Chapter 93: Heroic Dignity (Demon King Haruki Hotaru)

Upon opening my eyes I saw that I'm back to the peace of the Garden of Eden. Looking in front of me I saw the same beautiful girl that the angels and the devils call their mother.

"It's nice seeing you again, Haruki Hotaru." She smiled when we said my name, it was a calm feeling I could say. No wonder she's the Goddess of Motherhood because the aura she gives is like a real mother would have. "But... It looks like that you haven't found it yet? The people that'll help you solve this inferiority of yours."

Asherah was sitting on a picnic blanket and has a lot of food on it, she was eating a chocolate chip cookie while talking to me.

"*Sigh* You're right... The people I thought first were my adoptive parents, but it didn't work... Then I didn't expect that I chose myself as a candidate, but didn't work too... After that, I thought my two best friends Homura and Asahi were too but like you guess they're not... There's only one more but what if they're not too though?"

"I know that you'll find it here Haruki Hotaru, my instinct is telling me that they're somewhere close to you."

"Instinct? That won't work... And aren't you a bit old to believe in those?"

The chocolate chip cookie she was eating snapped when she bit it, the way she bit the cookie very hard, and the way she stares at me feel like I did something wrong. "What are you saying Haruki Hotaru? There's nothing wrong with believing in those RIGHT?"

I felt a chill when she said that, I knew that I f*cked up by asking that because of course, it is! Everyone knew that you shouldn't casually say a woman's age in front of her or else...

But she's a God, right? It only makes sense that she's about a million years old so why is she concerned about it?

"Hmm? Are you thinking of something rude, Haruki Hotaru?"

"Nope..." It's better to remain cautious around her, even if she seems nice, she still has this wickedness residing within her.

"Anyway Asherah, actually there's something I want to talk to you about. There are three things that I want to talk about."

"What is it Haruki Hotaru?"

"First, I had a dream about the first murderer of humanity and the first human to ever commit suicide, you know who that is right?" When I asked her that, Asherah just smiled at me and drank her cup of tea slowly. "So is there any particular reason why I had a dream about that?"

She puts the cup back to the ground and started answering me. "Cain is his name, right? The son of Adam and Eve and the person who killed his own brother. In many historical pieces of evidence, it is said that Cain murdered Abel his brother due to two reasons, Envy and Lust. He was envious of Abel because Yahweh liked his sacrifice more and he was also jealous because Luluwa his sister and the one designated to be his wife is more interested in being with their other brother Abel-"

"But that fact was wrong, isn't it? The truth is that Cain was tricked by the Leader of the Elf, Frihmats Kelnerius. That's the truth, right? It's because you tasked him to do that." Even if it's indirectly, the true murderer for Abel's death is Asherah, she's the one who ordered Frihmats in the first place, so in the crime of Abel's death, the suspect of this crime is the Abrahamic Goddess of Motherhood, Asherah.

Asherah took the cup and drank it. "So... That means depending on what you're gonna say next, you won't trust me anymore, Haruki Hotaru."

"N-no... That'd not what I meant when I said that..." I was nervous when she asked me that question, I don't want her to stop coming here in my dream to talk to me, because she's gonna be an important factor in my life from now on; like Lucifer was someone important...

"Then go on, say what the other two are."

"*Cough* Second, why didn't you tell me about turning me into a candidate of being the 2nd Adam, and tell me more about what it's about?"

"Did the God Bishamonten tell you about that? I'll tell you Haruki Hotaru, you're not actually the second Adam, that position of being the second Adam and Eve were taken long ago by some other people, and that's the same for the 3rd or the 4th. I guess they just used 2nd Adam because you, Haruki Hotaru, and Miyu Kishimoto were the only people to become a candidate to become one in the last 500 years or more."

"That explains it... But why didn't you tell me in the first place? That I'll become a candidate to be a hero?"

"No, it wasn't me that made you become one Haruki Hotaru, it was Lucifer with the other former Generals of Hell that turned you into one, because me turning you into a Hero won't work, after all, I've been long gone now, so my skills won't work from the outside."

"Then that doesn't make sense at all, aren't Lucifer and the other Generals dead too? So how can they turn me into one if they're not even walking on Earth anymore?"

"They gave you a connection to someone alive that turned you into a candidate, you know that those 8 Generals did anything they can just to turn you into one, if you ever meet one of them again you better thank them for helping you to become one."

"I didn't even ask them to help me to become one! And the fact that they made me without my permission is pissing me off..."

But, why did they do that though? I don't know what will happen if I become a Hero, but I'm confused on why they did everything they can to turn me into a candidate, also who's this someone that Asherah is saying that they have connections with? "Asherah, how do you even become a Hero candidate in the first place, and how do you even become a real Hero?"

That's what I'm curious about, because if you can turn one then there's got to be an easier way to take out Miyu's status as a candidate.

