163. I don't really know either.
163. I don't really know either.
I should have noticed when I stared blankly at the display shelf.
No, at the very least, I should have realized it when I just stood there staring blankly, unable to even open the milk carton.
Rhea.
The purified Queen of the Night that Hermes had handed over.
And just as Hermes had boasted and Agape had trembled with joy, she was clearly a virgin, pure, a pure body and─
"Nyam."
"....With your bare hands?"
─a total airhead.
...That might have been too harsh, so let me rephrase.
"Eumeul-eumeul"
"....A real man, no, a real woman?"
Her brain seemed to be incredibly innocent.
Since it was mealtime, I had handed out the rations, and she scooped up her rice with her bare hands, and tore at the side dishes with her bare hands too.
In my entire life, besides my grandmother, she was the first person I had ever seen tear apart beef jangjorim with their bare hands.
"Hurururuk"
'...Mai hadn't been like that either?'
The only saving grace was that she tilted the soup bowl to drink from it.
Soon, as if she had finished eating, she stared blankly at both hands──
"──Jjoook"
Rhea put her hands, covered in rice grains, sauce, and seaweed stems, into her mouth and sucked them clean.
Then, she finished by wiping her hands, now slick with saliva, on the hem of her garment (Agape).
Meanwhile, Agape seemed to like it, treating it as a reward, but I ignored that for now.
"Mai, explain."
"? How would I know?"
"You're in the same department."
"........."
Mai put down her carrot juice, which was now about half empty, and spoke.
"A creation is a being born from its creator."
Therefore, a being born from a Main God was inevitably influenced by that Main God.
In that sense, in Mai's case, since she had descended after inheriting a fair amount of common sense from Cronus, she hadn't committed the shocking atrocities that Rhea was displaying now.
"But... if, truly just in the worst-case scenario...."
What if she had descended having received nothing from her Main God?
A pure blank slate. Innocent and immaculate. Which conversely meant she would become an ignoramus who knew nothing.
"...Considering that, she seems to understand speech?"
"A 1-year-old baby also understands speech."
"Well, that's true."
I roughly understood what she was trying to say.
Wasn't the gist of it this?
"Hermes is a piece of trash."
At the very least, if he was going to make something, shouldn't it meet the bare minimum standards?
No matter what excuses he made about resources or whatever, this was going too far.
'Now I've suddenly got a kid to raise.'
My heart wanted to just pretend not to know, but her name was already engraved in my status window.
Even if I wanted to remove it, I probably couldn't, and just leaving her to starve to death or doing something like that weighed on my conscience.
Ultimately, whatever I said, it looked like we'd have to live together....
"...What are you doing?"
"?. What. Do you have more questions left?"
"No... that's not it."
Mai was waddling outside, holding Rhea in both arms.
I was curious why she was taking the girl who had become an ignoramus, just as she said, outside in her arms, so I asked, and Mai replied.
"Taking care of a little sister is an older sister's duty."
"Little Sister...?"
"The Heavenly Demon does not abandon comrades."
"........"
"Going to wash her hands for her."
"Aha."
What was I even thinking.
Mai just took Rhea and went to the bathroom.
"...It's strange."
Agape was like that, Squite was like that, and now even Mai was showing fondness toward Rhea.
'What could be the reason?'
Could it really be that she was stealing affection points as the God of Thieves?
...It was a joke I had made, but I was oddly afraid it might actually be true.
*****************
"There's nothing... particularly detected?"
Fortunately, after checking with [Power Chord], there was no trait on Rhea that mentally affected others.
It seemed they had simply taken a liking to her because she was a virgin, a little girl, and a new little sister.
Only then did Mai, as if reassured, pull Rhea into her arms and let out a sigh.
"There's no way my little sister would be carrying some shady, lewd thing. They say worrying too much is a sickness, you know."
"....Are you pretending you're not one?"
If we're talking about that, you know you were the very first one to backstab me, right?
When I glared at Mai with narrowed eyes, she shook her head.
"Mai was the second. The first one is that one over there."
".....Well, I guess so."
Mai pointed at Squite, who had become a pillow.
Technically speaking, Squite had swindled me first.
After that, I had worked hard on my own and trusted only Agape completely, but now even that had become ambiguous.
"Why are every single one of them out of their minds...."
When I sighed at my situation, which I was beginning to feel acutely, Agape soon trembled with a shudder.
─Uwoong.... U-uuwoong!
"'Because she's a virgin, it's not embarrassing!'... it says."
"Don't translate."
I said I didn't want to know about your perverted old man tendencies.
...
..
.
"......Chrono."
"Finally awake?"
Around the time we returned to the infirmary from the cafeteria,
Minerva, who had been sleeping all this while, finally lifted her body and turned to look at me.
"Father... Dad,..."
"Dad? What about your dad──Ah..."
Come to think of it,
last night, I had killed the guild master.
After learning he was connected to the Hypnosis App, I shot him dead without a moment's hesitation.
"....You're not okay, are you."
".........."
Her biological father had died.
No matter how much she hated him, no matter how much she despised him, despite that, her own kin had died.
