Hephaestus Familia

Following her into what used to be Hephaestus' private room, Haru was still feeling terribly uncomfortable. It was the second time there was a real Goddess in front of him, but for Haru it was certainly easier to accept a Goddess like Gaia, than Hephaestus, but remembering the last moments when even Gaia had leaked parts of her personality, Haru realized that gods and goddesses were nothing more than a form elevated to him, it doesn't mean they shouldn't have a personality or that they should only devote themselves to their role without being able to express themselves and separate themselves from their 'divine' self.

"I have a lot of questions for you, boy. But first I'd say we can have tea in the meantime, since the conversation seems rather long."

It was from these words that Haru was sit with a cup of tea in his hands, having Hephaestus sitting at her desk, not far from him.

From what Hephaestus had explained to him, she had taken an interest in a particular moment of his work, and by explaining in detail what she had seen with her eye, Haru was surprised. Looking at his hands with confusion written on his face as he would never have imagined that a mere sensation could generate so much wonder in Hephaestus, and seeing this, the latter realized Haru was the first to have no idea how he had done it.

"Interesting.. In this case, my questions cannot be answered. How about trying to be my apprentice? You should know how to act as one, having some knowledge of the forging process."

Her words were enough to take Haru previously with a gaze fixed on his hands to Hephaestus, and meeting her serious and determined eye, Haru thought about it for a few seconds, yet he came to the conclusion that thinking about it wasn't necessary at all.

"I don't know what else to say but accept your offer with a lot of gratitude, I just have one question to ask. Hephaestus-sama, do you really think I can achieve what you're looking for? From what you've told me, you can't see my abilities, doesn't that give me a certain chance that my ability is actually something else? I don't understand the reason for your trusting me this much"

Hephaestus had not seen that a nuance of any skill he would possess, and Haru had no idea whether the skill itself was related to forging, combat or anything else, so she wondered how Hephaestus could feel so confident, and at his words, she gave him the first smile he saw her wear since he looked at her, and the first impression of that smile was nothing but loneliness.

Meeting the boy's amber eyes, Hephaestus answered

"I still have no idea about your abilities. Of course that's a good question to ask, but that doesn't mean you have to doubt a second more. If your skill is not made for forging then I will help you to forge it as such, although I do not believe your skill is tied to forging itself, I just have to lift my hammer and hammer, hammer until I get what I want. If I had to give a second reason..."

Her smile expressing loneliness became filled with hope, and although her eye seemed to have remained calm until a few moments ago, she now had an even more crimson complexion than before.

"I'm feeling genuinely interested in you. Admiring something I can't predict is even more interesting than always seeing the end, the beginning and the middle with a single glance, don't you think?"

In her own words, however, she noticed that Haru was looking away with a bit of embarrassment written on his face, which made her understand that her words were a bit misunderstood.

"I didn't mean it that way! I was... talking about a serious topic here, t-take me seriously!"

With her cheeks that had taken on a more rosy complexion, Hephaestus didn't hesitate to clear his mind. It struck him very much because a Goddess was showing all this interest in him, and Haru who wasn't even aware of this ability a few minutes ago, was overwhelmed by the way in which Hephaestus' face speaking of him had almost undergone a complete change, if before he could feel an almost line of sadness and at the same time loneliness pretty well hidden, a second after Haru could see joy, determination and more than anything, hope written all over her face. But first, he didn't have the slightest idea whether he would be able to meet such high expectations, and even rejecting that offer after that expression now seemed anything but possible.

Deciding to apologize for embarrassing her. Haru closed his eyes for a second finding his calm once again.

"Since you have such expectations of me, I think I have no choice but to prove that you weren't wrong to place all this trust on me. My name is Yamaguchi Haru."

Getting out of the chair, Haru didn't hesitate to introduce himself with a bow as a sign of respect, while the Goddess did nothing but nod. Introducing for her was of no value since he already knew who she was, so she decided to move on. They had discussed his abilities and had reached an agreement, he would learn how to perform a good blacksmith's job from Hephaestus, and in return he, in the distant future, would surprise her with the best piece that Haru would be able to produce for that time, but she could never have imagined that simple contract would have so much value on her life, this was this the day that Yamaguchi Haru, after little more than a week in this world, had become an official member of the Hephaestus familia.

--

"Now, I would say we're done talking, as the Goddess, I need to bestow you a falna that will give you the ability to become stronger, but you already know about all that, don't you...? Take off your shirt."

Hephaestus was so curious to see what would come out of his falna, that she chose to ignore all the explanations of the case, and since he had already understood the gist of it, he decided to avoid asking any more questions, sighing for the way Hephaestus was intently watching him, which still made him a little uncomfortable, but after about an hour that he had been with her, Haru felt like he was slowly getting used to this intrigued look.

