Chapter 1164 – Relationship

“Should we call someone to—”

“Absolutely not,” the wood elf goddess shut down Jake’s suggestion before he even had time to make it.

“We will need replacements, though,” Jake muttered.

“I’ll handle it, no way we’re letting anyone see this,” Artemis sighed, making Jake chuckle as he ran his fingers through her hair.

The two of them were lying on the remains of what had once been a large couch, the rest of the living room also not in the best state. Artemis had been a lot more passionate than Jake had expected, not that he was complaining in any way.

Now she had luckily calmed down, which was also good, as Jake was already sore enough. Besides, a bit of cuddling had never done anyone harm, and it was a good excuse for Jake to ask some more questions.

“You think the King or Jasper noticed anything?”

“That question is almost insulting. What do you take me for?” Artemis said, sitting up and looking down at him over her shoulder. “I reckon all the Unique Lifeform sees is you sitting in meditation down in your alchemy lab. Suggestive illusions can be quite varied, so I can’t tell you exactly what he sees.”

“A little scary to imagine one’s sense of perception being messed with like that,” Jake muttered.

“Oh, stop it, not like it would even work on you,” Artemis joked.

“True, but still,” Jake said as he also sat up and wrapped an arm around Artemis, who willingly leaned into him. “If it did, I would be afraid all of this could have just been an illusion of your making.”

“Suggestive illusions are incredibly effective precisely because they’re realistic and born from the mind of the afflicted,” Artemis said with a smile. “In other words, unrealistic and absurd situations like this would never appear in them.”

“Hey, you don’t know the messed-up things my brain can come up with,” Jake chuckled, looking down at Artemis, who was surprisingly comfortable in her birthday suit. Again, not that he was complaining.

“Oh, I think I have a fairly good idea,” Artemis smiled flirtatiously up at him before turning a bit more serious. “We should clean up, though.”

Waving her hand, Jake was forcefully lifted off the ground as he floated up in the middle of the room, with Artemis floating up alongside him. At the same time, everything in the room began to move as the furniture reassembled itself, as if time had been rewound… probably because it had.

Less than three seconds later, the entire room was back in the same condition it had been only a day prior, with not a single sign of anything having happened. With everything fixed, the two floated down once more and landed on the couch.

Jake was a bit disappointed when Artemis instantly clothed herself, but he still followed suit and did the same as he commented on what had just happened. “Quite the use of time magic.”

“Just a little trick,” Artemis chuckled as she looked at him. “All gods are proficient in both space and time magic, at least enough to do things like this.”

“Still, rewinding time like that is neat,” Jake shrugged, no matter how basic it was considered.

“I’m pretty sure you could learn to do it in… maybe B-grade? A-grade at the latest. As long as the objects you’re rewinding time for don’t contain too much energy, it’s quite simple. Granted, if the same item is rewound too often, it will be negatively affected as it becomes disconnected from Realtime, but that’s rarely a concern,” Artemis gladly explained.

“So you’re saying we should do it somewhere that isn’t the living room next time?” Jake joked flirtatiously.

“As I said, doing it to the same objects a few times won’t affect them negatively,” Artemis shot right back. “So, have no concerns regarding that.”

“Damn, you’re gonna make me feel all lazy for having you do the cleanup every time,” Jake joked.

“Just view it as one of the boons of having a Godqueen girlfriend,” Artemis shrugged.

That word instantly stopped Jake in his thoughts. He looked at Artemis inquisitively, who raised an eyebrow in return.

“I think I’ve been pretty clear on my intent from the very beginning, even if things have admittedly moved forward faster than I originally intended—something I take full responsibility for,” Artemis said in a serious tone. “I’m not interested in anything casual, but demand some level of commitment. I was never the casual type. The only way this will be allowed to be considered a mere fling is from my perspective, and only in a scenario where you fail to achieve godhood.”

Jake was initially taken aback by Artemis’s level of seriousness, but from her words, it was clear she had considered matters a lot more than he had. He was horrible at these kinds of things and wasn’t sure what to say… also, when it came to commitment…

“You’re not running from this conversation,” Artemis said, having seemingly read his thoughts.

“I wasn’t going to,” Jake sighed as he tried to gather his thoughts. “I’m just not sure what to say…”

“Do you disagree with anything?” Artemis raised an eyebrow. “To be clear, if I’ve misread things and you’re not interested, I’m not so pathetic as to—”

“No, no, no, not like that,” Jake quickly clarified. “It’s just… relationships in the past haven’t been the best experience from my point of view.”

Artemis looked like she was about to say something as Jake quickly continued, “But I’m definitely on board. I know it’s my problem to deal with.”

“Hmm,” Artemis nodded as she looked at him. “Betrayed by a partner in the past, so you’re now only interested in casual relationships. That way, you can’t find yourself in a situation where you’re genuinely hurt again because feelings never get too deep?”

Jake stared at Artemis for a second or two as she chuckled.

“Come on, that’s not unique in the slightest,” Artemis said, clearly amused. “Though I would be interested in what happened if you’re willing to share.”

“You’re just gonna make fun of me if I tell you,” Jake sighed.

“Likely, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I may have a reputation for being prudent, but don’t for a second think you have more relationship experience than I do, especially during my mortal days.”

“Alright, alright,” Jake surrendered as he briefly gave an overview of his unfortunate youth. It was something he didn’t really think about anymore, but when reliving the experience, it still sucked to remember.

Artemis patiently listened and nodded along. In the end, the more Jake talked, the more he realized how utterly meaningless those days had been in the grand scheme of things. It felt like memories from an entirely different life, and he could barely relate to the person he’d been back then.

A sentiment Artemis seemed to somewhat share. “I have a hard time imagining you taking such a passive approach to the matter, but I also believe that the core of the problem wasn’t that she was more interested in someone else. It’s the betrayal behind her actions and the deceit that went with it. Something piques my curiosity, though. Why hide it? It seemed inevitable that something like that would be found out, so it seems the smartest thing to do is just break things off beforehand.”

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“Cowardice, I reckon,” Jake shrugged.

“Wouldn’t it be riskier to keep it hidden?” Artemis wondered aloud. “That amount of bad karma created will be far more substantial that way, not to mention the reaction when you find out. I’ve seen people killed for less.”

“Well, murder wasn’t exactly legal in my world before the system,” Jake chuckled.

“Not even in cases like that?” Artemis seemed genuinely surprised. “What if you formally proposed a duel? If you all didn’t have levels back then, your level of power should have been relatively equal.”

At this point, Jake couldn’t help but laugh at the notion as he imagined Artemis standing in a courtroom arguing why her decision to stab a guy in the neck was totally justified. Then again, perhaps there was a time and place on Earth where her logic would have been acceptable.

“Your world was odd,” Artemis decided to just laugh along. “More similar to the Holy Church than any other faction, from the sounds of it.”

“Perhaps,” Jake said, not knowing enough about all the factions in the multiverse to argue either point.