MTLNOVEL Chapter 20: [20]
"No, I-" Hestia cut herself off, closing her legs as I moved to get off her, her hand still gripping mine. "I just...I want your...thing...to be the first thing that enters me...down there," Hestia said, and impossibly, she blushed even brighter than she had before. I half expected steam to come bursting out of her ears like a teapot left on the stove too long.
It was a very good thing that I didn't have a third shot in me because I probably would have buried myself into her right then. Luckily, my brain had the lion share of blood now, and immediately I zeroed in on the issue there. "Hestia, have you ever masturbated before?" I asked, catching her off guard with the question.
Hesitantly, still blushing but at ease as I rubbed the back of her hand with my thumb. "I haven't," she admitted shyly.
Wow. So, a virgin in every sense of the word, huh? "Then that might be a bad idea," I told her, my voice low, "I could really hurt you when we make love for the first time. I mean, like physically hurt you." Vaginal tearing was no joke. I had a bitch breaker and Hestia would be beyond virgin tight -- I watched enough hentai to know anime women's vaginas were probably one of the most durable things in existence, but I didn't want Hestia associating sex with excruciating pain.
"It's fine," Hestia tried to dismiss the issue, but I pressed on.
"Hestia, the very last thing I ever want to do is hurt you," I told her, getting a giddy smile since I was telling the truth. "But if we don't stretch you out before we have sex, then you're going to be in incredible pain. I'm talking about the kind of pain that we'll need to keep a health potion nearby, to-"
"Then we'll do that," Hestia decided, squeezing my hand, giving me a firm look. "Jericho, I know you mean well, but I've been saving my virginity for thousands of years. This is how I want to lose it," Hestia told me firmly, cutting me off when I opened my mouth to argue. I really didn't think she understood just how much that was going to hurt.
But, if we're going by hentai biology, then, theoretically, if I got her aroused enough then somehow that would mean it wouldn't hurt going it. Not entirely sure how that worked, but it was a pretty prevalent thing in hentai. Hell, if I did enough foreplay, then me thrusting into her could give her a mind-blowing orgasm, or something.
However, Hestia took my hesitation as something else. "I know I'm acting all...slutty," she told me, unable to look up at me all of a sudden as I blinked in surprise. "I know we've only known each other a few days, and I've been tempting you, but I-I, Jericho, I…!"
"What?" I blurted before I could stop myself, probably cutting off an emotional outburst. If I could have stopped myself, I would have, but that caught me completely off guard. Tempting me? I mean, I guess, but that was me being a horndog more than her putting any effort into tempting me.
"I've been tempting you," Hestia explained as if what she said made any sense. "When you give me massages, I always turn it into...something else. And I touched your p-penis and stuff," she kinda explained, but not really.
"Hestia," I interrupted, "I've been seducing you," I told her bluntly, wanting to nip that miscommunication in the bud.
"What?" Hestia blurted, looking at me with no small amount of bewilderment. "You've been seducing me?"
"...yeah?" I admitted with some sheepishness. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything?
Hestia still looked completely bewildered, like I was trying to tell her that the sky was green and it was raining jagamarukuns. "But...really?" She questioned, trying to wrap her head around the fact but she was visibly struggling with the concept that I was seducing her.
"Yeah," I confirmed, feeling more than a little awkward about it now. I shouldn't have said anything. I should have reassured her, or something, then we could have ended on a cute, high note. "I...kinda thought you knew?"
"Oh…" Hestia trailed off, not looking...displeased by that, which was a lot better than her getting angry. "Is that why you've been so…?" She questioned, drawing into herself.
I shook my head, buying me a second to gather my thoughts, "I can't say that it doesn't have something to do with it." I admitted honestly, seeing Hestia tense up at that, "but, it's not like that was the whole reason, you know?" I quickly continued, feeling like there was a lot better way to tell her this. "I mean, I, well, I do care about you, Hestia. A lot. And it's pretty clear you're exhausted after work, so I would have done a lot of that stuff anyway."
She hadn't let go of my hand, so that was a good sign. "And since you were so receptive to it, I guess I kept pushing the envelope. I…" I trailed off lamely, having no idea what I was trying to say. "I guess, I wanted you to like me as much as I liked you? So, I went out of my way to get massage oils and stuff?" Which was pretty much the textbook definition of seductions. God, when I wasn't ripping off one-liners, I actually sucked at this whole conversation thing.
"So...you aren't just doing this because you want to sleep with me?" Hestia asked, her voice carefully kept even as she looked up at me. The serene expression she was going for was ruined by the sheer amount of cum on her face, but I took her seriously all the same.
