The elves jumped back in surprise, several of them letting out startled cries. took instinctive steps backward.

"What in the name of the spirits—" One elf began, her hand flying to her chest.

"Why is the Hero summoning a portal right now?" Another asked, her brow furrowed with confusion.

"Maybe he wants to make travel easier for us?" A third suggested, tilting her head. "He really doesn’t need to go to such lengths for our convenience."

An older elf squinted at the portal, her expression growing wary.

"Wait." She said slowly. "This portal looks a bit strange. The color is darker than usual—more ominous."

Luca, who had been watching the portal with a knowing expression, finally shook his head and let out a small chuckle.

"That’s not mine." He said, his voice carrying easily across the now-silent crowd. "It seems like the goddess up above want to speak with me."

Recognition dawned on the faces of the assembled elves.

But that recognition was quickly replaced by fear.

They remembered Luca’s earlier outburst—the curses he had hurled at the heavens, the threats he had made against the Goddess of Fertility herself.

And now, he was being summoned directly to meet with one of those divine beings.

The elves immediately began to panic.

"Luca, don’t you dare say anything to the Goddess!" One called out, her voice trembling.

"Please! We still want you alive and back in one piece!"

Another begged, her hands clasped together.

"So, please don’t go over there and curse her to death!"

"I know you’re angry—and yes, you definitely deserve to be! But there’s no way a little bit of anger is worth your life!"

"Please, think about what you’re doing!"

The murmuring grew louder as more elves joined the chorus of concern.

Luna, Leona, Nyx, and Lulu also stepped forward simultaneously, their faces etched with anxiety.

"Luca." Leona said firmly, her voice carrying the weight of authority. "I’m ordering you as your wife and as Matriarch of this village—do not provoke her."

"Listen to Mother!" Luna added desperately. "Please, Luca! We can’t lose you now!"

Even Nyx, who usually supported his more reckless decisions, shook her head slowly.

"Hero." She said, her voice uncharacteristically serious. "There are lines that even you shouldn’t cross. Meeting a goddess face-to-face and insulting her—that’s way beyond any line I’ve ever drawn."

Lulu, who had been clutching his arm, looked up with tear-filled eyes.

"Luca, my chickens would be so sad if you died! I would be so sad too! Please don’t do anything stupid!"

Luca looked around at all of them—at their terrified faces, their trembling hands, their desperate pleas.

A warm feeling spread through his chest, despite everything.

They cared about him. They truly, genuinely cared.

"It’s alright, everyone." He said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "I’m not going to go out of my way to provoke any Goddess right to her face. I’m not that stupid."

A wave of relief swept through the crowd. Several elves let out shaky breaths, their shoulders sagging with tension.

But then Luca smirked, his eyes scanning through each and every single one of their breasts as he added,

"Not to mention the fact that I already allowed my anger to be completely taken away by sucking on every single one of your breasts today."

The elves immediately blushed, their hands flying to cover their chests.

The older elves who had participated in the "pacification" effort looked particularly mortified.

"So there’s really no need to worry." He continued, his tone light and carefree. "I’ll just go have a quiet conversation about what happened today and come back in a jiffy."

Before anyone could say another word, he turned and stepped into the shimmering portal.

—

The moment his foot crossed the threshold, the world shifted.

Luca emerged into a vast, dark abyss. The portal snapped shut behind him, leaving him suspended in an endless void of swirling shadows and distant, flickering lights.

At the same time the easy smile he had on his face also vanished.

It was replaced by a deep, simmering frown.

Even though he had spoken those reassuring words—the truth was that he was still absolutely furious.

The Goddess of Fertility had completely ruined everything. Again and again, she had destroyed any chance he had of building peaceful relations with the other races.

And the more he thought about it, the more his blood boiled.

He really wanted to twist the Goddess’s ear and make her understand what she had done—how she had ruined everything he had carefully set up.

And while he wasn’t particularly afraid of the Goddess, he also wasn’t petty enough to seek explanations for every minor inconvenience.

But this...this was different. This had broken even his considerable patience.

He definitely needed to have a proper word with the Goddess.

With that thought burning in his mind, Luca began walking forward.

The abyss around him gradually brightened, the oppressive darkness giving way to something softer, more ethereal.

The further he walked, the more the light increased, until finally, he saw her.

The Goddess of Space was waiting for him.

But the moment he laid eyes on her, all his carefully prepared rants died in his throat.

