“The church erased the records?”
Colette guessed as Sylvia recounted.
“No. The origin of this book is based on hearsay, or rather, records of legends. It’s hard to believe the temple was involved in all of them.”
It would require an impossible amount of effort to intervene and correct every single story passed down orally.
“Rather, it makes more sense to think that the stories remained in a way that the church wouldn’t mind,”
At Shurein’s words, everyone nodded as if they understood.
“There are many stories remaining about the children of gods that the church would have difficulty interfering with, and since their parents might be targeted by the church, those stories were not passed down.”
“Alternatively, even if they were passed down at first, those parts might have been cut out to avoid detection by the church,”
As everyone discussed, it increasingly felt like the correct answer.
In fact, judging from the stories compiled in the book, their current theory fit the best.
And indeed, their speculation hit the mark.
In cases where the person who conceived a child of a god was not a church official, there were instances where they were forcibly compelled to belong to the church.
For this reason, the parents acted discreetly to remain unnoticed.
As they were favored by a god, it was easy for them to disappear from the sight of the church and other powers.
Meanwhile, their children, fully utilizing their status as children of gods, acted in ways that prevented the church from interfering.
Of course, this was partly because their parents had raised them to be that way.
As a result, no legends about the parents remained.
“Whether it was the church’s doing or not, if legends about the parents aren’t left behind, isn’t it meaningless?”
After all, what they wanted to know was how to conceive a child, not the exploits of the children.
Colette nodded in agreement with Shurein.
“That’s right. Since we want to know how the parents conceived, it’s hopeless if we don’t know anything about the parents,”
Colette sighed.
“Is that so~?”
It was Peach who raised an objection to Shurein and Colette.
“Is there something?”
“It’s true that the non-divine parent isn’t written about, but the children and the gods are written about, aren’t they~?”
At Peach’s words, Sylvia’s face brightened as if she had realized something.
“Can we investigate various things from the relationship between gods and their children?”
“Probably~,”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”
The other members looked bewildered at Peach and Sylvia’s conversation.
“This book compiles so many stories. There are probably gods who appear repeatedly in the stories of conceiving children.”
“It’s valuable just to investigate when that god conceived children~.”
“At the very least, we can know the situation on the god’s side,”
“Also, it’s significant to check the stories about the non-divine parents, as they aren’t entirely absent~.”
While important stories might be intentionally hidden, even if not the most crucial details, hints to what they wanted to know might still be present.
“I understand what you’re saying… but just confirming if it’s the same god would take considerable effort?”
“That’s where I come in. If you just extract the names of the gods appearing in each book, I can figure out the rest.”
Even if it were the same god, they might have used entirely different names at different times.
Frankly speaking, except for clerics who were experts, very few people would know any gods other than the one they worshipped.
This was precisely why it was Sylvia’s turn.
“So, first, we’ll investigate stories involving parents, and then investigate the names of the divine partners, is that it?”
“And also about the children born~.”
“About the children, you say, but what specifically should we investigate?”
“Perhaps about what kind of powers they had~. If they had powers that their divine parent didn’t have, that might indicate powers from the other parent.”
“Ah, I see. So that’s what you mean.”
Even if there were no specific descriptions, some things could be inferred.
While simply reading a book might not reveal certain insights, approaching the investigation with a specific purpose could offer a different perspective.
From then on, they decided to conduct their book research based on these considerations.
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“It seems to be going rather slowly.”
A few days after the women’s gathering, Eris, unusually, brought up the topic.
Sylvia, who had been expecting a usual brief session of Divine Union, couldn’t respond immediately.
“Eh…!? Y-Yes. It’s just too vague, and we can’t find anything concrete.”
“Then, I’ll give you one hint. How do you think humans and demibeings conceive children with gods?”
Sylvia momentarily thought that was precisely what they were investigating, but then she reconsidered, knowing Eris wouldn’t say something so pointless.
And then, it suddenly dawned on her.
“Eh…!? Huh?”
“It seems you’ve realized it. Now, good luck finding the answer yourselves.”
Eris said so and ended the Divine Union.
However, Sylvia had more pressing matters.
Her mind was entirely occupied with the need to convey what Eris had just told them to everyone.
“Did you hear anything from Elisamil (God)?”
“Yes. Furthermore, she gave us advice on an aspect we had completely overlooked until now.”
“Oh? What kind of advice?”
“What do you think gods who have children with humans or demibeings were like?”
At Sylvia’s words, everyone tilted their heads at first.
But then, Peach suddenly exclaimed, “Ah,” as if she had realized something.
“The God of Earth and the God of Heaven~?”
“That’s right.”
Sylvia and Peach understood each other, leaving the others bewildered.
“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about?”
Shurein asked them, tilting her head.
“Setting aside the current state of gods, it is said that in the age of gods, gods existed on the ground.”
Nowadays, gods can only show themselves through Descent or Summoning, but it is told that in the age of gods, they normally existed on the ground and wielded their power.
In fact, regions without such stories were rare.
“That’s right. Even elves have such legends passed down.”
“Don’t you think the gods who existed on the ground are a hint~?”
“Aha!?”
At Peach’s words, the three others, excluding Sylvia, exchanged glances.
“Of course, it’s not necessarily true that only gods on the ground had children, but considering Kousuke (Male), wouldn’t investigating that god be a shortcut~?”
In a sense, Kousuke could also be considered a god who exists on the ground.
The idea was to see if hints could be obtained from stories about closer beings.
“Furthermore, since the God of Heaven also had children, it might be good to compare the differences between the two gods~.”
As a result, they realized that most of the books compiling stories of children of gods were about the children left behind by the God of Earth.
Just knowing that gods who exist on the ground are more likely to leave behind children was a significant step forward for them.
This was because Kousuke, as an Avatar, was precisely a god who existed on the ground.
This offered a glimmer of hope for fulfilling their desires. At least, a possibility had been shown.
With that hope in their hearts, they continued their research vigorously.
Well… I wrote a whole chapter, but it feels like not much has progressed…
Please understand that this is not a problem that can be easily resolved.
I expect stories about “pressing issues” to continue to appear, so please look forward to them.
