by Fujino Omori
“…It would be really nice if our familia got bigger, too, not just our home.”
As I talk to myself, I catch glimpses of Lilly and the others walking about here and there.
A smile grows on my face as I adjust my grip on the box in my arms.
“Hey…cut it out…!”
“I don’t wannaaa…!!”
“Hmm?”
The voices reach my ears as I’m walking along the outer wall of the building, heading for the backyard.
Two girls are arguing in the street that runs by our new home.
Well, maybe not arguing…One girl has her arms wrapped around two bars of the iron fence surrounding our property, while the other girl is trying to yank her away by the collar. The girl in front is throwing a tantrum like a child, crying all over, while her counterpart can’t hide her irritation.
“Wait, I remember you…Miss Cassandra? Miss Daphne?”
They’re exactly how I remember them. One has long flowing hair while the other has a short cut, and their personalities couldn’t be more different. I fought against them in the War Game—both are former members of Apollo Familia.
I can’t exactly walk away and pretend I never saw them at this point…
“Ah…Little Rookie.”
After I set down the box and start to jog over to them, Miss Daphne notices me first.
She doesn’t loosen her grip on Miss Cassandra’s shirt collar. It isn’t long before the other girl’s characteristically droopy eyes also point in my direction.
“Um…well…”
I try to ask them what’s going on, but the words…I can’t get them out.
This used to be their home and I feel guilty about taking it from them.
Miss Daphne must’ve figured out what’s going through my mind. She looks right at me and shrugs.
“You guys won fair and square so you don’t have to let it weigh on your conscience. Besides, we’re the ones who started the war, so there’s that, too.”
Miss Daphne’s doing her best to convey that there are no hard feelings.
While I’m glad to hear her say that…I still feel bad. “Seriously, it’s all right,” Miss Daphne adds while she forces a smile, attempting to reassure me.
“The two of us were pressured to join anyway, so actually it’s good things turned out like this. Now we get a chance to join a familia led by someone a little less crazy than our former god.”
The fabric of Cassandra’s clothing is straining again as Daphne makes another attempt to pull her away from the iron bars. Fixing her grip, the short-haired girl explains what they’ve been up to.
They appear to be at some sort of crossroads, trying to figure out their next step. Being upper-class adventurers, they had been scouted by many gods and goddesses. Unfortunately, all their recruiters had major downsides that they just couldn’t ignore, so they rejected all offers.
High-ranking familias aren’t showing any interest in them and the pair has no interest in selling their services like mercenaries. So for now, they are trying to find a decent god who leads an average familia.
So, Daphne explains to me, she isn’t holding any grudges, though thinking that all the other former members of Apollo Familia would do the same is a mistake. She adds that, as the victor, I should hold my head high a bit…I guess if she’s willing to say that much, I’ll stop worrying about it.
The two of us share a smile on opposite sides of the black iron bars.
“So then, um, what brings you here…?”
Finally getting to the point, Daphne sighs and pulls on Cassandra one more time.
I look down at the girl, her entire body pressed up against the iron bars.
“You see, this one lost her favorite pillow.”
“Pillow?”
“Yeah. I keep telling her she can just buy a new one, but…”
“Th-that’s the only one that wooorks. I-I can’t get any sleep without it…”
This is the first time Cassandra has said anything this whole conversation.
Eyes leaking, talking through sobs, she looks over her shoulder at Miss Daphne tugging on her collar.
So then, that means…
“Miss Cassandra, did you forget the pillow inside?”
We removed everything that Apollo Familia left behind when we moved in. Was there a pillow like that when we were cleaning up?
Cassandra thrusts her beet-red face through the space between the iron bars after I ask my question. She speaks timidly, choosing her words carefully.
“I don’t remember, honestly…I saw it was here in a dream, so I…”
“A what?”
D-dream…?
“Like I said: Stop saying such stupid things already!”
“I’m begging you, please believe meeeee!”
Daphne scolded Cassandra for saying that a dream led her back here.
By this point, I’ve figured out most of it. Miss Daphne tried to stop Miss Cassandra from showing up at another familia’s home unannounced, asking around for a request under such embarrassing pretenses.
At the same time, she wasn’t taking Miss Cassandra’s dream seriously. So both were at a loss as to what to do.
I don’t exactly believe in fortune-telling or clairvoyant dreams, but…
As one could expect, Cassandra’s tearful, pleading eyes are heartbreaking.
“Umm, in that case, I’ll go take a look.”
““Eh?””
I add, “For the pillow,” to clarify when the two girls fall silent and stare at me.
Daphne looks utterly shocked, while Cassandra seems to have a puzzled look behind her collected tears.
“You…you’re serious…? It was a dream, you know—a dream. You’re going to trust a delusion?”
“D-delusion…? But you’re pretty sure it’s here, right?”
I look away from Miss Daphne’s flustered expression to make eye contact with Miss Cassandra. She doesn’t say a word, only nods her head up and down as fast as she can. In that case, I can’t say no.
