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Olive diligently conveyed various characteristics of Eve to her, which could practically be called Eve’s setting.

“Her bust should be large, her eyes should be narrow to hide her gaze, a long lifespan seems better than great power, and just in case, it would also be nice if she could gain power by giving up her lifespan. It might be good to boost her bust by one more size, considering it could be at a level where I wonder if it could be bigger.”

At first, Olive listened to me quietly, perhaps due to the influence of the World Tree, but soon her expression turned perplexed.

“W-What… is really important about what the World Tree is planning for the future Apostle…?”

“I swear on all my faith and love. It’s all necessary. It might seem pointless right now, but it’s absolutely essential for the Elf race to survive in 1,000 years.”

“….”

For a moment, Olive fell silent, deep in thought. Soon, she nodded.

“I understand. However, all decisions will be made by the World Tree, not me. So…”

“So you mean you only want to convey this while leaving the decision to the World Tree? That’s fine; that’s enough. Oh, and this is a bit of a different topic…”

“Yes. What is it?”

“Please tell me about the things happening in the world.”

“What?”

“And if you wouldn’t mind, could you tell me where the Temple of the Goddess of Love is located?”

“???”

Olive looked at me as if to ask why I would ask her such a thing. In that instant, a deep suspicion surfaced on her face, but after rubbing her smooth belly gently, she slowly began to speak.

“The biggest recent event would be the dragons, who in the past refused to serve any gods due to pride, now entering the service of the God of Beasts.”

Olive’s tale went on for quite a while. As I expected, being a sort of envoy, she was well-informed about the recent happenings on the continent.

After receiving a recommendation for the route leading to the center of the Pan Continent, we parted ways and headed off on our separate paths.

***

The road to the Church of Love was incredibly rough.

Both physically and in a metaphorical sense.

Every day, people were battling each other, and as territories of each nation and church changed hands several times a day, no one bothered to repair the roads devastated by combat.

The level of civilization itself was probably slightly ahead of the Pan Continent a thousand years ahead, yet, because of this, the roads were in absolute shambles.

Thanks to this, I realized that what might seem trivial—well-paved roads—was actually a marvel of civilization.

However, this was still bearable. It might be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t difficult for me, who had grown stronger now.

The real problem wasn’t the road that didn’t look like a road, but the people who didn’t seem human.

“Goodness, how many times has it been now?”

For people to live, they must eat something. So, occasionally, I would sneak into small towns or churches to… no, ‘resupply’ as they call it, for materials.

The problem was that I was met with conflict almost every hour, being subjected to ideological vetting.

At first, I thought my stealing had been discovered… but surprisingly, they just saw me as an outsider and insisted on hearing my faith testimony.

“Geez. That startled me.”

In the era of the War of the Gods, anyone without faith was seen as a terrible sinner that no god would accept.

So, every time I was questioned, I earnestly pretended to be a devotee of the Goddess of Love…

“Really, you’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t you think someone wandering alone in wartime might have something going on? Huh?”

“Ugh…”

I was about to deliver a slap, but miscalculated my strength and ended up knocking out half of the teeth of a portly lady who stuttered in confusion.

“Look at my hair color and you all crowd around asking which god I believe in, and when I say it’s the Goddess of Love, you suddenly ask, ‘How much?’ If I say not much, you try to turn it into a fight or later ambush me. Is this how your god teaches you?”

“Ugh…”

Well, they probably thought that such minor issues wouldn’t trouble the gods directly. And to be honest, that was true.

But it’s not like the followers of the Goddess of Love wouldn’t eventually lodge complaints about it.

Just because the Goddess of Love doesn’t participate in the war doesn’t mean she has completely abandoned the protection of her followers.

If she had been watching, or if I had merely prayed, she would’ve set up barriers or whatever immediately.

If the power of another god manifests in your territory, the god you believe in would naturally be alarmed and investigate.

And afterward, that god would presumably punish the instigator according to their doctrine.

It was a simple fact that couldn’t be unknown…

“So, is it that the desire for carnal pleasures takes precedence? Even so, this is a bit strange.”

With a puzzled headshake, I roughly tossed the lady I held nearby aside.

Somehow, it seemed that people’s reactions were drastically changing the closer I drew to the Church of Love.

When I conversed with Olive, things had been quite ordinary.

Sighing deeply, I pulled the hood I had recently stolen tightly over my head.

