A Trip Just the Two of Us
"Ah… Athena… can you let go of me now?"
"Shh, Hera. We're in the middle of a conversation."
"B-but…"
"Go on, Bordin. What were you saying?"
"Ahem… ahem. Yes, as I was saying—"
This was Athena's office.
She had brought me here, saying there was something she needed to discuss. And so I found myself watching in real time as she and Bordin talked through work-related matters.
There was just one problem.
The place I was sitting wasn't a chair.
It was Athena's lap.
She had dragged me in, sat down in her seat, then pulled me onto her knees and held me tight. And from that position, the conversation had begun.
Is Athena seriously not bothered by this…?
There was a person standing right in front of us, and she was holding me like this…
But she truly seemed to think nothing of it, chatting with Bordin as calmly as if this were the most ordinary thing in the world.
Come to think of it, she had done something like this before. Even with maids nearby, she had kissed me without the slightest hesitation. Apparently, other people's gazes meant absolutely nothing to her.
Well. That was very Athena of her…
But I'm the one who's embarrassed…!!
My face was burning red. I kept my head down, staring at the floor. Meeting anyone's eyes in this position was far too mortifying.
"Please don't concern yourself on my account, my lady."
Perhaps taking pity on me, Bordin was being considerate. When I carefully glanced his way, I saw that he was deliberately not looking at me—as if he understood exactly how flustered I was.
"Th-thank you…"
Bordin. A neatly dressed man whose monocle suited him perfectly. He carried himself with the kind of refined dignity that could serve as the very definition of a butler.
I had crossed paths with him a few times while living here, but we had only ever exchanged the briefest of greetings. I had never been this close to him before.
"Hera. You're going too."
"Huh? G-going where…?"
Going? Going where?
At my question, Athena looked at me with a faintly exasperated expression.
"…What exactly have you been listening to this whole time?"
"Uh… weren't you talking about work?"
"Haa…"
Press—
"Hieek?!"
She pressed a finger into my lower belly. Lately, whenever something displeased her, she had taken to doing exactly this. She didn't push as hard as she had that one time before—so at least I wasn't going to pass out—but the sharp, electric sensation that shot through my entire body was something I still couldn't get used to, no matter how often it happened.
"I'll explain it again, so listen carefully."
She began to slowly lay out why she had called me to her office.
According to Athena, the number of monsters in various regions had been surging lately. But the more serious problem was that these monsters were forming packs and acting in groups. It was highly likely the work of demons, and she believed it would be best to deal with the situation before it grew into something far worse.
The place she mentioned was a forest on the eastern edge of the empire. Large numbers of monsters had recently been sighted there.
"If we go there, we should be able to find traces of the demons."
"I see…"
"Hera. You're coming too."
"Huh? Me too…?"
She looked at me as if I had said something strange—as if my going along were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Don't tell me you planned to sit around resting here while your Master is away?"
"Uh… uh?"
"Besides, it'll take roughly a week. Do you really think you'll be all right on your own without me for that long?"
I flinched. A tremor ran through my body at her words.
The mansion without Athena. That place was hell for me. How many times had I cried during the week she had been gone before? Rather than stay somewhere where I had no one on my side, I would far rather follow her even onto a battlefield.
Out of a sudden, nameless fear, I clung tightly to Athena.
"…I want to go with you."
"……"
Athena looked at me for a moment, then clenched her teeth and turned her gaze away.
"Anyway, I'll leave the affairs of this place to you while I'm gone."
"Yes. Please take your time and enjoy yourselves."
Once she had finished speaking with Bordin, Athena lifted me off her lap.
"Hera. We're leaving within the hour, so go get ready if there's anything you need."
"W-what?! An hour?"
An hour?
Who just up and leaves this suddenly? If the trip was going to take a whole week, shouldn't she give me at least a day to prepare?
But Athena did not take back a single word.
"Rosewen will pack all your spare clothes and daily necessities. You just need to show up."
"…Still, isn't this a little fast?"
Press—
"Hyat?!"
"If your Master says so, then that's how it is, Hera."
"I-I get it, so stop pressing there…"
In the end, just as she had ordered, I left the office and headed to my room to gather whatever I might need.
But.
No matter how hard I thought about it…
"There's nothing to pack…?"
Was I really supposed to just show up empty-handed?
"Bordin."
"Yes, my lord."
The moment Hera left, the gentle smile vanished from Athena's face in an instant.
"The order I gave you before—rescind it."
Bordin's eyes widened, clearly startled by her words.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. I won't be using that method anymore."
The order she had given to break Hera down. She would no longer wound that girl's heart. Call it a whim if you liked—but she no longer wanted to see Hera cry in sorrow.
"It seems your feelings have changed."
"…"
She said nothing, but Bordin inclined his head as if he had received his answer all the same, conveying his acknowledgment.
"Is there anything further you wish to command?"
"No. That's all."
"Yes, my lord. Ah—and there is one matter I neglected to report."
He adjusted his monocle with a fingertip and continued.
"Not long ago, I heard there was an incident in the eastern forest involving a massive explosion of mana."
"An explosion?"
"Yes. The cause is unclear, so the precise details are unknown, but it apparently occurred in a certain cave."
"Hmm… All right. You may go."
"Yes. Then, if you'll excuse me."
With those final words, Bordin quietly left the room. Once the office fell still, Athena tipped her chair back and stared up at the ceiling.
