NOVEL NEXT Chapter 227
Chapter: 227
Lian couldn’t stand being lost in serious thoughts for even a second—so the Gag God approached him and made a circular motion with one hand while extending a finger with the other.
“Starting with three, we’ll just have to expand from there—”
Seeing that blatant gesture, Lian’s fist swung first.
“Y-You crazy god!”
“Ah! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!”
For the first time in a long while, Lian’s face turned bright red as he started to hit her repeatedly.
Before long, she was sprawled out on the floor, writing for the nth time on the white marble, “The Suspect is L… i… a… n…”
‘Well, that actually makes some sense…’
Sighing, Lian looked down at her, a thought unintentionally popping into his head, making his shoulders twitch.
‘Wait, am I crazy? Those three still have lives to live!’
Again, the word “but…” flashed in his mind, but he shook it off like dust. Just then, Ellensia approached him with a gentle smile.
“Lian, should I just send them all back?”
“Ah… would you?”
“Yeah, and how about we create Lower Gods together?”
“Um…?”
“Don’t you want me to become a god?”
“Uh, no?”
“Right?”
With a wink, Ellensia zipped off toward where the three were. After years of this smile not getting any less familiar, Lian felt his heart thump loudly.
‘Wait a second… what exactly did Ellensia just say?’
Realizing the meaning behind her words, Lian turned completely to ice.
Pat pat!
At that moment, a familiar sound of light feet began echoing. It was a ticklish sort of sound that was lighter than an ordinary person’s.
Suddenly, a flash of red hair danced in front of him. Instinctively, Lian’s mouth fell open, and he pulled the figure into a hug.
“Jess!”
“…!”
The moment that long-remembered word landed in his ears, Lian froze in disbelief. He could see Jess’s tail flicking like a helicopter blade.
“Um, how…”
Behind the frozen Lian, he heard a cough.
The revived Gag God, wearing a frizzy wig, round, messy glasses, and a white robe, stood in front of a green chalkboard she’d dragged in from somewhere, beginning to explain the situation.
“Those three are involved in the birth of a god, and although they’ve been forgotten, they’ve also received the love of the gods! Plus, they were born with hero qualities from the start! They can’t possibly be on the same level as ordinary humans!”
To summarize the endless rap-like explanation in one sentence:
“Simply put, those three haven’t forgotten you.”
“Ah…”
“Of course, they’re not perfectly remembering everything. It’s like trying to recall memories from when you were three—fuzzy and somewhat vague.”
She emphasized this part by thumping the blank chalkboard with a stick resembling a teacher’s ruler.
“The important thing is that they believed in those dream-like memories and came all the way here to meet you! Hahaha! Now this is true love! Are you watching, director of ‘Thump thump ~ Could my love story start under a pine tree?~ It wasn’t a bunch of trouble!’? This is what genuine love looks like!”
The Gag God spilled her betrayal about the horrendous work that started with a love theme but ended with an NTR conclusion, like a malfunctioning button.
Ignoring the Gag God’s shrieks out of familiarity, Lian stared blankly down at Jess.
“D-Do you really remember me…?”
“Yes! I remember everything!”
Jess looked up at Lian with sparkling eyes and a big smile. As those vaguely remembered memories struck him like lightning in the face, Lian was overwhelmed.
The time they had been apart felt so long, and Jess pressed her body close to him, attacking him with her voluptuous form. Lian’s expression, once blank with disbelief, immediately turned beet red.
“C-Could you back off for a sec?”
“If Jess goes around recklessly…!”
“Why alone—ah…”
Before Lian could finish his thought, Noah and Iris, searching for the suddenly departing Jess, caught Lian’s gaze.
A brief silence hung thick in the air, almost suffocating.
Pat pat!
Without so much as a cue, the two of them dashed toward Lian.
“How could I… how could I…”
“Ugh, ugh… Brother!”
As blurred memories returned to their original forms, the two collapsed almost instantly.
“Ah…”
With a soft gasp, Lian felt tears streaming down his cheeks. He thought he was okay, that it was all fine, but only now did he realize it wasn’t.
Ellensia looked at the three humans hugging Lian with an annoyed expression, then smiled softly.
‘Hah… when did I become so weak?’
With a frightening level of obsession, Ellensia looked at Lian, who appeared incredibly happy permitting other women.
Gag God gazed suspiciously at the wholesome scene and smirked.
“Hehehe… finally, all participants in the ‘Lower God Expansion Project’ are gathered!”
Without wasting a second, the Gag God raced to the bathroom, tossing rose petals into a massive tub and arranging them into heart shapes on the bed. She even laid a path of candles leading to the room.
