The Protagonist System

297 Plots Revealed

I felt nothing but surprise when Tiona Hiryule showed up crossing the protective wards that surrounded Hestia's church. I paused making lunch and told Aiz and Lili she was here, then I ran up the stairs and out through the secret entrance. It was under a slight notice-me-not spell to hide it from people that weren't in the know about the underground living area.

“When did this place get fixed up?” Tiona asked as her head swivelled around and she looked at the pristine walls, furniture, the colored glass in the windows, and the intricate woodwork on everything.

“I worked on it for a while.” I said and walked over to her. I didn't try to hug her or give her a kiss, because I could tell she was not there for that. “I even fixed the old statue to put in here behind the pulpit and made a new statue to put over the entrance.”

Tiona smiled at hearing that and then she frowned. “Bell, I came here for a reason...”

I took her hand and she stopped talking with a look of surprise. “Whatever you're going to say, please come inside and relax first. You look like you need to calm down.”

Tiona didn't say anything as I led her back across the church. She caught her breath when the secret entrance appeared out of nowhere and her eyes were wide when we went down the stairs and she saw the huge living space we had.

“What happened?” Lili asked and Aiz gave us her attention.

“Hold on, let her sit down for a minute.” I said and brought her over to the large table and sat Tiona beside Aiz. “I'm making lunch, so take a deep breath and relax. I'll be done soon.”

Tiona gave me a disgruntled look that was similar to Lili's, which made me chuckle.

“It won't hurt to wait a few minutes to enjoy a good meal, will it? We can talk about whatever it is when I sit down to eat with you all.” I said and they nodded. I went back to the full size kitchen and continued making lunch.

“Where is your sister Tione?” Aiz asked.

Tiona sighed. “I called her out on her feelings for Finn and told her to make a decision. Me or him.”

Aiz reached over and put her hand on hers for a brief moment and took it back.

“Thanks, Aiz.” Tiona said, clearly relieved for that gesture of understanding. “It's a huge thing for her to face that after all this time and I really don't know which way she's going to go.”

“If she doesn't pick you, then she's an idiot.” Lili said and looked over at me. “Bell? Some ale won't ruin the food, will it?”

I waved my hand at the refrigerator and four bottles floated out to land on the table in front of the four place settings already there.

“What's this?” Tiona asked.

“Cold ale.” Aiz said and popped the top to show her how and took a drink.

“Cold? Really?” Tiona asked and popped the top of her bottle to sniff at it. “Does it change the taste?”

“It's like a completely different drink.” Lili said and took a drink of her own. “Haahhhh.”

Tiona didn't see either girl react negatively, so she took a sip. She gasped at the flavor and the coolness and then took a long drink from it. “You'd make a fortune if you offered this at The Hostess of Fertility.”

“Mamma Mia won't give up her biggest profits like that.” Lili said with a laugh.

“True.” Tiona said and sagged a little on her chair, which was a sign of her actually relaxing. Her eyes went around the room and landed on me, then on Lili, then on Aiz. She looked deep in thought as she took another mouthful of cold ale.

I finished up the chicken rice dish and served it to the girls and then to myself, sat down, and opened my own bottle of ale. The four of us ate the food and silence fell in the room as we all concentrated on eating and enjoying the food and the cool drink.

It didn't take long before they held their empty plates up and I filled them again, then I gave them replacement bottles of ale as well. Another silent time passed as they finished eating and I collected the dirty dishes to put into the sink. I sat back down and sipped my ale without saying anything.

Tiona looked at our faces again, then she took a deep breath, another mouthful of ale, then she told us why she was there, why she left the Loki Familia, and them spreading lies about Aiz. Let me tell you, it was a shock to learn that Loki assumed I was going after her for revenge for what happened to my parents.

I did my best to not laugh at how stupid that was, especially after all this time. Tiona saw my reaction and she asked why I thought it was funny. With that opening, I had no problem telling her I honestly had no idea Loki felt that way or that she harboured so much animosity for me over something that happened so many years ago.

It could have been any number of people in many parts of the country, and she was only focusing on me because the punishment the gods and goddesses gave me was fulfilled and I came back to keep living my life here.

“They really did kill you?” Tiona asked, shocked.

“They didn't make that public?” I asked back.

“No, they only said there was a tribunal about you. Since you're still here, everyone thought they let you go.” Tiona said and finished off her bottle of ale.

