Everyday life.
The repetition of peaceful time, where today is accepted as naturally the same as yesterday, and tomorrow the same as today.
Sunlight sparkles, birds sing. What should I eat today? What should I do, and where? Precious moments spent on such trivial, ordinary thoughts.
Within those moments that seemed as if they would never break, disaster always appeared without warning.
"Vesta... your arm...!"
"Haha, what do you think? I had it made new."
"Splendid. This is the first prosthetic arm I've seen with performance like this."
The newly grown arm naturally drew everyone's attention.
Not only Arphia and Fels, but the Xenos too—and now Ais and Riveria were showing interest in my arm as well.
The arm that had suddenly appeared in a space where there had been none before created a strange sense of unfamiliarity that I couldn't quite get used to. And now that I had gone longer without an arm than with one, that feeling was even stronger.
The balance I'd grown used to in a body that had become unevenly light was instantly thrown off by the prosthetic's presence. It had the same shape as a human hand, but being made of metal, it still weighed quite a bit.
It was a different sensation from the cast Amid had made for me before. The inanimate limb now connected to my body gave me a feeling entirely unlike simply wearing a cast on the outside.
"Hmm..."
"Ooh..."
Bored, I spun my arm around, and Ais's eyes lit up as she stared at the prosthetic. Was she at the age where she liked this sort of thing?
All right, then.
"Ooh...!"
As I rotated my wrist endlessly, Ais's gaze grew even more focused. At this rate, she looked ready to cut off her own healthy arm and attach a prosthetic instead.
"You handle it quite naturally."
"Not at all. Because I'm not used to it, I can handle it this way."
"Hmm? Is that so?"
"Yes."
Of course, I understood this prosthetic not so much as part of my body, but as an external device attached to it. It was more like remotely operating a machine.
That was why I could use it this way. If I really tried to use it like an actual arm, I probably wouldn't be able to move it like this. Besides, this prosthetic wasn't an ordinary one, so that made it possible.
"A prosthetic made by mixing mithril, adamantite, orichalcum... all sorts of rare metals? What a ridiculous waste of money..."
"Haha, they say it can produce strength on the level of somewhere between Level 2 and Level 3."
Just how much money had been spent to make such a custom piece, when even ordinary prosthetics were absurdly expensive? I felt anew just how lavish Lady Hera's spending could be, and silently offered my thanks.
"So, how does it feel to use the prosthetic?"
"Well, honestly, it's incredibly convenient."
Having one hand missing causes more inconvenience than you'd imagine. Most things in the world are built on the assumption that you have both hands, and even walking becomes harder to balance if you don't.
I'd gotten used to it by now and could manage well enough, but when my arm was first taken, I remember going through all kinds of hardships because of the inconvenience.
In that sense, this prosthetic... as much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't deny that it was comfortable. I still had to take it off when bathing, but the quality of my life outside of that had improved dramatically. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd eaten steak with a fork in my left hand and a knife in my right.
"Though even if its performance is good, using it in battle would be impossible."
"Still, that's better than nothing."
Humans could be repaired by slapping on healing magic or potions after getting smashed to pieces, but this expensive prosthetic lady wouldn't regenerate naturally if it broke. Too precious to risk, so I couldn't use it in the Dungeon.
But as Riveria said, it was still something to be grateful for. Among prosthetics, this was a masterpiece that could easily contend for first or second place.
Before and after this, it would be nearly impossible to find another prosthetic like it. I really couldn't even lift my head in front of Lady Hera.
"Now Ais can even be called a little tall, a little tall."
"Heehee, humans look like bugs, rehu."
"...I really ought to give that Loki woman a proper beating after all this time."
Watching Ais giggle as Vesta held her up, Riveria placed a hand to her forehead.
"That's unexpected."
"Hm? What is?"
At Hera Familia's home, Zeus, who had been burying his head, reacted to Hera's murmur from where he sat in a chair.
"You. I thought you'd oppose my choice, or try to stop it."
"Ah, that?"
