"Haruhime?"
"Yes, Ms. Maryuu?"
"Would you help me and Iska in the garden with the vegetables?"
There was a big part of the garden where the Astrea familia grew a few vegetables on their own. Astrea had a very good relationship with Demeter and got a few seeds from her.
"Of course!"
Haruhime looked happy, she loved the familia´s garden and would do her best to help everywhere.
"Hehe, but put on your dungarees, your kimono will get dirty otherwise. And don´t forget your straw hat."
"I won´t!"
The small girl smiled and ran happily to the room that she shared with Neze. A few minutes later she returned, dressed for work in the field.
"Alright, then let us go."
Haruhime followed the two young adults. Iska went out first, followed by Haruhime. Maryuu looked with a slightly grim expression over her shoulder and nodded to Astrea. They would keep Haruhime outside, so she wouldn´t notice what would happen in the house.
Astrea waited until they were outside and the door closed, then she nodded to Alise.
"Bring them in..."
"Yes, Lady Astrea."
No one in the familia, except for Haruhime, was in a good mood currently. In fact, all of them were very angry. But they hid this fact perfectly from Haruhime, such a small girl shouldn´t be worried or get told what exactly happened to Bell.
Soon the door opened, Bell and Neze came inside. When she saw again how torn Bell´s clothes were and the blood stains here and there, Astrea´s eyes became small, and she felt anger in her heart.
"I´m not wounded anymore, Lady Astrea."
"Still... Alright, sit down first. We will get this over soon."
Bell sat down on one of the large couches, Neze sat down next to him and immediately snuggled up to her mate, putting a hand on his chest. Alise went outside for a moment, then she came back in. She moved behind the couch, leaned forward, and hugged Bell´s neck from behind, leaning her face close to her lover´s.
It was rare to see Alise looking that pissed.
And also...
A fuming Ardee.
"Ardee, please sit down too."
They saw how Ardee opened and closed her hands, ready to punch someone in the face.
"It´s Black Cat! She also tried to kill Shakti!"
"I know that Ardee, but please sit down, let me do this."
"Hmpf...Hmpf!...Alright..."
Ardee sat down on Bell´s free side, but also snuggled her body up to him, putting her hand on his stomach.
Lyra was the first to come in, she immediately went to Bell and sat down on his lap.
Then came Noin, Ryana, and Asta. Followed by their two prisoners. Ryu and Kaguya were the last ones, each had a hand on their swords.
Chloe and Lunor were a miserable sight. Lunor had a cape draped around her upper body, to hide her bare breasts, since Bell´s spell had destroyed it. Chloe wore something similar around her waist, her pants were mostly shredded.
Both had their hands behind their backs, in handcuffs. They also wore matching ankle cuffs. The chains were quite short to ensure that they didn't attack or run away from anyone.
The handcuffs were made out of pure adamantite, while the chains were made of orichalcum. Due to Bell´s and Neze´s problems dealing with them, they guessed Lunor and Chloe were level four. They would have no chance to break these handcuffs and chains. Still, Kaguya held a hand on Lunor´s left shoulder, while Ryu a hand in her glove on Chloe´s right shoulder.
"Close the door."
Asta did it, they were alone. Ryu and Kaguya led their two prisoners to a free spot on the floor between the couches and armchairs. Then they forced them down to their knees.
Kaguya glared at them with murderous intent in her eyes. "If you try something funny, then..."
She just tapped the hilt of her katana, nothing more had to be said. Bell felt how Ardee´s body stiffened when she looked at Chloe, but she obeyed Astrea and did nothing.
Chloe and Lunor knelt there and looked down. The others sat on the couches around them, both were surrounded from all sides. Their weapons were gone, they had no way to fight back.
Astrea stopped in front of both.
"Look at me."
Both glanced uneasily to the sides.
"Now."
Slowly, they looked up to the furious goddess.
Astrea moved faster than any of them had ever seen or expected.
Two very loud slapping sounds echoed through the room. At first Lunor´s cheek got hit, then Chloe´s.
"Ack!"
"Nya!"
The goddess was surprisingly strong. Astrea didn´t tend to be a merciless or violent goddess, but her heart was in turmoil right now. Also, both tried to kill Bell, something like that couldn´t be easily forgiven.
"This is for attacking my...our precious Bell."
With teary eyes, since the slaps hurt very much, both assassins looked at Bell. The scenery looked strange, how he sat there with a grim expression, surrounded by four beautiful women. It could´ve been the picture right out of a harem story, with Bell as the harem´s "king". It would fit the picture that they got told, that he played around and had the Astrea familia at his will.
As if he were a lion with his pride around him.
Yet Chloe and Lunor felt uneasy when they looked at him. Not because of Bell´s gaze, but because of Lyra´s, Ardee´s, Alise´s and Neze´s. All four of them were furious and glared down at them.
This scene looked more like four female lions surrounding their male, baring their fangs at someone who tried to take him away from them.
It got pretty clear that they weren´t Bell´s playthings. For Chloe it looked for a moment more, as if Bell was the "plaything" of the whole familia, and that they were angry for almost losing this precious piece of meat.
Despite the situation, Chloe couldn´t escape her true nature, she was a pervert deep down...
But Chloe shrank down when she looked into Ardee´s eyes. Something, her instinct as a cat person, told Chloe that this was the head lioness.
Maybe they saw more in Bell than just a living pleasure rod...
Lunor gulped slightly, maybe she had misjudged the whole situation. This wasn´t the look of a harem owner, it was more the look of his furious lovers, upset that he got hurt.
"Asta, Noin. Please watch the outside."
""Understood.""
Alise moved towards Astrea, neither Chloe nor Lunor had noticed how she had moved away from Bell. She handed Astrea an elegant looking sword.
Would the goddess strike them down right here?
Alise then moved behind Bell again and hugged his neck from behind, kissing his cheek one time, while still glaring at Chloe and Lunor.
Astrea let her hands rest on the crossguard of the sword. It was her personal sword, the Sword of Justice. The one she had used to sent Erebus back to heaven.
"I will now hold the trial, and swear by my Sword, that it will be a just trial. As will my judgment upon you."
Her normally so gentle and warm expression was replaced with a serious, slightly grim one.
"You will answer all of my questions. You are not allowed to nod or shake your heads, I want clear answers. You are not allowed to remain silent. Also, in case you try to flee, my children will stop you."
This way Astrea would see if they spoke the truth. Both knew they were in a bad situation, a familia like this one had surely one or two members who could use healing magic.
So in case they wouldn´t talk...
There were ways to make them talk, and heal them afterwards. So any interrogation could take a long time. Not that Astrea threatened them in any way, but Lunor and Chloe had seen enough of this grim world.
Lunor gulped, her mouth was dry. "I understand."
"Nya too..."
Astrea looked at Lunor. "You are the one the underworld calls Black Fist, correct?"
"Yes."
"And you are Black Cat, right?"
Chloe wanted to nod, then she rememberred what Astrea said. "Nya...nyes."
"Why are you talking like that?"
"Nya am a cat person!"
The others looked a bit confused, they never met a cat person who talked like that. Well there was this cute waitress of the pub, at least in Bell´s eyes she was cute and beautiful.
"Say your names."
"Lunor. Lunor Faust."
"Chloe Rollo..."
"Are you two working for Evilus?"
Lunor shook her head. "No, I don´t."
Chloe hissed very slightly. "Never."
"So you two weren´t hired by Evilus to assassinate Bell?"
"No."
"I wasn´t."
"Are you two working together?"
""No.""
"So you attacked Bell at the same time out of chance?"
Lunor steeled herself. "I didn´t see her anywhere, I was focused on him..."
"Nya was sneaking along the rooftops...when Nya saw him getting attacked by h-Nya!"
