Danmachi : Start With Terraria Calamity Mod!

Inside the abandoned church, Hestia stood there with her hands on her hips, puffing out her cheeks as she looked at Drake carrying food.

"What's going on today? You're way too late!"

"While I'm sorry about that, Lady Hestia, someone who only waits around for me to feed her really isn't in any position to complain."

Drake lightly tapped the loli goddess on the head with the edge of his hand and shot back.

"If I hadn't come to bring food, would you really have gone to bed hungry tonight, Lady Goddess?"

"Of course!"

Hestia replied with all the shameless confidence of a true freeloader.

"I've already become the kind of person who can't survive without Drake anymore!"

"So you have to take responsibility for me properly, okay? Don't go anywhere dangerous!"

Ever since she had descended from Heaven at the suggestion of her friend—namely Hephaestus— it had always been Drake alone who took care of her daily life.

At this point, the loli goddess could no longer imagine an ordinary day without Drake in it.

Today, he had only been a little late, and already she had begun to feel uneasy.

She was afraid something might have happened to him, and that she would never see him again.

"No wonder Hephaestus gets such a headache from you."

Drake mercilessly pinched the loli goddess's soft, youthful cheek.

That was the sort of thing he could never do to his own forging goddess.

But bullying the little freeloader in front of him was another matter entirely.

"This time I specifically made a trip to the Hostess of Fertility and bought the juice you asked for last time."

"Drink it while it's still cold… go on and eat."

"Hehe, I knew Drake treats me the best!"

Hestia quickly sat down at the table and began enjoying her dinner for the day.

Because her movements weren't exactly ladylike, a few drops of grease splashed onto her clothes.

"Ah, what a hassle."

Hestia looked down at the oil stain on her chest, and suddenly the corners of her mouth lifted.

"Draaake~ my hands are full right now, so could you wipe off the mess here for me?"

"…Are you sure?"

Drake looked where she was pointing and nearly got dizzy at the sight of all that pale skin.

That pair of huge breasts, completely at odds with the loli goddess's childlike face, radiated an overwhelming presence.

"Y-yes, of course!"

A faint blush spread across Hestia's cheeks, but she still stubbornly held her ground.

"What, don't tell me you're feeling shy?"

"Hmph, well, it can't be helped. Even in Heaven, this goddess's beauty was always praised, you know."

Since such a rare chance to openly take advantage of the situation had presented itself, Drake naturally wasn't going to let it slip away.

More importantly, Hestia herself was the one who had offered the opportunity.

Could it be… that she had finally found her conscience and decided to repay all those years of "raising" her with a little fanservice?

By the time Drake felt that 'this is probably enough—if I keep bullying her, even a freeloader might bite back,' he finally pulled his hand away and gave a light cough.

"Lady Goddess, I've wiped the stain clean just like you asked."

"How do you feel?"

"How do I feel?"

The loli goddess, whose mind had already gone floating off somewhere, answered reflexively.

"It felt really good…"

"Oh? So Lady Goddess feels really good from something like that."

Only then did Hestia realize what she had said.

Hugging her chest with both arms, she flushed bright red and hurriedly corrected herself.

"No! You heard wrong just now!"

"And besides—teasing a god will earn you divine punishment, Drake!"

If divine punishment were really a thing, it probably would have triggered the moment Drake reached his hand out in the first place.

The god and mortal tacitly changed the subject together.

Even so, the air in the room still retained a faint trace of lingering intimacy.

"Still, I really have been busy lately."

As he cleaned up the dishes, Drake spoke casually.

"Lady Goddess, it's about time you found a job too. You can't keep living off me forever, can you?"

"Eh… that's not allowed?"

The moment she heard the words find a job, Hestia wilted on the spot.

"Working and dealing with all kinds of people… just thinking about it feels like such a pain."

"In that case, how about this?"

In truth, Drake had already planned this out. He was only bringing it up now.

"The Molten Festival held by the Hephaestus Familia is the day after tomorrow."

"If my work can earn Lady Hephaestus's approval at the festival, then I'll qualify to open my own shop in Babel Tower…"

"When that happens, I want to hire you as a shop clerk, Lady Goddess. Would that be okay?"

"…R-really?!"

Hestia's eyes went wide, and she held her breath as her mind started racing.

That's right! This was the perfect solution!

She could help Drake and earn wages through her own work!

That way, the next time she ran into Hephaestus, she wouldn't be looked down on anymore!

It was a perfect chance—three birds with one stone!

"I accept!" Hestia agreed to the offer almost without hesitation.

But right after that, she started worrying about Drake's plan instead.

"Still, getting that girl's approval won't be easy, will it?"

"I really do want to cheer for you, but Hephaestus is unexpectedly strict when it comes to forging."

As someone who had spent years apprenticing under the forging goddess, Drake nodded in agreement.

"I already have a way to deal with that."

"Even if it's just so you can get a job, I'll earn Lady Hephaestus's approval."

Drake's words moved Hestia deeply.

"It's okay—even if you fail, that's fine too. I'll just keep being your freeloader…"

That really felt like she was being moved in the wrong direction.

And come to think of it, she was openly calling herself a freeloader now.

At least try a little harder, would you?

...

After leaving the abandoned church and returning to the world of Terraria, Drake found Lili diligently planting acorns near the base.

At the sight of his sudden reappearance, Lili still looked a little unaccustomed to it, but she quickly reacted.

"Master, welcome back!"

"Mm. Good work."

Drake swept his gaze around and found that nearly all the places where the trees had been chopped down had already sprouted little saplings.

Hestia, look at Lili! Then look at yourself!

"If you're tired, go rest. This job isn't urgent."

"Hehe… I'm fine."

Lili shyly wiped the sweat from her cheek and gave him a bright smile.

For a prum girl who had no fixed home and was used to drifting from place to place, hiding and surviving however she could, the thought of personally tending the "home" she shared with her master filled her with motivation.

After giving Lili a few instructions, Drake didn't waste any more time.

There wasn't much time left. Before the Molten Festival began, he had to find a "recipe" worthy of Hephaestus's approval!

"I just hope this next expedition won't disappoint me."

After one last check of the items in his inventory, Drake grabbed hold of the rope and began climbing upward, toward the deep cloud layer overhead.

The world of Terraria was divided into many different biome layers depending on the environment.

For example, the place Drake first entered had been the Surface layer.

If one explored downward by altitude, the layers would be the Underground, Cavern, and Underworld.

And on the Surface, aside from plains, there were also snowfields, deserts, jungles, dungeons, oceans, corruption, and more.

It could be said that Terraria was an enormous world—more than enough for Drake to explore.

And the location of the planetoid laboratory lay in Terraria's Space layer.