Staaaare—
Buer just sat there, smiling but not smiling as she looked at Nabu sitting on the floor, and asked softly, "Nabu, the ground is cold. Why aren't you standing up?"
Nabu's face turned red. She shook her head and said, "It's cooler this way. I was in the desert heat for so long—this is perfect for cooling down."
This was absolutely not the time to stand up. If Buer noticed something off, she would die of embarrassment on the spot.
Buer smiled, still giving Nabu a bit of dignity.
"Buer, where's Apep?" Nabu hurriedly changed the subject, not wanting Buer to linger on that kind of thing for too long.
"Apep left Sumeru City. She's planning to take a walk out in the wild," Buer said.
As for running into danger… that was obviously impossible. Other people running into danger, though? That was very possible.
"Nabu, have you noticed any… strange smell?" Buer asked teasingly.
Messing with Nabu was pretty fun—especially while that wave of shame was still fresh.
"Ahem." Nabu cleared her throat and said seriously, "That should be… the perfume on me."
No issues there. Something that smells good? Call it perfume. Perfectly reasonable.
Koji clenched his teeth to keep from laughing. Is that "perfume" even remotely proper perfume?
He'd watched the whole thing from start to finish. Of course his mind was going to go in the wrong direction.
A god on the Flower Goddess's level probably didn't have some generic "special scent"—if anything, she would have her own distinct fragrance.
Buer clearly made the same association too. The Flower Goddess really was the Flower Goddess—still flirting like that at a time like this. Seriously, there was no one else like her.
"Nabu, tidy up in here."
Buer led Koji away and brought him to the room that belonged to the Greater Lord.
There was no complicated decoration. The furnishings were simple, carrying the natural charm of plants and wood. Beside the bed, a vivid emerald hanging basket woven from vines swayed gently.
"What is it? Is there something strange about this place?" Buer asked.
"Nothing strange. It just feels like a really comfortable room." Koji answered earnestly.
With Buer resting here, over time the room had taken on a faint, fresh plant fragrance. Even though it was indoors, it somehow felt like standing in the middle of nature.
The moment you stepped in, your mind felt soothed. Without realizing it, you relaxed.
"I don't like rooms that are too luxurious. They're uncomfortable to live in. Something like this is just right."
Buer sat in the hanging basket. Every corner of the room, every piece of furniture—she had arranged it all with her own hands.
"Won't you sit?" Buer pointed to the empty space beside the basket.
Hearing that, Koji didn't hesitate. He'd originally been planning to sit on Buer's bed, just to see how soft it was.
As he moved close to her warm, soft body, he could smell her fresh, clean natural scent even more clearly. As Sumeru's god of plants and trees, a being born within Irminsul, she was like the embodiment of nature itself—making people want to draw closer without even thinking.
The heat radiating from Koji made Buer's cheeks turn slightly red. She had never been this close to a man before.
"This is a lifesaving favor. Are you going to repay it with your body?" Koji asked with a grin.
Buer covered her mouth and laughed, then said gently, "I could. If not for you, I probably would've disappeared from this world completely."
Having Nahida erase her… that had been the only option left.
If she hadn't done it, Forbidden Knowledge would have continued to exist inside Irminsul, and the people of Sumeru suffering from Eleazar would never have been cured.
"Buer, I have a question."
"Ask."
"If I hadn't been there—after Nahida erased you, and Irminsul was altered… would the one truly forgotten have been you?"
"And at that point… would Nahida still be Nahida?"
Irminsul had been altered so thoroughly that even Apep, the Dendro Dragon King, called Nahida "Buer."
At that question, Buer fell silent.
Although Nahida had gained the Greater Lord's name and achievements, she had also lost her own true self.
Rather than "the Little Dendro Archon," she had become a replacement for the Greater Lord.
"Alright, stop thinking about that. Nahida wouldn't care about questions like that. The thing she'd care about is whether you'd sacrifice yourself," Koji said.
The moment Koji finished speaking, the curious gaze that had been watching from the start vanished.
They hadn't stopped it earlier either—because they already knew exactly who it was: a curiosity-overloaded little featherball named Nahida, who couldn't hold herself back anymore.
"Seriously though—how does Nahida see you? An elder? A big sister? Or a mother?"
Buer thought for a moment, then smiled. "Probably all of the above. I wouldn't mind being Nahida's mom."
Age-wise, she was more than qualified.
"Then she probably wouldn't mind having one more dad, either," Koji said pointedly.
"I think she wouldn't mind." Buer's gentle face flushed. "What should I call you?"
"Darling-husband?"
Buer's face turned even redder, blooming like a gorgeous flower opening in full.
"That sounds nice."
"We should rest."
Koji swept her up in a princess carry. Buer let out a startled cry as he carried her toward her bed.
Thump-thump… thump-thump…
Buer's heartbeat sped up. Her eyes darted around as she looked away shyly.
"..."
Outside, the night was quiet. Inside, the wind rose in waves.
Koji experienced the beauty of the Greater Lord—this could probably be called "deep in."
Nahida sat in her office chair, but she had no mood for work anymore. A man and a woman alone in a room—whatever happened, it definitely wasn't going to be "chatting all night."
"Ah… is this what adult stuff is like?" a certain five-hundred-(something)-year-old loli muttered to herself.
It wasn't like she understood nothing. Through the Akasha, she could access countless kinds of knowledge.
"Nahida, what's wrong?"
After Nabu finished cleaning the floor of the Sanctuary of Surasthana, she came to see Nahida and gently rubbed the little featherball's head.
Nahida really was cuter. The current Buer had already become someone she barely recognized.
"Nabu-onee-san, it's nothing. I just saw Koji and Buer staying in the same room," Nahida said with a smile, shaking her head.
She didn't have any objections to what might happen between them. A lifesaving benefactor, after all.
"Oh? So you're not calling this emperor? This emperor could be a king now!"
Nabu instantly understood what that meant and protested indignantly.
Nahida: "..."
Hearing Nabu's wildly suggestive words, Nahida's little face turned red. It felt like Forbidden Knowledge had appeared again—and launched an attack she simply couldn't resist.
(End of Chapter)
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