Although such a ruckus occurred in the morning, we finished our
breakfast without delay and went to visit Mother Earth-sama, aka
Terra-sama, again.
Yesterday, Terra-sama had urged us to return to the town first in
order to calm the residents of Algren and delayed the important talk
to today.
With that being the case, we went over to the plateau, which was
what remained of the massive hole, but something that wasn't there
yesterday left us staring in wonder.
Until we had left yesterday, there was only a vast grassland
stretching out as far as the eye could see here, but now, a giant tree
that seemed to be hundreds of years old… no, thousands of years
old now grandly stood in the center.
"—Welcome, children of man."
And at its root, Terra-sama was waiting.
While inwardly admiring her smile that was as benevolent as ever, I
calmly made my way over to her.
"Ah, hello."
"Umu, it's great that you seem healthy."
"Thank you very much for your consideration yesterday."
After each of us gave her a greeting, Terra-sama looked at Arca and
went, "Oh?", as if she just noticed something.
"I did not feel Igniver's power from you yesterday, but now I do. You
have been united with your loved one, I see"
"Eh?" Arca made a surprised face hearing that.
That was the god who governed over life for you.
She saw through that we had been united in one glance.
But if possible, I'd like her to refrain from using that ability of hers too
often, as having such a delicate matter pointed out was quite
embarrassing.
Moreover, the Igniver's power that she mentioned seemed also
going to be settling inside Magmell by tomorrow…
Rather, I believed that by 'Igniver' she most likely meant 'Fire Godsama'. And, his power could be transferred, huh…
My thought probably showed on my face.
Terra-sama shook her head, "No need to worry," and said, "Although
Igniver's power within you is only a fraction of her real power and it
won't give immortality like your skill does, it should be able to stop
your loved ones from aging and prevent them from suffering illness.
In other words, the power is sufficient to allow you walk together with
your loved ones without having to be separated by time."
"…I… see…" Large drops of tears spilled from Arca's eyes, hearing
it.
She must have been thinking about it somewhere deep in her heart.
I was immortal, while she on the other hand, was mortal. The time
for us to say farewell would definitely come one day.
Naturally, I was thinking the same.
That was a big part of the reason why I hadn't taken her in as official
wife before.
We couldn't be together forever.
If it'll only end up making her goes through such a pain, it's better if I
keep our relationship as only companions—so I'd said to myself.
But still, Arca'd made up her mind to walk with me.
Since that was the case, there was no way I could turn that
resolution of hers down.
Which was why—I'd made love to her.
Moreover, I'd vigorously kept at it until morning came.
"Isn't that a good news, Arca?"
"Umu… It's a really… good news…"
I hugged Arca whose tears wouldn't stop falling.
In the middle of such pleasant atmosphere, Magmell wiped the tear
at the corner of her eye and said, "With this—you can now embrace
me without worry, yes?"
...Hm?
"Oi, hold on a second. That's a different story." Arca regained her
spirit, albeit still teary-eyed.
Her mood sure was changing quickly…
◇ ◇
Setting aside the matter of who would be my partner tonight.
We decided to listen about the matter this time and Fire God-sama…
I mean, Igniver-sama.
"The god who bestowed power upon you is named—'Igniver'. She is
the god of fire and rebirth, so her power suits perfectly with your
"Immortal" skill, I suppose. Now, isn't that great?"
Fufu, Terra-sama laughed happily.
But honestly, she was really cute and her smile suited her perfectly.
My face slackened without me knowing.
"Oi." "Exa-sama."
"Eek!?"
As I winced to the jealousy of the girls, Terra-sama continued her
story.
Rather, it was quite late, but turned out that Fire God-sama was
actually a goddess, huh.
"And what you see here is the tree of life that is representing me
—'World Tree'. Actually, it is no exaggeration to say that it is me."
"World Tree…"
The magnificent tree overflowing with vitality surely deserved its
name.
"As long as this World Tree is alive, the filth within the earth will
continue to be purified and become new lives. However, the filth has
been accumulating at an unprecedented rate; if this continues, I am
afraid that the same incident will be occurring again in the future."
"No way… Is there anything we can do about it?"
To my question, Terra-sama shook her head, her expression
darkened. "I don't know… In the first place, 'filth' is the negative
energy produced by the livings. It is normally improbable that filth
would accumulate to such a degree that it could swallow me, a
goddess. Therefore, I suspect that there were some people trying to
produce it on purpose."
"I see. In other words, you want us to beat those guys?" Arca
concluded.
Then, Terra-sama nodded with an apologetic expression, "It is as
you said. The reason why many of you who are called 'Saintess'
have appeared in this era is probably to go against them. And I think
that you, who can gather them together and lead them, is the one
who is charged with the mission to save the world—that is, the being
who is called 'Brave'."
"Brave…?"
"Yes, the hero of salvation and the last hope—Brave. That is what
you are, Exa. Look for the other gods and ask for their cooperation.
However, beware of the god in charge of thunder and destruction
who resides in the heavy snowfall area further up north from here
—'Fluga'. She has a very violent temperament."
"I understand. I'll go look for other gods beside Fluga-sama first,
then."
"Yes, that would be for the best. Although it is not much, but I will
also give you my power. —Now go, children of man. And bring
peace to the world."
"""Yes!""" We all nodded deeply, but then, I suddenly had a thought:
—Haven't things become pretty serious before I knew it!?