It's been one day since I arrived in Orario, and I still haven't found a god. Where are these gods hiding? I've asked men, I've asked women, and I've even asked a mute person.
That mute person was really nice — he helped me relieve my stress by making me laugh at him.
Orario is truly unique.
I've already found several mute people and made them sing.
But instead of singing, they got mad at me.
I even asked a blind person to show me directions — but instead of showing me the way home, he got just as mad at me as that mute guy.
Even though they're mad at me, I can't get mad at them. I mean, besides entertaining me, they're also filling my pockets.
It's truly a blessing to find people like them.
Even though I haven't found a real god yet, at least they're gods to me.
Kind-hearted gods who easily give me wealth.
But...
Even though I robbed them, I'm still a little anxious right now.
What if they report being robbed to the guards? Won't I get caught and thrown in jail?
I should've broken their legs so they couldn't report me.
Is it too late to regret it?
I kick some trash on the ground while walking — which coincidentally happens to be a homeless person.
"Hey, move aside! You're sleeping too sideways!" I say, staring at him sleeping on his side.
The homeless guy just sleeps without answering me — and I don't really care if he answers or not.
My answer would've been the same.
Get rid of anything blocking my path.
With all my strength, I leap over the homeless guy with an acrobatic move.
After passing him, I head somewhere else... trying to find the whereabouts of a god or goddess. As long as they're from heaven, I'll meet them.
Throughout my journey in Orario today, I've been searching for a goddess by asking people I come across. Even though they're reluctant — because they always answer in ways that make me want to punch their faces until they turn mute.
I mean, come on — I ask where the gods are, and they tell me to go to some family? What kind of nonsense is that? After threatening one of the people I met, I finally found out that the gods came down to this world to start families.
When I found that out, I immediately realized — even though I got that guy's memories, those memories are incomplete. Tons of information slipped through.
For example — apparently when gods descend, they become regular humans, except they can grant power to humans.
Realizing there were gaps in the information, I stopped asking questions and started digging through my memories. And honestly? This is really hard. I almost banged my head against a wall to make the memories surface. Luckily, my efforts betrayed the results.
I got nothing. It made me so hopeless.
But even though I was hopeless, I kept trying to remember something — until finally, the names Goddess Hestia and Syr popped into my head.
According to those memories, Goddess Hestia is a kind goddess. She's the one who helps Bell.
She's Bell's good luck charm.
Syr is the same... She's Bell's good luck charm.
Since they're Bell's good luck charms, what should I do?
Should I rob them? If I want to be the protagonist, I should make them mine, right?
But... has Bell already come to Orario or not?
That's my dilemma. I don't know where Bell is — whether he's in Orario or not. If he's already in Orario and already with Goddess Hestia, it'll be hard to kill him because that goddess will definitely come after me.
Holding my temple — looks like I need to investigate Bell first.
After that, I kept looking for information — and sure enough, Bell really is already in Orario and has already joined Goddess Hestia.
My desire to kill Bell immediately got suppressed. I mean — Bell has already received a god's blessing, so he's definitely become strong. There's no way I can beat him right now.
But just because I can't beat him now doesn't mean I can't beat him later.
As long as I receive a god's blessing, I can definitely kill that Bell.
And the way to receive a god's blessing is pretty simple. Just meet Goddess Hestia, and she'll accept me.
Hestia's short on members. She definitely needs cheap labor like Bell — and I'm the perfect candidate.
After deciding this plan was reasonable, I immediately went looking for Goddess Hestia.
---
An old church.
"Hello..." My hand knocks on the door of an old church. According to the person I asked, this is where Goddess Hestia nests.
"Hello? Anyone here?" I frown while calling out, hoping someone appears — but no answer.
Tsk.
Are they ignoring me, or is this place empty right now?
I prefer to believe the second one.
Moving cautiously, I enter like a thief in the night — even though I am actually a thief.
Inside, the church is mossy and messy, with old, worn-out chairs. But my mind isn't focused on that.
I start looking around — where does Goddess Hestia sleep? Is it on these old chairs?
No way, right? The roof of this church has holes — she'd definitely get rained on.
I keep searching for about one minute until I finally find a path leading to a basement.
Seeing that room, I'm convinced — this is where Goddess Hestia lives.
Who would've thought that an old church looking so crappy from the outside would have a basement?
I lick the corner of my lips without realizing it. There's definitely treasure in there, right?
Maybe the goddess thought no one would find this basement — so it was really easy for me to get in.
And inside that basement — it immediately got me excited.
So many things I can turn into money!
This sofa — even though it's ugly, I can probably still sell it. This table — ugly too, but still sellable. This mattress... should I sell it?
Yeah, sell it!
As long as it makes money, I'll sell everything.
Shaking my head, I quickly gather all the stuff inside. I start carrying things out — smallest first, like the clock, the cups — followed by the table. The mattress is huge, so I take it apart before carrying it out. This is pretty easy — with my thieving skills, stealing this stuff is no problem.
It doesn't take long. I manage to completely empty the basement — didn't even leave a spoon behind.
"Nothing left..." I mutter, nodding as I stare at the empty room.
"Alright, I need to leave before the owner comes back." I immediately turn around and run as fast as I can — afraid of getting caught.
While running, I'm already thinking about how much money I'll get from selling that used stuff.
Should I use that money to buy a weapon? The dungeon can generate wealth, so that shouldn't be a problem, right?
As for how to sell that stuff — I'm not worried. There are plenty of homeless people who need decent places to sleep.
What about Goddess Hestia? Will she find out that I'm the one who robbed her? What if she finds out? I'll just say I thought the church was abandoned and accidentally stole everything.
She definitely won't get mad at me. That's the perfect excuse.
I keep running toward the place where I hid the stolen goods.
Ready to sell them immediately.
---
POV: Hestia
Today she worked like usual. Very tiring, but also fun. As a goddess who's lived for a very long time, she'd been bored for ages. Selling jagamarukun was one of the fun things she did.
Like usual, after coming home, she and Bell would go home and enjoy dinner together. That was how it always went — until...
When she returned to her church, she saw her bedroom — empty. Her beloved pillow, her table — gone without a trace.
She clenched her fists until her whole body trembled.
"Wh-who stole my stuff!!!" With her face turning red, she threw the food she was holding to the ground.
And she started turning around to go find whoever stole her things.