Kaguya´s hand clenched and dug hard into Chloe´s shoulder for a moment.
"Kaguya, no violence."
"My emotions went overboard for a moment."
"Wh-When Nya saw her attacking him...Nya saw mew chance..."
Astrea nodded, and both saw how her hands clenched slightly around the crossguard. Lunor felt Ryu´s hand clenching around her shoulder too.
"If you´re not working for Evilus, who sent you to attack him?"
"An organization that hires bounty hunters."
"Nya too."
"Are you working for the same organization?"
Both said the name of the organization..it was...the Bruno Trading Federation.
"Nya?!"
"Huh?!"
Lunor and Chloe looked at each other, confused.
"I wonder why they send both of you on your own. Anyway. So you are assassins."
Lunor tried to steel her shoulders, but Ryu didn´t let her.
"I´m not an assassin, I´m a bounty hunter. I went after him because he has a huge bounty on his head!"
Ryu´s hand dug sharp into Lunor´s shoulder, and she whinced.
"Ryu, I said no violence."
"I´m sorry, Lady Astrea. I´m having myself under control now..."
Astrea looked at Lunor again. "How is Bell having a bounty on his head? He is one of the city´s heroes."
"I got told he is a player and has something in his hands against your whole familia, Lady Astrea."
Chloe tried to raise her hand, then she remembered they were cuffed. "Nya heard that too! Also, Nya is a bounty hunter too...even when...Nya used to be an assassin..."
"Explain. That about the rumor."
"The guy at the organization told me about him. It was supposed to be my last job. Believe me or not, but I have strict rules. I don´t go after upright people, only after scum and criminals."
"And yet you attacked Bell."
"They told me that he is basically having control over your familia. That he knows about some secrets or something like that. That he is forcing you all to do his bidding! He plays around with you all and does naughty things to you."
Astrea frowned, while the others looked upset, furious, and enraged. All because someone pulled Bell´s name into the dirt.
"I´m a goddess, how could someone force me to do what he wants?"
"By ruining your reputation? I don´t know."
Chloe sat a bit up. "Nya got told that too! That nyou don´t want to get out that your familia is your harem!"
""""""Hah?!""""""
Astrea blinked. "My...harem?..."
Chloe tried to shrug her shoulders. "Something like that maybe, Nya."
"Who brought you to this idea? And do you really, truly believe I would tolerate that? In case it would be like you said and Bell would be scum, do you really believe a goddess like me would allow that?"
"The organization gave Nya information and details..."
Lunor nodded. "Me too. That he is in secret a great villain and scum. That he...forces you all to do as he pleases...to please him..."
Astrea sighed. "I can´t believe you two are actually saying the truth, but I feel it. No mortal can force a god to do what he or she wants. How could they? Once their life is over and the god goes back to heaven, what do you think would this god do to the defenseless soul for all eternity?"
Both bounty hunters looked down in shame.
Chloe Nyaed sadly. "Nya also has strict rules. Nya never go after children, only after criminals and scum."
Bell spoke now for the first time.
"That might explain why you attacked me when you got false information. But that doesn´t explain the sexual harassment!"
Chloe shrunk immediately down under the murderous glares of the familia, even Astrea glared down at her. The one that she had pictured as the head lioness, the one with short, slate-blue hair, almost jumped to her feet, she could barely hold herself back.
"M-Nya only did it because nyou deserved it! Playing around with women, being scum, while being so cute, hot, and having such a nyawesome butt!"
Chloe´s expression was determined.
"Being a villain with such a body is a crime in itself! Nya! So Nya harrassed nyou out of rrrrevenge, so nyou would see how it feels to get harrassed, for harassing others!"
Astrea´s expression darkened.
"You are not speaking the whole truth, you are hiding something."
"Nya...Nya..."
"Out with it."
"Nya...Nya wanted to touch that purrrfect butt, Nya... A bit as revenge, but...mostly...forrr Nya pleasure..."
Lunor looked with slight disgust at Chloe. "Pervert."
"Nya can´t help it! He has a purrrfect butt, Nya!"
Against their wills, a few members of the Astrea familia nodded in agreement.
Astrea still looked with a dark expression at Chloe. "You will get punished for the sexual harassment too."
"Nya..."
"Especially for the sexual harassment!"
"Nya!"
Lunor bit her lower lip for a moment, then she nearly shouted.
"I´m sorry! It was supposed to be my last bounty hunter job! I wanted to retire! I didn´t know he wasn´t actual scum! I followed him for the last few days and I saw him each time with a different woman! Even when I put my ear onto the door of that smith of the Hephaistos familia, I heard something in there, that they were getting it on!"
"W-We didn´t get it on!" Bell looked flustered.
"I heard everything, she talked about your sword but I knew what she really meant!"
They saw how red Lunor was in the face.
"And I heard how she touched it!"
Now most of the eyes were on Bell. Alise even dared to chuckle slightly.
"So Tsubaki too, huh? Bell, you surely are greedy..."
What surprised Lunor and Chloe the most, not one of the others seemed to be upset or disgusted by Bell.
Astrea didn´t react much to it.
Chloe nodded slightly to agree with Lunor. "Nya wanted to retire too...and Nya followed him, saw him doing all kinds of naughty things in secret."
She nodded slightly to Kaguya. "Nya saw them hidden in a park, she looked uncomfortable."
Kaguya wasn´t flustered. "So what? I like to do these things with Bell somewhere. And we tried something new."
Chloe happened to see them while Kaguya wanted to give Bell an experience that neither of them ever had before since it was the first time of course it was uncomfortable for her...
Kaguya shrugged her shoulders. "It gives me a kick, I´m not ashamed of that."
Then Chloe looked to Ardee. "And Nya saw them too...she looked embarrassed."
Most of the eyes wandered to Ardee now, who got deep red. "Sh-Shut up, you c-cat!"
It had been Ardee´s first time wanting to do it with Bell hidden in a park too, of course, she looked embarrassed, because it had felt amazing!
Kaguya smirked. "Ah, don´t worry. We know that you are quite the pervert too, Ardee."
Ardee got more than a bit red and pretended to not be there, she glared at Chloe again, who shrunk down more under the lioness´ eyes.
"What level are you?"
"Four."
"Nya too."
"Now then...which familia do you belong to?"
Lunor got pale, and then she shouted again. "Please not that! I do everything you want! I accept any punishment, but not my familia! They have nothing to do with that!"
Horror filled her, when she thought about all the things that Demeter had done for her. Lunor liked her goddess very much, to visit her at least gave her a slight feeling of coming home. She felt so much warmth when she visited her goddess.
"Answer the question."
"No! I won´t! Please not that! Ask me anything else! I do what you want! But not my familia! My deity is innocent!"
Visions of horror filled Lunor´s mind, about the things that could happen to Demeter in case Astrea declared war on her. Sure, the Demeter familia was one of the lifelines of Orario, but Astrea could demand enormous compensation for Lunor´s actions.
Chloe looked horrified too. "Nya agrees! Not Nya familia! Nya god has nothing to do with Nya work! He doesn´t know about it!"
"If you don´t answer, I will be forced to use a Status Thief."
As the police force of Orario, the Astrea familia had this special item and the right to use it, especially on people like Lunor and Chloe.
Lunor tried to back away, but Ryu didn´t let her.
"Please don-!"
The door to the living room opened and Noin came inside.
"Lady Astrea, there is a visitor for you outside."
"Noin, right now it is really bad."
"She said it is about one of our prisoners..."
"Who is it?"
.
.
.
Lunor started to cry slightly when Demeter came into the room.
Astrea frowned. "Demeter?"
The Goddess of Harvest didn´t answer, her eyes flew to Lunor.
"Lunor!"
