197. A hero who won't take what's given.
197. A hero who won't take what's given.
What was 'time'?
The renowned physicist Einstein said that time was, in essence, relative.
A thing that could be stretched or shrunk by gravity, all depending on perspective.
And so, the most effective method for perceiving this 'time' was──
"Our Hero, seems you've shaken your body a bit before?"
"What is this nonsense...?"
──playing around, apparently.
I didn't really know, but they told me to just play along.
Thanks to that, I'd been dragged to a club and was constantly hitting clumsy waves, trying to match the rhythm with Hestia.
Honestly, I had no idea how this was supposed to be helpful...
"Hero, what time is it now?"
"Uh.... about 8:20...?"
Hestia suddenly asked for the time.
"Wrong! It's 9 o'clock!"
"......Nghhh..."
This was supposedly the training for me to become conscious of 'time.'
Creating my own 'absolute time' that remained constant no matter the situation.
The gist of it was that I had to create my own 'personal clock,' or so they said.
"Hero, if we go on like this, you'll never get a grasp on 'time'! You need to focus more and feel the 'time'!"
"...Says the person who's shoving her butt at me right now?"
She kept telling me to focus, but ever since a while ago, Hestia had been subtly touching me with her butt or her shoulder.
Because of that, my concentration kept breaking and I was dying of confusion, but Hestia, as if she was having the time of her life, poked my chest with her elbow.
"Even in a situation like this, your 'clock' must remain unchanged."
If your 'clock' changed just from a little bit of physical contact, then how unstable and unreliable a clock would that be?
By nature, a clock should perform its duty even when splashed with water or struck by lightning.
Arguing that it needed to have durability practically on par with a G-Shock watch, Hestia pressured me from various angles and perspectives.
"Did you think ascending to the status of a god would be easy? Now, now, an extra 30 minutes as punishment!"
"Urgh.... Nghhhhh....!"
The wave hell began again.
Because, you know, it was touching. It was touching, I told you!
No, wasn't she doing it on purpose?
'...Really, should I just.'
Should I just act crazy and ram right into her?
Hestia herself wasn't averse to it in the first place.
If anything, the vibe was that she'd welcome it, not refuse it at all.
"Auu... Aaauuu....!"
What on earth was I supposed to do, really.
My hips kept pulling further and further back, and my posture just got more and more awkward.
As if she knew everything, Hestia completely leaned her body against my chest and pressed herself close.
"Hero... what time is it now?"
"...9:17."
"Wrong. It's 9:24. But you were quite close this time?"
"........."
Gently, she pressed herself against me.
A gap filled without the slightest opening.
Even when I wanted to step back, I had already hit the wall.
"....Hero. I know where the secret room here is."
Hestia was subtly tempting me.
For a moment, my heart surged up, but I forcibly pressed it down and said,
"Get off me. I'm suffocating."
"...You do more than just make out with the youngest or Daddy, but you keep acting like this with me."
I could understand dodging it once or twice, but if it kept going on, it actually hurt my feelings a bit too....
"Ahh... what should I do? Should I just not give you a blessing today?"
"....Hestia."
No matter what, wasn't this acting way too petty?
My eyes inadvertently turned into a look of contempt, but Hestia didn't flinch.
"I've lived as a virgin goddess for dozens of centuries. Do you understand that feeling, Hero?"
It was a virginity that she could never throw away for eternity.
But it became possible, even if limited, to take this chance to cast off her virginity and become a 'woman.'
If so, was there any reason to hold back? Any need to hold back?
"How about... I just sleep with the black one behind you tonight?"
"......Oh god.... Nghhhhh....!"
Even if she was threatening me, how could she threaten me with her own virginity, of all things!
I bowed my head and let out a deep sigh.
"Do you want to do it with someone whose heart isn't in it, Hestia?"
"They say that when bodies match, hearts naturally match as well."
"That's a very Greek way of thinking."
"It's because I've only guarded the hearth for dozens of centuries."
See, that's why I told her not to give me reasons that are weirdly convincing.
I end up being swayed without even realizing it.
What's not right is not right, and what's right is right.
Somehow, the more I listened to Hestia's words, the more the thought 'Could it be...?' popped into my head on its own.
"Even so.... yeah, alright. Our Hero has a super inconvenient personality, so I’ll yield to you as your older sister, fitting that personality!"
"Huh? That's───mmph...?!"
In an instant, my lips were covered by something.
Something hot burrowed into my mouth.
"Mmph.... chup... eup, uueup..?!"
Hestia went deep into my mouth and completely blocked my throat.
I tried to breathe through my nose, but I couldn't stop the liquid that kept flowing into my mouth.
Ultimately, I had no choice but to swallow it down my throat, and only then did Ur pull her body back.
"Phew.... that's a really deep flavor, isn't it?"
"....Excuse me?"
"I thought you'd taste extremely bland from the way you act, but tasting it, I got a deep flavor mixed with all sorts of women."
".........."
She figured all that out just from one kiss?
What is that, what the hell is that. Does some kind of Greek saliva sommelier actually exist? Hey!
