78. There's a Line You Should Keep as a Human Being
78. There's a Line You Should Keep as a Human Being
[Ho... you certainly say some amusing things.]
My, my.
The moment Cronus finished speaking, I corrected him.
"I have never had a mother figure like you."
[....Your jest goes too far. Surely you haven't forgotten the grace I bestowed upon you?]
"Grace? Grrrrraaaaaace?????"
Wow.
Had the meaning of the word grace changed a lot these days or what?
I crossed my legs completely and stared at Cronus.
"Go on, spout whatever you want."
[....It seems you need a bit of punishment.]
Cronus reached out a hand toward me.
A dark ink-colored aura began to flicker at his fingertips, but──
[──I would appreciate it if you didn't do anything strange to my 'child'?]
[Hera....!]
Hera's intervention.
Ultimately, the interference was ignored and I remained unharmed.
'Heueung, Hera-mama!'
This is why monopoly systems don't work.
With a competitive system, the people at the bottom get to eat and live well.
Without even bothering to hide the twitching of my lips, I asked Cronus.
"You did something verrrry interesting, didn't you?"
A trait.
Wise Mother and Good Wife.
At first, I couldn't even grasp what on earth that 'trait' was supposed to be.
"Now I think I understand a bit. 'Aphrodite,' was it?"
Aphrodite's divinity.
In the myths, the goddess born from Cronus's severed flesh.
At the same time, a goddess well-known as the goddess of beauty, and──the heroine with the most violation scenes inside NTR Academy.
"Aphrodite, the divinity of the goddess of beauty....."
The reason she was packed full of nothing but violation scenes was simple.
"...It would be strange not to get drunk on it."
Aphrodite's divinity inevitably intoxicated men.
It made the body drunk, made the mind drunk.
A diabolically difficult heroine who, Ultimately, made a violation scene open whether you wanted it or not.
The point was, if I kept my sanity, it was actually a destruction of the original story.
[Did you not desire it? A beautiful 'woman' who would look only at you, love only you.]
"Well, I did desire it."
But I never knew the meaning would flow like this, fuck.
I asked Cronus.
"But what I'm asking is how that intention turned into a 'brainwashing device' imbued with 'Aphrodite's divinity'."
[I did no such thing as brainwashing. Would I ever stoop to such petty things?]
I merely bestowed the most 'beautiful woman' for my child.
[However, the fact that you became intoxicated by her beauty is simply because you took a liking to her.]
"......I see."
We couldn't communicate.
His very perspective was wrong from the start.
I let out a light sigh and asked Cronus.
"I'm asking just in case, Cronus."
Do you remember──the wish I made on the day we first met?
I stared quietly at Cronus.
Cronus slowly nodded and replied.
[You wanted a long and thin life, a peaceful life. And did you not say you wanted a fine woman by your side?]
"Yes. That's right. But I remember it didn't end there."
[.............]
I asked once again.
"Do you remember? What I wished for."
[...................]
"You don't remember."
[....Fine. Was that the problem?]
Cronus posed a counter-question to me.
[What did you wish from me? Whatever it is you desire, I shall bestow any and all of it upon you.]
".....Cronus."
I spoke.
I spoke to Cronus.
"What kind of existence am I, to you?"
[....You suddenly ask a strange question.]
"Please answer me."
Cronus.
What kind of existence am I to you?
To my question, Cronus answered.
[My child,]
[My apostle,]
[The one who carries my name.]
Cronus spoke with a deep smile.
[In this world, the one and only, my true child.]
".....Is that so."
How disgusting.
For the record, it wasn't Cronus I called disgusting.
'Even in all this, does it keep going?'
It was me.
I was what was disgusting.
My heart gradually retreating at Cronus's smile, at his voice.
At the same time, it was deeply moving to see my intelligence stat dropping off one by one.
"It really... seems like it is."
[That is so, my child.]
Cronus's smile began to deepen.
[Trust me.]
[Worship me.]
[Revere me, and also, be a fanatic for me.]
A soft voice echoing in my ears.
A beautiful voice burrowing through my eardrums and seeping into my heart.
[If you do so, salvation shall arrive for you.]
"....Cronus."
To this, I answered.
"I'm quitting the apostle position."
[..............]
A clear refusal.
There was no more swaying.
******************
[I refuse.]
Cronus spoke.
[In the first place, an apostle is appointed by a god.]
[Though I may take it back, an apostle cannot discard it.]
His gentle smile had become expressionless before I knew it.
No, now he stared at me with eyes quite full of fury.
[My child. Even now, I shall give you a chance to turn back from your error.]
"Cronus...... Ah fuck, this is really insane, you know?"
But that's that, and right now I was dying of frustration.
'I'm angry, but....'
I couldn't get angry.
I was annoyed, felt wronged, had this much to say piled up, but I couldn't speak.
The moment I tried to speak, it vanished.
Just the presence of the being before me made my will to resist vanish.
A sensation that made my head bow without me knowing, made me want to simply serve and revere him.
"Seuu, huuuuuh......"
I let out a light breath.
Stay calm. Pull yourself together.
I brought back my cool-headedness and spoke to Cronus right before me.
"I want to hold Cronus in my embrac──ah, fuck!"
Stop!
Stop it, you crazy bastard!
The feeling of sensing yourself becoming retarded in real-time.
I shook my head back and forth trying to snap to my senses, but perhaps because I was already considerably contaminated, my body kept growing hotter.
