Betty does some Thinking

'The Goddess' Fated Chosen' was walking through the fields north of Ancona, on their way to take out twelve giant frogs.

Not that Betty was taking the request lightly, but she didn't think it would be too hard for their current squad. Maybe due to this, her mind was more focused on the previous days' events.

Not only had she and her boyfriend gotten an apartment, but she had received an actual vision from her Goddess about said boyfriend.

I understood that vision correctly, right? It was almost as if the Goddess had spoken to her mind with that vision, telling her Damien needed to make the women around him happy. No, he needed to be surrounded by women and make them happy.

Betty had known going into the relationship that she would not be the only women for him. He was simply too great of a man to be constrained to only one (plus he was a summoner, and Bluey was already there). Of course, she hadn't expected that many, she couldn't even count the number around him during the vision. Of course, seeing herself next to Damien had been slightly distracting...

Unfortunately, Damien seemed a bit nonchalant about the vision. Not that he didn't seem to believe her, but in the week since the vision they had made no progress with any other women.

Of course, he didn't really talk to many other women, due to their adventuring. They would sometimes talk to Liz a small amount a day, if they headed to the Guild, and they occasionally ran into Diana (whom she'd already tried to nudge Damien towards) and her two daughters that lived across the street, but he didn't seem too enthusiastic.

One person she thought might work was Carleen. She and his two summons had actually tried to set up Damien and Carleen to have sex once already, but Carleen had gotten too drunk and just passed out when Damien brought her to her room, and they hadn't seen her since.

Betty looked ahead, and Bluey and Aurora were pointing in the distance. We must be near the frogs. She then went back to her earlier thought. Maybe I'm approaching this wrong? The Goddess wants them to be 'happy'. I immediately thought of what made me happy, which is Damien holding me and making love to me, but I guess other people might be made happy by other things.

It looked like they were about to start fighting so Betty cast a spell. “Oh Goddess, bolster my allies!”

The other three briefly glowed green, before running at the giant hopping frogs in the distance.

Betty went back to her thoughts. Making them happy...I think Carleen does just want to have sex. Or at least, she's interested in it with Damien. I wonder if Damien realizes? Well, we can try that again next time we see her. What about Diana, though?

Diana was a young mother with two young daughters. Her husband had left her a couple years ago, and she was struggling to make ends meets working odd jobs. She had been extremely happy when Bluey and Aurora had given her enough rabbit meat to eat for weeks, saving her a bunch of money.

Could we just give them more food? Although, I don't know if that makes her 'happy' so much as just 'relieved'. She then thought about the two daughters, they don't seem too sad, although... she remembered when they had eaten dinner with them, and Dora had asked if Damien was going to be her 'Daddy'. Betty struck on an idea, That's it! If we make her children happy, she'll be happy! Betty grinned to herself.

In the distance, she could see Bluey dropkicking a frog, while Aurora was running after one trying to hop away, roasting it alive. Damien was using Lightning Bolt to zap one from range, causing it to stop, then he cast a Fire Wall under it.

In the late afternoon, they had finished their request for giant frogs, and were heading back to Ancona.

Betty took this time to sidle up to Damien. “Have you thought more about the Goddess' vision?”

Damien blushed slightly, “Yes, but...I don't know about just seducing women randomly...”

Betty shook her head and put her hand on his arm to reassure him. “I have a different idea. What if you tried making Diana happy by spending time with Dora and Delilah?”

Damien seemed confused, “Like...just babysit them?”

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“Yeah! You could take them out for some fun in Ancona! I'm sure they'd like that. And more importantly for the Goddess, Diana would like that.”

Damien nodded. “Okay, I can see that...”

“And then you can seduce her, to really seal the deal.”

Damien sighed. “I'm not going to seduce her.”

Betty crossed her arms. “Damien, you can't just ignore a vision from the Goddess like that.”

Damien winced a bit. I know, the Goddess even told me to do it herself. Damien was increasingly aware the Goddess seemed to be helping him out, at least to some degree. He wasn't sure if it was normal, but he'd wanted an ability to help out more, and she had told him to get to level 8, and sure enough at level 8 he had gotten a new ability to help out more in combat. Now, she had told him about a 'mechanic' he would get at level 12 that was connected to this vision somehow. “That's a good point though, maybe just making them happy will be enough.”

Betty smiled and nodded.

“Whatcha talking about?” Bluey turned around to ask while they were walking.

Betty smiled at her, “Do you want to see if Diana and her girls will have dinner with us? They've treated us to dinner a couple times, so we should return the favor.”

Bluey nodded, and Aurora wagged her tail excitedly. “Yeah, I'll go let them know!” She ran off, and Aurora looked between her and Damien, before running after her.

