Episode 121

Survival of the fittest.
The strong prevail.

An unbreakable rule of the Heavenly Demon Cult that even the corrupt and filthy former cult leader couldn’t defy.
The weak rise by stepping on the strong, becoming strong themselves, and the strong rise by stepping on other strong ones, becoming a stairway for even stronger ones.
At the end of such a piled-up history, the truth ascended through the Twelve Divine Demons, who rose above even death; and I was the result of that.

“Wh-what did you say…?”

“Oh~ Neri, Neri, Neri. My cowardly fairy.”

But.
If someone else would try to rise above me by pushing me aside, should I uproot and eliminate that sprout?
That would be a denial of my entire life.
If someone stronger than me tried to take everything from me, I would naturally fight back.
I would try to kill and win by any means.
But even so, if I lost, if my strength wasn’t enough, and their power surpassed mine, then naturally, I would have no choice but to lose and be defeated.
That was how it had always been for me in my past lives.
And now, if that stronger individual was none other than my own seed?
The child who would inherit everything from me and surpass me?

“As a father, wouldn’t that be more than I could ask for?”

If it were another sect, the head or the family leader would treat them as an in-law.
If it were the sect, the Four Heavenly Kings would cry out in joy, causing an uproar, and the priests would climb the Ten Thousand Peaks to divine an auspicious day.
No, wouldn’t they declare a holiday throughout the entire Ten Thousand Great Mountains and cause a commotion to embrace the child?

And it was the same for me.
Even if she was already a lovely lover, the thought that the child she would bear would become greater than me?
If the meaning of becoming great means surpassing me by inheriting my martial arts.
Perhaps not only the Twelve Divine Demons, but also the Heavenly Demon King’s Landing, which hadn’t been fully mastered since the founding of the Demonic Cult, could reach its peak. How could I not be delighted as a warrior?

“Even if all the other cowards in the world call the future you bring a disaster and curse it, to me, it’s an enormous gift.”

“R-really? Aren’t you scared?”

“Scared?”

“W-well, it’s because of the child we’re going to h-have…”

“Baby?”

“A child! A child!”

Whether it was “child” or “baby,” teasing Neri was still endlessly entertaining.

Perhaps sensing my playful tone, my young lover shot a glare at me, but it wasn’t remotely intimidating.

“A! CHILD!!!”

“Yes, what about the child?”

“I mean… the child might surpass you! They might even take your place!”

“Usually, we call that succession.”

Certainly, in the history of this place, the system of succession hadn’t been properly conducted all that often.
But wasn’t that just a matter of raising the child well?
If only in my past life I had such a capable successor, I wouldn’t have had to do paperwork through the Four Heavenly Kings’ second generation while wandering around.

“If my child does better than me, that’s a good thing. But why are you so worried about my child doing well?”

“Ah…?”

I wondered why she was so worried, and Neri seemed incredulous at how nonchalant I was.
We stared at each other blankly like that.
Suddenly, the chaotic events orchestrated by the gods and kings of this land to maintain their positions by exploiting their kin flashed through my mind.

The thrones of the gods have never had a peaceful history, as they were passed down from father to son.
The small manor owners, too embarrassed to even call them kingdoms, constantly engaged in family feuds over a few villages on their lands.

In such a world, it was no wonder Neri was uneasy about a prophecy that her child would surpass their father.
And considering my words, it was understandable that she might feel deeply moved.

“You must have been worried all this time.”

“……”

Without a word, Neri bumped her forehead against mine.
As I gently stroked her white hair, I had to ponder over the implications of this fleeting moment.

Upon reflection, wasn’t the disastrous wedding from the original myth also quite problematic?
Before Eris threw her golden apple, the whole ordeal began because Zeus, frightened by the prophecy, forced an innocent maiden into marriage.
But now, the problem was if that prophecy reached the ears of that supreme bastard of Greece, Neri might become the target of that marriage.

‘Oh? This could get a bit messy.’

