We’re taken further inside, and I see a tidy room.
Apparently Graham had things to do, and he’ll take a while to get back.
It looks like we just missed each other, but my goal was to see this woman to begin with.
“C-come in!”
“Thank you.”
I sit down and look around. There’s a shelf with beautiful jewels lined up near a wall.
Tiltue’s place is pretty disorganized, but I’m a little surprised, because Graham doesn’t come across as a fussy guy either.
Ceres looks nervous after suddenly seeing me again. She’s under the false impression that I’m a god or something…
I need to clear up that misunderstanding, but Tiltue approaches her before I can say anything.
“…”
“H-hum…? What is it?”
All she sees when she looks at Tiltue glaring at her is someone threatening her.
But is she?
“You said you’re Ceres… What’s your relationship with my darling!?”
“Eh?”
“I thought for sure you were Graham’s woman, so I had no idea you were eyeing my (future) husband!”
“Eyeing…!?”
Ceres is thrown for a loop when that’s said to her all of a sudden, but she understands what Tiltue means.
Her face turns red, and she starts denying it.
“I-I’m not! I would never do something so disrespectful!”
“Really…? Aren’t you trying to seduce him with that large chest?”
Tiltue looks up with suspicion in her eyes, and pushes Ceres’ chest from below.
“Ah, hn… Mister Arata is a god so… He wouldn’t be interested… Hn… In something like this.”
“Houhouhou.”
“Hnnn…”
I don’t know if it’s because she’s embarrassed, but her trying not to let out a sound ends up sounding really lewd.
Of course I’m interested in that sort of thing. I think, but I can’t say that now…
Also, Tiltue, this is kind of getting good, but I think you should leave it at that.
“That’s enough.”
“Mu?”
I put my hands under Tiltue’s arms, lift her, and step back.
I sit her next to me, but she’s still looking at Ceres with suspicion.
“I’m sorry, this girl is still not too good with other people.”
“It’s your future wife’s job to check what’s your relationship with another woman.”
Did she learn that from Merlin too? I wish she’d stop being a bad influence.
“Hum, I have been thinking about it since earlier, but husband and wife? Didn’t you have a beautiful spouse called Reina…”
“Wut!? R-Reina is a good woman! She makes good food, she’s nice, and her body’s lewd! But I’m working hard to be the first wife!”
If she heard this, her face would turn bright red, but even I feel like it’s hard to jump in the middle of this.
But we’re going nowhere at this rate.
“Hum, can I ask you two to leave it at that…”
““Ah…””
Both notice how awkward I look, and stop.
“Let’s just start by introducing ourselves.”
“Y-yes. My name is Ceres, and I was saved by Mister Arata before…”
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes. And I wanted to see you all this time.”
Says Ceres, and Tiltue glares at her again. But this time she doesn’t say anything, so we can get on with this.
“…Tiltue, an ancient dragon, and darling’s future wife.”
“She’s a little shy, but she’s a cute girl, so please be her friend.”
“Y-yes.”
It’s nice that she introduced herself, but her eyes are pointing a little to the side. I guess I can still call that progress.
I want to correct her on that whole wife business, but if I say that now, Tiltue’ss just going to pout, so I’ll just explain it to Ceres later.
“I am Arata. I drifted into this island, and I have a pretty fun life here.”
“Hum… God doesn’t need to be so polite to me.”
“…Anyway, let’s get that misunderstanding cleared.”
I tell her that I just happen to be strong, but I am human.
Tiltue has a look on her face when I call myself human, but even if I have a body that’s sturdier than the strongest races, I’m still human.
I tell her about meeting Reina, becoming friends with the divine beast people…
“And then you met Tiltue?”
“Yes! With a passionate proposal.”
“Eh!?”
“About that…”
I keep telling her what happened on this island.
How Reina also washed up here, how I got closer to people around here… As I speak, Ceres relaxes too.
And then…
“I see…”
“Yes, so I’m not a god or anything. Sorry.”
“D-don’t apologize, Mister Arata! You still saved my life. I wanted to thank you all this time…!”
Then she tells me what happened after I left.
I knew she met Reina and Xellos, but I didn’t know about Wil being summoned too…
And it sounds like they went through a lot.
The hero, saint, and witch.
These three had a lot of trouble on their travels, but continued fighting for others’ sake.
And then the church they trusted betrayed them and labeled them heretics.
I’m pretty sure that if one of my bosses betrayed me and pushed a failure on me back when I worked for a black company, I would’ve taken a big hit mentally.
Ceres sure is strong, going through something much worse.
“You really worked hard.”
“…!?”
Ceres starts crying all of a sudden.
“Eh? Ah, hum… No…”
Tears fall on the table, and despite Ceres’ best efforts to wipe them, they don’t stop.
She sobs a little, and it echoes in this cave.
“Miss Wilhelmina said that as long as there was a bond, we would meet again. That was what kept me going… Hum… Uuu…”
“…”
She’s still young enough to be called a girl, and she’s been bravely going through things she thought of as god’s trials.
After accomplishing her goal of meeting me, the dam broke, and out came the tears it was holding back.
“It’s strange. I’m happy, but I can’t stop crying…”
“You said you’re Ceres, right?”
Tiltue suddenly gets up and walks over to Ceres.
“I know those tears.”
“Eh?”
“Those are the tears that come out when someone’s happy.”
There was a time when Tiltue was alone, and they wouldn’t let her join the fights with the demon gods. Until I got involved, and made it so she can fight with the others.
And when we all had a banquet together, she cried with a smile on her face.
“I was like that too. I couldn’t stop crying. But when it was over, I didn’t feel bad. My heart felt lighter.
Says Tiltue while gently hitting Ceres’ back.
“So let it all out.”
“Ah, uu, eh… Aah!”
It’s like those words broke the dam completely, and Ceres starts bawling loudly.
It’s like she’s back to being a little girl…
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