Luca thought he'd already hit his daily limit for shocks.
First, the collapse of mana.
Then, the civil divide between males and females.
Then, the betrayal of the demi-human races.
And now...this.
His mouth hung open slightly, his brain refusing to process what he was hearing.
For a long few seconds, he just stared blankly at Luna, as though she'd spoken in some alien language.
Finally, he blinked slowly and managed to ask, in a voice that barely sounded like his own.
"Wait...how...how do you even know that? That the males can't...produce babies anymore? You're not just saying that to insult them, right?"
Luna flushed a deep shade of red, waving her hands quickly.
"No! Not at all! It's not an insult, it's the truth." She said earnestly. "After the mana began to disperse, the number of children born each year began to decline drastically."
"If, in a normal year, out clan would welcome about a fifty newborns, that number fell to ten...then five and eventually…"
Her eyes melted with gloom.
"It's been three years since the last child was born. Since then...there hasn't been a single successful birth among any of the demi-human clans."
"The nurseries are empty, the cradles gather dust. The laughter of babies that once echoed through the village...it's gone."
"Yeah...it's so lonely now." Lulu too sighed sadly. "Before, you'd always hear babies crying or laughing somewhere. Now, nothing. It's too quiet."
She puffed her cheeks and said dramatically.
"It's so sad! So, so sad not having those cute little ones running around!"
Luna nodded solemnly before saying,
"And as for how we found out it was the males' fault…"
She hesitated for a moment, her cheeks tinting pink, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.
"Well...the healers in our village examined everyone carefully. They confirmed that the wombs of the females are perfectly healthy—completely normal and capable of bearing children."
She rubbed her hands awkwardly, her voice dropping to a mutter.
"But the males, on the other hand…"
Lulu immediately jumped in with a mischievous grin.
"The males are completely defective!" She announced proudly. "Their seed doesn't work at all! Totally useless! It's like—like their little soldiers went on strike!"
"Lulu!" Luna exclaimed, mortified.
But Lulu only laughed harder.
"I'm serious! It's like they lost their mana in that too! Just like how they used to rely on mana to cast spells and fight, it looks like their...you know, that thing—also needed mana to function!"
"Now that mana's gone, their uh...weapon can't, you know, fire anymore!"
She broke into a fit of giggles, covering her mouth as Luna pressed her palm to her face in utter humiliation.
"Lulu, please stop explaining it like that." Luna muttered. "It's not appropriate…"
"Oh, come on!" Lulu said between laughs. "It's true! They became completely useless! And the funniest part? They can still somehow reproduce with humans. Isn't that weird? They can't make babies with their own kind, but with humans, it works just fine!"
Luna's blush deepened.
"That...is what makes it so tragic. It's believed that their biological connection to mana was tied not only to their power but also to their fertility. When the mana vanished, it severed that connection."
"And yes, the humans seem to be unaffected. That's probably why, out of shame, the males couldn't bear to stay here anymore."
"Yup! " Lulu grinned. "They couldn't look their wives in the eyes anymore. So they packed their things, tucked their tails between their legs, and ran off to the humans."
"...Probably hoping to feel like 'real men' again!" She said, laughing loudly.
"I can't believe I'm even saying this to another human…" Luna groaned again, mortified.
She turned to Luca, intending to change the subject completely, but froze mid-sentence when she saw his face.
He wasn't laughing. He wasn't teasing. He wasn't even blinking.
He was just standing there, staring at her with wide eyes of pure disbelief, his mouth slightly open like he'd just been told gravity stopped working.
"L-Luca?" Luna asked hesitantly, tilting her head. "Are you alright?"
There was a pause.
Then suddenly, he exploded.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
His shout echoed through the trees so loud that birds scattered from the canopy above. Even Lulu shrieked in surprise, almost falling off his back, and had to grab his hair to steady herself.
Luca ignored her completely as he threw his hands up toward the sky.
"WHAT THE HELL, MAN?!" He yelled furiously. "What do you mean the males of the demi-human races can't reproduce anymore?! How the hell am I supposed to deal with something like THAT?!"
