The Protagonist System

30 Collaboration For The Win

I wasn't surprised when breakfast was over and Hephaestus made the announcement that the Hephaestus Familia and the Hestia Familia were entering into a joint agreement for support and resources. Both of our Familias working together were going to outshine and outperform every other support Familia that ever existed.

Hephaestus also made her people swear on her name that they wouldn't share my abilities until told they were allowed to. Until enough of the floors were given teleportation circles, it had to remain a secret, because the other Familias might attack and try to take it from them or to destroy it. They all agreed. They knew the immense value of having someone like me helping them.

With that out of the way, we were all released to do what we wanted for the scheduled day off. Nearly all of the Hephaestus Familia chose to go back to work to play with the pile of ore and creature drops that Tsubaki and I had brought back yesterday. Hephaestus laughed and said they could do what they wanted with their time off.

Tsubaki and I gave our regards to our goddesses and left to pick up my backpack in her room. The smiths couldn't really do much with some of the loot drops, like the potion ingredients and, according to them, the boring creature drops like goblin fangs and kobold claws. They happily accepted the War Shadow finger blades and the tusks from the Needle Rabbits.

They saved a lot of money by having us supply them with those resources instead of having to buy them from the guild. That was another thing I hadn't anticipated when I worked out the deal with Hephaestus Familia. They wouldn't have to buy many of things they usually bought from the guild because they could get them directly.

“Bell, I think I should update your Falna.” Hestia's voice said from the hallway outside Tsubaki's room. The door was open and she peeked in to see that we were still dressed.

“Are you sure? I haven't really done much the last week except work on fixing up the church.” I said and she nodded. “Okay, just give me a minute.” I said and took off my helmet and my arm pieces and then the chest and back plates. I pulled the bodysuit down off of my neck and to my waist, then I laid down on Tsubaki's bed.

Hestia climbed onto the bed and sat down on my butt. “Tsubaki? Can we have a little privacy?”

“Of course, Goddess. I'll shut the door and make sure no one disturbs your private moment.” Tsubaki said and stepped out.

Hestia hummed happily as she added a drop of blood to my back and started to do her thing to my back. I honestly wasn't expecting to have gathered a lot of experience, considering I really had only worked to rebuild the church and gave us a nicer place to live. It wasn't until Hestia gasped that I thought something might be wrong about my guess.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You... you... you...” Hestia was hyperventilating and might pass out again.

“I thank you and praise you for being my personal Goddess, Hestia.” I prayed and she gasped again as I felt a deep warmth on my butt. “Because you chose to apologize for your mistake, our Familia will be prosperous like never before. You put our Familia before yourself and I will be forever grateful to you.”

“B-Bell.” Hestia whispered as the heat intensified. It wasn't a burning heat, though. It was the warmth like receiving the best bear hug in the world.

“Whatever my Falna says, it's because of you. You have to believe that, because I do.” I said.

There was silence for several seconds before I felt Hestia's impressive chest press into my back and she gave my neck a kiss, then another. Her weight disappeared from my back and then her fingers moved over my skin once more. I heard the rustling paper and waited as she copied my stats down onto the paper, then she moved forward slightly and laid down on me to hold the paper in front of my face.

I stared at the numbers and they didn't make sense. “How?” I asked. “Not the Level 2 part. I expected that with how much I've been using magic and pushing it past 2 ranks would have happened pretty quickly. I mean not having my stats revert to the base for me to build them up again.”

Hestia took a deep breath and let it out as she rested her cheek on my shoulder to look at my face. “I think it's your skills. The combination of Mind Block, Minor Regeneration, and Blessing of Fortune let you keep any overages from your stats before levelling up.”

That was a surprising thought. I didn't think... no, I was ignoring the impact of the things I was doing because they seemed so normal for me to do, since they had to be done and it was my responsibility. I was doing things on my own and I did struggle with them; but, they weren't that difficult or insurmountable.

