Chapter 125

As if intuitively sensing Enria’s resolve, Caldeon turned to her.

“You promised you wouldn’t swallow it without my permission, Enria.”

“…I know. But if Hayden wakes up and confirms that me swallowing this is the right thing to do, then…”

“Then I will speak with God myself. You stay as you are.”

“What? How on earth would you speak to God directly…?”

Enria spoke with an incredulous expression, but she cut herself off with a soft “Oh,” closing her mouth. Hayden was a part of God himself; perhaps speaking with Hayden was effectively the same as a face-to-face meeting with the Divine. Maybe Hayden could even grant him a literal audience.

“I’m being cautious, but for now, I’m on the opposing side too, Enri,” Roseanne said, looking at her friend. “We won’t know for sure until Hayden wakes up, but since we have no idea what might happen to you if you swallow something this dangerous, it’s best not to act rashly.”

Now that Roseanne—who had been too conflicted to speak—had opened up, Tearen and Belona began to voice their thoughts as well.

“I agree. Hayden is still very young to be conducting such a perilous task based solely on his word. The risk of swallowing it without properly understanding the consequences is far too great.”

Belona shook her head at Tearen’s remark. “Hayden may be young, but he is a child with abilities great enough to seal the God of Evil. If such a child entrusts the sealing stone to you, I believe there is a significant reason for it.”

Undy countered by asking what she expected from a mere child, while Belona argued that despite his age, his power made him trustworthy. Just then…

“Mommy?”

Hayden, who had lost consciousness after sealing the God of Evil, opened his eyes.

“Hayden!”

Enria rushed to his side and gathered him into her arms. She let out a heavy sigh of relief as she held her son, who sought her out the moment he woke. Though she believed he would eventually wake up, it pained her to think of his tiny body enduring enough strain to lose consciousness just to seal an ancient evil.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm-hm,” Hayden murmured, rubbing his face against her.

He seemed quite exhausted from the sealing; he leaned his head against Enria’s chest, only moving his eyes to scan the room. He met the gaze of Caldeon, who was watching him intently.

“Hayden.”

The moment their eyes met, Caldeon called his name.

“Yes?”

Caldeon placed a hand on Hayden’s forehead, checking his condition with a worried face. Then, he asked about the stone.

“The seal you told your mother to swallow…”

“Save Rahar!” Belona cried out, cutting Caldeon off. She glanced briefly at Caldeon before continuing to Hayden. “Saving Rahar is more urgent right now. You said you’d save him with your Absolution, right?”

“Yes, I’ll save him.”

As Hayden nodded in affirmation, the faces of everyone in the room brightened. However, his next words made them freeze again.

“But we have to wait.”

“H-how long…?” Roseanne asked tentatively.

Hayden looked at her. “Until my power comes back.”

Roseanne and Belona’s faces turned pale simultaneously. Not knowing how long it would take for his power to return, their first fear was that it might be a very long wait. However, Hayden’s next words made their worries melt away like snow.

“It’ll be back in a few hours. We have to wait until then.”

“Thank goodness.”

“What a relief.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, overjoyed that Rahar truly could be saved. Of course, some still couldn’t be entirely happy knowing that Absolution consumed Hayden’s life force, but seeing Enria and Caldeon—his parents—acting composed, they kept their concerns to themselves, assuming it wasn’t a dire issue.

“Mommy, did you swallow the stone?”

Still leaning against Enria, Hayden asked the question abruptly, only shifting his eyes to look at her.

“No, not yet…”

“If she swallows it, will there be any problems for your mother?” Caldeon interrupted.

“Problems?” Hayden lifted his head with a bit of effort and tilted it at Caldeon. “What problems?”

“For example, an ill energy spreading through her body because of the sealing stone…”

“Huh? No, it’s not like that.”

Hayden shook his head as if such a thing were impossible. Despite this, Caldeon couldn’t seem to cast off his suspicion.

“Does she absolutely have to swallow it?”

“Yes, she must. That’s the only way the seal becomes complete.”

“Then what about someone else swallowing it? I’d rather I…”

“Daddy can’t.”

Hayden cut him off firmly.

“Why not?”

“Because Mommy is the being created to ensure that humans can never touch the God of Evil’s seal again.”

The room fell silent as if cold water had been poured over it. Tearen was the first to break the brief silence.

“Then what happens when your mother grows old and passes away?”

