NOVEL WEB Chapter 2
7th Heaven Chronicles
Chapter 2
Familia are made up of adventurers and supporters headed by a God or Goddess. They are named after the God or Goddess in charge. Most Familia are exploration type Familia, though there are other types such as business type, industrial type, medicinal type, and even nation type. Each Familia is given a rank ranging from I to S based on size and achievements, which is taken into account in determining how much money each Familia has to pay the Guild for their monthly taxes.
---7HC---
Carriage house
Same day
Hestia was humming a song as she straddled the naked back of Seven and pierced her left index finger with a sterilized needle. As the red colored ichor fell on Seven’s back, Hestia’s stamp appeared upon the brown haired woman in a flash of white light, slowly numbers and letters appeared. Seven’s skin was marked, showing in full the Hestia’s mark in the language of the gods, showing her status. Putting a parchment on her new child's skin, Hestia copied Seven’s status on the medium. After a brief second she felt as Seven’s current status was inscribed on the piece of vellum.
Getting off Seven’s back, the Goddess looked at the three different sheets with an inquisitive eye. She already knew the result but she was curious to see what they would look like on parchment. The experience of stamping Falna and copying their status was a new experience to her.
SEVEN
Level 1
Strength 0 I
Endurance 0 I
Dexterity 0 I
Agility 0 I
Magic 0 I
WOLF
Level 1
Strength 0 I
Endurance 0 I
Dexterity 0 I
Agility 0 I
Magic 0 I
FLOWER
Level 1
Strength 0 I
Endurance 0 I
Dexterity 0 I
Agility 0 I
Magic 0 I
The tiny goddess nodded happily. As expected, their basic abilities were completely normal for people who just joined a familia; no skill or magic yet. Seven quickly donned her white sleeveless top, but not before Wolf got an eyeful of her toned athletic bust. Once the dark haired woman finished clothing herself, Hestia handed the parchments to her children who were reading the information displayed, but she doubted that they could read the divine languages like she could.
“So, my Goddess… The basic abilities written here are Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic.” Flower looked at the parchment written in a different language, already she planned to learn how to decipher status sheets.
Hestia preened when Flower started to call her ‘My Goddess,’ pushed her chest out and quickly answered her. “Yes.”
Wolf and Seven didn’t care too much about the status written on their back; they knew how powerful they were already and joining a Familia and this Falna stuff was just a side benefit. But knowing how it worked might be another advantage on other adventurers who didn’t understand how precious information was, it inherently was power.
They were in the central room of their house carriage, the space expansion enchantment woven into the moving building made the inside palatial. Seven and Hestia sat on the floor-seating sofa with the enchanted soft cushions on it; facing them were Wolf and Flower who were sitting on cushioned legless chairs still trying to make sense of the parchment with their status inscribed on it. Each of them had seen the process that Hestia had used to stamp and join them to her familia.
Flower put down the piece of parchment and asked her Goddess, “Can you explain how this works then? I don’t know what to make of it.”
Hestia averted her eyes from the expectant gaze of her new children; as nothing was said for a moment, she sighed and said, “You know, we should go to the Guild first, to get you registered. They will be able to explain everything that I may have forgotten…” She finished with a little voice.
Unfortunately for her, the trio has sharp ears. “Ah. We understand, so you want a refresher as well?” Flower sighed and stood up from her legless chair, dusting her bottom.
The tiny Goddess had started to notice something strange about her children, they knew how to read a room or always find the right words to say to her. It was like they were reading her like a book, it wasn’t her imagination, Hestia was sure of it. They were special children, she hoped that someday they would feel comfortable enough to tell her about themselves.
In the meanwhile, Hestia felt embarrassed to have forgotten the information pertaining to the dungeon and Falna system; she should have paid more attention to Hephaestus’ lectures. She sighed, making her impressive chest heave, it automatically garnered attention from Wolf and Seven. “Are my intentions so transparent?”
Hestia wasn’t blind, Wolf and Seven were attracted to her in a sexual way; it was strange to be desired so, but they were being careful not to be creepy about it. Flower laughed at her dejected expression. “Yes, but don't worry it's adorable.”
The trio accepted that Hestia didn’t know much and wanted to learn with them by going to the Guild. But before that, Flower announced, “Before going, we need to go to Babel with Hestia though.”
“Why?” Seven asked, but the dark haired young woman recognized this glint of cunning in her friend’s eyes.
