Volume 19 Sidestory 1, Pressing issues 3

The hints from Eris revealed many things.

As expected, there was a tradition that the deities on land had left more children than those in the heavens.

However, it was unclear what the distinction was between those in heaven and those on land.

There was a difference of opinions in the church on this.

For now, it was simply said that those who were allowed to enter the Divine Realm were the deities of heaven, and those who were not were the deities of the land.

Of course, there were many forces that had a differing opinion on this.

Even the churches were divided in their opinions, so there was no clear answer.

The fundamental problem regarding the existence of deities was not even understood.

It would be easy to say that a person who possessed divine authority was a deity, but the fact that this was not the case made things even more complicated.

Deciding to leave it to the experts to investigate further, the women decided to return to their original goal.

They found out that many deities who have conceived children on land were classified as land deities.

Those in heaven who had left children were those who originally existed on land and later went to the Divine Realm.

There was not a single deity who was said to have originally existed in the Divine Realm that had conceived children on land.

However, Sylvia and her colleagues did not find that to be a problem.

After all, Kousuke existed right next to them as an actual living deitie.

In that sense, it could be said that the present Kousuke was a land deitie.

As one would expect, there was no specific information on how the deity of the land in the past had conceived their offspring.

Overall, when it was found that it was the deities of the land who had children, the investigation once again came to a standstill…. But Peach’s words led to another problem.

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“I was looking at the books and I thought~…”

Peach’s voice at that moment was almost a monologue, as if she had no intention of letting anyone hear her.

But fortunately or unfortunately, Sylvia was right next to her and heard it.

“Have you found out anything?”

“I don’t know if it’s related, but aren’t there many children that are of higher species?”

By children, of course, she meant the children of deities.

Sylvia’s expression turned into one of surprise when she heard Peach’s words.

Indeed, even in Sylvia’s memory, she remembered that many of the children were of the higher species of their race.

“Children of the deities would be of a higher species?”

“It could be considered so~…”

For some reason, Peach hesitated to say the end of that sentence.

Sylvia understood what Peach was trying to say, so she didn’t dare prompt her.

“…It’s something we don’t want to think about if we can help it.”

“… I guess so~”

Unusually, Peach also had a somber look on her face.

If their concerns were correct, the girls’ objects would be cut short.

If they had any ideas about this matter, they would share them with the others, but they were hesitant to tell everyone.

However, they knew they could not avoid telling the others eventually, so they decided to do so, even if they did not feel comfortable doing so.

“Did you find anything new?”

Somehow sensing the mood of the two of them, Collete was slightly startled when she asked.

“…Something that doesn’t sound good?”

Shrein, sensing their reluctance to speak up, interjected.

It was also to make it easier for them to talk.

Deciding it was better to speak soon, Sylvia finally managed to speak.

“…I’ve noticed that most of the children of the deities are of a higher species.”

“Not all of them, as expected, but almost all of them, up to the point where I’ve been able to examine them so far~”

“The children are of a higher species… So that means… So, that’s how it is.”

As if understanding the point, Shrein immediately realized what they were trying to imply.

Her expression clouded over, as did Sylvia’s and Peach’s.

“What do you mean?”

Meanwhile, Collete and Floria, still unsure, were looking at each other.

Shrein explained to them, exhaling a sigh.

“If the child is of a higher species, it means that the parents are likely to be the same.”

“Ah…”

Finally, understanding what she meant, Collete and Floria’s faces clouded over as well.

“You mean, to conceive a deity’s child, the partner would need to be of a higher species?”

“In a nutshell, yes.”

Unfortunately, those present could not be called a higher species.

And it was not that easy to become a higher species.

On the contrary, they did not even know if the same individual could evolve the same way as the summoned beasts.

It was only natural, in a sense, for everyone’s faces to grow gloomy at the newly revealed problem.

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The problem of becoming a higher species could not be avoided forever.

Sylvia decided that now that she knew the problem, it would be better to quickly confirm it, and decided to ask the Goddess, Elisa Meir for the answer.

[…That’s as far as we have gotten, what do you think?]

[Your conclusion is not wrong.]

[I see…]

Sylvia’s shoulders slumped at Elisa Meir’s answer.

[But don’t be too quick to judge, okay? I’m not going to let it dangle in front of you when you don’t have any hope from the start.]

[So what you’re saying is?]

[Just because you are not a higher species now, does not mean that you will never be one.]

Sylvia’s expression brightened slightly at Elisa Meir’s words.

[Is there a way to become a higher species?]

[We cannot give you any advice on that. However, it is not like there have not been such beings in the past.]

Even if it was something like grabbing a cloud, if there was hope, they had to go for it.

[And don’t get me wrong…]

[…yes?]

[We’re not very knowledgeable about evolution. We are rather surprised that Kousuke-sama has evolved his dependents so well.]

Sylvia only laughed and didn’t go into it, though she didn’t think it would be a surprise to a Goddess.

[Usually it’s just naturally occurring, and one can’t really target to evolve]

[Well, I guess it is not the case for us.]

They had done one thing that Goddesses had told them to be impossible, and this was a tremendous hurdle.

[It doesn’t matter. Just knowing that it is not impossible, is good enough.]

[I see.]

Elisa Meir ended the consultation with that answer.

It was not the most desirable result, but even so, just knowing that it was too early to give up, was enough of an achievement.

Sylvia was on her way to everyone’s place to tell them about the results of this consultation.

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Kousuke’s newfound authority brought hope to the girls.

Unfortunately, they did not even know how to evolve, but it was enough to know that there were signs of evolution.

It was Sylvia who was the first to notice it, but the others soon realized its potential.

Hence, the dependents willingly offered themselves to do the research.

Of course, this was not yet the answer they seek, but it was much better than the ‘wait-and-see’ approach that they had been taking.

Thus, Kousuke was thanked by the girls, unbeknownst to him.

However, the girls, who were convinced that he would react the same way even if he knew, did not tell him and went on with their usual routine.