"That'll be thirty valis, cough cough!"
Noir's voice rang out, utterly devoid of emotional fluctuation.
"Eh?!"
Hestia stared at him in shock. "I-It wasn't free?"
"No."
"In that kind of situation, how was that not supposed to be free?!"
After the initial shock, Hestia slumped onto the ground and said with the air of someone accepting her fate, "Then I don't have any valis either."
"Then work it off, cough cough!"
"Nani?"
"This afternoon, help me draw in customers, cough cough. For every ten portions sold, I'll count that as thirty valis, cough cough!"
Looking at Noir, who kept talking with a blank expression while coughing between every sentence, Hestia asked with concern, "Um, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just can't talk too much, cough cough, so I hope you can help me bring people over, cough cough!"
"Mm-hm! Then leave the job of pulling in customers to me!"
Lies were useless against a god.
Noir's words sounded hollow, yet every sentence he spoke was steady and firm.
Grrr~~
For Hestia, who hadn't had a proper meal in days, that single fried potato puff had only made her even hungrier.
Looking at the teary-eyed girl staring at him, Noir fried her another serving and sprinkled a bit of salt over it.
As he watched the girl wolfing it down, Noir felt that she looked strangely familiar.
He was certain he had never met her before.
But he also felt certain that he should know her.
Again and again, Noir searched his mind for that familiar figure, but it was all buried beneath layers of fog, impossible to see clearly.
"Hey, your name is-"
"Wah! I'm finally full. Alright, just leave the rest to me!"
Having eaten her fill, Hestia patted her smooth, flat stomach, stood up, and gave Noir a thumbs-up.
Then she quickly ran to the roadside where people were constantly passing by, grabbed the first person she saw, and started dragging them over.
Ordinary people tended to give up resisting pretty quickly when a beautiful girl started tugging them around.
Watching Hestia keep bringing people over, Noir worked with nimble hands, rapidly frying batch after batch of potato puffs.
And little by little, the sky darkened in the process.
"That's enough. Time to pack up."
Hestia, who had been about to go drag over another customer, abruptly let out a huge sigh of relief when she heard that.
"It's finally over!"
With zero concern for appearances, Hestia flopped down onto the curb beside the road.
After tidying up the stall, Noir walked over to the girl and held out a handful of gleaming valis.
"Six hundred and thirty valis. Keep it safe, cough cough."
The girl took the first valis she had earned since being kicked out, her face lighting up with joy. At the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about food tonight, or even for the next few days.
Maybe she should just stick with him from now on. At least then she would not have to worry about what to eat every day.
And besides...
Hestia licked her lips. That first fried potato puff had been seriously delicious.
Looking at the bandaged young man swiftly organizing the stall, Hestia casually asked, as if out of habit, "kid, would you like to join my Familia?"
The sudden words made Noir's movements stop cold.
He didn't know how long he had waited to hear those words, yet now that he finally had, they felt so unreal.
"Can someone like me really do that?"
Looking down at his own thin hands wrapped in bandages, Noir muttered in self-doubt.
"Of course you can. More than that, I'm begging you, please join my Familia."
At first, she had only asked casually, fully expecting him to reject her like everyone else had.
Just like always.
Over the past few days, Hestia had already gone through that kind of thing more times than she could count.
But unexpectedly, this actually seemed promising. He had not rejected her outright.
So without the slightest hesitation, Hestia dropped to her knees and slid right in front of Noir, bowing all the way to the ground.
As for dignity, what was dignity? Could it be eaten?
The most important thing right now was getting the child in front of her into her Familia.
Otherwise, she would have to shamelessly crawl back to her divine friend Hephaestus and beg for help again.
These past few days after being kicked out, she had practically become the biggest joke in all of Orario.
Branded as lazy and good-for-nothing, she truly could not get a single child to join her Familia.
"Mm."
At last hearing the answer she wanted, Hestia sprang up from the ground in excitement.
"Yahoo! Yahoo! I finally have a Familia too!"
Overjoyed, Hestia rushed forward, grabbed both of Noir's hands, and spoke impatiently, "Quick, let me give you my blessing. Then you'll officially become part of my Familia."
"Let's go back and eat first. Unwrapping the bandages will be a hassle, cough cough!"
"Mm-hm, whatever you say, " Halfway through, Hestia suddenly froze, then asked awkwardly, "What's your name?"
"My name... I forgot." Noir shook his head. "But you can call me Noir, cough cough!"
"Alright, Noir-kun. My name is Hestia. Welcome to my Familia."
"Hestia..."
That name struck like a bolt of lightning, instantly shattering the endless chaos in Noir's mind.
A faint light actually appeared in his black eyes, eyes that had long since gone dead and lifeless.
"You're Hestia!" Noir gripped the girl's shoulders tightly and spoke in excitement.
"Ah, yes, I am. What's wrong, Noir-kun?" Seeing how worked up he had become just from hearing her name, Hestia spoke with a guilty conscience. "Noir-kun, don't tell me you're looking down on me and changing your mind about joining?"
"Hestia, Bell, Ais, Freya, Welf..."
Noir dropped to his knees, covering his face with both hands as one name after another spilled from his lips.
"I'm Noir, a transmigrator from another world!"
"Noir-kun, what's wrong?"
Seeing her very first Familia member, and her very first family in the lower world, in such a state, Hestia grew worried.
Hearing Hestia's voice, Noir looked up.
This time, he finally saw the girl before him clearly.
Black twin tails. Blue eyes.
"Ah, it's nothing, Lady Hestia, cough cough. I've just finally woken up, that's all, cough cough!"
Noir stood up and brushed the dust from his knees.
"Let's go. Come eat at my place first, cough cough. Then we'll update the Falna. Tomorrow we can pack our things and head to the Familia's base, cough cough."
Pushing the stall cart, Noir brought Hestia back to his home.
"Granny, I'm back."
"Sorry for the intrusion!"
The two voices sounded one after the other, and Granny May, who had been sitting on a chair in the courtyard, froze for a moment before replying, "Welcome back!"
But only after saying it did she realize something was different from usual. This child, Noir, had never once spoken first on his own before.
So she stood up and looked toward the entrance, and there she saw Noir, covered from head to toe in bandages as he cleaned up the stall, and beside him, a twin-tailed girl trying to help.
"My child, you..." Then she abruptly turned and said, "I'll go prepare dinner!"
Seeing how clearly different Noir was from before, Granny May felt her nose sting slightly.
At last.
At last, this child had found "himself" too.
At the dinner table, Noir pointed at Hestia, who was stuffing herself with food without restraint, and introduced her.
"This is Lady Hestia. I joined her Familia, and I'll be moving out tomorrow, cough cough!"
"Got it. Hurry up and get lost, so you stop disturbing this old woman's rest all the time." Then she looked toward Hestia again. "Lady Goddess, I'm entrusting this child to you."
"I'll take good care of Noir-kun." Hestia swallowed the food in her mouth as she answered.
After several days, she had finally eaten a proper meal again, and Hestia felt completely satisfied.
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