147. The Wife's Role
147. The Wife's Role
After the misunderstanding—or rather, the non-misunderstanding—with Mars was resolved,
I sat back down on the bed and pondered what I needed to do next.
'...Should I just pull Minerva out separately?'
Then I could file for a name change and even create a new family register.
The moment I nodded at this somewhat novel and fresh idea, I denied it within myself.
'But how the hell would I do that?'
I mean, really.
Easy to say, but I had no clue how to pull it off.
Extracting her was plausible by stopping time, but what about the family register?
Unless the Athena Guild Master was an idiot, he would obviously hunt for Minerva, and if we kept evading him to hide her, we'd inevitably have to conceal Minerva's very existence.
And that, for Minerva, was the same as dropping out of school.
"This won't work either, huh..."
Ultimately, the situation circled right back to square one.
As I got up and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, Mars approached me and asked,
"Why the long face?"
"...Can't you see that? Minerva got dragged off."
"Huh? That's because she flipped out thinking you were gone, right? If you just show up in front of her, won't the whole thing be over?"
"Is it that easy...?"
Just as Mars said, appearing before Minerva might make it look over on the surface.
But I had no idea what kind of underhanded schemes would target Minerva now that her weak point had already been seized, and later, it might cause disruptions in various events, or large-scale events like the Abyss invasion.
Counting them one by one, it was a hopeless situation.
I wanted to resolve things amicably, without any major incident, but Minerva had already blown the matter out of proportion, so I couldn't see any answer at all.
"What the hell do I do..."
Sigh after sigh kept escaping.
And watching me, Mars spoke.
"Why are you agonizing like an idiot by yourself, why don't you tell me? My family's powerful, we can handle most things!"
"...Do you take some kind of payment in return for handling it?"
"You come into our family as a son-in-law."
".........."
I hate that.
I couldn't say that outright, so I let out a light sigh and changed the subject.
"To roughly sum up the situation──"
I explained to Mars the situation Minerva was in.
Rather than simply panicking because I disappeared, she seemed to have made a huge mistaken assumption because the Athena Guild had been badmouthing me several times.
".....Is that so?"
After hearing all the details and the situation, Mars said,
"So those bastards treated you like trash?"
"Huh?"
Before I knew it, she was hoisting the greatsword that had been leaning against the wall onto her shoulder.
A flickering red aura. Spewing intensity as if she might explode at any moment, Mars said,
"Hang on, I'm going to pay a visit to the Athena Guild."
"Hey, hey hey.... Hey!"
She said she'd pay a visit, but it was obvious she wasn't just going for a visit.
I hurriedly tried to stop Mars and remove the sword from her hand.
"Let go."
"I won't."
"Fucking let go, I said!"
"If I let go, you're gonna go smash up the Athena Guild!"
"Then you fucker, how the hell can I stay still when you got treated like that!"
"I'm staying still, so why can't you stay still!"
"You fucking asshole!"
"Uwaaagh?!!"
Instead of letting go of the sword, Mars grabbed my hand that was trying to pry the sword away, lifted me, and slammed me flat on the floor.
In a single moment, I was mounted. Sitting atop my pinned body, Mars raged furiously and shouted.
"You're a goddamn problem too, you retard! When people treat you like a retard, you gotta get angry or bash their skulls in, not wander around grinning like a goddamn moron while taking hits??"
"Well... it's like established cliques within the guild, right?"
"You, you stupid fucking bastard...!"
You wimp...
You pathetic loser idiot...!
As if frustrated, Mars thumped her own chest with her hand, then pulled me up and looked me in the face.
"Hey... you pathetic loser shit. What do you think I'd do if I got hit and walked around somewhere?"
"I don't think that would ever happen..."
"Fuck, won't you answer straight?"
"...I'd be pissed, right?"
"And?"
"And....."
Probably
No, definitely
"I'd trample the bastards who bullied you."
"Right?"
That feeling you're having right now
Is it exactly the same feeling I'm having right now?
"So don't stop me. I'm gonna go sort the trash that treated you like garbage."
"And what if that causes harm to Minerva too?"
".....Chrono. What the hell is wrong with you? Are you sick somewhere?"
"???"
Mars, who had been bristling with anger, looked at me with worried eyes.
"No, why did this bastard become such a retard? You were always a retard, but you weren't this much of a retard..."
"...Will you stop throwing 'retard retard' in someone's face?"
"Fuck, then you straighten yourself out and do it right!"
"Ah, fuck!"
My shoulder! My shoulderrr!!
Your grip strength is superhuman, if you squeeze my shoulder hard, it'll shatter!
Not figuratively, but physically!
Eventually, after struggling half-heartedly and escaping Mars's grip, Mars let out a deep sigh and leaned her forehead against the sword's hilt.
"Did something seriously happen to you while I was gone?"
"...Not really."
"Fuck."
Mars lifted her head and looked me over.
"You... listen up straight. This isn't an exaggeration, I'm not bullshitting you, this is really my genuine heartfelt words."
Her voice was uncharacteristically serious.
