Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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The conversation about Apollo faded quickly. None of the girls wanted to give anyone odd ideas by bringing up that topic.

A Familia should grow the normal way.

After the conversation ended, the Hestia Familia threw a housewarming party. The courtyard filled up with their members, the Xenos, and friends from other Familias.

"CHEERS!" Everyone raised their cups and celebrated together.

August ended up acting as host, but he could only talk to so many people at once. The girls soon gathered in their own groups to chat—which gave him a good chance to sneak away.

He climbed up to the roof and sat under the open sky, looking at the stars.

For once, his mind was calm.

After a while, Lyd came up from the stairs. The Lizardman saw August sitting by himself, looking off into the distance like he was wishing for something far away. Lyd didn't really get the mood, but he still walked over and handed him a small pouch.

"Here." Inside were several unusual seeds gathered from the Dungeon.

"Thanks."

August put the seeds in his [Spatial Backpack] and went back to looking at the stars.

"How are you settling in?"

"Pretty well." Lyd sat down beside him. "I've never seen so many humans living together before. And I never knew the surface could feel this warm."

A wide smile spread across his reptilian face.

Lyd's greatest wish had always been to live beneath the open sky instead of hiding in the Dungeon's darkness, constantly fleeing with his people from one shelter to another.

August had made that wish possible.

"Then enjoy it." August didn't press for more.

They both knew the Xenos' peace wouldn't last. Orario's fear and anger had just shifted to the Daedalus family for now. Once that threat was gone, people would start blaming the Xenos again.

The conflict was only delayed.

"By the way, August..." Lyd suddenly leaned closer. "Which woman did you fall for first?"

He had witnessed the confession the previous night, and the question had been eating at him ever since.

"Who did I fall for?" August looked at him in surprise. He hadn't expected the honest-looking Lizardman to start fishing for romantic gossip.

Still, he had no reason to hide his answer.

He turned toward the moon. "If we're talking about real attraction—body and heart—the first person I ever fell for was Hestia."

"..." Lyd showed no surprise. Everyone knew August loved Hestia, just as everyone knew the Goddess loved him.

In a sense, the two had built each other into what they were now.

"But shouldn't it have been Goddess Hephaestus? She was the one who helped you first. Don't you like her?" Lyd asked.

A certain Goddess had asked him to test the waters, so Lyd forced himself to keep asking questions.

August paused at the mention of Hephaestus, then laughed.

"Because Hephaestus could never love me with nothing held back."

His gaze returned to the moon.

"Lyd, you know I'm not from this world."

Lyd nodded. August's otherworldly origins were no secret among the Xenos.

"Maybe one day, I'll disappear without warning and never find my way back." August spoke more softly. "If that happens, the only person left who could remember me forever might be Hestia."

A Goddess's love carried centuries of weight. Once a virgin Goddess gave her heart, that choice could not be changed. Even if memories faded, the feeling itself would remain engraved deeper than memory.

August knew Hestia's love for him was still growing.

Lyd stared at him, momentarily lost.

What did he mean by Hestia being the only one who could remember him?

"If I disappear and leave Hestia behind, we could end up in different worlds, living in different times..."

August looked across the endless night sky.

"We could stand on different worlds and gaze up at the same stars."

His expression grew tender. "And I would know that somewhere, beneath the sky of another world, a beautiful Goddess is still waiting for me..."

"...Her name is Hestia."

His quiet voice seemed to gather every trace of longing Hestia might one day carry.

'So that's it.'

Lyd finally understood why a certain Goddess had already lost before the contest even began.

'Forgive me, Lady Hephaestus. Lady Hestia's love runs deeper than yours.'

And Hestia really could wait for him. August had already considered everything, even the possibility of being separated across worlds.

Lyd sighed to himself.

'What a hopeless pair.'

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

"..." The girls gathered one floor below had heard every word.

Hestia knew exactly what August meant. She would remember him for centuries, and the time they shared would always be the most precious part of her long life.

That memory would never fade.

Even if she died and returned to Heaven, she would still wait for the man she loved.

"Ugh... That's so embarrassing." Hestia hid her blushing face.

August's words revealed both his fear for their future and the depth of his feelings for her.

They hadn't crossed the final line in their relationship yet. The fact that he was her Familia's child complicated things, but the bigger problem was the difference between them.

August was mortal.

No matter how much he loved her, age would eventually claim him. His body would weaken, his life would end, and Hestia would remain—carrying every memory alone.

"It's both sad and romantic," one of the girls murmured.

Anyone who fell in love with August might one day face that same separation. For a mortal woman, it would be the greatest test imaginable.

They weren't Goddesses. They didn't have eternity. Some might even die before their wait was over.

That mix of sadness and devotion ended the competition before it even started.

"..." Artemis listened in silence, intrigued by an emotion she had never explored. This kind of love could last for thousands of years. It brought loneliness and sadness, but just thinking about it made something stir inside her.

