Chapter 5: Hello. World! (5)

I traveled around the world, confirming natural phenomena with self-awareness, and identified a total of 7 such phenomena, including the whirlwind I named Sylphid.

The natural phenomena with newly born, pure self-awareness were like newborn babies.

Children pure as can be, without a speck of dust.

I wondered if it was okay for someone like me to name such children... but there was no choice.

I was the only proper intelligent being in this world.

So I gave names to each of the natural phenomena where self-awareness was emerging.

To the never-extinguishing flame, I gave the name Ifrit. It was the easiest to name, being the most common.

For the giant whirlpool, Elquine... hmm. This doesn't seem right. Elaim... this doesn't feel right either.

Should I just simply name it Undine? But Undine alone seems a bit lacking.

In the end, I named it Tethys, after one of the gods from various mythologies.

I wanted to give it a better name... I really do have bad naming sense...

To the highest mountain in the world, I gave the name Ymir... hmm, is this a death flag?

Should I name it Everest instead? It suits the highest mountain.

No, this is what the wiki search is for. Help me! Knowledge from another world!!!

After searching, I named it Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest. It was especially pleased when I told it the meaning: "forehead of the world".

To the tree as large as a mountain, I gave the name World Tree... Yggdrasil.

Honestly, as soon as I saw it, I felt there was no other suitable name.

To the darkness where not a single ray of light enters, I gave the name Erebos, taken from Greek mythology.

It was a very quiet child, but I could feel it was extremely pleased.

And finally, to the light of the white night where the sun never sets, I gave the name Shamash, taken from Sumerian mythology.

And so, over the course of several decades, the minds of these seven children I named grew vigorously and...

"Mom!"

They started calling me mom.

No, not dad, but why mom!

I really don't understand!

"I'm not your mother."

Hoping that the pure minds of these children would grow properly, I had told them many stories I searched from other worlds, but I wonder if it was because of the content about family that I talked about.

Originally, I'm a dragon and these children are natural phenomena that can hardly be called life. I'm not sure if this is right.

"But you gave us names."

"That's true, but..."

I nodded slightly at Sylphid's words.

"In this world where there was nothing, only you gave us names, Mom. If you hadn't named me, I would have been just a whirlwind that appeared and disappeared."

"You gained self-awareness because this world became filled with magical power. It's not because I named you. And I'm not your mother. Call me father instead."

"I don't like that. And wasn't that magical power also created because of you, Mom?"

Sylphid, what are you saying?

"The magical power was created by the Creation God. I had nothing to do with it."

"But you said that this Creation God has never appeared in this world, right?"

"Well, that's true, but..."

"The Creation God might have created this world initially, but other than sending you down to this empty world, what else has he done?"

"Uh, well... Increased the concentration of magical power?"

"That's just your claim, isn't it? There's no proper evidence. It's more convincing to say that the concentration of magical power gradually increased because of your existence."

Ugh... Surely, in the past, this child used to stutter and was infinitely cute, but how has it become so logically articulate after just a few decades?

It's lost its cuteness now...

"By the way, the other children share the same opinion about calling you Mom!"

"The other children too?"

Thanks to being born from a whirlwind, Sylphid was the only one who could freely fly around, often visiting other children and acting as a messenger of sorts.

"Ifrit said, 'I like calling you Mom because it gives a warm and cozy feeling!' Tethis said, 'I wish Mom would visit more often.'"

"Hmm. Come to think of it, I haven't visited Tethis recently."

Unlike the others, Tethis is located in the middle of a distant sea, so it's not easy to meet.

"Sagar said, 'Yes. I like Mom.' Yggdrasil said, 'I don't mind either way if Mom likes it.' And then added in a small whisper, 'Actually, I prefer Mom.'"

Even the quiet Sagar, and Yggdrasil who greets me by gently shaking its branches. They want to call me Mom...

"Erebos said, 'I prefer Mom. I think I'm male, so if you're Mom, we could be a pair.' And Shamash said, 'Isn't Mom more beautiful?'"

