Chapter 15: Chapter 15
[1st POV]
A lot of scenarios flashed through my mind about what could happen to me.
I was more than sure that nothing could have happened between us since I was wearing pants, even if I had no shirt on.
However, the girls were completely naked, and now there was no way to prove anything to those three.
It was hard to imagine what they would do to me, like kill me, castrate me, torture me, rape me, or something even worse…
Damn!
My stats wouldn't be enough to get away from them, and I couldn't feel my arms at all.
Those two had completely laid on them.
Even if they were functioning and I somehow managed to escape from the palace, I still wouldn't be able to get off the island.
A storm!
"…I hope they didn't cause you any trouble."
I heard Hippolyta's voice.
"W-what?"
"I'm saying, I apologize that Diana and Artemis disturbed you. Sometimes, festivals in honor of the gods can be so… intoxicating that some of my people forget where they live and wander into different corners of the city, sleeping wherever they end up, regardless of the circumstances…"
Phew, I got lucky!
"Diana and Artemis seem to have overdone it this time. It hasn't happened to them in a long while."
She said, casting a disapproving glance at them.
"We'll take them away."
"I don't mind."
I nodded, and then the two Amazons approached, throwing the two over their shoulders.
[+1 Luck]
"Apparently, Diana mentioned that you wanted to visit our libraries? I have no objections. I've already informed our librarians that you can take any book from the libraries, except for the closed archive."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Don't mention it. In any case, the scrolls and books we have haven't been read for a long time,"
She sighed heavily.
With that, she left.
I realized that for some reason, in the middle of the night—I had gained a +300 relationship with Diana and Artemis.
Where did that come from? I can never quite understand these women…
After I had lingered around on the bed, dressed, washed up, and had breakfast brought to my room, I headed to the palace library.
There, a pretty girl around sixteen or seventeen years old was sitting.
She had an athletic but still pleasing appearance, with brown hair and brown eyes.
She looked a bit like Diana, but her name was Donna.
At first, she was sitting and bored, going through some papers, but when I appeared, all her attention turned to me, but she tried to hide it.
I didn't pay much attention to that at the time because I had a little problem.
I didn't know the ancient Greek language, but I knew some individual words and phrases, and everything was in a "dead language."
When I asked Donna for help, she pointed me to the shelves with the books that Diana had brought back after World War II.
There were a few books and dictionaries in English.
It seemed that the Amazons who knew English had used these to learn it, or maybe they knew it because of magic?
I would have to ask about that later.
In any case, I was in for a labor-intensive process of learning the language of the ancient Greeks.
Of course, my intelligence and intuition helped a bit, but it was still tough.
After lunch, I took a break and went outside toward the back courtyard.
As I exercised there, starting with a light warm-up and transitioning into my regular training, I noticed that Artemis was watching me without hiding.
"Good afternoon!"
I smiled at her and waved my hand.
She grimaced but nodded back at me.
"Is this how you train? Alone?"
"Well, actually, this is a heavily modified workout due to the lack of equipment and a proper space. Usually, I have someone to practice with."
"Then, if you want, I can help you. I have nothing else to do."
She said somewhat absentmindedly.
"Well, if it's not too much trouble."
We headed to the arena.
...
[3rd POV]
Gotham City, Arkham
Pamela paced back and forth in her garden for a long time.
She didn't even know why, and her heart was restless.
This went on for more than a week.
Then, a guard came to escort her to the psychologist's office.
This was a typical practice for this facility. Once a week, sometimes every two weeks, she would go to the same office to see Dr. Strange.
However, he had been transferred to Belle Reve because of a surge in work.
An intern replaced him that the doctor had personally chosen.
She didn't even remember his name.
The young man, no more than twenty-five, was quite inexperienced in conversation compared to his mentor.
Within five minutes of their slow-paced discussion, he dropped the news that Isaac had died in a plane crash.
She couldn't utter a word with tears streaming down her face, a flood of bitterness and resentment toward fate.
She continued to listen to the intern and then asked for permission to retreat to her room.
He was a bit surprised but granted it.
She went to the farthest corner of her garden and collapsed onto the lush grass, crying.
He was the one who accepted her as she was. He loved her in his own way, even if it wasn't only her.
However, she didn't care about that Katherine.
Now, she had lost even that.
What was next?
The pain in her chest was heavy.
The emptiness… it wasn't there… there was no emptiness, but there should have been.
He was "dead," but it wasn't there.
A spark of warmth flickered inside her.
She couldn't believe how foolish and blind she had been.
The obvious had been right in front of her, but she had initially ignored it, forgotten about it.
