The Protagonist System

31 Gifts To Be Exchanged

Tsubaki and I spent the rest of the afternoon in her workshop. She had said there was an itch that she couldn't scratch and needed to do something. I didn't make a joke about us doing that earlier and she saw the amusement on my face. She laughed and kissed me soundly, then started to play.

It was pretty fascinating to watch her work and it wasn't because her large breasts were bouncing around like crazy as she swung her blacksmith hammer. She was taking something that had been extracted from the ground and was making something out of it. Sometimes she had an idea of what it was and sometimes she just let her skill take over and let her body work without her mind engaging at all.

I did notice a few times when she was hammering the short sword into shape, that she altered her strikes as her breasts seemed to get in the way. It wasn't the changed strikes that caught my attention, though. It was the annoyance on her face that she wasn't being perfect in her work.

“Stop.” I said and stepped forward as she shifted her grip and her breasts got in her way again.

“Bell! You should never interrupt a blacksmith in the middle of...” Tsubaki started to berate me.

I plucked the hammer out of her hand and hung it where it was supposed to go on her rack of tools.

“You can't let the metal cool without hammering...” Tsubaki tried again.

I grabbed two handfuls of her breasts and she moaned, despite being angry at me for interrupting her. “These things are fun to play with and you enjoy them, except they are getting in the way of your work.” I said and massaged them to distract Tsubaki. It worked as she blushed. “Do you want them to be smaller?”

Tsubaki caught her breath and stared at me. “You... you... how can you...”

“Magic, obviously. I won't change the sensitivity, just the size.” I said and kept massaging her.

“Bell.” Tsubaki closed her eyes and moaned. “Will it be permanent? I know you like them this big.”

I chuckled. “I made this argument with my Goddess. Your breasts, no matter how perfect they are, do not define you as a person.” I said and let her large globes go and stepped close to lightly kiss her. “It's not permanent, unless you want it to be. That would take different magic than what I have in mind.”

Tsubaki looked conflicted as she thought about it. “If it's not too much trouble, I would like to try it.”

I nodded and stepped away from the forge and the heat. “You might need to catch me, because this is going to hurt.” I said and kept what she wanted in mind as I spent the magic to create a magical girl transformation wand.

“No, wait!” Tsubaki gasped and instantly jumped forward to catch me.

“AhhhHH!” I cried out and collapsed into her arms as I took 899 damage from spending 900 magic points. I coughed up blood and felt lightheaded, because I had forgotten I just levelled up and my defense stat was much lower than my magic stat. Much, much lower.

“SOMEONE GET ME A HEALING POTION!” Tsubaki yelled. “RIGHT NOWWWWW!”

I was starting to black out and held up the magic wand that looked like a stylized hammer with several small shooting stars coming off of the top of it, like sparks from hitting an anvil. “Worth it to... give you this.” I whispered and my eyes shut without my permission.

“Bell! Hold on!” Tsubaki shouted into my face.

“Hold... the wand and... imagine... the magic... changing you.” I mumbled and felt the wand leave my hand. I couldn't tell if I dropped it or not. “You... will have... what... you desire most.”

“BELL!” Tsubaki yelled as I lost consciousness.

*

Both Hephaestus and Hestia had rushed to the forges when they heard Tsubaki's shout. It had been loud enough to overcome the sound dampening enchantments around her blacksmith shop and they heard the desperation in her voice. When they arrived, they saw an unconscious Bell was on the floor with a crying Tsubaki cradling him in her arms as she tried to pour a healing potion down his throat.

“What happened?!?” Hestia almost screeched and ran over to her child. She ignored the nervous man standing off to the side that held two more potions.

“He cast a strong magic spell before I could stop him.” Tsubaki said and didn't protest when Hestia took Bell from her and settled him onto her lap. She handed over the half-empty vial of potion she was using and didn't comment when the heat in the shop suddenly doubled in intensity.

“My Bell. My handsome Bell. Please drink.” Hestia said and slowly tipped the vial into his mouth. She growled when some came back out and he didn't swallow. “Bell, don't do this to me! Drink it! I command you to swallow it!”

To Tsubaki's surprise, Bell's throat worked and Hestia sighed with relief and poured the potion down his throat. Hephaestus motioned to the man with the potions and he handed both potions to Hestia and she poured them into Bell's mouth. A small crowd had gathered when they saw the two goddesses running to the forges.

