I opened my eyes and was fully back on the topside. Before my eyes was the Observatory. I had made my way over here while I was talking with Narlivs.

"Man. What a crazy place."

The underside of the Hero Hub... The Inverse. The realm that represents the sort-of-subconscious of this world we call the Hero Hub. The place where one could gaze upon the secrets of creation from... Even now, I wasn't fully sure I could wrap my head around the significance of the Inverse and why I alone was allowed to go there. But whatever, what mattered was that now, there was a place I could go if I wanted to set up structures I didn't want Svilran knowing about... For whatever reason.

I opened up the I.C.S (Individualized Correspondence System) and checked those dang structures.

"The real problem is that shrine... How would Svilran react to knowing that I got something that could make Elma stronger in exchange for spending the night with Elma?"

Narlivs told me what Svilran wants... and to be honest, I would be happy about that... Letting her know we got something good out of my indiscretion might help her too... Help show it's not all black and white.

The next layer to consider here is how to publish these new structures. They would notify Svilran of their existence when published, just like normal structures would. I had a good sense of when these things were unlocked, so in order to avoid suspicion, I would have to publish them at a moment that looked appropriate. Maybe it would be best to hide the unlocking conditions as well.

I scratched my head. "Good god. Why is this layer of deception even needed?"

I resolved myself and went back into the <Observatory>.

"Oh. Hi, Fainn. Are you feeling better?" asked the adorably troublesome former goddess.

"A little." I walked up to her seat. "Found anything?"

"No. Unfortunately. Nothing new."

I rested my hand on her shoulder, and she jumped at my touch but kept quiet.

"Hey, don't get down. I think you're doing an amazing job. I appreciate your efforts, Svilran. Truly."

And now, I published the shrine with the unlock conditions redacted. I saw Svilran react and look to the side immediately--she must have noticed the the new building--

"Fainn! We got a new building!" She looked at me, beaming, and made the Build Menu appear before her. "It's called the Shrine..." Her happiness evaporated. "The Shrine of Forbidden Love." She stared at the screen, squinting as she did. Her eyes went wide, and then she looked at me, aghast. "Fainn! What indecent thoughts are you nurturing right now?!?!"

"What? Indecent? No. I was just really appreciating you, Svilran."

Her lips quivered as she tried to find the words. She then looked at her chest and covered it up. "No! Fainn! It's forbidden!" Her hand flew into my face with the force of a hammer. "Don't look at me with the eyes of a lecher!"

"I dimfn't (I didn't)!"

"Nooo! I'm an innocent maiden, Fainn! You adulterous brute! Stop licking my hand, you fetishist!"

I grabbed her by the wrist. "Svilran! Quit it--you're going to knock me over!" I pulled at her in the heat of the moment because I stumbled back, and she came flying out of her chair and into my chest. God--that was a whole lot of mass hitting me at once. I stumbled back further and caught myself with the railing around the telescope's platform.

I heard strange grunts coming from that girl and noticed my other hand had really latched onto her backside.

She looked up at me, red-faced, and gasped. "F-F-Faaiiin! Defiling an innocent goddess and quenching your thirst for a forbidden romance sure to rock the world will CERTAINLY get you a thousand years of bad karma!"

"What are you going on about you retiree--"

She pushed her hands up and into my chin--was this woman trying to uppercut me?

"I'm not an old lady! I'm in the springtime of my youth!"

"Svilran! Stop pushing me!"

Nope. She, in her hysteria, pushed my head so far up and back that it was either I let my neck break or let gravity take over and make me fall over the railing. Gravity took over, and she pushed me over the railing and off the platform. As I went over, though, I--out of pure reflex and fright--grabbed onto her hair.

"Owww! Nooooo!"

I pulled her over too. I landed on the floor and Svilran landed right on top of me. When I saw her falling, I stretched my arms out and lifted my body-- I couldn't let her actually get hurt--

"Grrraah!"

"Scaaary!"

Svilran had landed on me, pushed all the air out of my body with her knees and now--

"Huh?"

