An Unexpected Visitor
Finn's office.
Left alone after Vesta's departure, Finn was chewing over the situation from moments ago, savoring it like a meal he couldn't quite finish.
"Might I have a moment to think it over?"
Hmm...
He had hesitated slightly before offering that postponement. Finn, of course, had told him to take all the time he needed and sent him on his way.
Why did I hold off, though?
His mind was already running at near-overload, and not without reason. Vesta had become the single greatest source of headaches for the Hero as of late.
Identity unknown, affiliation unknown — a mysterious man who had appeared out of nowhere, like a stranger dropped from the sky. Loki's intuition had flagged him, and Finn's own thumb tingled with unease, yet nothing dangerous enough to warrant action had come of it. That didn't change the fact that he was a walking question mark.
Frankly, Finn had expected the man to accept his proposal without a fuss. Everything Vesta had shown so far suggested he was remarkably invested in protecting Ais.
He had been kind to her to a degree that bordered on the strange. His character was clean enough to pass even a god's discernment and a high elf's fastidious standards. Finn had seen no reason for refusal — and yet...
Could he be connected to the Evils...? No, that doesn't hold up.
If he were one of the Evils, accepting would have been the obvious play — the easiest path to abducting Ais. And besides, the Evils would never have gotten this far in the first place.
"So something's troubling him, then?"
Given how warm he'd been toward Ais, Finn doubted the man simply found them tiresome. The likeliest answer was that something about the guard arrangement itself posed a problem.
But nothing comes to mind...
The notion that Vesta was a man of the future, finding it difficult to entangle himself in the past, never once crossed the Hero's mind. And so his thoughts sank deeper into the labyrinth.
How long has it been since I agonized over something like this... What a mysterious man.
"Would you guard Ais for us?"
In the basement of the church, I lay sprawled across the sofa, turning the words over and over in my head.
Guarding Miss Ais... Under normal circumstances, there'd be no reason to refuse, but...
My circumstances being what they are...
When I considered what kind of influence my existence might exert, I concluded that acting rashly from here on out was a bad idea.
I had already affected the power dynamics on the Egypt side of things. Grandpa and Lady Hera, too — but they were all figures of the past, so things still hung together by a thread. Miss Ais and the Loki Familia were a different matter.
The executives of Loki Familia were veterans who survived all the way through my active days. The deeper the bonds I forged with them, the more the future would tremble and warp.
Right now, with a hood pulled over my head, we could meet without consequence, but the terms included living and eating alongside the escort. Staying hidden forever was impossible.
Even if it were possible, having someone perpetually swaddled in a black robe at your side would make everyone uncomfortable.
That's one thing, but... there's also the fact that place is a little...
After all, wasn't that spot destined to become the home of the Hestia Familia? For the current me, it felt like an awfully loaded place to set foot in.
But Miss Ais is in danger, you say...?
That much was new to me, and I couldn't quite predict how it would play out.
What if the snowball I'd been rolling connected, step by step, to Miss Ais's peril? The accelerated schedule might twist the future away from its original course. Was letting this go unanswered actually the right call?
And beyond that, changes I knew nothing about might already be underway. The biggest problem of all was simply that I knew so little about this era.
Events that happened before I was born. What I knew of this age amounted to Grandpa's stories and rumors that had survived as urban legends. In the end, I had no real grasp of what was what, so even rushing to a judgment was beyond me.
"Haah... if only the situation were normal..."
If it weren't for the fact that this was the genuine past, I could've charged ahead and let the chips fall where they may. But with my future riding on the table, I couldn't afford to move carelessly.
Hmm. The surest answer, honestly, was for me to stay at Miss Ais's side as her guard...
"What a bind..."
"What is?"
"What do you mean, what—"
...Huh? Who—?
Startled by the voice, I sat up — and there at the entrance stood a woman with white hair the same shade as mine.
"Miss Meteria?"
"Hello there, Vesta."
The sudden visit startled me, but on reflection, there was nothing strange about it. I was the one borrowing her space in the first place — it was her room, after all. The abrupt appearance was the only surprise.
Did the Empress bring her here?
That was my impression after crossing paths with the Empress twice now. Magic or a skill, I couldn't say, but I suspected she carried some manner of concealment ability.
She could erase her presence at will, which made tracking her location a genuine chore. Whether she wiped out her footsteps too or not, I'd been slow to notice her approach.