Flower was immediately on Hestia and touched her in diverse places, like her waist, boobs, hips and inner legs. “Eeek!”
As time passed under Flower’s attention, Hestia understood that she was being measured by her child. "You need to be presentable, my Goddess. This unkempt appearance of yours will…"
Slap! Fortunately, Seven came to Hestia’s rescue by slapping Flower’s left arm. "Flower, lay off the business persona now."
"Ouch! Hey, don't hit me, I'm working!" The brunette let go of Hestia and rubbed the spot Seven hit.
Hestia hid behind Seven, looking fearfully at Flower. "You were scaring Hestia."
"Really?" Flower looked from her arm to Hestia who looked somewhat frightened.
The brunette's face showed a perplexed expression and shifted to one of repentance as she looked downward for a moment. But she perked up again and slightly bowed her head to the tiny Goddess. “Hestia, I'm sorry. But I want us to look good, image is really important in this business.”
All of a sudden, Flower went on a rant about how to bridge that trust-gap between a business and its would-be clients or customers. It was difficult to follow for Hestia; Wolf and Seven but they understood the major point as they came from the same world. Their Familia’s credibility and image will be tied to how Hestia presented herself to the world.
The tiny Goddess had a determined expression on her face after understanding this, she didn’t want her Familia to be a laughing stock; she needed to take her duties more responsibly and to start on this path, Hestia said, “Before any of that, do any of you know who will be our Familia's captain?”
Hestia saw Seven and Wolf look at each other in alarm; then their gaze settled on Flower and as one decided, that they didn’t want the job and to throw Flower under the bus.
“I'm not good at leading others.” Seven revealed with an awkward smile.
Wolf crossed his arms together, nodded with decisiveness and said stoically, “I vote for Flower, she’s good at managerial jobs.”
With a fist in the air, Seven shouted with a nervous laugh, “I agree, Flower president!”
Flower laughed as well, but her eyes showed that she wasn’t amused at all. “Daww thank you Wolf, Seven... even if you just want to avoid doing the paperwork that this position obviously has in its job description.”
Surprised that their scheme was seen through this easily, the two averted their eyes from Flower’s accusatory gaze.
“Urgh. You caught us…” Seven lamented.
Flower grinned, and began to roll a wick of her light brown hair around one of her fingers. "I know you two like the back of my hand." She winked at them.
Hestia broke in a fit of laughter reminding the three Familia members of wind chimes. When she calmed down with the rest of her children, the tiny Goddess said, “Okay, now that it's settled, let's go to Babel first.”
---7HC---
Pantheon
Guild HQ
Guts was a retired adventurer, for thirty years he had toiled in the dungeon; he knew what loss and desperation were, a lot of his fellow familia members, friends and people he had helped nurture into this occupation had succumbed to the dungeon. Failure had dogged his steps since most of his Familia were killed in an expedition; he was only saved by a passing level 7 from the Zeus Familia at the time.
Since then, he has taken on the job of Guild advisor to guide and help the new generations of adventurers; he was used to helping them understand everything they needed to know about the dungeons, the danger that people from other Familia represented. He had a tendency to direct promising newbies toward some of the mid-level Familia; sure they would have to work for a year or two out of the supporter role, but they would be safe.
However, his usual scheme didn’t seem to work on those three cloaked newbies though. They had entered Pantheon in a bombastic way, securing the space around them in the lobby, stared down at the adventurers present and then… a vision of beauty entered the building. It was a Goddess with shining silky black hair reaching down the middle of her back; she wore a silver chain circlet with a sapphire set into it, the same color as her eyes on her forehead. There was matching jewelry at her neck and left bicep.
She has a small frame, and she was four feet seven, really short but still looked womanly and appealing; the Goddess was wearing a white floor length dress with a waist high slit showing a lot of leg, the dress further emphasized her breasts with spaghetti straps. The Goddess simply looked pure, like untouched snow under a cloudless blue sky reflecting the sunlight. Guts wasn’t one to wax poetic, but this is what he felt.
This Goddess had walked toward the counter where he waited, Adventurers tended to avoid him because of his stature. Guts was a big, two meters tall and muscular werewolf. Guts had lost an eye to an Harpy that he hid behind an black and silver eyepatch. He wore his Guild uniform with pride despite how his herculean frame made him look like in his outfit.
