Orario.
- "Do you have any idea why I called you here?" Ouranos asked.
- "Not in the slightest," I shrugged, and Tia nodded her head.
We were back in the Prayer Room, and we were looking at Ouranos, who looked nothing but pissed off and extremely annoyed. Morgan and the Xenos remained in the residence, for the former paid absolutely no attention to him, and the latter were somewhat afraid to show themselves in front of him, as they did not want to cause any unnecessary trouble.
I, on the other hand, after what had happened, came to the conclusion that there was no point in anyone fearing anything in this world. The praised One-Eyed Black Dragon was nothing at all. In the previous world, there was a tangible mystery, my chains' lack of effectiveness, some pitfalls and other factors, but not in this one. Spirit and all had me using Noble Phantasm and survived it, even if weakened. And so playing the harmless boy made me no longer want to play the harmless boy.
- "Don't pretend like you had nothing to do with this!" he said in a menacing voice, "You were brought on your back by a one-eyed black dragon right into the center of town! Do you realize how much damage you've done?! He's a cataclysm that destroyed lands and killed hundreds of thousands!"
I rolled my eyes, and Tia stared at Ouranos incomprehensibly, as if he was the weird one, not us.
The dragon had really made a mess of things. There was panic, crowds of people running for their lives, screams of terror and prayers for rescue, and even some of the gods used their Arcanum and prepared for battle, but they all froze and fell out of reality when he began to caress my hand. Well after that it all spilled out into what was happening now.
I teleported Hestia, Bell, Hermes and Asfi closer to the city, as they had asked me to do so. It was understandable, because if they went with us, they would have a lot of problems and questions. Hermes turned out to be the most impressive of them, as he was tearing and throwing, expecting a "great fight to the death", but he got, in fact, a beating of a baby. Although, Bell also stood out, because he wanted to become as strong as me. Heh.
Going back to the dragon, when I figured out everything I wanted, I chained it up and summoned Tia. Upon seeing her, it first tried to break free and started wriggling and growling, but then gradually calmed down when Tia touched it. And under the influence of her divinity, the dragon's scales changed slightly, taking on soft blue speckles.
After a short time, he became childlike, which was already a familiar phenomenon, and his attitude towards me was conditioned by my power that I used against him.
Tia translated the dragon's growls, and as it appeared, he remembered his actions. The dungeon had ordered him to kill the gods that manifested their Arcanum within it. The dragon did this by killing and consuming some goddess, and that was the reason his power became so immense. A little later, already on the surface, he had absorbed some spirit, and it was then that he lost an eye.
He was no danger now, unless of course Tia was. He said she was a mother to him, which was no surprise, and he liked to be in her company. And in mine, because I'm a 'worthy adversary'. And right now, he's…
- "You mean him?" I asked, pointing a finger at Tia's neck, around which the shrunken dragon was wrapped, "Harmless-looking, if you ask me."
- "Enough! This dragon should be killed like any other monster. The people need to know that they are safe. Especially him," Ouranos stated, to which I grinned, and Tia growled in his direction.
- "Oh? What about the xenos? Right now this little one could very well be called part of them," I said and stroked Tia's head to calm her down a bit, "Or didn't you care about the xenos originally?"
- "Aaaaaa~" Tia added in a threatening tone.
- "How many lands have turned into scorched wastelands? Hundreds. How many innocents has that dragon burned? Thousands. People fear him and hate him, and you brought him here and put him on public display," Ouranos ignored my words and looked at Tia, "We came down here for the mortals, to give them the strength to face the threat from below. So why are you supporting this monster?"
- "Aaaaaa~" Tia sang out sternly, causing Ouranos to open his eyes wide.
- "She's right, you know. Some people die and some people kill. It is the natural course of the world, the one law that all existing life obeys, just as my goddess said. Even yours, divine. To kill or not to kill is a purely personal choice of each individual, not at the behest of anyone. As is whether or not one needs outside help."
- "Aren't you human, Romani? Why do you care so little about the lives of your fellow man?"
- "It's rather amusing to watch you try to appeal to my humanity, Lord Ouranos. Except that gods and men think differently and have different ideas about life. And the latter, moreover, have different understandings of humanity," I chuckled, "Why do you think we're here in this city? With all this power and ability?"
- "I don't know."
- "Oh? Then why do I sense a lie in your words? So. either you had your own guesses, or someone told you about us," I said, and Ouranos remained silent and made an impenetrable face, "Was it a certain gray-haired old man with an annoying fanged grin?"
- "You forget who you're talking to, Romani," was all Ouranos said, to which I grinned again.