Hestia sighed with relief again as Bell's chest rose slightly and he started breathing on his own.

“I don't see any damage.” Hephaestus said as her eye glanced around. “What spell did he cast?”

“It was this.” Tsubaki said and started to reach down for the little hammer that Bell had created.

“He made you a children's hammer?” Welf asked with a laugh. “What kind of useless spell is that?”

A few of the other blacksmiths laughed, too.

“Shut up!” Tsubaki shouted at them and they all quieted instantly. Her fingers had stopped an infinitesimal distance from the handle.

“What did my Bell say to you?” Hestia asked as she cradled her child on her lap and pet his hair.

Tsubaki was about to respond when her fingertips touched the wand. She gasped as she felt the rightness of it and her hand clamped around the handle like a vise. She stood up and a light wind seemed to flow around her. Bell's words flowed through her mind and she believed them with all of her heart.

A bright light covered her and everyone looked away, except for Hephaestus. She was used to staring into forges that used suns for heat, so a bright light was nothing to her. Her lone eye widened as she saw Tsubaki's clothes disappear and then her large breasts shrunk down to barely a palm-full in size and her arms grew slightly as rippling muscles formed.

Tsubaki's long black hair shrank as well to be just as short as Hephaestus' own as a skin tight grey and black bodysuit formed around her legs, waist, and torso. It left her arms bare, which looked great on her, then brightly glowing blacksmith tools formed on a thick belt at her waist. The last thing to appear was a golden breastplate with the Hephaestus Familia's emblem embossed on it.

The light faded and everyone stared at Tsubaki's shocking transformation, especially Hephaestus and Hestia, because they could feel the strong magic emanating from the glowing tools on her belt.

Tsubaki ignored their reactions and knew what she had to do. “Goddess, I need three ounces of your hidden stash of Orichalcum and an ounce of Adamantite. I have the mythril I need already.”

Hephaestus knew her child wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. “You know how expensive...”

“I have 500,000 valis coming from the guild tomorrow.” Tsubaki said and everyone gasped. They all knew that was half of the extremely rare Jack Bird drop reward that Bell had found.

Hephaestus hid her surprise and nodded before she quickly left to get the requested materials. No one said anything as they waited for her to return and Hestia continued to pet Bell's hair and cuddled him.

*

I woke up with a splitting headache and it felt like my insides had been torn up and shredded. I knew that magical backlash was painful and I usually managed to get through it unscathed. I just hadn't realized it was only painful when my defense could handle it. When it couldn't, I suffered actual wounds because of the damage.

“Don't move, my Bell.” Hestia's voice whispered in my ear and I felt her lips lightly kiss it. “You were seriously hurt after being so stupid to cast a spell like that.”

I didn't defend myself by admitting that I thought it would only be a moderately expensive spell and I shouldn't have been so hurt. I opened my eyes to see where I was and discovered that I was inside Tsubaki's room.

“Your Goddess said not to move.” Tsubaki whispered into my other ear and she kissed it, too.

“How... long?” I rasped and felt my dry throat. I accepted a drink of water from Tsubaki gratefully.

“It's been about six hours since you almost killed yourself to give me such a wonderful gift.” Tsubaki said and her tongue licked my ear before she suckled on my earlobe.

Hurt as I was, I sprung right up for her. Tsubaki softly laughed when she saw it and whispered that she regretted she couldn't use it until I finished healing. I couldn't even offer to let her do all the work, because the last time she was in control, she broke my hip. Yes, I definitely needed to be fully healed to survive having sex with someone as strong as her.

I cast a diagnostic spell on myself and saw that I had another 120 points of damage left to heal. When I thought back to the damage I had taken, I knew they must have given me several healing potions to keep me alive long enough to let my regeneration kick in. I hadn't realized I had been so close to dying until it was pretty much shoved into my face.

“I still... don't regret it.” I said and my hand went to Tsubaki's chest. I did not feel the massive breasts she usually had and only cupped a small handful. “How long... can you...”

“Whenever I want to.” Tsubaki said and rolled over to press herself into my side. “I've never had this much freedom of movement before. It's like... it's like I've been held back all of my life and... and now I... I'm who I was meant to be.”

I didn't comment that was exactly how Mil-Tan had seen her own transformation and moved my hand up to her face and closed my eyes. “I'm sorry... you had to wait... for my help.”

Tsubaki softly laughed and kissed me several times. “I'm just glad you chose the easier option. I can't imagine what the permanent option would have done to you.”

