Amalgam

Divine Troubles

Sophia Pov-

I sat down at a desk looking at the bills for the renovations for the mansion for Hestia Familia. I was given charge of the money since our Goddess was unreliable on such things. Bell and the others went to the dungeon today, and Hestia went to continue working at the potato shop. Honestly, that Goddess is so unreliable.

I was able to give us a deal with the Goibniu Familia, and with the marble that I crushed, I was able to get some money for us to use. There was also the tax season that's coming up in a month or 2 but since Hestia had such a small Familia it shouldn't affect us all that much so I shouldn't worry about it to much.

"Cough! Cough!!"

I had a painful cough and looked at my hand covered in black mucus. I sigh and stand up and make my way to my room to get my cleaning equipment to clean my inside of my throat. Getting a black towel, I make my way back to the office that I was working at locking the door and then closing the curtains to make sure no one peers inside. I then unlock my collar, put it to the side, then remove my head from my body as I feel the relief come through me.

"Alright, time to clean." I said to myself as I my neck started smoking black smoke and began dribble small amounts of black mucus. As I begin to clean, I make sure there to clean my windpipe since they are bothering me the most.

"It's good that no one is around. I can finally clean the insides of my neck and have some relief." I said.

Suddenly, I felt a presence nearby. Is it Bell? No, the life force doesn't match it might be an intruder.

I reattach my head to my body and put on my collar, then stand up to see who it is. Opening the door, I started to follow the life force that was in the mansion, and as I got closer, I realized it had a divine feeling to it.

Entering one of the rooms, I see Hestia lazing around on the couch.

"Hello Goddess, how was your day? Shall I make tea, prepare a snack, or would you like to try the new bath that was recently installed?" I ask Hestia as she looked at me, surprised.

"S-sophia, when did you get in here?!" Hestia asked as I only smiled.

"I noticed someone here, so I thought it best to see who it was. Apparently, it was you, Goddess."

"Um, I guess I'll have tea now." Hestaia said as she laied back down.

I only nodded and went to the kitchen to prepare her tea. As I boiled the water, I couldn't help but think of that Goddess.
She truly is useless, isn't she. She may have gotten this mansion, but she is still working 9 to 2 jobs with as much pay as a childs allowance. Now she has her Familia members going into the dungeon just to scrap by. She isn't even good to do Familia affairs even though she is the Goddess.

"How unreliable..." I say to myself, seeing the kettle whistle with steam as I take the head out of the boiling water to see it a red color. I take a tea cup and make my way back.

Pushing the door open, I see Hestia laying in the same spot. I pour her a cup of tea in the cup and place it on the table.

"Here, Goddess, the tea is ready." I say sweetly and see her slowly get up. She looks sad and gets up to take the tea.

"Thank you, Sophia..." She says as she takes a sip and smiles a little.

I noticed that she was trying to avoid looking at me as I noticed how uncomfortable she was.

"Is there a problem, Goddess?" I ask her as she doesn't say anything for a bit but then looks at me.

"I just wanted to say thank you for helping us pay for a 3rd of the debt. It means a lot." Hestia said, smiling at me.

"It is not a problem, Goddess."

"No, I mean it. That's a lot of Valis, and it isn't easy to pay off. I promise I'll repay you for this!" Hestia shouted.

She thinks she can repay me. I already told her many times that it isn't something to worry about.

"Dont worry, Goddess, you don't have to pay me back. It was all for Bell." I said to her.

The room became silent as I saw Hestia seem to be in thought as she took more sips of tea. I only stood there waiting to see if she needed anything else.

"Hey Sophia..."

"Yes, how may I help you, Goddess?" I smile at her.

"If I'm correct, Bell told me that you were part of the Hera Familia and that Bell was born into the Hera Familia to correct." She asked

"That is correct, Goddess." I answered.

"Do you think if the Hera Familia was still around, Bell would have a better life with Hera than with me?" Hestia asked.

This was a bit of an unexpected question.  Yes, he wouldn't be in debt if he was in the Hera Familia. Yes, he may be stronger than he is now. And Alfia may still be alive today if the Familia didn't fall. However...

"I can't answer that question Goddess. Nor would I like to. At the present, the rabbit is happy with how things are now, so that's all there is to it now."

Hestia looks at me and smiles. I see that her cup was empty and I fill it with tea again.

"So don't worry too much, Goddess, and try your best, okay?" I smile at the useless Goddess in front of me.

She looked like she was about to tear but wiped it away. She then sighed.

"Thank you again, Sophia. I'll try my best in order to not disappoint you all!" Hestia said enthusiasticly as I only smiled.

'You can start with the billing paperwork for this mansion.'

I wanted to say that, but from the experience I had with this Goddess, she doesn't seem to have good experience for that.

"Well, Goddess, I am still in the middle of doing chores. Is there anything else you need from me, Goddess?" I say ready to leave the room.

She dosent say anything for a moment until she turned to me looking at my collor.

"Why do you wear that collor?"

She asked.

"In our contract I'm not obligated to answer that question" I say to her as she looked surprised.

"Huh, that was in the contract!?" She said as I left the room.

I walk back to the office but suddenly touch my collor to feel liquid leaking out. I sigh as I head back to clean.

-------------------------------------------
Danmachi season 5 is here!!!!
Ugh I've been so busy and just haven't been able to get back this until I saw the recent episode and felt like coming back to this. Anyway I made more chapters so hopefully I post those pretty soon. Trust me things are going to get interesting....I think.....I guess I'll see you all later hopefully.