"That's a little surprising."
"Yes...?"
While I was soothing my aching stomach and bracing myself for the disaster that would come next, the white-haired woman sitting beside me spoke up.
"Hera hates men, you know. So I thought there'd never be another man sitting here..."
It was easy to tell that Lady Hera disliked men just by looking at her Familia.
A Familia made up entirely of women. In most Familias, the ratio might differ, but I had never seen one fixed to a single gender like this.
There was no way Grandpa had only accepted male members because he wanted to raise men, so it was reasonable to assume Lady Hera was the reason the genders were split.
Maybe Lady Hera disliked having women near Grandpa, but also disliked having men near herself? That was probably why she ran the Familia with the sexes separated.
"But if she invited Vesta-kun like this, I guess that's not quite it."
"Hmm..."
Honestly, that was something I'd been wondering too. Why had Lady Hera called me here? A goddess who hated men, no less.
From what I'd heard, she had ordered the Empress to bring me here, so it didn't seem like she had personally wanted to drag me in.
"Could she have found out my secret?"
If that were true, then she might take an interest in me... but even so, this much attention?
Something felt a little off. Was I missing something right now?
"Hera showing interest in a man... Or maybe Vesta-kun isn't a man to begin with? Now that I think about it, you do look a little delicate, almost like a small-chested girl."
"I'm a man."
What an insulting misunderstanding. No matter how you looked at me, I was a man.
Honestly, even I could admit I was a little delicate, but not to the point where my gender was confusing. Maybe from far away it could be hard to tell, but this close? There was no way she could mistake me!
"...Really?"
"Why are you doubting that all of a sudden?"
"No, when I thought you were a man, you looked like a man, but if I think of you as a woman, you kind of look like a woman too—"
"Stop. If you say any more, I'll burst into tears right here. You're talking about making a man in his thirties cry with a single sentence. A man old enough to be called an uncle, bawling like a child. Do you know how horrifying that is?"
"I'm sorry."
My logical threat made Materia raise the white flag. Hah, justice had been upheld once again.
I found myself smiling with satisfaction. Justice always wins in the end.
"What..."
Someone looked at me with a pitying expression, but this was more important than life and death. If I lost my sense of gender identity, the city would collapse, the Dungeon would collapse, and everything would be ruined.
"You're awfully noisy."
Flinch. Then a voice with a chill unlike Lady Hera's reached us.
"Ah, Arphia!"
Unlike me, who had frozen stiff, Materia smiled brightly and waved toward somewhere.
"Move."
"Yes, ma'am."
Since she told me to move, I moved immediately. I hurriedly stood up and vacated the seat, and she kicked away the chair I'd been sitting on before dragging another one into its place.
No, then why did you tell me to move?!
"I can't sit on something that's been touched by you."
"That's too harsh?!"
So it wasn't just touching me—she didn't even want to touch something that had touched me?! I didn't think I was especially delicate, but being treated like this was still hurtful.
"Arphia... if you're going to say it, at least say it in a way that won't hurt me."
"Hmph."
Arphia closed her eyes and said nothing more.
"Sorry, Vesta-kun. Arphia's a bit prickly..."
"No... I'm the one who should apologize for making you uncomfortable."
The wound to my pride was so deep I didn't even feel like protesting. This was worse than when Otaru had beaten me to a pulp...!
Gathering myself after that one-hit knockout to my heart, I straightened the chair and moved to a slightly more distant seat. But just as I was about to move, Materia stopped me and made me sit beside her.
"Sit here."
"..."
There was no need for that. But there was also no reason not to, so I simply took the seat beside her... and then...
"Eek?!"
A cold sensation swept over me, followed by a piercing stare. Arphia lifted her eyelids and glared at me with mismatched eyes.
"W-why?"
"Tch."
Arphia's eyes said it all. Get out of there right now.
I tried to get out, but Materia's hand wouldn't let go of me.
I could shake her off if I wanted to, but I didn't want to. And if I did, I had a feeling Arphia would hit me and send me flying too.
Unreasonable!
People say life is like that, but today, as always, I felt wronged.
And so the heart-pounding, life-threatening shared meal time in Hera Familia continued, until Lady Hera returned to the head seat with the food.
"Oh, there's a lot today."
"Yes. There is quite a lot."
"Huh? Lady Hera told us to make extra—"
"Shut up."
The cook looked thoroughly aggrieved, but Vesta wasn't in a position to care about that.
"This is... what..."
Meat.
Meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat.
There were vegetables here and there, but they were buried beneath such an overwhelming amount of meat that they might as well not have existed.
