Just like that, three more days passed. Including the very first day, a total of four days had gone by.
Within those four days, Sakura smoothly raised all of her attributes—except Magic—to A-rank, while Seele pushed all of her attributes to S–SS rank. Along the way, she also slew several Minotaurs whose combat power was evaluated as Lv.2, thereby accomplishing the great feat required for leveling up.
Yes—although Minotaurs, monsters whose strength is rated at Lv.2, could be instantly one-shot in front of Seele, under the Blessing system's judgment, a Lv.1 adventurer killing a monster that would be extremely troublesome even for Lv.2 adventurers still counted as a legitimate great feat.
"So, that settles it. You've both successfully leveled up."
Inside the abandoned church, Hestia wiped sweat that didn't actually exist and spoke to the newly leveled Seele and Sakura.
After witnessing these two girls' absurd growth rates—numbers that could scare people to death just hearing about them—it felt oddly unfamiliar to see their status panels wiped clean again after leveling up.
Seele's pre-level-up stats, all starting at S or higher, didn't even need mentioning. Sakura, while slightly behind Seele in non-Magic attributes at A-rank, had pushed her Magic to a terrifying 9,999 points, just one step away from breaking five digits.
The reason it stopped at 9,999 wasn't because Sakura couldn't grow further. It was simply that once an attribute reached 9,999, any further increase would no longer be displayed on the Blessing panel.
9,999 was the display limit of the Blessing system.
And Sakura had reached that limit on just the second day she entered the Dungeon.
"Next, should we head to the Guild to submit the updated information?"
Hestia asked.
"If we go now and update your registered level to Lv.2, we can still make it in time for the Gods' Assembly in half a month."
The so-called Gods' Assembly was a gathering held once every three months—a meeting where bored gods got together to brag, gossip, and amuse themselves. One of its segments involved assigning a representative title to newly emerged Lv.2 adventurers from each familia.
Because of this, only gods who possessed at least one Lv.2 adventurer in their familia were qualified to attend.
In the past, Hestia—who didn't even have a single familia member—had been bottom-tier among the descended gods, naturally disqualified from attending.
But now…
Looking at Seele and Sakura before her, Hestia couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from lifting.
Bet you didn't see this coming, huh?
This time, I'm the one holding the underdog comeback script!
Lv.2 in four days—if Loki found out, her eyes would probably pop right out.
No, no, she couldn't get too carried away. She still had to maintain her image in front of the children.
"If we rush to update your Blessing levels at the Guild, the Hestia Familia will very likely be targeted by people with ill intentions,"
An Xora said calmly.
Familiar with the original plot, he knew very well that once they submitted the updated registration, the Hestia Familia would almost certainly be watched.
In the original story, Bell leveling up from Lv.1 to Lv.2 in a month was enough to attract Apollo Familia's covetous gaze. Now, with Seele and Sakura leveling up in mere days, the situation would be even more dangerous.
But An Xora wasn't saying this to suggest hiding them.
Joke's on them—so what if someone starts watching?
As long as the gods didn't unseal their divinity and intervene personally, who in the entire DanMachi world could defeat Seele at full power?
With absolute strength on their side, antagonists like Apollo Familia were nothing more than walking ATMs.
So the Guild had to be visited. Not only that—they would go openly and publicly.
Whether the Hestia Familia could move from an abandoned church into a luxury mansion would depend entirely on when Apollo Familia decided to come donate.
"As long as you're confident,"
Hestia said after hearing An Xora's plan, realizing that this man intended to flip the script and treat those with ill intentions as prey. She simply nodded.
She wasn't worried about Seele and Sakura's strength at all.
Sakura aside, the day they met on the street, the aura Hestia felt from Seele—life and death intertwined, rivaling divine authority—was absolutely real.
After all, to lure Hestia in, An Xora had deliberately instructed Seele and Sakura not to conceal their presence at all. Not only gods from the heavens, even adventurers who had reached the Lv.6 Hero Realm would probably have sensed that the two girls were anything but ordinary.
Later, once Hestia had been successfully hooked, An Xora had them rein in their aura again. Unless it was a special god like Freya, who could directly see souls, ordinary gods could no longer perceive anything abnormal about them.
This was one of the reasons An Xora was confident that people would take the bait instead of being scared off once Seele and Sakura's talent was revealed.
"It's already getting late,"
Hestia said, glancing at the sky outside, now tinged with evening colors.
"The Guild can wait until tomorrow. Sakura and Seele should go rest early."
In Hestia's eyes, Sakura and Seele were both at an age where they were still growing. Spending the entire day in the Dungeon was already exhausting enough—they absolutely shouldn't be staying up late.
However, An Xora had a slightly different opinion.
"Sakura can go rest first. As for Seele… come find me later."
At that, Seele—who had been quietly sitting on the edge of the bed—nodded, her fair face tinged with a faint blush.
"Seele understands."
Seeing this, Hestia's eyes went wide as she leapt to her feet.
"You beast! Are you going to mistreat Seele again?!"
In fact, this scene had played out in front of Hestia more than once.
Ever since she'd met An Xora, Seele, and Sakura, this had been happening every single day.
This bastard not only spent the money Seele and Sakura earned exploring the Dungeon on food and entertainment, but at night he would still have Seele—exhausted from a full day of Dungeon exploration—come attend to him.
If it were mutual, equal give-and-take, that would be one thing. But Hestia could tell that their relationship wasn't balanced at all—it was entirely An Xora unilaterally taking from Seele.
Yet Hestia couldn't say much.
Because Seele was completely willing.
So all Hestia could do was curse him as a beast a few times and quietly ache with sympathy in her heart.
"T-Then… if you really are going to do it,"
Hestia said, her voice uncharacteristically meek as she watched Seele obediently walk over and get pulled into An Xora's embrace with just a wave of his hand.
"C-Could you at least be gentler with Seele…? I'm begging you. It hurts my heart…"
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