30 Collaboration For The Win

30 Collaboration For The Win

I wasn't surprised when breakfast was over and Hephaestus made the announcement that the Hephaestus Familia and the Hestia Familia were entering into a joint agreement for support and resources. Both of our Familias working together were going to outshine and outperform every other support Familia that ever existed.

Hephaestus also made her people swear on her name that they wouldn't share my abilities until told they were allowed to. Until enough of the floors were given teleportation circles, it had to remain a secret, because the other Familias might attack and try to take it from them or to destroy it. They all agreed. They knew the immense value of having someone like me helping them.

With that out of the way, we were all released to do what we wanted for the scheduled day off. Nearly all of the Hephaestus Familia chose to go back to work to play with the pile of ore and creature drops that Tsubaki and I had brought back yesterday. Hephaestus laughed and said they could do what they wanted with their time off.

Tsubaki and I gave our regards to our goddesses and left to pick up my backpack in her room. The smiths couldn't really do much with some of the loot drops, like the potion ingredients and, according to them, the boring creature drops like goblin fangs and kobold claws. They happily accepted the War Shadow finger blades and the tusks from the Needle Rabbits.

They saved a lot of money by having us supply them with those resources instead of having to buy them from the guild. That was another thing I hadn't anticipated when I worked out the deal with Hephaestus Familia. They wouldn't have to buy many of things they usually bought from the guild because they could get them directly.

“Bell, I think I should update your Falna.” Hestia's voice said from the hallway outside Tsubaki's room. The door was open and she peeked in to see that we were still dressed.

“Are you sure? I haven't really done much the last week except work on fixing up the church.” I said and she nodded. “Okay, just give me a minute.” I said and took off my helmet and my arm pieces and then the chest and back plates. I pulled the bodysuit down off of my neck and to my waist, then I laid down on Tsubaki's bed.

Hestia climbed onto the bed and sat down on my butt. “Tsubaki? Can we have a little privacy?”

“Of course, Goddess. I'll shut the door and make sure no one disturbs your private moment.” Tsubaki said and stepped out.

Hestia hummed happily as she added a drop of blood to my back and started to do her thing to my back. I honestly wasn't expecting to have gathered a lot of experience, considering I really had only worked to rebuild the church and gave us a nicer place to live. It wasn't until Hestia gasped that I thought something might be wrong about my guess.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You... you... you...” Hestia was hyperventilating and might pass out again.

“I thank you and praise you for being my personal Goddess, Hestia.” I prayed and she gasped again as I felt a deep warmth on my butt. “Because you chose to apologize for your mistake, our Familia will be prosperous like never before. You put our Familia before yourself and I will be forever grateful to you.”

“B-Bell.” Hestia whispered as the heat intensified. It wasn't a burning heat, though. It was the warmth like receiving the best bear hug in the world.

“Whatever my Falna says, it's because of you. You have to believe that, because I do.” I said.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

There was silence for several seconds before I felt Hestia's impressive chest press into my back and she gave my neck a kiss, then another. Her weight disappeared from my back and then her fingers moved over my skin once more. I heard the rustling paper and waited as she copied my stats down onto the paper, then she moved forward slightly and laid down on me to hold the paper in front of my face.

I stared at the numbers and they didn't make sense. “How?” I asked. “Not the Level 2 part. I expected that with how much I've been using magic and pushing it past 2 ranks would have happened pretty quickly. I mean not having my stats revert to the base for me to build them up again.”

Hestia took a deep breath and let it out as she rested her cheek on my shoulder to look at my face. “I think it's your skills. The combination of Mind Block, Minor Regeneration, and Blessing of Fortune let you keep any overages from your stats before levelling up.”

That was a surprising thought. I didn't think... no, I was ignoring the impact of the things I was doing because they seemed so normal for me to do, since they had to be done and it was my responsibility. I was doing things on my own and I did struggle with them; but, they weren't that difficult or insurmountable.

Even the creation of the first teleportation circle was only time consuming and expensive... and then I remembered the key factor for levelling up was gaining the attention of a god or goddess by doing something impressive. I could only guess that it was introducing a new kind of magic transportation that gave me that attention, and from whom.

Hestia burned up the paper and smiled at me. “You are a remarkable child, Bell.”

