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Bella plopped down on Hestia's bed, feeling the ache after a long day in the Dungeon. She peeled her shirt off her sweat-slick skin, then just laid down on her belly, as Hestia got started on updating her Status. "Today, there were a bunch of bugbears that fled from a lower floor of the Dungeon," she told Hestia. "I was worried for a second! Those things are even faster than minotaurs! And I had to protect Setsuko and Naomi and make sure they didn't die! But Drake was there, so it was all, whish! Katcha! Kerchunk! Slice!" She made little motions with her hands, sighing. "He's so cool." She felt her cheeks flush as she thought about it. About how cool he looked, sailing through the air, thin strands of nothingness tracing out from his hands as he just yanked monsters to him, neatly decapitating them, slamming his hand through their chest. "Ahhh he's too cool for me!" Her legs kicked at the air a little.

"Y...yes!" Hestia agreed. "He's too cool for you. You should just give up and go for some other guy! Somebody who's not a... a huge pervert!"

Bella just sighed. Hestia was a virgin goddess, so it made sense that she would be like this, but still... she really just accused Drake of being a pervert for no reason! She was the real pervert! He just had sex with Setsuko, and Ganko, and Naomi, in a way that made all three of them really happy and they came a lot, while Bella kept spying on them like she was Grandpa! Even though Drake had told her he was okay with it, she still never asked! Her cheeks burned at that thought, hands going up to her face. "Drake is really n-nice, Hestia," she said.

"Of course he is. A pervert like that uses niceness like a weapon. It's weaponized niceness." Hestia said it like it was something wise rather than obviously just stuff she made up. "He acts nice, then blam! He's making you do weird stuff! Costumes and... and weird play!" She obviously didn't even know what kind of weird stuff guys did! How could she be so brazen about giving love advice when she was so ignorant?!

"He doesn't make people do weird stuff! H-he asked if there was anything I wanted to do, and- and there was but I didn't saaaay it!" Her legs kicked futilely behind her. She should have said it! She totally should have said she... she wanted him to... to do stuff to her! Like with Setsuko! Well... her boobs were smaller than Setsuko's... so if he did her from behind they wouldn't bounce like Setsuko's... P-plus she'd probably like it where it was face to face, so like... well, Setsuko rode him sometimes! Yeah! She'd do it like that!

For her first time, though? Should she really do that? What if she messed it up and went too fast or too slow and it felt bad for him and she died of embarrassment because she wasn't good at sex and he was really really really stupidly extremely comically unbelievably good at sex, probably the best person at sex ever, objectively???

"...because deep down, you know that he's just a pervert," Hestia said.

"Sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you."

"I said, you're hesitating because deep down, you know that he's just a pervert!" Hestia shouted, with more gusto.

"No... honestly, Hestia..." Bella sighed, leaning up, her Status now updated. She took the paper from Hestia. Her stats had gone up another three hundred points across her stats from the day's adventuring. Pretty ehn result for the day's work... She'd have to work harder tomorrow. "I think... I'm the pervert."

"No! Bella, he's doing judo! You're pure! Pure and sweet, Bella! Drake's a rapacious monster, he's going after poor Hephaistos too, and- and I think he's seducing more girls at that bar he goes to, the maid cafe one," she said. "Any guy who goes to a maid cafe is probably a pervert! And Drake is definitely one!!!" She punched the bed for emphasis.

Bella just sighed. Hestia was so useless at love advice, why did she keep asking this useless goddess for help? Her advice was always just 'Give up on Drake,' and obviously Bella wasn't going to do that! She was going to get stronger, so she could stand beside him, just like the Dark Knight or the Sword Princess or the Human Rex or Jormungand! She couldn't afford to be left behind!

But... well... even once she was Level Six, he'd probably be Level Seven! Even once she was Level Seven, he'd probably have like two hundred bodies or something! He was going to Telskyura, which would make him super-duper powerful, but he was also going to abolish the horrible government there, and-!

She needed advice from somebody cool and capable and competent... somebody with experience in love... which definitely didn't mean Hestia!

