“Hmmm…….?” Luna’s mother looked at me curiously.
I froze, becoming as mobile as a rock.
“It is an honour to meet you. I am the third son of the Astorio family, Yuno Astorio.”
I only managed to speak because rather than being nervous, I was busy staring at Luna’s mother.
Her facial features were perfect, she had beautiful purple eyes and glossy, silver hair tied up on one side which moved lightly whenever she did.
Ooh… a goddess… wait no, stop it, me! I already have Athena!
“I see. So you’re Luna’s knight, eh… What a surprise,” she said, looking at Luna.
“…Is there some problem?”
“Not at all? Nothing at all. I was just a little surprised.”
While I was trying to make sense of the atmosphere in the room, Eris suddenly cut in with a bright voice.
“Eeh!? He’s really onee-sama’s knight?” she said, pointing at me.
“Yes, that’s right,” Luna nodded, smiling, which caused Eris to puff up her cheeks again.
“Eeeeh! It’s not fair that only you have it! I want it too!” Eris said, still pointing at me.
“Fufu… no can do. That one’s mine.”
Hearing that, Eris began tearing up, and she ran over to me and hugged my leg.
“Buuut, I want this oneeee”
I decided to ignore them calling me ‘it’ and ‘that’ and ‘this’.
Eris looked up at me.
Cute… wait no! That was dangerous. Not allowed. Don’t panic, me.
While I was undergoing such internal conflict, a beautiful and elegant laugh rang out.
“Fufufu… even Eris, eh. Still, since he’s the knight Luna chose, it’s probably only to be expected.” Luna’s mother smiled, looking straight at me and curtseying elegantly.
“I am the wife of Duke Argos Flame, Charlotte Flame. It seems my husband caused you some trouble… I’ll give him a stern talking-to later, so please forgive him.” Luna’s mother said, smiling elegantly.
“O-of course.” I answered, not having missed the split second when her face had turned rather frightening.
Poor Argos Flame…
“Right. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Luna’s mother looked at Athena.
“Are you the rumoured god Athena?”
Athena jumped a little in shock, and clumsily said “I-I’m the god Yuno-san made a contract with. I’m Athena! Nice to meetyou!”
She bowed her head.
…Cute.
“I see. You’re as beautiful as Luna said. Even the god I made a contract with is a little shocked.” Luna’s mother said, looking warmly towards Athena.
…I couldn’t help but feel happy. My god was being praised.
“U-um, t-thank you.” Athena said, her face red and eyes glittering.
Speaking of which…
“Erm, Charlotte…-sama?”
“Fufu, just call me Char. You are Luna’s knight, after all.”
“Right, Char-sama, you have already made a contract with a god?”
“Indeed. I have made a contract with Astaroth-sama, the god of love and beauty.”
That was a surprise. I had guessed she wasn’t an ordinary person the moment I had first seen her, but she had made a contract with an extremely famous god.
“I see… Astaroth-sama…”
The goddess of love and beauty, Astaroth. There probably wasn’t a single person in the world who hadn’t heard of her. Naturally, I had heard of her before as well.
Or… I… should have?
For some reason, an indescribable feeling of unease ran through me.
Suddenly, Athena knelt down, her shoulders shaking.
“K-kami-sama!”
I ran over to her and grabbed her shaking shoulders.
“Kami-sama!? What’s the matter!?”
“Yuno-san… sorry… ‘m scared…” she said, her eyes clouded and face slightly distorted by fear.
I panicked at her unusual actions.
Was she sick? Was that even possible? Or was–
“What’s this now? You talking about me?”
––– Space itself was torn apart.
A pitch-black oval of darkness appeared, causing wind currents strong enough to suck out all the air from the room.
“Everyone! Please step back!”
I said to the girls who were all frozen in surprise, and stepped in front of the black oval.
I had goosebumps. What the hell was this?
Magic? No. It was nothing as childish and simple as that.
So what was it? This clump of sinister energy?
There were too many possibilities for me to be able to consider all of them and think through them properly.
And, as if mocking my panic–
– the answer arrived all by itself.
“Whoospie-la, there we go.”