The sheer mountain of food looked like it had come from three whole cows, and I was so overwhelmed I lost my words for a moment.
Watching the dejected cook trudge away, Vesta's unease only grew.
Materia had said there was more than usual. I didn't think it was possible, but could they have made this much because of me...?
"Please... I'm a small eater!"
To be honest, I wasn't really a small eater, just average. But in the adventurer trade, where gluttons were everywhere, someone like me counted as a light eater.
Of course, if I'd gone days without eating or moved around a lot, I could eat more than this—but that was an exception. Even on a normal day, I couldn't handle this much. And after stuffing me full of snacks, they brought out this mountain of food?
There was no other way to see it: they were planning to torture me with food. Even Materia beside me looked thoroughly exhausted!
"Is Ichijo not coming?"
"Huh? Looks like it."
"...And you call yourself the captain when you can't even manage your own members properly."
"Tch, since when did you care so much about the Familia?"
"Uh..."
The sudden exchange of hostility made me tense up, as if they were about to throw a punch. Then Lady Hera's gaze suddenly turned this way.
"...Tch."
"...Hm?"
She clicked her tongue once, then sat down as if nothing had happened. At that, not only the Empress but Arphia and the other members were thrown into shock.
"Hera... backed down from a fight?!"
"It ended without her even raising her voice...?"
Were they dreaming? The sight before them caused everyone except Vesta and Materia to freeze up mentally.
What was mystery, if not this? What was a miracle, if not this? To them, the scene before their eyes was a miracle and a mystery.
Could it be that Hera had finally seen the light?!
"What are you all staring at?"
At Hera's sharp glare, the members hurriedly looked away.
No, judging by the murderous look in those eyes, that was definitely not it.
Realizing that, the members felt relieved. If Hera seemed kind, that alone would be enough to give anyone goosebumps.
"Since Ichijo isn't here, we'll eat as is today. Everyone, eat comfortably."
At those words, the sound of utensils rang through the dining hall. Normally, because Hera was so hysterical, everyone tried not to make noise if they could, but when this many people gathered, a few voices were inevitable.
But today, only silence and the clink of cutlery filled the room. Everyone just fiddled with their forks and kept sneaking glances at one place.
The place they were looking at was...
"We should eat too."
Of course, the head seat where Vesta was sitting.
"I-it's too much pressure...!"
Even the people right in front of me were enough to make me lose my appetite, and now hundreds of gazes were stabbing into me.
Curiosity, analysis, wariness, expectation, and all sorts of other sticky, lingering looks.
Under that dizzying storm of stares, I couldn't even tell whether the food was going into my mouth or my nose.
"Hera... isn't this a bit too much? It looks like three times the usual amount."
"Even high-quality food looks vulgar when piled up like this. Thanks to this, I've learned something useful."
"What does it matter? In the end, it all goes into your stomach."
In order, Materia, Arphia, and the Empress spoke up.
Materia and Arphia each commented on the food, while the Empress seemed not to care much at all.
Could they really eat all this? Or was she the type to just throw away whatever was left? I understood that it couldn't be helped, but I didn't like wasting food, so I silently prayed it was the former.
"Hmph, I don't know either."
After saying that, Lady Hera calmly began eating. Everyone stared at her in amazement, but with no other option, they all started eating too.
"Huh, we're just eating like this?"
I was briefly taken aback by how calm they all were.
Am I the only one who feels awkward? Why is everyone so composed in a situation like this?
Did this happen often? Feeling a slight sense of defeat, I started eating as well.
"Ugh..."
Just looking at the amount of food was enough to make me sick. When I first saw it, I'd felt hopeless just looking at it, but now it felt even more hopeless.
At first it had felt like I needed to climb a mountain; now it felt like I had to cross a mountain range.
"There's no way I can finish all this, let alone take a bite."
Maybe the snacks I'd eaten earlier still hadn't digested. Just looking at it made my stomach turn.
More than that, a lot of the dishes were whole cuts, which made them awkward for me to eat with only one arm...
"Is this... that story? The fox and the crane Grandpa told me about."
The story of a crane inviting a fox home for a meal.
-"Eat up, fox."
-"What, the fox?"
The fox tried to use the crane's special plate, but because of the difference in their shapes, it couldn't be used.
No, who would use archer gear on a warrior?
A tragedy born of self-centered thinking.
The crane invited the fox out of goodwill, but the lack of consideration created a tragic story.
Of course, whether this situation was due to a lack of consideration or whether they were doing it on purpose was still anyone's guess.