"Bell! Bell!"
A worried voice stirred Bell from his sleep, and when he opened his eyes, he quickly realized who it was.
"Ah… goddess?"
"Yes, Bell, it's me. What's wrong with you, falling asleep at the table? There are much better places to sleep."
Bell rubbed his eyes until his goddess's face came into focus next to him.
Raising his head, he took a look around.
'Huh, I'm at home' Bell thought, his mind still a bit hazy.
Looking to the left, he saw the time on the clock and was shocked.
The time was…seven at night.
It was already evening.
Even before he finished scanning the room, his goddess started asking for details.
"Were you reading a book? Ah-hah! Maybe I just happened to walk in as your drowsiness finally got the best of you… not used to reading, eh?" Hestia teased.
"Um… ah, yes… I think so?" Bell replied.
'…I fell asleep?'
The book he borrowed from Syr was still wide open on the table.
Apparently, he had gone out cold and used it as a pillow.
'Did I finish it…?' Bell wondered as he held down his temples.
His head felt odd, like it had been spun in all directions.
There were some very strange memories in the back of his mind.
They felt unreal, like daydreams.
'Was I talking with someone? Did they ask me something? Or are all these memories just leftovers from a dream? It's no use. I can't figure it out…' Bell pondered.
"Hee-hee, so cute. I'm usually really tired after work, but thanks to your cuteness, I feel like my usual self!" Hestia chimed.
"C… cute…?" Bell stammered.
This was the second time today he had been called cute.
"Hee-hee! Now, let's eat some dinner."
With those words, his ears turned red and his head dropped.
But his goddess was smiling as she went to her closet.
To give her privacy, Bell stepped outside the front door for a moment, waiting until his goddess poked her childish face out the door and yelled, "All done!" before he joined her in the kitchen.
"Bell, what were you doing with that thick book? You don't seem like the type of person who would buy something like that," Hestia asked as they stood by the sink preparing dinner.
"Kind of sad that you put it like that… but yes. I borrowed it from a friend of mine," Bell replied.
"Ah, can I see it when you're done? I haven't seen many books that are that fancy. That greedy dragon, Bahamut, won't lend me any," Hestia said.
Recalling the dragon goddess he had barely seen at the Hostess of Fertility several weeks prior, Bell nodded.
He didn't know much of the Bahamut Familia, but the goddess Bahamut was quite popular in the city for various bizarre reasons.
After cleaning up from a modest dinner, Bell and Hestia took turns in the shower.
Afterward, Bell asked Hestia to update his status.
It had been a while since he updated it, as adventuring with Lili had occupied most of his time.
Hestia, too, had just gotten used to her job working for the Hephaestus Familia; she now had enough time and energy to do other things.
Taking off his shirt, Bell laid facedown on the bed while Hestia pricked her finger on a needle to draw out the divine power in her blood.
"Is my status still growing like before?" Bell asked.
"…Yep, no change at all. Full speed ahead, no other way to put it," Hestia replied as she inspected the hieroglyphs.
Her voice sounded a bit scary, so Bell had to muster up some courage to ask her.
Sure enough, a very moody response came from behind his head.
'She's still angry...No, she's angry again. She seems to get angry every time she updates my status recently…..but why?' Bell pondered.
"Yes, that's right, you're a stubborn one. I know, I know, your feelings don't exactly change overnight," Hestia muttered, struggling to restrain herself.
Bell had no idea how to respond to those irritated whispers.
So he kept his mouth shut and hoped the storm would blow through on its own.
Suddenly, two sharp pinches drilled into his back.
It felt like he was being pricked with a needle.
"That hurts! Are you doing that on purpose?!" Bell questioned.
"Hmmm?" Hestia replied.
"What are you hmmm-ing for?!" Bell demanded, but his tearful pleas didn't have any effect on her.
"No backtalk," Hestia replied, sticking a needle into the back of his head.
Unable to fight back, Bell could only wipe his tears on the pillow, completely defenseless.
'I'll make sure she doesn't sleep well tonight…' he swore.
"…Well, with the exception of your endurance, most of your basic stats are almost past B rank, so of course your growth is slowing down a little bit," Hestia said, her expression serious.
"…Ah, I see," Bell replied.
"Still, this isn't normal…" Hestia grumbled.
Although hesitant, she planned to ask Bahamut about the issue, as Bahamut had several special children in her Familia.
The known maximum rank for all basic stats in a status was S rank, at least for the average adventurer…..with the exception of some special cases that went beyond it.
As each stat got closer to the top, it took more experience to improve.
As a result, growth slowed way down.
There were even some cases where an adventurer could slay hundreds of monsters and not go up a single point.
With this as fact, Bell couldn't help but feel disappointed… but that didn't last long.