* * *

Naomi resisted the urge to frown too deeply at the young girl's inquisitive gaze. She was, in effect, a child soldier. Her innocence was born of youth, not anything else. She had probably been in more life-or-death situations in her short time as a member of this adventuring party, than Naomi had in all her service in the Space Federation.

"I really do not understand the question," she said, at last.

"W-well... I just mean... Drake is so powerful and nice b-but I'm just... me," was Bella's response.

People with low self esteem were definitely the sort Naomi had little patience for. She almost just snapped at the girl, but Drake wouldn't like that, and that thought alone was enough to make her stop herself. Then her thoughts reoriented around Drake for a few long, precious seconds, his thick cock sliding down her throat, stimulating her tonsils as he'd done just this morning, before depositing a thick, creamy load directly on her tongue, a sweet gift from husband to wife...

Right. She was here. She had to deal with Bella for Drake. She didn't know why she had come to Naomi for advice, instead of the obviously maternal Setsuko... no, she supposed Setsuko had her own issues. "Men don't care about that shit." Bella jerked in surprise at her sharp words. "Well, no, there are some men who particularly delight in a competent, capable woman, taking her down a few pegs, but Drake isn't that sort of man. He's the sort of man who..." fucks your throat and cunt and asshole in sequence and then cooks you breakfast afterwards, "...likes women who are capable, sure. But he also likes women who are only ever liable to be a homebody. If anything, I would say he wishes he could have one or two amongst his harem, beyond, I suppose, Loki."

"W-well, I want to be an adventurer, not a homebody..."

"Tch. All this running around in circles inside your own head is annoying me," Naomi said, and Bella flinched again. "Drake will fuck your brains out and make you a happy mother no matter what Level you are. One, Two, Six, Twelve, he doesn't care. He thinks you're cute and wants to make you happy. If you don't feel adequate at your current Level, then so be it-" even if it was annoying, given Naomi herself hadn't pierced second Level and this girl-child was outdoing her, "-but it has no relevance whatsoever to Drake and exists entirely inside your head."

"So... um... what should I do then?"

Naomi held her urge to get annoyed back again, trying to think of what Lieri would do. Lieri... was still back home, in Sol, being tormented by a man who took full advantage of her. She didn't even know that Naomi had escaped, given there was another Naomi there, still suffering with a smile on her face... not that she would have cared. She hoped that Drake would one day gain the power to return to her home universe, so she could crush Donny Boghan's skull into a fine paste with her falna-enhanced strength. If she couldn't fix Lieri and the other Naomi, she could at least give them happy lives as Drake's wives.

Lieri. Lieri would... gently pat the girl's head.

Pat pat.

Bella fidgeted awkwardly under the attention. "Um... Naomi?"

Lieri would probably have some clever mind trick, to look at the problem from a fresh angle. Naomi didn't really have many emotional problems, or at least, not this sort of emotional problem... "Think about it from another angle," she said to Bella.

"Another angle?"

"Like..." she cast about for a moment, "what if you were Level Six right now? No-" this girl wouldn't be satisfied with that, she could tell that already. "Imagine you were Level Eight. How would you approach Drake?"

"W-well, then he'd approach me, r-right?"

He is already approaching you, stupid child! What do you think a man means when he asks you out on dates and cuddles you and tells you it's quite alright that you spy on him fucking his wives?!? If he hadn't told me that it was alright, I would have probably attacked you when I spotted you outside our bedroom as he fed me my morning cum, you little voyeur! She didn't let her thoughts escape her lips, though gauging by Bella's twitchiness, they perhaps played across her face. She once more did her best to channel Lieri. "Imagine he didn't approach you, and also, you knew this was merely because you had inadequately communicated your interest."

"Then... I'd say I was interested..."

"In what? Drake cannot read your mind."

"In... in being his, um... his... you know..." She fidgeted.

"You will have to be more specific with him than that. Do you want him to fuck you? To call you his lover? To marry you?" She turned increasingly red, and Naomi's patience was rapidly exhausting. "You do not have to say it to me. You have to say it to him. And as he does not care about whether you are Level Eight or Level Two, go do it now."

"A-ah... um, thanks," Bella said, awkwardly backing up, then running off.

