CHAPTER 72
A few years passed.
During that time, I lived quite a busy life.
For one, I was officially an Apostle of God and unofficially the guardian deity of this world.
The Heavenly God told me I could just half-ass the work, but taking him at his word and doing absolutely nothing made me feel a bit guilty.
So, for the past few years, I tried my best to do what I could.
Just like today.

"Lords of the Abyss! Answer my call and accept this sacrifice!"

Right now, a group of women were gathered in front of me, doing something crazy.
They were all wearing bloodstained black clothes and had some unknown beast's skull equipped on their heads like helmets.
And in front of them were dozens of children. Children kidnapped by these strange women to be offered as sacrifices to whatever unknown entities they worshipped.

"In exchange for this sacrifice, grant us power!"

A woman with feathers attached to her skull helmet, who seemed to be the leader, approached the children holding a dagger.
I had stayed still to see what they were doing, but it looked like it was about time to step in.

"Hold it right there."

"?!"

When I appeared, the women went beyond being startled and practically had a seizure.

"Gasp!"
"Ceres Whiperion?!"

The first reason was that they immediately recognized who I was the moment they saw my face.

"When, how?!"
"He just suddenly appeared out of thin air!"
"I didn't even sense him..."

The second reason was that they hadn't sensed me watching them from right next to them at all.

"What trick did you use?!"

The leader demanded, but I didn't answer. Even if I told them I used my Divine Power to completely block their senses, they wouldn't understand.

"Of all people, for the Heavenly God's Apostle to appear right now..."
"We have to run!"

Just by revealing myself, the women were sent into a panic. Back in the early days when I first started doing this kind of work, they would have rejoiced, thinking a truly valuable sacrifice had just rolled in.
But now, with the reputation I've built up, which they surely must have heard about, they instinctively knew they were screwed.

"You fools, do not panic!"

Still, perhaps because she was the boss, the leader maintained a minimum level of dignity and still showed a will to fight.

"Actually, your arrival is welcome, you hypocritical Apostle of the Heavenly God! I will show you the power I gained by contracting with the Abyss!"

The leader used wicked magic to transform the stones scattered around the outdoor altar we were currently at.
The stones gathered to form the shape of a massive golem, which looked down at me.

"This golem itself is not an evil entity. No matter how powerful your Holy Power is, it will be useless if the opponent isn't a demonic being!"

The leader spoke triumphantly. She seemed to have used her brain in her own way, but...

"What nonsense are you spouting now?"
"What?"
"It's been ages since I overcame that restriction!"

Irritated, I aimed my palm at the golem. Using the Divine Power that burst from my hand, I obliterated the golem without leaving a single trace.

"What I use isn't Holy Power, it's Divine Power. Depending on how it's used, Divine Power can completely annihilate anything that belongs to a lower tier."
"...."

Finding reality hard to believe, the leader gaped blankly before she soon began to tremble.

"I-It's not over yet!"
"You're still going?"
"If this level of magic won't work, I'll summon the Lords of the Abyss who granted me power themselves!"

If you could do something like that, you should have done it sooner. As the leader muttered some sort of incantation, the space in front of me twisted and a rift formed.
Through the shattered space, colors and miasma that definitely did not belong to this world poured out. But just as a hideous hand popped out, trying to tear the rift wider and emerge...

[Hey, this is my turf. Get lost!]
[...Ah!]

When I infused my Divine Power and communicated the way gods do, the Lord of the Abyss instantly realized what I was and how strong I was, and retreated with an awkward expression.

"...."

The leader and her subordinates all wore expressions as if wondering if reality was just a dream.
Before they could try anything else, I let them know that whatever they did would be useless. I blasted my Divine Power at a massive boulder nearby, piercing right through it and leaving a hole over a meter deep.

"...Run!"
"I was going to even if you didn't say so!"

This time, everyone, including the leader, tried to flee, but I wasn't going to just stand there and watch.
I unfurled the wings I had kept stored on my back. I shot glowing feathers from my wings at the women, and all the women who were hit by the feathers collapsed.
And that was the end of it.

