77. How Much Did You Find Out Before Coming?
77. How Much Did You Find Out Before Coming?
The academy,
classes, all of it—I was sick of it.
I went outside immediately and ran to the karaoke place for what was important right now.
"Excuse me for a moment!"
"J-just a moment, please, customer!"
A staff member tried to stop me along the way, but I ignored her.
There was no one anywhere who could stop me now!
"It's not that side, it's the opposite side!"
"....Ah, yes. I'm sorry."
It had been so long since I'd been there that I messed up.
I followed the staff member's guidance and went into Ur's office.
"The drawer... inside the drawer...."
The first drawer.
Inside lay a small aquamarine mirror.
I took the mirror out just like that and reflected my face.
"............Mm"
The mirror reflected my face.
'....So, what am I supposed to do now?'
'Should I just stay like this?'
For now, I just stared quietly at the mirror.
'...I'm pretty handsome, huh?'
'Come to think of it, I've never really looked in a mirror before this, have I?'
Even when I had, it was always just a fleeting glance, never a careful look.
I checked calmly for any facial hair, gave my teeth a once-over,
[An Oracle has arrived.]
[Main God—Ur: Agape. Mirror.]
"Ah."
Why didn't I think of that?
My intelligence really did seem to be dropping in real time.
I hurriedly took out Agape and held it up before the mirror.
Uuuung.....!
Ripples shimmered gently across the mirror's surface.
Soon, an aquamarine aura spread from Agape and began seeping into the mirror.
[──Ah, aah! Mic test! Aaah!]
"Ur!"
It was a beloved voice I'd missed, heard from inside the mirror.
At the same time, the mirror began reflecting not my face anymore, but Ur's.
[Chrono...? It's Chrono, right?]
"It's me!"
I waved my hand frantically, proving my existence.
Only then did Ur in the mirror let out a sigh and reach her hand toward me, beyond the mirror.
[Chrono, could you put your hand inside the mirror?]
"Should I put it inside here?"
[...Chrono. Normally, when someone says that, you're supposed to ask back if they're going to catch you─Ah, yes! Hephaestus! Thank you for everything!]
"....??"
I didn't really know what was going on, but for now, I put my hand into the mirror.
"Oh... ohhh......!"
Ripples shimmered.
My fingers began to sink into them, then my hand, my wrist, and even my arm.
"......What is this?"
A sensation of stirring through heavy water.
There was something grainy in it too, like sand—it was a texture closer to mud than water—Ah, was this it?
"Eut... heup... eueup......!"
Another hand held onto mine.
A slender, thin, slightly cool and moist touch.
"Ur....!"
I focused all my strength into my hand and pulled Ur out of the mirror.
Honestly, given the mirror's size, it didn't seem like her body would come out right away, but I pulled with the thought of getting at least her hand out first.
"I'm... coming out!"
An arm emerged gradually, then an elbow, and a hand below the wrist.
At the same time, there was even another person's hand that came along, holding onto my hand.
Uung.... uuuuuung.....!
The hand that came out then gripped the mirror's frame and began pouring in an aquamarine aura.
The surface shimmered. The frame. At the same time, another hand came out of the mirror and began physically expanding the mirror's size.
"Huh?.....Aha!"
Soon, when it became large enough for a person to come out,
two arms stretched toward me again.
'This probably means pull, right?'
I pulled on both arms with all my might.
Sseuk, seureureuk.
"What the... why is there so much sand coming out?"
As I pulled on her arms, something like fine sand came streaming out along with them.
Could she have been trapped on a sand beach?
Before I knew it, aquamarine hair emerged, and Ur's face began to slide out of the mirror.
"Eup──eubeup, beup.....paha!"
"Ur!"
Ur breathed out harshly.
When she shook her head, the sand mixed into her face and hair scattered hazily throughout the room.
"Cough! Keup.... oooh.... I think it went up my nose....!"
"I'll pull you out quickly!"
"Ah, achoo! Kyuuut...! Thanks, Chrono....."
Before I knew it, her shoulders were out,
her torso,
her waist,
her pelvis─was stuck and couldn't come out?
"....Huh?"
"Is it that your pelvis is wider than your shoulders, perhaps?"
"...It's not that I gained weight, is it?"
It's just childbearing hips, I tell you!
Ur raised herself up and placed her hand on the mirror.
"Eut, cha.... done."
Ur infused her divinity directly into the mirror, expanding its size.
Only when her entire body was finally free did Ur let out a deep sigh.
"Haaaaah.... I thought I was going to be trapped in the Time Sand, tortured forever without being able to die....."
"...You've been through a lot, Ur."
"Euhm...."
No.
No, that wasn't it.
"You're the one who went through a lot...."
"..........."
Ur was worrying about me even with her whole body covered in sand dust.
"It was hard for you, wasn't it?"
"...You look like you had a harder time than me, Ur."
First wash up, then we'll talk. Wash up.
I helped Ur up and led her outside.
"Oh my, are you going to wash me?"
"Should I wash you?"
"Since you're at it, wash my innermost part too♬"
"Oh......"
It was a sweet, captivating voice I hadn't heard in a long time.
It really was the Ur I knew.
'I might... be a little tempted....'
The moment I felt that way a little,
[An Oracle has arrived.]
[Main God—Hera: Child. Do you not still have words to exchange with us?]
"Eh?"
The Oracle appeared.
