Chapter 7 Goddess Hephaestos.
Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater or Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka / Danmachi
[In the streets of Orario.]
Lefiya was standing in front of a snack stand. She was chatting to the vendor while eating a Takoyaki.
"So he always goes to the guild in the morning?" Lefiya asked the vendor.
"Yes. Sometimes he takes longer, but he always goes to the guild. But after that I don't know anything anymore." The vendor replies as he prepares more Takoyakis.
"And you don't know anything else? Not even which family he's from?" Lefiya raises an eyebrow at the man.
"I just stand here preparing my products to sell. Now, if you're not going to buy anything else, could you leave? There are customers who want to eat." The man speaks in a slightly rude tone.
Lefiya frowns and walks away annoyed. Walking down the street, she sees a god nearby.
"God Miach, could you give me some of your time?" Lefiya walked up to the nearby god. Lucky for her he hadn't gone to the meeting of the gods.
"Uh? Oh yes, and who might you be?" Miach turned to look at Lefiya, he raised a curious eyebrow.
"I'm Lefiya Viridis, and I'd like to ask you a few questions." Lefiya says without much ado. "Did a boy with white hair, blue eyes and carrying a cannon on his back pass by your store?"
"Oh, from those features, I can only think of Penny." Miach put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Although, he does look like he's carrying a cannon on his back."
"Om, thank you very much!" Lefiya quickly thanks the God and leaves before he can ask her about it.
Miach stands there, shocked that the Elf girl has simply left. Miach, who was still in shock, felt a touch on his shoulder.
"Mr. Miach, let's go!" Naaza says, already sounding out of patience. "The potions won't be made alone."
"Ah, yes, yes. Sorry!" Miach quickly turned his attention back to his daughter and accompanied her.
Lefiya, who had wandered off, was walking through the streets until she heard a conversation nearby. She sees three people, a man, a werewolf and a semi-human cat.
"So, we're going to corner him, and if he resists, we'll kill him." A man speaks. He seems to be leaning his back against the wall of an alleyway.
"Yeah, if he doesn't want to hand over that gun of his, we'll kill him and steal everything he's got." The semi-human cat says.
"What if that doesn't work? He didn't manage to defeat a member of the Loki family?" The werewolf says worriedly.
"Tell me another one!?" The man shrugs. "It looks like he managed to defeat a member of the Loki family, and if he did, it was certainly one of the weak newcomers."
"Still, if he resists, we'll corner him and take that weapon from him." The semi-human cat said, reassuring them both. "Against the three of us at the same time, he won't stand a chance."
"Well then, let's go find him, I really want to know how much that gun of his is worth. If it's true that it can turn into two swords, it'll be a fortune in our hands." The man says, and the other two start laughing along with him
Lefiya, who has been listening to everything from a distance, decides to follow them to see what Penny's strength is like. She doesn't believe that he really could have immobilized Bete and turned her into a horse.
"They must be level 2 or 3, so let's see how this goes." Lefiya mutters, she sees the adventurers leaving and starts to follow them.
[House of Hestia.]
Bell, who was covering himself entirely with a towel, came out of the bathroom after taking a shower. He enters the room and sees that Penny is analyzing her God Arc, which was in Dual Blade mode.
"Hey, Penny..." Bell looks away a little embarrassed. "Can you... can you come out so I can change?"
"Why? Don't we have the same body?" Penny picks up her God Arc and switches it to Pistol mode.
"N-not that..." Bell looks away. "Apart from the fact that you're clearly stronger than me, I don't want someone else to see me naked." Bell looks away.
Penny looks at his body and his arms, he sees his slightly defined muscles from his constant fights against the Aragami.
"All right, but don't take too long. We'll go to the guild and ask Eina if she knows where we can find some good armor for you." Penny says, he takes his God Arc and puts it on his back, even though he doesn't know how it gets stuck on his back.
Penny walks to the stairs while Bell sighs with relief. Bell walks to the closet and takes out his adventure clothes. He quickly dries himself off and starts to put on his clothes. He does a few jumping jacks to relax and starts to climb the stairs.
(Play Evangelion 1.0 Beautiful World - Flute Version.)
