"Eris! It feels like we haven't seen you in so long!"
"As a goddess, you must be very busy."
Rimuru and Ainz spoke one after another.
Eris sat down at the side of the counter with a smile.
"Recently, quite a few people have been reincarnating into other worlds, so work in the divine realm has been rather busy."
Eris's explanation made Kurumi, who had been listening quietly, show a little surprise in her eyes.
"Divine realm? Are you perhaps a goddess?"
Kurumi looked at Eris with a somewhat incredulous smile.
"That's right! Eris is a goddess!"
Without waiting for Eris to answer, Rimuru cheerfully answered for her.
Kurumi's expression shifted slightly, but she soon returned to calm.
Eris looked at Kurumi.
She originally wanted to speak, but her brows furrowed slightly.
Her bright, clear eyes gazed at Kurumi.
Within that calm gaze, there was a trace of thoughtfulness and sympathy.
Being watched by such a goddess made Kurumi feel inexplicably irritated.
"I suddenly remembered that I still have something to do, so I'll take my leave first."
Kurumi stood up rather abruptly and said her farewell to everyone.
The others did not think too much about it.
Only Yuto sharply noticed the faint stiffness at the corner of Kurumi's mouth.
It was different from all her previous smiles.
After speaking, Kurumi said goodbye to everyone and left.
Although she said she would come to the restaurant again next time, Kurumi did not say exactly when that would be.
After she left, Rimuru and Ainz each showed different kinds of emotion.
Eris, however, wore a thoughtful expression.
Seeing Eris like this, Yuto's brow moved slightly.
"Eris, what's wrong?"
"Eh! Ah... I was just thinking about something."
Eris, whose thoughts had been interrupted, was caught a little off guard.
Yuto connected it with what had just happened, and a guess appeared in his heart.
"Is it about Kurumi?"
"Eh! Boss, how did you know?"
Eris looked at Yuto with surprise and confusion.
Yuto smiled softly and shook his head.
He did not explain.
Instead, he asked, "Can you tell me what you were thinking about just now?"
Hearing Yuto's question, Eris paused briefly before showing an expression that said she could.
"That girl... I could feel it. She is wrapped in sadness and distress. She is in great pain and struggle."
"I wanted to use my divine power just now to ease her emotions a little, but she left first."
"Mm... She probably noticed it."
"Ah—this must be a common problem for goddesses. When we see a lost child, we can't help wanting to save them."
At the end, Eris scratched her head a little sheepishly.
Her long silver hair trembled with that movement.
As the goddess's hair shook, tiny specks of light even fell from it, making her look especially sacred.
After hearing Eris's words, Ainz and Rimuru did not quite believe it.
After all, Kurumi had been smiling and chatting with them the entire time just now.
Where had there been any sign of sadness?
But Yuto fell silent and quietly thought it over.
Pain.
Struggle.
He thought about Eris's words, then recalled that fleeting sadness he had felt from Kurumi earlier, the one that had seemed almost like an illusion.
It seemed that it had not been an illusion after all.
...
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Black high heels made crisp sounds against the street.
Kurumi walked down the road with a thoughtful expression.
She was thinking about what had just happened.
The restaurant, Yuto, another world... And Eris's gaze at the very end.
Whenever she thought of it, an inexplicable irritation rose in her heart.
For some reason, Kurumi kept feeling as though Eris had seen through everything about her.
Right now, her mood was not very good.
And on this dark night covered by black clouds, there were always some people with ill intentions wandering around.
"Beautiful miss, where are you going so late at night?"
"My, my, how unfortunate."
"Hahahahaha, yeah, really unfortunate."
The two men stood to Kurumi's left and right, looking at her with the kind of smiles common villains were supposed to have.
At midnight, a beautiful girl walking alone in a gorgeous western-style dress was far too easy to attract certain "people."
"So, do the two of you want to do that with me?"
Kurumi giggled as she looked at the two men.
"Hehehe, miss, you really know how things work!"
"So you're the proactive type, huh? This really is top quality!"
Kurumi shifted her foot slightly and avoided the man's reaching hand.
A dangerous yet beautiful smile appeared on her face as she looked at the two of them.
"Let's go somewhere private."
The two men were instantly delighted when they heard that.
After that, the three of them walked into an alley filled with garbage.
At this midnight hour, the alley was even darker than the street outside.
"Hehe, I happened to be hungry too~~~"
"Come on, stop pretending. Hurry up and let me—ahhh!!! What is this?! What kind of monster are you?!"
"Help!! Help me!!! He... lp..."
When the struggling voices finally weakened, only one person remained in the alley.
Tokisaki Kurumi.
Her western-style dress seemed even more vivid now.
She inhaled softly, then her tongue gently licked her lips.
A faint curve hung at the corner of her mouth.
"Thank you for the meal."
...
In the restaurant, Yuto asked Eris why she had come alone today.
The moment he asked, the innocent goddess's face turned red.
