Chapter 1400
Abel, the youngest son born between Davey and Perserque, had a strong tendency to imitate his older brother. While it was generally true that babies quickly learned by observing their surroundings, his reliance on his brother was particularly deep.
Abel was crawling after his older brother, Darian, when the big brother’s eyes lit up at a box and a dark-colored plastic device on the floor. Darian toddled over, grasped the device tightly in his hand, and brought it back to show Abel.
“Gyaa!”
Abel clapped, watching Darian play with the lightweight, headset-style connection device.
Darian, energized by the applause, puffed out his chest and confidently pressed various buttons on the device, as if showing him how to use it.
Whummm.
A burst of light suddenly erupted before a soft glow began to wrap the device. Darian and Abel, captivated by the pretty light, stared at each other in wonder, then pushed the buttons again to see what else would happen.
Not long after, Darian, wanting to show off to his little brother, lifted the plastic device high above his head with both hands.
When he raised the large device, which was as big as his head, Abel's eyes twinkled with delight.
Clap clap clap!!
Naturally, the young Darian grew more and more confident with the reassurance, shaking the device back and forth.
Of course, he wasn’t strong enough to break it, as he was just a baby.
Boing!
The device had slipped from his hands and landed right on his head.
Whummm.
Emitting light once more, it began to resonate with his consciousness.
Realizing that the gear was meant to be worn on the head, Darian slowly got up and showed off the cool-looking connection device to Abel, posing like a hero from a children's show.
“This! This!”
Abel ate it up, excitedly shouting, “Dar! Dar!”
“Bam!”
Darian, who was strutting around and striking funny poses, decided to show off an even cooler look.
Eventually, he pushed the play button on the connection device.
Whummm.
Once he did, his consciousness and the device began to resonate. Though it should've been impossible for a child, Darian crossed over into a virtual space.
Naturally, his body outside slumped to the floor, bereft of consciousness.
When he suddenly collapsed like a broken puppet, Abel shrieked in alarm and crawled frantically toward him. This was the brother who had just been leading him and showing him cool things! “Dar... Dar... Dar!!”
He urgently stretched out his small white hands toward his brother and shook him wildly.
“Dar!! Dar!!”
Of course, Darian, who was connected to virtual reality, couldn’t hear anything.
Normally, a strong external shock would destabilize the connection. Yet, for some reason, nothing happened.
“Oooo. Waaa!!! Dar!! Dar!!”
Although Darian was clearly still breathing if one looked closely, despite lying still as if dead, it was a huge shock to the infantile Abel.
He wailed, grabbing and shaking Darian, but his big brother wouldn't wake up.
With an intelligence beyond his age, Abel put his mind to work. Perhaps if his brother wouldn’t wake up while wearing that weird thing, then maybe taking it off would make him fine!
He crawled over and tried to pull off the connection device Darian was wearing. However, Abel wasn't smart enough to figure out the safety disengage lock on the device, which was secured to prevent the user from getting hurt.
“Waaa!!!!!!!” In the end, his cries spread throughout the mansion.
Thud!!
“Ouch, ouch, ouch! My ear! It’s gonna fall off!”
“You’re gonna get it later, you little wretch.” Davey, who had dragged Willow in by the ear, witnessed the scene. Aghast at his son’s loud sobbing, Davey immediately let go of Willow and rushed to Abel.
Abel, still crying, pointed a finger at his brother while clinging to Davey.
“Willow,” Davey growled out, grabbing her ear again.
“Ouch! Yes...”
“What am I looking at?”
“What is what? Wait... Huh? Why is it even out?! I definitely sealed it up tight!!”
Not willing to get bogged down in the how’s and why’s before freeing his son, Davey quickly unlocked the virtual reality connection device Darian was wearing. The moment he tried to force it off, something happened.
Bzzt!!
A spark zapped his hand away, as if protecting Darian. Davey was speechless.
“Dad!”
He was still stunned, and asked Willow, “What the hell was that?”
“It’s for the user’s own protection. Don’t worry, I’m halting the resonance now.”
Once Willow reached out and interfered with the device, it slowly began to shut down.
Darian, who had been silent, finally started to twitch and move.
“Did I not warn you explicitly to never leave dangerous stuff like this near the kids?”
“No, you did. I swore I sealed it up really tight, but... Kyaak!”
Davey kept the renewed grip on her ear. “Then, what's this open box? Or am I seeing things? Is this some ambiguous existence?”
“Kyaaak! I’m gonna die! I’m really gonna die!”
Someone stood to the side, watching Davey and Willow bicker with a look of utter disgust.
“I heard Abel crying, so I came to see... What’re you guys up to now?” Illyna asked with a completely sour look, but Davey was too preoccupied pulling both of Willow’s ears.
She could hardly take it. “Ow, ow!!! Dad, my ear’s gonna fall off! My ear!! It’s gonna fall off!”
