episode_0240

After hearing ample advice and ideas from Stella and Prinia, I expressed my gratitude and returned to the underworld.

Arjen was still sleeping with a happy face, and when I went to the children’s room, Asha and Adele had already woken up on their own and were still talking about what they had said yesterday.

“Wow! Dad!”

“No, Adele. It was said that gods should be polite even between parents and children. Great Father or Almighty Father?”

“Uh… since you both are strange, can you just call me dad?”

“If that is what you desire…”

I had no idea that she would already say something like this to my son, but Asha was quite disgusted. Although he originally had a dignified personality, his cuteness has disappeared considerably due to something he imagined last night.

Actually, I was going to start working on building faith in the children right away, but looking at the children’s behavior now, I felt like it wouldn’t be a good idea to start right away.

Yes… I think it would be safe if it were at least 100 years old and became an adult by dragon standards.

“Asha, Adele.”

First of all, I felt like I needed to get the air out of these kids’ lungs.

I want to see my children grow up, and I don’t want them to suddenly become solemn like this.

“Woong?”

Fortunately, Asha, who still had some innocence left in her, looked at me brightly with a cute face.

“You cannot become gods yet.”

“Eeh? Why!?”

Surprisingly, Asha reacted more sensitively than Adele. No matter what, he still had a childlike side to him.

“To become a god, you have to be a little bigger.”

“It needs to be bigger…? Could it be…?”

“Yes. At least until I reach the age of 100…”

“Aaagh! In the end, it’s that again!?”

Asha almost screams. I guess I was disappointed because I said the same thing as Arjen over and over again.

While I was wondering how to comfort her, Asha took the initiative to confess her true feelings to me.

“Father… No, Dad.”

“Huh?”

“Actually, I’m anxious. They always say that when I grow up a little, I can be like my mom and dad… but no matter how much I study or how hard I try, I don’t see any signs of that happening.”

“Asha….”

Asha had major difficulties of her own. I just wondered why I wanted to become so strong, but I had no idea that I was feeling anxious.

“Sorry. Dad didn’t really understand Asha’s feelings.”

With the intention of comforting her, I held Asha in my arms. Then, Adele, who had been tilting her head from a distance, suddenly fell into my arms.

“Hey, my babies. I’m sorry dad.”

I once heard this from Arjen. Typically, juvenile dragons sleep and live in weeks, and from this point on, their sense of time adapts to the standards of long-lived species.

However, Asha and Adele lived on a daily basis, just like humans. This meets my standards.

Although this trend clearly helped children live each day preciously, there were also clear side effects.

A desire for growth that ordinary dragons would never feel.

Asha hoped more than anyone else for the dragon to grow into an adult, which would occur automatically after only 100 years, which is a short period of time by dragon standards.

“Don’t be too anxious. If you grow up just a little bit, you will definitely become very strong.”

“Uuuu… Like mom and dad?”

“Yes. I might become much stronger than my mom or dad?”

Of course it is difficult. A dragon that has just become an adult cannot compare to Arzen, who boasts the greatest strength among dragons, or a god who has begun to gain faith in earnest.

But to put it another way, Asha and Adele were their children. Considering the potential, it is not impossible.

Wayne, who was originally human, gained power that was incomparable not only to ordinary humans but also to past warriors through Stella’s power and Arjen’s oath.

“Lie!”

“It’s not a lie. Asha can definitely become stronger.”

You can be sure. But Asha won’t believe it. Because I don’t know the basis of what I’m saying.

So, I decided to show you just a little bit of it.

“Shall we go for a short walk?”

A quiet alpine area. It is a place you can find if you leave the green land that is Arjen’s territory to the south.

Because the mountains are so rugged and the altitude is low, the temperature is low, making it a truly wild land with no civilization.

In the past, a dragon lived here on rare occasions, but the management was so negligent that the monsters proliferated like crazy, and Argen had to deal with the ones that came over due to lack of habitat.

I also remember being there at least once.

Of course, Arjen, who became ferocious while I was gone, killed the dragon.

It’s a long story, but to summarize, no matter what you do here, no one will suffer.

“Dad? Where is this?”

