The Hero Diana (5)
I have no memory of how I returned to Paul's house after that, ate dinner, cleaned everything up, and crawled into bed. When I came to my senses, it was already morning.
What Paul had said to me earlier was exactly the same as what my father had told me in my childhood. Our dad liked blue for the same reason Paul did. That's why he gave me this blue string as a gift... Wait. If Paul says that, does that make him my dad?
Is this small, adorable creature sleeping so peacefully beside me really my dad?
Um...
I had wished for Dad to come back to life.
I wanted to atone to him.
I wanted to live together with him.
But not like this, living with a child version of my dad, right?
Aaaargh.
Wait a second.
Right now, Dad is completely young.
That means...
I could shape him entirely into my tastes?
And Dad would live his life obsessed with me!
Dad, obsessed with me!
Huh? But didn't Dad originally love me and always put me first? Is there even a need to change anything?
No, no no, no no no.
Hey, you idiot! What the hell are you thinking!
The father I missed so much, the one I love, has come back. I need to make him happy. Why am I only thinking about satisfying my own selfish desires!
That's right. Let's make Dad happy.
But then... what happens to my mom?
What happens to me in the future?
“Have you packed everything?”
“Yeah. This is enough. There's nothing else I want to bring anyway.”
Even at such a young age, Dad seemed to vaguely sense that his parents wouldn't be coming back. Maybe that's why he clung to me so tightly.
I made up my mind to grant every wish Dad had from now on and make him happy.
He wanted to become a free-spirited mercenary and go on adventures. He thought that if he became a mercenary and adventured around, he might be chosen as a hero.
But the Holy Sword is with me right now.
Huh?
What happens then? Does that mean the hero chosen by the gods won't appear?
This is all messed up!
Whatever, I don't care. If the Demon King shows up again, I'll just kill him myself.
The important thing is that Dad is by my side, right?
And so we wandered across the entire continent on adventures.
I taught Dad swordsmanship and made him stronger.
I even taught him the things a mercenary should know, even though I learned them from those rotten Blossom Mercenary Company bastards.
We traveled together like that for about three years.
And before I knew it, Dad had grown into a wonderful boy.
Then one day.
We were sitting in front of a campfire before setting up camp on the roadside.
“...Diana noona.”
“Hm? What's wrong?”
“Why do you treat me so well, noona?”
Huh? Out of nowhere?
“You're incredibly strong, noona. If you went to any country right now, they'd give you a high noble title and you could live in luxury for the rest of your life. So why are you traveling with someone like me, a kid with nothing? Why do you do such hard mercenary work with me?”
Um...
Now that I think about it, from Dad's perspective, I must seem really strange.
B-but how am I supposed to tell him that he's my dad! No matter how smart he is, he wouldn't believe something like that!
W-what should I do?
“W-well, you see...”
“Noona.”
Dad suddenly leaned in close, pushing his face right up to mine.
Too close!
My face flushed bright red, and I felt like I was burning up.
“I like you, noona. No, I love you. Do you... like me too, noona?”
He's confessing right here like this?
Dad...
“...Yeah. I like you a lot too, Paul.”
“Then...”
Paul pressed his lips against mine.
It was just a childish peck, lips bumping together, but Dad kissed me!
He used to do it a lot when I was little. I missed it so much.
“Noona, can't you be mine?”
Dad tilted his head and asked me.
Yes! Absolutely!
I nodded without even realizing it.
Paul suddenly started taking off his clothes.
Whoa!
Is he trying to do it with me right here?
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I never thought I'd have my first time today!
But if it's with Dad... it actually feels good? Wait, but doing it with Dad would be incest. Is that okay for me to do? Should I tell him the truth? If I do, I don't think he'll want to do it with me anymore. Let's just not say anything. Yeah. No, I'll tell him after it's all over. They say it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, right? I'll tell him the truth after it's done.
Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, haven't I gone without any skinship with Dad all this time we've been together? Don't I deserve some compensation?
That's what I was thinking when...
“Diana. Diana?”
Huh? Dad should be calling me noona, right? Why is he using my name? And why does his voice sound so deep? He went through puberty, but it wasn't like this...
When I opened my eyes, what I saw was...
It was the face of my father from my childhood.
