"Sis, you've been looking pretty healthy lately, haven't you?"
One day, out of the blue, her younger sister said that.
Arphia felt a little awkward at the remark, but answered in her usual blunt way.
"...Is that so?"
"Yeah. Did something good happen?"
"Something good, huh..."
Something good. If she put it that way, then yes, it could be seen that way.
In Arphia's closed eyes, a scene from the past flickered faintly.
Gathering darkness. A nightmare still vivid even now. A monster wielding the power of a god.
And a white rabbit charging at it alone.
A sight that seemed to recreate a scene from a hero's tale still refused to fade, lingering in Arphia's mind and asserting its presence.
But more important than anything else was the flame that white rabbit wielded.
More precisely, the effect of that flame.
The reason people had started saying Arphia looked healthier lately.
A hope she had finally found.
Arphia repeated to herself that this might be the encounter that would change their future.
"Well, if you say so, then I guess there was."
"Sis?"
"I'll be back in a bit."
Arphia turned her back and left the Familia.
"..."
And Meteria quietly watched her go.
"Sis... changed?"
Arphia, who had always kept an attitude so cold you couldn't have drawn a single drop of blood from her with a needle unless it was toward Meteria, had changed recently.
Her answers, which used to come immediately whenever Meteria asked something, had grown slower, and she often seemed to space out in thought.
"This is... no way, right?"
There was clearly something going on.
Her brilliant brain(?) and sharp intuition(?) arrived at one possibility.
"Sis... no way."
She knew her sister better than anyone.
Even if Arphia showed strange behavior unlike her usual self, it was easy to figure out what it meant.
Her dazed behavior lately. Her noticeably improved complexion.
And that expression from earlier.
Once you saw that hopeful look she never normally wore, there was no way not to understand.
Yes, the truth was always one.
"Sis... no way..."
Her sister, Arphia, was...
"Did she get a boyfriend?!"
She was in love right now!
Meteria immediately followed after Arphia.
It was none other than her sister, Arphia's, romance in action.
There was no way she could miss this. Meteria forced her frail body to move and trailed after her as discreetly as possible.
shashakshashashak!
-What is that?
-A suspicious person!
-Hey, shouldn't we report that?
-That's creepy...
It was the kind of movement that drew everyone's attention, but at the very least, she herself thought otherwise.
"Huff... huff..."
But even that soon left her breathless.
"Arphia..."
Had she always been this fast?
Arphia, who normally moved slowly unless something was wrong because she lacked stamina, was walking so quickly that Meteria could barely keep up.
"As expected."
Every time she watched her sister's behavior, Meteria's certainty grew stronger.
Arphia, who was in poor health, was walking this quickly.
In other words, she was desperate to meet the person she was going to see right now!
Who on earth was the man who had made Arphia, who could barely keep her eyes open from chronic fatigue, move like that?
Meteria stared at Arphia with sparkling eyes.
In truth, her body was just improving. But Meteria had no way of knowing that.
And so, after the discreet(?) tailing, the place they arrived at was...
"Huh...?! "
A man with the same white hair as hers... and red eyes that somehow reminded her of him.
He had a cute, fluffy impression like a snow rabbit, and the crushed eye on one side made him look pitiful while also giving off a strangely forbidden allure.
It was a boy she knew well... Vesta-kun.
"A, Arphia's boyfriend...?! "
Impossible. That sister... her always cool, calm, and intelligent sister's taste was... a man much younger than herself?!
"Ah, no, maybe not?"
She hesitated for a moment, then quickly corrected herself.
Come to think of it, she did call him Vesta-kun, but his true identity was a man in his thirties whose exterior only looked youthful.
Thinking of it that way, maybe saying there was a big age gap wasn't exactly wrong.
It was the exact opposite of what she had imagined, but still.
It was shocking, but in the end, this made it clear.
Her sister's lover...
It was Vesta-kun!
"Even if it's Vesta-kun, I'm not handing Sis over that easily!"
She had no intention of being as overprotective as Arphia, and couldn't be even if she wanted to, but Meteria cherished Arphia dearly all the same.