“They opened up a death portal and shoved me through. I died and moved on to the next world.” I said and gave her a brief overview of what happened, then how I came back a moment later and kicked the smug goddess into it that had shoved me through.

Tiona looked really turned on after hearing that.

“Then we know what we have to do.” I said and looked at Lili. “Counter-rumors.”

Lili's eyes lit up at the idea. “She's using her Familia to ruin our reputations. It's only fair that we use our Familia's contacts to put the truth out there.”

“You should ruin her reputation right back.” Tiona said, vindictively. “Loki is trying to get Aiz to abandon you, or for you to kick her out for being the cause of your trouble. She thinks Aiz will go back to her and apologize for leaving.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Aiz is my family. Even if she was the cause of the trouble, and she definitely is not, I'm never letting her go.”

Aiz blushed slightly and looked happy.

“We need to see about opening a stall and we can start telling people the truth. Loki is afraid of the Hestia Familia because we care about our members more than she does.” Lili said, almost like a proclamation.

“We can't rush making the maps if we want to have the stall ready to open without problems.” I warned her. “We need accurate maps or we'll lose respect before we even establish ourselves.”

“That's true.” Lili said and finished off her ale. “Reliability and dependability... oh! We can offer free updates to purchased maps if we check once a week to make sure the maps we have are still accurate.”

I thought about that. “I think I can swing that.” I said and remembered the Marauder's Map. “I can enchant them and only the buyer of the map can read them.”

“We have to stop them from being copied, too.” Lili said and sighed. “They can tell others about them and they can draw their own maps.”

“What if you made a basic layout for cheap to sell, like general areas, then offer to sell an upgraded map that only a select few will have?” Tiona asked. “That way, the general map is easy and cheap to get, cutting out copying the thing, and the more expensive one has the most details that only you can update?”

Lili and I gave her looks of desire and Tiona smirked at us.

“Just for that, we'll bring you to Hestia to get your Falna updated and you can come with us into the dungeon all afternoon while we work.” I said and her smirk faded. “No, it's not what you think.” I said and nodded at Aiz. “Tell her how much you enjoy guarding us.”

Aiz turned to Tiona and told her in only a few words how much fighting and experience she gained every time she protected us in the dungeon. The split of the money was barely a concern for either of them, since they both loved to fight to become stronger and more powerful.

“I'm in.” Tiona said and stood. “I knew coming here was the right thing to do.”

“We'll leave a note on the door to the church for your sister to let her know where you are and when we'll be back.” I said and the four of us left the underground living area and went upstairs to the teleportation circle. I activated it and shunted us to an alleyway near where Hestia worked. “We can tell you a few other secrets after you join the Familia.”

Tiona blinked her eyes and looked around, saw we were no longer in the church, and looked back at me with wide eyes.

“That's only the basics of what we have access to.” Lili said, smugly.

I formed a miniature teleportation circle under our feet to add it to the network. “Wait here and I'll see if Hestia's almost done with work.”

“Some days she only has a half shift. It depends on how busy they are.” Lili explained as I walked out of the alley and over to the small shop Hestia worked at.

Hestia just finished serving a customer and returned the money to the older lady running the counter. “Oh! My Bell, what are you doing here?” Hestia asked when she saw me.

“I came to see you, of course.” I said and she blushed. “Are you almost finished work or can you take a break? I need to talk to you for a few minutes.”

The owner of the shop looked around at the few customers. “You can leave if you want. Today was a slow day.”

Hestia nodded and took out the money she made in tips, which was a lot, and she bought a pile of potato treats. It always made the older man happy that she kept spending her earnings right there in his shop and made the slow days of sales into good ones.

I put the large bag away and took Hestia's hand and led her out of the shop and into the alleyway where the others stood. Hestia gave my hand a tight squeeze when she saw Tiona there and I glanced back to give her a reassuring smile.

“My Goddess, let me introduce you to the newest member of our Familia, Tiona Hiryule.” I said and Hestia gasped. “Yes, it's true. She came to warn us about Loki's plots and we brought her to you to have her Falna updated.”

“Are you sure?” Hestia asked and she nodded. “Loki is going to be very angry about this.”

“What the Loki Familia is doing is wrong.” Tiona said and put a hand on Aiz's shoulder for only a moment and took it back. “I won't help them hurt my friend.”

Aiz gave her a nod of thanks and looked at Hestia.

Hestia smiled and nodded. “Welcome to my Familia, Tiona.”