Immediately the goddess went to her knees and hugged the young woman to her chest. The others looked surprised, Ryu didn´t stop her, she even moved slightly away to make room for the goddess.
"Oh, my silly, stupid child! What have you done?!"
"Lady Demeter..*Hic*..No...why did you come..."
"One of the others saw you getting escorted, so he ran to me."
"You shouldn´t have come! *Hic*"
"How can I not come when you´re in trouble?!"
Lunor sobbed more.
Demeter looked up to Astrea.
"Astrea, I beg you. What did she do? I will take responsibility, no matter what it was."
"Lady Demeter, no! It was my fault, I will accept the punishment!"
"Lunor, I´m your goddess. I have to do this."
Demeter looked up again. "What did she do?"
"She attacked Bell and tried to kill him."
Demeter´s hands flew to her mouth, she looked at Bell, then at Lunor in shock. Lunor hoped to never see such an expression on Demeter´s face.
"From what she told us, she got tricked."
"Tricked?!"
"Yes, she and the young Chloe here."
Demeter looked at the cat girl, who whimpered slightly.
"You? I have seen you with N-!"
"Don´t! Don´t speak his name! I beg you!"
Chloe dropped her normal way of talking. Her true self shone through. In reality, Chloe was a scaredy cat and a crybaby. To be able to survive in Orario, she had trained a lot to talk more like some deities did, to show enormous confidence and strength. Weakness wasn´t allowed, she could get killed otherwise. All she had was herself after all.
But now, she felt really bad that maybe Njord would get in trouble because of her actions.
"I´ll take all the blame myself, it was my actions. My familia and god have nothing to do with it!"
It was really strange to hear Chloe talk normally.
Astrea didn´t look like she was in a forgiving mood.
"It won´t go like this, young Chloe. Tell me your familia´s name or I am forced to use the Status Thief."
Chloe looked like she was halfway in panic, which was accurate.
"I can´t! Please don´t do this! Punish me for what I did, not my god or familia!"
"These things aren´t that easy, now answer me."
Chloe bit her teeth together and looked down, she shook her head and refused to answer.
"Bell, please leave the room. Alise, please get the S-"
"Njord."
Demeter answered for Chloe.
"I saw her talking and walking around with Njord."
Chloe whimpered and looked up at Demeter, tears pooling in her eyes. "Why?..."
Demeter looked at her with a serious, yet a bit gentle face. "Astrea said you got tricked into attacking Bell. She is the Goddess of Justice, her judgment and punishment will be just."
Then she looked at the other goddess.
"Right, Astrea?"
"This is correct. I may be upset and angry, but I won´t demand an unjust punishment."
"Astrea...could you...take Lunor´s chains off?"
Astrea looked down at Lunor. "Do you swear to obey us, not run away or attack us, and listen to Demeter?"
"I swear this, Lady Astrea."
"You speak the truth. Ryu, take the hand and ankle cuffs off."
"As you wish."
When it was done and Lunor was able to stand, she got up, only to vanish in Demeter´s hug, who pulled her crying child into her chest again.
"I´m sorry, I´m so sorry! *Hic*"
Demeter said nothing, she just held Lunor.
"I beg you, Astrea. Please don´t imprison my child...or do something worse. I´m sure she...I mean..."
"I believe her that she got tricked. Lunor spoke only the truth."
"So, Lunor, you..."
"Please don´t ask about my work...I´m done with it, I will never go back to it."
Lunor looked at Bell. "I know this doesn´t make up for it, but I´m really sorry. If I hadn´t gotten tricked, I would´ve never attacked someone like you. I only went after bad guys."
Chloe looked quite miserable from her spot on the floor. "Nya too...Nya would´ve never attacked you...such a cute boy... Nya can never forgive Nyaself..."
Bell nodded. "That attack might be because of a trick. But don´t expect me to forgive you just like that."
His eyes wandered to Chloe. "Especially you."
Chloe´s ears and tail dropped. "Nya..."
Astrea sighed. "Chloe."
"Yes?"
"Will you obey what I say and don´t try to flee?"
"Nya will."
"Good. Kaguya, take off her chains."
"As you wish."
Chloe rubbed her wrists and ankles when she got free again.
"Demeter, please come with me."
"Alright."
Both goddesses left the room to talk in private. The situation was quite awkward, they returned roughly twenty minutes later.
Both young women looked at Astrea now, Demeter went at Lunor´s side for support.
"For your attack on Bell, you won´t be executed. I will not hand you over to Ganesha and throw you into prison."
Both exhaled and relaxed a little.
"That doesn´t mean you won´t get punished thoroughly. Lunor, in case I let you go with Demeter, will you return to face your punishment and make up for what you did? Will you not run away or cause any more trouble?"
"I promise that, Lady Astrea."
"Then you will go with Demeter and stay at her place. You will help her with all her fieldwork, no matter what it is and how hard it will become."
"I understand."
"And you will return here each morning, you will get different tasks to fulfill."
"I understand...I´m sorry for what I did."
"Don´t apologize to me."
Lunor looked at Bell, then she bowed slightly. "I´m sorry...I will make up for my mistake."
"For now your sentence will be service, we will think about something else then."
"Yes..."
"Do you have a room in the city?"
"I do."
"Then take all your stuff there and bring it to Demeter´s home. For now, you are banished from Orario, except for doing chores for your familia and coming here."
"Yes...Lady Astrea."
"You can thank Demeter for that. If she wasn´t there, you would go to prison."
Lunor gulped heavily. Demeter showed Astrea a thankful nod.
"Come, Lunor."
"Yes, Lady Demeter..."
After the two left the room, Ryu looked a bit uneasy.
"Was it really alright to let her go that easily?"
"She will atone for what she did, but she was honest and would´ve never attacked Bell otherwise."
"I trust your judgment, Lady Astrea."
"Thank you, Ryu."
Then Astrea looked at Chloe.
"Now to you."
"Nya..."
"You have a room in the city?"
"Nyes."
"Kaguya, Ryu, escort her to her room. You will pack all your stuff and come back here again. I will not send you to Melen, but I will have a serious talk with Njord later. You will move into a free room here and face your punishment here. It will be a service too. Also, when it is possible again, I will force Njord to let you change into my familia."
"Nya?!"
"You seriously hurt and sexually harrassed Bell. So you will be kind of our prisoner."
"Nya..."
"And you will serve this familia, especially Bell until you atoned for your sin."
Kaguya snorted. "So Bell just got a cat maid?"
"If you want to call it that, Kaguya."
Chloe bowed her head with hanging ears and tail. "I accept your punishment, Lady Astrea."
"Good."
"Ahm..."
"Speak."
"Can Nya ask for one thing?"
"What is it?"
"Can m-...Can I...please have my dagger back?"
"You want me to hand you the weapon that you used to try to kill Bell with?"
"Please, it is very important to me, my most precious possession."
She saw that Astrea looked unwillingly.
"Please...it is the only thing I have from my mother...please...I´ll do everything you want."
Astrea looked deep into Chloe´s pleading eyes, there was so lie in there. She had enough experience with mortals to see how important this dagger was to Chloe.
"You will not use it to harm anyone? And I mean no one. Except if you get attacked and have to protect yourself."
"Nya won´t."
The goddess nodded, Chloe was honest. "Kaguya, give her back her dagger."
"As you wish, Milady."
They saw how Kaguya hugged the sheathed dagger to her small chest. "Thank you..."
"Now, you will go with Kaguya and Ryu, and bring your stuff here."
"As you wish."
.
"Bell, is that alright with you?"
"I understand how this happened, but I´m still mad. But I will follow your words, Lady Astrea."
"Thank you."
Then Astrea looked at the others. "Everyone, lend me your ears."
They all sat up.