She hoped Drake wouldn't be upset at her for being curt. She fidgeted in place. She needed to work on that sort of thing... it'd be her daughter asking those sorts of questions soon enough... though hopefully not about Drake... though if he wanted her to help him fuck her daughter, then she'd have to do it for him...

Thinking about Drake so much had her horny, so she searched for her husband. He almost always had sex with her when she was horny, which was utterly unlike the loathsome toad that was her previous master. Even when he didn't have sex with her right away (because he was busy with something), he generally would fuck her within half an hour. She really loved him (and his cock) a lot. He was so kind to her.

* * *

Bella took deep breaths, just huffing and puffing as she tried to build herself up to talking to Drake. She was hiding in her room and hyperventilating instead of doing that. Naomi said she needed to talk to him! To tell him how she felt! She needed to open that door, walk out there, and say-!

There was a knock on the door, and Bella's brain froze. "Bella? Naomi said you had something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Bella wanted to thank Naomi for being nice and making Drake come here - but also she wanted to yell at her for being nice and making Drake come here! She knew that Naomi just had a hard-edged exterior and a heart of gold, Drake wouldn't marry a woman that was bad! "Um. C-come in?" She managed to squeak out. That definitely wasn't what she was supposed to say!

Drake stepped inside, uncertainly at first, then gently stepped over to her bed, sitting on the edge and patting the spot next to him. She dutifully hopped up, sitting next to him - and he just casually pulled her towards his chest, her cheeks instantly turning bright red as he did so. "Okay, Bella. Talk to me. Say whatever it is you want to say."

"U-um..." Bella really should have started preparing a speech or something! Just go with the flow! Speak from the heart! That's what Grandpa would say! Wait, Grandpa was terrible at advice - oh no her mouth was starting to move already! "I-I really like watching you fuck Setsuko and Naomi and Ganko!" That wasn't what she was supposed to say at all! Grandpa!!! "It, um, it's really n-nice, and I think about it, a lot, sometimes, when I'm alone." He just gently brushed his fingers through her hair, even though she was talking about being a pervert instead of her feelings! Somehow, this was all Grandpa's fault! "You're really nice, Drake. And you smell nice, too. And you feel nice." She placed one hand on his chest. Wait, was this groping him?! Oh no! Her pervertedness was coming out again! But if she pulled her hand away now, he'd realize it wasn't an innocent touch, wouldn't he?!

"Thank you. I also think you're super cute and adorable, Bella," he told her, continuing to casually caress her hair. He wasn't just saying that, was he? No, he was honest, he wouldn't just say things like that. Plus, he didn't say she smelled nice, so he wasn't just copying what she said!

"When I'm alone, I imagine that I'm Setsuko, or Ganko, or Naomi. Mostly Setsuko on account of she has really big boobs and I'm jealous of them." What the heck?!? How was her mouth saying all these things?!? Did Drake have a superpower that forced her to say whatever?!? Her entire face felt like it was on fire, even as he continued softly petting her. "A-and I touch myself to those thoughts!" Her eyes clenched shut as she shouted that out.

"Okay," he said. "You don't have to feel bad about that, Bella. The only thing that's regrettable about those feelings is that you didn't tell me them earlier."

"H-huh? Wha? Why?" She sputtered out.

"Because if you had, I would have told you that I'd gladly satisfy all those fantasies." Gah! He was so suave! She was a babbling pervert and he just boom, grabbed it and threw it back at her! "Even having bigger boobs, if you really want them." Ahhh! Her head was foggy. She'd said that! He was taking it seriously! She shouldn't have mentioned the boob thing even if having bigger boobs would be nice! She hid her face behind her hands, but he just gently reached for her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face and meeting her eyes. He had such nice eyes. So kind. Ah, she was turning into a pervert about eyeballs too! He leaned down to just kiss her, first on the forehead, then on the nose, and then on the lips. It was soft and gentle. "We can get started right now, if you want, Bella."

"Get started on making my boobs bigger?" No, idiot!

He just chuckled at that, kissing her on the lips again. "No, Bella. We need a few minutes for that, if you really want it."

"N-no, I was just, ahhh!" She hid her face behind her hands again, and he gently shifted her to lay her on her back on the bed. "D-Drake?" She asked, peeking out from between her fingers.