The Goddess had introduced herself with a beautiful smile, she calls herself Hestia and she has come to register her Familia to the guild. Guts had the feeling that this was a newbie Goddess and when he asked her if she recently descended, she answered honestly that yes she was and that those three hooded people behind her were her new Familia members. The big werewolf took those four in one of the meeting boxes used by advisors to talk one on one with their assigned Adventurers.
Goddess Hestia sat on the green leather sofa and was flanked by the two female Familia members while the hooded man with the big broadsword stood behind them in a typical overwatch stance, looking at the exit and windows. Guts had the impression that those three weren’t just some random newbies; they had combat experience.
“So let me get this straight, you three signed up with the newbie Goddess?” Guts began to say as he stared at each of them in an intimidating manner.
The Goddess frowned at him, she looked cute and green; he hated it already, she would make mistakes and send those three to their deaths if they didn’t have the experience needed to survive the first layers of the dungeon.
“We did.” The trio spoke in sync, even nodded at the same time.
The noise of Guts facepalm filled the box. He looked at them with his lone eye and reprimanded them, “Do you know how dangerous and short sighted that is?”
He had seen it happen three times, fresh new gods descending and gathering new adventurers and got them all killed or had to leave Orario for diverse reasons.
There was a tense silence between the group and the advisor, until it was broken by the black robed hooded woman with brown hair sticking out of her hood. She crossed her legs and in a clipped but stern tone answered Guts. “We thank you for caring for our well being, but our decision is already set in stone.”
Her voice softened when she put a hand on her Goddess thigh. “Goddess Hestia’s heart is in the right place and that's what matters to us, we don't need riches and people who would take advantage of us, I wouldn't trust any of the big or mid-level Familia in this city as far as I could throw them. We choose Hestia because of what she represents, she is a caretaker and homemaker and she is new enough that we won't get burned by associating with her. I see potential and greatness where you see a poor Goddess of little stature, after all, everyone needs to start somewhere.”
Guts was mildly stunned by the woman’s rant; she didn’t even need to insult him to make her point across; though, the Advisor could see that he had crossed a line with the two others whose bodies were coiled into action and ready to attack him for thinking their Goddess to be useless.
The one eyed werewolf felt that he was in danger somehow, but he shouldn’t be, those three were fresh faced new adventurers. He was level 5 when he retired, but… somehow the coercion those three exuded made him wary of them.
To defuse the situation and to not get attacked, Guts said, “I see, you have faith in her.”
As suddenly as it had appeared, the tension simply melted off the three people’s bodies. The obvious Familia Captain, the brunette then started to speak again; the Goddess didn’t say anything since the start of this conversation, but she was observing him with furious eyes. “Let’s start this again, Guts was it?”
Guts nodded. She smiled at him and continued to speak, “We mostly want to register here to be on the up and up, we intend to be more than adventurers, we want to be merchants.”
The old wolf finally understood, he leaned back on his sofa and nodded. “Ah, you don't want to be a pure exploration Familia.”
This changed everything, he regretted having presumed too much; his assumptions might have made him an enemy.
The woman made a so-so gesture with her right hand and said, “We will do our fair share of exploration, but we want to be more than grunts. We plan to offer some services to other Familia with the establishments we hope to start up to make money and fulfill some of our goals.”
Guts frowned. "And what might those goals be?"
Those three sure looked shady with their clear combat experience, they carried themselves like people who know how to survive in the underworld. Suddenly, the problem might not be the new Goddess, but those three might be criminals taking clear advantage of this young Goddess.
Shrugging, the brunette laconically said, “Gather some of the people from our fallen homeland who might drift here.”
*Interesting.* Thought Guts. “You haven't told me where you're from.”
The captain gave him a bright smile, when he thought that she was about to tell him, she chuckled. “And we won't, it no longer exists anyways. What matters is that we are living in Orario now.”
*A trickster, great.* Guts had seen many of those types of people before; they were hard to pin down as they could get you to think that white was black and vice versa.
“A fresh start.” The other woman commented.
Dark brown hair escaped the confines of her hood; Guts saw her cloak open for a moment when she moved and saw how athletic and well built this woman was. This physique spoke of someone who was trained; more and more Guts couldn’t think of those three people as newbies, but they reminded him of seasoned adventurers who had been through tough, shitty events and were tired of death.
Guts decided to be a little bit more respectful, first class Adventurers like him may be tough, but they were still humans, they could get killed through poison or assassination. “So what can I do for the Hestia Familia?”
