The moment I heard from Callisto’s mouth that Atalanta was pregnant, I couldn’t pull myself out of the shock that day. Then, after being left dazed for a while, I finally came to my senses when I got slapped, and fell into anguish.
It was because... I had never once considered the possibility of having a child. I had helped care for children through volunteer work, and I had helped pregnant women before, but this was different. This was a child between me and Atalanta, the woman I had married.
Atalanta was overjoyed, stroking her own belly as she cried, but I was far too worried. Because this place was Greece at the end of the age.
The child born between me and Atalanta, whether a boy or a girl, would surely be born with breathtaking beauty. And that was exactly why I was afraid. Because that beauty could draw attention in the worst possible way...
“Why are you acting like that, Iskios...?”
“Be happier, Iskios! It’s your child, isn’t it!?”
Callisto looked at me with concern, while Atalanta glared at me in displeasure. But Atalanta didn’t know. Happiness was only temporary...
—Raising a child, bringing one up, is hell from start to finish...! I had only experienced part of that through volunteer work in my previous life, but I knew how hard it was. And considering that this was a child between the two of us... I placed both hands on Atalanta’s shoulders and made my point clear.
“Listen to me, Atalanta! Sure, I’m surprised too that we’re having a child, and it’s a cause for celebration! But!!! I’m already worried about that kid’s future!!!”
“T-the future...!?”
“Yeah! It’ll be a child between the two of us, so there’s no doubt it’ll be born with looks that can charm people left and right! That’s why I’m scared! What if some weirdo gets their hands on them and uses them, and they end up dying because of it! That’s what I’m worried about!!!”
Even now, I could say my life had been anything but smooth. I’d finally gained this quiet, peaceful daily life, but every step of the way had been brutal.
In Chiron’s classroom, I nearly got jumped by boys my age or older. Apollo chased me relentlessly for two years. I went on the Argo expedition. I joined the Calydonian boar hunt. I saved Callisto. I raced Atalanta. My mother turned Atalanta into a lion. The goddess Artemis interfered with me halfway through...!
Well... still, our child wouldn’t get dragged into things as much as I had. That had to be true! But! A child born between us would definitely have the potential to get caught up in all kinds of trouble. Because they were my child, because I had spent my life and time in the filth of Greece at the end of the age, I was worried like this. But Atalanta looked at me with a face that seemed on the verge of tears.
“Ugh... can’t you at least congratulate me a little more!? It’s our child!”
“N-no...! It’s only natural for you to worry, Iskios...”
“W-what!?”
“I know too... how hard it was when I had to raise this child alone..... If I hadn’t met you, I would have.....”
The moment she suddenly brought up her own story and looked depressed, Atalanta and I both fell silent.
I had already told Atalanta about Callisto and me before, so she knew the story well. The bastard child of Zeus she had given birth to, how I had helped her, and how I had protected her from the goddess Hera and gotten a stay of execution.
We simply shut our mouths and apologized to Callisto. In the middle of that heavy atmosphere, Arcus, the fucking bastard child of Zeus that Callisto had given birth to, was sleeping peacefully, breathing softly as if he knew nothing of the world. Well, he was the fucking bastard child of Zeus, after all. He’d amount to something big in the future.
With Callisto’s arrival in this forest, my workload suddenly increased. I had to build a hut for Callisto and Arcus to live in, and prepare for the child I would soon have.
—From that moment on, I started working overtime.
-Becoming a child’s father is an extremely grueling road-
After learning that Atalanta was carrying his child, Iskios became increasingly busy.
While building Callisto and Arcus’s hut right next to his own, Callisto began taking care of Atalanta. Naturally, Atalanta was forbidden from hunting.
Her body was no longer hers alone. Drawing on her own experience and the knowledge Iskios had taught her, Callisto looked after Atalanta while Iskios went out to gather food and build the hut.
“I’m back!”
“Ah, Iskios-sama...!”
“Ah, Iskio~!”
Just before sunset, Iskios returned to the hut, where Callisto and Arcus greeted him. Arcus called out to Iskios in his clumsy way, while Callisto checked what Iskios had brought back.
Inside the basket woven from dried grass were fruits gathered from the surrounding area. Seeing them, Callisto understood they were meant for Atalanta.
The method for making baskets from dried grass was something Iskios had learned in Chiron the sage’s classroom. Back then, everything he learned from Chiron was something he couldn’t afford to waste, so he learned it eagerly and put it to practical use.
Of course, the synergy came from his previous life’s experience and the teachings he received from Chiron in this life. Looking at the returned Iskios, Callisto spoke about dinner with a slightly more confident attitude than before.
“Um, tonight’s dinner is a bean dish.”
“Beans? From the field you made nearby?”
“Y-yes...!”
Hearing about dinner, Iskios felt relieved, remembering that beans were growing nearby.
His memory was hazy, but from his previous life, Iskios remembered hearing that pregnant women needed to make sure they got enough nutrition, and that beans containing folate, calcium, and iron were a good ingredient.