Adele, held in his arms, asks with wide eyes. I’ve been to many places so far, but this was my first time seeing a place with such high mountains. I was looking at something amazing.

“Hmm. It’s a land where no one lives.”

“Why did you come here?”

“Dad came to show me what Asha and Adele can do later.”

Faith has been built up enough. Recently, they have been diligently performing their duties, and most importantly, the faith has been passed down not only from humans and dwarves, but also from druids.

Switching to a woman’s body and causing her to become pregnant was something they did out of anger while considering appropriate punishment, but it seemed to be considered a miracle to them.

It was like giving children to those who were originally unable to have children, so their number was small, but the faith they offered was beyond imagination.

Thanks to this, he has become considerably stronger as a god. Of course, as I have a body that can operate in the underworld, if I have too much faith, my body may not be able to withstand it, so I was trying to control it.

And the time had come to ‘let go of faith’, and I thought it would be a good idea to show children what they can do with faith.

“Now. Can you see the mountains sticking out down there?”

“Where are you talking about? I don’t know what they’re talking about because it’s all mountains.”

“It doesn’t matter where you look.”

It doesn’t matter where you look anyway. Because I just have to follow the children’s gaze.

Asha and Adele were looking at the highest mountain among the rugged mountains.

Faith is an omnipotent power. However, there is a difference in fuel efficiency depending on the direction.

For example, let’s assume that a person called the God of Destruction uses faith, although we have never seen his face.

Naturally, his power would be destruction. This is because an unspecified number of people think of him as a ‘god who presides over destruction.’

When carrying out destructive activities with this kind of faith, almost no faith is consumed.

On the other hand, I am the god of conception. People pray to me because they want to have children.

In order to carry out the same level of destruction as the God of Destruction with the faith received in this way, an enormous amount of faith is required.

This is why faith is called an ‘all-powerful power’ for convenience, but is bothered by various restrictions.

Well, since the gods here are not proper gods in the first place but people from another world, it may be inevitable.

Regardless, I let go of the excess faith that was burdening my body.

The exercise of faith, which was carried out with the clear purpose of destruction, collapsed the mountain the children were looking at.

Kwaaang!

The sound of a bomb exploding rings loudly in my ears. Even if it’s a dragon, the eardrums are thin, so the children’s faces are frowned upon.

However, despite his expression, his eyes were shining as if he could not believe what had already happened.

“Wow! what? What is it?”

The snow that had accumulated due to the suddenly collapsed terrain of the mountain fell like crazy, ignoring the children’s loud exclamation.

The avalanche, which was reminiscent of a blizzard, roared for a while and did not stop, and the children watched the disaster I had caused as if it was not time to make a fuss yet.

“How about it?”

“Dad! Awesome! How did you do it!?”

It was a very excited voice, so I thought it was Adele speaking, but when I looked again, it was Asha. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve seen Asha’s childlike side.

I was left with regrets because I only used the word ‘father’ and honorifics before I even had time to grow up, but if I could see Asha’s reaction like this, I wonder if it would be okay to break down mountains every now and then.

“Isn’t it amazing? Asha, Adele. You too will be able to do something similar when you grow up.”

“Ugh… I’m not confident. But, I have no idea how I did it.”

I have no choice but to not know. Arjen could easily do something like collapsing a snowy mountain, but in any case, it would only be possible if he used magic.

However, since this did not use magical power, children would have no idea what was going on.

“Dad will tell you.”

“Really!? Right now!? Ah… Did I say after I became an adult…”

“You can prepare right now.”

The children’s eyes sparkle again at my words. I feel this every time I see it, but the children’s eyes themselves have a very pure feeling.

“Then the first preparation. Everyone, think deeply about what you really want to do.”

If, like me, you suddenly become something like the god of conception, the efficiency with which you operate your faith will inevitably deteriorate. So, you must decide in advance what kind of faith you will receive.

And since those who give faith see the children’s side and give them the faith they deserve, it was important for them to know what they wanted to become.

Simply put, it means self-reflection. Of course, this may not be possible for young children.

In the end, it’s like telling people to wait until they become adults.

Without even knowing it, the two children are already diligently thinking of things they want to do.