Chapter 13 - Tsubaki (Hephaestus's POV)

*Hephaestus's POV*

*Sometime earlier*

I left Eryk in the bedroom and went straight to Tsubaki.

"I need you to take care of something for me. Do you remember Balnan?"

"Balnan?" Tsubaki placed a hand on her chin, thinking. "Isn't he the guy you assigned to train your boyfriend? Hasn't he been doing that for years? He seems to enjoy the job since it doesn't require much effort."

"That idiot was one of the few who agreed to train Eryk when he first joined the Familia. After I started dating Eryk, I thought about replacing his instructors with more qualified ones, but Balnan, Luck, and Eryk seemed to get along... But today, I found out that wasn't the case."

"Hm? What happened?"

"Balnan tried to kill Eryk." When Tsubaki heard my words, she froze.

She's one of the few who knows how much I value Eryk and care about him. She understands how furious I am right now.

"What do you want me to do? Should I kill him?" Tsubaki asked.

"That won't be necessary. I just want you to find him and hold him until tomorrow. I believe he'll try to run since he's scared."

"You said something scary to him, right? You need to control yourself, Goddess. I know you care deeply about Eryk, but you can't act so impulsively because of him."

"I'm still very angry. I want that man to suffer before I throw him out of the Familia. Nobody threatens to kill Eryk in front of me and walks away unpunished."

"Urgh, terrifying. But seriously, what do you see in that guy? Isn't he... useless? He's been training for years and still hasn't managed to forge a decent sword." Tsubaki smiled bitterly.

"Eryk forged five swords yesterday and another five today. One of them is a high-quality sword."

"What!?" Tsubaki's mouth fell open in disbelief. "That's impossible! Five swords in one day is a lot. And that guy couldn't forge anything not long ago."

"I haven't seen him forging with my own eyes, but both Balnan and Luck confirmed it was his work. And it's surprising..."

"What?"

"The high-quality sword I mentioned came with magic that even I can't understand."

"Are you sure he's the same Eryk we know? I'm starting to get worried," Tsubaki said, looking at me with concern.

I hadn't given it much thought, but Eryk has changed significantly over the past two days.

His forging skills and personality have changed.

Before, he was like a frightened kitten, avoiding other members of the Familia out of fear of being judged. But now, he doesn't seem to care about that anymore.

His personality during sex is different. I like his new personality far more than the previous one.

I used to dominate him 100% of the time, but now, I'm the one being dominated.

I can't say I hate it.

"Goddess?"

"Ah, it's nothing. I was thinking about some unnecessary things."

"Hmmm..."

"Alright, I think I'll head back now. Do what I asked, okay? I'll deal with this tomorrow."

"Got it." Tsubaki still seemed worried.

'I'm sure he's the same Eryk. I don't need to worry about this... right?'

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*Tsubaki's POV*

Following the Goddess's orders, I went to the training room where her boyfriend practiced to see if I could find Balnan there. But he wasn't in the room.

I noticed some swords on the ground and approached them for a closer look.

"Did the Goddess's boyfriend forge these swords?"

I picked one up to inspect it.

It's a good sword.

"It's a common sword, nothing extraordinary, but the blade is perfect. This could be sold. And there are four more here." The Goddess wasn't lying when she said he forged five swords.

The sword with the strange magic isn't here. He must have taken it.

"Well, at least he's improving." I shrugged and tossed the sword back onto the ground.

After that, I went to look for Balnan.

 I couldn't find him, so I sought out Luck. He was easy to locate. I ran into him, walking down one of the corridors.

"Hey, you."

"Yes?"

"Where's Balnan?"

When he heard my question, Luck turned pale.

"I don't know..."

"You'd better not lie. The Goddess is very angry with him, so it's better not to hide anything."

"I swear I don't know! When the Goddess left the training room, he bolted out, terrified. I haven't seen him since."

"I see. Maybe he's already left the house and run away."

"I... I know where he could be."

"Tell me right now."

Luck then told me about a friend of Balnan's who had a house not far from here. He'd likely gone to hide there since it was his only friend besides Luck.

I thanked Luck and headed to the Balnan friend's house.

It was nighttime, but the streets were quite busy.

"Luck said it's around here." Walking calmly down the street, I spotted Balnan sitting at a table inside a nearby bar. When I saw him, I couldn't believe he was so stupid.

He's not hiding. He's just enjoying himself.

I entered the bar and walked up to Balnan's table.

When I approached, Balnan turned pale.

"You need to come with me," I said calmly.

It's unpleasant to handle something like this, but the Goddess asked me to.

The Goddess is so in love with that guy it's a little frightening.

'Something strange is going on.'

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Read more chapters on my patr eon: patr eon.com/parodygirl

I'm doing a mass release of chapters on patr eon today :)

Next chapters: Chapter 14 - Kind Maid. / Chapter 15 - Mikari. / Chapter 16 - Was Hephaestus hiding your talent? / Chapter 17 - I'll explain everything later. / Chapter 18 - Capacity to evolve infinitely. / Chapter 19 - Rare Rank Sword. / Chapter 20 - It consumes a lot of magic. / Chapter 21 - Babel. / Chapter 22 - Adaptation. / Chapter 23 - It's frustrating.