And then.
[Hoh...? Seeing me has made you go 'into heat'?]
"Bullshit."
[If that was why you were saying such things, there was no need to waste time....]
"Uh... uuht....!"
Cronus did not miss that opening.
Cronus slowly approached the mirror.
Flashing his voluptuous chest, the valley between his breasts, he leaned his body against the mirror.
[Incest in mythology differs from human standards. It is not filthy; rather, as it deepens divinity, it is a 'sacred act.']
My child.
My child, who bears my name.
[Come into my embrace. I grant you the right to take me. Merely, worship only me entirely.]
".........Ah."
This is a bit dangerous.
[It seems, from the looks of it, preparations are already complete.]
"Uh... uuuhp....!"
I mustn't do this.
I mustn't do this, but...
[Come to this place. My child. To the bosom where you were born in the beginning.]
"..........Kk..."
My pants swelled up painfully tight.
My breath grew short, and my mind grew hazy.
It was hard to think.
It was a bother to maintain my sanity.
Just like this, letting my mind go, simply nestling into the bosom to take rest──as if that could happen!
"Kki, eeeeeek!!!"
Thud!
Thuud!
I slammed my head against the wall.
The pain rang through my skull.
At the same time, my vision flickered black and white.
"Uh... uwoo, yahh......"
Drip, drdrdrip....
Scarlet liquid trickled down from my forehead.
At the same time, the sound of someone rushing noisily outside the door echoed out.
"Chrono! What was that sound just n──hieeek....?!"
"Ur...."
Bursting in, Ur opened the door and entered.
Perhaps the sound of head-butting was quite loud, as she hurriedly opened the door and came inside, with only a shower towel wrapped around her.
"You... how did your forehead end up like that....."
'.....Oaah.'
Pretty.
Very much so.
I stared blankly at Ur.
"Ur...!"
"Yeah. Leave everything to me."
As expected of Ur.
Always reliable, you know?
I reached my hand out toward Ur, asking for a helping hand.
And so....
"Wait just a moment. I think I saw a first aid kit around h──ah, found it!"
"....Ur?"
Rummaging through drawers here and there, she pulled out the first aid kit.
Then she opened the kit and began treating my forehead.
"No matter how much of a man you are, scars aren't good to have. Of course, I’ll love whichever Chrono you are, but still, I wish you'd take care of your body."
"..........."
To treat my forehead,
as she bent her body down, what showed beneath began, with the shower towel also starting to gradually come undone....
"...Chrono."
"Ah."
That,
I mean, what was it.
"Come to think of it, it's been a while since we've seen each other, isn't it?"
".....Ur.."
Ur slowly placed her hand on my chest.
"Shall we... do it here? Like the first time, on that day."
"............."
Before I knew it, Ur was climbing onto my lap.
I embraced Ur without a word and said.
"In a little bit."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because....."
Because, over there beyond the mirror, there's a god watching with a terrifying expression.
I gently held Ur in my arms and spoke.
"Cronus, do you know what my wish was?"
[....Speak it.]
"I was going to tell you even if you said not to."
[.............]
A rotting expression.
I didn't know much about that sort of thing.
"A long and thin life will probably come once 'that matter' is over. Right now, the woman I love is even before me."
[So, what is it you desired?]
".........."
I spoke to Cronus.
"I wished for you to take pity on me."
[....What?]
Take pity on me.
Think of me as a pitiful child.
A wish that in no way sounded like something a 'hero,' or a god-appointed 'apostle' would ask.
But precisely because of that, it was the most important 'wish' to me.
After all,
"I lost everything."
In the span of a single morning,
I lost everything.
"My friends."
"My family."
"My life and dreams."
"My past, present, and even the future ahead."
"I lost everything in an instant and was dragged to a strange land where I knew no one."
And even that, purely by force.
"Cronus."
So,
therefore, all the more,
I implored Cronus.
"Take pity on me. Hold onto me when I'm about to crumble. That was all I hoped for, but...."
Cronus.
Do you know what you've done to me?
"When I was doing well as usual, you watched with a smile."
Then one day,
when I was so terrified and so scared
that I looked at the child trying to run away from fighting and give up,
"You hounded me to fight, threw me aside as a runaway, and later even mocked me for living it up? And now you're even trying to brainwash me?!"
I had said it once.
No, it wasn't something I said once, but something I often said normally.
"I'm used to absurdity. I've suffered quite a lot of dogshit treatment, you see."
But you know what.
No matter how used to absurdity I may be....!
"There's a line you just don't cross as a human being────────!!!!!"
A cry from the depths.
My voice filled the room and had enough to spare.
A deep 'sincerity' that even Cronus's power could not suppress soon caused ripples in the mirror.
[I see. To you, it may have been quite sorrowful.]
"....What?"
However,
That was ultimately just a 'mirror.'
[But was it not you who forsook me first?]
"..........Wow."
Cronus simply remained the same.
As a side note,
"Hmm.... hngg...."
Ur, still sitting on Chrono's lap.
'.....How long do I have to be like this...?'
If asked whether she felt good or bad, it was probably the good side,
but the psychological warfare unfolding right behind her back was giving her chills down her spine.
'Ah...♬ I just touched a good spot....'
And meanwhile, Chrono was diligently pitching a tent too.
'Huuu...!'
To show such a sight before the supreme gods...
'Maybe I'll pick up a bad habit....'
Ur silently shivered.