At the very least, she wanted Arphia's lover to be a man who wouldn't let a single drop of water touch Arphia's hands.
That was why Meteria's eyes sparkled—no, she stared wide-eyed.
She took out the notebook she had with her and got into position.
Meteria began recording everything that was about to happen, without missing a thing.
This was all for Arphia—
"Heheh, I was just wondering what to do on a date, so this is perfect."
—absolutely not.
Harvest Festival was coming soon.
The day of lovers.
Arphia or not, her own romance came first in the end.
"...Um, Miss Arphia."
"...Don't ask."
I haven't said anything yet.
Judging by her reaction, it seemed Miss Arphia already knew.
Well, I guess it would be stranger if she didn't.
"Miss Meteria...?"
Far away... well, not really far... no, kind of close...
...to be blunt, at a place so near I could practically trip over it, I couldn't hide my shock at the sight of the white-haired woman holding a notebook and staring at us with intense interest. Miss Meteria.
More precisely, I should say I was shocked by Miss Meteria's appearance rather than by Miss Meteria herself.
"What in the world is that...?"
It was rude to think that, but I couldn't come up with anything else.
Parts of her clothes had been tied up for easier movement, revealing her slender legs.
And yet, the whole outfit was so unfashionable it somehow managed to feel completely unsexy. Her clothes made it obvious she had no sense of style at all, which was painful enough on its own.
But the worse part was her head. She had stuck two branches she must have picked up from somewhere into her hair and was doing some kind of makeshift concealment.
I say "some kind of" because I couldn't even jokingly call that concealment.
It was a little lacking to be called stealth... to be honest, it was a getup you couldn't miss even from a thousand miles away.
I thought she was a normal person... but she wasn't normal either, huh? At this point, Miss Arphia in front of me felt far more normal.
"..."
"Um, if you'd like to say something—"
"Shut up."
"Yes, ma'am."
Even Miss Arphia seemed unable to say anything about it.
To think even the usually indulgent Arphia toward her younger sister was forced to hold her head. That, too, had to be a talent in its own way, right?
Anyway, what were these two here for? I could understand Miss Meteria following Arphia, but why would Miss Arphia come looking for me?
"...Was there?"
I thought about it, but nothing came to mind.
If I had to pick something, maybe it was about that incident back then. But it shouldn't have been enough to warrant a personal visit.
"Ahem. So, what did you call me here for?"
Right, this meeting had been initiated by Arphia.
I had no reason to refuse, so I came as asked, but I couldn't guess the reason.
"Hmm, I see."
"...?"
Miss Arphia's condition was strange.
How should I put it... was she hesitating? Wavering?
"That can't be."
From everything I'd learned while getting involved with her, Miss Arphia was the kind of person who suited Hera Familia better than anyone.
If she had business with me, she would have said it plainly.
"Actually... I came to ask you for a favor."
"A favor?"
That was unexpected.
If it was something I could do, she should be able to do it too, so why call me specifically...
Did she need help? Or was it something only I could do?
Either way, I couldn't guess.
"That technique you used before, to light a fire."
"The technique to light a fire..."
"Not the kind that shoots out, but the kind that rises."
"Ah, you mean that."
So she meant the technique for lighting my goddess's sacred flame.
"What about it?"
"Could you use it one more time right now?"
"...?"
It was a strange request, but it didn't seem difficult, so I decided to do it.
"Please hold out your hand."
At my words, Miss Arphia calmly held out her hand.
I took her hand over the unknown material of the gloves she wore and immediately kindled the sacred flame—
"..."
"...What is it?"
"N-no, nothing."
Nothing happened, so she looked at me strangely, and I hurriedly made an excuse before kindling the sacred flame again.
whoosh
The sacred flame rose as if her body itself were burning.
It drove away the impure and brought vitality back to her body.
"Haa..."
Was she finding pleasure in the return of strength to her body? Her slightly heated, sweet sigh brushed lightly past my face.
