Volume 7, Chapter 31 – Indescribable God

“The undead are starting to react. It’s not just skeleton warriors; there are Plague Wizards as well—at least a thousand of them. Your Highness, please, let me go down and help.”

“No, stay right here, Anastasia. Liti and Milu are at the fourth tier, after all; dealing with a swarm of first-tier undead is well within their capabilities.”

In the face of Anastasia’s request, Fia, who was hovering in mid-air, simply gave a light wave of her hand. Below them, Liti and Milu were currently engaged in combat with the undead. The sight of over a thousand pale-white skeleton warriors swarming toward them from all directions was reminiscent of termites crawling out of a nest.

However, just as Fia had said, a mere swarm of first-tier undead posed no real threat to Liti and Milu. As long as Milu kept Liti protected, Liti could handle the entire front line on her own. Fiery butterflies with outspread wings dove at a slant into the sea of enemies; with a wingspan exceeding twenty meters, even a slight brush from them sent the skeleton warriors flying as if struck by a truck. Their bodies didn’t just shatter on impact; their broken bones were instantly incinerated by the flames.

Standing to Fia’s right, Claire explained in a soft voice.

“That’s the fourth-tier spell [Molten Wings]. Because Little Liti admires Fia so much, fire magic was the first thing she chose to learn after reaching the fourth tier, despite actually being more gifted in high-tier water magic.”

“Was she taught this magic by you, Lady Claire? I remember you saying your magic doesn’t belong to this world and that its strength relies on emotional control.”

“No, their primary teacher is actually you, Anastasia. However, because of Liti’s status, you’ve always been hesitant to be too strict with her. So, I occasionally step in as her teacher. Lately, Little Liti has been a bit afraid of me; she sits up perfectly straight the moment she sees me.”

“It sounds a bit like you’ve become her mother, Claire.”

“Then does that make Little Fia my daughter as well?”

Claire cast a charming, playful glance at Fia, which caused Fia’s body to stiffen. This wasn’t because Fia had no feelings for Claire, but rather because it poked at a bad memory. If Claire started talking about her being “like a little baby” here, she would be utterly humiliated in front of Anastasia.

Fortunately, Claire didn’t dwell on that topic. She reached out and patted Fia’s head affectionately while continuing her previous point.

“Little Milu, on the other hand, is a child you raised entirely yourself. Even her swordsmanship is identical to yours. If it weren’t for the fact that her cursed weapon can split in two, Milu might have ended up following the path of wind magic. As it stands, she focuses more on self-enhancement and summoning magic; those three Thunder Spirits behind her are her summons. Though Milu isn’t much for expressing herself, she has always deeply admired you as a Royal Knight, Anastasia.”

“She likely admires the original Anastasia,” Anastasia corrected with a troubled smile on her beautiful face. “All of this is thanks to the credit of the Anastasia from this side.”

“Humble as always. Once the Anastasia here returns, I’m sure the two of you will become friends who can talk about anything.”

I think we’d actually hate each other, Anastasia answered in her heart. If a perfect duplicate of herself showed up to compete for Dofi, she would be completely against it. One personal maid was quite enough.

While the three of them conversed, the battle below continued. With two fourth-tier combatants backed by an endless supply of magic potions, the fight was almost entirely one-sided. Liti frequently used large-scale spells that required long incantations, while Milu focused on protecting her during the chanting. Milu didn’t even need to split her cursed sword; a single horizontal sweep was enough to shatter four or five skeletons amidst a chorus of snapping bones.

As for the directions Milu couldn’t cover, the three bright blue Thunder Spirits handled them. While their power was less than Milu’s, a single lightning strike was enough to dismantle a skeleton soldier. Electricity possessed an effect similar to holy magic, capable of directly purifying the souls of the undead.

The only things that posed even a slight challenge were the Plague Wizards in the distance and the undead raiders hidden among the skeletons. The former used necromancy to attack Liti from afar, while the latter mixed in with ordinary skeletons to launch surprise attacks on Liti while she was chanting. However, Milu was a Stellacryst Beast with incredibly sharp senses; she would cut through the Plague Wizards’ magic with her sword, while the undead raiders were often sliced in half by her greatsword before they could even get within two meters of Liti.

If it weren’t for the fact that killing the undead consumed vitality, the two of them would have been enough to sweep through the entire army. Having adapted to the rhythm of the undead, they were already pushing deeper to find stronger opponents.