Until now, Iskios had only cared about eating whatever was edible, but now that there was a child on the way, he was determined to squeeze even his barely remembered memories from his previous life for all they were worth.
“Iskios, you’re back...?”
Hearing the voices, Atalanta slowly walked over to where Iskios and Callisto were. Iskios was a little startled to see her approaching, but he also felt relieved that nothing seemed to be wrong.
When he first learned Atalanta was pregnant, her belly didn’t look much different from usual. But as time passed, as if proving she had become a mother, her stomach swelled more and more each day. By now, even through her clothes, it was obvious she was pregnant.
“Are you feeling okay, Atalanta?”
“Ah, yes. We are fine.”
Atalanta stroked her belly, glancing back and forth between Iskios and her own stomach as she answered with a smile. Before, he had rarely seen Atalanta smile, but the smile she showed now was gentle and warm.
Seeing that smile, Iskios thought to himself with a light laugh that so this was what Atalanta looked like when she became a mother too. It had already been five months since Callisto had come and Atalanta had learned she was going to be a mother.
As the child grew, Atalanta’s belly grew too, and her body had clearly become one that could no longer easily go out into the forest. She knew her own condition well, so she restrained herself from going out, and now spent most of her time in the hut.
“Mm....”
“Hm? What is it, Atalanta?”
“—I want more meat.”
And when Callisto and Iskios were preparing dinner and everyone was eating together, Atalanta puffed out her cheeks with a somewhat dissatisfied expression and voiced her only complaint to Iskios.
When she was young, living as a wild child in the forest, Atalanta’s staple food had been meat. Vegetables were only a bonus; she had trained her body in the forest while mainly eating meat. Now that her diet had mostly changed to vegetables, she seemed dissatisfied.
But Iskios objected with a fierce, burning look in his eyes. He was already anxious enough about whether the child would be born safely, and because he wanted to feed her better, he had been going into the forest more often. Still, he suppressed his temper as much as possible and objected.
“What? Meat?! ...Sorry, but for now, eat this as it is. Nutrition comes first right now. And besides, last time you asked for more meat too, so I changed the menu and gave you my share, didn’t I?”
“I am healthy! There is no problem!”
“Not you—our child! We need to take care of our child’s nutrition...! And not just nutrition, if you keep eating more than necessary later, you’ll have a hard time after giving birth!?”
Iskios rubbed his forehead and sighed as he looked at Atalanta, who wanted more meat. He did give her a certain amount of meat, of course, but Atalanta was having trouble adjusting because the menu had suddenly changed and the portions had increased. So he had revised the diet several times to match that, but history still repeated itself.
That was why Iskios emphasized it again. Atalanta’s body was no longer hers alone, and there was a child in her belly now. When Atalanta heard his nagging, she couldn’t argue back and drooped her animal ears and tail, looking on the verge of tears.
He did give her meat, but only in smaller portions than she was used to. Iskios looked at her face as she wanted more meat. Her eyes glittered as if she might cry, and the beast ears on her head and the tail behind her waist both drooped low.
“I know that...! But please... I want to eat more meat...!”
“Ghhhhh...!”
Anyone who had known the old Atalanta would never have believed the expression and the way she was acting cute now, and even Iskios felt his resolve weaken a little.
He had already accepted it in his heart and steeled himself. He had said he would do whatever he could for Atalanta and the child they would have. Outwardly, he was suffering from her spoiled behavior, but somewhere in Iskios’s heart, he realized how much she had changed.
The old her, before she married him, would never have shown a face like this, and had no reason to. Looking at that expression, Iskios cursed inwardly and sighed. He was even holding back his usual way of speaking, because he couldn’t let it have even the slightest bad influence on the child.
“Damn it... if you ask with a face like that, I’m the only one who looks like the bad guy...”
Looking at it now, Atalanta had softened somewhat after becoming a mother, but he never expected the curse of the animal ears and tail left behind by her mother to shake his resolve like this. Thanks to that, every time he looked at her, his determination only weakened.
And as for the cold, beastlike huntress Atalanta he had once known, where had she gone? Right now, aside from the animal ears and tail, she was just acting spoiled like an ordinary girl. Anyone who knew Atalanta, especially those who had gone on the Argo expedition, would think their sanity had gone wrong.
—In the end, Iskios’s heart softened, and he lost to Atalanta’s spoiled pleading.
“...Fine... I’ll increase it by one more serving. I’m changing the menu from fish to rabbit meat, so... this is as far as I can compromise. Got it?”
“Y-yes! Thank you, Iskios!”
Once Iskios gave the okay, Atalanta’s tearful face brightened at once, and she thanked him. At the same time, her mood improved, her tail swayed gently, and her ears perked back up.
Watching the cheerful Atalanta, Iskios smiled quietly in satisfaction, and Callisto also gave a wry smile at the sight of Atalanta in a better mood. She too had never expected Atalanta to become like this... And so, inside the hut, they shared a peaceful dinner, while day by day, Atalanta’s due date slowly drew near.
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