Zeus still had his head down, but his voice carried a cold sort of mockery.
"Doesn't matter."
"What do you mean?"
"It's meaningless anyway."
Hera couldn't understand Zeus's words.
The hero she had been expecting had given up the race. Under normal circumstances, Zeus would never have accepted such a thing.
And yet why was he so calm?
"I told you. It's meaningless."
"...What exactly is meaningless?"
Zeus kept his head bowed. Hera looked down at him. It was clearly a situation where Hera held the upper hand, and yet somehow she felt as if Zeus were standing above her, looking down from the top of her head.
"Hera, you're making one mistake."
"A mistake...? What kind?"
"That kid isn't just someone with a stronger backbone like Meteria."
A hero.
And a hero is always born to stand at the center of crisis.
In other words, it wasn't something he could simply avoid just because he wanted to.
"No matter what you do, that child's fate won't change. By that child's own will, no less."
"That kind of nonsense...!"
"This is bad!"
Before Hera's roar could echo through the room, one of the familia members burst through the door.
"What do you think you're doing!"
"S-sorry! But this is important!"
Seeing the member flustered and panicked, confusion spread across Hera's face.
They knew how much she hated situations like this, and yet they'd still done something like this. Just what had happened to make them so frantic?
"It's—"
The member, still stumbling over their words, delivered the report. With every line that came out of their mouth, Hera's expression deteriorated more and more.
"What did I say?"
I told you it couldn't be avoided.
Zeus's voice sounded almost like he was laughing at Hera.
It was a day I thought of as ordinary.
As always, I walked the streets at a leisurely pace, snacked on little treats, helped people in trouble, and filled the day with actions that seemed to have meaning and yet somehow didn't.
It was a luxury. A luxury of spending the little time I had left on meaningless things. I didn't enter the Dungeon to train, didn't take on a deity's request, and didn't carry out any other great deed.
"I'll respect whatever choice you make."
Those were Lord Ouranos's words when we met after I received the prosthetic.
I couldn't fully grasp everything hidden in those words, but I could feel a sorrowful emotion in Lord Ouranos's eyes at the time.
What had he seen in me? I was curious, but I didn't ask. It felt like I shouldn't.
"My, my, thank you kindly, young man."
"Not at all."
I dealt with a pickpocket on the street and returned the stolen item to its owner.
I liked these modest moments. Not the grand purpose of protecting the city's peace like Ganesha Familia, but simply the warmth of helping the person right in front of me.
My goddess liked that sort of thing too. She loved helping those who were left behind by small misfortunes.
Following my goddess, I handled many such matters myself, and was thanked for them as well.
I don't dislike helping others. Even if I'm never repaid, seeing someone happy is enough to make me feel as if I've already received my reward.
Finding a lost cat. Reuniting a lost child with their parents. Carrying an old man's luggage down the street. Not much to brag about for an adventurer, but precisely because of that, those moments had meaning.
All of them remained vivid in my mind, as if they had just been painted there.
"..."
It's strange, my goddess. Back then, no matter what I did, I felt proud and happy. So why do I feel so empty now?
I've never questioned things like this in my whole life, so it really is strange.
It's not that I've grown to dislike helping others. But if you ask whether I'm as happy as I was then, the answer is no.
I just... just felt a little regretful and tired.
What exactly is this feeling?
It was while I was walking through the city with that uneasy feeling in my chest.
"Extra! Extra!"
A boy hurried through the streets, tossing newspapers out with a frantic expression.
Wondering what was going on, I picked up one of the flying papers and read the article.
At that moment, I made a brief mistake.
A little greed. A brief, peaceful everyday life.
The simple fact that this world would never allow such a luxury.
"The Black Dragon heads for Orario!"
The moment I saw the huge headline on the front page, I had the illusion that time had stopped.
Or maybe, in reverse, time that had stopped had begun to move again.
Today the same as yesterday, tomorrow the same as today.
Within the daily life that turned like gears, disaster always appeared suddenly.
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