“So that little gem is Daniel, huh?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Eris, keenly observing the crystal she was holding out, made a subtle expression before immediately reaching out to snatch it.
Thankfully, quick-reacting Eris pulled her hand back just in time, or she might have lost it.
With a vacant fist aimed at the air, Mei, who was clearly frustrated, stormed toward the visitor’s table.
“Hand it over! I’m gonna smash it! You little brat!”
Eve rushed in to pacify Mei, who was shouting angrily.
“Mei! Calm down! I know exactly what you’re feeling!”
“Calm down? You want me to calm down? You suddenly show up and say you have a way to resurrect the guy who kicked me to the curb? Are you kidding me? Didn’t you come here to fight?”
It’s been almost three years since Daniel McLean disappeared.
The one who had grown the most was undoubtedly Mei.
Among the group, Mei was on the lower end of the combat spectrum, but through consistent training and learning over three years, she had become a bona fide martial artist.
There was no way Eve, who only typed in front of her typewriter every day, could stop Mei.
Mei tried to leap over the table to grab the crystal from Eris, but a gentle breeze pushed her away.
“I understand the excitement. I’ll take that as you opting not to help.”
Eris stood up sharply and spoke coolly.
“Eve, let’s go. Mei seems to have completely given up hope on the Sherpa.”
“U-Um, Eris…”
Eve, flustered, stood up, but to Eris, it was a blessing as she crossed her arms.
“This is great. I was honestly quite angry about all the women around the Sherpa. I can’t stand harems.”
Truth be told, Eris didn’t want to give others a chance. Sharing? She could toss that idea out the window. She never considered sharing Daniel with anyone.
However, she knew the feelings the other women had toward Daniel and she needed power to save him.
It was just a necessary compromise.
“That level of sentiment is enough. I’ll come by later to exchange pleasantries with the Sherpa.”
Seeing Eris trying to leave without hesitation, Mei’s face flushed with anger and frustration, and she yelled out.
“Don’t talk nonsense! That brat liked me so much!”
“Huh?”
“I was his first kiss!”
To be completely honest, she really should say that he forced the kiss at the kingdom’s fountain. But that thought had long vanished from Mei’s mind.
Yet, at that moment, Eris, who had just confidently held the upper hand, twitched her eyebrows, and Eve, who had been neutral, narrowed her eyes.
“At the fountain! Do you know how romantic that was? He kissed me right in front of everyone!”
“The Sherpa? Really? Wasn’t that just Mei forcing herself on him?”
“N-No way!”
“That sounds about right. The Sherpa wouldn’t kiss anyone first.”
“I did kiss him!”
This was the truth.
With her flushed face and teary eyes, Mei shouted furiously.
“Yeah! I did go first at the fountain! But on the last day when we were trying to stop the apocalypse, he really kissed me first!”
“……”
Eris was momentarily speechless.
Mei currently didn’t look like she was lying.
No way?
Really?
The stoic Sherpa kissed this girl first?
For Eris, the only skinship she’d ever had was a coincidental hand-holding or being carried due to injuries or for guiding.
With an involuntary clenching of her teeth, Eris took a deep breath and declared with intent to win.
“I’ve decided to marry him.”
“……What?”
This time, Mei looked totally dumbfounded. What on earth was she talking about? But Eris regained her composure as she saw the expression on Mei’s face.
“Back when the world was ending, the Sherpa and I decided to survive together and get married. We even talked about planning kids.”
“You little…!”
Throwing curse words at the nonexistent Daniel, Mei clenched her fists, her eyes shining sharply as she asked.
“When were you together?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, when Lin destroyed the continent, right? When we were 28.”
The past version of Mei hadn’t lived a very good life. That’s why it was a memory she wanted to forget, but she forced it out.
“That’s… right.”
Eris replied in a tiny voice, and Mei regained her momentum as she slammed her fist onto the table with a bang.
“See! Do you know how many times the world ended afterward? A whopping two more times! Things change in three years, and do you think Daniel would have held onto those feelings during the two times the continent perished?”
“……”
“And besides, you were the only one left, right?!”
“Ugh!”
Eris had been hit too close to home.
She had worried that maybe the Sherpa just accepted reality since she was the only woman left.
