Later.
Bell was broken out of his reverie of listening to Goddess Artemis' stories by the sounds of the women of Artemis Familia waking up and coming out of their tents.
He got up from his sitting position. Goddess Artemis climbed down from the tree as well. Lante, Rethusa, and other women of Artemis Familia gazed at him with curiosity after greeting their Goddess.
What? Have they not seen a man before? Why are they looking at me with such innocent and curious gazes?
Bell thought inwardly, feeling a little fidgety under so much attention from the females of Artemis Familia.
He forced the awkwardness of being looked at like a different breed of human down and walked towards the two women. One with reddish-brown medium-length hair. Another with light blue hair.
"Senior Rethusa. Senior Lante. Thank you for taking care of me during the time I was unconscious. And also for carrying me on your backs." Bell spoke with sincerity, thanking them for their help.
"N-No... It was our duty as members of the Artemis Familia to help someone in need." Rethusa spoke with a hint of shyness at his blunt honesty.
"Yea... We couldn't very well have left you there on your own, right?" Lante followed with her signature airheaded voice, frantically shaking her head at his thanks.
"Alright, alright. Let's have something to eat before you guys get too familiar and forget about it." Goddess Artemis spoke, her voice a little irritated. She didn't want her Familia getting close with a person from the opposite gender. She, after all, forbade them from falling in love.
"Ahahaha... Goddess Artemis is right. Let's go and hunt something real quick for breakfast." Lante spoke with a clueless laugh, running away eagerly to hunt something.
"Haah... I'll go after her and make sure that airhead doesn't hurt herself while hunting." Rethusa spoke to both Bell and Artemis with a fond sigh and ran after Lante.
Bell looked at Goddess Artemis. She looked away from him in mild shame.
Why did her children have to be so clumsy?
...
..
.
After breakfast.
"Goddess Artemis... Can you teach me the basics of archery? I've heard that your arrows never miss." He asked, wanting to be taught the basics of archery from someone called peerless in it.
After all... He didn't even know how to hold a bow properly. The only reason he could hit his targets with [Fuga] was that the golden pathways from [Instinct] were guiding him to aim at a precise angle to hit his targets.
If I tried to aim without my inbuilt aimbot, I'd miss nine arrows out of ten.
Bell thought while looking at Goddess Artemis with honesty.
But... Lante jumped in between quickly.
"Heheheh... Bell, why don't I teach you how to handle a bow? I promise you won't miss a single shot afterwards." Lante spoke with her signature airheaded voice while thumping her 'assets' in an action that screamed 'trust me, bro'.
"Idiot, why don't you think before speaking? Is air the only thing filled in your brain? You want to teach him while you yourself are a beginner?" Rethusa smacked her head from behind, speaking with a chiding tone.
"Oww... Oww. Rethusa... Bad. Bell... save me, that old hag Rethusa is hitting me." Lante held her head for a moment, then ran to hide behind Bell while calling Rethusa an old hag.
Bell went tongue-tied when Lante ran to hide behind him, and then pushed her 'assets' across his back while looking teasingly at Rethusa.
"You... you... Lante. Come here, see how I give you a spanking like old times." Rethusa spoke while walking up to them and pushing her 'assets' against Bell's chest to grab Lante.
Both started pushing and pulling Bell. Rethusa to reach Lante. And Lante to dodge Rethusa.
Only Bell was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
A single thought in his mind.
The romcom genre won't leave me behind even here!?
"Ahem..."
A cough from Goddess Artemis interrupted them.
Rethusa and Lante froze for a moment. Both of their faces going atomic red the moment they came back to their senses.
Bell slipped away from between their frozen bodies, praying not to get caught in the crossfire of the incoming sermon Goddess Artemis was about to give them.
...
..
.
Bell finally spoke after the half-hour sermon Goddess Artemis delivered on propriety, respect, personal boundaries, and differences between men and women.
"Uhmm... Goddess Artemis. About teaching archery?" His voice came out a bit uncertain when he looked at the kneeling Rethusa and Lante nearby, their eyes glued to the ground.
"Hmm... I nearly forgot about that. I'll be there in a moment," Goddess Artemis spoke to him with a glance and then brought her focus back on her Familia girls.
"So... Do you understand? Rethusa? Lante? Or do you both want me to continue so that my words would be carved in your thick skulls?" Goddess Artemis questioned seriously.
Both Rethusa and Lante frantically shook their heads.
"We have carved your words deep in our hearts, Goddess." Rethusa responded with a slightly exasperated tone.
"Yea... Yea... we just have to stay away from boys, right?" Lante was as airheaded as always.
"Lante... Why don't you keep your mouth shut!" Rethusa quickly covered Lante's mouth, not letting her continue to blabber and have them go through another lecture.
Bell really wanted to laugh at these two. They were quite cute in their interactions.
As for Goddess Artemis' sermon, Bell only had one sentence for her.
Don't forget your own sermon when your Orion comes along.
But then he remembered.
Oh shit! I was supposed to be her Orion!
Bell felt a chill run down his spine.
A vision flashed across his mind.
...
A white-haired boy was running away frantically from a jungle.
But then... an arrow flew and precisely severed his tendon behind the knee.
The boy tumbled over. Terror on his face.
Slowly... Goddess Artemis walked out of the foliage. Her eyes blank. A slow... sensual smirk slowly spreading across her face.
"How... did you like the feeling of being hunted... My Orion?"
She walked closer. Her voice filled with boundless affection... and obsession.
"I heard... you wanted to run away from me?"
"I heard... you no longer wanted me?"
"I heard... you no longer wanted to be my Orion?"
Her head jerked sideways. Her blank eyes overflowing with affection as she pulled a hunting knife from behind, walking closer to him.
"You were mine..."
"You are mine..."
"You will stay mine... My Orion."
Goddess Artemis mounted him. Her knife across the boy's neck.
She spoke a moment later.
"Now... Speak after me..."
"Little Orion... will never leave, Mommy Artemis."
Her knife dug into the boy's skin, drawing blood.
"Come on... repeat after me."
...
...
Fuck!
Bell snapped out of the vision as goosebumps rose all over his body. Making him feel warmth leave his body.
His gaze landed on Goddess Artemis coming towards him.
A chill climbed up his spine in response. His legs moving two steps back unconsciously.
Why did the eyes of this Artemis and the one from his vision overlap for a moment in his gaze?
Hissss....
Yuno Gasai!?
Is that you!!?
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
I just felt like writing and said fuck the schedule... let's drop a chapter anyway.