"Alright, I've mostly cleaned things up, so you can come out now."

I called out to the local soldiers who had been on standby nearby.

"I've subdued them, so all you need to do is tie them up. Please comfort the kidnapped children as well."

As I gave the soldiers instructions, one of the soldiers looked at the surrounding traces and spoke to me with an astonished face.

"I heard the rumors, but you're t-truly incredible. Is this the power that the Heavenly God bestowed upon you when he descended a few years ago?"
"...You could say that."

Actually, the amount of Divine Power itself hadn't increased much from what I originally had. It was just that I had figured out how to use it for offensive purposes.
But since I couldn't reveal such detailed facts, I just let people misunderstand however they pleased.

"Thank you so much!"

Once the soldiers secured the area, they immediately bowed to me and expressed their gratitude.

"If the Apostle hadn't come here, who knows what would have happened...!"
"Thank you so much! We made the request, but honestly, we never expected you to personally come all the way here."
"We are so deeply grateful, we don't know what to do with ourselves!"

The place I was currently at was a small country far away from the Empire where I lived.
Some cult here had kidnapped children, so they had contacted me asking for help.
But honestly, since I was such a celebrity, and on top of that, of high status, they hadn't thought I would come personally. Everyone seemed surprised that I had shown up.

"It's fine. This is my job as the Apostle of the Heavenly God, after all."
And...
"Hearing that children were kidnapped didn't feel like someone else's problem. I have children of my own, you see."

I soared through the sky.
The angel wings attached to my back weren't just for decoration; they could actually be used for flying, and they were quite fast.
Thanks to using these wings, it had become possible for me to cross multiple countries by myself and solve problems like I just did.
Thanks to that, I could also return home quickly.

Flap!

I swiftly landed in front of our house and retracted my wings. Then, as I approached the gate, the guards immediately greeted me.

"My Lord!"
"Have you returned safely?"

It was the Death Knights. Those who used to serve the ancient Whiperion Royal Family were still working under me, handling various duties.

"Yeah. Anything happen while I was gone?"
"Nothing happened. However..."
"However?"
"They all kept asking when you were coming back."

Yeah, I figured as much. It wasn't just a one-time thing, so I went inside without much reaction.
I entered the mansion and was about to announce my return, but unexpectedly, everyone was gathered in the garden.

"My Lord!"

The first to spot me and run over was Niobe.

"Please do something about them."

Having suffered quite a bit while I was gone, Niobe spoke with a crying face.
Soon after,

"Ceres!"

Alios came running.

"Ceres, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Like always."

I looked with weary eyes at Alios, who was still worrying even though this wasn't my first or second time doing this kind of work.

"Maybe in the past, but if there's anyone who can do anything to the current me, it wouldn't matter even if you tagged along."
"But I'm still worried, what else can I do?"

Even after I literally became a god, the women still worried about me. Every time I went out, one of them would always tag along, but right now, they couldn't do that.

"If I wasn't in this condition, I would have followed you."

Alios said this while showing off her swollen belly, looking like she was subtly bragging.
Currently, all the women I had relations with were either pregnant like this or in a state where they couldn't go out carelessly because of their children.

"You're pregnant, so it can't be helped. Don't do anything weird and just take good care of your body. You're not alone in that body anymore, in more ways than one."

Not only was Alios pregnant with my child, but she had also officially inherited the Duke title a year ago.
Normally, it would have taken a bit longer for her to succeed the title, but the previous Duke, Allois—who had committed disrespect against me, now the Heavenly God's Apostle—must have felt a guilty conscience, because she swiftly handed it over to Alios, who had become my woman.

"To think all of us would end up like this at the same time, what a headache."

While I was talking with Alios, Hames approached. Her belly was also swollen.

"Even if we were going to get pregnant, we should have looked at our schedules and done it sequentially."
"I don't want to. I might have fallen behind you guys then."
"...Are you still saying things like that?"

