…Wait a minute, I just missed a very important revelation just now…
“King of Fire, you’re not a woman?!” I cried.
Then that generous chest that nearly suffocated me to death was fake?! There’s no way a fake could be that soft; I’m not buying it!
“We elemental kings don’t have innate gender, but we can manipulate our bodies to look however we like.”
As if to prove the point, the King of Fire’s appearance transformed right before my eyes, taking on the shape of a fit young man. He was masculine and handsome, but it didn’t detract from his beauty. Even as a man, the King of Fire was still incredibly beautiful.
Then the king’s body changed again, this time taking on an androgynous appearance that looked simultaneously both male and female but couldn’t be definitively identified as either.
Finally, she resumed her original female form.
“Whatever form we find beautiful, that is our true form. Don’t you agree?”
I thought they were all beautiful, but based on her distinctly female manner of speech and behavior, personally, I felt this female form suited her the most.
Finding it amusing to surprise me, the other elemental kings also began showing off by changing their appearances. No matter how many times they changed their forms, though, they were always strikingly beautiful or devastatingly handsome. Apparently, beauty was a core element of their being.
“Or maybe I should take the form of a young boy to serve the beloved child?”
The King of Fire shrank, transforming into a young boy only a little taller than me. Even I couldn’t help but feel my heart flutter a bit faster at the boy’s looks, which rivaled even those of my handsome brother, Ralf.
Getting in on the mischief, the King of Wind also transformed into an attractive young boy, and I soon found myself in the debatably enviable situation of being sandwiched between two pretty boys who’d give any boy band member a run for their money.
“That’s enough messing around, you two,” the King of Water scolded the other kings, who thankfully released me before my racing heart gave out from over-exertion.
For some reason, I feel like a bit of a creep for getting more worked up over pretty-boy types than macho hotties! I never get flustered like this over Daux…
I guess it’s because my feelings towards him are closer to maternal love than anything romantic?
“Returning to the topic at hand, the God of Creation endows beloved children with his authority. To the point that if a beloved child makes a decision, we elemental spirits and the holy beasts will obey.”
I’m still a bit confused, but doesn’t this mean that, ultimately, God is using people reborn from other worlds as betting chips?!
Until now, it seems that all of the beloved children have wanted to make this world a better place, so they’ve focused on noble causes like founding countries and the like, but it’s also entirely possible that with one poor decision, I could make all their work for naught, right?
Hold on…
What if one of the beloved children prior to Roland did choose to destroy something? Humans aren’t the only thing that could be destroyed…
It’s possible that at that time, whichever species was prospering held ideals similar to those of the current Church of Divine Creation.
For example, if demons were prospering and the same kind of thing that’s happening now occurred, a beloved child could’ve decided to destroy them. And maybe all the demons born after that live on the continent of Wazhite for that reason.
Of course, this is all just unfounded speculation!
“Beloved child, the God of Creation is constantly testing you. Because of this, a large amount of power has begun to gather around you. Whether it’s to create something or destroy something, that power will be yours to use as you see fit.”
It was true that the family I was born into was a ducal house with blood ties to the royal family, practically the definition of political power. Thanks to my friendship with the holy beast, Lars, I’d won the favor of the royal family, and even if it was still unofficial, I’d also bonded with Sol. Shinki had become my “knight,” and a number of monsters had gathered around me. And I’d even spent time with the imperial family of the Linus Empire.
If, on top of all this, I’d also inherited my parents’ good looks, I really might’ve had a shot at total world domination. However, God had chosen not to bless me with a face that would launch a thousand ships.
I didn’t have any real interest in legendary beauty or world domination, but it was certainly impactful to hear it confirmed that the reason all of the people around me seemed to have practically supernatural abilities was intentional on God’s part.
…Maybe God is the root of all evil, after all?
“Then does this mean that the monsters I’ve named were also gathered around me for this reason?”
“No, they received special powers because they were chosen by a beloved child, not the other way around.”
I’d had a sneaking suspicion, but this confirmed it—it was my fault that my monster friends were all evolving differently from the usual patterns for their species. I still had no idea exactly how strong they were or the extent of their abilities, however.
