingredients today…
Stews were barely enough to keep up, especially in the pot she had. She bought it planning on only needing to feed her boys for awhile, but now she had a bunch of cute lil girls too. So she needed a bigger pot, but something bigger might not fit inside the cute lil hearth which meant she would need a bigger fireplace which meant…
She huffed, amused at her own mild frustration. No matter how you look at it, they needed to expand. It would be a shame to lose this cute lil church though. But she would need to spend more time renovating, which meant less time to do other things, which meant she would need to cut something out of her schedule.
And they didn't really have valis problems anymore. It might be time to hang up the Jagamarukun stall. That would be a bit sad, but it was a pretty big investment of time into something that she didn't really need to do anymore.
"Oi, Tatertits." She immediately fell into a flat grumble as she turned her head towards the opened back door, Adam poking his sweaty head through and speaking with his usual surly tones. "The brats awake yet?"
"They're not potatoes." She growled out. Potato sack her ass, she was going to buy different clothes today. Something so cute and sexy and mature he'd be blown away and kowtow a dozen times about how wrong he was. Then she'd laugh at him, arrogantly, and humbly raise him to his feet with her nose in the air. "...no, I think they're still sleeping."
Adam grumbled to himself, glaring at nothing for a few moments. He was probably mentally complaining about the rest not waking up as early as he did. "I'm waking them in an hour if they aren't up by then." He declared.
"That early?" She responded with furrowed brows. "You normally give it another two hours or so before waking Bell-kun up."
"The new brats are an issue. I have to see what they can do, get them armed and armored, and tell them what to do. Might be lucky to start delving an hour late today." Adam grumbled out, leaning against the doorframe.
Hestia hummed in consideration. "Twelve hours… might be too much for them, don't you think? They don't have your s-stamina." She tripped over the last word, carefully disguising it with a yawn even as images flashed into her mind. You delinquent! Stop doing dirty stuff with the smith girl, especially where she can clearly hear you! She kept her face carefully turned away until she felt her flush die down.
She wanted to tell them to stop but only ever got as far as the doorway every time…
"I know. Weak little meatbrats like them? They got tired walking around the other day, they weren't even fighting." Adam grumbled out. Hestia's mood turned lukewarm as he said the word. "Need to update the schedules. Probably three shifts of four hours each."
Adam had a habit of adding the word 'meat' to things as a descriptor. It worried her, but he didn't seem terribly unstable despite it.
"...Adam, have you ever heard of 'Heracles'?" Hestia asked, slightly worried about what she might hear.
Adam considered that for a moment, before replying with furrowed brows. "Ain't that a type of beetle?"
Hestia blinked. Did they name a type of beetle after a hero? "I… I don't know. Is it?"
"I think. Why?" He rumbled at her with a raised brow. She gave a shrug and an equally confused expression. The confusion was good at hiding her feelings of relief. He snorted, and started to move out again.
"Wait." She said, causing him to pause and stare flatly at her for a moment. "I'm thinking of closing the Jagamarukun stall… and spend more time getting the home in order… what do you think?" Adam was a down to earth person, she could rely on him to give a practical sort of answer.
"...Aren't you renting this place?" Adam grumbled at her. Nothing against her stopping, just bringing attention to a potential consideration.
"Ah! I should probably go ask Hep-chan if she's selling, shouldn't I?" She muttered to herself. That was a good point, she had almost forgotten about that.
"See if you can buy the surrounding district too." Adam rumbled, little concern for how much such an endeavor might cost in total. Though when he was making more than a million every day, she supposed what was considered too expensive or too cheap was a bit different than normal. "It's mostly abandoned for whatever reason, so it should be cheap compared to other properties."
"Ah… This used to be the temple district, but after the gods started descending…" Hestia trailed off, unsure about how exactly to say 'no one wanted to worship a bunch of morons'. "Most people stopped showing up, but no one wants to insult the gods by turning the district into something else…"
"Most people are morons, see if we can start buying it. We'll need a fortified district and internal logistics eventually." Adam grumbled, looking around and seemingly making up his mind about something. "I'm going to go buy replacement gear, I'll be back within an hour."
"I'll have some breakfast stew ready when you get back."
The door closed, and she was alone in a sleeping home once more. Holding her hands up to test the heat of the fire, she smiled, pushed herself up off her knees, and moved over to grab her pot.
