episode_0002

In , there are various gods,

and if you pray to them, you can receive an incredible bonus effect called .

Pray to the God of Craftsmanship, and you’ll get a bonus when crafting something.

Pray to the Goddess of Abundance, and you’ll get a bonus when gathering something.

Pray to the God of Trade, and you’ll get a bonus when trading something, and so on.

Depending on which god you serve, your playstyle can change drastically because of how powerful these are.

But here’s the important part.

Just by praying to a god, you can receive a .

That’s right.

It’s not just the protagonist who gets them.

Your allies can receive just by praying,

and even other NPCs can get them the same way.

Because of this, almost no one in the world of refuses to believe in the gods.

Why wouldn’t you take a buff that doubles your salary just for praying?

Why would you skip a buff that quintuples your salary just by visiting a temple?

Of course you’d do it!

But.

Why am I talking about this when we were discussing the Goddess of Light?

Because all prayers in follow this pattern.

[We pray in gratitude to the Goddess of Light, Serena, for bestowing her radiance, and to the Goddess of Abundance, Gaia, for blessing the land.]

[May the hammer of the Goddess of Light, Serena, and the blessing of the God of Craftsmanship, Vulcan, be imbued upon my own hammer. I pray for this.]

[We pray to the Great Mother, the World Tree, planted by the Goddess of Light, Serena.]

…And so on.

Every prayer first worships the ‘Goddess of Light, Serena,’ then proceeds to honor other deities.

So.

Believing in the gods is synonymous with believing in the ‘Goddess of Light, Serena.’

And since everyone in this world believes in the gods,

it wouldn’t be wrong to say that everyone believes in the ‘Goddess of Light, Serena.’

“Uh… Mom…”

“The Goddess of Light, Serena?…”

Naturally, the village girl ‘Lia’ was also one of those believers.

Which was why she couldn’t believe it.

“It’s a lie…”

“Does it seem like a lie?”

“Yeah…”

“It feels like a lie…”

“Then, shall I present some evidence?”

“Evidence?”

“First piece of evidence.”

“You’ve awakened as the Hero. You know that, right?”

“……”

Lia stared at her sword and armor, lost in thought.

‘The Holy Sword of Light… The Armor of Light…’

‘It’s similar to the hero legends Mom used to tell me, but… it’s all so sudden…’

No matter how she looked at it, these weren’t ordinary items.

‘For real…’

‘The power of the Hero?…’

Somehow, she even felt stronger than usual.

It did seem like the Hero’s power had awakened in her.

“You know the Hero’s power is granted by the Goddess of Light, Serena, right?”

She did.

“But why you, of all people?”

“Why not someone more talented, more courageous? Why you?”

“……”

Even she knew she wasn’t fit to be a Hero.

A crybaby coward.

Even after awakening the Hero’s power, she hadn’t swung her sword once.

That’s why it was even more puzzling.

Why?

Why am I the Hero?

But.

The answer was surprisingly simple.

“Because you’re the goddess’s daughter.”

“Because you’re the one and only child born to the Goddess of Light, Serena, conceived and carried in her own womb.”

She was given the power because she was her daughter.

But.

Questions remained.

“If I’m her daughter, she’d know better…”

“That a crybaby coward like me isn’t fit to be a Hero…”

Her voice trembled as she spoke.

She was scared.

Scared of bandits,

scared of monsters charging at her.

If fighting regular monsters was this terrifying,

how much worse would fighting the Demon King be?

Just the thought made her legs shake and tears overflow.

And someone like me is the Hero?

‘Mom…’

‘This can’t be right…’

It’s practically telling her daughter to go die.

And she wouldn’t be the only one dying.

If she failed to kill the Demon King, everyone would perish.

Yet she still chose me as the Hero?

No way.

If Mom knew me at all, she’d have picked someone else.

…Or so she thought.

“Lia.”

“I’ll show you proof that even a crybaby coward like you can do this.”

“?”

The man who saved her drew his sword and swung it straight at her arm—

“KYAAAAAAAH!!!”

Ting!

“……?”

The sword only made a metallic clang against her arm.

It didn’t hurt.

Huh?

I got hit by a sword?

Why doesn’t it hurt?

“Lia.”

“This is the proof.”

“?”

“You have a trait called .”

“An invincible defensive trait that ensures no attack ever harms you beyond this level.”

“In… invincible defensive trait?…”

“Absolute Invincibility?…”

“Yeah.”

“Even if the Demon King hits you, this is the extent of the damage.”

“Even the Demon King can’t hurt me more than this?!”

“That’s right.”

“But that’s not all.”

“Th-then?…”

“You also have , which makes you immune to all poisons.”

“And , which lets you defeat any enemy in a single strike.”