"I'm going to take off your clothes, and then spread your legs, and then fuck you really good, Bella, while kissing and cuddling you and telling you how cute and sweet and adorable you are." Her face must have been pure blood red by this point, by how hot it was. Maybe it would even catch on fire! "I won't do it if you tell me not to, though. Or if you only want part of it, you can say that, too. But if you want all of it, just say nothing," he told her, leaning down over her, so big and strong and handsome, his lips kissing at her cheek. They pecked and he leaned over to her ear, nibbling on it, and she just wiggled underneath him.

Sh-should she stop him? Well, but... his fingers were starting to undo buttons on her shirt... now they were pulling up her shirt, slowly moving, and her arms were moving all on their own to rise above her head, making it easier for him to take off her clothes. She didn't have to do anything now and then she'd lose her virginity to Drake? That was good, right?? Wasn't this what she wanted??

She was just wearing her bra, which felt really pitiful compared to Ganko or Setsuko or Naomi or Hestia or the Black Knight or the Sword Princess or really just about anybody, but Drake just started kissing his way down her neck, teasing her collar bone softly with his lips. She was definitely wanting... bigger breasts! Also for him to have sex with her!! And now all she had to do to have sex with Drake, was to just stay there and not do anything. This was perfect??

Actually, she didn't know what it was, but she did think that she would rather do nothing and let Drake decide to... d-do things to her! Then she wouldn't be responsible! Yeah! Wait, then she was just making Drake be the one who did the dirty things, wasn't she?? She was basically saying it wasn't her responsibility??? And making Drake be the one who felt like a pervert?!?

But... Drake didn't seem like the type to ever feel like a pervert. His lips were now kissing her breasts! He was kissing her teeny-tiny breasts and, ahn, it felt so good! His lips on her breasts were so soft and sweet, and his fingers were pulling down her panties, and now they were in between her thighs, two fingers sliding inside her - her down there place! The place where she touched herself when thinking about Drake fucking her! Her pussy!

His thumb rubbed against her clit, making gentle little circles as his fingers continued to rub against the inside of her pussy. He was kissing at her breasts, and she was just wriggling on her back on the bed, panting and squeaking. She was a terrible lover! Ahhh! She was a 'dead fish!' Grandpa said that women who just laid there and didn't do anything were even worse than girls who pretended like- that they were bad! She was being an awful lover for Drake! But what was she supposed to do? He wasn't even naked yet, he was just kissing and fingering her, she couldn't do something crazy like suck his cock! Especially since it was way far away from her mouth! And also she'd probably be really bad at it!

"Ah, um," Bella said, and he pulled away from her chest at that point, looking at her with eyes that said, What do you want, Bella? She felt her cheeks glow. She wanted to do something! Herself! What could she do?? Dirty talk?? "St-stick it in, darling?" She squeaked out the last word and felt her cheeks glow even brighter. Setsuko said that! Sometimes in her fantasies she said it too! But that was for lovey-dovey married life with a baby like Setsuko had, not-!

Drake was pulling down his pants quite quickly, and Bella peeked down at his thing. His hard cock. His big, hard, throbbing, lively cock, which twitched in the air with excitement. "Alright, Bella," he told her, pointing it at her sex. "Now, since it's your first time, I'm going to go slow, so it hopefully won't hurt - that's why I was fingering you and everything, too," he told her, explaining things calmly and smoothly as he shifted to point his cock at her pussy.

Oh no, she'd ruined his prep work. She placed her hands over her face, clenching her mouth, and Drake just gingerly leaned over her, quietly peeling her hands away from her face by the wrists, leaning down to kiss her on the lips, firmly and forcefully. She let out a small squawk of surprise, then just about melted into the kiss, as his lips hungrily pressed against hers, his tongue invading her mouth, her hands on either side of her head. His powerful hands pretty much pinned her in place, which wasn't how he fucked Setsuko or Ganko or Naomi... but she didn't hate it, either!

