Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka
Volume 3 Chapter 4.3

Hestia stopped moving, her gaze snapping to the spot.

The white mug broke on its own, the separated white handle teetering on its back like a seesaw.

It was a clean break; the mug had become a handle-less cup.

“……”

Hestia stood there quietly, staring at the former mug, feeling uneasy. This kind of a break wasn’t normal. The sound of hurried footsteps and heavy clothing made her turn her head in time to see Bell walk past the table.

He had just finished his training with Aiz. Whether he was anxious to put his new skills to the test or not, he seemed like he was in more of a hurry than usual to get an early start in the Dungeon.

Hestia looked at Bell as he passed by. The boy paused for a moment, just past the broken mug. A sudden feeling of dread overtook her; she had to stall him.

“All finished cleaning up, Goddess! If you could turn off the magic-stone lamps before leaving, that’d be great!”

“Ah…Bell!”

Hestia managed to get words out of her mouth the moment that Bell had one hand on his light-armor-filled backpack, and the door handle in the other. She knew that there was no way she could convince to him to stay here today just because she “had a bad feeling.” She didn’t fully understand it herself.

However, she couldn’t ignore the tightness in her chest, either. She felt like the cup was trying to warn her. Hestia finally took her eyes off of it and looked up.

“A, ah—…Wha…what about your status? We haven’t updated it in a few days, yeah?”

“That’s…true…”

“What are you worried about? It’ll only take a minute, so…please?”

Hestia tried so hard to hide her unease that a confused smile emerged on her face. Seeing this very strange look appear on his goddess, Bell let his eyebrows relax and accepted her offer.

Hestia did her best to get the cup out of her mind and quickly set to work.

“…So, um, Bell. How are things with your supporter?”

“Goddess…you’ve asked that at least ten times already.”

“I-is that so?”

The silence was getting to her, so Hestia said the first thing that she could come up with to start a conversation, but it only got an uncomfortable smile out of Bell.

Hestia had her own reasons for wanting to know exactly what was going on during the days that Bell and Lilly went into the Dungeon together, and as a result had been asking almost nonstop since she’d allowed them to work together.

Her face went red as she sat on the small of Bell’s back. Pricking her finger on a needle, she drew out the ikoru—the power in her blood—and set to work inscribing hieroglyphs into Bell’s back.

“Moving on, it’s only been a week, right? The Kenki must have beaten the living daylights out of you. Your Defense has increased enough to close the gap with your other abilities.”

“…Ha-ha-ha-hah.”

Bell’s empty laugh in her ears, Hestia quickened her pace.

It had become the usual pattern. Whenever Hestia updated Bell’s status, her mood got steadily worse as time went on. The cause of her foul mood was, of course, the skill behind Bell’s rapid growth rate: Realis Phrase.

Hestia didn’t look at all amused as she suddenly asked something that had been bugging her since she’d found out about his training sessions with Aiz.

“Bell. Sorry to bring up the past, but you and that Kenki…You didn’t do anything…touchy-feely, did you? Like having your head in her lap or something like that.”

Bell sputtered from his facedown position on the bed until: Cough, cough. As she watched, his ears turned bright red.

Damn you, Wallensomething……!! Hestia clenched her teeth.

The boy’s status had made a considerable jump, for some reason. Judging by Bell’s reaction to Hestia’s question, she had more than enough reason to believe that they had much more contact than just his head being in her lap.

That vixen! Jealousy reared its ugly head in Hestia’s heart.

“A-ah, Goddess! Do you know if my status can go up without fighting monsters in combat? Like, through training?”

Ran away, didn’t you? Hestia thought, but didn’t make any comment on the matter. She was a goddess, after all. She had the ability to do that much.

Her needle hand slipped.

Bell could only whimper in pain. Hestia ignored it as she answered the question.

“Yes, it’ll grow. Excelia can be gained through fighting monsters or training to do so. However, playing around will do nothing for you. Remember that only hard, honest work will leave an excelia imprint that I can use to make your abilities increase.”

“So what you’re saying is…”

“Whether you’re taking your experience seriously or not. Your focus determines the excelia that is left behind. After that, all gods have to do is find them in a status update.”

This winding conversation was close to Hestia’s way of explaining how to use his Skill, but she didn’t come right out and say it. She thought that putting it this way would be easiest for Bell to understand.

Once Hestia finished updating Bell’s status, she sat back for a moment to see what it said. Her lips started to quiver.

“Dah…! Goddess, look at the time. Sorry, I’ve got to get moving!”

Bell happened to look up at the clock and started to get up.

Shifting his weight to the side so that the goddess would fall lightly to the side, he jumped from the bed. Grabbing his backpack, Bell was out the door seconds later.

“B-Bell! Your status…!!”

“Sorry, tell me when I get home tonight! See you then!”

Bell looked very rushed as Hestia watched him close the door.

Alone now, Hestia lowered her outstretched arm and let out a long sigh.

She glanced up at the broken mug on the table again, before sitting up to look at the spot where Bell had been just seconds earlier.

She thought about what see had seen written on his back.