Chapter 176 – Sun and Moon – 5

‘…Where is this?’

Blinking a few times, I carefully lifted my eyelids. The fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling poured bright light between my opened eyelids.

As I involuntarily furrowed my brow, a frantic voice came from the side.

“Distinguished guest! Are you regaining consciousness?”

“Have you opened your eyes, distinguished guest?”

It was such a familiar scene that for a moment, I thought I had returned to reality, but the booming stereo voices of Floretta and Luna from either side confirmed otherwise.

‘Right. It can’t be that.’

As I internally lamented and tried to sit up, the searing pain in my head forced me to lie back down.

Slowly, I looked around. A shower room visible through glass. Wallpaper radiating an odd ambiance. Candles lit here and there. A space nearly empty except for a large bed.

It was the very place where I had been rolling around with the popes just until this morning.

While I was taking in my surroundings, the popes knelt beside the bed. I felt a fluffy sensation in their hands. I lowered my gaze.

I thought it was my chest again, but thankfully, it wasn’t. Floretta and Luna were each holding one of my hands, clasping them together.

“…What happened?”

“You mustn’t get up alone yet, distinguished guest.”

“We shall help you up, so please bear with us.”

As I struggled to rise, the popes carefully supported my back. Their slender arms crossed behind me, gripping my sides.

With the remaining hand still clasped, my arms and chest naturally touched. I felt a squish, like a soft water balloon.

If it’s the power of the popes, they could easily support an adult man on their own. I relaxed and leaned back comfortably. Floretta and Luna also perched on the bed, pressing their chests against me.

“Are you feeling alright? We have performed divine healing, but…”

“I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache.”

“I’m relieved to hear that. Distinguished guest, how much do you remember up until before you lost consciousness?”

At that question, I retraced my memories.

After Luna and Floretta both failed to communicate with the gods, I attempted to converse instead, and it had succeeded. I seized the chance and bombarded them with questions.

—It is not yet time.

‘…’

Shortly after that, with a voice saying it wasn’t time yet, I felt my strength leave me, and my consciousness faded away. Given the seamless continuity of my memories, it seemed there were no gaps.

‘Is this what happens when you live too long?’

The first thought that crossed my mind while recalling the memories was a complaint.

The Creature that Devours the World, as well as the sun and moon, the gods of the Holy Kingdom—why do they all talk like green-haired cat beastmen? I wondered if everyone who lived too long ended up like that.

What does it mean that “it’s not yet time”? Shouldn’t they at least give me an indication to try matching the conditions? Should I go see an ending or just max out my Divine Power at 99?

“I seem to remember everything. There are no gaps in my memory.”

“…Is that so.”

Luna let out a sigh of relief. Tap, something approached my left shoulder. I turned my head. Floretta was resting her head on my shoulder.

“…I’m glad you’ve awakened. I was worried you might not wake up forever.”

Similar sensations were felt on my right shoulder. Luna was also leaning her head against me. Perhaps they had been worried for me, as I could feel their bodies trembling and transmitting that feeling to me.

I almost reached up to pat their heads but noticed the popes still had their hands clasped tightly and paused for a moment.

Moreover, even if they released their hold, their heads resting on my shoulders would likely prevent my arms from reaching up to their heads.

However, if I left them like this, they were bound to burst into tears. Their trembling bodies were intensifying. I could even hear a soft sound of someone swallowing tears, sniff.

‘…I guess there’s no choice.’

I raised my clasped hands as they were.

“Huh?!”

“Y-you, distinguished guest?!”

Then, I slid my hands beneath Floretta and Luna’s chests. It caused both of them, on the verge of tears, to freeze in surprise as their chests lifted from the feeling.

Taking advantage of the loosened hold, I quickly released my hands and grasped each of their chests. I began to gently knead them.

It felt like soft dough. Although I had touched them countless times before, I felt I would never grow tired of it. My fingers sank deeply into the overwhelming softness between my fingers.

