142. So You're Saying It's a Harem Approved by the Gods?
142. So You're Saying It's a Harem Approved by the Gods?
The carnal crest emitted a faint pink glow.
As the light grew brighter in real time, I spoke to Yuno.
"Let's make one promise."
"I don't want to."
"...I haven't even said what it is yet?"
"I don't want to erase it."
".........."
But why, for god's sake.
'...Is it already too late to ask that?'
The words were already out, so pretending not to know was impossible.
I didn't know the reason, no, probably about 90% of it was because of the Protagonist's bullshit,
"You'll really turn into a succubus at this rate...."
"You'd just save me again before that happens, right?"
"....Yuno."
Even so, I couldn't nod because of that remaining 10% possibility.
"You're mistaken right now."
"I'm not mistaken."
"No, just listen for a moment. Listen first, then talk."
I calmly explained to Yuno.
"It's true that Ter treated you poorly. But does that mean I treated you that well?"
"You did treat me well...."
"...What? That makes no sen──well, maybe not?"
Comparatively, I guess I did treat her quite well.
I'd even done something like counseling for her—though in reality it was just parading a sex show right in front of her eyes.
We'd also exchanged our own conversations—and that ribbon kiss in the room cafe... is kissing something friends do with each other?
On top of that, I'd even helped her in a moment of crisis—which was probably something the Protagonist half-intended to happen in the first place, but I'd gloss over that part for now.
'...Huh?'
Now that I looked back at it, I'd interfered an awful lot.
I was sure I'd cheered her on with all my might to stick close to the Protagonist, but at every crucial moment, I'd popped up and done everything but leave.
...Even so! There were still, still things left to say.
"You know we haven't even known each other half a year yet, right?"
We'd only met a handful of times.
How about we try thinking about this calmly one more time?
"What about Mars and Minerva? What about Ur? And that girl from earlier?"
".........."
So this wasn't right.
"You're throwing away your childhood friend? You're throwing away your boyfriend??"
"Ter threw me away first, didn't he...?"
"....Kkeueung...!"
It felt like the more I tried, the more I dug myself in.
Ultimately, I said to Yuno.
"Even if the affection you're feeling right now... could be all a lie?"
"....What do you mean by that?"
Perhaps she'd intuited from the distinctly different tone that it wasn't a lie.
Yuno stared at me, asking what I meant. In response, I began to speak to Yuno──
[An Oracle has arrived.]
[Main God─Hera: My child.]
".....Hera."
──just as I was about to, the oracle came in at the perfect timing.
[Main God─Hera: The blessing of a Main God never creates something 'from nothing'.]
[Main God─Hera: Ultimately, all of it is the 'fate' you were meant to have.]
[Main God─Hera: What I did was merely help you obtain it a little faster; it is never because you were lacking or insufficient.]
[Main God─Hera: Think of Athena's child. Sometimes, rejecting and pushing away can be a wound.]
"....Yes. You're right."
Hera's words were correct.
Hera's blessing, or more precisely, the 'title' Hera bestowed upon me, had never created something from nothing.
But even so, I couldn't deny that there had been some degree of interference.
"However, I had no choice back then."
Moreover, Athena's child, my relationship with Minerva, was quite different from the one with Yuno.
"Wasn't that precisely because Athena forcefully tried to lead me?"
I had no such intention.
No, even if it wasn't entirely absent, if you asked me whether I'd truly had my heart in it, that was also not the case.
Because I was a coward.
A coward who wanted to preserve the original story as much as possible.
[Main God─Hera:...Chrono. You always show me the best of yourself.]
[Main God─Hera: So sometimes, I can understand if you choose to walk the easier path for your comfort.]
[Main God─Hera: Walking a deliberately difficult path is not a god-sent trial, but a swamp of karma you choose for yourself.]
[Main God─Hera: If you fail to overcome it, you are swallowed by your own karma and die, and even if you overcome it, you gain nothing more than self-satisfaction.]
"Is that so."
Should I say, as expected.
Hera was indeed a Greek god.
However, it wasn't that I couldn't understand her perspective at all.
Because the heroes of mythology were always exactly like that.
When Athena was about to hand a weapon to Perseus, who sought to slay the Gorgon one day,
what if Perseus had refused the weapon and tried to overcome it solely with his own strength, solely with his own wisdom?
He would probably have been deemed arrogant, struck down by divine punishment, and died on the spot.
And...
"But, I still can't do it."
[Main God─Hera: My child....]
...Well, isn't that exactly the point that is so 'human'?
Even if it's a little frustrating, even if it's hard,
despite that, there are corners where you must not back down.
Especially in human relationships, and especially when it comes to 'lovers.'
...Let's not think too poorly of it.
In the first place, until just half a year ago, I was an eternal virgin who learned love only from light novels.
To a guy who learned love only through books, you know full well how difficult love is.
So, that's why.
"Heracles (Child of Hera)."
"....Hera..?"
I said to Yuno.
"It's a title Hera bestowed upon me──apparently, affection from the opposite sex increases by 200%."
"...........!"