He started pacing in circles, waving his arms around dramatically.
"It's one thing to stop humans from invading—that's easy! Just punch some soldiers, burn some ships, maybe throw in a heroic speech—boom! Problem solved! "
"It's another thing to teach you people how to make a fire without magic—fine! I can do that too! But this—"
He pointed dramatically upward.
"This is insane! You expect me to FIX THEIR INFERTILITY!? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, OPEN A DAMN CLINIC HERE!?"
Lulu, still clinging to his head, burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! It's like riding a demon beast! Go faster, faster! Giddy up!"
Luna, meanwhile, just stood there completely baffled.
"W-what's happening? Why is he...shouting at the sky?"
But Luca continued, utterly ignoring them.
"What's next, huh? Bring over a team of gynecologists and andrologists? You want me to start running fertility tests on every elf I find? I didn't come here to do SPERM CHECKS, DAMN IT!"
"I came here for adventure!" He gripped his hair dramatically. "For quests! For glory! Not to—not to fix magical ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION!"
He jabbed a finger upward accusingly.
"And you! You up there! You could've warned me! You could've said, 'Hey Luca, by the way, half the men here can't have kids anymore!' But noooo, you leave me to find out like this! What the hell kind of divine management is this?!"
Luna stood stiff in place, utterly baffled.
"I—uh...he's yelling at the sky." She murmured under her breath. "Does he...often do this?"
"I don't know, but this is great!" Lulu laughed even harder, holding onto his head as he stomped around. "It's like riding a rampaging demon beast! Faster, human, faster!"
Luca finally stopped, gripping his head in frustration and growling under his breath.
"Outrageous. This is utterly outrageous. I didn't sign up for this insanity!"
And honestly, it wasn't an unreasonable outburst.
In any other situation—literally any other situation—he could've done something about it.
He was a man capable of making miracles happen, a being who could defy logic and create results out of nothing.
No matter how bizarre or impossible the problem was, he always found a way to solve it.
But this?
This was different.
He had absolutely no clue how to fix the fertility efficiency of an entire male population. Even with all his intellect, his adaptability, and his ability to learn and improvise, this one...was beyond him.
He could slay monsters, rebuild broken societies, resurrect lost technologies...But fixing that?
It wasn't even something he wanted to think about.
Just imagining the process made him shudder.
"What am I supposed to do?" He muttered under his breath, horrified. "Go around the continent and ask semen samples from everyone in little boxes?"
His face twisted in disgust at the thought.
"Ugh! No! Absolutely not! That's—that's revolting!"
He made a gagging noise, nearly bending over as the sheer absurdity hit him.
"Even thinking about that makes me want to throw up!"
He then rubbed his temples, visibly exasperated.
"Goddammit, I'm supposed to be fixing the world, not opening a fertility clinic in the middle of the forest! I can't even begin to imagine how to fix something like that…"
He stood there for a while, genuinely baffled, mind spinning uselessly for any kind of logical direction—but coming up with nothing.
It was the first time in a long while that he truly had no answer.
But then, amidst his mental stress, a soft, melodic voice whispered in his ear.
"Calm down, Luca."
The words were gentle, like the caress of a breeze, yet they struck through his frustration instantly.
"We'll talk about this matter...and some other things later tonight."
And just like that, the voice faded.
He blinked, his entire body going still.
That tone—that calm, divine resonance—he'd recognize it anywhere.
The voice of the Goddess of Space.
A strange calm washed over him. She really was watching him, even now. Every movement, every word, every shout.
And somehow, that realization brought him an odd sense of relief. She'd heard his frustrations and she'd answered.
"Later tonight." He murmured to himself, exhaling deeply. "Alright...I'll hold you to that, Lady Space."
He slowly relaxed, the tension leaving his shoulders.
Lulu, on the other hand, groaned dramatically.
"Aww, come on! It's already over?!" She whined, lightly thumping his shoulder. "I was having so much fun! You were bouncing around like a wild boar! I thought you were gonna start breathing fire next!"
Luna, still worried, stepped closer.
