Chapter 497

"I see. So you're different from ordinary Magecraft. Is this an idea passed down in your family, Chitose?"

"Half of it is mine, and the other half is unique to Erice's mother."

"... Is that so? But your relationship is really too tense. It was alright before with the Demon King around, but now that he's gone, it's become even more tense. I told you it's better to resolve this sooner rather than later, otherwise it will be troublesome if something like this happens."

"That kind of thing doesn't matter, the main reason is actually--"

Upon hearing Lucius's words, the silver-haired Manazuru Chitose answered without turning her head.

"Utsumi Erice looks just like Manazuru Chitose."

"Oh, isn't that normal for grandparents and grandchildren in this regard?"

Lucius chimed in with a laugh, "There are examples of people who resemble their elders directly, bypassing their parents, so it's quite normal."

Upon hearing this, Chitose was standing in front of Lucius, blinked, her purple eyes reflecting the starry night sky, sparkling brightly.

... Actually, if it weren't for the accident during the Holy Grail War, Erice would be considered my daughter, not my granddaughter.

That being said, Chitose first met Erice when she was four years old, and only then did she realize this. This made Chitose touch her own and Erice's cheeks. Unchanging face shape, unchanging time, herself who had studied in the Lostbelt Sea, herself who had used the Preservation Gate.

... I see.

Let's go back to the present.

Today was a very eventful day for Erice.

A single day can be filled with both enjoyable battles and conversations that are easy to forget.

But in any case, it was at least a relatively good day.

Normally, she would follow the exercise schedule she and the Demon King had agreed upon before going to sleep, but because she was so sleepy, Erice only managed to finish a set of stretching exercises. She was too lazy to even turn on the dormitory light and simply collapsed onto the bed in the dark.

Then.

There was a knock on the door.

Is Alice? What are you doing here so late? The door wasn't locked, though...

Although she found it troublesome, Erice still lazily got up, turned on the light, and prepared to talk to Alice. However, she found that the person who came was not Alice, but the silver-haired young man named Novia. Therefore, she looked at the man standing by the window with a cold expression.

"... What are you doing here? I don't think Alice would have gotten the room wrong."

"There are clouds in the sky here, but there's hardly any moonlight, so it's pitch black all the way to the shore. Be careful not to fall."

I won't fall.

OK.

"Wait, you haven't answered my question yet! This isn't a place for you!"

What is this guy doing here? He's just an ordinary person with no fighting skills, and he and his Servant might become targets of my work in the Future. If he really intends to do something wrong, I'll probably kill him and Tiamat.

"I know."

Novia spoke, avoiding Erice.

From Erice's angle, you can't see what his expression is right now.

"It's still the same here; you can't see the sky."

I see. Are you a friend of Kuonji?

Actually, even if you go up to the roof, there's not much difference. The light pollution here is extremely severe, as the Demon King himself mentioned...

The thought of that name Erice feel very uncomfortable.

From the moment she was born, she suffered torment from Evil Spirit. The one who taught her how to compromise with those Evil Spirit was not Chitose or Lucius, but the departed Demon King... her Teacher.

What he taught Erice was not how to handle things, but how to compromise.

He also told Erice to learn to let go, that no one would come to save her, and that she had to save herself. He said that God did not intentionally impose pain on her in this unfair way, but gave her Wisdom so that even in this New Era, she could understand the pain of others.

Is the curse because I don't have the Holy Grail? Is the curse preventing me from having the Holy Grail?

The Demon King said that Erice only needed to forgive them and accept them; she had to become the biological parent of the Evil Spirit that erupted as Spirit Barrier.

Who could their parents be? The question of who the father and mother are is quite obvious, so it's not impossible...

Erice never imagined she would say such a thing in her heart. Even she thought it might just be an accident. But touching her own body temperature made her thoughts chaotic, as if the Demon King was inside her.

Therefore, Erice suddenly trembled slightly.

She wanted to cry, but couldn't. However, she could still express her distress now, unlike when she was four years old.

No, I can't show my weakness to outsiders, otherwise they'll think they can take advantage of me, and that's absolutely unacceptable.

