CHAPTER 35: KISSING AND FUCKING

Elio was going to return to his chair when the goddess reached for the ice creams.

"Thank you," she said.

’Did she just thank me?’

He could not believe his ears. He had only approached the goddess because he wanted to break the silence between them so that he could ask her to send him back to the real world.

He just wanted to go back to his Queen, back into a world where he was the King, respected and not choked every now and then.

The ice creams were just his attempt to bribe the goddess. He didn’t expect her to thank him for them. He was instead worried that she might get even more angry at the idea of him thinking he could bribe her.

"Don’t mention it," Elio replied, trying to hide how surprised he was. He was trying to make it look normal. To make it look as if it was a casual thing for arrogant goddesses to thank mere mortals.

The goddess wasn’t done surprising him though. She didn’t eat the ice creams. She placed them in the air beside her. Literally in the air. There was nothing to hold them, but they didn’t fall down.

While Elio’s gaze was focused on the floating ice creams, he felt the goddess’s soft hands gently clasping his.

"Elio," she said, staring into his flabbergasted eyes. "I really mean my thank you. I have been mean to you from the second I summoned you to my realm. I told myself that it was because I was suspicious of you, that it was because you could have turned out to be a dangerous being, but even after I confirmed that you are human I continued to be mean. I ate all these sweet things you gave me but instead of thanking you, I choked you. I’m so sorry. I mean it."

Tears flowed down her cheeks, her face full of remorse. Elio couldn’t believe it. Did the goddess just call him by his name? Did she just apologize? He was just too stunned to say anything.

"If you forgive me, you will have paid your debt. No. Actually, there is no debt. There never was. It’s okay if you don’t forgive me, but I beg you."

Elio couldn’t believe what the goddess did next. Before he could say anything, she went onto her knees, her hands still clasping his. "I accept any punishment you give me," she said.

Even the goddess looked surprised that she had kneeled in front of a mortal. She had only meant to say thank you and to apologize, but the more she talked, the more she realized how bad she had treated him.

’This is who I am,’ she thought, lowering her gaze to the ground in an attempt to kowtow to Elio. In her tradition, that was how a genuine apology was expressed.

’Before Niemoth married me and subjected me to several millennia of cheating on me, I was a just goddess. I became bitter and jealous because of him. I never hated humanity before. That’s why I even wanted to give them immortality. Why I fought Niemoth for it. He might have defeated me, and banished me, but I can still help. Elio is my chance. I can help humanity through him.’

Meanwhile, Elio quickly grabbed the goddess and forced her to her feet. His mind short-circuited when he heard the goddess asking him to punish her.

"What are you talking about, My Queen?" he said, holding her tightly to restrain her from trying to kowtow to him again. He was glad she was sorry for how mean she had treated him, but kowtowing was extreme.

Even as a king he didn’t want peasants doing that to him, let alone a goddess.

"Please, don’t do that again or I will have a heart attack."

"Do you forgive me?" asked the goddess.

"Of course I do, My Queen," he immediately replied. "I do forgive you."

The goddess smiled at him. "Where I am from," she said, the smile turning mischievous. "People hug or kiss each other as a sign that they are friends again."

She wasn’t lying. From the memories of the original owner of his body, Elio found such incidents in the Mothian mythology. Or scriptures. Now that he had found the gods were real, calling it a mythology would have been sacrilegious, right?

An involuntary grin appeared on his face. If the goddess wanted him to hug her and call it quits, she would have said so. The fact that she gave him the choice between hugging and kissing meant that she was OK with whatever he would choose.

’What should I choose?’ he wondered, staring into the goddess’s eyes with a calculative stare.

The goddess had been nothing but an arrogant, violent bitch ever since he met her. Anyone would be surprised if he heard her ask the person to whom she had directed this meanness to hug or kiss her.

’But she had apologized for her meanness. And I have forgiven her. Plus, she’s the one who suggested I should hug or kiss her. Surely, she won’t get angry at me if I choose whatever I want.’

Elio wasn’t having trouble choosing because he wanted one more than he wanted the other. No. Obviously, kissing the goddess would be a milestone. However, hugging her would also be a dream coming true.

He might never have known Paliamoth before, but when he was still on Earth, reading or writing web novels, watching anime or movies, he had fantasized about so many goddesses.

So, his problem wasn’t what he wanted, but what the goddess wanted. Did she give him a choice between the two because she wanted to test him?

’Why am I stressing myself? She’s here with me. Why not ask her what she wants?’

"You hug or kiss?" he asked.

She nodded, still smiling. "Uh-huh!"

"What do you prefer?"

As soon as she heard this question, the smile on her face dimmed. Elio realized he had messed up big time. She had wanted him to choose between the two, and how he was throwing the choice back at her.

’I should do something!’

With this, Elio stepped closer and planted a kiss on her lips.

Ding!

[Congratulations! Second Queen, acquired. A surprise quest, accomplished.]

[Congratulations! 1000000000000000000 PPP, added.]

[Congratulations! A surprise quest, unlocked. Fuck the new Queen to officially claim her and get a big bonus.]

[Attention! Proceed with caution. It appears your new Queen is a powerful, dangerous being. Don’t attempt to fuck her unless you know for certain that you can pull it off.]

’Holy shit! Holy shit!’

Elio couldn’t believe his luck. He had claimed Queen Mareen through a kiss. Who would have thought the same thing would apply to the goddess?

’Imagine if I had chosen a hug. Imagine the loss. Jesus fucking Christ! How many zeros are those?’

He tried to count them but couldn’t. ’Is it a trillion? No. Gazillions maybe. Jesus fucking Christ!’

’I’m pretty sure now I can purchase fighter jets. The Blue Monsters are cooked. Fuck, I can even purchase nuclear weapons if I wanted. Holy mother of Jesus! Holy shit!’

Elio was overjoyed. Not only did he get so much Purchasing Power Points, he also unlocked a surprise quest. Not to mention, now he could summon the system panel and read all about the goddess in the Queen description.

’This is fucking insane! So fucking insane!’

While he got carried away celebrating the biggest and easiest reward he had ever received, Goddess Paliamoth was busy French-kissing him.

When he kissed her and didn’t pull away, she took it as a sign that he wanted a passionate kiss, the same thing she wanted.

Elio’s lips were moving on instinct. His tongue had even broke through her lips to explore the insides of her mouth.

’I’m glad I took to long to respond, thought goddess Paliamoth, her tongue intertwining with Elio’s.

When he asked her her preference, she wanted to say kissing. However, she didn’t want to show him that she was lustful toward him. To protect her secret, she was going to choose hugging. It was only due to her hestation that Elio decided to kiss her.

She allowed all the desires she had suppressed within her all these years to erupt, consuming them both.

If it were for her, she would have went on forever. However, she knew that Elio was a mortal, that he needed to catch his breath every now and then.

So, reluctantly, she pulled away.

When she saw the joy on his face, the wetness between her legs tripled.

"You seem to enjoy it," she remarked.

Elio let out a chuckle. "Yeah! It’s definitely better than the choking part."

They both burst out laughing.

Of course, Elio was happy that he had just kissed the goddess. However, the PPP he had just received was the top reason behind his laughter. He was still trying to guess the number of the zeros.

The goddess wasn’t going to allow him to do that though. She leaned closer, smacking her lips against his in a loud muah wet sound. Then she pulled away, looked him in the eye and said, "No more choking. Just kissing. I promise."

Unbeknownst to her, Elio wasn’t thinking of just kissing, but kissing and fucking.