Chapter 952: Life is not just about work; we need to relax too.
"Now that I think about it, where's Hestia?" Sasha asked as she opened her eyes and looked around.
"Hmm..." Ruby looked around and soon sensed the presence of the Goddess. "She's over there," she pointed.
Looking in the direction Ruby pointed, Sasha saw Hestia near the forest, seemingly building a wooden house. With just a glance and the progress of construction, it was quite obvious that this house would be quite modern and beautiful.
"... She's taking this sandcastle game very seriously," Sasha said incredulously.
It was worth noting that Hestia's Powers were currently sealed thanks to Victor, yet she'd managed to build the structure of a house in less than an hour.
"It's fine, right? Let her have fun," Victor said in a very lazy tone, looking like he was melting as comfortably as jelly... In fact, he really looked like a slime now.
"What the hell, Darling!? Why are you like this!?" Sasha looked incredulously at Victor.
"Comfortable~." Victor didn't respond, he just melted even more.
Ruby looked curiously at Victor's state. She took her cellphone out of her pocket, took a photo, then connected the cellphone to the laptop via USB and saved the photo of Victor in this state, along with her personal data.
"Girls, I don't think that's a good idea," Amara said.
"Nah, it's fine, right? We have our Powers sealed right now," Maria said. "It won't hurt anything, and this way, she can have fun too."
"I still don't think it's a good idea," Amara insisted.
But before she could make any more arguments, Roxanne took the ball from her hand and smacked it towards Ruby, clearly aiming for her head.
But who was Ruby? She was Scathach's daughter, trained by her since childhood, such a ball would never hit her... If it were a normal ball, of course.
Ruby dodged to the left, and the ball passed by her right side, but... That ball that missed her was just an illusion. The moment she turned her face to the left, the real ball hit her right in the face.
Silence fell around.
"Fufufufu~, even though my Powers are sealed, I have more maneuverability because I'm connected to Darling, you know~? Don't underestimate me! Muhahahaha!" Roxanne chuckled as if she were a third-rate villain.
Amara and Bruna wisely took a few steps back and snuck out of the area; they were as quiet as a cat about to pounce on its prey, but in this case, they were just escaping the consequences.
Ruby didn't say anything; she just put her laptop aside and got up from her chair. She squatted down to pick up the ball, and in the next moment, her body was covered in a red aura, and her long red hair seemed to float with Power.
"... Wait, wasn't your Power sealed?"
"It still is... But I released some of the seals~" Victor replied, still looking like a slime with black hair.
"What!? D-Darling, that's unfair, you can't!"
"Don't worry, to keep it fair, I released some seals on all of you too, just don't destroy the landscape, or I'll punish all of you."
Before Roxanne could say anything, a completely frozen ball flew towards her. Roxanne quickly dodged the attack that flew straight into the sea and exploded into thousands of ice particles, although the ball was reinforced to withstand attacks from Humans, being completely frozen was not among its resistances.
A slime-like hand emerged from Victor's gelatinous body, and he snapped his fingers. The next moment, ten volleyball balls appeared around Ruby.
"Darling... Do you have something against me?"
"Of course not... But you must learn not to disturb other people's peace." A malicious smile appeared on Victor's gelatinous body.
Now he looked like a completely wicked slime.
"You sadistic bastard!"
"Don't run, Roxanne... Accept your punishment!" Ruby picked up two balls and threw them in Roxanne's direction.
"Ughyaaaaa!"
"Don't pretend you didn't know anything, Maria! I heard your conversation!" Ruby threw more balls in Maria's direction, who was sneakily trying to avoid the conflict.
"Gahhhhhh!"
One of those balls accidentally curved and hit Kaguya in the face, who was tidying things up around.
"Oh..." Ruby began to sweat nervously.
Victor smiled maliciously again and snapped his fingers, and the next moment, more balls appeared near Kaguya.
Kaguya's long black hair came to life, and she grabbed all the balls around her.
"Shit." With a leap, Ruby tried to escape, but a hand of darkness appeared from Ruby's shadow, and Kaguya threw her towards the sea.
In the next moment, she threw five balls towards Ruby that turned into five meteors made of pure Darkness.
"That's overkill!" Ruby adjusted her balance and then created an Ice platform behind her. She dodged the first three balls by jumping around and creating Ice platforms, but finally gave up and kicked the last two back in Kaguya's direction.
Soon, the two balls made of darkness returned to Kaguya as two Ice spheres.