Oh dear god. I could feel her body heating up, her heart racing and... something else--it was a familiar sensation.

"F-F-F-F--"

She was stammering. Yup. Didn't take a genius to figure out what was coming.

"Fainn!"

See, I was hoping I would just go on unconscious at this point. Why? Well, because heavenly clouds were in my face. A certain someone had fallen forward and shoved her clouds with the consistency of tingling jello into my face so hard that said face was sandwiched between these gates to heaven.

"You perverted degenerate!" she cried.

I cut my losses. Enough was enough. My hands came alive, and I wrapped my arms around her body, hugging her and keeping her chest on my face...

...

Look. It was very likely my back was broken. If it survived, then a rib was definitely cracked. Point was, if I was going to die here, then it'd be like this. A noble death. The kind of loving embrace I wished I could have had as my final moments. But oh dear god, this woman and her hysterics.

"Fainn!"

She wiggled within my grip. Strangely enough, it didn't actually feel like she was trying to get away from me. In fact, my arms felt no strain. No. Her body was not pressing against them. Do you want to know in what direction her body was going? Downward. It was going downward. She was pressing her sternum into my nose. Her chest, meanwhile--I don't know how it was possible, but they were enveloping me so much there was a vacuum seal between them and my ears.

"Fainn! No! Don't rip my clothes off!"

I wasn't doing that. In fact, I was slapping her back because I couldn't breathe. I had found the will to live in the last moments when I swear I could hear the strums of heavenly harps coming from her breast.

"I'm sorry for tempting you! I didn't think you were such a starved beast!"

God help me--I made a horrible mistake. Why wasn't she getting off of me? A vision of Narlivs came to me. She was wearing a perverted smile.

Oh. Oh no. It's her... That's cuter than I thought possible. So conflicted.

Well... There were worse ways to die. My arms fell limp--

"EEEEEP!"

--and Svilran jerked upward.

"Fainn! I'm not some common woman for you to slap around!"

"Oh, hallelujah!" I yelled, free from that heavenly demise.

The thing that saved me? My limp hand fell on her butt. That was it. Thank god.

I looked up at her, a delirious smile on my face. Her mouth dropped as her cheeks reddened, and she clutched imaginary pearls.

"Stop undressing me with your probing eyes, Fai--"

"Enough." I put my finger on her upper lip and made her jump. "Enough's enough. You're going to be quiet now." She clamped her mouth closed and froze up. "Now, you listen here, Svilran. You're going to get off me." She nodded. "Then you're going to help me up." She nodded again. "And you're going to do this without saying a word. Enough of the hysterics."

She nervously touched the tips of her index fingers together and twiddled them. "But you were trying to ensnare me in a forbidden romance...It's not my fault--"

"I was not."

There were no words to describe how deadpan my voice was.

Svilran got off me and helped me up. Once I was on my feet, she averted her gaze and looked at her feet.

"Are you mad at me?"

I patted her head. "Not mad. Just wounded." I was about to make a comment about how heavy she was, but I wasn't so stupid.

"Oh... okay. Sorry... I was just shocked... I overreacted."

I smiled. "Oh, yeah, yeah." Then my voice turned stern. "Listen to me. You will come to my room tonight. Do you understand me?"

She stared at me with wide eyes.

"Svilran."

"Yes... Okay."

Satisfied, I made my way back to the telescope's platform, leaving Svilran looking like a stunned deer. Okay, yes, it was a little mean. But the girl was heavy, and her mounds were weapons. Given that and my aching back, I was very content to let her figure herself out. Goodwill? What was that?

Also, it was kind of refreshing taking a demanding role. I made the note that I could try doing that more often.

Feels a little uncomfortable though... But I think... Yeah I think that'll be good for me.

Just as I was about to settle, the <Observatory's> door flew open, and in ran Dorthaunzee. She, frantic and with tears in her eyes, pointed outside the door. Svilran looked at me and called out--

"It's Elma! Elma's fallen in front of the fountain!"

"Elma?"

Dread consumed my heart.