187. Consequential pure love theory.
187. Consequential pure love theory.
"............."
Pocket money, a mere ten thousand won.
Rhea wandered aimlessly through the streets, feeling the texture of the crisp paper.
'A gift.....'
She had to buy a gift.
Why? Because she had to hand a gift over to Chrono.
For what reason? Because Je-ti was there.
"Yeah."
A splendid sense of purpose.
And so, she had come outside to buy a gift, but.
"......Ah?"
Rhea had never been out in the city before.
Though she had followed Mama around, that had only been walking behind Mama's back.
Rhea, a baby bird who had never gone out into the world and walked on her own two feet, felt her breath catch sharply for a moment.
"Eut.....hi-euk....?"
A feeling of being disconnected from the world.
A feeling of being isolated from the world.
A sensation of endlessly falling downward, continuously growing distant from reality.
Something she never wanted to feel again.
The dregs of a memory she might have even forgotten.
'Wh...at do I do.'
What to do. What to do.
She looked around, but no one looked back at Rhea.
Just people going on their way. She wanted to reach out a hand from her anxious heart, but even that one action felt so daunting that leaning her body against the wall was all she could do in the end.
"Euuu.....heuuuueue...!"
It was strange.
When she went with Mama.
When she was with Chrono, it hadn't been like this.
Her heart pounded and her head grew complicated.
Sure enough, it was impossible. There was no way someone like her could do anything.
With a feeling she absolutely could not endure, Rhea threw her body along the 'connection'.
─Poeung!
"Ouch...!"
The line connected to herself.
None other than the contractual line connected to Chrono, to her master.
She had failed to land properly because she hurried over in her urgent heart, but it was fine anyway.
"Huaaaa....."
At least compared to the streets where she was pushed around with nowhere to go.
The quiet, empty room with no one around was far more comfortable.
"..........."
Herself gradually stabilizing.
Rhea returned to her expressionless face and got up from her spot.
Chrono was....
─Tak...tak....tak....tak....
"....That's nice."
".........."
Inside the dark room.
A figure having his own time while wearing a headset.
Rhea approached Chrono silently without a sound──or tried to, then stopped right in front of his nose.
'.....A woman.'
A completely naked woman.
Together with a man. Mating. Coupling. Sexual desire. Relieving carnal lust.
Only then realizing the identity of the subtle sounds that had been spreading throughout the room, Rhea...
"............."
Didn't react all that strongly.
Just a reaction that seemed to say, 'that could happen.'
Quietly watching the screen Chrono had pulled up from behind his back, Rhea racked her brain.
'A present. Tribute. A bribe.'
A present was something a subordinate offered to a superior.
A bribe to ask to be looked upon favorably.
And the bribe that would buy Chrono's affection was──Sure enough, a 'woman', perhaps.
If that weren't the case, why was he relieving his lust by looking at other women, even when women were strewn all around him, and even though they were all women he held in his arms?
"....Tch."
Was he trash?
Her brow furrowed, but what could be done.
Since she had to give him a present anyway, Rhea looked at the ten thousand won in her hand and thought.
'Material goods. Value. A woman.'
If so....could she just buy one?
Rhea lightly drew her conclusion.
She would buy a woman and offer her to Chrono as a bribe.
Even though she had thought of it herself, the plan was so utterly perfect she was close to admiring herself.
"Yeah."
She had decided.
She would buy a woman for Chrono.
Rhea immediately left her spot and scoured the streets for a place where she might buy a woman.
And then,
"Oooh....oooooh──!!!"
She ended up stopping dead in front of a street-side traffic light and turning back.
For now, it seemed like she needed to start step by step.
*****************
"................"
Going outside alone was frightening.
It was immensely shameful, embarrassing, and truly an absurd thing, but.
Looking at herself right now, the one who possessed a soul fit only for trash that had been culled from the world was none other than me.
A being culled from the world.
A being who found solace in simply holing up alone in the corner of a room.