Adam was going to eat most of this before the rest woke up, so she should get the second pot ready too. Grumbling out a 'tastes fine' and then eating most of it was one of his many cute features, she was really happy to discover it.
Now, did she have enough…
She needed more potatoes later. Hestia huffed. Today was going to be a talking and shopping kinda day, wasn't it?
—
"Ah… um… Mr. Adam told me to come help you…" Coco nervously stood at the doorway, causing Hestia to look up from her peeling of potatoes and blink. The pallum girl was fidgeting at the doorway, the sounds of gruff conversation and chirpy replies coming from the backyard behind her. "I-I asked if I could do something else… and he told me I had to… help… you…"
Hestia smiled brightly, reaching over to enthusiastically pat the ground next to her. "Of course, Coco-chan. Come sit next to me, I could use a helper."
Coco timidly made her way over, before coming to about arms length and woodenly sitting down with her hands in her lap. Adam had told her to come help, huh?
"Don't want to go into the dungeon then?" Hestia asked kindly, quickly peeling the potato and setting the peels aside. They would add a lot of 'potato' flavor to the stock, separating them from the actual 'meat' of the vegetable would allow it to absorb a more varied taste.
"I can!" Coco spoke quickly, eyes darting up fearfully before she withdrew into herself again. "I-I can if you want me to…"
"Nope!" Hestia handed the girl a potato. Something to fiddle with to keep her hands occupied. "I want you to be happy, okay? If you want to go fight monsters all day like my boys do, then you can. If you want to help me instead, then you can. If you want to do something else, then you can."
"Adam might grumble about it, but he always grumbles, you know?" Hestia leaned forwards and raised her hand as if telling a secret. Coco-chan giggled briefly, a good sign. Hestia continued. "So, what do you want to do, Coco-chan?"
Coco stared at the potato in her hands.
"I want to help you." She nodded like a mouse that just saw the largest piece of cheese in the world and was determined to eat it all.
Hestia nodded happily. "I'm making stew right now, and later on I have to go shopping and talk to my friends Hep-chan and Demeter-chan. I'll have lunch at some point, and start some cleaning around the home. I think I might start a garden today, too, if there's time. Do you want to help with all that?"
"Yes!" Coco eagerly nodded her head grabbing a knife and briefly hesitating, trying to figure out how to peel the vegetable.
Hestia gently reached over, took the chef's knife out of her hands, and replaced it with a paring knife. Then she scooted over, hip to hip with the girl, and started moving her hands to show her how to peel properly.
"See you want to hold your hands like this, and the knife like this. Don't try to press too hard, because then you might cut yourself pushing too hard. Just hold it, and let the knife do the work okay?"
"Uh, so like this?"
"Gentle, gentle. Knife-kun gets grumpy if you press him too hard, you want to let him glide, right under the skin, and let it come off in nice strips."
"Oh, so…" Coco scrunched up her face in focus, attempting to copy the practiced motions of Hestia's own hands. It was amateur, rough and choppy, with lots of chunks left over on the skin. It was also very earnest, and thus exceptionally cute.
Hestia smiled, and gently showed her how to do it again.
Wickedly, she plotted to put her new assistant in an assortment of outfits while they were shopping today.
…Oh! What about matching dresses!
—
This time, she knocked on the door politely. She had to set a good example for Coco-chan after all, and more importantly, she had to totally wow her old friend with her cute new outfit. After a moment, a voice called from the otherside of the office door, and Hestia pushed it open to step through. Coco followed behind, still marveling at her new dress and exceptionally bouncy in it.
Hep-chan was filling out more paperwork, as she always did. "Yes?" She called out without looking up from a folder of parchments, then comparing to another paper on the desk and making a mark.
Hestia grinned, her sneaky entrance meant that Hep-chan didn't know it was her. Another successful infiltration mission! She turned to wink at her new assistant, who enthusiastically nodded back and got into pose. Getting into pose herself, she called out in her best 'mature and husky' voice.
"Welcome home, master~."
Hep-chan briefly glanced up then back at her documents, before double-taking and jerking back harshly enough to tip her chair back. Hestia's expression turned into one of horror as Hephaestus collapsed back entirely, chair falling over and the goddess of the forge disappearing behind the desk. Coco practically shrank into herself, expression turning to one of fear and dread.
