"But those were just Goblin daggers... you didn't take them to the Guild, did you?"
Hestia spoke with a lighthearted smile. From her perspective, there was no way Bell would have sold something like that to the Guild. Once anything ended up in their hands, it wouldn't be long before the gods caught wind of it. But Bell was careful and cautious—he'd never do something so reckless.
And under normal circumstances, she would've been right. Anyone with even a bit of experience living in Orario would've looked for an alternate channel to get rid of something that risky. But Bell had only arrived two days ago—he simply didn't have that kind of awareness yet.
Which is how he'd walked straight into the trap.
Listening to Hestia-sama, Bell felt his face heat up. He really had made a dumb mistake. He'd taken all those Goblin daggers straight to the Guild without thinking. He hadn't considered asking Hephaestus-sama for help or finding another route. He'd just gone straight to the most obvious option.
Hestia kept laughing for a bit, but when Bell didn't respond, her laughter slowly faded. She glanced at his reddening face, her own expression tightening with a twitch.
She had to ask.
"Bell-kun... you didn't really take them to the Guild, did you?"
"...Yeah."
Hestia's eyes widened in disbelief. Calm, composed Bell had made a rookie mistake like this? Didn't he know? The Guild might be an official organization, but its structure leaked like a sieve. Anyone who wanted information could pull it out of there.
"Bell-kun, don't you realize? The Guild trades in information. It's not just about Dungeon reports—they'll sell internal intel too. Even the kind that shouldn't be talked about. As long as you offer the right incentive, they'll give it up."
"Goddess-sama... I've only been in Orario for two days."
Ah, right. Bell was just a newcomer from the countryside.
Hestia slapped her own forehead. Bell didn't act like a greenhorn, so she'd forgotten he was one. Really, this wasn't his fault—it was hers. As his goddess, she should've warned him about this kind of thing.
But now the situation with the Guild could be a problem. Who knew if someone there had already connected the dots and tipped off the other gods? Just thinking about it gave Hestia a headache.
Seeing Hestia-sama's distressed face, Bell couldn't help but feel guilty. When he went to deal with the daggers, his first instinct had been to head to the Guild—it was just the most obvious place. It was his first time handling something like this, and he'd completely forgotten that the Guild itself could be a problem.
Miss Eina had told him the same thing just earlier. Thinking of her, Bell suddenly realized...
"Goddess-sama, I asked Miss Eina for help earlier when I went to the Guild. Since it was about the Goblin daggers, I had to explain a few things to her."
"Eina... Eina Tulle? The Guild's top receptionist?"
Hestia instantly pictured Eina Tulle in her mind. She knew the woman was a half-elf, having interacted with her recently. That half-elf wasn't a bad person—diligent and serious about her work. Still, Hestia hadn't expected someone like that to be Bell's assigned receptionist.
"Are you sure that's okay? I've met that half-elf before, but I wouldn't be so certain she'll keep your secret. Bell-kun, it's best not to place too much trust in everything related to the Guild. There are quite a few receptionists who've leaked sensitive information—that's one of the reasons Ouranos issued a policy against receptionists getting too close to Adventurers."
History had proven that overly close relationships between receptionists and Adventurers led to trouble. Hestia recalled Hephaestus mentioning that back when the Guild was first founded, it faced a serious incident like that, resulting in a full-scale purge of its reception staff. Since then, the Guild had established strict rules governing receptionist conduct.
But rules were one thing—people were another.
Even if receptionists weren't allowed to get too close to Adventurers, there was nothing stopping them from getting close to the gods. So many receptionists ended up casually revealing sensitive information—without even realizing it. It wasn't officially a leak, just idle chatter that a god happened to overhear.
And since they were exploiting a loophole, even if an investigation followed, the receptionists wouldn't be punished. After that first case, similar incidents started cropping up regularly. From then on, any gods looking to probe for intel would just chat up a receptionist, and if they got something useful, they'd offer a little compensation.
Of course, it wasn't called a "bribe"—just a standard payment for services. Nothing illegal.
After learning how the Guild operated from Hephaestus, Hestia had mentally filed it away as a giant sieve. Once a secret was known to the Guild, it could leak at any time.
Though still uneasy, Bell's confidence in Miss Eina didn't waver.
"Goddess-sama, I believe Miss Eina will help keep this quiet. She already warned me earlier at the Guild that selling Goblin daggers there could expose my identity. She even said she'd do her best to keep things hidden. I don't think it'll be a problem this time. But moving forward... I'll be counting on your help too."
Hestia was still uneasy about Eina. She trusted Bell—but not the Guild's receptionists. To her, the Guild was nothing but a sieve. How could she believe someone from there would help Bell keep a secret?
Still, Hestia kept those doubts to herself. Even if she had concerns about Eina, she didn't want Bell to start worrying too. She'd just have to meet Eina in person later and confirm for herself whether Bell's information had been properly safeguarded.