"Hestia, have you found a god to help me hone my martial arts?"
"That's right."
Hestia smiled faintly and nodded. She could finally understand the heartfelt pride that came from helping a member of her Familia.
She clapped her hands softly:
"Learning more combat skills will be helpful for your upcoming Dungeon exploration."
"And!"
"He's a god who is very good at martial arts, truly very good."
Without needing to emphasize it repeatedly, as soon as a god "strong in martial arts" was mentioned, Keare knew his identity.
The War God, Takemikazuchi.
He was a god who had appeared in many scenes in the original anime, and his most memorable impression was his bitter gourd face.
Takemikazuchi and Hestia were friends among the gods. According to the current plotline, he should be working alone at the fried potato ball stall, and he was also famously a poor god.
But there was a clear difference in their situations.
His own goddess, Hestia, was lazy and loved to eat due to her past personality, while the War God Takemikazuchi needed to cover the expenses of an orphanage.
Keare's impression of the War God Takemikazuchi wasn't bad at all.
To be precise, it was difficult for any god familiar with Hestia to be associated with evil.
"Thank you, Hestia. I won't miss this opportunity."
Keare's attitude was serious. Mastering simple martial arts would at least allow him to protect himself against monsters on the upper floors!
He had no reason to refuse.
It was just that the development of the plot was already a bit confusing. In the original anime, there was no storyline where Bell, the rabbit, received training from Takemikazuchi.
Was it a butterfly effect caused by his sudden appearance?
But what was undeniable was that after he became an Adventurer and prepared to embark on Dungeon exploration, Hestia put in a lot of effort.
It was truly hard to refuse such a delicate, soft, and constantly considerate loli goddess!
Keare's gaze fell on the girl's flawless profile: "As long as I can successfully explore the Dungeon, the Familia's financial situation will also improve."
Hestia simply felt that helping her Familia members do something within her power was normal.
She never thought that giving should always have a return, but it didn't prevent her from feeling joyful when she heard Keare's words.
"The time is tonight. I'll take you there then."
Keare was a bit stunned. He asked in surprise.
"That fast?"
"After all, gods… are usually very busy!" Hestia's tone was quite serious.
She couldn't just tell Keare directly that Takemikazuchi was only free at night because he had to work during the day, could she?
—
As evening approached.
Nightfall enveloped Orario. Standing on the brightly lit, straight streets, one could see many Adventurers who had finished their Dungeon exploration.
Before going to find Takemikazuchi, Hestia took Keare to grab a simple dinner.
Simple fried potato balls.
A little black pepper and salt for seasoning, these calorie-dense carbohydrates were very effective for filling one's stomach.
"The taste…"
Keare found it hard to evaluate. Accustomed to the taste bud assault of modern society, crossing over to a medieval-like Western fantasy world meant he couldn't have too high expectations.
But he had no other choice; even dinner was paid for by Hestia.
Keare thought it was fine to eat like this occasionally, but if it was this kind of bland food every day, he would probably suffer from malnutrition.
Especially when passing by The Benevolent Mistress restaurant, his inner thoughts grew even stronger. He didn't ask for a wish-fulfillment template, but at least he wanted to live a decent life!
"Once I earn a little money… I'll improve the food first."
They continued along Orario's West Street.
Turning into a side road, after about five minutes of walking, they arrived at a collective dormitory similar to public housing.
The flat open space in front was often maintained, with no accumulated clutter. The faint illumination from the room lights made the overall visibility of the area decent.
Keare simply scanned his surroundings.
He finally focused his gaze on a male figure who was walking steadily from the entrance of the collective dormitory, dressed in distinctly Far Eastern style clothing and wearing wooden clogs.
Takemikazuchi.
The saying "the face reflects the heart" was completely true.
Noticing Hestia in front, he actively waved and greeted her, his words revealing a friendly personality: "Hestia, is this your Familia member?"
"That's right."
"I might… have to trouble you next."
"It's no trouble at all."
Takemikazuchi gently shook his head, looking at Keare with a slightly scrutinizing gaze, "Keare, your goddess mentioned you to me. You want to hone your martial arts?"
"Yes, Takemikazuchi."
Keare had no psychological burden calling these gods, whose ages started in the hundreds of millions of years, "Sir" or "Madam."
Moreover, for the foreseeable future, he would need to learn combat skills from Takemikazuchi, just like a patient facing a doctor, where concealing symptoms is the most taboo thing.
He raised his head, his tone frank:
"I've never been exposed to… these things. I want to know where to start learning?"
Takemikazuchi pondered briefly. To teach a martial art skill from scratch, setting aside Keare's age, the learning process would be quite long.
He smiled gently: "It mainly depends on your goal."
"If the goal is Dungeon exploration, then practical combat will be key. You'll need to master the use of weapons and then adapt to situations as they arise."
"This is also a relatively simple and quick path."
Takemikazuchi didn't rush Keare, waiting patiently beside him: "First, determine your goal, and then comes the process of hard work."
"…"
What type of weapon should he use?
Keare truly hadn't considered it. He couldn't reference the Legendary Hero, after all, it was impossible to obtain the divine weapon "God Armor Georugius" in Dungeon or Familia.
The 'Recovery' magic he possessed.
Even if it could derive other combat methods, it could only serve as his trump card.
He thought simply and gave his answer: "I want to learn practical sword fighting."
"Tell me your thoughts?"
"Cool."
"That's certainly a simple and unadorned reason…"
Takemikazuchi laughed wryly, but from a slightly different perspective, this answer was actually quite pure.
As a "War God," guiding combat skills was very simple for him: "Wait a moment. I'll go find a wooden sword I usually use for training."
Seeing things getting on track.
Hestia had no intention of lingering. Although she really wanted to witness Keare's growth process firsthand, she still had things she needed to handle.
"Then I'll go take care of some things, okay?"
After a brief greeting with Takemikazuchi, her gaze towards Keare was full of expectation.
"Good luck!"
"I will do my best, Hestia."
Keare's smile was serious. With weapons and armor ready, and intelligence basically grasped, next came the most crucial practical combat training for Dungeon exploration.
He had to make comprehensive preparations.
Assuming 'Recovery' magic couldn't derive other abilities, he could still rely on practical combat skills!
Takemikazuchi didn't make Keare wait long and quickly returned with two training wooden swords.
Compared to his gentle face just now, Takemikazuchi's attitude gradually became serious. He casually tossed a wooden sword to Keare.
He stated calmly:
"Next, use every method you can think of to attack me with this weapon."