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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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“……………..”
A suffocating silence. Not a single sound. Emptiness. A sense of helplessness. Like when his manhood had been taken away, and his body turned into that of a woman. When his wife had left him, laughing.
“…I…”
It hurt. His chest ached.
“Ah… aack…!”
It hurt so much that he couldn’t breathe. He felt like his heart was being crushed.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A scream, a cry, and then— silence. Loneliness.
“………”
It was fine. He was used to it. This loneliness, this silence. It was familiar. He was so used to it that it didn’t faze him anymore. His divinity was pathetic for being shaken by this.
“…Haa.”
Divinity. The status of a god. And his current status was…
“A joke.”
He was being ignored by a mere human.
Fine, do as you please. He wouldn’t be affected by a mere human.
“An apostle is appointed by their god.”
You want to quit being an apostle?
Go ahead and cry later. He’d see if he could sleep at night after abandoning his god.
[Hmm? An oracle? For me…?]
“Then… yes, that child would be perfect.”
A perfect vessel, unlike that useless trash. There were plenty of worthy candidates. So, he wasn’t just picking random apostles for fun, but choosing the best.
[Thank you, my lord! I will serve you for eternity!]
“Yes. That’s right.”
—That was how it should be. Chronos granted the child his power. The human slowly transformed into an apostle, when—
[—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!]
“…Huh?”
A scream, a cry, and then—
[*BOOM!*]
“…Ha!”
The child had exploded. Flesh and bone scattered everywhere. He felt his divinity decrease.
“…Humans are still humans, huh.”
Why? The reason was simple. His power was too much for an ordinary human to handle. It was not a natural element like fire or wind, nor a concept like light or darkness. It was ‘time,’ something beyond human comprehension. A vessel that could contain ‘time’ was beyond talent.
“It doesn’t matter. There are plenty of humans.”
But Chronos couldn’t accept it.
[It hurts…! Ah… aack…!]
“Why?”
One.
[—Cough…!]
“Why…!”
Another one.
[Guh…!!]
“Why, whyyyyy!!!”
Another one. His divinity decreased with every apostle’s death. A god’s power came from their followers. He’d wasted everything he had gained from Chrono. Chronos sat down, defeated.
“…Ah, I remember now.”
Why he had chosen Timeless, Chrono, as his apostle. There hadn’t been a particular reason. He’d simply been drawn to him. He could sense a similar energy, a connection, a shared past, a resonance. He’d instinctively appointed him as his apostle, and he had been the only one who could handle his power.
“That’s right…”
But to contain ‘time’, there were things that had to be sacrificed. He’d lost his talent, his physical abilities, but had gained the power to control time. ‘Time,’ ‘Chronos,’ a power too great for an ordinary human. A distorted vessel to contain a distorted power. The only apostle in the world who could accept him. And because of that, he’d wanted to support Chrono—
“But things changed.”
His soul had changed. It wasn’t the one that had only looked at him. It was an outsider from another dimension. He’d closed his heart again and ignored it. And the result?
“…………..”
He had overcome it. He had overcome his trials. He had once again raised his name. He was happy. Truly happy. He hadn’t expected it, but he was proud of him. When Zeus had come crying, he was ecstatic that Chrono was his child. He had believed that Chrono was devoted to him.
“…Was I wrong from the beginning?”
His assumption had been wrong. Chrono had obeyed him out of fear. It had been an act of desperation. It had been a struggle to avoid punishment, not devotion. Not faith.
“My… mistake?”
He wondered. Was it really his fault? The conclusion he came to was—
“It wasn’t my mistake.”
Even if it had been someone else, even if it wasn’t Timeless, his actions wouldn’t have changed. He would have demanded devotion. He would have rewarded him if he had obeyed. If he had abandoned himself and begged for help, he would have embraced him with open arms. But Chrono hadn’t. He had relied on his own strength. Then there was no need to intervene. A god didn’t approach a non-believer. He was perfect as a god. He was incomprehensible to humans. So, there was nothing wrong with what he had done.
“I wasn’t wrong.”
A god wouldn’t make mistakes. It was a simple matter brought by an old fear, nothing more. The problem was not with him, but with his child. The apostle’s heart wasn’t what it should have been.
“He did say that he was an outsider from another dimension.”
He was someone who had never experienced war, battle, or miracles. It was natural for him to reject him. An outsider in an apostle’s body. What could he do?
“I put a fitting soul in the apostle’s body.”
Replace the soul. But… the underworld wasn’t his domain.
“A shame… I could’ve done it in the past, when I had power…”
He couldn’t replace the soul. What else could he do? The soul of an outsider in an apostle’s body. If he couldn’t change the soul, there was only one option.
“Should I… mold him into a proper apostle?”
The loser had to yield. That was the rule.
“It’s an investment, after all.”
Even if he was currently filled with distrust, he was still Chronos’s apostle. There would come a time when he’d reach his limits. Then, he would save him and ‘educate’ him. And finally, he would become his true apostle, and spread his name.
“…Heehee…!”
He couldn’t help but laugh. Chronos waited for Chrono to ask for his help.
“There’s plenty of time, after all.”
He had an eternity. There was no rush.
Meanwhile—
“What’s wrong? You’re not yourself.”
“…I’m sorry.”
He was bowing his head.
“Hmm? There’s nothing to be sorry about. Just act normally.”
“I’m sorry!”
Instructor Ebi was sitting on top of him.
“Just a hundred more, okay? Ah, can I give the instructions?”
“I’m sorrrrrrrrrry!”
Chrono wanted to turn back time.
After a long punishment session, Instructor Ebi looked at Chrono, who was sprawled out on the ground.
“It feels a little bad, but I need to say it.”
“Huh…?”
She knelt beside him.
“Thank you, Chrono. I didn’t expect him to suddenly flash me like that.”
“Ah…”
He’d told her about the ‘NTR event.’ Once it started, it was hard to stop, but…
“I was a bit tempted at first, but… doing that in public was a bit too much. I reported him, like you said.”
“…Hmm…”
She had overcome it. Or rather, his warning had been successful. ‘This works…?’ He looked at her. She smiled and poked his cheek.
“But, you know, there’s someone else who did something similar to me, right?”
“Huh?”
Another NTR event? There was supposed to be only one, as far as he remembered.
“I was a bit hesitant at first, since it was the same thing… but it was youthful passion, so I let it slide.”
“…Sensei?”
She poked his cheek harder.
“Take responsibility when you graduate, okay?”
“…………”
Sensei, I already have two. And a white horse.
‘….Whatever’
I hope I don’t become a K/u/r/o/n/o.
[Your Text Here]
Chronos this chapter.
Congrats Chrono!