Three Goddesses
The next day.
I stepped out of the hut.
"What about Athena?"
I'd asked Hecate the day before. She'd told me Athena had sat there staring blankly for a while, then vanished somewhere.
I didn't need to guess where she'd gone. In her current state, there was only one place Athena would head.
"Then, Master — would you come with me for a moment?"
"Hm? What is it?"
I led Hecate toward Hestia's Temple.
"Lady Hestia's blessing has been confirmed. You may enter."
Hecate and I stepped into the High Priestess's chambers.
"Oh my?"
Hestia rose, her ample hips lifting from her seat. Recognizing me, she came swaying over at once.
"Son!"
"Mother."
I pulled her into my arms. Her breasts, full enough to burst, crushed against my chest. Even so, she nuzzled into me without the slightest hesitation, pouring out affection.
"Have you been well?"
"Is Athena here?"
"Mmm… before you ask that…"
Hestia puckered her lips at me, coquettish as a spoiled child. A laugh slipped out of me on its own. I leaned in and brushed a light kiss against her mouth.
"D-Disciple…"
Behind me, Hecate stood gaping, her expression completely vacant.
"The goddess you… defiled… Don't tell me it was Hestia?"
I turned and nodded. Hecate's mouth fell open; she stammered, speechless. Clearly she had never imagined that the goddess I'd taken would be none other than Hestia herself.
The first virgin goddess. The purest of the benevolent deities. Who would ever have imagined she belonged to a mere mortal man?
Even Hecate, who'd grown somewhat used to me, reacted like this. Other gods would probably have a full-blown seizure. This was a secret that absolutely could not get out.
"So, Mother."
I tenderly stroked the hair of the woman still nestled against my chest, nuzzling her face into me with shameless affection. Carefully, I eased her face away and asked again.
"Where is Athena?"
Hestia pouted. But she answered me all the same.
"She's over there."
She guided me with a soft tip of her finger — toward a dark corner of the High Priestess's chambers, into the most secluded place in Hestia's Temple, a place I had never known existed.
Hecate and I followed her lead. And then we found it.
"Th-This is…?"
Hecate stared in shock. I turned to her.
"What is it?"
"The… the ancient hearth?"
"Pardon?"
What she was looking at was a hearth of pitifully small and frail size. The oldest hearth of all — thousands of years old, at least — sat there before us.
"Oh my, you recognized it. As expected of the Goddess of Magic."
Hestia smiled warmly and lifted the hearth.
"This is a sacred relic said to have been lit when Gaia first entered into her marriage covenant with Uranus."
What?
There was something like that?
"Of course, it isn't widely known outside. The reason I was able to become the Goddess of the Hearth in the first place is because I protected this well throughout the Gigantomachia."
I crouched down quietly and examined it more closely.
"It doesn't look any different from an ordinary hearth."
"It's a relic of great symbolic power," Hestia explained gently. "And of course, it wasn't lit only for that marriage."
I glanced up at her.
"When Uranus forced himself upon Gaia. When our father Cronus forced himself upon Mother Rhea and sired his children. And when Zeus forced himself upon Gaia and Mother Rhea."
My head spun.
What the hell was she even saying?
"This hearth blazed for every one of those occasions."
"W-Wait a second."
I pressed my throbbing forehead and forced myself to ask Hestia again.
"What exactly did you just mean by all of that?"
"Exactly what she said."
Hecate stepped forward and spoke to me.
"The union of Uranus and Gaia was simple. Uranus looked upon Gaia not as a mother, but as a woman — and forced himself on her."
Insane…
"Cronus received a prophecy from Gaia that his own children would forcibly cast him down. And yet, for reasons no one understands, he still forced himself on Rhea and made her bear his children."
I felt sick to my stomach.
What the hell had these people done?
"And finally, Zeus…"
"Ah. I think I get it."
That lust-crazed bastard. Of course. Once he took the throne of the gods, he must have slept with his own mother and grandmother without a second thought.
Even so…
Like father, like son. Uranus, then Cronus, then Zeus. Three generations of pure disaster.
"So what happened to Uranus and Cronus?"
"For now, let's keep moving forward."
Hestia guided me gently onward, the ancient hearth still in her hands, leading us deeper through the darkened rooms.
And at last—
Fwoooooosh!!
The hearth's flames spread in every direction. A small chamber came into view — a cozy little room filled with charming knickknacks, a large bed and a chair set in the center.
"This," Hestia said, smiling warmly at me, "is the place where my true body resides."
I glanced at her.
"Consider it an honor, Homeron. It is rare for a god to reveal not only their true form, but their dwelling itself."
