"Oh dear, looks like it failed."
At the same time, under the night sky, Euryale leaned against the mast. Her rectangular Mystic Eyes, the kind that made people sink into them without noticing, glimmered faintly as she gazed into the distance, taking in the entire scene of little Medusa standing frozen in utter social death inside the room.
Yet the second sister's supposedly worried mutter carried obvious schadenfreude.
"You foolish little sister. We went to so much trouble preparing all this for you, even specially emptied out the nest, and in the end none of it got used. All you ever do when something happens is run away. What a disappointment."
Beside her, Stheno, the eldest sister, rested her cheek on one hand, her pale little feet swinging in midair. Her lips curved downward, and a trace of displeasure showed in her eyes as she murmured.
It was the disappointment of a promised show failing to happen, of losing a chance to be entertained.
As elder sisters who doted on their younger sibling, no one knew better than they did the pessimism and timidity hidden deep in little Medusa's bones.
"Tsk tsk. Poor little Medusa. Looks like she's scared stupid."
Euryale picked up a snack, popped it into her mouth, and chewed, the mischief on her face deepening.
"Hehe, I can understand it. She's gotten a lot stronger, sure, but her true nature hasn't changed at all. She's never proactive enough, never confident enough."
As she mocked her, the second sister glanced at her own flat chest and petite figure, then recalled the little Medusa who used to trail after her and Stheno all day, endlessly fretting over her height and bust. Her smile gradually stiffened, and her silver teeth unconsciously began to grind.
Self-conscious because she's tall. Troubled because she developed too well. Afraid because she has too many scales. Too scared to look people in the eye because her Mystic Eyes are too powerful to control...
Clearly, as her older sisters, they wanted those traits more than Medusa ever did, and yet that brat was never satisfied, spending all day sighing and wallowing in self-pity right in front of them.
No, not self-pity. Showing off. Brazen, shameless showing off. Absolutely infuriating!
Inhale... exhale...
Stay calm. Stay calm!
How could they possibly tease their own little sister all day out of jealousy and hidden malice?
They had always acted with only the purest good intentions.
Like this time.
What was it, really, but one measly mating partner? If you like someone, then you like them. If you want them, go fight for them. Go take them!
After all, among the Three Goddesses, this child had known Professor Samael the longest and had the deepest, closest bond with him.
And yet because she never wanted to trouble anyone else, Medusa had never dared reveal her feelings, let her nature out, or face her own heart directly.
It would have been one thing if Themis had beaten her to it. But to have even less progress than Athena. That was enough to make both sisters furious.
That was why she and Stheno had gone to all the trouble of using precious biological field data and their earth-shaking, soul-stirring artistic skill to create a highly practical Manual for Snake Mating for their little sister, so she could observe and practice.
And yet now, right at the final step, this child was shrinking back again.
Damn it. For a species born with such strong desire, she had somehow grown into a little punching bag and a spineless worm. When was Snake-chan ever going to stand up?
So there was a real need to make this girl understand the true instincts of a Serpent Goddess!
Having thoroughly justified their actions to themselves, Euryale immediately felt a powerful sense of mission. A flush of excitement spread across her pretty face.
And a restless urge to get started...
"Big Sis, Plan A failed..."
"Then we activate Plan B!"
Stheno's lips curved upward into a pleased smile. Her Mystic Eyes, fully focused in spectator mode, flared to full strength as she drew a suspicious little bottle of pink liquid from her chest and handed it to the equally wicked-smiling sister beside her.
At the same time, inside the lamplit little room, Samael wore the same awkward expression, completely at a loss for how to explain any of this.
Being caught red-handed by a girl while secretly looking at dirty books, and especially books with such heavy material, was a bit much even for someone with Samael's mental resilience. It was the kind of social death scene that could destroy a man.
Especially when the person involved was a young girl who was already sensitive and insecure to begin with.
Whoosh!
Just as Samael was preparing to try and soothe the little Medusa, who was dying of shame, he had barely taken a step when an exquisite little arrow shot through the air and landed wobbling in the floor between them.
What is this?
The Ancient Serpent instinctively looked down and immediately saw a small crystal vial hanging from the trembling tail of the arrow.
The elegant emblem on the outside, a serpent coiled around a vine-wrapped staff, looked extremely familiar. In an instant, Samael understood.
