Here, in Babel.
Here, the gods were gathered in the circular spectator seats, watching the [War Game] through a "mirror."
And their reaction was...
"""UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"""
It was a scene of excitement at its absolute peak.
It was, quite literally, a festival among festivals.
Even a sudden market brawl would have been quieter than this.
"This is it, this! This is what we wanted to see!"
"Tomato ketchup partydechi?"
"Go, golem! Body slam!"
"His name is! Keter Malkuthhhhhhhhh!"
"Hey, Apollo! Why so serious?"
""Hahahahahahahaha!""
...Crazy bastards.
That was the common thought of the few gods who were still relatively calm, the ones whose excitement had not yet reached the same fever pitch.
And the same went for the god at the center of the [War Game], Apollo.
"No way no way no way no way no way no way no waaaay...!"
No, let me correct that.
The one who was most out of his mind right now was none other than this male god.
As he watched the game unfold, his expression never once had a chance to brighten.
His complexion had gone pale, then beyond pale, until he looked like a corpse.
Even with the pitiful reaction of his fellow god, the others simply enjoyed the festival all the more.
"Ah, he's broken."
"That guy's completely beyond saving."
"Well, at this point it's basically over already."
"I'll bet he kills himself and runs off to heaven soon."
"I'll bet he loses his temper and uses Arcanum."
"I'll bet he jumps off right here and now."
"Wait! If you all bet on that kind of thing, the wager doesn't even work!"
"What about you?"
"Why, of course... I'll bet he grabs Hestia's ankle, begs like a dog, gets rejected, and is sent back to heaven by shock!"
"""You're the worst one here!"""
No, in a sense, that was even worse.
To think beings like this existed as the gods of the world.
Watching that utter chaos, more than a few gods truly began to worry about the future of the lower world and the children who lived there.
Well, even so, this world still kept turning just fine as always.
"Y-yes! That's right! This was wrong from the very beginning!"
"Hey, what's he talking about now?"
"No idea. Looks like he's finally gone mad."
"For a god to go mad in the end. How terrifying, the unknown of the lower world."
Then came Apollo's sudden cry.
As though clinging desperately to something, he turned to the old god Ouranos.
In truth, he was resisting despair with every ounce of his being right now.
It was all probably useless, though.
"Ouranos! I object to this [War Game]! Stop the match at once!"
"""Booooooo!"""
"Shame on you, Apollo!"
"Why not admit defeat with dignity!"
"Enough! All of you are too loud, you useless outfield bastards!"
At that absurd proposal, the surrounding gods all rose up and showered him with boos.
But for Apollo, who had clearly been driven into a corner, none of that mattered at all.
What mattered most to him right now was one thing.
He had to somehow wrap this crisis up safely, or at the very least with minimal damage.
"Ouranos! That mage boy said it himself earlier. He said he wasn't an adventurer. That he hadn't received [Falna] from Hestia yet!"
- That is true.
"Then that means! That child is not currently a member of Hestia Familia! Everyone already knows that outside support has been counted as one additional participant! That absurd child's participation is a violation of the rules! I request that this [War Game] be stopped immediately and restarted from the beginning!"
Apollo forced a smile, thinking this was his trump card.
But...
- Impossible.
"W-why?!"
Before the old god, who stood in a neutral position and represented fairness, it was useless.
Rather, the old god calmly explained the reason to Apollo and the other gods as well.
- He is indeed not an adventurer. However, the fact that he is a member of Hestia Familia has already been decided and established long ago. There is no issue with that.
"Don't be ridiculous! That stupid cheat bastard! When exactly did Hestia take him in as her child?! I've never heard of it! It wasn't even on the list your Guild showed us!"
And that was true.
The adventurer roster kept in the Guild did not list the mage's name.
On that point alone, Apollo's claim was correct.
And yet Ouranos only replied that his argument was wrong.
- As I said before, he is not a normal adventurer. That is why he was not on the adventurer list.
- Then...!
- However, his guardian is Hestia.
"Huh? Wh-what?"
And so, the mage's past was revealed in brief.
- The mage, Hans Christian Andersen, is a native of Orario. In the past, he was born in this city and lived as an orphan until Hestia took him in as his guardian. At that time, she handled his birth registration and declared herself his adoptive mother. Therefore, he is unquestionably a member of Hestia Familia. Even if he is not an adventurer, that fact does not change. At least, not until he transfers to another Familia or fully becomes independent from Hestia's care.
"T-that...!?"
At first glance, it sounded forced.
But in truth, cases like this were common enough in many Familias.
