[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 45: Heating Part 2

I wasn't really surprised by that, given my own questions on that front, but I wasn't sure what she was talking about it and I made no effort to hide that fact, giving her a blank look.

"Okay," I said after a moment. "What about it?"

"Lili," Hestia said, and my friend passed the page in her hands to her, which she then opened and showed to me. "You probably can't tell because it's not written in the Sacred Text, but there's something different and I think this may be part of it."

"My skills?" I asked, glancing over the page in confusion.

"No," Hestia shook her head before hesitating. "Or, perhaps, but I don't think they're the root cause, though they may have helped things along. Rather, I think it's this—your Developmental Ability, Hero."

"Do you know how it works, then?" I wondered, squinting at its place on my Status sheet. Too me it was just a word and a pretty vague and meaningless one at that. Mystery, at least, I knew the approximate effect of, and while some of my skills were pretty confusing in their own right, they at least had descriptions. Hero was just Hero, a single word without context or explanation. It didn't help matters that I still wasn't entirely clear on a lot of things tied to the Falna.

"Saying I know how it works might be going a bit far," Hestia answered slowly. "But the words written here are just a translation of the Sacred Text and somewhat simplified. Words...whatever the language, perfect translations can be a bit difficult, especially for things that have different contexts and connotations—"

"Um," I said.

"A poem, for instance, could lose all meaning if translated word for word," Hestia continued, apparently not noticing my expression as her voice grew excited. She really id like her books, I guess. "A translated phrase could simply sound bizarre, without knowing what it means. And when that extends to entire stories, even minor errors or mistranslations can vastly alter the message of the text. That's especially true when translating between languages that are structured very differently—even more so because some things can be read more than one way."

I was growing increasingly lost.

"So, uh, what you mean is that something like 'Hero' means something else in the Sacred Text?" I guessed, furrowing my eyebrows as I thankfully interrupted her. "Basically?"

"Not quite," Hestia replied, brushing past my attempt. "Rather, it's that some meaning is lost, because a direct translation of the word would be unwieldy. The Status is meant to be understood and used easily by a god's Familia, so sometimes liberties must be taken. 'Hero' might better be translated as something along the lines of 'performs and inspires heroic action,' but enough phrases like that could make a mess of anyone's Status. I didn't understand what it meant, though, until now."

"You think it has something to do with this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It seems more likely than not, doesn't it?" Hestia asked. "In the few days I was absent, you acquired three new skills, all of them seemingly 'Rare Skills.' Lili here acquired a new skill and a new spell."

"Didn't Lili already have a skill and a spell?" I asked, glancing at Lili who nodded slightly. She'd told me about them both earlier, though I hadn't known much about them until now. "And she hasn't had her Status updated in six months—plus, yesterday was kind of shitty for everyone. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I think attributing Lili's growth to me might be going too far. Lili broke free of Soma on her own and saved my life. She's plenty amazing in her own right."

"Mr. Percy..." Lili murmured in reply, ducking her head embarrassedly. "Lili's happy to hear such a thing, but...Lili couldn't have done it without Mr. Percy and Mr. Welf. And, besides which, what about Mr. Percy's own growth...?"

"That doesn't really prove anything either," I reminded her. "I'm a freak of nature and we all know it."

"That's..." Lili began to argue before slowly trailing off.

"Like I said, you don't get it," Hestia replied. "It's the excilia within the Falna that gives such things shape and the quality of it is different. I'm not dismissing Lili's efforts because I've heard about them and can see them within her—but at the same time, would you agree that certain things might not have happened if you hadn't been there?"

"Sure, I guess, but...isn't that true of anyone?" I asked. "If I hadn't met you, if you hadn't met me, if I'd never encountered Welf...stuff like that could change our whole lives. I get what you're saying, but...I just don't think I'm the reason why Lili's amazing, after everything she went through. At best, I happened to be the guy in the right place at the right time to lend a helping hand."

"But that's just it," Hestia answered tiredly and sighed. "Perhaps I'm not explaining things properly, but I think that by knowing you—and because of you—things have changed. Not just for Lili; I'm willing to bet that things are different for that friend of yours. Hephaestus' child, Welf? If you asked him if anything had changed in his Status, I'm sure he'd say yes as well."

I fell silent at that, remembering what I'd seen...actually, I guess it was yesterday now.

"Mr. Percy?" Lili asked, apparently noticing because she tilted her head at me. "Could it be that...you've seen Mr. Welf's Status?"

"Accidently," I said. "Yesterday. But that's Welf's stuff to reveal, not mine."

"Then don't reveal anything," Hestia cut in quickly. "But something was different, wasn't it?"

"...Maybe," I admitted, scratching my head. I hadn't given it much thought at the time, but...weren't Damon and Pythias a legend or something? And now that I thought about it, Penelope sounded familiar, as did Argos. Wasn't the latter a boat, though? Or was that something else? Had Odysseus been on the Argo or something? No, that's not right; that was something else. "Maybe you have a point, then. But...I'm not sure how I feel about it in that case. What do you think Hero does, Hestia?"

"I think it helps people be more of what they are—or maybe what they wish they were," Hestia said, gently. "Isn't that the point of hero's and why their stories are remembered and passed down? For the sake of guiding and inspiring others?"

How did I qualify as a Hero, then?

"Okay," I said, glancing between the two of them and feeling even more uncomfortable than before. "If you say so, it's probably true. It's a big deal, then?"

"I think you can bring out the best in people, Percy," Hestia said kindly. "I don't think you understand quite how monumental something like this is—to have caused others to develop Magic and Rare Skills, however unknowingly it may have been. Yes, it's a 'big deal.' Especially now, with all that's happened."

Pausing for a moment, Hestia took a deep breath and looked at me carefully.

"And speaking of which," She began. "You've probably been wondering about it, too. Lili said that Hephaestus already told you about what reaching Level 2 meant and you must have been curious about it—about what Developmental Abilities you now had a chance to choose from."

...Oh, right. That was a thing.

I'd woken up something like five minutes ago; sue me.

"...Yes?" I said aloud.

"When I updated your Status, just before I collapsed, I saw the potential for these things within your Falna," Hestia continued. "Abnormal Resistance, Hunter, Mage, Magic Resistance, Spirit Healing, Swordsmanship, and Taming."

She said the entire thing in a big, impressive tone of voice and then ended on a long pause, seemingly waiting for my reaction. I probably disappointed her because all I did was I blink slowly and tilt my head.

"Uh," I said. "Okay?"

At once, Hestia's shoulders fell and she hung her head.

"Lady Hestia, that's no good," Lili murmured beside her. "Mr. Percy will never understand if you just say things like that. He's hopeless with stuff like this—you have to explain it carefully. Dramatic reveals are lost on him."

"Yeah," I told Hestia. "What she said."

"I know," Hestia answered, sounding tired and sad. "I guess I was just hoping that...never mind."