The hot water wrapped around them, warm like a goddess's confession.
"Bell, y-you absolutely must not misunderstand. When I say I like you, I definitely do not an it in that way!"
Hestia hurriedly added, only now realizing how it had sounded.
"In what way?"
Bell repeated the goddess's words, sounding puzzled.
"I-I an... like the kind of r-romantic relationship... you have with Artemis..."
Hestia's voice grew softer and softer.
She squeezed the white rabbit toy in front of her, then suddenly puffed up with indignation.
"Bell definitely knows exactly what I an and is just saying that on purpose!"
With how sharp Bell was, there was no way he could fail to understand sothing that obvious.
Hestia puffed out her cheeks, realizing she had fallen into Bell's trap again.
"Goddess-sama is still just as easy to trick as ever."
Bell let out a quiet laugh.
"That's only because Bell is too an... Even after spending so long in the familia of a virgin goddess, you're still like this."
Hestia complained softly.
In that respect, Bell was still the sa as he had always been, straightforward to the core.
Whether he was praising her or teasing her, he always managed to stir Hestia's heart.
"Bell, honestly, I'm not very good at dealing with you..."
Hestia tilted her head back, as if recalling a faraway past.
"Back in Tenkai, whenever a jerk like Apollo ca bothering , I would just ignore him and hide in my temple."
As one of the three great virgin goddesses, Hestia was probably the least dignified of them.
But among the goddesses, her beautiful youthful face was quite popular. Because of that, any male gods who harbored improper thoughts about her were ruthlessly dealt with by Artemis and the others.
"And after coming down to the Lower World, it was the sa. Trying to find followers all by myself was really hard. Other than those lecherous n, absolutely no one wanted to join my familia."
There were countless gods in Orario. Gods of smithing, wealth, dicine, and more. Every god supported their followers in their own way.
Hestia was dirt poor, so naturally she could not recruit any followers.
"Just when I was feeling helpless, the receptionist told about a boy who had gone into the Dungeon alone without receiving any Falna, and sohow ended up being branded the weakest adventurer..."
Even without knowing the full story, even though Bell had defeated monsters with nothing but a mortal body, he had still been treated with shocking unfairness.
Because of the rules, the Guild refused to clear his na.
"Thinking back on it now, I must have already been drawn to Bell back then..."
"I'm really glad I was able to make you join my familia before anyone else did..."
Hestia held the white rabbit toy against her chest as if she were hugging sothing incredibly precious.
"Bell, we really do feel the sa way, don't we?"
Hestia smiled softly.
Both of them treasured that encounter as sothing irreplaceable.
Bell silently listened to everything Hestia had to say, then answered in a quiet voice.
"No, Goddess-sama. There's one thing that's different."
"Hm?"
Hestia frowned slightly.
"The way I like Goddess-sama is different from the way you like ."
Bell spoke with complete honesty.
"...?"
Hestia's heart began pounding wildly, and she instinctively tightened her grip on the toy in her hands.
"W-what... what do you an by that?"
"So Goddess-sama has learned how to play dumb too."
Looking at Hestia's red cheeks through the steam, Bell did not tease her any further.
"Goddess-sama, did you know? Lately, a lot of familias have been inviting to convert."
"..."
The mont she heard Bell say that, Hestia froze.
With the boy's intelligence and ability, setting aside all the goddesses who had crushes on him, it was obvious plenty of powerful familias would want to recruit him.
And that was exactly what had happened.
Even Finn of the Loki Familia had jokingly sounded Bell out, asking whether he wanted to convert and develop his future in the Loki Familia.
The [Braver] seed constrained by certain circumstances, and because he valued Bell's intelligence so highly, he wanted to cultivate him into a commander.
Of course, Finn also knew perfectly well what Bell's answer would be.
"Goddess-sama, I'm not going anywhere."
Bell gave Hestia his answer.
"Why...? I'm just a useless goddess..."
Hestia had already lost count of how many tis she had felt powerless.
Other than granting Falna, sothing every god could do, she had done nothing for Bell.
"Because I like you, Goddess-sama. Isn't that reason enough?"
Bell answered honestly.
The weakest adventurer, mocked by the entire city.
The useless goddess, scorned by everyone.
The two of them had started from nothing and walked step by step until they reached where they were now.
The Hestia Familia had already beco famous, and the mockery of the past had all turned into cheers and support.
Even in the Guild's records, they now stood near the front among the mid-tier familias.
"No matter how comfortable life is now, I'll never forget how things used to be."
Bell softly recalled the past.
Every single night, after every heart-stopping battle, what greeted him was the smile the goddess forced out through her worry.
"Goddess-sama's cooking wasn't as good back then as it is now."
"When you scrubbed the laundry by hand, your hands would always end up all wrinkled."
"Even though you were hopeless at housework, Goddess-sama still worked hard to learn."
Bell slowly spoke of their past together.
"Ugh... why does it feel like you're only talking about my bad points?"
Hestia knew very well that she was just a clumsy goddess.
She could not make dicine, could not forge, and could not teach combat techniques...
Maybe, just like Loki said, Hestia really was a [zero-ability] goddess.
And yet even so, she had always stayed by Bell's side, stubbornly taking all the housework onto herself.
"I am talking about Goddess-sama's flaws."
"Sotis when you get clingy, you beco completely unreasonable. You obviously want to comfort you, but you deliberately put on an angry face and refuse to let co near."
"You oversleep a lot in the mornings, and then you get all pouty and bla for not waking you up."
"When you brush your teeth, you deliberately sway your chest around, and then you scold for letting my eyes drift that way."
"When you get jealous of other girls, you run off to the Blue Pharmacy and co back to your room slling like alcohol."
"You talk about hugging and cuddling, but the mont I get even a little closer, you panic and dive under the covers."
Bell recalled one thing after another about the goddess.
"Ugh..."
Hestia felt both embarrassed and happy.
The two of them had once been cramd into the basent of that abandoned church, enduring the ridicule of others. It should have been an unbearably difficult ti, a bitter mory that ought to have been left behind.
But Bell had rembered all of it.
As though it had only happened yesterday, he slowly spoke of every last detail.
"This really isn't the ti to be listing all my flaws, idiot Bell!"
Hestia shot back, her face bright red.
Bell smiled softly and said,
"Sorry. I love everything about Goddess-sama, but there are too many good things to count, so I can only talk about your adorable flaws."
...
...
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