DanMachi Vol.15

CHAPTER 2 : HEY, WORLD

The stars dotting the night sky glimmered as if to guide the travelers below.

There in the darkness, one boy stood alone.

He had stopped atop a small crag a short walk from a nearby peaceful mountain village. The night wind ruffled his white hair as he remained still in front of a grave.

The wood-and-stone marker was a grave in name only. There were no remains laid beneath it. Its only purpose was to substantiate the loss of someone precious.

The boy made no move to leave the place. Any doubts or pleas for help and counsel directed at the gravestone were simply returned as self-questioning. His only source of love and protection had been torn away and it would take time for him to be able to answer his questions on his own.

As he continued to stand there, blinking his rubellite eyes, the open night sky suspended above the mountains watched over him.

Then—

"—A falling star."

A bright flash appeared overhead.

The boy looked up with a start and saw a blue glint of light.

Trailing countless flickering motes in its wake, the dazzling pinprick streaked across the night sky, leaving a beautiful arc of light behind it.

The moment was over in seconds. The blue star disappeared somewhere to the far westof the boy's village.

"Could that have been...a god?"

The boy's intuition said that he might have just seen a god descending from heavento earth.

But it would be half a year before he would set out for the Labyrinth City of Orario and receive the answer to his question.

It was gentle moment.

As the beasts and monsters scattered, the blue falling star that streaked across the sky slowed as it neared the ground.

As though intent on avoiding a flashy, troublesome arrival, the falling star—a blue sphere of light—hovered in midair before slowly coming to a soft landing. The faint outline of a person was visible for an instant before the ball of light shattered into a thousand glimmering shards.

Just as the flash faded from sight, a single girl was left in its place.

Her beautiful features put her on the indistinct threshold between "child" and "young woman." Raven hair spilled across her back and her frame was petite, save for a surprisingly generous bust.

The girl who'd slipped from the night sky stood barefoot on the grassy plain—on the earth.

"Huh! So this is the mortal plane!"

She spoke in a clear voice while looking out across the open country with preternaturally blue eyes. The edge of a forest was faintly visible in the distance. The scent of grass was in the air. An owl hooted in the distance.

Her soft, round cheeks flushed at the flood of sensation that hit her all at once.

The girl—the goddess Hestia—composed herself and studied her surroundings for ashort while longer before flinging her arms wide and shouting.

"It really is different from the heavens! It's finally my turn to come down here...This is where my life in the mortal realm begins!" Hestia's eyes sparkled as she peered up into the sky with a triumphant expression on her face.

Eventually, she thought to examine herself.

She had restrained her arcanum so as not to infringe on the rules that all the deities had agreed to follow during their time among the mortals. Consequently, the body she currently inhabited boasted none of her heavenly form's omnipotence.