“Ugh… Mmm…”

“Ah, distinguished guest… P-please…”

As I kneaded their chests and gently rubbed their nipples with my palm, the sadness vanished from Floretta and Luna’s faces. Instead, excitement and pleasure surfaced.

Breathy gasps filled with moans escaped through their slightly parted lips. I wasn’t sure if I was the one who did this to them or if they originally had lewd tendencies.

Perhaps it was the latter.

Eventually, as their sweet breaths became more ragged and the popes began to rub their thighs together, I withdrew my hands. A confused what? echoed, though I wasn’t sure who made the sound.

Of course, I had to stop before delving too deeply. My purpose was to console Floretta and Luna. There was no need to cause unnecessary stimulation at this juncture.

‘Is it crazy to calm weeping girls by fondling their chests? Even I find that hard to believe.’

But is it any more normal to stop the sobbing while doing such fondling? That’s another ambiguous question.

I’d rather do this and keep an eye on flustered Floretta and Luna than watch them weep for fear I might die.

“I’m fine. I’m not dead; I’m perfectly alive. So you don’t have to cry.”

“…Yes, distinguished guest.”

“I understand… .”

‘Why the disappointed expressions?’

With the sobs replaced, I was somewhat worried about what would come next as I felt like I hit a switch.

I tried hard to ignore the swirling desire in my glossy green eyes and my fixation. I intended to calm them down, but it seemed I went a bit overboard, veering in a different direction.

“Just to double-check, am I the first person to faint while talking to a god?”

“We don’t have a clear comparative target, but for now, yes.”

“Aside from the popes, no one else has attempted to speak with our deity, and the fact that the deity responded is unprecedented in the history of the Holy Kingdom…”

Floretta trailed off at the end of her sentence.

“I, too, have never heard of anyone reacting this intensely when the moon herself communicated.”

With Luna’s addition, the popes’ expressions grew slightly gloomy.

They must be thinking about why their god is behaving like this towards me, worried that they might have to choose between faith and me if things go wrong.

“I can understand your thoughts, but you don’t have to worry about that. You know the column of light that came down from the heavens? I received a confirmation that it was granted directly. With such power bestowed upon me, there’s no way she would dislike me, right?”

“Ah… then that is a relief.”

“It seems you are indeed a being favored by them, distinguished guest.”

The smiles on Floretta and Luna’s faces instantly brightened, indicating my deduction was correct. I tried to divert my mind from the hands forming between my legs and began to speak again.

“There’s one more thing. I heard a strange message before I fainted. Is it possible to interpret it?”

“Was it a revelation from the deity?”

“I think so. One thing’s for sure, it definitely wasn’t your voices, nor Stella’s or Selene’s.”

“Please do tell us.”

Floretta and Luna looked at me with sparkling eyes. For the popes, it would be an unusual event since the deity had directly given me a revelation.

“It said, ‘It is not yet time.’”

“……”

“……”

The popes pondered while rubbing the inside of my thighs. I couldn’t understand why they were fussing over that area, but I decided to leave it be for now.

‘The restriction placed by Nyx… was it truly due to the gods of the Holy Kingdom?’

I had my thoughts to sort out as well.

When I shared the past events with the popes, I intentionally omitted that I received answers related to Nyx.

Only Nyx and I should be aware that she was under some form of restriction directly imposed by either the sun or the moon.

‘Why is that?’

I pondered the reason but came up with nothing.

In Brightest Darkness 4, the Holy Kingdom and dark wizards were not particularly related. Both had no reason to interfere with each other.

The witch NPC who was the original form of Nyx was the same. No document or setting indicated that a god was watching over dark wizards or that dark wizards were associated with the gods.

‘But…’

Here, it was different. The god worshipped in the Holy Kingdom had directly confirmed that she had placed a restriction on Nyx. Whether it was the sun or the moon didn’t matter.

