"I feel uncomfortable just being a leech by myself. Do you?"
Hearing Hestia's words, Heimdall couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"But well, there are benefits to being a leech."
"At least you're relatively easy to take care of."
"Huh?!"
Hearing Heimdall's reply, Hestia was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned her head, her face full of an expression that said "That's not how it should be."
"What you said is not what I was thinking!"
"Aren't you supposed to comfort me and say I'm not a leech at this moment?!"
"I'm not satisfied! Answer me again!"
"Yes, yes, yes, Hestia is not a leech."
Hearing this, Heimdall rolled his eyes and agreed insincerely.
His eyes kept searching on both sides of the street.
Although most proper shops had already closed their doors.
But at the street corners of the main thoroughfares and in some areas where Adventurers gathered, the liveliness was just beginning.
Lights blazed brightly.
The aroma of food mixed with the night breeze, drifting over the Labyrinth City.
"I want to eat this! And that too!"
"Boss! Ten more of these skewers!"
"And this soup too!"
Not long after.
Outside a late-night tavern operating by the roadside.
Hestia sat on a bench without a shred of dignity, a pile of empty plates stacked before her.
Her mouth was stuffed full, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's.
In her hand, she clutched a roasted chicken leg, eating with such gusto that oil smeared her lips.
Heimdall sat opposite her.
Holding a cup of barley tea, he sipped it leisurely.
Watching Hestia devour everything like a whirlwind.
"Eat slower."
"No one's going to steal it from you."
Heimdall pulled out a tissue and handed it over.
"Mmph... mhm..."
Hestia responded indistinctly, took the tissue, wiped her mouth haphazardly, and then buried her head back in her task.
Until every single plate was completely cleared.
"Haah—!"
Only then did Hestia let out a long sigh, tossed the bone in her hand onto a plate, slumped bonelessly into her chair without any grace, and patted her round little belly.
"I'm alive again..."
"Revived..."
"The Goddess's great resurrection!"
A look of utter satisfaction spread across Hestia's face. That earlier sense of gloom and doom, that 'end of the world' resentment she'd felt back at the house, had long been filled up by the food and vanished without a trace.
"Full?"
Heimdall set down his teacup.
"Mhm mhm! I'm full!"
Hestia nodded vigorously, then looked at Heimdall and gave a cheeky grin.
"But..."
Hestia seemed to think of something, her eyes darting around mischievously.
"Even though I'm full..."
"I still feel like something's missing..."
"Like maybe a dessert after the meal?"
As Hestia finished speaking.
A familiar, scorched fragrance.
Mixed with the sound of hot oil bubbling.
Drifted over on the night breeze.
*Slurp—*
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