Then his length started to slide inside her, this gentle, smooth movement that made her breath hitch in her throat. Little noises escaped her mouth as he pushed, and pushed, at her pussy, her toes curling beneath her as he ground his way ever deeper inside her. It was so slow! Agonizingly slow! But also nice! His thing didn't feel like her hands, or his hands, at all, it felt really ni~ice, pushing its way deeper and deeper, her breath getting all the more rapid as he continued to kiss her, his tongue lashing at her gums softly, sweetly, some of his saliva absently dripping into her mouth, and it tasted so sweet, and-!

Ah! It was all the way inside her! His thing! It had bottomed out! She felt it! His hips were pressing up against her clit, her legs forcibly spread wide, his balls smacking at her buttocks as he went to the very base! This was-! This was 'to hilt inside her'! Grandpa said it felt great for the man, especially if... ah!!! She was thinking about Grandpa's advice, so gross! But...

She started to squeeze her inner walls around his cock, just gripping his dick with her pussy as best she could, muscles tightening around his length. He let out a long groan in response, his hips idly jittering in place, his pleasure coursing through her into her mouth. He popped his mouth off of hers, staring down at her with genuinely lascivious eyes, peeling off his shirt and she got to see his nice muscly chest, too! He had abs, and pecs, and everything! She reached up with her hands for it, her fingers running along the bare skin, just feeling up his muscles... oh yeah and she started squeezing his dick with her pussy again!

"Do you want me to make it feel really good?" He asked her. She knew what that meant! That meant he'd do some kinda weird ultra technique which made all his wives just come like crazy! Ganko, Naomi, Setsuko - whenever he did it, they just turned into burbling wrecks of pleasure, completely, utterly losing to the cock! Their brains would get hammered into pulp from pleasure and all their thoughts would dribble out of their pussies, replaced with the pure, natural desire to get fucked! Only desire would be left, as they basically just turned into beings that could only think about sex, loved sex, lived for sex, forgot about everything but sex!

...or something like that, anyway! It wasn't like she fantasized about it lots when she was touching herself. Only sometimes! Maybe a third of the time, at most! Okay maybe a little more than that, but not half! "Yes," she squeaked out. "Darling," she added, because she thought he liked that?? His cock twitching as it remained hilted inside her certainly suggested as much. She couldn't call him Master like Naomi did... or could she?

He leaned down over her again, sucking on her neck, one finger trailing along her collar bone, going down between her breasts, doing that same thing he always did a few minutes before his wives got their brains pulverized by sexual ecstasy, before they got turned into mushy little sex kittens unable to do anything but mewl in desire, before their ability to talk got replaced by the ability to moan like a beast, before they forgot about anything but how good his dick felt! "Ahh, I really want to feel it, darling," she said, trying her best to be a good partner to him, too!

He pulled back from her neck, smiling down at her as he started to gently thrust inside her. "You will, Bella. It'll be really, really good," he promised, and her pussy idly clenched at that.

At that thought, because it was sexy. Also on his cock, because she wanted him to feel good. "I want it!" He seemed to like that sort of line. "I want it, darling!" His cock once more twitched and throbbed in a show of the fact that he really liked being called darling. If that was what he'd like, she'd call him it lots!

He was gentle, kissing along her bare skin, these loving little pecks. One of his hands softly played with her clit, while his hips sawed back and forth, this long, almost circular motion, her hips feeling as if they were rising just a half inch up with each thrust.

She could almost imagine she could feel it. The rising tide inside her. The heavy, oceanic pleasure, titanic in scope, a dragon's mighty power surging forth from in between her legs, slowly but surely encircling her like a great serpent. That she could sense the thing that was about to hit her, to swallow her up, like a great monster that was going to turn her into a quivering mess on the bed that was just a continuous orgasming bunny. Her cheeks lit up at that thought. M-maybe that could be her dirty talk? The special thing about how she talked? "D-darling, m-make me, your c-cute, l-little, fuh, fuh-" oh she couldn't say it!

Fortunately it wasn't too obvious that she couldn't say it, because that powerful magic of his hit her all at once a moment later. It was nothing like how she'd imagined it - not a furious pulse out from between her thighs, but an all-encompassing tingle, like being smothered beneath a slime, like being wrapped up in a warm blanket, but every pinprick point of contact was laced with pure pleasure. Like sleeping on a bed of needles but each needle brought only sexual bliss.