Fia’s [Wind of Exploration] reported that the closer they got to the interior of the Netherworld, the higher the tier of the undead became. Deep inside, there was even visible gray mist—a substance known as Death Aura. Undead felt exceptionally comfortable in areas thick with Death Aura, and their recovery rates were significantly boosted.

The advance of the two below allowed the three in the air to follow slowly. Anastasia kept her gaze fixed on Liti and Milu, her lively blue eyes full of contemplation.

“Has Euphimilu known Princess Liti for a long time? Their cooperation is very polished. Usually, children of this age with this kind of power can’t control the urge to rush forward, leaving their teammates behind to dive into the monster hordes alone.”

“Milu used to be like that, but she fixed the habit after Anastasia scolded her several times. Before you came over, Liti and Milu spent a long time training in the forests of the Weeping Mountains. That was where they both broke through from the third tier to the fourth—though Milu is a quasi-fourth tier, as she hasn’t learned any fourth-tier magic yet.”

Reaⅾ оո KatRеαⅾingCаfe

“Already at the fourth tier…” Hearing Fia’s explanation, Anastasia murmured and looked down at her palm as if lost in thought. “In fourteen years, I haven’t made any progress at all…”

Unlike the Anastasia here, the Anastasia before them had spent fourteen years on the run, yet her strength remained at the quasi-fifth tier. The reason was simple: the standard for distinguishing a quasi-fifth tier from a true fifth tier was whether one had mastered fifth-tier magic. High-tier magic was a scarce resource; as a fugitive, it was naturally difficult for Anastasia to gain access to such knowledge. Seeing her juniors about to overtake her, it was only natural for her to feel uneasy. Fia offered a smile of comfort.

“The difference between quasi-fifth and true fifth is just a matter of learning a spell. Once we return, you can go to the archives to further your studies and reach the fifth tier. In fact, after we visit the heart of the Netherworld, it wouldn’t be surprising if you reached the sixth tier.”

Actually, Anastasia might become a special case—someone whose mana reaches the sixth tier without having mastered fifth-tier magic, Fia thought. However, knowing that wouldn’t be comforting, she politely kept her mouth shut.

“Once she reaches the sixth tier, the Anastasia from this side will return, right? Little Fia, you need to hurry and master that spell called [Sacred Relic Analysis].”

As if remembering something, Claire’s clear green eyes widened slightly. She tilted her head toward Fia, her gaze full of curiosity.

“Speaking of which, did Little Fia dodge the subject earlier this afternoon? You still haven’t told us what you’re believing in. There were two maids in the living room then, so perhaps you couldn’t say it? Since it’s just me and Anastasia here now, can you tell us what Little Fia’s faith is?”

“This…”

Why does Claire have to be so persistent about this…?

Being stared at by both Anastasia and Claire from either side, Fia struggled to keep her expression neutral. Earlier, she could use the presence of the maids as an excuse, but now that it was just the three of them, keeping it a secret felt unreasonable.

Telling Claire alone would be fine, but the person who was the actual object of her faith was right here…

In a flash, Fia’s mind simulated the scene that would follow.

She would say with an innocent face, “My faith is Anastasia’s chest, you know~!” and then both Claire’s and Anastasia’s expressions would freeze instantly. Then Claire would smile and play it off with something like, “Little Fia is so honest,” while Anastasia would act as if facing a great enemy—blushing and stammering while looking away and tensing her whole body. That kind of statement was pure sexual harassment, and she would be harassing another woman right in front of her own wife.

It was almost inconceivable that Claire wouldn’t be angry, say “That’s just too low,” or pull her by the ear.

As her thoughts returned to reality, Claire was still pressing her, her index finger lightly poking at Fia’s cheek over and over.

“So, what is Little Fia’s faith?”

“Err… ahem.” Fia made a fist and coughed guiltily against her hand. “I think… Claire and Anastasia definitely won’t want to hear the answer.”

“How can you know we won’t want to hear it if you don’t say it—unless Little Fia is thinking about something ‘H’?”

“It’s not exactly at a level that could be called ‘H’…”

Claire knows me too well.

Although Anastasia didn’t say anything, Fia could feel the intense, burning gaze she was directing her way; Anastasia was clearly quite concerned as well.

It seemed there was no escape.

Since she had to tell Claire sooner or later, she might as well modify it slightly and say it. As for Anastasia’s attitude, she probably, likely, maybe wouldn’t “view her in a new light”—wait, knowing Anastasia’s personality, she might even allow her to be bolder. Thinking about it that way, shouldn’t she have just said it sooner?

