Volume 16 Side Story 2, Pressing Issues 2 (Part 2)

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Kabur & Silavin

“Did the church erase the records?”

Sylvia said, and Collete guessed as much.

“No. These books were originally records of hearsay, or lore, to begin with. It’s hard to imagine the temple being involved in everything.”

It would take an unbelievable amount of effort to intervene and correct each and every story that was passed down verbally.

“I’m more comfortable with the idea that the story was left behind in a state safe for it to be known to the church.”

They all nodded their heads as if Shrein’s words made sense to them.

“So there are a lot of stories about the children of Goddesses that remain unaltered by the church, and as for their parents, they weren’t written down because of the possibility of the church getting their hands on them.”

“Or it could be that they were passed down at first, but that part of the story was cut out and handed down so that the church wouldn’t find out.”

As they all talked, it seemed more and more likely that this was the correct answer.

In reality, based on the stories compiled in the books, the current account seemed to fit best.

And indeed, their guess was right on target.

There were cases where those who were children of Goddesses were forced to be part of the church.

For this reason, the parents acted discreetly.

It was easy for them to avoid the notice of the church since they were so favored by the Goddesses.

The children, on the other hand, used their position as children of Goddesses to the fullest and acted in a way that did not allow the church to interfere in their lives.

Of course, their parents had raised them to act in such a manner.

The result was that no folklore about the parents was left behind.

“Whether it’s the church’s doing or not, if there’s no lore left about the parents, then what’s the point?”

What the girls wanted to know was how the Goddesses were able to have children, not what their children could do.

Collete nodded in agreement with Shrein.

“That’s right. We want to know how the parents had children, so if we don’t know anything about them, it’s not going to help.”

Collete let out a sigh.

“Really~?”

It was Peach who objected to Shrein and Collete.

“Is there something to it?”

“It certainly doesn’t mention anything about the parents of the one who aren’t Goddesses, but it does mention children and Goddesses~”

At Peach’s words, Sylvia looked up as though she had just been startled.

“You mean we can find out a lot from the relationship between a Goddess and the child?”

“I don’t know, but~”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not following your story…”

Peach and Sylvia’s talk made the others look puzzled.

“These are books with numerous stories compiled in it. Perhaps some of them are of the same story.”

“It’s worth it just to find out at what point in time did those Goddesses bore a child~”

“Well, at least, we can find out what’s going on on the Goddess’s side.”

“Besides, it’s not entirely impossible to find out about Father, so it’s also significant to check that out~”

It was possible that important parts of the stories were being deliberately hidden, but even if they weren’t important, there could still be hints of what the girls wanted to know out there.

“I know what you mean, but… It’s going to take a lot of work just to make sure the stories are referring to the same Goddess, you know?”

“That’s exactly where I come in. Just pull out the name of the Goddess in each book, and I’ll try to identify the rest.”

Even the same Goddess may have taken on a completely different name at different times.

To put it bluntly, aside from expert clerics, few would understand Goddesses apart from the one they believe in.

That’s where Sylvia came in.

“So, you’re saying we should first investigate the story of the parents, and then try to find out the name of the Goddess?”

“And then we’ll also investigate the child~”

“What exactly should I investigate about the child?”

“What kind of power did they have, I guess~. Because if you had powers that your Goddess Mother didn’t have, it could be that Father’s power.”

“Oh, I see. So that’s the case.”

Even if there was no concrete description, it meant that some things could be guessed.

There were things that they couldn’t figure out just by reading a few books, but if they investigated with a purpose, they could see things differently.

It was decided that from this point on that they would continue to investigate the books with that in mind.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

[You seem to be having some difficulty.]

One day, a few days after the women’s gathering, Eris brought up the subject, which was unusual.

Sylvia, who thought it would be the usual short exchange, was unable to reply immediately.

“What the…! Ha, yes. It’s just that it’s too vague, and I can’t find anything specific about it.”

[Well, I’ll give you one hint. How do you think Humans, Sub-Humans and Gods procreate in the first place?]

Sylvia thought for a moment that she was looking into it because she didn’t understand it, but then she reminded herself that there was no way Eris would say something so nonsensical.

Then, she realized with a start.

“Eh…? What?”

[It seems like you’ve noticed. Now, you’ll have to work hard to find the answer yourselves.]

Eris said, and ended the conversation.

Sylvia, however, could no longer keep her calm.

Her mind was occupied with the fact that she had to tell everyone about what she had just heard from Eris.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

“Did you hear anything from the Goddess Elisa Meir?”

“Yes, we did. And she was able to give us advice in areas that we hadn’t paid any attention to before.”

“Oh, yeah. What kind of advice?”

“What do you think it was like for a Goddess to have a child with a Human or Sub-Human?”

Sylvia’s words made everyone nod their heads at first.

At first, everyone tilted their heads, but then Peach seemed to notice and said, “Ah!”

“The Goddess of Earth and the Goddess of Heaven?”

“That’s exactly it.”

Sylvia and Peach were the only two who understood, leaving the others behind.

“I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Shrein asked them, tilting her head.

“Well, to begin with, aside from the way Goddesses are now, it is said that Goddesses existed on the ground in the time of Gods.”

Nowadays, the only way for Goddesses to show themselves was through descent or summoning, but in the days of the Goddess Era, it was said that Goddesses were usually present on the ground and wielded their power.

It was rare to find a region without such stories.

“That’s right. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

“Don’t you think that the goddesses that existed on the ground could be a hint?”

“””Ah…?”””

At Peach’s words, the three of them, excluding Sylvia, looked at each other.

“Of course, it’s not necessarily true that only the Goddesses that were on the ground had children, but don’t you think it would be a shortcut to find out more about them, at least when it comes to Kousuke-sama?”

In a way, Kousuke could be said to be a God that exists on the ground.

The question was whether they could get a clue from the story of an existence closer to his.

“More to the point, since the Goddesses in Heaven also had children, it might be a good idea to compare the differences between the two types of Goddesses~”

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

As a result, they found out that most of the children in the books that were compiled were of Goddesses that lived on land.

Just the fact that the Goddesses on the ground were more likely to leave children behind was a big step forward for the girls.

Kousuke, the incarnation of God, was indeed a deity that existed on the ground.

This gave the girls hope that their dreams could be fulfilled. It showed that there was at least a possibility.

With this hope in their hearts, they proceeded with their investigation even more vigorously.