Her pupils froze for an instant.
She stared at me blankly, as if asking if that was true, and then, reading that it was the truth, silently bowed her head.
"Title... Hera, the Main God...."
"...Now you understand clearly, right? All the feelings you have, they could be inflated fictions."
I spoke to Yuno.
I begged her not to be deceived by her own emotions.
To ask herself more truthfully, with all her sincerity.
Whether the reason she held 'affection' for me
was because she genuinely 'loved' me,
or rather because of the 'phenomenon' caused by the 'title'
"..............."
Yuno kept her head down, fidgeting with her lips.
She probably now had a lot on her mind... but instead, I thought she might understand to some degree now.
I slowly approached Yuno.
"If you understand well now, then it's about time to come to your senses──"
"──So you're saying it's a Main God-certified harem?"
"....Huh?"
Just now, what did she say?
Before I could even distinguish whether the words I'd just heard were real,
Yuno inversely grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in tightly.
"That's right. I knew from the beginning. With Mars, and Ur Goddess, I never once thought I could be the only one loved."
"Yuno? Like I said before, all of that right now is~~~a lie──"
"──It's not a lie."
".....Hey?"
Yuno denied it confidently.
Yuno then continued to speak.
"I understood that my feelings, my affection for Chrono, have been inflated."
"But... it was only 'inflated,' not 'newly created,' right?"
"Uh... h-hey, heeey....?"
The hands that had been pulling me had at some point turned into pushing force.
The force pressing me down from above. A gesture trying to topple me backward onto the bed.
"And on top of that, if Chrono is a partner recognized by the goddess, by the Main God──then I'm not doing anything bad anymore."
"No, it's definitely still something bad!!"
Beyond bewilderment, sheer absurdity.
This was the situation I had anticipated.
To make her doubt that her feelings might have been forcibly injected by a Main God.
And once she realized that fact, the goal was for her to break free from those 'manufactured emotions,' honestly reflect on her true feelings, and conclude that all of it had been a momentary mirage-like emotion──
'───Ah, no way?'
The carnal crest, whose glow had been steadily intensifying since earlier.
The Succubus Queen's carnal crest. The effect of the carnal crest.
It heightened the target's emotions and made them charge straight ahead without looking back.
"Damn it, I got played!"
It had only been a few minutes, and it was already this bad?
Perhaps Yuno didn't offer any resistance and accepted it as it was, leading to this situation.
Moreover, seeing the pink, bewitching aura mixed into Yuno's eyes right now, this was no longer something I could ignore.
'At first, I was planning to just feed her orally and finish it....'
Since Yuno accepted it without an ounce of resistance, just feeding her orally wasn't going to cut it.
Probably, even if I did feed her, it would subside slightly like yesterday, only to swell up again and make me just raise my hands in defeat.
"Chrono───Ha-eum!"
"Eub....?!"
Taking advantage of my brief moment of judgment, Yuno pounced on me from above.
She naturally climbed on top of my body as I fell backward,
"Jjuuup...♥ Uuum.... Chyubup.... Jjeuup....♥"
and savored my lips with all her might.
Her lips pulled at mine.
Her tongue poked and prodded between my teeth, trying to push through.
Her hands, which had at some point moved downward, were diligently groping my body.
"Jjuup, pwuhiii...♥... jjok... jjoooook♥"
"You've completely lost it."
Now her usual calm brown gaze was gone, replaced with the pink eyes of a lust demon.
As if just lips weren't enough, Yuno kept up the skinship, kissing my cheeks, my forehead, my neck.
...And yet, seeing how she carefully avoided touching only the most crucial parts, was Yuno still trying her best to hold back in her own way?
'It's really something how her personality shows through in strange places.'
If she'd at least tried to force herself on me, I would have pinned her down like I would a succubus...
"I really don't know anymore."
First, I had to save the person.
Meanwhile
In Hera's temple
"...Phuwooo."
Hera, who had been anxiously fretting that things might almost go awry.
It was good that the child was kind, of course, but he was so stubborn in strange ways, really...
"Zeus, even when told no, forces his way, yet our child tries to pull out even when told yes."
If the reason were a bad one, that would be one thing,
but knowing that it was out of concern for my child, for Yuno, Hera felt both happy and frustrated, leaving her no choice but to tap her foot with ambivalent feelings the entire time.
"Still, it seems things worked out well enough...."
Even that was a miracle-like situation that came about because my child was struggling due to traces of the abyss, rather than mutual understanding.
Had it not been for that, it might have come all this way only to end somewhat ambiguously.
"...No, no."
Knowing the Chrono that she, Hera, had seen,
even after the act was done, he might still try to back out, saying 'this was all just medical treatment.'
So──there was no helping it.
"Still, it's a relief I looked ahead and prepared."
Hera rose from her seat and headed toward Hermes's temple.
"Hermes, I've come to ask a favor of you──Eung?"
The temple was strangely empty.
She hurriedly called over a child who was cleaning and asked where Hermes was.
"Hermes is currently at Hephaestus's temple!"
"....???"