Just from the ritual that Master Susanoo and Master Bishamonten mentioned that they'll do to remove Miyu's status to become one, it'll take a lot of time. Not to mention that they'll have to do something about the current war so that they won't lose against the Gods on Zeus' side.

This meant that there's a chance that Miyu might become a Hero while we're fighting against the other Gods in the war, which is something I don't want to happen... Since Miyu is already like my sister, so seeing her getting out of control and attacking anybody she sees would be painful to watch for me, and I might even need to stop her from attacking someone else.

"To become a candidate for a Hero there are many ways, but the most common are discovering the passage to obtain skills which is what happened to the first Heroes Adam and Eve, the second is to see or discover something extraordinary in the Original Space or Earth which is something that Miyu Kishimoto has done; she became one because she was exposed to it more than your two friends Homura Suzuki and Asahi Kishimoto."

"So what Master Bishamonten has said is true then... So is there an easy way to remove her for being a candidate of being a hero?"

"No, the only way for it to be removed is by that ritual that the God Susanoo and the God Bishamonten has said."

"Then there's no other way besides the ritual then..." I could only clench my hand in anger after hearing what she said.

My luck is terrible right now, I can't believe that someone I care about who's got nothing to do about what we devils are currently facing has been involved, what's worse is that she's an important element to this war right now, so this is not something I wanted it to be...

"It's okay Haruki Hotaru, just believe in yourself and don't give up, you'll win this." The way Asherah encourages me is soothing to hear, even if she's one of the reasons that the Gods are currently at war, she's still trying her best to support her family. "Since you wanted to know who the person that I mentioned that the Generals have a connection with, the answer is the person that loves and cares for you, do you perhaps know who that might be?"

"The person that loves and cares for me..?" I've cleared my mind to concentrate on who could that person is, but even if I kept on thinking who it is I've already known who the person was. She was the only one who truly helped me overcome many challenges, so her turning me into a Hero has got to have a reason why she turned me into one. "It's that girl, right? The blonde beauty who first appeared when I first got my skills?"

"That's correct, that girl turned you into one by making you more powerful than ever. She first helped you obtain the legendary Soul Bound that the Gods didn't even know existed, she helped you obtain your father Jarren Hotaru's sword and made you overcome your fear from holding it, she also made you a Hero by feeding you the tomato that the mysterious God of Pastafarianism the Flying Spaghetti Monster is made out of."

So that's how I became a Hero, it's because of the tomato soup that girl made for me when I first met the Original Beelzebub... Wait... What? "Excuse me Asherah, but did you just say the tomato from the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Don't tell me that's true, because even if it's already weird enough that multiple Gods from various Mythologies existed, there's no way that the God that the people in that stupid religion called Pastafarianism is real."

"Of course it's real Haruki Hotaru."

Hearing that came out of her mind questions my life right now, I feel like I got bamboozled by the entire world right now. There's no way that I can take this mission of saving the world seriously anymore if I ever encountered the Flying Spaghetti Monster... Sometimes, the world is a mysterious place...

"Joke, of course, there's no way that such God exists, you seriously believe in those things Haruki Hotaru? Aren't you a little old to believe in that nonsense?"

"Touché." I can't believe she got her revenge back because I called her old, but as long as the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not real, then my hope for saving this world has been brought back.

"Actually she didn't use the tomato of the Flying Spaghetti Monster because that thing doesn't exist, but instead she fed you the Forbidden Fruit."

That's at least expected because that's the only thing I could think of that the soup is made out of. "Then that answers my 2nd question, now for the last." I looked at the ground in embarrassment from what I'm about to say, but I got to at least get a bit of advice from a trained mother like Asherah, right? "Asherah... How do you apologize and make a girl happy..?"

I could only ask that to Asherah in embarrassment, after all, what am I even asking from a total stranger? I looked at her and saw that she was smiling at me, it wasn't the joyful smile that she always gives me when I talk to her about something, but her smile was bigger this time, it looks like she is proud of me for asking her that.

"My, my, who's the lucky girl Haruki Hotaru?"

"You got it wrong! It's not like I'm interested in her or anything, but she's just a friend that I've hurt okay?"

"*Giggle* Whatever you say." She said to me while blushing. "To make a girl happy, you have to be yourself, that's all. Because that's what a woman finds charming in a man, it's honesty and their true self."

"Really?" Lucas gave me this advice once when I was nervous in talking to Akemi, Luna, and Dawn once back in the castle, so if her the Goddess of Motherhood has said it alongside the General of Lust, then I'll do it. "Thank you Asherah, I'll use it in good use."

"Then, our conversion is gonna end, for now at least. I'll talk to you when you find the solution to your inferiority complex."

"Yeah, thank you, Asherah." Even if we only talked twice, I feel safe around her... I guess this is why she's called the Abrahamic Goddess of Motherhood.

Also, unlike Lucifer, she didn't try to kill me.