Bell listens to the melody and gives a slight smile. As he climbs the stairs, he sees that Penny is playing the flute masterfully. He moves his fingers with such precision that even Bell is impressed.
"Wow! You're really good at that!" Bell says quite happily.
"Nothing more than practice." Penny replies. He puts the flute away and stands up, looking at Bell, he nods. "Shall we get going?"
"Yes!"
[Guild.]
[...]
"Then you have to be precise with your fingers and patient with your mistakes, because you're going to make a lot of mistakes." Penny explains to Bell as the two enter the guild.
"You talk like it's easy, but the way you play the flute, I don't think I can do it." Bell says, scratching his cheek.
"Maybe, but with practice and hard work you can." Penny says. He taps Bell on the shoulder and directs his gaze to Eina. "Look at Eina, let's see if she knows where to buy equipment."
The boys approach Eina's table, and she is happy and a little angry to see Penny, but she puts this feeling aside.
"Miss Eina, we were wondering if you... if you know where I can buy better equipment for myself?" Bell says a little shyly.
"Our budget is around 10,000 valis, is there anywhere that doesn't charge that much?" Penny asks the receptionist.
"Look..." Eina puts a hand to her chin thoughtfully. She's happy that they're going to buy Bell some armor, but she's also worried because if they want better armor, it's because things have become more difficult. "The Tower of Babel has the equipment you need."
"And where is it?" Penny asks.
"It's... that huge tower in the center of Orario." Eina says, a little confused that Penny didn't know about it.
Penny blinks a few times, but then nods. "I see. Shall we go, Bell?"
"Right!" Bell nods and the two of them start heading out of the guild.
Eina sighs a little relieved that they are going to buy equipment, but a voice catches her attention.
"Eina." Misha catches Eina's eye. "They've just delivered a letter to the guild."
"A letter? And who's the sender?" Eina picks up the letter and sees that it's for Penny.
"A member of the Hephaestos family delivered it a few minutes ago, and he said to give it to Penny from Hestia's family." Misha explains.
Eina is surprised, but quickly finds her voice. "Penny! Wait!" Eina says and the two boys, who were about to leave, glance back at Eina. Eina gets up from her counter and walks over to them. "They asked me to give this to you."
"To me?" Penny picks up the letter, curious. He opens it and begins to read its contents.
"What's in this letter?" Bell asks curiously.
"It's a letter from the Goddess Hestia, it seems she wants me to go to the house of the Goddess Hephaestos for a meeting." Penny explains as she finishes reading the contents. He sighs. "Eina, can you do me a favor?"
"That depends. What would it be?" Eina raises an eyebrow.
"Can you go with Bell to buy him some better armor? I'm afraid of what the sellers might do if he's alone." Penny gives Bell a quick glance.
"What do you mean? What do you mean?" Bell asks confused.
"Well..." Eina thinks. "I think I can, I was going to take some time off after monsterphilia, but I think I can bring it forward to today." Eina says, smiling at them both.
Bell blushes as Penny thanks Eina.
"Thanks a lot, Eina!" Penny bows her head. "Well, I'm off, I'll see you later, Bell!"
"See you..." Bell says goodbye and Penny leaves the guild. "Wait, Penny! Do you know where the house of the Goddess Hephaestos is?!"
[Streets of Orario.]
Bell had been waiting for Eina for a few hours after Penny had asked Eina to help him buy armor more suitable for the deeper floors.
"Oi! Bell!" Eina approaches the spot where Bell was standing.
The boy looked at the half elf woman and blushed a little at the more social and unprofessional clothes she was wearing.
"E-Eina... is that you?" Bell asks surprised and a little flushed.
"Of course it's me! What? Is this the first time you've seen me in something other than work clothes?" Eina asks, giving Bell a slight wink with her right eye.
"N-Not that! It's just... you look younger in it." Bell looks away with a slight blush on her cheeks.
"Younger? Bell!?" Eina grabs Bell's head and rubs her fist against the top of his head while her breasts rub against his cheek. "Bell, I'm only 19, talking about a girl's age is not cool!"
"Please stop!"
[...]
Bell and Eina walked down the street while Bell tried to calm down from what had happened earlier.
