Chapter 59
#59. Maternal Love
The title of hero refers to several individuals who saved humanity from magical beasts long ago.
Notable examples include King Arthur of Britain, who cleared the first S-rank Gate, and Chinggis Khaan, who repelled the army of magical beasts that swept across Central Asia.
There were others as well, but by modern times, they had become little more than figures from children's fairy tales.
“You do realize it's difficult to accept being suddenly called a hero, right?”
Even setting aside the fact that this was another world and accepting that it might be possible, that wasn't the only strange thing.
“Besides, you said Pelledia was doing fine, didn't you? Why are you telling me to save the elves?”
The implication was that the elven race itself was facing some enormous crisis.
I sensed unease in the World Tree's hesitation to answer my question, which had arisen from those doubts.
“...That was a lie.”
“What?”
In that instant, a bad premonition flashed through my mind.
“The elves are currently facing extinction.”
I was too dumbfounded for words.
Why did my bad premonitions never turn out to be wrong?
‘Is this my fate as well?’
To be honest, I couldn't care less whether a country that had locked Iris away here for two hundred years collapsed or not.
If anything, I would have preferred it to collapse.
But the moment I imagined Iris suffering as she looked upon her ravaged homeland, what I had to do became clear.
“It'll be faster to show you than explain.”
At the World Tree's gesture, something resembling a small droplet appeared in midair.
“This is a Memorial, an artifact that allows you to view stored memories.”
The droplet glowed golden. Countless scenes were reflected beyond it.
The scenes changed from moment to moment, as though several videos had been spliced together.
When I cautiously touched the droplet with my fingertip, my vision suddenly changed.
Like a panorama, memories of unknown origins flashed rapidly through my mind.
‘Are these the World Tree's memories...?’
Most of the information was fragmentary, but the sheer volume of the record was staggering.
From the day Iris had been imprisoned here until just a few days ago, two hundred years of Pelledia's history flooded my mind.
“Ugh!”
The overwhelming amount of information inevitably overloaded my brain.
The severe headache and dizziness made it difficult even to keep my balance, but activating my mana circles and forcibly cooling my brain made things considerably easier.
Even so, just in case, I took out a Vitality Potion and drank it.
Once I had a chance to catch my breath, I was able to organize the memories I had glimpsed through the Memorial, and only then did I understand what the World Tree had meant.
“...What a mess.”
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Pelledia collapsed.
Even I, who knew nothing about governing a country, could tell that Pelledia's current situation was the worst imaginable.
Over the past two hundred years, murderous tax rates, forced labor at pointless construction sites, various corrupt practices, and problems permeating every level of society had left the people's lives endlessly impoverished.
To make matters worse, a place called the Northern Empire had declared war on Pelledia a week ago.
As far as I knew, Pelledia was a neutral country.
The powerful influence of the Goddess Church, which spread across the entire continent, had backed up that neutrality, but after two hundred years, almost no country was taking Pelledia's side.
Instead, using Pelledia's support troops sent to the Kingdom of Santala two hundred years ago as a pretext, the Northern Empire steamrolled even the slightest objection by insisting that Pelledia could no longer be considered neutral.
On top of that, it threatened to declare war on any country that sent troops to support Pelledia in this war.
Even I, who knew nothing about this world's international politics, could glimpse the Northern Empire's strength from the diplomat's brazen attitude.
Thus, when Pelledia began preparing for war with the Northern Empire, things were already falling apart during the preparation stage.
It couldn't be helped.
The people were already worrying about what they would eat the next day, and now all the young men capable of working were being taken away in the name of preparing for war.
The country became chaotic with protests both large and small.
With public sentiment shattered to that extent, there was no way the country could function properly. Security and the economy—everything was at rock bottom.
Even the fragmentary information I had obtained painted a picture this bad, so imagining how much more wretched reality must be made me furrow my brow.
I wondered whether Iris knew about these things.
“...The child doesn't know.”
The World Tree avoided my gaze.
In a way, it was overprotective, but I could understand those feelings.
If I were in its place, I would have felt relieved to hear that Iris didn't know about such things.
Even if she were to find out eventually, now was not the time.
The weight of the helplessness she would feel while trapped in prison and unable to do anything was something I could scarcely imagine.
