Istarot. The god of time.
I’d never heard that name before.
Still, not every god appeared in the original story, so it wasn’t strange that there were gods I didn’t know.
What mattered was that the hand holding mine was warm.
It was the first human warmth I had felt in days.
It was a lifeline thrown to me in the middle of hunger, cold, and endless despair.
I gripped that hand tightly, as if I would never let go again.
“Now then, let’s get out of here quickly. We should head to our home.”
Lady Istarot gently pulled me up by the hand.
Supporting my unsteady body, she led the way.
My body, starved for days, felt as heavy as lead, but I leaned on her and forced one step after another forward.
The word “home” echoed strangely in my ears.
The fact that I would have a house of my own felt unreal.
The place she brought me to was on the outskirts of the city, through the creaking back door of a massive clock tower.
“Th-this is...?”
“My temporary residence. It’s a little old, but it keeps out the wind and rain.”
She opened the door with practiced ease and stepped inside.
The interior was thick with dust, with all kinds of gears and mechanical devices tangled together.
Tick, tick. The sound of huge gears meshing and turning rang out in steady rhythm.
The small room once used by the clock tower’s caretaker was our home.
There was only an old bed, a small desk, and a candle.
But that didn’t matter.
Cold rain wasn’t seeping in, it didn’t stink of trash, and no one was looking at me with contempt.
That alone made this place paradise.
“First, you must be terribly hungry. Wait just a moment.”
Lady Istarot took a small pouch from her bosom, then pulled out a hard loaf of bread and a little water bottle and handed them to me.
“I’m sorry this is all I have.”
“This is more than enough.”
I shook my head and took the bread.
Then I slowly chewed, savoring the taste.
If I wolfed it down, I felt like I’d choke.
Food entering my stomach for the first time in days made my eyes sting.
It was hard and tasteless bread, but right now it felt more delicious than anything else in the world.
This single slice of bread was saving my life.
After I finished eating, Lady Istarot looked at me with a benevolent smile.
Her gaze was so warm that I unconsciously lowered my head.
“Now it’s time for the first ritual of our Familia. Would you lie down on the bed and take off your shirt?”
“Yes.”
Without hesitation, I did as she said and lay face-down on the old bed. At last, I was receiving my Falna.
This was the only key to surviving in this world.
When I took off my shirt, the cold air touched my back, but instead it made my mind feel clearer.
A moment later, her gentle hand began to stroke my back.
“It might itch a little.”
The moment she said that, a warm, tingling sensation spread across my back.
There was no pain at all.
It felt as though some strange, divine power was softly seeping into my body.
So this was Falna.
The fatigue and chill that had been weighing down my body for days seemed to melt away in that warmth.
How much time passed?
When the ritual was over, Lady Istarot murmured in a voice tinged with surprise.
“My, my... your name is Nia. And your race is Pallum. No wonder you were so small.”
Nia.
So that was my name.
Now that I had a new name, I decided to forget my old one.
I hadn’t been attached to it anyway, since I’d been an orphan. If anything, I felt strangely lighter.
More importantly, my race... Pallum...
No wonder I’d shrunk to such an absurd height.
My height of only about 110 cm wasn’t my fault; it was just a racial trait.
That was a little, just a little, comforting.
Actually, my looks had improved beyond comparison from before, so I might as well think of it as a good thing.
Lady Istarot hugged me from behind and showed me the parchment on which my Falna had been inscribed.
My face turned red at the soft, warm sensation against my back, but I forced myself to stay calm and decided to check my Falna first.
────────────────
Nia
Race: Pallum
LV1
Strength I 0
Endurance I 0
Agility I 0
Dexterity I 0
Magic I 0
Development Ability
[Magic]
[Enchant]
• Chant: “Let fate be bestowed.”
• Enchantment magic
• Permanently bestows a random effect on equipment
• By consuming additional Mind, a desired effect can be guaranteed
• By consuming additional Mind, effect level can be increased
[Skill]
[Master of Arms]
• Rules over weapons
────────────────
Oh... so this was Falna... It was strange seeing it for real after only reading about it in novels.
I’d expected all my stats to be scraping the bottom.
After all, I was starting from zero.
But below that, the magic and skill made my heart race.
More importantly, enchantment? Could that be what I thought it was?
Sharpness, Protection, Efficiency... was it talking about enchantments like the ones in Minecraft?
No, if I thought about the game I’d played before coming here, it might instead be effects like Radiance or Swirling from Minecraft Dungeons.
Whatever it was, it had to be an incredible kind of magic.
If I could permanently grant a variety of effects to ordinary weapons, I could make a fortune just from that alone.
Once its effectiveness was proven, every adventurer would want it.
But that also meant danger.
If my ability became known, it was obvious that our powerless little Familia would become a target for other Familias.
We could lose everything in a War Game, or in the worst case, I could be kidnapped and turned into a machine that enchanted things for the rest of my life.
There was only one conclusion.
I had to become strong.
Overwhelmingly strong, so strong that no one would dare lay a hand on me.
“Oh my... to think your first blessing would awaken both magic and a skill at the same time! Nia, you really are an amazing child!”
Lady Istarot couldn’t hide her joy as she patted my head.
Feeling that touch, I thought to myself.
I would protect this goddess who had saved me, and I would protect the new life I had been given.
I had found a reason to grow stronger.
Someday, if I became so strong that no one could challenge me, maybe I could stand proudly at her side.
It was still nothing more than a delusion, but it was a goal I wanted to achieve no matter what.
Come to think of it, I’d been so focused on the enchantment that I’d forgotten the skill listed beneath it: Master of Arms.
What was this... “rules over weapons.”
It was such a simple description that it only made me more curious.
In the end, I’d have to go into the Dungeon myself to discover its true value.
“Now then, rest well for today, and tomorrow let’s begin raising our Familia. My first child, Nia.”
I quietly nodded at her words, but with firm resolve.
Fatigue washed over me.
I wanted to fall asleep now...
“Then... here goes!”
“?!?!”
Thud—! Without giving me time to think, the goddess threw herself onto the bed while hugging me tight.
It was a creaking old bed, not a soft one, but that wasn’t the important part right now.
“G-goddess?!”
“Fufu... let’s sleep together! It’d be lonely to sleep alone, wouldn’t it?”
Because of my small body, my face ended up buried in the goddess’s chest.
The suffocating softness and the faint fragrance coming from her made my head spin.
One thing was clear.
I definitely wasn’t sleeping tonight...
This goddess might be even more unpredictable than I thought.
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