“We want a private registration, please.” For the first time, Hestia spoke.
“We will only reveal our identities to the Guild.” The captain revealed as she spoke for the three other Familia members.
Guts was curious. “Why such precaution?”
The tension was back, none of the women spoke, it was the man who said with an icy tone, “We have trusted people in power before, and we lost everything. Gods from Orario have a reputation… and we don’t want to test it.”
Guts could understand that, there were some pieces of shit gods such as Ishtar, Apollo and Soma. “I can do this for you but there’s a fee for such service, you realize?”
It was the captain who answered. “And we will pay for it. Let’s do this, after that, we will need you to explain how falna and the status works, as well as the dungeon. We will even pay you for your time, if that’s what it takes.” The woman took a pouch full of money, shook it with a jingle and threw it on the low table between them.
Guts liked when people understood how the world worked, with a jovial smile he nodded and decided to teach them everything they needed to know and perhaps more. “Give me a moment, I feel that we will need to discuss this over lunch and maybe… dinner.”
---7HC---
(Hephaestus)
Hephaestus Familia HQ
1 day later
Hephaestus was doing her paperwork. She closed her crimson eyes as she felt a familiar divine aura entering the premise of her Smithy. Wasn’t it one day and a half since she had thrown her little aunt away and decided to let her sink or swim to find a Familia? Putting her quill inside her inkwell and putting aside the documents to dry, the Goddess of Smiths stood up and walked to the center of the room where the sitting area was located.
It took three minutes for Hestia to arrive, she didn’t even knock, simply opened the door to Hephaestus’ study and shouted, “Hephaestus! I finally got a Familia!!”
The goddess of smiths showed a surprised expression, Hestia wore a different outfit; quite a high grade one, from where she was it could be described as spirit silk by how shiny and ethereal the fabric looked. Her happy aunt wore an asymmetric white and ocean blue mini-dress with elaborate ornate sleeves with an alloy of gold that she instantly recognized as electrum. Hephaestus asked herself how Hestia could already afford such expensive dresses if she just started her Familia?
“Aunty, welcome back.” Hephaestus nodded to the tiny goddess.
Hestia had something in her hand, it was a basket with… a lid. It was the first time that she was seeing such a contraption. The tiny goddess walked toward Hephaestus and put her basket on the table and said smugly, “I got a Familia!!”
Sighing the goddess of smith, knew what Hestia wanted her to say; after all she had told her when she threw her out that she would never find a Familia if she didn’t work for it. “How many people joined?”
“Three of them.” Hestia said, showing three fingers with one hand.
Hephaestus nodded, then she looked at the wicker basket, the lid was clearly innovative, it was split and could also serve as a surface to place things on it.
Hestia pushed the basket toward Hephaestus on the big table. “Here, one of my children made food. It’s simply out of this world, she even made some new dishes that I have never seen before.”
*And now she’s just showing off.* Hephaestus rolled her eyes.
Opening the segmented lid, tantalizing smells wafted from it; Hephaestus looked inside the basket and saw something strange. She took a plate with a tower of food; that’s how she chose to describe it. She began to examine it and this new dish seemed to consist of a really thin but soft bread, Layers of ham, bacon and turkey with juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce and cheese.
“What is this?” Hephaestus' red eye focused on the food before.
Hestia chuckled childishly, then she sat on the chair facing her niece. “Seven, my child, calls it a Club Sandwich.”
As she tilted her head, the goddess of smiths said, “A club?”
The red haired goddess imagined a wooden club, but couldn’t understand what it meant for the food? Was it a cultural thing?
“Taste it, you’ll be hammered by the flavors.” With a wave, Hestia prompted her niece to eat the food in a clear challenge.
With a teasing grin, Hephaestus asked Hestia, “Since when are you a comedian now?”
The tiny goddess pouted. “It’s not my fault, my children speak with a lot of imagery! They are strange sometimes…”
The red haired goddess took the sandwich in her hands, and then bit into it; she found herself humming and moaning in delight as the flavor of the seasoned meat and vegetable exploded in her mouth. Never had she eaten something like that, even in Heaven.
“So do you like it?” Hestia had a big smile on her face, and waited for the verdict.
Reluctantly putting the sandwich on its plate and taking a handkerchief from her blouse, Hephaestus dabbed the juice of the meat on her lips with it; after that, she blushed and said, “It’s really delicious.”
