Reunion with a certain shady individual (2)

After meeting the goddess again, I realized I didn't really take a good look at her last time. I was just too busy with my situation and goals. But this time, I noticed that the goddess had an appearance that was befitting of a deity. Or so I thought, but it's not like I had ever seen any other deities.

She had light purple hair similar in color to lilac flowers. Her sky blue eyes with long eyelashes were glaring at me which I paid no mind to as I scrutinized her from head to toe. She had a figure that would be sought out by most men and women alike regardless of their preferences as she wasn't too petite or too voluptuous. She was perfectly balanced. And yet, she had an intimidating aura that would warn most people to not get ahead of themselves and do anything stupid. Or maybe the aura I was sensing was due to me angering her.

"Quit staring, already. Did you ask for me just so you could admire my beauty?" the goddess asked with a smug look. Her mood changed rather abruptly but I didn't feel the need to mention that.

"No, I was just thinking if that's really your true appearance." I spoke the truth. I really was thinking that in the back of my mind.

Hearing my thoughts, the goddess was silent for a bit before replying.

"Sheesh you're no fun and yet sharp as usual. Yes, this isn't my true appearance. I just took a form that I had in mind. But right now, we should get to the 'complaints' you had about my 'services'. Hmm?"

She said as her face etched close to mine. She was frowning as she remembered the rude comments I made during my 'prayers'.

"I apologize for my heartless remarks before. I honestly didn't think praying would be enough to have an audience with you, so I just said whatever came to mind." I apologized truthfully.

The goddess sighed at my apology. She shot a look that seemed to ask 'Is that your idea of a prayer?' before signalling me to continue on.

" There are some.....complications that arose within me after reincarnating that I'd like to discuss." I started voicing out my worries.

"In my previous life, I didn't feel much emotion aside from the feelings of satisfaction I'd get when I developed my 'skills'. I wouldn't get sentimental at all. But after reincarnating here, there were several instances where I felt strong surges of emotions that made me do things that I normally wouldn't think of doing." I explained my dilemma to the goddess.

"I see. Well it shouldn't be the memories of Nightmoon. Is the memory 'filtering' working for you? I made sure to implement that within you just so you could avoid problems like an identity crisis."

"Ah That? Yes, it is. It's one of the reasons I don't suspect my acquired memories for this issue."

As I had mentioned before I had gained the memories of Dusk Nightmoon or my previous self after my encounter with Aerith, my mother of this world. What I didn't mention though was that the memories of the 'Young master' didn't quite flow into my head naturally like my own memories. In order to access those I would have to close my eyes and focus until I could recall them. And although the memories were first person, I couldn't feel any emotions that my previous self felt during the incidents. It was like playing a game in first person mode.....but well since I couldn't move or do anything in the memories it wasn't quite that either. I couldn't really explain it.

"Let me guess, the strong surges of emotion you described were felt during your encounter with Aerith Nightmoon, wasn't it?" The goddess asked with a smile.

There was also that time with the painting of me and Stygian but....

".....Yes, there was another instance before that but the emotions I felt during my encounter with that person is the greatest cause for my concerns. Feeling sympathy and sorrow for someone who was practically a stranger to the then me didn't make sense. I'm not a kind enough person to feel such things for a complete stranger." I replied honestly.

"Yes, I certainly was surprised myself to see you take uncharacteristically passionate actions. But if you know the laws of this world, this wouldn't feel as strange."

"Laws of this world..." I repeated her words with a curious look.

I noticed how she mentioned she "saw" my conversation with Aerith. I wasn't surprised since Aerith mentioned the meeting was possible thanks to the goddess in the first place, but I felt a bit disturbed about the fact. Just how much of me has this woman seen? How well does she know me? How long has she been observing me? Perhaps all these questions would have emerged in my mind if it weren't for the fact that I had much bigger issues to tackle that day.

"Yes. In Tellus Mater parents are connected to their children through their souls. Although this connection doesn't restrict or force them to do anything, it is the reason why most parents feel unconditional love for their children and usually show genuine care about them even if they could be called scum otherwise. And when a parent treats children with love and support through the right actions, their children start to love them as well. Of course, there are exceptions so there can obviously be bad parents or children who can't love their parents. But generally the love between parents and children is connected through their souls. Now then, do you follow where I'm getting at?" the goddess asked with an expectant gaze after giving me an explanation.

"So since even before I got back my memories I was treated with love and care, my soul which was the same one I had back in my world, connected to my parents and caused me to develop affection for them? I told her my hypothesis.

"That's right. Which is why you would feel the same level of grief or joy when meeting them even if all of your memories were erased right this moment." the goddess had finished her lessons on the topic of love between parent and child.

Fortunately, it wasn't the kind of relationship that you'd read or watch in a hentai or doujinshi. Well even then you could just say "No chromo" and it'd be fine.

"I see.....then that explains a lot."

That aside, I didn't know how to feel about this new information. But I was still glad to at least find a reasonable explanation for my changes. I wasn't completely alright with it but I decided to put it on hold because I knew my time with the goddess would be limited and I had another question that I was planning to ask, though it was only for when and if, I got the answers for my first.

As I silently thought about many things for a bit the goddess opened her mouth again to ask....

"So any more questi-"

"What happened to Aerith Nightmoon?" However, I interrupted her mid sentence with an important question. My expression had changed to a much more serious one.

Note: Thanks again to all those who gave this novel powers stones! I hope you can keep enjoying my work and help me to improve my writing in the future!