122. I Pity You Who Doesn't Know Pure Love.
122. I Pity You Who Doesn't Know Pure Love.
"......."
A familiar ceiling.
I slowly raised my body and looked around.
"It has been a while, my child."
"....Cronus."
Cronus sat upon the divine throne.
The temple of Cronus.
With its characteristic gloom and desolation, even the dry, moistureless air.
I slowly rose from the floor and faced Cronus.
"Your head is held high."
"So what."
Got a problem?
Despite my defiant tone, Cronus showed no particular anger.
She simply nodded as if to say it was understandable.
"It is the fault of this one, so it cannot be helped."
"You're better at self-objectification than I thought?"
"How could one become the master of the heavens without at least that much?"
"Seeing as Zeus just snatched it all away from you, you seemed pretty bad at it."
".....If your intent is to unsettle me, I will praise you for it."
"Thanks for the praise."
"............."
Her gaze gradually soured.
I paid it no mind and kept looking at Cronus.
"Child, I have taken 5 minutes from your day. What do you think I shall use it for?"
"Fitting for the God of Time, you'll probably stretch 5 minutes into 50 minutes or maybe extend it to 5 days or something."
"....Do you believe this one would stoop to such a petty act?"
"You wouldn't?"
"It is true, but."
"No, what the..."
She was so composed that it actually flustered me.
Anyway, if that was her plan, too bad, Cronus.
"I still haven't used a single second of those 10 minutes, you know? If you try any tricks, I'll just block them and that'll be it."
"Ohoh... You intend to contend with me, the God of Time, by handling time itself."
"There's nothing I can't do."
It was, after all, an oath sworn upon the River Styx from the very start.
So wouldn't it be enough to just turn back those '5 minutes' exactly by the standards of the 'River Styx'?
I steeled my mind, ready to interfere with time at any moment.
"....This too is this one's lack of virtue."
Cronus let out a small sigh.
At the same time, she waved her hand at me and continued speaking.
"Even if you do not, this one can no longer interfere with you anyway. Yes. It is probably about time they arrived."
".....What?"
Just as I was about to ask what she meant—
──Tuuuung!!!
"Whoa...?!"
A thunderous crash as if something had exploded.
At the same time, the wall's space tore apart as though shattered, and beyond it, something like a small portal formed.
A portal beyond imagination.
And beyond it, with the sound of deliberate footsteps, a goddess entered.
"It has been a while. My child who received my blessing."
"Yuno... no, Hera?"
Hera.
She soon approached me, stepped before me, and placed herself between Cronus and me.
"How noisy and clamorous you are. Is a fondness for needless splendor truly the nature of a child?"
"And you, who walled yourself in with the sands of time and holed up—is that the nature of an old one, I wonder?"
"You do not yield a single word. I pity Zeus."
"At least it is far better than someone who lost their genitals and had no choice but to become a woman."
""...............""
A battle of nerves between gods.
Finally, when Cronus closed her eyes, Hera turned her gaze toward me.
"Chrono, I have been watching your affairs in the lower realm closely. You rescued Athena's child, didn't you? I am always rooting for your story, so full of pure love."
"Um....."
A holy smile.
Hera looked up at me with a gentle smile reminiscent of a mother.
But since the body she possessed was not Hera's but Yuno's...
'Yuno is the type who looks slim when dressed.'
You could say that even if I tried to avert my eyes, my gaze just kept drifting there.
"Hmm?.....Mm, ahem!"
"Ah, my apologies."
My gaze had been drawn without me realizing it.
Hera covered her cleavage with both hands and murmured.
"...My child will be happy, I suppose."
"Pardon?"
"It is nothing."
Hera trailed off.
What she did have to say to me was,
"At any rate, when will you take my child into your arms? You certainly do not seem to have any functional problems, and as for insisting on monogamy... well, that is definitely not the case."
"Kuh...!"
I-it's not?
I'm a one-woman sunflower, you know?
It just somehow flowed into this, and I had no intention of doing a harem or anything—now, I couldn't even be sure of that anymore.
'I know my own actions.'
As I silently shut my mouth, Hera stroked my head as if finding it adorable.
"As a man, as a husband, all you need to do is take responsibility. And from what I see, you are always doing well."
At the very least, you never treat 'sex' lightly.
And the fact that you always agonize over taking a woman into your arms proves it.
"Nghhh....."
"Huhut... cute. When Ares was young, she had exactly this same feeling...."
Hera even drifted into strange reminiscences of the past.
When I couldn't bear it any longer and took a step back, Hera smiled, finding even that cute.
"So... what exactly did you want to do so badly that you would stretch your lewd hand toward my child?"
"Do not be too wary. This one is also reflecting in many ways."
Cronus too rose from her seat and began to take steps toward me.
"Something that was 'natural' to me may not be 'natural' in the modern era."
"Absolute truths remain unchanged, but the throne of heaven has changed; thus, this too can be called the principle of time."
"But if this one, who is the principle of time, showed the laughable act of not following that principle, then reaching such a conclusion is also only natural."
"..........?"
Cronus rambled on.
To my ears, it felt like an English listening comprehension test.
By feel, closer to a mock exam than the TOEIC, I'd say.
I wondered what all that pointless drivel was that she was spinning out so long.
"Therefore, my child. My one and only, irreplaceable treasure."
I shall show you,
so see for yourself and realize.
"Whether I am a 'Main God' worthy of your devotion."
"Kht...!"
Soon, an inky, dark light began to fill the temple of Cronus.
Darkness. And light.
A bizarre spectacle where two elements that could never combine merged into one.
