196. The only way to escape.
196. The only way to escape.
"N...no way? That's such... nonsense..."
At first, she denied it.
"It's just, I did think about wanting to have your child, but that kind of..."
Later, she took a step back,
"Alright, shall we go write a new history together, Hero?"
"???"
It wasn't acceptance, but a counter-proposal.
Indeed, the title of a Greek Main God wasn't something just anyone could earn.
Her mental recovery speed was beyond human, a truly Main God-like quality.
'But her madness is also Main God-level.'
Still, a placenta is really too much, a placenta.
"Ahem! Hm! Hm! Oh, that reminds me, I should call Mom!"
She went off to call Mama Theia, pretending nothing happened.
Since the misunderstanding seemed to have been cleared up one way or another, I was finally able to ask Hestia the question.
"The regressions. Please tell me how to escape from here."
"Wait a moment before that. May I have the 'protection' I gave you back?"
I still didn't know what had happened on that 'yesterday that was today,' you see.
Hestia placed her hand on my chest and began drawing something out.
"Huuuung..... Good."
A gentle orange flame blossomed at the center of my chest.
As it slowly climbed up Hestia's hand and spread through her body, Hestia smacked her lips and nodded.
"This feeling, in this way.... It was a gamble, but I'm glad it worked."
Had her memories returned?
Hestia stopped using flowery language and spoke to me directly.
"You want to escape from this place, right?"
There were two methods.
One was a method where everyone would be happy, but it required a bit of a detour.
The other was a method where, well, if Mom just gave up one thing, it could be finished easily.
"Which one do you want?"
"".........""
Mama Theia and I locked eyes.
Theia hesitated, then asked about the choice regarding herself first.
"What do I... have to give up?"
"You just have to give up your morals!"
"....???"
What was she saying? Theia looked puzzled.
Hestia, asking if she had already forgotten, spoke toward Theia.
"This world was created for one single purpose. No, it wasn't exactly created, but... anyway, it's a similar context, right?"
"If you say... one purpose... don't tell me."
The answer came to me immediately upon hearing Hestia's words.
The reason for the regressions. The purpose of the regressions.
"It ends when Mom embraces our Hero! Regression over! See, simple, isn't it?"
".........."
"Ahh, Hero, don't look at me like that. Our Hero is feeling incredibly troubled right now too? It's not like you wanted to come here in the first place."
"But....."
Theia's expression gradually rotted more and more.
Facing that gaze where all trust and favor were being chipped away, Hestia denied it and said.
"If it were really me who had made Hero for 'that purpose,' do you think I would have stayed still?"
"....Now that you mention it..."
"I am always Mom's lovely daughter!"
".....Haaaah. Fine. If you say so, what can Mom do about it."
Theia was at a loss for words and hung her head.
Hestia looked at me, her eyes still curved into that playful grin.
"Now, then, you must be very curious about the remaining second method. Right?"
"..........."
I straightened my posture.
"The second method. A way where everyone can be happy, but our Hero might have it a bit tougher....."
Her eyes were cast low.
Her voice was serious.
What kind of trial in the world awaited me?
I strained every nerve, waiting for Hestia's words....
"It's to reach 'Time' enlightenment through heartfelt baby-making mating with me!"
".....Huh?"
I almost doubted my ears.
*********************
This world was regressing.
But strictly speaking, it was not a 'regression.'
True regression was when a change in the past influenced the future.
But this world, to put it simply, was like a 'edited video tape.'
In terms kids these days would use, like a 'streamer donation clip' perhaps?
If you viewed the world as a live broadcast, the current world was a rebroadcast and clip world.
No matter how much the past changed, it did not affect the future.
Therefore, it was not a regression. It was just endlessly circulating within an already elapsed past.
"Did you think regression was easy in the first place? A small flap of a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the earth, you know?"
Thus, grand things like regression could not be done.
The mad act of reversing the world's time could not be done.
"But.... replaying 'time that has already flowed' on top of 'flowing time' would be a relatively easy task, wouldn't it?"
Just like replaying a donation clip by sponsoring it on a live broadcast, compared to 'regression,' it became a level of 'something that isn't impossible' to do.
And within this 'time that has already flowed,' overlapping 'two people's time' and repeating it as if it were a regression—that was the current situation.
Right.
I nodded and said.
"I didn't understand a thing!"
"It's fine. Because if you have heartfelt sex with me every day, you'll be able to achieve enlightenment!"
"Why does the story keep going that way, I'm asking you!"
"Don't worry. The first time is hard, the second time is easy?"
Just look at our youngest as an example.
Wasn't she a bit reluctant at first, but later turned into a Greek-made sex machine?
"Isn't that analogy a bit too extreme...."
"But it's not like I'm saying something completely untrue."
Hestia told me to calm down and continued.
"Right now, this world is ultimately composed of the 'power' Hero holds, composed of 'Time'. So if Hero simply wills it, you can stop it at any time."
"I am currently wishing for it very much."
To quit this damn regression and move on to tomorrow.
However, Hestia shook her head, saying it wasn't that.
"The current Hero is a kind of figurehead president. You're lending the power, but control has completely passed over to 'that child.'"
"That's...."
