CH. 336: Can you adopt her?

Hephaestus realized her act and became embarrassed. So as not to reveal her embarrassment, she pulled Chiaki out of her hair and poked her.

"Stop getting into my hair."

Chiaki crossed her arms on her chest and pouted, paying no attention to Hephaestus.

'Why is she so cute…?'

Chiaki reminded her of Hestia to an extent. Just that Chiaki's cuteness was several times compared to Hestia's. Even though the goddess was cute, her grumpy attitude was unbearable at times.

"Hephaestus," Asahi said with a cheeky smile. "You hate Chiaki?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "How could someone hate this cute little thing?"

She murmured the last part as she gently rubbed Chiaki's head with her finger. The fairy hugged her finger and rubbed her face against it.

Astraea giggled. "She is more spoiled than I thought."

"You aren't any less spoiled," Asahi said. "My dear Astraea."

She usually refrained from intimacy. But when she did become affectionate, she could give Shizuka a run for her money.

"…Stop it," Astraea protested with a light blush.

Hephaestus felt bitter watching them flirt. Chiaki used the chance to snuck back to her head. As though feeling bitterness, Chiaki patted her head.

"Wanna come to my workshop? We can forge more weapons."

Hephaestus threw bait at the fairy, who had a passion for helping Asahi in the forge. Her flames were too valuable to any smith.

Chiaki looked back at Asahi and shook her head.

"Why?" Hephaestus grew confused at her rejection. "Asahi, can I have Chiaki for a day? I promise to return her by evening."

Asahi lifted the table between them with telekinesis and put it behind. Chiaki turned around and waved at him. "Do you want to go?"

She slowly nodded. "Um!"

"Go ahead then. And no need to walk all the way to our house. Chiaki can fly on her own, right?"

Chiaki pumped her fist, an energetic smile on her tiny face. "Huh!"

Asahi stopped himself from giving her pats. What if she ended up falling into the hole of pleasure? Even though she wasn't born naturally, he still thought of her as a daughter.

'I can suppress my mana. The skill will be less effective this way.'

While suppressing his mana, he rubbed her head with his finger. "Don't work too hard."

His trick was less effective than he thought. The fairy closed her eyes in a state of pure bliss.

"I'll look after her," Hephaestus said, closing her single eye with a smile. "So don't worry."

"Look at you. So reliable. Why don't you adopt her?"

"Adopt?"

"Yeah. Become her mom," Asahi said, suppressing his grin. "You can meet her everyday that way."

"The… why would I do that?"

She resonated with Chiaki's fire skills. On top of that, she considered Chiaki to be rather cute. Yet, the thought of becoming an unmarried mother embarrassed her.

"Huh? Adopting a child isn't that different from taking a member in your Familia?"

Asahi pushed her some more. With Chiaki as a bridge, he intended to shorten their distance until she opened her heart. Just straight up asking to heal her eye might work the opposite way. "Do I look that ugly to you?" could become the worst case scenario.

'Bad ending.'

Hephaestus lightly coughed. "It is different. I will never let Chiaki become an adventurer… she is too pure to venture into the darkness of the dungeon."

'Don't curse Dungeon-chan. She's cute in her weird way,' he thought.

Hephaestus didn't understand the reason behind his words. She saw no reason for him to give her the mother role when he had so many women in his harem.

'Could it be that he wants to become closer to me?'

She shook her head at the thought.

'I can't compare to Astraea and her pure eyes… Mine is hideous in comparison.'

Her self confidence was low as usual. Even Asahi could feel that from her expression. Astraea was about to say some comforting words, but Asahi stopped her by taking her hand. He squeezed her hand, giving a reassuring smile.

"Let's head home. Natsumi may be waiting for me outside."

"Yes."

They descended the tower. Natsumi waited there as expected without Apollo in sight. She didn't dare hug him again, knowing it wasn't right time to push her boundaries.

"Natsumi, can you do something for me?"

"It will be my pleasure to do anything for Master."

"Keep an eye out on people entering the city. Some 'guests' from the Far East will be coming."

"Leave the trivial task to me."

Radiating an aura of happiness, Natsumi accepted the job. She was always reliable in carrying out any task. Asahi decided to put her to work more often. The woman, who was fated to become an endgame boss, had become a worthy slave.

'It's a stark contrast to her personality when she was low on mana.'

He shook his head. It was a case for every women who had gained power from the previous world.

'What will I be like?'

He couldn't imagine being a lazy cat like Aimi or becoming super honest to his desires like Saya.

(Your mana regeneration is simply… unbelievable. It'll be really hard to pull it off. But I know how my love will act. I'm not completely sure. Ninety percent at most.)

'How?'

(Not telling~. Hehe.)

He sighed at her mischievous behavior. He could try it right now by casting level 10 Diva spells, but his instincts told him not to. As though something 'dangerous' will happen.

'Weird.'