001 - An Otherworlder's Arrival
001 - An Otherworlder's Arrival
Orario, the great labyrinth city, stood above the Dungeon. Today, Nolan Ward had found his way to the home of the Hephaestus Familia. Three very different figures stood facing one another.
One was Hephaestus, a beautiful goddess in masculine attire. The other was Hestia, a petite goddess with a childlike face and an enormous bust. And both were watching him with very different kinds of suspicion.
Their attention, however, was fixed on the young man standing in front of them. He wore modern clothes and carried a travel backpack over one shoulder. His name was Nolan Ward. He looked like a man in his late twenties.
And he was not from this world. More precisely, Nolan came from a modern, Earth-like world. He possessed a World Gate, a power that allowed him to cross into other dimensions.
In the stories he knew, a two-way portal usually opened onto a zombie apocalypse or a collapsing world order, and the so-called random destination was almost always a precision-guided disaster.
His World Gate was different: even when the destination was random, it did not throw him into a deathtrap.
In theory, with a power like that, Nolan could have handed it over in his own world and changed the future of an entire country. Reality, unfortunately, had been far more absurd.
When he tried to come forward, he discovered that far too many people had already shown up claiming they could travel between worlds. One after another, they filed official reports as if their claims were genuine.
When Nolan, the one person who could actually do it, arrived, the embarrassment was almost unbearable.
In the end, he was treated like another exhausted crank, given a meal, and sent on his way. The whole thing left him mortified. After that, he chose to cross over on his own.
The World Gate's safe form of random travel had brought him here, to this world of gods and the Dungeon.
Since he couldn't speak the local language, he relied on memory and information saved on his phone to draw the emblem of the Hephaestus Familia. With directions from passersby, he found his way here.
Perhaps because of her divine authority, Hephaestus was able to understand what he meant despite the language barrier. She had heard that Nolan was looking specifically for Hestia.
Naturally, Hephaestus had brought Hestia over.
"You were looking for me?"
Hestia studied the young man. His clothing clearly did not belong to their world. More importantly, he carried himself like someone who had never learned how dangerous Orario could be.
Without divine authority, she doubted she would have understood a word he said.
"Hello, goddess."
Nolan's tone was sincere.
"My name is Nolan Ward. I come from another world. I arrived here through a special ability that lets me cross between worlds."
"It's my first time in this city, and I'd like to join your Familia."
No evasions. No stalling. He said exactly what he wanted. Surprise flickered through Hephaestus's and Hestia's eyes.
They did not know where this young man had come from, but after hearing him speak, they could tell he wasn't lying.
"You said you came from another world through some kind of travel ability."
"Does that mean you can travel to other worlds as well?"
Hephaestus narrowed her eye, catching the part that mattered. Nolan seemed to have crossed over by choice, not because he had been thrown here. If that was true, then he could do it again.
"Yes."
Nolan paused for a moment.
The gods were no fools. They had lived far longer than he had and had seen far more. If he tried to hide the truth, they would probably figure it out anyway. It was better to be honest and earn goodwill from the start.
"Ooooh."
Hestia's eyes lit up. Inside, she was already cheering. An otherworlder had arrived in this world and immediately sought her out to join her Familia?
Was she really that famous? A child from another world, one who could travel between worlds, had come looking for her. If she didn't take him in, wouldn't that be a little rude?
"Hold on."
"Why are you looking for her?"
Hephaestus was stunned. No, wait. He had gone all over the city, reached the Guild, asked for directions, followed the emblem of her Familia all the way here, and the whole point was to join Hestia's Familia?
With an ability like his, he could have joined mine instead.
"Hey, Hephaestus, that's low."
"What do you mean, why me?"
Hestia immediately bristled. They had known each other for ages. Someone had come to her of his own accord, asking to join her Familia. Wasn't that an excellent thing? Was Hephaestus looking down on her?
"Hmph. Freeloader."
Hephaestus gave her old friend a disdainful look. Hestia was currently living off the Hephaestus Familia. Hephaestus had been thinking it was about time to kick her out.
And yet, not long after that thought crossed her mind, an otherworlder had appeared and willingly chosen to join Hestia's Familia. The most important part was his ability.
This child from another world could apparently choose when he crossed between worlds. He was the kind of miracle every Familia would fight to recruit.
Even the gods did not possess the power to cross into other worlds, yet this young man did. If that was not a miracle, nothing was.
'No. Letting Hestia have him would be such a waste.'
'If I took him in, I could absolutely turn him into someone remarkable.'
With that thought, Hephaestus made her move.
"Join my Familia."
"My Familia has every kind of weapon you could need. You could use them whenever you wanted."
"If needed, I could personally forge a weapon just for you."
"I'm the goddess of the forge. If you want support, I can give you more than promises."
Hephaestus invited Nolan without the slightest hesitation. If he joined her Familia, she could arrange anything.
"Don't you dare poach him right in front of me!"
Hestia had not expected her friend to try to poach him the moment the young man stated his intentions. That was too much. She didn't even have a single child in her Familia yet.
Even so, Hestia understood one thing very clearly. If anyone in this world could help an otherworlder like Nolan, Hephaestus was undoubtedly one of the best possible choices.
A smithing Familia could provide weapons at any time once Nolan established himself here. Realizing how little she had to offer, Hestia looked up at Nolan with anxious curiosity in her eyes.
If she was being honest, joining Hephaestus might be better for him than joining her. Hephaestus was watching him as well. Her Familia could help him in countless ways.
By every practical measure, he should have chosen Hephaestus. Nolan looked at Hestia anyway.
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