Yesterday.
Meaning, not the 'yesterday that was today' but the 'yesterday' when Rhea offered me a handshake.
I felt as if something was pulled out from my body.
"To reclaim 'Time,' you must become aware of 'Time.' And for that, my 'protection' would be essential, wouldn't it?"
Since my protection expands the user's 'vessel.'
".......Ha."
At the moment, I was already struggling just to digest the power I had taken from the Ares Guild Master.
On top of that, to grow enough to perceive and use 'Time,' I needed a corresponding amount of 'something.'
And the only thing that could fulfill that right now was 'Hestia's Protection.'
"The thicker the connection, the more the quality of the protection improves. That's why I'm saying this."
To enhance the quality of the protection, the connection must be further solidified.
But in a world that regresses each time, that too was limited.
Therefore, to increase the connection in one leap── heartfelt baby-making sex was necessary... was what she said...
"What is this, some eroge game... no, I guess it isn't..."
I understood. However, I couldn't quite accept it.
This part would probably require more time.
"Now... with this, I've laid all my cards on the table. Is there anything else you want to ask?"
".....Right now, I have two questions."
One, what was happening to the time 'outside'?
"You don't have to worry about that part. Because 'my power' is also in a 'restricted' state."
"....Can't you answer in a bit more detail, like the process and conclusion?"
"Ah~~ Sorry, sorry! I'm so used to speaking in 'oracles' from long ago, you know."
In the past, I spoke in as much detail as possible, but they understood even when I talked in gibberish, so I just stopped.
"Honestly, explaining everything in detail is incredibly bothersome too? And then they have so many more questions, and the misinterpretations they work so hard to make...."
Hestia's eyes gradually grew darker.
Facing a gaze that would head straight past the far side of the abyss if it continued, I followed up with a question.
"So, what's happening with the time outside?"
"Ah, yeah! The time outside is 'stopped.'"
".....Huh?"
"To be precise, you can think of it as moving very, very sloooowly."
...Didn't you say moving time on a world-scale was incredibly difficult?
"Sorry, I'll correct myself. Right now, 'our time' is flowing incredibly fast."
".....Aah!"
Speed and time were relative.
By our standard, 'outside time' flowed very slowly.
But from the standard of the normal 'world,' 'our time' was flowing at a crazy speed.
"Wise. Seasoned too. It seems like the one who did this knew well how to produce the desired result while saving divine power and authority."
"...Then don't tell me..."
Wise and seasoned.
Someone who knew well how to use the authority called 'Time.'
If it were such a person.
"It's not Cronus."
"....No way..."
No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like something that bastard Cronus did, right?
As I stared at Hestia wondering what she meant, she shrugged her shoulders and answered.
"Because Cronus has already been stripped of his position as a Main God."
".....Excuse me?"
"Congratulations on becoming the next Main God, our Hero!"
"....Eeek...?"
Was it rather common for a human to become a god?
Like that 'Jesus' over there, or 'Buddha' too.
Right here in our domain, there was 'Heracles' as well.
"To be precise, it's closer to 'treated as a god' rather than being an actual god, but anyway, the name value in the mortal realm is similar, and what you do is pretty much the same!"
"............"
This was, a bit hard to keep up with.
As I stared blankly at Hestia, she asked me again as if wondering if I really hadn't known.
"The fact that you've become younger right now is all 'preparation to become a god,' you know?"
".....Wait a moment. No matter what, isn't that too sudden?"
In the first place, if Cronus had already stepped down from his position as a Main God, I should have grown younger much earlier.
Or had Cronus stepped down from his position as a Main God at the exact, precise moment I grew younger?
Even calling it a coincidence, that was such an absurd miracle....
"You 'Advented,' didn't you?"
"..........."
...There was no way it could have happened.
Just, should I say it's reaping what one sowed, if we were to pick at it.
"Cronus came down from being a Main God, and the one who inherited his power Advented? It's no different from announcing yourself as the next successor with an initiation ceremony."
"...Ah."
I felt dizzy.
Quite a lot dizzy.
Faced with the continuous, suffocating, and shocking story, I downed my coffee in one gulp.
I leaned back in my chair just like that and let out a deep breath.
"You don't need to think so hard about it, Hero."
Amidst all this, Hestia came up to my side, grinning, and said.
"Right now, all you have to focus on is deepening your connection with me!"
".....Ffffuck...!"
I should have just not listened.
As a side note.
"Our Hero, shall we go to a love hotel together today? I'm so curious about what they sell there!"
"Please just.... get away from me.... get away, you person(?).....!"
".....Tia..."
Theia watched the two people(?)'s appearance.
"How did our daughter turn out like that...."
Where had our gentle and kind Hestia gone,
and here she was seducing a man with such a promiscuous and frivolous appearance.
'They say a woman is defined by the man she meets.'
Theia quietly shot Chrono a sidelong glare.
"Don't worry! It'll all be over by the time you just look at the dust on the ceiling!"
"Gyaaaaak! This woman actually bit me!"
"......?"
Tia kept approaching and the man kept refusing.
'....Could it be.'
At the thought that Tia herself might have actually been that kind of kid from the start, Theia quietly covered her face with both hands.