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“Shush,” she replied tamely after weakly hitting the back of his head. She sighed shakily. “This is a bit more than I expected,” she said bashfully. “I didn’t know it could feel so… gratifying.”

“…I agree.”

“You better,” she shot back instantly and gradually calmed down as he ran his fingers through her hair, gently continuing his earlier brushing work that suddenly had a whole new weight to it.

“So, happy?”

Kaelith huffed. “Yes, but the way you’re asking annoys me,” she answered, hugging him tighter and burying her face deeper.

“…are you hiding?” Rakna asked with a tilt of his head and a mirthful voice. “Are you scared I would make fun of you if I saw you blushing or something?”

“Shut up… and I’m not scared; I know you’d do it. So, stay put.”

“As much as I’d love to…” The therian trailed, his irises occupying the corner of his eyes. “It seems like a certain someone got into trouble as I feared. Might need to go there.”

The vixen rolled her eyes a bit before taking a deep breath and lifting her head. Now being able to look at her, Rakna could see a bit of red tinting her face and he chuckled internally.

“See… you’re making fun of me inside your head. I can tell.” 

“Are you a mind reader?”

“Tch, you’re just that kind of guy. Anyway, who is it?”

“Hm, Astraea. A summon of mine.”

Kaelith blinked before making a teasing grin. “Wow, wolfy, you’re bagging goddesses too?”

“Don’t channel your inner Kara, please,” he deadpanned. “Also, just ask and I won’t be too intimate with another woman ever again, if that’s what you want.”

“No, wolfy… I can’t do that. You need more than just me,” she said softly.

“Is that what you think?” Rakna retorted. “I believe you’re more than enough.”

The vixen’s cheeks flared for a small moment before she cleared her throat. “I-I’ll give you an eight out of ten for that one. Well done.”

“Thanks.”

She snickered at his dry response. “Wolfy, tell me, would you die for me?” She abruptly threw him something so unexpected that he froze in utter confusion.

“That’s… rather sudden?”

“Just answer.”

“…no…” He muttered calmly before squinting his eyes and shaking his head. “Or that’s what I would have said not long ago… but after today, I probably would.”

Kaelith smiled widely at that. “That’s exactly why you need more than just me.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I want you to know your worth. I want you to never consider giving your life up, even for me. I want you to forever step back. For that… I need you to have more than one reason to stay alive.”

“…that’s a messed-up logic,” Rakna blankly said and she flicked his forehead.

“Idiot. It’s perfectly logical when it concerns you. It’s not just because you need it, but because you are the kind of person that we instinctively want to support … the kind of person we want to stay close with. You need love. The more, the better. In a sense, you need to be tied down. None of us want you to get lost.”

“…to me, that just sounds like you want to increase the weight I carry on my shoulders.”

“That’s precisely what I want, wolfy. If we want to bring out everything you’re suppressing, there is no better method,” she said sternly whilst staring directly into his eyes. “We’ll push you around until you decide to gladly bear it.”

“So… you want to squeeze me dry. I see,” he nodded exaggeratedly and Kaelith flushed.

“You little…” She grumbled under her breath. She sighed and very reluctantly separated from him to stand on the ground again. “Anyway, it’s not like any of the girls aiming for you will need your opinion. They’ll just hound you down until you submit, you’ll see. Especially that Chaos Witch and the Dusk Lioness.”

“Well, isn’t that quite scary?” Rakna said jokingly, standing up and scattering the chair into motes of star energy. “Do you count your mother in that?”

Kaelith rolled her eyes. “Don’t even mention it. She’s at the top of the list. But… please don’t try to be considerate. I don’t care about a relationship between you two. She’s… a great person. Don’t you dare push her away if she’s serious. She may not look like it, but mom is very sensible. If she truly aims to be by your side, please give her a chance.”

Rakna looked at her in surprise at how earnest she sounded toward the end. He ultimately let out a chuckle and shook his head. “Look at me; I wonder what the old man would say if he knew that both daughter and mother were going after me.”

The vixen smirked. “From what I hear from you, he sounded like the kind of person to congratulate you, no?”

“Hm, not quite,” he snorted. “He would probably say something more along the lines of ‘damn, kid, a harem? Nice job,’ and then ask me how many girls I plan to add to it.”

“Oh, so that means Eternal Night would be on my side in this, wouldn’t he? Shouldn’t you do what he would want you to?”

“Well… I can’t say I have a riposte for that one,” Rakna shrugged helplessly.

Kaelith giggled victoriously. “You can go now. Didn’t you say you had a damsel to rescue?”

“Yes, yes… But it seems she got help from some decent people,” he replied, his left eye closed and connected to the wolf familiar he had left with Astraea. “The situation is nearing its breaking point though. I better intervene,” he said and was about to walk off.