Even the creation of the first teleportation circle was only time consuming and expensive... and then I remembered the key factor for levelling up was gaining the attention of a god or goddess by doing something impressive. I could only guess that it was introducing a new kind of magic transportation that gave me that attention, and from whom.

Hestia burned up the paper and smiled at me. “You are a remarkable child, Bell.”

“And you are a remarkable Goddess, Hestia.” I responded. “In fact, I am enjoying the feeling of your remarkable happiness on my lower back. It's quite warm.”

Hestia giggled and sat up, giving me a much better feel. “You better not tell anyone else that joke!”

I laughed and made a motion with my hand to indicate I was rolling over. Hestia's weight lifted from my back and I rolled over, only to see Hestia's skirt had ridden up to her hips after straddling me and the panties she wore were not the ones we had bought together.

“Oh, Goddess.” I whispered in praise for her intentionally giving me a great up-close view of her.

Hestia glowed slightly and blushed deeply. She sat back down and she was on my abs and not my crotch. We were both disappointed and relieved by that, because she had given me an instant hard-on.

“Like Tsubaki said, personal time with my Goddess is exactly that. Personal. I will freely joke, and tease, and try my best to make you laugh and be happy. Your smile makes me smile and your inner warmth gives me warmth.”

Hestia blushed deeper when I placed a hand on her belly and felt the increased heat.

“I have the funds now to buy what I need to restore your statue to what it was meant to look like, My Goddess. That's why I wanted to wait and didn't do the trick I did for the walls and roof. Your representation deserved better treatment than that.” I said and looked into her eyes. “As do you.”

“B-B-Bell.” Hestia stuttered and her blush wasn't fading.

“I will keep working hard and I will keep doing my best for you, Hestia. I know you would never ask me to do that, and that makes my pledge to do everything I can to help you, that much more important.” I said and slid my hand up her side, missed her breast intentionally, and caressed her neck before I cupped the side of her face.

Hestia had stopped breathing and stared at me with tears in the corners of her eyes.

“You will be well known and respected once more, My Goddess. I demand it.” I said.

“Oh, Bell!” Hestia exclaimed and started to cry, then she laid down on top of me and hugged me tightly as she cried and cried.

*

Tsubaki had stood outside the room and down the hallway slightly as she guarded her room to let Bell and his Goddess have privacy. She had tried to not listen and had heard every word anyway. She really needed a better door and should hire someone to put up the same sound dampening runes and enchantments they had between their forges and anvils.

Her mind raced as she went over everything she heard, especially Bell's stats not being recorded normally and his unique skills. That was shocking to hear. Luckily, Tsubaki had enough time to not let her emotions show on her face as Hestia's crying fit came to an end. The door to her room opened a minute later and Tsubaki walked over to see Bell putting his armor back on.

“Are you ready to make the guild workers piss themselves with our haul?” Tsubaki asked with a smile.

Bell laughed. “I think just the crystals we're exchanging would do that, considering it was just the two of us down there yesterday.”

“You really smashed those war shadows with your Light and made it damn easy for us to get so many crystals.” Tsubaki said as she leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms. Her top slipped apart and gave both Hestia and Bell an eyeful. Oops. She thought and stood up straight, thankful that she hadn't flashed a Goddess her nipples, and walked over to her desk and picked up her normal cloth wrapping for her chest.

“I'll leave you to finish getting dressed.” Hestia said and stood up from the bed. She gave Bell a very significant look, smiled widely, and left the room.

When the door shut, Tsubaki pulled off her top and quickly wrapped her breasts up.

“Thank you.” Bell said from behind her.

Tsubaki was going to ask what for as his arms went around her to hug her and he kissed her cheek.

“Hestia was embarrassed about crying like that and was worried you heard her and would make fun of her for it.” Bell whispered in her ear. He gave her cheek another kiss and nipped at her earlobe. “You have a good blank face.”

Tsubaki softly laughed. “I was trying to hide that I heard anything.”

“We know.” Bell said and turned her head to give her a deep kiss. “That's why I was thanking you.”

