Chapter 57: Chapter 56: On the Job Training
Returning to Monstro, Lars was met by pouts. "Where have you been, mister?" Tione squinted her eyes.
"Yeah, we saw you guys having a cute date! That's not fair!" Tiona puffed her cheeks.
"Uhh, did you guys enjoy yourselves?" Airmid wasn't as forward as the twins.
"Did you guys spy on us?" Lars raised a brow and they flinched.
"Y-yeah? So what! We demand some of your time! You've been cozying up to Alfia for some time now." Tiona huffed as she tapped her foot on the ground.
"Y-yeah! You already know that we like you very much!" Tione glared at him for the favoritism.
"Hah, so? You want to go on dates as well?" Lars asked and they nodded.
"Then why didn't you just ask?" Lars is a paragon of gender equality.
If they wanted a date, they could ask him themselves.
"W-we didn't think of that..." Tiona wondered if it was that easy.
"Well, now you know." Lars rolled his eyes and they blushed in embarrassment.
"O-okay, then we demand a date!" Tione got really excited and she thought it was her time to shine.
"Y-yeah..." Airmid was blushing like a tomato, unlike the amazons, she's a normal human girl.
Though she's a paladin that can change the tides of battle.
"We have a problem though." Lars squinted his eyes and they gulped.
"Who goes first?" Lars mused and they looked at each other for a solid moment.
"Let's settle this with a fight!" Tiona was ready to throw hands.
"Bring it on!" Tione was about to use her magic.
"Wait! Let's keep it simple with some rock papers scissors." Airmid suggested.
"Huhhhh?" The twins were getting really aggressive and they didn't agree.
"That's a good idea." Lars smiled at her and the twins nodded immediately at Airmid.
"You're a genius, Airmid!" Tiona patted her on the back.
'These two sure are thick skinned...' Airmid couldn't believe how shameless they are.
Lars then let them duke it out and the one who won is Airmid.
Unlike the two amazoness, she has the craftiness of a human. And Airmid delayed her pick.
The twins did an orz and Airmid walked up to Lars.
"Just a simple date is fine..." Airmid fidgeted around and he chuckled.
"No need to be so nervous, we've known each other for years already." Lars patted her head.
She blushed like mad and Lars forgot that teens get embarrassed easily.
"O-okay, tomorrow at the plaza? In the afternoon." Airmid played with her hair.
"Gah! Is this the real strength of a fair maiden?" Tione was sent reeling at her cuteness.
"Damn, we're at a big disadvantage." Tiona furrowed her brows.
Meanwhile, Airmid was imagining their date in her head and she was in a daze.
"Then it's a date." Lars patted her head and he left for the surface to go to the Hermes familia.
"Lucky..." Tiona puffed her cheeks in jealousy. "I knew I wasn't going to be the only wife, but why is Airmid 2nd?" Tione did an orz in defeat.
"I was with him first." Airmid snorted at them and they couldn't refute that.
__Traveler's inn__
Lars was currently playing poker with the Hermes familia.
The other members were tense and Lars revealed his cards.
"Royal flush, it seems I win once again." Lars smirked at them and they wailed in despair as their money was taken.
"Are you lady luck's child or something? That's 5 times in a row, you must be cheating!" A cherianthrope accused him.
"I would never." Lars smiled at them. "Lulune, he wasn't doing anything suspicious at all." Asfi spoke up.
"Really? Or are you just in cahoots with him because he's hot?" Lulune, the cherianthrope vice captain looked at her with suspicion.
"Wha!? You know that's not true!" Asfi shouted with a blush.
"That you like me? Or that I'm very handsome?" Lars asked and the familia laughed.
"Kuu! What are you even doing? Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" Asfi clicked her tongue.
The faster they finish the work, the faster the familia can look for clues about Ikelos after all.
"Well, I already am finished." Lars pointed at a stack of papers nearby.
And he cheated with his psychokinesis, stamping and signing everything in record speed.
"Wha?" Asfi couldn't believe it and she was sent reeling.
"Would you like to join our familia?" Asfi offered him immediately as she was dying due to the paperwork.
"Oh my, you're so forward Asfi." Lars chuckled at her and she blushed like a tomato.
"S-shut up!" Asfi ran away back to her office and Lars chuckled.
"You're going to give her a stroke one of these days, please go easy on her." Meryl asked of him.
"Sure, if you let me carry you like a stuffed toy." Lars pinched her cheeks.
Even between Pallums, Meryl was extra smol and cute.
"Geh, I respectfully decline." Meryl furrowed her brows.
Lars then waved goodbye as he roamed around Orario again.
With nothing much to do, he visited Hephaestus to check on her new eye.
There wasn't any problem to it, but that's in the now.
"Hephy! How are you doing?" Lars kicked down her office's door like he owned the place.
"Ahh, Lars!" Hephaestus was annoyed at first, but when she recognized him, she beamed.
"Geh, the player is here..." Hestia looked at him with suspicion.
"Shut up Hestia, Lars isn't a playboy. And even if he was, it's much better than being a NEET." Hephaestus rebutted.
"Gah! I... I told you! I just need some time to find my first child!" Hestia looked like she was about to cry.
"Hah, ease up on her Hephy. She doesn't have anything to her name, of course no one would join her that easily." Lars sighed.
"Yeah, thank you! Ahh, I hate to admit it, but he's right..." Hestia couldn't believe that he backed her up.
"Hmph, that may be so. But I've already offered her a job as a clerk and she couldn't even last a month!" Hephaestus got angry.
Hestia winced. "B-but, everyone's just looking at my boobs!" Hestia complained.
"That's only natural, with these lewd knockers of yours in display." Hephaestus rubbed her boobs roughly.