"How did you manage to land someone this good?" Artemis asked suddenly.

For one dangerous moment, she wanted to steal August for herself.

Hestia didn't deserve to have it all.

Jealousy took over Artemis, filling her with the urge to make her old friend experience the ultimate betrayal. Even a virgin Goddess had the right to find someone she loved.

"I-I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING," Hestia stammered.

Then her face softened.

"If August never came back, I could wait."

"One thousand years... Ten thousand years..." She had already come to the same conclusion. August was afraid he might disappear someday, but Hestia had thought about that too.

That's why both of them held back so much.

"Don't say something so grim!!" Hephaestus reached over and knocked Hestia on the head.

Why did this girl always have to make things sound like a tragic story?

Even so, Hephaestus couldn't deny her envy. Hestia had won August's love in a way most Goddesses never could. If things were the other way around, Hephaestus wasn't sure she could love him with the same certainty. As the Goddess of the Forge—she had always let reason guide her, even in love.

"So this is what has been holding the two of you back," Artemis said. "No wonder your relationship hasn't progressed."

She envied Hestia enough to consider stealing August, but she also understood that cheap seduction and manipulative tricks would only earn his contempt.

'August might not be a bad choice at all.' A new thought took root in Artemis's mind.

She could take him for herself and leave Hestia with nowhere to cry...

Hestia's anti-NTR antenna sprang to life!!

'SOMEONE IS TRYING TO STEAL MY MAN.'

'WHO IS IT?' Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the women around her. Someone here had developed improper intentions toward August, and Hestia's instincts had detected it—

It had to be one of her fellow Goddesses... Only a handful of the mortal girls even saw August that way.

No one revealed anything under her scrutiny, so Hestia remained on high alert.

The group kept chatting as if nothing had happened. No one wanted to break the uneasy peace by saying what was really on their mind.

When she failed to identify the culprit, Hestia decided not to pursue the matter.

"Enough of all this. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves!"

At her urging, everyone went back to the housewarming party.

Laughter soon filled the courtyard again.

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

While the Hestia Familia celebrated, several figures were running for their lives through Knossos.

They raced through the Artificial Labyrinth until they reached a hidden passage, where an exhausted, white-haired man sat alone, hammering a pickaxe into the wall.

Barca Perdix—the older brother of Dix Perdix—stopped when he noticed them.

"Why have you come here?"

The newcomers belonged to separate branches of the Daedalus family. They were not distant relatives or outsiders, but direct descendants whose bloodlines had split into different houses over the centuries.

These men ran the family branches outside Orario. They had come into the city through secret paths, only to find one of the main heirs calmly digging in Knossos while their bloodline was falling apart.

"Barca, why are you still hiding down here?" one of them demanded.

"THE CAPTAIN OF THE HESTIA FAMILIA IS TRAMPLING ALL OVER US!!"

Barca ignored how upset they were.

His only purpose was to complete the dream passed down through the family. Yet now these men expected him to leave his work and kill August—the otherworlder who had turned Orario against them.

Even if Barca agreed, who among his remaining followers would volunteer to face that man??

"And you expect me to handle it for you?"

Barca finally looked at them.

"Don't forget—none of you came to Orario to carry out the duty passed down by our ancestors. You don't even live here."

"You've spent years enjoying comfortable lives because my brother and I remained behind to shoulder everything."

That's why Barca looked down on these relatives.

Before Dix died, the two brothers were the only ones in the family with real strength and authority. They were also the only two who had reached Level 4.

Otherwise, how could they have taken their relatives' eyes and turned them into Daedalus Orbs without anyone stopping them?

"YOU—" The branch-family leaders tried to argue, but Barca continued before they could speak.

"Besides, your assassin network is gone."

Barca understood their situation. Every group and resource they once controlled had already fallen apart.

The Daedalus bloodline was now being hunted all over Orario, and August had personally destroyed several of their strongest bases himself. The assassins who survived knew things had changed.

Some had left the family and joined new Familias. Others went into hiding, not wanting to be called enemies of humanity or die for a lost cause.

Without those assassins, the Daedalus family was nothing but a name.

"You'll regret this, Barca Perdix!" one of the men roared.

"Regret it?" Barca snorted coldly.

"I won't regret anything..."

He tightened his grip around the pickaxe. "And don't forget—I AM THE HEAD OF THE DAEDALUS FAMILY."

The real power in the family belonged to whoever stayed in Knossos and kept working on their ancestors' mission.

The others had no answer... They couldn't afford to antagonize Barca, so they left without another word, their anger still simmering.

"Hmph. Useless cowards." Barca watched them disappear into the darkness.

Still, he knew that he and August would meet eventually.

That man had killed his younger brother.

Barca had not forgotten the debt!

"August... I'll make you wish you were dead!"

His face twisted with hate, but he kept working. He lifted the pickaxe and struck the labyrinth wall, carving out a new passage.

Somewhere far above Knossos, August sneezed a few times in a row.

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