The Protagonist System-295 What’s Mine Is Yours

I had been right about Floor 28 and Floor 29 having huge deposits of rare metals and ores. Lili and I spent several hours digging as much of it up as we possibly could and we filled up our expanded backpacks with them, then we filled two more I had to retrieve from my crafting trunk. We even delayed our return in order to grab as much as we could.

When we teleported back to the teleportation circle of Floor 29 instead of going down to the next floor, none of us missed the look of pure relief we saw on Ryuu's face. Both Aiz and Lili hugged her without saying anything, because they both knew what she was going through.

I activated the teleportation circle and brought us back to the Hephaestus Familia's compound. I wasn't surprised that nearly all of them were there waiting for us, even Hephaestus herself. The delay would have worried them more than going on the trip in the first place would have.

“It was Bell's fault!” Tsubaki said and pointed at me, throwing me under the proverbial bus to not suffer the blame for being late. “He wanted to impress you with an extra large haul of the rare metals we found!”

Hephaestus didn't look impressed. “I'll hold off my judgment until I see it.”

That statement made me smile, because we had found a significant deposit of the very rare Orichalcum, half that again of Adamantite, and more mythril than any sane person could ever hope for. It was why I had to delay our return time, because leaving any of it behind would have been the dumbest thing we could have done. When we left, there was no way the dungeon would let it stay in the same place.

“Lili, if you would do the honors.” I said and handed her one of the extra backpacks.

“Is this the shiny one or the glittering one?” Lili asked with a crooked smile.

“Glittering, of course.” I said and mirrored her smile.

Lili laughed and opened it up. “I suggest you all step back.” She said and tilted it at 45 degrees.

Hephaestus caught her breath as piles and piles of glittering and slightly glowing green Orichalcum ore tumbled out of the backpack. A fortune, then another, then another poured out of the backpack. Complete silence fell around us as Lili finished with the pack upside down.

I didn't comment as I opened the second extra backpack and made a separate pile of Adamantite. I saw a few people faint and held in my laugh as the pile of shiny ore was only half the size of the other one. We weren't anywhere near done, though. We added gold, mythril, platinum, and several other precious metals in their own piles. None of them were as impressive as the most expensive and rare ones, though.

As a final act to top the whole thing off, I knelt on a knee and presented Hephaestus with her pendant and apologized for not giving it to her sleeping form for her to discover it for herself, because I wanted to see her face when I gave it to her.

Hephaestus blushed and accepted it, then she looked at the ridiculous piles of ore we had found after only a single trip into the dungeon. I took out the preliminary maps of the floors we travelled and handed copies of them to Hephaestus, just so she would know where we found the deposits and no one else needed to waste their time trying to mine in those areas.

She looked grateful, then she realized she was holding valuable maps of the dungeon's lower floors with detailed descriptions of the monsters we encountered. Her uncovered eye was very wide and then she let out a cute little laugh that she tried to hide by coughing.

“I think you need to come with me.” Hephaestus said and tucked the maps under her arm and her hand took my hand. “Someone needs to see you as soon as possible.”

I nodded and glanced at Lili. “Keep track of everything and the value that each of them take as the ores are dispersed from the Hephaestus Familia's share.”

Lili saluted and I walked off with Hephaestus to go meet with a certain personal goddess that I hadn't seen since yesterday. Hopefully, she would be over her nervousness and would accept me back into her life again.

*

Hestia felt nervous as the time for Bell's return passed and she had to wait longer. It let her own feelings and thoughts linger as she went over everything they went through and meant to each other. Then she thought about all the things he had gone through after he died. He really had died and became someone else. Then he was someone else and then died and was someone else again.

He had been so many people, with their thoughts and experiences added to his own, and now he was back. His abilities and skills were uncountable after all that time, even if it had only been a few seconds on her end. That was when she realized something important about the whole thing. He had come back for her and had told her the truth.

Bell could have easily lied and not told her anything as he pretended to be himself again, and she might never have known he wasn't the same Bell he had been. She could have stayed ignorant and lived with him for the rest of his short human life and never known he had replaced himself.

Just as Hestia wondered if she would have preferred that to the truth, the door to Hephaestus' bedroom opened and there he was. With her sitting down, his height was even more significant than it had been when she was on her feet. She looked up at his face and saw the love he had for her in his eyes.

“My Bell.” Hestia said and opened her arms. If he could still love her after all that time away from her, then she could do nothing less than keep loving him back.

“My goddess.” Bell said reverently, knelt to hug her, and his kiss was full of tenderness.

It melted her heart and Hestia pulled him on top as she laid back on the bed, a clear invitation, and Bell took it without hesitation. They were quickly naked and Hestia moaned as he joined with her, his perfect member filled her perfectly and her love for him surged forth, as did the breadth of her powers.