Doing as she asked by taking off his shirt, Haru pretended not to notice Hephaestus' look that didn't spare even an inch of his body. He understood that this was nothing more than the curiosity of a Goddess to something she had never seen before in all the millions of years she had lived, but it certainly didn't mean Haru would get used to it too quickly, even though it wasn't so annoying.

Although she had avoided explaining how the falna was born and other matters of little importance, she couldn't fail to explain what she would do to his body and how it would affect him.

So, asking Haru to lie down on the couch in the room with his belly turned toward it, Hephaestus didn't hesitate to sit on his back, and while she bit her finger to spill a drop of her blood, she explained how the falna required her to insert a portion of her blood inside him, leaving an emblem behind his body that many of the familias generally preferred to keep hidden, as some people were able to read certain details of the falna such as the parameters, and this could be considered very dangerous.

The drop fell on his back and Haru could feel pain, but Hephaestus explained to him how this was normal and that he would have to endure a few minutes, and in fact a few minutes after the pain had passed.

Out of curiosity, Haru tried to turn around as he heard a noise, sounding like gears returning to their place, and once he had turned to the maximum of his ability, he could see how he could read numbers going up and down, but his mind was distracted by something else. While Hephaestus was focused on looking at his status, Haru in this position had a limited view of what was within her thighs, made even more attractive not only by the disparate position in which her legs were, but also accentuated by the fact he could feel their weight on his back, but he decided to look away anyway. Although not willing, he wasn't only rude to Hephaestus as he was taking advantage of her distraction, but he also felt rather bad as he almost felt he was cheating on Asumi.

But as these thoughts filled his mind, Hephaestus saw very surprisingly that abilities were taking shape. To be more precise, Haru had two skills, which was remarkable for someone who had just received a Falna.

Taking the paper she had prepared, she explained that the process was over while pressing the sheet on his back, sealing the Falna inside his back while the sheet was used to copy the information in a way readable for Haru, and rising slowly from above him, she checked his skills and parameters first, and she was pleasantly surprised.

---

[Status]

Name: Haru Yamaguchi

Age: 17

Race: Human

Lv 0 →1

•Strength: 153H

•Endurance: 135H

•Dexterity: 78I

•Agility: 159H

•Magic: 0I

•Skills: [Intuition's Holder]

•Development Abilities: [Swordsman:I]

---

The reason for her surprise was that Haru, not even possessing the skill [Blacksmith] was still able to inflict that hammer to the metal, but apart from it, she was very curious about his skill [Intuition's Holder] since she'd never heard of it, so he had what was known as a rare skill. But if Hephaestus was slightly surprised, Haru was completely shocked by the messages that appeared at the time the process was over.

[Falna successfully obtained. Requirements met. Chain functions will now be unlocked, collecting Points of the Reincarnated, (RP) will now be possible.]

[The function (Status) was successfully unlocked. It will be able to manage and show what even the Gods are not allowed to. From now on, if excilia will be collected, The Host can will to use it to update the status when he felt it will be necessary to.]

[Showing the (Status) for the first time...]

---

[Status]

•Name: Haru Yamaguchi

•Age: 17

•Race: Human

•Lv 0 →1

•Strength: 153H

•Endurance: 135H

•Dexterity: 78I

•Agility: 159H

•Magic: 0I

•Skills: [Intuition's Holder:SSS]

•Development Abilities: [Swordsman:I]

---

(It would certainly be complicated to explain, but in Japanese culture the "Kami" take on a role of a divinity to worship. This means that Haru, a Japanese man who grew up with such values, is culture shocked. Although an alternative world, he had already been able to understand how the gods weren't simply omniscient, he still struggled a bit around this concept, but he's quickly changing his mentality.)

(Just as Shinto believers had supposed, the Gods had two sides of themselves, and as Haru hinted, he slightly modified their belief so that it made sense for him in the Danmachi world, I hope this explanation was enough to satisfy whatever doubt you may have about his initial struggle..)

(Towards the end it may feel like I repeated the concept two times, but it was not. After taking off his shirt, Hephaestus stared at every inch of his body to check if something was off or if there were some things that could help her understand a little more, which is why Haru pretended to not see it, before he took it off though, she was only staring at his eyes and face in general, just to say this will be over pretty soon, but try to understand her, it's the first real surprise, she couldn't see his ability, and she's so intrigued it's hard to conceal it, she's actually doing her best to not make Haru feel uncomfortable lmao)

(Since skill aren't originally graded, I chose to explain it in this way, I hope that showing the differences directly was more interesting to you than just explaining what changed, it obviously will happen only in this chapter, I won't show what Hephaestus will see each time, it would be meaningless.)

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