After finally calming down their eager emotions and guiding the three into the bedroom, Lian noticed this late.
In a fit of concern, he tossed the Gag God onto the bed, tied her up, and then shoved her into the bathroom.
Then he pushed her tub down to the lower world.
“Gwaaaah!”
Even though she could have escaped, the Gag God tumbled down, making silly noises. Lian looked on coldly before leading the three to their respective bedrooms. Once alone, Lian wore the happiest smile he had in a long time.
‘Now I can last a few hundred years.’
Even if the three should remember him uniquely and feel similarly, they were still living people. Since they still had long lives ahead of them, he needed to send them back to the ground.
‘I hope they see and experience more.’
Unlike himself.
After shoving any sticky residual feelings into a corner, Lian finally headed towards his own bedroom for the first time in a long while. He hadn’t used it nearly at all since becoming a god, except just after he first got the title.
‘After sleeping normally and waking up— I just want to say to everyone that I hope they slept well.’
It was such a trivial desire that felt embarrassing to voice. As Lian lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, the sky of Heaven grew dark quickly.
For the first time in ages, Lian sank into a deep sleep.
*
And so— the first—
‘So noisy…’
But… opinions…!
‘Five more minutes…’
When the loud sounds pulled him out of his dreamy state, Lian reflexively tried to pull the blankets up. But no matter how much he felt around the bed, soft blankets just weren’t there.
“Hmm?”
At last sensing something was off, Lian opened his eyes to find himself not in a flower field, but surrounded by women like blooming flowers.
“Eep! Good morning!”
The first to greet him was Jess, who was sitting by the bed, peering into his face with a wide-eyed gaze. As Lian nodded numbly, Iris, Noah, and Ellensia, all gathered around the bed, followed up with their morning salutations.
“Um… but why is everyone here?”
Still foggy-headed, Lian asked, and from beneath the bed came the Gag God, slithering out like a snake while cackling, “Ohohoho! Here comes the fun!”
“We’re gathered because, once we decide who will have the first child, we have to get right to it! Ohohoho! Isn’t that exciting? Ugh!”
As Lian instinctively punched her in the face, her features squashed like an old pot, letting out a silly sound before flopping down flat.
“Stop with the nonsense…”
Lian, with a stern expression, scolded the Gag God as he cautiously raised his head to the now silent room. The four were staring at him with intense gazes.
“Um… is this real?”
The four nodded their heads like it was a promise.
“I’ll go first! I want to do it! As a Beastman, I can have plenty of babies at once!”
“Gahk…!”
At this sinister proclamation, Lian coughed as if he was about to spit blood and crumpled to the floor. As if she were ready to pounce on him, Jess, with a suggestive smile, slinked her way onto the bed.
“Bam!”
“Ow!?”
Noah and Iris firmly grasped Jess by the nape of her neck.
““No way!””
With Lian awake, there was no need for four voices to stay hushed, so the conversation quickly heated up.
“Of course, I should go first since I was the closest to you.”
Iris stated confidently, while Noah crossed her arms, her glaring face turning a bright shade of red. With her overly large chest accentuated, Iris’s expression became flustered.
“Ahem, shouldn’t the one with the strongest maternal instinct go first?”
Now, Jess shot a hand in the air triumphantly.
“Since the goal is to make as many Lower Gods as possible, I should give birth to as many as I can!”
Scanning the three slowly, Ellensia, with her arms crossed, chimed in.
“It’s only fair that the person Lian loves the most goes first. Like the one that’s progressed the most with him.”
At those words, all three turned their gazes towards Ellensia. With a victorious smile, shePlayfully fluttered her wings.
“No, even if it’s like that…!”
“Rather, let’s just do it all today –”
“That’s…!”
As their discussion became more explicit, Lian’s face turned pale. The future where he was sucked dry and became a mummy felt tangible.
“Hey, look! Popular guy! Harem Master!”
The Gag God, now having regained her energy, rose awkwardly and mocked Lian.
‘Harem? What are you talking about…!’
While their debate appeared like a typical harem anime scene, to Lian, it felt more like a horror film teaser.
Even though he was living in the same world as them, Lian still felt…
‘I’m in a completely different genre!’
Snorting, he found a chuckle escaping him involuntarily. Thanks to the power of ‘adaptation,’ he compared his previous miserable life spent in a different genre with his now happy struggles, which made him smile naturally.
Unlike before, he now had plenty of people he loved, and he certainly wasn’t alone anymore.
‘Even if I feel like I’m in a different genre… it’s okay.’
Even if their genres differ, as they walk the same road with the same feelings, they slowly permeate each other, creating a new genre together.
“So, Lian, who do you like best?”
…It’ll probably all be fine. Maybe.