208. Do as you like.
208. Do as you like.
"I love you."
"..........."
Cronus's eyes spoke.
They said that every word spoken so far was 'truth' and 'sincerity.'
'....Huh?'
But as for me, I couldn't understand it, nor could I even begin to accept it.
Was there any element that could make Hestia feel affection for me?
'There isn't.'
No matter how much I thought about it, there was none.
Nothing came to mind, no matter which way I looked at it.
There was no element for Hestia to feel affection for me, no reasons I could accept that came to min—no, that was wrong.
"Come to think of it..."
Regression. It might have been because of the regression.
[Perhaps... it's because of the 'regression.' I think.]
Hestia's setting was that of an utter slut, completely different inside and out.
A goddess who was only hiding her true nature to accomplish the mission she was given.
That kind of goddess, within the 'freedom' of 'regression', was able to throw off her mission and move as she truly wished, however she wanted, for the first time.
That must have been a joy she couldn't trade for anything.
And if you added the 'gratitude' and 'thankfulness' toward me for creating this situation, and above all, the 'merit' that she could continue to 'inherit memories' through me?
"....Hmm."
Right.
Only now did I find it acceptable.
Hestia wasn't in love with me.
She was 'mistaken' that she was 'in love' with me.
It probably wasn't intentional.
Ultimately, if a situation was given, conditions were given, and only their own thoughts were inherited like Adam and Eve?
The only member of the opposite sex visible around was just me, one. A limited, albeit unleashed, freedom. Then the resulting outcome was truly one and only.
"Excuse me─"
"─I know. You already have someone you love, right?"
"............"
Hestia approached me with a fresh smile.
"Don't worry. I'm, in my own way, the eldest daughter of our household. I'm used to receiving nothing and only ever giving!"
"...That's not it."
"Huh?"
I chose my words for a moment.
How should I speak so that Hestia could accept it?
After agonizing and agonizing, I decided to give Hestia one analogy.
"Recently, I acted a bit sensitive toward Hestia, didn't I?"
"Uh.... yeah. That's right?"
The analogy was, of course, about me.
"Actually, part of it was because I knew Hestia’s inner thoughts, but there was another reason too."
"If it's another reason... you dislike women who are forward after all?"
"No. If it's a woman who's only forward with me, I'd rather like it.... I mean, no."
The pace was being pulled in a strange direction.
I gave a small, dry cough and continued speaking.
"To be honest, it wasn't that I wasn't swayed by you. You're pretty. You treat me sincerely. When you let me loose, you let me loose too. That really hit home for me."
"Ah.....!"
A delighted Hestia.
Following that, I spoke.
"But... it turned out that wasn't really true."
"Huh?"
I slowly exhaled.
"I was lonely. It was hard too. And there was no promise of when I could get out."
"Still, I endured it and endured it with the sole thought that I had to get out quickly, but it was hard after all."
"I had gotten exhausted without even realizing it."
"...Chrono?"
Hestia might have sensed it instinctively.
That the words to follow were by no means the answer she was hoping for.
Despite that, I conveyed it to Hestia.
"I met Ur."
".........."
A few loops worth.
Loops that wouldn't be in Hestia's memory.
As a result of spending time with Ur for a few loops and stabilizing my mind.
"When I met Hestia again, I didn't feel anything at all."
".....Is that so?"
Her voice dropped in an instant.
I gave a sort of excuse that wasn't really an excuse.
"I'm not denying Hestia. It's just... I thought that the feelings Hestia is having might have arisen because there was no other 'substitute' or 'candidate'."
"...........Hic..!"
"So, don't say you love someone like me who won't even return the answer, and find someone who will only look at Hestia...
....Uh, uh...?"
"Hic....!"
Tears were falling.
Hestia suddenly started shedding tears.
I hurriedly pulled out a tissue and handed it to Hestia.
"Um... Hestia?"
"Shut up."
"Huh?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, I said!"
No, why is she suddenly like this.
She wasn't some flame-eyed girl who liked melon bread either.
Hestia abruptly snatched the tissue, blew her nose loudly once, and then shouted with all her might.
"I said I love you!"
"Chrono just has to receive it!"
"But... but why...!"
A voice that grew increasingly choked.
She tried to get angry with all her might, but because emotions greater than that surged up.
"Am I... not allowed to love someone either...?"
"............."
That's
W-well... so....
Should I say there's 'room' for that feeling of 'love' to be a 'mistake.'
Should I say that if later on, she turned around and said, 'Yes, I don't think this is love,' it would be without an answer anyway, so it's better to shake it off in advance.
"I said it's okay if you don't love me back?"
"Chrono just has to receive it. You just have to use me however you like."
"Just what do you think about yourself?"
A gradually rising intensity.
Lowered self-esteem.
And the one sentence that capped it all off.
"It's something that would end easily if you just thought of me as a woman who's easy to use, you know!"
"............"
A woman who's easy to use, she said.