"O~oh!" She squealed out, thoughts leaving her as Drake continued to do exactly the same things as before, the same soft and steady movements of his hips as her pussy convulsed, as her whole body twitched and spasmed and bucked, back arching, eyes rolling around in her skull. Her fingers scraped along the bed sheets, then along Drake's back, and each brush of bare skin against sensitive fingertips was better than the pleasure from when he played with her clit earlier! It felt bad to even think that, but fortunately, she didn't have long to think it because she was coming, over and over, on Drake's cock!

Drake's cock! The Happy Ending's cock! This had to be why they called him the Happy Ending, that he made you feel so good you could just die! Setsuko, Naomi, Ganko - they were all incredibly strong women, to not simply collapse beneath this pleasure, to want to do anything but get fucked like this! Her entire being could only think: sex, sex, I want sex, I want lots and lots of sex, I want even more sex! I want to drink sex! I want to eat sex! I want to sleep sex! I want to replace every need with S-E-X!

Something in the back of her head remembered earlier, when he said it was okay if she was a pervert, and she had felt so embarrassed by it because she was a pervert, but now she understood! Any woman that Drake was with had to be a pervert, because they got fucked like this! They got fucked so hard that they couldn't be a prude! They got fucked so good that they wanted sex again! This was how he had so many wives, so many lovers-! It wasn't that he was nice and sweet and kind and powerful and rich and protective and earnest and honest and reliable and-! All those things just got him to this stage, the stage where his cock completely defeated you, where pleasure triumphed over sense, where desire utterly ruined reason! This was how he completely entranced women, how he made them his forever, how he turned them into women happy to be one of a dozen wives!

"I'm your perverted fuckbunny!" She squealed the words out with absolute delight, even the feeling of them passing through her lips feeling like supple ecstasy, hot breaths rolling through the air as she spasmed on his cock. "Darling!" She added, remembering he liked that word, wanting to give him one one thousandth of the pleasure she was feeling. His pace atop her got harder, his lips sucking on her breast more forcefully, each pump and thrust of his hips drowning her in another cascade of pleasure, like getting splashed with hot water, but it came up from her cunt and boiled away her brains and thoughts.

Pleasure! Ecstasy! Bliss! SEX! She was FUCKING! This was better than any sex that anyone else had ever had, except the other people Drake had had sex with! This was sex that made you addicted to sex! This was sex! Sex more powerful than a Level Three, or a Level Ten! If he fucked the Red Dragon like this then the greatest monster in the history of the world would forget all about eating people and focus on GETTING FUCKED!!! Her brains were turning into pink fluffy clouds, her pussy was just gushing, and Drake was pumping away atop her as she moaned and gasped and occasionally remembered to say something dirty because Drake's cock was the most important thing in the world right now, and saying dirty things made Drake's cock happy!!!

* * *

Bella laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, panting heavily. Drake had finished inside her, then pulled off, letting her recover from the intense sexual experience.

As she remembered what she did, her face turned red, then the blush started to reach across her whole body, slowly sliding across the surface of her skin, like a dot of food coloring dropped in water, spilling out to coat everything.

She couldn't believe what she'd said and done, ahhhh!!! He was right next to her too. He was staring at her face in profile. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, aaaaahhhh!!! What had she done?!? She'd acted even worse than Grandpa!!!

He leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek. "You're cute, Bella. I really, really like you," he said, and her heart did a few somersaults in her chest at that. He gently clasped her hand, lacing his fingers together with hers.

* * *

Drake had actually written Hephaistos a bit of poetry... it was obvious he wasn't the best poet in the world by any means, but it was the thought that counted. Oh look at that... she was reading it again...

Who really cared if it didn't have any particular meter or rhyming scheme? It made her feel as giddy as a one hundred year old. No, it was better if it wasn't very good, wasn't it? If it was too good, that'd suggest he wrote poems for girls all the time, but this was just for her. (She had heard from Hestia that he wrote smutty things for his wives. But that was Hestia, so who knew if it was true?)

"Hephaistos!" Hestia rushed into her office yet again, and Hephaistos resisted the urge to sigh at her overly energetic friend. "Drake- he, he despoiled Bella!" She declared.