And just as the entire temple filled with a single darkness and even the distinction between up, down, left, and right was about to grow faint—
[Uranus! I, this day, shall forsake your villainy and be reborn as a new god!]
[You... foolish imbecile!]
".....Huh?"
A 4DX movie unfolded before my eyes.
***************
Cronus's plan was this.
Originally, humans were dependents born in a later era, not the era of the self.
Thus, they might fail to recognize one's dignity, one's divinity.
So if they did not know, let it be shown to them.
How great I am,
how tremendous a figure I am.
And This 'naturally arising sentiment' would inevitably create 'faith,' whether intended or not—
─Squeak!
[Kuh... Aaaaaaarrrgh!!!]
[I declare from this time forth, there is no longer a place for you in this heaven and earth!]
[[[[[Waaaaaah!!!!]]]]]
She drew upon time and let me experience the 'time' of that day.
To a human, it must have been an overwhelmingly spectacular sight.
A divine feat that one could not dare accept on any level.
Did her child truly understand what it meant for a mere human to experience this, even indirectly?
'Anyway, even if you wanted not to know, you couldn't.'
Because that was what 'divinity' was.
A miraculous myth from which one could not tear one's eyes away.
And the living witness of this myth was none other than me, Cronus.
Rather than spelling it out until her mouth hurt, how great an act it was to worship a self such as hers,
Cronus chose to show it with the eyes directly.
"Oh.....!"
"....Huhut."
The effect was excellent.
"But so, what does that matter?"
"....Huh?"
It was excellent only up to the point of being entertaining to watch.
A great divine feat. The scene of a myth.
Despite having directly experienced that time, a chilly expression.
If there was a difference from the start, it was that I was slightly more relaxed—but that was because Hera had arrived.
It was in no way a phenomenon caused by her.
So this,
this expression Chrono was showing right now...
"So... if that's all, can I leave now?"
".......What...."
Roughly, the expression of someone who had watched a mildly interesting 5-minute Neotube video.
With no particular sign of being moved by the divinity or anything at all.
Watching that expression, where a yawn seemed about to emerge from boredom,
"....You feel not a shred of faith?"
Just as Cronus felt it,
Chrono truly felt nothing.
'That was less impressive than I thought.'
If anything was flustering, it was only that Cronus's method was a 4DX movie viewing rather than brainwashing, restraint, or imprisonment.
There was absolutely nothing beyond that.
"Pfft... Pfft...!"
"What is so funny!"
In the midst of this, Hera, who had accurately grasped the situation, could not stop the laughter from leaking out.
No, I mean, honestly, it was like that, wasn't it?
"You said yourself the times have changed, and yet your actions are just the same as before.... Pfft...!"
".......No way!"
A thought that flashed by in an instant.
Cronus immediately glared at Hera.
"Heuh... So, did you think I would just stand by and watch you lay a hand on my child?"
"This... this impudent wench...!!!"
As if to confirm those words, Hera gave a smiling eye-whitened grin while holding back laughter.
Certainly, the divinity of a Main God could be resisted with the divinity of an equal Main God.
But—that was only under 'normal circumstances.'
'This place... this is my temple...!'
No matter how much a god was elevated to the ranks of a Main God, their power was bound to be halved once they stepped into one's own domain.
Yet despite that, to not be able to exert any influence at all—was that even possible?
No.
No.
This was not logically sound.
Then there must clearly be something—something she had failed to notice.
"It was, you."
"....Huh?"
Behind Chrono's back.
An existence that should not have been there.
An existence that must not be there.
And even if it did exist, it should have been solely in her own hands.
"A mere fragment dares... A mere, small piece of flesh dares...!"
The fragment of Squite absorbed the divinity approaching Chrono.
And the divinity it could not fully swallow, Pegasus's wings struck away and pushed back.
"Daring... Daring, a creation born to me treats me with contempt...!"
A rage boiling beyond its limits.
She turned her eyes toward Chrono and Hera to somehow vent this emotion, but—
Cronus grew even angrier at Hera's expression, which was not meant for mockery but truly holding back laughter.
Ultimately, she tried to reach out toward Chrono and Hera with an unbearable fury, but—
"—The oath upon the River Styx, you haven't already forgotten it, have you?"
"Kht... Uh... Uuuugh...!"
Even this failed.
Finally, as Hera took Chrono and slipped through the portal,
"Do not look down on pure love, on 'love'."
"......What?"
Just before closing the portal,
Hera spoke.
"Because Grandfather and you, Ultimately, ended up in that state because you lost 'love'."
"..........Ha!"
What kind of,
ridiculous,
absurd—
"Ha.....Haha!"
Now left completely empty, inside the temple,
"Ahahahahaha! Haha! Hahahahaha!!!"
Cronus laughed.
Laughed,
and laughed,
and laughed aloud.
"Ha............."
Silence.
And then following it—
"....Aaaaaaarrrrgh!!!!"
─Kuuuung!!!!
Cronus kicked the floor with all her might.
But that was the best she could do.
Just as the cloud of dust had billowed up and was settling, Cronus sat back on the divine throne and murmured quietly.
"What... what on earth...!"
What in the world was the problem...?
Meanwhile, incidentally,
in the case of Chrono, who passed through the portal with Hera,
"Come to think of it, this is your first time coming to my temple, isn't it?"
".....Wow."
A floor spotless without a single speck of dust.
Marble pillars without a single crack.
Countless servants positioned throughout the traditional temple of the Greek era.
"Now THIS is a temple."
It was on a completely different dimension from some dust pit.
Unintentionally, my faith toward Hera was rising.