Hames looked sourly at the whining Alios.
There had been changes for Hames as well. She reduced her active duties as the High Priest, and after getting pregnant, she took a long-term leave of absence and left the temple entirely.
She said she wanted to focus on childcare for the time being since she was having a child, which was a behavior unimaginable for the old her.

Well, it was still better behavior compared to Viol.

"You're back!"

Realizing I had arrived, Viol immediately ran over. Unlike the other two, she had no visible changes in her appearance.
Because it had only been a few weeks since she got pregnant. However, as soon as Viol found out she was pregnant, she appointed a proxy, left the Imperial Palace, and came to our house in the Whiperion territory.
Actually, Viol was the last of the women to get pregnant. Because of that, she had seemed secretly anxious, but now that she was actually pregnant, she was staying here as if to show off.

"Why didn't you take me? My belly hasn't even started showing yet."
"You're still pregnant, so stay put."
"...Then you should've taken those two at least."

The ones Viol pointed at grumpily were Sibylius and Red.

"Are you back?"
"Oh, you're here?"

Sibylius and Red approached, and neither of them showed any changes.
Because they had already given birth.

"To think these two punks would be the first to get pregnant and even give birth. Didn't you pull some trick using your unique demon abilities?"

Viol, who had been the latest to get pregnant, glared at the two of them with a displeased look, and honestly, I thought the same.

"Emperor Viol is right. You should have at least taken one of us with you, no?"

Sibylius, who was an incredible powerhouse even by my current standards as a god, contradicted her own words by pointing only at herself.

"But it hasn't been long since you gave birth, right?"
"What does that matter? I returned to perfect condition the moment I gave birth."

Sibylius spoke as if it was absurd. Amazingly, not even an hour after giving birth, Sibylius and Red had been walking around perfectly fine.

"Do you think we're human? Taking months to recover just from popping out a kid."

The still-cheeky Red spoke bluntly, but aren't you forgetting something?

"What did you two do with the kids?"
"Ah, well... I'm clumsy at childcare, so I left them with her."
"With the damn mother-in-law."

The place the two of them pointed at was my mother, Ares. With my children held in both her arms.

"Ceres, you've finally returned."

Welcoming me back, Ares looked at me with complicated eyes.

"I don't know why I have to suffer like this at my age."
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for. Those ones are the ones who should be sorry."

Ares, who had opposed the harem until the very end, still looked at the women with distasteful eyes.
At least she didn't hate the children since my blood was mixed in them, but she was looking at them with a complicated gaze.

"Both of them look more like their mothers than you."
"They're still cute, though."

I looked at my children held in Ares's arms. Both of them resembled me slightly, either having a bit of silver mixed in their hair or having blue eyes.
They had both just been born recently, and because we were agonizing over what to name them, we hadn't even given them names yet.

"Hey, little ones."

So, unable to call them by name, I just called them "little ones" and tried to hug them.

"Ceres, go wash your hands before touching the babies. You just came back from outside."
"Ah, yes."

My body currently doesn't get dirty from most things, but just in case.
I went inside the house first, and while washing my hands, I suddenly looked in the mirror.

"...I'm doing well."

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I thought of the original Ceres and spoke to him.

"Even I don't know where you ended up or what happened to you after you died so tragically, but I'm living happily. I don't know if this brings you any comfort, but I want you to know that at least somewhere else, another you is living a happy life."

The fact that I'm living like this now is all thanks to you. I've always been grateful, Ceres.

"Ceres, are you not done yet?"
"Ah, I'm coming out now!"

Having been momentarily lost in sentimentality, I hurried outside at Ares's urging.

Author's Note (Author's Afterword)
Thank you for reading all this time.
Ceres's story concludes here.
Ceres has done everything he needed to do, so I ended it with a harem pregnancy ending.
For those who haven't seen the previous side stories, the side stories have different settings from the main story, so you can just consider that they all had a good time together.
In the first place, the main story was essentially finished before that. This is the final chapter that directly follows it.
Then, whenever the opportunity arises, I will return with another story.

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