Chapter 186 – 186 – First Daughter
Is it because a series of shocking words passed through my head? I feel like my ability to discern between reasons and reasons is completely shattered.
The next devil? Adamantone? Of course, he was born with the temperament of a dictator. He’s also quite moody.
Once you get angry, no one can stop you. Unless someone reminds me, my sense of morality tends to fade.
If you think about it, there was enough momentum to attack Captain Tomko across the stormy night sea.
…The more I think about it, the creepier it gets. The goddess may be right. If he had gained the same power as Gunther, he would have been more dangerous than anyone else. Since it is Edin’s bloodline, he could have matured and become a very powerful warrior someday.
The incident at the logistics center where the hydra bones were melted comes to mind like a flash. Was this an action to turn the next Demon King into an enemy? Why did I do that?
No. He knew that I was a persistent and cruel person, so he tolerated me until then. I plan to retire after at least completing the contract period. In the end, I couldn’t bear it.
As I was just blinking foolishly, the goddess smiled and held out her hand to me. In a daze, she grabbed his hand.
“The reason I haven’t shown you the truth before is because it takes a lot of energy to tell it without your reach. If you had looked into the past without my protection, you would have been shattered. I would make my daughter a widow. “No.”
“You’ve been working hard to keep me alive. Thank you.”
“It’s going to be quite a long trip, so it might be as difficult for you as it is for me. Now, let’s shift the perspective again.”
“When and where is this time?”
“The time is after the birth of the Demon God, before the Great Religious War. And the place is…”
Ishtar tilted her head.
I paused. This is because Thena’s face was visible from that tilted angle.
Sadness lingers in the dreamlike blue eyes.
“The city I was most attached to.”
————
After many years, the creator god An-Anu had become very ugly.
The area where the flesh has fallen off appears unsightly. Split marks spread all over her body, centered around the spot where she was hit by the holy spear.
Now, instead of rising like steam, Magi flows out like magma from a gap in tectonic plates. It feels like it’s about to explode.
And with that fearful look, she was moving more violently and cruelly than before. The deliberate direction of crawling straight towards the city conveyed a deep hatred for the creatures of this world.
When the shattered titan’s scream was heard, the people of the city sat down, convinced that it was already too late. Even if you run with all your might, you won’t be able to avoid it.
“Ishtaria…Is it ending today…?”
“The name of my favorite city is ‘Ishtaria.'”
There are things that stand out throughout the city. A symbol of the Mark of Ishtar that resembles the sister’s necklace pendant.
This must have been a neighborhood where Ishtar believers lived together. The fact that the demon god is approaching feels like it has a new meaning.
I was thinking about what to say to comfort him, but eventually gave up. If time had not yet washed away my regret, it would be beyond my power.
“···It seems that the city also loved the goddess very much.”
“Keep your voice down. Don’t even call me by that title. I hope they don’t hear.”
You look like you’re really heartbroken and can’t bear it.
Nothing will change whether you raise or lower your voice. They are long gone, and what we see is only a plausible re-enactment.
But what would happen if those recreated shadows recognized the goddess? The presidential palace guards that Erina saw inside showed very realistic reactions.
So, if she were to notice the goddess’s arrival, she wouldn’t beg for her life.
It would be like opening old wounds. I have to do as I’m told.
“Do you think it would be easier if I took a fixed shape, because they wouldn’t recognize me?”
…But I couldn’t help but have my thoughts read.
“I’m sorry. I’ll do my best not to think of unnecessary thoughts.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m comfortable with irregular shapes, but if you really want it, there’s nothing I can’t do. Who should do it?”
“Yes? Am I deciding?
“It’s a matter of consideration. Choose a travel partner you prefer among your party members. Actually, that might be difficult for you.”
“Is it difficult?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know. I think that would make you feel like you’re favoring someone a little more.”
“···I think that’s true.”
“You’re such an old-fashioned and boring guy, but that’s why it’s rewarding. It’s rewarding because I took pains to lure you into pleasure and corrupt you.”
“…Please don’t say anything ominous.”
The goddess giggled as she teased me to the fullest. However, she could not maintain her smile for long.
Because she has faced a catastrophe, there is chaos everywhere. Thanks to this, no one pays attention to the woman whose face changes every moment. The same goes for the modern-day-dressed simpleton who follows her woman around.
It is a very beautiful city. The buildings and decorations are built haphazardly, as if each architect’s personality has exploded, and there is no sense of harmony, but at the same time, you get the feeling that everyone loves their own things very much.
