Hestia ignored the gods who tried to talk to her and skipped back to Hearth Manor, but she didn't see anyone else.
"Where is everyone? Where did they all go?"
Hestia searched the living room and bedrooms but couldn't find anyone else. Instead, she found Jerry acting as a gardener in the garden.
Due to various reasons, Jerry was assigned to clean and garden within the mansion. Although he was given a blessing, he showed no signs of developing his own consciousness.
"Hestia, the others are all in the training room."
"Thank you, Jerry."
Upon arriving at the training room, Hestia found everyone gathered there, with a group of people surrounding and watching two individuals spar in the center of the training room.
In the arena, Ais held a wooden sword and slashed towards Takatsuki. Her LV6 speed and strength were fully displayed, but just as it was about to hit Takatsuki, he blocked it with a backhand with his wooden sword.
While blocking, the sword's edge slanted, and Takatsuki's wooden sword used Ais's slashing force to deflect Ais's sword to the side, while simultaneously striking Ais's wrist with the hilt, attempting to disarm her.
Although the Ox Talisman made his strength stronger than an LV6 adventurer, his speed was only at an LV3 level. Although his SSS growth allowed him to even rival LV4, it was still not enough compared to the qualitative leap of LV6.
Ais twisted her wrist to avoid the hilt and raised her leg to kick towards Takatsuki.
Takatsuki, however, simply dodged the kick with a twist of his waist.
Looking at Ais, who had a high fault tolerance due to her high stats, and Takatsuki, who, despite being slower, always dodged Ais's attacks as if he had foresight and responded with swordsmanship, Hestia asked the other onlookers.
"Why is Loki's Ais here?"
"Hestia, you're back."
"Welcome back, Hestia."
"Eh, eh, Hestia, when did you get back?"
The girls of the big three only then noticed Hestia, who had entered at some point. Lefiya, who was standing with the big three, also hurriedly greeted Hestia.
Fu Hua was still focusing on the duel in the arena and didn't seem to have noticed Hestia's arrival.
"Takatsuki-kun is sparring with Ais because Ais said she wanted the class monitor to teach her swordsmanship."
Mei was the one who replied.
"Swordsmanship? So Fu Hua is also good at swordsmanship? But Takatsuki being good at swordsmanship also surprised me."
Hestia had never seen them fight. Takatsuki and Fu Hua were both the type of people who went into the Dungeon unarmed, and Takatsuki's weapon in the War Game was a bow and arrow, though the weapon he shot out was a sword.
"Yes, the class monitor seems to be good at all weapons, but she just doesn't use them much normally."
Hestia never woke up early for morning exercises, but Mei did, so she had seen Fu Hua practicing martial arts with the training room's weapons.
"According to Bronya, Takatsuki's swordsmanship was also learned from the class monitor."
"I see. What about Bell?"
"Bell went to send Eina back; he should be back soon."
Hestia nodded and looked at the arena. At this point, the battle in the arena was nearing its end. With Ais's powerful slashes, the two wooden swords finally broke under the strain.
"Ah... my weapon..."
While Ais was stunned by the broken weapon, Takatsuki had unhesitatingly loosened his grip, letting the hilt in his hand slide down. His fist, like a venomous snake, broke through Ais's defense, reaching her delicate neck after Ais clumsily dodged.
"Good! That's enough."
Fu Hua's voice arrived as promised. Takatsuki also put away his stance and said to Ais, "It's very dangerous to panic just because you lost your weapon."
Ais lowered her head. She knew this, but she only knew swordsmanship.
Fu Hua walked over: "I just watched your battle. Takatsuki, your absorption of swordsmanship knowledge is decent, but it's not enough. In many places, you only know it, merely applying it rigidly."
"Ais, your swordsmanship."
Fu Hua shook her head. She saw no trace of swordsmanship, or rather, the combat techniques Ais and the others honed in battle were insignificant in Fu Hua's eyes: "Perhaps because most of the monsters in the Dungeon are straightforward and large, your combat techniques lean more towards dodging attacks, blocking with your sword if you can't dodge, and your attack methods are even more direct, simply slashing with full force."
Takatsuki had already experienced Ais's fighting method: using extremely high speed and strength to dodge or block his attacks, then finding a good position to slash down or thrust, nothing more.
"Regarding swordsmanship, we can discuss it later. For now, let's rest. Hestia has returned."
Takatsuki looked at Hestia, who was standing with a few girls at the edge of the arena. Because of her short stature, she was too inconspicuous, but Takatsuki had already noticed her when she entered Hearth Manor with the added perception of his Observation Haki.
"Hestia, hello."
Ais politely greeted Hestia. Hestia also put on a serious expression like a proper god, nodded, and then looked at the others, saying, "Fu Hua's, Takatsuki's, and Bell's titles have been decided."
"Fu Hua's title is Hermit, and Takatsuki's is Blast, while Bell's is Little Rookie."
The people involved didn't have any particular thoughts, but Kiana said somewhat strangely, "Why is the class monitor a Hermit? Takatsuki's blast doesn't seem related at all."
Mei: "I think Takatsuki-kun's Blast is probably due to the fire explosions and the way he blew up cities with his shots during the War Game."
"Yes! Mei is right. The reason for Fu Hua's Hermit title is because Fu Hua has always been obscure, both inside and outside Orario. Despite having LV5 strength, the gods had never heard of her name."
Because there were other outsiders present, Hestia didn't say it directly, but even Bell didn't know that Takatsuki and the others came from another world; he only knew that Takatsuki and the others would leave Orario.
Because of Hestia's return, Ais and Lefiya didn't stay long and took their leave. After Bell returned and everyone had lunch together, Takatsuki took out four grimoires from his the Kings Treasure.
"Thanks to the Guild's gift, the number of grimoires is now the same as the number of people. Today, everyone will read the grimoires and update their ability values. I plan to start our Familia's second expedition tomorrow."