“And you are a remarkable Goddess, Hestia.” I responded. “In fact, I am enjoying the feeling of your remarkable happiness on my lower back. It's quite warm.”

Hestia giggled and sat up, giving me a much better feel. “You better not tell anyone else that joke!”

Tsubaki felt warm inside from him thanking her and not being angry that she had heard them. She turned around in his arms and kissed him back. She felt his hardness pressing against her and she let out a little growl, reached down to tear the cloth of his bodysuit open, and turned back around to lift her long skirt and pulled her underwear out of the way.

Bell took full advantage of the invitation and Tsubaki cried out as he gave her another good run, only this time it was against her desk and he used her hair as a handle to help him drive into her depths. It was hard, and frantic, and very enjoyable. They both came at nearly the same time and had to rest against the desk for several minutes.

They recovered and Bell cast that great cleaning spell to get them both presentable. Tsubaki gave him a thank you kiss and put herself in order, checked him to see his bodysuit was repaired, and they left her room to head to the guild. She really was going to enjoy making them piss themselves when they presented the extremely rare Golden Egg.

*

It was really really really difficult to not laugh with Tsubaki as several members of the guild staff, including their hastily brought over boss that was a dog-man, actually pissed themselves. The payouts for the magic crystals, loot drops, and potion ingredients was easily put through and approved.

We had made just over 60,000 valis from a single trip to the eighth floor, which was close to almost two and a half times an adventurer party of five's average daily take of 25,000 valis. Having a weapon that cleared out shadow creatures so quickly, gave us a huge advantage. The 1,000,000 valis payout for the Golden Egg would have to wait for a day as they consulted the Guild's owner.

I took Tsubaki's advice and refused to hand over the Golden Egg until the money was available. They wouldn't be taking advantage of me like that anymore. Eina looked sad and guilty when I said that and I felt bad for her, so I tried to talk to her. She refused and said that she had to resign as my advisor, because she had failed me so spectacularly.

When I tried to argue, she handed over the sales projections and showed me the estimate of 150,000 valis that the Guild would be earning every month from other Familias and businesses because of the ideas my mechanical timer had given the guild, that they had in turn rented out to everyone else.

“I'm sorry I cheated you, Bell.” Eina said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “Very sorry.” She said and walked away as she wiped at her eyes.

“Eina!” I shouted and felt a hand on my arm.

“She made her choice, Bell. She put the Guild above you and that is not what an advisor is supposed to do. She was supposed to look out for your best interests and she didn't.” Tsubaki said.

“But...” I tried to protest.

“She knows you would have been rich if she had shared the deal with you, rather than taking it all for the Guild and giving you less than an average day's pay.” Tsubaki said.

I sighed and nodded. I couldn't force Eina to remain as my advisor if she didn't want to be. “Let's go.”

We left the Guild Hall and went back to the Hephaestus Familia compound to visit some of the other blacksmiths. I negotiated personal trades and purchases for precious metals with them and with Tsubaki as I gathered what I needed to restore Hestia's statue at the church.

We left the compound and visited one of the more well known stone quarries and I bought several large pieces of marble, then went to a reputable jeweller and I bought two uncut sapphires and had them smoothed and rounded out. They were perfect and were well worth the money.

“You are going all out for your Goddess.” Tsubaki said as we dropped everything off at the church.

I knew how to respond to that comment. “When you go to the forge to make something, are you doing it for yourself?”

“Of course not! All my work is a tribute... to... my Goddess.” Tsubaki said and gave me wide eyes.

“Exactly. In this world, you will suffer if you only work for yourself.” I said and looked up at the ruined statue of Hestia. “Without a higher power to believe in you and for you to believe in right back, your life will be empty and full of nothing but disappointment.”

Tsubaki looked up at the statue as well. “You aren't going to fix it, are you?”

“I am and I'm going to move it inside, because it's outdated. A new statue, one that represents what Hestia stands for, will be created in its place. I want everyone that looks at it to know what being in a Familia is supposed to mean.”

Tsubaki turned to me and kissed my cheek. “You are a good man, Bell Cranel.”

“No, I'm not. Not yet.” I said with a smile. “But, I will be.” I put an arm around her waist. “I will be.”