“Let’s just make one fall off then, shall we? After all, you have two! But more importantly, why do you always cause trouble?! If you want to enjoy being the eldest daughter, you better start acting like one.”
“Ow ow!! I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
Perhaps because of his relentless scolding, the two children, Abel and Darian, stared blankly at Davey before clapping their hands.
“Gyaaa!!”
Then they laughed with excitement.
Willow could hardly believe what she was seeing, floored by their complete betrayal.“Hey... Is this funny?! Is it funny, you brats?! Huh?!”
The angrier Willow became, the more Darian and Abel laughed, finding it hilarious. “Gyahahaha!!”
“You, you little... Hey! Come here!” she shouted at them before dashing their way.
“Who are you telling to come here? How’s about you come here, you little lass.”
“Kyaaak! Dad, no!!!”
Willow only managed to escape the hell after being scolded until she had no more tears left.
* * *
“Did I tell you to be careful with this or not?”
“I was careful! You know how thoroughly I sealed it!”
She hadn’t been wrong.
Originally, she was being scolded for a different reason. It was fine to invite Super Ribbon to play a game, but it was something else to secretly turn on her stream and put Super Ribbon on it. When combined with the fact that Super Ribbon unintentionally mentioned their mom being a demon, which had spread everywhere, she was in for the scolding of her life.
However, that didn't at all lessen the seriousness of what had just happened with her little brothers, either.
Willow had definitely placed a multi-layered seal on the box. Without divine power, it shouldn't have been possible to break, so it was safe to say that no one except her or Davey could’ve silently shattered the seal.
The problem was that Davey, of course, hadn't broken the seal.
Naturally, Davey thought Willow had carelessly handled the connection device and failed to pick up after herself, but...
“Absolutely not,” she swore with confidence. “I checked this thoroughly to make sure! It was securely sealed before I ran off.”
Davey couldn't find any other possible cause. “Then who the hell broke the seal? You know better than anyone that people can’t open it so easily and silently without divine power, right?”
“I dunno, maybe that annoying junior of mine did it,” she grumbled, passing the buck to Neltarid Mk II.
Davey immediately grabbed Willow by the ear, angry that she'd throw that guy under the bus like that.
“Kyaaaak!! My ear! My ear!!”
“Don't be ridiculous. How could Neltarid even get here, let alone without making a sound?”
“But Dad, you know just as well as me that it doesn’t make sense! I’m not the one who broke the seal, so why is this all suddenly my fault?! Okay, well, I guess I did put it here, but...”
“Then who did it?” he wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. Abel and Darian were the only ones in the room.”
Even after using spirit memories and other methods, they couldn't find any information about who broke the seal.
“It really wasn’t you?” Davey asked, giving her a skeptical look.
She indignantly shouted, “Gosh, why are you doing this?! I said it wasn't me!”
“Quiet down, I’m gonna have to check everything one by one.”
“I’m sorry...” Willow, who surrendered the moment the Super Ribbon incident was brought up, sighed. She muttered, “Seriously, why did she have to say something like that on the stream?”
“Putting that aside, why’d you put her into a game that's rated M for Mature? Have you lost your mind?”
“No! I locked it to prevent entry, but that dumb girl completely smashed through the barrier, causing a problem with the core! Don't you know what a bug is, Dad? I honestly thought she’d just play a chill and relaxing tower defense or fishing game!”
“You keep talking about the core’s importance, but she managed to mess with it so easily. Is it really that weak?”
Willow defensively shot back, “Do you think Super Ribbon’s authority is a joke?”
“Be honest,” he sternly told her. “You messed up, too, didn't you?”
“Ahaha... Actually, I used a bit too much power. Oh, and speaking of which, I didn’t make that game.”
Davey sighed at her flippant smile.
Willow added that she’d adjust things so a similar problem wouldn't happen again, but Davey wasn't listening.
“Haah. Nevermind. It’s better this way, actually. The concept of a Demon King isn't as rigid and notorious in other worlds as it is in Tionis, so we can at least do some image work and capture the narrative.”
“Right? I did a good job, right?”
“Wanna die?”
Davey felt like Willow just had to tease him every chance she had. Looking at her, he couldn’t help but think—
‘Why’d she turn out like this? Was her personality always this bubbly, and was just suppressed until now? Or did she change during the long time she spent becoming a Goddess? Or maybe...’
Willow could feel his gaze boring a hole into her. “Ummm, what's up?”
“Nothing.”
‘Is she wearing a mask to hide some of her emotions?’
“More importantly, if you knew there was a problem, you should’ve pulled her out immediately. Why’d you just leave her?”
“Well, you were chasing me, Dad. I figured it wouldn’t end well if I got caught, so I just left her there and bounced.”
He sighed at the brazen answer. “Then at least cut the stream and pull her out right now.”
“Well... I forgot to mention it to you, but the stream...” she said, trailing off and averting her gaze.
Davey could sense something was up. “Is there a problem with it?”
“There are minor bugs with the system... and she doesn't look like she wants to leave.”
