Early the next morning, Orario South Gate.
The Orario gate in the early morning was the most leisurely time of the day; it was rare for merchant caravans or travelers to rush in or out just as the sun rose.
Aside from the dutiful guards, there was hardly anyone to be seen.
As the sun began to rise, Asta appeared there.
However, he wasn’t preparing to leave the city, but rather to see someone off.
“…Artemis, are you leaving so soon?”
Seeing Artemis, and Rethusa and Lante not far behind her, already packed and ready, Asta felt a bit helpless.
Could it be that what happened yesterday while shopping made her angry?
“Not fast, no, didn’t we already stay an extra day yesterday?”
Hearing this, Artemis shook her head, her aqua-blue hair, tied in a scorpion braid, swaying gently.
In the past, when returning to Orario, she and Rethusa would also rest briefly in this city, usually preparing to leave the next day.
This time, they were just leaving…
a little earlier?
“To be precise, it’s only half a day.”
“Oh?
Is there a difference?
According to your favorite saying, if you round it up, it’s a day.”
“…”
Asta opened his mouth, momentarily choked and unable to speak.
This was a phrase he used to love to tease Lante with.
The little girl had a habit of calculating how many kills she made in a single battle when hunting monsters, and each time she shared it with her companions after a battle, she would proudly state the number.
And Asta would often help her round it to a whole number at that time.
For example, if she killed forty-eight monsters, he would record it as fifty; if she killed fifty-two, he would also record it as fifty.
Lante would be very happy if he said more, and angry if he said less, and because of this, she was often laughed at by her companions in the Familia.
He didn’t expect this term to be used by Artemis at this moment.
It really was…
“What’s wrong?
Asta, you’re not the type to cry over a temporary separation, are you?”
Seeing his hesitant expression, a faint smile appeared on Artemis’s face.
“That won’t happen, I just thought that I wouldn’t be able to share the joy of becoming an Adventurer with Artemis right away, and I might only see you once in a long time in the future, which makes me sad.”
Sighing, Asta spoke truthfully.
“W-why are you telling me this…”
As soon as the words fell, the Goddess immediately showed a slightly unnatural expression, her clasped hands behind her back, and her gaze averted.
Did she misunderstand?
Why did it feel like Asta was implicitly expressing a wish for her to come back more often in the future?
It must be an illusion, right?
After all, Asta didn’t mention a single word about it…
Her thoughts were tangled like a ball of yarn; the Goddess felt that she couldn’t maintain her usual composure and look Asta in the eye right now.
Asta and Artemis were less than half a meter apart, and at such close proximity, he took in every small movement of the Goddess, even clearly seeing a faint blush on her fair cheeks.
At this moment, Asta didn’t know what he was doing; his body acted faster than his brain thought, and when he realized it, the words had already slipped out.
“Hey, Artemis…
can I have a farewell hug?”
Not far away, Rethusa and Lante, waiting under a tree, watched the situation at the city gate, looking exactly like two simpletons who had planned to hang out with friends on the weekend, only to be stood up and still foolishly waiting.
Although their two simpleton friends were now right under their noses.
But…
“So slow…
What exactly are the Goddess and that Asta guy talking about?
Can’t they hurry up?”
Lante squatted down, resting her elbows on her knees and supporting her face with her hands, unable to help but complain.
“It is a bit slow…
but considering the situation, it’s not entirely incomprehensible.”
Rethusa placed a hand on her cheek, her tone very gentle.
It was just unclear what exactly she understood.
“Huh!?
Huh, huh, huh???
Rethusa, did you see that?
I’m not seeing things, am I?
The Goddess!
That Artemis Goddess, she’s blushing!”
As if she had seen the sun rise from the west, Lante jumped up, shaking Rethusa’s arm, almost incoherent.
“Ah…
hmm…
if I’m not seeing things either, then yes, she is.”
Compared to her, Rethusa wasn’t much better; her hand, gripping Lante’s, was trembling slightly.
“They…
they hugged!
They’re hugging!!”
“Don’t shake, don’t shake!
I can see!”
“Oh~~~”
The two girls were now even more excited than certain special groups seeing two handsome men getting close.
However, the embrace was very brief; before Asta could fully savor it, the Goddess had already lowered her head and pulled away from his arms.
“Don’t…
don’t overthink it!
It’s just a farewell hug!”
Unable to see her expression due to her lowered head, after blurting out a not-so-textbook tsundere remark, the Goddess immediately turned around and hurried away.
If Asta had followed her, he would have found that Artemis, at that moment, was flushed from her neck to her earlobes, and her delicate cheeks were burning.
“Just a farewell hug?
I never noticed before, but Artemis actually has a tsundere trait?”
Repeating the words just spoken, Asta chuckled lightly, feeling inspired.
However, a tsundere Goddess was also very cute.
Because she walked so quickly in her haste, Artemis reunited with Rethusa and Lante in just a few breaths.
With the latter two feigning composure, and the Goddess temporarily having no mind to manage them, the three set off with a strange atmosphere.
“How wonderful, Goddess…”
At the city gate, someone exclaimed that.
However, this person was not Asta, but the city guard who had been acting as a background character, silently watching the show.
The guard’s words attracted Asta’s attention, and then he gave Asta a knowing smile, the kind that all men understand, and gave him a thumbs-up.
“I have high hopes for you, young man!”
An unclear, even subtly purposeful, approval came upon Asta…
“Uh…
I feel like you’ve misunderstood something.
The Goddess and I aren’t that kind of relationship…
Hmm, not yet.”
“No need to explain, I understand!
Young man!”
A human-god romance, there’s no need to hide it.
In Orario, this kind of situation wasn’t without precedent.
It wasn’t strange for Gods who had lost their divine power, becoming no different from mortals, needing to worry about various things, and also enjoying these worries, to be attracted to the mortals in their Familia who lived with them day and night and cared for them diligently.
And for mortals to be attracted to Gods, that was even less strange.
The city guard, who wore the insignia of the Ganesha Familia on his chest, still regarded Asta and Artemis as such a case in his heart, and from then on, he became a fan.
He said nothing more; he shipped this pair!
Asta, who had no idea he had inexplicably gained a fan, saw this and knew that at this point, not explaining was the best explanation; otherwise, it would only make things worse.
Waving to the smiling guard, Asta prepared to head to Orario’s North District as planned.