Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 256

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

At first it was merely a speck, then the silhouette of a person. The woman with flowing black hair appeared to be walking, yet her speed was extraordinary.
That was unmistakably Mother Goddess, whom I’d only heard tales of. With that realization, I rose from the boulder where I’d been resting, but Cha Cha bounded toward the woman with delight.
“Mom!”
So she truly was Mother Goddess. Wanting a closer look, I stepped forward—only to watch her scoop up Cha Cha and immediately apply a chokehold, crossing her arms around his neck.
“A proper greeting deserves a chokehold!”
“Gack!”
What in the world had just transpired?
“Our Number One has grown so much!”
What kind of naming sense was that? Did she seriously call Cha Cha “Number One” as if he were Human Unit One? So Gerth’s abysmal naming sense—creating Ilyong, Iyong, and Samryong—was hereditary after all?
Curious to see what this goddess actually looked like, I drew closer—and froze in absolute shock. I was so startled that a shriek escaped my lips unbidden.
“Aaaahhhhh! It’s Cecilia with eyes!”
I flipped backward and threw myself into Gerth’s arms. He found my terror-stricken expression amusing and chuckled softly.
“It is my first time meeting you face to face, Mother.”
“Wow! An unplanned third child too!”
Could she really say to her own child that she’d never planned to give birth to him? I would’ve been devastated, but Gerth simply looked delighted to see his mother’s face. Though he’d matured into an adult, he hadn’t seen her in three hundred years, so his joy was understandable.
“Then, you are, precisely precisely precisely precisely!”
Please, don’t make those interjections with Cecilia’s face! I was about to protest this character break, when Mother Goddess uttered something significant.
“The unplanned new King of Ten Thousand Demons, Your Majesty!”
Was I an unplanned existence? Well, the original King of Ten Thousand Demons had been Sunbird. Unable to kill Sera and thus failing to achieve the divine task of humanity’s extinction, that King of Ten Thousand Demons had fled into the past. He must have been the one Mother Goddess had originally intended.
“You can foresee even that I am an unplanned existence?”
“Of course! Once I’ve confirmed you as the result, I can know! I hastily issued new divine revelations to conclude the plan with you as the new King of Ten Thousand Demons, and I even called the second dragon separately to discuss it!”
Then Mother Goddess chided Gerth for giving the dragons such terrible names—Ilyong, Iyong, and Samryong—all while she herself called Cha Cha “Number One.”
“If you truly are a goddess, I have something I wish to ask.”
“Testing whether I can understand formal speech to confirm I’m a goddess? You’re a cautious little one.”
She was right. A Demon King’s charisma only works before a god, and if this woman weren’t divine, my words would have been translated as shamelessly rude.
Honestly, I’d have preferred she wasn’t a goddess—the reality of it was disappointing. I sighed and decided to drop the formal speech.
“Why are you wearing Cecilia’s face?”
“Who is Cecilia?”
“You’re a goddess and you don’t know?”
“Even if I know past, present, and future, it’s impossible for me to remember every single human, isn’t it?”
“Cecilia Crowell. She currently serves as Emperor of the Crowell Empire.”
“Ah, oh, ah!”
The goddess seemed to grasp something and conjured three spears in the air. One showed Cecilia Crowell as I knew her, another displayed the woman’s face before me, and the third showed Cecilia with hollow, lifeless eyes.
“My appearance comes from my creator, Dr. MacDwell. My personality and way of thinking are modeled after him as well.”
“And the others?”
“This one with the less-dead eyes is a new human created from Dr. MacDwell’s genetic material stored in the Genetic Repository. The one with truly dead eyes is the Cecilia you know. Perhaps a descendant of the doctor?”
“Genetic material? Then the people of today weren’t created by you—they were Old Humanity retrieved from the Genetic Repository?”
“I’m not some deity from ancient legends. How am I supposed to create something from nothing?”
“You are a deity.”
“Oh right! I am a deity!”
Why is this bastard so unreliable? Anyway, anyone who made it into the Genetic Repository would have either left their mark on history or possessed extraordinary talent. So were all the future humans brilliant?
“Did you manifest everyone in the Genetic Repository as the new humanity?”
“Of course not! I had my own standards, thank you very much!”
So those who, despite their competence, had started wars or had serious personality flaws were excluded. An artificial intelligence with concerns about morality and ethics—how unexpected.
“After rigorous selection, the very first person to be born on this land was! Drumroll drumroll drumroll!”
Could you maybe skip the drumroll? I have a feeling when I meet Cecilia later, she’ll remind me of you.
”
Michael Jackson
!”
“…Pardon?”
”
Michael Jackson
!”
Now that I think about it, when I asked Professor Ha to play some upbeat music, he specifically chose tracks from Thriller.
“Huu!”
“Wow, Mother dances so well!”
“You were quite the enthusiast.”
Mother Goddess suddenly broke into Billy Jean and pulled off a moonwalk. Watching her, my mind grew hazy. I’d traveled through time to accomplish something important, but I felt like I was about to forget all of it.
“Come on!”
As Mother Goddess twisted her entire body and gestured toward me, I rose to meet her expectations, bending my body rhythmically and launching into a lean dance. When I demonstrated gravity-defying moves and footwork that seemed to defy the ground itself, Mother Goddess let out an admiring whistle.
“The new King of Ten Thousand Demons! You’re the best!”
“Wow! Evan dances so well too!”
“Evan was always full of spirit.”
Was it really right for me to be dancing here after time-slipping 9,999 years into the past? I wondered if I should be doing something more significant, when Mother Goddess—wearing Dr. MacDwell’s face—linked her arm through mine.
“Just as I thought! My daughter-in-law! There’s a reason both the first and third fell for you!”
Now that I think about it, our family tree is quite something. The realization that this woman was my mother-in-law left me speechless, and then the system notification from the status window that had been chasing me appeared before my eyes.

