Chapter 1478.1

It was the creation of a soul.

No, it was rather the birth of a soul.

Willow let out a gasp of wonder, her fingers and toes wiggling as her eyes sparkled. “Oh my goodness, it’s so beautiful...”

“Is this your first time seeing the birth of a soul?” Neltarid asked her. “Though, I suppose it’s one of the few souls to be newly created over thousands of years.”

“Look at that, someone’s acting like they’ve seen one a million times. You better remember that you’d be crushed by the divine power I spill while absorbing it, you little rascal.”

Neltarid scoffed, “Hmph. I have the memories of my predecessors. You do not, Senior.”

“Drop dead,” Willow shot back.

Pow!!!

Willow, who had just kicked Neltarid, looked again with an ecstatic expression at the pure and white newly born soul.

“This must be a miracle.”

“By human standards, definitely. Even so, your sibling’s soul is clearer and purer than a typical soul.”

Normally, when a life died, their soul cleansed its karma in the River of Reincarnation and was reborn by riding the orbit.

Of course, that soul was often reborn in the world it existed in, but sometimes, very rarely, a brand new soul was born over a period of thousands of years.

“The last time a new soul was born was about three thousand years ago,” he informed her. “However, things are different this time.”

“Different?”

“Yes. Originally, the number of newly born souls created at once is roughly a few hundred to a few thousand, but...”

There was only one new soul born this time. There should’ve been more, but the world’s law had decided there was no reason for more souls to be born at the current time, so it had fixed it at a minimum. That very soul found its place in Illyna’s womb.

What that signified was simple.

“Wow... my little sibling is so talented.”

As a soul, on a universal scale, it would be the youngest. That likely made it destined to receive immense love. The youngest always did.

Goddess Freyja had told Willow not to go and tell anyone, which was why she was stuck as a spectator where she was. She had a lot of complaints at first, because she couldn’t understand why they had to hide the fact when the child was already there.

She curiously asked Neltarid, “Then does a newly born soul like that have any special powers?”

“There’s no major difference, but... the potential is open.”

“Hmm.”

At the words of her cheeky junior, Willow let out a bored yawn. She then asked, “Hey, don’t you think the timing’s just a little too perfect?”

“Too perfect?”

“That mom got morning sickness at that exact moment and found out, just when it happened to be created?”

“Isn’t that a good thing? It seemed like he was going to use a slightly reckless plan, and his soul might’ve been wounded if he even attempted it.”

Willow smirked. “So you saved my dad? Aww, you cute thing.”

* * *

Illyna, who had been sobbing and crying bitterly just moments before, had widened her eyes after hearing what Davey told her.

She began, “Just now...”

“Wait a moment.” He immediately placed a hand on her stomach and utilized divine power.

However, her body instinctively defended itself and completely blocked his approach.

Though she’d mastered the Continuum-Attacking Blade, raised the levels of her soul, and gone through metamorphosis, even that much should not have been enough to make her body so defensive and impenetrable to his power.

In other words, some other kind of power was protecting her. Though, frankly, it didn’t really matter to him if that was the child's own power or some external force. All that mattered was that they confirmed the existence of the youngest, which they had been unsure about.

“Davey.” Perserque approached and asked, “What did you just see?”

“A child. A pulse of life.”

She was shocked. “Are you saying...”

He gave a relieved sigh. “Yeah. It looks like we went through a pointless ordeal.”

There was truly new life within Illyna. That meant there was no need for anxiety, and no reason for Illyna to be saddened.

“It’s actually pretty interesting,” Davey remarked. “I’ve seen many oddities while learning medicine and magic, but this is a first.”

“Davey.” At that moment, Illyna, who had gone stiff, grabbed his arm. Her hand trembled so badly that it was hard to believe she was powerful enough to cut through dimensions. “Is our youngest... Desiree... really in here?”

“Most likely,” he happily replied.

She hesitated, unsure of whether to let herself hope. “So... you’re not completely sure?”

“I’m almost certain, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

Yet, that was enough. Relief, frustration, and the shock of everything that had happened washed over her until she finally burst into tears. Illyna immediately burrowed into his arms and began to loudly sob.

Davey just silently comforted her.

* * *

The news of Illyna’s pregnancy considerably brightened the mood throughout the territory.

With the matter finally resolved, those few in the know who had been quietly concerned seemed to relax.

None of the servants or maids in the manor had to suffer in that atmosphere any longer.

“Oh! It kicked.”

“Hey, hey, I told you it’s too early for it to be kicking yet,” Davey responded.

“Ehehehehe...” She smiled so brightly that it was hard to believe she had wept so sorrowfully the day before. “Davey. Our youngest wants to listen to the piano.”

He smirked. “Are you sure it’s not you who wants to listen?”

“Even if so, are you really going to say no?” Looking up with a sly expression, she seemed absolutely intent on taking full advantage of her situation. “And our Desiree wants to eat waffles.”