"Alise, once Kaguya and Ryu are back, I want you all to get ready. Except for Bell, Neze and Maryuu."
"What are your orders?"
"Wipe out the Trading Federation, talk to the Ganesha familia. Imprison them all. We already guessed they might have hidden connections to Evilus, but now things get clear."
Alise nodded with a grim expression. "We will capture them. These forkers will pay!"
She had the habit of always cursing in a child-friendly way. Kaguya once joked that they had three people in their familia who would probably never curse. Bell, Ryu, and Alise. Bell and Ryu were just too pure and Alise...well a bit weird.
With Haruhime they had now number four. Even Ardee had cursed once.
"Good."
Then the goddess looked at Neze and Bell. "And you two, to the bathroom, take some rest and get yourself clean again."
Both smiled tired. ""Understood.""
Astrea had already noticed how affectionate and clingy Neze got due to what happened before, there was no way she would shower alone. And both deserved to relax a bit in the bath.
.
.
"Hah...my clothes are a mess..."
"I´m sorry that I didn´t come earlier, or were a better help, Bell."
He smiled wryly. "Don´t worry, I´m just glad that you aren´t hurt badly."
"I shall not worry?! Do you know how worried and furious I am?! My mate got hurt and I wasn´t able to really help him!"
Neze and Bell were alone in the bathroom, the door was locked and the bunny sign hung outside, which told everyone that Bell was using the bathroom. They only went back to doing this since Haruhime joined the familia. Before the familia had just bathed together, but rarely all of them together, there wasn´t enough space in the big bathroom.
She took off her top, looking at the damaged cloth. Her tail wiped slightly around, and Neze felt Bell´s eyes on her, which pleased her. Neze had no problem with her mate looking at her nude body. She was a werewolf, ever since she had chosen him as her mate, things like shame didn´t exist for her anymore. Next came her gloves and pants. As usual, Bell was fascinated by her tanned body. The pink tips of her breasts looked really exotic on her tanned breasts.
Neze was in no means shy when it came to Bell seeing her nudity, in fact, she made sure while she undressed that her mate looked at her. And she watched where his eyes went, it showed her that he wasn´t too badly wounded or tired, if he could still appreciate her body and feel lust for her.
Soon she was completely nude, as was Bell. He couldn´t help from letting his eyes wander over her well-toned body, even the beige-colored hair between her legs. The various members of the familia had various ways of handling their pubic hair. Neze let it naturally, just kept it slightly trimmed. Kaguya on the other hand had shaved it to look like a heart, with the tip on the bottom pointing at her mound.
"Like what you see?"
"Very much, you´re really beautiful, Neze."
"And you´re pretty handsome, Bell."
Neze took a small basket with various shampoos and lotions in her left hand and swung a towel over her right shoulder. "Shall we go, my mate?"
"I´ll follow you, my mate."
She smiled in a special way and both went from the changing room into the big bathroom. Bell noticed with a smile the natural swing of Neze´s hips, a nice sight. Someone like Kaguya swung her hips on purpose a bit more, to draw in Bell´s eyes.
Kaguya had explained to Astrea in the past what the benefits of a far eastern bath were, with the small chairs. There wasn´t one member of the familia who disliked it. Washing themself first before going into the bath was nice. And it was even better since Bell joined the familia and they all started to "get along really well". Since washing their lover or getting washed by him was very nice. And with his magic "Mirror Image", Bell could even wash two women at once! Or give one the special service to get washed by two handsome Bells.
Especially Celty loved this, she couldn´t get enough of having two muscular guys close to her. Sometimes when Bell helped her in the library, the two Bells didn´t wear shirts, so that Celty could stare and drool as much as she wanted. When she needed help to get a book from a higher row, both Bells would often corner her, while they moved up to their tiptoes, so that she was surrounded by delicious muscles!
But the others liked to get washed by two Bells too.
Except for Ryu of course, aside from what happened during "that incident" and Bell groping her now and then in their sleep, both didn´t even see each other naked. Ryu wanted the first time for this to happen to be really special and romantic.
Even when she still was the first one that Bell ever shot in the face...
Neze moved to one of the chairs and leaned down to place the basket on the ground. Her tail moved to the side when she did that, giving Bell a good view of her goods. Again, she didn´t do this on purpose, but her beasty nature and instinct came out. Normally she only got like this during full moon nights, but today was different. Having her mate in danger, both fighting together for their lives, having her mate rescue her...Neze wanted to mate! Badly!
"Now then, sit down."
Bell nodded smiling and followed her words. When he sat down on the small chair, Neze´s tail moved around, and touched his shoulders, nape, and cheek. Not only her instinct told her to put her scent onto her mate again.
"What scent would you like, citrus, strawberry, meadow, or something else?"
He chuckled. "Anything heroic?"
"How about...dragon blood?"
"Sounds good."
Dragon blood didn´t really smell like the blood of a dragon, it was just the name. It had a slight musky scent and a few other ingredients mixed in it. For Bell, it smelled quite...heroic. For his lovers...it often enough let their knees get weak when he smelled like that.
"*Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniff*"
"Neze?"
She stood behind him, leaning down, and sniffed at his shoulder, where Chloe had stabbed him.
"I can smell where that stupid cat has attacked you...and touched you."
Neze growled slightly, not only because Chloe had attacked and harassed Bell. Since she was the only beast person in his life...so far...Neze disliked it when the scent of another beast woman was on his body. So she would replace it with her own scent!
Her hand wandered softly over the rosy spot where he got stabbed.
"Does it still hurt?"
"No, thanks to Ms. Velvet´s healing magic."
"We were lucky that she was there."
Neze and Bell took their time to wash each other and cuddle. In the end, it became quite the steamy bath. And Neze made sure that her scent was all over Bell´s body, as was his on her body.
Still, Neze made sure to shower again and wash afterwards, so that she wouldn´t smell too much like Bell, out of consideration for Haruhime, since they were sharing a room.
But Bell wouldn´t sleep alone in his bed that night. After he got attacked and injured, all of them got clingy and affectionate.
.
.
"Mmmmmmh!~~~~ Hah, that was a wonderful night of Justice!"
Alise beamed all over her face, greeting the new morning sun with a smile. A moment of silence followed before she continued. Out of consideration, she only whispered.
"*puha* Hehe~~ I´m glad Neze didn´t completely drain you."
Her smile showed him the level of her affection for him.
"And I´m glad that you didn´t get hurt worse yesterday."
"Me too, trust me."
Bell looked at Alise, and she up to him, it was a silly scene.
"Hehe, I love to play with "Justice". Wob~~Wob~~Wob~~Wob~~"
She moved what she held in her hand back and forth, letting it swing.
"It´s not a toy..."
"As if you don´t like to "play" with it too. *Nom*"
"Ugh...Alise...even I have my limits..."
"*pop* Yeah, tell that to this guy here."
Alise was currently lying on her stomach, moving her curled-up feet relaxed. She leaned on her left forearm, her face between Bell´s legs. With her right hand, she gently stroked Bell´s manhood, whenever she ended a sentence, she took the tip into her mouth or gave it a lick.
Bell couldn´t really move, they weren´t alone in bed... Last night when they came back from delivering Justice to the Trade Federation, Bell had already moved into his bed. All of them had gotten very affectionate and clingy, so it was no surprise that someone snuck into his bed.
The first one was Ardee and she snuggled up to Bell´s right side, he didn´t even wake up from that, she put his arm around her by herself. Second was Lyra, since his right side was blocked, she occupied his left side. And the third was Alise, she made it simple and slept halfway on his lower stomach.
All three wore the same outfit, panties and a shirt that belonged to Bell before. Every single one of his lovers had conquered one or two of his shirts and loved to sleep in it.
Even Ryu.