"Do we really have to go to the Tower of Babel? And isn't the equipment there expensive?" Bell asked with concern in his tone.
"Just relax!" Eina grabs Bell's hand and starts running towards the Tower of Babel.
The two of them reach the entrance and quickly get on the elevator. With Bell still worried about the price.
"Eina, are you sure there's good equipment here at an affordable price?" Bell asks, still uneasy.
"Of course, Bell. The Hephaestos family makes the best equipment." Eina tells the boy.
"The Hephaestos family? Eina, that makes it worse!" Bell says frightened. "The Hephaestos Family's equipment is too expensive, I won't be able to afford something that expensive."
"Calm down, Bell. Yes, the prices of the older and more experienced members of the Hephaestos family are more expensive, but..." Eina says and the elevator stops on a floor of the tower.
The floor seems to sell weapons, armor, accessories, and everything an adventurer needs.
"Look." Eina points to a sword being sold for 1,200 Valis.
"Yeah, it's really not that expensive." Bell agrees in surprise.
"As you can see, all these items are sold by young blacksmiths at the start of their careers." Eina indicates her surroundings, showing blacksmiths at work and selling their items to other adventurers. "Even if it's at a cheaper price, it's to their advantage. Their work is sold and appreciated."
Bell is impressed by Eina's statement, but if you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense.
"Come on, let's look at some!" Eina walks on while Bell follows.
The two of them end up in a weapons and armor store and look at the items being sold.
"Wow! There's so much cool armor!" Bell is impressed, but to be honest, after seeing Penny's God Arc in action, these things seem small. "Let's see what's in the back." Bell runs to the back of the store.
"Bell, wait!" Eina says surprised by his attitude, but calms down and gives the boy a slight smile. "Oh, Bell."
Bell walks through the aisles of the store, he doesn't find anything that interests him at first, but he sees a suit of armor placed in a box in the corner of the aisle. He walks over to the armor and picks up the chest plate.
"Wow! That's pretty sturdy." He taps the breastplate and turns it to look inside. "It has the blacksmith's signature. "Welf Crozzo" hmm... I wonder how much it costs?" Bell looks at the box the armor was in and looks at the price. "9,900 Valis?! That's the whole budget, but I kind of like it. Will Penny be annoyed if I buy it?"
"Ah, I finally found you!" Eina walked over to where Bell was standing. "So, did you find anything you liked?"
"Actually, yes. I think I'll buy this armor." Bell says excitedly as he lifts the chest plate.
"Ah, Bell. I should have known you'd choose lighter armor." Eina puts her hand to her forehead a little dramatically.
"Did... did I choose wrong?" Bell lowers his gaze in vague disappointment.
"No. Of course not. You're the one who's going to wear the armor, so you have to get the one that suits you best." Eina looks around. "But what about Penny? He only has that chest plate of his. So he won't need armor either?"
"Actually... he just told me to buy myself some armor. Because he already has one." Bell speaks, he tries to remember the name of the ore Penny's clothes were made of. Zitano, Minaro, Traniu?
"Well, if that's what you want, then fine!" Eina says smiling at the boy. "Oh, that reminds me, are you thinking of having a Supporter?"
"Supporter?" Bell asks curiously.
"Yes. A Supporter serves both to provide you with support in the dungeon and to collect the magic stones that the monsters drop while you're eliminating them." Eina explains to Bell. "If you want, I can find one to help you and Penny."
"Well, I'll discuss it with Penny and get back to you!"
[...]
"Thanks for coming with me, Eina!" Bell says excitedly. After buying his armor, he asks for it to be delivered to his house in the abandoned church. It could take up to half a day for it to be delivered.
"You're welcome, Bell!" Eina says with a slight smile. "That reminds me... here, this is for you!" Eina hands Bell something wrapped in a cloth.
"What's this?" Bell takes the cloth and unwraps it, showing a green armor plate made to wear on the arm.
"This will be very useful to you, so I'm giving it to you as a present!" Eina says, still smiling at the boy.
"Ah, a present! I'm sorry, but I can't accept it!" Bell tries to return the armor, but Eina blocks him.
"Of course you can, Bell. It'll do you more good than me." Eina says, lowering her voice a little. "An adventurer never knows when he's going to be in a life-or-death situation. I've met many adventurers who unfortunately never returned."