“I have had that kind of food all the time since I met them yesterday.” Hestia boasted with a hand on her chest which jiggled at the same time.
The goddess of smiths had a lot of questions for Hestia. Someone with a talent to make even gods crave their food wasn’t easy to find; but knowing of Hestia’s domain being the hearth fire of both Mount Olympus and the homes, it wasn’t as surprising that someone gifted in the culinary arts joined her Familia.
Hephaestus asked, “Where are these children from? I don’t know about any land that has items like that basket or this dish you introduced me to.”
Then she pointed a finger at Hestia's dress. “Your clothes are different as well. I don’t know this style of dress, it’s not from the Far East or any city and nations near Orario.”
Hestia shrugged, she loved her clothes and made her feel beautiful; somehow when she woke up this morning, she found her dress folded with a note telling her that Seven had crafted it for her. “Seven made that dress for me, she’s a good crafter you know; with Flower, they have those strange ideas…. Ah yes, Flower is my new Familia captain and a mage specializing in healing.”
“Wait! You got a mage from the start? And a healer mage to boot?!” The redhead’s eyes were wide and her mouth agape.
A healer mage? One of the rarest kinds, how did Hestia luck out this much? The tiny goddess grinned at her niece and continued speaking, not telling anything more about Flower. “And my list child is a swordsman, this morning I saw Wolf, my child, train in the morning and swing that big broadsword of his.” Hestia had a dreamy look on her face. Then she changed gear and imagined Seven fighting. “Though, I still don’t know what Seven do, she can make food, tailor clothes and right now she’s designing the Hestia Familia Headquarter.” Hestia counted on her hand what she knew from her Familia members.
Hephaestus did not like that, Adventurers and New Familia started with disadvantageous conditions, but somehow those three people had enough resources to clothe Hestia and make things? This was too shady and too good to be true. “How did they get the money for everything?”
Hestia shrugged, “They’re rich, they came to Orario with everything they owned and exchanged a treasure for Valis, and guess what? The abandoned church you told me to go to? They bought it and all the land and buildings surrounding it.” The tiny goddess said conspiratorially, she was still disturbed by the trio’s choice of buying useless lands.
Hephaestus looked thoughtful, not realizing that she started eating as she began to think; so those people had the seed money to start their familia, then they found Hestia just lurking in the abandoned church. Did they know that she would be there? Such coincidences can’t be so fortuitous… “Hestia, are you sure that you can trust them?”
The Goddess of the hearth sighed, she had asked herself the same question. “I’m just… starting to know them, but so far they have been truthful with me, they are genuinely good people to be around with.”
The redhead took a last bite of her sandwich and after she swallowed said, “If anything happens, you can come here again.”
Hestia showed Hephaestus her most beautiful smile, she loved the fact that her niece cared for her. “I won’t need it, but I appreciate the thought, Hephaestus.”
The goddess of fire put her arm in the wicker basket and felt nothing. She pulled it and saw that there was no sandwich left. “Huh, when did I finish this?”
Hestia laughed at her. “You’ve been eating while speaking for a while now.”
The black haired goddess opened the other lid, and took out a glass pitcher full of an orange substance with two crystal glasses decorated with a flame symbol of the Hestia Familia embossed on them. Hephaestus was mesmerized by the craftsmanship. “Here, have this orange juice.”
As the tiny goddess poured the orange liquid in Hephaestus’ mug, the redhead continued to be surprised; the juice was chilled, and she realized that the pitcher was enchanted somehow. She could feel the eddies of mana coming from it. Hephaestus suspected that Seven girl to be an enchanter, a mage specializing in crafting magical items, or to be from a spirit blessed lineage with some kind of skill related to crafting things with magical effect. Damn it to Hades! The more she analyzed the things Hestia brought, the more questions she had!
Hephaestus took the glass and drank. She felt refreshed, after closing her eyes, she imagined herself to be in a snowy bank. When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but praise Hestia’s new child. “That Seven girl could open a restaurant…”
Hestia had a really smug face at that moment, it was really… punchable; but Hephaestus knew better than to jeopardize her access to the food she had just devoured.
“That’s actually what she’s going to do.” Hestia revealed.
Hephaestus perked up at that, if she could have access to such food periodically, her days would be even more comfortable when she would finish work. “Hestia, can you tell me more about this restaurant plan your child has?”
A/N: There's going to be a bunch of setup chapters here after this.
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