"Hehe, look at my giant nose!~~"
Alise held both of her hands to the sides, balancing Bell´s rod right over her nose and face.
"Hehe, it really resembles the Sword of Justice!~~~"
"Don´t let Lady Astrea hear this."
"Oh as if she isn´t loving this thing here too. We all do. *Nom*"
She nibbled at first on the tip, then took it inside her mouth and blew her cheeks. Alise always loved to the playful in bed and do a few silly things. Like taking the "Blow"job part literally.
"Hehe, does that feel good too?"
"In a way..."
"Hmm..."
"Alise?"
She leaned her head to the side and lowered her face.
"When I look from down here, it looks almost like Babel, with how much it towers over me. Then again, when you aren´t like that, it looks like a sleeping duck in a way, kinda cute!"
Alise moved closer, until Bell´s rod stood right in front of her eyes, this way both were covered since her head was still tilted to the side.
"Hehe, perfectly incognito! Who am I?"
Bell could only look at the ridiculous scene, how Alise played around with his dick. Since she did it for a while now, it twitched and throbbed back and forth.
"Hehe, hitting me again, Bell? That´s a baaaad boy.~~~ *Nom*!"
"Alise...I´m close..."
"Juff leff if ouf."
"But..."
"Don huff baff."
She didn´t need to say it twice, his hips jerked up and it erupted out of his tip into her waiting mouth.
"Irkgh!"
"Mmmhhh~~~~"
She didn´t close her eyes, a happy, teasing gleam was in them, while she swallowed down all that shot into her mouth.
"Hah, nothing beats freshly milked milk in the morning! Hehe, I´m always surprised just how fast you regenerate.~~"
"Alise, we have to get up."
"Oh, hehe, but you are already standing up. And the other two are still asleep."
Lyra moved a bit but didn´t open her eyes. "I´ve been awake for a while now, how am I supposed to remain asleep when you two do something like that? Ardee you can stop to pretend to be still asleep."
But Ardee continued to sleep, it looked a bit too obvious...
Alise grinned after she swallowed the rest. "Hehe, morning Lyra."
"Morning captain, already eager so early?"
"Jup! Hehe, to get Bell excited so early in the morning. To be expected of me!"
Lyra sat up and stretched her arms over her head, for her, Bell´s shirt was much longer than for the others. The pallum didn´t look flustered at all with the scene. She grinned when she looked at Ardee.
"Heeeh~~ Looks like someone is getting horny too, no wonder when Bell gropes her butt like that, and mine too."
Since Bell was already touching them in his sleep, his hands couldn´t help but react to what Alise did. Bell was about to move his hands away from their butts, but Lyra openly stopped him. And somehow, the "sleeping" Ardee blocked his arm too, only out of coincidence of course.
"Hm, that reminds me, Bell?"
"Y-Yes?"
Alise was already playing with his dick again...
"That Chloe girl said something yesterday about seeing you and Kaguya hidden in a park, that she looked a bit uncomfortable because she tried something for the first time. What did you two do?"
"Ahm...do I have to say it?"
"Of course, I´m curious." Alise flicked her tongue left and right, balanced Bell´s shaft on the tip.
Lyra smirked. "I heard her saying something about "backdoor"."
Ardee´s body jerked one time, somehow her right arm had moved in her "sleep" down to Bell´s junk too, slightly touching the base, then her fingers closed around it and she gently jerked him off.
In her sleep!
Alise leaned curious back, massaging Bell´s balls with both of her hands, while Lyra showed him a naughty smirk and caressed his tip with her left hand. Now all three gave him immense pleasure together.
Alise tilted her head curious. "Backdoor..hm...wait!"
She looked at her own behind, then at Lyra´s and Ardee´s.
"Does that mean?! In there?!"
Bell only nodded slightly.
Lyra chuckled. "To be expected of Kaguya, being so naughty."
Alise looked really curious. "Heh, to think it can go in there... How did it feel to do it like that?"
Bell blushed heavily. "Ahm...g-good."
"Hm. Well, now you got me curious."
"A-Alise?!"
She winked playfully. "Give me some time to prepare, I don´t think I can take this on right now."
"You don´t need to!"
"But when it feels good? Why not try it? Oh! Is that why Kaguya sat on a cushion the whole day?!"
She smiled her happy-go-lucky smile. Alise was in a way pretty unique among his lovers. For her, sex wasn´t something lewd or naughty. It just felt amazing to do it with Bell and she loved him so much. So why not try something new?
Lyra smirked naughty. "Don´t expect me to try this, you are big enough for me in the normal way. But I wonder...do you plan to "defile" our noble goddess this way too?"
It was a very sensitive way to ask "Do you plan to fuck Lady Astrea in the ass?"
Kaguya would´ve asked it this way...
"I don´t! And please don´t ask something like that!"
"Hehe, sorry sorry."
It wasn´t like Lyra was really interested in the way how Bell had sex with the others. But thanks to Alise´s silly play, she was in a silly mood too. And as usual, she was always open and eager to tease someone, especially Bell! Formerly, her favorite target had been Ryu, she still was in a way, but to tease her lover was also fun!
"Mmmh...well, come on captain. Let´s go and hit the shower. I´m sure Bell will try his best to wake Ardee up too. But be quick about it."
"I´m with you, Lyra."
Alise and Lyra let go of Bell´s dick, jumped out of the bed, and left the room, locking the door behind them. Bell sat up, and when he looked at Ardee, he stopped.
She now lay on her stomach on the bed, the shirt was slightly pulled up, revealing her naked butt to Bell´s eyes. He wondered how and when "in her sleep" she had taken her panties off. But Ardee was "still asleep". And when his eyes wandered over her butt down to her flower, Bell saw that she was wet.
"Ardee..."
He saw how her hips slightly curled up, almost as if she was inviting him.
"Hmm...when I see my beautiful fiancee like that, there is no way I can hold back..."
When he said the word "fiancee", Ardee´s hips shook for a moment and she got even wetter. By herself, her hips rose a tiny bit more.
Bell crawled over her, bringing his tip to touch her entrance, he increased the pressure just enough to nearly push into her.
"Mmmmh~~~"
Ardee moaned slightly in her sleep.
"hm...then again...when she is sleeping like that...maybe I shouldn`t?..."
Bell pulled slightly back, just to tease her a little.
"Mmmmh! Mmmmmh!"
He saw how her hips curled a bit up and down, protesting in her sleep.
"Hehe...then..."
Bell pushed his full length into her in one motion, it wasn´t a quick trust, but a constant movement, gentle yet merciless. He felt it, the moment he entered her completely, Ardee clamped down on him and had an orgasm immediately.
"Aaahn~~"
"Oh, my? Was that a moan? Ardee, are you perhaps awake? And did you...cum?"
"Hah~~..."
"Oh, she just breathed...well then."
Bell´s left hand closed around Ardee´s left wrist, and his right hand went on top of her right hand, slightly entangling their fingers. Then he started to thrust.
Ardee loved this sleep play.
Since she was already very wet and aroused from all that happened before, especially since Bell had fondled and groped her butt, it didn´t take long for Ardee to squeeze down hard on Bell for the second time.
"Irgh, Ardee...you´re so tight..."
Bell sped slightly up, Ardee tried her best to silence her moans, but she already came again! Then again why would a sleeping person moan?
She gasped when Bell thrust deep into her and came. Ardee bit her teeth together and drooled, cumming from getting creampied.
.
.
Bell looked how Ardee smiled pleased and drifted back to sleep, when they did that, she would always get up later.
So he left the room fully dressed, to go and take a shower. On his way to the bathroom, Bell met Astrea.
"Good morning."
"Oh, Bell. Good morning. Hehe, it´s good that I met you here."
"Why that?"
"Can you help me with something in the bathroom?"
"Oh? Sure."
.
