Chapter 72: The Divine Child

Qiu Nuoya’s mind completely froze. There was nothing wrong with giving her advice based on everything he had experienced. But marriage was another matter entirely.

He had only just been released from what felt like a prison built from years of caring for his family. The thought of going through it all over again made his heart turn cold.

No, he could not do it.

She had been a wonderful person. Perhaps she had been far too good for an unremarkable man in his thirties like hik. Even so, he simply could not bring himself to marry her.

Looking back, Qiu Nuoya realized that the women who had shown interest in him during his twenties had probably felt the same way he did now.

People might be willing to care for their own family, but there were very few who would willingly take responsibility for someone else’s parents.

If such a person existed, they were probably a saint.

Qiu Nuoya had spent his entire life taking care of his family, so perhaps the people around him had seen him as someone saintly. But that was not true.

The truth was as much as he had always wanted to run away, he simply could not. He had enough common sense to understand that his family would struggle if he abandoned them, and he was emotionally attached to them.

Someone might argue that once he got married, his wife and her parents would become his family too. But Qiu Nuoya could not imagine putting himself through those harsh days again for a family that had only just been formed.

That was simply the way someone thought when they had never actually experienced caring for a family member.

If he had enough money, he could simply pay for professional care and leave everything to a facility. But his income was hardly impressive.

He knew from watching his own parents that even coming up with the money for professional care was not easy. Trying to do so while also providing care himself would be even more impossible.

He was not a saint. He was nothing more than an ordinary stone lying by the roadside and like an ordinary stone, he believed he should simply live a modest life within his means.

That was how he welcomed his fortieth birthday and on that very day, his entire world changed.

He knew that better than anyone. There was no way someone like him could become a Saint, and he had no desire to become one anyway.

...

"...oya... Qiu Nuoya..."

Somewhere, he could hear someone calling his name.

Apparently, Qiu Nuoya had fallen asleep in his own bed. When he opened his eyes, the room had already grown quite dark.

"Oh, sorry. I fell asleep."

"It’s quite all right. You must have been tired."

"Oh, Nuoya, you’re awake? I went back and retrieved the slime you left behind. I brought it back safely."

At the same time as Igor spoke, Mochi suddenly jumped into Qiu Nuoya’s arms. So Mochi must have been the one calling him earlier. "I left you behind earlier, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Mochi."

[ It’s okay～ I’m fine. But Nuoya was crying. I did something bad... didn’t I? Am I a bad slime? ]

Mochi’s body seemed to droop sadly as it trembled in Qiu Nuoya’s palm.

"Mochi isn’t bad. Things just happened to go wrong at the worst possible time."

Come to think of it, what exactly had that been?

Mochi had called it something like a Slime Barrier, but apparently Mochi had even developed a skill like that.

The fact that Mochi had been able to bounce back Viktor’s attack and nearly kill him showed just how incredible its defensive abilities were.

"But from now on, can you promise me that you won’t activate any skills without my permission?"

[ Okay, I understand. I’ll keep my promise! ]

There was no point in scolding Mochi too harshly, so Qiu Nuoya decided to leave the matter there for today.

More importantly, he was hungry.

Viktor had apparently gone out and bought a variety of prepared dishes. He had arranged them across a small table, leaving barely any empty space.

Everything looked delicious.

"Wow, that looks good. You really went all out today."

"Igor, I did not prepare this for you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Nuoya, which one do you want to eat first?"

"Um... then, this one." Qiu Nuoya pointed at a dish that looked like a vegetable quiche.

These days, he mostly cooked dishes that did not take much time to prepare, so he rarely made anything this elaborate. If he had more free time, he would like to try making something like this himself.

Qiu Nuoya took a bite, and Viktor and Igor each reached for the dishes they liked and began eating as well.

"By the way, Nuoya, things might get pretty difficult for you starting tomorrow, so you’d better be prepared."

"Huh? Difficult? Why?"

"The Saintess publicly declared at the Adventurers’ Guild that you’re a Divine Child. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen."

Qiu Nuoya froze with the half eaten quiche still in his hand.

You’ve got to be kidding me. What is this? Nobody told me anything about this!

He had been hungry just moments ago, but his appetite disappeared instantly. "Can’t we somehow get her to take it back?"

"No way. She’s the Saintess. There’s no chance she can simply retract something like that now."

Ah... His stomach hurt.

Something like this had happened to him before. Whenever his family had fallen into financial difficulties, strange people who seemed like recruiters for obscure new religions would somehow find out and come pestering them, insisting that they join.

Qiu Nuoya had turned them down every single time. But being forcibly inducted into a religion was something he could definitely do without.

"Can I run away?"

"Huh? You mean leave the city? If that’s what you mean, why don’t you come with me to a dungeon, Nuoya?"

A dungeon?

"What!? Igor! What are you suddenly suggesting!?"