68. Pegasus Appears
68. Pegasus Appears
'.........?'
A dark space
I heard a loud, buzzing noise.
[No, Hermes! Why did you drag a sick child here like this!]
[You told me to bring him quickly... Ah, ow! Why are you hitting me! I rushed to go get him too!]
[Ugh, I can't even die in peace, seriously!]
A voice I had never heard before—no, that wasn't right.
Somehow, familiar voices.
Blurry, swirling shapes of people I could barely make out through my hazy eyes.
[Hup! A wound like this will heal if you just put some spit on it!]
[...No, right? Surely you're not actually going to put spit on it?]
[? Well, is there anything else for it?]
[..........]
Ah, that red hair.
Hair that came down just slightly past the waist.
[.......Has she gone past muscle-brain and just become pure muscle now?]
[Whhhaaat?!! I am muscle itself?!!]
[I never said it quite like that...]
[Hmph... hmph. Even if you suddenly compliment me, there will never be a day I look favorably upon you!]
[Ah, my head.]
"Ma...rs...?"
She resembled Mars in a peculiar way.
I still couldn't see well, so I didn't know for sure, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was indeed Mars.
[...You, have you awoken?]
"Mar....s....."
It was Mars.
That voice, that manner of speech.
No matter where I looked, it was Mars herself.
"Heu....heuheut...."
[Suddenly laughing, are you?]
I didn't know what was going on, but it was all good.
I smiled earnestly toward Mars and spoke.
"Tha....nk, yo...u....!"
[............]
Thank you for the talisman.
And, as I thought.
These words I absolutely had to say to her.
"I....love you!... heeiii....."
[..........Hmph.]
Mars made a strange sound upon hearing my words.
[Ares, do not think any further on that.]
[Ah, what are you interfering for now?]
[The other party is a human and a male. Surely you haven't suddenly felt the proclivities of homosexuality upon you?]
[What are you talking about? Are you crazy?]
Two people exchanging words back and forth.
Violet-colored hair.
A chest comparable to Mars.
'Isn't that... Minerva?'
Why was she here, too?
As I stared blankly at the two of them,
[How can a man embrace another man?]
[Sigh... At least you have some reason left, thank good——]
[——It's just that I'm lucky you're a 'woman' right now.]
[.............]
Minerva shut her mouth.
Presently, Mars stomped over to me and asked.
[You bastard, do you want to hold me?]
"....Yeah.."
[Once should be enough, yeah?]
".........."
No.
Rather than once....
"Until I die....."
[Huh?]
"Until you... get pregnant....!"
[......What nerve. What a gutsy bastard.]
Mars grinned and pressed her finger firmly against my forehead as she spoke.
[To claim you'll impregnate a god... If you were not a warrior who had achieved a great feat, your head would have burst in my hands right this instant.]
But, well.
A warrior who had established merit deserved a reward fitting for it.
"Oh.....!"
A shivery sensation.
Soon, Mars climbed on top of my body and said.
[I'll make this an unforgettable night for yo——Slaaap!——Aaaahhhkk!!!]
[You! You! How is it that every time you're out of my sight, you end up like this!]
But wait, she looked like Yuno—no, it was definitely Yuno.
She had changed a bit combatively, but she was earnestly slapping Mars on the back and shouting.
A girl crush? She changed up her image rather intensely.
Did she go through a brutal puberty?
[Ah, Mother! What did I do wrong again!]
[You really are... First, you should be thinking about saving the child, do you want to jump a dying kid?! And you, born a male god, turning into a woman to do it! Even your sex-crazed father never spread his legs for others after becoming a woman!]
[How can you be sure of that?]
[....No?]
[.............]
'This is funny.'
It felt like watching some sitcom.
As I chuckled to myself internally, the clicking sound of high heels echoed on the floor.
[You are all loud, so silence yourselves. Have not all that you desired been accomplished?]
"Uh........?"
That.
That fucking bitch, that bastard.
[Chrono. My child. Once you sought to reject me, but Ultimately, you overcame the trial 'I' bestowed upon you well.]
Though the process was not smooth, you ultimately achieved what 'I' intended for you.
[I shall test you no more, so do not put me to the test either.]
'.........??'
Was I hearing this correctly with my own ears right now?
For a moment, I wanted to slap her, trial or god or whatever.
I was half-dead anyway, what was there to fear?
I squirmed, forcing strength into my body to turn myself toward Cronus.
Slice.
[I shall keep my promise. This is my blood and my flesh. I bestow upon you a companion who shall remain by your side.]
Cronus sliced the tip of her fingernail, drawing blood.
Soon, a small pool of blood on the floor began to bubble, and a small white horse with white wings burst out.
[Do not worry about your wounds either. As my divine authority descends upon you, all wounds shall simply become 'nonexistent' before me.]
Therefore, my child. My apostle.
[At all times, worship me.]
Revere me.
Fanatically believe in me.
[If you do, salvation shall dwell within you.]
".........Ah."
I'd heard this somewhere many times before.
What was it?
Where had I heard it...
...Ah, right. That thing.
"Shincheonji..."
[Shincheonji. A new heaven and earth. It is quite a good meaning.]
"A cu-lt..."
[....................]
"A dogshit cultist bastard...! All you did was sip coffee..."
Saying you're interested.
Saying I'm likable.
But why does it slide over into the direction that just reeks of a cult...
[A cu-...Pft!]
[Cultist... Ahem!]
[........Hooooo...]
[Is this the result of your usual conduct?]
[......Get lost.]
Cronus trembled with rage.
Then, stomping her foot once loudly,
[Everyone.]
[Every single one of you, get looooost!!!]
....
..
.
——Throb.
"Guh!... Ugh... Uugh...?"