.
"Good morning, everyone."
"*Gasp* Is this...a goddess?!"
"Lady Astrea is glowing!"
"Literally!"
"She looks like a goddess!"
"Lady Astrea is a goddess..."
"But now she looks even more like one, Leon."
Haruhime looked with sparkling eyes up to the glowing goddess. "So pretty."
The Goddess of Justice chuckled slightly. "You're exaggerating."
Astrea was glowing, having an aura of divinity around her as she sat down with a gentle smile as if she had absorbed lots of energy.
"Morning...everyone..." Bell on the other hand looked a bit tired...and drained.
He had his limits too, after what Alise did, he did with Ardee...Astrea had then needed his help in the bathroom and drained him completely...four times. At the last time, only a single drop of semen came out. Of course, most of them knew what happened when Astrea and Bell looked like that. Out of all the others, only Ryu and Haruhime looked oblivious. Haruhime was too young and didn´t know what an adult relationship was. And Ryu, despite being an elf, who often saw something as perverted, simply didn´t think her goddess would do something like that so early.
Only Bell and Astrea knew, that the goddess had her own small "kink". She had wondered what would´ve happened if not Ardee, but if she instead went all the way with Bell on his first night. And now giving Bell lots of relief was what made her happy. So these two repeated what had happened back then in the bathroom often, but with Astrea going all the way.
Out of all of them, not one of his other lovers came even close to the heavenly feeling that Astrea could give him with her breasts. From time to time, Astrea would sit on her bed, looking up innocently at Bell, he would then stick his rod in the lowest hole of her cleavage. Doing it this way while she kept her dress on was nice in its own way. Or when she pulled down her dress so that he could see her naked breasts before they did it.
Astrea´s boob jobs were out of this world!
And when she held his throbbing rod between her breasts, lowering her face to kiss and swallow his tip, Bell went crazy. But Astrea knew Bell´s naughty "secret", he loved nothing more than when she smiled at him while she did it, then let him cum all over her face...and kiss his tip afterward again.
The goddess made sure that her beloved was got thoroughly drained whenever the familia would go into the dungeon for an Expedition. She was more than flustered in the past when Freya explained things to her, making a simple statement.
"Keep his belly full and his balls empty."
And while Bell loved all of his lovers, loved to make love with them, it was something else with Astrea. She was a goddess, her body was divine. And her insides felt like...entering heaven. In a way, Bell entered heaven.
Still, one of the strictest rules of the familia was to never let Haruhime notice anything of the lovey-dovey stuff. Bell and his lovers didn´t even flirt or kiss when Haruhime could see or hear it.
And Bell was really careful with that, thankfully he had a special magic item that he used whenever he got intimate with one of the others. It actually got developed in the past to counter a certain mage´s sound magic spells...not that it ever worked.
This magic item created a field that would muffle sounds from getting out of the field to a certain degree. So only someone with really, really sharp ears in the room next to Bell would be able to hear faint noises. .
The only person in the house who didn´t sit at the table was Chloe. She remained in her room and ate her breakfast there. The night wasn´t only awkward for Chloe because she had heard what Bell and Neze did in the bathroom last evening, as well as he and Ardee during the morning.
She wondered how things went downhill so fast, and what would await her now. At least she didn´t get killed yesterday, even when the moment when the Kraken appeared scared her to her bones. While she lay in her new bed and hugged her dagger to her chest, Chloe remembered her childhood again...and the woman who taught her everything, how to fight and other stuff. Only after that woman sacrificed herself to protect Chloe...only afterward got Chloe told that this was the woman who had given birth to her and secretly protected her all the time.
Her mother.
For the first time in a long while, Chloe had cried herself to sleep...
She even whimpered in a low voice. "Mama...*Hic*..."
.
.
.
"Lady Astrea?"
"Yes, Ryu?"
"Today is the Denatus, right?"
"Yes, today we will decide about Ishtar´s case."
Kaguya smirked. "She surely will get kicked out of Orario."
Astrea sighed slightly. "I doubt it will be that easy."
"But why? Her crimes are dire."
"I agree, but I have to see what the Denatus brings. When it is over, I will tell you."
Then Astrea´s eyes wandered to Alise.
"While I´m gone, you will be in charge, Alise. I trust you all to treat Chloe and Lunor fairly."
"Will do, Lady Astrea."
Ardee raised her hand a bit. "Lady Astrea, if there isn´t anything for me to do, I would like to visit Shakti."
"Of course, Ardee."
They chatted about various things during breakfast, and when they finished, there was a knock on the door.
"It´s Lady Demeter and...her," Neze growled slightly, of course, she could smell who it was.
"Neze."
"I won´t do anything to them, I will follow your orders."
"Good." The goddess smiled gently.
Iska was already on the way to open the door, while Asta went to get Chloe.
.
.
"Demeter, good morning."
"Good morning, Astrea."
The busty goddess of the harvest looked a bit tired, as did Lunor. Astrea could guess that both had talked for a long, long time last night.
Suddenly, Lunor made a step forward, and then she bowed down, more to Bell than to the others.
"Bell Cranel, Lady Astrea, Astrea familia. I know this won´t make up for what I did, but I´m really sorry. Whatever is necessary to make up for what I did, I will do it. No matter how long it takes."
Chloe came now into the room too, looking a bit uneasy.
Astrea felt that she was honest. "I hear your words, Lunor. You mean what you say. So starting today, as your punishment for attacking Bell yesterday, you and Chloe will become this familia´s maids. To be more precise, Bell´s maids. It will be his decision if and when he will forgive you."
Both women looked at first at Astrea, then at Bell. He simply looked back, not really knowing what to do or say.
Before someone else could say something, Haruhime, who pushed herself a bit against Neze´s leg to hide halfway behind her "big sister", looked at the two with big eyes.
"Are you two...bad guys?"
Chloe and Lunor felt a sharp squeeze in their hearts when this adorable girl looked at them a bit frightened.
Demeter smiled gently and crouched down in front of Haruhime.
"They made a mistake and will make up for it, but they are not bad, trust me. Lunor is one of my children and she is actually a good girl."
"Mh."
Haruhime nodded slightly, Neze had put a hand on her head to calm her down.
When Demeter stood up again, she looked to Astrea. "Shall we go? The Denatus will start soon."
"Yes, let us go."
After the two goddesses left, Alise cleared her throat. "So, first things first..."
.
.
.
"Nya..."
"Ugh...I don´t want to wear this..."
"Nya have no choice.."
Lunor sighed. "I guess you´re right. Why do they even have these outfits? I mean yours even has a hole for your tail!"
Chloe shrugged her shoulders.
For some reason, the Astrea familia had a few maid outfits in their home. Both couldn´t know that this was a sort of punishment in the familia. Whenever one of them would do something that deserved light punishment, the woman would become the familia´s maid for a week. So there were outfits in different sizes.
It wasn´t the punishment both had expected, but it was better than the alternatives. One of the threats that Astrea made, was to hand them over to a certain pub, in case they wouldn´t behave. Both heard enough about the fearsome owner of this pub...to work there would probably be twenty times harder than here!
And...Lunor was actually glad. Not only that she didn´t get killed or thrown into prison, she had a very long talk with Demeter last night, so long that both only slept for four or five hours. But sleeping in Demeter´s home, she even got her own room immediately, and waking up there was pretty nice. It was a lot like a farm, it was quiet, the air smelled nice and the view out of her window was beautiful.
Demeter offered her a place in her familia before, not only to have her blessing but to be part of the familia and work in the fields too. Lunor had declined, saying her blood-stained fists would be bad for this. Last night Demeter said now was her chance to move onto a new path. Also, part of her punishment was to help Demeter in the fields and the city. Demeter had pleaded to Astrea to spare her child from prison and execution. Astrea wasn´t a vengeful goddess, and she firmly believed that people could turn around and do better. So she had agreed with Demeter and forced Lunor to try this new route.