"Ah, did he?" That wasn't too surprising. The way the girl looked at Drake, frankly, it was more surprising that she hadn't taken his cock down her throat until today. Or done whatever they did together. She wondered how Drake was with his other lovers? She got the impression he adjusted for her...

"He did! He totally did! He's adding her to his harem!" Hestia put two palms against her forehead as she seemed horrified by the whole turn of events. "Hephaistos, you have to put a stop to it!"

"Put a... stop to it?" Hephaistos asked.

"Yeah! He's into you, right?!"

"I thought you said he was only pretending to-"

"Let's focus!" Hestia was, of course, asking for Hephaistos not to think about her dream logic about Drake's character, and instead focus on whatever the current thing she wanted Hephaistos to do was. "Drake's going to just bang every girl in the world, if you don't stop him!"

"Mm... I don't really get that impression from him. He seems just casually attractive and unable to say no..."

"Uh... yeah! Exactly!" It was obvious Hestia didn't actually think that was true. "Since he can't say no, he needs somebody mature to talk to him about setting boundaries with girls! That's you!" Well, at least Hestia had the self awareness to know it certainly wasn't herself. "You have to say to him: Drake! Stop sleeping with new women! It's bad for you!"

"At this point, hasn't he slept with your whole familia?"

"W-well, he should stop! Especially poor Bella! She's so over the moon for him it's crazy! She even got a-!" Hestia cut herself off at that point, fidgeting for a moment. "She got a special Skill that makes her status go up crazy fast. And it's not the thing with Drake and love confessions or whatever!"

"Hestia..." She let out a small sigh. "Bella, like myself, is perfectly aware of what sort of man Drake is. I doubt I could tell her anything she doesn't already know." (Other than his poetry skills. Hopefully.) "I once again must tell you that you are interpreting everything Drake does in the worst way, because you don't like him."

"I don't like him 'cause he's bad!"

"What has he done that's bad?"

"Seduced Bella! And you! And- and Setsuko, too! Even though he's got like twenty lovers or whatever!"

"Hestia. All of us are perfectly aware of the number of lovers he has."

"He's lovers with Loki No-Boobs!" Hestia paused, frowning. "Or Loki Small-Boobs... argh! Anyway, you don't like Loki No-Boobs!"

"He made her apologize to me." Hestia looked like she was about to die. "Hestia. I will always be your friend." She stood up, then just wrapped Hestia in a hug, the woman squeezing back. "But I l-" nope not that word, "-like this particular mortal and want to spend more time with him. He likes me back. The fact that he has dozens of other lovers is... well, at this point, it's social proof. He certainly isn't 'settling' for me."

"Hephaistos!" Hestia half-wailed the words. "You're really nice, any guy'd be lucky to have you! You're not negative points 'cause of your eye except for jerkwads!"

Hephaistos let out a small sigh at that, a smile creasing her lips despite it. "Well, there are quite a lot of jerkwads, in Heaven and on Gekai." She gave Hestia a tight squeeze, then released the hug. "Unlike other men, he looks me in the eyes when we-"

"Lalalala!" Hestia said, planting both hands on her ears. "Lalalala!"

"Alright. Alright." She patted Hestia's head, and the other goddess gently pulled her hands off her ears. "I'm sorry. But I'm not going to tell Bella to break up with Drake."

"Nooooo! But, please! Wait, Takemikazuchi said something-!" She fell to her knees and planted her forehead on the ground. "Please!!!"

"No." She really hoped this behavior was not going to continue indefinitely...

* * *

"So, uhh..." I said, glancing down at the form of Hestia. She was doing a dogeza in Hephaistos's office. "Do I want to know?"

"Eh?!?" Hestia sputtered, hurriedly getting up. "You!!!" She pointed at me.

"That is indeed the second person pronoun. Good to see your grasp of Koine is as on-point as ever." Hephaistos let out a tiny little laugh at that, one hand coming up to her mouth as she tried to hide her smile.

"You... you brute!" Hestia said, still having some pretense of force and vigor to her - then she started to just tear up. "Why-hy-hy-hy??" She whined out, collapsing to her knees.

