213. Goddess of Dance, Eto.
213. Goddess of Dance, Eto.
The Goddess of Dance, Eto.
One of the Muses.
And if there was one thing to note,
"I'm sorry!"
"Huh? It's okay, it's okay. I told you, you don't need to be so stiff."
"I'm truly sorryyyy!"
"I'm really... saying it's okay."
".....Hic-!"
Her influence was weaker than that of the former Twelve Olympians.
In the first place, there was no way a goddess who had been one of the original Twelve Olympians could be compared to a group whose name most people didn't even know, and if they did, only hardcore fans would recognize.
For example, this.
It was a hierarchy like that between an aging politician who had stepped back from politics yet still held cards, and the chief of a small village.
Of course, their actual standing was probably far greater than that, but relatively speaking, it seemed similar.
"By the way, Chrono, you've increased your women again?"
"It was not my intention."
"Well~! Winning over a skilled and capable person by selling your body is a tradition from the Greek era, so it's not Chrono's fault!"
"........"
Was it okay for her to say that about herself?
I subtly glanced at Hestia, and Hestia puffed out her chest and answered,
"I am a Greek goddess too!"
"Ah, yes."
Especially because she was one of the Twelve Olympians, she had plenty of weight to her words.
At least it was more realistic than a woman who can't even earn thirty million won a year chasing after a man making a hundred fifty million.
Hestia still had her arm around my shoulder as she looked at the goddess of dance, Eto, who was bowing her head deep in apology, and asked,
"What do you think of Chrono?"
"....I apologize for daring to touch the human you hold in your hands, Goddess!"
"Ah, right, I haven't told you this yet?"
Was everyone's information a bit slow?
Hestia gently comforted the bowing Eto and made her lift her head.
"Raise your head and take a look."
"Huh...?"
She didn't seem to understand.
Once her head was raised, she naturally looked up at me.
"How is it?"
"He is a young man with beauty worthy of being cherished by a goddess."
"No, that's not...."
Sigh. I guess it couldn't be helped?
"Well, the upper circles and lower circles play in different waters, so it can't be helped. Still, if you just attended the regular meetings, you would have known this information..."
"...I'm sorry! I will never be negligent again!"
"No, it's fine. The representative of your sisterhood always comes and listens to the stories."
"I'm truly sorry...."
Was she giving her a hard time or really saying it was okay?
The reprimand was so relentless that even I felt pity.
'Come to think of it, it's natural.'
Picture a terminal private lazing around, scratching his belly, flipping through Maxim and going "Kiyoooot!"—then a two-star general suddenly appears behind him and says, "Is it that good?" and suggests they read together. That would cause exactly this kind of reaction.
He probably couldn't even breathe.
I quickly grabbed Hestia and pulled her back to break up this situation.
"That's enough now."
"But..."
"Our date time is shrinking, you know."
"...Chrono...!"
She looked deeply moved.
"Human...!"
Eto also looked at me with moist eyes.
"Ahem! Anyway. So you mean you don't know who this child is?"
"...No."
Eto didn't even try to make excuses now.
Hestia answered with a calm smile.
"He's the Hero. The Hero who will stop Ragnarok."
"Could it be the one from the prophecy..?"
"That's a different child. She's not here. But this child is one whom Hera personally took into her arms, you see?"
".........."
Her expression grew colder and colder.
Was this the same look on a private's face when he realizes the person he messed with is a parachute candidate backed by a three-star?
She had now crossed from shock into resignation.
However,
"Come to think of it, doesn't the 'prophecy' say that forming 'more bonds' is essential to prevent the calamity?"
"......!"
Hestia's rescue that was not quite a rescue.
At that one sentence, Eto's eyes flipped, and she immediately bowed her head toward me.
"...Hestia."
"Isn't a good thing just good? Besides, you don't look like you hate it at all."
"..........."
Ah, yes, right.
What kind of trash who built a harem would turn down a woman who comes to him?
But to be precise, this was far from a matter of likes and dislikes.
"This is forced sale."
"Don't worry. It's a Main God's order!"
"Even so, still."
"In the first place, even if I hadn't done this, you would have come onto her yourself, wouldn't you?"
If that was going to happen anyway, better to set up a hierarchy like this.
'...Now that I think about it.'
When I went to the karaoke before, Ur had done the same thing.
She confessed on the spot and took my virginity that very day.
After that, she settled into a position almost like my primary partner, and there was no guarantee that Eto, standing right before me, wouldn't turn out the same.
"But isn't this practically meaningless?"
"Hm? Why?"
"What do you mean, why."
We're regressing right now.
Once midnight passed, this world would return anyway.
Obviously, the contract formed with Eto right now would likewise vanish and be nullified──or so I thought.
"Aish, do you think I'd give Chrono something so bland?"
"....???"
Hestia denied it.
She lightly placed her hand on my chest and said,
"Right now, in here, all my memories and experiences are engraved, aren't they?"
"Well, yes. But..."
I could guess what Hestia would say next.
