In the forgotten ruins, they quickly found shelter—a crumbling church that still had a roof to keep out the wind and rain. Inside, the pews used for worship were still mostly intact. Though dusty and worn, they could pick through and salvage a fair number of usable items.
There was also a confessional inside the church. Aside from being thick with dust, it surprisingly housed a decently preserved sofa and a bed. The presence of a bed in a confessional was puzzling—no matter how they looked at it, they couldn't figure out what purpose it served there.
The bedsheets didn't bear any of the strange marks you'd expect from adult comics, but they had turned gray from disuse. They'd definitely need to be replaced if not cleaned. Luckily, Bell had spare bedsheets stored in his mental space.
By the time the basic cleaning was finished, three hours had passed.
"Ah..."
Hestia dropped all pretense of her divine image and flopped face-first onto the freshly made bed. Cleaning up the ruin had been physically and mentally exhausting. In just three hours, she had done more work than she had since descending to the lower world. She was utterly wiped out.
Lying on the slightly stiff mattress, her body aching, Hestia couldn't help but long for her lazy days at Hephaestus's place.
But the moment she turned and saw Bell, who had just finished working as well, her slumped posture vanished. She sat up straight in an instant.
'No, Hestia! You're not in useless mode anymore. You've got a child now!'
With that single thought, Hestia sat upright.
"Bell."
Just done with his own cleaning, Bell looked up to see Goddess-sama sitting and watching him. Her posture, however, made him step forward and say, "Excuse me, Goddess-sama," before discreetly adjusting her rather uninhibited pose. Sitting cross-legged in that thin white dress had exposed more than was appropriate.
"Goddess-sama, with clothes that thin, you really need to be more careful. That kind of posture is a bit too revealing."
"Aah!" Hestia squeaked and quickly tugged at her skirt with both hands, a rosy blush spreading across her face. She'd completely forgotten that from now on, she'd be living with someone—someone who was, in fact, a boy.
'Hmm... If I'm going to be living with Bell, I'll have to be more mindful of things like this.'
Taking a deep breath, Hestia made a few adjustments before speaking again.
"Bell, from today on, you're the first member of my Hestia Familia. So you need to be careful too. You're my only follower, and if something happens to you, I'd be really devastated."
The unspoken message was practically written on her face: "Please don't go getting yourself killed."
Bell understood her perfectly. He wasn't foolish enough to throw his life away. Achieving results took time and steady effort—rushing headlong into danger only led to an early grave. It was because he longed for power that he knew he had to value his life even more.
"Please don't worry, Goddess-sama. What I seek is strength, not death. Taking risks and making efforts is part of the path to power, but I'll move forward step by step. I won't just charge straight into the Dungeon."
"Phew... That's a relief."
Hestia let out a visible sigh. She truly had been worried her child might get carried away chasing strength and end up in serious danger. She'd heard plenty of stories from her godfriends about reckless children diving into danger in Orario. She couldn't speak for others—but when it came to Bell, she sincerely hoped he wouldn't end up like that.
"So, Bell, what's your plan next? Heading into the Dungeon to get used to the environment?"
Bell gave a slight nod.
"That's what I had in mind. The outside world is already dangerous, but I've heard the Dungeon is far worse. 'The Man-Eating Dungeon'—that's what people call it. I know. The upper levels closer to the surface are relatively safer, but the deeper you go, the more perilous it becomes. Until I get used to it and level up, I won't go anywhere too dangerous."
There was no doubt the Dungeon was dangerous. But as long as that danger was kept within manageable limits, it could become a source of growth.
Because of its inherent dangers, Bell had no intention of diving too deep. Now or in the future, he intended to play it safe. He wasn't an experienced Adventurer, so he needed to build up experience step by step.
'Looks like I don't have to worry too much about this child after all.'
Hestia finally felt at ease. It wasn't bad to desire strength, but that desire had to be restrained. You should only take on what your current power allows—anything more would just invite trouble. At least on that point, she didn't have to worry about Bell.
She looked at him with clear approval.
"Yes, Bell, your thinking is spot on. The Dungeon is extremely dangerous. As a new Adventurer without much experience, what you need isn't to push into the lower floors, but to steadily gain experience. You have to get used to the Dungeon and understand that it constantly harbors a desire to devour everything."
"A desire to devour everything... So the Dungeon really is alive?"
Bell raised an eyebrow, then frowned.
Hestia nodded solemnly, her voice serious and cautious.
"The Dungeon is a living being. It doesn't have self-awareness, just instinct. It's always existed, like a womb that endlessly births monsters. It loathes the gods and can spawn monsters at any moment to devour the world."
"That's why Orario was built directly above the Dungeon—to suppress the number of monsters it produces and to keep them under control. If we don't restrain the Dungeon, the monsters it spawns would eventually consume everything. And at the very bottom lies the Dungeon's core. They say it's because the core is under control that the Dungeon became a breeding ground for monsters."
That was about all Hestia knew. The deeper secrets of the Dungeon were beyond her—truthfully, not many gods knew them either. She was telling Bell all this just to make sure he understood the danger.
And the first thing that came to Bell's mind when he heard it all was 'One-Eyed Black Dragon.'