We’d spent nearly three hours of work, organizing and setting up my new apartment. After that we’d put together the list together for everything we needed to finish the design for the dining area of the restaurant. With all of that complete I walked with Stesa to the front door, talking as we walked.

  “Thank you for all your help with the restaurant and apartment. You’ve done an amazing job; I can’t wait for everyone to see this. I promised to make you dinner if you did a great job, and I’m still planning on keeping that promise. But first, I’d like to invite you and seven guests to dinner here on opening night, my treat. You deserve to show off your work to your friends, and I’d like to meet them.”

  Excitement broke through the reserve she usually tried to hold, causing her to wrap her arms around me and kiss me on the cheek before leaving as she responded. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know exactly who to bring. My friends will be excited to see this place too. I haven’t talked about anything besides this project over the last few days.”

  She turned and waved as she reached the other side of the street. Her face turned bright red when she saw me standing in front of the door, watching her as she walked away. Trying to cover her blush, she looked into the store’s windows beside her and disappeared into the crowd. The grin that fought onto my face was quickly killed as the nanites in my body activated to let me know that someone was approaching from behind me with a prickling sensation on my spine.

  The click of heels on durocrete and the deep sultry voice that spoke told me exactly who had seen that exchange.

  “She’s cute. I think I’ll like her if you don’t manage to screw this one up like you have the last few. Well, we need to get this exchange done if you want a ship.”

  A small groan escaped my lips as I turned to meet the gaze of one of the two goddesses that had become a significant part of my life. Her flawless bronze face and almost black hair were unmarred by the crown of bone spikes that were the defining feature of my race. Trying not to notice the passers-by that openly stared at her scantily clad form and bowing to her, I kept my voice light to try and play off the embarrassment that was beginning to creep in, ignoring the passers-by that openly stared at the scantily clad goddesses as they moved through the crowd.

  “Being a goddess doesn’t permit you to butt into my love life whenever you’d like. I’m doing good enough without your help, Zoxjia. Did you forget what happened when you insisted on giving my last girlfriend advice about how to kiss properly? Besides, you both know that I’m not looking for anything serious. I know that I’ll never replace Bernicia, so why try.”

  Busting out in a girlish giggle as she became visible behind Zoxjia, the silver-haired goddess on the right tried to speak despite the fit of laughter that wanted to stop her as she ignored my last comment like usual. Her thin body shook with the attempt, causing the thousands of beads that made up her ceremonial necklace to rattle along with her words. “He has you there Z. As the Goddess of Justice, I can say that it was fair and just to point that out.”

  Zoxjia turned to softly slap her best friend and roommate on the shoulder as she slid past. It took Zoxjia a few moments to fight down her own giggles before she could respond.

  “Come on Uraura, you know I’m the Goddess of Love. If you’d seen them, you would agree that Everrune was not enjoying his time kissing her. I tried to complete my divine duty and aid a struggling woman.”

  Sure this conversation wouldn’t end well for me, I got back on track. Opening the door to let my two goddesses, friends, and pilots into the restaurant. As they stepped inside, Uraura was the first to speak while looking around the large room.

  “Seriously, this is everything your interior designer could come up with? This looks like the basic setup you see in an abandoned home, minus the dust.”

  Zoxjia seized on her friend’s comments as she began to walk through the room. “I agree. I’m normally not one to judge someone’s passions because encouraging it is my job, but this is genuinely bad for a finished project.”

  Sick of the commentary already, I turned to walk backward to glare at them until we reached the elevator. “You both realize Stesa hasn’t done anything on the main floor yet? I had her do my apartment first, then decided to have her do the restaurant too. We have a few minutes, so how about I show you what she’s actually done.”

  Pressing the button for my apartment instead of the landing pad, I let the view do the talking as the doors slid open. The two women fell silent as the open-concept kitchen and living room were revealed. Stepping into the living room filled with plant life and bright wood tones, filling the room with various colors of orange and blue, serving as the cushions and pillows.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Taking a moment to sit on the couch that was as comfortable as sitting on a meadow, Uraura finally complimented Stesa. “This is amazing. It looks like it came from one of the magazines you see in stores. How did you manage to get her to do something this amazing?”

  Smiling as I sat back on the couch beside my friend, I responded. “Actually, not much. I just had to offer to make her dinner and tell her that I was born on the surface, and she was all in. I’m sure the money I offered helped a lot too.”

