Chapter 35: Duamutep (2)

“Here is…”

Albus shielded his eyes from the blazing sun overhead with his hand and looked around.

“A desert?”

I was definitely at the academy just a moment ago, wasn’t I?

For a moment, Albus thought he might be in Rudera, but when he confirmed that no command window was appearing, he was sure it was reality.

“This makes no sense.”

Did I use a teleportation spell or something?

What on earth is going on?

How could I, who was in the middle of the academy just a moment ago, end up in the desert…

Soft and squishy.

Still bewildered by the situation, Albus felt a sensation behind his back.

“Hehe! Daddy, twoak!”

Turning his head, he saw a silver-haired girl, who had called him daddy in front of many people just moments ago, clinging to his back.

Suddenly, he was dropped in the middle of a desert, and this strange girl was calling him daddy.

I see. 

This must be a dream.

Feeling dizzy, Albus collapsed.

Due to the desert’s climate, his weak body had reached its limit.

“Huh? Daddy? No, Daddy!”

‘What kind of dream is this…?’

Watching the girl desperately try to catch his falling body, Albus’s consciousness faded.

A moment later…

“Mmm…”

Albus woke up, feeling a soft and squishy sensation against his body.

“Daddy? Daddy! You’re awake!”

The girl, who had been lying on his stomach and closely watching his face, jumped with joy.

‘This… isn’t a dream?’

Even though he had hoped to wake up from the dream when he lost consciousness, the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was the girl.

It seemed this was reality.

Albus looked around the girl.

A massive tree had grown in the middle of the barren desert, which had been empty just a moment ago.

The tree seemed to exist solely to provide him with shade.

Albus could feel a special energy flowing throughout his body.

It was as if this energy was trying to protect him from the desert’s heat.

At this point, it was impossible not to understand.

The person who brought him here, created a place for him to rest when he collapsed, and infused his body with this energy was this girl in front of him.

And this girl was probably…

“Duamutep.”

“Huh? You called, Daddy?”

Duamutep, the quest NPC inserted for the main quest of the Spriggans’ Great Desert on the second floor of the Tower of Rudera’s Labyrinth, and the god of a fallen empire according to the setting.

“Hehe…”

Duamutep giggled bashfully.

‘If my guess is correct, this girl in front of me is a god.’

Unlike me, who is omnipotent only within Rudera, she possesses divinity and powers in reality.

Albus swallowed hard and asked.

“Did you bring me here?”

“Yeah!”

The girl nodded her head up and down.

“It was too noisy there! It was too hard to have a proper conversation with you. And there were people who were thinking bad thoughts about you.”

‘So, she brought me here because she wanted to talk to me.’

Moreover, she’s calling me daddy.

Does she think of me as her father?

Fortunately, she seems to like me.

It looks like we can communicate to some extent.

But…

“Why do you call me daddy?”

“Why?”

The girl put her index finger on her lips and looked puzzled.

“Hmm? Because Daddy is Daddy.”

“Am I your daddy?”

“Yeah! Daddy made Dua! Hehe…”

The girl hugged Albus tightly again.

I… made her?

Even though I’m an omnipotent GM within Rudera, in reality, I can’t even use magic properly.

Unlike other players, I don’t receive the effects of classes or items within Rudera.

How could someone like me create a god? 

Such a thing should be impossible…

‘If the belief of the Demihumans in Duamutep restores divinity and that divinity gathers to form Duamutep, then the extinguished god might be revived.’

The professor’s words from the class he attended earlier flashed through Albus’s mind.

“Born from belief…”

‘The belief of the Demihumans gathered in this desert to create this child.’

Albus understood what had happened.

‘I can’t believe the professor’s prediction became reality.’

The professor had predicted that Duamutep could be revived through the belief of the Demihumans. 

The divinity created by belief was the core that formed a god’s power.

Although Duamutep wasn’t a real god but a fictional one created by Albus, it didn’t change the fact that she had manifested in reality due to the Demihumans’ belief.

‘This makes it look like I created Rudera with some grand purpose…’

It seemed as if the GM had some hidden agenda in creating Rudera, just as the professor had speculated.

