The excitement of a new world with the children lured many gods to the mortal realm. They wanted to experience things like phenomena they couldn’t foresee, a desire for food, hobbies, fine arts, and the indefinable bonds of friendship like the children had every day.

They laughed, or so I’ve been told.

The gods and goddesses feel like they are playing a game and are fully enjoying it because it is impossible to predict what will happen.

It wasn’t long before gods were living in our world. Quite a few of them decided to live here permanently.

As for our ancestors who lived here first, they didn’t reject the gods when they arrived. Why would they? They revered the gods because they could receive blessings. To put it another way: you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. That relationship is still clearly going on today.

They live among us now. We live and work side by side, helping one another out.

These gods abandoned their separate and constrained lifestyles to live in our inconvenient world.

“A ton of people walk around the city looking like mascots. They’re cute and all, but I can never find one I’d want in my familia. The good ones all go after the money! If only more people knew the name Hestia…”

“I’m not so sure. All the ‘blessings’ start out the same, no matter what god or goddess gave it…”

I live with the goddess Hestia. I guess gods and goddesses have names just like us.

A familia is basically a group formed by a god. For example, Loki Familia is the group put together by the goddess Loki, and Hestia Familia by Hestia. Some people call it Team Loki or Team Hestia.

Personally, I think that being in a familia is like being part of that god’s family.

While gods are in our world, they can’t use their godly powers, called Arcanum. It’s a rule that they set themselves shortly after arriving. Without Arcanum, they need our food and money to survive.

While I have heard of a few gods who like working, most gods came here to have fun. So, they rely on us “children” to make money for them while they do whatever.

A person gets a “blessing” when they join a familia.

In exchange, they use the power from the blessing to make money.

To be frank, members of a familia provide for their god.

But we can’t argue with the benefits of receiving a blessing. Anyone with a blessing can get strong enough to take down even the fiercest monsters.

Hestia, the goddess sitting across from me, calls it “give and take.”

“Bell, I really feel bad making you work by yourself to provide for me.”

“Hey, I’m fine. And you’re working, too, aren’t you?”

Some familia are very large with hundreds of members, and some are very small, like ours.

In these circumstances, even the gods or goddesses themselves must find work…like Hestia. They can’t do what they love; they have to make money first.

Sure, they can do anything they want to earn money. But it makes me happy knowing that the gods living in our society have the same problems I do. I feel, I don’t know, closer to them somehow.

Well, there are some gods who turn their familia into a monarchy with themselves at the top. They call it “Kingdom Game” or something like that.

But even that is built and managed by people. Therefore, the gods have to follow our rules. There are some who say the gods are manipulating our society by behaving this way, but the fact that a god was able to create a “kingdom” is only because a group of people wanted him to.

While the gods do watch over what we create, in the end, they have no way to give anyone an advantage over the competition.

“…I’m sorry I made you join the familia of such a pitiful god…”

“G-Goddess…”

I watch her withdraw into the sofa. My voice sounded pathetic even to my own ears.

I met Hestia while circling Orario trying to join a familia. I had just arrived, and I needed a blessing before I could become an adventurer.

The famous familia always have people trying to join their already full ranks. So people with skills that would benefit the group get first priority. Country-boy newbies like me get passed over. I wasn’t just shown the door, I had it slammed in my face a few times.

I think that Hestia could see that in my eyes when we crossed paths. Sort of like I was a lost puppy, and she brought me home.

Hestia came to our world relatively recently and was staying with a friend, also a goddess, and her familia before she met me. She told me that she spent all day every day doing what she loved, reading our books. Her friend eventually got angry and kicked her out. But she wasn’t heartless; Hestia’s friend found this room under the church for her.

But really, all blessings are equal. That’s a fact.

Everyone who receives a blessing starts from the same point. As for how they grow, well, that depends completely on them.

In the end, familia are judged by the abilities of their members, just like any shop or any country. A familia is not strong because of its god, and neither is it weak.

“It’s okay, Goddess! Our familia just got started. Better yet, it’s on the rise! Sure, it might be difficult now, but as soon as we get past this first part, we’ll be sitting pretty! Once we get some money saved up, people will be lining up to join us!

“Bell…You are just so…!”

Shoosh. She’s on her feet. Her eyes fill with hope and happiness as she gazes at me. But everything I just said, word for word, came from Eina, not me. That hurts a bit, right in the conscience.

But my goddess is happy. That’s all that matters.

She’s the one who took me, a country boy dreaming about a harem and whatnot who almost got crushed because of it, by the hand and encouraged me. She is very important to me.

I want to help her any way I can.

That was the first promise I ever made to myself. I wanted to help her when we first met, and that’s not about to change.

“I was so lucky to meet someone like you! Now, for our future, let’s update your status!”

“Please!”

The goddess kicks her legs as she jumps up off the sofa. Her impossibly large boobs jiggle as she moves. I saw the bounce, yes, but I looked away. And now I’m smiling again, too. I really have to try harder to keep my eyes off her chest.

Other gods called her “Loli Big Boobs,” making fun of her otherworldly bust. But what the heck does “Loli” mean?

“Alrighty, off with the shirt and into bed like usual!”

“Okay.”

I walk toward the bed as I unhook my light adventurer’s armor and pull off my undershirt. I look over my shoulder into the full-length mirror at the end of the room.

My topless, pale-skinned reflection with hair as white as Gramps’s looks back at me. What really stands out is a clump of black markings on the small of my back.

All of them were engraved into my skin by Hestia. She said it’s called “Falna,” and it’s the mark of a blessing from a god or goddess.

“Lie down, lie down.”

I do as I’m told and crawl onto the bed.

As soon as my stomach hits the sheets, the goddess jumps on top of me and uses my butt as her own personal chair.

“You said earlier that you almost died today. What happened?”

“It’s a long story, but…”

She rubs my back as I talk. Going over the same spot once, twice, many times, she relaxes my skin.

Ping…The goddess pulls out a long needle.

I look over my shoulder in time to see her prick her own finger with it. A drop of her blood falls onto my back.

The red drop literally sends waves through my body as it sinks in.

“You went into the deeper levels of the Dungeon…to meet girls? What strange fantasies are going through your head? There’s no way the ideal virgin you have in mind is going to be in such a dangerous place, now is there?”