"Miss Veridielle. Sir Kyle…" she muttered, staring at nothing. "Please help…"
A woman with honey-blonde hair, wearing a long kimono, sat on our couch. Her eyes were practically lifeless, shoulders slumped, arms hanging loosely at her sides.
The Fourth Outer God of Causality.
Roselia Nutriscu.
"Um… what happened?" Anathasia asked, casually holding a bag of chips as she sat down beside me across from Roselia.
She opened it with a soft fwip, then gestured for me to take some while Roselia's eyes remained empty.
My eyes narrowed as I glanced at her.
"Anathasia… your student's here asking for help. Why are you eating chips?"
A pause.
Then I reached over, grabbed one, and popped it into my mouth.
"Give me some though."
Roselia slowly lifted her head, looking at us, eyes still hollow.
"Rania kicked me out."
We both froze.
Anathasia and I exchanged glances before looking straight back at her.
"…what exactly did you do?" Anathasia asked, putting another chip into her mouth.
Roselia shifted her gaze toward the transparent sliding doors leading to our garden. Her eyes were distant.
"I…" she trailed off.
"…snuck into her house and pretended to be her house cat."
The room instantly fell silent.
Anathasia and my hands hovered over the bag of chips on her lap as our heads slowly turned toward each other.
Then nodded.
—
Later.
After talking back at our house, all five of us ended up in Aegea.
Including Lena and Fran.
"So this…" Fran stepped forward beside Anathasia.
"…is Aegea."
As we climbed to the top of a random hill, an endless expanse of greenery stretched before us. A medieval-looking city stood several kilometers away.
Two buildings stood out among the sea of rooftops.
A white castle resting in the center of the city…
…and not too far from it—
"The Church of the Divine Merciful Equilibrium," Anathasia cut in.
"Or more precisely… The Divine Faith of Augthoria."
Her brows furrowed.
"Who said they could use my name?"
She stopped at the top of the hill, gaze hardening as she folded her arms across her chest and stared directly at the massive church within the city.
"They really are still behind Earth in terms of advancements," Fran added.
Lena stood beside her, squinting slightly.
"That's the capital of Ishtar?"
"Yes," Roselia chimed in, stepping forward.
"Dumuzi."
The breeze blew softly, sunlight catching the long hair of the four women in front of me as their locks flowed gently with the wind.
My hair, on the other hand—
"Pfft—! Why does my hair always get in my mouth whenever I'm somewhere windy?!"
All four of them turned toward me as my hair practically covered my entire face.
"Does this always happen to Dad?" Fran asked, looking at her mother.
"Most of the time…" Anathasia walked over and handed me a hair tie.
"Thanks," I said, taking it before tying my hair into a high ponytail.
But the moment I lifted my gaze—
Fran's eyes went wide.
Lena simply looked away, turning her attention toward the city kilometers away.
"Dad… you look…"
"Beautiful? Isn't he?" Anathasia finished, crossing her arms as she huffed proudly. "I know. My tastes are absolutely top tier."
"Girl… did you really just say that?" I said dryly as I walked over to them, standing beside them while overlooking the expansive city below.
"It's the truth. My taste is simply—" she casually made a French hand sign.
"Mwah, y'know?"
Fran looked straight at me, her expression somewhere between disappointment and embarrassment.
"Anathasia… your daughter's about to die from cringe," I sighed, shaking my head gently before looking back at the city.
"Dumuzi, huh… is it—"
"Very similar to Mesopotamian gods? Definitely," Anathasia chimed in. "Their civilization worshiped similarly named gods and goddesses long before they came to know about us—the Outer Gods."
Fran nodded slowly.
"Dumuzi… I think I remember that name from our social studies class a year ago."
"The god tied to agriculture, right?"
Anathasia glanced at her, then nodded.
"Exactly. As expected from our Fran~," she said with a smile, reaching over to pat Fran's head.
"With that being said…" I shot Roselia a glance while she continued staring at the city. "Aside from turning into a cat, what exactly did you do?"
"Rania's normally calm and gentle, but when it comes to you…"
I looked at my two daughters.
They both nodded in agreement.