And maybe, maybe one day Lunor´s dream would come true and she would find a nice, maybe even handsome, man who would love her and take care of her.
And Chloe, she had the slight hope that things would get better now, not so boring anymore. And yes, she still hoped for a harem of cute boys!
"My name´s Lunor, by the way."
"Chloe."
"Nice to meet you, Black Cat."
"Same here, Black Fist."
Both smirked in a knowing way, then they left the room.
.
.
.
"So, Lady Astrea is gone with Lady Demeter to the Denatus. Name´s Alise Lovell and I´m the captain."
Alise nodded to Chloe. "Which means soon your captain too, Lady Astrea meant what she said by forcing you into our familia. So no complaints here. I will show you what you have to do."
Both nodded, fully aware that all the others looked at them too. Then their eyes wandered to the small maid next to them. Haruhime had insisted on wearing such an outfit too, thankfully they had one in Lyra´s size. She wanted to help around the house too and would do her best to learn!
"Can one of you cook?"
Chloe shook her head. "Just enyough forrr me, nothing special, Nya."
Lunor shrugged her shoulders. "Same here, never bothered with it."
Haruhime raised her hand. "I can cook a little, Captain!"
Alise smirked. "Looks like our little one is already ahead of you two."
Haruhime looked a bit proud, yet shy.
"Then Maryuu will drill into you how to cook."
Lunor frowned. "I thought you would show us everything?"
"Jup! Show you the best who can then show it to you, Hehem!"
""Ugh..."
Somehow it got already hard for Lunor and Chloe to deal with Alise.
"So basically, your jobs will become cooking, cleaning the house, doing repairs where necessary, taking care of Bell´s needs, weeding in the garden, cl-"
"Hold up! What was that about taking care of his needs?!"
Alise looked a bit confused about Lunor´s outburst. "Well, Lady Astrea said you are more his maids to make up for your mistake than you are the familia´s maids. Oh, taking care of his needs is only the job for you two, not you Haruhime."
"What does nyat even mean, Nya?"
"Kaguya will show you, she comes from a place where maids and servants were normal, she knows everything about it."
Lunor and Chloe looked to Kaguya, who showed them a superior, naughty smirk. What did she have in mind?
"Alright, first things first, time to clean the dishes of the breakfast, Maryuu, you´re on!"
Chloe and Lunor would soon learn that the jobs sound simple at first, but would become harder and more complex. Like cleaning Lyra´s workshop under her eyes...
.
.
.
"So, everyone is here it seems, then let us begin the Denatus."
Hermes was leading the Denatus, as he did it often.
"Today we came together to decide the fate of Ishtar and her familia. A few days ago, Astrea´s familia went to check some rumors and got first-hand evidence of misdeeds and crimes. When they went to arrest Ishtar´s children, they got attacked in return. In the following fight, Ishtar´s captain was killed, and the others arrested. The crimes are the following. Slave trading, Slavery, forced prostitution, and trade of illegal and dangerous goods. A few of these gods were special monster eggs, which had a type of plant monster inside them."
A few gasps and murmurs came from the other gods, the whole situation was very serious.
"I asked some of Astrea´s children a few questions, and all of them answered honestly. So what happened there is true. Ganesha on the other side questioned Ishtar´s children. Most of them refused to answer, but others did. Which confirmed a few facts, but also went against others."
His eyes wandered to Ishtar, who sat there like a queen, not showing much concern or trouble. She and Astrea sat at the ends of the long table in the middle.
"So, Ishtar, what do you say to these accusations?"
She smiled slightly. "I say, Astrea attacked my familia and killed my captain, she has to get punished for that. My children just defended themself when they got attacked by her familia."
Astrea frowned slightly. "It is my right and part of my duty in Orario to dig out these illegal activities. It was your children who attacked first."
Hermes cleared his throat. "Before we discuss this back and forth, it was Ishtar´s children who attacked first."
Ishtar shrugged her shoulders. "They were just defending themself, that´s all. This warehouse belongs to my familia, so they were on my grounds."
"So you don´t deny the activities they did? Or were your children acting on their own?"
One way for Ishtar to get out of this situation was to throw her followers away and say she knew nothing about this evening. But then they would interrogate the mortals and the truth would come out.
"I don´t deny the trade that happened that night. I agree that some things I bought went a bit far and were not a good idea. But I want to entertain my guests in the Entertainment District."
"What about the slave trades and slavery?"
"Slave trading, yes. Slavery itself, no. Yes, I buy slaves from "merchants", almost only female ones, and let them work for me. Before any of you point your fingers at me and demand punishment, think about the bigger picture. If I don´t buy them, who else would do it?"
Astrea looked slightly agitated. "So just because someone else will commit a crime, it is alright for you to do it first?"
"Oh, my dear, innocent, pure Goddess of Justice. I´m sure you aren´t as blind as Justicia, right? Slavery exists everywhere in the world. In Rakia, in Athena´s Empire, the Far East, the Kaios Desert, and so on."
"But this is Orario, and we all decided to ban slavery here."
"And I keep this promise. I buy slaves, but then they just work for me, they aren´t slaves anymore. They can even leave when they pay a fair amount of Valis, after all buying their freedom was expensive."
"So you do force them into prostitution to earn money?!"
"Oh, no. Yes, they are given work and many become courtesans. Most of them were never before in a big city and many more never learned a craft. So they tend to the customers. But if a girl is completely unable to "serve" a customer, she will get different work. I have girls who faint when they see a naked man, and I won´t tolerate a customer who will then take the unconscious girl. There are many jobs in the Entertainment district."
"This is still wrong."
"From your point of view, but you have no right to force your worldview onto others. This...wouldn´t be justice, don´t you think?"
"I have taken a girl into my familia, who was supposed to get sold to you. She still wakes up crying and screams at night, she is only ten."
"It wasn´t me who treated her badly, that were the criminals who caught her."
"And they wouldn´t have caught her if you wo-"
"No, Astrea. If I wouldn´t buy them, they would either sell them to someone else or rape her over and over, keeping her as a toy. I only buy girls who are untouched, this way the merchants who bring them to me won´t touch them."
Astrea´s expression darkened when she imagined against her will the horrors that could´ve happened to Haruhime. The small girl was an angel, everything bad that threatened to happen to her had to be destroyed!
"So you are saying you are some kind of saint and make sure the girls don´t get threatened too harshly before they come to you?!"
"My dear Astrea, have you ever seen a girl or young woman, caught by thugs and they try to sell her, but you can see that she got raped by them so often that her spirit is completely broken and she is just a shell of a person? Not a nice sight, trust me. In the past, I bought a few of these girls, and all of them hanged themself on the first or second night."
A few of the other gods showed a grim expression, but many were still disgusted that Ishtar bought slaves.
She looked at them with a gaze of superiority. "Before you judge me, many of the men here and children of all familias come to my district to have fun. And before even one of you says it is dirty what we do there, I´m looking at you Artemis, my Entertainment District saved the lives of countless adventurers."
Artemis looked disgusted. "And how?!"
"Many adventurers, men and women alike, faced many horrors in the dungeon and have no one to give them comfort. Often enough adventurers just come to talk to a courtesan for many hours, maybe hug her, get a lap pillow and just get some comfort and get a bit pampered. And yes, there are those who come there to vent their stress and fears, who even start to cry after they had sex with one of my girls or boys. Some adventurers found love in my district and later married this person. And enough of you all here come to have fun in my district with even these girls that I bought."
Ishtar took a deep breath and continued. "There are also enough girls who come from villages into the big city and find no job here or even those who got beaten by their partner. I take them all in, I give them jobs. Violence isn´t tolerated and my girls protect each other."
