Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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August returned to the Hestia Familia's base on Southwest Street and collapsed into a chair, yawning.

"Lord August, lunch is ready."

Lili brought over two plates of quickly cooked meat and put them on the table. August glanced at the plain meal, then looked around the empty house. Hestia had already left to show off her recordings, so only the two of them were left.

"Lili, should we hire someone?" August asked.

"We can't leave a house this big empty whenever we go somewhere. It'll be covered in dust every time we come back."

"I agree!" Lili glanced around the base.

Even Ui Hirasawa, who was great at housework, didn't have enough time to take care of the whole place alone. Cassandra Ilion and Daphne Lauros were busy guarding Hestia. One was a healer, and the other a frontline fighter, and neither of them had joined the Familia just to clean all day.

August and Lili exchanged a knowing look.

There was one perfect candidate for the job. She was like a machine—able to handle almost anything without ever complaining.

After finishing lunch, the two of them left the base. They had barely stepped outside when a man rushed forward and dropped to his knees before August.

"CAPTAIN AUGUST, PLEASE TAKE ME INTO THE HESTIA FAMILIA!"

The man executed the fastest kneeling slide August had ever seen.

Several Adventurers who had been hiding nearby and waiting for the same opportunity stared in disbelief.

"He got there first!"

"I can't believe he moved that fast..."

"The competition is brutal."

August and Lili looked at each other in confusion until Lili figured out what was going on.

"Lord August, word must have spread after Cassandra and Daphne joined us. It seems we've attracted a full recruitment crowd."

The Hestia Familia was now one of the most famous groups in Orario.

August made a lot of money, got stronger fast, and protected everyone no matter their race or background. Lili herself showed that he wouldn't turn someone away just for being a Pallum.

Some of the Adventurers waiting outside lived in Orario. Others used to be part of the Apollo Familia, and a few had come from outside the city after hearing the rumors.

"You want to join our Familia?" August looked apologetically at the kneeling man. "That isn't entirely my decision. You'll need approval from the Adventurer's Guild first."

"Huh?"

The man stared at him. What did the Guild have to do with joining a Familia?

"The Hestia Familia has a special agreement with the Guild," August explained. "Anyone who wants to join as an Adventurer or Supporter has to pass their inspection."

This rule was made to stop Gods and Adventurers from taking advantage of Familia transfers. If an Adventurer still felt loyal to their old Patron God, they might keep helping them even after joining a new Familia. That could make it easy for spies, secret alliances, and fake defections.

So, every applicant had to go through a full background check, and the Guild leaders would review everything before sending the final request to Ouranos for approval.

"But what about Cassandra and Daphne?" the man protested. "You accepted them immediately!"

"They were members of the Apollo Familia," Lili replied. "After losing the War Game, their Familia's assets came under our control."

Those assets were more than just Apollo's property and money. The futures of his children were also in the hands of the winners. Cassandra and Daphne joined because the Hestia Familia had the right to take in and redistribute what was left of the defeated Familia.

"We are planning to hire a maid to take care of the base," Lili added, looking the man over. "But you don't seem suited for that position."

"So if you want to become a fighter or Supporter, go through the Guild like everyone else," August said.

"Good luck, kid."

He sighed and gave the man a pat on the shoulder. It took more than just kneeling outside the front door to join the Hestia Familia.

August and Lili left the disappointed Adventurer behind and headed toward Orario's Entertainment District.

The other applicants hurried off to the Guild. After all, this was the Hestia Familia—one of the most successful groups in Orario, known for great protection and a Captain who helped everyone get stronger.

Who wouldn't want to be part of something like that?

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It was still afternoon when August and Lili reached the Entertainment District.

Most of the places hadn't opened yet. The workers were still asleep after being up all night, so the streets were much quieter than usual.

"She should be over there."

Lili had already investigated the location of their chosen nuclear-powered workhorse.

As they walked further in, they got closer to the heart of the Ishtar Familia's territory. August and Lili didn't try to hide at all. They walked right into the district as if they owned it.

To the battle prostitutes guarding the area, their confidence seemed almost insulting.

"Well, look who it is. Captain August~"

"What brings you back here?"

Several Amazon women walked over, eyeing August as if they were hungry wolves looking at a possible mate.

"You do realize this is Ishtar Familia territory, don't you?" one of them asked. "Walking in without permission is a little disrespectful."

They didn't understand why August had come back. The last time he was here, their Goddess had lost badly. Now he was walking right into the middle of their territory without any sign of caution.

Just how confident could one man get?

"I'm here to recruit a few maids."

August glanced at the Amazons and shook his head. None of them were what he was looking for.

"Oh? So you came here to poach members from our Familia?" Aisha Belka stepped out from deeper within the district, her eyes narrowing. "You've got some nerve for a rookie."

August's announcement brought out the rest of the battle prostitutes at the compound. When had the Ishtar Familia, once one of Orario's top groups, fallen so far that someone could just walk in and try to steal their members?

