In a cozy greenhouse garden like a small forest, Abrisius grew more robust day by day.
Splash—!
After wetting his body in the small pond in the garden, Abrisius splashed around and played with the deer.
“Kyaaa! Stop it. Hahaha!”
When the deer shook off their wet fur, Abrisius burst into giggles, delighted beyond measure. Seianes watched such an Abrisius with satisfaction.
“Abrisius, come here!”
At the voice of his most beloved Seianes, Abrisius came running pitter-patter and hugged him tightly. Seven years had passed since they first met, and even now at seven years old, Abrisius was still adorable.
The child nestled in his arms rubbed his head against Seianes’s stomach. Each time the plump cheeks touched his abdomen, they were so soft that he wanted to nibble on them.
“How can you be this cute? My baby.”
“Hehehe… Apa.”
Seianes gently pinched the cheeks of the child who looked adorable no matter how you looked at him, making sure it didn’t hurt, and showed him the basket he was holding. Inside were fruits picked from the fruit trees grown in the garden.
“Now, it’s time to eat. Today, I specially brought only things you like.”
The fruits from the trees Seianes had personally selected and planted for Abrisius had ripened beautifully. After taking a bite of the most delicious-looking fruit as usual, Abrisius stopped eating for a moment and looked up at Seianes.
“…Um, Seianes.”
“Mm?”
Abrisius, nestled in Seianes’s arms, looked up at him and then pointed toward the entrance of the greenhouse garden with his small hand.
Lately, whenever he had a chance, Abrisius would do this to Seianes. And he would repeat the same question.
“You know… Seianes, can’t I go outside?”
“No, you can’t.”
And Seianes’s answer was always the same.
Seianes would grant Abrisius’s every wish, but when it came to wanting to go outside, he was always firm.
“Why nooot…”
Abrisius became sullen and whined petulantly.
“I’m sorry. But what’s not allowed is not allowed. I can’t help it.”
No matter how much whining there was, Seianes would never grant that request.
If Abrisius wanted, he could pluck the stars from the sky for him, but this was the one thing even he couldn’t do.
Seianes coaxed and soothed as gently as possible so Abrisius wouldn’t feel bad, and whispered the same indefinite promise as always.
“Abrisius, you’re too young to go outside that door. Later, next time when Abrisius is a bit bigger, we’ll go out then.”
“When is ‘then’…?”
Abrisius asked with a tearful voice. Soothing him this way whenever he wanted to go out was reaching its limit now.
“I’m curious. What exactly is outside that door?”
No matter how beautiful his garden was, it couldn’t stop Abrisius’s curiosity about the outside. The small garden where he had lived since he began to perceive the world now felt like a prison.
“I told you. You could get hurt because you’re young… The terrifying monsters outside will try to catch and eat you.”
“But…”
To comfort the child, Seianes lied that terrifying beings living outside would come to catch Abrisius.
‘Still, he can’t live confined like this forever… I need to find some way…’
Watching the child grow day by day, his worries only grew rather than his sense of fulfillment. From now on, the child would become more interested in the outside. He was also worried about the shock Abrisius would receive when he learned the secret of his birth if he acted indecisively.
“Just wait a little, a little bit more…”
There was a way to send Abrisius back to where he originally belonged, but for Seianes, who already loved the child, it was impossible.
“I promise.”
Seianes held out his pinky finger to Abrisius and said.
“I’ll somehow make it so you can go outside. So let’s hold on until then. Okay?”
This was also a promise to himself.
He would find a way somehow so the child wouldn’t be hurt as much as possible, so he could live in Seianes’s arms even after growing up.
“Mm…”
Abrisius, looking at the pinky finger Seianes held out, nodded. The linked small pinky finger contained infinite affection and trust toward Seianes.
Believing that Seianes would someday take him outside, the child nurtured his curiosity about the world he had never seen today as well.
* * *
The first day of every month. The gods of the surface gathered above the sky and held a grand feast.
The God of Music played songs, and fairies danced, further enlivening the festivity of the banquet. Those gathered in the lively atmosphere enjoyed the feast without exception.
“Henelion, how have you been?”
“You’ve been well, haven’t you?”
The gods who hadn’t met in a long time asked Henelion how he was doing. They shared stories about the lands they ruled and what had happened in their respective domains, blooming with conversation.