Ugh... I can understand the other children, but why has Erebos become like this?

I shouldn't have told stories about males and females forming pairs and becoming families.

To think that pure child would aim for incest without blood relations.

No, is it not a problem because the concept of incest doesn't exist in this world yet? Originally, I'm a dragon and that child is darkness?

Ugh. I don't know. I don't understand. I wonder if there's anything more difficult in this world than child-rearing.

"Of course, I prefer calling you Mom too!"

"I don't think my gender was ever determined in the first place."

It's hard to tell whether this dragon body is male or female.

When I look at my reflection in the water, I look like a very handsome silver dragon, so I think I might be male, but...

✉️

In front of me, an envelope shape popped up for the first time in decades.

I wonder what the Creation God has to say this time...

┌───────────────────────────

│Of course you're female!!

└───────────────────────────

.......

Did this damned being send a message after decades just to say this one line?!

In this world where there was no life at all, I went through all sorts of hardships to create a basic ecosystem, and he didn't help at all!!!! And now he sends a message, and it's just this one line?!

Are you kidding me?! Huh?! Are you joking!!!! You trash!!! You absolute garbage!!!!!!!

I wanted to spew out all this anger, but I held back in front of Sylphid. I had to hold back. I couldn't possibly get angry in front of Sylphid.

I exhaled the raging fire inside me with a deep breath.

The fact that a truly fiery breath shot out of my mouth was a minor detail.

"Whoa! Did you dislike it so much that you breathed fire?"

"It's not your fault. The Creation God sent a message for the first time in decades, and it was just one line, so I got angry."

"Hmm... You said you received a message, but I can't see anything."

It seems that Sylphid couldn't see the rectangular message window... GodTalk that appeared in front of me.

"But what kind of message made you so angry, Mom? I think it's been decades since I've seen you get angry."

"The content is a secret. But have I ever gotten angry before?"

"Yes! You got angry when Ifrit burned the small things crawling on the ground a long time ago."

Ah, I remember. It was not long after the slimes, which had evolved repeatedly over decades... creatures that no longer even resembled slimes, had come out of the water.

Excluding the various elemental slimes, it was the first terrestrial life form! I was quite moved by that feeling, but some of those life forms went near Ifrit's volcano...

Ifrit, unable to contain its curiosity, accidentally burned them.

Even pure human children sometimes kill small insects by tearing off their legs or wings, so what about natural phenomena with budding self-awareness?

Therefore, all I could do was get angry and scold them for doing something wrong.

Well, to be honest, a significant part of my intention was that it was a waste to burn and kill creatures that had just come onto land. Hmm.

They were small lizard-like creatures, and thinking about it now, it was a bit of a waste.

"But thanks to that scolding, Ifrit doesn't burn other creatures anymore."

"Hmm. If I hadn't scolded it then, that child would have burned everything that entered its territory."

The slimes that evolved in various directions gained diverse functions, but in exchange for losing their simplicity, they became unable to increase their numbers through division, so it was indeed a waste.

Anyway, let's stop talking about Ifrit here.

"Still, the world these days feels quite lively."

"I think so too."

It's been decades since I scattered the first organisms. The life in the sea, which had been rapidly evolving and mutating, has now returned to land and started to flourish.

The land was no longer a desolate world devoid of life.

"Kuwooooo!!!"

"Kyaaooooo!!!"

"Ah, Mom! Look over there! Big creatures are fighting!"

"Indeed. Though they're still smaller than me."

A world full of life. But the form of that life was... from a much more distant past than the era I remember.

To put it simply, it was the age of dinosaurs.

"How did it come to this..."

I could only sigh softly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It is said that in ancient times, there were countless numbers of dragons.

Now, only a very small number of dragons survive, including the kingdom's guardian dragon.

These fossils currently on display in the museum are from the era when dragons flourished. They are fossils of wingless dragons that lived in the Age of Dragons.

To think that there were countless dragons, when even one could shake an entire country. It truly was a terrifying era.

- A curator at a certain country's museum.