"That'll be thirty valis! cough cough!"
Kuro's emotionless voice rang out.
"Eh!!!"
Hestia looked extremely shocked: "W-wasn't this free?"
"No."
"In a situation like that, it should definitely be given for free!"
After being shocked, Hestia immediately sat down weakly on the ground, saying resignedly: "But I don't have any valis."
"Then work to pay off the debt, cough cough!"
"Nani?"
"This evening you'll help me attract customers, cough cough, for every ten sold I'll count thirty valis for you, cough cough!"
Looking at Kuro speaking expressionlessly while coughing, Hestia asked worriedly: "Um, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I can't talk too much, cough cough, so I hope you can help attract people, cough cough!"
"Hn! Then leave the job of attracting people to me!"
Lies were useless against gods.
Even though Kuro's words sounded very hollow, every sentence he spoke sounded firm and strong.
"Grumble~~"
For Hestia, who hadn't eaten properly for several days, after eating one potato ball she became even hungrier.
Seeing the girl in front of him looking with teary eyes, Kuro fried up a portion for her and spread a little salt on it.
Watching the girl in front of him eating ravenously, Kuro felt somewhat familiar.
He definitely had never met her before, but he should know her.
Kuro kept thinking about that familiar figure in his head, but unfortunately it was covered by a thick layer of fog, unable to see the real truth.
"Hey, your name is..."
"Wow! Finally full. Leave everything to me from now on!"
Hestia, now satisfied, patted her smooth flat belly, stood up and gave Kuro a thumbs up.
Then she nimbly ran to the busy roadside, pulling anyone who passed by to come here.
Ordinary people, when faced with a cute girl pulling them along, usually gave in easily.
Seeing Hestia continuously pulling people over, Kuro also skillfully kept frying potato balls.
The sky gradually grew dark during this process.
"That's enough, close up shop."
Hestia, who was preparing to pull more people over, immediately sighed in relief upon hearing this.
"Finally finished!"
Hestia shamelessly sat down on the roadside.
After packing up the stall, Kuro came before the girl, handing over the gleaming golden valis.
"Six hundred and thirty valis, keep it safe, cough cough."
The girl happily accepted the first valis she'd earned since being kicked out it seemed like not just tonight, but food money for the next few days didn't need to be worried about.
How about following him from now on? At least she wouldn't need to worry about what to eat every day.
And also...
Hestia licked the corner of her lips. That first potato ball was really delicious.
Watching the bandaged young man quickly cleaning up the stall in front of her, Hestia habitually said: "Young man, want to join my familia?"
Those sudden words made Kuro's movements stop immediately.
This sentence was what Kuro had been waiting for for who knows how long, but when he really heard it, it felt unreal.
"Can someone like me really...?"
Kuro looked at his bandage-wrapped, thin hands, muttering somewhat self-consciously.
"Of course you can, or rather, please, join my familia."
Originally just asking casually, still thinking the other party would refuse like everyone else, as usual.
Hestia had experienced this kind of thing many times in the past few days.
But unexpectedly there was a chance the other party didn't immediately refuse, so Hestia without hesitation immediately knelt in front of Kuro, bowing her head until it touched the ground.
As for dignity? What was dignity could you eat it?
Right now the most important thing was getting the child in front of her to join her familia.
If not, she'd have to shamelessly go back to her god friend Hephaestus to ask for help again.
In the few days since being kicked out, she'd almost become the biggest laughingstock in all of Orario.
She who was called lazy of course no children wanted to join her familia.
"Hn!"
Finally hearing the answer she wanted, Hestia excitedly got up from the ground.
"Hooray, hooray! Finally I have a familia too!"
Hestia happily stepped forward, grasping both of Kuro's hands and said impatiently: "Quick, I'll give you a blessing. That way you'll officially be a member of my familia."
"Go home first to eat, unwrapping bandages will be troublesome, cough cough!"
"Yes yes, let's all go..." Halfway through speaking, Hestia suddenly stopped, then asked awkwardly: "What's your name?"
"Name, forgot!" Kuro shook his head: "But you can call me Kuro, cough cough!"
"Alright Kuro-kun, my name is Hestia. Welcome to joining my familia."
"Hestia..."
This name was like lightning, instantly shattering the endless chaos in Kuro's head.
The black pupils that had been dead for so long suddenly showed a glimmer of light.
"You're Hestia!" Kuro tightly grasped the shoulders of the girl in front of him and said excitedly.
"Ah, yes, what's wrong, Kuro-kun?" Seeing Kuro immediately get excited upon hearing her name, Hestia said uncertainly: "Kuro-kun won't look down on me and decide not to join, right!"
"Hestia, Bell, Ais, Freya, Welf....."
Kuro covered his face with both hands and knelt on the ground, one by one names kept coming from his mouth.
"I'm Kuro, a transmigrator from another world. I absolutely won't bow down to this world, absolutely not!"
"Kuro-kun, what's wrong with you?"
Seeing her first familia member, also her first family in the lower world, in this state, Hestia was somewhat worried.
Hearing Hestia's voice, Kuro raised his head this time he could finally see clearly the face of the girl before him.
Black twin-tails, blue eyes.
"Ah, nothing's wrong Hestia-sama, cough cough, I've just finally awakened, cough cough!"
Kuro stood up, patting the dust off his knees.
"Come on, first let's go to my place to eat, cough cough, then update the blessing, tomorrow we'll clean up and move to the familia headquarters, cough cough."
Pushing the small cart, bringing Hestia back to his residence.
"Granny, I'm home."
"Excuse me!"
Two voices sounded in sequence. Granny Lan, who was originally sitting in a chair in the courtyard, was a bit confused before responding: "Welcome back!"
But after saying that, she realized something was different from usual this child Kuro had never actively spoken before.
So she stood up and turned toward the entrance, seeing Kuro organizing the cart with his bandage-wrapped body, and the twin-tailed girl beside him who wanted to help.
"Child, you... I'll prepare dinner!"
Seeing Kuro clearly different from usual, Granny Lan's nose felt a bit sore.
Finally, finally this child had also found 'himself.'
At the dinner table, Kuro pointed to Hestia who was eating heartily and introduced: "This is Hestia-sama. I've joined Hestia-sama's familia. Tomorrow we'll move, cough cough!"
"I understand, go quickly. Better than always disturbing Granny's rest." Then looking at Hestia: "God-sama, I entrust this child to you!"
"I'll take good care of Kuro-kun." Hestia swallowed the food in her mouth.