“Poison doesn’t work on me?…”

“I can kill any enemy in one hit?…”

“Right now, you’re stacked with cheat-level traits strong enough to defeat the Demon King instantly.”

“That’s the current you.”

“Wh… what?…”

“Why?”

“There’s one thing I’m curious about…”

“What?”

“In the Hero legends I’ve heard…”

“The Demon King was insanely strong… The Hero and their allies barely won after a life-or-death struggle…”

“But you don’t have any of that.”

“It’s easy mode—you could win with just one body slam.”

“Wh-what about hardships and trials?…”

“Fighting with your life on the line?…”

“None of that.”

“Why… why not?…”

“Because your mom loved you too much.”

“She gave you an overwhelming amount of power so you wouldn’t have to suffer.”

“Loved me too much?…”

“Yeah.”

“Your mom loves you more than anything.”

Other creations were made with a single gesture,

but our protagonist was carefully raised for a full 20 years.

Of course, affection was inevitable,

and she couldn’t help but become a doting mother.

…Hearing this,

Lia shed a few tears and spoke.

“Mom…”

“If the Goddess of Light, Serena, is really my mom… then she’s alive, right?…”

“She’s alive.”

“Can I see her again?…”

“No.”

“That’s impossible.”

“……?”

Under normal circumstances, meeting the ‘Goddess of Light, Serena’ is unthinkable.

The sun is a benevolent mother that warmly bathes all life in light,

but if it came to Earth, it’d be a catastrophe that burns everything to ashes, right?

The goddess is the same.

From afar, her power is a blessing,

but up close, it’s a disaster.

That’s how overwhelmingly powerful the ‘Goddess of Light, Serena’ is.

…Hearing this, Lia despaired.

“N-no…”

“That can’t be…”

Lia denied reality for a moment before her eyes lit up with an idea.

“What if we make another body?!”

“Like when she first came here!”

“Impossible.”

“Why?…”

“Creating a vessel capable of housing a goddess’s consciousness isn’t easy.”

“It’d take at least 500 years…”

500 years was enough time for Lia to grow old and die.

So.

Meeting again is impossible.

After defeating the Demon King, celestial communication would be restored, allowing her to hear the goddess’s voice.

But it’d only be a call—

actually meeting her would be nearly impossible.

…Hearing this,

Lia fell even deeper into despair.

“Uuu…”

“Mommyyy…”

This much was unavoidable.

As a veteran player, I’d once researched a true happy ending where the protagonist reunites with her mom,

but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a solution and gave up.

…That’s just an excuse, though.

The truth is, I only half-heartedly researched the protagonist’s route because I was too busy studying my favorite character’s happy ending path.

I went crazy trying to find a happy ending for my favorite character.

But the bad ending trigger for my favorite character was meeting the protagonist.

Just meeting her would lead to a bad ending.

But.

Even avoiding her would still result in a bad ending.

She was truly pitiful—doomed to nothing but bad endings.

That’s why I researched even more obsessively,

pouring everything into it.

But.

There was no way to avoid the bad ending.

Unless you weren’t controlling the protagonist,

but another character instead, there was no way to prevent it.

But now?

That very condition has become reality!

Because I didn’t possess the protagonist’s body—

I possessed the extra character ‘Cain’s’ body instead!

The conditions for a happy ending unseen in the game are now fulfilled.

That’s why my heart races.

I’ll wrap up the protagonist’s route quickly

and rush to my favorite character to gift her the happy ending she deserves!

“Mommyyyy…”

But.

I can’t just leave the protagonist crying her heart out.

So I thought a little harder.

Sigh…

‘A way to meet Mom, huh…’

I couldn’t find one in the game.

But.

There was a hint.

[If the human body hadn’t died, I could’ve possessed it again and spent happy times with our daughter…]

[But since it’s dead…]

…That was the line.

If the body is dead, possession is impossible.

Conversely,

if the body is still alive, possession is possible.

But.

has no magic to resurrect the dead.

If a party member dies, that’s it.

There are dark arts like necromancy to control corpses,

but that’s all it is—controlling a corpse.

There’s no way to bring someone back to life.

No way to revive a dead body.

So I gave up.

But.

‘Wait…’

‘On normal difficulty, it’s impossible, but…’

On Blessing difficulty—

Baby Mode—there is a way.

Among the cheat-level traits the Goddess of Light, Serena, stacked onto her daughter for protection,

there’s exactly one

that can even revive a dead body.

‘This wasn’t what the trait was meant for, but…’

‘Gamers are perverted bastards who do exactly what developers tell them not to do.’

It’s a gamer’s instinct.

So.

Could the bug playthrough I imagined actually work?

I’m curious now.

+AI-generated image of the heroine Lia not crying.