What kind of critical information would require going to those lengths to conceal?

“I don’t know. I apologize, distinguished guest.”

Luna’s gloomy voice pulled me back to reality, as the popes shook their heads as if they didn’t know anything.

Of course, they didn’t remove their hands from rubbing my thighs. In fact, their touches became even more blatant, and I desperately tried to control the blood rushing to my lower half.

“It’s okay. You might not know. After all, revelations are usually vague.”

“But, distinguished guest, haven’t you already understood a revelation before?”

“……”

I closed my mouth. I had nothing to say when they questioned me like that.

It was because the one I understood came from a game, and this was the first time I was hearing this, so I couldn’t respond like that.

“…Is it a bit silly to ask now, but how long was I unconscious?”

I redirected the conversation.

It was a question I should have asked eventually. It had just been pushed back on my priority list because I had more pressing things to inquire about.

‘If I had been out for a week, I’d have to return to the territory now—’

“30 minutes.”

“…Huh?”

“To be precise, you were unconscious for 30 minutes and 17 seconds, distinguished guest.”

Just that much? I thought since they both rushed towards me looking like they were about to cry, I must have been out for at least a week.

Perhaps reading my expression, Floretta and Luna tightened their gripping hands on my thigh.

“For us, it was a bolt from the blue, distinguished guest.”

“Indeed. It’s not the length of time you fainted that matters, it’s the fact that you collapsed.”

It was a deeply touching statement, signifying how much they cared for me.

Just as they were nearing my private areas, though, gulp.

“I got it. Thank you both for worrying about me.”

I quickly slipped out of their embrace. Floretta and Luna reached out in a slightly panicked expression, trying to grab hold of me.

“M-may I ask why you are out here, distinguished guest? Considering you have just awakened?”

No, if I stayed there, I’d definitely not get any rest.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t get out of bed too soon. You need to rest at least two days… no, four days.”

Seeing “four days” follow “two days” confirmed my suspicion. Were they planning on having me rest that long after everything that happened before?

“No, thanks for worrying, but I’m really okay now. My head doesn’t even hurt.”

I left the room quickly, leaving behind the utterly crestfallen expressions of Floretta and Luna.

There was no choice. If I got held up here, it would surely lead to me lying back in bed once again, which Luna seemed to imply would result in at least four days of rest.

However, according to the report delivered to Aurora, it had stated that I could wrap things up and return in two days at most.

Considering it was already more than two days, I couldn’t keep Aurora waiting for another four.

Of course, if I sincerely refused, Floretta and Luna wouldn’t try to hold me back. They both weren’t the type to force their way if I didn’t want them to.

‘That might be true…’

Honestly, I lacked the confidence to firmly reject Floretta and Luna, who were gazing at me with sorrowful expressions.

After all, the popes were immensely pleasant to be around.

‘Have I been tainted by them too?’

As I pondered this strange dilemma and stepped into the corridor, Stella, standing to either side of the door we had occupied, greeted me with a wide smile.

“You’ve woken up quite early! How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. It was just a brief fainting spell.”

“Seeing you collapse nearly made my heart stop. I’m glad to hear you’re fine.”

Selene also wore an expression filled with relief.

“What happened? Were you not speaking with the deity?”

When I summarized the conversation I had with the popes, I omitted the part about calming down the crying ones by massaging their chests, as well as the part where I almost ended up back in bed. Those were matters that only the popes and I should know.

“A revelation saying it’s not yet time? I can’t quite grasp its meaning either.”

“Same here.”

Stella and Selene both answered that they didn’t know, but their expressions seemed unconcerned. After all, in the Holy Kingdom, revelations were believed to be interpreted solely by the popes.

There was no reason to feel guilty about something so natural.

“But… distinguished guest, weren’t you with the popes?”

“I was. Why?”

Selene, with her sudden question, stared at me intently.

“May I ask why you have already come outside?”

“……”