"Keyaru."
"Then I'll call you that."
Eina left the Guild counter and led Keyaru to the lounge on the side for a quick introduction. Before they really got into it, she poured him a cup of hot black tea.
Her expression grew serious. "The Dungeon is far more dangerous than you think. I hope you'll take what comes next seriously."
"Of course." Keyaru nodded, then added, "Only the ones who come back alive count as adventurers."
"And the ones who don't?" Eina hadn't heard that turn of phrase before. She straightened a little, took a light sip, and looked at him with curiosity.
"Back where I'm from, we usually call them the dead." Keyaru shrugged. Hestia might be gentle, but there was no way he could feel totally at ease talking to a god—you can't lie to them.
What if she pressed him on where he was from? If his transmigrator status got out, Hestia would be one thing, but if other gods learned there were other worlds… he didn't want to imagine how wild that bored lot would get.
"Morbid… but fitting," Eina said with a faint nod. Dark humor or not, it showed he'd braced himself.
With the ice broken, she began her proper briefing. The Dungeon's safe zone is called the Path of Beginnings, a broad spiral stairway that connects to the caverns below and can hold thousands.
Floors 1–5 are the upper levels, home to goblins, kobolds, dungeon lizards and such—relatively low danger.
On the 5th floor you'll meet War Shadows, the classic rookie killer in every sense. The deeper you go, the sharper the danger spikes: Killer Ants with tough shells that call allies when threatened—sometimes even triggering a "monster parade." There are also Blue Butterflies, Purple Moss, imps, and more.
Compared to the light coverage in the source material, Eina's explanation was much more thorough. Keyaru committed it to memory. For a newcomer, this was plenty. Until he developed derivatives of "Heal," charging deep would just be gambling with his life.
At the end he looked at Eina and said, sincerely, "Thank you, Miss Eina."
"No need. It's my job." She waved lightly, smiling. She already had a decent impression of the polite boy with the occasional streak of gray humor. "The Dungeon really is dangerous. Please don't push yourself."
"I'll be careful."
Registering with the Familia and as an adventurer and getting upper-floor intel—the day's top priorities were done.
Leaving the Guild, he stepped into searing sunlight; even the breeze carried heat. He looked toward the city center—more spectacular in reality than in the anime.
From here on out, this was his stage. Even after half a day, everything still felt unreal.
"Let's head back first. No need to rush the Dungeon." He wasn't about to march under Babel armed with nothing but intel. That was asking to die. Intel is just the start; he still lacked weapons, armor, and, frankly, technique.
Following his memory back to the Familia base, he took in the city's scale and bustle. As you moved toward Babel, the buildings visibly grew lower—reasonable enough. Orario began as a town around the Dungeon and grew over a long time into what it is now.
He finally returned to the abandoned church basement that served as their base; the place felt a bit quiet. Until their finances improved and they found a new home, they'd be living here. Living with a cute, loli-faced goddess—daily life, huh? The real question was whether his sudden arrival would skew the original plot. By the book, Hestia's first child should be Bell.
"Does this count as NTR?"
He flopped onto the patched old sofa. The immediate issue was getting gear for the Dungeon. Just then, footsteps came from the stairwell. He looked up to see Hestia coming home with a gray-wrapped bundle, steps light, eyes brimming with pride.
"Keyaru! Come check out this set!"
She set the bundle on the table and unwrapped it: a brown cuirass and a straight-hilt one-handed sword.
"This gear…" A pillow delivered the moment he felt drowsy? So that's why she'd left the Guild early—she'd gone to prepare this for him.
Hestia lifted her fair neck like a proud swan. "Since you're heading into the Dungeon, as your patron I had to get you a gift. The weapon was forged by a member of the Hephaestus Familia—it wasn't cheap!"
Just as Keyaru suspected, Hestia hadn't been idle after leaving the Guild. Their Familia's conditions were tough—not ideal for his growth. That was reality. But doing nothing because of hardship? To her, that would be a failure as a goddess.
Broke or not, figure something out. She'd thought of her friend from Heaven, now running the biggest weapons shop in Orario—Hephaestus—and leveraged a favor to snag a set perfect for a rookie.
Looking at the delighted boy, she made her stance clear with action once again. "Welcome to the Hestia Familia, Keyaru. A proper goddess won't let her child down!"
In a big Familia, gear and stipends were standard—if you got in. Keyaru knew just how poor Hestia was. Maybe that's why he felt how heavy this "starter gift" really was.
In all Orario, where else would you find a goddess who'd go into debt to equip her child?
"Thank you, Lady Hestia." He couldn't help a strange twinge—like an inept husband living off his wife's paycheck. Still… mooching off a cute loli-goddess? Hard to complain.
"And also…" Hestia's smile didn't fade. Drawing out the words, she plopped onto the sofa beside him, humming as she waited for praise. "I found a very strong god who can teach you combat. Only then will I feel okay about you going into the Dungeon!"