"No, I'm not doing all of this just because I want to sleep with you," I answered, squeezing her hand. Again, I couldn't help but note it was comically small in mine. "If you want to stop all this, then we can," I offered, "just say the word."
Hestia fiddled where she sat, "I don't want to stop," she told me and I couldn't hide the relief that flowed through me. Hestia looked up at me for a moment before she leaned in for a hug- ah, that was gross. The cum on her chest and face smeared over me, Hestia completely oblivious to it as she hugged me as tightly as she could.
Clenching my eyes, ignoring the gross factor, I hugged her back. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. This was...nice. Clearing the air, making sure that we were on the same page. When I opened my eyes, I looked over the room, spotting the oils and mat still on the coffee table, next to a pile of books that I hadn't touched yet. I really needed to take a moment and start reading them, but it felt like there was never enough time in the day.
Then my gaze landed on my breastplate leaning up near the door. I had to be seen taking it off so no one would know about my Inventory at the Guild...but...call it post nut clarity, but why was I keeping it a secret from Hestia? She was my goddess. I always preferred it when I was reading fanfiction that the gamer abilities remained a secret and exclusive, but just because that's how I preferred it in fiction didn't mean it was a bright idea to do it in reality.
It was a pretty big thing to keep secret for no real reason. At all.
"Hestia, there's one more thing I need to tell you," I said, ruining the tender moment before I could talk myself out of it. This was something she needed to know. Not just about my Inventory, but about my Skill Gamer Body.
Hestia pulled back from me, her expression more curious than cautious underneath smeared cum. I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn't come. How did I explain this? It would be similar to show her, I figured.
I reached into my inventory, sticking my hand into empty air, and pulled out one of the leftover magic stones. I held it out to her, seeing growing confusion on her face. You know what? I probably should have saved this conversation when Hestia wasn't covered in cum. When I didn't more than a little of it smear over me from the hug. She took it from my hand, looking back up at me, "a magic trick?" She tried to rationalize but I shook my head.
"I figured out what my Skill Gamer Body does," I started slowly. Actually, to further prove my point, I pulled another towel that I stole from the guildhall out to pass over to her. Now, Hestia looked far more concerned than confused, there was no mistaking that for a sleight of hand. She took it, looking it over for a moment, then her gaze silently demanding an explanation.
"Tell me everything," Hestia asked, wiping cum from her face.
So, I did. I started right from the beginning. I started with my death at the front bumper of Truck-kun, which lead me to explain what a truck was. Then that lead me to explain that I was from a different world. And, oddly enough, Hestia hadn't been totally blown away by that fact like I expected.
Despite it only happening for a couple of days, there was a lot to talk about. Some parts got glossed over as we moved on from topic to topic. My character creator wasn't mentioned beyond that I could choose my start and what perks I could get. Which lead to Hestia asking if that was why I always smelled good. My Inventory raised more questions than my stats, though I did explain what an exp bar was.
Hestia listened, nodding every once in a while to show that she was still following along. When I finished, she gave one final serene nod. "It sounds like one of the gods in heaven is making their own fun," she said, handing me the cum stained towel to watch me put it back into my inventory.
"Er," I started, not exactly sure how to respond to that. Of all the responses I expected, that...hadn't been on the list. I expected yelling, or an existential crisis, or something like that. Hestia saw my confusion and continued.
"Jericho, the gods in heaven can still use their arcanum, so they can do some very...incredible, if questionable things," Hestia began, leaning against me as she spoke, one hand tracing my bicep. "It sounds like one of them looked into the far future and took your soul when...when you died and instead of reincarnating you like normal, they altered your soul in some way before sending you down back into the past."
What? There was a whole lot to unpack there. I don't even know where to start.
"I'm...not sure about that," I argued, frowning in thought. I knew about the Danmachi universe, and I had my choice to pick which world I went to. "Wait...do the gods know about other worlds?" I questioned, making Hestia's hand stop.
A sigh seemed to deflate her, "yes?" Hestia said, the confirmation sounding like a question. "Heaven is timeless, Jericho and it's everywhere. This world, the lower world, was the only one that we can interact with at all, but the gods do know of a couple of other worlds. Some have a talent for finding them -- they, ah, served as entertainment back in Heaven before we came down."
Huh. This...brought up a lot of theological questions that I wasn't prepared to think about. "So, what, do all souls go to heaven?" I asked, thinking back to my strict catholic upbringing. Was that true for the entire multiverse?
Hestia shook her head, "no, not all of them. If the world is close enough, then a god can take a soul from that world. I think that's what happened to you," Hestia elaborated, "but this is the only world where all souls go to heaven. From there, they're usually reincarnated since the gods back in heaven are really overworked. Like, really, really, really overworked. If all the souls from all the worlds went to Heaven..." Hestia trailed off, giving an exaggerated shiver, a haunted look on her face since it wasn't that long ago she was one of those overworked gods.
