Chapter 245: I Don’t Want It To Be Out Of Obligation

I’m... Pretty sure I didn’t mishear that right? She said she wanted me to sleep with her?

I can see that she was already regretting that question with how red her face had become after the words left her mouth.

She quickly acted like she didn’t say anything and pointed towards the oven, "Ah... Umm... It’s... It’s ready, Mortal God..."

I understood that was her way of trying to change the topic so I played along for now, opening the oven door and using one of my floating arms to take the tray out and place it on the dry kitchen counter.

Looking at the tray, it seems like the liquid had solidified into squarish looking pieces that resembled hard candy.

Liliac stepped over to me and the sight of the hardened ambrosia made her gasp, "Oh! It turned out perfectly, Qing! You can just grab one and eat it!"

To demonstrate, she reached over and picked up one of them with her hands and brought it to her mouth, biting a part of it off which she started chewing on with a loud crunch.

I picked up the one next to hers and brought it up to my face to sniff it, smelling a sweet scent wafting from it.

It smelled like a mix of maple syrup or honey with a hint of lemon and I opened my mouth to take a tentative bite out of it.

Even though it was basically a solid piece of candy earlier, the thing basically melted in my mouth back to liquid form and a sweet taste assaulted my senses.

I’ve already tasted it in liquid form before but I don’t know how it is possible that just by baking it into this solid form and letting it melt in your mouth again... The taste got even better.

Like... How is this even possible? She literally didn’t add anything to it and just put it on a tray to bake... It’s like boiling water!

Wait... Maybe I’m just thinking about this the wrong way... This is like cooking meat which definitely makes it taste better than eating raw by a little bit but maybe this thing just had it dialed up to the tens by being baked.

That’s interesting... The flower is still growing in that forest so we can just always go back to get more if we wanted to as well... Maybe I should get the Bunarfs to start harvesting it because this actually tastes pretty good.

Liliac stiffened up slightly as she tasted the sweet treat and I have a feeling she was reminiscing about her past before she relaxed and looked down at the piece of ambrosia candy that she had taken a bite out of.

I swallowed the liquid in my mouth and tilted my head at her, "Memories?"

She nodded, "Memories... I dare say the only reason why we even survived was thanks to this flower... It truly felt like we had a God watching over us and making sure we get through those times... I made sure to keep several of its seeds with me, intending to plant it when the calamity was over... Who knew that it led me here instead?"

There was a pause as she looked at the rest of the baked ambrosia that was just laying on top of the tray, the only sound between us being the soft hum of the air conditioner.

She then turned to me, "I know now... That the God that was watching over us... Was you."

Err... What? How did you even think... Ah... She’s one of those people who believe in fate or something...

Well... If I think about it... I guess it kind of is fate in a way...

I mean... That was supposedly a crossroads for me, wasn’t it? Ava even said so where I had to choose to stay and save Liliac and risk dying... Or just escape and leave her to die.

I decided to carve my own path and call in Ava for help which ended up saving Liliac and getting out alive as well.

So it technically was fate.

She looked back down at her hands, "Umm... So... I... I owe you a lot, Divine One... But I don’t know how to repay you so... I thought... I could give you my body... To do as you wish..."

I paused and a frown slowly creeped onto my face.

I shook my head without hesitation, "I’m not going to do that."

She looked up at me, surprise clear on her face as she most likely didn’t expect me to reject her.

"E... Eh?"

I gave her a pointed look, "Ok, look here... It’s one thing to sleep with me because you’re interested in me that way... It’s another thing if you are doing it out of a sense of obligation. I do not wish to do it with anyone that is doing the latter."

She blinked a few times and her face flushed red again, "I... I don’t mean... I mean... I..."

I sighed, "I know what you mean... But I’m pretty sure there’s some feeling of obligation in there and I don’t want you to have that feeling that you are doing this because you have to, not because you want to. I’ll just pretend you never asked earlier and... If you do change your mind in the future, I’ll be here."

She looked up at me, her blush slowly receding away as it changed from shame to just a slight embarrassment of her own actions.

Just saying... I would have no problem sleeping with her if she really wanted it... But if she felt like she’s only doing it because it was out of duty or something else... Then I would rather not.

After all, I have a red Oni who currently thinks that way and I’m still working on getting her to be at least a little honest with her feelings right now and I don’t need to have a second one if I can help it.

If I end up sleeping with her while she still has that mentality, it would be harder to get her out of it than if she comes in without it.

I was also a little worried that she would take this the wrong way and then be devastated about my rejections and even prepared a follow up for it but she just looked up at me and gave me an honest smile.

"I... I knew it... Divine One... You really are warm..."

She then went right back to taking a small bite out of the ambrosia candy she was holding like nothing happened.

I’m not sure what she meant by me being warm but I’ll take that as a compliment.

I went ahead to take another bite out of the candy and chewed on it, letting the silence between us pass for a while before breaking it.

"So... Like I said, I think I don’t really know you that well so... I was wondering if it would be alright if we just hung out from time to time?"

She chuckled, "Mortal God... Qing... If you are satisfied with someone like me, I would gladly accept your companionship."

"Great. So... Not that this is the reason why I want to hang out but... Seeing that I also gained some of your powers as well, I thought it would be nice that you could teach me how to use it as well? I think having the original person teach me would be better than just figuring it out on my own."

She looked back at me in surprise again, "You... Want me to teach you?"

I nodded, "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all but... I apologise... I have seen Gods before and they... Usually do not take the opinions of mortals like that... I should have expected that Qing is different..."

"I mean... I was still recently a mortal too, you know? And if you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly a god... Which is why people like me are called Mortal Gods."

She shook her head, "That’s what the people of your World call you. We all know that it is just a term used to mortalise divine beings like you, but even they cannot deny your divinity."

"What does that mean? I’m pretty sure it’s a name given because we aren’t exactly gods but just awakening powers that are tied to certain mythologies that we are familiar with. So technically, we’re merely just avatars of those godly beings."

She smiled up at me, "You are more than just an avatar, Qing... Perhaps... You just don’t know it yet."

That was a very cryptic thing to say... What does that even mean?

Before I could ask though, I suddenly got a request on my phone that showed Ava trying to come up to the penthouse.

I saw no reason to deny her so I pressed the button to accept it, only needing to wait a moment before the elevator let out a chime and Ava hopped into the room excitedly.

"Ara, ara! I knew I smelled those biscuits! How could you make some without telling me, Liliac? And sharing it with my Divine of all persons! Ufufufu~"

Oh right... These two are from the same World.

Well... Go ahead and help yourself I guess?