Hephaestus looked forward to meeting Rod, wanting to see for herself what he was like, and even blurted out.
"If you had told me earlier that this child was such a being, I wouldn't have haggled with you. I would have agreed to any request!"
Astrea's eyes lit up, and she quickly got up and took Hephaestus's hand.
"Really?!"
"Thank you so much, Hephaestus!"
"Hehehe, speaking of which, besides this, that child really does need your help with something else, and only you can help!"
Looking at the smiling Astrea in front of her, Hephaestus's smile gradually froze.
For the first time, she felt that even the Goddess of Justice could smile so wickedly…
Feeling a great sense of unease, she forced a stern expression and coldly shook off the Goddess of Justice's hand.
"It's better not to speak! You're definitely going to say something that sounds very troublesome, and I absolutely will not agree to it no matter what!"
…
A while later.
"Hello, can you hear me? Hestia?"
Hephaestus carefully adjusted the large crystal ball on the table with a small hammer, deliberately ignoring the teasing gaze of the Goddess lying on the table beside her.
Gods are indeed not allowed to use divine power in the Lower World, but they have their own ways of exploiting loopholes to display extraordinary abilities without using divine power in the Lower World.
For the God of Blacksmiths, this meant various tools specially forged before descending to the Lower World.
After a burst of static, a clear voice, as if untouched by the pollution of knowledge, suddenly came from the crystal ball.
"Eh? Why is this thing suddenly making noise? You scared me, watch me use my Sacred Flame…."
"Wait, Hestia, it's me! Hephaestus!"
"Hmph, the voice imitation is indeed similar. A mere anomaly cannot disturb my wise mind!"
"I suddenly remembered that in the Heavenly Realm, Apollo seemed to…"
"Ah ah ah ah—"
A strange cry from the crystal ball interrupted Hephaestus's lingering words.
"Hehehe, actually, the wise me naturally recognized your voice long ago, Hephaestus~ My dear friend~"
Hephaestus pinched her forehead. Hearing her friend's energetic voice after a long time made her happy, but after only a few sentences, she suddenly felt a bit tired. What was going on?
"Are you contacting me suddenly because you need my help with something? Don't be shy, feel free to entrust it to reliable me!"
"But… before that, it would be even better if you could tell me more about the Lower World!"
Hestia's speech suddenly accelerated, and a torrent of complaints poured out like a dam breaking—
"The Heavenly Realm is so boring, staying in the palace all day with nothing to do, I feel like I'm going to mold! More and more gods are descending to the Lower World, and everyone is dragging their feet, refusing to come back, causing every god's work in the Heavenly Realm to become busier and busier. Even I, who am respected by my juniors, have to come out and work overtime. It's simply exploitation, exploitation!"
"Wuwuwu… Before, I just had to sit in a chair and pretend to be aloof to fool those juniors, but now I have to be invited out by them, crying and weeping, to act as a tool god to assist with work, dizzy from being busy every day… My divine life (chokes), what will it become in the future…."
Hephaestus smiled bitterly and looked back at Astrea. Astrea showed a sympathetic gaze, then lightly coughed.
"In that case, Hestia, why don't you also try descending to the Lower World and living with the children?"
"Eh? That voice is… Astrea!"
Astrea's suggestion made Hestia a little excited, but then came a wave of timidity and nervousness.
"I, I've thought about it too… But will any child really be willing to become family with me? Will they really accept me, a completely incompetent idiot after my divine power is sealed…."
Astrea narrowed her eyes slightly and chuckled softly.
"Although I like Hestia very much, children have different personalities, and I can't guarantee that they will definitely welcome you."
Hestia's disappointed voice came from the crystal ball.
"I knew it…"
"But I can confirm that one child will definitely accept you. In fact, it's precisely by accepting his request that I came to ask Hephaestus to contact you."
"R-really? There's actually such an idiot. Wait, you're not talking about that handsome man… Uh, I didn't say anything just now! I definitely didn't secretly use divine power to peek into the Lower World!"
Astrea was silent for a long time, pretending not to hear Hestia's transparent lie.
"In any case, human lifespans are very short, and you wouldn't want that child to live with regret until death, would you?"
Hestia felt a pang of sadness at these words and eagerly wanted to agree immediately, but then thought of her current situation and became troubled again.
"Hmm… But even if my status is high, it would take a long time for my turn to come in order…"
Just then, Hephaestus seemingly casually mentioned another matter.
"Do you still remember how your rival descended to the Lower World?"
"Huh? Why are you suddenly bringing up that flat-chested god Loki?!"
"Isn't the point how she managed to descend ahead of time?!"
"Uh… Don't be angry, Hephaestus. Hehe, let me think… Ah, I remember now, she seemed to have gotten rid of all the gods ahead of her…"
Astrea looked at Hephaestus expressionlessly, her gaze seeming to say, "I didn't expect kind you to come up with such a method."
Hephaestus forced herself to appear calm, though she was actually a little guilty.
After all, to suggest such a wicked operation in front of the Goddess of Justice, Hephaestus admired her own courage!
But it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If she waited for the normal rotation, her good friend would probably have to wait at least five or six years!
Ultimately, Astrea still did not speak.
After all, she was not a stubborn god who was beyond human reason, and she also had her own joys, sorrows, and preferences.
Besides, as the one who held the right to define justice, she didn't believe this kind of thing was necessarily unjust.
Compared to letting those troublesome gods in the Heavenly Realm descend and cause chaos in the human world, Hestia was actually a better choice.
Flexible justice is also justice, after all…