"Humpf." Kaguya snorted disdainfully and then created a wall of Darkness that made the balls veer towards Roxanne and Maria.
"Eh...?" Roxanne froze for a few seconds when she saw that combination of Darkness and Ice coming towards her.
Maria, who was behind Roxanne, widened her eyes at this scene, but unlike Roxanne, she didn't freeze. She quickly opened her hands in a claw-like shape, and in the next moment, Blood threads formed in front of her.
"Execution Cage."
When the balls combined with the Power of Ice and Darkness passed through the threads of the cage, they were eviscerated.
"OHHHH! As expected of Maria, the sadistic maid! Great job!" Roxanne applauded.
"Humpf." Maria snorted while crossing her arms with pride.
Victor laughed once again and then snapped his fingers. This time, balls appeared in front of Roxanne and Ruby again.
"... Execution Cage, huh... Getting all chuuni now, are we? Very well." Ruby smiled widely as she grabbed a ball floating near her.
She tossed the ball up, and then, like a certain soccer anime, she spun around, forming an Icy hurricane.
"Ice Hurricane!"
"Ruby, you idiot! Do you want us to get sued!?" Roxanne shouted, but she didn't stop her actions afterward.
"Ancient Wall!" Vines emerged from the ground and defended against Ruby's attack. In the next moment, the ball landed in Roxanne's hand.
"Ancient Wall? Are you getting too into Cultivation Novels, Roxanne? What will you call your next attack? Ninth Heaven of The Celestial Demon? Transcendent Sphere of the Ancestral Plains?"
"What...!? No! And I'm not reading Cultivation Novels! I just thought the name sounded cool," she huffed.
"Good." Ruby nodded in satisfaction at Roxanne's response. "At least I don't have to worry about your brain rotting like mine did in the past..." She muttered quietly, wincing a little when she remembered her childhood when she tried to imitate a young master in front of her mother.
The result of that imitation? Her mother increased her training even more while saying, "If you're acting so arrogant, it means you have the strength to back up those words, right?"
If embarrassment could kill, she would definitely have died that day.
"Roxanne, I told you not to destroy the landscape," Victor growled.
"Ah! I'm sorry, Darling. I forgot."
Victor rolled his eyes, his gelatinous body returned to its normal shape, and he got up from the ground. With a hand gesture, he repaired the damage Roxanne had caused.
"I'll create something sturdy for you to have fun with."
Victor pointed his right hand at the sea, his violet eyes glowed slightly, and in the next moment, a structure of pure Ice formed on the horizon.
A floating soccer field.
Victor could have created a complete stadium, but that would completely obstruct the view of the surroundings, and he didn't want that.
"Now go have fun, the teams will be Kaguya, Ruby, and Amara, against Roxanne, Maria, and Bruna."
"Eh...? Why are you throwing me into this, Victor!?" Amara, who was relaxing in the chair next to Victor, spoke.
"She's your sister." He spoke in a simple tone.
"That's not a valid reason!" Amara pouted.
Veins bulged on Amara's head. "You're calling me incompetent, huh... Come to think of it, I have a lot of frustrations that I need to vent on you."
"Forget that woman, put Eve or Roberta on the opposing team, they will be more efficient than her." Roxanne snorted.
Veins bulged on Amara's head. "You're calling me incompetent, huh... Come to think of it, I have a lot of frustrations that I need to vent on you."
"Oh? Have you gained motivation, little sister~?"
Her veins became even more pronounced. "I will make you suffer, Roxanne."
"Fufufufu, I doubt your capabilities."
"Darling, get everything ready!" Amara shouted angrily.
"Yes, yes." Victor laughed, he snapped his finger, and in the next moment the entire field was reinforced.
"Go to your positions." Victor ordered, and then explained.
"The rules are the same as normal football, but you can use your Powers ONLY when you have the ball at your feet, or when you are defending the goal."
"Basically the same as that anime, huh." Ruby spoke.
"Yeah." Victor nodded.
"Good. This will be fun." Ruby smiled.
"I will be the referee, and even though I won't be on the field, I will still be observing, so no cheating."
"Quickly, Victor! I want to smash that annoying face!" Amara screamed.
"Bleh." Roxanne stuck her tongue out at her sister, an act that made Amara rage even more.
"Roxanne really becomes very sadistic when it comes to her sister." Roberta commented while relaxing, she'd worked up quite a sweat playing volleyball, so now she just wanted to rest.