“The monsters serving this beloved child certainly are fearless, aren’t they?” the King of Wind chuckled, his large eyes crinkled with good-natured humor.
I followed his gaze to the spot a short distance away where the monsters in question were engaging in what appeared to be some kind of athletic competition. Seigo, Rikusei, and Inaho were running around wildly in all directions, and Kai was in his merman form, playing in the pond.
And, for some reason, Gratia was floating in mid-air.
I don’t think Gratia possesses the ability to fly…
“Can they also see the elemental spirits?” I asked.
“Our power is especially concentrated here, so even weaker creatures can see us here.”
In that case, perhaps Gratia is playing around with the elemental spirits?
The elemental spirits who’d noticed me watching said something, and Gratia came bobbing over towards us. As he moved, for just a moment, the sunlight glinted off of something that explained the mystery.
Gratia! There’s a whole pack of elemental spirits holding onto the end of a string of spider thread attached to your butt!
How he used that thread to swing back and forth at a high speed looked fun.
Inaho and the others also noticed us looking at them and ran over to me.
Inaho was crying, “Kyun, kyuuun!” but I had no idea what she was trying to tell me, so I asked Shinki to translate.
“She’s saying that if you’re bored, you should also come play with them and the nanos.”
This might be a boring topic for the monsters, but it still involves them! Although, thanks to the elemental spirits taking over babysitting duty, I could listen to everything the elemental kings said without being distracted.
“Thank you, elemental spirits!”
The way the spirits flapped their wings in delight at my words of gratitude was really cute. Still not done playing, Inaho turned and charged at a cluster of elemental spirits hovering nearby, signaling the game of tag had resumed. Seigo and Rikusei needed no further encouragement because they both dashed into the fray.
I took a quick inventory of the other monsters and noticed Kai was still floating happily in the pond.
It’s rare to see him looking so cheerful!
“How are you doing over there, Kai?”
“I’m great! This water is delicious! I feel so full.”
Kai feeds on the desires of living things… How can that water appease his hunger the same as desire?
“This water flows directly from the Land of the Dead. It would seem that the Goddess’s Mercy is even capable of assuaging hunger,” the King of Water explained, leaving me wanting to try it out for myself.
I used my cupped hands to scoop up some water from the pool and took an experimental sip.
I’ll have Koku analyze the water’s properties while I’m at it. Blegh! What the heck?! This water tastes terrible!
The water I normally drank didn’t seem any different than the water I was used to drinking in my past life, so I assumed it was similar to soft water. But the water in this pond must’ve been more like hard water. It wasn’t unsafe to drink or anything, but it certainly tasted bad to me as someone used to drinking soft water.
As for Koku’s analysis of the water, I wasn’t terribly surprised to find that the water in this pool contained some of the same properties as the hot spring at Mount Reitimo. There were “the Goddess’s Healing” and “the Goddess’s Salvation,” which, if I remembered correctly, worked on illness and injuries, respectively. And Koku also detected that mysterious ingredient “Tears of the God of Creation.”
As for the original question about whether the water would make me feel full or not… I hadn’t been particularly hungry to begin with, so it was hard to say. However, Koku was ecstatic inside me, so it seemed Koku’s hunger had been appeased. For a highly gluttonous slime, this water must seem truly miraculous.
As if to prove that, Haku drank a large amount of water from the pond, causing its body to swell to more than twice its original size.
“Don’t overdo it, okay, Haku?”
“Mew!”
Floating around leisurely in the pond, Haku looked just like a giant jellyfish.
Is it just my imagination, or does Haku seem to be acting like it’s drunk?
Nothing Koku’s analysis had picked up would suggest the water had such an effect, but Kai had also been acting strangely, so it worried me a little.
Although I was concerned about Haku and Kai, I also wondered what Nox was up to. But when I glanced around, searching for him, I was relieved to find him perched on Shinki’s shoulder, looking relaxed. Well, except for the group of mischievous elemental spirits sitting on his back, pretending to ride him like a pony. Nox seemed to see the elemental spirits as well, but he didn’t seem bothered by their antics, ignoring them for the most part. From time to time, he reached back with his beak to rearrange his feathers, but otherwise, he seemed content to let the elemental spirits do as they liked.