If I revealed my face, I’d get caught up in trouble; if I hid, the guards would suspiciously interrogate me and I’d end up in trouble again.

What a relentless irony.

“I just wanted to sleep in a bed for a day.”

Shaking my head, I decided to leave my spot. I intended to leave the town and head to my next destination.

Would I be sleeping on the streets again today? I had packed a high-quality sleeping bag, just in case I ended up escaping into the labyrinth after a scuffle with Claudia, which now seemed like a very wise choice given my recent frequency of camping out.

How many times had I praised my past self as I walked?

I felt the presence of one of the onlookers from the village following me.

Clumsy movements. If they weren’t a professional, they were likely someone trying to ambush me, like the lady from earlier.

They were probably thinking they were lucky, heading towards an isolated area on their own.

As I debated whether to give a few solid blows or just slice them with my dagger, their presence got closer, and I turned instantly in an attempt to subdue them.

“Hey there.”

“…Huh? Yes?”

Surprisingly, the opponent asked to converse first.

When I turned around, there stood a muscular young man with blue hair.

A man. Just that fact alone made my body automatically react, covering my bottom and widening the distance.

Seeing my vigilant stare, the man scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Uh, there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“Just get to the point. Quickly.”

“Uh, it seems you’re having some difficulties, and I just wanted to help.”

“And you’re the one who seems to be the difficulty here…”

“No, no. That’s not it. I was just wondering if you’re experiencing difficulty controlling your powers?”

“?”

Having never dealt with this before, I tilted my head in confusion. When I reflexively searched within myself, I was left shocked.

“Why is this happening…?”

I was clearly suppressing my powers as usual. But for some reason, they were slipping out.

And surprisingly strong too, making it likely that someone with a weak will might be easily swayed.

In a hurry, I tried to suppress it further, but that was also proving difficult. It was the first time I found controlling my powers so challenging.

At this stage, it was almost like the powers of the Goddess of Love had doubled…

“Wait, what?”

It was impossible for the powers of the Goddess of Love to increase by two times. Unless there were two goddesses of love.

In my urgency, I hastily retrieved the goddess statue I had intentionally avoided from subspace. What appeared was a statue of a goddess expressing an almost exasperated longing by pressing on her chest.

….I had been hesitant to connect with the Goddess of Love of this age, but the reaction felt oddly familiar.

“Could it be… is it what I think it is?”

As I whispered softly to the statue, a faint glimmer of divine power seemed to affirm it.

So, it was true. Apparently, the future goddess had come back to the past along with her consciousness.

Having already received powers from the future goddess, was the issue that I had crossed over to the time she was manifesting?

Or was it the powers of the Avatar of Love that were problematic?

For some reason, I was connected with both the past goddess and the future goddess.

In this time, the goddess wouldn’t notice unless I prayed about it first.

As I stood there, stunned by the unexpected situation, the blue-haired man continued with a friendly smile.

“It seems you’ve finally become aware. Then let’s return to the main point; I believe I can help you.”

“…Thank you, but how?”

“There are indeed ways. However, before I explain, I need to outline a simple condition.”

“Condition?”

As I looked at him skeptically, he shrugged and spoke casually.

“It’s nothing serious. Let’s play a dice game.”

“Dice…?”

“We’ll each roll a die, and the person with the higher number wins. If we draw the same number, we roll again.”

“So, if I win, you’ll solve my problem? Trusting such an important matter to luck is secondary, but is it even feasible? How can a mere human touch divine power that isn’t even theirs?”

“Oh, that was your concern? But you’ll be fine. I’m quite confident in my powers and divine might.”

“I never thought I’d ask this, but… which god do you serve that gives you such confidence?”

“Serve? That’s a bit of a misstatement. I serve no one. I have no need to.”

“What?”

He made a grand display of a refined bow before me with that expression of surprise.

“Nice to meet you for the first time. I am the God of Play.”

The presence of the man who proclaimed himself as a god suddenly swelled tremendously. It felt somewhat similar to when I invoked the consciousness of the Goddess of Love to fight Claudia.

With a stiffened posture, the so-called God of Play smiled genially at me.

“Would you care for a game with me?”

“….”

It felt like a question I shouldn’t answer hastily.

Perhaps that’s why, without realizing it, I mumbled nonsense.

“Since we’re at it, wouldn’t a gacha be better than dice?”

 

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