“What about me? I kissed that bastard before he died! Eve! You’re a writer, you know! The protagonist always kisses someone before the final battle, right? Right?”
“……”
Eve had no response.
She lowered her head and muttered something, but it felt like a taboo to interfere.
“Uh, Eve?”
“What is it?”
As Eve lifted her head, her eyes looked strangely haggard. Her navy blue eyes looked oddly foggy, as if hiding some abyss one shouldn’t gaze into.
“No, I didn’t really receive that much from him.”
“……”
“……”
“Heh, heh heh.”
Clunk.
Eve’s voice wavered awkwardly. A chill crept into the dean’s room.
“I really want to meet Daniel.”
A cold smile appeared on Eve’s lips, reminiscent of winter.
*
“Ugh!”
“Come here! Hurry over here!”
I was dragged by the Goddess of Death to a room. The place where I first opened my eyes looked like a cave prison, but as I walked further, I realized it was a castle.
It was drearily dark, devoid of proper magic lamps or even one torch. Until my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I had to be careful with every step.
“Heh, heh heh! Self! What should we try first?!”
In the room the goddess dragged me to, there were all sorts of torture devices. They weren’t tools for slightly stimulating activities between lovers.
These were real torture tools.
From thick whips to blades sprouting like claws, heated iron rods for burning, and a basket filled with water for water torture.
There were even many items whose purpose I didn’t understand.
“From now on, you’ll be my stress reliever for life. Ah! So thrilling!”
“What a crazy woman.”
I wondered how to escape, but right then, the Goddess of Death pulled me into her embrace.
In that moment, her voluptuous body pressed against my entire face, and she dragged me to her bed.
No, why would you place a bed right next to the torture devices…?
“Wait, no way?”
Torture isn’t simply physical. It also includes mental and sexual torment.
I felt my body tremble and struggled, but I was trapped in the goddess’s arms and couldn’t escape.
“Ugh!”
I couldn’t even speak properly.
A strangely sweet scent violently wafted through my nose and mouth.
“Just stay still!”
The goddess holding me with one hand began preparing something with the other. Buried against her chest, I couldn’t see what was happening.
And then.
A nasty voice suddenly rang out.
-What are you doing? You reached out to me first.
The voice of the goddess who had been my only conversational partner during my long time on the stagnant continent.
‘Goddess of Time?’
She looked slightly droopy and weary compared to before, but it was unquestionably the voice of the Goddess of Time.
The Goddess of Death smiled and said.
“Feeling lethargic? Nowadays, Life is really worried about your vitality.”
-What’s the matter? We’re not exactly in a position to worry about each other.
Had she always been this blunt and cold?
The Goddess of Time I remembered was always the one I wanted to smack with a light tap on the head, always active and hopping around.
“I was going to give you a little gift to uplift you, since we’re both comrades who lost our strength, but you act all cold?”
-I’m hanging up. Don’t contact me again.
“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”
-What?
Swish.
The Goddess of Death finally released me from her embrace and laid me down next to her pillow. Then, the face of the Goddess of Time hovering in the air came into view.
“Ta-da.”
“Oh! I almost suffocated and died!”
“You’re already dead, so what’s the point of dying again?”
That’s a valid point.
Anyway, what was important now didn’t seem to be that.
-Uh… uh…?
The Goddess of Time pointed at me with a twisted expression, as if something was wrong with her mind.
It wasn’t even a time for greetings, so I awkwardly averted my gaze, but the Goddess of Death grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into her embrace as she laughed.
“How’s it going? Long time no see? I thought you’d want to see this.”
-You! You little! What have you done! No! Daniel! Daniel McLean! Can we talk for a moment…!
Poof!
Once again sandwiched between the Goddess of Death’s bosom, she savored her victory.
“Well, we’ll have a good time, so take care. I’ll contact you again when I have time.”
-Wait! Daniel, I…!
The voice of the Goddess of Time was cut off.
At the same time, I was kicked away by the Goddess of Death. I tumbled down under the bed.
“Did you see that look on her face? Ah, what a relief! Ah! So thrilling! It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my life! Thank you so much!”
Cough cough!
“So today, I’ll just chop off your arms and legs.”
The sweet whispering voice from just moments ago turned into that of the Goddess of Death, who was now about to slice me into pieces.