I leaned toward Hecate with a sly look. Her face flushed crimson; she waved her hands and shoved me away.
"W-What are you doing?! Get that disgusting face away from me!"
And yet she was blushing. Why?
"So then, Lady Hecate — that hut of yours is…"
"N-No! Absolutely not!"
Hecate denied it with desperate force.
"That place is nothing more than a temporary residence! As if I would ever lead some outside man into my true dwelling…!"
I grinned.
"Hmm?"
"Wh-What is that smile supposed to mean?!"
Hestia watched the two of us and laughed softly.
"What a close master-and-disciple pair you two make."
We both turned to her. Hestia's seductive, smiling eyes settled on me.
"I almost feel jealous."
Oh no.
I drew her gently into my arms.
"What are you saying, Mother? You're the only one for me."
"Isn't that the sort of thing Zeus would say?"
"H-Hahaha…"
"Don't worry."
Hestia nestled deep into my embrace once more.
"No matter which goddesses you take into your arms, no matter how many you claim — I will always be here as your mother, forever."
Ahh. Perfect. Her soft confession melted right through me.
"H-Homeron!"
Hecate looked on the verge of tears. I casually opened my other arm. Her small body pulled itself against me at once.
And so I held both goddesses for a while.
Or I would have — if not for the sharp voice that cut through the air without warning.
"Playing house, are we?"
"Athena?"
I turned my head. She was sitting in front of the bed, facing a mirror — and now she looked back at me. She hadn't moved at all; I'd assumed she was asleep, or deliberately ignoring me.
She wasn't.
"A human who seduces two goddesses and plots rebellion against Lord Zeus."
The goodwill I'd once seen in her sharp eyes was gone without a trace. Only hostility remained — pure enmity toward the man who had defiled her.
"I will never forgive you, Homeron!"
I glanced down at Hestia. She sighed and explained.
"To keep the other gods from noticing, I had to bring her into my dwelling — into my domain. It was the best option."
I agreed with that. Athena running free outside would have been far too dangerous.
"Still, you did leave a score on her, didn't you? That means you've conquered her to some degree."
Hestia stuck out her tongue with a wicked little smile and rested both hands lightly on her lower abdomen. Hecate's eyes went round.
"A score?"
"Yes. A score."
Hestia stroked the entrance to her womb with her palm as she spoke, her voice soft.
"That boy carves a score as proof that he's made a woman submit. He rates us — how good we were, what we were worth to him."
Hestia's smiling eyes grew slowly more lewd. She turned that increasingly wanton smile on Hecate. Hecate looked back at me, then tugged lightly on my arm.
"H-Homeron. You never did that for me."
Ah…
I'd been in the middle of it when Aphrodite contacted me, and everything cooled off and got abandoned.
"I'll do it later."
"N-Now…"
Hecate pulled harder on my arm.
"Do it now."
"Oh my."
Hestia touched her cheek and asked,
"Are you planning to have sex right here, in my dwelling?"
I looked up at her steadily.
"Is that not allowed, Mom?"
"Of course it is. If my son wants it."
Hestia slowly ran her tongue across her lips. Athena, who had been sitting still, began to pant — her ragged breathing made it clear she was terrified.
"D-Don't be ridiculous! Right here? In this place…"
"Darling."
Hestia's voice turned firm.
"Deal with that one first."
"Yes, Mother. Understood."
I took the image device from Hecate and set it on the table. Then I strode toward Athena. She trembled and backed away.
"N-No…"
The collar clamped tight around her throat. As it flushed red, she couldn't move an inch. Athena thrashed and shook her head.
"No, no…!"
"Lady Hecate."
"Yes? What is it?"
"That thing I asked you for. Can you make it now?"
Hecate opened her mouth. Then she closed her hand around the gem extracted from the Cyclops's eye.
"I don't know the full formula, so it won't be perfect. Instantly potent — but short-lived."
I smirked.
"As long as there's enough of it."
"A-All right."
Hecate brought her hands together. The Cyclops's eye went soft and pliant. Adding a few more ingredients, she filled a large bottle with the blue liquid.
"The elixir you wanted. It will be strong."
I tilted the bottle, watching the liquid slosh. Athena recognized it too — her eyes flew wide.
"Th-That's…?"
"An aphrodisiac. An extremely powerful one."
Incomplete, so I couldn't be sure how effective it would be, but well…
"We'll just have to test it properly."
"N-Nooo…!"
Drip.
I let a single drop fall onto Athena's breast.
"Nngh—hhnnn!"
Athena's back arched like a drawn bow.