It was the same voice we had heard before.
A girl with pink twintails jumped out of the darkness, landing in front of me.
The girl, wearing a black and red dress, looked at me with the same crimson eyes Athena had and smiled cheerfully.
“Hi there.” she said, giving an elegant curtsey by pinching and slightly lifting the edges of her short skirt and bowing simultaneously.
Her beauty had convinced me.
– She was not human.
“…Astaroth-sama?” Char-sama whispered, and the girl in front of me grinned.
“Long time no see, Char. I hope you’ve been doing well.” she said, walking past me over to where Luna’s mother was standing.
She was the goddess Astaroth.
Luna’s mother had said as much a couple moments before.
So she’s Astaroth, the goddess of love and beauty…
I turned slightly to look at her.
“It has been a while, Astaroth-sama. It has been three years since you last deigned to visit, I believe?”
“Huh… really? That long?”
“Fufu… I thought you would never come to visit again.”
“Well, I like you. You’re special, y’know?”
…I didn’t feel uneasy at all.
On the contrary, she was acting quite familiar with Char-sama.
…I wondered to myself why I cared so much about what Astaroth seemed to be like.
I felt really stupid all of a sudden, sighing and letting my shoulders un-tense.
Right. There was no way something as stupid as that actually was a thing.
– That there shouldn’t have been a god called Astaroth.
“By the way, who’re you?” Astaroth asked Athena, crouching down in front of her.
“U-…umm-… I-I’m…”
Noticing that she was still shaking, I went over to her. However, before I arrived, Char-sama spoke.
“She’s the goddess Athena-sama.”
She had probably wanted to help. Athena herself certainly seemed too scared to introduce herself.
However, the moment Char-sama said so, Astaroth’s eyes glinted in my direction, full of suspicion.
“……Athena? Right. The goddess Athena, huh… Kufufu, I see, gotcha.” Astaroth happily muttered to herself a couple of times, covering her face with a hand to hide her expression.
“She’s a stray god, isn’t she? Who gave her the name Athena?” Astaroth asked in a muffled voice, her mouth still covered by her hand.
“…I did.” I said, turning towards her.
“Gotcha, so it was you.” Astaroth muttered, then walked over to me with slightly wobbly steps.
She placed a hand on my shoulder.
Then, her crimson eyes stared at me as if looking into me.
“Why did you call her Athena?”
“…I don’t know.”
“……”
She pursed her lips as if deep in thought.
“Hmm. Alright. Then, one more.” she said, turning to look at me again.
“Who’s that inside of you?”
…Hm?
The tension in her voice was clearly audible.
What the hell was she talking about.
“Uhh, erm, I’m… inside… of me?”
That was correct, right? Or was I somehow wrong?
“…Fufu… I see. What the heck, how boring.” she said, clasping her hands together behind her back, puffing up her cheeks and backing off slowly.
The, still staring straight at me – she held out her palm towards me, and –
“Yay! Boom!”
A red beam of light flew towards me.
– Full power.
I kicked it away with my right leg.
“…!”
It had a ton of momentum, but if it was just this much…!
I deflected it towards one of the room’s windows.
Even as the glass shattered, I didn’t take my eyes off Astaroth for a single moment.
“A-Astaroth-sama! What are you!?” Char-sama said, panicking.
I wondered if the others were all right.
I looked around.
Athena was still sitting on the floor where she had been before, looking at me with eyes filled with worry.
Luna… was probably okay. She was glaring at Astaroth with a gaze as cold as ice.
And as for Eris… she was lying on the sofa, her eyes shining.
…Eris.
“Ahahha, you’re amazing! You pass!” Astaroth’s cheery voice broke through the heavy silence.
“A-Astaroth-sama, what do you mean he passes?”
“No need to be so surprised, Char~ He’s your daughter’s knight, right? So I came to see him with my own eyes.” Astaroth said, bursting out in laughter.
“Well, since I’ve done what I came for.”
Seemingly unable to sit still, she created another black oval and jumped into it.
“– We’ll meet again, Yuno Astorio.” she said, a dark smile crossing her face.
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