To get straight to the point, Grandpa's blanket beating failed to materialize.
"You bastard! Until you're sent back! I'm not stopping!"
"Waaah?!!!"
Because he just beat him senseless without even bothering to wrap him in a blanket.
Looking at the one getting pummeled, it really did seem like he might get sent back after all... well, the expert would handle it, I guess.
Crack, crunch, smash, clang!!
...Probably.
"Cranel..."
"M-Meteria, this is...!"
"..."
Rumble rumble rumble
"Eep!"
Things were going smoothly on that side, too. At this rate, from here on...
"He won't be like this for maybe three days."
"...Only three days?"
"Three whole days."
Vesta looked stunned, but Arphia's expression was as serious as ever.
There was only one person in the mortal world and the divine realm who could keep that lecherous old man, who never missed a chance to sexually harass someone, quiet for three days: Hera.
If it weren't for her, every woman in Orario would have suffered under Zeus's harassment.
"You seem to think rather highly of that old man, but he's trash who sexually harasses people several times a day."
"...Not once every few days?"
"Several times a day."
Had she been one of his targets, too? Arphia's eyes twisted into the most disgusted expression imaginable.
"He even tried to touch my chest."
"...I didn't ask anything."
"Your face says it all."
It was a line I'd heard more than once, but it still wasn't easy to accept. Was my face made of paper? Were my thoughts written all over it?
More importantly, he'd gone after this woman's chest? Grandpa really had survived by a miracle.
"Of course, I restrained him without letting a single finger touch me, then reported him to Hera."
Grandpa, you really did survive!
Seriously!
I'd done the exact same thing, but I couldn't help thinking that.
"More than that, her chest..."
I hadn't meant to think about it, but the moment I heard those words, that sensation surfaced in my mind against my will.
Especially that soft feeling I'd sensed through nothing but a single layer of cloth when she hugged me at night...
"What are you doing, slapping your own cheeks?"
"I'm rebuking myself for my lack of discipline."
"...I see."
Arphia gave me a strange look, but she didn't press the matter further. Instead, she started glancing at me as if she had something to say.
For this woman to be hesitating like this. It was a sight I never would have imagined when we first met... but maybe that just meant we'd grown closer.
Of course, even if she was glancing at me, her gaze was less sour and more spicy.
"Hey, hasn't the frequency of your visits here dropped lately?"
"I-Is that so?"
I tried to brush it off casually, but I couldn't escape Arphia's sharp stare.
Truthfully, she was right. Lately—more precisely, ever since I'd spoken with Lady Hera—I'd been avoiding going near where Lady Hera was.
So naturally, the Hera Familia had turned away and stopped coming as well.
It wasn't that I'd come to dislike Lady Hera. It was just that the brief conversation we'd had that day had caused huge ripples inside me. That was probably because of what Lady Hera had proposed to me—something I'd never even imagined before.
...No, had I really never imagined it? Maybe I'd simply been pretending not to know.
Hadn't I actually wanted someone to tell me that? Hadn't I wanted someone to need me?
"Hey."
"Ah, sorry. What were you saying?"
My thoughts, which had been sinking deeper and deeper, were cut off, and I snapped back to reality.
Maybe I'd been worrying too much lately. I kept doing this. This was bad.
Hadn't I recently let my guard down and gotten ambushed because of it?
Focus. Focus!
I slapped my own cheeks again and steeled myself. I forced tension back into my increasingly slack mind and listened carefully to Arphia's words.
"...I asked if something was wrong."
"...? Me?"
"Yes."
"That's a pretty sudden question..."
"What's sudden about a question like this?"
That was true, but I hadn't expected to hear something like that out of nowhere... Was it all written on my face again?
I touched my face, but there was nothing unusual about it.
"Did you just guess?"
Like, maybe I hadn't been coming lately and she was wondering if something had happened.
That was possible. It was possible, but...
"There's no way Arphia would do that, right?"
This woman would never make such a delicate gesture. If she was asking, then she must have had some reason to suspect something.
...But I hadn't met her much lately, had I?
"It's because of Hera."
At those words, I flinched before I could stop myself.
I hadn't expected that name to come up here... No, maybe it was precisely because we were here that name came up.
Even while startled, I could understand it. If not the Hera Familia, where else would she have heard something like this?
"Hera's been acting very strange since that day."
"That day... you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. I'm obviously talking about that banquet."
Hmm, at this level of specificity, it sounded like she was pretty sure of herself...
"Since that day, her hysteria has dropped a lot, and she's been smashing things less often. It's a serious matter."
"...Wouldn't that be a good thing, though?"
"Normally, yes. But not the Hera Familia. That goddess would never go without throwing a fit when she's in a good mood."
I wondered what kind of life Lady Hera had lived.
I glanced at Lady Hera's figure.
"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraaa!"
"Wryyyyyyyyy?!"
"Just looking at that, she doesn't seem serious at all..."
"That old man's still alive, isn't he? Then it is serious."
Is that so? At this point, I wasn't sure what was what anymore.
"I understand all that, but why do you think it's my fault?"
"I'm not blaming you. It's just that the only people who could make Hera act like that are you and Meteria."
"..."
How was I supposed to take that...? So she'd figured it out, too?
Judging by her reaction at the drinking party, probably yes. Nothing in this world was ever simple, seriously.
"What did you talk about that day?"
"Nothing much."
She wouldn't believe me if I denied it, so I just told the truth.
Like I said, the conversation that day hadn't been very long. It wasn't even a meaningful conversation. I still hadn't answered her, either.
What Lady Hera had said that day was only this:
"Step away from this matter."
That was all.
In truth, maybe that hadn't been the end of it. It was just that the moment I heard those words, I fled like a coward.
Her abrupt words, with no warning and no lead-up, had sent huge ripples through me. It was because I had read the intent hidden in Lady Hera's single sentence.
I agonized over it for days. And still, I never reached a conclusion—just kept running away like a coward.
I was the same pathetic me as always. But now, this wasn't a situation where I could keep acting like I always did.
Was this really okay? I didn't have much time left—was it really fine to waste it like this?
Spending whatever time remained by doing nothing but running away made me uneasy.
It was the kind of thought I normally wouldn't have, but people who are cornered sometimes make extreme choices.
And I was one of those cornered people.
I'd only been here for less than a year, but I liked the time I'd spent in this place.
Then maybe a little bit would be fine, wouldn't it?
Just a little—enough to enjoy this time as it was.
If I could savor this moment, even briefly, and let it sink deep into me, how happy would that make me?
The desire that had suddenly risen inside me had no intention of disappearing, and it wandered through me, tempting me all the while.
People naturally change as time passes. It's a fate that can't be avoided, whether the change is big or small.
Maybe I wasn't free from that either.
Some called that kind of change growth.
Others called it rotting away.
Which one was I?
"Lady Hera."
Vesta spoke to Hera, who was still throwing punches.
"That prosthetic arm you mentioned before—do you still have it?"
Thud. Hera's fists, which had seemed like they would never stop, came to a halt.