The more I tried to organize my thoughts, the more complicated everything seemed.
I could only let out heavy sighs one after another.
“By the way, didn't you say you couldn't know what was happening in the surface world because there was a problem with the path connected to your symbolic body?”
Yet the memories I had seen contained the history of Pelledia's past two hundred years in excessive detail.
“...That is not my memory.”
Unusually, the World Tree's voice was trembling faintly.
“A child who was executed recently gave it to me.”
“Ah.”
Only then did I begin to understand why the World Tree's expression had looked so grim earlier.
Since I had no idea how to comfort other people, the best thing I could do was keep quiet.
“I still remember when that child was born. They were bright and spirited.”
Countless emotions swirled within the World Tree's radiant eyes.
Longing, guilt, and many other emotions were all mixed together.
There was once a philosophical book that became a bestseller by asking whether gods experienced emotions.
The book concluded that gods felt no emotions.
The reasoning was that if gods felt emotions and compassion for humanity, our lives would not be this wretched.
After reading the book, I hadn't thought much of that conclusion.
It wasn't as though I had read it because I wanted to in the first place.
But if I could return to that time, I would have wanted to leave this review.
‘Gods do feel emotions.’
I didn't know about other gods, but at least the deity before me was human enough to shed tears for its believers.
A deity being humanlike.
It was an undeniably ironic expression, but surely an existence one could clearly understand couldn't be a god.
The World Tree, which seemed weighed down by its thoughts, spent a long while with its eyes closed.
“Please, I beg you to save my children.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
I was trapped here, just like Iris.
I would need at least several more years to obtain the artifact that should be in the deepest part.
No, even a few years might not be enough.
“The gatekeeper of the third floor of the underground dungeon possesses an artifact that can get you out of here.”
“...Why are you only telling me that now?”
If you had told me sooner, I would have gone as far as the third floor, even if I had to push myself.
“Back then, I had no certainty about you. I did not know whether you were truly someone who could save the elves or merely a scoundrel playing with this innocent child's feelings.”
Ha. As the scoundrel in question, I found that ridiculous.
“If you genuinely think that, you don't seem to be very good at judging people. I don't care what happens to any elf except Iris.”
“Who knows.”
I sensed something unpleasant in the World Tree's gaze as it turned toward me.
“Do you truly have the confidence to watch every elf die and calmly look on as the grieving child sheds tears?”
I had forgotten that damn tree could see straight through people's true intentions.
“But you do realize there's a limit to what I can accomplish with my current abilities, right?”
Of course, given enough time, I should be able to stop the war with the Northern Empire and save Pelledia from the ruin Resilia had brought upon it.
Yes, given enough time.
I wanted to obtain from the World Tree a way to shorten that time.
‘It would be nice if I could get another elixir like the one I took earlier.’
Elixirs really were incredible.
I would have to find out for certain in actual combat, but one thing was certain: the me from before I took the elixir could not defeat the current me.
Crackle-
Right now, I felt as though I could even handle the lightning element skillfully.
“What? I'm not asking you for a favor for nothing.”
Barely had the World Tree finished speaking when it suddenly approached me.
It came so close that I could feel its breath.
‘...Something feels odd.’
It was Iris, but it wasn't Iris.
Those gentle, soft eyes had become endlessly cold and sharp.
“It seems you and the child have already shared intimacy.”
“...You saw?”
“There was no need to see it. This child is the believer most strongly connected to me. I can know without looking.”
I felt a little embarrassed, as though my mother-in-law had caught me sleeping with her daughter.
“Unfortunately, I do not possess enough power to intervene in the surface world, so I have no suitable reward to give you. Nor can I give you another fruit like the one you ate.”
I had honestly expected that, but I couldn't help feeling disappointed.
I had thought that eating just one more of those might let me break through to the next stage with the elixir's boost.
“Instead.”
The World Tree took another sudden step forward, bringing the already narrow distance even closer.
Our bare skin touched, and I could feel each other's body heat.
Before I had time to be surprised by the change, the World Tree's furtive hand touched my thigh.
“I can do something a man would enjoy.”
A faint smile I had never seen before bloomed across the World Tree's face.
“For your information, the child is asleep inside and knows nothing. She cannot see anything, either.”
I couldn't resist that smile.