The God of Medicine's potion? Pink? Why was this being airdropped here?
Wait. Pink?!
Boom!
Just as Samael snapped out of it, the explosion rune carved into the shaft of the arrow flashed to life, instantly detonating the suspicious little vial filled with pink potion.
At once, under the force of the blast, the potion mixed with the air and immediately vaporized, becoming clouds of pink mist that filled the entire room in the blink of an eye.
Hum!
And that was not all. The protective spells surrounding the room were immediately activated as well. One glowing rune after another lit up and formed a sealing curtain of light, locking the little hut from the outside in.
As the pink potion continued to vaporize, the concentration of the drug inside the room rose sharply. The pink mist grew visibly denser, even taking on a strange property as it blended with the Ether in the air.
With the autonomous circulation of magical energy in and around his divine body, Samael only had to take a few breaths before he felt the blood in his body boil like magma, surging wildly toward a certain organ.
Little Medusa, whose incarnated body was especially sensitive to changes in Ether composition, reacted even faster. In only a few breaths, her little face had turned scarlet, her body began shifting restlessly, and a tempting rose-red blush spread across her crystal-white skin. Even her eyes gradually became unfocused.
"Sa... Samael... I... I'm so hot..."
Murmuring unconsciously, little Medusa dazedly burrowed into Samael's arms and rubbed against him in confusion. Her breath spilled across his skin in little bursts of heat, and her gathered purplish-red serpent eyes overflowed with intense longing.
Stop rubbing on me, for heaven's sake!
Just as Samael was struggling to fend her off, his feet suddenly slipped, and he staggered and fell.
Damn it! Giant serpent coiling roots! Did it really have to be this accurate?!
Samael turned his head and looked at the purplish-red serpent tail wrapped around his ankle, the one that had tripped him, then at little Medusa swaying her hips as she slithered toward him. The twisted illustrations from the manual flashed through his mind, and he could only laugh bitterly.
Just as the Ancient Serpent lost himself in that thought, the delicate figure sprawled over his chest lifted her face. Small hands climbed up around Samael's neck, and she murmured in a haze, both fearful and yearning.
"Samael... I... I'm very [weak]... If you don't hate me... then I still have value in serving someone..."
"Silly Ana, I'm the one who should thank you. Thank you for choosing me..."
Samael's fingers touched her as he lifted her pretty little face in both hands and gazed quietly into her eyes, murmuring back. Pink mist swirled and rose in both their pupils.
The string called reason shattered completely beneath their mutual confessions. Desire that had built up for far too long boiled joyfully inside both figures, one large and one small, and the two of them finally melted together.
Night passed into dawn. By the time the faint first light of morning appeared in the east, the violent rocking of the Argo on the midnight sea had gradually subsided.
"Cerberus, just like in the Underworld, guard this door. Don't let anyone in."
"Woof..."
"That's more like it. You really are Mother's good child."
One cold voice and one mocking one drifted from outside the door. Lying there and whining softly, the three-headed hound of hell wagged its tail obediently and nodded wildly at the sight of the two calamities.
Two sneaky figures crept toward the hut.
Just thinking of seeing their little sister's embarrassed, outraged face, and their teacher's utter humiliation, was enough to paint wicked amusement across their identical faces.
Creak...
With a light sound, the door opened a crack.
Bang!
But in the next instant, the door boomed shut. The two goddesses, one peeking through the crack from above and one from below, froze dumbly in the doorway as they looked down at the enormous red-black serpent wrapped around their ankles.
Thud! Thud!
A second later, both figures were dragged at once into the room, which was covered in purplish-black patterns and looked like a serpent's nest. After a burst of mixed cries of pain and pitiful yelps, muffled whining and heavy thudding sounds rose and fell one after another.
At the same time, somewhere aboard the Argo, in a pitch-black room lined with shelves full of bottles and jars.
A handsome white-haired man in protective gear adjusted a fluorite lamp and looked into an incubator where snake after snake writhed and hissed, frenziedly mating. He turned over the hourglass on the table and restarted the timer, frowning slightly.
The strength of the drug is a little beyond what I expected. I probably should have told them to dilute it before using it...
Crash!
Just as the physician was lost in thought, the ship's hull, which had only just steadied, suddenly began shaking violently again, and all the bottles and jars on the shelves clattered together.