It would probably be hard for her to endure with a sober mind.
"Wait a moment."
I approached Minerva's side and reached for Agape──but no, Agape was currently serving as Rhea's clothing.
If I pulled Agape out as is, Rhea would instantly be in her natural-born state, not wearing a single thread.
".........."
"...Chrono..?"
Ultimately, unable to do this or that, I had no choice but to use my last resort.
To be honest, I wasn't sure if this would work, but....
"Ah.....!"
I held Minerva in my arms.
"It's okay."
".....Okay..."
I held her in my arms, placed my hand on her back, and patted her.
"Everything will be okay. Even if it's not okay, I'll make it okay, so don't worry."
".....Chrono..."
Minerva buried her face in my chest.
Soon, Minerva whispered into my ear, asking.
"I... still haven't told you what happened to Dad."
"............"
Ah.
"Was it... Chrono who did it?"
"............."
Minerva's question.
I could make excuses if I wanted to.
Right now, I could say that with all the karma the guild master had accumulated, wasn't it possible someone else had killed him?
"That's right."
"........."
But I didn't.
I didn't make excuses.
Because the moment I made an excuse, it was the same as deceiving Minerva.
And above all else──because I couldn't endure it.
"...I was hoping you'd say it wasn't you."
"Sorry."
Because I couldn't handle it.
Because I couldn't endure it.
Because I didn't have the confidence to become her father's murderer and live on shamelessly, pretending nothing was wrong.
While holding Minerva in my arms, I calmly waited for the words that would be directed at me.
"Did Father... did Dad, commit a sin worthy of death?"
"At least, from what I saw."
"May I hear what kind of sin he committed?"
".........."
I could tell her.
I could let her know.
But would knowing really do her any good?
Putting strength into the arms that held Minerva, I told her.
"There are times in the world when it's better not to know."
"If."
...If I didn't know my father's sins here.
"I might end up hating Chrono."
"........."
A sentence that was too ambiguous to be called a threat.
Following that, Minerva spoke.
"But, I will continue to like Chrono. I will love him. Because──now, the only thing left for me, is Chrono."
".....Minerva."
"I will be disappointed looking at Chrono, I will like him looking at Chrono, I will hate him looking at Chrono, I will love him looking at Chrono."
".........."
A jumbled mess.
A complete muddle.
Yet, words that struck my heart all the more deeply.
"Every single day will be painful."
"But I will absolutely never let it show to Chrono."
"Even if I soak my pillow every night, even if I become sad every morning looking at Chrono,"
"I will always smile in front of Chrono."
".....Haaa."
So, what was it that she wanted to say?
I gently pushed Minerva away from my arms and looked at her face.
"....I don't really know, myself."
"..........."
A state half-broken.
Perhaps, no, definitely──Minerva felt guilt.
Her father's death.
My actions.
And the starting point of all this──was Minerva's revelation.
That was why Minerva was smiling.
Because she liked me, because she loved me, because she never wanted to show me an unsightly appearance.
That was why Minerva was crying.
Because she resented me, because she was angry at herself, because, more than anything, she couldn't accept the entirety of the situation up to now.
"Chrono, please answer me."
That was why.
Minerva asked me.
"What... should I do from now on...?"
"............."
If,
if I told Minerva to become a 'slave' here, Minerva would do so.
If I demanded her to become my 'wife', if I told her to forget everything and just live as a 'lover',
Minerva would 'pretend to forget' everything as if nothing had ever happened and live by my side.
How could I be so sure?
Among the events related to the corruption of the Athena Guild, there were a few Minerva Bad End branching points.
And those situations were almost identical to now.
That was how I knew. That this point was the most important moment for Minerva.
So then, if I thought of the safest, 'verified choice'...
'In the original,'
in the original work, the Protagonist,
toward Minerva, told her to forget everything and become his woman.
Told her to stop being bound by the past and start a new day together.
At this, Minerva smiled and settled into the Protagonist's arms, and that was the only 'Bad End avoidance choice' at that branching point.
So, if I, too, told Minerva to forget everything and start anew, that would at least be the lesser of the worst evils.
"Minerva."
So, I called out to Minerva and spoke.
"Let's kiss."
"Yes...?"
As an aside,
".........?"
"This area ahead is off-limits for little kids. A good little sister has to listen to her older sister and wait patiently."
"............."
In front of the infirmary door.
Rhea stared blankly at the door, at the place where the two people beyond would be.
"............."
A strange pull. A sensation that, for some reason, kept drawing her attention.
Instinctively, a feeling rose within Rhea that she had to go 'over there', that she had to see 'that thing'.
"....Little Sister. A good little sister listens to her older sister──euh, eo-ah?"
"..........."
Mai reached out to block her, but her two hands passed right through Rhea's body, as if grasping a mirage.
As she pulled her hands back in bewilderment, Rhea soon 'passed through' the door just as it was and entered inside.
"Little Sister...?"
Mai was left alone.
Agape and Squite were left lying on the floor.
This meant only one thing.
"....It's over."
That thing
just walked in stark naked.