"I noticed that too…" Fran added. "Aunt Rania's temper feels a tad bit shorter when it comes to Aunt Roselia."
"It might be because of what Aunt Roselia did to Big Sis Rania decades ago."
Fran and I immediately turned to Lena, who still had her arms crossed. She sighed, shaking her head before gesturing toward Anathasia, who was now squinting while staring at the city.
"Mom here knows what happened."
Anathasia perked up and turned toward us.
"What's wrong?"
Fran and I shifted our gaze to her. She tilted her head slightly, arms still crossed, curiosity written across her face.
"What happened between Roselia and Rania back then anyway?" I asked, rubbing my temple gently. "And why does Rania get so easily pissed off when it's about Roselia?"
Anathasia simply raised an eyebrow while looking at us.
"Well, Roselia there…" she gestured toward Roselia standing a few steps away.
"…manipulated and isolated Rania when she was still a mortal."
The air stilled.
"…what?"
—
The walk to the city was… nothing short of deathly silent.
After Anathasia dropped that revelation, all five of us chose to walk toward Dumuzi while trying to process what she had just said.
"The sky sure is blue… isn't it?"
"Mhm. It really is, Dad."
Clouds drifted slowly overhead, the sun hanging high in the sky.
Fran and I walked side by side along the cobblestone path. In the distance, two soldiers in steel armor. The kind you'd expect in any medieval setting stood by the city gates.
Which felt strangely surreal.
Anathasia and Lena walked a few steps behind us.
Roselia trailed at the very back.
As for why we chose to walk instead of teleporting…
Anathasia wanted to sightsee the endless plains and rice fields surrounding the city. So we followed the road like normal travelers.
"Look at all those rice paddies," Fran pointed out. "Maybe that has something to do with them naming the city after the god involved with agriculture?"
"It could be…" I glanced back over my shoulder at Anathasia. "Say, is Ishtar's livelihood mostly centered around farming?"
"Well, to an extent," she shrugged. "It is, more or less."
As we got closer, the soldiers stepped forward, holding their spears.
"Who is it?" one of them asked.
Their eyes scanned each of us from head to toe.
But the moment their gaze landed on Anathasia, they froze.
Then they instantly dropped to one knee, heads lowered.
"We greet the First Outer God, Mentor of the Divine Merciful Equilibrium…!"
Fran and I stopped in our tracks, glancing back at Anathasia.
Her expression twisted into something closer to annoyance.
"Get up," she commanded. "I never asked to be worshipped. We're just here for Rania."
The two soldiers lifted their heads, nodding before rising back to their feet.
"We apologize, oh Supreme Being—"
"And drop the titles," she interrupted. "Augthoria is fine."
The soldiers paused, briefly glancing at each other.
"Understood."
Without another word, they stepped aside, allowing us to enter the city.
Once inside, the streets came alive before us. People riding in carriages, brick houses lining the roads, others walking along the cobblestone pathways.
This time, the castle and the church clearly towered over everything else.
"Tch. I didn't even give them my approval to turn me into a divine figure," she scoffed, crossing her arms.
"If they ever use my name to justify wars…" she trailed off, clenching her hand into a fist before smiling faintly.
"I'll personally collapse that thing over there!"
Anathasia pointed straight at the towering church across the city.
Her words reverberated, catching the attention of the people around us. Almost instantly, their eyes turned to Anathasia as she slowly lowered her hand.
Roselia, on the other hand—
"Miss Veridielle…! Please don't say that, Rania might—"
She suddenly stopped mid-sentence, her eyes drifting toward a girl with white-blonde hair, holding a basket full of vegetables.
Our eyes followed hers, settling on the unassuming girl among the crowd.
I squinted, trying to see who it was.
"…Oh. It's Rania."
The girl looked at us, confused.
But the moment her eyes landed on Roselia standing near Anathasia, her gaze immediately darkened.
For a moment, all five of us just stood there while Rania blended in with the rest of the people, making her look like a typical commoner.
Then she stepped forward.
As she did, her clothes shifted into a dark blue blazer and green vest with a white shirt underneath.
The people around us quickly scattered, clearing the street and leaving just the six of us standing there.
"What are you doing here,"
"Roselia?"