He finally relented. “I’ll go get some.”

“Hehehe.”

Illyna seemed to be the most demanding with her occasional blatant requests.

While Aeria and Perserque had also made all sorts of requests while they were pregnant, the child Illyna was bearing seemed exceptional, capable of sending its mother's emotions swinging wildly.

“And...”

“If you need anything, tell me, and I’ll get them for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

She seemed to think for a long time, then smiled faintly. “I want to eat bluefin tuna. You know about the cultural tradition of omakase[1] on Earth, right?”

Hearing that, Bluefin, which had been sprawled out nearby, sleeping soundly without a care in the world, flinched. It then immediately sprang backward at incredible speed.

“HISSS!!!” It slowly retreated, apparently mistaking Illyna’s intent as trying to eat it.

She gave it an innocent and quizzical look. “Hmm? Bluefin, what’s wrong?”

“HISS!!!”

She tilted her head, watching it hiss again and guard itself. “Ah... Is it because I said I wanted to eat bluefin tuna?”

“HISSSS!!!” It hissed a third time, then finally flapped its wings and scurried away.

“Hahahaha!!!” Illyna giggled and turned her gaze back to Davey. “You’ll get one for me, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll catch a prime tuna and slice it into sashimi for you.”

Davey immediately sent for the Gourmet Research Society, and it wasn’t long before they arrived.

“You mean bluefin tuna from Earth, correct? Hmm.” She pulled out a bundle of documents from a large drawer nearby and spread them out. “Master Davey, Rinne reports that the information you seek is here.”

They were maps of Earth's oceans, covered in markings and notes.

He was stunned to see her already prepared. “And when did you survey this?”

“Rinne clarifies that the survey was conducted with the help of Behemoth and So-Ya. Rinne reports that the tuna in this area is currently rated as the highest quality.”

The place she pointed to was a region where bluefin tuna weren’t usually found.

“Here??”

“Ah, yes,” Yuria confirmed. “There normally aren't any tuna here, but we've heard that schools of tuna pass through this area during a certain time of year for whatever reason. What's more, the change in water temperature causes their bodies to undergo changes that make them incredibly delicious.”

Davey’s voice took on a threatening tone as he remarked, “It sounds like you guys have already tried the tuna here. How dare you guys eat them by yourselves?”

Facing his interrogation, Yuria smiled sweetly while gathering her underwater artifacts and harpoon, acting as if she had not heard what he said. Eventually, she finally responded, “Maybe we tried them out first to check if they were poisonous?”

“You’re just full of lies, aren’t you?” Davey said doubtfully in an ominous voice.

He pushed down on her head to chide her, making her scream, “Kyaaa!!!”

“Then let’s go. Lady wants to eat some fresh tuna.”

* * *

Evangeline was doing an outdoor stream for the first time in a long while.

Her streams always went far beyond the scale of a typical outdoor stream, and to continue that tradition, she was streaming while flying rapidly across the ocean.

“Is the wind noise okay?”

[How is she flying that fast without any wind noise lolololol]

[Is she insane? KEKW]

Thanks to the wind barrier blocking the fierce wind rushing past her, the stream picked up her isolated voice with perfect clarity as she continued, “Honestly, I just want to fly over quickly, but this area near the ocean is quite beautiful. Look! Isn’t it amazing?”

[Oh... was something like that over there before?]

[What is that?]

What the camera showed was an area where the surface color of the sea was completely different starting from a certain boundary.

She curiously asked her viewers, “Do you know what this is?”

[I heard those kinds of boundaries form because the seawater temperatures are different. These are a couple of regions like this, so it’s not insanely rare, but I will say, it does look cool.]

[Well, guess I won’t be needing to get on a plane to get that view anymore. It’s nothing too special.]

“You have to be here in person to appreciate it. Honestly, how could you know this feeling when you're just stuck inside, only watching it through my stream?”

[What a biatch...]

[Stop the AOE damage bro...]

[The splash damage is crazy...]

Ignoring the viewers furiously typing, she quickly flew toward her destination, an uninhabited island. Her content plan for the day was to come to the island and either sketch it or take other drawing requests.

[??? What’s that over there?]

When one of the viewers asked, Evangeline paused in mid-air. “What are you talking about?”

[Over there. Is that a person?]

Upon reading that, Evangeline also turned her head, noticing something strange.

The chat became flooded with questions.

[???]

[Is that a person???]

[Why is a person flailing around over there?]

[How’d you even spot that OMEGALUL]

[Seriously amazing, bro has microscope lenses]

1. Japanese for “I’ll leave it up to you.” It is a dining style where the chef decides the menu with the patron trusting them to make the best choice, hence the name. It is typically done with various forms of seafood like sushi and sashimi, served in ten to twenty smaller servings. ☜