Last night, they had quite a lot of fun.
Well... it was just simple water play, okay?
Nothing strange happened.
Thinking about it carefully, Elise's goal was to become a saintess, and Astraea was the guardian deity of purity.
How could anything possibly happen between them? Haha...
Probably.
Even if they got a little close, it was only in the literal sense. It wasn't like those real yuri relationships that went all the way.
But honestly, for Elise to be so completely bare before Astraea like that... it was still a little nerve-wracking...
Perhaps it was precisely because Astraea noticed this that the pure goddess decided to get a bit closer to her?
Of course, Astraea hadn't forgotten about the real matter at hand.
Did anyone really think she was just helping Elise take a bath?
No way, right?
Astraea was the goddess of purity, after all!
What she truly did for Elise was actually quite simple.
Purification.
For the goddess of purity to personally purify a pure maiden—this was an unimaginable honor for any human of the lower world!
In this world, every god possessed their own divine domain. Anything related to that domain carried unimaginable power.
For example, the goddess of beauty's charm, the god of wine's brewing, the god of medicine's healing—each contained a mysterious force beyond mortal comprehension.
And Astraea's purification of Elise worked in much the same way. Although it didn't directly contain divine power, it was still closely connected to it.
So from this moment on, Elise belonged to Astraea... no, wait!
Elise was now certified by Astraea as a pure... no, that's not right either!
It was hard to put into words, but that was basically what it meant!
She had been personally acknowledged by the goddess of purity as a pure maiden!
At the same time, the bond between Elise and Astraea had grown even deeper.
Through Astraea's divine kiss and purification, although there were no visible changes or new abilities, Elise still felt... strange.
It was as if something unusual was about to happen to her.
"So, Elise, go ahead and do what you wish!" The goddess of justice spoke with a mysterious smile. "I will always support you from behind!"
"Do your best!"
As she spoke, she even struck an intentionally cute pose.
Honestly, Elise thought... it was pretty cute?
The next day.
As Elise walked down the street, she looked around in confusion.
For some reason, it felt like more people were staring at her than usual.
Was it members of Evilus? Or people from the Ishtar Familia?
Just as she was thinking about it, a sudden shout came from the owner of a nearby shop.
"Ohhhh!!!"
The shop owner was a middle-aged man. The way he looked at Elise... there was no lewdness or malice, but it still felt oddly strange.
"Thank you for your patronage, dear little lady!"
With a friendly smile, the shop owner said, "You are the ten-thousandth customer since our shop was established!"
"I was just..." (muttering)
"To celebrate, I've prepared a small gift for you!"
"I was only passing by..." (muttering)
"Please, you must accept it!"
With that, the shop owner pointed to a large box over two meters tall.
Wait... you call this a small gift?
It's taller than me!
But seeing the expectant look in the shop owner's eyes, Elise couldn't bring herself to refuse, and reluctantly agreed.
"Alright, I'll take it."
...
Although she stored the gift in her spatial bag, Elise still gave the shop owner a bit of valis.
However, since the man only accepted two valis, that wasn't Elise's problem—it was his choice!
"This is definitely weird..."
"What's going on with me today?"
She had accepted the item, but the lingering sense of unease wouldn't fade.
Elise still couldn't understand what that shop owner's intention had been. Or could it be...
He was interested in her?
Elise looked herself over.
Hmm...
"No way, right? I'm just a little well-built, a little fair-skinned, a little pretty, a little elegant... that's all?"
The more she thought about it, the colder she felt inside.
Maybe she couldn't compare to a beauty goddess' charm, but she was definitely at the peak of humanity, wasn't she?
And with the added effect of Astraea's purification yesterday, perhaps she had already surpassed the limits of humanity—becoming something between human and god?
"I should hurry back and ask Lady Astraea..."
Sensing something was off, Elise began heading back to her Familia's residence.
However...
On the way back, she kept getting stopped.
"Congratulations! You've been selected as the face of our shop! Here's your endorsement fee—please accept it!"
Opening the bag revealed it was filled with valis. Elise casually did a bit of promotion, attracting customers.
"And here are our latest clothes! Perfect for women! Free for a lucky guest! That girl over there—the blonde with the blindfold—that's you!"
Elise received several... boxes of clothing, even trying some on the spot, drawing crowds of buyers.
"And the winner of our eating contest is—this blonde girl!"
I haven't even eaten yet!
"To celebrate, we've prepared a month's supply of beef jerky!"
"Hello everyone, I am the champion."
A spotlight shone on Elise, attracting even more attention.
In short, every few steps she took, strange people would appear for strange reasons, stuffing her with all sorts of items. Some even ran off immediately after handing things over, leaving Elise speechless.
Still, since she accepted the items, she gave them some valis in return... not much, though.
"You've won our lucky draw! Could you come over for a moment?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"Congratulations! You've won first place in our beauty contest! Here's your prize!"
"Mm-hmm!"
"So—you're my long-lost wife, right?"
"Mm... huh? Who are you?"
Someone was actually trying to trick her now? And with such ridiculous reasoning?
"You're my second uncle's cousin's neighbor's daughter, right? I've finally found you! Do you remember our engagement?"
"I am not!"
"Tell me—are you my master from a previous life? I'm the dog you raised back then!"
"I am not!"
"You're Elise Holiness, right? I'm Mi—"
"I'm not! Get lost—huh?"
A black-haired male god looked at Elise with an awkward expression.
"You... didn't tell the truth just now, did you?"
"Ah! Sorry, I just ran into some trouble..."
Running into a god at this moment made Elise's expression stiffen slightly, but the male god seemed to misunderstand something and spoke.
"It's fine. Women have those days every month—I understand..."
Elise: "..."