Marius had acquired the power of a god, and therefore, Orihalcon and Hihirou Ore became unnecessary.
He could now create a barrier capable of withstanding Auraniess’s full power.
“This is bullying, right? I’m allowed to be angry, aren’t I?”
Isabella returned to Hordia weeping and furious, but everyone was sympathetic.
As a token of apology, the Orihalcon and Hihirou Ore were to be a gift to Hordia.
However, with the fighting over, they might just be a nuisance to receive.
(I’ll count on that woman for that.)
Asteria, with her ill-natured personality, might come up with a good idea.
Marius thought she should, if anything.
Even though the fighting was over, there were still plenty of things a ruler should do.
That said, Marius didn’t have much to do.
He would meet envoys from other countries paying their respects and stamp documents prepared by his subordinates.
Marius’s incompetence as a politician was well-known, and his wives were far more capable.
His subordinates thought, “As long as he doesn’t get in the way, it’s fine” and “His role is in areas other than politics.”
And Marius’s most important role was to attend to Auraniess.
“Hey, hey, let’s train! Let’s have a magical spell battle, Ragnarok versus a Forbidden Spell!”
Marius was drinking tea with the Demon Lord, who made this terrifying proposal with the same casualness as children suggesting a game of tag.
“No way. It would be bad if I accidentally unleashed my power.”
Marius refused, but Auraniess wouldn’t back down.
“But shouldn’t you be training to use divine power? I’m probably the only one who can accompany you in that training.”
“That’s true, but…”
The fact that he wasn’t entirely foolish was what made this Demon Lord so troublesome, Marius sighed.
He glanced at Iris and Sophia, but they remained silent.
They seemed to have no intention of offering help.
His wives were busy with their duties, and Zofi and the others were out on patrol in the region. Only Marius’s personal maids, Aina and Remika, were present.
(Not getting in the way of everyone is a noble task.)
He made an excuse to himself, for no one in particular.
“Ragnarok, triple shot!”
Auraniess suddenly fired “Ragnarok” three times in a row.
Marius dodged it with Warp.
Then, unable to hide his astonishment, he asked, “Can you fire those in rapid succession?”
“I can, after some training,” Auraniess replied cheerfully, making Marius weary.
(Just as expected of “Unreasonable -niess.”)
Rapid-fire attacks while maintaining their power was beyond unreasonable. Wasn’t he living by the motto of “my ultimate creation”?
“Wait, when did you train?” Marius wondered if he’d even had the time.
“Hmm? While you all were sleeping. I was bored, so I went to the continent’s ruins. Oh, I didn’t kill anyone or destroy anything, though,” he hastily explained.
Marius felt like that didn’t even matter anymore.
“Come to think of it, you guys don’t really need to sleep, right?”
“Yeah, for about a year. Anything longer makes me a little sleepy,” Auraniess replied.
“I see.”
Marius slumped, feeling defeated if he pursued the matter further.
Indeed, such a being couldn’t be left unchecked. Only Marius could control him, so he had to do it.
“There will be peace when the fighting ends.” I used to think that too. It was a short period of peace, he thought.
“What are you talking about? As long as we’re alive, peace is out of reach,” Auraniess said, laughing merrily.
“Sophia said you were just lashing out because you couldn’t find anyone strong enough,” Marius said.
“Can’t hear you!” Auraniess launched another triple barrage of “Ragnarok.”
(Oh well.)
It seemed he had no choice but to go along with it until Auraniess was satisfied. Thanks to Auraniess, the damage from monsters had ceased, so he had to provide some compensation. However, there were still things he wanted to say.
“You should be just as enthusiastic about making babies!”
When Marius said that, Auraniess stuck out his tongue.
“No thanks. This is more fun.”
Auraniess always replied like this. Marius had never been able to refute it, but today was different. He had learned a new counter-argument from El.
“Are you just afraid and running away by saying that?”
“Hmph.” Auraniess’s movements briefly stopped.
“You say you enjoy fighting strong opponents, but you refuse to fight me in bed. Aren’t you surprisingly cowardly?”
“Ngh nuh nuh.” Auraniess’s face began to redden.
(It’s working perfectly.) The effect was even greater than Marius had expected. He himself wondered if such a simple taunt would work, but El, who had offered the advice, had confidently stated, “It’s Auraniess, you know? He’s simple.” Looking at Auraniess before him, it was clear who was right.
“Fine. Today, I’ll defeat you. Don’t complain about lack of sleep tomorrow!” Auraniess pointed his right index finger and declared war.
“I’ll just defeat you in return.”
“Gnnnnh.” Marius grinned, and Auraniess groaned in frustration with a crimson face. Up until now, Auraniess had always lost. This might be part of the reason Marius was called the “Sex King.”
“I’ll even let Iris and Sophia help you!” Auraniess yelled and ran away.
“Wait, that’s cheating…” Auraniess alone wasn’t a problem. He could handle fighting his wives afterward. Zofi and Al would be fine, with El skillfully piloting them, reading the mood. The problem was if Iris and Sophia joined in.
(No, wait.) Iris and Sophia had never participated in their bedroom affairs. They had never wavered from their stance of letting him do as he pleased. As a chaste man, it was quite disappointing, but considering the enemy’s overwhelming strength, it might actually be a blessing. Purposefully, he decided to continue his training even after Auraniess was gone. He was slowly getting accustomed to the divine power, and as a result, he had discovered something. The world was infinitely vast, and this place, as well as his original world, were just a part of it. This world was not based on a game. It just so happened that a human had created a game with identical settings. Nyarla, it seemed, had chosen Marius because he judged that Marius would be able to adapt easily. Due to several miscalculations, that god perished, and Marius survived. According to Nyarla’s memories, the imagination of humans in the original world was astonishing, and there were many similar examples.
(A human who can read the Akashic Records.) It was too much to believe that the creation of multiple games with similar settings in different worlds was mere coincidence. The Akashic Records… the complete record of the creation and destruction of countless worlds. Perhaps someone had read fragments of it. That was Nyarla’s conjecture. Even gods reportedly couldn’t read everything, but it was said that even ordinary humans could glimpse fragments. And because they couldn’t read everything, even gods could fall and perish. Marius used his divine power to attempt to connect to the Akashic Records. There was something he wanted to know. What would happen if he tried to return to his original world? What if he hadn’t been reincarnated in this world? The Akashic Records would tell him. That Ryuji Yamada’s death that day was a certainty. That if he hadn’t been reincarnated, he would have been born as a plant. And that if he attempted to return to his original world, either this world or his original world would inevitably perish.
“Haa.” Marius, feeling drained, broke the connection. Perhaps the best possible future was also recorded there. However, even with divine power, it was impossible to find it.
(Well, it can’t be helped.) It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel a sense of loneliness, but he had no intention of abandoning his current world. He had connected to the Akashic Records solely to give up. Marius believed it would be a sin to forsake his current world. Whether there was any being capable of punishing Marius, who had obtained divine power, was uncertain.