I was a little short of breath myself, so I let out a small sigh too. Somehow, the atmosphere felt really strange.
Holding hands and breathing out like that created a rather odd mood.
Whether the rabbit knew the witch's troubles or not, the witch was busy observing her own condition.
"No doubt about it."
It wasn't just a momentary illusion.
The curse gnawing at her failed to fulfill its purpose for as long as it remained in contact with this sacred flame.
She didn't know what kind of principle was at work, but Arphia wasn't interested in the principle.
What mattered was that this power might save her—and perhaps even Meteria too.
And, annoyingly, this power wasn't an item or a tool, but a person's power, and one belonging to someone strong enough that she couldn't easily subdue him.
"Tch."
Without realizing it, she clicked her tongue.
The rabbit flinched at the inexplicable chill, but the witch had no room to care about that.
Why was that thing even a person? If it had been an item or a tool, then at least...
She caught the thought before it could run away. Right, she hadn't come here to think about that.
The reason she was here now was...
"You said your name was Vesta."
"Yes."
"Good. Vesta. I'm issuing you a quest."
"...Huh?"
In the end, this was to put a leash on this rabbit.
A leash she could keep in her hand and make sure he couldn't leave.
"Ten million valis a day."
"?!"
"As for the deadline... yes. Let's make it until I say it's enough."
She deliberately did not set a deadline. She had no intention of setting one in the first place.
If it had been normal, she would have solved this with force, but unfortunately what she wanted was not the item itself, but the power of the skill.
If he got difficult and refused to use it, the one in trouble would be her. In this case, it would be better to approach him by coaxing and persuading him.
"For now, I'll pay a year's worth in advance. Will you take it?"
It was phrased as a question, but it was practically an order.
Even so, for Arphia, this was an exceptionally gentle form of persuasion.
It was so gentle that if the Empress saw it, she might think, "What on earth did she eat?"
To Arphia's offer, Vesta said...
"...I'm sorry. I have to refuse."
"..."
He refused, completely oblivious.
Of course, it wasn't some kind of push-and-pull to raise the reward.
The problem was the quest itself.
The matter of receiving a year's worth of pay.
A quest was like a contract.
From the moment it was accepted until the moment it was completed, the one who took it on bore the obligation to finish the request.
And he had no confidence he could fulfill that obligation.
Because his life was effectively on a timer.
In a situation where he didn't know whether he'd survive even a few months, let alone a year, he couldn't accept such a request.
"...I see."
"Thank you for understanding."
"Then I suppose I have no choice but to move to Plan B."
After quietly thinking at those words, Arphia spoke again.
The rabbit, thinking she was being understanding, thanked the witch, but unfortunately the witch was not such a soft-hearted person.
"Go to sleep for a moment."
"Kuh?! "
In a flash, Arphia's hand blurred, and the next moment a shock struck the back of the rabbit's neck.
Incredible! Faster than a quick-cast spell!
Struck by Arphia's attack, empowered by the sacred flame, the rabbit rolled his eyes and collapsed unconscious.
"..."
So, I really did it.
Arphia felt a tiny amount of self-reproach in her heart at the sight.
But she shook it off almost immediately and hoisted the rabbit onto her back before heading somewhere.
Her destination was the basement hidden deep within Hera Familia.
Her figure was almost like a witch dropping a rabbit into a cauldron.
"Th-this is... unbelievable..."
What... did I just witness?
Meteria, who had been hiding in a place where she couldn't hear the conversation well but could see every movement clearly because they were right in front of her, was left with her mouth hanging open.
Arphia, who had hesitated(?) in front of Vesta.
Then Arphia, who had shyly extended her hand as if prepared(?).
Arphia, who had let out a happy, heated sigh(?).
Just as Meteria was getting all sweet and fluttery from the sight of a textbook beginner romance(?), Arphia suddenly attacked the rabbit!!!
Watching Arphia shoulder the rabbit, who had been knocked out cold by the blow, and stroll away, Meteria quietly moved her hand and recorded the situation in her notebook.
-Love can also be achieved through violence.
She was a very open-minded person.