"Anyway, I'll give you a 'pretext,' Hero."
Within my dazed mind.
Hestia pressed my forehead firmly and spoke.
"Me? I find the current Hero quite to my taste?"
"....Eeek.."
Even when she suddenly said something like that.
It just sounded like pure bullshit to me.
"At least compared to our youngest... I mean, Ter, the favorability is way higher!"
"...Is that so."
What could I say.
As I peeled my back off the wall and tried to 'freeze' the blessing Hestia had passed on, Hestia puffed up her cheeks and said to me.
"I'm saying this sincerely in my own way, I am, and you’re still going to act like that?"
"You say it's sincere."
But from everything I could see, she was acting like a fucking bitch, so how could I find any sincerity in that?
They say there's not a single one among those preaching premarital chastity who actually keeps it. When her actions were practically slutty in and of themselves, what was I supposed to believe in there?
I shook my head side to side and prepared to return home.
It wasn't midnight yet, but I wanted to sleep even just a little bit.
As far as I was concerned, I had pulled two all-nighters in a row, right?
I wasn't just ordinarily tired— that was an understatement.
"Tomorrow... I mean, see you later today."
I gave Hestia a farewell and tried to leave.
"............."
"...What is it?"
But Hestia's gaze was a little sharp.
A look that said if I went back like this, things might get a bit annoying.
Hestia stared at me blankly, then nodded her head.
"So that's why everyone found you so frustrating, huh?"
"Eh?"
"Because I think I finally get our Hero's taste now."
"....???"
Tap, tap, Hestia walked towards me.
And she grabbed my hand with both of hers and whispered.
"I love you, Chrono."
"!,....No....um...."
Not a bouncy, chirpy voice,
but a slightly lower voice that tickled the eardrums.
"I've always been bound by duty and destiny, but during the time I spent with you, I was truly free."
"That... nghhhh.....!"
The distance closed in once more.
Our chests pressed together. The pounding sound of heartbeats. I couldn't tell if it was mine or Hestia's.
"All the moments, all the times I've been with you, are like gifts to me."
Under the club's opaque lighting.
Hestia's slightly flushed smile.
"So,"
Soon, she came up to my ear and whispered.
"I keep ending up wanting to have your child."
".....Good lord."
This feeling of crashing hard right at the end.
This was definitely a confession from a Greek main goddess.
******************
When I returned home, the time was around 10 o'clock.
I finally lay down on the bed and evened out my breathing.
"I'm dying...."
This was only the second loop, and with just this much.
Just what kind of mental fortitude did the protagonists of regression stories have to endure regressions?
'If there's one slightly better point.'
I could definitely feel my growth.
Whether it was because of Hestia's blessing, or because of that training that was absurd no matter how I looked at it.
My bodily senses were gradually coming alive to the point I could actually feel it, so it was hard for me to refuse even if I wanted to.
"They say crisis and opportunity are a hair's breadth apart..."
Like it or not, it was true that I could now understand my state far more precisely thanks to this regression.
On top of that, Hestia was also helping me earnestly, so my training was accelerating.
Probably, if I kept training like this, it wouldn't just be a dream to recover my original body before summer vacation ended.
And then, later on, I would perfectly master 'time' and break out of this world.
"After ending the regression...."
First, I had to catch Rhea.
No matter how I looked at her, that kid's character was the spitting image of Cronus.
Hestia said the probability of that was very low, but just because it was low didn't mean it was nonexistent, right?
'Close to impossible' and 'impossible' were distinctly different meanings, after all.
"....Haaaaah."
Ultimately, all of this, all of that, was only possible once I grew stronger.
So for now, I should sleep. It was right to sleep, even if briefly, and then plan things after.
I immediately spread the blankets and lay down on the bed.
"Niiice....."
The shitty and filthy situation was still the same.
But even in the midst of it, the bed was incredibly cozy.
As a side note.
"Actually... there's no need to go this far."
Hestia said.
Even if I didn't do all this crap, the 'regression' would probably lift on its own as time passed.
"Because 'this world' itself, fundamentally, is a 'limited-term' thing."
As mentioned before, this world was created very 'efficiently.'
But a being like a god was very far removed from such 'efficiency.'
Its very existence was already 'efficiency'— so why would it need to seek out 'efficiency'?
Such paltry things were what humans sought; gods had no need for them.
Therefore, from the very moment it pursued 'efficiency,' it was already clear— this world was on a 'time limit' and a 'deadline.'
"And if my blessing is added on top of that, that time will get shorter and shorter."
When Chrono's power became perfect, control over 'time' would naturally transfer over to him.
If a nominal owner was diligently studying to become the real owner again, how could you possibly stop him?
At best, you'd only manage to delay things.
So Ultimately, the result of escaping this world was as good as already confirmed.
However,
the reason she was still moving around this much,
"Now then... how could I manage to take down our Hero...?"
Was to shed her virginity and have a baby.
Even though it would all vanish once the regression ended, if she could receive these memories back from Chrono afterwards, she was confident she could live as a fire keeper for at least 10 centuries or so.
Put another way, the grudge of an involuntary old maid was this deep and grim.