Ur seemed to see the Oracle as well, and though she gave a bitter smile, she pushed me away.
"Go talk first. I’ll follow soon."
"......Yes."
Alright.
Let's not forget.
The reason I came here.
"Where should I go?"
[An Oracle has arrived.]
[Main God—Hera: Come before the mirror. Then I shall stand before you.]
Hera's Oracle.
Indeed, the divinity felt even through the text alone was overwhelming—or it should have been, but
'...the tone is a little strange.'
Hera's Oracle hadn't been like this when it first appeared before me...
How should I put it, it was an obscenely lewd Oracle before....
...I decided not to bother nitpicking.
In the first place, Ares and Athena had sent Oracles that were half out of their minds too; how frustrating must it have been for them themselves.
***************
Ur's mirror.
Since Ur had expanded it to come out, it had grown from a hand mirror to about half the size of a full-length mirror.
"Can I... just set this up for now?"
There was no stand at the back, so I just leaned it against the wall.
[An Oracle has arrived.]
[Main God—Hera: Pour the 'Divine Authority' granted by the Main God into the mirror.]
"Divine Authority... if that means..."
Probably talking about 'Divinity'.
When I poured Divinity into the mirror with roughly the same feeling as manifesting 'Holy Weapon', ripples began to shimmer just like when Ur came out earlier.
[──I hear it. I am asking if you can hear my voice.]
"Ah, yes. I hear you clearly."
A voice came from beyond the mirror.
At the same time, someone's figure began to be projected on the other side of the mirror.
[─This must be the first time you've seen me in this way.]
"......Huh?"
Someone projected from beyond the mirror.
Brown hair and brown eyes.
A slightly modest chest and a slender, indented waist.
[It is a pleasure to meet you. 'Hero'.]
"..........."
I knew.
I knew who it was.
That figure was so familiar it wouldn't make sense if I didn't know.
[My name is Hera, the goddess of the family and the queen of the gods.]
".......Uh..."
The tone and atmosphere itself were definitely different, but
"...Yuno...?"
[Hehu. Do not mistake me for my 'child'.]
"....Hera?"
[Indeed.]
My name is Hera.
I am soon to be your 'Mother' and 'Main God'.
Hera smiled leisurely and gazed at me from beyond the mirror.
'....Ouu.'
Her appearance is clearly Yuno, but I wonder if it's because her aura is definitely different.
She felt a bit more seductive than the Yuno I knew, with a charm that drew men in.
Uung.... u... uuuung.....!
"Huh?"
As I stared blankly at Hera, the mirror suddenly pulsed.
I hadn't done anything, and it didn't seem like Hera had done anything either....
[──You jump to conclusions too much, daughter. The true Main God of my child is right here.]
"......I see."
Another figure appeared beyond the mirror.
A goddess... no, a male god who had become one, sitting on a throne with a languid expression.
Cronus had appeared.
[....To interfere with the sacred Oracle of a Main God. Were you that impatient, Cronus?]
[I am merely correcting a mistake, nothing more.]
[Is that so. It seems you were quite scared shitless, weren't you?]
[Hardly. The owner was already decided from the beginning.]
"Eolssigu."
The back-and-forth between them was very nice to watch.
I quietly gave a silent round of applause and watched the conversation between the two people—no, the two gods.
[Owner, you say. Those are quite arrogant words, Cronus. It seems you already paid the price for your arrogance long ago, but perhaps it wasn't enough?]
[It is quite different from the past. For now I have realized what it means to be a 'King'.]
[...A king without a single servant. A passing dog would laugh.]
[I merely sit once more on the rightful seat; nothing about it is strange.]
".........Hmm."
The words exchanged between the two gods.
The conversation at last approached its end.
[Now you've gone so far as to resort to brainwashing, and yet you still pretend to be a Main God?]
[I simply granted what the child wished for; there is no other meaning.]
[Aha, so that's why you infused the Divinity of 'Aphrodite'? How tearfully touching, that love for an apostle.]
[Blabber as you like. It changes nothing—that child is still mine.]
'...Aphrodite?'
The one I know?
Goddess of beauty? Aphrodite?
If it's Aphrodite....
It certainly made sense.
If Hera was a being mixed with none other than Aphrodite's Divinity, it made sense that most men would fall for her instantly.
That was the very reason why, if you looked only at the NTR danger level among the heroines, it was an extreme difficulty on par with Yuno's.
Though if there was a difference, it was that while Yuno at least had Pure Love NTR, everything on Aphrodite's side was violation scenes.
But it doesn't show up until around the 3rd year, so there's that.
Anyway, it was all good.
As the two gods were busy bickering with each other, I wanted to ask Hera just one thing.
"Hera. Earlier, you said 'my child'.... So have you become my Main God?"
[To be precise, you can serve two: Cronus and I. If you wish, you can discard one and serve only me.]
[Do not spout bullshit, Hera. To serve two gods under the heavens. Who would ever forgive such a dog's act?]
[Oh my. Even just myself and 'that one' were enshrined together in the same temple many times, you know?]
[That is only for those lacking like you. For this child, such a thing will not come to pass....Is it not so, my child who bears my name and has been granted my blood?]
".......Mm."
Cronus smiled leisurely.
Honestly, I had been a little intimidated at first, but now that I had gotten confirmation from Hera, there was nothing left to be scared of.
In that sense─Cronus?
"How much did you find out before coming here?"
[.....Huh?]