Having left Passos Island, I had prepared myself for a life that wouldn’t be smooth.
But it might really get busy from now on.

As I deliberated whether I needed to seriously consider an idea I’d only vaguely entertained before, a small sob broke through my thoughts.

“Sniff… sob…”

Neri, whose eyes brimmed with tears as if they would burst with a touch, seemed so afraid.
Yet her face was filled with relief and happiness, unsure of what to do, she just rubbed her face against my arm.

“Sigh, pretending to be an adult.”

Feeling pity for the child trying to appear composed, I picked up her small body and held it in my arms.

“Oh my, so small.”

“Eeeeek!”

Having trained for over a year in the gods’ sanctuary, her growth had been rapid. Coupled with the transformation she underwent, Neri’s already small frame fit snugly in my embrace.

To an outsider, we might look like a father and daughter… or at least an uncle and niece.

‘Honestly, the idea of having a child with someone like this is absurd.’

Some, led by the wild boar, dared to say beauty was all that mattered, so I instilled them with a sense of morality.
Even the crazy guys were making lewd jokes about Neri, and since they attended the morning hunts regularly, talking about Neri in the forest had become almost taboo.

“Hehehe…”

When I put my arm around her waist, Neri, who had been sulking about being called small, finally giggled happily.
Like a puppy, she rubbed her white hair and warm cheeks against my chest, smiling brightly with tears in her eyes as if relieved.
As if she was comforted by finally being within reach of safety.
At her warm and relieved smile, I couldn’t help but smile back silently, and those pale fingers started pointing somewhere.

“There, you see that room? Let’s go in now.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now.”

It had to be now.
Neri, who declared so firmly, still held onto my arm wrapped around her body, but her gaze resolutely shone as if urging us to enter that room immediately.

“Shall we, then?”

What kind of room could it be for her to be so determined to go in?
Like a child with a gift box in front of them, the fairy spoke with a pounding heart, and I lifted her in what was called a princess carry.

“Wow!”

“Shall we see what kind of room this is, then?”

With each step closer, Neri’s heart pounded as if it would burst.
As we crossed the short distance and stood in front of the door, as usual, the room door opened silently without a sound.

“Hurry, hurry!”

“Alright, alright.”

Unlike other rooms with various miscellaneous purposes, this room’s door was quite different.
At the large double doors, its location was precisely at the central heart of this palace, and from the corridor railing, the entire view of the palace could be seen at the topmost level.

‘What could this be, an office? Or a temple?’

In the central plains, whether in mansions or palaces, the office, being the most secure and busiest place, was often located symbolically and practically at the core of the estate.
But this was Greece—a place where gods were real, and faith was not optional but a passive existence.
It was possible they would dedicate such an important place to a temple.

Ah, come to think of it, aside from Poseidon and Amphitrite, if possible, I should really go to meet Neri’s father and mother someday….

“Huh?”

“……”

But.
What greeted me as I entered the room was a place entirely different from my expectations.

“…Neri? Is this place perhaps?”

“Y-yes!”

As soon as I entered, I was greeted by the vast underwater scenery spreading out through the massive three-sided glass window.
And a gigantic curtain, reminiscent of an opera curtain, spread out like wings, while the largest luminous jewel I’d seen today softly illuminated the room from the ceiling.

“Huh…?”

The interior, decorated with pure white marble, was calm and almost seemed sacred at a glance.
Raising my senses to inspect, I found that the pristine natural energy drawn up from beneath the seabed volcano beneath this palace was climbing the pillars set on all sides of the room, gathering at that jewel to emit light.
Perhaps that was the jewel I thought was the heart of the deep sea seen in Poseidon’s city earlier.
How could they decorate the youngest sibling’s palace with what was supposedly a gift from Gaia?
How indulgent could they be? I would have shaken my head in disbelief.

Yes, I would have.

If it weren’t for that object filling my sight, no, the entire room.

The bed.
The enormous bed.

If it weren’t for the gigantic bed that seemed like it could easily accommodate five or six grown men sprawled out.