I thought about that myself and saw the same popup options when I had modified Mil-Tan to change from her normal gender to her preferred gender. The cost was five times in Karma points than what it had been. My mental question to the system gave me my answer.

Depending on the world and the magic system, your earned Karma points and spendable Karma points are scaled. You can earn more or less and things cost more or less. The inherent magic of certain worlds alters the value of Karma points and what you have available on that world.
On this world it is on the more side and everything is more expensive.

That sucks. I thought and held in my sigh.

The influence of the gods and goddesses have on this world is significant.
Their choice to interfere directly in the lives of their subjects and to live as mortals themselves, instead of remaining in Heaven to allow the mortals to worship them properly, has skewed Karma points to the point that they are almost worthless.
That's why you haven't earned much for praying to Hestia while her own Karma has risen exponentially.

I let my sigh out and the two women in the bed with me cuddled closer.

“Everything is going to be fine, my Bell.” Hestia said from my other side.

“Praise be to you, My Goddess.” I said and she gasped as she glowed briefly.

“I... I meant because... Tsubaki has made something for you as a thank you.” Hestia said, embarrassed.

“I'm not changing what I said.” I moved my hand a little and touched her thigh. “I can't legally worship Tsubaki, since she isn't a saint or a deity. She has to settle for me worshipping her transformed body.”

“When you're better.” Tsubaki said and kissed me again. “Go back to sleep if you can. It's late and we might as well stay in bed until morning. I can give you your gift then.”

“You have to work.” I said and yawned. Apparently, being unconscious did not count as sleeping.

“Only in the morning. My Goddess has seen fit to allow me to accompany you into the dungeon in the afternoons.” Tsubaki said, very pleased. “The way you dispatch war shadows has impressed her as much as it did me.”

I chuckled at the thought of Hephaestus riding me like Tsubaki had, which shook me, and I groaned at the pain.

“Bell! Stay still!” Hestia commanded and I stiffened, which relieved my aches immediately.

“Hmm hm.” I hummed, since I couldn't move.

“You're welcome.” Hestia said and kissed my cheek.

Tsubaki's hand slid down to below my waist and showed me that my erection was half pointed up and stayed that way. “This has possibilities.”

I hummed in approval and she nodded.

“In the morning.” Tsubaki said and kissed me, then she nuzzled my neck and went right to sleep. Her hand was still on my erection and I felt it just as much as if I wasn't immobilized. I couldn't tell if she was claiming it or if she wanted to make sure it wasn't going to go away and disappoint her.

“Go to sleep and rest until morning, my Bell.” Hestia ordered.

I didn't even get a chance to hum in response before I was out like a light.

*

Hestia watched her child sleep peacefully. For some reason, she wasn't envious or jealous of the woman that had her hand wrapped possessively around his... ahem. She knew what could be done with it and she desired it, mostly because Bell was the only one in the world that understood her and what she stood for.

Her powers had been slowly weakening over the years she had been in the mortal world and she didn't know why. It wasn't until Bell started to pray to her that she realized why. She was the goddess of the hearth, and family, and home. And she didn't have any of that. Until now.

Bell's words echoed in her mind as she thought about all that he had given her. A family. A home. A hearth in the form of herself. She could still feel the press of his hand on her belly where his faith in her had stoked a brilliant fire inside of her. She had felt her powers swell as he told her that all he did was for her and he would keep working for her. Not to become rich. Not to become famous. For her.

Hestia's small hand reached down and she very carefully placed a single fingertip on the tip of Bell's... ahem. She felt a thrill go through her at such a simple thing and her finger moved on its own as it slid down slightly and slowly traced the entire edge of his mushroom tip. A bit of clear fluid seeped out the little hole and she felt another thrill because of it. She wasn't sure why, though.

Despite her desire to use her fingertip to touch it, Hestia refrained. She knew if she ever did it for real, she wanted Bell to see her do it and to know that she was doing it on purpose and not on a whim. She unconsciously licked her lips at the thought of the look on his face if she did that. His desire for her was clear and she felt so loved and needed that she wanted to do everything for him.

Hestia knew she couldn't, though. Bell was right. She needed to keep her powers and her Purification Flames untainted. Her job was to guard the precious flames, with her life if need be, and she wouldn't disappoint her Bell by giving them up. She would be strong for him and give him the home that he deserved. One full of love, and warmth, and full of people that loved him as much as she did.

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