Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

It was frankly kind of sad how little variation there was in adventurers in this world from my understanding. Most walked a path that was nearly identical to that of someone who came before them. Train, delve, relax, level up, repeat, it was this same monotonous pattern over an over again for the vast majority of adventurers who weren't crafters. The problem was that it simply stopped working at a certain point and you needed something to keep the adrenaline coming. I had used my time with the Artemis familia to understand that following someone elses path simply didn't go anywhere.-

No one else seemed to understand this however if what I understood from the girls of the familia was anything to go by. Despite nearly two decades having gone by since the fall of the Hera and Zeus familias the highest any adventurer had gotten was level seven. In comparison the Zeus and Hera familias even had level eight and nines in them while level sevens weren't uncommon apparently. It wasn't a matter of age either as those same level nine and eights had been only forty or so from what I gathered by asking around.-

They had also apparently held these levels for a few years as well so I would guess they were at most thirty five or so when they reached them. In comparison Ottar had been level seven for seven years now and was thirty two. The information I got on him was mixed though as some thought he was purposefully preventing himself from leveling up to eight for some reason while others thought that was his limit. If the former was true then I truly wished to know what it was he was waiting for. If the later was true however I had a hard time not considering him rather pitiable.-

Anyways I spent the night at the inn and slept like a brick the moment I touched the bed after cleaning myself with a bucket of hot water, bar of soap and a clean rag. Showers were apparently only for those with a lot of money since the ones in this world ran off of magic stones. Apparently fucking everything ran off magic stones collected from the dungeon. It was nice to know that I could make a living by delving at least. Perhaps not a great one until I got stronger but enough to survive at least.-

"Want to go check in with the guild to see if they have gotten ahold of your soon to be goddess?" Ariande asked over breakfast of oats with fruit.

I nodded "I'll probably make a habit of that until you guys head out again and spend the rest of my day trying to learn as much as I can about the dungeon to prepare." I said honestly.

"A solid plan, if you are in luck you shouldn't have to wait very long to meet your new goddess and get a falna." Rethusa said approving of my plan.

After eating Ariande and I headed out to go check the guild for an update while the rest of the familia scattered to make the most of their time in Orario. If I had to guess the time based on the sun I'd say it couldn't be more than two hours since sunrise. That was a sleeping schedule that I had needed to get used to with the Artemis familia over the last week and day, waking up when the sun came up and going to sleep when it fell.-

That was a rough transition let me tell you and not one that the familia took any pity on me with. It was wake up, eat, exercise until I dropped, sip potion, dinner, repeat all starting from the first rays of the sun touching this part of the world. The funny part was that I was always so exhausted by the end of the day that trouble getting to sleep because it was early by earths standards wasn't even an issue. Anyways I had adapted within five days of that schedule and now I doubted I even could sleep in longer than maybe an hour or two past dawn now.-

Orario was much more lively at this time than when we arrived yesterday as adventurers headed to where ever it was they needed to go which was probably the dungeon. Food vendors were trying to tempt people into buying their foods while stores had people hawking their wares. All in all it was just as you might imagine a bustling city to be during the day. The guild was surprisingly empty at this time though but I suppose that made sense as most adventurers were heading to or were in the dungeon at this point in the day.-

When we walked in I immediately noticed a goddess was present just from the sheer otherworldliness that all deities seemed to have. She was fairly short to be honest at about four foot seven and had a disproportionally large bust that didn't fit her petite body at all. She had long black hair that was tied up into twin tails with white ribbons and a flawless pale complexion.

"You are in luck goddess Hestia the one interested in joining your familia has just walked in." Rose who was dealing with the goddess said calmly.

"What? Where?" the goddess asked eagerly as she turned to look around and I raised a hand "Yo." I said with a smile.

She smiled widely and rushed over but almost tripped in her excitement so I had to catch her.

"Easy there! I'm not going to vanish I promise." I said with a chuckle as I hoisted her to her feet.

"How embarrassing, I got a little ahead of myself there. My name is Hestia!" the small goddess introduced her self eagerly holding her hand out.

"Alexander Drake, Looking forward to working with you!" I said shaking her hand with a smile.

That was pretty much how I ended up with my goddess from that point onwards. The guild registered me as being in the Hestia familia and assigned Rose as my adviser though she was very unhappy with it. Ariande congratulated me on joining a familia and lead me and Hestia back to the inn where Hestia and Artemis hit it off immediately as old friends from heaven. There was a bit of a celebration that the familia hosted in mine and Hestia's honor since we were both broke as hell. 

At the end of which they revealed that as a gift they had gotten me my weapon based on my designs and a pair of leather gloves in secret to surprise me. Honestly they were great friends to have and I thanked them a whole bunch with a huge smile for the rest of the party until it was time to head to my new home that Hestia had. Apparently I underestimated exactly how bad the financial situation was as the "home" in question was an abandoned and in heavy disrepair church at the base of the wall also known as the "forgotten area".