endless path infinite cosmos Pt. 2

chapter 203

Vahn answered the questions about the Matryoshka to the best of his ability, including the fact that it seemed to be a single-use item. He didn't specifically say how he obtained it, instead claiming that it appeared within his soul in a similar manner as [Enkidu]. Since 'The Path', and the shop, were part of his soul, even Loki couldn't see through his answer. They believed it had something to do with the unique origin of Vahn, and Loki even speculated that his Divinity didn't pertain to Life and People, but actual Creation itself. Since Vahn always 'obtained' items seemingly out of nowhere based on his wants and desires, it was the best explanation they had to go by.

This caused a small tangent in the conversation where it was decided, after a bit of deliberation, that Vahn had Divinities pertaining to Creation, Fertility, and Fire. Though he was confused about the fertility part, Loki explained that he had an almost unnatural willingness to impregnate or help impregnate people. Since they assumed he was 3/4 god, it meant that, even though he wasn't compelled by his Divinity, it still influenced his decisions on a subconscious level. Vahn, not knowing how to refute her claims, ended up cementing his position in their minds as a demigod of fertility.

As for the Creation and Fire Divinities, it was due to the existence of his soul's ability to 'generate' items that he needed as well as his ability to name and evolve creatures like Fafnir. The fire was easy enough to understand since Vahn had [Heart of the Eternal Flame] and skills like [Prometheus]. The fact that Hephaestus's 'eternal flame' had willingly subordinated itself to Vahn was more of a confirmation of the facts than anything else. Though Hephaestus argued that Vahn could also possess the Divinity for Forging, it was written off as a byproduct of his Creation Divinity.

After everything was 'decided', the conversation eventually returned to normal except for the fact that Tsubaki had turned relatively quiet while Lili had nearly passed out from being suffocated by Naaza. When she had grabbed Lili earlier and covered her mouth, she had also covered her nose and didn't notice because she had been paying close attention to the conversation. Though she had wanted to be together with Vahn in the future, the thought of children had never crossed her mind until Vahn mentioned it so casually. If he truly was a Demigod of Fertility, Naaza was worried that she would get pregnant almost immediately after their first time together. She decided to interact with Tiona and Ais more and observe if there were any 'changes' in their bodies over the next few months.

Vahn learned that Hestia had to prepare for the ceremony and undergo the vows before descending to the mortal world. If things went as planned, she would be able to arrive in the mortal world within three days and Vahn was somewhat excited to finally meet the titular goddess that he had known from the manga. His favorite characters had always been Hestia, Eina, and Bell, so he was looking forward to interacting with Hestia in the future.

Since he had grown up lonely in the lab in his previous life, Vahn had always imagined what it would be like to be part of the Hestia Familia. Even though Bell was always causing problems, she worked hard behind the scenes to make money even though everyone called her a lazy goddess. Vahn remembered that to pay off the debt of Bell's dagger, Hestia had actually been holding several jobs which required her to traverse great distances each day and still made time to interact with Bell when he returned from his adventures in the dungeon.

Once the conversation and explanation of events had come to an end, the atmosphere turned somewhat solemn as Hephaestus looked toward the only person in the room that had been silent throughout the entire conversation. Eina had arrived with the group earlier and had been sitting at the side while holding a stack of official-looking documents that had entailed the punishment as decreed by the Guild. As a member of the Guild herself, she had been made aware of what had happened earlier and had been in silent contemplation ever since. Even when Vahn had mentioned the matters of pregnancy, her expression only lightened by a small amount as a blush covered her cheeks.