Tearen noted that humans are buried and eventually turn to bone; he suggested that in the future, someone like the black wizard might dig up Enria’s grave to retrieve the stone. Caldeon’s brow furrowed instantly, his eyes flashing sharply at Tearen.

“You dare speak of my woman’s death in front of me?”

“No, I just mean we need to be certain about this.”

“H-he’s right. We should be sure about everything,” Roseanne added, supporting Tearen.

“Don’t worry,” Hayden said, leaning his cheek back against Enria’s chest.

“Don’t worry? If I die, does the stone I swallowed vanish as well?”

Faced with the simultaneous questions from Caldeon and Enria, Hayden shook his head slowly.

“No. It will be passed into the body of the younger sibling.”

Everyone’s eyes widened so much they looked like they might pop out. Regardless of their shock, Hayden continued to blink languidly, finishing his explanation.

“When the younger sibling has a child, it will pass to them. When that child has a child, it will pass to them again. It will stay sealed like that forever, so the black wizards or other evil people can never resurrect the God of Evil.”

He added that the descendants of Enria, who carried the seal stone containing the God of Evil within their bodies, would instinctively be unable even to think of reviving it.

“A sibling…?”

In this situation, Caldeon’s face brightened subtly. Roseanne asked Enria to cover Hayden’s ears before asking her, “Doesn’t that mean you absolutely have to have another child? Are you okay with that?”

At Roseanne’s worried tone, Enria, who was covering Hayden’s ears, gave her a warm smile.

“Yes, well… I think a sibling for Hayden would be lovely.”

At those words, Caldeon’s obsidian eyes sparkled. He turned to Enria.

“Let’s have one right now.”

“Lord Caldeon!”

Enria glared at him, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“Ah, is now a bad time? Well, since I haven’t left you alone a single night, I suppose we have nothing to worry about even if it’s not this very second.”

The subject of his comment, Enria, blinked her eyes rapidly, her face turning bright red. Even the spirits looked away, their eyes wandering as they tried to figure out where to look. Only the naturally shameless Caldeon, the innocent Hayden with his ears covered, and Panz—who sat on the sofa with a perpetually disgruntled face—remained calm.

In particular, Hayden flashed a bright, clear smile at Roseanne and Tearen when he caught their eyes—as if he could hear everything despite his ears being covered.

***

Only after receiving confirmation twenty-two times from Hayden that Enria’s body would suffer no ill effects did Caldeon finally give his permission. Even so, he remained restless with worry as she swallowed the stone.

Hayden, who had consistently given the same answer twenty-two times, burst into laughter after the final confirmation. He hugged Panz and giggled uncontrollably at Caldeon’s remark: “If something goes wrong with Enria, something goes wrong with me too, so nothing can happen to her. For your sake, Hayden.”

[Let go of me! You’re squashing my head!]

“Hehehe!”

It was unclear exactly what had triggered the laughter, but Hayden was laughing more joyfully than they had ever seen. The reason for this laughter would only be revealed years later. On a day when Panz, remembering this event, would ask why he had been so happy, Hayden would finally explain.

“Ah. I was just so happy that even though Daddy knew I was a part of God, he still looked at me as just a human, as his son.”

Young Hayden had worried that his parents might treat him as “special” or “different” once they knew his secret. Even though he was part of the Divine, he was also the child of Enria and Caldeon; he wanted his parents to see him purely as their son. Knowing that his father’s concern wasn’t just for him as a lonely godling, but that his twenty-two questions were born out of a desire to protect both Enria and himself, filled him with genuine happiness.

In retrospect, it wasn’t such a momentous thing, and to others, his father’s behavior might have seemed absurdly overprotective. But for Hayden, who had his own inner struggles about being different from other humans, his father’s act of worrying about him and his mother on the same level was incredibly heartening.

“Let’s go now, Windel,” Hayden said, letting go of Panz.

Windel, who had been sitting on the floor in the form of a white tiger, stood up and padded over to him. He lowered his body so Hayden could climb onto his back. Once settled, Hayden spoke to the group gathered around the sofas.

“I’m going to go wake up Uncle Rahar.”

He spoke as casually as if he were simply going to wake a napping relative, then disappeared out of the drawing room. As Panz followed, fluttering his tiny wings behind him, Roseanne and Belona instinctively let out simultaneous sighs of relief and joy.

“By the way, how much of Hayden’s life force is consumed?”

Suddenly, Eva asked, looking at Caldeon. Roseanne and Belona’s faces froze once more, masked in a confused mixture of anxiety and guilt.