However, I don’t want to keep it in my eyes. The thought of this city being swept away by disaster and disappearing soon makes me feel very upset.
However, even though I intentionally ignored everything and passed by with a closed eye, a building of a shape that I couldn’t pretend not to see caught my eye.
That too from the front. I stopped and whispered to the goddess who was walking ahead.
“Uh, where are you going?”
“Daesinjeon.”
“···That one?”
“What else did you think the Temple of Ishtar would look like?”
“…Why? There is a chapel of the Goddess in Borvais Mountain Village. Made by Sister Monica, it is simple, but quiet and cozy…”
“That boring building that matches the mood and aesthetics of the village. Monica didn’t have the money to hire a mason or a designer, so what was there to do? And if Monica showed her daughterly sense, she would be free like that. “If you had built a temple in a free-spirited form…”
The goddess, who had regained some of her color, grinned and raised her eyebrows.
“Wouldn’t the Mithraic extremists have come to visit within a few days?”
I looked over her shoulder and saw her sigh.
The huge temple, with all kinds of unique positions beyond imagination beautifully plastered on the walls, is so beautifully and elaborately depicted that, depending on your taste, you might even be able to walk along the wall and hit your daughter. Of course, you need to carefully remember the locations of the sculptures that suit your taste.
He barely looked away from the building. It is as shocking as when I saw the goddess’s identity with the naked eye.
“It definitely stands out.”
“Nothing. It was my pride.”
It is past tense.
I decided not to talk more about the temple. The goddess was satisfied with my silent consideration.
As I head deeper into the temple along the wide, open hallway, I hear a prayer in the rhythm of a song.
“I enjoyed bliss.”
The voice that becomes clearer as you get closer is very beautiful. Even though it was an ancient language I didn’t know, I could understand every word. Even the strange sense of rhythm and prosody that only speakers of that language can enjoy.
The melody, with a clear hint of improvisation, is also impressive. If he can sing it freely and still sound this convincing, he must be a very talented composer.
However, every time the note changes, a faint whimper is mixed in, which is annoying. Not in an unpleasant way, but in a heartbreaking way.
“I ate the best food, listened to the best music, and filled the insatiable human basket with offerings to the goddess.”
“Who is the woman singing now?”
“A shaman. She was the first high priestess of the Ishtar Church, and she was a shining child. She got everything she wanted with her overflowing greed.”
I glanced at the goddess shimmering in the torchlight on the wall, then quickly looked away. The goddess was shedding tears.
“He was one of the greatest warriors of his time, a doctor whose skills were hard to match, and a sculptor who lived with jealousy. He was a writer, a navigator, a choreographer, and a philosopher. He was also a singer whose vocal chords were filled with supreme beauty. “He was so outstanding in every way that everyone was curious about his aptitude.”
“What kind of aptitude was she?”
The goddess smiled faintly.
“Nothing.”
“Yes?”
“Even though the seed was sown to everyone, this child did not manifest anything. It was a strange thing. However, the blank page with nothing written on it was filled with the aesthetics of life that he himself had filled. Although he had the aptitude for it, He may have been shabby in many ways compared to the best, but he was more brilliant than anyone else in the world.”
“So although she was gone a long way, she also enjoyed the memory of her love, which she would never exchange for anything.”
“···That’s right.”
“I have filled my life with bliss, so I do not fear the death of this body.”
“You are right, child. You were never afraid of anything.”
“I am afraid of the death of this child who is more precious than my own body.”
What a child. I couldn’t hold back my moans.
“···These people didn’t have time to evacuate…? The streets were a bit empty, so I thought anyone who was going to run away had already done so.”
“No. There was. Although many residents remained in the city for some reason, carriages and carts carrying children, the elderly, and the sick left the city early. However, some were not so lucky. The monster that fell from the body of the demon god “I ran into them. I had no choice but to return half-destroyed. And among them was the daughter of Ai, who was my shaman and high priest.”
“Damn it…”
“Now all I have left is one desire: to protect this child by entrusting it to your power.”
The destruction of the city is a tragedy. The planned death of a child is a tragedy.
It is also a tragedy that is difficult to accept that the final reward that life throws at a great woman who has lived such an intense life is such an unfair situation.
As we climbed the stairs, the singing stopped. In front of the altar, which plausibly depicts the inscrutable figure of Ishtar, is a woman draped in colorful cloth that would unfold powerfully if she were dancing. The high priest who found us first kneels down.
Her bright blue hair falls over her shoulders, and her real voice, stripped of the aesthetics of her melodies, flows out.
“···Oh my god. Thank you.”
