Chapter - 33 [ #V1.16 : Danmachi : What The Future Holds! ]

[ BONUS CHAPTER (4/??) ]

...

Ash and Hephaestus who was suddenly teleported appeared in another planet. He made it only for the sake of Entertainment. There was a huge mansion surrounded by beautiful scenery of lakes, flowers, small cute animals, and birds. In that planet, there is only an island which they are currently standing on, and around them was only the ocean.

"Wow... So beautiful... I've never seen such a place before... Even in heaven, such a scene is not possible to see!"

He chuckled at her excitement but that made her pout cutely. Though it was slightly unexpected as she was a mature woman, it suited more than he thought for.

"Don't pout~~ you look cute~~"

She blushed and turned around to hide her face. But he could see her ears turning red and a small smile appearing on her lips.

He took her hands slightly surprising her, but she didn't deny him. He pulled her inside the mansion guiding her to a massive room. It was 100 ft. long and 40 ft. in height.

It was a super theatre complex filled with speaker and necessary equipments. There was only a couch for two. And it was equipped for 3d virtual viewing many other effects. There was a robot near the wall capable of doing any orders for food and necessities.

"Come, sit here."

He pulled her and sat on the right side while she sat on the left. He pulled out a screen floating in the mid air and showed the lists of anime to her.

"Choose which you want to watch."

She nodded and did as he told her. She easily learned how to use the touch screen and chose an option she found interesting. The chosen option made him smirk as it was interesting.

What she chose was two of them. One was Naruto and the other was Attack On Titans!

"Oh, they are good options. Naruto is fine and all, but Attack on Titans is a little dark type animation you know? It contains a lot of blood and gore. Will you be fine?"

Hephaestus looked at him with a pout and said,

"Don't treat me like a kid just because you are older than me! Why would I be affected by something like this?"

...

*Sniff*

"How could the author could narrate a story like this!? How sad...."

Hephaestus was lightly crying while cursing the author of AoT after watching the first episode. Ash chuckled and thought what will she say if she see the remaining episodes.

"You only saw one episode and you are already affected by it. But it is interesting, right?"

She nodded and asked,

"So, you mean such a world exist?"

He nodded and said,

"Not just this. Every anime and shows in the list are real. Of course there are countless universes out there filled with infinite galaxies and planets. AoT is only one of them."

She weakly nodded. Even though she only saw the first episode, the death of several people and especially the death of Eren's mother made her question her own existence as a god who should be helping mortals. But there was nothing she could do.

Understanding her concerns, he said,

"Once a God surpass his/her primordial level self, they will reach the level called Celestial Body. If a person reach that level, they can leave their own home universe. Until then, you are binded to your own universe. In other words, your source or root is that universe. Only by surpassing the universe can you sever that connection and leave the universe."

He explained in a way for her to understand. She nodded. But there was no way for her to reach that level before any other gods and goddesses, especially problems like Freya and others. The other primordial gods won't also allow someone else to surpass them.

"By the way, once you choose one anime, you can't watch anything else before finishing it. You also can't watch it once the time hits 6'O clock evening. Okay?"

She looked a little sad, but nodded obediently. Since It was already night, they decided to sleep.

...

After having a bath, Ash was about to sleep when he heard a knock on the door. Who else can it be other than Hephaestus? So, he answered her,

"Come in, Hephaestus."

She opened the door while hugging a pillow of her own. She was wearing a brown pajama. Seeing her, he kind of understood why she was here, but still asked,

"What's wrong?"

"Umm.. I can't sleep.. do you mind if I sleep here..?"

"Are you feeling lonely?"

"Hmm. A little. I mean I know that you are here, but knowing that it is just me in my room in this big mansion is somewhat making me restless. I know I'm asking something too much of you..."

He shook his head and patted his side and said,

"It's fine. As long as you don't mind, you can sleep here."

He then lied down on the bed without waiting for her to come. She nodded and closed the door before getting on the bed. She was blushing hard as she was being too concious of him. But seeing how he was being very calm about it, she wondered if he considers her a potential love interest. After all, if he does not, then wasn't it like he was indirectly rejecting her?

But sensing that he has fallen asleep, she sighed. She understood one thing though. He trusts her very much. He was sleeping so defenselessly in front of her after all.

"Good night, Ash..."

She too fell asleep after deciding that it will be much more important to hear it from him later....

