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“I want you to tell me how a Dragon God creates their child… their clone.”
“Ah… you’re talking about Haku I see. Did his horn grow already?”
“Forget the horn, he even transformed.”

I heard Jean gasping through the piercing. It seems that this growth is far too fast, after all.

“I see… I suppose his appearance is just like yours?”

I wish you could redirect your good intuition somewhere else.

“When we Dragon Gods are bearing a pure child, we first create the core in our womb. You are aware of this too, right?”
“Yes.”

The core of the fetus was mainly made up of dragon factors.

During that time, Jean, the parent’s dragon factor thinned down, and he was attacked by a demon during that weakened state.

“I got injured at that time, and then you healed me. No… it was more like a revival, if anything”
“…So it happened then.”

During the healing, I took into consideration the influence it could have on the fetus and used my blood to supplement the dragon and divine factors. But that kinda triggered a second core to form in Jean’s womb it seems. This means… the reason why Haku’s stats grew to that point is also me…?

“I’m glad. Haku is genuinely the child of you and I.”

I promptly cut off the connection with Jean as he said something disgusting, and returned to the office where Haku was.

“Ah, mo-…Illya!”

As soon as I opened the door, Haku spotted me and toddled over.

‘Mom’ was kinda too much, so I asked him to call me Illya. Telling him I wasn’t his mother felt like it would hurt his feelings.

I lifted Haku into my arms and gently stroked his head, then I bowed my head to Dajeel and the others.

“Thank you for looking after Haku.”
“Not at all. He behaved really well, so we didn’t have to do anything.”

As Dajeel lovingly caressed Haku’s head, he blushed and flashed a shy smile.

By the way, since it’s still unclear whether Haku leans more toward being a girl or a boy, I decided to play it safe and chose neutral clothes for him.

“Is this how you looked when you were young, Illya?”
“Huh? Yes, well, elves are all like this…”

Ria asked a question while getting ready to leave that left me with no choice but to give a vague answer. I mean, I’m fully aware that I’m saying something completely off-track.

Like, Haku isn’t actually an elf.

However, if I were to give a straightforward answer, it might reveal that he’s actually a child of the Dragon God…

“But Haku is a dragon, right? Why does he resemble Illya?”

Even though I intentionally generalized it as a resemblance to an elf, Cynthia didn’t take the hint.

Can’t be helped. Instead of making up a weird, half-hearted lie, I’ll do my best to make up a convincing one.

“High-order Living beings with high levels of magic power can transform into human forms.”
“Oh? So Haku holds that much magic power? That’s amazing~!”
“Ehehe…”

I don’t think he really understood it, but Haku acted shy and happy at Cynthia’s praise.

It was quite moving when this made me realize that Jean must have gone through this period in his life too… But considering how affectionate he always was with family, maybe that was just how he was.

While I was contemplating such thoughts, I suddenly noticed that everyone in the branch office was comparing Haku and me.

“Illya, I think you should be a bit more upfront, you know?”

Daren said that to me.

Someone who is too shy and runs away from Elize has the nerve to say that, huh?

Haku tilted his head in puzzlement, not understanding what we were talking about.

“Illya sometimes cries, but is still always laughing!”
“““Huh…?!”””
“Wh-… Haku…”

It seemed that Haku interpreted being upfront to mean laughing and said so, but everyone’s expressions turned stiff.

It happened so suddenly I failed to deny it, but that served to make Haku’s statement more reliable.

“Illya, did something happen?!”
“Did Frank do something to you?”
“You can always consult me.”
“Do you want me to switch shifts with you?”
“I’ll massage your shoulders…”

I was overwhelmed by their worry.

Actually, what does Claude view Frank as?

At any rate, seeing everyone saying that earnestly made me feel happy… and it took quite a bit of effort to not break into a smile.

“I’m okay. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you if something happens. It’s really nothing.”

While I was busy convincing them, Haku was smiling and enjoying the situation for some reason.

It seemed like the war declaration was forgotten.

The day after enjoying a harmonious day thanks to Haku, it was announced that Torsti’s condition had stabilized, and the decision was made to transfer him to the branch.

As I rearranged a private room for accepting him and waited for his arrival, I heard a knock on the door.

“Please come in.”
“Excuse me.”

Expecting someone else due to the early timing, it turned out to be the Apostle.

“Did something happen?”
“No, it’s just that the medical team from the arena’s clinic will be bringing him in with the utmost care, so there shouldn’t be any issues.”

So, what is it, then? I urged him to continue without interrupting his speech, and his gaze sharpened though his smile remained.

“What do you plan to do about the current conflict?”
“Nothing in particular.”

His smile vanished at my immediate reply.
But rather than being displeased, it was more like he didn’t expect that.
He quickly collected himself and asked once more.

“Could I ask you why?”

It was pretty hard to explain my thought process to people… but can’t be helped.

“I have decided not to get involved in human disputes as much as possible.”

That was a self-admonition that was second in importance only to my decision to not kill anything again.

That said, if it was a quarrel that broke the social rules… like fighting inside the branch, I would drive them outside, and if my job required it I would get involved too.

“Are you acknowledging the disputes?”
“It’s a little different from acknowledgement and denial… When humans have disputes, it serves to build a better environment. Getting in the way of every instance of it would not be beneficial for anyone.”
“Even if that means that… the weak would get oppressed?”

With every question he asked, the Apostle’s tone and gaze looked more and more testing.

I didn’t know what he was hoping to get from this… but I couldn’t be anyone by myself, so I could only answer honestly.

“In the history I know, there have never been humans who remained as the weak forever. No matter the method, I do not wish to warp history.”
“Warp the history, you say?”

Maybe he couldn’t understand the concept of the future, or failed to interpret it. He returned my words as a question.

I nodded and continued.

“It would be easy for me to intervene and stop the war. But that would only be suppressing the problem forcibly and wouldn’t serve as a solution. Once the deterrent that is I is gone, the recoil of being suppressed until then could result in a much worse situation.”