Gathering Allies

Hestia hadn't cleaned the Abandoned Church she had been living in, but it was not because she didn't want to. A good portion of the damage the church had suffered was structural. One of the church's supporting beams had fallen from the ceiling and landed on a row of benches, crushing them. Hestia is in the body of a teenage female. The beam is too heavy for her to move.

Marcus' presence changes that. He can use his Glorious Shroud to form platforms to lift heavy objects. After he removes the impediments, Hestia can sweep the area clean of debris. Then they can move to a different spot and repeat the process.

Cleaning the church is slow, partially due to the nature of the work, but mainly because Marcus insists Hestia wear a maid uniform while cleaning. His shroud, Hestia learns, can imitate garments. Handy for a struggling Familia that can't afford a clothing budget. Inconvenient when Marcus gets distracted and decides he wants to bend her over the newly uncovered church altar.

Still, within two days, they have done all they can. Neither Hestia nor Marcus has the technical expertise required to do in-depth repairs. They can sweep away the glass, but they can't repair windows. They can remove the beam from the benches, but Marcus and Hestia can't replace the crushed seats.

So Marcus suggests they recruit someone who can.

When Hephaestus learns Hestia is outside and wants to speak with her, she sighs. When Hestia had descended from the Heavens, she didn't have a place to go. She had no money for rent or food, no children to trawl the dungeon, or resources to start recruiting. Consequently, Hestia had turned to Hephaestus, asking whether she could stay with the already-established Goddess of the Forge until she got her feet under her.

Hephaestus had agreed, and Hestia moved in. She promptly spent the next half-year not doing anything productive. Hestia used the allowance Hephaestus gave her to purchase books instead of investments. She stayed in her room all day instead of going out to meet prospective adventurers. She ate, drank, and slept without contributing anything.

Rapidly, Hephaestus realized Hestia wasn't serious about starting a Familia. Hestia descended to avoid the arduous task of judging mortals in heaven. If Hephaestus allowed it, Hestia would spend the rest of eternity mooching off her- so Hephaestus didn't give Hestia the opportunity.

Hephaestus evicted Hestia, but she didn't leave Hestia homeless. Instead, she allowed the Goddess of Home and Hearth to live in an old abandoned church. If Hestia wanted something more luxurious, she would have to work for it.

Hephaestus thought the arrangement was generous. Hestia disagreed, and on occasion, she showed up on Hephaestus' doorstep to beg for additional aid. While Hephaestus had never- and would never- grant it, she always allowed Hestia to plead her case.

Tiredly, she tells the attendant to let Hestia in. What she isn't expecting, and what her attendant hadn't told her, is Hestia hasn't come alone. Hephaestus does a double-take when she sees the man Hestia is with.

The Goddess of the Forge tries to not judge others based on appearance. Her face- true face- caused deities and mortals alike to recoil. In heaven, where everyone else was perfect, her appearance had denoted her as an outlier and subjected her to vicious mockery.

The man before her is her opposite. He is unbelievably gorgeous, but that means nothing- or at least it shouldn't mean anything. With effort, Hephaestus looks away from him.

"Who is this?"

"Hephie, meet my first child! Say hi, Marcus."

"Salutations, Lady Hephaestus. How does the morn find you?" Heaven help her; even his voice is attractive. This is Hestia's first child?

Hephaestus can't help it. She asks, "How did you two meet?"

"Marcus approached me and asked to join my Familia."

"He approached you?"

"If I may offer an explanation, my lady?"

Hephaestus nods.

"Any child I sire will be born into my Familia. When selecting a Familia, I didn't look at current resources or status. Instead, I looked for a Familia that would treat my kin appropriately decades from now. Lady Hestia is the Goddess of Family. Where better to start my dynasty than under her?"

"Respectable." But also foolish. Legacy planning is for those that live long enough for it to become an issue. The majority of adventurers live short lives. The best way to avoid dying young is to join an established Familia that can provide resources and training.

Hephaestus doesn't say any of this because Hestia is her friend. She doesn't want to put down the aspiration of her or her child.

