"Seshat you there!" I yelled out as I hefted Bell into my arms in a better position now that I wasn't holding my magic mirror before laying Bell onto one of the beds so I wasn't moving them anymore and so they could finally get some rest.
I faintly heard something in the distance, so I quickly made my way through the building and found Seshat working under some dungeon crystal lights to create some decorations for the interior of the large empty tower I had created.
"What's up Jake, you look like the world is about to collapse or something?" She asked with her head cocking to the side in confusion.
For a moment I considered if that was really the case but then remembered even in the Danmemo game and other stuff Bell never really 'saved' the world or anything he just got pulled into a bunch of shenanigans that had little to no real consequences to the greater world outside of Orario. Nor were there real threats to the world outside of Orario other than the One-Eyed Black Dragon but that monster would only burn down some villages every once in a while, before flying back to the uninhabitable Dragon Mountains in the far north of the continent.
"Soooo... I saved Hestia's newest Familia member and had to bring them to rest here as Allen and Ottar of the Freya Familia were fighting one another on the upper floors and could very well call a Juggernaut on us with the damage they were causing." I started off and Seshat's face twisted at the knowledge that Allen and Ottar were going hard on one another in the dungeon as should they kill one another that will severely weaken the Freya Familia either way if any of them dies.
Seshat threw down her carving tool and covered her face as she dragged her fingers down her face as gave me a side-eye. "There's something you aren't telling me. What happened Jake?" Seshat asked dryly and I wryly scratched my head.
"Uh yeah. Well, you remember that super expensive gender-bending potion I made to threaten Ishtar with forcing her to drink if she became a problem? Well Bell had lost an entire lung on an aberrant Minotaur's landform weapon and was currently drowning in their blood and none of my potions could save their life, so I used the Genderbender potion to basically reset their body into a perfect condition... Just you know with tits." I said as Seshat looked at me like I was a dead man walking.
"Hestia is either going to love you for saving her beloved Familia member or she is going to hate you for ruining her crush on that pure soul," Seshat spoke as she shook her head, and I shrugged my shoulders.
"I literally had no other choice. Either Bell died there, or they got tits. There was literally no other ending to the scenario as it would take me too long to teleport back here and run to Miach or Dian Chet's store for them to try to heal him." I responded wryly and Seshat nodded in understanding after a moment before she got a weird look on her face.
"Wait is that why I could see a ribbon of fate from Bell trying to connect to you back at the Hostess?" She asked herself and when I asked what the hell she meant, she waved me off. "Put the thought out of your mind Jake. Karma and Fate are so far beyond your mortal worries at the moment that it's not even funny. Now let me get Bell's clothes fixed a bit before we try to escort them home as Hestia is going to throw a fit..."
I had already explained to Seshat how Bell's upper clothes got shredded from being torn apart during their fight with the minotaur to say nothing of the soccer ball-sized hole in the middle of her chest area of the shirt and jacket that left her chest wide open to see.
I sat outside the room while Seshat tried to get Bell's clothes into some kind of order, and I heard Bell mumbling in her unconscious state as my goddess shifted around her form to make sure her pants weren't going fall off or whatever with how their body had changed greatly.
"Alright, Jake come in." Seshat called out to me. "I sewed a couple of seams into her shirt so her new breasts have some room while closing up the shirt, so she doesn't flash everyone in Orario as we take her to Hestia's place."
"You know where Hestia lives?" I asked as I carefully hefted Bell into my arms again, and I noticed Bell had cutely leaned into my chest and grabbed onto the hoodie I was wearing after taking off my armor.
"Aww... The threads of fate are tightening around one another Eeek!" Seshat cried out looking at me and Bell with literally glowing eyes and my hands tightened around Bell as I reflexively stopped the thought of dropping the form within my arms.
"Seshat wake up! Where are we going." I said exasperatedly as I wanted to just go to bed and sleep after this debacle.
When I get super stressed or depressed, I don't get violent or just sulk. I just go take a nap and, in this situation, I was rather stressed as I had no idea of the ramifications will come of what has happened today.
