209. I must be an idiot.
209. I must be an idiot.
"......Tch."
'Time' wouldn't enter.
The connection was severed. Chrono had cut the connection from his side.
'He noticed.'
Actually, it would have been dumber not to notice.
If anything, it was strange that he had managed to hold out without getting caught until now.
Still, with all the 'Time' she had siphoned so far, she could sustain the world for over ten regressions.
And it wasn't as if there was no harvest at all.
"You've taken another woman into your arms."
The problem was, it wasn't what she had wanted.
If that partner was 'Hestia', one of the former Twelve Olympians, the caliber wasn't diminished—if anything, it was an even better result.
But──that was one thing, and this was another, wasn't it?
"....Distasteful."
She had a gift prepared.
But the fact that the gift wasn't accepted, and instead he was counting on another path, didn't sit well with her at all.
Wasn't this an act that completely disregarded her?
'...It would be better to prepare.'
Originally, she had planned to leave a little to use for unlocking her 'seal,' but if it was urgent, it couldn't be helped.
"So please, I wish you would have chosen the easy path."
Somehow, her own bloodline...
No, the bloodline passed down from her father, she couldn't help but feel it was full of rebellion.
***********************
[Sacred Hearth Flame][Rank: S]
-The flame bestowed directly by the Goddess of the Hearth.
-As long as family exists, the flame will never be extinguished.
-Stat growth rate +100%
-Proficiency growth rate +100%
-Abyss special attack +50%
".........."
Not a single one of them was a normal value.
Stat growth rate correction. At best, it was usually 10 to 20%, and the maximum value went up to 50%.
But here it was suddenly applying a 100% correction? That meant your stats would be duplicated, doubling.
Proficiency growth rate was the same. There was no way an item with a 100% correction could exist.
And yet both of these were attached to a single skill as 100% corrections.
Even just looking at this far, it was completely overpowered.
'If it's a 50% Abyss special attack correction...'
Simply put, it was safe to consider it a 50% special attack against all-attribute monsters.
Each and every one of these numbers crossed the line.
And all of them were bundled together into one skill?
It was a mind-boggling trait that would not have been strange to receive an S-rank—in fact, it deserved even higher.
"Chrono. You're thinking about something else right now."
"...What Hestia gave me is just too overwhelming."
Should I say it was at a level that was hard to handle.
No joke, at this rate, I could hit endgame specs before the year was out.
It felt like I was gradually turning into a monster that had shed its humanity.
'Come to think of it, this isn't entirely impossible.'
Just looking at the original story proved that.
A guy who did nothing but NTR all day and hardly any training would suddenly appear as an unopposable, insane boss after nabbing a few heroines.
I had thought that was simply the NTR route strengthening the boss──but if he had grown in this manner, it wasn't beyond comprehension.
'What if I do this well...'
Could I clear it in just one year?
It wasn't impossible. There was a time limit, but nothing said I couldn't go beat them down ahead of time.
On the contrary, if I beat them down in advance, the final scenario of the Abyss invasion would also disappear, and I could invest the remaining time into conquering the heroines.
Usually, an ordinary multi-playthrough scene collection account followed a route like that.
"Hmmm...."
My head kept growing more complicated.
It would be tough to reach the True Boss, but wouldn't it be possible just to defeat the King of the Abyss?
But to get there, first I'd have to use 'Advent'──could I do it?
No, it was still insufficient. At minimum, I needed three heroines who could use 'Advent'──and wait, didn't I already have two who could use Advent?
"....Uuuung??"
What's this.
Why was a plan starting to take shape?
Even I could see it was an absurd assumption, but the fact that those assumptions were falling into place one by one was giving me a headache.
'It's not like this will actually force me to go through with it or anything, right?'
I got the strange feeling I'd just glimpsed the future.
As I was mulling it over deeply in my mind, Hestia, who had been lying beside me, layered her body over mine and climbed on top.
"Shall we go once more?"
"...I don't want that."
An unexpected refusal.
Hestia answered with a shudder rippling through her body.
"I don't think I can handle it."
"......Fair enough."
Maybe because her body had developed over dozens of centuries, her erogenous zones were no joke.
The sensitivity alone was one thing, but every last spot on her body was an erogenous zone.
"Anyway! I think it's rude to be thinking about something else while holding the woman in your arms...."
"...Sorry."
Hestia pouted.
It really wasn't good manners.
'And besides, it's almost over now.'
I halted the blessing Hestia had given me and embraced her face to face.
"....Is this going to be the end now?"
"Huh?"
Hestia buried her face in my chest.
She burrowed in deeper, harder.
"No more training to be done, not like there won't be a blessing, and ah~ the utility value of the woman named me has all run out today!"
Still, I lost my virginity so it's a win!
Hestia smiled brightly and looked up at me.