"Ah! Hep-chan, are you okay?" Hestia quickly asked, hopping forwards to peer around the desk and check on her friend.
Hephaestus was laying on her back in a daze, the chair having cushioned her from the fall. It was a really nice chair, looking at it!. She glanced over to Hestia again, before raising a hand and coughing into her fist harshly, looking anywhere except at her. Hestia offered a hand to help her up, which Hephaestus accepted, still refusing to look directly at her.
"H-hestia…" Hesphaestus began. "What are you wearing?"
Hestia smiled widely, stepping back to twirl back and forth once and replied. "A Maid dress! Isn't it cute?! Here look, I even match with Coco-chan!" Moving over to her little assistant, who dutifully twirled with a startled look in her eyes, Hestia posed once more.
Hep-chan glanced a few times, coughing harshly into her fist to regain her dignity, and picking up her chair once more. "I see… It looks very c-cute on you, Hestia-chan. And you too, Coco-chan."
"Hehe! I knew it would be a home run!" Hestia smugly mock-whispered to Coco, who was regaining confidence. "We should make it uniform, what do you think Coco?"
"Um, it's really comfortable." Coco replied, fiddling with the dress again. "I really like it! I'm sure the others would too!" She excitedly chirped at Hestia.
Hestia considered her boys in maid outfits for a moment, before shaking her head. "Probably just for homework, I don't think Adam would let anyone wear a maid dress into the dungeon. He'd growl and grumble until they relented."
"So! Hestia. I appreciate the visit, but was it just to show off your n-new dresses?" Hephaestus coughed midway though again, moving to sit down in her chair again and looking down at her desk.
"Mhm-hm!" Hestia replied with a hum, pulling out a slip of paper and dramatically slapping it down on Hep-chan's desk. Other papers were pushed away slightly as her hand and the page it held collided with the hardwood. Behind her, Coco did the dramatic emphasis pose that they practiced before coming in.
"Hephaestus! Let me buy the church!"
Hep-chan finally looked at her directly, raising a brow at the bold declaration and glancing at the paper on the desk. Hestia pulled her hand back and let her fists rest on her hips, stance wide and proud in her new maid dress. Hephaestus took the paper in her hands, and looked at it.
A guild bank statement containing their most recent amount. Currently two-hundred and fifty thousand after her purchases and orders earlier that day. Buying dresses, cleaning supplies, bigger utensils, more ingredients, potato seeds, planter boxes, and more was expensive, as was buying it to be shipped over to their address.
Hephaestus hummed appreciatively. "Is this what you earned after a week? Your familia is working hard."
"After one day!" Hestia boldly declared with a smile. "They put some of the money into the familia account! They've been earning a lot, tell them Coco-chan!"
"Mr. Adam and Mr. Bell and their party earned one and a half million while she was with them yesterday." Coco dutifully answered. Hephaestus' eyebrow disappeared into her hairline as she took that in.
"One and a half million… Were they doing the swarming trick with the ants?" Hephaestus asked with a look of consideration.
"Yes Goddess-sama." Coco bowed, causing Hep-chan to cough and look away again.
"That's not normally something level ones can usually manage for too long… Especially after a week or so? You got your hands on something really special there, Hestia."
"My Familia is the best!" Hestia threw her head back further, and balanced on the balls of her heels, trying to convey the absolute pride she felt as a goddess.
"It's not enough though."
"Bwah!" Hestia lost balance and fell back, before quickly recovering and pushing herself back up.
"Property inside the walls is expensive, Hestia." Hephaestus replied with an amused quirk to her lips. "I bought that church-plot from the Guild specifically to rent it out to you. It cost one-million valis for the deed."
Hestia slumped in complete defeat. That was like, four times the amount of money that they had. Coco put a comforting hand on her back and Hephaestus chuckled briefly.
"It's just a million, Hestia. From what your cute assistant-" Hestia grinned as her friend agreed with her. "-told me, your familia makes more than that every day. Just give it another week and you can buy the deed if you want it. I'll even give you a discount for renovations that you already bought."
"I'll do it! And then once it's ready, I'll have a house-warming party! And you have to come, okay?" Hestia pointed a dramatic finger at her friend.
Hephaestus raised her hands disarmingly. "I'm sure I can find the time." She replied with a smile.