Seshat pouted but she still led me who had to carry Bell's still unconscious form across Orario and thankfully with Seshat obviously leading me, I didn't have to deal with any white knights who wanted to jump in seeing some dude carrying a woman into the ghetto decrepit section of Orario that had never gotten fixed after Evilus went crazy after the Zeus and Hera Familia got booted out of the city.
"Well, this is the church Hestia mentioned she lived at. Hopefully, she is home." Seshat muttered and I could only nod as I took in the familiar heavily decrepit Hestia Familia church. God, I was glad I didn't live here. I bet it had bugs everywhere with all the broken windows and such.
I then shifted Bell in my arms as I followed Seshat past the little gated fence that surrounded the church and then Seshat took one look at the rotting wooden door of the church and then instead of knocking on the door she began kicking a less rotten side of the door creating a large racket with the impacts.
"Hestia! You there!" Seshat called out as she kicked the door and finally, I heard another door slam open or closed from within the church but as all the racket was going on I felt Bell shifting in my arms and for a moment I wanted to hush Seshat so Bell could sleep but then I felt the bit of soreness in my arms that were the result of carrying Bell for like half an hour. So, I mentally encouraged Seshat to kick the door louder...
Finally, however, the church's door swung open swiftly and there was the panting form of Hestia who had obviously run from the church's less decrepit basement to greet us. "Whew... Seshat you came to visit! Helloooo..." Hestia spoke excitedly as she greeted Seshat before her words drew off as she took in the long white-haired beauty resting in my arms.
"Bell!!!" Hestia's scream instinctively made Bell jerk and thrash awake in my arms and with a loud ripping noise as the Bell almost fell out of my arms she had shrugged her shoulders too far and the stitches Seshat put into her shirt to keep it together gave up the ghost...
Seshat, Hestia, and I all froze in dumbfounded silence as Bell's new breasts jumped out of her ruined shirt clearly showing Bell's new changes, and then Hestia tilted back and forth in place.
"Don't die, Hestia!" Seshat cried out lunging forward to catch Hestia who collapsed into a dead faint I couldn't remove my eyes from the sight of Bell awakening and as she lay within my arms Bell looked up to me with her large innocent red eyes and then they looked down.
Saw their large milky smooth breasts. Looked back up at me. Back down again. Back to me. "I am a girl!" Bell screamed and I mentally said fuck it as she began struggling again and this time I just 'let go' and with a loud thump Bell just fell into the floorboards of the church.
"Why is my Bell a girl!" Hestia screamed as she pointed at me and Seshat as she had somehow come back to reality after hearing Bell's very feminine new voice.
"Bell maybe you should start off on how an aberrant Minotaur of all things got down to merely the seventh floor and I will explain how you got turned into a girl." I said and Hestia's eyes' lasered onto Bell who cringed at the sight of Hestia's angry eyes.
"Bell! You promised you weren't even passed the fifth floor yet!" Hestia scolded Bell who shrunk in on herself.
"I was doing fine with the Killer Ants and War Shadows, so I didn't see a problem in going to the floors before the next big monster changes with the fog-filled floors of the tenth floors and whatnot," Bell said as an excuse, but Hestia wasn't having it.
"I don't give a damn Bell Cranel! You went too deep without preparations or a party, and what happened? Another damn minotaur jumped you!" Hestia yelled stabbing her fingernails between Bell's new boobs before Hestia realized what she just did and jumped backward blushing and then she whirled on me.
"And you! How did my precious Bell get so cute and have boobs that match mine!" Hestia cried and my mind short-circuited a bit on that last bit making me cough and give her a look making her lightly dusted with pink darken as she realized I caught her on that slip of the tongue.
I took a deep breath and let the joking atmosphere dissipate and Hestia's blush died as she realized I was being serious. I looked to Bell and said clear as day so both Goddesses could confirm my words as the absolute truth. "Bell Cranel you were dying. You had no other option other than me pouring a gender-bending potion into your mouth because your entire chest cavity was ruined as the Minotaur had pulped one of your lungs. You were drowning in your blood in the other lung, you had plenty of ruptured organs from the Minotaur beating you to death. And with Freya's Ottar and Allen fighting just outside the corridor I was in for whatever reason." I could only shrug as I looked Bell in her red eyes.