“We can hop over to the Hephaestus Familia's compound to pick Tsubaki up for our afternoon dungeon dive. You can update Tiona's Falna while we wait for Tsubaki to finish up her work.” I said and they all agreed. A flash of light later, we were at the Hephaestus Compound and Tiona caught her breath at the change.

“Again, this is just the beginning of what we can do with teleportation circles.” Lili said. “You'll get used to it really quickly and you'll regret having to do things the normal way almost immediately.”

I chuckled and gave her a hug. “Is someone remembering all the walking she used to do through the top few levels while she carried everything for other adventurers?”

Lili hugged me back. “I didn't realize how horrible that was until after I met you.”

“Work smarter and not harder, unless working harder lets you work smarter.” I joked and she laughed. I let her go and put a nice single bed on the ground beside the teleportation circle and put the dressing screen around it. “My goddess, your work area is prepared.”

Hestia let out a small laugh. “I was going to take her into the guest room Hephaestus gave me.”

“You can if you want to, I just thought this would be easier for you.” I gave her cheek a kiss as I walked by her. “Either way, I'll be back here with Tsubaki by the time you're done.”

Hestia nodded and motioned for Tiona to go inside and she followed her. The amazonness only wore a cloth strip over her chest, so her back was bare after only a second and she laid down on the bed.

I listened to the exchange with one ear as I sat by the forge to wait for Tsubaki to finish the sword she was making. She gave me a look that said she appreciated I wasn't going to interrupt her or rush her.

“If it wasn't for Bell, I would be a lot more cautious about allowing you to join my Familia.” Hestia admitted as she climbed onto the bed and sat on Tiona's butt.

“I know.” Tiona said, not worried about the extra scrutiny. “He has always been welcoming and I haven't known him very long.”

“I heard about how you met.” Hestia said and pulled out the pin Hephaestus gave her. It had been tucked into her hair near her pigtails and she used it to prick her fingertip.

“It was a fun time and felt sooo good.” Tiona said with a little moan, then she gasped when Hestia touched her back. “Ohhh, what... how... why does it feel like that?”

That got my attention and I decided I needed to watch what was happening and let my telepathy out a little as well.

“I don't know.” Hestia whispered as she updated the girl's Falna to change it from the Loki Familia to the Hestia Familia. “This is the first Falna I've touched since I checked Bell's.”

“It issss?” Tiona moaned and writhed under Hestia's delicate touch.

“You have some experience for me to adjust as well.” Hestia said and started moving it around and assigning it where she could to try and balance the girl's stats to fix what Loki had done to her. Min-maxing was not how an amazonness was supposed to be.

Tiona had a strong attack and lots of speed, at the cost of almost no defense, which could be fatal if she faced a monster or an opponent that was as fast or faster than her. She was also moaning like she was really enjoying Hestia's fingers playing across her skin.

“Are you okay?” Hestia asked her.

“I'm finnne.” Tiona moaned. “Go a little lower... yes, right there! Ohhhh.”

Hestia blushed as she held her fingertips pressed firmly into the small of Tiona's back and the girl shuddered underneath her.

I held in my laugh at Tiona getting off from being caressed like that, because she hadn't had anyone pour divine power into her like that or treat her so tenderly while doing such a routine task. I picked up from her thoughts that Loki usually just poked the spots where she wanted the points to go and barely used any energy to do it.

“I'm done.” Tsubaki said and quenched the sword once more, then hung it up to let it drip dry and finish cooling off. “Let's go have fun in the dungeon!”

I ended the clairvoyance power and walked with her over to the teleportation circle. Aiz had a normal face and Lili had a red face, both having heard Tiona getting off behind the screen. Hestia came out and her face was red as well.

“I'm sure Hephaestus should to know something might be different when updating someone's Falna.” I suggested to Hestia.

“Y-yes, I should talk to her right away.” Hestia said and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “We'll go out for supper when you come back.”

I nodded and she walked off with a faster pace than normal. I didn't bother asking what happened, because Tiona stepped out from behind the screen with a huge smile on her face.

“Hey, handsome.” Tiona said and wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply. She broke the kiss and let me go, so I stored the screen and the bed. “I need a good fight and a great fuck to make this day perfect. You better give me both.”

Both Aiz and Tsubaki looked thoughtful before they both nodded, clearly agreeing with Tiona. Lili just laughed and activated the teleportation circle to take us down into the dungeon.