Come to think of it, Hestia's story could be summarized with that single phrase.
She could be used as a source of money.
She could be used as an outlet for sexual desire.
She could be used for stat or skill grinding.
When taking the evil route, she could even be used as a tool for biological experiments.
A woman easy to use.
One single sentence that represented Hestia.
So, and therefore, all the more.
"Would you... be okay with that?"
"!........."
I had to say it.
"A love that gets no reciprocation is just torture, you know."
Is a love that only gives truly happy?
Since I was not a woman, I couldn't presume to say anything, but I felt like I at least knew that it probably wasn't.
And
"No. It's not like that."
Hestia spoke.
"Because what's sadder than not being able to receive anything, is when you can't give anything at all."
"............"
I couldn't understand.
I couldn't understand it.
It was far too distant from the values of the 'Greek Main Gods' I had observed up until now, at the very least.
"Thinking about that, I'm glad Chrono is the Hero. Because if you're a Hero, no matter what or which thing I give you, it's all permitted."
"......Ah."
Once again, acceptance clicked into place.
Hero. A hero recognized by Hera.
And within this game, 'Hero' signified the 'Protagonist' who would fight against the coming 'calamity.'
So, all the more, Hestia might have welcomed my approach.
Because if it was with me, there would be no problem in giving her heart as much as she wanted.
Ultimately, it circled back to there being no substitute...
"Honestl... I mean, what about Jupiter?"
Isn't there still that one substitute?
At my question, Hestia furrowed her brow.
"Ter is out of the question. He might not be if there were absolutely no other options...."
"....Oh."
She openly hates him.
Come to think of it, it was like that in the original story too.
The Hestia route only opened after shaking off all sorts of NTR events.
If it turned out that was about eliminating all substitutes besides herself, it wasn't something I couldn't understand.
"".............""
Anyway, the situation had taken a strange turn.
At first it was full of a wedding vibe, then later it was love and war, and now it had come to complaints about family.
Everything got jumbled together, and Ultimately, it became an atmosphere where you couldn't tell what was what.
"So... your answer?"
"Huh?"
"Are you going to accept it? Or not?"
"That is, well...."
Wouldn't it be morally right to refuse?
No matter how much she appealed telling me to treat her like a woman easy to use, my conscience pricked me a bit to just go for it like that.
I was already going around chasing women like counting fingers, but even a guy like me had a conscience.
...Although all the angular parts had probably been worn round and become almost a perfect circle, anyway.
"Sure enough, I─"
"─If Chrono doesn't accept it."
Before the words could even finish, Hestia spoke.
"I'll attack you while Chrono is sleeping."
"Huk."
"And I'll tell the Main Gods. That Chrono forced himself on me."
"Uh....."
"You'll probably receive divine punishment, right? No matter how much of a Hero you are, you're still a novice, and even if I've stepped down from my position, I am a former 12 Olympians."
"............"
So in conclusion, it was just a threat from behind.
As I looked at Hestia with coldly narrowed eyes, Hestia instead raised her voice and shouted.
"So are you going to accept it, or not?! For your information, it's not easy to find a pushover like this anywhere?!!"
"It shows."
"Ugh....! Uu....."
A spectacle of saying something herself and getting hurt by it herself.
Anyway, fine. To hell with the flowery language.
"Do as you please."
"....Huh?"
"It's good for me if I gain one useful pushover."
".........."
"......?"
Was that a bit too harsh?
Hestia, dumbfounded by my words.
And soon, when she came to her senses─
"──Kyaaaaaaaah!!!"
"Whoa?!"
Charge forward.
Hestia ran toward me and hugged me with all her might.
Naturally falling backward and catching Hestia, she completely grabbed my face and buried it into her chest.
"Chrono! Chrono....♡ Fufu♡ Huuup, huuuuu....!!"
"Mph?! Mmph, mmph!!"
Hestia, writhing and letting out strange laughs.
Thanks to that, I, who was crushed underneath, tasted death separately───Ah, Hestia's chest was the soft kind?
".....Huh?"
"..........."
"Fufu.....♡"
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"
Now now.
Not that.
Don't shake your pelvis while making strange laughing sounds.
"I thought you had no thoughts at all.... Sure enough, Chrono is a man too, huh?"
"Mmph.... Mmph!"
No.
This wasn't infidelity or anything, it was just a natural physiological phenom──Hik?!
"Mm-hmm. This is what it means to be a Hero! So....."
"Mup──Pwah! Hah, ha-ah...?"
Before I knew it, Hestia had come right up to me.
She lightly bit my earlobe over my face and spoke.
"Let's be Chrono's dedicated toilet and have some irresponsible sexual release♡"
".............."
Ultimately, they say she couldn't throw away her innate nature.
As an aside.
"................."
Ms. Theia, lying on the bed and staring blankly at the ceiling.
"....Time really isn't passing well today."
Even though time was always slow as it was.
Today, particularly, it seemed like time was flowing slowly.