So the Black-Haired Girl took a breath and looked at Novia coldly.

"I'm very sorry, but your face is not my type at all. Please move back to a radius of fifty meters from now on."

Erice didn't stop, and continued speaking.

"Look, this is a mirror, an extremely convenient everyday tool born in human civilization. I recommend you try it. Can you see it? Your face in the mirror looks like an extremely ugly Phantasmal Species. That's how I feel about your appearance. This is just my personal opinion."

That's a lie; Novia's face didn't look like that.

"Um, just one person?"

"In short, I don't want to get along with those ugly Phantasmal Species. Since you're Phantasmal Species, please go back to the wild and be careful. Goodbye forever, and please don't speak to me again."

Erice shook her head firmly. "To be honest, I don't like your type. Stay as far away from me as possible."

"I see..."

Novia touched her face. "You're right."

And so, Novia left the room, and Erice lay back down on the bed.

These words shouldn't be enough to hurt him, right? After all, there's a very cute Servant exudes a motherly aura. But even if they do hurt him, there's nothing he can do. This person seems to make him feel uneasy, and when people feel uneasy, they tend to develop feelings for others. No, this is absolutely forbidden.

To be honest, it's really annoying. The fact that I like someone who looks old but likes to run away is the biggest failure of my life.

In a sense, Erice at this moment, since she had always thought that the Demon King, who exuded a terrifying yet gentle power, must be an old man.

... If only I could bring him here again, to this room, to that darkness we both gazed up at.

Let him know how good it was for you to have been with him.

But it's completely gone now.

I made this mess of things myself.

And so, Erise, who had been lying in bed Erice, got up and went to the bedside alone to look at the dark sky. After looking at it for a while, she lay back down.

I slept without any dreams.

Chapter 513 Mother, I want to eat grilled squid!

"... There's a mother here too."

Novia and Tiamat followed the gentle slope of the elevated road in Akihabara toward the bustling area filled with commercial facilities.

On the artificial beach that appears and disappears between the buildings, the parasols held up by tourists swimming in the sea resemble colorful flowers blooming in a flowerbed. In the shallow sea, you can also see the colorful sails of surfboards.

"That's what Tiamat suddenly said," said the juvenile Tiamat.

She and Novia had been staying at the Kuonji family's house for several days, and she had come to understand that this was the era Novia had been referring to when she was looking for her, compared to the previous era. This was because the world's ecosystem had been completely destroyed, leaving no possibility of rebirth. In other words, it was time for her, as a mother, to shoulder her due responsibilities to her child.

"Mother? Is there Primordial Mother Goddess here, just like you, Tiamat?"

Novia shifted her gaze from her phone to Tiamat, who was resting her chin on her hand.

"Yes, although it's very faint, a mother's senses are very sharp..."

Tiamat straightened up slightly and placed her hands on her knees. "Long ago, in the Chaos, I was created. After the Planet's environment stabilized and the Ecosystem was established, the world was created—the so-called creation myth. After that, I was placed in the Imaginary Number Space as a useless object."

In a world where the ecosystem is established, Tiamat, which randomly assigns life forms, becomes an Obstruction in the process of life forms acquiring intelligence that aligns with the Planet.

"However, as far as I know, I'm quite special, Novia, because I haven't seen any other creator Goddess in the Imaginary Number Space. I've always been all alone there. I also know that I'm only the mother of Mesopotamia, not the mother of other regions. But even so, I feel that everyone in the world is my child, whether they are gods, humans, or Phantasmal Species."

"That's why I envy the mothers here; they can be with everyone."

Tiamat leaned forward, glancing at Novia, who was staring thoughtfully, before continuing, "If you're looking for her, she's looking after all the children here. She's always by their side, but... she uses a very strange method, which I can't figure out even, but she's not far from here."

There are many Creator God, or rather, many Creation Myth around the world, but there are very few about the existence of Primordial Mother Goddess.

Tiamat is revered as the Primordial Mother Goddess not only because she was the first Mother Goddess of Mesopotamia and the Mother Goddess who created all the gods, but also because her body created the Universe and all things, including the sun, moon, and stars. Her beloved's divinity and body created the human soul and humanity itself, hence the title of Primordial Mother Goddess.