"Hmm..." Bell murmurs, listening to those words with sadness.
"That's why I want you to stay with her, I don't want you to die." Eina walks away while laughing a little.
Bell is still thinking about Eina's words. But he feels a touch on his nose and his attention returns to the girl.
"Since you're trying so hard, I wanted to give you this to help you on your journey." Eina smiles at the boy as she feels her cheeks heat up a little. "Then please keep it."
"O... thank you..." Bell lowered his gaze as he felt his face heat up with embarrassment.
[On the streets of Orario]
Penny was walking through the streets, he was looking around to try and locate himself, but it was a little difficult given the size of the city and the many streets in it.
"Damn! I wish Amy was here to help me." Penny mutters. He looks around and sees an alley. He walks down the alley, but stops when he sees three people approaching him.
The three people approach him looking very happy, but they are arrogant smiles, not smiles of genuine happiness.
"Hey, kid. Where do you think you're going?" The man holding a knife says.
"If you don't mind, you've got something we want." The semi-human cat laughs a little.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I'd taken something from you!" Penny quickly apologizes to the men in front of her.
"Actually, we want that gun of yours behind your back." The werewolf says, clenching his fists.
"My... God Arc?..." Penny looks at his back. Understanding the situation, he changes his expression to a more serious one. "I'm sorry, but the answer is no."
"God Arc? Haha! He even put a cheesy name on the gun!" The werewolf sneers, pulls out a dagger and points it at Penny. "Now hand over that gun."
"Look, you don't want to fight me." Penny raises her hands as she takes a step back.
"Forget it!" The man walks up to Penny and pulls out a sword. He walks over to Penny and puts the sword to his throat. "Hand over the gun, or you'll die here."
"Ahh... I didn't mean to act like that..." Penny sighs. The three people start laughing at the boy, but before they can act, Penny kneels on the belly of the man who had the sword at his throat.
Managing to push him away, Penny punches the man, sending him into a wall. The man's back hits the wall, but before he can regain his balance, Penny kicks him in the knee, causing his bones to crack.
"AJAJJAAH!" The man screams in pain as he falls to the ground and clutches his knee. The other two are shocked by the event.
"Who's next?" Penny picks up his God Arc and switches it to double-blade mode, and he pins his left sword to the ground and holds only his right.
"Kill him!" The werewolf screams and lunges at Penny, while the Semi-Human cat does the same.
Penny throws herself to the ground to dodge the werewolf, landing a kick to the werewolf's chest, Penny uses the side of her God Arc to hit him on the head and knock him out.
Throwing herself backwards, Penny avoids the attack of the half-human's claws. The half-human wastes no time in grabbing Penny's neck before he can hang him. Penny lets go of her God Arc and closes the gap with her fists, hitting the half-human's head with her bracelets.
The semi-human cat faints and lets go of Penny's neck, falling to the ground as a result.
Penny moves away and lets the semi-human fall to the ground. Around him, he sees that two have fainted and one is still awake, even with a broken knee.
"You..." The man groans in pain as he cries. "You'll pay for that... you bastard..."
"Says the guy who's moaning and crying in pain." Penny goes over to his God Arc, he walks over to the man and looks him in the face.
"I'll make you pay, I'll make you and your family pay." The man growls even though he's on the ground with a broken knee. "I'll hunt you down and that other little shit-"
Before the man can react, Penny grabs him by the neck and puts him against the wall. "I want to see you try." Penny says angrily, grabbing the man's own knife, Penny cuts off the man's other leg and throws him against the floor.
The man starts to walk away as he cries out in pain from his leg being ripped off. "Please... please don't..." The man begs as he backs away and cries.
Penny picks up his right God Arc and starts walking towards the man, he points his sword at him, but before he can kill him. The werewolf jumps on Penny's back and grabs him.
Penny moves his body to try and get the werewolf off his back, but the semi-human cat grabs his left leg. Penny uses his free leg to step on the half-human's arm and break it, he kicks the half-human and grabs the werewolf's arms, throwing him against the wall and punching him so hard in the chest that he faints instantly.