***
When I nodded, the World Tree knelt before me.
It stripped off my pants without hesitation, then poked my half-erect cock with a finger.
“Hmm.”
It felt as though I were being evaluated.
This was the first time I had encountered a reaction like this, so I didn't know how to respond.
“I thought you had a disease, but apparently that isn't the case.”
“What?”
The World Tree casually said something that would have caused trouble if anyone else had heard it, then continued examining my cock from every angle.
It touched the glans with a finger and lightly tickled my balls as well.
It felt less like caressing me and more like observing me, but knowing I was being touched by a god, even such a slight touch made me hard.
“...A human male's genitals shouldn't be this large.”
The World Tree seemed slightly surprised as it looked at my fully erect cock, but its face soon returned to its usual expression, and it abruptly took my cock into its mouth.
“Schlup, slp.”
It wasn't enough that it sucked and licked the glans while keeping just the tip in its mouth; the sight of those emotionless eyes looking up at me nearly drove me insane.
It was Iris's face, but the atmosphere was completely different.
Knowing that the goddess was inside her and that she was sucking my cock made me want to come all over that impassive face right away.
But even if I had been prone to premature ejaculation, it would have been difficult to come from the glans alone.
Perhaps observing my reaction, the World Tree gradually took more of the shaft into its mouth and began bobbing its head back and forth.
That alone nearly made my lower back tremble, but the mad tree began taking things a step further.
“Slurp, slp, schlurp.”
Smack smack smack-
The absurd spectacle of a blowjob and handjob at once left me dazed as I surrendered to the pleasure surging through me.
Where had a deity even learned something like that?
“Do you know something?”
Just as I felt my orgasm approaching, the World Tree suddenly spat out my cock.
The handjob continued without pause, but I forcibly held back my orgasm because I wanted to come deep in its throat.
“Elves and humans cannot normally conceive children together. However, if you save the elves, I will use my power to make it possible for you to impregnate elves.”
It was an offer tempting enough to bring even a runaway daughter-in-law back home.
“Th-that sounds good.”
Perhaps pleased by my answer, the World Tree took my cock into its mouth again and began sucking passionately.
The more it sucked, the more skilled it became, sending waves of pleasure through me that made my balls seem to shrivel.
The speed of the handjob increased along with it, and I could no longer hold back my orgasm.
“Guh?!”
Without meaning to, I grabbed the World Tree's head and thrust my cock into its mouth.
The cock that had barely fit inside Iris until I drove it all the way in now disappeared completely to the base.
The World Tree's throat was impossibly tight and hot.
Squelch, squelch, squelch♡
“Ghk, ugh, ngh...”
If it had been Iris, I never would have engaged in such rough play.
But knowing that my partner was a god made me rougher without realizing it.
Blasphemy.
What a thrilling word.
Squelch, squelch, squelch♡
After several back-and-forth strokes, I came with my cock buried as deeply as possible in its throat.
Brrrk?! Brrrlll!! Brrrllllll!!
Even though the ejaculation continued for nearly thirty seconds, the World Tree neither pushed me away nor resisted.
Only then did I begin to understand why Iris called the World Tree her mother.
Even willingly accepting rough play such as irrumatio and a thick, tremendous load of semen that continued for nearly thirty seconds, the World Tree made me feel a mother's love.
Even after I finished, I left my cock inside and savored the afterglow.
When I slowly withdrew my hips, my cock was covered in marks from its teeth.
“Satisfied, ngh... are you?”
If I told the World Tree that its adorable little burp in the middle had made me feel like I might get hard again, would it let me put it back in?
“I'm sorry, but there isn't much time left, so that would be difficult.”
It was a shame, but there would have been no greater disaster than Iris suddenly waking up while we were doing it.
“Now I want to hear your answer.”
“Ah.”
One way or another, thinking of Iris meant that saving Pelledia was a foregone conclusion.
Besides, the goddess had just given me a spectacular release and was offering me the power to impregnate Iris later. Why would I refuse?
“If you're truly having trouble deciding, I will make you one more offer.”
The World Tree wore a strange expression as it stroked its lower abdomen—or more precisely, Iris's lower abdomen.
It was the place where her uterus was located.
“If you wish, I will bear your child as well.”
“...Actually, becoming a hero was my dream when I was young.”