Duamutef (2)
"This place..."
Albus shaded his eyes from the blazing sun overhead and looked around.
"A desert?"
I was definitely at the academy just a moment ago?
For a split second, Albus wondered if he'd ended up in Luddera, but when no command window popped up, he quickly confirmed this was reality.
"No way."
Did someone cast a teleport spell on me? What the hell happened? I was right in the middle of the academy, how did I end up in a desert...?
Squish squish.
Still dazed by his bizarre situation, Albus felt a soft sensation against his back.
"Ehehe! Daddy Duah's!"
He turned his head and saw the silver-haired little girl from before—the one who'd called him daddy in front of all those people and caused a huge commotion—clinging to his back.
Suddenly dropped in the middle of some inexplicable desert, and now a weird little girl is calling me daddy.
Ah, got it.
This is a dream.
Feeling his head spin, Albus collapsed on the spot. His frail body had reached its limit under the desert heat.
"Huh? Daddy? Nooo, Daddy!"
What kind of dream is this...?
As he watched the girl desperately catch his falling body, Albus's consciousness faded away.
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"Nngh..."
Albus opened his eyes to a soft, ticklish sensation on his body.
"Daddy? Daddy! You're awake!"
The girl, who had been lying on his stomach peering intently at his face, bounced with joy.
This isn't... a dream?
He'd hoped to wake up from the dream when he passed out, but there she was the moment his eyes opened. It seemed this was real.
Albus glanced around the girl. In the middle of the barren desert that had been empty just moments ago, a massive tree now stood tall. It was as if the tree had sprouted solely to provide him shade.
He could feel a special energy circulating through his entire body, protecting him from the desert's scorching heat.
At this point, it was impossible not to realize the truth. The one who had brought him here, created this resting spot when he collapsed, and infused this protective energy into him was the little girl right in front of him.
And this girl was probably...
"Duamutef."
"Yeah? You call me, Daddy?"
The quest NPC he'd placed in the main quest for the Sprigganz Great Desert on floor 2 of the Labyrinth Tower in Luddera—Duamutef, the goddess of a fallen empire in his lore.
"Ehehe..."
Duamutef beamed bashfully.
If I'm right, this girl in front of me is a real goddess.
Unlike me, who's only omnipotent inside Luddera, she's a true deity with divinity and authority even in reality.
Albus swallowed hard and asked,
"Did you bring me here?"
"Yeah!"
The girl nodded vigorously.
"It was too noisy there! So hard to talk properly with Daddy. And there were people thinking bad things about Daddy without even knowing the subject."
She brought me here just to talk with me?
More importantly, she's calling me Daddy. Does she see me that way?
Fortunately, she seemed friendly. They could at least have a conversation.
But...
"Why are you calling me Daddy?"
"Why?"
The girl tilted her head, tapping her finger to her lips in confusion.
"Hmm? 'Cause Daddy is Daddy, duh."
"I'm your Daddy?"
"Yeah! Daddy made Duah! Ehehe..."
The girl stuck to Albus again with a smack.
I made her...?
Sure, I'm an omnipotent GM inside Luddera, but in reality, I'm just a half-baked mage who can barely use magic. Unlike other players, I don't even get the full effects of classes or items from inside.
Me, creating a goddess? No way that's possible...
'If the beastmen restore their faith in Duamutef, it could recreate her divinity. If that divinity gathers, it might even revive a goddess that's supposed to be gone forever.'
The professor's words from the lecture he'd just heard flashed through Albus's mind.
"Born from faith..."
The beastmen's faith gathered here in the desert and birthed her.
Albus pieced it together.
That professor's prediction actually came true.
The professor had theorized that Duamutef could revive through the beastmen's faith, since divinity born from belief is the core power—and very essence—of a god.
Of course, Duamutef wasn't a real god who'd ever existed; she was just a fictional one Albus created. But in the end, the beastmen's faith had manifested her into reality all the same.
This makes it look like I created Luddera with some grand purpose...