“I am late for your call.”
“Goddess. Our friend, teacher, and lover. This city is-“
“I’m sorry, but I can’t save you. Now that my father, who connected the universe to this planet, has disappeared, we cannot freely communicate with beings on earth until homeostasis is restored. Moreover, at this time, I was busy investigating the main culprit.”
I guess this happened while you were scolding your damn brother for causing a major accident. Damn, you must be heartbroken.
The high priest shook his head blankly and said:
“I don’t understand. Aren’t you here now?”
“I am not here now. What you are seeing is me from the distant future. I have come back with all my might to go back in time and answer your prayers.”
Ishtar said, stroking the high priest’s cheek. And he wiped away the tears that were falling down his chin with his fingers.
Then, he picked up a small bottle on the altar that seemed like it would fit perfectly with votive candles, and poured a teardrop into it.
“Your love is heavy, so you brought someone to help you carry it. Listen, Tannhäuser. Isn’t it your professional pride to bear the weight?”
While the ambassador looked puzzled, Ishtar put a stopper on his bottle and handed it to me.
Then, when I hesitated, he shook his head and forced it into my front pocket.
“···Yes, I understand.”
“Can’t you move quickly? Take the baby’s swaddle as well as you can.”
Ishtar said, pointing to the high priest’s arms. There is a baby smiling heartily reaching out her hand towards her mother’s face.
Then the greatest scholar and artist of his time instantly turned his head to me. His eyes are so brilliant, as if he has seen a ray of light, that I automatically take a step back.
Please don’t look at me like that. Honestly, compared to you, I’m just a hillbilly from the mountains.
However, I could not refuse the swaddle that was offered to me.
The same was true for the glass bottle, but the child who received it carefully was by no means heavy enough to require a porter to transport it. It just feels cozy because the body temperature behind the soft fabric is warm.
On the other hand, I guess the baby wasn’t comfortable in my arms. As soon as her mother’s touch leaves her, she cries bravely. The high priest and I were startled and tried to comfort the child. I feel like an immature uncle.
Of course, it is just a passing illusion. I bit my lip and asked Ishtar just my thoughts.
Even if it was just a reflection of reality, I didn’t want to say something like that in front of my child’s mother.
Sorry, Goddess. But aren’t these people already dead in reality?
Wouldn’t it be meaningless for me to take the child and run away somewhere? What meaning does this action have now?
“No. Look back carefully at what I said.”
···Reflecting back probably means that there is room to think differently.
What did you say? In order to answer the high priest’s prayer, he returned back in time with all his might…
“You always show excellent sense when it comes to finding the right answer.”
Could it be that what we are experiencing now is not simply a matter of retrieving and reconstructing the goddess’s memories?
Unlike during Erina, is something really happening now?
“Then do you think I would have wasted the precious opportunity that I secured with your help on mere reminiscence of the past and self-consolation? Erina would have been satisfied with that, but not me. Be proud, Tannhäuser Bantais. You have assisted the declining god and restored the time axis. Because he is the one who caused the miracle that crossed the border.”
A miracle that crosses the time axis?
···Are you saying that we are now revising history?
“That’s right. But I’ll explain later. There’s no time right now. Now ask the child’s name.”
“Yes?”
“I asked you to name the child, Tan. This moment will mean as much to you as it does to me.”
“The child’s name… Yes, I know it for now.”
I turned to the high priest. And at that moment, the rumbling of the ground becomes stronger. It is clear that the demon god is getting closer little by little.
The high priest, who was blinking in bewilderment as he was unable to find the end of the conversation, spoke urgently as if he had been urged when the bottom of his knees shook.
“Hey, Ishtarbon!”
“Yes?”
“Athene Ishtarbon.”
···It’s an unknown name. Of course it is. This is a first-time child given to me by a first-time person. But what on earth could it mean to me to ask the name of someone I heard for the first time?
It’s embarrassing. I looked back at the goddess and asked her in my head why I should ask for her name…
Suppressing my anger, I looked back at the high priest.
Bright blue hair spilling down to the side of her shoulders. And those lapis-colored eyes that twitch as they try to understand the situation.
And that habit of biting your lips when you sense trouble…
“Athena Ishtarbon?”
“Ho, is it a little long, Mr. Tan?”
It is an elongated name compared to Tan Bantai. However, it is only a few syllables at most, so how can you forget that it is long?
However, it seems that the mother was truly worried. As if they were considerate of my intellectual level, which I had no clue about, they hastily came up with a compromise.
“Shall we change it to Tena to make it easier to remember?”
