A Mother's Weakness
Mother was crying. At first, her tears had been born of resentment, but now her face was twisted with genuine sorrow. The sight was so pitiful that for a moment, I forgot the emotions I had been harboring.
She wiped her tears with her hand and then showed it to me. Her skin was melting away as if sulfuric acid had been poured over it, leaving a hideous wound. "Look at your arm too."
The arm she had grabbed was also bright red, as though it had been burned. All she had done was touch it. Only after recognizing the injury did the stinging pain finally register.
"This is the kind of relationship we have. Just the slightest contact, and our bodies melt away like this. You almost died a moment ago. The only reason you're still alive is because I barely managed to protect you with my power. If the two of us fought, it would be mutual destruction. Mutual destruction."
"Wait, are you saying the two of us are like fucking cola and Mentos? We explode on contact?"
She let out a long sigh. "I'm not very good at teaching others... but listen carefully. There are exactly two ways to kill a god."
With her uninjured hand, she held up two fingers, emphatically displaying the number two.
"First, you must be strong enough to devour a god whole. This is practically impossible unless you're an absolute lunatic. After all, gods are beings who rule over the universe."
Then she folded one finger... and for some reason, she folded her index finger, deliberately showing me her middle finger instead.
"And second, you must strike at the god's weakness. And my weakness... is you."
Hearing that, the bizarre phenomenon where our bodies melted like they'd been doused in acid the moment we touched finally made some sense.
"But why am I your weakness? Was it really necessary to create one on purpose?"
"......You don't need to know the reason, so stop worrying about it. But I'm not the type of person who would deliberately create a weakness like that. I didn't make you with that purpose in mind."
"Then what..."
The air grew awkward once again.
"Does it hurt?"
"It's not unbearable..."
Mother began rummaging through a drawer with an embarrassed expression. Then she tossed a bottle of potion at me.
"Spray it on the wound."
"This is..."
"...Hey, if I tell you to spray it, just spray it."
Our mother really was like a dictator. Still, there was no way she would give me something truly dangerous like poison at this point, so I roughly poured it over my arm. The wound vanished like magic. What the hell? Was this some kind of instant cure-all?
When I sprayed the burned arm, it made a sizzle sound as it began to heal, then went pop and was completely cured. Hallelujah!
"I bet you're thinking something stupid again right now, aren't you?"
"Not at all."
"Your face is screaming that you're thinking something stupid."
"I am a serious person twenty-four hours a day."
"Bullshit should be kept in moderation. Any more than that becomes a crime."
I felt incredibly wronged. Where in the world could you find a man as solemn and taciturn as me? Mother sat down on the sofa and began staring at me intently.
"Is there something on my face?"
She spoke with a displeased expression. "You womanizing little swallow."
"Pardon?"
The sudden attack made my chest ache. I hadn't even raised my guard yet, and she was already striking like this. Wasn't that against the rules?
Mother continued her relentless barrage without pausing for breath.
"You seduced four different women? And you didn't even pick a side—you're just messing around with all of them. I have no idea what you're trying to do. Watching from above, I was completely dumbfounded. Especially that Lorsha girl. You should feel sorry for her."
To be honest, I had nothing to say about the Lorsha situation...
"And that Camellia? The half-elf. You made her suffer so much inside... If you had been a woman, you would have ruined an entire country. A whole nation nearly collapsed just because you had that thing between your legs."
"I'm glad I was born with it, then."
"And that Glacia... she went all the way, didn't she? I was watching and actually had to cover my eyes out of secondhand embarrassment. Who does that in a place they went to get rejected? Is your brain located in your balls?"
Even under that scathing criticism, I couldn't find a single word to retort with.
"And your disciple... haa... that crazy, obsessive bitch... I've lived for a long time, but I've never seen a woman so rude and fixated before."
"What? You mean Airi? No way."
Airi was just a girl with a head full of flowers. Sure, she was close to me, so she occasionally went full throttle, but she was far from rude or obsessive.
"I'm telling the truth! What that girl said to me... No, I promised to keep that a secret."