In other regions, however, the creator goddess is practically nonexistent; if one had to name one, it would be the India Shaktism, which believes in the Great Goddess Shakti.

But in a sense, Shakti is Kali or Durga, who holds Authority all of India. Therefore, if she were here, Novia couldn't possibly not recognize her. Moreover, given Kali and Durga's personalities, they don't seem like the type to keep things bottled up. So what other Creator God could be female?

Basically, there aren't any more, unless they suddenly become female. Of course, for a creator-level god, changing gender is an easy thing.

However, this did not stump Novia. Excluding the Creator God who were both male and female, she continued to think about gods who were both male and female or whose gender was unknown.

If male and female were one, then Ometeotl, the Creator God of the Americas, would be one, but it's also normal for them to be the first Bacteria from the Universe.

Creator God whose gender is unknown...

Thinking it might be the Answer, Novia placed her hand on Tiamat's hair. "Impressive, Tiamat."

That leaves only the rather obscure and largely ignored Creator God Amenominaka Japan, Amanomichi. Since Tiamat said she's with everyone, does that mean she's the 'Holy Grail'? Is she with Mot? So, is that Erice's mother Izanami, was suppressed along with Tokyo?

If she truly is the Amenominaka, she does indeed possess such power.

Seeing Novia like this, Tiamat's eyes widened, and she felt genuinely happy, thinking that she was glad she could help Novia.

"Actually, I have many other strengths that deserve praise..."

Although Tiamat is now frowning and looking serious, it's clearly an act. She's obviously enjoying Novia's praise, which is actually a reminder of past events—

"I'm sorry, but if it's a child, it should be the offspring born from reproductive activities."

She heard him say this when he arrived.

"... Wait a minute, that's not right. Why would life be born on Planet that has no ability to nurture life and can only rely on external forces?"

He turned on some strange equipment and scanned the Sea of Chaos. "You must be Tiamat from Terra, right? The Planet-Breeding Ocean Package you ordered from the Universe Star Hospital Galaxy Branch has arrived. Please sign for it, and also show your Planet power to prove it's from the Planet itself."

He spoke in a way she couldn't understand at all, as if it were perfectly natural.

Even so, his words were so fresh that they gave her an incredible sense of warmth.

Although she would treat anyone with great intimacy in this situation, she didn't want to dwell on that.

"What? It wasn't that... But it doesn't matter, as long as my stuff gets delivered. Starting a business is always a hassle."

He sighed, "But, how should I put it, since we already have the foundation for creation, there's really no need to buy it, right?"

She still didn't quite understand, and stared intently at him.

Perhaps sensing something in her eyes, he said, "Really? You want to become a mother?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Okay, then I hope that next time you come, you will have become a mother as you wished."

And so, he rode off into Universe once more on that strange thing.

However, even when they met again, she still hadn't become a mother, since she didn't know how.

Thinking of this small incident from the past made Tiamat dance with delight, her long white sleeves billowing as she leaned against Novia's back, resting her head on his shoulder and pressing even closer.

"I am very powerful because I am the Origin Sea, and also a mother."

"... No need to say more, I know, and you were too close."

"Excuse me, is this level of patience not enough? I'll control myself."

Tiamat placed her hand on her heart. "But who are we going to see now?"

Novia brought Tiamat out for a reason; someone had invited him. It was Yama, who had come early that morning to report to Erice and Alice that the scene had been cleaned up. Yama recognized the silver-haired youth in front of him at a glance as none other than the India Aspected God Kavia!

Just as I expected, the five-year wait was definitely worth it!

Therefore, Yama, filled with such excitement, gripped Novia's hand tightly. If it weren't for the large number of people present, he probably would have knelt down on the spot.

In short, Novia came because she was invited by Yama.

The person I need to see is...

Yama is the son of Surya, the Sun God, and the brother of Vivasvat, the ancestor of humankind in India. Surya is the son of Brahma. The relationship between Kavia and the Three Aspects can be described as extremely close. Moreover, given the attitude of the India gods, they would be willing to say that he is Kavia's child.