It painted the picture of the GM scheming something and crafting Luddera, just like the professor predicted. But he'd only made it as a fun game to play.
How did things spiral like this? Was it when he got tangled up with Kartesia?
"Hah. Whatever."
A game causing a real goddess to appear in reality? That sounds insane.
Albus's head started to ache.
"Sowwy, Daddy..."
The girl nestled against him noticed his foul mood.
"...Yeah?"
"Actually... y'know..."
She fidgeted, pressing her fingertips together with a wilted expression.
"Duah was born here from Daddy's power... So I brought Daddy home... but..."
Divinity gathered in this place and birthed her.
"I didn't know Daddy would collapse... Duah just wanted to be with Daddy... That's why..."
Albus started feeling a pang of pity for the girl.
In the end, this child was born because of the game I created. Left alone in this barren desert, without parents to care for her, with nothing at all.
A little girl who needed parental love most, abandoned in the middle of a desert.
"Daddy says he's not Daddy...! Makes a grumpy face at Duah... Sniff!"
Duamutef started sniffling.
Is this my responsibility...?
In front of a newborn child who sees him as her father, he'd denied it and sighed with a frown. He couldn't even imagine the hurt she'd felt.
"Sowwy, Daddy... Duah was bad... Don't thwow Duah away... *hic*."
Tears like chick peas streamed from her eyes.
She's a goddess who needs a parent's love before she can be almighty.
If she was born from the beast king's misunderstanding sparking their faith on Labyrinth Tower floor 2, she was barely a month old—like a newborn baby.
The beast king started it, but he truly believed in Duamutef and the GM as gods, so he couldn't play daddy.
Does that mean I have to step up as her father?
No girlfriend, and now a kid to raise? Is this that responsibility without pleasure everyone talks about?
"Duamutef."
"Huuu... Yeah?"
"It's okay. It's okay. Come here."
Albus picked her up and sat her on his lap. The sensation of Duamutef on his knee was soft and warm.
"Why would Daddy abandon you? I won't."
"...Pwomise?"
"You almost got Daddy in big trouble, yeah. But you made this shade for me when I collapsed, and you put energy in me to help me recover, right?"
Albus felt the energy circulating inside him, shielding his body from the harsh desert climate. It was the same kind of power emanating from his own hands—divinity.
"...Yeah."
Albus wiped Duamutef's tears with his hand.
"If anything, this daddy's the one at fault for not being there to celebrate your birth. Oh no! What do we do? I think Daddy deserves a scolding from our Duamutef! Aigoo, Princess! Forgive me!"
Albus overacted dramatically with exaggerated gestures.
"Hehehe."
The girl burst into a grin at the sight. It was the clumsy imitation of a first-time dad he'd glimpsed over shoulders while parenting, but it was enough to make her laugh.
"For our daughter, this daddy will show his ultimate move! Behold, Albus Express! Airplane takeoff!"
Albus hoisted Duamutef high and ran around playfully.
"Kyaa! Kyaa!"
It was a pathetically slow speed compared to her flying ability, and the unfamiliar word "airplane" to boot. It was nothing special for Duamutef, but she felt Albus's love in his efforts for her.
Duah wasn't abandoned.
To confirm she wasn't abandoned, she'd left this desert and gone as far as her power allowed.
Crossing countless mountains and rivers, she searched for him. And the father she found...
Loves Duah.
Heehee.
Duamutef laughed brightly like any ordinary child while playing with Albus.
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"Huff... huff..."
After playing with Duamutef for a good while, Albus bent over, gripping his knees and panting heavily.
Doesn't this kid ever get tired?
They say playing with kids is an endless cycle of eternity. Albus was starting to understand why.
"...Huh?"
Wait a minute.
No matter that she's newborn...
She's a goddess, right?
She grew a massive tree in the desert for me and maintained my body temperature with divinity. She can clearly handle it just fine.
Maybe I should learn how to use divinity from her?