Like carrying Hestia's memories, if I could also take Eto's memories with me, wouldn't that be the end of it?
But even knowing that, there was the greatest reason I couldn't do it.
"Before, I tried to bring Ur's memories into me, but it didn't work."
I had already found a way to preserve memories inside me.
Now that I knew I had a portable storage inside me, there was no reason not to keep Ur's or other people's memories.
So I immediately tried it on Ur──and as you could see, I failed.
Maybe because Hestia's power was already too strong, every time I tried to put them in, they bounced out or disappeared.
It started that way even with Ur, who had the deepest bond with me; so what about this goddess before me who had no connection at all?
"That story... you mean before you did it with me?"
"Huh? Uh, well, yes."
"Then it will be different now."
At that, Hestia said,
"Because your 'vessel' itself will have changed from before."
".......!"
No way.
Half in hope, I turned back to Hestia, and she smiled brightly and answered,
"Still, just in case, shall we experiment first?"
"Experiment?"
"Yes! Experiment!"
Because the deeper the bond, the stronger the Protection you could receive, right?
"Now! Let's all go together!"
""......??""
Hestia firmly grabbed Eto's hand and my hand and moved forward.
'Wait a sec.'
So this is, that, what is it.
"...You mean the three of us?"
"Actually, I wanted to do it with Mom too, but she seems busy right now, so it can't be helped!"
"No, no, no──!"
That's not what I meant.
"Hmm? Chrono, you don't like doing it together?"
"It's not that I dislike it—rather, I feel like I'd like it quite a bit—but that's not the point right now!"
I said it again, but I hated coercive sex.
If it was mutual, fine, but to just bulldoze ahead almost like it's the kingdom of rape—was that even...
"Eto, it's okay with you too, right?"
"Yes! It's fine!"
"Aha!"
...Bulldozing ahead, that made total sense in the amazing Greek mythology class.
Even as I was flustered by how instantly consent was obtained, I forcibly pulled my hand away from Hestia’s grasp.
"? Chrono?"
"No matter how I look at it, you're just dragging her along."
"....Chrono, you still don't know anything, do you?"
No.
Maybe I was just pretending not to know.
As if she'd understood, Hestia nodded.
"If the opinion of the person concerned is that important, then you two talk it out! I'll go in first and get a room."
"Uh....yes."
Hestia went on ahead first.
Now that only Eto and I were left, Eto bowed her head to me in thanks.
"Thanks to you, human, I barely survived."
"No. Rather, because of me, that... I'm sorry."
Honestly, I hadn't expected things to go that way there either.
Thanks to that, after we exchanged oddly awkward "it's fine"s and "thank you"s,
"I'm truly fine, so please don't worry about debts or anything. I'll talk to Hestia separately."
"..............."
That much should have been enough.
I patted Eto's shoulder a couple of times and turned around.
And then,
─Guuk.
"Um...."
"......Hm?"
Eto grabbed my clothes and stopped me in place.
She seemed to be hesitating. Then Eto asked me,
"Is this appearance... far from your taste, human?"
"Huh? What do you──"
"──I am asking whether I am not seen as a sexual object."
"............"
A sexual object.
So, probably this had absolutely nothing to do with scoring grades.
"...What do you mean?"
"If you do not perceive me as a sexual object, I will create an avatar according to your taste within the near future."
"Huh?"
This was something else.
"If you are uncomfortable doing it with someone you don't fancy....then, monetary compensation, or Protection! Or gear... and, well, though it will probably fall short of what the Main Gods have gifted you..."
"No... I mean, what are you talking about?"
The conversation was running away from me.
I hurriedly stopped Eto and asked why she was so desperate to give herself away, and
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Eto answered.
"You, human, are the hero who successfully completed the trial I set. Therefore, it is only natural to give you an appropriate 'reward'."
In short, because I overcame the trial, it was only right to reward me.
"Even so, don't you feel reluctant to do it with someone you just met?"
"Humans might feel that way, but from a god's perspective, it's all the same."
In the first place, from a god's eyes, humans were beings who plopped over and died in a single day.
To love such a human includes the meaning of cherishing a fleeting human.
"A human who overcomes a trial is a special human. So you are not 'someone I just met' but a 'special human.'"
".............."
I felt a strange pressure.
Put another way, while there might be things I was reluctant about, there was nothing Eto was reluctant about at all.
'Now that I think about it, Ur also...'
We had just met for the first time, but we went ahead and did it.
"Perhaps... are you reluctant to form a bond with me?"
"That's, I mean..."
What was I supposed to do?
I stood there for a moment, thinking.
"Hm? Isn't that Chrono? And next to you──Eto? It is Eto, right?"
""......??""
The conclusion that came out after that long deliberation was,
"I didn't expect you'd bring one more person..."
"It's been a long time, Hestia!"
The dumbfounded Hestia and Ur, smiling brightly at her.
""......;;;""
If we just did it, it's a threesome, but if a sister joined, wouldn't that be a sister bowl?
The question of whether I would give up a sister bowl was just far too powerful for me.