"Why what?"

"You- you're, taking advantage of Bella, and Hephaistos, and Setsuko, and e'erybody whosh my frieeeeend!" Hestia's voice started to warble as her emotions got more intense.

I looked up at Hephaistos, mouthing Is she drunk? She shook her head, and I gently squatted down to get closer to eye level with Hestia, who was pretty much crying her eyes out by this point. "I'm not taking advantage of anyone," I told Hestia. "Bella is a sweet young girl who is strong and powerful enough to go to the Dungeon. She's shy and earnest, and I like that, and I want to help her grow into a beautiful young woman. Hephaistos is a diligent, hard-working, capable, gorgeous-" I always made sure to throw in that Hephaistos was beautiful, because she certainly hadn't been told that enough, "-goddess, who I'm lucky that she even looks my way." I caught Hephaistos blushing at that, out of the corner of my eye. "And Setsuko is the mother of my child. She's gorgeous and sweet and I've worked hard to help her move past all the complexes her late husband gave her."

"An' you're, your, fugging them alllll!" She hiccuped from the severity of her bawling.

"I am," I admitted. "But they all know that. I'm not lying to them, or tricking them. If it was a deal breaker for them, then that would be fine with me. Obviously, I'd rather it wasn't a deal breaker, but I respect their choices. Bella and Setsuko both genuinely love me, and I'd feel bad about turning them down."

Hestia hiccuped at that. "You, yuh, you're, you..." she just sort of sputtered nonsensically.

"Look," I said, having my own best guess at Hestia's real problem. "I'm not trying to take anybody away from you. I'm glad that you've been there for Hephaistos. I'm glad she has such a good friend. I'm glad that Bella and Setsuko have a goddess who really cares about them. If I wanted Setsuko to stop spending time with you, I could probably ask her and she'd do it." Her crying got louder at that point. "But I'm not asking that," I told her, "because I don't want it. Okay? I have no interest in making you lose anything, Hestia."

Hestia sniffled at that. "You reawwy mean it?" I nodded. "Shay it."

"I promise. I don't want to take any of your friends or familia members away from you, Hestia."

She sniffled at that. "Buh, but... you'll do id anyway! Dash what happens! Who's, who's Setsuko's friend, who you're nodd fugging?!"

"Setsuko's a bit of an introvert..." I trailed off for a moment. "Erza gets on quite well with other familia members that I'm not having sex with. Same with Rei. I haven't made Ais stop spending time with Riveria or anything... well, right now she's headed to Telskyura with me-" and she was crying again. "But she'll go right back to Riveria when she gets back, I'm sure."

"Hestia," Hephaistos said, "I can't speak to Bella or Setsuko, but if it's really your concern, I promise, I'll always make time for you." Hestia responded by hurriedly glomming onto her friend and just crying into Hephaistos's shirt. Hephaistos gave me a melancholic smile, gently patting Hestia's head. "You are my oldest and best friend. It hasn't changed for the past ten thousand years, not even a handsome guy who's really good at sex can change it."

"Den... den if he asked you to stop spending time wiff me, you'd kick him to da curb?"

"Yes," Hephaistos agreed. At that, Hestia finally just seemed to relax, sagging and holding herself against Hephaistos in a tight squeeze. It was awkward, from my perspective, just standing there, but I did want to talk to Hephaistos, without the crying Hestia against her - I had some questions about a design Rei had worked up for a mechanical calculator. Eventually, Hephaistos spoke up. "You say that Bella and Setsuko love you? Why am I not on that list?"

"You haven't said, I love you," I told her. She flushed a bit at that. "I guess I should say it first: I love you." Her cheeks grew really bright at that, and Hestia let out a warbling noise into her chest. Given the response, I had to assume the statement was true.

"Still-!" Hestia said. "You can't take it back! No take backs!""

"Yes, yes," Hephaistos agreed. She looked up at me, taking a long moment, then gingerly removing her eyepatch, looking me dead in the eyes. "I love you too, Drake."

I also got told that statement was true, so I stepped up to where Hephaistos was sitting and wrapped her - and, purely by extension, Hestia - in a hug.

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