During their last meeting, she had secretly implanted a "seed" from one of her rare plants into him through her mouth in a passionate kiss with Isaac.
It was essentially a bug that transmitted information about the state and whereabouts of the object.
The object was alive, at least for now.
If he had died, the seed would have withered within a couple of days after that, but the crash had happened over two weeks ago.
The signal was weak, but it was there.
Because of the distance, she couldn't sense him clearly or understand his condition but hope for the future settled in her heart once more.
She wiped her tears and sat cross-legged with a smile illuminating her face.
She realized one more thing.
The intern had told her this right away for a reason.
He had some kind of plan, or the person who instructed him to do so did.
What?
She thought long and hard about this question but couldn't find an answer until she remembered Isaac again.
"…You need to fit into society. Not to bend but to blend, just like Penguin did. Everyone knows he's a gangster and far from an honest man, someone who once caused quite a bit of trouble for Batman. Yet he is still a respected figure… Find a way to ease the public and make them recognize you!"
He was right!
Pamela thought to herself, already calculating possible quick meetings with the intern.
She would wrap everyone around her finger and leave Arkham with documents declaring her "cured," finally reuniting with her beloved.
Also, that Katherine could go to hell!
...
Unknown
A sixteen-year-old boy with thick glasses and a crazy expression on his face was furiously typing away at his computer.
He hadn't stepped outside in quite a while, his stomach grumbling, but he worked passionately, completely absorbed in his task.
At first glance, he seemed like an ordinary schoolboy who simply enjoyed spending time on the computer.
Unfortunately, there aren't any kids with gray hair and strange personalities like that.
Suddenly, another boy who looked similar walked into the room.
He had a more typical appearance and a bored expression, and he was holding a couple of bags of food.
It was hard to tell what race or nationality he was, but his slanted eyes and short height were noticeable.
"Again?! How much longer can you keep this up?"
The newcomer exclaimed.
"When are you going to come to your senses? Your so-called friends, the Gods from Reality #3423.22, are laughing at you because of your 'System'!"
"Go away. Just give me something to eat. I'm in the middle of a game here. Things are going way too well for Subject #00233156 in Experimental World #1282. It's frustrating. It's all too easy. I even foolishly offered him a couple of rewards myself and have already delivered some of what I promised."
"Well, it's good that at least someone is benefiting from this nonsense!"
The boy grimaced.
"Do you have any idea how much I suffered when I was one of your first victims?"
"You're the right hand of the God of Games now!"
Bang!
"Ow! It's blasphemy to hit a God in the head with a bottle of… Ah! My beer! You barbarian!"
"And you're an idiot! Why the hell are you complicating his life?"
"Because I have to!"
"Why? Otherwise, I'll pour all the beer down the toilet right in front of you. I won't let you suck it out like last time until it seeps into Dimension House 2."
"What does House 2 have to do with this?"
The God asked, genuinely puzzled.
"It's because a lot of the gods from various realities and universes are tired of hearing people's prayers to shut that circus down. So they placed the producers, hosts, and participants in a separate world beneath the World of the Gods."
"Why didn't they just destroy it?"
"They tried! They sent a whole dozen of Dark Gods there, but…"
"But?! Don't keep me in suspense, tell me!"
"They 'found their passion!' So now those idiots are just hanging out together and don't want to come back."
"Hmm. And you call me cruel?"
"You're not cruel, you're…"
The boy accidentally waved his hand with the beer toward the computer.
Of course, it short-circuited.
"Ahhhh!"
Both the God of Games and his right-hand man shouted.
"What did you do, you bastard?"
"I'm sorry, it was an accident."
"Call Poseidon! We need him to put this out. This is a Divine Device!"
After half an hour of shouting, swearing, and more shouting, Poseidon finally extinguished the small fire.
"Damn,"
The old man said tiredly.
"If what's written here is true, then the damage has seriously impacted the 'System.'"
"So what does that mean?"
God of Games asked, lying on the floor with his eyes closed.
"It means that random adjustments were made to the 'System.' You know, new quests added, and some issues with the character interface… If this isn't fixed, he'll run into SO many problems in the future that even I would feel embarrassed about it."
"Is it that bad?"
"No, You go to Hephaestus and buy some parts. I'll write up a list right now and swing by Themis and Fatumaria as well. They need to come to me because their help will be required. I have a feeling that it won't just be this guy who has problems in his little world. The entire system is damaged. We need to fix it. The work isn't too complicated, but some aspects can't be changed for him anymore."
"For example?"
He got up and looked at the monitor.
"Wh-wh-wh-what???"
"And I'm thinking the same thing…"
To be continued…
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