Picking up her God Arc, Penny walks over to the half-human and cuts off the arm that was still in one piece, causing him to cry out in pain. Penny kicks the half-human's face away and walks back to the man who was about to pass out from lack of blood.
"I hope you can redeem yourself in another life." Penny says coldly. But before the man can say anything, Penny cuts his head in half. Killing him instantly.
He looks back and sees that the other two are still alive and suffering. Without much patience, Penny walks over to them and thrusts his God Arcs into both of their chests, killing them instantly.
Penny takes her God Arc back and switches it to Pistol mode. "Ah... now... where is Hephaestos' house?"
Penny returns to her original path, but unnoticed by the boy, an elf girl was watching the fight and was dumbfounded by the situation.
"He... he really killed them?..." Lefiya mutters in fright. She feels her hands trembling as she breathes heavily, she shakes some more, but finally gathers her strength and starts running away.
[Hephaestos House].
A girl at a counter sighed, already completely tired of doing nothing almost all the time.
"What? Why did I have to stay here at reception? I'm the captain!" The woman, called Tsubaki Collbrande, put her hand to her chest in annoyance. She heard the doors opening and saw a young man carrying a... cannon on his back?
"Excuse me. I'd like to talk to the Goddess Hephaestos." The boy approaches Tsubaki and places his hands on the counter. Seeing that the girl in front of him is standing still, Penny waves her hand in front of her face. "Hello?"
"Oh, yes, yes!" Tsubaki pulls herself together. "What can I do for you? Do you need a custom blacksmithing job or-"
"Actually, I received this contact letter." Penny shows Tsubaki the letter and hands it to her. "It's a letter written by my Goddess, but it bears the seal of the Hephaestos family."
Tsubaki is confused, but looking closely at the letter, it does indeed bear the seal of the Hephaestos family.
"Well, if my Goddess wants to see you so badly, I can't stop her." Tsubaki laughs nervously as she rubs the back of her neck. She jumps up and lands next to Penny. "Come with me, kid!"
Tsubaki waves her hand and starts walking through the mansion, with Penny following. The two of them pass a wing of the house where the other blacksmith members of the family are working, and they hear whispers and murmurs.
"Is that him? The boy with the sword cannon?"
"That must be him!"
"Is that the sword cannon?"
"That doesn't look like it has any swords."
"No, it has swords, but they're too small to be considered swords."
"Will he let me take a look at that cannon?"
"Ah, but I really want to get my hands on it."
Tsubaki is confused by the murmurs while Penny is apprehensive and cautious. The two of them climb a ladder and start walking down a corridor. They reach a large door and stop in front of it.
"And we're here. This is the workplace of the Goddess Hephaestos." Tsubaki says excitedly. "But don't you dare disrespect my Goddess, do you understand me?" Tsubaki points to Penny's face, with a menacing look in her eyes.
"Understood." Penny says, not taking much notice of Tsubaki's threat.
Tsubaki smiles at Penny, as if she hadn't just threatened him. She starts to walk away from the door, Penny looks at the door and gives it a few knocks before entering.
"Glad you could make it." An imposing female voice says to the boy. Penny looks ahead and sees a red-haired woman wearing an eye patch.
"That must be the Goddess Hephaestos." Penny thought, but before he could say anything, he felt someone hug his body.
"Pennyyy!" Hestia says excitedly as she jumps on Penny and almost knocks him over, but the boy manages to keep his balance. "I'm sorry for calling you out so suddenly, but it's just... wait, is that blood on your clothes?" Hestia looks at Penny's clothes.
"Oh, that, I had to solve some problems before I got here." Penny shrugs off the situation.
"Enough small talk, Hestia." Hephaestos says, still looking at Penny. "Are you that Penny? The boy with the cannon that can turn into two swords?"
"What if I am? What are you going to do about it?" Penny looks the Goddess in the eye, not hesitating for a second. He keeps his gaze on Hephaestos, not daring to look away from the Goddess. The two stare at each other for a while longer, until Hephaestos lets out an amused laugh.
"You're really tough." Hephaestos says, still laughing lightly. "Usually, people get nervous or look away when they're questioned by Gods, but you... you wouldn't hesitate to kill me, would you?" Hephaestos' expression changes to a serious one.