"Are you alright?" She asked, her voice soft but concerned. "Do you...need some water or anything?"
Luca blinked a few times, then looked at her with a weary smile.
"No, no, I'm fine." He said, shaking his hands. "It's just...I remembered I made a deal with someone, and, well, let's just say the other party conveniently forgot to mention a few major details."
He gave a light, tired chuckle.
"I got frustrated thinking about it, but I'm alright now. No need to worry."
Luna still looked confused, her brows furrowing slightly. "A...deal?"
"Something like that." He said vaguely, waving it off. "Anyway, I'm fine now."
She still looked uncertain, but since he'd said he was alright, she decided not to press any further.
Instead, as she sighed softly, her eyes caught something that made her heart skip a beat—the string that had been wrapped around Luca's neck, the one meant to keep him in check, was once again dangling loosely in her hands.
Her ears shot up in panic. 'Oh no.'
In her fluster, she quickly grabbed it and held it tightly, hoping he hadn't noticed that she'd lost her hold on him—again.
But Luca, of course, noticed. He just looked at her, exhaustion still etched on his face, and said dryly.
"You really don't care about your sister's life do you?"
Her face flushed crimson.
"T-That's not true! I just—I—you were moving so much! How could I keep hold of it properly?!"
He sighed softly but smiled anyway.
"It's fine, it's fine. No harm done." Then his tone shifted, slightly more serious. "Anyway, before we get to your village, I need to ask."
"Is there any other big news I should know about? Something world-shattering or insane like the one you just told me?"
Luna's eyes darted nervously. "Um…"
He raised an eyebrow. "Luna…"
She hesitated, knowing how he might react.
"Well...yes, actually. There is one more thing."
He groaned.
"Oh, great. What is it this time? Please tell me it doesn't involve more biological disasters."
She shook her head quickly.
"No, no, nothing like that! It's just...well, the male races didn't just defect. Some of them are now working with the humans. Actively."
"Working with them...how?"
"Some are trying to use diplomacy, persuasion—peaceful methods to convince us to rejoin them." She explained. "But others are more aggressive. There are even civil wars breaking out between clans. It's...chaos everywhere."
She braced herself for another outburst.
But to her surprise, Luca just exhaled deeply—like someone letting out a week's worth of stress.
"Oh. If it's just that..." He said casually. "...then I can handle it."
Both Luna and Lulu blinked in disbelief, while he smiled faintly, stretching his arms.
"Thank god it's not something crazy like what you told me before. Honestly, you scared ten years off my life with that last one."
"Negotiations and wars? Easy...That's something I can fix."
Luna just stared at him, baffled. For every elf and demi-human, the war and political chaos was one of the greatest crises in history—and here this man stood, treating it like a minor inconvenience.
She couldn't help but think to herself, Who exactly is he?
Every time she thought she was starting to understand him, he'd say or do something that threw her completely off balance.
He even said 'fix it' as if it were as simple as patching a hole in a roof.
As if the conflicts of nations and the pain of centuries were just...errands.
Luna's gaze lingered on him, quietly wondering what kind of man could speak like that.
Who he truly was. What he was really here for.
But before she could ask, Luca suddenly turned to them with a bright look, the exhaustion from moments ago completely gone.
"Alright, come on." He said cheerfully, adjusting Lulu on his back. "Let's get moving. I want to see your village and meet the rest of your people."
"You'll love it!" Lulu perked up instantly. "Everyone's super pretty and elegant like me!"
"Well, if they're even a fraction as pretty as you two, I'll be more than happy to meet them." Luca smirked.
Luna froze mid-step, her ears twitching as her cheeks turned pink.
"W-What kind of thing is that to say all of a sudden?" She stammered.
"Just being honest." He just laughed softly, walking ahead with Lulu giggling on his back.
Luna sighed, a helpless smile tugging at her lips as she followed them.
'Even if I don't know who you are right now...' She thought. '...I'll find out soon enough.'
And with that, the three of them continued their journey deeper into the forest, toward the elven village where the truth of his identity would soon begin to unfold.