"So, did they...arrange my death?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around the idea. Was it possible? I don't know. It made as much sense as a game system deciding to give me a second lease on life after death. And there was the whole typical ROB thing that most self-inserts used which was pretty much the same thing as Hestia was describing -- a bored god seeking entertainment at another's expense. Not to mention I had a literal god confirming that it was possible.
But I couldn't bring myself to fully buy into the idea. I could have gone to an entirely different world, so...I don't know.
It was pretty much the basis of most self-insert stories, but getting it confirmed like that...I don't know. It made me feel...small. And weak. And completely at the mercy of a being that I wasn't aware of that could be watching me right now for its own amusement.
"That's impossible," Hestia denied with a shake of her head, "when we're in heaven, a god can't interact with the lower world at all. Well, there's the occasional oracle that can communicate with a god every once and a while, but we can't do anything like...what happened to you."
"Huh," I muttered, mulling that over for a moment before Hestia continued. She squeezed my hand, bring my attention back to her.
"Did...it hurt?" Hestia asked, her eyes filled with concern. It...helped more than one would think, knowing that was her priority out of everything I had just told her. She didn't ask why I wanted to keep it a secret or try to metagame my ability or anything like that. What she took out of it was that I remembered my own death and she was worried about how that affected me. I really didn't deserve her at all, did I?
My mind went back to those few moments -- all of it had happened so fast. I was walking back from a house party, minding my own business, then I looked up just in time to see a truck cross three lanes to slam into me. "No, not really. As soon as it hit me, everything just went black. So, there's that, at least."
Then I shoved those thoughts to the side, wrapping an arm around Hestia to bring her in close, "but, in the end, whoever did this to me did me a favor. Without it, I never would have met you," I pointed out, looking down to give her a grin.
Hestia let out a small huff as she made herself comfortable, content to be cuddled. "Jericho, I'm not worth you…" she couldn't even say it, her voice so small, barely above a whisper.
"I think it was," I told her honestly. "Back home, ah, well, let's just say that I didn't leave much behind. So, as odd as it is to say, I think dying might have been the best thing that has ever happened to me," I said with a small laugh. Hestia tried really hard not to smile back at me, but I knew that she was when she snuggled into my chest.
"Just don't do it again," Hestia muttered, squeezing me with surprising strength, her breast pressed against my stomach.
"One death was more than enough for me. I promise I'm here to stay."
…
In the end, I had an appointment to keep, so I was eventually forced to depart. Hestia had crawled back into bed after making a shocked sound when she saw the hourglass. Her side of the bed was still damp from our activities -- I needed to get some sheets, and that new bed I was wanting because I was tired of having my legs dangle off the side. Actually, while I was at it, I should start looking into getting a new place as well.
Still, after everything, I felt good as I approached the Guildhall. Coming clean felt good. Even better, Hestia reacted better than I could have imagined.
I didn't see Lili in the central plaza, so I walked up the steps to the Guildhall to see that it was practically deserted. A skeleton crew working the Guild, while not a single adventurer to be seen, nor Lili. I was a little early, so I guess she hadn't arrived yet.
I looked around the Guildhall, wondering what I should do to kill some time before my eyes lingered on a board that covered the far wall. I noticed it before, recognizing it for what it was, but I dismissed it since I couldn't do anything on it. Even still, with nothing else to do, I walked over to inspect a board covered in dozens of sheets of paper.
Quests. Requests for items, to investigate something on the deeper floors, recruitment posters and so on. Anyone could put up a quest for just about everything it seemed. As I expected, most of them revolved going down into the deep floors -- requests for ten minotaur horns, thirty orc hides and so on. Nothing for the upper floors, either because they were quickly taken or whoever wanted them got them themselves.
Idly, I reached out to lift one to see another quest underneath it, only for a screen to fill my vision.
Quest: Retrieve Blue Papilio Wings
Objective: Go to the seventh floor to find a Blue Papilio, kill it and bring pack the drop item.
Reward: 5,000 exp. 25,000 valis.
Hold up. You wait one fucking second. Was this why I wasn't getting random generic quests every three seconds for mundane tasks?
Because they were locked behind this crap?
And what was with those rewards? 5,000 exp?
I killed a man for that much exp, and all I had to do to get the same amount was kill whatever the fuck a blue papilio was?!
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A/N— I'll try to post daily. Powerstones and comments would help, it would mean alot and give me the motivation to continue the story. In fact two chapters a day wouldn't be impossible either.
I'll post an extra chapter every 500ps power stones, no limit!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
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