"A week, huh…"
Time spent alone with Hera—not in the mansion, but somewhere else entirely. In a way, you could almost call it a trip. Of course, most of that time would be spent hunting monsters…
"Heh. I'm looking forward to it."
Monsters, demons—none of it mattered. Wherever they went, as long as Hera was at her side, nothing else mattered at all.
When I stepped outside the mansion, an elegant carriage waited there, and beside it stood Athena. Leaning against the carriage with her arms crossed, she looked me up and down and spoke.
"You really did come empty-handed."
"Ugh… but there was nothing to pack."
I didn't even have a small bag in my hands. For someone supposedly leaving for a week, my empty hands looked painfully inadequate—but there truly had been nothing to bring. Rosewen was handling all the clothes and such, and since I didn't manage any of that myself, I had no need for cosmetics or tools either.
Ah. Maybe I should have packed a few snacks, though.
A twinge of regret crossed my mind, but it was fine.
I'll just make Athena buy me some.
With a Hero at my side, what couldn't I do?
"Get in. We're leaving right away."
When she opened the carriage door, a cozy interior came into view. The sofa looked comfortable enough that even a long journey wouldn't be tiring—large enough that you could lie down without the slightest discomfort.
Looking at the carriage, one might wonder about something. Last time, Athena had taken me from Drax to this place in an instant through spatial transfer. So why not just use spatial magic this time as well?
It would certainly be convenient if she could—but it was probably impossible. Long-distance spatial travel was a legendary-class magic that required mastery over space and time itself. And in the novel, the only person who could use space-time magic was the Great Sage.
The reason Athena had been able to jump straight from Drax to here was almost certainly because a coordinate transfer stone was embedded somewhere in this mansion. It was a high-grade magical tool that registered a user's mana and stored a location. Installing one required enormous cost and mana, but once set up, it allowed instantaneous travel to that point.
Major imperial facilities—the temples, the imperial palace, the imperial court—all had coordinate transfer stones installed, making instant travel possible. Anywhere else, though, you had to go on foot. And even at the major facilities, the number of stones was limited; you needed to be at least a marquis to register your mana.
When Robin drew the Holy Sword and was revealed as the Hero, he was granted priority access to the coordinate transfer stones.
Come to think of it, the demons had begun their activities in earnest around the time Robin drew the Holy Sword. Traces of them had probably started appearing little by little around now.
If the novel's timeline held, in about two years all kinds of monsters and demons would start wreaking havoc across the empire.
Uh…
Wait…
An ominous thought suddenly surfaced in my mind.
……Is the original story going to be okay?
I had given up thinking about the original plot ever since I became Athena's slave. I didn't know exactly how things would turn out, but it didn't seem likely they would proceed as written.
In novels, the butterfly effect could be devastating. I had read countless stories where a transmigrated extra simply greeted the protagonist once and then got swept up in every kind of incident, shattering the original plot. And I was close enough to this novel's final mastermind that we exchanged saliva on a daily basis. Somehow or other, the threads would connect—and I would end up affecting the original story.
It was already hard to expect the original plot to play out as written. What mattered, then, was what kind of influence my actions would have on it. If the influence was positive, fine. But if it turned out to be negative, I might have to roll up my sleeves and help the protagonist myself.
Hmm… the only connections I have to the original story are…
Lily and Athena. Just those two.
Lily was already far ahead of her original self in growth. It was hard to see her as a negative influence. The problem was Athena.
Honestly, she doesn't seem like a mastermind at all…
In all the time I had spent with her, I had never once thought of her as a bad person. She was willful and self-centered, yes—but she definitely didn't lean toward evil.
She can be considerate in her own way… she looks after me well… even if she pulls mean pranks sometimes…
So how had she ended up walking the path of a villain? Was there some deep, painful reason behind it?
…Yeah.
All right. I'd decided.
I hadn't been paying attention before, but I was fully a part of this world now. I didn't want to watch it fall to the demons. I was going to stop Athena's corruption.
I had hated her at first—but now she was someone I couldn't live without. The only person in this mansion who took my side and looked after me. I didn't know what had happened to her in the novel, but as long as I was by her side, I would never let her fall.
If I stopped her corruption… Robin could handle the rest. Powering up his companions, stopping the mastermind's fall—wasn't that a debt on the level of a life-saving favor? It wouldn't be strange at all if Robin took off his shoes and bowed to the ground before me.
You owe me big time, Robin.
Every incident Athena causes, I'll—
Press—
"Hwaaak?!"
Press—press—
"Hyaat?! Haaang?!"
"What are you thinking about so hard that you can't even answer your Master, Hera?"
"Th-that's…"
Press—
"Ahn…! Stop iiit!!"
"…Giving orders again?"
Pressss—
"Hyat?! I get it…!! I get it, so stop!!"
…..First, I needed to do something about this lower belly of mine.
.
.
.
"A week, is it…"
Bordin walked slowly down the corridor. He hid it so thoroughly that no one else could have noticed—but his emotions were raging like a storm.
Five years since he had begun serving Athena. At last, the time had come.
Not for a single moment had Bordin forgotten. The bitterness of that day. The self-loathing of being able to do nothing. Back then, every moment had been nothing but bone-carving agony. The tears of blood he had shed then had become the fuel that kept his thirst for vengeance burning to this day.
A week. That would be enough.
Within that time, without fail—he would finally complete the revenge he had left to fester until it rotted him from the inside out.