The Goddess of Space was sitting on a simple chair in the middle of the void.

But she didn’t look anything like the majestic, awe-inspiring figure he had expected.

Instead, she was completely slumped over, her shoulders hunched and her head hanging low.

Her divine robes were rumpled and disheveled, and her beautiful purple hair hung limply around her face like curtains of exhaustion.

She looked less like a Goddess and more like a mortal who had just survived the longest, most soul-crushing day of her life or a tired parent who hadn’t slept properly in years.

Seeing her like this, Luca felt his own agitation begin to drain away.

He let out a long, deep sigh, one that came from somewhere very tired inside him. Without a word, he walked over to the chair sitting across from her and sat down, slouching into it just as heavily as she was slouched into hers.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. They just sat there, two exhausted beings wallowing in shared silence, not even looking at each other.

Finally, the Goddess turned her head. Her eyes, still holding that tired, haunted look, widened with surprise.

A small, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"I thought that the moment you burst into my realm, you would start scolding me."

She said slowly, her voice soft and raspy.

"Calling me every curse word to ever exist. Demanding explanations."

She studied his face carefully as she said,

"But it seems like you have no plan of doing that right now."

Luca let out a short, humorless chuckle.

"Honestly? That was exactly what I had in mind."

He shifted in his seat, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"I was going to rant so much that you would have been forced to zip my mouth closed just because of how poisonous my words were going to be."

He paused, shaking his head with a wry smile.

"But after seeing you like this..." He gestured vaguely at her slumped form. "Like your entire life has been drained out of you...it seems like you haven’t had it easy lately either."

The Goddess of Space let out a long, weary sigh. She leaned her head back, staring up at the abyss above.

"Well." She said, a bitter chuckle escaping her lips. "You could say that."

"After all, a dignified and mighty goddess such as myself got humiliated in front of a bunch of mortals today. I was tied up in such an embarrassing manner—"

Her cheeks flushed slightly, the memory obviously still painful. "And thrown aside like garbage."

She turned to look at him, tilting her head.

"My day hasn’t been the greatest."

"Tell me about it." He muttered.

And then, as if by mutual agreement, both of them let out identical sighs of exhaustion.

There was no blame to assign—not yet. Just shared understanding.

Finally, after several long moments, Luca leaned forward. His expression shifted to one of genuine curiosity.

"So...what exactly happened? Can you tell me about it?"

The Goddess of Space visibly brightened at the question.

The fact that he wasn’t blaming her immediately—that he was actually asking instead of accusing—seemed to lift some of the weight from her shoulders.

She leaned forward as well, matching his posture.

"Honestly, there’s not much to say." She admitted, rubbing her forehead in dismay. "The Goddess of Fertility came out of nowhere. It was a complete surprise attack. She just appeared behind me, hijacked the entire thing, and took over the ritual."

She shook her head slowly, her expression darkening.

"I really could do nothing about it and had no choice but to just let her cause an entire pandemonium down in the mortal realm."

Luca sighed, his brow furrowing with confusion.

"Couldn’t you have done something about it? Aren’t you both Goddesses? Surely there must be some rules about one goddess interfering with another goddess’s domain." He spread his hands. "I was thinking it couldn’t just be a free-for-all up here."

The Goddess of Space let out a bitter laugh.

"Unfortunately." She said, her voice dripping with irony. "The Goddess of Fertility is someone who’s much more powerful than me. So powerful, in fact, that she can literally do whatever she wants.

She spread her hands helplessly. "I could only watch from the side."

Luca groaned, leaning back into his chair with such force that it creaked in protest.

"Just what is wrong with that Goddess of Fertility?"

He burst out, his frustration bubbling to the surface.

"She not only screwed me up once, but now she’s doing it all over again! Is she crazy or something? Did someone drop her on the head? It certainly seems that way!"

He was half-expecting the Goddess of Space to protest—to defend her fellow divine being, to chastise him for speaking so rudely about a superior.

Instead, she looked away, her expression growing awkward and guilty.

It was a really strange moment.

Finally, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Actually...that’s true."

Luca blinked, caught off guard. "What’s true?"

She hesitated, clearly conflicted.

Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her robe, and she kept glancing around as if afraid someone might be listening

"The Goddess of Fertility..."

She finally said, each word seeming to cause her physical pain.

"She’s actually..."

"She’s actually a bit crazy..."

She winced.

"She’s not right in the head at all and is what you human would say a bit...Cuckoo?"