"Why? Did you really think I'd keep asking you to hold me?"
"...A little bit."
"That's too mean. I'm a woman who keeps her word."
A pushover woman.
A woman who only gives.
But a woman who was happy just with that.
Hestia wrapped both arms around my neck and whispered.
"A kiss, will you give me?"
"............"
We touched lips briefly.
Hestia gave a faint smile.
"One more."
".........."
We kissed.
"Just one more."
"............."
We kissed.
"Just one... just, one more...."
"............"
We kissed.
We didn't pull away.
"Mmph...... Hmmmph....."
She seemed a little flustered at first, then grabbed the back of my head with both arms and pulled me in.
The kiss continued on and on.
A kiss where our tongues didn't mingle, just our lips meeting.
"Pah! Hah... Haaah....!"
When the kiss that went on for a long while finally ended.
Hestia faced me squarely and said.
"Don't pass your 'memories' to me anymore."
"....Hestia?"
A rejection of the inherited memories.
A rejection of the memories, the recollections, accumulated until now.
When I was thrown off by the request to throw away everything that had piled up, Hestia shook her head.
"I guess, it's impossible. If I never knew, that'd be one thing.... Once I've come to know, there's no way."
"What do you..."
"Chrono."
Hestia spoke.
"It's best to end it here. That's what's good for the two of us."
"................"
That tone of voice.
That voice.
"Thank you for everything up to now, 'Hero'. For indulging my selfish whims."
"....Hestia."
Hestia stroked my head.
Firmly, she pressed my head against her chest.
A patting touch. The sight of her giving it her all just to feel me even a little.
"I'm sorry for saying this so suddenly. But there was no other choice."
Within the gradually flowing time.
Hestia whispered toward me.
"If we don't stop here, if we don't end it here...."
I might.
No, definitely.
"...I might end up wanting Chrono even more."
"..........."
"I might get jealous, I might come to hate."
And that's not the me I wish to be.
"...Hestia."
"Chrono."
Hestia once again whispered toward me.
"I love you."
So let's end it here.
...
..
.
"..............."
There was nothing bad for me in this.
Because I had already gotten everything there was to obtain from Hestia.
Hestia's blessing remained within me even on the morning after the regression repeated.
It wasn't a timed blessing, and I had stopped 'Time' and brought it along as it was.
I would probably be able to keep using it even after escaping the regressions.
"Ah, yes. Yes. I'll be right there."
In the first place, this was a 'deal.'
It was a deal where we each had something we wanted, exchanging with one another.
I wanted a way to escape the regressions, and Hestia wanted a love from a time long past.
So we exchanged what we wanted.
What comes after exchanging what we wanted? We had to end it there.
To put it simply, it felt like a carrot transaction.
Once we've dealt with each other, it's over.
Coming back to ask for a phone number or trying to go further was illegal and criminal.
"Ah... you came? Sit here."
"..........."
Looking at it from that perspective, Hestia's words were extremely natural.
A past deal had to not interfere with our present lives and our future progress.
What's more, for a god of her caliber, by bearing her own risk, she could easily block my future.
Then all the more reason.
Now that I'd sucked out all the sweet nectar, it was only right to step back.
Like I said earlier, I'd already sucked dry everything there was to suck anyway.
"Kkeu-eung, cha! So... what business did Hero have to call me here?"
"Hestia."
That's why.
"It's okay to be jealous."
"....Hero?"
What I was doing right now was a tremendously irrational act.
"It's okay to hate me."
"Hmm.... What are you talking about?"
It was irrational to the point of being unethical.
Unethical to the point of being unreasonable.
Something I mustn't do.
Memories should stay as just memories.
The past should remain just the past.
Hestia wanted that too, didn't she?
So why on earth....
"Instead of that."
"Uung?"
I held out my hand to Hestia.
A hand clasped in hers.
And then I.
"Curse only me."
"────Ah..."
I released the 'memories.'
I passed the 'memories', the 'recollections', to Hestia.
Her pupils grew hazy. The memories gradually transferred.
"Uuh.... Uuut...?!"
Her body trembled as she stepped one pace back.
She leaned her body against the backrest and looked up at the ceiling.
She took several deep breaths.
Soon, when she lowered her head again.
"....Idiot," she said.
"You idiot... idiot hero... idiot Chrono!"
A voice trembling sharply.
She clenched her hands into fists and started hitting me softly, thump thump.
"Th... this... y-you... h-heuk... huuu....!"
A thin layer of anger.
Deep tears underlying beneath it.
Gradually leaking out, she came straight into my arms.
".......Tch."
Hestia shedding tears silently.
I too, without a word, comforted her and blankly stared up at the ceiling.
'Am I a dumbass?'
Yeah, I'm a dumbass.
I'm just a dumbass.
Just, let's leave it at that.