“Uh… Huh..”
“Come on now… It’s okay… It’s okay, darling.”
My heart hurts.
Sadness weighs me down in this tragically bleak reality.
A story I didn’t even want to imagine. But the fact that it was all the tragedies they had experienced in the past tortured my heart even more.
“These things will never happen again. So it’s alright.”
The goddess wraps her warm wings around me as I sit on the ground, pouring out my sorrow while gently patting my back.
“Everyone… everyone is dead…”
“That was the case. At that time, I couldn’t endure the horrific feelings and cried day and night.”
Was she recalling the past? A deep sadness filled the goddess’s eyes.
“Perhaps one could say peace has returned… but I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t allow the children I cherished to die like that.”
“…Then…”
“I prayed to the Heavenly God every day. Please give me a chance to reverse this tragedy just once. Thanks to that, I was able to meet you, dear reader.”
Wiping away her sorrowful gaze, the goddess begins to gently stroke my head, a faint smile on her face. I looked up at her with tearful eyes.
“…Thank you, goddess… for turning back time… for saving everyone…”
The goddess opened her eyes wide at my words and immediately smiled beautifully and kindly.
“No, I haven’t done a thing. They are all people you saved. Thank you, dear reader.”
“…I’m the one who hasn’t really done much…”
I felt flattered by the goddess’s excessive praise.
In reality, all the plans I had set out had fallen apart. What reason would I have to receive thanks from the goddess?
The actions I took to help Robin had all gone awry when Lily became the hero.
The plan I set to protect the peace of the academy shattered the moment the Demon King invaded.
“You haven’t done anything?”
As I sat there dejected, the goddess looked flustered for a moment before her eyes lit up.
“No, dear reader, you have already prevented numerous tragedies.”
“I… I have?”
“Of course! You thought of seducing Athena from the very beginning… I was quite surprised. I really believed the Heavenly God sent someone special.”
“…Eh?”
“It was a method I never even considered. Truly amazing, dear reader.”
…..?
Who seduced whom?
While it was true that an affection had developed into a relationship with Athena, I had never once considered seducing her.
Yet, it seemed the goddess was speaking as if I had intentionally pursued Athena from the start.
“I didn’t really seduce her, you know?”
“You don’t have to be so humble, dear reader. I know everything.”
“N-no, really, I never did…”
The goddess tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand my words.
“Weren’t you seducing Athena with your body every day?”
“Y-yes?!”
Wh-what did I do with my body…?
Me…?
“You spoke with a sultry voice. You charmed her with those lewd eyes. Didn’t you sway your tail temptingly in front of her?”
“Th-that’s not…!!”
My face exploded with embarrassment at the straightforward words I never imagined the goddess would say.
All the sadness that had settled in my heart just moments ago vanished and was replaced with overwhelming humiliation.
‘W-wait, what is this goddess saying?!’
Lecherous voice?
Wagging my tail…?
When on earth did I ever do such things? At least, as far as I knew, I had never done that.
The goddess watched me in silence, her cheeks slightly reddened as I panicked, and then softly spoke.
“…Could it be… you didn’t mean to?”
“N-no, I’m saying there’s no way I did that?!”
Despite my loud protest, the goddess casually ignored my words and mumbled.
“…Surely you didn’t seduce Lily with your innocent act?”
“N-no, I really didn’t know about that!”
“Did you seduce the Succubus Queen by licking her ear in a lewd manner?”
“T-that… was a mistake with Athena!!”
“Surely you didn’t show passionate acts to a dragon that lacks libido every night to somehow plant that taste?”
“T-tha-tha-that’s enough!”
How far does she know?
Caught in embarrassment as if all my dark past was being revealed, I rushed toward the goddess and covered her mouth.
But I seemed to have rushed too much and lost my balance.
Before I knew it, I fell on top of her, unintentionally pinning her down and blocking her mouth.
With trembling eyes, the goddess looked up at me.
“Are… are you trying to seduce me right now…? No, I’m the goddess of life. I can only share love with one…”
“P-please, stop it!!”
Drenched in embarrassment, I begged the goddess, on the verge of tears.
Fortunately, she finally remained silent and just looked at me.
‘W-what the heck is this goddess thinking?!’