The truth is, the reason Diana had the delusion of traveling back to her father's childhood was because I wanted to see a mix of lolibaba and reverse lolibaba dynamics.
So I created a delusion where Diana, missing her father, ends up time-traveling to her young father's past. That way, Diana would diligently raise her young father—that is, me. And I would fall in love with this incredibly beautiful and strong older sister figure named Diana who takes care of me.
After traveling together for several years, the two would fall in love with each other.
With the lust of puberty boiling over, I would confess to Diana there. And Diana, who loved her father—that is, me—wouldn't be able to refuse and would accept.
And then I would push Diana down right there... but that's as far as my delusion went before I stopped myself.
Diana is a precious creation born from my delusions.
No matter how connected we became, I couldn't bear to watch her lose her virginity.
But from the very beginning of the delusion, Diana's mother had to be Diana herself.
So I split Diana's personality into two.
One personality remained as is and had sexual relations with Paul—that is, me—and lived with him afterward. The daughter they made while living together was none other than Diana.
The other personality was sent leaping through time and placed into baby Diana.
This created a contradiction: why didn't mother Diana exist during Diana's childhood?
The milf Diana who had done everything with Paul died giving birth to Diana.
And her soul entered baby Diana.
In other words, the current young Diana's body contains two minds: milf Diana and virgin Diana.
However, milf Diana's mind is currently asleep. If milf Diana wakes up, her mind would no longer be that of a virgin. Well, she might wake up someday.
This is where the realism drops significantly. No matter how much of a delusion it is, suddenly having the hero go to the past and having her soul split apart goes against plausibility. It feels too contrived, doesn't it?
Therefore, I set it so that all of this happened because of the Demon King's curse.
The Demon King got screwed over so much anyway, so it makes sense, right? It's a delusion after all.
I could have done it with Dad! After waiting so long for that moment!
Why!
As if some god was playing a prank, I was sent straight back to my own childhood.
Actually, returning to my childhood had been my lifelong wish.
Not hurting Dad and making him happy from his childhood onward.
That had been my lifelong wish...
But still, at least let me do it with Dad once before sending me here!
It was such an important moment!
What is this?
“Diana, are you feeling sick? You've looked off since earlier.”
“N-no. I'm fine. I just suddenly remembered something important...”
Still, I had gone back to when I was completely young!
Even though the Holy Sword and my powerful body were gone, I could just train again and get chosen by the Holy Sword to become a hero once more.
If I killed those Blossom bastards and eliminated all the high-and-mighty people who caused Dad's death, I could live happily with him.
Alright.
From then on, I began my training.
Since all the sword techniques and training methods I had used remained in my head, I grew strong in the blink of an eye.
Even after becoming strong, I didn't leave Dad's side. I lived for him in order to make him happy. While living with Dad, on that day—the day we had been separated—I received that precious blue hair tie from him once again. Thank you, Dad. I'll treasure it. Because it's the precious item that connects you and me.
Then one day, the Demon King finally descended.
It was time.
When I heard that the Holy Sword had appeared, I asked Dad for permission to go to the imperial capital to claim it.
He didn't give me permission, of course. After all, his one and only daughter was saying she would go alone to the distant imperial capital where it was dangerous. There was no way a father who loved me so terribly would allow it.
Since it seemed like Dad wouldn't give permission no matter what, I left a letter on his desk and left the house.
Dad, your daughter is really strong. I can take on five Sword Masters even without the Holy Sword.
After leaving home like that, I arrived at the imperial capital and became the hero.
It's been a while, old friend.
How long has it been since I last held the Holy Sword?
Seeing it again after so long makes me so happy. The Holy Sword must be glad to see me too, because it's trembling.
Anyway, I joined the hero's party like that and showed the party members what I could do.
I was already a completed hero. I could defeat the Demon King right now!
After telling my companions about Dad, I tried to go pick him up.
But the empire said they would dispatch a knight order to bring Dad to me.
Wow. You really do need to succeed in life!
After waiting about a month, the knight order that had gone to bring Dad returned...
Why are they carrying a coffin?
No way......?
Dad. No. Why?
None of the knights in the order could meet my eyes.
Don't look at me like that. It's not true, right?
Tell me it's not!
And when they opened the lid of the coffin...
Inside was Dad's body, so horribly mangled that it was hard to look at. It could no longer even maintain a human shape...
Why......?