She smirked. "Hell, even guild staff members come to my district. What I do there is necessary for Orario. And I treat the "slaves" much, much better than the rest of the world. If you want to doom me for buying them, then start with the countries where they really are treated badly. I mean your familia could wipe out Rakia, Astrea. So why don´t you go there and force Ares to turn over completely? Hm? Hm?!"
Astrea frowned, Ishtar knew how to bring others onto her side.
"Let us put the topic of the slave trading aside for now. If you truly "protect" them and give them proper work in your district, then I can´t say too much against it, even if it disgusts me."
The world wasn´t a nice place and everyone in the room knew it. If Ishtar didn´t buy the slaves, girls like Haruhime would get sold to shady people, people who would take their time to enjoy such exotic girls...and even people who wouldn´t wait until the girl was older...
"There is the trading of illegal goods and monster eggs..."
"I bought most of the goods to give special entertainments in my district, something truly exotic. Oh, don´t look at me you all! Many of you tried all the intoxicants that the mortals made! And yes even some elves come to my district to get some "Stardust" and Moonberry Juice!"
"And the monster eggs?"
Ishtar shrugged her shoulders. "Ganesha has his monster filia. I wanted to do something similar, but smaller. Let my amazons fight against monsters in a small arena. So they can train outside of the dungeon and entertain the guests."
"Why did you do it in secret then?"
"It gives the crowd a kick to watch something secret and forbidden. Also, these fights aren´t meant to be seen by the people who go to the monster filia. Since my girls fight true Amazon style, which means naked, except for panties, and just with their weapons. It gives the audience a different kick and many pay a lot of money to be able to bed the best fighter of the night."
"So you did this before?!"
"Of course, I see no harm in it. It´s not like we bring them out of the dungeon. Monsters on the surface are weaker than those in the dungeon. They have to get killed anyway, so why not make a show out of it? And my dear Astrea, and the very pissed Artemis over there, before you judge me, many, many people come to find this entertainment in my district. I brighten their days and nights. What I do in my district is necessary for Orario. The girls can leave when they pay a fair amount, but most of them never do it. In my district, they are protected and earn good money. Plus the healthcare in Orario is excellent and they even get a small discount for going to Dian Cecht´s healers and doctors."
Dian Cecht didn´t want to admit it, but quite a few of his children visited the Entertainment District, with all the wounds and other things they faced daily, it was no wonder. So he and Ishtar made a small pact. Both gave each other a discount of ten percent.
The discussion went back and forth. Ishtar was right in many points, her work was important for Orario, and necessary. But what she did was illegal and the gods made the rules and laws of Orario for a reason.
So after a while, they came to a decision, Ishtar would get punished, but not banished from Orario or sent back to heaven. All her children who got caught during the night raid had to leave her familia and look for a new one, it would be forbidden to go back to Ishtar, even after a while. She had to stop with the monster trade and talk about this with Ganesha. Ishtar said the event was important, so they would make it an "official" one, regulated by Ganesha. Other stuff was forbidden and Ishtar had to accept this.
In the end, she had to say some things herself. "I agree that a few of these things were a bad idea and I got a bit too far. I accept the punishment and won´t do these illegal things again. Yet, since the Entertainment District is under my rule, I will hereby banish Astrea´s familia and Hermes from coming there. Hermes your children will have to pay twice the normal price. Ganesha´s children may openly patrol there, but I don´t want to see your children there, Astrea."
Hermes cried out. "Why me?! I didn´t do anything!"
"Oh you know exactly what you did, Hermes! Or do you want me to say it in front of all the others here?"
"No...*sniff* My boys will skin me alive for that..."
Astrea wrinkled her nose. "Very well, like this, my children never have to go to that place."
"Pff, typical, untouched, virgin goddess."
"How dare you?!"
"Pff."
By herself, Freya chuckled in her mind. Ishtar was completely wrong. The way Astrea was almost glowing and she gave herself, Freya was sure, Astrea had been "groomed" thoroughly this morning.
So she really is in love with her follower, this makes him quite interesting. But I still have to keep an eye on Heith...he surely is a sinful man. Hm...is she still a virgin goddess?
So Bell had managed to do what even Freya never could, bed a virgin goddess. Maybe...Syr would interested in meeting Bell...
There were other gods who disliked Ishtar very much, like Artemis. But also another goddess, who sat together with a friend. These two goddesses always came together to Denatus, since the first goddess was living alone, not having a familia, only one "follower", but both lived in the same area.
Anubis and Ereshkigal.
Both lived at the great graveyard of Orario and took care of it. Anubis wore not many clothes, and had a tail and two long jackal ears. She was one of the deities who had animal attributes. Her skin color was similar to Ishtar´s, but her hair was of a darker purple than Ishtar´s, and more bluish. Anubis wore clothes that were fitting for the southern part of the Kaios desert, where her mythology was worshipped the most. She never really cared about showing skin, since in the South it was always hot.
The goddess loved to take care of the deceased children, it was just in her nature. Ereshkigal was pretty similar to her, but she didn´t get along well with living mortals. Except for her one follower, who was also her lover.
Ereshkigal looked similar to her sister Ishtar but had blond hair. And she covered much more skin than Ishtar! Much more! This goddess had a similar taste to Alfia when it came to clothes, liking the goth style.
And there was something else different about Ishtar, her personality. Ereshkigal was what the other gods called, a cinnamon role. Or a cutie pie.
Together, Anubis and Ereshkigal ruled over the graveyard and took care of it. Anubis also had a small field outside of the wall, mostly for wheat.
Astrea was not happy with the outcome of the Denatus, but at least Ishtar got a huge setback in strength due to many Berberas getting forced to leave her familia. Now these amazons would get swarmed by other familias, who would love to take them in. Sometimes fate and coincidence could be cruel mistresses, but sometimes they could also be nice and gentle.
Due to the forced leave, the young Lena Tally and her friends Aisha and Samira would soon end up in the Loki familia, since Loki wanted one or two amazons! And now she got three! Due to that, Lena would get in contact with a certain werewolf much earlier than normal. Which would then later make both pretty happy.
But what Ishtar couldn´t know at this point in time, this event would also force her to change things in her district, with Ganesha´s familia having a closer eye on her. It would ultimately lead to her turning away from her course of destruction. But also bring the attention of Kali´s familia onto Astrea´s...
Under the Courtesan´s Veil, many things would change.
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Astrea´s familia took the outcome of the Denatus with mixed feelings. Astrea was a bit tired and just glad that now there would be nothing to postpone the party again. She looked forward to having a nice evening with Bell.
And despite being dead tired from an intense day of working, Lunor and Chloe were glad that the organization that hired them, and even planned to betray them, was now taken care of. When Lunor returned to Demeter´s home, the goddess awaited her with a warm, gentle smile and a wonderful meal.
Maybe the situation wouldn´t be that bad.
.
Still...it hurt Chloe´s and Lunor´s pride that Haruhime was better in every task! And she looked so happy while doing it!
Both young women became determined. Punishment or not, they wouldn´t get outshined by a ten-year-old girl! No matter how cute and adorable she was!
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When the first day was over, someone else in Orario had a lot of trouble. Shakti was worried, her adorable, cute, and vulnerable little sister had visited her. She already knew that Bell got attacked, but that it was the same assassin who tried to get her was interesting.
But something else worried Shakti much more. After the dance party of the gods, Bell and Ardee would go on another date together.
So as the good big sister she was, Shakti planned for a secret mission. She had to get first-hand evidence that Bell was a good man, and treated her little sister with respect!
Which meant.
She would be spying on them!
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Author´s Note: Chapter will get edited later to include the steamy bath scene between Bell and Neze.
