Chapter 122
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Let's Go to That Room
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Law of the jungle.
Rule of the strong.
The unspoken rule of the Heavenly Demon Cult that even its corrupt and filthy former leader dared not defy.
The weak trample the strong to rise as the new strong, and the strong trample other strong to become yet another step higher.
At the end of ages piled upon ages like that, it ascended to truth under the twelve divine demons who even trampled death to rise—and am I not the very result of that?
"W-what...?"
"Ah~ Neri neri neri. You scaredy-cat fairy."
But.
Me, of all people, pulling the buds and roots of another strong one trying to surpass me?
That would be denying my entire life.
If someone stronger than me tries to take everything I have, of course I'll fight back.
I'll kill and win by any means necessary.
But even so, if I lose—if my power falls short and theirs surpasses me.
Then naturally, I'll be the one taken and stripped bare.
Just as I always was in my past life.
And that strong one is my own seed?
The child who will inherit everything of mine and surpass me?
"From a father's position, isn't that the greatest joy?"
If it were any other sect, the sect leader or family head would treat his daughter-in-law like a queen.
If it were the Cult, the Four Heavenly Kings would wail in congratulations, the bishops would divine an auspicious day and hold rituals on the Ten Thousand Peaks.
No, they'd probably declare it a holiday across the entire Ten Thousand Great Mountains and clamor for him to hold the baby young master.
And it was the same for me.
She was already a lovely lover, and now the child she would bear would surpass even me?
If that surpassing meant inheriting my martial arts and going beyond me.
Perhaps they could even raise the Heavenly Demon Divine Art—which no one after the Cult's founding had fully mastered since me—to its peak. How could a martial artist not rejoice?
"Even if all the scaredy-cats in the world call the future you bring a disaster and curse it, to this one person alone, it's an unimaginably great gift."
"R-really? You're not scared?"
"Scared?"
"Th-that our... our b-ba-baby..."
"Baby?"
"Child! The child!"
Baby or child, same difference.
Neri was still so fun to tease.
Spotting my playfulness, my young lover shot me a glare, but what could she do? It wasn't scary at all.
"Chi!ld!"
"Yeah, the child. What about it."
"No, the child will surpass you! They might even take your place!"
"We usually call that succession."
Though in this region's history, proper successions were pretty rare, up or down.
But hey, if I just raise the kid right, that should fix it.
In my past life, if I'd had a decent, capable heir like that, I wouldn't have had to handle paperwork through the Four Heavenly Kings' second-gen heirs even while wandering.
"If my child does better than me, that's great for me too. Wait, why are you so worried about the child succeeding?"
"Ah...?"
I was puzzled why she was so anxious, and Neri was dumbfounded by my nonchalance.
As we stared blankly at each other.
Suddenly, memories flashed of the gods and kings of this land and the bloody messes they'd wrought on their own blood to preserve their seats.
The divine thrones passed from father to son with never a peaceful history.
The lords of tiny estates barely worthy of the name kingdom drew knives on their own kin daily over a few villages' worth of land.
In that context, Neri had received a prophecy that her own son would surpass his father.
No wonder she was anxious.
And no wonder she was touched by my words.
"Must've been worrying a lot."
"..."
Neri silently bonked her forehead against mine.
As I stroked her white hair, I had to ponder the implications racing through my mind.
A little thought, and honestly, wasn't that utter farce of a wedding from the original myths a huge problem too?
Even before Eris tossed the golden apple, the king of the gods had forced a marriage on an innocent maiden out of fear of that prophecy?
But the real issue now: if this prophecy reached the ears of Greece's biggest bastard, the target of that marriage could become Neri.
'Oh dear? This might get noisy.'
I'd already resolved that life after leaving Pasos Island wouldn't be smooth sailing.
But it might really get busy from here on.
As I seriously considered finally tackling that thing I'd only thought about before.
A small sob broke through my thoughts.
"Hic... sob sob..."
Whatever scared her so, Neri's eyes brimmed with tears ready to burst at a touch.
But her face was filled with relief and happiness, at a loss what to do, just rubbing her cheek against my arm.
"Sigh, pretending to be all grown up."
Her attempt to look composed, desperately averting her expression, was so pitiful that I scooped up her small body into my arms.
"Aigoo, so tiny."
"Eeeek!"
She'd already grown fast over a year or so training in the gods' barrier, and after her complete rebirth on top of that, Neri's naturally petite frame always fit perfectly in my embrace.
Anyone seeing us might think father and daughter... no, at least uncle and niece.
'Honestly, the idea of having a kid with a girl like this sounds ridiculous in itself.'
When some guys, led by that wild boar king, gasped that she was just pretty so what's the problem, I hammered ethics into their thick skulls.
Some lunatics even made lewd jokes about Neri, so every time I spotted them, I dragged them to morning hunts, and talk of Neri in the forest became practically taboo.
"Hehe..."
Pouting at being called small, Neri grabbed my arm and wrapped it around her belly, finally giggling happily.
Like a puppy, she rubbed her white hair and warm cheeks against my chest, eyes still teary but smiling brightly now.
As if relieved that her future was finally within reach.
I smiled back silently at that warm, relieved smile, when her pale finger pointed somewhere.
"There, that room. Let's go in now."
"Now?"
"Yeah, now."
No, it had to be now.
Declaring so firmly, Neri clung tight to my arm still around her but her gaze shone resolutely toward that room.
"Alright then, shall we?"
What room was it that she suddenly wanted to enter so determinedly?
Like a child before a gift box, her excited face matched her fairy's wish, so I scooped her up in a princess carry.
"Whoa!"
"So, what kind of room is this? Let's see."
With each step closer, Neri's heart thumped like it might burst.
We crossed the short distance to the door, and as usual, it silently slid open without a sound.
"H-hurry!"
"Yeah yeah."
This room's door was quite different from the others for miscellaneous uses.
A grand double door, right at the heart of this annex palace, and from the corridor railing, the entire view of the palace came into sight at the top floor.
'What is it, an office? Or a temple?'
In Central Plains mansions or palaces, the office handling the most work and needing utmost security was symbolically and practically placed at the heart.
But this was Greece, where gods lived and breathed, faith a passive rather than choice.
So they might put the most important temple there.
Oh, right—Poseidon and Amphitrite aside, I should visit Neri's real father and mother sometime when possible...
"Huh?"
"..."
But.
Stepping inside, what greeted me was utterly unlike my guesses.
"...Neri? This room isn't...?"
"Y-yeah!"
A vast deep-sea vista unfolded immediately through enormous three-sided glass walls.
Grand curtains like opera drapes spread like wings, and on the ceiling, a gem larger than any luminous jewel I'd seen today glowed softly, illuminating the room.
"Whoa...?"
The interior, decorated in pure white marble without garish distractions, felt serene, almost sacred.
Extending my senses, I saw pure natural qi drawn up from below the annex's seabed volcano, climbing the room's four pillars to gather in that gem, making it shine.
Probably the deep-sea heart gem I'd seen earlier in Poseidon's city.
To think they'd stuck something like Gaia's gift or whatever in their youngest sibling's annex as decor.
I'd shake my head at such blatant favoritism.
Yeah, I would have.
If not for the thing filling my view—no, the entire room.
A bed.
An enormous bed.
Not just any bed, one so huge five or six grown men could sprawl out starfished with room to spare.