The Creation of the Goddess

Returning with the temporary Goddess, we came back to Rirya's place.

Inside the house, the mother and daughter slaves greeted me.

"Welcome back, big brother. Where were you?"

"Just a morning stroll. Huh? Did you clean the room?"

"Yes, we did. It feels nice to use a clean house while it's still clean."

"Is that so. Good job."

I ran my fingers through Rirya’s hair, gently untangling it, and brushed the tips of her pointed elven ears with a teasing touch.

"Ehehe..."

——Magic power charged: 3,000.

"Father, who’s that person over there?"

"Ah, I just turned that monkey over there into a human."

I brushed off Arisa’s question with a casual wave.

I was certain it was the Goddess, based on the evidence, but not 100% sure—so I played it cool for now.

"Is that so?"

"Sending her to Rebeck?"

"Later. Once we're done here on the island, I'll bring her back."

"Understood."

"Your Highness's precious people, Arisa, will be protected properly."

"Yes, ma'am. The people are the nation's foundation."

The mother and daughter slaves, fired up with determination, left the Goddess (temporary) utterly bewildered.

☆

After spending a night in the house, we dismantled it and moved toward the island's center, the four of us.

Me in front, slightly behind and to the side, the Goddess (temporary), then a little further back, Rirya and Arisa with their modified bow, Graddick.

We advanced—different from yesterday, much more accustomed now, and starting to understand things—so we left the zombies to the two slaves.

"Um..."

The Goddess (temporary) hesitated, then spoke up.

"What?"

"Those two... are they your wife and daughter?"

"Not the wife. Daughter's a daughter, but—"

"Eh?"

"Both of them are my slaves. Mother and daughter—both mine."

"...Eh? Oh. So the daughter's that person's daughter, right?"

"No. She's my daughter too."

Just saying.

"Whaaaaat?!"

The Goddess (temporary) jumped back in shock, letting out a squeal. A zombie bird, drawn by the noise, swooped in—Rirya, on guard, knocked it down with a swing of Gradiak.

"Um... so... that means... whaaaaaat?!"

The Goddess (temporary) clutched her head, dazed.

Yeah. Maybe it'd be clearer if I just laid out the facts, stripped of my own take.

"First—Rirya, the older one. She's my slave. That okay?"

"Ah, yes."

The Goddess (temporary) nodded. Seems she could accept that.

"She's what you see—Eternal Slave, a race that seeks a master, eager to become a slave."

"Yes."

"If I had a good master, I’d be happy if my daughter could serve the same master as a slave."

"Yeah, that’s right."

"So I helped out, made a child, turned her into a slave. That little one over there—Arisa."

"...W-wait, what?!"

"Yeah, that’s what’s bugging you."

"S-so... you’re saying you made your own daughter a slave?"

"Pretty much."

Honestly, I don’t really feel like she’s *my* daughter.

I mean, she *is* my daughter, sure—clear as day, never forgotten. But compared to that, the six of them, Arisa included, feel less like daughters and more like slaves.

Maybe it’s like how you know sweet rice wine is alcohol, but you don’t really *feel* it as alcohol.

I know she’s my daughter. But before that? She’s an Eternal Slave. My slave.

"Master…? Did you call for Arisa?"

"Ah, really. Now that you mention it, she called you 'Papa' just a moment ago."

The Goddess (Temporary) nodded to herself, satisfied.

I ignored that, and spoke to Arisa.

"Arisa, you were saying you're my slave."

"Right, right. Yeah, Arisa is Papa's slave."

"Which would you prefer, Arisa? Slave or daughter?"

"Arisa is Mama's slave."

She tilted her head slightly, eyes wide with innocent curiosity as she looked up at me.

"Not that. I said, which is better—being my slave, or being my daughter?"

"Arisa is a slave. Born a slave to Papa."

"Is that so."

I ruffled her hair, then tickled her ear.

—— Magic power charged: +5,000.

Arisa squinted, her face twitching with laughter, a bright smile blooming on her lips.

Cute. Yeah, nothing beats making a slave smile like that.

"Ah, zombies showing up outta nowhere."

A zombie lurched from the side. Arisa raised her gladius and charged to meet it.

"—like that."

I turned to the Goddess (temporary), answering her earlier question.

"Treating her properly as a slave, see?"

"Kinda... incredible world, huh?"

"Huh?"

"Calling your own daughter a slave like it's nothing, and then she says she wants to be a slave too..."

"Mom didn't even ask. Mom *begged* me to make her a slave."

"Even more incredible world. And... uh..."

"And?"

"N-nothing. Really, nothing at all."

"…Oh. Right."

The Goddess (temporary) waved her hand, flustered.

Whatever. Didn’t make sense, but I’d just roll with it.

"Whatever it is, she’s probably some seriously powerful person, huh?"

The Goddess (temporary) murmured something too faint to hear—just a mosquito’s buzz—lost beneath the clatter of slave and zombie combat. Didn’t reach my ears at all.

☆

“Guess this is the central area?”

“I believe so.”

“Are we building a castle here?”

The mother-daughter slave pair stepped closer. The Goddess (temporary) was standing a little ways off, out of earshot.

“Yeah, better to build it in the center.”

“Then let’s get started. What should Rirya do?”

“I’d like to assign Arisa some work too.”

“Wait a second. There’s something we need to do before the castle.”

“Something… what?”

I pulled out the DORECA.

“The big version of what I did back when I made the forest with Risha… we’re doing it now.”

“What is it?”

“No name, really… hmm. Call it land reformation?”

“Land reformation?”

Arisa tilts her head. She ruffles the girl’s cute hair, then checks DORECA’s menu.

Magic power’s sufficient. Last time I drained it to the edge, but with twelve slaves, it replenished in no time.

I’ve recovered enough to do what I’m about to do.

So I did it.

“Here we go!”

DORECA glows. A single magic circle forms—thousands of arrows scatter wildly.

“Is this much material really needed?”

“It feels… incredibly intense.”

Ignoring the mother and daughter slaves, stunned into silence, DORECA activates emergency production—no materials, just raw magic.

The magic circle reshapes into solid form.

The ground trembles. The earth rises, swelling higher and higher.

In moments, the flat plain became a hill.

Fifty meters tall. A hill surpassing twenty stories above ground.

Standing atop the newly risen hill, the island lies fully in view.

Yeah, guess it's right in the center here.

"Such a big brother, really."

"Making mountains out of thin air... Papa-sama, the world's greatest, strongest master!"

The two slaves praised me.

This wasn’t the first time I’d reshaped nature—Risha and I had made a forest before.

So their praise didn’t really faze me.

"…incredible… it’s like divine creation…."

The goddess (temporary) sat on her back, stunned. Something about that made me feel… weirdly pleased.