Chapter 219: Chapter 219 - The Despair of the Guilty
"Hi there, my dearest daughter."
"Huh? Mom? What are you doing here?"
I was so focused on the documents in front of me that I didn’t even notice her arriv... ah, actually. She’s a goddess. She probably just appeared here in my room right now.
"Can’t a mother chat with her daughter sometimes?"
"Well... you haven’t been exactly visiting much since you became a goddess."
That’s to put it mildly. It’s been ages since the last time I’ve seen her. It seems that, besides her clergy, the only person who sees her frequently is Levinna.
"I know... I’m sorry about that. It’s just that... being a god is so much work, and to create these avatars is very mana-consuming. Especially if I want to convey emotions. Otherwise I come out as someone like a statue."
"I understand, Mom. Though I can barely imagine the amount of effort needed to control your presence in several places at the same time, I know that it is not a trivial task."
I’ve talked with priestesses sometimes about their communions with my mother. She really is always expressionless and normally only carries short messages.
Being a god doesn’t mean being omnipotent, after all. Everyone has limits, and there are always bigger fish in the ocean.
And especially now, with the reinvigoration of Altenfeld and the Barrens going on, mana has become a very scarce resource. Not something that can be spent mindlessly.
"Thank you for understanding, my daughter. I have something that I wanted to show you, but I didn’t want to simply take you away without notice."
"Huh? O-of course. What is it?"
For Mother to come see me and hold a long conversation like this, it must be something grave. I’m already having goosebumps just thinking about it.
"It’s easier to show than to tell. Come."
The next moment, we’re in a place outside... What?
WHAT???
"Are we in space???"
This is exactly like those cartoons, and sometimes anime, where people can just fly away into deep space. But, for some reason, I’m not affected by lack of pressure or air.
Ohh, I see. This is an air bubble. It must be a very strong one to not dissipate to the vacuum. Well, Mom was already a remarkable Air magician even before becoming a goddess...
"Yes. Can you see the planet below us?"
Indeed, I can see it. It’s almost like those photos taken from space of our Earth, but this time it’s the real thing. And also, the land below us is completely barren.
And even from this distance I can sense the nauseatingly wrong mana that is flowing in it. Actually, ’flowing’ is the wrong verb. It’s more like rotten, stagnated water, something that hasn’t flowed for a long, long time.
"So, that is our planet. It really doesn’t seem very healthy, to be honest."
"Yes. It is not. But that is not what I brought here to see. Can you sense something... there?"
She points to something in the distance. Without atmosphere and light pollution, everywhere is an immense sea of stars. As long as I don’t stare directly at the sun, of course.
I look at the direction she’s pointing, but I can only see little bright dots. Wait, what if I try other senses?
I’ve never tried to extend my perception field of magic more than some hundred meters. And that is a very useless distance in the vastness of space.
But if I spread it really thin, maybe... It won’t be able to perceive much, but if it’s something that Mom can notice from here, then the source should be strong enough for such a stretched field to pick up.
Also, maybe if I don’t make it spherical. I’ve always made a sphere with me at the center, because it seems to be the logical approach. But now I know the direction. So maybe if I project a cone...
"No... whatever you’re pointing to, it’s too far away. I can’t pick anything."
For her to be able to sense it, whatever ’it’ is, from here... that shows how big the gulf between gods and mortals is.
"I see. Then, let me help."
She holds my hand, and I can feel her mana flowing inside me. I feel as if I’ve just drunk five bottles of energy drinks and ten mugs of coffee. Her mana is like a rush going through my muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.
I try to extend the cone again, and this time the range and power are increased tremendously.
"Gulp."
The sound my throat made right now was very audible within the bubble.
"It’s a very powerful being... coming in our direction. And it’s angry. Very, very angry."
"Yes, that is also all that I managed to pick up. Did you sense anything else?"
"It is not humanoid. I don’t know how to explain it, but I did sense something very reptilian from it."
"Reptilian..."
Ugh, this is bad. Reptilian means dragon. At least dragonkind, but to be flying in space by itself, at that speed, I have no doubts that it’s a Draconic deity.
For years we’ve focused entirely on the goddess and ignored completely the dragon war in the southwest. Is that coming to bite us in the ass?
The truth is, with the planet like that, we have no way to defeat it.
"And it’s all your fault."
Huh?
Who?
There’s a beautiful woman near us. She has actually entered the air bubble. That’s why I was able to hear her.
And she looks exactly like the depictions of Juno I’ve seen countless times.
"Don’t worry, I’m not here to fight you. Yet, I feel obliged to say that it’s your fault that we’re too weak to defeat it. I had the perfect plan. If you just hadn’t robbed me of my followers..."
"That’s a weird way to say you don’t want to fight us, to accuse us like that right off the bat. You said you had a plan, so you knew that this would happen?"
"Yes, of course. I spent centuries preparing myself, accumulating energy for a summoning from the original world, so I could finally face him and destroy him once and for all."
"Huh? Wasn’t the summoning of the heroes aimed to defeat us?"
"That wasn’t the original plan, no. But as I was already going to summon them and have to give them enough battle experience, then I could as well make them wipe you out."
I’m honestly impressed with how she can say such things as if talking about the weather or yesterday’s breakfast.
Also, Mother has been too silent since the woman came.
"State what you want, Juno. I doubt you’re here to exchange pleasantries."
Just as I thought that she was too silent, she finally spoke. Though ’pleasantries’ isn’t a word I would use to describe our earlier dialogue.
"Always direct to the point, Lillian. Well, I want your help. That is the Draconic god of rulership, and he is coming to destroy the humans that live on this planet. Right now, the way the world is, it would be impossible for me to defeat it alone."
"Is that related to the reason you disappeared?"
Mom asked the question that was in my mind. Good one, Mom!
"Somewhat, yes. I was training. I knew that I would need to fight him sooner or later."
I don’t trust a word that woman says, after she betrayed Lovelace like she did. But I can’t deny the truth in front of my eyes.
I don’t know how many light-years that being is from us. And yet, I was able to sense its hatred, its anger, and its bloodlust. As well as a rough measure of its power.
"I am not a fighter, Juno. You know that. And I also don’t think that his anger is unwarranted."
"You have great warriors at your side, Lillian. You could just make them your angels."
Huh? Make us what, now???
But Mother just shakes her head, as if she had just heard a child propose a stupid solution.
"I won’t bring them that curse."
"Erm... what is that angels thing?"
Juno looks at me with a sharp gaze and a mocking smile.
"Did your mother not tell you? She can make some people her angels. You know, like I have mine. The quantity is variable, depending on each god’s power, but angels gain a lot of power, don’t age, can’t be killed by mortals, and have access to a higher level..."
"Enough, Juno."
Mother’s voice was cold and commandeering. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this ever since she became the goddess of compassion.
Though I am really curious, I decided against prying further. Maybe later I’ll ask Mom directly. I want at least to know the cards we have in our hand, even if we decide not to use them.
But there’s one thing I can be certain about this convo. If angels have such an increase on power from their mortal origins, and yet we fought her angels without much disadvantage...
Then Mother taking me and Lovelace as angels would tip the balance of power in our world in our favor by a big margin.
Which means that Juno must be really desperate for her to make that proposition.