Hestia looks on in shock as Penny stands her ground.
"Should it be necessary, or should you threaten my existence or that of my family, yes, I won't hesitate to kill you." Penny spoke to the Goddess in such a cold and firm manner that Hephaestos even felt a slight shiver run down her spine as she saw that he wasn't lying.
"As for that, don't worry." Hephaestos reassured the boy, even though his insides were completely on edge. "Hestia and I have been old friends since our time in heaven, so I would never do anything to threaten her."
"Yes, yes, yes! That's right!" Hestia quickly takes the lead and stands in front of Penny. "Penny, there's no need for you to threaten everyone you meet, please don't do it anymore!".
Penny looks at Hestia's face, and he sees the worry and desperation on her face. Seeing this, he feels something, a feeling he's never felt before, a... a maternal feeling.
"Right... okay, I won't do that anymore." Penny lowers her tone and relaxes her body, leaving both Hestia and Hephaestos surprised. "But tell me, why did you call me here, Goddess Hephaestos?"
"Oh, well..." Hephaestos clears her throat. "I was very curious about the rumors on your behalf, and I wanted to see for myself."
"And what exactly would those rumors be?" Penny asks curiously.
"Rumors about the blue-eyed albino having a magical weapon that can change shape. From the shape of a cannon to the shape of two swords." Hephaestos explains. "If you don't mind, could you show me that?" She raises a curious eyebrow.
Penny looks at Hestia and waits for her answer. "Penny, I know it may sound complicated, but Hephaestos is someone I can trust. She's helped me several times, so she can keep a secret." Hestia says, trying to reassure the situation.
"If you don't want to show me, I'll understand the situation." Hephaestos spoke reassuringly to the boy, but inside she was very curious.
"Can I really trust you?" Penny looks at Hephaestos and waits for her answer. Hephaestos nods in confirmation of her question. "Right..."
Penny picks up his God Arc, which is in pistol mode, and places it in front of him. He turns it around and switches it to double-blade mode. Both Hestia and Hephaestos were surprised by this. Hestia wasn't so surprised because she already knew a good part of Penny's story.
Hephaestos...
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Hephaestos screams so loudly that even the people outside the mansion heard it.
[...]
"No, no, no, no, no, no..." Hephaestos is pacing back and forth with his hands on his head, looking like he's going to explode from all the information.
Penny, who is now sitting in a chair after reporting everything he knows about his God Arc to the Goddess Ferreira. The fact that his weapon is an Aragami (Penny summed up the Aragami as monsters.) And that his swords can switch modes, and that the Aragami can leave the God Arc if Penny wants him to.
"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but you saw that I didn't lie." Penny says, still sitting and holding his swords.
"Penny, you didn't report to me that she could just walk out of your... God Arc." Hestia looks cautiously at Penny's swords.
"She can't exactly get out on her own." Penny explains.
"How is that possible? How can you have a living monster on your swords? How did he survive that? How come he doesn't attack you?!" Hephaestos moves closer to Penny, to anyone looking from a distance she would be kissing him, but her forehead is only touching his.
"Look, answering one of your questions." Penny pushes Hephaestos away. "She might even attack me if I didn't have this." Penny points to her bracelets. "My bracelets allow me to handle her without her recognizing me as an enemy."
"So people who don't have a bracelet like that can't handle her?" Hephaestos asks curiously.
"In short, yes." Penny concludes.
"That's really intriguing..." Hephaestos puts his hand on his chin as he walks back across the room. "This is something so unprecedented that I've never seen anything like it in my entire existence..."
"Yes, this is something no one has ever seen, and..." Penny pauses for a moment to think. It's been a long time since he had his Bias Fector injections, but he's so far pretty normal. He looks at his hands and doesn't feel anything different.
Penny is intrigued, he looks at his hands and then looks at his Goddess Hestia. Raising a puzzled eyebrow, he stands up.
"Goddess Hestia, could you come here for a minute?" Penny calls out to Hestia and starts walking over to a table.
"Ah, I think so..." Hestia walks over, still reluctant to know that Penny's God Arc Aragami might just leave.
