Well that was a very one sided affair, a pretty clean win for Hestia and her familia. I am rather surprised that the war game ended relatively quickly. A lot of planning went on behind the scenes to make the victory possible. And while a bit anti-climatic in terms of a drawn out back and forth battle that I had expected, it went very well for Bell and his new familia members. A direct assault on the castle right from the beginning threw everyone off guard from the Apollo familia. While the battle was a high stakes winner take all tournament I am surprised at how unprepared Apollo was for the battle, given his initial assault in the city had almost stolen Bell from Hestia. Hestia familia used strategy to win the battle securing total victory, ousted Apollo from the city, dismantled his familia, seizing Apollo’s wealth and property.

While it was a fool’s errand for Hestia to even strategize to win, she demonstrated sound mind and excellent judgement given her situation. Stepping into her role as a goddess she watched over and provided for her child Bell. She has grown to be more than the original expectations I had for her. Granted she is infatuated with Bell and will literally put anything on the line for him, her growth in her role as a goddess has been almost as staggering as Bell’s growth as an adventurer. Hestia not only gave direction and provided commands to get back Lilly, when others had questioned its importance, but also took all the right steps to win the war game before it began. While Apollo lounged dreaming of the day he could take Bell, Hestia aggressively planned a counter offensive to win the war game. I have to give her credit, as it is definitely over due, as a Goddess capable of making of great decision making and courage to face those who would oppose her.

Bell too had to grow as an adventurer to win the war game for his famila. Hestia did her best to line up others to support him but the end result of the victory rested on his shoulders. He was given more aggressive training from Aiz, literally battered and bruised trusting that his goddess would provide the rest. Bell put his trust into his goddess, and she in turn rewarded him with all the keys that would lead to her successful victory over Apollo. While we don’t see much of Bell during the war game preparations we do see him shine as he overcomes Apollo’s king piece.

I am not sure what the rest of the season has in store. But with the crisis of losing Bell averted I suppose we go back to the dungeon and resume picking up girls. I wonder how much of the progress made in this arc will stay intact. The Hestia familia has made great strides and won an impossible victory. With everything on the line to lose Apollo made a poor bet and lost. Congratulations are in order for the Hestia familia thanks to the cunning goddess and her strongest adventurer Bell Cranel.