"Dinner tonight is vegetable soup, fried shrimp, and steamed fish... Eh, El-kun bought Jagamarukuns on the way back? I want double red beans!"
"Mmm... Delicious! Oh right, the bathwater is ready too. Do you want to take a bath first or eat first?"
Goddess Demeter, dressed completely in homewear and wearing a pink apron, looked just like a dutiful and good wife. She was currently bringing the dinner, which had been kept warm in the pot, to the table.
The beautiful woman's face was full of happiness at this moment.
It was obvious that taking care of people was an extremely joyful thing for her.
El always found it a bit hard to understand the personalities of these gods.
Perhaps.
They were just this casual.
Just like when he first arrived in this world last night, he wondered why these so-called gods would come down to the mortal realm.
According to what Demeter said.
No.
It was the consensus of all the gods here. They came to the lower world because it was too boring in the divine realm, so they came here to find amusement together with their "children."
It's just that different gods had different definitions of "amusement."
For example, Demeter. As the goddess of agriculture, grain, and maternal love, her hobbies naturally included farming, doing chores, and...
"El-kun can treat me as your mother~ Come on, spoil yourself to your heart's content!"
The beautiful woman opened her arms, seemingly hinting that he should give her a big hug, and... bury his head in her chest.
"Lady Demeter, you're a bit of a pervert."
"!!!"
Seeming to have been exposed, a certain beautiful woman's face flushed red, and she stammered defensively.
"What's weird about it! It's clearly El-kun who's thinking dirty!!"
"If Lady Demeter didn't have those kinds of thoughts, you wouldn't know I was thinking dirty."
El evaluated very calmly,
Getting straight to the point.
"Lady Demeter likes playing raising games, right?"
"I do not!"
"Then why did you make me join your Familia? From the looks of it, I don't seem like the farming type, and I don't like playing raising games either."
After a day of learning about this world—mainly in the morning when he registered as an adventurer, Miss Eina, his advisor, had explained many basic common sense things to him.
El now knew.
Not all gods would casually recruit Familia members.
Some Familias had incredibly high entry thresholds, such as the currently strongest Loki and Freya Familias in Orario.
Some Familias' thresholds were based on the god's preferences, such as the Ishtar Familia that managed the Pleasure Quarter, the Hermes Familia that ran around the world, the Hephaestus Familia that focused on forging, and so on.
Only some gods who had just descended and didn't have many children would accept anyone who came. However, Familias like that also found it hard to recruit members.
After all, it was a mutual choice.
So, why did Demeter make him join her Familia? He didn't look like he could farm, nor did he like playing raising games.
"Because El-kun's eyes at that time looked so lonely."
The beautiful woman's serene words made El freeze slightly.
She smiled faintly, sitting across the dining table, looking at him with gentle eyes, seemingly lost in a memory that only went back to yesterday.
Under that brilliant starry night.
Demeter saw a boy who was entirely alone, with nothing in his heart.
Out of instinct.
The kind Goddess felt she should give him a warm home.
"Really?"
El clearly felt that Demeter was harboring some weird intentions, playing a raising play game.
"You guy, can't you have even a little bit of respect for a Goddess?!"
"Ah, I respect Lady Demeter very much." (Monotone reading)
"No lying in front of a Goddess!!"
So angry!
The beautiful woman slammed the table sternly. As she puffed her cheeks, her magnificent chest couldn't help but heave, a truly breathtaking sight.
El had no choice but to silently lower his head and hurry up and eat.
Ending the above topic.
Hmm...
...
The food Demeter cooked was quite delicious, it tasted like home.
This somewhat made El feel a bit of respect for this Goddess. After all, he would have to rely on her for meals in the future.
But soon, that little bit of respect was shattered to pieces by this very person.
"Don't move! Be good and let the Goddess take a good look at you~"
After eating, it was time for a bath.
But just as El entered the bathroom, took off his clothes, and stepped into the small bathtub built of bricks and stones, letting his body fully submerge in the scalding hot water emitting dense white steam.
Suddenly, the bathroom door was pushed open again.
Then, accompanied by a waft of sweet, syrupy fragrance, Demeter naturally walked to the side of the bathtub.
And then.
She demanded that he turn his back to her so she could inspect his body—no, update his status board.
"Don't move, El-kun!"
"I'm not moving."
"Hehehe..."
Pricking her fingertip, the scarlet divine blood dripped onto El's back, but there was not a single trace of warm, sticky sensation. Instead, a brilliant light arose.
Subsequently.
The divine script originally engraved on the boy's back began to change.
"El-kun must remember, you are not allowed to show your body to anyone else besides the Goddess."
"I know."
"Hmph, although most people can't read the divine script, there are still some who can understand it."
Demeter began to copy down the updated status board and ability values onto a piece of paper, translating them into the [Common Tongue] that ordinary people could read.
"Mhm, mhm, mhm, as expected of a member of my Demeter Familia, just as I thought!"
"Ah, let me see."
El took the piece of paper from a certain Goddess's hand, only to see...
[El:
Level: LV1
Strength: I0-I2
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0-I5
Agility: I0-I4
Magic: I0
Magic Spells: None.
Skills: Unknown, Comprehend, Transcend; Unyielding Spark; God Slayer / The One Who Conquers Gods]
"???"
How is this possible? The ability values haven't increased at all?
How strange.
He clearly killed monsters in the Dungeon today. Based on the Valis he exchanged the magic stones for, the number of monsters he killed today was enough to match what some four-person adventurer parties would kill in two or three days.
And his ability values only increased this much?
Regarding this, Demeter didn't seem "discouraged" at all. She even had a sort of "as expected of my Familia member" calmness.
"Wait!"
El seemed to understand something.
"Lady Demeter, if you use a Magic Sword to defeat monsters, it won't increase your ability values, right?"
"Of course! Not only ability values, but the [Excelia] required to level up will also be greatly discounted. After all, the definition of [Excelia] is breaking through one's own limits to do difficult things."
Demeter was a quite senior Goddess after all. So even though there were no adventurers in her Familia, she knew the common sense.
"Because a Magic Sword isn't your own power!"