In the midst of the atmosphere ripening pleasantly for a while, suddenly one goddess spoke up.
“By the way, haven’t you noticed that the underground has been quiet for the past few years?”
At that one statement, the faces of the gods who had been laughing and chattering just moments ago hardened coldly. As a chilling air enveloped the surroundings, another goddess sharply retorted to the goddess who had spoken so carelessly.
“Why would you say something so inauspicious?”
“I apologize to everyone here. But those who have been hostile to us day after day have suddenly stopped their actions, so I’m anxious…”
She who spoke carefully closed her mouth at the atmosphere growing even colder. The divine race of the underground, who wouldn’t acknowledge defeat and always acted as if they would devour the surface, had stopped all provocations and threatening acts toward the surface from one day onward.
As a result, half of the surface gods enjoyed the peace, but the other half worried anxiously whether there might be some hidden scheme.
“When we don’t know what trouble they might cause, shouldn’t we prepare some countermeasures just in case?”
Thinking this was the moment, the Goddess of Seasons, who had been anxious all along, spoke up. Ircadeon, who had been driven to the depths of the barren underground, still harbored hatred toward Henelion and his children.
Even after losing the war, Ircadeon did not acknowledge defeat. Still dreaming of past glory, he was constantly watching for an opportunity to seize the surface.
“He still hates us! If we remain so carefree like this, we don’t know when we’ll be struck…!”
“But according to the prophecy, he’s fated to lose. Even if he joined hands with Amina, the fate hasn’t changed, so is there a need to worry?”
As if it were a useless worry, the God of Hunting beside her cut off her words.
“There’s already a prophecy about Ircadeon that’s been passed down from long ago.”
As he said, there was one prophecy attached to Ircadeon like a label.
[If the King of Darkness who fell to the underground covets the surface, he shall be slain by a demigod hero born from the great god of the surface.]
Having heard those words, Henelion selected the appropriate time and suitable humans. And he steadily formed relationships with them, producing many demigod children.
“Since there are demigod children with a high probability of becoming heroes, there’s no way we can lose. So don’t be unnecessarily scared, and let’s each do our own work. Lately, the number of monsters coming from the underground has decreased and it’s peaceful.”
“But what if he’s found another possibility?”
Even at the God of Hunting’s indifferent words as if it were nothing, the Goddess of Seasons still couldn’t let go of her worry.
“That’s right, is Ircadeon someone who would give up easily? Considering that tenacious temperament, he’s more than likely already found another possibility.”
Before the God of Hunting could retort, the God of Mountains, who had been quiet, also chimed in.
“He who constantly sent monsters to observe the surface’s movements has completely stopped his actions.”
As if hiding some other scheme.
The God of Mountains, who had been pondering something for a moment, soon presented a terrible hypothesis.
“What if he’s found something that could change his future?”
As soon as his words ended, the expressions of the gods present froze coldly.
Just as Henelion obtained demigod children and found a way to counter Ircadeon, what if Ircadeon had also found a similar method?
Just imagining it gave them chills.
In the atmosphere doused with cold water, several gods showed fear and worry. Fear spread among them that a war might break out again—a war where they had lost much, as the victory hadn’t come easily.
Perhaps this time, they, not the underground beings, would fall below to that underground.
“…”
Amid the suffocating tension, Henelion rose from his seat. The King of Gods, the noblest among the gods present, wore a face soaked in anxiety befitting that weight.
“It seems I must go find Eurysis.”
After a moment of silence, Henelion, having finished thinking, spoke Eurysis’s name.
A pitiful goddess who lost her body in exchange for seeing the future.
Among the three goddesses who see ahead, Henelion often sought her out when needed—the only one who dwelt on the surface.
“But do you even know where she is?”
“Right. She who never stays in one place and is always bustling about—where and how will you find her again?”
Finding her, who didn’t put down roots in the earth and hid on an island floating like a ship in the sea, wasn’t an easy task.
However, if Henelion, the ruler of the surface, exerted his power, there was nothing he couldn’t do.
The sea, earth, wind, clouds, and everything else on the surface were all his children, so while it would take some time, it wasn’t impossible.
“Among the countless futures, if even the slightest possibility exists that Ircadeon might succeed, it must be eliminated.”
Even the tiniest possibility couldn’t be allowed. To meet her by any means necessary, Henelion issued a command to all his children on the surface to find Eurysis.