Mother clutched her forehead and let out a sigh. It sounded like the sigh of an old woman who had lived for tens of thousands of years, which was honestly pretty funny.
She must have been feeling frustrated because she downed an entire bottle of grape Fanta in one go before continuing.
"So control that thing between your legs better. I have zero desire to become a grandmother."
"I'm sorry, but my lower half and I are separate creatures. I'll try to restrain myself as much as possible, but..."
Mother glared at me with a look of utter disdain. Ah, so that's what it looks like to get cursed out with your eyes.
"And... haa... I'm sorry. For making things so difficult for you in so many ways."
I had never really found her difficult to deal with. Sure, there were times I wondered what kind of person my mother was, but it had never been particularly hard. Thanks to her, I'd even become immune to parental insults, so in a way, I was actually grateful.
"I couldn't hug you, couldn't play with you... Honestly, I called you here because I wanted to say this."
"...It's fine. None of that matters anymore."
"There will be many hard things ahead. Because you're my son and my weakness... there will be plenty of people targeting you."
People targeting a god's son? What kind of Pontius Pilate types were out there?
"You already know about them. Those Black Round Table bastards."
Why the hell would those fuckers be after me?
"Their leader and one of their closest aides have made it their goal to kill me. Their pathetic underlings are nothing more than pawns meant to deal with my Apostles."
I was a little surprised. So their goal was to kill a god. I'd assumed they were just mindless idiots causing chaos for no reason.
"That's why they'll come after you. Every piece of your bone, every drop of your blood, every bit of your organs could become a weapon capable of killing me."
I felt like the boss monster from Monster Hunter. The thought of people rushing at me just to tear my body apart sent a chill down my spine.
While I was pondering how to deal with the bastards who would come running at the sight of my body, Mother began rummaging through her drawers and display cabinets.
"...What are you doing?"
"It's frustrating just watching, so I'm going to give you some things."
She handed me several items: a sword with a red blade, a sword that emitted cold air, a pair of black gloves, a ring embedded with a blue gem, and a pair of red earrings.
"What are all these?"
"Keep one for yourself and give the rest to the people around you. Some of them had side effects, but I removed those, so don't worry too much."
They all looked incredibly rare at first glance. And she was just giving them away?
"Why are you giving these to me?"
"...They're just gifts, so shut up and take them."
"My mom told me never to accept gifts from strangers..."
"Stop talking nonsense. And your mom is me, you idiot."
Oh, right. That was true.
"There's one last thing I want to ask. Is it okay if I ask?"
"If it's a stupid question, I'll stab you, so keep that in mind."
"If I'm your weakness, wouldn't it be easier to just kill me? So why did you abandon me?"
The room was silent except for the sound of the game console. The old butler placed another bottle of Fanta in front of the Goddess and spoke.
"In the end, you didn't give him an answer and simply sent him away."
The Goddess threw her game controller and replied, "Shut up."
"For a mother and son to be this dishonest with each other..."
"I told you to shut up. Besides, I made him with my own hands. I didn't give birth to him. What kind of child is that..."
The Goddess muttered in an irritated voice, but the old butler, who had seen through her true feelings, smiled as he began cleaning up the trash. He picked up the scattered snack bags and drink cans, placing them into a garbage bag while still maintaining his smile.
"Isn't the fact that you gave him so many precious items proof that you think of him as your child?"
"Nope, not at all. Those were things I was planning to throw away anyway."
"Of course, of course."
Before leaving the room, the old butler asked with a slightly serious expression, "By the way, are you really going to leave the Black Round Table alone? Among their members, there are some particularly dangerous..."
"So what do you want me to do? Send all of you there and turn it into some kind of war movie?"
"With all due respect, that seems like the most correct approach."
"It's fine. That little swallow who just left will take care of it."
The Goddess took out a new game CD from the cabinet. She inserted it into the console and let out a small chuckle.
"Who do you think created them? Those guys are nothing."
"And... wouldn't it have been better to explain why the young master became your weakness...? The fact that a god's weakness is the being they cherish most..."
The Goddess simply continued playing her game in silence, offering neither confirmation nor denial.