“Ah, wait for just a second,” Kaelith raised her voice and he turned toward her.

“What is--!” Rakna immediately swallowed his words, Kaelith’s lips crashing on his again. This time, he was the one taken by surprise, and her initiative was far stronger than his earlier. Their kiss didn’t last long and the vixen quickly stepped back, licking her lips with a grin.

“We’re even now,” she said, enjoying the rare dumbstruck expression on his face. “Last thing; me too, wolfy,” she uttered softly. “I would die for you as well. Mom told me this; to mutually wish for the life of the other at the cost of their own is the purest of loves… thank you for that,” she finished with a clear smile and Rakna’s eyes widened.

“Hah… So, you say you would die too but I’m the only one who has to be tied down. How fair is that, foxy?” He jested and she merely smiled at him.

He truly felt like laughing. Honestly, he was still processing the first kiss, despite being the one at cause. In the span of a few minutes, he realized that this woman had long managed to ensnare him.

‘I wonder since when…’ Bidding a silent goodbye to her that they mutually were aware of, he made his way toward the park’s lake with a light heart. “[Reflect My Core,]” he whispered a step before he got to the edge and closed his eyes. ‘Thank you, Kae…’ He thought and his foot moved forward as if he was trying to step into the water. 

“[Antanasia,]” the second he made contact with the lake’s surface, a sound akin to glass breaking resounded and he blinked out of existence.

Kaelith watched him leave with a soft expression and once left alone, she put a hand over her chest and smiled. ‘You’re welcome…’

* * *

Sometime earlier, Astraea was strolling through the upper layers of New Athens, visiting the trade center of the city where most businesses were settled; from mere stalls to company headquarters.

“Aww… I should have asked for some currency from Lord Monarch…” The goddess pouted sadly while the wolf pup in her arms wagged its tail, curiously looking around. Astraea passed by a few boutiques, occasionally lingering on what was displayed.

“Hmm… I wonder if there are any nice ones to bring back to Egregore,” she wondered quietly. The world of the collective unconscious was surprisingly not just mere abstract. The entities born from it after being summoned once by a Firmament Monarch get to live in an evasive state. 

There is no concept of time, colors, senses, spirit, or physical. Living in Egregore is like dreaming and waking up when summoned. Entities could interact with each other like normal beings and the objects that they would come to own personally while summoned could be taken.

“Artemis and Aphrodite might like the exotic craftsmanship of this place…” Astraea muttered then sighed deeply. “I really should have asked for pocket money. Next time, for sure,” she told herself with a fist bump.

She ultimately unstuck her eyes from the vitrines and continued her stroll. Half an hour later, with an additional ten minutes spent playing with aquatic fauna around Athens, the goddess reached the fifth-highest layer of the city.

“You cannot go further,” a guard said as he stopped her from accessing the next layer.

“Eh?” Astraea blinked in unison with the pup. “Why is that? Did something happen?”

“You… must be new to New Athens?” The man asked after looking at her up and down. He seemed to be doing so purely out of professional intent, unlike several stares Astraea had felt while coming up to this point. “Odd… you have a divine aura. Who are you?”

“Oh, um, I suppose you can consider me a ‘familiar’,” she replied with a hand on her chin.

The guard blinked. “A… familiar? Someone summoned you? I see… well, if that is the case, there is no specific law stating I can’t let you pass, but I don’t recommend it. For your own sake. The layers up above can only be accessed by the nobility. It’s not prudent for you to intrude. Nobles… can be rather whimsical.”

The goddess slowly nodded. “I understand. Thank you for the advice,” she said with a quick bow.

“You’re welcome.”

After bidding goodbye to the guard, Astraea retraced her steps, searching for Rakna’s presence so that she could maybe borrow some money after all. ‘Perhaps mentioning Lord Monarch’s Emperor status could have easily gained me a ticket to those upper layers,’ she thought. ‘But the real issue is more about how I stick out...’

She giggled to herself. ‘Lord Monarch’s warnings may have been most pertinent in the end.’

As she was thinking about that, she happened to spot something from the corner of her eye. It was a pair of children wearing rags, hinting at the possibility of them being destitute. Something else that she noticed was that those children had some distinctive traits; faint scales blending with the skin and a pair of fins located behind their ears.

Astraea corresponded those characteristics with many of the merfolk races she had knowledge of before her focus switched to the group of people standing over those children as they hugged each other on the ground.

The group consisted of several bodyguard-like individuals and a man wearing high-end clothing at the front, seemingly leading them.

The goddess squinted her eyes, viewing the infuriating sneer on that man’s face. Before she even weighed the situation, she was already stepping forward, the wolf pup in her arms narrowing its eyes at the same time.

While advancing, Astraea had one amusing thought that reminded her of the time she had been summoned by her Lord during the Moon Simulation, ‘Another jinx?’