I just made the game for fun, but how did things end up like this…

Did it go wrong when I got involved with Carthesia?

“Sigh. I don’t know.”

Because of a mere game, a god was born in reality?

Does that even make sense?

Albus’s head started to ache.

“I’m sorry, Daddy…?”

The girl, who was still hugging Albus, noticed that he didn’t seem to be in a good mood.

“…?”

“Actually… you know…”

The girl, looking slightly downcast, twiddled her index fingers together and mumbled.

“Dua was born here with Daddy’s power… So I brought Daddy home…”

‘This child was born from the gathered divinity here.’

“If I had known Daddy would collapse, I wouldn’t have brought you… Dua just wanted to be with Daddy… So that’s why…”

Albus began to feel a little sorry for the girl.

‘Ultimately, it’s my responsibility that this child was born due to the game I created. She was born without anyone to take care of her, in this desolate desert, with nothing.’

An infant in desperate need of parental love was abandoned in the middle of a desert.

“Daddy says he’s not Daddy…! And he frowned at Dua… Sob!”

Duamutep started to sob.

‘Is this my fault…?’

Albus could only guess how much it hurt the child when the person she believed to be her father denied being her father and sighed with a frown on his face.

“I’m sorry, Daddy… I was wrong… Don’t abandon me…”

Tears as big as chicken droppings rolled down the girl’s face.

‘A god who needs parental love before being a god…’

If this child was born from the belief of the demihumans due to a misunderstanding by the Beast King on the second floor of the Tower of the Labyrinth, then she was essentially a newborn, just a month old.

Although the incident was caused by the Beast King, he sincerely believed Duamutep and the GM to be gods, so he couldn’t play the father’s role.

‘So, I have to play the father’s role.’

I don’t even have a lover, yet I now have a child to take care of.

Is this what they call responsibility without pleasure?

“Duamutep.”

“Sniff… Yes?”

“It’s okay. It’s okay. Come here.”

Albus lifted the girl and placed her on his lap.

The sensation of Duamutep on his lap was quite soft and warm.

“Daddy won’t abandon you. Never.”

“…?”

“Duamutep did make a mistake that almost got Daddy in big trouble. But you made shade for Daddy when he collapsed, and you also infused energy into Daddy’s body to help him recover, didn’t you?”

Albus could feel the energy inside his body, protecting him from the harsh desert climate.

It was the same type of energy as the power coming from his own hands, divinity.

“…Yeah.”

Albus wiped Duamutep’s tears with his hand.

“Actually, it’s Daddy’s fault for not being there to celebrate your birth. Oh no! What should I do? Daddy, I think our Duamutep should scold me! Oh, Princess, please forgive me!”

Albus exaggerated his movements, acting overly dramatic.

“Hehe.”

The girl laughed bashfully at his antics.

Though it was a clumsy imitation of parenting he had seen over someone’s shoulder, it was enough to make the girl smile.

“For my daughter, Daddy will show a special move! Here comes the Albus Special! Airplane ride!”

Albus lifted Duamutep high into the air and ran around with her.

“Kyahaha!”

Though it was nothing compared to her flying, and the concept of an airplane was entirely new to her, she felt her father’s love in his effort to play with her.

‘Dua is not abandoned.’

She had gone beyond the desert to places where his power didn’t reach to confirm she wasn’t abandoned.

Crossing many mountains and rivers to find him.

And the father she found…

‘Loves Dua.’

Hehe

Duamutep laughed brightly like an ordinary child as she played with Albus.

“Huff… huff…”

After playing with Duamutep for a while, Albus bent over, holding his knees, and panted.

‘Is she not getting tired?’

Playing with a child is like an endless cycle of eternity, they say.

Albus started to understand why there was such a saying.

“…Huh?”

Wait a minute.

Even though she’s a newborn, she’s still a god.

If she can sprout a giant tree in the desert for me when I collapse or maintain my body temperature with divinity, she must be capable of handling divinity.

Can’t I learn how to handle divinity from her?