Zelretch always left his mark wherever he sent me. I'd thought about that possibility yesterday, and apparently for good reason. The question remained, though, why, and what was the benefit he was talking about.
- "You know, he doesn't interact with people he's not interested in. They can be very different personalities, but they all have one very interesting thing in common - they all see the world in their own way, and often their beliefs are very different from reality. Of course, there are exceptions, but you are unlikely to be one of them. So, how do you see the world and what do you want to change?"
At this point the divinity of Ouranos burst forth with great power and filled the Prayer Room. The columns and the whole room shook and I felt it begin to press down on me. The dragon around Tia's neck twitched and prepared to take its full form, and she herself was about to release her divinity, but I just grinned and stopped holding back some of my mana.
It instantly expanded and formed a sort of dome, through which Ouranos' divinity tried to break through, but of course couldn't. This, apparently, Ouranos noticed, and while still maintaining the pressure for a little while longer, he did back off and everything returned to normal.
- "Didn't he tell you about this, Lord Ouranos?" I asked, to which I received no reply or any reaction, "In any case, have a good day. And your attempts to pull a fast one on us look really funny. That's just for the record."
-0-
Upon returning home, accompanied by rather startled and wary looks, a certain picture appeared before me. It was familiar to me, as I had experienced a relatively similar situation back home in DxD, but that time I didn't feel as threatened as I did now.
There was a bowl of soup on the dining table that looked quite normal: yellow broth with rings of fat, vegetables cut into medium sized pieces, and meat that looked like chicken. But it wasn't him that scared me, though there was basically no odor of cooking or the soup itself, it was what surrounded the table.
Ray and Let, who had been sitting at it in absolute silence, looked apprehensively at each other, at me, at the soup. It was as if they wanted to say something, to tell me something, but couldn't. Morgan was also at the table, smiling at me. She was smiling, not smirking or anything, and that caught my attention, because she only smiled at two things: she wanted something, or she was happy about something.
I tensed up and approached the table.
- "Your Majesty, may I know the reason for your extremely beautiful smile?"
- "Sit down," she said in a commanding tone, and my body obeyed her automatically, "Try the soup. I made it myself and I want to know what you think."
- "May I ask why Ray and Let are silent? Also, why can't I smell the cooking odor? Also."
- "You ask too many questions, husband, and I'll answer them when you taste the soup."
- "Have you tasted it?" Feeling a lump in my throat, I asked.
- "Why would I do that if I was making it for you?" was all Morgan said, making it clear that I wouldn't leave without doing as she 'asked'.
- "Aaaaaa~" Tia praised her with the dragon asleep on her neck, admiring her act.
- "You're too kind to me, Beast II," Morgan made a smug face and looked at me, "Try it, or I'll make you."
I swallowed the lump in my throat and took the spoon in my hand, glancing at Ray and Let, whose looks practically screamed danger. Of course, I didn't want to die, at least not this way, and so I dipped the spoon into the soup to test for causticity, as it was often shown in the anime. So, what happened afterward? Well...
-0-
- "Morgan."
- "Yes, husband?"
- "Why did the spoon suddenly come to life and want to kill me?"
- "I don't know, maybe it was a monster in disguise."
- "Oh, that makes sense. It took on the guise of a harmless spoon so that adventurers would take it to the surface and sell it to an ordinary person without any strength or fighting ability, which was the perfect victim. Then, by killing one human after another, the monster could gain strength and eventually take over the surface, becoming its ultimate predator and a new Great Quest beyond all others. Something like 'Spoongeddon, The Man-Eater' or 'Spoon-Doomsday, The End of Life' or maybe even 'Invisible Spooncalypse'."
- "Yeah, that's what I think, too. Monsters have an uncanny ability to mimic, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case," Morgan nodded, and then there was a silence that lasted about ten seconds, and then I couldn't take it anymore.
- "What the hell kind of brew did you make?! What did you throw in there, hmm?! It's not even a weapon, oh no, it's something in the realm of True Magic! Your 'soup' brought the damn spoon to life! Why didn't the bowl come alive?!"
- "I covered it with a Bounded field, isn't it obvious?" Morgan said calmly, which made my eyebrow twitch, "Sometimes I have deep doubts about your sanity, husband. I suppose True Magic is bad for the wielder's mind."
And after all that, the lunatic is me?! Where the hell is my fault here, hmm?!
At these thoughts, I did what any real man would do, and that was to carry Tia to my room and, hugging her, I closed my eyes.
I've had enough craziness for today. I just need to sleep in Tia's warm and cuddly embrace and tomorrow will be different. A completely normal day and nothing like this, right? Right?!
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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