Tsubaki felt warm inside from him thanking her and not being angry that she had heard them. She turned around in his arms and kissed him back. She felt his hardness pressing against her and she let out a little growl, reached down to tear the cloth of his bodysuit open, and turned back around to lift her long skirt and pulled her underwear out of the way.

Bell took full advantage of the invitation and Tsubaki cried out as he gave her another good run, only this time it was against her desk and he used her hair as a handle to help him drive into her depths. It was hard, and frantic, and very enjoyable. They both came at nearly the same time and had to rest against the desk for several minutes.

They recovered and Bell cast that great cleaning spell to get them both presentable. Tsubaki gave him a thank you kiss and put herself in order, checked him to see his bodysuit was repaired, and they left her room to head to the guild. She really was going to enjoy making them piss themselves when they presented the extremely rare Golden Egg.

*

It was really really really difficult to not laugh with Tsubaki as several members of the guild staff, including their hastily brought over boss that was a dog-man, actually pissed themselves. The payouts for the magic crystals, loot drops, and potion ingredients was easily put through and approved.

We had made just over 60,000 valis from a single trip to the eighth floor, which was close to almost two and a half times an adventurer party of five's average daily take of 25,000 valis. Having a weapon that cleared out shadow creatures so quickly, gave us a huge advantage. The 1,000,000 valis payout for the Golden Egg would have to wait for a day as they consulted the Guild's owner.

I took Tsubaki's advice and refused to hand over the Golden Egg until the money was available. They wouldn't be taking advantage of me like that anymore. Eina looked sad and guilty when I said that and I felt bad for her, so I tried to talk to her. She refused and said that she had to resign as my advisor, because she had failed me so spectacularly.

When I tried to argue, she handed over the sales projections and showed me the estimate of 150,000 valis that the Guild would be earning every month from other Familias and businesses because of the ideas my mechanical timer had given the guild, that they had in turn rented out to everyone else.

“I'm sorry I cheated you, Bell.” Eina said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “Very sorry.” She said and walked away as she wiped at her eyes.

“Eina!” I shouted and felt a hand on my arm.

“She made her choice, Bell. She put the Guild above you and that is not what an advisor is supposed to do. She was supposed to look out for your best interests and she didn't.” Tsubaki said.

“But...” I tried to protest.

“She knows you would have been rich if she had shared the deal with you, rather than taking it all for the Guild and giving you less than an average day's pay.” Tsubaki said.

I sighed and nodded. I couldn't force Eina to remain as my advisor if she didn't want to be. “Let's go.”

We left the Guild Hall and went back to the Hephaestus Familia compound to visit some of the other blacksmiths. I negotiated personal trades and purchases for precious metals with them and with Tsubaki as I gathered what I needed to restore Hestia's statue at the church.

We left the compound and visited one of the more well known stone quarries and I bought several large pieces of marble, then went to a reputable jeweller and I bought two uncut sapphires and had them smoothed and rounded out. They were perfect and were well worth the money.

“You are going all out for your Goddess.” Tsubaki said as we dropped everything off at the church.

I knew how to respond to that comment. “When you go to the forge to make something, are you doing it for yourself?”

“Of course not! All my work is a tribute... to... my Goddess.” Tsubaki said and gave me wide eyes.

“Exactly. In this world, you will suffer if you only work for yourself.” I said and looked up at the ruined statue of Hestia. “Without a higher power to believe in you and for you to believe in right back, your life will be empty and full of nothing but disappointment.”

Tsubaki looked up at the statue as well. “You aren't going to fix it, are you?”

“I am and I'm going to move it inside, because it's outdated. A new statue, one that represents what Hestia stands for, will be created in its place. I want everyone that looks at it to know what being in a Familia is supposed to mean.”

Tsubaki turned to me and kissed my cheek. “You are a good man, Bell Cranel.”

“No, I'm not. Not yet.” I said with a smile. “But, I will be.” I put an arm around her waist. “I will be.”