Landing on the Island! Returning Home After Nine Years!

"Uh... you..."

Moran stared at the newcomer, stunned for a moment.

Information from his previous life resurfaced in his mind, and he gradually recalled the identity of the person before him.

"Honestly, looking at me like I'm some stranger is so mean~! I'm Artemis~ Artemis. Ar-te-mis! Don't you look at me all the time whenever you raise your head?"

Artemis blinked cheerfully.

Like a young maiden newly wed and sent off from home.

Artemis, the Moon Goddess and one of Greece's Twelve Olympians, had descended here with her supreme authority.

"Why are you here?"

Moran did not doubt Artemis's identity.

What puzzled him was why she was here.

As one of the Olympian Twelve Deities, she had descended into the human world and was speaking to him in such an intimate tone.

"Eh? I thought you'd question my identity first. Could it be, darling, that your love ran so deep you recognized me at a glance? Ah—! Does love really have that kind of magic? How incredible!"

Artemis covered her cheeks shyly.

Moran did not know what to say for a moment.

Where was the bearing of one of the Twelve Olympians? She was clearly just an overly scatterbrained girl hopelessly in love.

"Hehe, the process doesn't matter! I specially created this form just to come and see you. In other words, you've caught a god's eye. Or rather~ I fell in love with you at first sight."

Artemis placed one hand over her chest.

She recalled how she had first cast her gaze upon Moran out of curiosity.

Yet, little by little, she had been drawn to him.

Every day, she had looked forward to seeing more of this man, admiring his bravery and gentleness.

It felt as though something had struck straight through her heart.

Now, she was no longer satisfied with merely watching from afar. She had even created a human body just to come see Moran.

"Huh? Are you serious?"

Moran felt as though his brain had been hit.

Having lived in Greece for over twenty years, he understood firsthand just how fervently the people around him worshipped the gods.

And now, one of those gods was pursuing him?

If word got out, it would probably scare a whole crowd of Moon Goddess worshippers to death.

Their own chief deity had actually fallen in love with a mere human.

For a god, that was practically an explicitly forbidden act—an offense as vile as falling from grace.

"I am, okay! What else could I do?

Do you know how long I've waited for this day, with you looking at me like that every night? It was love at first sight!"

"That's a bit..."

Moran understood what Artemis meant.

Whenever he had free time at night in the past, he would gaze at the sea and watch the moon.

But he had not been looking at the Moon Goddess.

He had merely entrusted his longing for The Invisible Island to the full moon. Who would have thought that the Moon Goddess had truly been watching him?

"So from now on, whether in sickness or in health, you'll take responsibility for me, right?"

Artemis wore a sweet smile as though it were only natural.

She had never even considered that he might refuse.

How could anyone in the world reject a god's confession? Such a person simply could not exist. And he would naturally—

"Sorry, I can't answer you right now."

Moran sighed, exhausted.

His foremost task right now was returning to The Invisible Island.

Gods really were far too self-centered.

"Eh? How could this be..."

Artemis had not expected this.

She thought humans simply could not refuse a god.

That was how it should be. That was right.

But why had this man not accepted her joyfully? She had already told him how much she loved him.

"Then... do you hate me...?"

"Artemis, I can't respond to you right now. I need to help my family. So I have no time to think about anything else, even if you're confessing to me like this."

Moran truly had no mind to spare for anything else right now.

More than anyone, he worried for the safety of the Gorgon Sisters. Though Artemis's confession had taken him by surprise,

he did not actually dislike it.

It was simply not the right time for Moran to think about romance.

"Hmph, whatever. If you want to know, I can tell you. It's already too late for you to go there now. Medusa has already fallen into corruption. It's only a matter of time before she becomes Gorgon."

Artemis had always been watching him.

Driven by curiosity, she had even tried using her Machine God privileges to peer at The Invisible Island from the stratosphere beyond Earth.

There, she had seen the situation on The Invisible Island.

Of course, she had no intention of saving them.

This goddess only cared about him. She had no interest whatsoever in the Gorgon Sisters. She had only watched them because of him.

"Moran, there's nothing you can do anyway!

So why not stay with me? It'll be much easier that way. Gorgon is merely a forgotten goddess, someone destined to become a monster sooner or later.

All you need is me~!"

Artemis had always watched him.

She knew that the source driving him forward was his family, that the Gorgon Sisters had made him into a hero.

But they had also made him suffer all kinds of hardships.

Artemis, who loved him, could not bear to see that. She believed that freeing her beloved from suffering was the right thing to do.

In her eyes, the Gorgon Sisters were a calamity.

There was no need to save them at all.

"..."

Moran silently walked toward the ship about to sail into the open sea.

He already had his answer in his heart.

It was not an answer based on social ethics, but simply the feelings of a man.

Outside this simulation, he had been a failed Magus.

At the start of the simulation, he had merely been an orphan who had lost his parents and drifted at sea—an insignificant person.

But someone had picked up that lonely child.

But someone had praised him, saying, "You've already worked so hard."

Someone had told him that they only needed to live together on the island, that he did not need to bear any other burdens.

"I'll keep anyone who comes to bother you away. Hehe, Moran, I'm your sister too."

"Big sisters are supposed to protect their little brothers, right?"

A beautiful, longed-for figure remained in his mind.

Even though she knew it was all just a lie, that she would sooner or later become a monster through slaughter.

Even he could see through that beautiful, illusory lie.

Yet, he still loved it beyond measure.

Now, he had people more important than himself.

At this moment, the Gorgon Sisters were everything he wanted to protect. Nothing was more real than that.

As for Artemis's words,

there was only one answer Moran could give at this moment.

"Artemis, I can't accept you."

P.S.: Ta Miao was still on the way and had no idea his goddess had already beaten him home. Tragic.

I saw the flowers and monthly passes everyone sent in. Another two thousand flowers! My liver is starting to ache. I'll quickly post two extra chapters today!

Landing on the Island! Returning Home After Nine Years! Please Bookmark! Please Send Monthly Passes!

Moran did not turn back. He was utterly cold.

Artemis's sweet smile gradually faded.

Once again, she had been rejected without mercy.

Something like this had never happened before. Shouldn't humans be delighted by a god's love?

Why? Why? Why?

I clearly love him so much?

Not even a Machine God's computational core could calculate it. The variables of emotion were an unknown field she had never explored.

Before she had experienced this feeling,

she had merely been a Machine God armament.

The random god fleet had traveled through the universe for an unknown length of time before descending upon Earth and becoming gods. Yet even then, she had never felt that fluttering sensation from humans.

She had thought it would always be that way.

Until she began watching this man.

For the first time since her birth, she had felt emotion. In an instant, everything in the world had seemed so lovely.

For the first time, she had felt grateful to her creator.

Grateful that they had created her in another universe, allowing her the chance to encounter this feeling on this planet.

But in this instant, everything had reversed.

This man had denied her love.

The love that had brought her joy instantly turned into anger, and her goodwill turned into hatred.

Just as those emotions piled up to their limit,

the man she both loved and hated spoke.

"Artemis, I don't dislike you. It's just that a confession built on sacrificing my family is wrong from the very beginning. That's why I can't grant your wish. You said my family can't be saved, but even so, I have to try.

No matter what, I'm still a hero. I might betray anyone else, but I can never choose to betray myself."

Moran stepped onto the ship floating on the sea.

The small boat was enough to carry him across the waters.

Artemis said nothing as she listened. She merely found his words somewhat familiar and fell into thought.

The countless days and nights she had spent in the past