"What else was I supposed to do?" August raised an eyebrow.

He was openly arrogant, but instead of making the Amazons angry, it only made them more interested in him.

These women were fighters first. They had no interest in timid or obedient men. They liked someone wild, strong enough to challenge them, and bold enough to make them want to win him over.

August had the strength, reputation, temper, and confidence they wanted.

Now that he was Level 3, even Aisha felt a headache coming on. Honestly, if she wasn't here as part of the Ishtar Familia, she might have offered to spend the night with him.

She wouldn't have even asked for payment.

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Up in her tower, Ishtar got the report and took the elevator down. As soon as she heard August was here to take her people, she clenched her teeth.

"What are you trying to do this time?"

Ishtar felt both love and hate for this man. She admired his potential—August brought excitement to the dull lives of the Gods, showing them new worlds and possibilities. But she hated that none of it was hers.

Even worse, Hestia had already embarrassed her in front of half the city, and Ishtar hadn't forgotten that shame!

"Now you're trying to poach members from my Familia too?" Ishtar snapped. "Why don't I hand over my place as their goddess while I'm at it?"

At her command, the battle prostitutes closed in around August and Lili. Ishtar only needed to give the word.

"Something like that." August nodded as though she had made a reasonable suggestion. "Your Familia buys most of these women through the slave trade, right? I want the people, but I don't want to pay."

He opened his hands. "Buying people would make me part of human trafficking, and human trafficking is wrong. So I've decided to steal them instead."

That felt much better.

"..." Ishtar's eye twitched. He wanted her people but wouldn't pay? He had come into her territory to rob her in broad daylight.

Her pride as a Goddess had been pushed past its limit.

"GET HIM!"

"Take that brat down!" There was a hungry look in Ishtar's eyes. "You came into my territory looking for trouble, boy. Don't blame me when my children eat you alive."

August looked almost too innocent for someone standing in the middle of the Entertainment District. Ishtar wanted to be the one to take that innocence away.

August raised his left hand.

The Command Spells began to glow.

"By my Command Spell..."

Ishtar froze. "You bastard... Are you planning to summon a Servant here??"

News of the battles in Snowfield had already spread through Orario. Everyone had heard the strange stories about the Holy Grail, Masters, Command Spells, and heroes called Servants.

Ishtar's mind raced with possibilities. Was he going to summon one of those monsters inside her own Familia compound?

"Don't blink." August smiled. "This will be the last thing you see."

Mana rushed out from the marks on his body, pouring into the street like water from a broken dam. Black mist covered the nearby buildings, changing the world until the Entertainment District looked like the depths of the Underworld.

"Manifest—"

"My favorite in-game girlfriend..."

"Ereshkigal!"

The Command Spells flared.

Ishtar's eyes widened as the aura of the Underworld spread around her.

"Ereshkigal??"

How could August have the scent of the Goddess of the Underworld? Even more surprising, Ishtar recognized it. This was no imitation. The presence carried an Authority she knew all too well.

Then she noticed something else.

August didn't have just one Goddess's presence. Several divine auras overlapped inside him, swirling together in a turbulent mixture, and one of them felt distinctly known.

"Wait..."

"That's..."

"Me?"

Two figures rose from the ground. Both were bodies formed from mana, but the pressure coming from them was enough to silence all the nearby Amazons.

The first wore a golden Western-style outfit, with a handgun at her hip and a katana hanging next to it. Her hair was black with a bright red underside, and her confident smile made her look like she was here for some fun.

Space Ishtar.

The second woman held a golden cage in her arms. She had blonde hair, determined eyes, and wore a swimsuit bold enough to catch everyone's attention in the district. Magic blocked anyone from seeing the important details, so anyone who tried to look too closely only saw a blurry white shape.

Space Ereshkigal had heard every word of August's summoning chant.

'His favorite in-game girlfriend.'

The first half barely mattered. The word girlfriend was enough.

Did that mean she had already married August? Should she call him her husband?

Or maybe...

"Darling~" Space Ereshkigal rushed forward with a bright smile.

"I'm here!"

The entire street fell silent.

August stared at her. He had only meant to use the Command Spells to summon mana projections, temporary combat bodies like Shadow Servants.

Space Ishtar was already bored with his confusion. She turned her attention to the Goddess standing across from her.

"So that's how it is." She looked Ishtar up and down. "An alternate version of me from another universe."

Ishtar stared back. The woman had a clearly similar divine aura, but she didn't have the seductive Authority Ishtar saw in herself.

"You aren't me." Ishtar lifted her chin. "I am Ishtar, the Goddess of Beauty."

She looked at Space Ishtar's weapons and fighting stance with open disdain.

"You look like your head is filled with nothing but muscles. There isn't a trace of elegance or beauty anywhere on you."

To Ishtar, there was no way this woman could be another version of herself. The real Ishtar followed her desires, slept with whoever she wanted, and showed beauty and passion in everything she did. This gun-carrying barbarian was nothing like her.

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