Chapter 384 - 384: United Efforts!

When the trial ended, Isagi still felt a bit unsatisfied.

Mainly because the fight hadn't been finished.

Odin genuinely hadn't come to decide a winner, but as far as Isagi was concerned, if the fight had gone on, he might actually have won — and that left him more than a little annoyed.

Still.

Isagi knew it didn't really mean anything.

Setting aside the basic premise that had forcibly pulled his and Odin's "Strength" to a state of absolute equality —

just the fact that he could transform into so many "gods" in the first place wasn't something he could sustain for nearly as long in the real world as he had in that Nightmare.

So.

When morning came and he woke up, though there was a touch of regret, Isagi actually felt pretty fine about it.

As long as it had felt good, that was enough —

At lunch, an envoy claiming to represent the Magic Kingdom arrived, saying Asfi should come collect Hermes and bring him back to the city.

As it turned out —

Once the woman learned that her god, exactly as she'd suspected, hadn't been imprisoned at all, but had instead been set up in some mansion on a hill, living a life of drinking and indulgence with the only restriction being that he couldn't leave, she made her decision without hesitation.

She refused to go fetch him, and even asked the envoy whether it might be possible to actually lock "that guy (Hermes)" up for a while — especially once she heard that, upon learning he had to leave, the god had thrown a tantrum and refused to go, insisting that she come collect him personally.

Asfi's cold smile in that moment looked frightening even to Ais and Isagi.

And so, in the end, when everyone set off for home, they left without Hermes entirely. In Asfi's words: "Let that guy crawl back to the city on his own."

How terrifying.

The carriage rattled and rolled, retracing the road they'd come by.

This time they'd spent nearly a week, on and off, in the Magic Kingdom, and Isagi felt he'd gained a lot from it. The girls felt much the same. On the way back, several more carriages had joined the original one, all loaded with all sorts of things — some the girls had bought while shopping on their own,

and some that Lefiya and the others had insisted absolutely had to be brought back.

So, after several more days of travel, they arrived once again at the Elf hot-spring inn where they'd rested on the way out.

The mountain forest was just as before.

The summer stars and moon were just as bright and quiet.

The night breeze blew gently, and the innkeeper welcomed everyone with the same warm hospitality as before, arranging for them to stay in the very same courtyard as last time.

Stepping back into the room, Isagi even felt a strange, particular sense of familiarity well up inside him.

Eating, resting, soaking in the hot spring.

The girls talked it over and decided they could even stay a couple more days here before heading back to the city.

Since what they'd set out to do was already finished, there was no rush — they could take their time.

Isagi, of course, had no objections.

He was even planning to spend the whole next day sleeping in his room — lying in bed, thinking about nothing, eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty, then going right back to lying down.

Now that was the ultimate in leisurely living~

The girls, of course, already knew exactly how Isagi thought. Mainly because on days he didn't go to the Dungeon, this was more or less how he spent his time at home anyway.

The boy was the sort who could genuinely "do nothing" and mean it — he honestly believed that doing absolutely nothing was a form of happiness.

And because of that,

Aphrodite and her crew had, well ahead of time, drawn up this operation's entire plan based on exactly that fact!

And this time, everyone was participating!!

Even Alfia and Asfi were included.

The former hadn't originally had much interest in it — in fact, Alfia's original plan for the next day had been to wander the mountain forest a bit, while also examining all the "various things" they'd bought, to see whether they'd actually be useful for the research she, Lefiya, and Riveria had been discussing earlier.

But then —

upon hearing Aphrodite's plan, the woman was thoroughly baffled, even a little shocked!

And then she started thinking — since this was, after all, "a god's Arcanum" at work, maybe it was worth going to take a look?

Mostly, she'd simply grown curious about the whole thing.

In fact, Alfia had been wondering whether, inside that dream, she might be able to use [Primordial Magic] with fewer reservations — after all, in the real world, the destruction it caused was simply too extreme.

If it happened in a dream, there'd be nothing to worry about, right?

This idea had actually occurred to her before.

Not just because Isagi's dreamscape was something others could enter — now that Ais had a similar ability, Riveria and Lefiya had already floated the idea themselves.

This time, it was the perfect chance to actually try it.

Alfia was convinced that she and Aphrodite's group were doing completely different things — she was up to something perfectly serious!

As for whatever indecent business the girls were planning...