No, Dofilia, you can’t do that. Anastasia is an unmarried maiden, and you are already engaged to Claire. Even if Anastasia allows you to touch her chest to replenish your Faith Power, you can’t actually put that into practice. You’d make it impossible for her to get married.

Reaⅾ оո KаtRеαdiոɡСαfе

Impossible to get married? Then why not just marry her yourself? Touching your own wife wouldn’t count as violating Kingdom law, and besides, Anastasia would be happy to do so.

As Fia strictly warned herself, a “Little Demon Fia” suddenly popped up in her heart.

You already feel that making Anastasia a second Royal Consort is the most suitable choice anyway, and Anastasia happens to be exactly your type. Two people liking each other and hitting it off—isn’t that great? You’d even solve your perspective problem along the way. Then it won’t just be Nola; Tilulu, Liti, and Milu will all have a choice, too. Everyone will be happy, and you will be very pleased.

Hey, hey, not even letting Liti and Milu off—isn’t that going too far?!

The Little Demon Fia’s suggestion made Fia’s cheeks flush red. If she set aside moral concepts, it was indeed a very attractive proposal. Setting aside the long-lived Liti for a moment, by the time she reached the elven age of adulthood, Tilulu and Milu would surely grow into beauties like Nola or even Erin Slate. With so many cute girls with different personalities… it would be like being in heaven. For a moment, Fia’s heart even wavered.

However, that was ultimately an option that discarded moral concepts. Fia shook her head forcefully, banishing the Little Demon Fia from her mind.

Better to focus on the matter at hand.

Fia put on a serious face.

“Ahem. Once I’ve said it, Claire and Anastasia aren’t allowed to laugh at me.”

“Of course. How could anyone laugh at another’s faith?”

“I will also keep it a secret. I would never laugh at Your Highness.”

No, no, you’re clearly misunderstanding where this is going.

That said, it was a fact that she would likely need Anastasia’s and Claire’s cooperation to replenish the information for [Sacred Relic Analysis] in the future. Saying it early would allow everyone to accept it sooner.

Time to put her talent for talking nonsense to use!

“Actually, at first, I planned to use Claire as my object of faith. After all, Claire is both powerful and gentle—very suitable as an object of worship.”

“But using me as an object of faith would lack divine mystery, wouldn’t it? Gods are always hidden behind the scenes, which is why they have that sense of mystery. I’m constantly appearing before Little Fia’s eyes, so it must be very hard to treat me as an object of faith.”

“So I failed in the end. It’s not that I don’t love Claire, but rather, exactly as you said—the moment I think of you, I find it hard to concentrate. My thoughts always wander toward scenes of our daily life together.”

“It’s all right. Just knowing I was the first person you thought of makes me happy. I never imagined I would become someone’s object of faith one day, given that I’m someone people forget as soon as the divinity leaves.”

Claire gently stroked Fia’s long black hair, her peerless face filled with joy and affection for Fia.

But this only made Fia feel more guilty.

If Claire knew that the version of her Fia was imagining was a suggestive one lying in bed half-covered, she would surely blush with embarrassment and call Fia a “lewd elf” in a huff.

“So what did you imagine after that, Your Highness?”

“Afterward…”

Reαd οn ΚαtReaⅾiոɡСafе

Finally reaching the main topic, Fia’s voice grew hesitant as she deliberated on how she should express it.

“I tried a different approach. I thought it might be easier to concentrate if I didn’t believe in a person, but rather in a certain thing. So I used… I used…”

It was simply too embarrassing to say out loud.

Fia could practically hear Anastasia and Claire pricking up their ears; both had their eyes wide open, waiting for her answer.

Fia gritted her teeth and adopted a solemn, academic attitude.

“So I thought that if I used something I didn’t have as my faith, it would surely be filled with mystery. That’s when I thought of the God of Oppai.”

“Ou… pai?”

Neither Claire nor Anastasia had ever heard of such a thing. They exchanged a puzzled glance before Claire asked the first question.

“What kind of god is that? It seems Anastasia hasn’t heard of it either.”

“Well, in my world, ‘oppai’ means chest.”

Talking absolute nonsense with a straight face caused Fia’s cheeks to flush crimson, yet she still struggled to maintain a serious expression.