“I love you... my husband.” Hestia managed to say between moans.

“I love you... my wife.” Bell responded and kissed her again.

All of their doubts disappeared, now that they were together again, and nothing was going to stop them from having the life they were supposed to have. Hestia was the guardian of the sacred flame back in heaven, the protective fire called the Eternal Torch, and she felt that connection grow as her husband made her feel like a woman again.

Back at the church, the brazier containing the perpetual flame over the front doors, glowed brightly. It counted as an altar for the Goddess of the Hearth and reinforced Hestia's mystical connection to the real eternal flame in heaven. Her powers had diminished after descending to the mortal realm and she hadn't realized just how much until they had been restored.

Hestia's mortal body glowed gold and her black hair changed to glowing red, signifying her deity powers manifesting around her and revealed her true form. Both she and Bell felt the change in her and kept going, because there was no stopping them. They had to complete the ritual to ensure Hestia could retain her connection and not become diminished again.

Bell sped up his movements, making Hestia pant and moan more, then they both moaned and kissed as they both finished and embraced each other and their powers. Both of them glowed, as did the tiny bundle in Hestia's belly. The echo of a baby's giggle brought them out of their bliss and the glow faded, as did Hestia's goddess form and her hair returned to a basic black color.

Hestia's eyes however? They sparkled like jewels in the sun and the very center of her pupils showed a reflection of the Eternal Flame that resided in heaven. Through her, the idea of family would spread out through the world, giving people hope that their families would always be there and would survive anything that happened to them.

“Thank you, husband.” Hestia said, her voice full of gratitude, and she kissed him again.

“That's supposed to be my line.” Bell said with a smile. “Thank you for accepting me back into your arms and your heart, my wife and my goddess. I know how difficult that was for you, after everything I told you.”

Hestia blushed slightly from embarrassment. “My Bell...”

“I knew you needed time and I wasn't going to push you. That almost never works and I wasn't going to take the chance that you would automatically reject me if I did try to force you to face things before you were ready.” Bell said and pulled himself out of her.

Hestia made a disappointed sound before she could stop herself.

Bell chuckled and gave her a quick kiss, then he laid down beside her. “When should we apologize to Hephaestus for ignoring her while we reconnected?”

“Now would be a good time.” Hestia said and pointed at the door. “She's standing right there.”

Bell lifted his head slightly and looked over at the doorway. Hephaestus had a bright red face and she looked conflicted and also very horny. Bell gave Hestia a look and she nodded, so he looked back at Hephaestus and held his arms out for her like Hestia had for him. Hephaestus let out a moan similar to Hestia's and was on him in an instant.

It was no surprise that Hephaestus has a similar reaction to Hestia's as Bell used his powers to reconnect Hephaestus to her own divine powers and the eternal forge that was still in heaven. It was thanks to the blessings they gave him that he was able to use his Touch of Divinity to grant them part of what they had lost when they descended to the mortal realm.

Both Hestia and Hephaestus instinctively knew that they would burn out their mortal bodies if they channelled too much of their powers at once, so they would have to be careful to only use them when it was necessary or they couldn't avoid using them. They both thanked Bell for giving them such a wonderful gift and he thanked them for blessing him in the first place.

That reminded Hestia to check his Falna and she had to poke and prod Bell for several minutes to convince him she could do it right there in front of Hephaestus, even though it was supposed to be done privately between a child and their goddess.

Bell sighed and rolled over to present his naked back to her and Hestia climbed on him to sit on his butt. She admired his muscular back, just like she had the very first time she had blessed him. Hephaestus passed her a small needle and Hestia thanked her, then she poked her fingertip and let the drop of blood form.

With a touch of a goddess and her blood as a catalyst, Bell's back glowed brightly and almost blinded Hestia. Hephaestus was used to looking at the power of a sun in her forge, so she didn't even blink as the Falna surged out of Bell's soul and the writing formed on his back. She couldn't believe what it showed, however.

“How is this possible?” Hephaestus asked as her fingertips traced the numbers... well, lack of numbers. Instead of letters for the level of his skills and numbers for his stats, each of them had what looked like Double-Zeros, or Double-Ohs.

Hestia blinked her eyes for a moment to clear them of the flash of light, then she stared at what her best friend was pointing at. “Two zeroes? How? What happened?”

Both goddesses leaned in closely to examine what they saw, only to both gasp at the truth. They weren't zeroes or ohs at all! They were joined together in the middle and actually made an infinity symbol. For everything. His level, his stats, his skills, his abilities, all of it. They all had the value of infinity.

Thankfully, they hadn't fainted at seeing the truth, because of their stronger connection to their divine powers. Hestia's fingertips joined Hephaestus' as they explored each of the symbols and even the Excelia, or Experience Points, were an infinity symbol and Hestia couldn't convert them or move them anywhere, probably because everywhere was full and there was nowhere to move them to.