The woman pressed her lips together.

All she could say was — well, as an adult, she could understand it, more or less. That was about the extent of it.

Though she still felt a bit shy about it deep down — after all, no matter how you looked at it, Alfia had never once given that kind of thing any thought. Back when she'd had barely any life left in her, there'd been no time to think about romance at all.

Meanwhile, on another front —

Asfi's thinking was actually fairly similar to Alfia's.

She, too, wanted to research what exactly this so-called "dream world" really was. Back when only Isagi had possessed it, it could be dismissed as a "personal miracle."

But now that didn't seem to be the case anymore.

Not only did Ais have it too, but it could apparently be created through Arcanum somehow —

so did that mean the Development Ability of [Mystery] could be used to produce something similar?

Fueled by an intense spirit of scientific inquiry,

Asfi also decided to take part. And as far as the instigator of it all, a certain Goddess of Beauty named Aphrodite, was concerned — the more people who joined in, the better.

That way,

everyone's collective conviction would naturally overwhelm Isagi's own conviction,

and steer the dream in the direction they wanted!!

And so —

a night passed.

In the early morning, the girls quietly slipped, all together, into the boy's room, and their plan began.

When Ais woke up, she found herself back at the same inn as before.

Not the real hot-spring inn in the mountain forest, but the one from that earlier dream — the plain, ordinary inn located in the little town.

The first-floor lobby was full of adventurers and mercenaries drinking and eating.

They were all crowded together, noisy and boisterous.

Some were still looking for party members, others preparing to head out on some quest — no different from an ordinary Guild hall at any regular hour.

The golden-haired girl still remembered her mission.

[Defeat the Demon King]!

No, wait — her actual goal in this dream was to fulfill her own Wish, to do that intimate thing with Isagi, and lock everything down for good!!

All at once, she felt far more clear-headed than before!!

Ais had already realized it — this was the power of numbers at work!!

Compared to last time, when she'd been hazy and confused, even nearly getting swept off course by Isagi's bizarre "battle fervor" —

this time,

Ais could feel it.

Right now she didn't feel like she was dreaming at all — it felt like she was truly living in this world, her mind perfectly clear, her body entirely under her own control.

No problem at all!

This time, she could absolutely pull it off!!

Holding onto that thought, the girl now focused solely on finding Isagi.

Come to think of it, last time it had been...

Wait, no!!

She suddenly realized something — if this dream picked up right where the last one had left off, then Isagi should currently be with Ryuu.

Ais remembered it clearly now.

In the last dream, Ryuu had played the role of this inn's waitress, and there'd been some strange prop involved, and in the end she'd ended up in the boy's room...

So without a doubt,

now that "a night had passed," did she really need to spell out what might be happening in that room?!

Ais bit her lip.

She felt awful all over — the situation right now was so complicated. Should she just knock on the door?!

But if she didn't knock, and Isagi and Ryuu just stayed in there forever, what then?!!

That was entirely possible.

Clearly, the girl had realized Ryuu had joined Aphrodite's plan too.

The other party's goal was, of course, obvious.

Though she hadn't said it out loud, whatever Ryuu was thinking in her heart was surely the same as Ais's own — and Ryuu, too, must believe there's strength in numbers. Once everyone thought the same way, the dream's course really would tilt further in that direction — and looking at things now, Ryuu stood to benefit the most from it!

Ais could already picture it — the Elf girl lying on the bed, wearing that blissfully satisfied little expression.

Ais froze, thinking, how could she have forgotten about that!

She hurried up the stairs!!

Following her memory, she quickly arrived in front of the boy's door.

Ais was just about to push the door open and walk straight in!

But then —

she noticed she wasn't the only one about to do exactly that. The hallway that had been empty a moment ago now had another girl standing in it.

It was Artemis!!

The blue-haired goddess wore an equally conflicted expression.

She'd originally been in the room across the hall from the boy's, and having clearly spotted Ais arriving, had hurried out in a rush.

The two exchanged a glance, said nothing, and clearly understood exactly what the other had in mind.

Honestly speaking,

Artemis's feelings right now were extremely complicated!

The reason being...

her most humiliating moment before had been witnessed by Isagi and everyone else!!

Though the boy acted afterward as if he remembered nothing about the dream, it was hard not to be suspicious!!