For example, suppose a married couple among the members of a certain Familia had a child.
Then that child would be treated as a member of that Familia even before receiving [Falna].
Likewise, in the case of a couple from different Familias, the child's Familia would be decided according to the wishes of the god they wanted, or the parents' wishes.
It was simply a matter of whether [Falna] had been granted or not.
In the case of someone like the mage, then...
His position was more than enough to count him as a member of Hestia Familia.
"H-Hestia."
Only then, after learning the full circumstances and finding even his last resort blocked, did Apollo...
"I, I was wrong. He was just so cute that before I knew it, I..."
With his face drained white and his knees on the ground,
he threw away even his usual air of composure and dignity.
He begged for mercy from his fellow god and fellow deity, wearing a pitiful expression.
"It's useless, Apollo."
But the goddess's answer was only cold.
"P-please, Hestia. I'll give you everything I promised, all of my property. B-but at least the children... please, at least spare my Familia's lives...!"
"I said it's useless."
Even so, the fact that he cared most about his Familia's lives above all else was worthy of praise as a god.
Unfortunately, Hestia's cold answer came for a different reason than he thought.
"You still don't get it, Apollo? That child, the mage boy, I've been taking care of him and raising him since he was little. But unlike the others, he isn't a child I granted [Falna] to. That power was obtained entirely by that child alone, through nothing but his own human strength."
"W-what does that have to do with...?"
"It means I can't stop him. If I could have stopped him, I would have done so long ago, even in everyday life. How am I supposed to interfere with that child's own power, which isn't [Falna]? Unlike [Falna], it's not something I can even interfere with."
"Ghk!"
"More than anything, right now I feel like stopping that child just as much as you do."
At her words, Apollo finally collapsed with a dazed expression and fainted.
But Hestia was in no position to worry about him.
After all, he was the source of all this in the first place.
And because he was so infuriating, she had no particular desire to care for him anyway.
"I'm asking you, mage boy. Everything else is fine. I'll understand and forgive it all. So please, just..."
Do not stray from the path of humanity.
The goddess could not hide the fear in her heart as she pleaded desperately...
Still fixed on the battlefield beyond the "mirror," she prayed and prayed again.
And yet she was one of the gods standing above all things in this world.
Then to whom should her wish be offered?
And did the one who could grant that wish...
truly exist in this world at all?
No one knew.
Only the gods would know that.
And amid all of it, "fate" continued as always.
It simply kept flowing onward.
*
Here, in the Guild.
In the underground space beneath it.
The room of the old god Ouranos, known to very few.
There stood one shadow and one old god there.
Needless to say, the old god was Ouranos.
And the shadow was his spokesman and errand runner, Fels.
[Ouranos. Are you really just going to keep watching like this?]
"Hmm."
[Ouranos.]
"For now... let us continue to watch a little longer."
[But, Ouranos...!]
"At the very least, no one has died yet."
[That is...! That is certainly true, but...]
The shadow, Fels, was uneasy.
Even with her gentle reaction, Ouranos remained silent, simply waiting.
As if to say that this much was still acceptable.
[Even so, we cannot simply keep watching forever.]
That was true.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter, the number of Apollo Familia members currently participating in the [War Game] totaled 115.
In Orario, where countless adventurers lived, that was by no means a large number.
Their level as adventurers was also mostly nothing but low-rank rabble below Level 2.
But if more than a hundred of them truly died because of this incident...
Especially if they were slaughtered one-sidedly before the eyes of all the citizens...
Then, regardless of right or wrong, it could become a major problem.
If things went badly, with the social atmosphere growing unstable, evil might spread once again as it had in the past, public order would be thrown into chaos, and innocent people could end up suffering unjustly.
Of course, compared to back then, the current Orario had grown much stronger, so it probably wouldn't escalate that far.
Still, it was not something they could simply and carelessly remain optimistic about.
For that reason, Fels remained deeply concerned about the mage's arbitrary actions and rampage.
More than anything, the slyness with which he had tricked them into their contract was deeply displeasing to her.
Regardless of his actual ability, he simply did not inspire trust as a person.
Because of this incident, the mage's score in her evaluation had fallen sharply.
To the point that it might be better not to rely on his help again in the future, if possible.
[Do you have some other thought in mind?]
"Not particularly. I simply trust in Hestia's proper divinity. She is a goddess kinder and more merciful than anyone."
The child she had taken in and raised would not be foolish without reason.
At his companion's inability to hide her anxiety, the old god simply gazed calmly at the battlefield beyond the "mirror" before him.