“I... I'm not sure what to do now.” Hestia whispered.

“The same thing you always do. Make a copy, show me, and then destroy it so no one else can see it.” Bell said. “Is there a skill list or anything? I have tons of them and I doubt they'd all fit on my back.”

“No, there's just the infinity symbol and a line that says I need to use more divine power to see the list.” Hestia said, a little disappointed.

Bell barked a laugh. “That's appropriate. We just managed to give you a stronger connection.”

“I'm not going to abuse it just for curiosity's sake.” Hestia said with a huff.

“That means it wasn't a mistake to restore your abilities, since you're already being responsible with them.” Bell said with pride in his voice. “Now get off my butt so I can roll over and hug you properly.”

Hestia propped herself up on her knees and Bell rolled over underneath her. He was hard for her again and she smiled down at him, positioned him at her entrance, and sat down to impale herself. She moaned and then laid down on him to hug and kiss him.

Hephaestus stayed there beside them and her hand occasionally caressed Hestia's breasts or Bell's chest, showing her affection for the both of them, and she let them see it on her face that she appreciated that they weren't kicking her out of her own bed to have fun with each other.

They could have, and Hephaestus would have left if they wanted her to; but, they kept her there and she had several turns with both Bell and Hestia as the night wore on. The three of them eventually fell asleep in each other's arms and felt contentment. They had their lover back and they weren't going to let him go. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

*

Aiz, Lili, and Ryuu arranged the sale of most of their shares of the ores to their contracted partners, the Hephaestus Familia. They always had first choice of any materials they found and were given a discount. It also saved the Hestia Familia members from having to go to the Adventurer's Guild to sell everything.

Once they collected the remains of the ores and monster parts, they used the teleportation circle to return to Hestia's church. Once inside, they dropped their things off in their rooms and gathered in the living room.

“I don't think they'll be coming home tonight.” Lili said and didn't sound disappointed.

“Our goddess is welcoming him back fully?” Aiz asked.

“She would be crazy not to.” Lili said and gave Ryuu a knowing look. “How do you feel after what we saw Bell do with those monsters?”

Ryuu looked embarrassed. “I never thought healing magic could be used like that.”

Lili put a hand on her arm only briefly, not wanting to invade her personal space. “It shouldn't have worked and goes against everything we know about dungeon monsters.”

“Bell did say they were special monsters.” Aiz said. “They also talked.”

“He sent them off without asking them how they came to be or why.” Ryuu said. “His powers are ridiculous.”

Lili nodded. “If he wasn't such a nice guy and shared everything with us, I might be terrified of him.” She said and stood, went over to the thing Bell called a fridge, and took out three chilled bottles of ale. She brought them back to the large couch and handed them out to her two friends.

“Thank you.” Aiz said and popped it open. She took a long drink and leaned back against the side of the couch. “What are we going to do tomorrow?”

“You saw the look on Hephaestus' face when Bell gave her a copy of those maps.” Lili said and took a drink of her own ale. “My appraisal was off because I didn't account for how much people would want them past their actual value as a guide to the floors we visited.”

“You want to do the upper floors above 18.” Ryuu said and sipped hers. It was tasty with a slight woody flavor and she took an even bigger drink. “We could make a lot of money if we sold them ourselves instead of handing them over to the guild.”

Lili smiled at her. “I was just thinking the same thing.” She said and took another drink. “We should also have Bell take all of those spare armor pieces that used to be in his workshop and make them into different armor pieces and even smaller weapons that we could sell for cheap.”

“Spending 3,600 valis for a simple dagger that no one would ever use as a primary weapon, is a waste of money.” Aiz said. “But, that could be said for every weapon and piece of armor.”

Lili nodded as she pointed to the ornate coffee table. “Bell spent a minute changing a 300 valis piece of junk to make it worth over 35,000 valis without even adding precious metals or gems.”

“He did the same to our armor.” Aiz said and took another drink. “I like it. It's nice.”

“He's a specialist crafter's nightmare.” Lili said with a laugh. “He's ours though, so it's okay.”

Aiz nodded with a small smile.

Ryuu gave them both a searching look and didn't see any jealousy there, so she nodded as well. Perhaps opening herself up to her new friends wouldn't be the judgmental disaster she thought it was going to be. She took a deep breath and let it out, then she started talking.

By the time Ryuu was done with her tale, several hours had passed and both girls had nestled into her sides to hold her tightly. Tears had been liberally shared, then their stories were told and Ryuu knew then that opening up had been the right thing to do.

The three girls were a lot closer than they ever thought they could be and they went to bed with lighter burdens on their hearts and a brighter outlook for the days to come.