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Under the night sky, inside a military training camp.
August stood up from the mud pit.
"Pah." He spat out a mouthful of grimy water.
"You good?" A few young soldiers, so younger than August, looked over to check on him.
"I'm fine." August waved them off. "How about you guys?"
Compared to him, these n were seasoned veterans.
"We're good. Just a bit winded." The soldiers shook their heads.
They were chosen CQC (Close Quarter Combat) instructors, told to push August as hard as possible. So veteran officers watched the fight from the sidelines.
The senior officers checked their watches.
"That's enough. End of exercise. Fall in!" Commander Jas barked as he walked over.
August and the young soldiers stopped imdiately. The instructors fell back into formation.
"You're getting better," Commander Jas noted.
This harsh training was the quickest way for August to improve. When he first arrived at camp before dawn, getting hit made him react like any civilian—he'd get angry and start swinging wildly.
August couldn't waste ti on a regular boot camp. He had to learn deadly close-quarters combat and sharpen his survival instincts right away. So, the military gave him the fastest crash course they had—they just beat him up.
The plan was clear: make him angry with a group beatdown, force him to control it, and teach him to think even when he was hurting. He had to stay calm and focused during a fight. If he let anger take over, he'd leave himself open.
Why push him this hard? It was because he had just reached [Level 2]. Commander Jas set up the perfect place for August to test his new strength. Compared to the old ways of training Adventurers or dieval soldiers, modern military thods were much more effective.
In just one day, August learned the basics of hand-to-hand combat.
Even better, he could now control the anger that hit him when he got hurt. And when it ca to trash talk, August didn't care at all. After years of dealing with toxic online gas, nothing anyone said could bother him.
"Appreciate it."
August picked up a bucket of water and rinsed off.
There were real showers at the base, but he just wanted to get the mud off first. Fighting in wetlands was nothing like fighting on concrete. The military had made him train in every kind of environnt, from waist-deep water to thick mud.
"..." Commander Jas watched August's bare back.
Normally it was covered, but when it was visible, Hestia's divine seal made it look different. To Jas, the tattoo looked like moving flas. As August washed off the dirt, the effect seed to flicker.
Jas caught a glimpse of the crest of the Goddess of the Hearth, frad by alien text.
"Is that the Divine Contract?" Jas asked, studying it closely. It was his first ti seeing it. "That is strange."
What made it so strange? The thing was actually glowing. Jas wondered how a tattoo could shine like fire. Was it made with sothing like phosphorus?
"Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd say you swallowed a lightbulb," another officer said, staring at the glowing crest.
"The hell are you talking about?" A few colleagues groaned at the terrible joke.
"By the way, are you guys in the market for Magic Swords?" August asked, rembering the defective blades he had hauled out of Tsubaki Collbrande's workshop. He had grabbed them specifically for this reason.
"ABSOLUTELY. WE'LL TAKE THEM," Jas answered instantly.
He knew what Magic Swords were. He had studied all the docunts August gave him. They were basically temporary heavy weapons that looked like swords—a huge advantage in battle.
"I can't get my hands on the premium models right now," August warned him. "These are defective rejects forged by a master smith. They're highly unstable."
He wanted to be honest. These swords weren't as reliable as real military gear.
"Defective is fine! Wait, did you just say a batch?" Jas's eyes widened. A batch? How many was a batch?
"Yeah, around fifty or sixty." August ntally checked his [Spatial Backpack]. He had grabbed every dusty blade sitting in the corner of the forge.
"We'll take every single one," Jas said, practically vibrating.
He knew Magic Swords were hard to get. The top Familias bought them all for deep dungeon runs. Getting fifty at once, even if they were rejects, was a big deal. The R&D team would be thrilled to get their hands on them.
"Done."
August opened a portal to his void and dumped the entire crate of defective Magic Swords onto the concrete.
The military brass stared at the pile of glowing, rune-covered swords like hungry wolves. They finally had magical weapons in their hands.
"Jas, how do we handle these?"
"Standard protocol. Box them up and lock them down."
These swords were important assets. Since they were unstable, no one would test them in the field. The scientists would take them apart piece by piece to figure out how the magic worked.
August left them to handle it. He took a shower at the barracks, cleaned up, changed clothes, and got into his transport. Commander Jas would handle the paynt later.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
The SUV pulled up to his apartnt complex.
Before August got out, he saw several foreigners in fine suits sitting near his building. As soon as they noticed him, they jumped up and hurried over to the car.
"Greetings, High Priest August."
One of them bowed deeply. He looked at August with almost fanatical respect.
August stared at the diplomats. He knew exactly why they were here.
"Hi." He gave a stiff nod.