I ask her where to look and she hurriedly recounts her dream to give me directions.
“D-do you believe me…?”
Up until the very last moment, she still speaks timidly.
I force a smile.
“Everything is fine. I trust you. I will do my best to find it.”
The second the words leave my mouth, Miss Cassandra looks overcome with emotion, staring right at me with tears in her eyes and all choked up.
“I’ll be going now,” I say while backing up, cold sweat running down my face from her moved expression. She’s making this a bigger deal than it really is. Miss Daphne calls out to me, saying I don’t have to do this, but I turn back and wave to tell her it’s all right.
Miss Daphne really doesn’t have to be so obstinate…
If it showed up in Miss Cassandra’s dreams, then she probably just remembers the location of the pillow?
…I don’t really want to take hocus-pocus stuff like that seriously, but she just seemed so sure of it that I thought I should retrace the steps of her dream.
Something feels strange…It feels like there’s a hot spot on my back.
It had been only a moment—the Status etched into my back had suddenly heated up.
I reach around with my finger, confirming the place that flared up.
“…Luck?”
The heat is coming from an area really close to my Skill slots.
Thinking about the shapes of all the hieroglyphs engraved onto my back, I tilt my head and wonder what’s going on.
Stepping inside the front door of our home, I start searching for the pillow.
“Is this it?”
“—That’s it!”
It didn’t take long.
After finding it, I rushed back with the pillow in my hands and as soon as she saw, Miss Cassandra gave a happy cheer.
I hand the light-pink item through the fence and the next thing I know, Miss Cassandra is holding it clo
se with all her might. Her eyes close as she hugs her long-lost friend, happy as happy could be. I can’t help but feel glad, seeing her elated reaction. The pillow had been right where she told me, somehow squeezed between a support pillar and a wall.
While Miss Cassandra is still radiating the joy of the puppy being reunited with its owner, next to her, Miss Daphne murmurs, “She was right…” in disbelief.
“Um, thank you so much! Thank you for believing me! Thank you, thank you…!!”
“N-no big deal, really…”
She keeps bowing over and over, saying thank you over and over again. Another smile appears on my face out of pure embarrassment. Even my body is shrinking away from her.
It takes me a little while to walk around the fence so that I can talk to them without bars in the way. Miss Cassandra starts bowing yet again until finally poking half her face out from behind the pillow.
She sucks in her cheeks as her eyes study me.
There’s a strange warmth in her gaze, and it’s making me blush.
Keeping her eyes on me, Miss Cassandra takes a few small steps to Daphne’s side.
She whispers something into Miss Daphne’s ear with the pillow still in her arms.
“What…Really? Are you sure?”
“Uh-huh…”
Surprise is written all over Miss Daphne’s face as Miss Cassandra’s cheeks turn bright pink, and she nods again.
Why do I get the feeling of being left out of this conversation? Miss Daphne straightens and turns to face me a few moments later.
“Little Rookie, we have something to attend to…Later.”
She thanks me for finding Miss Cassandra’s pillow before turning her back on me. Miss Cassandra herself shows me another smile before bowing one last time and following after her partner.
The two of them go around a corner and are out of sight before I know what happened.
“Later…?”
What did she mean by that?
Anyway, I have to get back to work. The box from before is still sitting behind the building. I jog back around the fence and pick it up.
Our conversation replaying in my mind, I bring the box into our home.
“Ah! Bell! Take a break as soon as you’re done with that!”
“Eh? Is that okay?”
My goddess called out to me from a room on the second floor as I passed by the door.
I protest, telling her that we haven’t made much progress at all. She just smiles at me with all the confidence in the world and waves me over.
“Hee-hee, the party can’t start without you! Take a look at this!”
I walk all the way across the room to my goddess standing in front of the window. She holds up a piece of paper.
She hadn’t told me what to expect, so I cautiously take the paper from her and give it a once-over…
“…Hestia Familia, now recruiting new members! Come, my children!”
An invitation to join our familia written in the common language of Koine is sprawled on the paper. Our emblem, a flame and a bell, is at the top of the invitation, which contains the information about how to apply.
And the day to meet the goddess in person is…today.
My eyes jump off the paper and I look back at her. She’s smiling from ear to ear.
“There’s another one just like this at the Guild’s bulletin board, and I asked the ladies at my part-time job to post one at the stand! It’s almost time to meet everyone…They should be outside right now!”
She casts her gaze out the window.
I rush over and take a look for myself.
“W-wow…!”
Just outside the iron fence in front of our front door…
Many races of humans and demi-humans are standing there.
“Hey, we’re gonna be looking at the new prospective recruits. Meetin’ on the front lawn.”
Mikoto was carrying some small boxes down a hallway when Welf called out to her.
She spun on her heel to face him. That was when the young man realized something out of place and smiled wryly.
“Did you…take a dip this early in the day?”
“Ah, no, this is just…you see…!”
