"Artemis."
"Yes?"
"...can you sit a bit forward?"
"Why?"
As Isao was facing Artemis' pure, curious expression, he felt a little embarrassed, but he knew that he had to say this. "...I will get hard if you sit so close."
If this was Freya or Demeter, he knew that the next action would be obvious, but as it was a virgin goddess like Artemis, the reaction that he hoped for definitely didn't happen.
"Hard? What will get hard?" Artemis appeared so confused.
"....." Daphne, Cassandra, and Hestia.
Only Hermes laughed with all of his might.
While they rode on the different dragons, they were quite close to each other, so it was normal for their conversation to be heard.
Their destination was far away, on the great forest at the edge of the great continent on the far side of Orario, the Elsus Ruin.
Upon hearing about their destination, Isao could imagine there would be another continent in this world, and probably, after the last disaster of humanity in the world, he felt that a war between continents might happen.
'Monsters...'
While their existence was hated by everyone, Isao knew that if those creatures didn't exist, then the world wouldn't be peaceful, there would be a lot more slaves, and war would be everywhere.
So, while it was a bit hard to accept the people in this world, the existence of a dungeon was probably something that everyone was grateful for.
Or not?
Well, no matter what the setting of the world was, his purpose was to grow stronger, and in exchange for that opportunity, he thought to erase some of the problems in this world and bring one or two kindness that one had never thought of.
This might seem like a naive thought, or others might think of him as a martyr.
However, all of the good things he did were just masking and making himself comfortable, easing the guilt and all the bad things he had done.
More importantly, he knew that it was impossible to change the nature of a living being, and he also wasn't so ideal that he wanted to make the evil in this world disappear.
Being imperfect was fine on its own, too, he thought.
"Isao?" Artemis noticed that Isao appeared to be a deep thought. "Are you okay?"
"I am okay. Thank you for asking, Artemis." Isao nodded.
"If you don't feel good, tell me, okay?" Even so, Artemis was still worried.
"No, I am just thinking about the difference between the Familia outside of Orario and inside Orario." Isao didn't want to expose his thoughts about the problems that would happen in this world sooner or later. At the same time, this was probably how a higher being would think when they saw the problems of those living beings in the lower world.
Anyway, nothing could be changed, so all they could do was just to enjoy and protect those they cared about.
As for others?
If they have time, or they happen to be in front of them, then they would help.
That's it. Nothing else and nothing more, but then, Isao realized that Artemis was a good person to the point of obsession.
When Isao asked her such a question, Artemis happily told him how she had been living with her Familia, hunting, and even helping those who were in need. She also asked him about his free school in Orario, and she learned that he had made such a generous action, which made her think that Isao was different from others. After all, in this era, children were probably a liability, and it would take a lot of money to take care of them.
Well, even if it was in the modern world, it was the same unless one's job was a farmer and one had a large plot of land, he thought.
"My goal is just to have a good employee for my business in the future."
"No, no. Even so, what you did has helped a lot of children. You give them hope. That's a great thing."
Compared to others who wanted to squeeze the value of children and even kill them, Artemis thought that Isao was an angel.
Their conversation fitted well; not only did they also like to help others, but they also liked to hunt strong monsters.
While Isao didn't think too much about their conversation, Artemis thought that she really had found her Orion...
'No, he's Isao.'
Unlike Bell Cranel, who treated Artemis like a weak woman who needed to be protected, Isao knew that every woman was different and their interests were also different. Some might feel happy that they were protected and treated like a princess, but the others were different.
After all, everyone was different.
Faces, genders, personalities, and everything.
While many men thought that a woman was someone who needed to be protected, Isao was flexible and just matched their interests, especially when he had many hobbies.
In the end, the two had fun, talking about many things, such as improving the lives of others, various methods to hunt monsters, and many other things.
'As expected of him.'
Hermes nodded in satisfaction when he saw how Artemis quickly became so sticky with Isao. If it was someone else, it would definitely be impossible for one to conquer Artemis this easily, but Isao?
Hermes had confidence that there were no goddesses or women that couldn't be conquered by this guy!
If Isao is interested in bi, then that would be perfect.
Unfortunately, Isao wasn't, which disappointed Hermes.
While Isao wasn't sure, he got a shiver due to disgust.
"What's wrong?" Artemis asked worriedly again.
"N-Nothing..."
Isao controlled the dragon to move slightly away from Hermes.
"Hermes, what are you planning?"
Yet, Hestia couldn't calm down and asked Hermes this question as she looked at him with a suspicious gaze. Not only had Artemis changed, but she could tell that Hermes seemed to be trying to match Isao with Artemis. This was weird, she thought, and she could tell that Hermes must be hiding something.
Something that she didn't know, but if Hermes tried to hurt Isao, then she definitely would teach him.
Hermes quickly woke up and smiled, "I am not planning anything. I just need his help to kill a monster. That's all. More importantly, don't you have confidence in your Isao-kun?"
"I do." Hestia had that much confidence in Isao that she believed he could do anything, but—
"But you should know how often he was hurt to help others. If this request might hurt him, then I will definitely won't let you go!"
"...."
Facing this threat, Hermes fell into silence, then could only show a gentle smile. "Maybe... you should talk with Artemis later. This isn't something that I should talk with you about, after all."
He couldn't make a promise to Hestia since he knew well what kind of a quest Isao would be doing.
"Okay."
Since Hermes said so, Hestia nodded.
Hermes might be a liar or even a trickster, but Hestia knew well that this guy could be trusted and neutral as he wished for the best in this world.
Regardless, their trip would take more than two weeks, which was quite a long time.
However, as it was peaceful and there were many things that they could talk to each other about before long, they started to get hungry, so Isao controlled the dragon to land.
"But I am not hungry."
"But we need to eat."
While Isao didn't need to eat as his energy consumption was so low, it was different with Cassandra and Daphne.
"Oh, right." Artemis blushed and quickly apologized for her mistake, knowing that, unlike deities, a human needed to eat, including Isao.
"Well, what will you cook?" Hermes suddenly came and asked, "I have heard that your food tastes good. Let me try."
"Isao-kun's foods taste the best!"
"We're in the forest, okay?"
Isao was speechless, wondering why they thought he would cook a luxury course menu in the forest like this, but—
"Sit there first."
As he said so, he smoothed out the ground, then took out the beautiful yet comfortable open gazebo before them.
"....." Everyone.