It seemed she couldn't erase her gaze entirely, but no Level 9 powerhouse worth the title relied on eyesight. Let my guard down, and I might well get had.
"You were still here, I see. Couldn't find lodging?"
"Ah... I just find this place comfortable. I'll clear out right away."
"Oh no, I'm glad the place suits you."
Miss Meteria smiled on, warm and easy as ever.
She came all this way, so this must be a secret rendezvous, huh? Should I excuse myself?
"It's not a secret meeting today. He can't come anyway."
"...I didn't say a word?"
"...? Did I not? How did I know that, I wonder?"
Don't ask me that.
So this woman was every bit as delightfully unhinged as I'd suspected.
"Hera smuggled me out. I'm still under house arrest, so it's quite the scandal."
"You were under house arrest? No wonder you hadn't come by..."
"Ehehe, well, honestly, it's not so different from being locked up anyway. They call it house arrest, but nothing's actually changed from my normal routine."
Despite the weight of the topic, Miss Meteria spoke as if it were nothing at all, laughing all the while.
She can't go out even without house arrest... What does that even—
"...My health isn't very good, you see."
"Is it... very bad?"
"Yes. Terribly, awfully bad."
For all her words, Miss Meteria's face remained as serene as a windless pond.
Had she long since made peace with that truth? I'd seen plenty of people curse the world in their hardest hours, yet this woman stood so firm even with her fragile body. Frailty aside, she was a strong person.
"But everyone is so kind to me. Alfia's there too, after all."
"Ah, Alfia — she's your older sister, isn't she."
"She is... Ah, now that you mention it, my thanks are overdue. Thank you for before."
"Not at all — I offered, after all."
"I'm sorry about that. Nothing eventful happened while I was gone, I hope?"
Eventful, was it...? At the word, I found myself taking stock of everything that had happened so far. Fighting with Miss Alfia. Facing down the Beast. Getting my jagamarukun nibbled to death by Miss Ais. Very nearly getting done in by Grandpa...
"Nothing eventful at all!"
"Your eye says otherwise, though?"
My remaining one was spinning in lazy circles like I'd been hypnotized. Had Zeus seen it, he'd have declared it thoroughly, unambiguously broken.
"So, Miss Meteria — what brings you here today?"
"I wanted a bit of fresh air for the first time in ages, and this was the only place that came to mind..."
"...Shall I step out?"
"No, no. Actually, what I'd like is for you to keep me company."
Well, that much I can do.
Meteria settled into a convenient spot and launched into chatter. Whether she had no one to talk to in the Hera Familia or was simply talkative by nature, I couldn't say — but strangely enough, I didn't find her tiresome or dull in the slightest.
"Hera protects me a bit too much, second only to how she treats Alfia. Normally she'd never let me out, but this time she even smuggled me past everyone... I wonder what's gotten into her."
Astonishing as it was, this woman appeared to be someone the infamous Lady Hera herself treasured like a rare gem. And here I thought that woman didn't have a soft bone in her body. Turns out she had a human heart after all. A god's heart, technically.
Then again, from the sound of it, she didn't so much smuggle Meteria out as prefer to keep her locked away — the yandere treatment Grandpa always described. Why had she let her out this time?
"You seemed to have a lot on your mind, you know. Just like you do now, Vesta."
"...Me?"
I flinched at the abrupt observation.
How did she know?
"You just looked that way. There's something oddly easy to read about you, Vesta."
"..."
I'd heard that a lot as a kid, and I'd thought age had blunted my transparency... Had living alone worn the mask back down? Come to think of it, whenever I met this woman, my tension melted away for no reason I could name. Maybe there really was something to her.
"What's troubling you? If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to listen!"
Ahem! She puffed out her modest chest, face brimming with pride.
Something in the sight made me go slack.
She was a remarkable person — an unusual woman whose mere presence put the heart at ease. For a moment, I thought I understood why Lady Hera cherished her so dearly.
But pour out my worries, she says...
She couldn't have known what she was asking, and still it pricked a little.
How would this woman react, I wondered, if she learned I was a human from another time?
Not that I'd ever tell her.
It wasn't the sort of thing to go sharing around. Not something I was permitted to share, period.
But standing there with such confident expectation on her face, flatly refusing felt cruel... Perhaps I could consult her about something else a little.
Maybe getting it off my chest would ease the weight, if only a bit. With that thought, I began telling Miss Meteria what was on my mind.