"You know... when did I fall for you?"
"What...?"
After that, Mars's confession continued.
"The reason I got interested in you was, how do I put it, because I got wrecked sparring with you on the first day, but it's not like I immediately liked you or anything. But fuck, you know why I like you, why I love you, you bastard?"
"............"
Mars spoke.
"During our reassignment exam, to be blunt, I almost fucking died, you know?"
"Most of the new cadets at the academy all swarmed to catch and kill me, fuck...."
"It was really hopeless, just suffocating, and on top of that, my body hurt like hell, I seriously thought I was going to die...!"
That moment
At that moment when I wanted to give up on everything
"You bastard... you, thanks to you, I barely managed to keep going."
"Nursing me all day, feeding me, standing night watch, I've never seen a sucker that much of a sucker in this world..."
Even just that, I can never forget it
Even now, just thinking about it makes my heart pound like crazy
"...That morning, when all those guys stormed in saying they'd catch and kill me."
The moment everyone turned into an enemy
Probably, for wise people, at least for people with what's called 'common sense'
It would have been right to abandon Mars right then and there and run away.
"That time, I still remember it."
But on that day
This retard, this sucker idiot pathetic bastard...
[I'd been prepared from the moment I started treating you.]
"A bastard who turned everyone into an enemy just to save me alone."
Mars remembered.
Mars recalled.
Mars, the person named 'Chrono' whom Mars knew, was....
"The 'man' I fell for, you know...."
Consistently insufferable
Dizzily a sucker
Despite being a wimp, when he had to, he definitely acted──
"──He's a man who knows how to protect his woman even if the whole world turns against him, you bastard!!!"
"!!....."
That was the Chrono Mars had seen.
The true form of the man she fell for, the man she loved.
...But what about the current Chrono?
"You worried about the Athena Guild? Isn't Minerva causing that whole scene at the broadcast station because she can't see you, and you're not worried about her?"
"...But..."
"Scared to deal with the aftermath? Afraid you can't handle the responsibility?"
"..........."
The reliable male (man) I saw that day had gone somewhere
And all that remained now was a coward who couldn't settle anything, just agonizing.
"...Sometime ago, Papa, my daddy, said."
The more a man has
The more he wants to protect
The more he shrinks back, turning into a coward.
Because he doesn't want to lose what he has
Because he wants to keep protecting what he wants to protect
And so, at times like that, a 'wife' is necessary.
"Chrono. Listen carefully to what I'm saying now."
The role of a wife.
The work a wife must do.
That is exactly──
"If I were Minerva, I would want the Athena Guild to be destroyed."
".....What..?"
—was to hold the center.
"Because it's the guild that hurt you. Because it's the guild that screwed you over. She probably pulled that stunt because she hates her own guild too."
"No, but still... it's the guild she was born into."
"Even if it were me, if our people tormented you, I'd kill them right then and there."
"............"
—was to comfort him in moments of wavering.
"If it's hard to deal with the aftermath, don't deal with it."
"Still..."
"Are complete strangers more important, or the female in your arms?"
"..........."
Chrono hung his head low.
His eyes looked full of thought.
[Mars, you see, men... sometimes grow so weak they can't help it.]
[At times like that, what should our Mars do?]
[Uhhh.....]
Long ago, a story her father had told her.
At that time, she had brushed it off wondering when she'd ever use it, but
"Even if things go wrong, don't worry."
".....?"
Mars grinned and said,
"Because then I'll turn you into a full-time househusband."
[I'll always be by your side, Mars!]
".....Geez."
[That's right, well done, our daughter!]
A different voice.
A different person.
But wearing the same expression.
"You sure have a filthy mouth."
The light returned to his once shaken and clouded eyes.
His bleary gaze sharpened again, and a supremely relaxed smile bloomed on his lips.
"Still... yeah. You're right."
The original story was already blown apart from the start,
and I had made up my mind to take responsibility for Minerva.
If so, what was the best thing I could do right now?
"I'm used to absurdity and things going wrong, but"
Chrono slowly rose from his seat and said,
"I can't stand seeing my woman suffer!"
"Kyah...!"
The momentum completely reversed.
Mars was thrilled that the Chrono she fell for had finally returned, wetting her inner thighs in delight.
On a side note,
that evening
"Minerva, my daughter, where is she?"
"We have placed her in the innermost hospital room. Guild Master."
The Athena Guild Master followed the doctor's guidance and entered the hospital room.
A private room. The very last room at the end.
The door was structured to open from the outside, and there was no window, so it should have been impossible to come out from the inside── but...
"...The door is broken?"
"Huh? No... why is it...?"
The door handle was half shattered.
They hurriedly opened the door and went inside, but no trace of anyone could be seen within.
"I do not see my daughter. Did you perhaps come to the wrong room?"
"...I will find out immediately!"
The doctor hastily checked the CCTV, trying to find traces of Minerva.
"Uh... uhhh...?"
But in reality, nothing was visible.
"Have you found where my daughter is?"
"...That is... well, you see..."
The doctor instantly sensed that he was fucked.