Knowing that there were many who couldn't even get their stats past B rank was somewhat sobering.
However, while basking in his newfound superiority, Bell noticed something strange…Hestia hadn't spoken for a while now.
Both her hands and her mouth weren't moving either.
Even after calling out to her, she just sat there silently until…..
"...Magic."
"Eh?"
"Magic has appeared in your status," Hestia repeated.
That was the last thing he was expecting to hear.
"Whaaaaaa?!" Bell yelled, jerking his back up like a startled horse.
"Eeek!" Hestia yelped.
As a result of his sudden rise, she, who was sitting on his lower back, flew off the bed and onto the floor… headfirst with a loud thump.
"Oh, crap!! g…goddess!! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" Bell asked in concern.
"Didn't think you'd be getting your revenge like that… You're really something else, Bell," Hestia said with a pained voice.
She was at the foot of the bed, stuck halfway through a somersault cut tragically short.
Her eyes were shiny with tears, her body shaking ever so slightly, and… her boobs were hitting her chin…?!
"Ah," Bell gasped, rushing to help her up.
Soon after that, he was doing a dogeza…..a submissive pose on all fours with his forehead pressed to the ground, apologizing repeatedly.
It was quite some time before he got to see the details of his new status, and upon seeing it, he had to fight the urge to scream at the top of his lungs.
He held the paper Hestia had written his status on, his jaw clenched and his hands shaking.
"I can't believe Magic appeared… Could it be related to that Skill…? I can't tell," Hestia mumbled, her eyebrows drawn down as she held her chin, deep in thought.
It was a reaction completely different from Bell's.
"Magic, I have Magic! I've become a magic user…!" Bell yelled, running around the room.
"Yes, I see that. Congratulations, Bell," Hestia said, letting out a deep sigh as she tried to discern how he had gained magic so quickly.
"I hate to throw water on your blaze of joy, but we need to talk about your Magic. There's something that's bugging me."
"Yes, goddess!" Bell yelled in response, trying to calm himself down.
"Are you listening? This is just a summary, but Magic requires the user to speak an incantation for it to work. You already knew this much, right?" Hestia asked, to which Bell answered with a quick nod.
"Then I'll get to my point. My friends have told me that when a person learns Magic, it usually shows up in their status. Said person learns their incantation by looking at their status. It's the trigger," Hestia explained.
"Really? But there's no spell written on the status sheet you gave me…" Bell observed.
"Yes, that's right. So don't start thinking that I forgot to write it down, got that?" Hestia said.
'Firebolt" is written in my Magic slot, but there's nothing here that looks like an incantation' Bell thought in dismay, his head leaning to the side as he waited for Hestia to continue speaking. 'Without one, I won't be able to trigger my magic at all.'
"Ahem, anyway… this is just my hunch, a complete guess. Judging by what was written in your status… your magic might not need an incantation to be triggered, Bell."
At that, Bell froze.
Willing his body to move, he unfolded the status sheet in his hand and took another look at it. Sure enough, there was no incantation.
The only description given was the phrase: "Swift-Strike Magic."
"So, then, this Fireb—holg!"
Both of Hestia's hands immediately covered his mouth.
She was standing on her tiptoes, her eyes locked onto his.
"I would advise not saying its name willy-nilly," she warned.
"Muhegeh?" Bell tried speaking, but his mouth remained sealed shut.
"I don't know what the trigger is, but it might conjure just by you saying 'Firebolt.'"
Upon hearing this, Bell's face immediately turned blue.
'I still have no clue what this magic can do, he realized, but if I release it here by accident, I might blow our home to smithereens' he realized.
"Understand?" Hestia asked.
Bell nodded.
"The bottom line is that this is all a guess. We won't know for sure until you try it out...Use it in the Dungeon tomorrow. Then you will know for sure how your magic works," Hestia said, releasing his lips.
"Eh? Tomorrow…?" Bell grumbled.
He wanted to test it now.
"Don't tell me you want to go now? You just took a shower, right? Your magic isn't about to disappear!" Hestia immediately scolded him.
"Ah, yes… you're right," Bell relented.
Hestia chuckled at him as she saw his nod of acceptance.
It was already late, and Hestia was very tired from work.
Hiding a yawn with her hand, she wanted to go straight to bed.
After brushing her teeth, she jumped straight under the covers and turned out the light.
Bell, feeling a little sleepy, lay down on the sofa… but his mind was restless.
Who could actually sleep at a time like this?
He jumped up from the sofa.
Listening to Hestia's steady breathing and being careful not to wake her, he grabbed his already-prepped dungeon backpack and slipped out of the room.
Throwing on his armor at full speed, he set out into the night.
'I want to use it right now!' was the only thing on his mind.