And even if Isagi really had forgotten,

the others — including Ais and Aphrodite's group — certainly hadn't, which had left Artemis feeling out of sorts this whole time.

She'd been acting like some willful little princess, all while secretly harboring some rather "strange" thoughts deep down.

Some time ago, the Moon Goddess had already —

handed over her own Divine Artifact, the [Arrow of Orion], to Isagi.

There was actually a rather "Fate"-laden little story behind it — the [Arrow of Orion], born together with the goddess, was also destined to be claimed by a [Hero], and that particular [Hero] was Artemis's own [Hero].

That was the goddess's Fate.

Of course, plenty of gods didn't believe in — or simply didn't care about — such things.

But Artemis, of all people, both believed in it and cared deeply.

She was clearly the very traditional type of god. In fact, before all this, Aphrodite had already "teased" her about it more than a few times.

[Isagi is the Hero fated to be mine].

A Fate like that naturally carried a certain kind of "exclusivity" to it.

Which meant that, though the goddess never showed it outwardly most of the time, deep down she couldn't help but harbor certain fantasies about the boy, more or less.

And, as it happened,

back in that earlier dream, her having forced Isagi to wash her feet had clearly been one manifestation of exactly that kind of fantasy.

Far too intimate!

No, wait — far too direct, far too embarrassing!!

And yet the more she thought about it that way, the more Artemis felt that, deep down, she was actually looking forward to it, at least a little.

That was also exactly why —

the goddess had chosen to join Aphrodite's plan.

There were plenty of excuses and justifications, but in truth...

there was no doubt about it.

Deep down, Artemis was thinking exactly the same thing as Ais!

And because of that,

the moment she entered the dream and realized the current situation followed right on from the last dream, she'd thought of the exact same thing as Ais, instantly!

But —

actually going and knocking on the door herself was a bit too difficult for Artemis.

The Moon Goddess had, from the very start, simply hidden behind her own door, torn between hesitation and secretly peeking out at what was happening outside.

Until Ais showed up.

Thinking that if the girl just pushed straight through the door, and she herself was still standing out here, wouldn't that be a total disaster?!

So, drawing on courage from who-knows-where,

Artemis burst out into the hallway right at that moment too — only to end up, along with Ais, standing frozen in front of Isagi's door, staring blankly at each other, at a total loss all over again.

Should they push the door open?

Or knock first?

Maybe they should listen for sounds first — after all, there was a real chance that, inside...

If that turned out to be the case, then whether they burst straight in or interrupted the boy mid-something, either way would be incredibly awkward.

"Useless, both of you!"

A sudden scolding voice from the end of the hallway made both Ais and Artemis jump.

And then —

they finally spotted, further down the corridor, a figure in a cloak with the hood pulled up, looking utterly, mysteriously suspicious — Aphrodite.

Heh heh heh!

Just as she'd expected — without her around, Ais and the others really couldn't get anything done on their own!!

Shaking her head like it was hopeless.

The Goddess of Beauty, looking thoroughly pleased with herself, came striding over quickly, radiating an air of "let me show you two how it's done!"

In response,

Artemis actually felt a bit annoyed about it.

Mainly because if Aphrodite actually saw what she truly wanted to do, it would be unbearably embarrassing!!

This woman had already been teasing her about this exact sort of thing for ages.

If she let Aphrodite watch the whole thing play out from start to finish, there was no telling what would happen!?

For a moment, sheer embarrassment actually won out over the Moon Goddess's desire, and she wanted to turn around and flee straight back to her own room.

But there was no way Aphrodite was going to let her get away.

There's strength in numbers, after all!

The two goddesses' trains of thought were clearly running on completely different tracks at that moment.

As far as Aphrodite was concerned, with this many people all "wishing" in the same direction at once, it would inevitably overpower Isagi and naturally steer the dream toward becoming "exactly that kind of situation."

So!

As long as everyone worked together right now!!

Whatever happened once the door opened was bound to go perfectly, flawlessly smoothly.

So —

"Bang!"

Without a shred of hesitation,

the Goddess of Beauty, having arrived at the door, shoved it wide open.

"Hee hee hee, we're coming in~"

Fully, completely in character.

Aphrodite hadn't forgotten for a second that she needed to project an aura of thorough "hunger," so that the dream would keep charging forward in exactly that direction without pause!

Only that way would whatever happened next unfold naturally, all on its own...

____

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