Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 295

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I stood there somewhat dazed, but there was someone else whose eyes had reddened with overwhelming emotion at the miracle of new life. Seian let out a cry of pure joy, and without caring that golden fluids stained his clothes, he took the child from my arms.
“I know! I know you’ve finally come out into the world!”
“Father Seian, you remember those inheritance precedents you used to recite like lullabies while I was still in the egg, yes?”
“Yes! I knew you were listening! Whose child would you be otherwise! Do you remember the divorce cases too?”
“The emotion in your voice made them unforgettable. I do hope you and Mother get along well.”
Perhaps because she’d spent so long inside the egg, our daughter seemed to find the greatest comfort in Seian’s embrace. Yet worried about Seian’s notoriously poor stamina, she squirmed and sought out Gerth, who could hold her for longer periods. Once transferred to Gerth’s arms, she settled into a comfortable position and finished what she’d been saying.
“Father Gerth, do not fight with the King of the Underworld. Only if he fathers my sibling will I have a companion to traverse this long world alongside me.”
“If you wish for a sibling, we can create one ourselves.”
“That is not the will of the divine. My sibling shall be destined to rule the Underworld.”
After our daughter had gently admonished Gerth not to quarrel with Cha Cha, she yawned widely and prepared for sleep.
“I came earlier than the expected date, so I’m drowsy. I’ll wake when the time comes.”
She curled her tiny body into a ball and fell fast asleep with soft, rhythmic breathing. That childlike quality was endearing.
“Stop now. The Underworld isn’t good for the child’s health.”
Gerth urged me onward. It seemed he intended to brush aside Cha Cha’s demands without committing to anything.
“Wait just a moment!”
As we prepared to ascend to the Surface World, Cha Cha came running and blocked my path. He’d clearly caused all this commotion to bring me to the Underworld, so this conclusion probably didn’t sit well with him.
“Evan! Give me some of your hair!”
Huh, I thought he was going to stop us, but that wasn’t it? In any case, if just some hair would settle this, I reached up to pluck a few strands when Gerth grabbed my arm firmly and spoke harshly.
“I know your scheming. But raising a child is no simple matter.”
“What do you mean it’s not simple! Even our panda at home could raise a child like that!”
“This time, the Mother Goddess intervened and provided considerable assistance. Ordinary children, after birth, sleep for two hours then wake hungry, sleep for two hours then wake hungry—this continues for at least a hundred days, sometimes up to two years. It’s not something you can handle.”
“Shut up! I’m going to ask Mom to let me have the child after she’s grown up a bit!”
“Your personality is unsuited for child-rearing.”
“Kyaaaah!”
Cha Cha spread his limbs wide like a red panda and threatened Gerth. It was adorable.
“I also agree with Gerth, in that Cha Cha lacks sufficient hands to manage.”
But adorable is adorable—reality still needed to be explained. Child-rearing is no joke. When they’re small, all household members must mobilize, and once they can walk on their own, protection at the village level becomes necessary.
Back when I was doing odd jobs in Ilram, I also served as a caretaker, and draining a child’s energy is no trivial matter. It wasn’t something to decide on a whim of momentary desire.
“What if we care for the child who emerged from the egg together for now? As for having a child of our own, I think it would be better after you study and reflect on child-rearing.”
I had no worries about having a child with Gerth since he was experienced, but creating one with Cha Cha seemed fraught with too many uncertainties.
Cha Cha appeared to accept the proposal I’d calmly presented.
“Alright! To stay up there for long, we’ll need support equipment!”
Cha Cha dragged over a suitcase crammed full of spacesuits and suggested we head to the Surface World. He mentioned that in the Underworld, the Mother Goddess’s barrier was working overtime, and if we warped carelessly, we might get caught in the Middle Layer.
“How terrifying.”
“No, warping itself is inherently terrifying.”
If foreign matter gets caught in the middle, people scatter at the atomic level, but the Mother Goddess assists with the calculations, allowing us to travel safely.
I’d thought Ursu was just a madwoman, but she turned out to be quite an impressive artificial satellite.
We made our way to the Surface World, casting admiring glances back at Ursu. The moment we arrived at Serpent King’s Tower, I bathed the child and procured fresh clothing.