How could she have been perfectly fine until now with a soul like this?
The reason was simple.
When she was at the hospital, by Chrono's side.
When she was in the Ares Guild, by Mama's side.
Even when Mama wasn't there, she mostly just stayed quietly inside her room, so there was no way she could have known.
Ultimately, faced with this unexpected weakness that appeared out of nowhere, Rhea agonized and agonized again.
"Uuuum....."
Could she overcome it?
No, the very word 'overcome' was strange in the first place.
Soon I was born perfectly flawless, so isn't forcibly changing that a contradiction in itself?
Just as moss blooming in the shade has that place as its rightful spot.
Soon, beings born have a 'birth-origin' from which they were born, and forcibly changing that becomes equivalent to saying one will defy the 'fate' given to them.
To defy fate.
That is an existence that must never be.
As such, Rhea decided to 'supplement' her weakness in another direction rather than overcome it.
...In truth, it was simply because overcoming it was frightening.
"Yeah....!"
Rhea's capable, erudite, all-piercing wisdom derived the answer.
If she couldn't do it herself, she simply had to borrow someone else's power.
And among those she knew, the 'collaborator' who could cooperate with her was...
"......."
"..Rhea?"
Mai. Pegasus.
Perhaps she would be suitable.
Rhea slowly approached Mai and recommended that she cooperate with her.
"Sister."
"Ah, wait."
"......?"
No, she tried to recommend it.
But that moment she approached.
The moment Rhea called her “Sister,” Mai grabbed her nose and threw her head back.
"To think she could inflict internal damage on Mai, who has achieved grand mastery of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art...! Sure enough, Rhea, you possess the qualities of the Heavenly Demon!"
"..........."
It felt like she had come to the wrong place somehow.
A slightly ominous feeling arose, but she continued for now.
Minerva was far too new an acquaintance to ask, asking Mama was out of the question, and asking Chrono——in the first place, did it even make sense to drag the very person involved into preparing a bribe for him?
So ultimately, after going round and round, the only being she could rely on was just this one horse in front of her eyes.
'Pathetic.'
A more hopeless personal network than she had thought.
Well, it was only natural for the lofty and noble to be alone.
But since I was no longer lofty and noble now, it should be fine... or so she thought.
"......?"
What was this.
Something was strange.
Something kept surfacing, as if it would come to mind but wouldn't, continuously clashing inside her.
Just as she was about to ponder what that something's identity might be.
"Rhea."
"───Geunyeut...!"
Mai pulled Rhea into her embrace.
Just hugged her with all her might.
Thanks to that, Rhea got buried between Mai's breasts.
"Rhea Rhea Rhea Rhea Rhea Rhea, Rhea-taaaaaaaaaaaan!!!"
"──Gyaaaaaaaaaak!!!"
So annoying! What was with this woman!
When she pushed Mai away with both hands, Mai covered the corners of her mouth with both hands and sobbed.
"Pushing me away....so mean!"
"............"
Was that a bit too harsh?
No matter what, she should have said something first, was forcibly pushing her away a bit wrong?
Just as a slightly strange sense of guilt was about to well up.
"But, that’s Rhea’s charm! I’m very happy! About three somersaults’ worth!"
"............"
She was nuts. This woman was seriously nuts.
Why was she never like this next to Chrono or Minerva, but acted like this in front of her?
Mai sneakily pulled Rhea back into her arms, stroked her head again, and asked.
"So, why did you come to me? Did you perhaps want to learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?"
"............"
Should she run away?
No, no.
Not after she had come this far.
If she got her head petted with all that effort and went back empty-handed, nothing could be more futile than that.
"....Help me."
Rhea told Mai her story.
She had tried to go outside but couldn't because there were too many people.
So she needed someone to go with her.
Even revealing her own shameful flaws like that, Rhea earnestly pleaded with all her heart.
"Cute."
"....?"
"Rhea, how about a yuri lily flower with me?"
"───!!!"
She had almost genuinely been startled half to death.