Penny goes over to the table and makes a small hole in his thumb using a needle that was on a spool of thread on the table. He pours in the drop of blood and waits a while. After a few seconds, the drop of blood begins to form black particles.
Hestia looks startled, while Penny is intrigued.
"Goddess Hestia, excuse me." Penny gently takes his Goddess's hand and makes a hole in the tip of her finger. He points Hestia's finger at the blood that was forming Oracle Cells and pours the drop of Hestia's blood into his blood.
After a few seconds, the black particles disappear and the blood returns to normal.
"So that was really it?" Penny says in surprise.
"What do you mean? What was that?" Hestia asks confused and still a little scared.
"Well, as you already know, I went through experiments to be able to use the God Arc. And I became half Aragami." Penny says and Hestia agrees. "But my Aragami part was supposed to devour my human part, if I didn't take Bias Fector injections, but apparently your blood had the same effect, if not better." Penny puts her hand to her chin. "Could it be that when you gave me the Falna I no longer needed to take the Bias Fector injections?"
Hestia listens to her son's words, even if she doesn't understand most of them, she's still happy that her son is okay. From what she understands, he could have died if she hadn't given him her Falna.
"Penny, I can-" Before Hestia can speak, a loud piercing sound is audible and a groan of pain hangs in the air.
Penny and Hestia turn around, only to see Hephaestos rolling on the ground while holding a hand sore from being hit by a thorn from the God Arc's handle. Hestia laughs wryly, as she herself didn't make a big deal out of having her hand pierced earlier.
[...]
"Okay... I must admit I was careless." Hephaestos says as he bandages his injured hand.
"I told you only I could handle it." Penny says, picking up her swords.
"But I'm still very curious about something..." Hephaestos looks at Penny's God Arc again. "How does a monster manage to live inside it?"
"If you want, I can... Goddess Hestia, can you come out for a minute?" Penny says, looking at her Goddess.
"What, why?" Hestia asks in surprise.
"Believe me, you don't want to see this." Penny says looking into Hestia's eyes.
After everything Hestia had heard, she simply accepted it and left the room, staying in the corridor to wait for events to unfold.
"I wonder why Penny asked me to leave." Before Hestia can think any further, she hears noises coming from inside the room.
Before Hestia can react, Hephaestos abruptly leaves the room. With one hand over her mouth and the other on her stomach, she starts running down the corridor. She reaches a nearby bathroom. The sounds of Hephaestos vomiting were completely audible to anyone passing in the corridor.
Staring at the door, Hestia can't imagine what Penny might have shown Hephaestos to be so sick.
[...]
"Oh my God..." Hephaestos is back at his desk with a glass of tea in his hands. "What have I done to deserve this?..."
"Penny, what did you show her?" Hestia whispers to the boy.
"Nothing much, I just showed her how my God Arc's Aragami can live inside my swords." Penny gives a slightly wry smile.
Apparently, Penny has shown the inside of her God Arc to the Goddess Hephaestos. It showed a black, gooey creature with various fibers, organs and eyes, lots of eyes. Hephaestos couldn't bear the sight of Aragami.
"Never again..." Hephaestos said, nauseated. "Don't ever show me that hideous thing again."
"Understood, Goddess Hephaestos!" Penny salutes like a soldier.
"Hmmm..." Hephaestos frowns. "Leaving that aside..." Hephaestos stands up, even though she still feels a little queasy. "I want to ask you a favor, kid."
"Favor?" Hestia asks curiously.
Hephaestos walks over to a bookcase and pulls out one of them, opening a wing of his room and showing his workplace with its furnace.
"Since you ended up making me nauseous and a bit unable to work, you're going to help me finish Bell's weapon." Hephaestos says to the boy.
Penny is confused, but he looks into the furnace and sees a blade being heated inside it.
"Since it was a gift from Hestia to Bell I wanted to make it as quickly as possible, but since you... showed me that I can't work on it for a few hours." Hephaestos says with a slight burp. "Besides, I heard that bit about you being half Aragami."
Penny and Hestia widen their eyes in surprise.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but..." Hephaestos looks at Penny. "I want to do some tests with that knife using your blood and Hestia's blood."
[Dungeon seventh floor.]
"Should we really be here?" A member of the Ganecha family asks tiredly.