Does she think I’m someone who can’t resist seducing people?!
Well… it was true that I had caused most of it…
But it was merely a coincidence that all of it happened. I absolutely didn’t intend for any of it to occur…!
This won’t do. I need to slowly explain that it’s all a misunderstanding.
Thinking I shouldn’t seem like a beast in front of the goddess, I tried to clarify that it was all a misunderstanding, but…
“…I thought you had devised an excellent plan, but it was just your nature, wasn’t it?”
With that decisive blow from the goddess, I lost my words.
*
How much time passed like that?
I had rambled on for a while, explaining everything in front of the goddess.
“See? I didn’t do it on purpose!”
“Yes, dear reader. I understand that it was all unconscious.”
‘That’s not what I meant…’
The things I did that I found embarrassing to say. I quickly tried to clarify that I hadn’t done them on purpose, but it seemed the goddess took my words in a strange way.
As she nodded her head, seemingly trying to understand my character, I felt frustrated as she shifted the topic.
“Dear reader, regardless of all of this, the important thing is that you have prevented many tragedies.”
The goddess looked at me with a serious expression.
Perhaps her mood had affected me; my heart began to calm down.
Before I could even respond, the goddess continued speaking.
“You turned Athena, who was the worst hero, to the right path. You tamed the once calamitous dragon into a cheerful child. And even the Succubus Queen has been swayed.”
“That’s… true.”
I didn’t really think I had prevented tragedies, but the goddess’s statement wasn’t wrong.
From the beginning, I knew Athena was a mastermind, so I tried to change her into a good person.
And I had raised Mari as a lovely daughter.
Sephir was caught in quite the coincidence…
“You really went through a lot. You have saved so many lives…”
The goddess wrapped her fluffy wings around me.
As I was enveloped in her warm wings, I felt like a chick cradled in its mother’s embrace.
“…Did I really do well?”
“Yes. Without a doubt.”
Without a moment of hesitation, the goddess answered.
At her words, I quietly looked down at the ground.
‘….Thank goodness.’
A great sense of relief washed over me, stirring my emotions.
Until now, I thought it was all my fault.
The Indomitable Hero is a story that ends with a happy ending.
I thought that all the tragedies that had deviated from that were caused by me alone.
I always felt uneasy. What if my interference caused the story to veer in a bad direction again? What if someone got seriously hurt?
How much did I cry when people were hurt during the last academy raid? My guilt had become unbearable.
But no.
The Indomitable Hero is, after all, a story.
The Heavenly God beautifully altered the history of the past. It was not a reality, but simply a dramatized story.
That doesn’t mean I ever liked the tragedies that occurred, but I could perhaps let go of the guilt that had weighed on me for hurting others.
Feeling this rare sense of tranquility washing over me, my shoulders felt slightly lighter.
As I gently grabbed the goddess’s wings that warmly hugged me, I looked at her.
“…But it was you who asked to turn back time. Thank you.”
At my words, the goddess opened her eyes wide. She stared at me for a moment before her face turned red, and she began to mumble.
“Well, I have one request. Do you think you could grant it?”
Hearing her statement filled me with curiosity, but I nodded and replied promptly.
“Yes. I’ll grant it.”
She had been the one to save everyone I love from the horrific past. There’s no way I could refuse a request.
‘Is it a request to catch the Demon King or something like that?’
Usually, requests from goddesses tend to be along those lines.
“Well… as the goddess of life, you know I’m the mother of all life on the continent.”
“That’s true?”
Well, she might not have literally given birth to any life, but her blessing has birthed all living things, so it’s not entirely wrong.
But why?
My curious gaze made the goddess look away slightly as she continued.
“But I don’t actually have a single child…”
She looked a bit bitter as she muttered, staring at the ground.
“That’s… well…”
Since she never directly bore any children, of course, she wouldn’t have any real offspring.
“I often wished I could have a daughter like you, dear reader…”
“…..What?”
Her words took me by surprise.
Is it just my mood, or did that sound a bit strange…?
As I looked at the goddess with questioning eyes, her gaze, previously on the ground, now fiercely met mine.
Her beautiful face flushed slightly red, and with mystical, radiant eyes, she spoke.
“From now on, could you call me ‘Mom’?”
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