One layer of loose clothing, slightly pink skin, and damp jet-black hair gave it away. She realized that, with just one look at her, anyone could tell she had just gotten out of the bath. Her face promptly turned a much darker shade of pink.
While it had been only a quick one, she felt guilty for skipping out on the work that had been assigned to her. Her normally tied-back hair was hanging loosely, and now she looked like a kid with a guilty conscience as she tried to hide behind the boxes in her arms.
Looking at Mikoto, Welf’s earlier smile deepened.
“…I won’t say anything to the others, so come along when you can.”
“I-I’ll be there right after putting this away!”
Thanking the older smith for his understanding, Mikoto could feel her cheeks burning as she practically screamed her response. She dashed away, leaving Welf behind her.
“I lack discipline…”
She muttered to herself as even her ears burned red.
Thump, thump, the boxes shook in her arms as she raced through a hallway as fast as she could with short little strides.
“Oops.”
A little white note fell out of the top box and landed on the floor at her feet.
“Now I’ve done it,” said Mikoto as she set down the mountain of boxes before leaning down to pick it up.
She was about to slip it back inside when the quality of the paper caught her attention. She held it up to the light coming through the window to see what was written on it.
“What is this…?”
“Th-this isn’t a dream…?”
I clear my throat as I take it all in.
Humans and demi-humans of all shapes and sizes flood into our front garden the moment we open the gate.
My face feels numb. I survey the crowd from my vantage point on the front porch.
“It’s all real, Bell! All these children came here today to join our familia!”
The goddess takes a few steps in front of me, spreading her arms to welcome the newcomers.
Thanks to her recruiting posters, all these people—more than fifty in all—came to our home today because they want to join Hestia Familia.
“We are the talk of the town after winning the War Game, especially among the newcomer adventurers who just arrived in Orario. Lilly and everyone’s familia has the most momentum right now.”
Lilly’s standing on my goddess’s other side, explaining the flood of hopeful recruits.
The images they saw of the War Game through the Divine Mirrors spread all across Orario are still fresh in their minds. Seeing a young, vastly outnumbered familia overcome the odds and emerge victorious must’ve left a strong impression.
Travelers and merchants probably spread the word of our exploits outside the city as well, which can only help.
Only when I notice Lilly’s stare do I realize that I’m smiling. I can’t describe this feeling of happiness, this uplifting joy.
“Th-this means we’re not the baby familia anymore…! Goddess, we did it, didn’t we?”
“Yeah! It all started three months ago…Such a short time, and yet it feels so long!!”
My goddess and I clap our hands together, basking in the joy of finally being recognized as a legitimate familia.
Lilly looks kind of uncomfortable, forcing a smile with her eyes on us. But I’m sure that she’s just as happy as we are, if not happier.
All those nights of eating Jyaga Maru Kun—crispy potato puffs—alone with the goddess in the hidden room under the old church feel like ancient history now. There are so many memories, things that would never happen again—except the potato puffs. That’s still on the menu.
I’m just so happy.
The goddess had tried to recruit people on her own, but she’d been rejected so many times. Now people are
literally lining up to join our familia.
Still holding hands with my goddess, I look out across the crowd and start tearing up.
There are so many races. Humans, of course, but also elves, dwarves, beastpeople, prums, and even a few people of mixed race, all standing in our front yard. Several of the men look Dungeon ready, dressed in full armor and carrying their weapons of choice. There’s a group of girls off by the gates dressed in traveler’s clothes. They must’ve just gotten to the city a few days ago. Everyone’s chatting excitedly among themselves while stealing glances at the three of us on the porch. The atmosphere is electric.
The sun bright in a blue sky overhead, everything so bright and colorful…it’s hard to believe this is happening. Dreams do come true!
“Ah…Miss Daphne! Miss Cassandra!”
I recognize two familiar faces in the crowd. I talked to them not half an hour ago. Miss Daphne’s short hair swishes around her head as her usual smug eyes meet mine. I feel Miss Cassandra’s soft stare a moment later.
They weave their way through the crowd and come up to the front porch. Daphne forces a smirk.
“This girl told me she wants to join your familia…”
Miss Daphne plops her hand right on top of Miss Cassandra’s head. My eyes shoot open in surprise.
Miss Cassandra shyly smiles at me for a moment before hiding her face. I feel the muscles in my cheeks melt as another big smile forms on my lips.
So this is what she meant by “later”…They knew!
I have no clue why they chose our familia over others, but I’m so happy I couldn’t care less! “Thank you so much!” The words practically explode out of my mouth.
To think, third-tier, upper-class adventurers are going to join us! I could jump for joy right here, right now!
“Quite the crowd.”
“Ah, Welf!”
Welf comes out onto the front porch just as Miss Daphne and Miss Cassandra disappear back into the mass of people.
“Are you that thrilled that the familia is growing?”
“Yes! Everyone living together, it’ll be like a big family…!”
“Having more people doesn’t mean only good things, you know. Bigger family means bigger obligations, too.”
He has even more points, talking about how as a group there are more details to figure out, as well as more potential for drama and competition.