Oomori already said to look forward to it in an interview, so it is pretty much confirmed.

There is also a SS in which Ryuu goes to visit Astraea, and she is obviously gonna ask her for a conversion.

Is Ryuu joining Hermes, Loki or Hestia familia? She works really well with Asfi and Aisha. Loki secretly recruited Ryuu.

Obviously Hestia Familia. Ryuu has no reason to join any other familia.

Honestly, I am curious whether the author will actually have Ryu convert to the Hestia Familia in Volume 18 or if he will do it in the next volume?

If she is in contact with her goddess, then she could have her goddess give her a status update prior to the war game. Plus, I believe that her goddess was actually rebuilding her familia so Ryu may still have some attachment to her goddess.

I honestly I could imagine her goddess telling her to take part in the war game and if after the war game is finished and Hestia side wins then Ryu would return to her and tell her the decision that she has reached.

Remember the Astraea Familia were all about justice. Thus, Astraea probably wants to make sure that Ryu has completely thought things through and that she believes that the Hestia Familia are good fit for her and will help her to stay on the right and just path.

Also, I remember hearing something about Astraea preparing something. I do wonder if whatever was being prepared will come into play during volume 18 or if the author will just completely forget about it.

It’s a new weapon for Ryu that Astrea is preparing.

Ryu has learned Kaguya’s techniques but she is far from reaching Kaguya’s level of technique. If Ryu joins Hestia Familia it will give her close access to Takemikazuchi. Maybe he can help improve her techniques to Kaguya’s level. Would be even better if Ryu also gets Alize’s skill that makes her a level stronger after updating her status.

Ryu's magic, Kaguya’s techniques and Alize’s skill. If Ryu has all of these, she should be as strong as Lv6.

Well @AP24 that’s debatable, maybe in techniques sure, she has nothing to ask to a level 6, especially with her Concurrent Chanting being one of the best in all Orario (if not already the best). And about if she’ll get a skill that powerful, we’ll have to wait and see, let’s just hope that it is logical for her to get that type of skill. Since she already has 3 really good skills.

And hopefully that weapon will be ready for the war game against Freya Familia ;)

Ryu might be okay with having Hestia as her new goddess. It’s hinted by Freya that Hestia has a strong sense of justice comparable to Astrea’s. So does Artemis but she is nowhere to be found in the main canon story. So Hestia would be a good choice for Ryu if she wants to continue pursuing justice.

@Rigel31415

Do you know where in the story the meeting between Ryuu and Astraea happened? if Ryuu planned to continue living away from Astraea, it stands to reason that she would ask her to put her status into conversion mode, but the weird thing is that Astraea didn't update Ryuu's status and if this meeting had happened after volume 14, Ryuu should have returned as a level 5. I think this story was another mistake by Omori for lack of coherence.

@AP24

skills can't be inherited, these are the adventurer's own, if Ryuu could inherit Alise's skill in that order, Bell should inherit Alfia's skills and he doesn't have any of her.

Also, this idea that Ryuu should be as strong as a level 6 is wrong, why would the author create a level system if he's going to break it whenever he wants? if he didn't want to be restricted by a number system, he should have created a power system like Naruto's or Bleach's where there are no numbers and the characters can get stronger spontaneously without contradicting the plot.

The SS in which they meet is just Astraea wondering what to write on her letter for Ryuu before a new dependant of hers tells her there is an Elf that wants to meet her.

There is no indication at all of when that happened, so it could very well be a SS whose events happen still some time in the future. So there really is no incoherence in there.

As for Ryuu getting as strong as a Level 6, that is what is gonna happen since she is set to fight Hogni. More so when Oomori already mentioned that she is getting a trump card for the fight.

Oomori's decision for using a hard system may be either because he lacked foresight or knew self control. In the former case he could have not notice just how restrictive the system really was. In the latter, well, you have seen the story. In the beginning of the story the system was actually respected. It was only later that things went downhill.