Clearly, the reason was a little hard for her to say out loud.
When Yuto saw her reaction, he also felt a bit awkward.
How was he supposed to know that such a normal question would make Eris react this much?
"If you don't want to say it, then it's fine." Yuto spoke to her with a helpless, apologetic smile.
Eris nodded with a red face.
She still felt too embarrassed to tell him the real reason!
After all... Aqua was her senior.
Words like, "I secretly came to the restaurant alone because I was embarrassed by my senior"...
That kind of secret could only stay buried in her heart.
She definitely could not say it out loud!
Although Eris did not say the reason, Yuto had a vague feeling about it.
He felt it was probably because of Aqua.
Of course, that was only his guess.
After that, he went into the kitchen to make food for Eris.
Eris ordered a serving of tangyuan. It was the first dish she had eaten at the restaurant back then.
She missed that smooth, soft, chewy texture very much.
After Yuto served it to her, Eris began eating in small, gentle bites.
The way she ate was quiet and graceful.
It matched her identity as a goddess very well.
However, while she was eating, one casual question from Rimuru instantly made her movements become a little stiff.
"Speaking of which, Eris, that goddess you brought with you last time... Her name was Aqua, right? Ah—she really was a very funny goddess!"
Rimuru's voice carried a bit of laughter and nostalgia.
When Aqua had come to the restaurant back then, that whole scene had basically turned into a ridiculous comedy show.
Because of that, Aqua had left a very deep impression on everyone in the restaurant.
It was also from that moment onward that Yuto gained a new view of Hestia.
People were afraid of being compared.
Goddesses were no different.
Compared with Aqua, Hestia really was an excellent goddess.
"Eh... Um... Well... yes! Aqua-senpai usually really likes making everyone laugh."
Eris barely kept her smile.
But, the corners of her lips were trembling a little.
She looked like she was trying very hard to hide something!
"Speaking of which, Aqua really changed my opinion about goddesses. So there are goddesses like that too!"
Ainz's words made it hard to tell whether he was praising Aqua or insulting her.
Either way, the smile on Eris's face became even stiffer.
Listening to Ainz and Rimuru talk about Aqua, the innocent goddess was already crying inside.
'Uuu, so embarrassing! Aqua-senpai... Uuu...'
Yuto found the scene in front of him rather funny.
After laughing inwardly for a moment, he suddenly thought of something.
"Right, Eris."
"Mm? Boss, what is it?"
Eris looked at Yuto with a slightly dazed expression.
"That lucky coin you gave me last time. Thank you."
Yuto smiled softly as he spoke to Eris.
One of the reasons he had been so lucky at the convention was because of the lucky coin Eris had given him.
"Eh! Boss, you don't need to thank me. That coin was meant to thank you for letting me eat here for free back then. And last time, Aqua-senpai caused trouble for the restaurant too... I feel like one lucky coin wasn't even enough as an apology..."
As Eris spoke, her voice slowly became weaker.
Yuto smiled.
"It was only one serving of tangyuan. That's not worth a lucky coin. Besides, Aqua didn't really cause trouble for the restaurant last time. She actually made the place livelier, so maybe I should thank her instead." Yuto spoke calmly.
His eyes were clear and gentle as he looked at Eris.
That made the innocent goddess blush a little~
...
The blushing goddess quickly left after eating the tangyuan.
There were always things to handle in the divine realm and Eris had always been very busy.
Not long after Eris left, a very tall and powerful-looking man entered the restaurant.
At a rough guess, he seemed to be around three meters tall.
His upper body was bare, and every bronze-colored muscle on his body looked like it had been made from steel.
Just looking at that body was enough to make people feel pressure.
His lower body was only covered by a battle skirt with metal pieces on it. The surface was covered in marks left by attacks.
The battle skirt barely covered his thighs.
His wrists and ankles were fitted with steel guards.
On his head was a helmet shaped like a lion's head.
Under the restaurant lights, that lion helmet gave off a strong and silent pressure.
It made people wonder if it had been made from the head of a real lion.
His flowing golden hair and Western-looking face gave people a very clear first impression.
'This guy is definitely a hero.'
Although the pressure from him was strong, his whole body also gave off a feeling of justice.
It made people feel that he was someone they could trust and respect.
His arrival drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant except Fafnir.
Yuto also showed a little surprise, but he quickly returned to normal.
"Welcome."
After Yuto spoke, the man sat down in front of the counter.
There was still some doubt on his face, but it quickly changed into calm confidence.
When ordinary people faced something strange and impossible to understand, they might feel nervous or afraid.
But he would not.
He was Heracles!
He had completed the Twelve Labors and his name was known throughout Greece.
The gods had also given him four divine artifacts.
And after going through that harsh journey, the most valuable thing he gained was not a weapon or treasure.
It was a heart that no longer feared anything.
Even if he had to face monsters from the depths of hell, he would not feel afraid.
Besides, he had already learned that this place was a restaurant.
So his mood soon returned to normal.
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