Of course, Mai immediately backed off calling it a joke, so no major incident occurred, but...
"Hm hm. Is it still too early? Then, Sure enough, the way is to slowly seep in. Put another way, the lily flower is beyond the Garden of Roses!"
...If she had meekly accepted, a small flower petal or two might have fallen.
At least Mai normally restrained herself because Chrono was around, but the fact that Mai held 'favorable feelings' toward her little sister in 'various senses' and 'multifaceted ways' was becoming clearly apparent.
"Therefore, Mai shall take responsibility for Rhea's safety!"
"..........."
Ultimately, well.
She had gotten her cooperation, so it was good, but.
"If I keep stacking affinity like this, the 'Couple Parfait' event will be unlocked. For that time, I endure for now!"
"........Uuu...!"
Rhea had truly wondered how on earth a horse named Pegasus, an incredibly pure being, had become corrupted into this state.
'How could a noble creature created through noble blood...!'
It was probably something she would never know in her whole life.
The fact that within one week of being born she had turned on porn,
learned practical experience within one month,
had even broken through to a threesome within two months,
and within three months had even experienced the position of an NTR Woman——
truly, she was a talented prodigy among prodigies come to fruition.
...
..
.
'Safety' had been secured.
Then what remained was the method of purchasing the 'gift'.
"A method to buy a woman?"
And in that process, once again, Mai provided immense contributions.
"A method to buy a woman... what are you looking for?"
From prostitution to human trafficking.
How far had she inquired?
".....A slave."
"A slave, huh."
What suited that sex-crazed beast was probably a sex slave, indeed.
To this, Mai worried it over for a bit and answered Rhea's words.
"What about becoming the sex slave yourself?"
"..........?"
Me?
Me? For that guy's?
Rhea quietly looked at her own body.
Soon after, she looked at Mai in front of her.
"....Sorry. I’m sorry."
".........."
"I was wrong...."
".............."
What was this.
Suddenly she received an apology.
And for some reason, her mood was subtly getting worse and worse.
Rhea tapped Mai's side lightly to tell her to cough up a proper answer, quickly.
"Eut...! That action, past Mai used to do it, so it's embarrassing! So this is how Big Brother felt....."
A bizarre trip down memory lane.
Following that, Mai answered honestly.
"Unless it's an illegal route, buying a woman is impossible. Besides, Big Brother super hates it unless someone says they'll voluntarily become his slave, you know?"
"............"
Where in the whole wide world would there be a person who voluntarily becomes a slave?
So even going round and round, the only words that came out were that it was impossible.
At that, she grew disheartened, and Mai, in her own way offering consolation, patted Rhea's back and said.
"Still, there's nothing in the world money can't buy. Maybe you could buy just one night?"
".....How much?"
Get an estimate first.
To this, Mai said.
"Euum──around one million won maybe?"
"One million...won...?"
Right now, all she held was at best only ten thousand won.
Did that mean she had to have one hundred times that to buy a woman?
'Was the value of females in this country truly this high!'
Wasn't a woman something you could buy for a mere three loaves of bread?
This country was well and truly seriously insane.
Just as her breath choked up at the crumbling plan──Rhea clenched her fist tight again and stood up.
"No...problem."
Although an error had arisen in the plan due to an imbalance of information, this too was merely a meaningless struggle before the goddess.
If she had no money, she simply had to earn money, wasn't that right? And if a woman's one night was valued this highly like this──
'──I simply had to sell my night.'
A conclusion derived that might make some blacksmith out there clutch the back of their neck and keel over if they heard it.
In the midst of it, the things she had set up as taboos all evaded censorship thanks to the 'Result-Oriented Pure Love Theory'.
A woman who sold her body solely to buy a present for Chrono.
Result-Oriented Pure Love Theory.
However, process-wise, it was NTR.
"The goddess is...perfect, after all....!"
In a sense.
It was a situation that well highlighted that concept of 'birth-origin' Rhea had spoken of.