...

In the morning, Ash opened his eyes and saw that Hephaestus was so close to him. Her face was only an inch distance from his own. That is, if he moved even slightly, they will kiss.

But moving away from her, he sighed. He doesn't want some accidents to be a deciding factor for their future relationship.

He once again stared at her childish sleeping face and smiled. Would her familia and other gods believe if he said that she is cute while sleeping?

Sensing the movement near her, Hephaestus opened her eyes and stared at him for a few seconds before yawning. Then she greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Ash!"

"Good morning, Hephaestus. I'll be taking a bath and getting ready. I'll see you in a bit."

He said and left for the bath. Hearing him, a thoughtful expression appeared in Hephaestus's face.

With a small smile, she nodded to herself for whatever she has decided. She then ran towards her room to do something.

Ash who entered the bath was about to clean himself. He first cleaned his body with water. After that, he used shampoo to lather around his whole body. A little of it suddenly went inside his eye. But it didn't hurt, but it felt uncomfortable as he wasn't trying, or is a super perfect guy. So he closed his eyes and was about to wash it away. But he stopped his movement when he heard the door opening.

"Hephaestus? I'm in this bath!"

He was a little panicked as this was the first time a female getting near him when he is in the bath.

"I know, Ash. I'm here to wash your back."

"There's no need!"

Then he heard a sad voice asking him,

"Am I not allowed to help you?"

He felt like even though he was strong, he was weak to girls, those who touches his heart. Sighing, he said,

"I'll be in your care."

She who was covered by a towel smiled widely and went towards his back and kneeled. Since he already used Shampoo, she only had to wash his body clean. So when he was thinking she will not do anything, he felt skin contact on his back!

"Hephaestus!? You are using your boobs!?"

She giggled and said,

"What? I can't?"

"It's not that! It will be troublesome!"

She hugged him from behind, fully pressing her mounts on his back intentionally and said,

"You already know how I feel, don't you?"

To that, he was silent. Because he was aware. But he didn't want her to think it was because he healed her.

Not getting a response, she understood that he knew about it. Feeling sad, she asked,

"Is it because I'm not enough for you? I'm not attractive enough?"

Hearing her, he felt like he wronged her. Then surprising her, he turned towards her and hugged her. He didn't looked at her naked body, but hid his face to her shoulder and said,

"I'll be honest with you. I knew about your feelings. But I was hesitant because I thought you were feeling that way because I healed you. I didn't want that be the reason for reason for our relationship. And no, you are attractive enough to make many men be jealous of me for making their goddess fall in love with me. And yes, I'm just concious of you. I'm just trying to endure it."

She wasn't worried about him seeing her body. After all, she would show it off proudly, of course only to him.

"You know, It's true that I felt that way at first when you healed me. But you know, after we had that conversation, I knew it wasn't just because of that. Your handsome face, your kindness, the way you interact with others and your many other qualities are the reasons for my feelings. Although I knew of my feelings, before I knew it, I was deeply in love with you especially after we enjoyed these months together. My wish was to find someone who would love me truly. My only condition, or maybe a simple one was to have a person who's also a blacksmith. Your talent and power are more than even myself in blacksmithing. With the conditions being okay, the only thing I needed was to confirm this feelings more. And when we worked together, I feel like I made a bond with you. May be it's just me. But it was undeniably a bond and memory I never want to forget. Even if you rejects me, I'm sure I'll not feel this way towards anyone else in the future..."

He continued to hear her and patted her to stop now. He then pulled himself away from her and stared at her eyes straight and said,

"If i said I want you, will you believe me? Although I too only felt like a friend towards you, I can't deny that I was feeling slightly increase in my affection for you. But with time, it became clear that I love you. But I didn't want you to think that I requested this work because I wanted to seduce you or something. I'll say, that I requested this with in mind to have some time with you. But I never thought we will get this closer with just a few months..."

She didn't really cared that much even if he was going to manipulate her into a relationship as long as he will not leave her for eternity. And just hearing his sincerity was enough for her to know that.

She smiled sweetly at him and said,

"That's enough for me. Knowing you have some feelings for me is enough. Growing that relationship can wait. We have time after all..."

He nodded with a smile of his own and hugged her to his body. Neither of them cared if their are naked or not now. Even if they did, they wouldn't do anything. They just wanted to feel each other's body heat and presence for now.