Cleared one of Mother Goddess’s limited-time tasks. You have achieved recognition as a daughter-in-law from Mother Goddess.

Long ago, I once received such a deadline. If I recall correctly, Sunbird said it was: first, become the savior of Old Humanity; second, gain recognition as King of Ten Thousand Demons; third, gain recognition as a daughter-in-law?
According to what Sunbird said, I can only escape this deadline by accomplishing all three things.
“You just called me the new King of Ten Thousand Demons yourself, so doesn’t that count toward gaining recognition as King of Ten Thousand Demons?”
“Ah, that’s…!”
Mother Goddess tried to say something but sealed her own lips. She knows something. As a being who foresees the future, does she also know how I can overcome this deadline?
“Why don’t you finish what you were saying?”
“Ugh, spoilers are kind of a problem, you know.”
“I prefer to play games on easy mode.”
“Eek! The moment I speak, the future could flip again!”
Since Laplace’s Demon certainly predicts the future by holding all information values, if my information changes, the future could shift differently. I tried to accept that explanation, but Mother Goddess made a cunning expression and jabbed me repeatedly in the ribs with her elbow.
“Since I’m fond of my daughter-in-law, let me add one thing.”
“You said the future could flip?”
“Right now, there isn’t just one King of Ten Thousand Demons.”
Isn’t she basically telling me everything?!
Damn it, I was so focused on becoming King of Ten Thousand Demons myself that I never even thought about the previous King of Ten Thousand Demons. First of all, I myself was one of the “Infinite Possibilities” skills that Sunbird the King of Ten Thousand Demons used. That means at minimum, two Kings of Ten Thousand Demons exist in this world. And among the Infinite Possibilities, there must be other candidates who became King of Ten Thousand Demons as well.
Unless the original Sunbird chooses the possibility of me, many Kings of Ten Thousand Demons exist simultaneously in the world. To clear the objective of gaining recognition as King of Ten Thousand Demons, I must find Sunbird the King of Ten Thousand Demons and persuade him to choose my possibility.
“Oh, our daughter-in-law catches on quick—give her one hint and she understands ten things.”
“Is there anything else you’ll hint at?”
“Hmm…, if I had to pick one thing, I’d say it’s probably attachment.”
I had no idea what she meant. When I demanded a detailed explanation, Mother Goddess simply shook her head and said I’d understand everything once I faced it.
“The reason you came here…, is it really because Number One has grown?”
“Yes. Why did you create Cha Cha as such a life form?”
“Puhaha! Cha Cha?! Ah! Chahelantropsus Chadensis, so Cha Cha!”
The woman, holding her belly as she laughed, grabbed Cha Cha and lifted him into her arms, delighted that he now had such an adorable name.
“Didn’t you tell him to spend 10,000 years purifying radiation in a place without people, and now that his lifespan is nearly finished, to spend his remaining years on the Surface World? Was there really a reason to live like this?”
“Number One was the only one among Old Humanity with such capabilities. And it was the wish of all the children who carried those genes—to live long and happily in a place without adults and experiments, then die.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————