"Kyaa! That hurts!" Hestia smacked Hephaestus and Lars chuckled at their antics.
"You guys get along really well." Lars smiled in amusement.
"If you want a job Hestia, how about I offer you one?" Lars thought of a good job.
"A job? This isn't a trick, right? You're not going to make me sign a contract that says you'll be able to claim me, right?" Hestia looked at him with a raised brow.
"What's with that awfully specific scenario?" Lars thought it was like a terrible plot for porn.
"Nothing..." Hestia coughed and Lars shrugged. "Yeah, there's a familia that doesn't have their god right now. You can be their temporary leader." Lars thought of the Hermes familia.
"What? Is that even possible?" Hestia looked at Hephaestus for confirmation.
"Normally, no. Not really, it all depends on what the other party says." Hephaestus gave her insight.
"Says her." Hestia pointed at Hephaestus and he smirked.
"They owe me quite a bit. I doubt helping a newly descended goddess by showing her the ropes would be unacceptable." Lars shrugged.
"Ehh, I'd feel bad though. What if Hermes' children don't like me?" Hestia was apprehensive.
"I told you, this is work. I'll pay you a lot." Lars did a money sign.
"Thank you very much for taking care of me!" Hestia bowed and Hephaestus deadpanned at her.
"Hestia-sama sure is a little bundle of energy and positivity." Tsubaki laughed at her antics.
"Come on, you're bothering Hephaestus by doing nothing in her office." Lars took Hestia away from there.
"Bye, I'll rehabilitate this good for nothing goddess~" Lars waved at them goobye.
"Who are you calling useless!? I'll have you know, I guarded the sacred flame for eons!" Hestia smacked Lars with her twin tails.
"Hah... If it's with Lars, I'll trust him with Hestia." Hephaestus actually wanted to boot out Hestia.
The goddess governs the hearth and home. She was in no way a troublesome girl.
Hestia would just read and ask Hephaestus for a couple of thousand valis a week. But Hephaestus doesn't quite want her to be tainted by gekai.
So she always tried to make her work various jobs in order for her to return to tenkai.
But she was quite adamant in finding a familia. Though being rejected time and time again weakened her resolve.
"He just had to butt in when Hestia was about to lose a lot of motivation." Hephaestus sighed.
"You jealous?" Tsubaki teased her and Hephaestus blushed.
"Yeah, she can't even appreciate him. And Hestia's going to hang out with him." Hephaestus puffed her cheeks.
"Kuhahaha! Then work hard so you could flirt with him later!" Tsubaki advised and Hephaestus speedran her paperwork.
__Traveler's Inn__
"Asfi~ I've got a little gift for you!" Lars was carrying Hestia on his side like a little sack of potatoes.
"You brute! Hah, hah, I didn't know people could run that fast." Hestia was shocked by Lars' speed.
"Huh? Who's that you got there, mister farmer?" Lulune poked Hestia.
"Oi! I'm not some toy." Hestia glared at the cherianthrope and Asfi appeared.
"Why are you carrying a goddess with you? And she's not even your goddess..." Asfi was exasperated.
"This here, is Hestia. She doesn't have any familia members yet. And she wants one, but she has no clue how to run one." Lars smirked at her.
"No... No way, nuh uh." Asfi already knew what he had in store for them.
"Yes way, yuh uh. How about you teach her what a god needs to do for their familia and let her run the familia while Hermes is away." Lars explained with a bright smile.
"You're just turning us into a training center now!?" Asfi couldn't believe what he was tryna do.
"Not really, ever heard of on the job training? Teach her how to run things, then she'll take over while Hermes is gone.
Come on, it's a win-win scenario." Lars whispered to Asfi like the devil.
"T-that's quite the proposal." Asfi thought about it.
There are some things that she would rather not do. Which is to converse with gods, they're quite annoying after all.
It's one of the main reasons why Hermes leaves the work to Asfi in the first place.
And being an ex princess, she knew how to talk to troublesome people.
"No, it's too much work!" Asfi shook her head and she thought she was getting tricked.
"Ehh, Hestia's really competent you know? She managed the sacred flame for eons." Lars gave Hestia a thumbs up.
"Yeah! Nobody could've done it better than me!" Hestia followed up.
And when Asfi thought of it, guarding something for millions of years indicates strong will.
Hestia is also a virgin goddess, meaning she has incredibly strong resistance to temptation, like lazing around.
'Wouldn't she be a good goddess that could manage some of Hermes-sama's work while he's away?' Asfi could see the benefits.
Unfortunately, even though she wears glasses. She could not see the disaster that is Hestia.
"Uhh, only a little." Asfi agreed reluctantly and Lars nodded with a smile.
"I knew I could count on you, Asfi. Don't worry, Hestia's a quick learner." Lars massaged her shoulders in gratitude.
"Okay, I'll be counting on you, goddess." Asfi nodded at Hestia.
'Isn't this like really bad? Lars just put a lot of pressure on me!' Hestia was flabbergasted.
"Aren't you glad, Hestia? Asfi here and the members of the Hermes familia welcomes you warmly." Lars smirked at her.
She gulped as the children of Hermes stared at her.
And not to mention, Asfi is an incredibly busy woman. Most likely busier than even Tsubaki.
For she's one of, if not the best item maker in Orario. Airmid doesn't create magic tools for anyone but their group after all.
Otherwise, she would be the best item maker. Especially with her medicine and antidotes.
So people all around the world is trying to get an item from her.
"Yo, let's get along, Hestia-sama." Lulune grinned at her and she gulped.
"S-sure..." Hestia broke into a cold sweat. 'You'll pay for this Lars...' She was put under massive pressure and she couldn't back off now.
__
Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.
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