◇ ◆ ◇

Though we had managed to gather undergarments and ready-made clothes suitable for a three-year-old, Gerth and Hubert showed no signs of rest. My eldest son worked the sewing machine with fervent dedication, while my first husband knitted at a speed that left afterimages in the air. The moment I glanced away, I’d turn back to find clothes, hats, and socks piling up with alarming efficiency—it had transcended admiration and ventured into the territory of the genuinely unsettling. Each piece boasted its own unique and beautiful design, which could only mean he’d conceived every pattern in advance.
“Darling! I bought every toy from the shopping district that three-year-olds are supposed to play with—where should I put them?”
“Is that really necessary? Didn’t you say our daughter is exceptionally intelligent?”
“Oh, you! Just because she’s intelligent doesn’t mean she won’t enjoy toys like any other child!”
“That’s true enough.”
How troublesome—our child’s intelligence hardly falls within ordinary parameters.
As Bicure the bat-human and Leri the horse-human debated the toys, other officials came rushing over, each offering their own suggestions for what the child might need. A rabbit-human proposed that since she was the daughter of the Ten Thousand Demon King and the Serpent King, perhaps animal encyclopedias or monster compendiums would be suitable, but Chirpy’s Father countered that three years old was still too young for such references.
“Darling! Shouldn’t we start with fairy tales rather than encyclopedias?”
“These days there are fairy tale books that make sounds when you press them, Your Majesty. The times have truly improved.”
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of events that had transpired today, I found myself in a daze as the Serpent King’s Tower Officials asked what books we should fill the child’s room with. After considerable deliberation, I offered titles I thought our daughter might enjoy.
“The… Analects? Nicomachean Ethics?”
“Darling, are you feeling particularly exhausted?”
Leri was about to check my temperature when Apet interjected. The old man suggested that based on our daughter’s behavior, cultivating her sensibilities through literature should come first.
“The child is far too brilliant—we should teach her ordinary human emotions first. What if we began with Sophocles’ tragedies?”
“Elder! Are you trying to turn my daughter into a degenerate!”
“Why not? It’s good to teach her humanity’s most primal emotions.”
“I’d rather she not hear stories about killing fathers and marrying mothers!”
“From what I saw earlier, her intellect has matured to precisely the level where she’d enjoy melodrama.”
“Darling, darling—your ex-husband aside, don’t you think you need to rest right now?”
While Leri fretted over both me and the elder, Cha Cha sat peacefully in the baby’s crib, amusing himself by poking the Starving Child’s cheeks. As Cha Cha rose, apparently intending to craft some sort of mobile, he suddenly posed a question to me.
“Evan. What’s the child’s name?”
Not only I, but everyone present in the boss chamber of Serpent King’s Tower froze. We’d been calling her “Egg” or “little one” all this time—it had never occurred to us to actually give her a name.
“Oh no! I’ve never studied naming conventions!”
“It’s only natural that the mother chooses the child’s name.”
How infuriating—they’re shirking responsibility. Both Seian and Gerth were deferring the naming rights to me alone, so I tried to argue that paternal responsibility mattered too, but Hubert squeezed my hand firmly.
“Mother! You absolutely must be the one to choose!”
That’s right—you nearly became a meal because of Gerth. The misfortunes wrought by Gerth’s naming sense were already sufficient with Ilyong, Iyongi, and Samryong.
I examined my sleeping daughter from every angle, my attention settling on her striking two-toned hair, and I spoke with solemn deliberation.
“Since her hair has a striped pattern, let’s call her Obero!”
The moment I declared Obero, many wore expressions of bewilderment, and Leri looked utterly flabbergasted.
“Now that you mention it, there was an oracle that Seian Crown Prince’s child would become the king of the world. Is the name derived from Oberon, the fairy king?”
And Apet, with impeccable timing, offered an interpretation grander than the original intention.
“I like it! Obero is a beautiful name!”
“If Evan chose it, then I approve as well.”
“So my younger sibling is Obero Laef Neftis?”
“Add Crowell. She’s of royal blood as well.”
“So you are Obero Laef House Neftis Crowell!”
With a string of surnames attached, she looked like nobility from a fantasy world—and I had to admit it suited her well. Since my husband, my ex-husband, and my son were all satisfied, even Leri, who would normally have picked a fight, could only slink over reluctantly.
The man who bent at the waist and whispered to me was a horse-human, so he knew equine terminology intimately.
“Darling, what kind of mother names her daughter after a zebra just because the girl has striped hair?”
“Right here, darling.”
“What happens when your daughter learns the truth later?”
“Apet said the name came from Oberon, didn’t he? So that’s what it is. I’m going to play dumb about it.”
“Ugh, you’re garbage.”
After that, our daughter Obero slept for four straight days. While we prepared the nursery and clothes, the child seemed to be buying us time with nothing but sleep—until one day she suddenly opened her eyes wide and cried out, “The girl is terribly hungry!”
Seian, who happened to be nearby, scooped the baby up into his arms and called out the name I had given her.
“Obero’s awake! Obero Laef House Neftis Crowell!”

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