“If one believes in the God of Oppai, their chest will become full of feminine charm. I’m practically an adult elf now, so of course I’d care about why I’m the only one like this. Looking at Anastasia and Erin Slate, and further out at Mother Yulisha and the others… Even though we’re all elves, the gap is just too large. So I offered my faith sincerely, and the God of Oppai responded by giving me a small fragment of the knowledge for [Sacred Relic Analysis]. The reason it’s only a fragment is surely that my faith isn’t devout enough.”

“There’s actually a god like that… You didn’t seem to care much usually, Little Fia, so I thought you liked the smaller type. Ah, thinking about it, no wonder you liked mine so much—should I say ‘oppai’? It’s a word you usually can’t say, but it just rolls off the tongue with a different phrasing.”

No, no, no, Claire, don’t start saying that word all the time. It’s too filthy and makes my imagination run wild.

Fia complained internally.

It seemed she had managed to bluff her way through.

Although the Eldest Princess would surely crawl out of her grave and slap her if she heard this, Fia still wanted to say that being a petite girl wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

However, things were not as simple as Fia imagined.

“But if you were believing in a deity called the God of Oppai, why did you ask me to step back and close my eyes? If possible, I should have offered my prayers alongside you. That way, the Goddess might have heard my voice and allowed Your Highness to grow into a proper elf.”

“Ugh.”

Oh, Anastasia, why do you have to be so smart at a time like this?

Since it had come to this, she had no choice but to use “sound logic.”

Fia cleared her throat.

“That Goddess doesn’t have a statue. Just as the believers in the Holy Kingdom pray to a statue, I had to find a symbolic object for the Goddess to strengthen my communication with her.”

Rеaԁ оn KatReadiոɡСafе

“As you can see, Anastasia, my own development is unremarkable and featureless, so I naturally couldn’t use myself as a symbol. But you are perfect—one could say you are the incarnation of that Goddess in this world. So I thought that if I used you as a symbolic object, I would surely be able to communicate with her. That’s why I had you take a step back—it made it easier to see you. As it turns out, my idea was successful; using you as a medium allowed me to communicate with the Goddess.”

“Forgive my incompetence, Your Highness, but I don’t quite understand.”

It’s better that way.

Anastasia’s troubled expression made the corners of Fia’s mouth twitch upward. This was the art of language. Devout believers loved to talk in circles with incomprehensible terms anyway, so speaking like this wouldn’t seem intentional—it wouldn’t even count as a lie.

But Fia had overlooked the fact that an exceptionally intelligent woman was also present.

Claire rested her chin on her hand, frowning in thought as she replayed Fia’s words.

“In other words, Little Fia feels that Anastasia’s chest is a work of art and used it as a medium to strengthen her connection to that Goddess? No, to put it more simply, Little Fia was staring at Anastasia’s chest and treating it as the Goddess herself… So in reality, you were just worshipping Big Sister’s chest?”

“I see…”

Beside her, Anastasia let out a sound as if a light had suddenly dawned on her.

Then, finally understanding, Anastasia’s face turned beet-red in an instant. She performed three actions simultaneously: turning sideways, covering her chest with one hand, and shuffling a small step away. Her voice was as shaky as a rusty machine.

“Your Highness… so you were staring at my… my… using my chest as an object of faith… H-How did you become such an impure elf? How could you believe in these things…?”

“No, Anastasia, let me explain! I wasn’t imagining anything impure!”

And your movement to avoid me is way too hurtful!

“Heh heh heh~”

Behind Fia, Claire added fuel to the fire. Her mouth curved into a ‘ω’ shape as she intentionally took a step forward, pressing the soft chest hidden beneath her dark blue dress against the back of Fia’s head. She said mischievously:

“Then wouldn’t this strengthen Little Fia’s faith in the Goddess even more? It’s perfectly fine even if you give them a touch, you know? Look, it’s Little Fia’s favorite—”

“Claire, you’re too lewd!”

Bouncing away as if she’d been struck by lightning, Fia quickly increased the distance between herself and Claire. While Claire was easily embarrassed, that only applied when Fia made the request. Whenever a situation arose where she could tease someone, Claire’s threshold for mischief increased exponentially.

If Fia had honestly and directly reached out to touch her, the one blushing and stiffening would have been Claire. However, Anastasia was right there; if she actually did that, her image in Anastasia’s mind would be utterly destroyed.

She had to find a way to explain things clearly to Anastasia—at least before Claire could add more fuel to the fire.

Of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing is the best!