“What?” His expression soured at the ridiculous answer. “Why not?”
“She said the story and game are too fun to put down.”
The game’s concept utilized a voxel aesthetic as an homage to its preceding pixel RPG from a long time before, but the graphics had been updated to be more realistic.
Super Ribbon seemed completely immersed in the game’s cliche yet strangely addicting fun.
Just then, Willow, who was resonating with the core, made a somewhat annoyed face. “Well, I guess we don’t have to turn it off. It shut down on its own.”
“What?”
She gave a heavy sigh. “Hold on a second. I’ll check the situation.”
After closing her eyes and concentrating on the virtual space for a moment, she let out a hollow laugh.
“She saw one of her favorite NPCs die and started bawling, so she turned the game off.”
It was a pretty preposterous reason. She couldn't deeply empathize with things like love between men and women, yet she was incredibly sensitive about things like that.
Click!
Aina, who appeared out of thin air, announced with a serious face, “Something terrible has happened.”
Davey was taken aback. “What is it?”
“Aeonitia, who became interested in the connection device that Lady Willow made, has started playing a space-civilization-type game...”
Davey decided he’d had enough. “That’s it. Willow.”
“Yes?”
“Choose between the Grand Canyon, the Sphinx, the Colosseum, or the Parthenon.”
“W-what am I choosing them for?”
“Whichever one you pick will be the place you’re hung up at. Don't worry. The Gourmet Research Society are experts at being hung in shame, so they’ll give you advice on enduring it.”
He specifically chose to do it on Earth since the internet would ensure the footage of her punishment was spread far and wide.
She shuddered. “Dad... You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah, I know. Now hurry up and choose.”
Aeonitia had a history of becoming completely addicted to games and turning into a total homebody.
In short, she was an eccentric who didn't know how to control herself.
* * *
Willow, who finally managed to break free from her long ordeal with Davey, sighed and put the prototype connection device that had caused the trouble back into its box.
“Haah. Who the heck could’ve done it?”
To be honest, she was just as perplexed as anyone. Divine power was an essential requirement to break a Goddess's seal, and divine power was far from easily attainable.
“I should at least put a new interim seal on it...” She quickly placed a light seal on it and left the room to go pull Aeonitia out of her game.
That was what Davey had decided would spare her from further punishment.
Later, after she was gone, the door to the quiet room slowly opened. Someone walked in and then slowly closed the door behind them.
The tiny boy looked around quickly, his eyes sparkling as he stared at the box Willow had left there. He then toddled over and struggled with his arms, trying to pull the box down.
Thud!!
Eventually succeeding, Darian held the box in his hands and opened it without any resistance whatsoever.
Darian giggled and randomly pressed the buttons on it.
Whummm.
As the connection device glowed again, he puckered his lips as if tracing a memory of what he’d done before, then picked it up and slowly put it on his head.
He lay down on the spot, as if going to bed.
“Hmm?”
At the same time, Neltarid, who was quickly adjusting the core's issue based on a report from a Valkyrie, made a surprised face.
Some sort of change had started to occur within the core.
“What in the world is this?”
He had just discovered the existence of bubbles that were similar to the dream world, yet their reality was quite different.
The dream world could be called a fake world created by the Goddess Freyja through dreams. It was a fleeting world that popped upon a light touch.
However, inside the core, which the previous Neltarid had laid the foundation for, were things that neither Willow nor Neltarid knew about.
“I don’t know what it is, but if I touch it without good reason, she’ll definitely do something to me.” His expression turned pale as he was speaking. “Oh, me damn it...”
One of the mysterious bubble worlds shimmered, then burst in front of his eyes.
He was shocked as an unidentifiable world suddenly appeared. If it had been a dream world, it would’ve been no different than a world simply vanishing.
However, unlike a dream world, he wasn’t sure if a world that seemed much sturdier could just burst like that, so easily.
He had doubts, but since he had only just discovered such worlds existed, he forcibly summoned Willow for help.
He looked at her with a serious expression and asked, “Senior, did you make this?”
Cheeks bright red and swollen, she shook her head with a sulky face. “No, it wasn't me.”
“Then did my predecessor make this?”
Willow countered with a question of her own, asking, “Do you have any memory of it?”
“No, I don’t,” he confirmed.
“Then what’s your basis for thinking your predecessor made it?”
“Well... If neither you nor my predecessor made it, who else could create something like that?”
“Is that something you could even make in the first place?” she asked, skeptical.
“I can’t.”
“Then who the hell could’ve created a world like that?”
Neltarid could see where she was going with that question. “Wouldn’t that be Goddess Freyja?”
“Right? There you go, that must be it. Goddess Freyja must’ve secretly put these things inside here without us knowing.”
It was a simple answer.
“But... Why?”
“How the hell would I know?” she responded, rolling her eyes. “Just stabilize it quickly. If something goes wrong, I'll personally see to it that I'm speaking at your funeral within the next few days. Got it?”