  I continued the tour by giving the goddesses a quick wink to make it clear that I was joking. As we moved into the dining area, I continued to explain what I’d meant.

  “Seriously though, she was very excited about the project. She was mostly raised on the surface, so making it look as much like the homes down there as possible intrigued her. If you want, I can formally introduce you at the grand opening. You have to promise you won’t ask her anything about me that isn’t business-related though.”

  The smirks and nods of the two goddesses sent chills down my spine, forcing me to change the deal before they could answer. “On second thought, the deal is that talking about me is off the table entirely. All I need is for her to think I have a harem of goddesses, and you are deciding if you should recruit her.”

  That drew a laugh from Zoxjia as she reached out a hand. “I’ll accept that deal, but you know you could never handle either of us if you wanted to, let alone both at once. We will play nice and not scare her away if you properly introduce us to her.”

  As the reality of the role I would be playing for these two goddesses sank in, I remembered the past. The memory of duties they’d imposed on me years ago returned to me. The memories of what happened after I’d saved their lives from the Abandoned and insane god by giving away my true identity to two people who knew what my abilities meant have haunted me ever since.

  “I’m not doing the full priest act, but I will introduce you for who you are. I know it’s part of the oaths we made to each other after my team saved you, but it would give away too much about me to do the full ceremony.”

  The disappointment on the two goddesses’ faces was enough to pull at my heartstrings, forcing out a concession before I could stop myself. “I will also introduce you to the local gang leader, the leading authority in this city. He and his team will be in the party room, and I’m sure he would be honored to meet you. Maybe we will have a small ceremony and have you both bless the restaurant before we begin.”

  This time it was Uraura’s turn to groan as my attempt to con them into doing their official duties for the betterment of my restaurant sunk in. Sticking her tongue out at me like a small child, she moved to the grand staircase that led down to the three bedrooms, my office, and the bathrooms. Before I could haul myself up, Zoxjia pushed me back down and ran to the stairs howling back at me as she ran.

  “As the Goddess of Love and Passion, it’s my job to make sure that she didn’t let the rest of this place slip through without making it just as beautiful. Besides, if this girl could do something this amazing on the main floor, and I like what she does downstairs, I may have to hire her to make me a proper sanctuary once you get around to building us a proper temple. You are still planning on doing that, aren’t you?”

  Realizing they were about to get up to some mischief, I forced myself to stand and follow them down the stairs. At the bottom, I found the two goddesses squabbling over which of the two spare bedrooms they would claim in the corridor filled with light and plants. Moving forward, I wrapped my arms around the two goddesses that were more like my sisters than deities I was supposed to worship.

  “Now you both realize I got you a separate apartment because these rooms are for guests. Like when Gako Chie comes for the opening. He and his wife will be staying with me, and if you take up both bedrooms, I won’t be able to host our friends when they come into town.”

  Uruara turned back to me, her arms folded as she stuck her bottom lip out and gave me a forced sad look as her loose silver hair fell in front of her face. She kept the faux pout in her voice when she spoke, knowing exactly how to maneuver me into a losing position in this conversation.

  “Fine, we’ll give up these rooms for now, but we may have to work out a deal to get your new girlfriend to decorate our place. That’s probably the only way we’ll be okay with not moving here long-term.”

  Turning our trio around to return to the ornate staircase, I matched both women’s gazes as I spoke. “Okay, if you play nice and don’t scare Stesa away for a month, I will reach out to her about furnishing your apartment. Hopefully, by that point, I’ll have decided whether or not I want to pursue anything with her. How does that sound?”

  Pulling away to begin climbing the stairs, Uraura responded. “Okay, we can agree, but you need to come through on this. I will not be patient after a month, and you know I can get very annoying if I don’t get what I want.”

  As I followed them back up the stairs, I tried to speak under my breath, but both goddesses would easily hear it. “I know, believe me, I know.”

  Reaching the top of the stairs, I spoke louder to clarify that I wanted them to refocus on the mission. “Okay, ladies, let’s make this exchange so this conversation isn’t moot. The ship we are taking to trade is upstairs on the landing pad. The pad is big enough to house the new ship too, so we won’t need an offsite bay and can control access at all hours. I’m sure you will love the new ship, which will become one of your favorite things here.”

  Groaning, Zoxjia stepped into the elevator, zoned out, and relaxed. At the same time, Uraura focused on the floor and had a silent conversation with herself. Doing my best to ignore the two goddesses’ oddities, I pressed the button and sent us to the landing pad and into our next phase. That may be a trap.