After the leak about Hestia, intelligence agencies around the world went wild. The U.S. governnt wouldn't say anything, but other countries still found Hestia's aliases and her whereabouts. These people weren't just looking for info—they were desperate to et her.
The thing was, Hestia wasn't just so political figure. She was the Goddess of the Hearth. No one in their right mind would try to kidnap a Goddess.
Making a Goddess angry was a great way to get your country destroyed.
But the Greeks? They were a different breed entirely.
They still held the old Greek gods in reverence. Modern Greece might be far removed from the myths of antiquity, but the pride and excitent were very real. The thought of one of the Twelve Olympians living in an ordinary apartnt was enough to throw the entire governnt into a frenzy.
Of course, the last ti they ca knocking, an annoyed Hestia had literally kicked them into the next province over. According to Commander Jas, these fanatics thought the eviction was a "divine trial," and they had genuinely tried to walk all the way back to his apartnt as penance.
Since they were foreign diplomats, the U.S. military couldn't just leave them wandering around. They put them in cars, drove them back, and told them to stay away. Clearly, that warning didn't work.
Now they were calling him 'High Priest'. August wanted to bang his head against the window. He was just wearing a hoodie and combat boots—did he really look like a priest?
"Sigh."
August wasn't about to deal with this ss. He looked at his driver, one of Jas's trusted operatives.
"Get rid of them."
"Understood."
The driver flashed a tactical hand signal to the plainclothes security periter. The guards moved in instantly, forming a wall between August and the diplomats.
With the way clear, August got out of the SUV and went straight into his building. The military could handle the diplomatic ss outside.
"Lunatics," August muttered as he locked the door behind him.
He didn't know what grand sche the Greeks were plotting, but Hestia did. As an unsealed Olympian, standing in front of her with hidden agendas was impossible. Her divine authority acted as a flawless lie detector.
Their plan was pretty sad. They wanted to take her back to Athens and use her as a symbol to bring back the glory of ancient Greece.
Hestia wasn't stupid. She ca from Orario, not Earth's real myths. August was her only Familia. She didn't care about foreign politicians who didn't even truly worship her. She wasn't about to beco a guardian for a country she didn't know.
All Hestia wanted was a peaceful life with August. He felt the sa way. He wasn't trying to take over Earth—he just traded magic for weapons with the military. He wasn't building an army or getting involved in politics.
He kept out of the governnt's business, but he still helped people. After getting [Healing Fire], he set up a secret trauma ward in a top military hospital, just for amputees. If they could handle the painful healing process, he would help them recover.
He limited it to fifteen patients a day. With his mana and only spending mornings on Earth, that was all he could handle.
But after reaching [Level 2], his mana grew a lot. Now he could treat thirty patients at a ti. The waiting list was huge. The military got half the spots, and civilians got the rest. If his mana increased again, he'd help even more people.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Standing in his living room, he summoned the interdinsional portal and stepped back into the ruined church in Orario.
It was nightti on this side. Lili was in the main hall, ticulously organizing her gear.
"Lord August! You're back." She dropped her pack and hurried over, looking him up and down.
"I'm back." August grinned.
The crash course in CQC really paid off. Commander Jas was right—real fights were the best test. You could train all you wanted, but nothing made a move stick like using it in battle.
Field experience was what mattered.
With his new skills locked in, he was itching to dive back into the Dungeon.
"Wow, you look completely different, Lord August," Lili noted, circling him with an analytical gaze.
She wasn't kidding. He still seed calm and distant, but now there was a fierce, aggressive side too. He had the drive of a real Adventurer.
"You look sharp right now..."
Most people wouldn't notice the change in how he stood, but anyone with a Falna could see he was now a real fighter. Lili's eyes lit up.
"You can read that just by looking at ?" August was mildly surprised.
"Hmph. Don't underestimate ." Lili lifted her chin with pride. She had spent years reading Adventurers to survive. She could spot a killer right away.
"Good. Then we're going to tear up the Dungeon." August grinned. He felt more confident than ever in close combat. He wasn't just a long-range fighter now.
But as he looked around the church, he realized soone was missing.
"Where's Hestia?" Normally, the Goddess would be launching herself at him the second he walked through the portal.
"Oh. Lady Hestia went out this morning, but Lady Hephaestus ambushed her and dragged her off to the Denatus," Lili explained. "She hasn't co back yet."
It seed the divine council had kept her busy all day.
August realized Lili had spent the whole day alone in the empty church.
"Co on, Lili. Let's go grab dinner." Hestia was probably still bogged down in divine politics or catching up with the other Gods. "We'll hit the town. We might bump into her while we're out."
He felt a little guilty for leaving her alone.
"Ah, but I—" Lili started to say she'd already eaten field rations and didn't want him to spend money on her.
"I'm starving. Let's go." August cut her off, heading for the door.
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