Pain.
Agony.
In an instant, I grimaced as the pain washed over me.
"...Uhng?"
My reason slowly returned.
At the same time, my body began to feel heavy.
No, my body had always been heavy.
I just hadn't realized it until now.
"Heumi..."
With the returning pain, my consciousness cleared.
The moment I tried to muster strength to sit up, it hurt, and Ultimately, I could only barely turn my eyes to assess my condition.
"A cast is a given, but... is there not a single spot on my arms or legs that's fine?"
Both arms, both legs, all wrapped in casts.
Thanks to that, I couldn't even dream of bending anything.
Ultimately, as I lay still on the bed and stared at the ceiling, my heart slowly began to calm down.
"So, I lived..."
Haaaaaaah.
A long-drawn sigh.
At the same time, a certain level of leisure arose, and my field of vision widened enough to look around.
"This place is... obviously a hospital room."
Surprisingly, it wasn't the infirmary.
Come to think of it, these weren't the kind of wounds that could be dealt with in the infirmary.
Anyway, the room was spacious, I could see a refrigerator, and there was a TV right in front of me; it was clearly a hospital room that looked nice in many ways.
'They must have spent quite a bit of money.'
I got bored just lying still, so I reached my hand out toward the remote I saw nearby.
"...Ah, shit."
But my hand was injured.
Not just my hand, my whole arm was in a cast.
Thanks to that, my will to extend my arm was cut off at the shoulder joint.
"Heuoooo...!"
Why are you doing this to me, really.
If I didn't have it, I'd rather not have it at all.
Having it so close but out of reach was pissing me off.
"Life, seriously."
I got angry.
Getting angry then made me annoyed.
After the annoyance came sadness and a sense of injustice.
And after that, ugh, ah, shit, really!
"Why am I crying, you crazy bastard..."
It wasn't really something to cry about, but suddenly I started to feel endlessly, deeply sorrowful.
Thick tears, like chicken droppings, began to drip down from the corners of my eyes.
"Guk... eup... heuuuuu....!"
Why am I crying...
Why am I crying, you crazy bastard...
'Is there something wrong with the medicine?'
Was it the IV drip stuck in my wrist?
Or was it just because I'd been through so much?
The tears, once they burst out, flowed incessantly and began to soak the pillow deeply.
"Kuuuuh... you bitch... is it some kind of joke that I'm hungry on top of this...!"
I was hungry.
It was miserable.
I couldn't watch TV.
It was miserable.
"...Shit."
I wanted sex and couldn't.
It was miserable.
The world was miserable.
Life was miserable.
"Heueooooo..."
Stretched out like a half-dead corpse.
While I continued to sniffle and wring out tears like that,
".......Uh?"
"........."
On the visitor's chair,
out of nowhere, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl.
Without a word, she gazed at me, and the girl asked.
"Papa?"
"No."
I have never had a daughter like you.
"Master?"
"No."
I'm not participating in a Holy Grail War either.
"Owner?"
"Are you trying to socially murder me?"
I'm sorry, but that particular proclivity—I probably do have it, but at least I'm not rotten enough to harbor it for a young child like you.
"Big Brother?"
"Let's settle on that one."
A dramatic resolution.
The blonde, blue-eyed girl approached me and spoke.
"Big Brother. I love you."
"........?"
"I love you."
"............."
A dry, monotone speech style.
A flat voice, as if spat out by a machine.
She soon gently hugged my head, and then toward my lips——Hey, no, not that!
"No!"
"....??"
She tilted her head.
As if to wonder why I was refusing.
Why or whatever, who are you and why are you doing this to me?
"Did you by chance escape from a mental hospital?"
"Uung——from over there."
"...You came from the upper floor?"
The girl pointed her finger at the ceiling.
I guess roughly, the upper floor might have a ward for mental patients.
'At such a young age, that kind of...'
I never thought I'd actually see a mentally retarded child in real life.
Indeed, her appearance of having a few screws loose was striking, to the point that it seemed like something right out of a bizarre manga.
"What's it. Don't do anything and just sit still. Then a nurse will come, right? Then you can ask her to take you with her, and it'll be fine."
".......Uum."
Having listened to all my words, the girl quietly clasped her hands and spoke.
"Cronus."
"...Huh?"
Cronus?
Just as I was about to ask why that person was showing up here—
[Summoned Creature: Pegasus][Rank: C (EX)]
-A white horse made from the main god's blood and flesh. Can cross over time.
-Its power is proportional to the master's capacity.
-It is the price and reward for a promise, and compensation is always fair.
-Trait: Transformation
-Trait: Time Passing
-Trait: Wise Mother and Good Wife
-Trait: [Locked (Unlock at B Rank)]
-Trait: [Locked (Unlock at A Rank)]
-Trait: [Locked (Unlock at S Rank)]
-Trait: [Locked (Unlock at EX Rank)]
".....Ah."
A status window floated before my eyes.
I looked at the young girl in front of me with eyes full of disbelief.
"Trait. Wise Mother and Good Wife. Pregnancy control possible."
"......Wait."
An inexplicable sense of dread.
I tried to cover the girl's mouth, but moving at all was nearly impossible from the start.
Ultimately, the girl lifted her dress with both hands and asked.
"Wanna do it?"
"No."
So,
what,
what is this.
"Trait. Wise Mother and Good Wife. Humidity control possible."
"............."
I lay quietly on the bed.
This is probably all a dream.
I closed my eyes to escape reality.
As an aside.
"Trait Wise Mother and Good Wife. Sensing Big Brother's dissatisfaction. Strip dance for pleasu——"
"——Don't do it."
I almost got socially buried.
Please.
Don't do it.
Just stay right there.
Stay.....!