"Our Ganecha God has ordered us to inspect the seventh floor of the Dungeon and report any anomalies." Shakti Varma says, the captain of the Ganecha family has been sent in case something much more dangerous is lurking.
"Still. This is the seventh floor, you alone would be more than enough to inspect any anomalies here on the seventh floor." Another member of the Ganecha family speaks up.
"In any case, we need to think about all the possibilities. In case there's a monster from the deep floors here on the upper floors." Shakti explains to the other two.
"Hey, what's that?" The first member of the Ganecha family says. He points to a kobold lying on the ground, breathing heavily. The monster seems to be suffering from something inside.
"Could that be the anomaly?" The second member of the Ganecha family says.
"Apparently, yes." Shakti looks around. She sees that the monsters that would normally advance on a weaker or more debilitated one in order to devour it, don't even dare to go near the kobold.
"What do we do, Captain?" The second member of the Ganecha Family asks.
"Let's take him and keep him locked up in one of the monsterphilia cages." Shakti says. "He won't be taken to the arena, we'll contact the Ganecha God and we'll decide what to do with him.
"Right!"
End of chapter.
Note: My dear, the fight against the kobold turned Aragami in Monsterphilia is almost here. I'm still thinking about some of the points I want to put into this fight, but I'm sure it will be amazing!"
I just realized something, I'm already on the seventh chapter and I'm still not out of EP 2 of the Anime! My friend, I'm taking too long to develop this story.
Here's that question again, do you want me to do a chapter on how Hugo, Zeke, Lulu, Hilda, Amy and the kids came to terms with Penny's "death"? I really want to write about that.
Thanks:
blakkneko C6: Yes it needs a bracelet, that's why I changed my mind.
Redburndragon : Yes. After a lot of thought I've decided that for the time being only the God Arc eating the magic stones will make it repair itself.
Guest: Yes, Penny is a boy, I'm working on it.
Yo'Student'Here C6: I really appreciate the fact that Bias Fector, but since I've already sorted it out, Boas Fector seems a bit pointless now.
blakkneko C7: I was also confused when I thought about this case of Penny and Hestia's blood together, but I guess this chapter situation was good, huh?
And about Bell's Bust Mode, I thought about making it so that when it activated, the Bust would increase Bell's stats by 7% level 1, 10% level 2 and 15% novel 3, but I'm still thinking about the conditions he must meet for the Busrt to activate.
Yo'Student'Here C7: Man, I hadn't really thought about that, thanks for the comment!
[Extra.]
This is the post before this chapter, it's not that relevant, so read it if you like.
Important notice!
Warning: I've decided to forget about Hestia's Knife having an Aragami and come up with a different idea. What do you think about Bell being able to use Burst Mode? Of course, as the knife doesn't have an Aragami, it will have to meet specific conditions. Because the Knife will have a mixture of Hestia's and Penny's blood.
Regarding Burst Mode, do you want it to be just the particles of the Oracle Cells flying around, or do you want Burst Mode to create a light armor on the user's arms, shoulders and back. (Penny.)
I'm thinking of getting Hestia's Blood to inhibit the overgrowth of Oracle Cells. It would be a good excuse, since Penny received Hestia's Fauna and has been in this world for a long time and hasn't been devoured from the inside out. What do you think? But then I'd have to explain, "Then why was the Kobold infected if the Oracle Cells weren't multiplying?" That's the point, I won't know how to explain it.
One more thing, as you've noticed, the Kobold is going to become an Aragami, and I'm going to ask a question. Should only Penny face the Aragami, or should he be with Bell to teach him how to deal with large monsters?
The Aragami that the Kobold will turn into is already decided in my head, so don't worry about it.
Lastly, I won't be posting any new chapters for a while, as I'll be revising the ones I've already released. I want to see if I can find any more grammatical errors and fix them to improve the experience for future readers.
Constructive criticism to improve the story is always welcome.
If you just want to swear at me and offend me out of the blue, please, we have more important things to deal with.
Good morning, good afternoon, good night, see you!
Extra: Do you want me to write a chapter about how Hugo, Lulu, Zeke, Hilda, Amy and the children are affected by Penny's "death"? I have some good ideas, but I don't know if I should.