"You were dying as I pushed the drink into your mouth... No ifs ands or buts. There was no scenario in which you survived if I didn't use the potion." I spoke and Hestia's face fell as I fully explained how I had no way of saving Bell without taking the steps I did.
"And the Minotaur? How did you even kill that?" Hestia asked me pointedly and I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Magic... I am an accomplished magic user and it's not like I beat it unscathed, I got a couple of bruises and may have torn some muscles, but I never noticed it as I was busy saving your Familia member and then fled as two of the arguably strongest adventures were fighting for whatever reason." I responded reminding Hestia that I went out of my way to save Bell.
"I see..." Hestia drew off looking between me and Bell before she sighed. "Look I am deeply and utterly grateful to you for saving Bell for me as I have no idea what I would do if I felt their Falna disappear from my senses but do you... You know?" She said leadingly.
"Can I get another gender-bending potion?" Bell asked blushing as she covered her bare chest with her hands, and it was obvious that she didn't know how to properly do it as she used her hands to cup her chest to cover it rather than using an arm.
"No... The primary ingredient used in it is the Deathroot Flower that comes from the Desert where the Behemoth was slain. And that flower is well known for magically cursing whoever picks it with an instant death so no one will pick it anymore as just finding it in the toxic desert is a nightmare to begin with." I explained softly and Bell slumped downwards a bit.
"How can I be a great adventurer if I lost all my muscles and became a girly girl." Bell almost complained/whined but I got how she was focusing on how things had changed rather than well the things she lost.
"Well, plenty of ladies especially Amazons do perfectly fine in melee as the Falna will make you stronger. Or you can get into magic I guess." I spoke and I saw Bell relax a bit at my reminder and then with a moment of thought I took out a Wand of Sparking which literally cost me damn near nothing to make.
It was only a stick with a couple of magical runes cut into it, but it could shoot out burning magnesium hot-like sparks from it.
"Here this can burn out the eyes of monsters and deal with weaker things. Plus, it can help you drain your mind and train your mind stat before you get your own spell." I said shooting a couple of small sparks of painfully bright light that scored the stones outside the church.
"Isn't a staff that can cast magic without the caster having a spell like one of a kind or super expensive?' Bell asked pensively as she took the staff and I saw it shoot the same bolts of magic.
"Yes, Bell such a staff would be an heirloom! But this one is a bit weak?" Hestia said excitedly but looked a bit pensive at Bell's giddy expression at shooting the magical bolts.
I wrapped an arm around Seshat as I smugly spoke. "Yeah, well I made that staff, and I made much better ones!" I said smugly as I took out my Aquamarine staff and with a shriek a curtain of blue magical bolts shot out and tore a trench through the around dry dirt in front of Hestia's church.
"Anyway, I wanted to bring Bell back home to you Hestia so they wouldn't wake up at my place changed and with their last memory being hunted down by the Minotaur," I said as Bell and Hestia mutely nodded still shocked by the sight of my chant less magical use which went against all of Danmachi's magical conventions.
"Seshat its already dark and although I wouldn't mind inviting you guys to come spend the night at our place, but we cannot stay here." I spoke and as though in mockery of my words a pew within the church shattered and fell apart making Hestia and Bell's face twitch.
"Actually! Thats a perfect idea Jake. Me and Hestia need to talk plus we got to teach Bell stuff on how to be a woman too. As I am sure Hestia doesn't have any mortal feminine items, do you?" Seshat asked pointedly and Hestia choked as she pointed weakly at my goddess before she slumped.
"No, I don't... I thought it was going to be just me and Bell." She whimpered before she looked at Bell and spun around. "Fine give me and Bell a few minutes to pack up for a couple of days and update Bell's Falna!" Hestia yelled as she pulled Bell towards the basement.