"It may not seem like it, but they really like each other. That's just 'sibling love' according to Darling." Sasha spoke as she lay down in the same position as before. She had thought about playing a little football, but decided against it. After all, with her very abnormal perception of Time, the game would be so boring that she would rather just lie down and relax.
"It's quite normal. I did the same things in my church in the past. Although we weren't as violent as Roxanne." Bruna commented as she sighed and got up to go play football.
"...Come to think of it, you were a Nun, huh. I had forgotten that you were a servant of the Heavenly Father."
"It's normal, after all, it's been so long... And now my faith is all focused on my Husband~." Bruna smiled lovingly as her mind went to places not very safe for innocent children. The next moment, she flew towards the field.
"Hmm, I never had any siblings, so I can't say." Roberta spoke as she looked curiously at Nero, and Ophis who were creating a sandcastle worthy of a clichéd fantasy world.
"I'm a sandcastle, a sandcastle... Hmm~" Eve hummed as she lay there serving as the base for the sandcastle.
Interestingly, even with all those ridiculous attacks that generated a lot of wind, Nero and Ophis' castle was not harmed, proving that Victor was taking care of everyone, especially his daughters who were having fun with Eve.
"Hmm? What's happening?"
Roberta and Sasha looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Hestia approaching. She was wearing a red one-piece that had a flame design on the chest area, while the coat she was wearing was light beige in color.
"The girls are going to play football, do you want to participate?" Sasha asked.
"Nah, I'll finish my house; I just need the roof now." Hestia declined as she walked towards the forest to get more wood. For a moment, she glanced at Nero and Ophis, her eyes shining with interest when she saw the girls' castle. Deciding to offer some valuable advice from the Goddess of Architects, she approached the two girls.
"Ophis, Nero."
"Hmmm?" The two girls looked at Hestia.
"Have you thought about the interior design?"
"Interior design...?"
"Something like this... Hmm, may I?" Ophis and Nero looked at each other and nodded. Then they looked at Hestia and said simultaneously, "Sure."
Hestia crouched in front of the castle. First, she removed the castle gate and made it open. Then, she removed enough sand from the inside to maintain the castle's shape and began working on the interior design. She created knight statues, sand pillars, large windows; it was as if she were recreating the entire interior of a fantasy castle.
"Ohhhh..." Nero and Ophis had their eyes shining at this literally Divine work because they had no idea how the entire castle was standing with just sand.
"Incredible... How are you doing this?" Nero asked.
"Instinct? I can't explain it well; I just do it." Hestia replied. "Look, that's the house I just created; I only need to add the roof now. After that, I should make the furniture." She pointed to her wooden house.
"... What? How did you create that so quickly? Aren't your Powers sealed?" Nero asked while looking at the house. With just one look, she could see that the house had three bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a backyard entertainment area.
"Yeah, they are. And like I said, it's quite natural for me. I don't know how to explain it very well. And it wasn't quick, it took me a long time, not having Powers is very inconvenient." She spoke as she continued working.
When Nero and Ophis looked back at their castle, they opened their eyes wide when they saw the castle completely open inside, and with various furniture, and detailed designs; it even had a physical representation of sand!
This was no longer a simple sand castle, it looked like a complete demonstrative model of a future project.
Nero and Ophis didn't know how to explain how this was possible, they just looked away for a few seconds! Hestia worked very fast! She was very efficient!
"I'm done… Hmm, what do you think?"
"...This...This is incredible!" Nero spoke.
"Incredible." Ophis nodded.
"Let's make a city too, let's put a wall around it, and several enemies invading through the wall." Nero started to give ideas while Ophis nodded.
"Mmm, I'm glad you liked it." She nodded satisfied. "I should go now-." Just as she was about to get up, Ophis held her hand.
"Help us, please."
Hestia felt her heart being pierced by pure cuteness. "...Okay, I will help."
"Really? Thank you, Bestia!" Nero spoke.
Ophis smiled: "Bestia."
Hestia blushed slightly when she heard her nickname, a nickname that Victor and Aphrodite always teased her with. Trying not to show too much shame, she began to help the girls.
Victor, who was watching this interaction from the corner of his eyes, smiled slightly. Although Hestia was not as crazy as his Wives, she had her own charm.
'Although, if she had that charm and was a Yandere, it would be even better.' Victor thought for a few seconds, but didn't pay much attention to those thoughts. After all, it was only a matter of time before she became a Yandere.
As the God of these creatures, he knew very well when one was about to be born. He looked back at the football field, and enjoyed the sight of the girls playing football in bikinis.
'This is the life.' He nodded in satisfaction.
...