Betty giggled, “Those two are always so full of energy,” and wrapped her arms around one of Damien's.

Damien gave her a kiss, causing Betty to blush.

“Make sure you kiss her too.”

Damien rolled his eyes.

When they got back, Betty, Damien, and Aurora started making dinner while Bluey went to go invite Diana and her daughters.

While Damien wasn't as good as Betty, he could at least do most of the basics, and was currently sizzling some boar meat they had bought.

Aurora was on potato peeling duty.

“Ow!” she yipped, having accidentally cut herself while peeling.

Damien set the pan down, going over to Heal her.

Aurora blushed, “Sorry...”

Damien smiled, “It's okay, you gotta learn somehow.”

Aurora took this extra motivation, going back and carefully peeling more.

Bluey burst back in. “They're coming! She said they'd be over in a bit.”

Betty nodded. “Okay, let's get everything going!” she exclaimed, tossing the potatoes into a pot.

After a while, there was a knock at the door. Bluey was on setup duty so she opened it, and ushered their visitors inside.

Diana was wearing a nicer than normal dress (probably an expensive one for a commoner) while Dora and Delilah were in fancy children's clothes.

Betty handed the pot she was cooking over to Damien, rushing over to the girls. “Oh my, you're both so cute!” and gave them both a hug.

Diana smiled, “We hadn't gotten a chance to wear these lately, and they'll grow out of them soon enough.”

Betty poured them some drinks while Damien and Aurora finished cooking. Bluey started plating food and bringing it over while Betty was talking to Diana.

“Do you have to work tomorrow?”

Diana gave a wry smile and nodded. “Yes. I only get one day off a week.”

Betty looked over at Damien, as if to say 'well?'.

What? You want me just to offer?

Betty sighed, then turned back to Diana. “We're doing an easy request tomorrow, so Damien probably doesn't need to come along.” She turned to Dora, “Would you like if Damien brought you around town tomorrow?”

Dora looked between her and Damien, then nodded vigorously.

Diana blushed, “Oh, I can't impose on you like that...”

Betty shook her head, “No, it's okay, it's just some easy elementals, we don't need him.”

Even if you're right, that hurts!

Diana blushed more, “I guess that's okay. I'll let their normal sitter know once we're back.”

Damien sighed, What did you sign me up for?

The dinner was a cheery one, as the group made small talk during. Dora kept sneaking peeks at Damien while he was eating.

Bluey seemed a bit jealous. “I also wanna go around town tomorrow.”

Betty did a facepalm. “You can another day, Bluey. We still need you.”

Bluey looked at Damien, who smiled and nodded. “Of course, do your best tomorrow.”

This seemed enough for Bluey, who smiled and nodded in understanding.

After dinner, Bluey and Aurora played with Dora, while Delilah sat in Betty's lap, happily playing with her braids.

Diana looked at Damien. “You really don't mind looking after them?”

Despite the situation, Damien shook his head. “No, it's fine. I don't mind.” And it's a good chance to test out the Goddess' task for me.

Diana smiled, “I'm sure it will mean a lot, especially to Dora. I wish she had a father figure in her life, but unfortunately most men aren't interested in a woman who comes with two children.”

Betty did a 'hmpf'. “Nonsense. You work hard for your children, and you're still very pretty.”

Diana shook her head. “I'm not that pretty...”

Betty shook her head. “Of course you are. Especially for your age!”

Diana gave a forced smile. “What...what do you think my age is?”

Betty suddenly got nervous. “Um...”

Diana sighed. “I'm only twenty-four. I know, I look like I'm in my thirties...”

Damien felt really awkward being party to this conversation. Looking over at the others, Bluey and Dora were playing with some of her dolls she had brought over, while Aurora laid on the couch watching them, her tail wagging back and forth.

“Damien, she looks pretty, right?” Betty asked.

“Yeah, of course...” he replied, turning back around. Wait...

Diana was blushing slightly, averting her eyes. “Well, thank you...”

Eventually Delilah fell asleep, so Diana returned with her, telling Dora to come back with Bluey and Aurora in a bit.

After playing a while longer, Dora was also getting sleepy.

“Big sis, let's go back now,” Dora said after a big yawn.

She grabbed Bluey's hand, but then ran over to Damien.

“What's wrong?” Damien said with a smile.

Dora replied, “Um...see you tomorrow!” then hugged his leg, before running back over to Bluey.

Betty giggled. “I'm pretty sure this will go well.” She then adjusted her glasses and took out a notepad. “Let's go over the itinerary for tomorrow.”

“Itinerary?” Damien asked, raising an eyebrow.

Betty nodded, “We need to make sure these girls tell their mom about how much fun they had.”