"So... now that I have a Familia, I wanted to see if we could discuss a potential alliance."

"Hestia- we're friends, but I can't do you favors in this area. I won't do anything that disadvantages my children."

Alliances require both parties to carry their weight. The Hephaestus Familia has two-hundred members and is the dominant smithing family in Orario. The Hestia Familia was formed yesterday and had a single member. An alliance between them will result in Hephaestus' Familia carrying Hestia's.

"I'm not looking for a favor. We have something to trade."

"What could you possibly have that I would want?"

"Ta-da!" Hestia holds out a hand, and a flame appears. Hephaestus' heart skips a beat, and she waits for her friend to be returned to heaven. It was strictly forbidden for a deity to use their arcanum in the lower world.

It takes five seconds before Hephaestus realizes Hestia isn't being banished. It takes another ten seconds for her to understand why. "You've discovered how to use your arcanum without emitting divinity?"

To her surprise, Hestia shakes her head. "This isn't my Arcanum. It's Marcus' skill."

Marcus holds his hand out. A flame emerges from his palm. "I have the gift of pyrokinesis, Lady Hephaestus. Yet another reason I chose to serve the Lady of the Hearth."

"And you can share your skill with others?"

"Indeed, my lady."

Hephaestus' mind races. A grimoire- a single-use book that can grant its reader magic- costs millions of valis. A skill that can bestow multiple individuals with fire magic is similarly valuable. "What limitations does your skill have?"

"At present, I can only share with three individuals. I have filled two of these slots with myself and Lady Hestia."

"Meaning you only have a single slot left," Hephaestus says. While still absurd, the stipulation makes his skill marginally more reasonable. "Why share it with me instead of a Familia member?"

"You are the Goddess of Flames as well as Smiths, are you not?"

"I am."

"Then you understand how valuable pyrokinesis can be to a smith." She can, and that is an argument against accepting Marcus' offer.

Upon descending to the mortal world, Hephaestus had forged a sword without the use of her arcanum or any other special skills. Nothing but skill had been utilized in the construction of the blade. In theory, any unblessed child could recreate the sword. In practice, no child of Hephaestus had managed it.

The sword rested on a pedestal in the main compound of the Hephaestus Familia home. Its presence pushed her children to do better. To match a blade created with the peak of mastery possible in the lower world, and then exceed it with developmental abilities and skills. It encouraged her children to create something worthy of being called divine.

To gain pyrokinesis, something none of her children possessed, strikes Hephaestus as unfair.

"It will allow you to take your craftsmanship to another level."

Hephaestus can also acknowledge she had stagnated. That sword, constructed a century ago, was the best thing she could make on this plane. Consequently, she stopped pushing her craft. When was the last time she innovated?

Despite her misgivings, Hephaestus starts to discuss the price. "What, specifically, do you want in exchange?" Part of her hopes their demands will be unreasonable. If so, she won't have to choose whether or not she wants to regain her pyrokinetic powers. She'll be able to reject his offer.

Unfortunately, Marcus proves to be reasonable. He acknowledges Hephaestus' dominance and asks for a barebones alliance.

In the short term, Marcus asks for the right to sell drop materials directly to the Hephaestus Familia and a small discount on weapons and armor. Besides this, he wants to reserve the ability to negotiate additional mutually once the Hestia Familia has grown in power.

There isn't anything in the deal Hephaestus finds objectionable. She needs to make her decision based on whether or not she wants to improve her craft. Hephaestus grimaces. When phrased like that, she doesn't have a choice.

"Alright," she says. "How are we going to do this?"

Marcus tells her, and Hephaestus assents. His shroud envelopes her. Hephaestus lets it seep into her. Only after she has been bound- when she is beyond caring- does she realize what he has done.

In the aftermath, Marcus gives Hephaestus three tasks. He wants her to update the Falna's of her Familia members as quickly as possible, to produce a set of arms and armor for him, and to introduce him to her other divine friends. With his particular combo of skills, Marcus is confident he can trick and claim any deity he encounters. It is getting audiences that are an issue.