That unruffled reaction from the old god was enough to wear Fels down first.
Damn it, then let it all go however it will.
[Ouranos. I pray that your kind expectation does not lead to an irreversible situation.]
"So do I."
With that, their conversation ended.
Fels also turned her gaze back to the "mirror."
Praying that it would pass without incident.
*
Here, in Loki Familia.
Detailed explanation is unnecessary, so I'll omit it.
The executives had all gathered in one place and were watching the [War Game - Hestia VS Apollo] in full swing.
"That is, um..."
"Well, it's the expected outcome. The scale is a little bigger than I thought, but it's definitely entertaining to watch."
Tione frowned slightly as she pondered the mage's other side, which she knew well.
Gareth's comment was nothing more than a plain, ordinary impression.
"Wow, that's vicious. At this point I almost feel sorry for Apollo Familia."
"I also think that toying with the opponent more than necessary is a bit much. Still, in the end, this is nothing more than the self-inflicted result of what those Apollo bastards did from start to finish, so they have no right to complain."
On the other hand, the two elf mages felt a little sympathy for the Apollo Familia being toyed with.
However, they did not deny even a little of the responsibility for the outcome.
If the mage's power had not been there, Hestia Familia might have been subjected to that same kind of unreasonable humiliation instead.
"Still, to summon a giant onto the surface. I don't really know the details, but it looks like our mage friend must have been seriously angry."
"Tch, boring. What's a guy that strong doing against a bunch of weaklings?"
Meanwhile, Finn was openly showing a subtle greed for recruitment, regardless of the game's outcome, simply because of the mage's new ability.
Bete, whose true and false faces never matched, only showed his rough displeasure.
"Tiona, are you okay?"
In the meantime, unlike the others, Ais was worried less about the content of the game and more about Tiona, her comrade and best friend.
She was concerned that Tiona might feel disappointed or hurt seeing the mage rampage so mercilessly like this.
And that was...
"Huh? About what, Ais?"
"...No, nothing."
To be honest, unnecessary concern.
That was how little Tiona's expression changed as she looked at the image in the "mirror" inside the room.
And Ais was not the only one who found her unchanged expression strange.
"Nothing, my foot. We're all worried about you, you know."
"Huh? Worried? About what?"
"What do you mean, what? That, of course."
In fact, her other half, her older sister Tione, had also been subtly watching her younger sister's reaction.
She pointed at the mage in the image, but Tiona still tilted her head, clearly not understanding.
At her foolish little sister's reaction, Tione could only sigh.
She had to explain even something like this one piece at a time.
"Honestly, Apollo Familia was the one that committed the first wrong, but it's also true that An is responding with excessive force in a way that's not exactly normal, right? He's giving off total ruthless villain vibes, and I'm asking whether you're really okay seeing that."
"Eh? Was that what you meant, Ais?"
"...Yeah. A little."
"Really? Heeheehee."
Only then did Tiona realize the concern of her companions around her.
In truth, everyone around her had been worried about that point in one way or another.
They simply hadn't shown it openly like Ais, because they were trying to be considerate of her.
So she gave them a bright smile and said she was fine, reassuring everyone.
And then came her next words.
"I'm fine. If it's An, then there's no problem."
"We know that too. Do you think that guy is the type to get beaten around by people like that? We're worried about..."
"I said I'm fine."
"Huh?"
"Hm?"
Then the sisters realized that something in their conversation had not lined up.
Before Tione could voice her confusion, Tiona explained what she meant.
To her, this was truly nothing more than a trivial matter with no problem at all.
"I'm fine. If it's An, then there's no problem."
That was because...
"An has always said it like a mantra since long ago. That every story has to end with a 'happy ending.' He said that was the first step toward 'romance.'"
So everything will be fine.
With that, Tiona smiled brightly.
It was a sign of boundless love and trust toward one man.
At her younger sister's words, Tione nodded in understanding.
If the object of that trust had been Finn, she would have felt the same way.
"Honestly, for a stupid little sister, you sure like poking your nose into other people's business."
"Huh? When did I ever?"
"Shut up. Just keep quiet and watch."
And so the sisters' conversation ended.
Loki Familia's attention returned to the "mirror."
The festival was still ongoing.
*
Look up at the battlefield.
Look down at the battlefield.
Look at the people.
Look at the people.
"...Let's go."
He made up his mind.
The "rabbit" and his friends ran forward.
Everything flowed exactly as "he" intended.
========================
The website for reading paid chapters is available on my Patreon. The number of chapters on Patreon: 107
Link: patreon.com/UltraMagnus_T