The first two, Hephaestus agrees to with no issue. It is the third task she has a problem with. Marcus thinks- because Hephaestus is head of the largest smithing Familia in Orario and well-respected- she must have a lot of connections. Hephaestus doesn't.

"I've always been an outcast among the Gods," Hephaestus says. "Hestia is my only real friend. You would be better off asking her for referrals."

"I can introduce you to Miach and Takemikazuchi after this," Hestia says.

Marcus frowns. "Why don't you have other friends?"

Hephaestus is uncomfortable, but she doesn't lie to him. "My eye is deformed. Many deities mocked me for it in heaven. Those are the same deities who want to befriend me now. I wasn't interested in making friends with self-serving snakes."

"Can you take off the eyepatch?"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"How bad can it be?"

The answer, it turns out, is very. Marcus expects a deformed eye. He doesn't expect a gaping socket filled with eldritch horror. Hephaestus' eye is filled with the flames in which she forges her creations- something so intrinsically tied to her domain that Body Tune-Up can't affect it any more than it can undo Freya's beauty.

The longer Marcus stares into her eye, the more he can feel his soul melt. Turned into molten steel to be forged into something new. This, he realizes, is why only Hestia had been able to meet Hephaestus' gaze in heaven. Only another fire deity can withstand the pressure of Hephaestus' eye.

She puts her eyepatch back on, and Marcus snaps out of his trance. He realizes his face has twisted in horrified disgust and schools it back to neutrality. It doesn't matter. It's too late. Hephaestus had already seen his reaction.

He doesn't need Communication Talent to know she is hurt. He offers a short apology for his reaction.

"It's okay," Hephaestus says.

In the corner, Hestia is looking between them, trying to determine if- how- she can help. Marcus speaks to her through Conjunction to let her know it won't be necessary.

Hephaestus has been rejected hundreds of times by mortals and deities alike. In time, Marcus' rejection will blend in with all the others- assuming they don't dwell on it. Marcus doesn't think this interaction will come up again.

He realizes his interactions with Hephaestus will be minimal. They will take place through an intermediary- Hestia- in the early stages of his plan and through an automated system during the end stages.

Hephaestus- she's not ugly, for the most part. Marcus had been considering including her in his harem.

Smithing required strong hands to hold the hammer, and a strong back and legs to swing it. Consequently, the Goddess of Smiths is thicc, with a well-defined back and firm ass. Very different from a domestic Goddess like Hestia, who is soft all over.

Her eye changes the equation. Marcus doesn't want a waifu he needs the mental defense perk to look at. Not when there is a superior alternative available.

"How soon can you update Tsubaki's Falna?"

Hephaestus' captain is a bombshell. Tsubaki had developed all the same muscle groups as Hephaestus and, as an adventurer, more besides. She was also taller, with longer legs and larger breasts.

Hephaestus says she is going to see Tsubaki later in the day.

"Good. Update Tsubaki's Falna today and give her some busy work. I don't want her going into the Dungeon for the next three days." Unlike Hephaestus, Tsubaki isn't immortal. Now that he knows Hephaestus is off the table, Marcus doesn't want to risk his backup dying.

After they leave Hephaestus' office, Marcus turns to Hestia. "You said you could introduce me to Miach and Takemikazuchi?"

"I can."

"I guess we need to make a few more stops before we go home then."

By the end of the day, Marcus had gained control over Hephaestus, Miach, and Takemikazuchi.

Through them, he gained access to an endless armory of weapons and potions through Hephaestus and Miach, and professional combat training through Takemikazuchi. It was an auspicious beginning. Unfortunately, it wasn't sustainable.

Marcus' rapid expansion had relied on targeting a uniquely **** Goddess- Hestia- and then using her to gain access to her friends. Now that he had captured all her close friends, he had run out of easy targets.

Ideally, he would have been able to continue his strategy by marketing to close friends of Miach, Takemikazuchi, or Hephaestus, but as Marcus quickly realized, none of them had any. It was a downside of capturing recluses.

If Marcus wanted to continue to expand, he would have to get creative.